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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/18872-8.txt b/18872-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3d6360 --- /dev/null +++ b/18872-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2635 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Field of Clover, by Laurence Housman + +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 Field of Clover + +Author: Laurence Housman + +Illustrator: Clemence Housman + +Release Date: July 19, 2006 [EBook #18872] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIELD OF CLOVER *** + + + + +Produced by Brad Norton, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: MERCURY GOD OF MERCHANDISE LOOK ON WITH FAVOURABLE +EYES] + +[Illustration: + +THE FIELD OF CLOVER + +By Laurence Housman + +DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC., NEW YORK + +ENGRAVED BY CLEMENCE HOUSMAN + +BE KINDLY TO THE WEARY DROVER & PIPE THE SHEEP INTO THE CLOVER] + + +This Dover edition, first published in 1968, is an unabridged and +unaltered republication of the work originally published by Kegan +Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. in 1898. + +_Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-30802_ + +Manufactured in the United States of America +Dover Publications, Inc. +180 Varick Street +New York, N. Y. 10014 + + + + +Contents + + + THE BOUND PRINCESS (_in six parts_) PAGE + I THE FIRE-EATERS 3 + II THE GALLOPING PLOUGH 13 + III THE THIRSTY WELL 23 + IV THE PRINCESS MELILOT 33 + V THE BURNING ROSE 45 + VI THE CAMPHOR WORM 57 + THE CROWN'S WARRANTY 69 + THE WISHING-POT 81 + THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS 111 + THE PASSIONATE PUPPETS 119 + + + + +TO MY DEAR WOOD-ENGRAVER + + + + +THE BOUND PRINCESS + +[Illustration] + +THE BOUND PRINCESS + + + + +I + +THE FIRE-EATERS + + +A long time ago there lived a man who had the biggest head in the +world. Into it he had crammed all the knowledge that might be gathered +from the four corners of the earth. Every one said he was the wisest +man living. "If I could only find a wife," said the sage, "as wise for +a woman as I am for a man, what a race of head-pieces we could bring +into the world!" + +He waited many years before any such mate could be found for him: +yet, at last, found she was--one into whose head was bestowed all the +wisdom that might be gathered from the four quarters of heaven. + +They were both old, but kings came from all sides to their wedding, +and offered themselves as god-parents to the first-born of the new +race that was to be. But, to the grief of his parents, the child, when +he arrived, proved to be a simpleton; and no second child ever came to +repair the mistake of the first. + +That he was a simpleton was evident; his head was small and his +limbs were large, and he could run long before he could talk or do +arithmetic. In the bitterness of their hearts his father and mother +named him Noodle, without the aid of any royal god-parents; and from +that moment, for any care they took in his bringing-up, they washed +their wise hands of him. + +Noodle grew and prospered, and enjoyed life in his own foolish way. +When his father and mother died within a short time of each other, +they left him alone without any friend in the world. + +For a good while Noodle lived on just what he could find in the house, +in a hand-to-mouth sort of way, till at last only the furniture and +the four bare walls were left to him. + +One cold winter's night he sat brooding over the fire, wondering where +he should get food for the morrow, when he heard feet coming up to the +door, and a knock striking low down upon the panel. Outside there was +a faint chirping and crackling sound, and a whispering as of fire +licking against the woodwork without. + +He opened the door and peered forth into the night. There, just before +him, stood seven little men huddled up together; three feet high they +were, with bright yellow faces all shrivelled and sharp, and eyes +whose light leaped and sank like candle flame before a gust. + +When they saw him, they shut their eyes and opened famished mouths at +him, pointing inwards with flickering finger-tips, and shivering from +head to foot with cold, although it seemed to the youth as if the +warmth of a slow fire came from them. 'Alas!' said Noodle, in reply to +these signs of hunger, 'I have not left even a crust of bread in the +house to give you! But at least come in and make yourselves warm!' He +touched the foremost, making signs for them all to enter. 