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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18811-0.txt b/18811-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ca7b841 --- /dev/null +++ b/18811-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4327 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Light Princess and Other Fairy Stories, by +George MacDonald + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Light Princess and Other Fairy Stories + +Author: George MacDonald + +Release Date: July 12, 2006 [EBook #18811] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIGHT PRINCESS AND OTHER *** + + + + +Produced by John Bechard (JaBBechard@aol.com) + + + + + +The Light Princess and Other Fairy Stories + +by George MacDonald + +CONTENTS + +THE LIGHT PRINCESS +THE GIANT'S HEART +THE GOLDEN KEY + + + + + + +THE LIGHT PRINCESS + + + + + + +I. WHAT! NO CHILDREN? + + +Once upon a time, so long ago that I have quite forgotten the date, +there lived a king and queen who had no children. + +And the king said to himself, "All the queens of my acquaintance have +children, some three, some seven, and some as many as twelve; and my +queen has not one. I feel ill-used." So he made up his mind to be cross +with his wife about it. But she bore it all like a good patient queen +as she was. Then the king grew very cross indeed. But the queen +pretended to take it all as a joke, and a very good one too. + +"Why don't you have any daughters, at least?" said he. "I don't say +_sons_; that might be too much to expect." + +"I am sure, dear king, I am very sorry," said the queen. + +"So you ought to be," retorted the king; "you are not going to make a +virtue of _that_, surely." + +But he was not an ill-tempered king, and in any matter of less moment +would have let the queen have her own way with all his heart. This, +however, was an affair of state. + +The queen smiled. + +"You must have patience with a lady, you know, dear king," said she. + +She was, indeed, a very nice queen, and heartily sorry that she could +not oblige the king immediately. + +The king tried to have patience, but he succeeded very badly. It was +more than he deserved, therefore, when, at last, the queen gave him a +daughter--as lovely a little princess as ever cried. + + + + + + +II. WON'T I, JUST? + + +The day drew near when the infant must be christened. The king wrote +all the invitations with his own hand. Of course somebody was +forgotten. + +Now it does not generally matter if somebody _is_ forgotten, only you +must mind who. Unfortunately, the king forgot without intending to +forget; and so the chance fell upon the Princess Makemnoit, which was +awkward. For the princess was the king's own sister; and he ought not +to have forgotten her. But she had made herself so disagreeable to the +old king, their father, that he had forgotten her in making his will; +and so it was no wonder that her brother forgot her in writing his +invitations. But poor relations don't do anything to keep you in mind +of them. Why don't they? The king could not see into the garret she +lived in, could he? + +She was a sour, spiteful creature. The wrinkles of contempt crossed the +wrinkles of peevishness, and made her face as full of wrinkles as a pat +of butter. If ever a king could be justified in forgetting anybody, +this king was justified in forgetting his sister, even at a +christening. She looked very odd, too. Her forehead was as large as all +the rest of her face, and projected over it like a precipice. When she +was angry her little eyes flashed blue. When she hated anybody, they +shone yellow and green. What they looked like when she loved anybody, I +do not know; for I never heard of her loving anybody but herself, and I +do not think she could have managed that if she had not somehow got +used to herself. But what made it highly imprudent in the king to +forget her was--that she was awfully clever. In fact, she was a witch; +and when she bewitched anybody, he very soon had enough of it; for she +beat all the wicked fairies in wickedness, and all the clever ones in +cleverness. She despised all the modes we read of in history, in which +offended fairies and witches have taken their revenges; and therefore, +after waiting and waiting in vain for an invitation, she made up her +mind at last to go without one, and make the whole family miserable, +like a princess as she was. + +So she put on her best gown, went to the palace, was kindly received by +the happy monarch, who forgot that he had forgotten her, and took her +place in the procession to the royal chapel. When they were all +gathered about the font, she contrived to get next to it, and throw +something into the water; after which she maintained a very respectful +demeanour till the water was applied to the child's face. But at that +moment she turned round in her place three times, and muttered the +following words, loud enough for those beside her to hear:-- + + "Light of spirit, by my charms, + Light of body, every part, + Never weary human arms-- + Only crush thy parents' heart!" + +They all thought she had lost her wits, and was repeating some foolish +nursery rhyme; but a shudder went through the whole of them +notwithstanding. The baby, on the contrary, began to laugh and crow; +while the nurse gave a start and a smothered cry, for she thought she +was struck with paralysis: she could not feel the baby in her arms. But +she clasped it tight and said nothing. + +The mischief was done. + + + + + + +III. SHE CAN'T BE OURS + + +Her atrocious aunt had deprived the child of all her gravity. If you +ask me how this was effected, I answer, "In the easiest way in the +world. She had only to destroy gravitation." For the princess was a +philosopher, and knew all the _ins_ and _outs_ of the laws of +gravitation as well as the _ins_ and _outs_ of her boot-lace. And being +a witch as well, she could abrogate those laws in a moment; or at least +so clog their wheels and rust their bearings, that they would not work +at all. But we have more to do with what followed than with how it was +done. + +The first awkwardness that resulted from this unhappy privation was, +that the moment the nurse began to float the baby up and down, she flew +from her arms towards the ceiling. Happily, the resistance of the air +brought her ascending career to a close within a foot of it. There she +remained, horizontal as when she left her nurse's arms, kicking and +laughing amazingly. The nurse in terror flew to the bell, and begged +the footman, who answered it, to bring up the house-steps directly. +Trembling in every limb, she climbed upon the steps, and had to stand +upon the very top, and reach up, before she could catch the floating +tail of the baby's long clothes. + +When the strange fact came to be known, there was a terrible commotion +in the palace. The occasion of its discovery by the king was naturally +a repetition of the nurse's experience. Astonished that he felt no +weight when the child was laid in his arms, he began to wave her up +and--not down, for she slowly ascended to the ceiling as before, and +there remained floating in perfect comfort and satisfaction, as was +testified by her peals of tiny laughter. The king stood staring up in +speechless amazement, and trembled so that his beard shook like grass +in the wind. At last, turning to the queen, who was just as +horror-struck as himself, he said, gasping, staring, and stammering,-- + +"She _can't_ be ours, queen!" + +Now the queen was much cleverer than the king, and had begun already to +suspect that "this effect defective came by cause." + +"I am sure she is ours," answered she. "But we ought to have taken +better care of her at the christening. People who were never invited +ought not to have been present." + +"Oh, ho!" said the king, tapping his forehead with his forefinger, "I +have it all. I've found her out. Don't you see it, queen? Princess +Makemnoit has bewitched her." + +"That's just what I say," answered the queen. + +"I beg your pardon, my love; I did not hear you.--John! bring the steps +I get on my throne with." + +For he was a little king with a great throne, like many other kings. + +The throne-steps were brought, and set upon the dining-table, and John +got upon the top of them. But he could not reach the little princess, +who lay like a baby-laughter-cloud in the air, exploding continuously. + +"Take the tongs, John," said his Majesty; and getting up on the table, +he handed them to him. + +John could reach the baby now, and the little princess was handed down +by the tongs. + + + + + + +IV. WHERE IS SHE? + + +One fine summer day, a month after these her first adventures, during +which time she had been very carefully watched, the princess was lying +on the bed in the queen's own chamber, fast asleep. One of the windows +was open, for it was noon, and the day so sultry that the little girl +was wrapped in nothing less ethereal than slumber itself. The queen +came into the room, and not observing that the baby was on the bed, +opened another window. A frolicsome fairy wind, which had been watching +for a chance of mischief, rushed in at the one window, and taking its +way over the bed where the child was lying, caught her up, and rolling +and floating her along like a piece of flue, or a dandelion-seed, +carried her with it through the opposite window, and away. The queen +went down-stairs, quite ignorant of the loss she had herself +occasioned. + +When the nurse returned, she supposed that her Majesty had carried her +off, and, dreading a scolding, delayed making inquiry about her. But +hearing nothing, she grew uneasy, and went at length to the queen's +boudoir, where she found her Majesty. + +"Please, your Majesty, shall I take the baby?" said she. + +"Where is she?" asked the queen. + +"Please forgive me. I know it was wrong." + +"What do you mean?" said the queen, looking grave. + +"Oh! don't frighten me, your Majesty!" exclaimed the nurse, clasping +her hands. + +The queen saw that something was amiss, and fell down in a faint. The +nurse rushed about the palace, screaming, "My baby! my baby!" + +Every one ran to the queen's room. But the queen could give no orders. +They soon found out, however, that the princess was missing, and in a +moment the palace was like a beehive in a garden; and in one minute +more the queen was brought to herself by a great shout and a clapping +of hands. They had found the princess fast asleep under a rose-bush, to +which the elvish little wind-puff had carried her, finishing its +mischief by shaking a shower of red rose-leaves all over the little +white sleeper. Startled by the noise the servants made, she woke, and, +furious with glee, scattered the rose-leaves in all directions, like a +shower of spray in the sunset. + +She was watched more carefully after this, no doubt; yet it would be +endless to relate all the odd incidents resulting from this peculiarity +of the young princess. But there never was a baby in a house, not to +say a palace, that kept the household in such constant good-humour, at +least below-stairs. If it was not easy for her nurses to hold her, at +least she made neither their arms nor their hearts ache. And she was so +nice to play at ball with! There was positively no danger of letting +her fall. They might throw her down, or knock her down, or push her +down, but couldn't _let_ her down. It is true, they might let her fly +into the fire or the coal-hole, or through the window; but none of +these accidents had happened as yet. If you heard peals of laughter +resounding from some unknown region, you might be sure enough of the +cause. Going down into the kitchen, or _the room_, you would find Jane +and Thomas, and Robert and Susan, all and sum, playing at ball with the +little princess. She was the ball herself, and did not enjoy it the +less for that. Away she went, flying from one to another, screeching +with laughter. And the servants loved the ball itself better even than +the game. But they had to take some care how they threw her, for if she +received an upward direction, she would never come down again without +being fetched. + + + + + + +V. WHAT IS TO BE DONE? + + +But above-stairs it was different. One day, for instance, after +breakfast, the king went into his counting-house, and counted out his +money. + +The operation gave him no pleasure. + +"To think," said he to himself, "that every one of these gold +sovereigns weighs a quarter of an ounce, and my real, live, +flesh-and-blood princess weighs nothing at all!" + +And he hated his gold sovereigns, as they lay with a broad smile of +self-satisfaction all over their yellow faces. + +The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey. But at the second +mouthful she burst out crying, and could not swallow it. The king heard +her sobbing. Glad of anybody, but especially of his queen, to quarrel +with, he clashed his gold sovereigns into his money-box, clapped his +crown on his head, and rushed into the parlour. + +"What is all this about?" exclaimed he. "What are you crying for, +queen?" + +"I can't eat it," said the queen, looking ruefully at the honey-pot. + +"No wonder!" retorted the king. "You've just eaten your breakfast--two +turkey eggs, and three anchovies." + +"Oh, that's not it!" sobbed her Majesty. "It's my child, my child!" + +"Well, what's the matter with your child? She's neither up the chimney +nor down the draw-well. Just hear her laughing." + +Yet the king could not help a sigh, which he tried to turn into a +cough, saying-- + +"It is a good thing to be light-hearted, I am sure, whether she be ours +or not." + +"It is a bad thing to be light-headed," answered the queen, looking +with prophetic soul far into the future. + +"'Tis a good thing to be light-handed," said the king. + +"'Tis a bad thing to be light-fingered," answered the queen. + +"'Tis a good thing to be light-footed," said the king. + +"'Tis a bad thing--" began the queen; but the king interrupted her. + +"In fact," said he, with the tone of one who concludes an argument in +which he has had only imaginary opponents, and in which, therefore, he +has come off triumphant--"in fact, it is a good thing altogether to be +light-bodied." + +"But it is a bad thing altogether to be light-minded," retorted the +queen, who was beginning to lose her temper. + +This last answer quite discomfited his Majesty, who turned on his heel, +and betook himself to his counting-house again. But he was not half-way +towards it, when the voice of his queen overtook him. + +"And it's a bad thing to be light-haired," screamed she, determined to +have more last words, now that her spirit was roused. + +The queen's hair was black as night; and the king's had been, and his +daughter's was, golden as morning. But it was not this reflection on +his hair that arrested him; it was the double use of the word _light_. +For the king hated all witticisms, and punning especially. And besides, +he could not tell whether the queen meant light-_haired_ or +light-_heired_; for why might she not aspirate her vowels when she was +ex-asperated herself? + +He turned upon his other heel, and rejoined her. She looked angry +still, because she knew that she was guilty, or, what was much the +same, knew that he thought so. + +"My dear queen," said he, "duplicity of any sort is exceedingly +objectionable between married people of any rank, not to say kings and +queens; and the most objectionable form duplicity can assume is that of +punning." + +"There!" said the queen, "I never made a jest, but I broke it in the +making. I am the most unfortunate woman in the world!" + +She looked so rueful, that the king took her in his arms; and they sat +down to consult. + +"Can you bear this?" said the king. + +"No, I can't," said the queen. + +"Well, what's to be done?" said the king. + +"I'm sure I don't know," said the queen. "But might you not try an +apology?" + +"To my old sister, I suppose you mean?" said the king. + +"Yes," said the queen. + +"Well, I don't mind," said the king. + +So he went the next morning to the house of the princess, and, making a +very humble apology, begged her to undo the spell. But the princess +declared, with a grave face, that she knew nothing at all about it. Her +eyes, however, shone pink, which was a sign that she was happy. She +advised the king and queen to have patience, and to mend their ways. +The king returned disconsolate. The queen tried to comfort him. + +"We will wait till she is older. She may then be able to suggest +something herself. She will know at least how she feels, and explain +things to us." + +"But what if she should marry?" exclaimed the king, in sudden +consternation at the idea. + +"Well, what of that?" rejoined the queen. "Just think! If she were to +have children! In the course of a hundred years the air might be as +full of floating children as of gossamers in autumn." + +"That is no business of ours," replied the queen. "Besides, by that +time they will have learned to take care of themselves." + +A sigh was the king's only answer. + +He would have consulted the court physicians; but he was afraid they +would try experiments upon her. + + + + + + +VI. SHE LAUGHS TOO MUCH. + + +Meantime, notwithstanding awkward occurrences, and griefs that she +brought upon her parents, the little princess laughed and grew--not +fat, but plump and tall. She reached the age of seventeen, without +having fallen into any worse scrape than a chimney; by rescuing her +from which, a little bird-nesting urchin got fame and a black face. +Nor, thoughtless as she was, had she committed anything worse than +laughter at everybody and everything that came in her way. When she was +told, for the sake of experiment, that General Clanrunfort was cut to +pieces with all his troops, she laughed; when she heard that the enemy +was on his way to besiege her papa's capital, she laughed hugely; but +when she was told that the city would certainly be abandoned to the +mercy of the enemy's soldiery--why, then she laughed immoderately. She +never could be brought to see the serious side of anything. When her +mother cried, she said,-- + +"What queer faces mamma makes! And she squeezes water out of her +cheeks? Funny mamma!" + +And when her papa stormed at her, she laughed, and danced round and +round him, clapping her hands, and crying,-- + +"Do it again, papa. Do it again! It's such fun! Dear, funny papa!" + +And if he tried to catch her, she glided from him in an instant, not in +the least afraid of him, but thinking it part of the game not to be +caught. With one push of her foot, she would be floating in the air +above his head; or she would go dancing backwards and forwards and +sideways, like a great butterfly. It happened several times, when her +father and mother were holding a consultation about her in private, +that they were interrupted by vainly repressed outbursts of laughter +over their heads; and looking up with indignation, saw her floating at +full length in the air above them, whence she regarded them with the +most comical appreciation of the position. + +One day an awkward accident happened. The princess had come out upon +the lawn with one of her attendants, who held her by the hand. Spying +her father at the other side of the lawn, she snatched her hand from +the maid's, and sped across to him. Now when she wanted to run alone, +her custom was to catch up a stone in each hand, so that she might come +down again after a bound. Whatever she wore as part of her attire had +no effect in this way: even gold, when it thus became as it were a part +of herself, lost all its weight for the time. But whatever she only +held in her hands retained its downward tendency. On this occasion she +could see nothing to catch up but a huge toad, that was walking across +the lawn as if he had a hundred years to do it in. Not knowing what +disgust meant, for this was one of her peculiarities, she snatched up +the toad and bounded away. She had almost reached her father, and he +was holding out his arms to receive her, and take from her lips the +kiss which hovered on them like a butterfly on a rosebud, when a puff +of wind blew her aside into the arms of a young page, who had just been +receiving a message from his Majesty. Now it was no great peculiarity +in the princess that, once she was set agoing, it always cost her time +and trouble to check herself. On this occasion there was no time. She +_must_ kiss--and she kissed the page. She did not mind it much; for she +had no shyness in her composition; and she knew, besides, that she +could not help it. So she only laughed, like a musical box. The poor +page fared the worst. For the princess, trying to correct the +unfortunate tendency of the kiss, put out her hands to keep her off the +page; so that, along with the kiss, he received, on the other cheek, a +slap with the huge black toad, which she poked right into his eye. He +tried to laugh, too, but the attempt resulted in such an odd contortion +of countenance, as showed that there was no danger of his pluming +himself on the kiss. As for the king, his dignity was greatly hurt, and +he did not speak to the page for a whole month. + +I may here remark that it was very amusing to see her run, if her mode +of progression could properly be called running. For first she would +make a bound; then, having alighted, she would run a few steps, and +make another bound. Sometimes she would fancy she had reached the +ground before she actually had, and her feet would go backwards and +forwards, running upon nothing at all, like those of a chicken on its +back. Then she would laugh like the very spirit of fun; only in her +laugh there was something missing. What it was, I find myself unable to +describe. I think it was a certain tone, depending upon the possibility +of sorrow--_morbidezza_, perhaps. She never smiled. + + + + + + +VII. TRY METAPHYSICS. + + +After a long avoidance of the painful subject, the king and queen +resolved to hold a council of three upon it; and so they sent for the +princess. In she came, sliding and flitting and gliding from one piece +of furniture to another, and put herself at last in an armchair, in a +sitting posture. Whether she could be said to _sit_, seeing she +received no support from the seat of the chair, I do not pretend to +determine. + +"My dear child," said the king, "you must be aware by this time that +you are not exactly like other people." + +"Oh, you dear funny papa! I have got a nose, and two eyes, and all the +rest. So have you. So has mamma." + +"Now be serious, my dear, for once," said the queen. + +"No, thank you, mamma; I had rather not." + +"Would you not like to be able to walk like other people?" said the +king. "No indeed, I should think not. You only crawl. You are such slow +coaches!" + +"How do you feel, my child?" he resumed, after a pause of discomfiture. + +"Quite well, thank you." + +"I mean, what do you feel like?" + +"Like nothing at all, that I know of." + +"You must feel like something." + +"I feel like a princess with such a funny papa, and such a dear pet of +a queen-mamma!" + +"Now really!" began the queen; but the princess interrupted her. + +"Oh yes," she added, "I remember. I have a curious feeling sometimes, +as if I were the only person that had any sense in the whole world." + +She had been trying to behave herself with dignity; but now she burst +into a violent fit of laughter, threw herself backwards over the chair, +and went rolling about the floor in an ecstasy of enjoyment. The king +picked her up easier than one does a down quilt, and replaced her in +her former relation to the chair. The exact preposition expressing this +relation I do not happen to know. + +"Is there nothing you wish for?" resumed the king, who had learned by +this time that it was quite useless to be angry with her. + +"Oh, you dear papa!--yes," answered she. + +"What is it, my darling?" + +"I have been longing for it--oh, such a time! Ever since last night." + +"Tell me what it is." + +"Will you promise to let me have it?" + +The king was on the point of saying _Yes_, but the wiser queen checked +him with a single motion of her head. + +"Tell me what it is first," said he. + +"No no. Promise first." + +"I dare not. What is it?" + +"Mind, I hold you to your promise.--It is--to be tied to the end of a +string--a very long string indeed, and be flown like a kite. Oh, such +fun! I would rain rose-water, and hail sugar-plums, and snow +whipped-cream, and--and--and--" + +A fit of laughing checked her; and she would have been off again over +the floor, had not the king started up and caught her just in time. +Seeing nothing but talk could be got out of her, he rang the bell, and +sent her away with two of her ladies-in-waiting. + +"Now, queen," he said, turning to her Majesty, "what _is_ to be done?" + +"There is but one thing left," answered she. "Let us consult the +college of Metaphysicians." + +"Bravo!" cried the king; "we will." + +Now at the head of this college were two very wise Chinese +philosophers--by name, Hum-Drum and Kopy-Keck. For them the king sent; +and straightway they came. In a long speech he communicated to them +what they knew very well already--as who did not?--namely, the peculiar +condition of his daughter in relation to the globe on which she dwelt; +and requested them to consult together as to what might be the cause +and probable cure of her _infirmity_. The king laid stress upon the +word, but failed to discover his own pun. The queen laughed; but +Hum-Drum and Kopy-Keck heard with humility and retired in silence. + +The consultation consisted chiefly in propounding and supporting, for +the thousandth time, each his favourite theories. For the condition of +the princess afforded delightful scope for the discussion of every +question arising from the division of thought--in fact, of all the +Metaphysics of the Chinese Empire. But it is only justice to say that +they did not altogether neglect the discussion of the practical +question, _what was to be done_. + +Hum-Drum was a Materialist, and Kopy-Keck was a spiritualist. The +former was slow and sententious; the latter was quick and flighty: the +latter had generally the first word; the former the last. + +"I reassert my former assertion," began Kopy-Keck, with a plunge. +"There is not a fault in the princess, body or soul; only they are +wrong put together. Listen to me now, Hum-Drum, and I will tell you in +brief what I think. Don't speak. Don't answer me. I _won't_ hear you +till I have done.-- At that decisive moment, when souls seek their +appointed habitations, two eager souls met, struck, rebounded, lost +their way, and arrived each at the wrong place. The soul of the +princess was one of those, and she went far astray. She does not belong +by rights to this world at all, but to some other planet, probably +Mercury. Her proclivity to her true sphere destroys all the natural +influence which this orb would otherwise possess over her corporeal +frame. She cares for nothing here. There is no relation between her and +this world. + +"She must therefore be taught, by the sternest compulsion, to take an +interest in the earth as the earth. She must study every department of +its history--its animal history; its vegetable history; its mineral +history; its social history; its moral history; its political history; +its scientific history; its literary history; its musical history; its +artistical history; above all, its metaphysical history. She must begin +with the Chinese dynasty and end with Japan. But first of all she must +study geology, and especially the history of the extinct races of +animals--their natures, their habits, their loves, their hates, their +revenges. She must--" + +"Hold, h-o-o-old!" roared Hum-Drum. "It is certainly my turn now. My +rooted and insubvertible conviction is, that the causes of the +anomalies evident in the princess's condition are strictly and solely +physical. But that is only tantamount to acknowledging that they exist. +Hear my opinion.--From some cause or other, of no importance to our +inquiry, the motion of her heart has been reversed. That remarkable +combination of the suction and the force-pump works the wrong way--I +mean in the case of the princess: it draws in where it should force +out, and forces out where it should draw in. The offices of the +auricles and the ventricles are subverted. The blood is sent forth by +the veins, and returns by the arteries. Consequently it is running the +wrong way through all her corporeal organism--lungs and all. Is it then +at all mysterious, seeing that such is the case, that on the other +particular of gravitation as well, she should differ from normal +humanity? My proposal for the cure is this:-- + +"Phlebotomize until she is reduced to the last point of safety. Let it +be affected, if necessary, in a warm bath. When she is reduced to a +state of perfect asphyxy, apply a ligature to the left ankle, drawing +it as tight as the bone will bear. Apply, at the same moment, another +of equal tension around the right wrist. By means of plates constructed +for the purpose, place the other foot and hand under the receivers of +two air-pumps. Exhaust the receivers. Exhibit a pint of French brandy, +and await the result." + +"Which would presently arrive in the form of grim death," said +Kopy-Keck. + +"If it should, she would yet die in doing our duty," retorted Hum-Drum. + +But their Majesties had too much tenderness for their volatile +offspring to subject her to either of the schemes of the equally +unscrupulous philosophers. Indeed, the most complete knowledge of the +laws of nature would have been unserviceable in her case; for it was +impossible to classify her. She was a fifth imponderable body, sharing +all the other properties of the ponderable. + + + + + + +VIII. TRY A DROP OF WATER. + + +Perhaps the best thing for the princess would have been to fall in +love. But how a princess who had no gravity could fall into anything is +a difficulty--perhaps _the_ difficulty. As for her own feelings on the +subject, she did not even know that there was such a beehive of honey +and stings to be fallen into. But now I come to mention another curious +fact about her. + +The palace was built on the shore of the loveliest lake in the world; +and the princess loved this lake more than father or mother. The root +of this preference no doubt, although the princess did not recognize it +as such, was, that the moment she got into it, she recovered the +natural right of which she had been so wickedly deprived--namely, +gravity. Whether this was owing to the fact that water had been +employed as the means of conveying the injury, I do not know. But it is +certain that she could swim and dive like the duck that her old nurse +said she was. The manner in which this alleviation of her misfortune +was discovered was as follows:-- + +One summer evening, during the carnival of the country, she had been +taken upon the lake by the king and queen, in the royal barge. They +were accompanied by many of the courtiers in a fleet of little boats. +In the middle of the lake she wanted to get into the lord chancellor's +barge, for his daughter, who was a great favourite with her, was in it +with her father. Now though the old king rarely condescended to make +light of his misfortune, yet, happening on this occasion to be in a +particularly good humour, as the barges approached each other, he +caught up the princess to throw her into the chancellor's barge. He +lost his balance, however, and, dropping into the bottom of the barge, +lost his hold of his daughter; not, however, before imparting to her +the downward tendency of his own person, though in a somewhat different +direction; for, as the king fell into the boat, she fell into the +water. With a burst of delightful laughter she disappeared in the lake. +A cry of horror ascended from the boats. They had never seen the +princess go down before. Half the men were under water in a moment; but +they had all, one after another, come up to the surface again for +breath, when--tinkle, tinkle, babble, and gush! came the princess's +laugh over the water from far away. There she was, swimming like a +swan. Nor would she come out for king or queen, chancellor or daughter. +She was perfectly obstinate. + +But at the same time she seemed more sedate than usual. Perhaps that +was because a great pleasure spoils laughing. At all events, after +this, the passion of her life was to get into the water, and she was +always the better behaved and the more beautiful the more she had of +it. Summer and winter it was quite the same; only she could not stay so +long in the water when they had to break the ice to let her in. Any +day, from morning till evening in summer, she might be descried--a +streak of white in the blue water--lying as still as the shadow of a +cloud, or shooting along like a dolphin; disappearing, and coming up +again far off, just where one did not expect her. She would have been +in the lake of a night, too, if she could have had her way; for the +balcony of her window overhung a deep pool in it; and through a shallow +reedy passage she could have swum out into the wide wet water, and no +one would have been any the wiser. Indeed, when she happened to wake in +the moonlight she could hardly resist the temptation. But there was the +sad difficulty of getting into it. She had as great a dread of the air +as some children have of the water. For the slightest gust of wind +would blow her away; and a gust might arise in the stillest moment. And +if she gave herself a push towards the water and just failed of +reaching it, her situation would be dreadfully awkward, irrespective of +the wind; for at best there she would have to remain, suspended in her +night-gown, till she was seen and angled for by someone from the +window. + +"Oh! if I had my gravity," thought she, contemplating the water, "I +would flash off this balcony like a long white sea-bird, headlong into +the darling wetness. Heigh-ho!" + +This was the only consideration that made her wish to be like other +people. + +Another reason for her being fond of the water was that in it alone she +enjoyed any freedom. For she could not walk out without a _cort�ge_, +consisting in part of a troop of light horse, for fear of the liberties +which the wind might take with her. And the king grew more apprehensive +with increasing years, till at last he would not allow her to walk +abroad at all without some twenty silken cords fastened to as many +parts of her dress, and held by twenty noblemen. Of course horseback +was out of the question. But she bade good-bye to all this ceremony +when she got into the water. + +And so remarkable were its effects upon her, especially in restoring +her for the time to the ordinary human gravity, that Hum-Drum and +Kopy-Keck agreed in recommending the king to bury her alive for three +years; in the hope that, as the water did her so much good, the earth +would do her yet more. But the king had some vulgar prejudices against +the experiment, and would not give his consent. Foiled in this, they +yet agreed in another recommendation; which, seeing that the one +imported his opinions from China and the other from Thibet, was very +remarkable indeed. They argued that, if water of external origin and +application could be so efficacious, water from a deeper source might +work a perfect cure; in short, that if the poor afflicted princess +could by any means be made to cry, she might recover her lost gravity. + +But how was this to be brought about? Therein lay all the +difficulty--to meet which the philosophers were not wise enough. To +make the princess cry was as impossible as to make her weigh. They sent +for a professional beggar; commanded him to prepare his most touching +oracle of woe; helped him, out of the court charade-box, to whatever he +wanted for dressing up, and promised great rewards in the event of his +success. But it was all in vain. She listened to the mendicant artist's +story, and gazed at his marvellous make-up, till she could contain +herself no longer, and went into the most undignified contortions for +relief, shrieking, positively screeching with laughter. + +When she had a little recovered herself, she ordered her attendants to +drive him away, and not give him a single copper; whereupon his look of +mortified discomfiture wrought her punishment and his revenge, for it +sent her into violent hysterics, from which she was with difficulty +recovered. + +But so anxious was the king that the suggestion should have a fair +trial, that he put himself in a rage one day, and, rushing up to her +room, gave her an awful whipping. Yet not a tear would flow. She looked +grave, and her laughing sounded uncommonly like screaming--that was +all. The good old tyrant, though he put on his best gold spectacles to +look, could not discover the smallest cloud in the serene blue of her +eyes. + + + + + + +IX. PUT ME IN AGAIN. + + +It must have been about this time that the son of a king, who lived a +thousand miles from Lagobel, set out to look for the daughter of a +queen. He travelled far and wide, but as sure as he found a princess, +he found some fault in her. Of course he could not marry a mere woman, +however beautiful; and there was no princess to be found worthy of him. +Whether the prince was so near perfection that he had a right to demand +perfection itself, I cannot pretend to say. All I know is, that he was +a fine, handsome, brave, generous, well-bred, and well-behaved youth, +as all princes are. + +In his wanderings he had come across some reports about our princess; +but as everybody said she was bewitched, he never dreamed that she +could bewitch him. For what indeed could a prince do with a princess +that had lost her gravity? Who could tell what she might not lose next? +She might lose her visibility, or her tangibility; or, in short, the +power of making impressions upon the radical sensorium; so that he +should never be able to tell whether she was dead or alive. Of course +he made no further inquiries about her. + +One day he lost sight of his retinue in a great forest. These forests +are very useful in delivering princes from their courtiers, like a +sieve that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to follow +their fortunes. In this they have the advantage of the princesses, who +are forced to marry before they have had a bit of fun. I wish our +princesses got lost in a forest sometimes. + +One lovely evening, after wandering about for many days, he found that +he was approaching the outskirts of this forest; for the trees had got +so thin that he could see the sunset through them; and he soon came +upon a kind of heath. Next he came upon signs of human neighbourhood; +but by this time it was getting late, and there was nobody in the +fields to direct him. + +After travelling for another hour, his horse, quite worn out with long +labour and lack of food, fell, and was unable to rise again. So he +continued his journey on foot. At length he entered another wood--not a +wild forest, but a civilized wood, through which a footpath led him to +the side of a lake. Along this path the prince pursued his way through +the gathering darkness. Suddenly he paused, and listened. Strange +sounds came across the water. It was, in fact, the princess laughing. +Now there was something odd in her laugh, as I have already hinted, for +the hatching of a real hearty laugh requires the incubation of gravity; +and perhaps this was how the prince mistook the laughter for screaming. +Looking over the lake, he saw something white in the water; and, in an +instant, he had torn off his tunic, kicked off his sandals, and plunged +in. He soon reached the white object, and found that it was a woman. +There was not light enough to show that she was a princess, but quite +enough to show that she was a lady, for it does not want much light to +see that. + +Now I cannot tell how it came about,--whether she pretended to be +drowning, or whether he frightened her, or caught her so as to +embarrass her,--but certainly he brought her to shore in a fashion +ignominious to a swimmer, and more nearly drowned than she had ever +expected to be; for the water had got into her throat as often as she +had tried to speak. + +At the place to which he bore her, the bank was only a foot or two +above the water, so he gave her a strong lift out of the water, to lay +her on the bank. But, her gravitation ceasing the moment she left the +water, away she went up into the air, scolding and screaming. + +"You naughty, _naughty_, NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY man!" she cried. + +No one had ever succeeded in putting her into a passion before.--When +the prince saw her ascend, he thought he must have been bewitched, and +have mistaken a great swan for a lady. But the princess caught hold of +the topmost cone upon a lofty fir. This came off; but she caught at +another, and, in fact, stopped herself by gathering cones, dropping +them as the stocks gave way. The prince, meantime, stood in the water, +staring, and forgetting to get out. But the princess disappearing, he +scrambled on shore, and went in the direction of the tree. There he +found her climbing down one of the branches towards the stem. But in +the darkness of the wood, the prince continued in some bewilderment as +to what the phenomenon could be; until, reaching the ground, and seeing +him standing there, she caught hold of him, and said,-- + +"I'll tell papa." + +"Oh no, you won't!" returned the prince. + +"Yes, I will," she persisted. "What business had you to pull me down +out of the water, and throw me to the bottom of the air? I never did +you any harm." + +"Pardon me. I did not mean to hurt you." + +"I don't believe you have any brains; and that is a worse loss that +your wretched gravity. I pity you." + +The prince now saw that he had come upon the bewitched princess, and +had already offended her. But before he could think what to say next, +she burst out angrily, giving a stamp with her foot that would have +sent her aloft again but for the hold she had of his arm,-- + +"Put me up directly." + +"Put you up where, you beauty?" asked the prince. + +He had fallen in love with her almost, already; for her anger made her +more charming than any one else had ever beheld her; and, as far as he +could see, which certainly was not far, she had not a single fault +about her, except, of course, that she had not any gravity. No prince, +however, would judge of a princess by weight. The loveliness of her +foot he would hardly estimate by the depth of the impression it could +make in the mud. + +"Put you up where, you beauty?" asked the prince. + +"In the water, you stupid!" answered the princess. + +"Come, then," said the prince. + +The condition of her dress, increasing her usual difficulty in walking, +compelled her to cling to him; and he could hardly persuade himself +that he was not in a delightful dream, notwithstanding the torrent of +musical abuse with which she overwhelmed him. The prince being +therefore in no hurry, they came upon the lake at quite another part, +where the bank was twenty-five feet high at least; and when they had +reached the edge, he turned towards the princess, and said,-- + +"How am I to put you in?" + +"That is your business," she answered, quite snappishly. "You took me +out--put me in again." + +"Very well," said the prince; and, catching her up in his arms, he +sprang with her from the rock. The princess had just time to give one +delighted shriek of laughter before the water closed over them. When +they came to the surface, she found that, for a moment or two, she +could not even laugh, for she had gone down with such a rush, that it +was with difficulty she recovered her breath. The instant they reached +the surface-- + +"How do you like falling in?" said the prince. + +After some effort the princess panted out,-- + +"Is that what you call _falling in_?" + +"Yes," answered the prince, "I should think it a very tolerable +specimen." + +"It seemed to me like going up," rejoined she. + +"My feeling was certainly one of elevation too," the prince conceded. + +The princess did not appear to understand him, for she retorted his +question:-- + +"How do _you_ like falling in?" said the princess. + +"Beyond everything," answered he; "for I have fallen in with the only +perfect creature I ever saw." + +"No more of that: I am tired of it," said the princess. + +Perhaps she shared her father's aversion to punning. + +"Don't you like falling in, then?" said the prince. + +"It is the most delightful fun I ever had in my life," answered she. "I +never fell before. I wish I could learn. To think I am the only person +in my father's kingdom that can't fall!" + +Here the poor princess looked almost sad. + +"I shall be most happy to fall in with you any time you like," said the +prince, devotedly. + +"Thank you. I don't know. Perhaps it would not be proper. But I don't +care. At all events, as we have fallen in, let us have a swim +together." + +"With all my heart," responded the prince. + +And away they went, swimming, and diving, and floating, until at last +they heard cries along the shore, and saw lights glancing in all +directions. It was now quite late, and there was no moon. + +"I must go home," said the princess. "I am very sorry, for this is +delightful." + +"So am I," returned the prince. "But I am glad I haven't a home to go +to--at least, I don't exactly know where it is." + +"I wish I hadn't one either," rejoined the princess; "it is so stupid! +I have a great mind," she continued, "to play them all a trick. Why +couldn't they leave me alone? They won't trust me in the lake for a +single night!--You see where that green light is burning? That is the +window of my room. Now if you would just swim there with me very +quietly, and when we are all but under the balcony, give me such a +push--_up_ you call it--as you did a little while ago, I should be able +to catch hold of the balcony, and get in at the window; and then they +may look for me till to-morrow morning!" + +"With more obedience than pleasure," said the prince, gallantly; and +away they swam, very gently. + +"Will you be in the lake to-morrow night?" the prince ventured to ask. + +"To be sure I will. I don't think so. Perhaps," was the princess's +somewhat strange answer. + +But the prince was intelligent enough not to press her further; and +merely whispered, as he gave her the parting lift, "Don't tell." The +only answer the princess returned was a roguish look. She was already a +yard above his head. The look seemed to say, "Never fear. It is too +good fun to spoil that way." + +So perfectly like other people had she been in the water, that even yet +the prince could scarcely believe his eyes when he saw her ascend +slowly, grasp the balcony, and disappear through the window. He turned, +almost expecting to see her still by his side. But he was alone in the +water. So he swam away quietly, and watched the lights roving about the +shore for hours after the princess was safe in her chamber. As soon as +they disappeared, he landed in search of his tunic and sword, and, +after some trouble, found them again. Then he made the best of his way +round the lake to the other side. There the wood was wilder, and the +shore steeper--rising more immediately towards the mountains which +surrounded the lake on all sides, and kept sending it messages of +silvery streams from morning to night, and all night long. He soon +found a spot whence he could see the green light in the princess's +room, and where, even in the broad daylight, he would be in no danger +of being discovered from the opposite shore. It was a sort of cave in +the rock, where he provided himself a bed of withered leaves, and lay +down too tired for hunger to keep him awake. All night long he dreamed +that he was swimming with the princess. + + + + + + +X. LOOK AT THE MOON. + + +Early the next morning the prince set out to look for something to eat, +which he soon found at a forester's hut, where for many following days +he was supplied with all that a brave prince could consider necessary. +And having plenty to keep him alive for the present, he would not think +of wants not yet in existence. Whenever Care intruded, this prince +always bowed him out in the most princely manner. + +When he returned from his breakfast to his watch-cave, he saw the +princess already floating about in the lake, attended by the king or +queen--whom he knew by their crowns--and a great company in lovely +little boats, with canopies of all the colours of the rainbow, and +flags and streamers of a great many more. It was a very bright day, and +soon the prince, burned up with the heat, began to long for the cold +water and the cool princess. But he had to endure till twilight; for +the boats had provisions on board, and it was not till the sun went +down that the gay party began to vanish. Boat after boat drew away to +the shore, following that of the king and queen, till only one, +apparently the princess's own boat, remained. But she did not want to +go home even yet, and the prince thought he saw her order the boat to +the shore without her. At all events, it rowed away; and now, of all +the radiant company, only one white speck remained. Then the prince +began to sing. + +And this is what he sang:-- + + "Lady fair, + Swan-white, + Lift thine eyes + Banish night + By the might + Of thine eyes. + + Snowy arms, + Oars of snow, + Oar her hither, + Plashing low. + Soft and slow, + Oar her hither. + + Stream behind her + O'er the lake, + Radiant whiteness! + In her wake + Following, following for her sake, + Radiant whiteness! + + Cling about her, + Waters blue; + Part not from her, + But renew + Cold and true + Kisses round her. + + Lap me round, + Waters sad + That have left her; + Make me glad, + For ye had + Kissed her ere ye left her." + +Before he had finished his song, the princess was just under the place +where he sat, and looking up to find him. Her ears had led her truly. + +"Would you like a fall, princess?" said the prince, looking down. + +"Ah! there you are! Yes, if you please, prince," said the princess, +looking up. + +"How do you know I am a prince, princess?" said the prince. + +"Because you are a very nice young man, prince," said the princess. + +"Come up then, princess." + +"Fetch me, prince." + +The prince took off his scarf, then his sword-belt, then his tunic, and +tied them all together, and let them down. But the line was far too +short. He unwound his turban, and added it to the rest, when it was all +but long enough; and his purse completed it. The princess just managed +to lay hold of the knot of money, and was beside him in a moment. This +rock was much higher than the other, and the splash and the dive were +tremendous. The princess was in ecstasies of delight, and their swim +was delicious. + +Night after night they met, and swam about in the dark clear lake; +where such was the prince's gladness, that (whether the princess's way +of looking at things infected him, or he was actually getting +light-headed) he often fancied that he was swimming in the sky instead +of the lake. But when he talked about being in heaven, the princess +laughed at him dreadfully. + +When the moon came, she brought them fresh pleasure. Everything looked +strange and new in her light, with an old, withered, yet unfading +newness. When the moon was nearly full, one of their great delights +was, to dive deep in the water, and then, turning round, look up +through it at the great blot of light close above them, shimmering and +trembling and wavering, spreading and contracting, seeming to melt +away, and again grow solid. Then they would shoot up through the blot; +and lo! there was the moon, far off, clear and steady and cold, and +very lovely, at the bottom of a deeper and bluer lake than theirs, as +the princess said. + +The prince soon found out that while in the water the princess was very +like other people. And besides this, she was not so forward in her +questions or pert in her replies at sea as on shore. Neither did she +laugh so much; and when she did laugh, it was more gently. She seemed +altogether more modest and maidenly in the water than out of it. But +when the prince, who had really fallen in love when he fell in the +lake, began to talk to her about love, she always turned her head +towards him and laughed. After a while she began to look puzzled, as if +she were trying to understand what he meant, but could not--revealing a +notion that he meant something. But as soon as ever she left the lake, +she was so altered, that the prince said to himself, "If I marry her, I +see no help for it: we must turn merman and mermaid, and go out to sea +at once." + + + + + + +XI. HISS! + + +The princess's pleasure in the lake had grown to a passion, and she +could scarcely bear to be out of it for an hour. Imagine then her +consternation, when, diving with the prince one night, a sudden +suspicion seized her that the lake was not so deep as it used to be. +The prince could not imagine what had happened. She shot to the +surface, and, without a word, swam at full speed towards the higher +side of the lake. He followed, begging to know if she was ill, or what +was the matter. She never turned her head, or took the smallest notice +of his question. Arrived at the shore, she coasted the rocks with +minute inspection. But she was not able to come to a conclusion, for +the moon was very small, and so she could not see well. She turned +therefore and swam home, without saying a word to explain her conduct +to the prince, of whose presence she seemed no longer conscious. He +withdrew to his cave, in great perplexity and distress. + +Next day she made many observations, which, alas! strengthened her +fears. She saw that the banks were too dry; and that the grass on the +shore, and the trailing plants on the rocks, were withering away. She +caused marks to be made along the borders, and examined them, day after +day, in all directions of the wind; till at last the horrible idea +became a certain fact--that the surface of the lake was slowly sinking. + +The poor princess nearly went out of the little mind she had. It was +awful to her to see the lake, which she loved more than any living +thing, lie dying before her eyes. It sank away, slowly vanishing. The +tops of rocks that had never been seen till now, began to appear far +down in the clear water. Before long they were dry in the sun. It was +fearful to think of the mud that would soon lie there baking and +festering, full of lovely creatures dying, and ugly creatures coming to +life, like the unmaking of a world. And how hot the sun would be +without any lake! She could not bear to swim in it any more, and began +to pine away. Her life seemed bound up with it; and ever as the lake +sank, she pined. People said she would not live an hour after the lake +was gone. + +But she never cried. + +Proclamation was made to all the kingdom, that whosoever should +discover the cause of the lake's decrease, would be rewarded after a +princely fashion. Hum-Drum and Kopy-Keck applied themselves to their +physics and metaphysics; but in vain. Not even they could suggest a +cause. + +Now the fact was that the old princess was at the root of the mischief. +When she heard that her niece found more pleasure in the water than +anyone else out of it, she went into a rage, and cursed herself for her +want of foresight. + +"But," said she, "I will soon set all right. The king and the people +shall die of thirst; their brains shall boil and frizzle in their +skulls before I will lose my revenge." + +And she laughed a ferocious laugh, that made the hairs on the back of +her black cat stand erect with terror. + +Then she went to an old chest in the room, and opening it, took out +what looked like a piece of dried seaweed. This she threw into a tub of +water. Then she threw some powder into the water, and stirred it with +her bare arm, muttering over it words of hideous sound, and yet more +hideous import. Then she set the tub aside, and took from the chest a +huge bunch of a hundred rusty keys, that clattered in her shaking +hands. Then she sat down and proceeded to oil them all. Before she had +finished, out from the tub, the water of which had kept on a slow +motion ever since she had ceased stirring it, came the head and half +the body of a huge gray snake. But the witch did not look round. It +grew out of the tub, waving itself backwards and forwards with a slow +horizontal motion, till it reached the princess, when it laid its head +upon her shoulder, and gave a low hiss in her ear. She started--but +with joy; and seeing the head resting on her shoulder, drew it towards +her and kissed it. Then she drew it all out of the tub, and wound it +round her body. It was one of those dreadful creatures which few have +ever beheld--the White Snakes of Darkness. + +Then she took the keys and went down to her cellar; and as she unlocked +the door she said to herself,-- + +"This _is_ worth living for!" + +Locking the door behind her, she descended a few steps into the cellar, +and crossing it, unlocked another door into a dark, narrow passage. She +locked this also behind her, and descended a few more steps. If anyone +had followed the witch-princess, he would have heard her unlock exactly +one hundred doors, and descend a few steps after unlocking each. When +she had unlocked the last, she entered a vast cave, the roof of which +was supported by huge natural pillars of rock. Now this roof was the +under side of the bottom of the lake. + +She then untwined the snake from her body, and held it by the tail high +above her. The hideous creature stretched up its head towards the roof +of the cavern, which it was just able to reach. It then began to move +its head backwards and forwards, with a slow oscillating motion, as if +looking for something. At the same moment the witch began to walk round +and round the cavern, coming nearer to the centre every circuit; while +the head of the snake described the same path over the roof that she +did over the floor, for she kept holding it up. And still it kept +slowly oscillating. Round and round the cavern they went, ever +lessening the circuit, till at last the snake made a sudden dart, and +clung to the roof with its mouth. + +"That's right, my beauty!" cried the princess; "drain it dry." + +She let it go, left it hanging, and sat down on a great stone, with her +black cat, which had followed her all round the cave, by her side. Then +she began to knit and mutter awful words. The snake hung like a huge +leech, sucking at the stone; the cat stood with his back arched, and +his tail like a piece of cable, looking up at the snake; and the old +woman sat and knitted and muttered. Seven days and seven nights they +remained thus; when suddenly the serpent dropped from the roof as if +exhausted, and shrivelled up till it was again like a piece of dried +seaweed. The witch started to her feet, picked it up, put it in her +pocket, and looked up at the roof. One drop of water was trembling on +the spot where the snake had been sucking. As soon as she saw that, she +turned and fled, followed by her cat. Shutting the door in a terrible +hurry, she locked it, and having muttered some frightful words, sped to +the next, which also she locked and muttered over; and so with all the +hundred doors, till she arrived in her own cellar. There she sat down +on the floor ready to faint, but listening with malicious delight to +the rushing of the water, which she could hear distinctly through all +the hundred doors. + +But this was not enough. Now that she had tasted revenge, she lost her +patience. Without further measures, the lake would be too long in +disappearing. So the next night, with the last shred of the dying old +moon rising, she took some of the water in which she had revived the +snake, put it in a bottle, and set out, accompanied by her cat. Before +morning she had made the entire circuit of the lake, muttering fearful +words as she crossed every stream, and casting into it some of the +water out of her bottle. When she had finished the circuit she muttered +yet again, and flung a handful of water towards the moon. Thereupon +every spring in the country ceased to throb and bubble, dying away like +the pulse of a dying man. The next day there was no sound of falling +water to be heard along the borders of the lake. The very courses were +dry; and the mountains showed no silvery streaks down their dark sides. +And not alone had the fountains of mother Earth ceased to flow; for all +the babies throughout the country were crying dreadfully--only without +tears. + + + + + + +XII. WHERE IS THE PRINCE? + + +Never since the night when the princess left him so abruptly had the +prince had a single interview with her. He had seen her once or twice +in the lake; but as far as he could discover, she had not been in it +any more at night. He had sat and sung, and looked in vain for his +Nereid; while she, like a true Nereid, was wasting away with her lake, +sinking as it sank, withering as it dried. When at length he discovered +the change that was taking place in the level of the water, he was in +great alarm and perplexity. He could not tell whether the lake was +dying because the lady had forsaken it; or whether the lady would not +come because the lake had begun to sink. But he resolved to know so +much at least. + +He disguised himself, and, going to the palace, requested to see the +lord chamberlain. His appearance at once gained his request; and the +lord chamberlain, being a man of some insight, perceived that there was +more in the prince's solicitation than met the ear. He felt likewise +that no one could tell whence a solution of the present difficulties +might arise. So he granted the prince's prayer to be made shoe-black to +the princess. It was rather cunning in the prince to request such an +easy post, for the princess could not possibly soil as many shoes as +other princesses. He soon learned all that could be learned about the +princess. He went nearly distracted; but after roaming about the lake +for days, and diving in every depth that remained, all that he could do +was to put an extra polish on the dainty pair of boots that was never +called for. + +For the princess kept her room, with the curtains drawn to shut out the +dying lake. But she could not shut it out of her mind for a moment. It +haunted her imagination so that she felt as if the lake were her soul, +drying up within her, first to mud, then to madness and death. She thus +brooded over the change, with all its dreadful accompaniments, till she +was nearly distracted. As for the prince, she had forgotten him. +However much she had enjoyed his company in the water, she did not care +for him without it. But she seemed to have forgotten her father and +mother too. The lake went on sinking. Small slimy spots began to +appear, which glittered steadily amidst the changeful shine of the +water. These grew to broad patches of mud, which widened and spread, +with rocks here and there, and floundering fishes and crawling eels +swarming. The people went everywhere catching these, and looking for +anything that might have dropped from the royal boats. + +At length the lake was all but gone, only a few of the deepest pools +remaining unexhausted. + +It happened one day that a party of youngsters found themselves on the +brink of one of these pools in the very centre of the lake. It was a +rocky basin of considerable depth. Looking in, they saw at the bottom +something that shone yellow in the sun. A little boy jumped in and +dived for it. It was a plate of gold covered with writing. They carried +it to the king. + +On one side of it stood these words:-- + + "Death alone from death can save. + Love is death, and so is brave. + Love can fill the deepest grave. + Love loves on beneath the wave." + +Now this was enigmatical enough to the king and courtiers. But the +reverse of the plate explained it a little. Its writing amounted to +this:-- + +"If the lake should disappear, they must find the hole through which +the water ran. But it would be useless to try to stop it by any +ordinary means. There was but one effectual mode.--The body of a living +man could alone stanch the flow. The man must give himself of his own +will; and the lake must take his life as it filled. Otherwise the +offering would be of no avail. If the nation could not provide one +hero, it was time it should perish." + + + + + + +XIII. HERE I AM. + + +This was a very disheartening revelation to the king--not that he was +unwilling to sacrifice a subject, but that he was hopeless of finding a +man willing to sacrifice himself. No time was to be lost, however, for +the princess was lying motionless on her bed, and taking no nourishment +but lake-water, which was now none of the best. Therefore the king +caused the contents of the wonderful plate of gold to be published +throughout the country. + +No one, however, came forward. + +The prince, having gone several days' journey into the forest, to +consult a hermit whom he had met there on his way to Lagobel, knew +nothing of the oracle till his return. + +When he had acquainted himself with all the particulars, he sat down +and thought,-- + +"She will die if I don't do it, and life would be nothing to me without +her; so I shall lose nothing by doing it. And life will be as pleasant +to her as ever, for she will soon forget me. And there will be so much +more beauty and happiness in the world!--To be sure, I shall not see +it." (Here the poor prince gave a sigh.) "How lovely the lake will be +in the moonlight, with that glorious creature sporting in it like a +wild goddess!--It is rather hard to be drowned by inches, though. Let +me see--that will be seventy inches of me to drown." (Here he tried to +laugh, but could not.) "The longer the better, however," he resumed, +"for can I not bargain that the princess shall be beside me all the +time? So I shall see her once more, kiss her, perhaps,--who knows? and +die looking in her eyes. It will be no death. At least, I shall not +feel it. And to see the lake filling for the beauty again!--All right! +I am ready." + +He kissed the princess's boot, laid it down, and hurried to the king's +apartment. But feeling, as he went, that anything sentimental would be +disagreeable, he resolved to carry off the whole affair with +nonchalance. So he knocked at the door of the king's counting-house, +where it was all but a capital crime to disturb him. + +When the king heard the knock he started up, and opened the door in a +rage. Seeing only the shoeblack, he drew his sword. This, I am sorry to +say, was his usual mode of asserting his regality, when he thought his +dignity was in danger. But the prince was not in the least alarmed. + +"Please your majesty, I'm your butler," said he. + +"My butler! you lying rascal? What do you mean?" + +"I mean, I will cork your big bottle." + +"Is the fellow mad?" bawled the king, raising the point of his sword. + +"I will put a stopper--plug--what you call it, in your leaky lake, +grand monarch," said the prince. + +The king was in such a rage that before he could speak he had time to +cool, and to reflect that it would be great waste to kill the only man +who was willing to be useful in the present emergency, seeing that in +the end the insolent fellow would be as dead as if he had died by his +majesty's own hand. "Oh!" said he at last, putting up his sword with +difficulty, it was so long; "I am obliged to you, you young fool! Take +a glass of wine?" + +"No, thank you," replied the prince. + +"Very well," said the king. "Would you like to run and see your parents +before you make your experiment?" + +"No, thank you," said the prince. + +"Then we will go and look for the hole at once," said his majesty, and +proceeded to call some attendants. + +"Stop, please your majesty; I have a condition to make," interposed the +prince. + +"What!" exclaimed the king, "a condition! and with me! How dare you?" + +"As you please," returned the prince coolly. "I wish your majesty a +good morning." + +"You wretch! I will have you put in a sack, and stuck in the hole." + +"Very well, your majesty," replied the prince, becoming a little more +respectful, lest the wrath of the king should deprive him of the +pleasure of dying for the princess. "But what good will that do your +majesty? Please to remember that the oracle says the victim must offer +himself." + +"Well, you _have_ offered yourself," retorted the king. + +"Yes, upon one condition." + +"Condition again!" roared the king, once more drawing his sword. +"Begone! Somebody else will be glad enough to take the honour off your +shoulders." + +"Your majesty knows it will not be easy to get another to take my +place." + +"Well, what is your condition?" growled the king, feeling that the +prince was right. + +"Only this," replied the prince: "that, as I must on no account die +before I am fairly drowned, and the waiting will be rather wearisome, +the princess, your daughter, shall go with me, feed me with her own +hands, and look at me now and then, to comfort me; for you must confess +it _is_ rather hard. As soon as the water is up to my eyes, she may go +and be happy, and forget her poor shoeblack." + +Here the prince's voice faltered, and he very nearly grew sentimental, +in spite of his resolution. + +"Why didn't you tell me before what your condition was? Such a fuss +about nothing!" exclaimed the king. + +"Do you grant it?" persisted the prince. + +"Of course I do," replied the king. + +"Very well. I am ready." + +"Go and have some dinner, then, while I set my people to find the +place." + +The king ordered out his guards, and gave directions to the officers to +find the hole in the lake at once. So the bed of the lake was marked +out in divisions and thoroughly examined, and in an hour or so the hole +was discovered. It was in the middle of a stone, near the centre of the +lake, in the very pool where the golden plate had been found. It was a +three-cornered hole of no great size. There was water all round the +stone, but very little was flowing through the hole. + + + + + + +XIV. THIS IS VERY KIND OF YOU. + + +The prince went to dress for the occasion, for he was resolved to die +like a prince. + +When the princess heard that a man had offered to die for her, she was +so transported that she jumped off the bed, feeble as she was, and +danced about the room for joy. She did not care who the man was; that +was nothing to her. The hole wanted stopping; and if only a man would +do, why, take one. In an hour or two more everything was ready. Her +maid dressed her in haste, and they carried her to the side of the +lake. When she saw it she shrieked, and covered her face with her +hands. They bore her across to the stone, where they had already placed +a little boat for her. The water was not deep enough to float it, but +they hoped it would be, before long. They laid her on cushions, placed +in the boat wines and fruits and other nice things, and stretched a +canopy over all. + +In a few minutes the prince appeared. The princess recognized him at +once, but did not think it worth while to acknowledge him. + +"Here I am," said the prince. "Put me in." + +"They told me it was a shoeblack," said the princess. + +"So I am," said the prince. "I blacked your little boots three times a +day, because they were all I could get of you. Put me in." + +The courtiers did not resent his bluntness, except by saying to each +other that he was taking it out in impudence. + +But how was he to be put in? The golden plate contained no instructions +on this point. The prince looked at the hole, and saw but one way. He +put both his legs into it, sitting on the stone, and, stooping forward, +covered the corner that remained open with his two hands. In this +uncomfortable position he resolved to abide his fate, and turning to +the people, said,-- + +"Now you can go." + +The king had already gone home to dinner. + +"Now you can go," repeated the princess after him, like a parrot. + +The people obeyed her and went. + +Presently a little wave flowed over the stone, and wetted one of the +prince's knees. But he did not mind it much. He began to sing, and the +song he sung was this:-- + + "As a world that has no well, + Darkly bright in forest dell; + As a world without the gleam + Of the downward-going stream; + As a world without the glance + Of the ocean's fair expanse; + As a world where never rain + Glittered on the sunny plain;-- + Such, my heart, thy world would be, + If no love did flow in thee. + + "As a world without the sound + Of the rivulets underground; + Or the bubbling of the spring + Out of darkness wandering; + Or the mighty rush and flowing + Of the river's downward going; + Or the music-showers that drop + On the outspread beech's top; + Or the ocean's mighty voice, + When his lifted waves rejoice;-- + Such, my soul, thy world would be, + If no love did sing in thee. + + "Lady, keep thy world's delight; + Keep the waters in thy sight. + Love hath made me strong to go, + For thy sake, to realms below, + Where the water's shine and hum + Through the darkness never come: + Let, I pray, one thought of me + Spring, a little well, in thee; + Lest thy loveless soul be found + Like a dry and thirsty ground." + +"Sing again, prince. It makes it less tedious," said the princess. + +But the prince was too much overcome to sing any more, and a long pause +followed. + +"This is very kind of you, prince," said the princess at last, quite +coolly, as she lay in the boat with her eyes shut. + +"I am sorry I can't return the compliment," thought the prince; "but +you are worth dying for, after all." + +Again a wavelet, and another, and another flowed over the stone, and +wetted both the prince's knees; but he did not speak or move. +Two--three--four hours passed in this way, the princess apparently +asleep, and the prince very patient. But he was much disappointed in +his position, for he had none of the consolation he had hoped for. + +At last he could bear it no longer. + +"Princess!" said he. + +But at the moment up started the princess, crying,-- + +"I'm afloat! I'm afloat!" + +And the little boat bumped against the stone. + +"Princess!" repeated the prince, encouraged by seeing her wide awake +and looking eagerly at the water. + +"Well?" said she, without looking round. + +"Your papa promised that you should look at me, and you haven't looked +at me once." + +"Did he? Then I suppose I must. But I am so sleepy!" + +"Sleep then, darling, and don't mind me," said the poor prince. + +"Really, you are very good," replied the princess. "I think I will go +to sleep again." + +"Just give me a glass of wine and a biscuit first," said the prince, +very humbly. + +"With all my heart," said the princess, and gaped as she said it. + +She got the wine and the biscuit, however, and leaning over the side of +the boat towards him, was compelled to look at him. + +"Why, prince," she said, "you don't look well! Are you sure you don't +mind it?" + +"Not a bit," answered he, feeling very faint in deed. "Only I shall die +before it is of any use to you, unless I have something to eat." + +"There, then," said she, holding out the wine to him. + +"Ah! you must feed me. I dare not move my hands. The water would run +away directly." + +"Good gracious!" said the princess; and she began at once to feed him +with bits of biscuit and sips of wine. + +As she fed him, he contrived to kiss the tips of her fingers now and +then. She did not seem to mind it, one way or the other. But the prince +felt better. + +"Now for your own sake, princess," said he, "I cannot let you go to +sleep. You must sit and look at me, else I shall not be able to keep +up." + +"Well, I will do anything I can to oblige you," answered she, with +condescension; and, sitting down, she did look at him, and kept looking +at him with wonderful steadiness, considering all things. + +The sun went down, and the moon rose, and, gush after gush, the waters +were rising up the prince's body. They were up to his waist now. + +"Why can't we go and have a swim?" said the princess. "There seems to +be water enough just about here." + +"I shall never swim more," said the prince. + +"Oh, I forgot," said the princess, and was silent. + +So the water grew and grew, and rose up and up on the prince. And the +princess sat and looked at him. She fed him now and then. The night +wore on. The waters rose and rose. The moon rose likewise higher and +higher, and shone full on the face of the dying prince. The water was +up to his neck. + +"Will you kiss me, princess?" said he, feebly. The nonchalance was all +gone now. + +"Yes, I will," answered the princess, and kissed him with a long, +sweet, cold kiss. + +"Now," said he, with a sigh of content, "I die happy." + +He did not speak again. The princess gave him some wine for the last +time: he was past eating. Then she sat down again, and looked at him. +The water rose and rose. It touched his chin. It touched his lower lip. +It touched between his lips. He shut them hard to keep it out. The +princess began to feel strange. It touched his upper lip. He breathed +through his nostrils. The princess looked wild. It covered his +nostrils. Her eyes looked scared, and shone strange in the moonlight. +His head fell back; the water closed over it, and the bubbles of his +last breath bubbled up through the water. The princess gave a shriek, +and sprang into the lake. + +She laid hold first of one leg, and then of the other, and pulled and +tugged, but she could not move either. She stopped to take breath, and +that made her think that he could not get any breath. She was frantic. +She got hold of him, and held his head above the water, which was +possible now his hands were no longer on the hole. But it was of no +use, for he was past breathing. + +Love and water brought back all her strength. She got under the water, +and pulled and pulled with her whole might, till at last she got one +leg out. The other easily followed. How she got him into the boat she +never could tell; but when she did, she fainted away. Coming to +herself, she seized the oars, kept herself steady as best she could, +and rowed and rowed, though she had never rowed before. Round rocks, +and over shallows, and through mud she rowed, till she got to the +landing-stairs of the palace. By this time her people were on the +shore, for they had heard her shriek. She made them carry the prince to +her own room, and lay him in her bed, and light a fire, and send for +the doctors. + +"But the lake, your highness!" said the chamberlain, who, roused by the +noise, came in, in his nightcap. + +"Go and drown yourself in it!" she said. + +This was the last rudeness of which the princess was ever guilty; and +one must allow that she had good cause to feel provoked with the lord +chamberlain. + +Had it been the king himself, he would have fared no better. But both +he and the queen were fast asleep. And the chamberlain went back to his +bed. Somehow, the doctors never came. So the princess and her old nurse +were left with the prince. But the old nurse was a wise woman, and knew +what to do. + +They tried everything for a long time without success. The princess was +nearly distracted between hope and fear, but she tried on and on, one +thing after another, and everything over and over again. + +At last, when they had all but given it up, just as the sun rose, the +prince opened his eyes. + + + + + + +XV. LOOK AT THE RAIN! + + +The princess burst into a passion of tears, and _fell_ on the floor. +There she lay for an hour and her tears never ceased. All the pent-up +crying of her life was spent now. And a rain came on, such as had never +been seen in that country. The sun shone all the time, and the great +drops, which fell straight to the earth, shone likewise. The palace was +in the heart of a rainbow. It was a rain of rubies, and sapphires, and +emeralds, and topazes. The torrents poured from the mountains like +molten gold; and if it had not been for its subterraneous outlet, the +lake would have overflowed and inundated the country. It was full from +shore to shore. + +But the princess did not heed the lake. She lay on the floor and wept. +And this rain within doors was far more wonderful than the rain out of +doors. For when it abated a little, and she proceeded to rise, she +found, to her astonishment, that she could not. At length, after many +efforts, she succeeded in getting upon her feet. But she tumbled down +again directly. Hearing her fall, her old nurse uttered a yell of +delight, and ran to her, screaming,-- + +"My darling child! she's found her gravity!" + +"Oh, that's it! is it?" said the princess, rubbing her shoulder and her +knee alternately. "I consider it very unpleasant. I feel as if I should +be crushed to pieces." + +"Hurrah!" cried the prince from the bed. "If you've come round, +princess, so have I. How's the lake?" + +"Brimful," answered the nurse. + +"Then we're all happy." + +"That we are indeed!" answered the princess, sobbing. + +And there was rejoicing all over the country that rainy day. Even the +babies forgot their past troubles, and danced and crowed amazingly. And +the king told stories, and the queen listened to them. And he divided +the money in his box, and she the honey in her pot, to all the +children. And there was such jubilation as was never heard of before. + +Of course the prince and princess were betrothed at once. But the +princess had to learn to walk, before they could be married with any +propriety. And this was not so easy at her time of life, for she could +walk no more than a baby. She was always falling down and hurting +herself. + +"Is this the gravity you used to make so much of?" said she one day to +the prince, as he raised her from the floor. "For my part, I was a +great deal more comfortable without it." + +"No, no, that's not it. This is it," replied the prince, as he took her +up, and carried her about like a baby, kissing her all the time. "This +is gravity." + +"That's better," said she. "I don't mind that so much." + +And she smiled the sweetest, loveliest smile in the prince's face. And +she gave him one little kiss in return for all his; and he thought them +overpaid, for he was beside himself with delight. I fear she complained +of her gravity more than once after this, notwithstanding. + +It was a long time before she got reconciled to walking. But the pain +of learning it was quite counterbalanced by two things, either of which +would have been sufficient consolation. The first was, that the prince +himself was her teacher; and the second, that she could tumble into the +lake as often as she pleased. Still, she preferred to have the prince +jump in with her; and the splash they made before was nothing to the +splash they made now. + +The lake never sank again. In process of time, it wore the roof of the +cavern quite through, and was twice as deep as before. + +The only revenge the princess took upon her aunt was to tread pretty +hard on her gouty toe the next time she saw her. But she was sorry for +it the very next day, when she heard that the water had undermined her +house, and that it had fallen in the night, burying her in its ruins; +whence no one ever ventured to dig up her body. There she lies to this +day. + +So the prince and princess lived and were happy; and had crowns of +gold, and clothes of cloth, and shoes of leather, and children of boys +and girls, not one of whom was ever known, on the most critical +occasion, to lose the smallest atom of his or her due proportion of +gravity. + + + + + + +THE GIANT'S HEART. + + + + + + +There was once a giant who lived on the borders of Giantland where it +touched on the country of common people. + +Everything in Giantland was so big that the common people saw only a +mass of awful mountains and clouds; and no living man had ever come +from it, as far as anybody knew, to tell what he had seen in it. + +Somewhere near these borders, on the other side, by the edge of a great +forest, lived a labourer with his wife and a great many children. One +day Tricksey-Wee, as they called her, teased her brother Buffy-Bob, +till he could not bear it any longer, and gave her a box on the ear. +Tricksey-Wee cried; and Buffy-Bob was so sorry and so ashamed of +himself that he cried too, and ran off into the wood. He was so long +gone that Tricksey-Wee began to be frightened, for she was very fond of +her brother; and she was so distressed that she had first teased him +and then cried, that at last she ran into the wood to look for him, +though there was more chance of losing herself than of finding him. +And, indeed, so it seemed likely to turn out; for, running on without +looking, she at length found herself in a valley she knew nothing +about. And no wonder; for what she thought was a valley with round, +rocky sides, was no other than the space between two of the roots of a +great tree that grew on the borders of Giantland. She climbed over the +side of it, and went towards what she took for a black, round-topped +mountain, far away; but which she soon discovered to be close to her, +and to be a hollow place so great that she could not tell what it was +hollowed out of. Staring at it, she found that it was a doorway; and +going nearer and staring harder, she saw the door, far in, with a +knocker of iron upon it, a great many yards above her head, and as +large as the anchor of a big ship. Now, nobody had ever been unkind to +Tricksey-Wee, and therefore she was not afraid of anybody. For +Buffy-Bob's box on the ear she did not think worth considering. So +spying a little hole at the bottom of the door which had been nibbled +by some giant mouse, she crept through it, and found herself in an +enormous hall. She could not have seen the other end of it at all, +except for the great fire that was burning there, diminished to a spark +in the distance. Towards this fire she ran as fast as she could, and +was not far from it when something fell before her with a great +clatter, over which she tumbled, and went rolling on the floor. She was +not much hurt however, and got up in a moment. Then she saw that what +she had fallen over was not unlike a great iron bucket. When she +examined it more closely, she discovered that it was a thimble; and +looking up to see who had dropped it, beheld a huge face, with +spectacles as big as the round windows in a church, bending over her, +and looking everywhere for the thimble. Tricksey-Wee immediately laid +hold of it in both her arms, and lifted it about an inch nearer to the +nose of the peering giantess. This movement made the old lady see where +it was, and, her finger popping into it, it vanished from the eyes of +Tricksey-Wee, buried in the folds of a white stocking like a cloud in +the sky, which Mrs. Giant was busy darning. For it was Saturday night, +and her husband would wear nothing but white stockings on Sunday. To be +sure he did eat little children, but only _very_ little ones; and if +ever it crossed his mind that it was wrong to do so, he always said to +himself that he wore whiter stockings on Sunday than any other giant in +all Giantland. + +At the same instant Tricksey-Wee heard a sound like the wind in a tree +full of leaves, and could not think what it could be; till, looking up, +she found that it was the giantess whispering to her; and when she +tried very hard she could hear what she said well enough. + +"Run away, dear little girl," she said, "as fast as you can; for my +husband will be home in a few minutes." + +"But I've never been naughty to your husband," said Tricksey-Wee, +looking up in the giantess's face. + +"That doesn't matter. You had better go. He is fond of little children, +particularly little girls." + +"Oh, then he won't hurt me." + +"I am not sure of that. He is so fond of them that he eats them up; and +I am afraid he couldn't help hurting you a little. He's a very good man +though." + +"Oh! then--" began Tricksey-Wee, feeling rather frightened; but before +she could finish her sentence she heard the sound of footsteps very far +apart and very heavy. The next moment, who should come running towards +her, full speed, and as pale as death, but Buffy-Bob. She held out her +arms, and he ran into them. But when she tried to kiss him, she only +kissed the back of his head; for his white face and round eyes were +turned to the door. + +"Run, children; run and hide!" said the giantess. + +"Come, Buffy," said Tricksey; "yonder's a great brake; we'll hide in +it." + +The brake was a big broom; and they had just got into the bristles of +it when they heard the door open with a sound of thunder, and in +stalked the giant. You would have thought you saw the whole earth +through the door when he opened it, so wide was it; and when he closed +it, it was like nightfall. + +"Where is that little boy?" he cried, with a voice like the bellowing +of a cannon. "He looked a very nice boy indeed. I am almost sure he +crept through the mousehole at the bottom of the door. Where is he, my +dear?" + +"I don't know," answered the giantess. + +"But you know it is wicked to tell lies; don't you, my dear?" retorted +the giant. + +"Now, you ridiculous old Thunderthump!" said his wife, with a smile as +broad as the sea in the sun, "how can I mend your white stockings and +look after little boys? You have got plenty to last you over Sunday, I +am sure. Just look what good little boys they are!" + +Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob peered through the bristles, and discovered +a row