'Ah,' he +cried, 'what is this, and what are you, that the mere touch of you +burns my finger?' + +Without answer they huddled tremblingly across the threshold; but +so soon as they saw the fire burning on the hearth, they yelped all +together like a pack of hounds, and, throwing themselves face forwards +into the hot embers, began ravenously to lap up the flames. They +lapped and lapped, and the more they lapped the more the fire sank +away and died. Then with their flickering finger-tips they stirred +the hot logs and coals, burrowing after the thin tapes and swirls of +vanishing flame, and fetching them out like small blue eels still +wriggling for escape. + +After each blue wisp had been gulped down, they sipped and sucked at +their fingers for any least tricklet of flavour that might be left; +and at the last seemed more famished than when they began. + +'More, more, O wise Noodle, give us more!' they cried; and Noodle +threw the last of his fuel on the embers. + +They breathed round it, fanning it into a great blaze that leaped and +danced up to the rafters; then they fell on, till not a fleck or a +flake of it was left. Noodle, seeing them still famished, broke up +a stool and threw that on the hearth. And again they flared it with +their breath and gobbled off the flame. When the stool was finished he +threw in the table, then the dresser, and after that the oak-chest and +the window-seat. + +Still they feasted and were not fed. Noodle fetched an axe, and broke +down the door; then he wrenched up the boards from the floor, and +pulled the beams and rafters out of the ceiling; yet, even so, his +guests were not to be satisfied. + +'I have nothing left,' he said, 'but the house itself; but since you +are still hungry you shall be welcome to it!' + +He scattered the fire that remained upon the hearth, and threw it out +and about the room; and as he ran forth to escape, up against all +the walls and right through the roof rose a great crackling sheaf of +flame. In the midst of the fire, Noodle could see his seven guests +lying along on their bellies, slopping their hands in the heat, and +lapping up the flames with their tongues. 'Surely,' he thought, 'I +have given them enough to eat at last!' + +After a while all the fire was eaten away, and only the black and +smouldering ruins were left. Day came coldly to light, and there sat +Noodle, without a home in the world, watching with considerate eye his +seven guests finishing their inordinate repast. + +They all rose to their feet together, and came towards him bowing; as +they approached he felt the heat of their bodies as it had been seven +furnaces. + +'Enough, O wise Noodle!' said they, 'we have had enough!' 'That,' +answered Noodle, 'is the least thing left me to wonder at. Go your +ways in peace; but first tell me, who are you?' They replied, 'We are +the Fire-eaters: far from our own land, and strangers, you have done +us this service; what, now, can we do to serve you?' 'Put me in the +way of a living,' said Noodle, 'and you will do me the greatest +service of all.' + +Then the one of them who seemed to be chief took from his finger a +ring having for its centre a great firestone, and threw it into the +snow, saying, 'Wait for three hours till the ring shall have had time +to cool, then take it, and wear it; and whatever fortune you deserve +it shall bring you. For this ring is the sweetener of everything that +it touches: bread it turns into rich meats, water into strong wine, +grief into virtue, and labour into strength. Also, if you ever need +our help, you have but to brandish the ring, and the gleam of it will +reach us, and we will be with you wherever you may be.' + +With that they bowed their top-knots to the ground and departed, +inverting themselves swiftly till only the shining print of seven +pairs of feet remained, red-hot, over the place where they had been +standing. + +Noodle waited for three hours; then he took up the firestone ring, and +putting it on his finger set out into the world. + +At the first door he came to, he begged a crust of bread, and touching +it with the ring found it tasted like rich meats, well cooked and +delicately flavoured. Also, the water which he drew in the hollow of +his hand from a brook by the roadside tasted to him like strong wine. + + + + +[Illustration] + +II + +THE GALLOPING PLOUGH + + +Noodle went on many miles till he came near to a rich man's farm. +Though it was the middle of winter, all the fields showed crops of +corn in progress; here it was in thin blade, and here green, but in +full ear; and here it was ripe and ready for harvest. 