of little boys, about a dozen, with very fat faces and goggle +eyes, sitting before the fire, and looking stupidly into it. +Thunderthump intended the most of these for pickling, and was feeding +them well before salting them. Now and then, however, he could not keep +his teeth off them, and would eat one by the bye, without salt. + +He strode up to the wretched children. Now, what made them very +wretched indeed was, that they knew if they could only keep from +eating, and grow thin, the giant would dislike them, and turn them out +to find their way home; but notwithstanding this, so greedy were they, +that they ate as much as ever they could hold. The giantess, who fed +them, comforted herself with thinking that they were not real boys and +girls, but only little pigs pretending to be boys and girls. + +"Now tell me the truth," cried the giant, bending his face down over +them. They shook with terror, and every one hoped it was somebody else +the giant liked best. "Where is the little boy that ran into the hall +just now? Whoever tells me a lie shall be instantly boiled." + +"He's in the broom," cried one dough-faced boy. "He's in there, and a +little girl with him." + +"The naughty children," cried the giant, "to hide from _me_!" And he +made a stride towards the broom. + +"Catch hold of the bristles, Bobby. Get right into a tuft, and hold +on," cried Tricksey-Wee, just in time. + +The giant caught up the broom, and seeing nothing under it, set it down +again with a force that threw them both on the floor. He then made two +strides to the boys, caught the dough-faced one by the neck, took the +lid off a great pot that was boiling on the fire, popped him in as if +he had been a trussed chicken, put the lid on again, and saying, +"There, boys! See what comes of lying!" asked no more questions; for, +as he always kept his word, he was afraid he might have to do the same +to them all; and he did not like boiled boys. He like to eat them +crisp, as radishes, whether forked or not, ought to be eaten. He then +sat down, and asked his wife if his supper was ready. She looked into +the pot, and throwing the boy out with the ladle, as if he had been a +black beetle that had tumbled in and had had the worst of it, answered +that she thought it was. Whereupon he rose to help her; and taking the +pot from the fire, poured the whole contents, bubbling and splashing, +into a dish like a vat. Then they sat down to supper. The children in +the broom could not see what they had; but it seemed to agree with +them, for the giant talked like thunder, and the giantess answered like +the sea, and they grew chattier and chattier. At length the giant +said,-- + +"I don't feel quite comfortable about that heart of mine." And as he +spoke, instead of laying his hand on his bosom, he waved it away +towards the corner where the children were peeping from the +broom-bristles, like frightened little mice. + +"Well, you know, my darling Thunderthump," answered his wife, "I always +thought it ought to be nearer home. But you know best, of course." + +"Ha! ha! You don't know where it is, wife. I moved it a month ago." + +"What a man you are, Thunderthump! You trust any creature alive rather +than your wife." + +Here the giantess gave a sob which sounded exactly like a wave going +flop into the mouth of a cave up to the roof. + +"Where have you got it now?" she resumed, checking her emotion. + +"Well, Doodlem, I don't mind telling _you_," answered the giant, +soothingly. "The great she-eagle has got it for a nest egg. She sits on +it night and day, and thinks she will bring the greatest eagle out of +it that ever sharpened his beak on the rocks of Mount Skycrack. I can +warrant no one else will touch it while she has got it. But she is +rather capricious, and I confess I am not easy about it; for the least +scratch of one of her claws would do for me at once. And she +_has_ claws." + +I refer anyone who doubts this part of my story to certain chronicles +of Giantland preserved among the Celtic nations. It was quite a common +thing for a giant to put his heart out to nurse, because he did not +like the trouble and responsibility of doing it himself; although I +must confess it was a dangerous sort of plan to take, especially with +such a delicate viscus as the heart. + +All this time Buffy-Bob and Tricksey-Wee were listening with long ears. + +"Oh!" thought Tricksey-Wee, "if I could but find the giant's cruel +heart, wouldn't I give it a squeeze!" + +The giant and giantess went on talking for a long time. The giantess +kept advising the giant to hide his heart somewhere in the house; but +he seemed afraid of the advantage it would give her over him. + +"You could hide it at the bottom of the flour-barrel," said she. + +"That would make me feel chokey," answered he. + +"Well, in the coal-cellar. Or in the dust-hole--that's the place! No +one would think of looking for your heart in the dust-hole." + +"Worse and worse!" cried the giant. + +"Well, the water-butt," suggested she. + +"No, no; it would grow spongy there," said he. + +"Well, what _will_ you do with it?" + +"I will leave it a month longer where it is, and then I will give it to +the Queen of the Kangaroos, and she will carry it in her pouch for me. +It is best to change its place, you know, lest my enemies should scent +it out. But, dear Doodlem, it's a fretting care to have a heart of +one's own to look after. The responsibility is too much for me. If it +were not for a bite of a radish now and then, I never could bear it." + +Here the giant looked lovingly towards the row of little boys by the +fire, all of whom were nodding, or asleep on the floor. + +"Why don't you trust it to me, dear Thunderthump?" said his wife. "I +would take the best possible care of it." + +"I don't doubt it, my love. But the responsibility would be too much +for _you_. You would no longer be my darling, light-hearted, airy, +laughing Doodlem. It would transform you into a heavy, oppressed woman, +weary of life--as I am." + +The giant closed his eyes and pretended to go to sleep. His wife got +his stockings, and went on with her darning. Soon the giant's pretence +became reality, and the giantess began to nod over her work. + +"Now, Buffy," whispered Tricksey-Wee, "now's our time. I think it's +moonlight, and we had better be off. There's a door with a hole for the +cat just behind us." + +"All right," said Bob; "I'm ready." + +So they got out of the broom-brake and crept to the door. But to their +great disappointment, when they got through it, they found themselves +in a sort of shed. It was full of tubs and things, and, though it was +built of wood only, they could not find a crack. + +"Let us try this hole," said Tricksey; for the giant and giantess were +sleeping behind them, and they dared not go back. + +"All right," said Bob. + +He seldom said anything else than _All right_. + +Now this hole was in a mound that came in through the wall of the shed, +and went along the floor for some distance. They crawled into it, and +found it very dark. But groping their way along, they soon came to a +small crack, through which they saw grass, pale in the moonshine. As +they crept on, they found the hole began to get wider and lead upwards. + +"What is that noise of rushing?" said Buffy-Bob. + +"I can't tell," replied Tricksey; "for, you see, I don't know what we +are in." + +The fact was, they were creeping along a channel in the heart of a +giant tree; and the noise they heard was the noise of the sap rushing +along in its wooden pipes. When they laid their ears to the wall, they +heard it gurgling along with a pleasant noise. + +"It sounds kind and good," said Tricksey. "It is water running. Now it +must be running from somewhere to somewhere. I think we had better go +on, and we shall come somewhere." + +It was now rather difficult to go on, for they had to climb as if they +were climbing a hill; and now the passage was wide. Nearly worn out, +they saw light overhead at last, and creeping through a crack into the +open air, found themselves on the fork of a huge tree. A great, broad, +uneven space lay around them, out of which spread boughs in every +direction, the smallest of them as big as the biggest tree in the +country of common people. Overhead were leaves enough to supply all the +trees they had ever seen. Not much moonlight could come through, but +the leaves would glimmer white in the wind at times. The tree was full +of giant birds. Every now and then, one would sweep through, with a +great noise. But, except an occasional chirp, sounding like a shrill +pipe in a great organ, they made no noise. All at once an owl began to +hoot. He thought he was singing. As soon as he began, other birds +replied, making rare game of him. To their astonishment, the children +found they could understand every word they sang. And what they sang +was something like this:-- + + "I will sing a song. + I'm the Owl." + "Sing a song, you Sing-song + Ugly fowl! + What will you sing about, + Night in and Day out?" + + "Sing about the night; + I'm the Owl." + "You could not see for the light, + Stupid fowl." + "Oh! the Moon! and the Dew! + And the Shadows!--tu-whoo!" + +The owl spread out his silent, soft, sly wings, and lighting between +Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob, nearly smothered them, closing up one under +each wing. It was like being buried in a down bed. But the owl did not +like anything between his sides and his wings, so he opened his wings +again, and the children made haste to get out. Tricksey-Wee immediately +went in front of the bird, and looking up into his huge face, which was +as round as the eyes of the giantess's spectacles, and much bigger, +dropped a pretty courtesy, and said,--"Please, Mr. Owl, I want to +whisper to you." + +"Very well, small child," answered the owl, looking important, and +stooping his ear towards her. "What is it?" + +"Please tell me where the eagle lives that sits on the giant's heart." + +"Oh, you naughty child! That's a secret. For shame!" + +And with a great hiss that terrified them, the owl flew into the tree. +All birds are fond of secrets; but not many of them can keep them so +well as the owl. + +So the children went on because they did not know what else to do. They +found the way very rough and difficult, the tree was so full of humps +and hollows. Now and then they plashed into a pool of rain; now and +then they came upon twigs growing out of the trunk where they had no +business, and they were as large as full-grown poplars. Sometimes they +came upon great cushions of soft moss, and on one of them they lay down +and rested. But they had not lain long before they spied a large +nightingale sitting on a branch, with its bright eyes looking up at the +moon. In a moment more he began to sing, and the birds about him began +to reply, but in a different tone from that in which they had replied +to the owl. Oh, the birds did call the nightingale such pretty names! +The nightingale sang, and the birds replied like this:-- + + "I will sing a song. + I'm the nightingale." + "Sing a song, long, long, + Little Neverfail! + What will you sing about, + Light in or light out?" + + "Sing about the light + Gone away; + Down, away, and out of sight-- + Poor lost Day! + Mourning for the Day dead, + O'er his dim bed." + +The nightingale sang so sweetly, that the children would have fallen +asleep but for fear of losing any of the song. When the nightingale +stopped they got up and wandered on. They did not know where they were +going, but they thought it best to keep going on, because then they +might come upon something or other. They were very sorry they had +forgotten to ask the nightingale about the eagle's nest, but his music +had put everything else out of their heads. They resolved, however, not +to forget the next time they had a chance. So they went on and on, till +they were both tired, and Tricksey-Wee said at last, trying to laugh,-- + +"I declare my legs feel just like a Dutch doll's." + +"Then here's the place to go to bed in," said Buffy-Bob. + +They stood at the edge of a last year's nest, and looked down with +delight into the round, mossy cave. Then they crept gently in, and, +lying down in each other's arms, found it so deep, and warm, and +comfortable, and soft, that they were soon fast asleep. + +Now, close beside them, in a hollow, was another nest, in which lay a +lark and his wife; and the children were awakened, very early in the +morning, by a dispute between Mr. and Mrs. Lark. + +"Let me up," said the lark. + +"It is not time," said the lark's wife. + +"It is," said the lark, rather rudely. "The darkness is quite thin. I +can almost see my own beak." + +"Nonsense!" said the lark's wife. "You know you came home yesterday +morning quite worn out--you had to fly so very high before you saw him. +I am sure he would not mind if you took it a little easier. Do be quiet +and go to sleep again." + +"That's not it at all," said the lark. "He doesn't want me. I want him. +Let me up, I say." + +He began to sing; and Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob, having now learned +the way, answered him:-- + + "I will sing a song. + I'm the Lark." + "Sing, sing, Throat-strong, + Little Kill-the-dark. + What will you sing about, + Now the night is out?" + + "I can only call; + I can't think. + Let me up--that's all. + Let me drink! + Thirsting all the long night + For a drink of light." + +By this time the lark was standing on the edge of his nest and looking +at the children. + +"Poor little things! You can't fly," said the lark. + +"No; but we can look up," said Tricksey. + +"Ah, you don't know what it is to see the very first of the sun." + +"But we know what it is to wait till he comes. He's no worse for your +seeing him first, is he?" + +"Oh no, certainly not," answered the lark, with condescension, and +then, bursting into his _Jubilate_, he sprang aloft, clapping his wings +like a clock running down. + +"Tell us where--" began Buffy-Bob. + +But the lark was out of sight. His song was all that was left of him. +That was everywhere, and he was nowhere. + +"Selfish bird!" said Buffy. "It's all very well for larks to go hunting +the sun, but they have no business to despise their neighbours, for all +that." + +"Can I be of any use to you?" said a sweet bird-voice out of the nest. + +This was the lark's wife, who stayed at home with the young larks while +her husband went to church. + +"Oh! thank you. If you please," answered Tricksey-Wee. + +And up popped a pretty brown head; and then up came a brown feathery +body; and last of all came the slender legs on to the edge of the nest. +There she turned, and, looking down into the nest, from which came a +whole litany of chirpings for breakfast, said, "Lie still, little +ones." Then she turned to the children. + +"My husband is King of the Larks," she said. + +Buffy-Bob took off his cap, and Tricksey-Wee courtesied very low. + +"Oh, it's not me," said the bird, looking very shy. "I am only his +wife. It's my husband." And she looked up after him into the sky, +whence his song was still falling like a shower of musical hailstones. +Perhaps _she_ could see him. + +"He's a splendid bird," said Buffy-Bob; "only you know he _will_ get up +a little too early." + +"Oh, no! he doesn't. It's only his way, you know. But tell me what I +can do for you." + +"Tell us, please, Lady Lark, where the she-eagle lives that sits on +Giant Thunderthump's heart." + +"Oh! that is a secret." + +"Did you promise not to tell?" + +"No; but larks ought to be discreet. They see more than other birds." + +"But you don't fly up high like your husband, do you?" + +"Not often. But it's no matter. I come to know things for all that." + +"Do tell me, and I will sing you a song," said Tricksey-Wee. + +"Can you sing too?--You have got no wings!" + +"Yes. And I will sing you a song I learned the other day about a lark +and his wife." + +"Please do," said the lark's wife. "Be quiet, children, and listen." + +Tricksey-Wee was very glad she happened to know a song which would +please the lark's wife, at least, whatever the lark himself might have +thought of it, if he had heard it. So she sang,-- + + "'Good morrow, my lord!' in the sky alone, + Sang the lark, as the sun ascended his throne. + 'Shine on me, my lord; I only am come, + Of all your servants, to welcome you home. + I have flown a whole hour, right up, I swear, + To catch the first shine of your golden hair!' + + "'Must I thank you, then,' said the king, 'Sir Lark, + For flying so high, and hating the dark? + You ask a full cup for half a thirst: + Half is love of me, and half love to be first. + There's many a bird that makes no haste, + But waits till I come. That's as much to my taste. + + "And the king hid his head in a turban of cloud; + And the lark stopped singing, quite vexed and cowed. + But he flew up higher, and thought, 'Anon, + The wrath of the king will be over and gone, + And his crown, shining out of its cloudy fold, + Will change my brown feathers to a glory of gold.' + + "So he flew, with the strength of a lark he flew. + But as he rose, the cloud rose too; + And not a gleam of the golden hair + Came through the depth of the misty air; + Till, weary with flying, with sighing sore, + The strong sun-seeker could do no more. + + "His wings had had no chrism of gold, + And his feathers felt withered and worn and old; + So he quivered and sank, and dropped like a stone. + And there on his nest, where he left her, alone, + Sat his little wife on her little eggs, + Keeping them warm with wings and legs. + + "Did I say alone? Ah, no such thing! + Full in her face was shining the king. + 'Welcome, Sir Lark! You look tired,' said he. + '_Up_ is not always the best way to me. + While you have been singing so high and away, + I've been shining to your little wife all day.' + + "He had set his crown all about the nest, + And out of the midst shone her little brown breast; + And so glorious was she in russet gold, + That for wonder and awe Sir Lark grew cold. + He popped his head under her wing, and lay + As still as a stone, till the king was away." + +As soon as Tricksey-Wee had finished her song, the lark's wife began a +low, sweet, modest little song of her own; and after she had piped away +for two or three minutes, she said,-- + +"You dear children, what can I do for you?" + +"Tell us where the she-eagle lives, please," said Tricksey-Wee. + +"Well, I don't think there can be much harm in telling such wise, good +children," said Lady Lark; "I am sure you don't want to do any +mischief." + +"Oh, no; quite the contrary," said Buffy-Bob. + +"Then I'll tell you. She lives on the very topmost peak of Mount +Skycrack; and the only way to get up is to climb on the spiders' webs +that cover it from top to bottom." + +"That's rather serious," said Tricksey-Wee. + +"But you don't want to go up, you foolish little thing! You can't go. +And what do you want to go up for?" + +"That is a secret," said Tricksey-Wee. + +"Well, it's no business of mine," rejoined Lady Lark, a little +offended, and quite vexed that she had told them. So she flew away to +find some breakfast for her little ones, who by this time were chirping +very impatiently. The children looked at each other, joined hands, and +walked off. + +In a minute more the sun was up, and they soon reached the outside of +the tree. The bark was so knobby and rough, and full of twigs, that +they managed to get down, though not without great difficulty. Then, +far away to the north, they saw a huge peak, like the spire of a +church, going right up into the sky. They thought this must be Mount +Skycrack, and turned their faces towards it. As they went on, they saw +a giant or two, now and then, striding about the fields or through the +woods, but they kept out of their way. Nor were they in much danger; +for it was only one or two of the border giants that were so very fond +of children. + +At last they came to the foot of Mount Skycrack. It stood in a plain +alone, and shot right up, I don't know how many thousand feet, into the +air, a long, narrow, spearlike mountain. The whole face of it, from top +to bottom, was covered with a network of spiders' webs, with threads of +various sizes, from that of silk to that of whipcord. The webs shook +and quivered, and waved in the sun, glittering like silver. All about +ran huge greedy spiders, catching huge silly flies, and devouring them. + +Here they sat down to consider what could be done. The spiders did not +heed them, but ate away at the flies.--Now, at the foot of the +mountain, and all round it, was a ring of water, not very broad, but +very deep. As they sat watching them, one of the spiders, whose web was +woven across this water, somehow or other lost his hold, and fell in on +his back. Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob ran to his assistance, and laying +hold each of one of his legs, succeeded, with the help of the other +legs, which struggled spiderfully, in getting him out upon dry land. As +soon as he had shaken himself, and dried himself a little, the spider +turned to the children, saying,-- + +"And now, what can I do for you?" + +"Tell us, please," said they, "how we can get up the mountain to the +she-eagle's nest." + +"Nothing is easier," answered the spider. "Just run up there, and tell +them all I sent you, and nobody will mind you." + +"But we haven't got claws like you, Mr. Spider," said Buffy. + +"Ah! no more you have, poor unprovided creatures! Still, I think we can +manage it. Come home with me." + +"You won't eat us, will you?" said Buffy. + +"My dear child," answered the spider, in a tone of injured dignity, "I +eat nothing but what is mischievous or useless. You have helped me, and +now I will help you." + +The children rose at once, and climbing as well as they could, reached +the spider's nest in the centre of the web. Nor did they find it very +difficult; for whenever too great a gap came, the spider spinning a +strong cord stretched it just where they would have chosen to put their +feet next. He left them in his nest, after bringing them two enormous +honey-bags, taken from bees that he had caught; but presently about six +of the wisest of the spiders came back with him. It was rather horrible +to look up and see them all round the mouth of the nest, looking down +on them in contemplation, as if wondering whether they would be nice +eating. At length one of them said,--"Tell us truly what you want with +the eagle, and we will try to help you." + +Then Tricksey-Wee told them that there was a giant on the borders who +treated little children no better than radishes, and that they had +narrowly escaped being eaten by him; that they had found out that the +great she-eagle of Mount Skycrack was at present sitting on his heart; +and that, if they could only get hold of the heart, they would soon +teach the giant better behaviour. + +"But," said their host, "if you get at the heart of the giant, you will +find it as large as one of your elephants. What can you do with it?" + +"The least scratch will kill it," replied Buffy-Bob. + +"Ah! but you might do better than that," said the spider.--"Now we have +resolved to help you. Here is a little bag of spider-juice. The giants +cannot bear spiders, and this juice is dreadful poison to them. We are +all ready to go up with you, and drive the eagle away. Then you must +put the heart into this other bag, and bring it down with you; for then +the giant will be in your power." + +"But how can we do that?" said Buffy. "The bag is not much bigger than +a pudding-bag." + +"But it is as large as you will be able to carry." + +"Yes; but what are we to do with the heart?" + +"Put it in the bag, to be sure. Only, first, you must squeeze a drop +out of the other bag upon it. You will see what will happen." + +"Very well; we will do as you tell us," said Tricksey-Wee. "And now, if +you please, how shall we go?" + +"Oh, that's our business," said the first spider. "You come with me, +and my grandfather will take your brother. Get up." + +So Tricksey-Wee mounted on the narrow part of the spider's back, and +held fast. And Buffy-Bob got on the grandfather's back. And up they +scrambled, over one web after another, up and up--so fast! And every +spider followed; so that, when Tricksey-Wee looked back, she saw a +whole army of spiders scrambling after them. + +"What can we want with so many?" she thought; but she said nothing. + +The moon was now up, and it was a splendid sight below and around them. +All Giantland was spread out under them, with its great hills, lakes, +trees, and animals. And all above them was the clear heaven, and Mount +Skycrack rising into it, with its endless ladders of spider-webs, +glittering like cords made of moonbeams. And up the moonbeams went, +crawling, and scrambling, and racing, a huge army of huge spiders. + +At length they reached all but the very summit, where they stopped. +Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob could see above them a great globe of +feathers, that finished off the mountain like an ornamental knob. + +"But how shall we drive her off?" said Buffy. + +"We'll soon manage that," answered the grandfather-spider. "Come on +you, down there." + +Up rushed the whole army, past the children, over the edge of the nest, +on to the she-eagle, and buried themselves in her feathers. In a moment +she became very restless, and went pecking about with her beak. All at +once she spread out her wings, with a sound like a whirlwind, and flew +off to bathe in the sea; and then the spiders began to drop from her in +all directions on their gossamer wings. The children had to hold fast +to keep the wind of the eagle's flight from blowing them off. As soon +as it was over, they looked into the nest, and there lay the giant's +heart--an awful and ugly thing. + +"Make haste, child!" said Tricksey's spider. + +So Tricksey took her bag, and squeezed a drop out of it upon the heart. +She thought she heard the giant give a far-off roar of pain, and she +nearly fell from her seat with terror. The heart instantly began to +shrink. It shrunk and shrivelled till it was nearly gone; and Buffy-Bob +caught it up and put it into his bag. Then the two spiders turned and +went down again as fast as they could. Before they got to the bottom, +they heard the shrieks of the she-eagle over the loss of her egg; but +the spiders told them not to be alarmed, for her eyes were too big to +see them.--By the time they reached the foot of the mountain, all the +spiders had got home, and were busy again catching flies, as if nothing +had happened. + +After renewed thanks to their friends, the children set off, carrying +the giant's heart with them. + +"If you should find it at all troublesome, just give it a little more +spider-juice directly," said the grandfather, as they took their leave. + +Now, the giant had given an awful roar of pain the moment they anointed +his heart, and had fallen down in a fit, in which he lay so long that +all the boys might have escaped if they had not been so fat. One did, +and got home in safety. For days the giant was unable to speak. The +first words he uttered were,-- + +"Oh, my heart! my heart!" + +"Your heart is safe enough, dear Thunderstump," said his wife. "Really, +a man of your size ought not to be so nervous and apprehensive. I am +ashamed of you." + +"You have no heart, Doodlem," answered he. "I assure you that at this +moment mine is in the greatest danger. It has fallen into the hands of +foes, though who they are I cannot tell." + +Here he fainted again; for Tricksey-Wee, finding the heart begin to +swell a little, had given it the least touch of spider-juice. + +Again he recovered, and said,-- + +"Dear Doodlem, my heart is coming back to me. It is coming nearer and +nearer." + +After lying silent for hours, he exclaimed,-- + +"It is in the house, I know!" + +And he jumped up and walked about, looking in every corner. + +As he rose, Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob came out of the hole in the +tree-root, and through the cat-hole in the door, and walked boldly +towards the giant. Both kept their eyes busy watching him. Led by the +love of his own heart, the giant soon spied them, and staggered +furiously towards them. + +"I will eat you, you vermin!" he cried. "Here with my heart!" + +Tricksey gave the heart a sharp pinch. Down fell the giant on his +knees, blubbering, and crying, and begging for his heart. + +"You shall have it, if you behave yourself properly," said Tricksey. + +"How shall I behave myself properly?" asked he, whimpering. + +"Take all those boys and girls, and carry them home at once." + +"I'm not able; I'm too ill. I should fall down." + +"Take them up directly." + +"I can't, till you give me my heart." + +"Very well!" said Tricksey; and she gave the heart another pinch. + +The giant jumped to his feet, and catching up all the children, thrust +some into his waistcoat pockets, some into his breast pocket, put two +or three into his hat, and took a bundle of them under each arm. Then +he staggered to the door. + +All this time poor Doodlem was sitting in her arm-chair, crying, and +mending a white stocking. + +The giant led the way to the borders. He could not go so fast but that +Buffy and Tricksey managed to keep up with him. When they reached the +borders, they thought it would be safer to let the children find their +own way home. So they told him to set them down. He obeyed. + +"Have you put them all down, Mr. Thunderthump?" asked Tricksey-Wee. + +"Yes," said the giant. + +"That's a lie!" squeaked a little voice; and out came a head from his +waistcoat pocket. + +Tricksey-Wee pinched the heart till the giant roared with pain. + +"You're not a gentleman. You tell stories," she said. + +"He was the thinnest of the lot," said Thunderthump, crying. + +"Are you all there now, children?" asked Tricksey. + +"Yes, ma'am," returned they, after counting themselves very carefully, +and with some difficulty; for they were all stupid children. + +"Now," said Tricksey-Wee to the giant, "will you promise to carry off +no more children, and never to eat a child again all you life?" + +"Yes, yes! I promise," answered Thunderthump, sobbing. + +"And you will never cross the borders of Giantland?" + +"Never." + +"And you shall never again wear white stockings on a Sunday, all your +life long.--Do you promise?" + +The giant hesitated at this, and began to expostulate; but +Tricksey-Wee, believing it would be good for his morals, insisted; +and the giant promised. + +Then she required of him, that, when she gave him back his heart, he +should give it to his wife to take care of for him for ever after. + +The poor giant fell on his knees, and began again to beg. But +Tricksey-Wee giving the heart a slight pinch, he bawled out,-- + +"Yes, yes! Doodlem shall have it, I swear. Only she must not put it in +the flour-barrel, or in the dust-hole." + +"Certainly not. Make your own bargain with her.--And you promise not to +interfere with my brother and me, or to take any revenge for what we +have done?" + +"Yes, yes, my dear children; I promise everything. Do, pray, make haste +and give me back my poor heart." + +"Wait there, then, till I bring it to you." + +"Yes, yes. Only make haste, for I feel very faint." + +Tricksey-Wee began to undo the mouth of the bag. But Buffy-Bob, who had +got very knowing on his travels, took out his knife with the pretence +of cutting the string; but, in reality, to be prepared for any +emergency. + +No sooner was the heart out of the bag, than it expanded to the size of +a bullock; and the giant, with a yell of rage and vengeance, rushed on +the two children, who had stepped sideways from the terrible heart. But +Buffy-Bob was too quick for Thunderthump. He sprang to the heart, and +buried his knife in it, up to the hilt. A fountain of blood spouted +from it; and with a dreadful groan the giant fell dead at the feet of +little Tricksey-Wee, who could not help being sorry for him after all. + + + + + + +THE GOLDEN KEY. + + + + + + +There was a boy who used to sit in the twilight and listen to his +great-aunt's stories. + +She told him that if he could reach the place where the end of the +rainbow stands he would find there a golden key. + +"And what is the key for?" the boy would ask. "What is it the key of? +What will it open?" + +"That nobody knows," his aunt would reply. "He has to find that out." + +"I suppose, being gold," the boy once said, thoughtfully, "that I could +get a good deal of money for it if I sold it." + +"Better never find it than sell it," returned his aunt. And then the +boy went to bed and dreamed about the golden key. + +Now, all that his great-aunt told the boy about the golden key would +have been nonsense, had it not been that their little house stood on +the borders of Fairyland. For it is perfectly well known that out of +Fairyland nobody ever can find where the rainbow stands. The creature +takes such good care of its golden key, always flitting from place to +place, lest anyone should find it! But in Fairyland it is quite +different. Things that look real in this country look very thin indeed +in Fairyland, while some of the things that here cannot stand still for +a moment, will not move there. So it was not in the least absurd of the +old lady to tell her nephew such things about the golden key. + +"Did you ever know anybody find it?" he asked one evening. + +"Yes. Your father, I believe, found it." + +"And what did he do with it, can you tell me?" + +"He never told me." + +"What was it like?" + +"He never showed it to me." + +"How does a new key come there always?" + +"I don't know. There it is." + +"Perhaps it is the rainbow's egg." + +"Perhaps it is. You will be a happy boy if you find the nest." + +"Perhaps it comes tumbling down the rainbow from the sky." + +"Perhaps it does." + +One evening, in summer, he went into his own room, and stood at the +lattice-window, and gazed into the forest which fringed the outskirts +of Fairyland. It came close up to his great-aunt's garden, and, indeed, +sent some straggling trees into it. The forest lay to the east, and the +sun, which was setting behind the cottage, looked straight into the +dark wood with his level red eye. The trees were all old, and had few +branches below, so that the sun could see a great way into the forest; +and the boy, being keen-sighted, could see almost as far as the sun. +The trunks stood like rows of red columns in the shine of the red sun, +and he could see down aisle after aisle in the vanishing distance. And +as he gazed into the forest he began to feel as if the trees were all +waiting for him, and had something they could not go on with till he +came to them. But he was hungry, and wanted his supper. So he lingered. + +Suddenly, far among the trees, as far as the sun could shine, he saw a +glorious thing. It was the end of a rainbow, large and brilliant. He +could count all the seven colours, and could see shade after shade +beyond the violet; while before the red stood a colour more gorgeous +and mysterious still. It was a colour he had never seen before. Only +the spring of the rainbow-arch was visible. He could see nothing of it +above the trees. + +"The golden key!" he said to himself, and darted out of the house, and +into the wood. + +He had not gone far before the sun set. But the rainbow only glowed the +brighter: for the rainbow of Fairyland is not dependent upon the sun as +ours is. The trees welcomed him. The bushes made way for him. The +rainbow grew larger and brighter; and at length he found himself within +two trees of it. + +It was a grand sight, burning away there in silence, with its gorgeous, +its lovely, its delicate colours, each distinct, all combining. He +could now see a great deal more of it. It rose high into the blue +heavens, but bent so little that he could not tell how high the crown +of the arch must reach. It was still only a small portion of a huge +bow. + +He stood gazing at it till he forgot himself with delight--even forgot +the key which he had come to seek. And as he stood it grew more +wonderful still. For in each of the colours, which was as large as the +column of a church, he could faintly see beautiful forms slowly +ascending as if by the steps of a winding stair. The forms appeared +irregularly--now one, now many, now several, now none--men and women +and children--all different, all beautiful. + +He drew nearer to the rainbow. It vanished. He started back a step in +dismay. It was there again, as beautiful as ever. So he contented +himself with standing as near it as he might, and watching the forms +that ascended the glorious colours towards the unknown height of the +arch, which did not end abruptly, but faded away in the blue air, so +gradually that he could not say where it ceased. + +When the thought of the golden key returned, the boy very wisely +proceeded to mark out in his mind the space covered by the foundation +of the rainbow, in order that he might know where to search, should the +rainbow disappear. It was based chiefly upon a bed of moss. + +Meantime it had grown quite dark in the wood. The rainbow alone was +visible by its own light. But the moment the moon rose the rainbow +vanished. Nor could any change of place restore the vision to the boy's +eyes. So he threw himself down upon the mossy bed, to wait till the +sunlight would give him a chance of finding the key. There he fell fast +asleep. + +When he woke in the morning the sun was looking straight into his eyes. +He turned away from it, and the same moment saw a brilliant little +thing lying on the moss within a foot of his face. It was the golden +key. The pipe of it was of plain gold, as bright as gold could be. The +handle was curiously wrought and set with sapphires. In a terror of +delight he put out his hand and took it, and had it. + +He lay for a while, turning it over and over, and feeding his eyes upon +its beauty. Then he jumped to his feet, remembering that the pretty +thing was of no use to him yet. Where was the lock to which the key +belonged? It must be somewhere, for how could anybody be so silly as +make a key for which there was no lock? Where should he go to look for +it? He gazed about him, up into the air, down to the earth, but saw no +keyhole in the clouds, in the grass, or in the trees. + +Just as he began to grow disconsolate, however, he saw something +glimmering in the wood. It was a mere glimmer that he saw, but he took +it for a glimmer of rainbow, and went towards it.--And now I will go +back to the borders of the forest. + +Not far from the house where the boy had lived there was another house, +the owner of which was a merchant, who was much away from home. He had +lost his wife some years before, and had only one child, a little girl, +whom he left to the charge of two servants, who were very idle and +careless. So she was neglected and left untidy, and was sometimes +ill-used besides. + +Now, it is well known that the little creatures commonly called +fairies, though there are many different kinds of fairies in Fairyland, +have an exceeding dislike to untidiness. Indeed, they are quite +spiteful to slovenly people. Being used to all the lovely ways of the +trees and flowers, and to the neatness of the birds and all woodland +creatures, it makes them feel miserable, even in their deep woods and +on their grassy carpets, to think that within the same moonlight lies a +dirty, uncomfortable, slovenly house. And this makes them angry with +the people that live in it, and they would gladly drive them out of the +world if they could. They want the whole earth nice and clean. So they +pinch the maids black and blue, and play them all manner of +uncomfortable tricks. + +But this house was quite a shame, and the fairies in the forest could +not endure it. They tried everything on the maids without effect, and +at last resolved upon making a clean riddance, beginning with the +child. They ought to have known that it was not her fault, but they +have little principle and much mischief in them, and they thought that +if they got rid of her the maids would be sure to be turned away. + +So one evening, the poor little girl having been put to bed early, +before the sun was down, the servants went off to the village, locking +the door behind them. The child did not know she was alone, and lay +contentedly looking out of her window towards the forest, of which, +however, she could not see much, because of the ivy and other creeping +plants which had straggled across her window. All at once she saw an +ape making faces at her out of the mirror, and the heads carved upon a +great old wardrobe grinning fearfully. Then two old spider-legged +chairs came forward into the middle of the room, and began to dance a +queer, old-fashioned dance. This set her laughing, and she forgot the +ape and the grinning heads. So the fairies saw they had made a mistake, +and sent the chairs back to their places. But they knew that she had +been reading the story of Silverhair all day. So the next moment she +heard the voices of the three bears upon the stair, big voice, middle +voice, and little voice, and she heard their soft, heavy tread, as if +they had had stockings over their boots, coming nearer and nearer to +the door of her room, till she could bear it no longer. She did just as +Silverhair did, and as the fairies wanted her to do: she darted to the +window, pulled it open, got upon the ivy, and so scrambled to the +ground. She then fled to the forest as fast as she could run. + +Now, although she did not know it, this was the very best way she could +have gone; for nothing is ever so mischievous in its own place as it is +out of it; and, besides, these mischievous creatures were only the +children of Fairyland, as it were, and there are many other beings +there as well; and if a wanderer gets in among them, the good ones will +always help him more than the evil ones will be able to hurt him. + +The sun was now set, and the darkness coming on, but the child thought +of no danger but the bears behind her. If she had looked round, +however, she would have seen that she was followed by a very different +creature from a bear. It was a curious creature, made like a fish, but +covered, instead of scales, with feathers of all colours, sparkling +like those of a humming-bird. It had fins, not wings, and swam through +the air as a fish does through the water. Its head was like the head of +a small owl. + +After running a long way, and as the last of the light was +disappearing, she passed under a tree with drooping branches. It +dropped its branches to the ground all about her, and caught her as in +a trap. She struggled to get out, but the branches pressed her closer +and closer to the trunk. She was in great terror and distress, when the +air-fish, swimming into the thicket of branches, began tearing them +with its beak. They loosened their hold at once, and the creature went +on attacking them, till at length they let the child go. Then the +air-fish came from behind her, and swam on in front, glittering and +sparkling all lovely colours; and she followed. + +It led her gently along till all at once it swam in at a cottage-door. +The child followed still. There was a bright fire in the middle of the +floor, upon which stood a pot without a lid, full of water that boiled +and bubbled furiously. The air-fish swam straight to the pot and into +the boiling water, where it lay quiet. A beautiful woman rose from the +opposite side of the fire and came to meet the girl. She took her up in +her arms, and said,-- + +"Ah, you are come at last! I have been looking for you a long time." + +She sat down with her on her lap, and there the girl sat staring at +her. She had never seen anything so beautiful. She was tall and strong, +with white arms and neck, and a delicate flush on her face. The child +could not tell what was the colour of her hair, but could not help +thinking it had a tinge of dark green. She had not one ornament upon +her, but she looked as if she had just put off quantities of diamonds +and emeralds. Yet here she was in the simplest, poorest little cottage, +where she was evidently at home. She was dressed in shining green. + +The girl looked at the lady, and the lady looked at the girl. + +"What is your name?" asked the lady. + +"The servants always call me Tangle." + +"Ah, that was because your hair was so untidy. But that was their +fault, the naughty women! Still it is a pretty name, and I will call +you Tangle too. You must not mind my asking you questions, for you may +ask me the same questions, every one of them, and any others that you +like. How old are you?" + +"Ten," answered Tangle. + +"You don't look like it," said the lady. + +"How old are you, please?" returned Tangle. + +"Thousands of years old," answered the lady. + +"You don't look like it," said Tangle. + +"Don't I? I think I do. Don't you see how beautiful I am?" + +And her great blue eyes looked down on the little Tangle, as if all the +stars in the sky were melted in them to make their brightness. + +"Ah! but," said Tangle, "when people live long they grow old. At least +I always thought so." + +"I have no time to grow old," said the lady. "I am too busy for that. +It is very idle to grow old.--But I cannot have my little girl so +untidy. Do you know I can't find a clean spot on your face to kiss?" + +"Perhaps," suggested Tangle, feeling ashamed, but not too much so to +say a word for herself--"perhaps that is because the tree made me cry +so." + +"My poor darling!" said the lady, looking now as if the moon were +melted in her eyes, and kissing her little face, dirty as it was, "the +naughty tree must suffer for making a girl cry." + +"And what is your name, please?" asked Tangle. + +"Grandmother," answered the lady. + +"Is it really?" + +"Yes, indeed. I never tell stories, even in fun." + +"How good of you!" + +"I couldn't if I tried. It would come true if I said it, and then I +should be punished enough." And she smiled like the sun through a +summer-shower. + +"But now," she went on, "I must get you washed and dressed, and then we +shall have some supper." + +"Oh! I had supper long ago," said Tangle. + +"Yes, indeed you had," answered the lady--"three years ago. You don't +know that it is three years since you ran away from the bears. You are +thirteen and more now." + +Tangle could only stare. She felt quite sure it was true. + +"You will not be afraid of anything I do with you--will you?" said the +lady. + +"I will try very hard not to be; but I can't be certain, you know," +replied Tangle. + +"I like your saying so, and I shall be quite satisfied," answered the +lady. + +She took off the girl's night-gown, rose with her in her arms, and +going to the wall of the cottage, opened a door. Then Tangle saw a deep +tank, the sides of which were filled with green plants, which had +flowers of all colours. There was a roof over it like the roof of the +cottage. It was filled with beautiful clear water, in which swam a +multitude of such fishes as the one that had led her to the cottage. It +was the light their colours gave that showed the place in which they +were. + +The lady spoke some words Tangle could not understand, and threw her +into the tank. + +The fishes came crowding about her. Two or three of them got under her +head and kept it up. The rest of them rubbed themselves all over her, +and with their wet feathers washed her quite clean. Then the lady, who +had been looking on all the time, spoke again; whereupon some thirty or +forty of the fishes rose out of the water underneath Tangle, and so +bore her up to the arms the lady held out to take her. She carried her +back to the fire, and, having dried her well, opened a chest, and +taking out the finest linen garments, smelling of grass and lavender, +put them upon her, and over all a green dress, just like her own, +shining like hers, and soft like hers, and going into just such lovely +folds from the waist, where it was tied with a brown cord, to her bare +feet. + +"Won't you give me a pair of shoes too, Grandmother?" said Tangle. + +"No, my dear; no shoes. Look here. I wear no shoes." + +So saying she lifted her dress a little, and there were the loveliest +white feet, but no shoes. Then Tangle was content to go without shoes +too. And the lady sat down with her again, and combed her hair, and +brushed it, and then left it to dry while she got the supper. + +First she got bread out of one hole in the wall; then milk out of +another; then several kinds of fruit out of a third; and then she went +to the pot on the fire, and took out the fish, now nicely cooked, and, +as soon as she had pulled off its feathered skin, ready to be eaten. + +"But," exclaimed Tangle. And she stared at the fish, and could say no +more. + +"I know what you mean," returned the lady. "You do not like to eat the +messenger that brought you home. But it is the kindest return you can +make. The creature was afraid to go until it saw me put the pot on, and +heard me promise it should be boiled the moment it returned with you. +Then it darted out of the door at once. You saw it go into the pot of +itself the moment it entered, did you not?" + +"I did," answered Tangle, "and I thought it very strange; but then I +saw you, and forgot all about the fish." + +"In Fairyland," resumed the lady, as they sat down to the table, "the +ambition of the animals is to be eaten by the people; for that is their +highest end in that condition. But they are not therefore destroyed. +Out of that pot comes something more than the dead fish, you will see." + +Tangle now remarked that the lid was on the pot. But the lady took no +further notice of it till they had eaten the fish, which Tangle found +nicer than any fish she had ever tasted before. It was as white as +snow, and as delicate as cream. And the moment she had swallowed a +mouthful of it, a change she could not describe began to take place in +her. She heard a murmuring all about her, which became more and more +articulate, and at length, as she went on eating, grew intelligible. By +the time she had finished her share, the sounds of all the animals in +the forest came crowding through the door to her ears; for the door +still stood wide open, though it was pitch dark outside; and they were +no longer sounds only; they were speech, and speech that she could +understand. She could tell what the insects in the cottage were saying +to each other too. She had even a suspicion that the trees and flowers +all about the cottage were holding midnight communications with each +other; but what they said she could not hear. + +As soon as the fish was eaten, the lady went to the fire and took the +lid off the pot. A lovely little creature in human shape, with large +white wings, rose out of it, and flew round and round the roof of the +cottage; then dropped, fluttering, and nestled in the lap of the lady. +She spoke to it some strange words, carried it to the door, and threw +it out into the darkness. Tangle heard the flapping of its wings die +away in the distance. + +"Now have we done the fish any harm?" she said, returning. + +"No," answered Tangle, "I do not think we have. I should not mind +eating one every day." + +"They must wait their time, like you and me too, my little Tangle." + +And she smiled a smile which the sadness in it made more lovely. + +"But," she continued, "I think we may have one for supper to-morrow." + +So saying she went to the door of the tank, and spoke; and now Tangle +understood her perfectly. + +"I want one of you," she said,--"the wisest." + +Thereupon the fishes got together in the middle of the tank, with their +heads forming a circle above the water, and their tails a larger circle +beneath it. They were holding a council, in which their relative wisdom +should be determined. At length one of them flew up into the lady's +hand, looking lively and ready. + +"You know where the rainbow stands?" she asked. + +"Yes, Mother, quite well," answered the fish. + +"Bring home a young man you will find there, who does not know where to +go." + +The fish was out of the door in a moment. Then the lady told Tangle it +was time to go to bed; and, opening another door in the side of the +cottage, showed her a little arbour, cool and green, with a bed of +purple heath growing in it, upon which she threw a large wrapper made +of the feathered skins of the wise fishes, shining gorgeous in the +firelight. + +Tangle was soon lost in the strangest, loveliest dreams. And the +beautiful lady was in every one of her dreams. + +In the morning she woke to the rustling of leaves over her head, and +the sound of running water. But, to her surprise, she could find no +door--nothing but the moss-grown wall of the cottage. So she crept +through an opening in the arbour, and stood in the forest. Then she +bathed in a stream that ran merrily through the trees, and felt +happier; for having once been in her grandmother's pond, she must be +clean and tidy ever after; and, having put on her green dress, felt +like a lady. + +She spent that day in the wood, listening to the birds and beasts and +creeping things. She understood all that they said, though she could +not repeat a word of it; and every kind had a different language, while +there was a common though more limited understanding between all the +inhabitants of the forest. She saw nothing of the beautiful lady, but +she felt that she was near her all the time; and she took care not to +go out of sight of the cottage. It was round, like a snow-hut or a +wigwam; and she could see neither door nor window in it. The fact was, +it had no windows; and though it was full of doors, they all opened +from the inside, and could not even be seen from the outside. + +She was standing at the foot of a tree in the twilight, listening to a +quarrel between a mole and a squirrel, in which the mole told the +squirrel that the tail was the best of him, and the squirrel called the +mole Spade-fists, when, the darkness having deepened around her, she +became aware of something shining in her face, and looking round, saw +that the door of the cottage was open, and the red light of the fire +flowing from it like a river through the darkness. She left Mole and +Squirrel to settle matters as they might, and darted off to the +cottage. Entering, she found the pot boiling on the fire, and the +grand, lovely lady sitting on the other side of it. + +"I've been watching you all day," said the lady. "You shall have +something to eat by and by, but we must wait till our supper comes +home." + +She took Tangle on her knee, and began to sing to her--such songs as +made her wish she could listen to them for ever. But at length in +rushed the shining fish, and snuggled down in the pot. It was followed +by a youth who had outgrown his worn garments. His face was ruddy with +health, and in his hand he carried a little jewel, which sparkled in +the firelight. + +The first words the lady said were,-- + +"What is that in your hand, Mossy?" + +Now Mossy was the name his companions had given him, because he had a +favourite stone covered with moss, on which he used to sit whole days +reading; and they said the moss had begun to grow upon him too. + +Mossy held out his hand. The moment the lady saw that it was the golden +key, she rose from her chair, kissed Mossy on the forehead, made him +sit down on her seat, and stood before him like a servant. Mossy could +not bear this, and rose at once. But the lady begged him, with tears in +her beautiful eyes, to sit, and let her wait on him. + +"But you are a great, splendid, beautiful lady," said Mossy. + +"Yes, I am. But I work all day long--that is my pleasure; and you will +have to leave me so soon!" + +"How do you know that, if you please, madam?" asked Mossy. + +"Because you have got the golden key." + +"But I don't know what it is for. I can't find the key-hole. Will you +tell me what to do?" + +"You must look for the key-hole. That is your work. I cannot help you. +I can only tell you that if you look for it you will find it." + +"What kind of box will it open? What is there inside?" + +"I do not know. I dream about it, but I know nothing." + +"Must I go at once?" + +"You may stop here to-night, and have some of my supper. But you must +go in the morning. All I can do for you is to give you clothes. Here is +a girl called Tangle, whom you must take with you." + +"That _will_ be nice," said Mossy. + +"No, no!" said Tangle. "I don't want to leave you, please, +Grandmother." + +"You must go with him, Tangle. I am sorry to lose you, but it will be +the best thing for you. Even the fishes, you see, have to go into the +pot, and then out into the dark. If you fall in with the Old Man of the +Sea, mind you ask him whether he has not got some more fishes ready for +me. My tank is getting thin." + +So saying, she took the fish from the pot, and put the lid on as +before. They sat down and ate the fish, and then the winged creature +rose from the pot, circled the roof, and settled on the lady's lap. She +talked to it, carried it to the door, and threw it out into the dark. +They heard the flap of its wings die away in the distance. + +The lady then showed Mossy into just such another chamber as that of +Tangle; and in the morning he found a suit of clothes laid beside him. +He looked very handsome in them. But the wearer of Grandmother's +clothes never thinks about how he or she looks, but thinks always how +handsome other people are. + +Tangle was very unwilling to go. + +"Why should I leave you? I don't know the young man," she said to the +lady. + +"I am never allowed to keep my children long. You need not go with him +except you please, but you must go some day; and I should like you to +go with him, for he has the golden key. No girl need be afraid to go +with a youth that has the golden key. You will take care of her, Mossy, +will you not?" + +"That I will," said Mossy. + +And Tangle cast a glance at him, and thought she should like to go with +him. + +"And," said the lady, "if you should lose each other as you go through +the--the--I never can remember the name of that country,--do not be +afraid, but go on and on." + +She kissed Tangle on the mouth and Mossy on the forehead, led them to +the door, and waved her hand eastward. Mossy and Tangle took each +other's hand and walked away into the depth of the forest. In his right +hand Mossy held the golden key. + +They wandered thus a long way, with endless amusement from the talk of +the animals. They soon learned enough of their language to ask them +necessary questions. The squirrels were always friendly, and gave them +nuts out of their own hoards; but the bees were selfish and rude, +justifying themselves on the ground that Tangle and Mossy were not +subjects of their queen, and charity must begin at home, though indeed +they had not one drone in their poorhouse at the time. Even the +blinking moles would fetch them an earth-nut or a truffle now and then, +talking as if their mouths, as well as their eyes and ears, were full +of cotton wool, or their own velvety fur. By the time they got out of +the forest they were very fond of each other, and Tangle was not in the +least sorry that her grandmother had sent her away with Mossy. + +At length the trees grew smaller, and stood farther apart, and the +ground began to rise, and it got more and more steep, till the trees +were all left behind, and the two were climbing a narrow path with +rocks on each side. Suddenly they came upon a rude doorway, by which +they entered a narrow gallery cut in the rock. It grew darker and +darker, till it was pitch-dark, and they had to feel their way. At +length the light began to return, and at last they came out upon a +narrow path on the face of a lofty precipice. This path went winding +down the rock to a wide plain, circular in shape, and surrounded on all +sides by mountains. Those opposite to them were a great way off, and +towered to an awful height, shooting up sharp, blue, ice-enamelled +pinnacles. An utter silence reigned where they stood. Not even the +sound of water reached them. + +Looking down, they could not tell whether the valley below was a grassy +plain or a great still lake. They had never seen any space look like +it. The way to it was difficult and dangerous, but down the narrow path +they went, and reached the bottom in safety. They found it composed of +smooth, light-coloured sandstone, undulating in parts, but mostly +level. It was no wonder to them now that they had not been able to tell +what it was, for this surface was everywhere crowded with shadows. The +mass was chiefly made up of the shadows of leaves innumerable, of all +lovely and imaginative forms, waving to and fro, floating and quivering +in the breath of a breeze whose motion was unfelt, whose sound was +unheard. No forests clothed the mountain-sides, no trees were anywhere +to be seen, and yet the shadows of the leaves, branches, and stems of +all various trees covered the valley as far as their eyes could reach. +They soon spied the shadows of flowers mingled with those of the +leaves, and now and then the shadow of a bird with open beak, and +throat distended with song. At times would appear the forms of strange, +graceful creatures, running up and down the shadow-boles and along the +branches, to disappear in the wind-tossed foliage. As they walked they +waded knee-deep in the lovely lake. For the shadows were not merely +lying on the surface of the ground, but heaped up above it like +substantial forms of darkness, as if they had been cast upon a thousand +different planes of the air. Tangle and Mossy often lifted their heads +and gazed upwards to discry whence the shadows came; but they could see +nothing more than a bright mist spread above them, higher than the tops +of the mountains, which stood clear against it. No forests, no leaves, +no birds were visible. + +After a while, they reached more open spaces, where the shadows were +thinner; and came even to portions over which shadows only flitted, +leaving them clear for such as might follow. Now a wonderful form, half +bird-like half human, would float across on outspread sailing pinions. +Anon an exquisite shadow group of gambolling children would be followed +by the loveliest female form, and that again by the grand stride of a +Titanic shape, each disappearing in the surrounding press of shadowy +foliage. Sometimes a profile of unspeakable beauty or grandeur would +appear for a moment and vanish. Sometimes they seemed lovers that +passed linked arm in arm, sometimes father and son, sometimes brothers +in loving contest, sometimes sisters entwined in gracefullest community +of complex form. Sometimes wild horses would tear across, free, or +bestrode by noble shadows of ruling men. But some of the things which +pleased them most they never knew how to describe. + +About the middle of the plain they sat down to rest in the heart of a +heap of shadows. After sitting for a while, each, looking up, saw the +other in tears: they were each longing after the country whence the +shadows fell. + +"We _must_ find the country from which the shadows come," said Mossy. + +"We must, dear Mossy," responded Tangle. "What if your golden key +should be the key to _it_?" + +"Ah! that would be grand," returned Mossy.--"But we must rest here for +a little, and then we shall be able to cross the plain before night." + +So he lay down on the ground, and about him on every side, and over his +head, was the constant play of the wonderful shadows. He could look +through them, and see the one behind the other, till they mixed in a +mass of darkness. Tangle, too, lay admiring, and wondering, and longing +after the country whence the shadows came. When they were rested they +rose and pursued their journey. + +How long they were in crossing this plain I cannot tell; but before +night Mossy's hair was streaked with gray, and Tangle had got wrinkles +on her forehead. + +As evening grew on, the shadows fell deeper and rose higher. At length +they reached a place where they rose above their heads, and made all +dark around them. Then they took hold of each other's hand, and walked +on in silence and in some dismay. They felt the gathering darkness, and +something strangely solemn besides, and the beauty of the shadows +ceased to delight them. All at once Tangle found that she had not a +hold of Mossy's hand, though when she lost it she could not tell. + +"Mossy, Mossy!" she cried aloud in terror. + +But no Mossy replied. + +A moment after, the shadows sank to her feet, and down under her feet, +and the mountains rose before her. She turned towards the gloomy region +she had left, and called once more upon Mossy. There the gloom lay +tossing and heaving, a dark, stormy, foamless sea of shadows, but no +Mossy rose out of it, or came climbing up the hill on which she stood. +She threw herself down and wept in despair. + +Suddenly she remembered that the beautiful lady had told them, if they +lost each other in a country of which she could not remember the name, +they were not to be afraid, but to go straight on. + +"And besides," she said to herself, "Mossy has the golden key, and so +no harm will come to him, I do believe." + +She rose from the ground, and went on. + +Before long she arrived at a precipice, in the face of which a stair +was cut. When she had ascended half-way, the stair ceased, and the path +led straight into the mountain. She was afraid to enter, and turning +again towards the stair, grew giddy at sight of the depth beneath her, +and was forced to throw herself down in the mouth of the cave. + +When she opened her eyes, she saw a beautiful little figure with wings +standing beside her, waiting. + +"I know you," said Tangle. "You are my fish." + +"Yes. But I am a fish no longer. I am an a�ranth now." + +"What is that?" asked Tangle. + +"What you see I am," answered the shape. "And I am come to lead you +through the mountain." + +"Oh! thank you, dear fish--a�ranth, I mean," returned Tangle, rising. + +Thereupon the a�ranth took to his wings, and flew on through the long, +narrow passage, reminding Tangle very much of the way he had swum on +before her when he was a fish. And the moment his white wings moved, +they began to throw off a continuous shower of sparks of all colours, +which lighted up the passage before them.--All at once he vanished, and +Tangle heard a low, sweet sound, quite different from the rush and +crackle of his wings. Before her was an open arch, and through it came +light, mixed with the sound of sea-waves. + +She hurried out, and fell, tired and happy, upon the yellow sand of the +shore. There she lay, half asleep with weariness and rest, listening to +the low plash and retreat of the tiny waves, which seemed ever enticing +the land to leave off being land, and become sea. And as she lay, her +eyes were fixed upon the foot of a great rainbow standing far away +against the sky on the other side of the sea. At length she fell fast +asleep. + +When she awoke, she saw an old man with long white hair down to his +shoulders, leaning upon a stick covered with green buds, and so bending +over her. + +"What do you want here, beautiful woman?" he said. + +"Am I beautiful? I am so glad!" said Tangle, rising. "My grandmother is +beautiful." + +"Yes. But what do you want?" he repeated, kindly. + +"I think I want you. Are not you the Old Man of the Sea?" + +"I am." + +"Then Grandmother says, have you any more fishes ready for her?" + +"We will go and see, my dear," answered the old man, speaking yet more +kindly than before. "And I can do something for you, can I not?" + +"Yes--show me the way up to the country from which the shadows fall," +said Tangle. + +For there she hoped to find Mossy again. + +"Ah! indeed, that would be worth doing," said the old man. "But I +cannot, for I do not know the way myself. But I will send you to the +Old Man of the Earth. Perhaps he can tell you. He is much older than I +am." + +Leaning on his staff, he conducted her along the shore to a steep rock, +that looked like a petrified ship turned upside down. The door of it +was the rudder of a great vessel, ages ago at the bottom of the sea. +Immediately within the door was a stair in the rock, down which the old +man went, and Tangle followed. At the bottom the old man had his house, +and there he lived. + +As soon as she entered it, Tangle heard a strange noise, unlike +anything she had ever heard before. She soon found that it was the +fishes talking. She tried to understand what they said; but their +speech was so old-fashioned, and rude, and undefined, that she could +not make much of it. + +"I will go and see about those fishes for my daughter," said the Old +Man of the Sea. + +And moving a slide in the wall of his house, he first looked out, and +then tapped upon a thick piece of crystal that filled the round +opening. Tangle came up behind him, and peeping through the window into +the heart of the great deep green ocean, saw the most curious +creatures, some very ugly, all very odd, and with especially queer +mouths, swimming about everywhere, above and below, but all coming +towards the window in answer to the tap of the Old Man of the Sea. Only +a few could get their mouths against the glass; but those who were +floating miles away yet turned their heads towards it. The old man +looked through the whole flock carefully for some minutes, and then +turning to Tangle, said,-- + +"I am sorry I have not got one ready yet. I want more time than she +does. But I will send some as soon as I can." + +He then shut the slide. + +Presently a great noise arose in the sea. The old man opened the slide +again, and tapped on the glass, whereupon the fishes were all as still +as sleep. + +"They were only talking about you," he said. "And they do speak such +nonsense!--To-morrow," he continued, "I must show you the way to the +Old Man of the Earth. He lives a long way from here." + +"Do let me go at once," said Tangle. + +"No. That is not possible. You must come this way first." + +He led her to a hole in the wall, which she had not observed before. It +was covered with the green leaves and white blossoms of a creeping +plant. + +"Only white-blossoming plants can grow under the sea," said the old +man. "In there you will find a bath, in which you must lie till I call +you." + +Tangle went in, and found a smaller room or cave, in the further corner +of which was a great basin hollowed out of a rock, and half-full of the +clearest sea-water. Little streams were constantly running into it from +cracks in the wall of the cavern. It was polished quite smooth inside, +and had a carpet of yellow sand in the bottom of it. Large green leaves +and white flowers of various plants crowded up and over it, draping and +covering it almost entirely. + +No sooner was she undressed and lying in the bath, than she began to +feel as if the water were sinking into her, and she were receiving all +the good of sleep without undergoing its forgetfulness. She felt the +good coming all the time. And she grew happier and more hopeful than +she had been since she lost Mossy. But she could not help thinking how +very sad it was for a poor old man to live there all alone, and have to +take care of a whole seaful of stupid and riotous fishes. + +After about an hour, as she thought, she heard his voice calling her, +and rose out of the bath. All the fatigue and aching of her long +journey had vanished. She was as whole, and strong, and well as if she +had slept for seven days. + +Returning to the opening that led into the other part of the house, she +started back with amazement, for through it she saw the form of a grand +man, with a majestic and beautiful face, waiting for her. + +"Come," he said; "I see you are ready." + +She entered with reverence. + +"Where is the Old Man of the Sea?" she asked, humbly. + +"There is no one here but me," he answered, smiling. "Some people call +me the Old Man of the Sea. Others have another name for me, and are +terribly frightened when they meet me taking a walk by the shore. +Therefore I avoid being seen by them, for they are so afraid, that they +never see what I really am. You see me now.--But I must show you the +way to the Old Man of the Earth." + +He led her into the cave where the bath was, and there she saw, in the +opposite corner, a second opening in the rock. + +"Go down that stair, and it will bring you to him," said the Old Man of +the Sea. + +With humble thanks Tangle took her leave. She went down the winding +stair, till she began to fear there was no end to it. Still down and +down it went, rough and broken, with springs of water bursting out of +the rocks and running down the steps beside her. It was quite dark +about her, and yet she could see. For after being in that bath, +people's eyes always give out a light they can see by. There were no +creeping things in the way. All was safe and pleasant though so dark +and damp and deep. + +At last there was not one step more, and she found herself in a +glimmering cave. On a stone in the middle of it sat a figure with its +back towards her--the figure of an old man bent double with age. From +behind she could see his white beard spread out on the rocky floor in +front of him. He did not move as she entered, so she passed round that +she might stand before him and speak to him. + +The moment she looked in his face, she saw that he was a youth of +marvellous beauty. He sat entranced with the delight of what he beheld +in a mirror of something like silver, which lay on the floor at his +feet, and which from behind she had taken for his white beard. He sat +on, heedless of her presence, pale with the joy of his vision. She +stood and watched him. At length, all trembling, she spoke. But her +voice made no sound. Yet the youth lifted up his head. He showed no +surprise, however, at seeing her--only smiled a welcome. + +"Are you the Old Man of the Earth?" Tangle had said. + +And the youth answered, and Tangle heard him, though not with her +ears:-- + +"I am. What can I do for you?" + +"Tell me the way to the country whence the shadows fall." + +"Ah! that I do not know. I only dream about it myself. I see its +shadows sometimes in my mirror: the way to it I do not know. But I +think the Old Man of the Fire must know. He is much older than I am. He +is the oldest man of all." + +"Where does he live?" + +"I will show you the way to his place. I never saw him myself." + +So saying, the young man rose, and then stood for a while gazing at +Tangle. + +"I wish I could see that country too," he said. "But I must mind my +work." + +He led her to the side of the cave, and told her to lay her ear against +the wall. + +"What do you hear?" he asked. + +"I hear," answered Tangle, "the sound of a great water running inside +the rock." + +"That river runs down to the dwelling of the oldest man of all--the Old +Man of the Fire. I wish I could go to see him. But I must mind my work. +That river is the only way to him." + +Then the Old Man of the Earth stooped over the floor of the cave, +raised a huge stone from it, and left it leaning. It disclosed a great +hole that went plumb-down. + +"That is the way," he said. + +"But there are no stairs." + +"You must throw yourself in. There is no other way." + +She turned and looked him full in the face--stood so for a whole +minute, as she thought: it was a whole year--then threw herself +headlong into the hole. + +When she came to herself, she found herself gliding down fast and deep. +Her head was under water, but that did not signify, for, when she +thought about it, she could not remember that she had breathed once +since her bath in the cave of the Old Man of the Sea. When she lifted +up her head a sudden and fierce heat struck her, and she sank it again +instantly, and went sweeping on. + +Gradually the stream grew shallower. At length she could hardly keep +her head under. Then the water could carry her no farther. She rose +from the channel, and went step for step down the burning descent. The +water ceased altogether. The heat was terrible. She felt scorched to +the bone, but it did not touch her strength. It grew hotter and hotter. +She said, "I can bear it no longer." Yet she went on. + +At the long last, the stair ended at a rude archway in an all but +glowing rock. Through this archway Tangle fell exhausted into a cool +mossy cave. The floor and walls were covered with moss--green, soft, +and damp. A little stream spouted from a rent in the rock and fell into +a basin of moss. She plunged her face into it and drank. Then she +lifted her head and looked around. Then she rose and looked again. She +saw no one in the cave. But the moment she stood upright she had a +marvellous sense that she was in the secret of the earth and all its +ways. Everything she had seen, or learned from books; all that her +grandmother had said or sung to her; all the talk of the beasts, birds, +and fishes; all that had happened to her on her journey with Mossy, and +since then in the heart of the earth with the Old man and the Older +man--all was plain: she understood it all, and saw that everything +meant the same thing, though she could not have put it into words +again. + +The next moment she descried, in a corner of the cave, a little naked +child sitting on the moss. He was playing with balls of various colours +and sizes, which he disposed in strange figures upon the floor beside +him. And now Tangle felt that there was something in her knowledge +which was not in her understanding. For she knew there must be an +infinite meaning in the change and sequence and individual forms of the +figures into which the child arranged the balls, as well as in the +varied harmonies of their colours, but what it all meant she could not +tell.* He went on busily, tirelessly, playing his solitary game, +without looking up, or seeming to know that there was a stranger in his +deep-withdrawn cell. Diligently as a lace-maker shifts her bobbins, he +shifted and arranged his balls. Flashes of meaning would now pass from +them to Tangle, and now again all would be not merely obscure, but +utterly dark. She stood looking for a long time, for there was +fascination in the sight; and the longer she looked the more an +indescribable vague intelligence went on rousing itself in her mind. +For seven years she had stood there watching the naked child with his +coloured balls, and it seemed to her like seven hours, when all at once +the shape the balls took, she knew not why, reminded her of the Valley +of Shadows, and she spoke:-- + +"Where is the Old Man of the Fire?" she said. + +* I think I must be indebted to Novalis for these geometrical figures. + +"Here I am," answered the child, rising and leaving his balls on the +moss. "What can I do for you?" + +There was such an awfulness of absolute repose on the face of the child +that Tangle stood dumb before him. He had no smile, but the love in his +large gray eyes was deep as the centre. And with the repose there lay +on his face a shimmer as of moonlight, which seemed as if any moment it +might break into such a ravishing smile as would cause the beholder to +weep himself to death. But the smile never came, and the moonlight lay +there unbroken. For the heart of the child was too deep for any smile +to reach from it to his face. + +"Are you the oldest man of all?" Tangle at length, although filled with +awe, ventured to ask. + +"Yes, I am. I am very, very old. I am able to help you, I know. I can +help everybody." And the child drew near and looked up in her face so +that she burst into tears. + +"Can you tell me the way to the country the shadows fall from?" she +sobbed. + +"Yes. I know the way quite well. I go there myself sometimes. But you +could not go my way; you are not old enough. I will show you how you +can go." + +"Do not send me out into the great heat again," prayed Tangle. + +"I will not," answered the child. + +And he reached up, and put his little cool hand on her heart. + +"Now," he said, "you can go. The fire will not burn you. Come." + +He led her from the cave, and following him through another archway, +she found herself in a vast desert of sand and rock. The sky of it was +of rock, lowering over them like solid thunderclouds; and the whole +place was so hot that she saw, in bright rivulets, the yellow gold and +white silver and red copper trickling molten from the rocks. But the +heat never came near her. + +When they had gone some distance, the child turned up a great stone, +and took something like an egg from under it. He next drew a long +curved line in the sand with his finger, and laid the egg in it. He +then spoke something Tangle could not understand. The egg broke, a +small snake came out, and, lying in the line in the sand, grew and grew +till he filled it. The moment he was thus full-grown, he began to glide +away, undulating like a sea-wave. + +"Follow that serpent," said the child. "He will lead you the right +way." + +Tangle followed the serpent. But she could not go far without looking +back at the marvellous child. He stood alone in the midst of the +glowing desert, beside a fountain of red flame that had burst forth at +his feet, his naked whiteness glimmering a pale rosy red in the torrid +fire. There he stood, looking after her, till, from the lengthening +distance, she could see him no more. The serpent went straight on, +turning neither to the right nor left. + + +Meantime Mossy had got out of the Lake of Shadows, and, following his +mournful, lonely way, had reached the sea-shore. It was a dark, stormy +evening. The sun had set. The wind was blowing from the sea. The waves +had surrounded the rock within which lay the old man's house. A deep +water rolled between it and the shore, upon which a majestic figure was +walking alone. + +Mossy went up to him and said,-- + +"Will you tell me where to find the Old Man of the Sea?" + +"I am the Old Man of the Sea," the figure answered. + +"I see a strong kingly man of middle age," returned Mossy. + +Then the old man looked at him more intently, and said,-- + +"Your sight, young man, is better than that of most who take this way. +The night is stormy: come to my house and tell me what I can do for +you." + +Mossy followed him. The waves flew from before the footsteps of the Old +Man of the Sea, and Mossy followed upon dry sand. + +When they had reached the cave, they sat down and gazed at each other. + +Now Mossy was an old man by this time. He looked much older than the +Old Man of the Sea, and his feet were very weary. + +After looking at him for a moment, the old man took him by the hand and +led him into his inner cave. There he helped him to undress, and laid +him in the bath. And he saw that one of his hands Mossy did not open. + +"What have you in that hand?" he asked. + +Mossy opened his hand, and there lay the golden key. + +"Ah!" said the old man, "that accounts for your knowing me. And I know +the way you have to go." + +"I want to find the country whence the shadows fall," said Mossy. + +"I dare say you do. So do I. But meantime, one thing is certain.--What +is that key for, do you think?" + +"For a key-hole somewhere. But I don't know why I keep it. I never +could find the key-hole. And I have lived a good while, I believe," +said Mossy, sadly. "I'm not sure that I'm not old. I know my feet +ache." + +"Do they?" said the old man, as if he really meant to ask the question; +and Mossy, who was still lying in the bath, watched his feet for a +moment before he replied,--"No, they do not. Perhaps I am not old +either." + +"Get up and look at yourself in the water." + +He rose and looked at himself in the water, and there was not a gray +hair on his head or a wrinkle on his skin. + +"You have tasted of death now," said the old man. "Is it good?" + +"It is good," said Mossy. "It is better than life." + +"No, said the old man: it is only more life.--Your feet will make no +holes in the water now." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I will show you that presently." + +They returned to the outer cave, and sat and talked together for a long +time. At length the Old Man of the Sea rose, and said to Mossy,-- + +"Follow me." + +He led him up the stair again, and opened another door. They stood on +the level of the raging sea, looking towards the east. Across the waste +of waters, against the bosom of a fierce black cloud, stood the foot of +a rainbow, glowing in the dark. + +"This indeed is my way," said Mossy, as soon as he saw the rainbow, and +stepped out upon the sea. His feet made no holes in the water. He +fought the wind, and clomb the waves, and went on towards the rainbow. + +The storm died away. A lovely day and a lovelier night followed. A cool +wind blew over the wide plain of the quiet ocean. And still Mossy +journeyed eastward. But the rainbow had vanished with the storm. + +Day after day he held on, and he thought he had no guide. He did not +see how a shining fish under the water directed his steps. He crossed +the sea, and came to a great precipice of rock, up which he could +discover but one path. Nor did this lead him farther than half-way up +the rock, where it ended on a platform. Here he stood and pondered.--It +could not be that the way stopped here, else what was the path for? It +was a rough path, not very plain, yet certainly a path.--He examined +the face of the rock. It was smooth as glass. But as his eyes kept +roving hopelessly over it, something glittered, and he caught sight of +a row of small sapphires. They bordered a little hole in the rock. + +"The key-hole!" he cried. + +He tried the key. It fitted. It turned. A great clang and clash, as of +iron bolts on huge brazen caldrons, echoed thunderously within. He drew +out the key. The rock in front of him began to fall. He retreated from +it as far as the breadth of the platform would allow. A great slab fell +at his feet. In front was still the solid rock, with this one slab +fallen forward out of it. But the moment he stepped upon it, a second +fell, just short of the edge of the first, making the next step of a +stair, which thus kept dropping itself before him as he ascended into +the heart of the precipice. It led him into a hall fit for such an +approach--irregular and rude in formation, but floor, sides, pillars, +and vaulted roof, all one mass of shining stones of every colour that +light can show. In the centre stood seven columns, ranged from red to +violet. And on the pedestal of one of them sat a woman, motionless, +with her face bowed upon her knees. Seven years had she sat there +waiting. She lifted her head as Mossy drew near. It was Tangle. Her +hair had grown to her feet, and was rippled like the windless sea on +broad sands. Her face was beautiful, like her grandmother's, and as +still and peaceful as that of the Old Man of the Fire. Her form was +tall and noble. Yet Mossy knew her at once. + +"How beautiful you are, Tangle!" he said, in delight and astonishment. + +"Am I?" she returned. "Oh, I have waited for you so long! But you, you +are like the Old Man of the Sea. No. You are like the Old Man of the +Earth. No, no. You are like the oldest man of all. You are like them +all. And yet you are my own old Mossy! How did you come here? What did +you do after I lost you? Did you find the key-hole? Have you got the +key still?" + +She had a hundred questions to ask him, and he a hundred more to ask +her. They told each other all their adventures, and were as happy as +man and woman could be. For they were younger and better, and stronger +and wiser, than they had ever been before. + +It began to grow dark. And they wanted more than ever to reach the +country whence the shadows fall. So they looked about them for a way +out of the cave. The door by which Mossy entered had closed again, and +there was half a mile of rock between them and the sea. Neither could +Tangle find the opening in the floor by which the serpent had led her +thither. They searched till it grew so dark that they could see +nothing, and gave it up. + +After a while, however, the cave began to glimmer again. The light came +from the moon, but it did not look like moonlight, for it gleamed +through those seven pillars in the middle, and filled the place with +all colours. And now Mossy saw that there was a pillar beside the red +one, which he had not observed before. And it was of the same new +colour that he had seen in the rainbow when he saw it first in the +fairy forest. And on it he saw a sparkle of blue. It was the sapphires +round the key-hole. + +He took his key. It turned in the lock to the sound of Aeolian music. A +door opened upon slow hinges, and disclosed a winding stair within. The +key vanished from his fingers. Tangle went up. Mossy followed. The door +closed behind them. They climbed out of the earth; and, still climbing, +rose above it. They were in the rainbow. Far abroad, over ocean and +land, they could see through its transparent walls the earth beneath +their feet. Stairs beside stairs wound up together, and beautiful +beings of all ages climbed along with them. + +They knew that they were going up to the country whence the shadows +fall. + +And by this time I think they must have got there. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Light Princess and Other Fairy +Stories, by George MacDonald + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIGHT PRINCESS AND OTHER *** + +***** This file should be named 18811-0.txt or 18811-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/8/1/18811/ + +Produced by John Bechard (JaBBechard@aol.com) + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/18811-0.zip b/18811-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc34ce5 --- /dev/null +++ b/18811-0.zip diff --git a/18811.txt b/18811.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..757022b --- /dev/null +++ b/18811.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4329 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Light Princess and Other Fairy Stories, by +George MacDonald + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Light Princess and Other Fairy Stories + +Author: George MacDonald + +Release Date: July 12, 2006 [EBook #18811] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIGHT PRINCESS AND OTHER *** + + + + +Produced by John Bechard (JaBBechard@aol.com) + + + + + + +THE LIGHT PRINCESS AND OTHER FAIRY STORIES + +by George MacDonald + + +CONTENTS + +THE LIGHT PRINCESS +THE GIANT'S HEART +THE GOLDEN KEY + + + + + + +THE LIGHT PRINCESS + + + + + + +I. WHAT! NO CHILDREN? + + +Once upon a time, so long ago that I have quite forgotten the date, +there lived a king and queen who had no children. + +And the king said to himself, "All the queens of my acquaintance have +children, some three, some seven, and some as many as twelve; and my +queen has not one. I feel ill-used." So he made up his mind to be cross +with his wife about it. But she bore it all like a good patient queen +as she was. Then the king grew very cross indeed. But the queen +pretended to take it all as a joke, and a very good one too. + +"Why don't you have any daughters, at least?" said he. "I don't say +_sons_; that might be too much to expect." + +"I am sure, dear king, I am very sorry," said the queen. + +"So you ought to be," retorted the king; "you are not going to make a +virtue of _that_, surely." + +But he was not an ill-tempered king, and in any matter of less moment +would have let the queen have her own way with all his heart. This, +however, was an affair of state. + +The queen smiled. + +"You must have patience with a lady, you know, dear king," said she. + +She was, indeed, a very nice queen, and heartily sorry that she could +not oblige the king immediately. + +The king tried to have patience, but he succeeded very badly. It was +more than he deserved, therefore, when, at last, the queen gave him a +daughter--as lovely a little princess as ever cried. + + + + + + +II. WON'T I, JUST? + + +The day drew near when the infant must be christened. The king wrote +all the invitations with his own hand. Of course somebody was +forgotten. + +Now it does not generally matter if somebody _is_ forgotten, only you +must mind who. Unfortunately, the king forgot without intending to +forget; and so the chance fell upon the Princess Makemnoit, which was +awkward. For the princess was the king's own sister; and he ought not +to have forgotten her. But she had made herself so disagreeable to the +old king, their father, that he had forgotten her in making his will; +and so it was no wonder that her brother forgot her in writing his +invitations. But poor relations don't do anything to keep you in mind +of them. Why don't they? The king could not see into the garret she +lived in, could he? + +She was a sour, spiteful creature. The wrinkles of contempt crossed the +wrinkles of peevishness, and made her face as full of wrinkles as a pat +of butter. If ever a king could be justified in forgetting anybody, +this king was justified in forgetting his sister, even at a +christening. She looked very odd, too. Her forehead was as large as all +the rest of her face, and projected over it like a precipice. When she +was angry her little eyes flashed blue. When she hated anybody, they +shone yellow and green. What they looked like when she loved anybody, I +do not know; for I never heard of her loving anybody but herself, and I +do not think she could have managed that if she had not somehow got +used to herself. But what made it highly imprudent in the king to +forget her was--that she was awfully clever. In fact, she was a witch; +and when she bewitched anybody, he very soon had enough of it; for she +beat all the wicked fairies in wickedness, and all the clever ones in +cleverness. She despised all the modes we read of in history, in which +offended fairies and witches have taken their revenges; and therefore, +after waiting and waiting in vain for an invitation, she made up her +mind at last to go without one, and make the whole family miserable, +like a princess as she was. + +So she put on her best gown, went to the palace, was kindly received by +the happy monarch, who forgot that he had forgotten her, and took her +place in the procession to the royal chapel. When they were all +gathered about the font, she contrived to get next to it, and throw +something into the water; after which she maintained a very respectful +demeanour till the water was applied to the child's face. But at that +moment she turned round in her place three times, and muttered the +following words, loud enough for those beside her to hear:-- + + "Light of spirit, by my charms, + Light of body, every part, + Never weary human arms-- + Only crush thy parents' heart!" + +They all thought she had lost her wits, and was repeating some foolish +nursery rhyme; but a shudder went through the whole of them +notwithstanding. The baby, on the contrary, began to laugh and crow; +while the nurse gave a start and a smothered cry, for she thought she +was struck with paralysis: she could not feel the baby in her arms. But +she clasped it tight and said nothing. + +The mischief was done. + + + + + + +III. SHE CAN'T BE OURS + + +Her atrocious aunt had deprived the child of all her gravity. If you +ask me how this was effected, I answer, "In the easiest way in the +world. She had only to destroy gravitation." For the princess was a +philosopher, and knew all the _ins_ and _outs_ of the laws of +gravitation as well as the _ins_ and _outs_ of her boot-lace. And being +a witch as well, she could abrogate those laws in a moment; or at least +so clog their wheels and rust their bearings, that they would not work +at all. But we have more to do with what followed than with how it was +done. + +The first awkwardness that resulted from this unhappy privation was, +that the moment the nurse began to float the baby up and down, she flew +from her arms towards the ceiling. Happily, the resistance of the air +brought her ascending career to a close within a foot of it. There she +remained, horizontal as when she left her nurse's arms, kicking and +laughing amazingly. The nurse in terror flew to the bell, and begged +the footman, who answered it, to bring up the house-steps directly. +Trembling in every limb, she climbed upon the steps, and had to stand +upon the very top, and reach up, before she could catch the floating +tail of the baby's long clothes. + +When the strange fact came to be known, there was a terrible commotion +in the palace. The occasion of its discovery by the king was naturally +a repetition of the nurse's experience. Astonished that he felt no +weight when the child was laid in his arms, he began to wave her up +and--not down, for she slowly ascended to the ceiling as before, and +there remained floating in perfect comfort and satisfaction, as was +testified by her peals of tiny laughter. The king stood staring up in +speechless amazement, and trembled so that his beard shook like grass +in the wind. At last, turning to the queen, who was just as +horror-struck as himself, he said, gasping, staring, and stammering,-- + +"She _can't_ be ours, queen!" + +Now the queen was much cleverer than the king, and had begun already to +suspect that "this effect defective came by cause." + +"I am sure she is ours," answered she. "But we ought to have taken +better care of her at the christening. People who were never invited +ought not to have been present." + +"Oh, ho!" said the king, tapping his forehead with his forefinger, "I +have it all. I've found her out. Don't you see it, queen? Princess +Makemnoit has bewitched her." + +"That's just what I say," answered the queen. + +"I beg your pardon, my love; I did not hear you.--John! bring the steps +I get on my throne with." + +For he was a little king with a great throne, like many other kings. + +The throne-steps were brought, and set upon the dining-table, and John +got upon the top of them. But he could not reach the little princess, +who lay like a baby-laughter-cloud in the air, exploding continuously. + +"Take the tongs, John," said his Majesty; and getting up on the table, +he handed them to him. + +John could reach the baby now, and the little princess was handed down +by the tongs. + + + + + + +IV. WHERE IS SHE? + + +One fine summer day, a month after these her first adventures, during +which time she had been very carefully watched, the princess was lying +on the bed in the queen's own chamber, fast asleep. One of the windows +was open, for it was noon, and the day so sultry that the little girl +was wrapped in nothing less ethereal than slumber itself. The queen +came into the room, and not observing that the baby was on the bed, +opened another window. A frolicsome fairy wind, which had been watching +for a chance of mischief, rushed in at the one window, and taking its +way over the bed where the child was lying, caught her up, and rolling +and floating her along like a piece of flue, or a dandelion-seed, +carried her with it through the opposite window, and away. The queen +went down-stairs, quite ignorant of the loss she had herself +occasioned. + +When the nurse returned, she supposed that her Majesty had carried her +off, and, dreading a scolding, delayed making inquiry about her. But +hearing nothing, she grew uneasy, and went at length to the queen's +boudoir, where she found her Majesty. + +"Please, your Majesty, shall I take the baby?" said she. + +"Where is she?" asked the queen. + +"Please forgive me. I know it was wrong." + +"What do you mean?" said the queen, looking grave. + +"Oh! don't frighten me, your Majesty!" exclaimed the nurse, clasping +her hands. + +The queen saw that something was amiss, and fell down in a faint. The +nurse rushed about the palace, screaming, "My baby! my baby!" + +Every one ran to the queen's room. But the queen could give no orders. +They soon found out, however, that the princess was missing, and in a +moment the palace was like a beehive in a garden; and in one minute +more the queen was brought to herself by a great shout and a clapping +of hands. They had found the princess fast asleep under a rose-bush, to +which the elvish little wind-puff had carried her, finishing its +mischief by shaking a shower of red rose-leaves all over the little +white sleeper. Startled by the noise the servants made, she woke, and, +furious with glee, scattered the rose-leaves in all directions, like a +shower of spray in the sunset. + +She was watched more carefully after this, no doubt; yet it would be +endless to relate all the odd incidents resulting from this peculiarity +of the young princess. But there never was a baby in a house, not to +say a palace, that kept the household in such constant good-humour, at +least below-stairs. If it was not easy for her nurses to hold her, at +least she made neither their arms nor their hearts ache. And she was so +nice to play at ball with! There was positively no danger of letting +her fall. They might throw her down, or knock her down, or push her +down, but couldn't _let_ her down. It is true, they might let her fly +into the fire or the coal-hole, or through the window; but none of +these accidents had happened as yet. If you heard peals of laughter +resounding from some unknown region, you might be sure enough of the +cause. Going down into the kitchen, or _the room_, you would find Jane +and Thomas, and Robert and Susan, all and sum, playing at ball with the +little princess. She was the ball herself, and did not enjoy it the +less for that. Away she went, flying from one to another, screeching +with laughter. And the servants loved the ball itself better even than +the game. But they had to take some care how they threw her, for if she +received an upward direction, she would never come down again without +being fetched. + + + + + + +V. WHAT IS TO BE DONE? + + +But above-stairs it was different. One day, for instance, after +breakfast, the king went into his counting-house, and counted out his +money. + +The operation gave him no pleasure. + +"To think," said he to himself, "that every one of these gold +sovereigns weighs a quarter of an ounce, and my real, live, +flesh-and-blood princess weighs nothing at all!" + +And he hated his gold sovereigns, as they lay with a broad smile of +self-satisfaction all over their yellow faces. + +The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey. But at the second +mouthful she burst out crying, and could not swallow it. The king heard +her sobbing. Glad of anybody, but especially of his queen, to quarrel +with, he clashed his gold sovereigns into his money-box, clapped his +crown on his head, and rushed into the parlour. + +"What is all this about?" exclaimed he. "What are you crying for, +queen?" + +"I can't eat it," said the queen, looking ruefully at the honey-pot. + +"No wonder!" retorted the king. "You've just eaten your breakfast--two +turkey eggs, and three anchovies." + +"Oh, that's not it!" sobbed her Majesty. "It's my child, my child!" + +"Well, what's the matter with your child? She's neither up the chimney +nor down the draw-well. Just hear her laughing." + +Yet the king could not help a sigh, which he tried to turn into a +cough, saying-- + +"It is a good thing to be light-hearted, I am sure, whether she be ours +or not." + +"It is a bad thing to be light-headed," answered the queen, looking +with prophetic soul far into the future. + +"'Tis a good thing to be light-handed," said the king. + +"'Tis a bad thing to be light-fingered," answered the queen. + +"'Tis a good thing to be light-footed," said the king. + +"'Tis a bad thing--" began the queen; but the king interrupted her. + +"In fact," said he, with the tone of one who concludes an argument in +which he has had only imaginary opponents, and in which, therefore, he +has come off triumphant--"in fact, it is a good thing altogether to be +light-bodied." + +"But it is a bad thing altogether to be light-minded," retorted the +queen, who was beginning to lose her temper. + +This last answer quite discomfited his Majesty, who turned on his heel, +and betook himself to his counting-house again. But he was not half-way +towards it, when the voice of his queen overtook him. + +"And it's a bad thing to be light-haired," screamed she, determined to +have more last words, now that her spirit was roused. + +The queen's hair was black as night; and the king's had been, and his +daughter's was, golden as morning. But it was not this reflection on +his hair that arrested him; it was the double use of the word _light_. +For the king hated all witticisms, and punning especially. And besides, +he could not tell whether the queen meant light-_haired_ or +light-_heired_; for why might she not aspirate her vowels when she was +ex-asperated herself? + +He turned upon his other heel, and rejoined her. She looked angry +still, because she knew that she was guilty, or, what was much the +same, knew that he thought so. + +"My dear queen," said he, "duplicity of any sort is exceedingly +objectionable between married people of any rank, not to say kings and +queens; and the most objectionable form duplicity can assume is that of +punning." + +"There!" said the queen, "I never made a jest, but I broke it in the +making. I am the most unfortunate woman in the world!" + +She looked so rueful, that the king took her in his arms; and they sat +down to consult. + +"Can you bear this?" said the king. + +"No, I can't," said the queen. + +"Well, what's to be done?" said the king. + +"I'm sure I don't know," said the queen. "But might you not try an +apology?" + +"To my old sister, I suppose you mean?" said the king. + +"Yes," said the queen. + +"Well, I don't mind," said the king. + +So he went the next morning to the house of the princess, and, making a +very humble apology, begged her to undo the spell. But the princess +declared, with a grave face, that she knew nothing at all about it. Her +eyes, however, shone pink, which was a sign that she was happy. She +advised the king and queen to have patience, and to mend their ways. +The king returned disconsolate. The queen tried to comfort him. + +"We will wait till she is older. She may then be able to suggest +something herself. She will know at least how she feels, and explain +things to us." + +"But what if she should marry?" exclaimed the king, in sudden +consternation at the idea. + +"Well, what of that?" rejoined the queen. "Just think! If she were to +have children! In the course of a hundred years the air might be as +full of floating children as of gossamers in autumn." + +"That is no business of ours," replied the queen. "Besides, by that +time they will have learned to take care of themselves." + +A sigh was the king's only answer. + +He would have consulted the court physicians; but he was afraid they +would try experiments upon her. + + + + + + +VI. SHE LAUGHS TOO MUCH. + + +Meantime, notwithstanding awkward occurrences, and griefs that she +brought upon her parents, the little princess laughed and grew--not +fat, but plump and tall. She reached the age of seventeen, without +having fallen into any worse scrape than a chimney; by rescuing her +from which, a little bird-nesting urchin got fame and a black face. +Nor, thoughtless as she was, had she committed anything worse than +laughter at everybody and everything that came in her way. When she was +told, for the sake of experiment, that General Clanrunfort was cut to +pieces with all his troops, she laughed; when she heard that the enemy +was on his way to besiege her papa's capital, she laughed hugely; but +when she was told that the city would certainly be abandoned to the +mercy of the enemy's soldiery--why, then she laughed immoderately. She +never could be brought to see the serious side of anything. When her +mother cried, she said,-- + +"What queer faces mamma makes! And she squeezes water out of her +cheeks? Funny mamma!" + +And when her papa stormed at her, she laughed, and danced round and +round him, clapping her hands, and crying,-- + +"Do it again, papa. Do it again! It's such fun! Dear, funny papa!" + +And if he tried to catch her, she glided from him in an instant, not in +the least afraid of him, but thinking it part of the game not to be +caught. With one push of her foot, she would be floating in the air +above his head; or she would go dancing backwards and forwards and +sideways, like a great butterfly. It happened several times, when her +father and mother were holding a consultation about her in private, +that they were interrupted by vainly repressed outbursts of laughter +over their heads; and looking up with indignation, saw her floating at +full length in the air above them, whence she regarded them with the +most comical appreciation of the position. + +One day an awkward accident happened. The princess had come out upon +the lawn with one of her attendants, who held her by the hand. Spying +her father at the other side of the lawn, she snatched her hand from +the maid's, and sped across to him. Now when she wanted to run alone, +her custom was to catch up a stone in each hand, so that she might come +down again after a bound. Whatever she wore as part of her attire had +no effect in this way: even gold, when it thus became as it were a part +of herself, lost all its weight for the time. But whatever she only +held in her hands retained its downward tendency. On this occasion she +could see nothing to catch up but a huge toad, that was walking across +the lawn as if he had a hundred years to do it in. Not knowing what +disgust meant, for this was one of her peculiarities, she snatched up +the toad and bounded away. She had almost reached her father, and he +was holding out his arms to receive her, and take from her lips the +kiss which hovered on them like a butterfly on a rosebud, when a puff +of wind blew her aside into the arms of a young page, who had just been +receiving a message from his Majesty. Now it was no great peculiarity +in the princess that, once she was set agoing, it always cost her time +and trouble to check herself. On this occasion there was no time. She +_must_ kiss--and she kissed the page. She did not mind it much; for she +had no shyness in her composition; and she knew, besides, that she +could not help it. So she only laughed, like a musical box. The poor +page fared the worst. For the princess, trying to correct the +unfortunate tendency of the kiss, put out her hands to keep her off the +page; so that, along with the kiss, he received, on the other cheek, a +slap with the huge black toad, which she poked right into his eye. He +tried to laugh, too, but the attempt resulted in such an odd contortion +of countenance, as showed that there was no danger of his pluming +himself on the kiss. As for the king, his dignity was greatly hurt, and +he did not speak to the page for a whole month. + +I may here remark that it was very amusing to see her run, if her mode +of progression could properly be called running. For first she would +make a bound; then, having alighted, she would run a few steps, and +make another bound. Sometimes she would fancy she had reached the +ground before she actually had, and her feet would go backwards and +forwards, running upon nothing at all, like those of a chicken on its +back. Then she would laugh like the very spirit of fun; only in her +laugh there was something missing. What it was, I find myself unable to +describe. I think it was a certain tone, depending upon the possibility +of sorrow--_morbidezza_, perhaps. She never smiled. + + + + + + +VII. TRY METAPHYSICS. + + +After a long avoidance of the painful subject, the king and queen +resolved to hold a council of three upon it; and so they sent for the +princess. In she came, sliding and flitting and gliding from one piece +of furniture to another, and put herself at last in an armchair, in a +sitting posture. Whether she could be said to _sit_, seeing she +received no support from the seat of the chair, I do not pretend to +determine. + +"My dear child," said the king, "you must be aware by this time that +you are not exactly like other people." + +"Oh, you dear funny papa! I have got a nose, and two eyes, and all the +rest. So have you. So has mamma." + +"Now be serious, my dear, for once," said the queen. + +"No, thank you, mamma; I had rather not." + +"Would you not like to be able to walk like other people?" said the +king. "No indeed, I should think not. You only crawl. You are such slow +coaches!" + +"How do you feel, my child?" he resumed, after a pause of discomfiture. + +"Quite well, thank you." + +"I mean, what do you feel like?" + +"Like nothing at all, that I know of." + +"You must feel like something." + +"I feel like a princess with such a funny papa, and such a dear pet of +a queen-mamma!" + +"Now really!" began the queen; but the princess interrupted her. + +"Oh yes," she added, "I remember. I have a curious feeling sometimes, +as if I were the only person that had any sense in the whole world." + +She had been trying to behave herself with dignity; but now she burst +into a violent fit of laughter, threw herself backwards over the chair, +and went rolling about the floor in an ecstasy of enjoyment. The king +picked her up easier than one does a down quilt, and replaced her in +her former relation to the chair. The exact preposition expressing this +relation I do not happen to know. + +"Is there nothing you wish for?" resumed the king, who had learned by +this time that it was quite useless to be angry with her. + +"Oh, you dear papa!--yes," answered she. + +"What is it, my darling?" + +"I have been longing for it--oh, such a time! Ever since last night." + +"Tell me what it is." + +"Will you promise to let me have it?" + +The king was on the point of saying _Yes_, but the wiser queen checked +him with a single motion of her head. + +"Tell me what it is first," said he. + +"No no. Promise first." + +"I dare not. What is it?" + +"Mind, I hold you to your promise.--It is--to be tied to the end of a +string--a very long string indeed, and be flown like a kite. Oh, such +fun! I would rain rose-water, and hail sugar-plums, and snow +whipped-cream, and--and--and--" + +A fit of laughing checked her; and she would have been off again over +the floor, had not the king started up and caught her just in time. +Seeing nothing but talk could be got out of her, he rang the bell, and +sent her away with two of her ladies-in-waiting. + +"Now, queen," he said, turning to her Majesty, "what _is_ to be done?" + +"There is but one thing left," answered she. "Let us consult the +college of Metaphysicians." + +"Bravo!" cried the king; "we will." + +Now at the head of this college were two very wise Chinese +philosophers--by name, Hum-Drum and Kopy-Keck. For them the king sent; +and straightway they came. In a long speech he communicated to them +what they knew very well already--as who did not?--namely, the peculiar +condition of his daughter in relation to the globe on which she dwelt; +and requested them to consult together as to what might be the cause +and probable cure of her _infirmity_. The king laid stress upon the +word, but failed to discover his own pun. The queen laughed; but +Hum-Drum and Kopy-Keck heard with humility and retired in silence. + +The consultation consisted chiefly in propounding and supporting, for +the thousandth time, each his favourite theories. For the condition of +the princess afforded delightful scope for the discussion of every +question arising from the division of thought--in fact, of all the +Metaphysics of the Chinese Empire. But it is only justice to say that +they did not altogether neglect the discussion of the practical +question, _what was to be done_. + +Hum-Drum was a Materialist, and Kopy-Keck was a spiritualist. The +former was slow and sententious; the latter was quick and flighty: the +latter had generally the first word; the former the last. + +"I reassert my former assertion," began Kopy-Keck, with a plunge. +"There is not a fault in the princess, body or soul; only they are +wrong put together. Listen to me now, Hum-Drum, and I will tell you in +brief what I think. Don't speak. Don't answer me. I _won't_ hear you +till I have done.-- At that decisive moment, when souls seek their +appointed habitations, two eager souls met, struck, rebounded, lost +their way, and arrived each at the wrong place. The soul of the +princess was one of those, and she went far astray. She does not belong +by rights to this world at all, but to some other planet, probably +Mercury. Her proclivity to her true sphere destroys all the natural +influence which this orb would otherwise possess over her corporeal +frame. She cares for nothing here. There is no relation between her and +this world. + +"She must therefore be taught, by the sternest compulsion, to take an +interest in the earth as the earth. She must study every department of +its history--its animal history; its vegetable history; its mineral +history; its social history; its moral history; its political history; +its scientific history; its literary history; its musical history; its +artistical history; above all, its metaphysical history. She must begin +with the Chinese dynasty and end with Japan. But first of all she must +study geology, and especially the history of the extinct races of +animals--their natures, their habits, their loves, their hates, their +revenges. She must--" + +"Hold, h-o-o-old!" roared Hum-Drum. "It is certainly my turn now. My +rooted and insubvertible conviction is, that the causes of the +anomalies evident in the princess's condition are strictly and solely +physical. But that is only tantamount to acknowledging that they exist. +Hear my opinion.--From some cause or other, of no importance to our +inquiry, the motion of her heart has been reversed. That remarkable +combination of the suction and the force-pump works the wrong way--I +mean in the case of the princess: it draws in where it should force +out, and forces out where it should draw in. The offices of the +auricles and the ventricles are subverted. The blood is sent forth by +the veins, and returns by the arteries. Consequently it is running the +wrong way through all her corporeal organism--lungs and all. Is it then +at all mysterious, seeing that such is the case, that on the other +particular of gravitation as well, she should differ from normal +humanity? My proposal for the cure is this:-- + +"Phlebotomize until she is reduced to the last point of safety. Let it +be affected, if necessary, in a warm bath. When she is reduced to a +state of perfect asphyxy, apply a ligature to the left ankle, drawing +it as tight as the bone will bear. Apply, at the same moment, another +of equal tension around the right wrist. By means of plates constructed +for the purpose, place the other foot and hand under the receivers of +two air-pumps. Exhaust the receivers. Exhibit a pint of French brandy, +and await the result." + +"Which would presently arrive in the form of grim death," said +Kopy-Keck. + +"If it should, she would yet die in doing our duty," retorted Hum-Drum. + +But their Majesties had too much tenderness for their volatile +offspring to subject her to either of the schemes of the equally +unscrupulous philosophers. Indeed, the most complete knowledge of the +laws of nature would have been unserviceable in her case; for it was +impossible to classify her. She was a fifth imponderable body, sharing +all the other properties of the ponderable. + + + + + + +VIII. TRY A DROP OF WATER. + + +Perhaps the best thing for the princess would have been to fall in +love. But how a princess who had no gravity could fall into anything is +a difficulty--perhaps _the_ difficulty. As for her own feelings on the +subject, she did not even know that there was such a beehive of honey +and stings to be fallen into. But now I come to mention another curious +fact about her. + +The palace was built on the shore of the loveliest lake in the world; +and the princess loved this lake more than father or mother. The root +of this preference no doubt, although the princess did not recognize it +as such, was, that the moment she got into it, she recovered the +natural right of which she had been so wickedly deprived--namely, +gravity. Whether this was owing to the fact that water had been +employed as the means of conveying the injury, I do not know. But it is +certain that she could swim and dive like the duck that her old nurse +said she was. The manner in which this alleviation of her misfortune +was discovered was as follows:-- + +One summer evening, during the carnival of the country, she had been +taken upon the lake by the king and queen, in the royal barge. They +were accompanied by many of the courtiers in a fleet of little boats. +In the middle of the lake she wanted to get into the lord chancellor's +barge, for his daughter, who was a great favourite with her, was in it +with her father. Now though the old king rarely condescended to make +light of his misfortune, yet, happening on this occasion to be in a +particularly good humour, as the barges approached each other, he +caught up the princess to throw her into the chancellor's barge. He +lost his balance, however, and, dropping into the bottom of the barge, +lost his hold of his daughter; not, however, before imparting to her +the downward tendency of his own person, though in a somewhat different +direction; for, as the king fell into the boat, she fell into the +water. With a burst of delightful laughter she disappeared in the lake. +A cry of horror ascended from the boats. They had never seen the +princess go down before. Half the men were under water in a moment; but +they had all, one after another, come up to the surface again for +breath, when--tinkle, tinkle, babble, and gush! came the princess's +laugh over the water from far away. There she was, swimming like a +swan. Nor would she come out for king or queen, chancellor or daughter. +She was perfectly obstinate. + +But at the same time she seemed more sedate than usual. Perhaps that +was because a great pleasure spoils laughing. At all events, after +this, the passion of her life was to get into the water, and she was +always the better behaved and the more beautiful the more she had of +it. Summer and winter it was quite the same; only she could not stay so +long in the water when they had to break the ice to let her in. Any +day, from morning till evening in summer, she might be descried--a +streak of white in the blue water--lying as still as the shadow of a +cloud, or shooting along like a dolphin; disappearing, and coming up +again far off, just where one did not expect her. She would have been +in the lake of a night, too, if she could have had her way; for the +balcony of her window overhung a deep pool in it; and through a shallow +reedy passage she could have swum out into the wide wet water, and no +one would have been any the wiser. Indeed, when she happened to wake in +the moonlight she could hardly resist the temptation. But there was the +sad difficulty of getting into it. She had as great a dread of the air +as some children have of the water. For the slightest gust of wind +would blow her away; and a gust might arise in the stillest moment. And +if she gave herself a push towards the water and just failed of +reaching it, her situation would be dreadfully awkward, irrespective of +the wind; for at best there she would have to remain, suspended in her +night-gown, till she was seen and angled for by someone from the +window. + +"Oh! if I had my gravity," thought she, contemplating the water, "I +would flash off this balcony like a long white sea-bird, headlong into +the darling wetness. Heigh-ho!" + +This was the only consideration that made her wish to be like other +people. + +Another reason for her being fond of the water was that in it alone she +enjoyed any freedom. For she could not walk out without a _cortege_, +consisting in part of a troop of light horse, for fear of the liberties +which the wind might take with her. And the king grew more apprehensive +with increasing years, till at last he would not allow her to walk +abroad at all without some twenty silken cords fastened to as many +parts of her dress, and held by twenty noblemen. Of course horseback +was out of the question. But she bade good-bye to all this ceremony +when she got into the water. + +And so remarkable were its effects upon her, especially in restoring +her for the time to the ordinary human gravity, that Hum-Drum and +Kopy-Keck agreed in recommending the king to bury her alive for three +years; in the hope that, as the water did her so much good, the earth +would do her yet more. But the king had some vulgar prejudices against +the experiment, and would not give his consent. Foiled in this, they +yet agreed in another recommendation; which, seeing that the one +imported his opinions from China and the other from Thibet, was very +remarkable indeed. They argued that, if water of external origin and +application could be so efficacious, water from a deeper source might +work a perfect cure; in short, that if the poor afflicted princess +could by any means be made to cry, she might recover her lost gravity. + +But how was this to be brought about? Therein lay all the +difficulty--to meet which the philosophers were not wise enough. To +make the princess cry was as impossible as to make her weigh. They sent +for a professional beggar; commanded him to prepare his most touching +oracle of woe; helped him, out of the court charade-box, to whatever he +wanted for dressing up, and promised great rewards in the event of his +success. But it was all in vain. She listened to the mendicant artist's +story, and gazed at his marvellous make-up, till she could contain +herself no longer, and went into the most undignified contortions for +relief, shrieking, positively screeching with laughter. + +When she had a little recovered herself, she ordered her attendants to +drive him away, and not give him a single copper; whereupon his look of +mortified discomfiture wrought her punishment and his revenge, for it +sent her into violent hysterics, from which she was with difficulty +recovered. + +But so anxious was the king that the suggestion should have a fair +trial, that he put himself in a rage one day, and, rushing up to her +room, gave her an awful whipping. Yet not a tear would flow. She looked +grave, and her laughing sounded uncommonly like screaming--that was +all. The good old tyrant, though he put on his best gold spectacles to +look, could not discover the smallest cloud in the serene blue of her +eyes. + + + + + + +IX. PUT ME IN AGAIN. + + +It must have been about this time that the son of a king, who lived a +thousand miles from Lagobel, set out to look for the daughter of a +queen. He travelled far and wide, but as sure as he found a princess, +he found some fault in her. Of course he could not marry a mere woman, +however beautiful; and there was no princess to be found worthy of him. +Whether the prince was so near perfection that he had a right to demand +perfection itself, I cannot pretend to say. All I know is, that he was +a fine, handsome, brave, generous, well-bred, and well-behaved youth, +as all princes are. + +In his wanderings he had come across some reports about our princess; +but as everybody said she was bewitched, he never dreamed that she +could bewitch him. For what indeed could a prince do with a princess +that had lost her gravity? Who could tell what she might not lose next? +She might lose her visibility, or her tangibility; or, in short, the +power of making impressions upon the radical sensorium; so that he +should never be able to tell whether she was dead or alive. Of course +he made no further inquiries about her. + +One day he lost sight of his retinue in a great forest. These forests +are very useful in delivering princes from their courtiers, like a +sieve that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to follow +their fortunes. In this they have the advantage of the princesses, who +are forced to marry before they have had a bit of fun. I wish our +princesses got lost in a forest sometimes. + +One lovely evening, after wandering about for many days, he found that +he was approaching the outskirts of this forest; for the trees had got +so thin that he could see the sunset through them; and he soon came +upon a kind of heath. Next he came upon signs of human neighbourhood; +but by this time it was getting late, and there was nobody in the +fields to direct him. + +After travelling for another hour, his horse, quite worn out with long +labour and lack of food, fell, and was unable to rise again. So he +continued his journey on foot. At length he entered another wood--not a +wild forest, but a civilized wood, through which a footpath led him to +the side of a lake. Along this path the prince pursued his way through +the gathering darkness. Suddenly he paused, and listened. Strange +sounds came across the water. It was, in fact, the princess laughing. +Now there was something odd in her laugh, as I have already hinted, for +the hatching of a real hearty laugh requires the incubation of gravity; +and perhaps this was how the prince mistook the laughter for screaming. +Looking over the lake, he saw something white in the water; and, in an +instant, he had torn off his tunic, kicked off his sandals, and plunged +in. He soon reached the white object, and found that it was a woman. +There was not light enough to show that she was a princess, but quite +enough to show that she was a lady, for it does not want much light to +see that. + +Now I cannot tell how it came about,--whether she pretended to be +drowning, or whether he frightened her, or caught her so as to +embarrass her,--but certainly he brought her to shore in a fashion +ignominious to a swimmer, and more nearly drowned than she had ever +expected to be; for the water had got into her throat as often as she +had tried to speak. + +At the place to which he bore her, the bank was only a foot or two +above the water, so he gave her a strong lift out of the water, to lay +her on the bank. But, her gravitation ceasing the moment she left the +water, away she went up into the air, scolding and screaming. + +"You naughty, _naughty_, NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY man!" she cried. + +No one had ever succeeded in putting her into a passion before.--When +the prince saw her ascend, he thought he must have been bewitched, and +have mistaken a great swan for a lady. But the princess caught hold of +the topmost cone upon a lofty fir. This came off; but she caught at +another, and, in fact, stopped herself by gathering cones, dropping +them as the stocks gave way. The prince, meantime, stood in the water, +staring, and forgetting to get out. But the princess disappearing, he +scrambled on shore, and went in the direction of the tree. There he +found her climbing down one of the branches towards the stem. But in +the darkness of the wood, the prince continued in some bewilderment as +to what the phenomenon could be; until, reaching the ground, and seeing +him standing there, she caught hold of him, and said,-- + +"I'll tell papa." + +"Oh no, you won't!" returned the prince. + +"Yes, I will," she persisted. "What business had you to pull me down +out of the water, and throw me to the bottom of the air? I never did +you any harm." + +"Pardon me. I did not mean to hurt you." + +"I don't believe you have any brains; and that is a worse loss that +your wretched gravity. I pity you." + +The prince now saw that he had come upon the bewitched princess, and +had already offended her. But before he could think what to say next, +she burst out angrily, giving a stamp with her foot that would have +sent her aloft again but for the hold she had of his arm,-- + +"Put me up directly." + +"Put you up where, you beauty?" asked the prince. + +He had fallen in love with her almost, already; for her anger made her +more charming than any one else had ever beheld her; and, as far as he +could see, which certainly was not far, she had not a single fault +about her, except, of course, that she had not any gravity. No prince, +however, would judge of a princess by weight. The loveliness of her +foot he would hardly estimate by the depth of the impression it could +make in the mud. + +"Put you up where, you beauty?" asked the prince. + +"In the water, you stupid!" answered the princess. + +"Come, then," said the prince. + +The condition of her dress, increasing her usual difficulty in walking, +compelled her to cling to him; and he could hardly persuade himself +that he was not in a delightful dream, notwithstanding the torrent of +musical abuse with which she overwhelmed him. The prince being +therefore in no hurry, they came upon the lake at quite another part, +where the bank was twenty-five feet high at least; and when they had +reached the edge, he turned towards the princess, and said,-- + +"How am I to put you in?" + +"That is your business," she answered, quite snappishly. "You took me +out--put me in again." + +"Very well," said the prince; and, catching her up in his arms, he +sprang with her from the rock. The princess had just time to give one +delighted shriek of laughter before the water closed over them. When +they came to the surface, she found that, for a moment or two, she +could not even laugh, for she had gone down with such a rush, that it +was with difficulty she recovered her breath. The instant they reached +the surface-- + +"How do you like falling in?" said the prince. + +After some effort the princess panted out,-- + +"Is that what you call _falling in_?" + +"Yes," answered the prince, "I should think it a very tolerable +specimen." + +"It seemed to me like going up," rejoined she. + +"My feeling was certainly one of elevation too," the prince conceded. + +The princess did not appear to understand him, for she retorted his +question:-- + +"How do _you_ like falling in?" said the princess. + +"Beyond everything," answered he; "for I have fallen in with the only +perfect creature I ever saw." + +"No more of that: I am tired of it," said the princess. + +Perhaps she shared her father's aversion to punning. + +"Don't you like falling in, then?" said the prince. + +"It is the most delightful fun I ever had in my life," answered she. "I +never fell before. I wish I could learn. To think I am the only person +in my father's kingdom that can't fall!" + +Here the poor princess looked almost sad. + +"I shall be most happy to fall in with you any time you like," said the +prince, devotedly. + +"Thank you. I don't know. Perhaps it would not be proper. But I don't +care. At all events, as we have fallen in, let us have a swim +together." + +"With all my heart," responded the prince. + +And away they went, swimming, and diving, and floating, until at last +they heard cries along the shore, and saw lights glancing in all +directions. It was now quite late, and there was no moon. + +"I must go home," said the princess. "I am very sorry, for this is +delightful." + +"So am I," returned the prince. "But I am glad I haven't a home to go +to--at least, I don't exactly know where it is." + +"I wish I hadn't one either," rejoined the princess; "it is so stupid! +I have a great mind," she continued, "to play them all a trick. Why +couldn't they leave me alone? They won't trust me in the lake for a +single night!--You see where that green light is burning? That is the +window of my room. Now if you would just swim there with me very +quietly, and when we are all but under the balcony, give me such a +push--_up_ you call it--as you did a little while ago, I should be able +to catch hold of the balcony, and get in at the window; and then they +may look for me till to-morrow morning!" + +"With more obedience than pleasure," said the prince, gallantly; and +away they swam, very gently. + +"Will you be in the lake to-morrow night?" the prince ventured to ask. + +"To be sure I will. I don't think so. Perhaps," was the princess's +somewhat strange answer. + +But the prince was intelligent enough not to press her further; and +merely whispered, as he gave her the parting lift, "Don't tell." The +only answer the princess returned was a roguish look. She was already a +yard above his head. The look seemed to say, "Never fear. It is too +good fun to spoil that way." + +So perfectly like other people had she been in the water, that even yet +the prince could scarcely believe his eyes when he saw her ascend +slowly, grasp the balcony, and disappear through the window. He turned, +almost expecting to see her still by his side. But he was alone in the +water. So he swam away quietly, and watched the lights roving about the +shore for hours after the princess was safe in her chamber. As soon as +they disappeared, he landed in search of his tunic and sword, and, +after some trouble, found them again. Then he made the best of his way +round the lake to the other side. There the wood was wilder, and the +shore steeper--rising more immediately towards the mountains which +surrounded the lake on all sides, and kept sending it messages of +silvery streams from morning to night, and all night long. He soon +found a spot whence he could see the green light in the princess's +room, and where, even in the broad daylight, he would be in no danger +of being discovered from the opposite shore. It was a sort of cave in +the rock, where he provided himself a bed of withered leaves, and lay +down too tired for hunger to keep him awake. All night long he dreamed +that he was swimming with the princess. + + + + + + +X. LOOK AT THE MOON. + + +Early the next morning the prince set out to look for something to eat, +which he soon found at a forester's hut, where for many following days +he was supplied with all that a brave prince could consider necessary. +And having plenty to keep him alive for the present, he would not think +of wants not yet in existence. Whenever Care intruded, this prince +always bowed him out in the most princely manner. + +When he returned from his breakfast to his watch-cave, he saw the +princess already floating about in the lake, attended by the king or +queen--whom he knew by their crowns--and a great company in lovely +little boats, with canopies of all the colours of the rainbow, and +flags and streamers of a great many more. It was a very bright day, and +soon the prince, burned up with the heat, began to long for the cold +water and the cool princess. But he had to endure till twilight; for +the boats had provisions on board, and it was not till the sun went +down that the gay party began to vanish. Boat after boat drew away to +the shore, following that of the king and queen, till only one, +apparently the princess's own boat, remained. But she did not want to +go home even yet, and the prince thought he saw her order the boat to +the shore without her. At all events, it rowed away; and now, of all +the radiant company, only one white speck remained. Then the prince +began to sing. + +And this is what he sang:-- + + "Lady fair, + Swan-white, + Lift thine eyes + Banish night + By the might + Of thine eyes. + + Snowy arms, + Oars of snow, + Oar her hither, + Plashing low. + Soft and slow, + Oar her hither. + + Stream behind her + O'er the lake, + Radiant whiteness! + In her wake + Following, following for her sake, + Radiant whiteness! + + Cling about her, + Waters blue; + Part not from her, + But renew + Cold and true + Kisses round her. + + Lap me round, + Waters sad + That have left her; + Make me glad, + For ye had + Kissed her ere ye left her." + +Before he had finished his song, the princess was just under the place +where he sat, and looking up to find him. Her ears had led her truly. + +"Would you like a fall, princess?" said the prince, looking down. + +"Ah! there you are! Yes, if you please, prince," said the princess, +looking up. + +"How do you know I am a prince, princess?" said the prince. + +"Because you are a very nice young man, prince," said the princess. + +"Come up then, princess." + +"Fetch me, prince." + +The prince took off his scarf, then his sword-belt, then his tunic, and +tied them all together, and let them down. But the line was far too +short. He unwound his turban, and added it to the rest, when it was all +but long enough; and his purse completed it. The princess just managed +to lay hold of the knot of money, and was beside him in a moment. This +rock was much higher than the other, and the splash and the dive were +tremendous. The princess was in ecstasies of delight, and their swim +was delicious. + +Night after night they met, and swam about in the dark clear lake; +where such was the prince's gladness, that (whether the princess's way +of looking at things infected him, or he was actually getting +light-headed) he often fancied that he was swimming in the sky instead +of the lake. But when he talked about being in heaven, the princess +laughed at him dreadfully. + +When the moon came, she brought them fresh pleasure. Everything looked +strange and new in her light, with an old, withered, yet unfading +newness. When the moon was nearly full, one of their great delights +was, to dive deep in the water, and then, turning round, look up +through it at the great blot of light close above them, shimmering and +trembling and wavering, spreading and contracting, seeming to melt +away, and again grow solid. Then they would shoot up through the blot; +and lo! there was the moon, far off, clear and steady and cold, and +very lovely, at the bottom of a deeper and bluer lake than theirs, as +the princess said. + +The prince soon found out that while in the water the princess was very +like other people. And besides this, she was not so forward in her +questions or pert in her replies at sea as on shore. Neither did she +laugh so much; and when she did laugh, it was more gently. She seemed +altogether more modest and maidenly in the water than out of it. But +when the prince, who had really fallen in love when he fell in the +lake, began to talk to her about love, she always turned her head +towards him and laughed. After a while she began to look puzzled, as if +she were trying to understand what he meant, but could not--revealing a +notion that he meant something. But as soon as ever she left the lake, +she was so altered, that the prince said to himself, "If I marry her, I +see no help for it: we must turn merman and mermaid, and go out to sea +at once." + + + + + + +XI. HISS! + + +The princess's pleasure in the lake had grown to a passion, and she +could scarcely bear to be out of it for an hour. Imagine then her +consternation, when, diving with the prince one night, a sudden +suspicion seized her that the lake was not so deep as it used to be. +The prince could not imagine what had happened. She shot to the +surface, and, without a word, swam at full speed towards the higher +side of the lake. He followed, begging to know if she was ill, or what +was the matter. She never turned her head, or took the smallest notice +of his question. Arrived at the shore, she coasted the rocks with +minute inspection. But she was not able to come to a conclusion, for +the moon was very small, and so she could not see well. She turned +therefore and swam home, without saying a word to explain her conduct +to the prince, of whose presence she seemed no longer conscious. He +withdrew to his cave, in great perplexity and distress. + +Next day she made many observations, which, alas! strengthened her +fears. She saw that the banks were too dry; and that the grass on the +shore, and the trailing plants on the rocks, were withering away. She +caused marks to be made along the borders, and examined them, day after +day, in all directions of the wind; till at last the horrible idea +became a certain fact--that the surface of the lake was slowly sinking. + +The poor princess nearly went out of the little mind she had. It was +awful to her to see the lake, which she loved more than any living +thing, lie dying before her eyes. It sank away, slowly vanishing. The +tops of rocks that had never been seen till now, began to appear far +down in the clear water. Before long they were dry in the sun. It was +fearful to think of the mud that would soon lie there baking and +festering, full of lovely creatures dying, and ugly creatures coming to +life, like the unmaking of a world. And how hot the sun would be +without any lake! She could not bear to swim in it any more, and began +to pine away. Her life seemed bound up with it; and ever as the lake +sank, she pined. People said she would not live an hour after the lake +was gone. + +But she never cried. + +Proclamation was made to all the kingdom, that whosoever should +discover the cause of the lake's decrease, would be rewarded after a +princely fashion. Hum-Drum and Kopy-Keck applied themselves to their +physics and metaphysics; but in vain. Not even they could suggest a +cause. + +Now the fact was that the old princess was at the root of the mischief. +When she heard that her niece found more pleasure in the water than +anyone else out of it, she went into a rage, and cursed herself for her +want of foresight. + +"But," said she, "I will soon set all right. The king and the people +shall die of thirst; their brains shall boil and frizzle in their +skulls before I will lose my revenge." + +And she laughed a ferocious laugh, that made the hairs on the back of +her black cat stand erect with terror. + +Then she went to an old chest in the room, and opening it, took out +what looked like a piece of dried seaweed. This she threw into a tub of +water. Then she threw some powder into the water, and stirred it with +her bare arm, muttering over it words of hideous sound, and yet more +hideous import. Then she set the tub aside, and took from the chest a +huge bunch of a hundred rusty keys, that clattered in her shaking +hands. Then she sat down and proceeded to oil them all. Before she had +finished, out from the tub, the water of which had kept on a slow +motion ever since she had ceased stirring it, came the head and half +the body of a huge gray snake. But the witch did not look round. It +grew out of the tub, waving itself backwards and forwards with a slow +horizontal motion, till it reached the princess, when it laid its head +upon her shoulder, and gave a low hiss in her ear. She started--but +with joy; and seeing the head resting on her shoulder, drew it towards +her and kissed it. Then she drew it all out of the tub, and wound it +round her body. It was one of those dreadful creatures which few have +ever beheld--the White Snakes of Darkness. + +Then she took the keys and went down to her cellar; and as she unlocked +the door she said to herself,-- + +"This _is_ worth living for!" + +Locking the door behind her, she descended a few steps into the cellar, +and crossing it, unlocked another door into a dark, narrow passage. She +locked this also behind her, and descended a few more steps. If anyone +had followed the witch-princess, he would have heard her unlock exactly +one hundred doors, and descend a few steps after unlocking each. When +she had unlocked the last, she entered a vast cave, the roof of which +was supported by huge natural pillars of rock. Now this roof was the +under side of the bottom of the lake. + +She then untwined the snake from her body, and held it by the tail high +above her. The hideous creature stretched up its head towards the roof +of the cavern, which it was just able to reach. It then began to move +its head backwards and forwards, with a slow oscillating motion, as if +looking for something. At the same moment the witch began to walk round +and round the cavern, coming nearer to the centre every circuit; while +the head of the snake described the same path over the roof that she +did over the floor, for she kept holding it up. And still it kept +slowly oscillating. Round and round the cavern they went, ever +lessening the circuit, till at last the snake made a sudden dart, and +clung to the roof with its mouth. + +"That's right, my beauty!" cried the princess; "drain it dry." + +She let it go, left it hanging, and sat down on a great stone, with her +black cat, which had followed her all round the cave, by her side. Then +she began to knit and mutter awful words. The snake hung like a huge +leech, sucking at the stone; the cat stood with his back arched, and +his tail like a piece of cable, looking up at the snake; and the old +woman sat and knitted and muttered. Seven days and seven nights they +remained thus; when suddenly the serpent dropped from the roof as if +exhausted, and shrivelled up till it was again like a piece of dried +seaweed. The witch started to her feet, picked it up, put it in her +pocket, and looked up at the roof. One drop of water was trembling on +the spot where the snake had been sucking. As soon as she saw that, she +turned and fled, followed by her cat. Shutting the door in a terrible +hurry, she locked it, and having muttered some frightful words, sped to +the next, which also she locked and muttered over; and so with all the +hundred doors, till she arrived in her own cellar. There she sat down +on the floor ready to faint, but listening with malicious delight to +the rushing of the water, which she could hear distinctly through all +the hundred doors. + +But this was not enough. Now that she had tasted revenge, she lost her +patience. Without further measures, the lake would be too long in +disappearing. So the next night, with the last shred of the dying old +moon rising, she took some of the water in which she had revived the +snake, put it in a bottle, and set out, accompanied by her cat. Before +morning she had made the entire circuit of the lake, muttering fearful +words as she crossed every stream, and casting into it some of the +water out of her bottle. When she had finished the circuit she muttered +yet again, and flung a handful of water towards the moon. Thereupon +every spring in the country ceased to throb and bubble, dying away like +the pulse of a dying man. The next day there was no sound of falling +water to be heard along the borders of the lake. The very courses were +dry; and the mountains showed no silvery streaks down their dark sides. +And not alone had the fountains of mother Earth ceased to flow; for all +the babies throughout the country were crying dreadfully--only without +tears. + + + + + + +XII. WHERE IS THE PRINCE? + + +Never since the night when the princess left him so abruptly had the +prince had a single interview with her. He had seen her once or twice +in the lake; but as far as he could discover, she had not been in it +any more at night. He had sat and sung, and looked in vain for his +Nereid; while she, like a true Nereid, was wasting away with her lake, +sinking as it sank, withering as it dried. When at length he discovered +the change that was taking place in the level of the water, he was in +great alarm and perplexity. He could not tell whether the lake was +dying because the lady had forsaken it; or whether the lady would not +come because the lake had begun to sink. But he resolved to know so +much at least. + +He disguised himself, and, going to the palace, requested to see the +lord chamberlain. His appearance at once gained his request; and the +lord chamberlain, being a man of some insight, perceived that there was +more in the prince's solicitation than met the ear. He felt likewise +that no one could tell whence a solution of the present difficulties +might arise. So he granted the prince's prayer to be made shoe-black to +the princess. It was rather cunning in the prince to request such an +easy post, for the princess could not possibly soil as many shoes as +other princesses. He soon learned all that could be learned about the +princess. He went nearly distracted; but after roaming about the lake +for days, and diving in every depth that remained, all that he could do +was to put an extra polish on the dainty pair of boots that was never +called for. + +For the princess kept her room, with the curtains drawn to shut out the +dying lake. But she could not shut it out of her mind for a moment. It +haunted her imagination so that she felt as if the lake were her soul, +drying up within her, first to mud, then to madness and death. She thus +brooded over the change, with all its dreadful accompaniments, till she +was nearly distracted. As for the prince, she had forgotten him. +However much she had enjoyed his company in the water, she did not care +for him without it. But she seemed to have forgotten her father and +mother too. The lake went on sinking. Small slimy spots began to +appear, which glittered steadily amidst the changeful shine of the +water. These grew to broad patches of mud, which widened and spread, +with rocks here and there, and floundering fishes and crawling eels +swarming. The people went everywhere catching these, and looking for +anything that might have dropped from the royal boats. + +At length the lake was all but gone, only a few of the deepest pools +remaining unexhausted. + +It happened one day that a party of youngsters found themselves on the +brink of one of these pools in the very centre of the lake. It was a +rocky basin of considerable depth. Looking in, they saw at the bottom +something that shone yellow in the sun. A little boy jumped in and +dived for it. It was a plate of gold covered with writing. They carried +it to the king. + +On one side of it stood these words:-- + + "Death alone from death can save. + Love is death, and so is brave. + Love can fill the deepest grave. + Love loves on beneath the wave." + +Now this was enigmatical enough to the king and courtiers. But the +reverse of the plate explained it a little. Its writing amounted to +this:-- + +"If the lake should disappear, they must find the hole through which +the water ran. But it would be useless to try to stop it by any +ordinary means. There was but one effectual mode.--The body of a living +man could alone stanch the flow. The man must give himself of his own +will; and the lake must take his life as it filled. Otherwise the +offering would be of no avail. If the nation could not provide one +hero, it was time it should perish." + + + + + + +XIII. HERE I AM. + + +This was a very disheartening revelation to the king--not that he was +unwilling to sacrifice a subject, but that he was hopeless of finding a +man willing to sacrifice himself. No time was to be lost, however, for +the princess was lying motionless on her bed, and taking no nourishment +but lake-water, which was now none of the best. Therefore the king +caused the contents of the wonderful plate of gold to be published +throughout the country. + +No one, however, came forward. + +The prince, having gone several days' journey into the forest, to +consult a hermit whom he had met there on his way to Lagobel, knew +nothing of the oracle till his return. + +When he had acquainted himself with all the particulars, he sat down +and thought,-- + +"She will die if I don't do it, and life would be nothing to me without +her; so I shall lose nothing by doing it. And life will be as pleasant +to her as ever, for she will soon forget me. And there will be so much +more beauty and happiness in the world!--To be sure, I shall not see +it." (Here the poor prince gave a sigh.) "How lovely the lake will be +in the moonlight, with that glorious creature sporting in it like a +wild goddess!--It is rather hard to be drowned by inches, though. Let +me see--that will be seventy inches of me to drown." (Here he tried to +laugh, but could not.) "The longer the better, however," he resumed, +"for can I not bargain that the princess shall be beside me all the +time? So I shall see her once more, kiss her, perhaps,--who knows? and +die looking in her eyes. It will be no death. At least, I shall not +feel it. And to see the lake filling for the beauty again!--All right! +I am ready." + +He kissed the princess's boot, laid it down, and hurried to the king's +apartment. But feeling, as he went, that anything sentimental would be +disagreeable, he resolved to carry off the whole affair with +nonchalance. So he knocked at the door of the king's counting-house, +where it was all but a capital crime to disturb him. + +When the king heard the knock he started up, and opened the door in a +rage. Seeing only the shoeblack, he drew his sword. This, I am sorry to +say, was his usual mode of asserting his regality, when he thought his +dignity was in danger. But the prince was not in the least alarmed. + +"Please your majesty, I'm your butler," said he. + +"My butler! you lying rascal? What do you mean?" + +"I mean, I will cork your big bottle." + +"Is the fellow mad?" bawled the king, raising the point of his sword. + +"I will put a stopper--plug--what you call it, in your leaky lake, +grand monarch," said the prince. + +The king was in such a rage that before he could speak he had time to +cool, and to reflect that it would be great waste to kill the only man +who was willing to be useful in the present emergency, seeing that in +the end the insolent fellow would be as dead as if he had died by his +majesty's own hand. "Oh!" said he at last, putting up his sword with +difficulty, it was so long; "I am obliged to you, you young fool! Take +a glass of wine?" + +"No, thank you," replied the prince. + +"Very well," said the king. "Would you like to run and see your parents +before you make your experiment?" + +"No, thank you," said the prince. + +"Then we will go and look for the hole at once," said his majesty, and +proceeded to call some attendants. + +"Stop, please your majesty; I have a condition to make," interposed the +prince. + +"What!" exclaimed the king, "a condition! and with me! How dare you?" + +"As you please," returned the prince coolly. "I wish your majesty a +good morning." + +"You wretch! I will have you put in a sack, and stuck in the hole." + +"Very well, your majesty," replied the prince, becoming a little more +respectful, lest the wrath of the king should deprive him of the +pleasure of dying for the princess. "But what good will that do your +majesty? Please to remember that the oracle says the victim must offer +himself." + +"Well, you _have_ offered yourself," retorted the king. + +"Yes, upon one condition." + +"Condition again!" roared the king, once more drawing his sword. +"Begone! Somebody else will be glad enough to take the honour off your +shoulders." + +"Your majesty knows it will not be easy to get another to take my +place." + +"Well, what is your condition?" growled the king, feeling that the +prince was right. + +"Only this," replied the prince: "that, as I must on no account die +before I am fairly drowned, and the waiting will be rather wearisome, +the princess, your daughter, shall go with me, feed me with her own +hands, and look at me now and then, to comfort me; for you must confess +it _is_ rather hard. As soon as the water is up to my eyes, she may go +and be happy, and forget her poor shoeblack." + +Here the prince's voice faltered, and he very nearly grew sentimental, +in spite of his resolution. + +"Why didn't you tell me before what your condition was? Such a fuss +about nothing!" exclaimed the king. + +"Do you grant it?" persisted the prince. + +"Of course I do," replied the king. + +"Very well. I am ready." + +"Go and have some dinner, then, while I set my people to find the +place." + +The king ordered out his guards, and gave directions to the officers to +find the hole in the lake at once. So the bed of the lake was marked +out in divisions and thoroughly examined, and in an hour or so the hole +was discovered. It was in the middle of a stone, near the centre of the +lake, in the very pool where the golden plate had been found. It was a +three-cornered hole of no great size. There was water all round the +stone, but very little was flowing through the hole. + + + + + + +XIV. THIS IS VERY KIND OF YOU. + + +The prince went to dress for the occasion, for he was resolved to die +like a prince. + +When the princess heard that a man had offered to die for her, she was +so transported that she jumped off the bed, feeble as she was, and +danced about the room for joy. She did not care who the man was; that +was nothing to her. The hole wanted stopping; and if only a man would +do, why, take one. In an hour or two more everything was ready. Her +maid dressed her in haste, and they carried her to the side of the +lake. When she saw it she shrieked, and covered her face with her +hands. They bore her across to the stone, where they had already placed +a little boat for her. The water was not deep enough to float it, but +they hoped it would be, before long. They laid her on cushions, placed +in the boat wines and fruits and other nice things, and stretched a +canopy over all. + +In a few minutes the prince appeared. The princess recognized him at +once, but did not think it worth while to acknowledge him. + +"Here I am," said the prince. "Put me in." + +"They told me it was a shoeblack," said the princess. + +"So I am," said the prince. "I blacked your little boots three times a +day, because they were all I could get of you. Put me in." + +The courtiers did not resent his bluntness, except by saying to each +other that he was taking it out in impudence. + +But how was he to be put in? The golden plate contained no instructions +on this point. The prince looked at the hole, and saw but one way. He +put both his legs into it, sitting on the stone, and, stooping forward, +covered the corner that remained open with his two hands. In this +uncomfortable position he resolved to abide his fate, and turning to +the people, said,-- + +"Now you can go." + +The king had already gone home to dinner. + +"Now you can go," repeated the princess after him, like a parrot. + +The people obeyed her and went. + +Presently a little wave flowed over the stone, and wetted one of the +prince's knees. But he did not mind it much. He began to sing, and the +song he sung was this:-- + + "As a world that has no well, + Darkly bright in forest dell; + As a world without the gleam + Of the downward-going stream; + As a world without the glance + Of the ocean's fair expanse; + As a world where never rain + Glittered on the sunny plain;-- + Such, my heart, thy world would be, + If no love did flow in thee. + + "As a world without the sound + Of the rivulets underground; + Or the bubbling of the spring + Out of darkness wandering; + Or the mighty rush and flowing + Of the river's downward going; + Or the music-showers that drop + On the outspread beech's top; + Or the ocean's mighty voice, + When his lifted waves rejoice;-- + Such, my soul, thy world would be, + If no love did sing in thee. + + "Lady, keep thy world's delight; + Keep the waters in thy sight. + Love hath made me strong to go, + For thy sake, to realms below, + Where the water's shine and hum + Through the darkness never come: + Let, I pray, one thought of me + Spring, a little well, in thee; + Lest thy loveless soul be found + Like a dry and thirsty ground." + +"Sing again, prince. It makes it less tedious," said the princess. + +But the prince was too much overcome to sing any more, and a long pause +followed. + +"This is very kind of you, prince," said the princess at last, quite +coolly, as she lay in the boat with her eyes shut. + +"I am sorry I can't return the compliment," thought the prince; "but +you are worth dying for, after all." + +Again a wavelet, and another, and another flowed over the stone, and +wetted both the prince's knees; but he did not speak or move. +Two--three--four hours passed in this way, the princess apparently +asleep, and the prince very patient. But he was much disappointed in +his position, for he had none of the consolation he had hoped for. + +At last he could bear it no longer. + +"Princess!" said he. + +But at the moment up started the princess, crying,-- + +"I'm afloat! I'm afloat!" + +And the little boat bumped against the stone. + +"Princess!" repeated the prince, encouraged by seeing her wide awake +and looking eagerly at the water. + +"Well?" said she, without looking round. + +"Your papa promised that you should look at me, and you haven't looked +at me once." + +"Did he? Then I suppose I must. But I am so sleepy!" + +"Sleep then, darling, and don't mind me," said the poor prince. + +"Really, you are very good," replied the princess. "I think I will go +to sleep again." + +"Just give me a glass of wine and a biscuit first," said the prince, +very humbly. + +"With all my heart," said the princess, and gaped as she said it. + +She got the wine and the biscuit, however, and leaning over the side of +the boat towards him, was compelled to look at him. + +"Why, prince," she said, "you don't look well! Are you sure you don't +mind it?" + +"Not a bit," answered he, feeling very faint in deed. "Only I shall die +before it is of any use to you, unless I have something to eat." + +"There, then," said she, holding out the wine to him. + +"Ah! you must feed me. I dare not move my hands. The water would run +away directly." + +"Good gracious!" said the princess; and she began at once to feed him +with bits of biscuit and sips of wine. + +As she fed him, he contrived to kiss the tips of her fingers now and +then. She did not seem to mind it, one way or the other. But the prince +felt better. + +"Now for your own sake, princess," said he, "I cannot let you go to +sleep. You must sit and look at me, else I shall not be able to keep +up." + +"Well, I will do anything I can to oblige you," answered she, with +condescension; and, sitting down, she did look at him, and kept looking +at him with wonderful steadiness, considering all things. + +The sun went down, and the moon rose, and, gush after gush, the waters +were rising up the prince's body. They were up to his waist now. + +"Why can't we go and have a swim?" said the princess. "There seems to +be water enough just about here." + +"I shall never swim more," said the prince. + +"Oh, I forgot," said the princess, and was silent. + +So the water grew and grew, and rose up and up on the prince. And the +princess sat and looked at him. She fed him now and then. The night +wore on. The waters rose and rose. The moon rose likewise higher and +higher, and shone full on the face of the dying prince. The water was +up to his neck. + +"Will you kiss me, princess?" said he, feebly. The nonchalance was all +gone now. + +"Yes, I will," answered the princess, and kissed him with a long, +sweet, cold kiss. + +"Now," said he, with a sigh of content, "I die happy." + +He did not speak again. The princess gave him some wine for the last +time: he was past eating. Then she sat down again, and looked at him. +The water rose and rose. It touched his chin. It touched his lower lip. +It touched between his lips. He shut them hard to keep it out. The +princess began to feel strange. It touched his upper lip. He breathed +through his nostrils. The princess looked wild. It covered his +nostrils. Her eyes looked scared, and shone strange in the moonlight. +His head fell back; the water closed over it, and the bubbles of his +last breath bubbled up through the water. The princess gave a shriek, +and sprang into the lake. + +She laid hold first of one leg, and then of the other, and pulled and +tugged, but she could not move either. She stopped to take breath, and +that made her think that he could not get any breath. She was frantic. +She got hold of him, and held his head above the water, which was +possible now his hands were no longer on the hole. But it was of no +use, for he was past breathing. + +Love and water brought back all her strength. She got under the water, +and pulled and pulled with her whole might, till at last she got one +leg out. The other easily followed. How she got him into the boat she +never could tell; but when she did, she fainted away. Coming to +herself, she seized the oars, kept herself steady as best she could, +and rowed and rowed, though she had never rowed before. Round rocks, +and over shallows, and through mud she rowed, till she got to the +landing-stairs of the palace. By this time her people were on the +shore, for they had heard her shriek. She made them carry the prince to +her own room, and lay him in her bed, and light a fire, and send for +the doctors. + +"But the lake, your highness!" said the chamberlain, who, roused by the +noise, came in, in his nightcap. + +"Go and drown yourself in it!" she said. + +This was the last rudeness of which the princess was ever guilty; and +one must allow that she had good cause to feel provoked with the lord +chamberlain. + +Had it been the king himself, he would have fared no better. But both +he and the queen were fast asleep. And the chamberlain went back to his +bed. Somehow, the doctors never came. So the princess and her old nurse +were left with the prince. But the old nurse was a wise woman, and knew +what to do. + +They tried everything for a long time without success. The princess was +nearly distracted between hope and fear, but she tried on and on, one +thing after another, and everything over and over again. + +At last, when they had all but given it up, just as the sun rose, the +prince opened his eyes. + + + + + + +XV. LOOK AT THE RAIN! + + +The princess burst into a passion of tears, and _fell_ on the floor. +There she lay for an hour and her tears never ceased. All the pent-up +crying of her life was spent now. And a rain came on, such as had never +been seen in that country. The sun shone all the time, and the great +drops, which fell straight to the earth, shone likewise. The palace was +in the heart of a rainbow. It was a rain of rubies, and sapphires, and +emeralds, and topazes. The torrents poured from the mountains like +molten gold; and if it had not been for its subterraneous outlet, the +lake would have overflowed and inundated the country. It was full from +shore to shore. + +But the princess did not heed the lake. She lay on the floor and wept. +And this rain within doors was far more wonderful than the rain out of +doors. For when it abated a little, and she proceeded to rise, she +found, to her astonishment, that she could not. At length, after many +efforts, she succeeded in getting upon her feet. But she tumbled down +again directly. Hearing her fall, her old nurse uttered a yell of +delight, and ran to her, screaming,-- + +"My darling child! she's found her gravity!" + +"Oh, that's it! is it?" said the princess, rubbing her shoulder and her +knee alternately. "I consider it very unpleasant. I feel as if I should +be crushed to pieces." + +"Hurrah!" cried the prince from the bed. "If you've come round, +princess, so have I. How's the lake?" + +"Brimful," answered the nurse. + +"Then we're all happy." + +"That we are indeed!" answered the princess, sobbing. + +And there was rejoicing all over the country that rainy day. Even the +babies forgot their past troubles, and danced and crowed amazingly. And +the king told stories, and the queen listened to them. And he divided +the money in his box, and she the honey in her pot, to all the +children. And there was such jubilation as was never heard of before. + +Of course the prince and princess were betrothed at once. But the +princess had to learn to walk, before they could be married with any +propriety. And this was not so easy at her time of life, for she could +walk no more than a baby. She was always falling down and hurting +herself. + +"Is this the gravity you used to make so much of?" said she one day to +the prince, as he raised her from the floor. "For my part, I was a +great deal more comfortable without it." + +"No, no, that's not it. This is it," replied the prince, as he took her +up, and carried her about like a baby, kissing her all the time. "This +is gravity." + +"That's better," said she. "I don't mind that so much." + +And she smiled the sweetest, loveliest smile in the prince's face. And +she gave him one little kiss in return for all his; and he thought them +overpaid, for he was beside himself with delight. I fear she complained +of her gravity more than once after this, notwithstanding. + +It was a long time before she got reconciled to walking. But the pain +of learning it was quite counterbalanced by two things, either of which +would have been sufficient consolation. The first was, that the prince +himself was her teacher; and the second, that she could tumble into the +lake as often as she pleased. Still, she preferred to have the prince +jump in with her; and the splash they made before was nothing to the +splash they made now. + +The lake never sank again. In process of time, it wore the roof of the +cavern quite through, and was twice as deep as before. + +The only revenge the princess took upon her aunt was to tread pretty +hard on her gouty toe the next time she saw her. But she was sorry for +it the very next day, when she heard that the water had undermined her +house, and that it had fallen in the night, burying her in its ruins; +whence no one ever ventured to dig up her body. There she lies to this +day. + +So the prince and princess lived and were happy; and had crowns of +gold, and clothes of cloth, and shoes of leather, and children of boys +and girls, not one of whom was ever known, on the most critical +occasion, to lose the smallest atom of his or her due proportion of +gravity. + + + + + + +THE GIANT'S HEART. + + + + + + +There was once a giant who lived on the borders of Giantland where it +touched on the country of common people. + +Everything in Giantland was so big that the common people saw only a +mass of awful mountains and clouds; and no living man had ever come +from it, as far as anybody knew, to tell what he had seen in it. + +Somewhere near these borders, on the other side, by the edge of a great +forest, lived a labourer with his wife and a great many children. One +day Tricksey-Wee, as they called her, teased her brother Buffy-Bob, +till he could not bear it any longer, and gave her a box on the ear. +Tricksey-Wee cried; and Buffy-Bob was so sorry and so ashamed of +himself that he cried too, and ran off into the wood. He was so long +gone that Tricksey-Wee began to be frightened, for she was very fond of +her brother; and she was so distressed that she had first teased him +and then cried, that at last she ran into the wood to look for him, +though there was more chance of losing herself than of finding him. +And, indeed, so it seemed likely to turn out; for, running on without +looking, she at length found herself in a valley she knew nothing +about. And no wonder; for what she thought was a valley with round, +rocky sides, was no other than the space between two of the roots of a +great tree that grew on the borders of Giantland. She climbed over the +side of it, and went towards what she took for a black, round-topped +mountain, far away; but which she soon discovered to be close to her, +and to be a hollow place so great that she could not tell what it was +hollowed out of. Staring at it, she found that it was a doorway; and +going nearer and staring harder, she saw the door, far in, with a +knocker of iron upon it, a great many yards above her head, and as +large as the anchor of a big ship. Now, nobody had ever been unkind to +Tricksey-Wee, and therefore she was not afraid of anybody. For +Buffy-Bob's box on the ear she did not think worth considering. So +spying a little hole at the bottom of the door which had been nibbled +by some giant mouse, she crept through it, and found herself in an +enormous hall. She could not have seen the other end of it at all, +except for the great fire that was burning there, diminished to a spark +in the distance. Towards this fire she ran as fast as she could, and +was not far from it when something fell before her with a great +clatter, over which she tumbled, and went rolling on the floor. She was +not much hurt however, and got up in a moment. Then she saw that what +she had fallen over was not unlike a great iron bucket. When she +examined it more closely, she discovered that it was a thimble; and +looking up to see who had dropped it, beheld a huge face, with +spectacles as big as the round windows in a church, bending over her, +and looking everywhere for the thimble. Tricksey-Wee immediately laid +hold of it in both her arms, and lifted it about an inch nearer to the +nose of the peering giantess. This movement made the old lady see where +it was, and, her finger popping into it, it vanished from the eyes of +Tricksey-Wee, buried in the folds of a white stocking like a cloud in +the sky, which Mrs. Giant was busy darning. For it was Saturday night, +and her husband would wear nothing but white stockings on Sunday. To be +sure he did eat little children, but only _very_ little ones; and if +ever it crossed his mind that it was wrong to do so, he always said to +himself that he wore whiter stockings on Sunday than any other giant in +all Giantland. + +At the same instant Tricksey-Wee heard a sound like the wind in a tree +full of leaves, and could not think what it could be; till, looking up, +she found that it was the giantess whispering to her; and when she +tried very hard she could hear what she said well enough. + +"Run away, dear little girl," she said, "as fast as you can; for my +husband will be home in a few minutes." + +"But I've never been naughty to your husband," said Tricksey-Wee, +looking up in the giantess's face. + +"That doesn't matter. You had better go. He is fond of little children, +particularly little girls." + +"Oh, then he won't hurt me." + +"I am not sure of that. He is so fond of them that he eats them up; and +I am afraid he couldn't help hurting you a little. He's a very good man +though." + +"Oh! then--" began Tricksey-Wee, feeling rather frightened; but before +she could finish her sentence she heard the sound of footsteps very far +apart and very heavy. The next moment, who should come running towards +her, full speed, and as pale as death, but Buffy-Bob. She held out her +arms, and he ran into them. But when she tried to kiss him, she only +kissed the back of his head; for his white face and round eyes were +turned to the door. + +"Run, children; run and hide!" said the giantess. + +"Come, Buffy," said Tricksey; "yonder's a great brake; we'll hide in +it." + +The brake was a big broom; and they had just got into the bristles of +it when they heard the door open with a sound of thunder, and in +stalked the giant. You would have thought you saw the whole earth +through the door when he opened it, so wide was it; and when he closed +it, it was like nightfall. + +"Where is that little boy?" he cried, with a voice like the bellowing +of a cannon. "He looked a very nice boy indeed. I am almost sure he +crept through the mousehole at the bottom of the door. Where is he, my +dear?" + +"I don't know," answered the giantess. + +"But you know it is wicked to tell lies; don't you, my dear?" retorted +the giant. + +"Now, you ridiculous old Thunderthump!" said his wife, with a smile as +broad as the sea in the sun, "how can I mend your white stockings and +look after little boys? You have got plenty to last you over Sunday, I +am sure. Just look what good little boys they are!" + +Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob peered through the bristles, and discovered +a row of little boys, about a dozen, with very fat faces and goggle +eyes, sitting before the fire, and looking stupidly into it. +Thunderthump intended the most of these for pickling, and was feeding +them well before salting them. Now and then, however, he could not keep +his teeth off them, and would eat one by the bye, without salt. + +He strode up to the wretched children. Now, what made them very +wretched indeed was, that they knew if they could only keep from +eating, and grow thin, the giant would dislike them, and turn them out +to find their way home; but notwithstanding this, so greedy were they, +that they ate as much as ever they could hold. The giantess, who fed +them, comforted herself with thinking that they were not real boys and +girls, but only little pigs pretending to be boys and girls. + +"Now tell me the truth," cried the giant, bending his face down over +them. They shook with terror, and every one hoped it was somebody else +the giant liked best. "Where is the little boy that ran into the hall +just now? Whoever tells me a lie shall be instantly boiled." + +"He's in the broom," cried one dough-faced boy. "He's in there, and a +little girl with him." + +"The naughty children," cried the giant, "to hide from _me_!" And he +made a stride towards the broom. + +"Catch hold of the bristles, Bobby. Get right into a tuft, and hold +on," cried Tricksey-Wee, just in time. + +The giant caught up the broom, and seeing nothing under it, set it down +again with a force that threw them both on the floor. He then made two +strides to the boys, caught the dough-faced one by the neck, took the +lid off a great pot that was boiling on the fire, popped him in as if +he had been a trussed chicken, put the lid on again, and saying, +"There, boys! See what comes of lying!" asked no more questions; for, +as he always kept his word, he was afraid he might have to do the same +to them all; and he did not like boiled boys. He like to eat them +crisp, as radishes, whether forked or not, ought to be eaten. He then +sat down, and asked his wife if his supper was ready. She looked into +the pot, and throwing the boy out with the ladle, as if he had been a +black beetle that had tumbled in and had had the worst of it, answered +that she thought it was. Whereupon he rose to help her; and taking the +pot from the fire, poured the whole contents, bubbling and splashing, +into a dish like a vat. Then they sat down to supper. The children in +the broom could not see what they had; but it seemed to agree with +them, for the giant talked like thunder, and the giantess answered like +the sea, and they grew chattier and chattier. At length the giant +said,-- + +"I don't feel quite comfortable about that heart of mine." And as he +spoke, instead of laying his hand on his bosom, he waved it away +towards the corner where the children were peeping from the +broom-bristles, like frightened little mice. + +"Well, you know, my darling Thunderthump," answered his wife, "I always +thought it ought to be nearer home. But you know best, of course." + +"Ha! ha! You don't know where it is, wife. I moved it a month ago." + +"What a man you are, Thunderthump! You trust any creature alive rather +than your wife." + +Here the giantess gave a sob which sounded exactly like a wave going +flop into the mouth of a cave up to the roof. + +"Where have you got it now?" she resumed, checking her emotion. + +"Well, Doodlem, I don't mind telling _you_," answered the giant, +soothingly. "The great she-eagle has got it for a nest egg. She sits on +it night and day, and thinks she will bring the greatest eagle out of +it that ever sharpened his beak on the rocks of Mount Skycrack. I can +warrant no one else will touch it while she has got it. But she is +rather capricious, and I confess I am not easy about it; for the least +scratch of one of her claws would do for me at once. And she +_has_ claws." + +I refer anyone who doubts this part of my story to certain chronicles +of Giantland preserved among the Celtic nations. It was quite a common +thing for a giant to put his heart out to nurse, because he did not +like the trouble and responsibility of doing it himself; although I +must confess it was a dangerous sort of plan to take, especially with +such a delicate viscus as the heart. + +All this time Buffy-Bob and Tricksey-Wee were listening with long ears. + +"Oh!" thought Tricksey-Wee, "if I could but find the giant's cruel +heart, wouldn't I give it a squeeze!" + +The giant and giantess went on talking for a long time. The giantess +kept advising the giant to hide his heart somewhere in the house; but +he seemed afraid of the advantage it would give her over him. + +"You could hide it at the bottom of the flour-barrel," said she. + +"That would make me feel chokey," answered he. + +"Well, in the coal-cellar. Or in the dust-hole--that's the place! No +one would think of looking for your heart in the dust-hole." + +"Worse and worse!" cried the giant. + +"Well, the water-butt," suggested she. + +"No, no; it would grow spongy there," said he. + +"Well, what _will_ you do with it?" + +"I will leave it a month longer where it is, and then I will give it to +the Queen of the Kangaroos, and she will carry it in her pouch for me. +It is best to change its place, you know, lest my enemies should scent +it out. But, dear Doodlem, it's a fretting care to have a heart of +one's own to look after. The responsibility is too much for me. If it +were not for a bite of a radish now and then, I never could bear it." + +Here the giant looked lovingly towards the row of little boys by the +fire, all of whom were nodding, or asleep on the floor. + +"Why don't you trust it to me, dear Thunderthump?" said his wife. "I +would take the best possible care of it." + +"I don't doubt it, my love. But the responsibility would be too much +for _you_. You would no longer be my darling, light-hearted, airy, +laughing Doodlem. It would transform you into a heavy, oppressed woman, +weary of life--as I am." + +The giant closed his eyes and pretended to go to sleep. His wife got +his stockings, and went on with her darning. Soon the giant's pretence +became reality, and the giantess began to nod over her work. + +"Now, Buffy," whispered Tricksey-Wee, "now's our time. I think it's +moonlight, and we had better be off. There's a door with a hole for the +cat just behind us." + +"All right," said Bob; "I'm ready." + +So they got out of the broom-brake and crept to the door. But to their +great disappointment, when they got through it, they found themselves +in a sort of shed. It was full of tubs and things, and, though it was +built of wood only, they could not find a crack. + +"Let us try this hole," said Tricksey; for the giant and giantess were +sleeping behind them, and they dared not go back. + +"All right," said Bob. + +He seldom said anything else than _All right_. + +Now this hole was in a mound that came in through the wall of the shed, +and went along the floor for some distance. They crawled into it, and +found it very dark. But groping their way along, they soon came to a +small crack, through which they saw grass, pale in the moonshine. As +they crept on, they found the hole began to get wider and lead upwards. + +"What is that noise of rushing?" said Buffy-Bob. + +"I can't tell," replied Tricksey; "for, you see, I don't know what we +are in." + +The fact was, they were creeping along a channel in the heart of a +giant tree; and the noise they heard was the noise of the sap rushing +along in its wooden pipes. When they laid their ears to the wall, they +heard it gurgling along with a pleasant noise. + +"It sounds kind and good," said Tricksey. "It is water running. Now it +must be running from somewhere to somewhere. I think we had better go +on, and we shall come somewhere." + +It was now rather difficult to go on, for they had to climb as if they +were climbing a hill; and now the passage was wide. Nearly worn out, +they saw light overhead at last, and creeping through a crack into the +open air, found themselves on the fork of a huge tree. A great, broad, +uneven space lay around them, out of which spread boughs in every +direction, the smallest of them as big as the biggest tree in the +country of common people. Overhead were leaves enough to supply all the +trees they had ever seen. Not much moonlight could come through, but +the leaves would glimmer white in the wind at times. The tree was full +of giant birds. Every now and then, one would sweep through, with a +great noise. But, except an occasional chirp, sounding like a shrill +pipe in a great organ, they made no noise. All at once an owl began to +hoot. He thought he was singing. As soon as he began, other birds +replied, making rare game of him. To their astonishment, the children +found they could understand every word they sang. And what they sang +was something like this:-- + + "I will sing a song. + I'm the Owl." + "Sing a song, you Sing-song + Ugly fowl! + What will you sing about, + Night in and Day out?" + + "Sing about the night; + I'm the Owl." + "You could not see for the light, + Stupid fowl." + "Oh! the Moon! and the Dew! + And the Shadows!--tu-whoo!" + +The owl spread out his silent, soft, sly wings, and lighting between +Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob, nearly smothered them, closing up one under +each wing. It was like being buried in a down bed. But the owl did not +like anything between his sides and his wings, so he opened his wings +again, and the children made haste to get out. Tricksey-Wee immediately +went in front of the bird, and looking up into his huge face, which was +as round as the eyes of the giantess's spectacles, and much bigger, +dropped a pretty courtesy, and said,--"Please, Mr. Owl, I want to +whisper to you." + +"Very well, small child," answered the owl, looking important, and +stooping his ear towards her. "What is it?" + +"Please tell me where the eagle lives that sits on the giant's heart." + +"Oh, you naughty child! That's a secret. For shame!" + +And with a great hiss that terrified them, the owl flew into the tree. +All birds are fond of secrets; but not many of them can keep them so +well as the owl. + +So the children went on because they did not know what else to do. They +found the way very rough and difficult, the tree was so full of humps +and hollows. Now and then they plashed into a pool of rain; now and +then they came upon twigs growing out of the trunk where they had no +business, and they were as large as full-grown poplars. Sometimes they +came upon great cushions of soft moss, and on one of them they lay down +and rested. But they had not lain long before they spied a large +nightingale sitting on a branch, with its bright eyes looking up at the +moon. In a moment more he began to sing, and the birds about him began +to reply, but in a different tone from that in which they had replied +to the owl. Oh, the birds did call the nightingale such pretty names! +The nightingale sang, and the birds replied like this:-- + + "I will sing a song. + I'm the nightingale." + "Sing a song, long, long, + Little Neverfail! + What will you sing about, + Light in or light out?" + + "Sing about the light + Gone away; + Down, away, and out of sight-- + Poor lost Day! + Mourning for the Day dead, + O'er his dim bed." + +The nightingale sang so sweetly, that the children would have fallen +asleep but for fear of losing any of the song. When the nightingale +stopped they got up and wandered on. They did not know where they were +going, but they thought it best to keep going on, because then they +might come upon something or other. They were very sorry they had +forgotten to ask the nightingale about the eagle's nest, but his music +had put everything else out of their heads. They resolved, however, not +to forget the next time they had a chance. So they went on and on, till +they were both tired, and Tricksey-Wee said at last, trying to laugh,-- + +"I declare my legs feel just like a Dutch doll's." + +"Then here's the place to go to bed in," said Buffy-Bob. + +They stood at the edge of a last year's nest, and looked down with +delight into the round, mossy cave. Then they crept gently in, and, +lying down in each other's arms, found it so deep, and warm, and +comfortable, and soft, that they were soon fast asleep. + +Now, close beside them, in a hollow, was another nest, in which lay a +lark and his wife; and the children were awakened, very early in the +morning, by a dispute between Mr. and Mrs. Lark. + +"Let me up," said the lark. + +"It is not time," said the lark's wife. + +"It is," said the lark, rather rudely. "The darkness is quite thin. I +can almost see my own beak." + +"Nonsense!" said the lark's wife. "You know you came home yesterday +morning quite worn out--you had to fly so very high before you saw him. +I am sure he would not mind if you took it a little easier. Do be quiet +and go to sleep again." + +"That's not it at all," said the lark. "He doesn't want me. I want him. +Let me up, I say." + +He began to sing; and Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob, having now learned +the way, answered him:-- + + "I will sing a song. + I'm the Lark." + "Sing, sing, Throat-strong, + Little Kill-the-dark. + What will you sing about, + Now the night is out?" + + "I can only call; + I can't think. + Let me up--that's all. + Let me drink! + Thirsting all the long night + For a drink of light." + +By this time the lark was standing on the edge of his nest and looking +at the children. + +"Poor little things! You can't fly," said the lark. + +"No; but we can look up," said Tricksey. + +"Ah, you don't know what it is to see the very first of the sun." + +"But we know what it is to wait till he comes. He's no worse for your +seeing him first, is he?" + +"Oh no, certainly not," answered the lark, with condescension, and +then, bursting into his _Jubilate_, he sprang aloft, clapping his wings +like a clock running down. + +"Tell us where--" began Buffy-Bob. + +But the lark was out of sight. His song was all that was left of him. +That was everywhere, and he was nowhere. + +"Selfish bird!" said Buffy. "It's all very well for larks to go hunting +the sun, but they have no business to despise their neighbours, for all +that." + +"Can I be of any use to you?" said a sweet bird-voice out of the nest. + +This was the lark's wife, who stayed at home with the young larks while +her husband went to church. + +"Oh! thank you. If you please," answered Tricksey-Wee. + +And up popped a pretty brown head; and then up came a brown feathery +body; and last of all came the slender legs on to the edge of the nest. +There she turned, and, looking down into the nest, from which came a +whole litany of chirpings for breakfast, said, "Lie still, little +ones." Then she turned to the children. + +"My husband is King of the Larks," she said. + +Buffy-Bob took off his cap, and Tricksey-Wee courtesied very low. + +"Oh, it's not me," said the bird, looking very shy. "I am only his +wife. It's my husband." And she looked up after him into the sky, +whence his song was still falling like a shower of musical hailstones. +Perhaps _she_ could see him. + +"He's a splendid bird," said Buffy-Bob; "only you know he _will_ get up +a little too early." + +"Oh, no! he doesn't. It's only his way, you know. But tell me what I +can do for you." + +"Tell us, please, Lady Lark, where the she-eagle lives that sits on +Giant Thunderthump's heart." + +"Oh! that is a secret." + +"Did you promise not to tell?" + +"No; but larks ought to be discreet. They see more than other birds." + +"But you don't fly up high like your husband, do you?" + +"Not often. But it's no matter. I come to know things for all that." + +"Do tell me, and I will sing you a song," said Tricksey-Wee. + +"Can you sing too?--You have got no wings!" + +"Yes. And I will sing you a song I learned the other day about a lark +and his wife." + +"Please do," said the lark's wife. "Be quiet, children, and listen." + +Tricksey-Wee was very glad she happened to know a song which would +please the lark's wife, at least, whatever the lark himself might have +thought of it, if he had heard it. So she sang,-- + + "'Good morrow, my lord!' in the sky alone, + Sang the lark, as the sun ascended his throne. + 'Shine on me, my lord; I only am come, + Of all your servants, to welcome you home. + I have flown a whole hour, right up, I swear, + To catch the first shine of your golden hair!' + + "'Must I thank you, then,' said the king, 'Sir Lark, + For flying so high, and hating the dark? + You ask a full cup for half a thirst: + Half is love of me, and half love to be first. + There's many a bird that makes no haste, + But waits till I come. That's as much to my taste. + + "And the king hid his head in a turban of cloud; + And the lark stopped singing, quite vexed and cowed. + But he flew up higher, and thought, 'Anon, + The wrath of the king will be over and gone, + And his crown, shining out of its cloudy fold, + Will change my brown feathers to a glory of gold.' + + "So he flew, with the strength of a lark he flew. + But as he rose, the cloud rose too; + And not a gleam of the golden hair + Came through the depth of the misty air; + Till, weary with flying, with sighing sore, + The strong sun-seeker could do no more. + + "His wings had had no chrism of gold, + And his feathers felt withered and worn and old; + So he quivered and sank, and dropped like a stone. + And there on his nest, where he left her, alone, + Sat his little wife on her little eggs, + Keeping them warm with wings and legs. + + "Did I say alone? Ah, no such thing! + Full in her face was shining the king. + 'Welcome, Sir Lark! You look tired,' said he. + '_Up_ is not always the best way to me. + While you have been singing so high and away, + I've been shining to your little wife all day.' + + "He had set his crown all about the nest, + And out of the midst shone her little brown breast; + And so glorious was she in russet gold, + That for wonder and awe Sir Lark grew cold. + He popped his head under her wing, and lay + As still as a stone, till the king was away." + +As soon as Tricksey-Wee had finished her song, the lark's wife began a +low, sweet, modest little song of her own; and after she had piped away +for two or three minutes, she said,-- + +"You dear children, what can I do for you?" + +"Tell us where the she-eagle lives, please," said Tricksey-Wee. + +"Well, I don't think there can be much harm in telling such wise, good +children," said Lady Lark; "I am sure you don't want to do any +mischief." + +"Oh, no; quite the contrary," said Buffy-Bob. + +"Then I'll tell you. She lives on the very topmost peak of Mount +Skycrack; and the only way to get up is to climb on the spiders' webs +that cover it from top to bottom." + +"That's rather serious," said Tricksey-Wee. + +"But you don't want to go up, you foolish little thing! You can't go. +And what do you want to go up for?" + +"That is a secret," said Tricksey-Wee. + +"Well, it's no business of mine," rejoined Lady Lark, a little +offended, and quite vexed that she had told them. So she flew away to +find some breakfast for her little ones, who by this time were chirping +very impatiently. The children looked at each other, joined hands, and +walked off. + +In a minute more the sun was up, and they soon reached the outside of +the tree. The bark was so knobby and rough, and full of twigs, that +they managed to get down, though not without great difficulty. Then, +far away to the north, they saw a huge peak, like the spire of a +church, going right up into the sky. They thought this must be Mount +Skycrack, and turned their faces towards it. As they went on, they saw +a giant or two, now and then, striding about the fields or through the +woods, but they kept out of their way. Nor were they in much danger; +for it was only one or two of the border giants that were so very fond +of children. + +At last they came to the foot of Mount Skycrack. It stood in a plain +alone, and shot right up, I don't know how many thousand feet, into the +air, a long, narrow, spearlike mountain. The whole face of it, from top +to bottom, was covered with a network of spiders' webs, with threads of +various sizes, from that of silk to that of whipcord. The webs shook +and quivered, and waved in the sun, glittering like silver. All about +ran huge greedy spiders, catching huge silly flies, and devouring them. + +Here they sat down to consider what could be done. The spiders did not +heed them, but ate away at the flies.--Now, at the foot of the +mountain, and all round it, was a ring of water, not very broad, but +very deep. As they sat watching them, one of the spiders, whose web was +woven across this water, somehow or other lost his hold, and fell in on +his back. Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob ran to his assistance, and laying +hold each of one of his legs, succeeded, with the help of the other +legs, which struggled spiderfully, in getting him out upon dry land. As +soon as he had shaken himself, and dried himself a little, the spider +turned to the children, saying,-- + +"And now, what can I do for you?" + +"Tell us, please," said they, "how we can get up the mountain to the +she-eagle's nest." + +"Nothing is easier," answered the spider. "Just run up there, and tell +them all I sent you, and nobody will mind you." + +"But we haven't got claws like you, Mr. Spider," said Buffy. + +"Ah! no more you have, poor unprovided creatures! Still, I think we can +manage it. Come home with me." + +"You won't eat us, will you?" said Buffy. + +"My dear child," answered the spider, in a tone of injured dignity, "I +eat nothing but what is mischievous or useless. You have helped me, and +now I will help you." + +The children rose at once, and climbing as well as they could, reached +the spider's nest in the centre of the web. Nor did they find it very +difficult; for whenever too great a gap came, the spider spinning a +strong cord stretched it just where they would have chosen to put their +feet next. He left them in his nest, after bringing them two enormous +honey-bags, taken from bees that he had caught; but presently about six +of the wisest of the spiders came back with him. It was rather horrible +to look up and see them all round the mouth of the nest, looking down +on them in contemplation, as if wondering whether they would be nice +eating. At length one of them said,--"Tell us truly what you want with +the eagle, and we will try to help you." + +Then Tricksey-Wee told them that there was a giant on the borders who +treated little children no better than radishes, and that they had +narrowly escaped being eaten by him; that they had found out that the +great she-eagle of Mount Skycrack was at present sitting on his heart; +and that, if they could only get hold of the heart, they would soon +teach the giant better behaviour. + +"But," said their host, "if you get at the heart of the giant, you will +find it as large as one of your elephants. What can you do with it?" + +"The least scratch will kill it," replied Buffy-Bob. + +"Ah! but you might do better than that," said the spider.--"Now we have +resolved to help you. Here is a little bag of spider-juice. The giants +cannot bear spiders, and this juice is dreadful poison to them. We are +all ready to go up with you, and drive the eagle away. Then you must +put the heart into this other bag, and bring it down with you; for then +the giant will be in your power." + +"But how can we do that?" said Buffy. "The bag is not much bigger than +a pudding-bag." + +"But it is as large as you will be able to carry." + +"Yes; but what are we to do with the heart?" + +"Put it in the bag, to be sure. Only, first, you must squeeze a drop +out of the other bag upon it. You will see what will happen." + +"Very well; we will do as you tell us," said Tricksey-Wee. "And now, if +you please, how shall we go?" + +"Oh, that's our business," said the first spider. "You come with me, +and my grandfather will take your brother. Get up." + +So Tricksey-Wee mounted on the narrow part of the spider's back, and +held fast. And Buffy-Bob got on the grandfather's back. And up they +scrambled, over one web after another, up and up--so fast! And every +spider followed; so that, when Tricksey-Wee looked back, she saw a +whole army of spiders scrambling after them. + +"What can we want with so many?" she thought; but she said nothing. + +The moon was now up, and it was a splendid sight below and around them. +All Giantland was spread out under them, with its great hills, lakes, +trees, and animals. And all above them was the clear heaven, and Mount +Skycrack rising into it, with its endless ladders of spider-webs, +glittering like cords made of moonbeams. And up the moonbeams went, +crawling, and scrambling, and racing, a huge army of huge spiders. + +At length they reached all but the very summit, where they stopped. +Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob could see above them a great globe of +feathers, that finished off the mountain like an ornamental knob. + +"But how shall we drive her off?" said Buffy. + +"We'll soon manage that," answered the grandfather-spider. "Come on +you, down there." + +Up rushed the whole army, past the children, over the edge of the nest, +on to the she-eagle, and buried themselves in her feathers. In a moment +she became very restless, and went pecking about with her beak. All at +once she spread out her wings, with a sound like a whirlwind, and flew +off to bathe in the sea; and then the spiders began to drop from her in +all directions on their gossamer wings. The children had to hold fast +to keep the wind of the eagle's flight from blowing them off. As soon +as it was over, they looked into the nest, and there lay the giant's +heart--an awful and ugly thing. + +"Make haste, child!" said Tricksey's spider. + +So Tricksey took her bag, and squeezed a drop out of it upon the heart. +She thought she heard the giant give a far-off roar of pain, and she +nearly fell from her seat with terror. The heart instantly began to +shrink. It shrunk and shrivelled till it was nearly gone; and Buffy-Bob +caught it up and put it into his bag. Then the two spiders turned and +went down again as fast as they could. Before they got to the bottom, +they heard the shrieks of the she-eagle over the loss of her egg; but +the spiders told them not to be alarmed, for her eyes were too big to +see them.--By the time they reached the foot of the mountain, all the +spiders had got home, and were busy again catching flies, as if nothing +had happened. + +After renewed thanks to their friends, the children set off, carrying +the giant's heart with them. + +"If you should find it at all troublesome, just give it a little more +spider-juice directly," said the grandfather, as they took their leave. + +Now, the giant had given an awful roar of pain the moment they anointed +his heart, and had fallen down in a fit, in which he lay so long that +all the boys might have escaped if they had not been so fat. One did, +and got home in safety. For days the giant was unable to speak. The +first words he uttered were,-- + +"Oh, my heart! my heart!" + +"Your heart is safe enough, dear Thunderstump," said his wife. "Really, +a man of your size ought not to be so nervous and apprehensive. I am +ashamed of you." + +"You have no heart, Doodlem," answered he. "I assure you that at this +moment mine is in the greatest danger. It has fallen into the hands of +foes, though who they are I cannot tell." + +Here he fainted again; for Tricksey-Wee, finding the heart begin to +swell a little, had given it the least touch of spider-juice. + +Again he recovered, and said,-- + +"Dear Doodlem, my heart is coming back to me. It is coming nearer and +nearer." + +After lying silent for hours, he exclaimed,-- + +"It is in the house, I know!" + +And he jumped up and walked about, looking in every corner. + +As he rose, Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob came out of the hole in the +tree-root, and through the cat-hole in the door, and walked boldly +towards the giant. Both kept their eyes busy watching him. Led by the +love of his own heart, the giant soon spied them, and staggered +furiously towards them. + +"I will eat you, you vermin!" he cried. "Here with my heart!" + +Tricksey gave the heart a sharp pinch. Down fell the giant on his +knees, blubbering, and crying, and begging for his heart. + +"You shall have it, if you behave yourself properly," said Tricksey. + +"How shall I behave myself properly?" asked he, whimpering. + +"Take all those boys and girls, and carry them home at once." + +"I'm not able; I'm too ill. I should fall down." + +"Take them up directly." + +"I can't, till you give me my heart." + +"Very well!" said Tricksey; and she gave the heart another pinch. + +The giant jumped to his feet, and catching up all the children, thrust +some into his waistcoat pockets, some into his breast pocket, put two +or three into his hat, and took a bundle of them under each arm. Then +he staggered to the door. + +All this time poor Doodlem was sitting in her arm-chair, crying, and +mending a white stocking. + +The giant led the way to the borders. He could not go so fast but that +Buffy and Tricksey managed to keep up with him. When they reached the +borders, they thought it would be safer to let the children find their +own way home. So they told him to set them down. He obeyed. + +"Have you put them all down, Mr. Thunderthump?" asked Tricksey-Wee. + +"Yes," said the giant. + +"That's a lie!" squeaked a little voice; and out came a head from his +waistcoat pocket. + +Tricksey-Wee pinched the heart till the giant roared with pain. + +"You're not a gentleman. You tell stories," she said. + +"He was the thinnest of the lot," said Thunderthump, crying. + +"Are you all there now, children?" asked Tricksey. + +"Yes, ma'am," returned they, after counting themselves very carefully, +and with some difficulty; for they were all stupid children. + +"Now," said Tricksey-Wee to the giant, "will you promise to carry off +no more children, and never to eat a child again all you life?" + +"Yes, yes! I promise," answered Thunderthump, sobbing. + +"And you will never cross the borders of Giantland?" + +"Never." + +"And you shall never again wear white stockings on a Sunday, all your +life long.--Do you promise?" + +The giant hesitated at this, and began to expostulate; but +Tricksey-Wee, believing it would be good for his morals, insisted; +and the giant promised. + +Then she required of him, that, when she gave him back his heart, he +should give it to his wife to take care of for him for ever after. + +The poor giant fell on his knees, and began again to beg. But +Tricksey-Wee giving the heart a slight pinch, he bawled out,-- + +"Yes, yes! Doodlem shall have it, I swear. Only she must not put it in +the flour-barrel, or in the dust-hole." + +"Certainly not. Make your own bargain with her.--And you promise not to +interfere with my brother and me, or to take any revenge for what we +have done?" + +"Yes, yes, my dear children; I promise everything. Do, pray, make haste +and give me back my poor heart." + +"Wait there, then, till I bring it to you." + +"Yes, yes. Only make haste, for I feel very faint." + +Tricksey-Wee began to undo the mouth of the bag. But Buffy-Bob, who had +got very knowing on his travels, took out his knife with the pretence +of cutting the string; but, in reality, to be prepared for any +emergency. + +No sooner was the heart out of the bag, than it expanded to the size of +a bullock; and the giant, with a yell of rage and vengeance, rushed on +the two children, who had stepped sideways from the terrible heart. But +Buffy-Bob was too quick for Thunderthump. He sprang to the heart, and +buried his knife in it, up to the hilt. A fountain of blood spouted +from it; and with a dreadful groan the giant fell dead at the feet of +little Tricksey-Wee, who could not help being sorry for him after all. + + + + + + +THE GOLDEN KEY. + + + + + + +There was a boy who used to sit in the twilight and listen to his +great-aunt's stories. + +She told him that if he could reach the place where the end of the +rainbow stands he would find there a golden key. + +"And what is the key for?" the boy would ask. "What is it the key of? +What will it open?" + +"That nobody knows," his aunt would reply. "He has to find that out." + +"I suppose, being gold," the boy once said, thoughtfully, "that I could +get a good deal of money for it if I sold it." + +"Better never find it than sell it," returned his aunt. And then the +boy went to bed and dreamed about the golden key. + +Now, all that his great-aunt told the boy about the golden key would +have been nonsense, had it not been that their little house stood on +the borders of Fairyland. For it is perfectly well known that out of +Fairyland nobody ever can find where the rainbow stands. The creature +takes such good care of its golden key, always flitting from place to +place, lest anyone should find it! But in Fairyland it is quite +different. Things that look real in this country look very thin indeed +in Fairyland, while some of the things that here cannot stand still for +a moment, will not move there. So it was not in the least absurd of the +old lady to tell her nephew such things about the golden key. + +"Did you ever know anybody find it?" he asked one evening. + +"Yes. Your father, I believe, found it." + +"And what did he do with it, can you tell me?" + +"He never told me." + +"What was it like?" + +"He never showed it to me." + +"How does a new key come there always?" + +"I don't know. There it is." + +"Perhaps it is the rainbow's egg." + +"Perhaps it is. You will be a happy boy if you find the nest." + +"Perhaps it comes tumbling down the rainbow from the sky." + +"Perhaps it does." + +One evening, in summer, he went into his own room, and stood at the +lattice-window, and gazed into the forest which fringed the outskirts +of Fairyland. It came close up to his great-aunt's garden, and, indeed, +sent some straggling trees into it. The forest lay to the east, and the +sun, which was setting behind the cottage, looked straight into the +dark wood with his level red eye. The trees were all old, and had few +branches below, so that the sun could see a great way into the forest; +and the boy, being keen-sighted, could see almost as far as the sun. +The trunks stood like rows of red columns in the shine of the red sun, +and he could see down aisle after aisle in the vanishing distance. And +as he gazed into the forest he began to feel as if the trees were all +waiting for him, and had something they could not go on with till he +came to them. But he was hungry, and wanted his supper. So he lingered. + +Suddenly, far among the trees, as far as the sun could shine, he saw a +glorious thing. It was the end of a rainbow, large and brilliant. He +could count all the seven colours, and could see shade after shade +beyond the violet; while before the red stood a colour more gorgeous +and mysterious still. It was a colour he had never seen before. Only +the spring of the rainbow-arch was visible. He could see nothing of it +above the trees. + +"The golden key!" he said to himself, and darted out of the house, and +into the wood. + +He had not gone far before the sun set. But the rainbow only glowed the +brighter: for the rainbow of Fairyland is not dependent upon the sun as +ours is. The trees welcomed him. The bushes made way for him. The +rainbow grew larger and brighter; and at length he found himself within +two trees of it. + +It was a grand sight, burning away there in silence, with its gorgeous, +its lovely, its delicate colours, each distinct, all combining. He +could now see a great deal more of it. It rose high into the blue +heavens, but bent so little that he could not tell how high the crown +of the arch must reach. It was still only a small portion of a huge +bow. + +He stood gazing at it till he forgot himself with delight--even forgot +the key which he had come to seek. And as he stood it grew more +wonderful still. For in each of the colours, which was as large as the +column of a church, he could faintly see beautiful forms slowly +ascending as if by the steps of a winding stair. The forms appeared +irregularly--now one, now many, now several, now none--men and women +and children--all different, all beautiful. + +He drew nearer to the rainbow. It vanished. He started back a step in +dismay. It was there again, as beautiful as ever. So he contented +himself with standing as near it as he might, and watching the forms +that ascended the glorious colours towards the unknown height of the +arch, which did not end abruptly, but faded away in the blue air, so +gradually that he could not say where it ceased. + +When the thought of the golden key returned, the boy very wisely +proceeded to mark out in his mind the space covered by the foundation +of the rainbow, in order that he might know where to search, should the +rainbow disappear. It was based chiefly upon a bed of moss. + +Meantime it had grown quite dark in the wood. The rainbow alone was +visible by its own light. But the moment the moon rose the rainbow +vanished. Nor could any change of place restore the vision to the boy's +eyes. So he threw himself down upon the mossy bed, to wait till the +sunlight would give him a chance of finding the key. There he fell fast +asleep. + +When he woke in the morning the sun was looking straight into his eyes. +He turned away from it, and the same moment saw a brilliant little +thing lying on the moss within a foot of his face. It was the golden +key. The pipe of it was of plain gold, as bright as gold could be. The +handle was curiously wrought and set with sapphires. In a terror of +delight he put out his hand and took it, and had it. + +He lay for a while, turning it over and over, and feeding his eyes upon +its beauty. Then he jumped to his feet, remembering that the pretty +thing was of no use to him yet. Where was the lock to which the key +belonged? It must be somewhere, for how could anybody be so silly as +make a key for which there was no lock? Where should he go to look for +it? He gazed about him, up into the air, down to the earth, but saw no +keyhole in the clouds, in the grass, or in the trees. + +Just as he began to grow disconsolate, however, he saw something +glimmering in the wood. It was a mere glimmer that he saw, but he took +it for a glimmer of rainbow, and went towards it.--And now I will go +back to the borders of the forest. + +Not far from the house where the boy had lived there was another house, +the owner of which was a merchant, who was much away from home. He had +lost his wife some years before, and had only one child, a little girl, +whom he left to the charge of two servants, who were very idle and +careless. So she was neglected and left untidy, and was sometimes +ill-used besides. + +Now, it is well known that the little creatures commonly called +fairies, though there are many different kinds of fairies in Fairyland, +have an exceeding dislike to untidiness. Indeed, they are quite +spiteful to slovenly people. Being used to all the lovely ways of the +trees and flowers, and to the neatness of the birds and all woodland +creatures, it makes them feel miserable, even in their deep woods and +on their grassy carpets, to think that within the same moonlight lies a +dirty, uncomfortable, slovenly house. And this makes them angry with +the people that live in it, and they would gladly drive them out of the +world if they could. They want the whole earth nice and clean. So they +pinch the maids black and blue, and play them all manner of +uncomfortable tricks. + +But this house was quite a shame, and the fairies in the forest could +not endure it. They tried everything on the maids without effect, and +at last resolved upon making a clean riddance, beginning with the +child. They ought to have known that it was not her fault, but they +have little principle and much mischief in them, and they thought that +if they got rid of her the maids would be sure to be turned away. + +So one evening, the poor little girl having been put to bed early, +before the sun was down, the servants went off to the village, locking +the door behind them. The child did not know she was alone, and lay +contentedly looking out of her window towards the forest, of which, +however, she could not see much, because of the ivy and other creeping +plants which had straggled across her window. All at once she saw an +ape making faces at her out of the mirror, and the heads carved upon a +great old wardrobe grinning fearfully. Then two old spider-legged +chairs came forward into the middle of the room, and began to dance a +queer, old-fashioned dance. This set her laughing, and she forgot the +ape and the grinning heads. So the fairies saw they had made a mistake, +and sent the chairs back to their places. But they knew that she had +been reading the story of Silverhair all day. So the next moment she +heard the voices of the three bears upon the stair, big voice, middle +voice, and little voice, and she heard their soft, heavy tread, as if +they had had stockings over their boots, coming nearer and nearer to +the door of her room, till she could bear it no longer. She did just as +Silverhair did, and as the fairies wanted her to do: she darted to the +window, pulled it open, got upon the ivy, and so scrambled to the +ground. She then fled to the forest as fast as she could run. + +Now, although she did not know it, this was the very best way she could +have gone; for nothing is ever so mischievous in its own place as it is +out of it; and, besides, these mischievous creatures were only the +children of Fairyland, as it were, and there are many other beings +there as well; and if a wanderer gets in among them, the good ones will +always help him more than the evil ones will be able to hurt him. + +The sun was now set, and the darkness coming on, but the child thought +of no danger but the bears behind her. If she had looked round, +however, she would have seen that she was followed by a very different +creature from a bear. It was a curious creature, made like a fish, but +covered, instead of scales, with feathers of all colours, sparkling +like those of a humming-bird. It had fins, not wings, and swam through +the air as a fish does through the water. Its head was like the head of +a small owl. + +After running a long way, and as the last of the light was +disappearing, she passed under a tree with drooping branches. It +dropped its branches to the ground all about her, and caught her as in +a trap. She struggled to get out, but the branches pressed her closer +and closer to the trunk. She was in great terror and distress, when the +air-fish, swimming into the thicket of branches, began tearing them +with its beak. They loosened their hold at once, and the creature went +on attacking them, till at length they let the child go. Then the +air-fish came from behind her, and swam on in front, glittering and +sparkling all lovely colours; and she followed. + +It led her gently along till all at once it swam in at a cottage-door. +The child followed still. There was a bright fire in the middle of the +floor, upon which stood a pot without a lid, full of water that boiled +and bubbled furiously. The air-fish swam straight to the pot and into +the boiling water, where it lay quiet. A beautiful woman rose from the +opposite side of the fire and came to meet the girl. She took her up in +her arms, and said,-- + +"Ah, you are come at last! I have been looking for you a long time." + +She sat down with her on her lap, and there the girl sat staring at +her. She had never seen anything so beautiful. She was tall and strong, +with white arms and neck, and a delicate flush on her face. The child +could not tell what was the colour of her hair, but could not help +thinking it had a tinge of dark green. She had not one ornament upon +her, but she looked as if she had just put off quantities of diamonds +and emeralds. Yet here she was in the simplest, poorest little cottage, +where she was evidently at home. She was dressed in shining green. + +The girl looked at the lady, and the lady looked at the girl. + +"What is your name?" asked the lady. + +"The servants always call me Tangle." + +"Ah, that was because your hair was so untidy. But that was their +fault, the naughty women! Still it is a pretty name, and I will call +you Tangle too. You must not mind my asking you questions, for you may +ask me the same questions, every one of them, and any others that you +like. How old are you?" + +"Ten," answered Tangle. + +"You don't look like it," said the lady. + +"How old are you, please?" returned Tangle. + +"Thousands of years old," answered the lady. + +"You don't look like it," said Tangle. + +"Don't I? I think I do. Don't you see how beautiful I am?" + +And her great blue eyes looked down on the little Tangle, as if all the +stars in the sky were melted in them to make their brightness. + +"Ah! but," said Tangle, "when people live long they grow old. At least +I always thought so." + +"I have no time to grow old," said the lady. "I am too busy for that. +It is very idle to grow old.--But I cannot have my little girl so +untidy. Do you know I can't find a clean spot on your face to kiss?" + +"Perhaps," suggested Tangle, feeling ashamed, but not too much so to +say a word for herself--"perhaps that is because the tree made me cry +so." + +"My poor darling!" said the lady, looking now as if the moon were +melted in her eyes, and kissing her little face, dirty as it was, "the +naughty tree must suffer for making a girl cry." + +"And what is your name, please?" asked Tangle. + +"Grandmother," answered the lady. + +"Is it really?" + +"Yes, indeed. I never tell stories, even in fun." + +"How good of you!" + +"I couldn't if I tried. It would come true if I said it, and then I +should be punished enough." And she smiled like the sun through a +summer-shower. + +"But now," she went on, "I must get you washed and dressed, and then we +shall have some supper." + +"Oh! I had supper long ago," said Tangle. + +"Yes, indeed you had," answered the lady--"three years ago. You don't +know that it is three years since you ran away from the bears. You are +thirteen and more now." + +Tangle could only stare. She felt quite sure it was true. + +"You will not be afraid of anything I do with you--will you?" said the +lady. + +"I will try very hard not to be; but I can't be certain, you know," +replied Tangle. + +"I like your saying so, and I shall be quite satisfied," answered the +lady. + +She took off the girl's night-gown, rose with her in her arms, and +going to the wall of the cottage, opened a door. Then Tangle saw a deep +tank, the sides of which were filled with green plants, which had +flowers of all colours. There was a roof over it like the roof of the +cottage. It was filled with beautiful clear water, in which swam a +multitude of such fishes as the one that had led her to the cottage. It +was the light their colours gave that showed the place in which they +were. + +The lady spoke some words Tangle could not understand, and threw her +into the tank. + +The fishes came crowding about her. Two or three of them got under her +head and kept it up. The rest of them rubbed themselves all over her, +and with their wet feathers washed her quite clean. Then the lady, who +had been looking on all the time, spoke again; whereupon some thirty or +forty of the fishes rose out of the water underneath Tangle, and so +bore her up to the arms the lady held out to take her. She carried her +back to the fire, and, having dried her well, opened a chest, and +taking out the finest linen garments, smelling of grass and lavender, +put them upon her, and over all a green dress, just like her own, +shining like hers, and soft like hers, and going into just such lovely +folds from the waist, where it was tied with a brown cord, to her bare +feet. + +"Won't you give me a pair of shoes too, Grandmother?" said Tangle. + +"No, my dear; no shoes. Look here. I wear no shoes." + +So saying she lifted her dress a little, and there were the loveliest +white feet, but no shoes. Then Tangle was content to go without shoes +too. And the lady sat down with her again, and combed her hair, and +brushed it, and then left it to dry while she got the supper. + +First she got bread out of one hole in the wall; then milk out of +another; then several kinds of fruit out of a third; and then she went +to the pot on the fire, and took out the fish, now nicely cooked, and, +as soon as she had pulled off its feathered skin, ready to be eaten. + +"But," exclaimed Tangle. And she stared at the fish, and could say no +more. + +"I know what you mean," returned the lady. "You do not like to eat the +messenger that brought you home. But it is the kindest return you can +make. The creature was afraid to go until it saw me put the pot on, and +heard me promise it should be boiled the moment it returned with you. +Then it darted out of the door at once. You saw it go into the pot of +itself the moment it entered, did you not?" + +"I did," answered Tangle, "and I thought it very strange; but then I +saw you, and forgot all about the fish." + +"In Fairyland," resumed the lady, as they sat down to the table, "the +ambition of the animals is to be eaten by the people; for that is their +highest end in that condition. But they are not therefore destroyed. +Out of that pot comes something more than the dead fish, you will see." + +Tangle now remarked that the lid was on the pot. But the lady took no +further notice of it till they had eaten the fish, which Tangle found +nicer than any fish she had ever tasted before. It was as white as +snow, and as delicate as cream. And the moment she had swallowed a +mouthful of it, a change she could not describe began to take place in +her. She heard a murmuring all about her, which became more and more +articulate, and at length, as she went on eating, grew intelligible. By +the time she had finished her share, the sounds of all the animals in +the forest came crowding through the door to her ears; for the door +still stood wide open, though it was pitch dark outside; and they were +no longer sounds only; they were speech, and speech that she could +understand. She could tell what the insects in the cottage were saying +to each other too. She had even a suspicion that the trees and flowers +all about the cottage were holding midnight communications with each +other; but what they said she could not hear. + +As soon as the fish was eaten, the lady went to the fire and took the +lid off the pot. A lovely little creature in human shape, with large +white wings, rose out of it, and flew round and round the roof of the +cottage; then dropped, fluttering, and nestled in the lap of the lady. +She spoke to it some strange words, carried it to the door, and threw +it out into the darkness. Tangle heard the flapping of its wings die +away in the distance. + +"Now have we done the fish any harm?" she said, returning. + +"No," answered Tangle, "I do not think we have. I should not mind +eating one every day." + +"They must wait their time, like you and me too, my little Tangle." + +And she smiled a smile which the sadness in it made more lovely. + +"But," she continued, "I think we may have one for supper to-morrow." + +So saying she went to the door of the tank, and spoke; and now Tangle +understood her perfectly. + +"I want one of you," she said,--"the wisest." + +Thereupon the fishes got together in the middle of the tank, with their +heads forming a circle above the water, and their tails a larger circle +beneath it. They were holding a council, in which their relative wisdom +should be determined. At length one of them flew up into the lady's +hand, looking lively and ready. + +"You know where the rainbow stands?" she asked. + +"Yes, Mother, quite well," answered the fish. + +"Bring home a young man you will find there, who does not know where to +go." + +The fish was out of the door in a moment. Then the lady told Tangle it +was time to go to bed; and, opening another door in the side of the +cottage, showed her a little arbour, cool and green, with a bed of +purple heath growing in it, upon which she threw a large wrapper made +of the feathered skins of the wise fishes, shining gorgeous in the +firelight. + +Tangle was soon lost in the strangest, loveliest dreams. And the +beautiful lady was in every one of her dreams. + +In the morning she woke to the rustling of leaves over her head, and +the sound of running water. But, to her surprise, she could find no +door--nothing but the moss-grown wall of the cottage. So she crept +through an opening in the arbour, and stood in the forest. Then she +bathed in a stream that ran merrily through the trees, and felt +happier; for having once been in her grandmother's pond, she must be +clean and tidy ever after; and, having put on her green dress, felt +like a lady. + +She spent that day in the wood, listening to the birds and beasts and +creeping things. She understood all that they said, though she could +not repeat a word of it; and every kind had a different language, while +there was a common though more limited understanding between all the +inhabitants of the forest. She saw nothing of the beautiful lady, but +she felt that she was near her all the time; and she took care not to +go out of sight of the cottage. It was round, like a snow-hut or a +wigwam; and she could see neither door nor window in it. The fact was, +it had no windows; and though it was full of doors, they all opened +from the inside, and could not even be seen from the outside. + +She was standing at the foot of a tree in the twilight, listening to a +quarrel between a mole and a squirrel, in which the mole told the +squirrel that the tail was the best of him, and the squirrel called the +mole Spade-fists, when, the darkness having deepened around her, she +became aware of something shining in her face, and looking round, saw +that the door of the cottage was open, and the red light of the fire +flowing from it like a river through the darkness. She left Mole and +Squirrel to settle matters as they might, and darted off to the +cottage. Entering, she found the pot boiling on the fire, and the +grand, lovely lady sitting on the other side of it. + +"I've been watching you all day," said the lady. "You shall have +something to eat by and by, but we must wait till our supper comes +home." + +She took Tangle on her knee, and began to sing to her--such songs as +made her wish she could listen to them for ever. But at length in +rushed the shining fish, and snuggled down in the pot. It was followed +by a youth who had outgrown his worn garments. His face was ruddy with +health, and in his hand he carried a little jewel, which sparkled in +the firelight. + +The first words the lady said were,-- + +"What is that in your hand, Mossy?" + +Now Mossy was the name his companions had given him, because he had a +favourite stone covered with moss, on which he used to sit whole days +reading; and they said the moss had begun to grow upon him too. + +Mossy held out his hand. The moment the lady saw that it was the golden +key, she rose from her chair, kissed Mossy on the forehead, made him +sit down on her seat, and stood before him like a servant. Mossy could +not bear this, and rose at once. But the lady begged him, with tears in +her beautiful eyes, to sit, and let her wait on him. + +"But you are a great, splendid, beautiful lady," said Mossy. + +"Yes, I am. But I work all day long--that is my pleasure; and you will +have to leave me so soon!" + +"How do you know that, if you please, madam?" asked Mossy. + +"Because you have got the golden key." + +"But I don't know what it is for. I can't find the key-hole. Will you +tell me what to do?" + +"You must look for the key-hole. That is your work. I cannot help you. +I can only tell you that if you look for it you will find it." + +"What kind of box will it open? What is there inside?" + +"I do not know. I dream about it, but I know nothing." + +"Must I go at once?" + +"You may stop here to-night, and have some of my supper. But you must +go in the morning. All I can do for you is to give you clothes. Here is +a girl called Tangle, whom you must take with you." + +"That _will_ be nice," said Mossy. + +"No, no!" said Tangle. "I don't want to leave you, please, +Grandmother." + +"You must go with him, Tangle. I am sorry to lose you, but it will be +the best thing for you. Even the fishes, you see, have to go into the +pot, and then out into the dark. If you fall in with the Old Man of the +Sea, mind you ask him whether he has not got some more fishes ready for +me. My tank is getting thin." + +So saying, she took the fish from the pot, and put the lid on as +before. They sat down and ate the fish, and then the winged creature +rose from the pot, circled the roof, and settled on the lady's lap. She +talked to it, carried it to the door, and threw it out into the dark. +They heard the flap of its wings die away in the distance. + +The lady then showed Mossy into just such another chamber as that of +Tangle; and in the morning he found a suit of clothes laid beside him. +He looked very handsome in them. But the wearer of Grandmother's +clothes never thinks about how he or she looks, but thinks always how +handsome other people are. + +Tangle was very unwilling to go. + +"Why should I leave you? I don't know the young man," she said to the +lady. + +"I am never allowed to keep my children long. You need not go with him +except you please, but you must go some day; and I should like you to +go with him, for he has the golden key. No girl need be afraid to go +with a youth that has the golden key. You will take care of her, Mossy, +will you not?" + +"That I will," said Mossy. + +And Tangle cast a glance at him, and thought she should like to go with +him. + +"And," said the lady, "if you should lose each other as you go through +the--the--I never can remember the name of that country,--do not be +afraid, but go on and on." + +She kissed Tangle on the mouth and Mossy on the forehead, led them to +the door, and waved her hand eastward. Mossy and Tangle took each +other's hand and walked away into the depth of the forest. In his right +hand Mossy held the golden key. + +They wandered thus a long way, with endless amusement from the talk of +the animals. They soon learned enough of their language to ask them +necessary questions. The squirrels were always friendly, and gave them +nuts out of their own hoards; but the bees were selfish and rude, +justifying themselves on the ground that Tangle and Mossy were not +subjects of their queen, and charity must begin at home, though indeed +they had not one drone in their poorhouse at the time. Even the +blinking moles would fetch them an earth-nut or a truffle now and then, +talking as if their mouths, as well as their eyes and ears, were full +of cotton wool, or their own velvety fur. By the time they got out of +the forest they were very fond of each other, and Tangle was not in the +least sorry that her grandmother had sent her away with Mossy. + +At length the trees grew smaller, and stood farther apart, and the +ground began to rise, and it got more and more steep, till the trees +were all left behind, and the two were climbing a narrow path with +rocks on each side. Suddenly they came upon a rude doorway, by which +they entered a narrow gallery cut in the rock. It grew darker and +darker, till it was pitch-dark, and they had to feel their way. At +length the light began to return, and at last they came out upon a +narrow path on the face of a lofty precipice. This path went winding +down the rock to a wide plain, circular in shape, and surrounded on all +sides by mountains. Those opposite to them were a great way off, and +towered to an awful height, shooting up sharp, blue, ice-enamelled +pinnacles. An utter silence reigned where they stood. Not even the +sound of water reached them. + +Looking down, they could not tell whether the valley below was a grassy +plain or a great still lake. They had never seen any space look like +it. The way to it was difficult and dangerous, but down the narrow path +they went, and reached the bottom in safety. They found it composed of +smooth, light-coloured sandstone, undulating in parts, but mostly +level. It was no wonder to them now that they had not been able to tell +what it was, for this surface was everywhere crowded with shadows. The +mass was chiefly made up of the shadows of leaves innumerable, of all +lovely and imaginative forms, waving to and fro, floating and quivering +in the breath of a breeze whose motion was unfelt, whose sound was +unheard. No forests clothed the mountain-sides, no trees were anywhere +to be seen, and yet the shadows of the leaves, branches, and stems of +all various trees covered the valley as far as their eyes could reach. +They soon spied the shadows of flowers mingled with those of the +leaves, and now and then the shadow of a bird with open beak, and +throat distended with song. At times would appear the forms of strange, +graceful creatures, running up and down the shadow-boles and along the +branches, to disappear in the wind-tossed foliage. As they walked they +waded knee-deep in the lovely lake. For the shadows were not merely +lying on the surface of the ground, but heaped up above it like +substantial forms of darkness, as if they had been cast upon a thousand +different planes of the air. Tangle and Mossy often lifted their heads +and gazed upwards to discry whence the shadows came; but they could see +nothing more than a bright mist spread above them, higher than the tops +of the mountains, which stood clear against it. No forests, no leaves, +no birds were visible. + +After a while, they reached more open spaces, where the shadows were +thinner; and came even to portions over which shadows only flitted, +leaving them clear for such as might follow. Now a wonderful form, half +bird-like half human, would float across on outspread sailing pinions. +Anon an exquisite shadow group of gambolling children would be followed +by the loveliest female form, and that again by the grand stride of a +Titanic shape, each disappearing in the surrounding press of shadowy +foliage. Sometimes a profile of unspeakable beauty or grandeur would +appear for a moment and vanish. Sometimes they seemed lovers that +passed linked arm in arm, sometimes father and son, sometimes brothers +in loving contest, sometimes sisters entwined in gracefullest community +of complex form. Sometimes wild horses would tear across, free, or +bestrode by noble shadows of ruling men. But some of the things which +pleased them most they never knew how to describe. + +About the middle of the plain they sat down to rest in the heart of a +heap of shadows. After sitting for a while, each, looking up, saw the +other in tears: they were each longing after the country whence the +shadows fell. + +"We _must_ find the country from which the shadows come," said Mossy. + +"We must, dear Mossy," responded Tangle. "What if your golden key +should be the key to _it_?" + +"Ah! that would be grand," returned Mossy.--"But we must rest here for +a little, and then we shall be able to cross the plain before night." + +So he lay down on the ground, and about him on every side, and over his +head, was the constant play of the wonderful shadows. He could look +through them, and see the one behind the other, till they mixed in a +mass of darkness. Tangle, too, lay admiring, and wondering, and longing +after the country whence the shadows came. When they were rested they +rose and pursued their journey. + +How long they were in crossing this plain I cannot tell; but before +night Mossy's hair was streaked with gray, and Tangle had got wrinkles +on her forehead. + +As evening grew on, the shadows fell deeper and rose higher. At length +they reached a place where they rose above their heads, and made all +dark around them. Then they took hold of each other's hand, and walked +on in silence and in some dismay. They felt the gathering darkness, and +something strangely solemn besides, and the beauty of the shadows +ceased to delight them. All at once Tangle found that she had not a +hold of Mossy's hand, though when she lost it she could not tell. + +"Mossy, Mossy!" she cried aloud in terror. + +But no Mossy replied. + +A moment after, the shadows sank to her feet, and down under her feet, +and the mountains rose before her. She turned towards the gloomy region +she had left, and called once more upon Mossy. There the gloom lay +tossing and heaving, a dark, stormy, foamless sea of shadows, but no +Mossy rose out of it, or came climbing up the hill on which she stood. +She threw herself down and wept in despair. + +Suddenly she remembered that the beautiful lady had told them, if they +lost each other in a country of which she could not remember the name, +they were not to be afraid, but to go straight on. + +"And besides," she said to herself, "Mossy has the golden key, and so +no harm will come to him, I do believe." + +She rose from the ground, and went on. + +Before long she arrived at a precipice, in the face of which a stair +was cut. When she had ascended half-way, the stair ceased, and the path +led straight into the mountain. She was afraid to enter, and turning +again towards the stair, grew giddy at sight of the depth beneath her, +and was forced to throw herself down in the mouth of the cave. + +When she opened her eyes, she saw a beautiful little figure with wings +standing beside her, waiting. + +"I know you," said Tangle. "You are my fish." + +"Yes. But I am a fish no longer. I am an aeranth now." + +"What is that?" asked Tangle. + +"What you see I am," answered the shape. "And I am come to lead you +through the mountain." + +"Oh! thank you, dear fish--aeranth, I mean," returned Tangle, rising. + +Thereupon the aeranth took to his wings, and flew on through the long, +narrow passage, reminding Tangle very much of the way he had swum on +before her when he was a fish. And the moment his white wings moved, +they began to throw off a continuous shower of sparks of all colours, +which lighted up the passage before them.--All at once he vanished, and +Tangle heard a low, sweet sound, quite different from the rush and +crackle of his wings. Before her was an open arch, and through it came +light, mixed with the sound of sea-waves. + +She hurried out, and fell, tired and happy, upon the yellow sand of the +shore. There she lay, half asleep with weariness and rest, listening to +the low plash and retreat of the tiny waves, which seemed ever enticing +the land to leave off being land, and become sea. And as she lay, her +eyes were fixed upon the foot of a great rainbow standing far away +against the sky on the other side of the sea. At length she fell fast +asleep. + +When she awoke, she saw an old man with long white hair down to his +shoulders, leaning upon a stick covered with green buds, and so bending +over her. + +"What do you want here, beautiful woman?" he said. + +"Am I beautiful? I am so glad!" said Tangle, rising. "My grandmother is +beautiful." + +"Yes. But what do you want?" he repeated, kindly. + +"I think I want you. Are not you the Old Man of the Sea?" + +"I am." + +"Then Grandmother says, have you any more fishes ready for her?" + +"We will go and see, my dear," answered the old man, speaking yet more +kindly than before. "And I can do something for you, can I not?" + +"Yes--show me the way up to the country from which the shadows fall," +said Tangle. + +For there she hoped to find Mossy again. + +"Ah! indeed, that would be worth doing," said the old man. "But I +cannot, for I do not know the way myself. But I will send you to the +Old Man of the Earth. Perhaps he can tell you. He is much older than I +am." + +Leaning on his staff, he conducted her along the shore to a steep rock, +that looked like a petrified ship turned upside down. The door of it +was the rudder of a great vessel, ages ago at the bottom of the sea. +Immediately within the door was a stair in the rock, down which the old +man went, and Tangle followed. At the bottom the old man had his house, +and there he lived. + +As soon as she entered it, Tangle heard a strange noise, unlike +anything she had ever heard before. She soon found that it was the +fishes talking. She tried to understand what they said; but their +speech was so old-fashioned, and rude, and undefined, that she could +not make much of it. + +"I will go and see about those fishes for my daughter," said the Old +Man of the Sea. + +And moving a slide in the wall of his house, he first looked out, and +then tapped upon a thick piece of crystal that filled the round +opening. Tangle came up behind him, and peeping through the window into +the heart of the great deep green ocean, saw the most curious +creatures, some very ugly, all very odd, and with especially queer +mouths, swimming about everywhere, above and below, but all coming +towards the window in answer to the tap of the Old Man of the Sea. Only +a few could get their mouths against the glass; but those who were +floating miles away yet turned their heads towards it. The old man +looked through the whole flock carefully for some minutes, and then +turning to Tangle, said,-- + +"I am sorry I have not got one ready yet. I want more time than she +does. But I will send some as soon as I can." + +He then shut the slide. + +Presently a great noise arose in the sea. The old man opened the slide +again, and tapped on the glass, whereupon the fishes were all as still +as sleep. + +"They were only talking about you," he said. "And they do speak such +nonsense!--To-morrow," he continued, "I must show you the way to the +Old Man of the Earth. He lives a long way from here." + +"Do let me go at once," said Tangle. + +"No. That is not possible. You must come this way first." + +He led her to a hole in the wall, which she had not observed before. It +was covered with the green leaves and white blossoms of a creeping +plant. + +"Only white-blossoming plants can grow under the sea," said the old +man. "In there you will find a bath, in which you must lie till I call +you." + +Tangle went in, and found a smaller room or cave, in the further corner +of which was a great basin hollowed out of a rock, and half-full of the +clearest sea-water. Little streams were constantly running into it from +cracks in the wall of the cavern. It was polished quite smooth inside, +and had a carpet of yellow sand in the bottom of it. Large green leaves +and white flowers of various plants crowded up and over it, draping and +covering it almost entirely. + +No sooner was she undressed and lying in the bath, than she began to +feel as if the water were sinking into her, and she were receiving all +the good of sleep without undergoing its forgetfulness. She felt the +good coming all the time. And she grew happier and more hopeful than +she had been since she lost Mossy. But she could not help thinking how +very sad it was for a poor old man to live there all alone, and have to +take care of a whole seaful of stupid and riotous fishes. + +After about an hour, as she thought, she heard his voice calling her, +and rose out of the bath. All the fatigue and aching of her long +journey had vanished. She was as whole, and strong, and well as if she +had slept for seven days. + +Returning to the opening that led into the other part of the house, she +started back with amazement, for through it she saw the form of a grand +man, with a majestic and beautiful face, waiting for her. + +"Come," he said; "I see you are ready." + +She entered with reverence. + +"Where is the Old Man of the Sea?" she asked, humbly. + +"There is no one here but me," he answered, smiling. "Some people call +me the Old Man of the Sea. Others have another name for me, and are +terribly frightened when they meet me taking a walk by the shore. +Therefore I avoid being seen by them, for they are so afraid, that they +never see what I really am. You see me now.--But I must show you the +way to the Old Man of the Earth." + +He led her into the cave where the bath was, and there she saw, in the +opposite corner, a second opening in the rock. + +"Go down that stair, and it will bring you to him," said the Old Man of +the Sea. + +With humble thanks Tangle took her leave. She went down the winding +stair, till she began to fear there was no end to it. Still down and +down it went, rough and broken, with springs of water bursting out of +the rocks and running down the steps beside her. It was quite dark +about her, and yet she could see. For after being in that bath, +people's eyes always give out a light they can see by. There were no +creeping things in the way. All was safe and pleasant though so dark +and damp and deep. + +At last there was not one step more, and she found herself in a +glimmering cave. On a stone in the middle of it sat a figure with its +back towards her--the figure of an old man bent double with age. From +behind she could see his white beard spread out on the rocky floor in +front of him. He did not move as she entered, so she passed round that +she might stand before him and speak to him. + +The moment she looked in his face, she saw that he was a youth of +marvellous beauty. He sat entranced with the delight of what he beheld +in a mirror of something like silver, which lay on the floor at his +feet, and which from behind she had taken for his white beard. He sat +on, heedless of her presence, pale with the joy of his vision. She +stood and watched him. At length, all trembling, she spoke. But her +voice made no sound. Yet the youth lifted up his head. He showed no +surprise, however, at seeing her--only smiled a welcome. + +"Are you the Old Man of the Earth?" Tangle had said. + +And the youth answered, and Tangle heard him, though not with her +ears:-- + +"I am. What can I do for you?" + +"Tell me the way to the country whence the shadows fall." + +"Ah! that I do not know. I only dream about it myself. I see its +shadows sometimes in my mirror: the way to it I do not know. But I +think the Old Man of the Fire must know. He is much older than I am. He +is the oldest man of all." + +"Where does he live?" + +"I will show you the way to his place. I never saw him myself." + +So saying, the young man rose, and then stood for a while gazing at +Tangle. + +"I wish I could see that country too," he said. "But I must mind my +work." + +He led her to the side of the cave, and told her to lay her ear against +the wall. + +"What do you hear?" he asked. + +"I hear," answered Tangle, "the sound of a great water running inside +the rock." + +"That river runs down to the dwelling of the oldest man of all--the Old +Man of the Fire. I wish I could go to see him. But I must mind my work. +That river is the only way to him." + +Then the Old Man of the Earth stooped over the floor of the cave, +raised a huge stone from it, and left it leaning. It disclosed a great +hole that went plumb-down. + +"That is the way," he said. + +"But there are no stairs." + +"You must throw yourself in. There is no other way." + +She turned and looked him full in the face--stood so for a whole +minute, as she thought: it was a whole year--then threw herself +headlong into the hole. + +When she came to herself, she found herself gliding down fast and deep. +Her head was under water, but that did not signify, for, when she +thought about it, she could not remember that she had breathed once +since her bath in the cave of the Old Man of the Sea. When she lifted +up her head a sudden and fierce heat struck her, and she sank it again +instantly, and went sweeping on. + +Gradually the stream grew shallower. At length she could hardly keep +her head under. Then the water could carry her no farther. She rose +from the channel, and went step for step down the burning descent. The +water ceased altogether. The heat was terrible. She felt scorched to +the bone, but it did not touch her strength. It grew hotter and hotter. +She said, "I can bear it no longer." Yet she went on. + +At the long last, the stair ended at a rude archway in an all but +glowing rock. Through this archway Tangle fell exhausted into a cool +mossy cave. The floor and walls were covered with moss--green, soft, +and damp. A little stream spouted from a rent in the rock and fell into +a basin of moss. She plunged her face into it and drank. Then she +lifted her head and looked around. Then she rose and looked again. She +saw no one in the cave. But the moment she stood upright she had a +marvellous sense that she was in the secret of the earth and all its +ways. Everything she had seen, or learned from books; all that her +grandmother had said or sung to her; all the talk of the beasts, birds, +and fishes; all that had happened to her on her journey with Mossy, and +since then in the heart of the earth with the Old man and the Older +man--all was plain: she understood it all, and saw that everything +meant the same thing, though she could not have put it into words +again. + +The next moment she descried, in a corner of the cave, a little naked +child sitting on the moss. He was playing with balls of various colours +and sizes, which he disposed in strange figures upon the floor beside +him. And now Tangle felt that there was something in her knowledge +which was not in her understanding. For she knew there must be an +infinite meaning in the change and sequence and individual forms of the +figures into which the child arranged the balls, as well as in the +varied harmonies of their colours, but what it all meant she could not +tell.* He went on busily, tirelessly, playing his solitary game, +without looking up, or seeming to know that there was a stranger in his +deep-withdrawn cell. Diligently as a lace-maker shifts her bobbins, he +shifted and arranged his balls. Flashes of meaning would now pass from +them to Tangle, and now again all would be not merely obscure, but +utterly dark. She stood looking for a long time, for there was +fascination in the sight; and the longer she looked the more an +indescribable vague intelligence went on rousing itself in her mind. +For seven years she had stood there watching the naked child with his +coloured balls, and it seemed to her like seven hours, when all at once +the shape the balls took, she knew not why, reminded her of the Valley +of Shadows, and she spoke:-- + +"Where is the Old Man of the Fire?" she said. + +* I think I must be indebted to Novalis for these geometrical figures. + +"Here I am," answered the child, rising and leaving his balls on the +moss. "What can I do for you?" + +There was such an awfulness of absolute repose on the face of the child +that Tangle stood dumb before him. He had no smile, but the love in his +large gray eyes was deep as the centre. And with the repose there lay +on his face a shimmer as of moonlight, which seemed as if any moment it +might break into such a ravishing smile as would cause the beholder to +weep himself to death. But the smile never came, and the moonlight lay +there unbroken. For the heart of the child was too deep for any smile +to reach from it to his face. + +"Are you the oldest man of all?" Tangle at length, although filled with +awe, ventured to ask. + +"Yes, I am. I am very, very old. I am able to help you, I know. I can +help everybody." And the child drew near and looked up in her face so +that she burst into tears. + +"Can you tell me the way to the country the shadows fall from?" she +sobbed. + +"Yes. I know the way quite well. I go there myself sometimes. But you +could not go my way; you are not old enough. I will show you how you +can go." + +"Do not send me out into the great heat again," prayed Tangle. + +"I will not," answered the child. + +And he reached up, and put his little cool hand on her heart. + +"Now," he said, "you can go. The fire will not burn you. Come." + +He led her from the cave, and following him through another archway, +she found herself in a vast desert of sand and rock. The sky of it was +of rock, lowering over them like solid thunderclouds; and the whole +place was so hot that she saw, in bright rivulets, the yellow gold and +white silver and red copper trickling molten from the rocks. But the +heat never came near her. + +When they had gone some distance, the child turned up a great stone, +and took something like an egg from under it. He next drew a long +curved line in the sand with his finger, and laid the egg in it. He +then spoke something Tangle could not understand. The egg broke, a +small snake came out, and, lying in the line in the sand, grew and grew +till he filled it. The moment he was thus full-grown, he began to glide +away, undulating like a sea-wave. + +"Follow that serpent," said the child. "He will lead you the right +way." + +Tangle followed the serpent. But she could not go far without looking +back at the marvellous child. He stood alone in the midst of the +glowing desert, beside a fountain of red flame that had burst forth at +his feet, his naked whiteness glimmering a pale rosy red in the torrid +fire. There he stood, looking after her, till, from the lengthening +distance, she could see him no more. The serpent went straight on, +turning neither to the right nor left. + + +Meantime Mossy had got out of the Lake of Shadows, and, following his +mournful, lonely way, had reached the sea-shore. It was a dark, stormy +evening. The sun had set. The wind was blowing from the sea. The waves +had surrounded the rock within which lay the old man's house. A deep +water rolled between it and the shore, upon which a majestic figure was +walking alone. + +Mossy went up to him and said,-- + +"Will you tell me where to find the Old Man of the Sea?" + +"I am the Old Man of the Sea," the figure answered. + +"I see a strong kingly man of middle age," returned Mossy. + +Then the old man looked at him more intently, and said,-- + +"Your sight, young man, is better than that of most who take this way. +The night is stormy: come to my house and tell me what I can do for +you." + +Mossy followed him. The waves flew from before the footsteps of the Old +Man of the Sea, and Mossy followed upon dry sand. + +When they had reached the cave, they sat down and gazed at each other. + +Now Mossy was an old man by this time. He looked much older than the +Old Man of the Sea, and his feet were very weary. + +After looking at him for a moment, the old man took him by the hand and +led him into his inner cave. There he helped him to undress, and laid +him in the bath. And he saw that one of his hands Mossy did not open. + +"What have you in that hand?" he asked. + +Mossy opened his hand, and there lay the golden key. + +"Ah!" said the old man, "that accounts for your knowing me. And I know +the way you have to go." + +"I want to find the country whence the shadows fall," said Mossy. + +"I dare say you do. So do I. But meantime, one thing is certain.--What +is that key for, do you think?" + +"For a key-hole somewhere. But I don't know why I keep it. I never +could find the key-hole. And I have lived a good while, I believe," +said Mossy, sadly. "I'm not sure that I'm not old. I know my feet +ache." + +"Do they?" said the old man, as if he really meant to ask the question; +and Mossy, who was still lying in the bath, watched his feet for a +moment before he replied,--"No, they do not. Perhaps I am not old +either." + +"Get up and look at yourself in the water." + +He rose and looked at himself in the water, and there was not a gray +hair on his head or a wrinkle on his skin. + +"You have tasted of death now," said the old man. "Is it good?" + +"It is good," said Mossy. "It is better than life." + +"No, said the old man: it is only more life.--Your feet will make no +holes in the water now." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I will show you that presently." + +They returned to the outer cave, and sat and talked together for a long +time. At length the Old Man of the Sea rose, and said to Mossy,-- + +"Follow me." + +He led him up the stair again, and opened another door. They stood on +the level of the raging sea, looking towards the east. Across the waste +of waters, against the bosom of a fierce black cloud, stood the foot of +a rainbow, glowing in the dark. + +"This indeed is my way," said Mossy, as soon as he saw the rainbow, and +stepped out upon the sea. His feet made no holes in the water. He +fought the wind, and clomb the waves, and went on towards the rainbow. + +The storm died away. A lovely day and a lovelier night followed. A cool +wind blew over the wide plain of the quiet ocean. And still Mossy +journeyed eastward. But the rainbow had vanished with the storm. + +Day after day he held on, and he thought he had no guide. He did not +see how a shining fish under the water directed his steps. He crossed +the sea, and came to a great precipice of rock, up which he could +discover but one path. Nor did this lead him farther than half-way up +the rock, where it ended on a platform. Here he stood and pondered.--It +could not be that the way stopped here, else what was the path for? It +was a rough path, not very plain, yet certainly a path.--He examined +the face of the rock. It was smooth as glass. But as his eyes kept +roving hopelessly over it, something glittered, and he caught sight of +a row of small sapphires. They bordered a little hole in the rock. + +"The key-hole!" he cried. + +He tried the key. It fitted. It turned. A great clang and clash, as of +iron bolts on huge brazen caldrons, echoed thunderously within. He drew +out the key. The rock in front of him began to fall. He retreated from +it as far as the breadth of the platform would allow. A great slab fell +at his feet. In front was still the solid rock, with this one slab +fallen forward out of it. But the moment he stepped upon it, a second +fell, just short of the edge of the first, making the next step of a +stair, which thus kept dropping itself before him as he ascended into +the heart of the precipice. It led him into a hall fit for such an +approach--irregular and rude in formation, but floor, sides, pillars, +and vaulted roof, all one mass of shining stones of every colour that +light can show. In the centre stood seven columns, ranged from red to +violet. And on the pedestal of one of them sat a woman, motionless, +with her face bowed upon her knees. Seven years had she sat there +waiting. She lifted her head as Mossy drew near. It was Tangle. Her +hair had grown to her feet, and was rippled like the windless sea on +broad sands. Her face was beautiful, like her grandmother's, and as +still and peaceful as that of the Old Man of the Fire. Her form was +tall and noble. Yet Mossy knew her at once. + +"How beautiful you are, Tangle!" he said, in delight and astonishment. + +"Am I?" she returned. "Oh, I have waited for you so long! But you, you +are like the Old Man of the Sea. No. You are like the Old Man of the +Earth. No, no. You are like the oldest man of all. You are like them +all. And yet you are my own old Mossy! How did you come here? What did +you do after I lost you? Did you find the key-hole? Have you got the +key still?" + +She had a hundred questions to ask him, and he a hundred more to ask +her. They told each other all their adventures, and were as happy as +man and woman could be. For they were younger and better, and stronger +and wiser, than they had ever been before. + +It began to grow dark. And they wanted more than ever to reach the +country whence the shadows fall. So they looked about them for a way +out of the cave. The door by which Mossy entered had closed again, and +there was half a mile of rock between them and the sea. Neither could +Tangle find the opening in the floor by which the serpent had led her +thither. They searched till it grew so dark that they could see +nothing, and gave it up. + +After a while, however, the cave began to glimmer again. The light came +from the moon, but it did not look like moonlight, for it gleamed +through those seven pillars in the middle, and filled the place with +all colours. And now Mossy saw that there was a pillar beside the red +one, which he had not observed before. And it was of the same new +colour that he had seen in the rainbow when he saw it first in the +fairy forest. And on it he saw a sparkle of blue. It was the sapphires +round the key-hole. + +He took his key. It turned in the lock to the sound of Aeolian music. A +door opened upon slow hinges, and disclosed a winding stair within. The +key vanished from his fingers. Tangle went up. Mossy followed. The door +closed behind them. They climbed out of the earth; and, still climbing, +rose above it. They were in the rainbow. Far abroad, over ocean and +land, they could see through its transparent walls the earth beneath +their feet. Stairs beside stairs wound up together, and beautiful +beings of all ages climbed along with them. + +They knew that they were going up to the country whence the shadows +fall. + +And by this time I think they must have got there. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Light Princess and Other Fairy +Stories, by George MacDonald + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIGHT PRINCESS AND OTHER *** + +***** This file should be named 18811.txt or 18811.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/8/1/18811/ + +Produced by John Bechard (JaBBechard@aol.com) + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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