'How is this,' +he said to the first man he met, 'that you have corn here in the +middle of winter?' 'Ah!' said the man, 'you have not heard of the +Galloping Plough; you too have to fall under bondage to my master.' +'What is your master?' inquired Noodle, 'and in what bondage does he +bind man?' + +'My master, and your master that shall soon be,' answered the old man, +'is the owner of all this land and the farmer of it. He is rich and +sleek and fat like his own furrows, for he has the Galloping Plough as +his possession. Ah, that! 't is a very miracle, a wonder, a thing to +catch at the heartstrings of all beholders; it shines like a moonbeam, +and is better than an Arab mare for swiftness; it warms the very +ground that it enters, so that seeds take root and spring, though it +be the middle of winter. No man sees it but what he loses his heart to +it, and sells his freedom for the possession of it. All here are men +like myself who have become slaves because of that desire. You also, +when you see it, will become slave to it.' + +Noodle went on through the summer and the spring corn, till he came +to bare fields. Ahead of him on a hill-top he saw the farmer himself, +sleek and rosy, and of full paunch, lolling like a lord at his ease; +yet with a working eye in the midst of his leisure. + +To and fro, up to him and back, shot a silver gleam over the purple +brown of the fields; and Noodle's heart gave a thump at the sight, for +the spell of the Galloping Plough was on him. + +Now and then he heard a clear sound that startled him with its note. +It was like the sweet whistling cry of a bird many times multiplied. +Ever when the silver gleam of the Plough had run its farthest from the +farmer, the cry sounded; and at the sound the gleam wavered and stayed +and flew back dartingly to the farmer's side. So Noodle understood how +this was the farmer's signal for the Plough to return; and the Plough +knew it as a horse its master's voice, and came so fast that the wind +whistled against its silver side. + +As he watched, Noodle's heart went down into the valley and up the +hillside, following in the track of the Galloping Plough. 'I can never +be happy again,' thought he; 'either I must possess it, or must die.' + +He came to the farmer where he sat calling his Plough to him and +letting it go; and the farmer smiled, the wide indulgent smile of a +man who knows that a bargain is about to fall his way. + +'What is the price,' asked Noodle, 'of yonder Galloping Plough, that +runs like an Arab mare, and returns to you at your call?' + +Said the farmer, 'A year's service; and if the Plough will follow you, +it is yours; if not, then you must be my bondman until you die!' + +Noodle looked once the way of the Galloping Plough, and his heart +flapped at his side like a sail which the wind drops and lets go; and +he had no thought or will left in him but to be where the Galloping +Plough was. So he closed hands on the bargain, to be the farmer's +servant either for a year, or for his whole life. + +For a year he worked upon the farm, and all the while plotted how he +might win the Galloping Plough to himself. The farmer kept no watch +upon it, nor put it under lock and key, for the Plough recognised no +voice but his own, nor went nor came save at his bidding. In the night +Noodle would go down to the shed or field where it lay, and whistle to +it, trying to put forth notes of the same magical power as those which +came through the farmer's lips. + +But no sound that came from his lips ever stroked life into its silver +sides. The year was nearly run out, and Noodle was in despair. + +Then he remembered the firestone ring, the Sweetener. 'May be,' said +he, 'since it changes to sweetness whatever I eat and drink, it will +sweeten my voice also, so that the Plough will obey.' So he put the +ring between his lips and whistled; and at the sound his heart turned +a somersault for joy, for he felt that out of his mouth the farmer's +magic had been over-topped and conquered. + +The Galloping Plough stirred faintly from the furrow where it lay, +breaking the ground and marring its smooth course. Then it shook its +head slowly, and returned impassively to rest. + +In the morning the farmer came and saw the broken earth close under +the Plough's nose. Noodle, hiding among the corn hard by, heard him +say, 'What hast thou heard in the night, O my moonbeam, my miracle, +that thy lily-foot has trodden up the ground? Hast thou forgotten +whose hand feeds thee, whose corn it is thou lovest, whose heart's +care also cherishes thee?' + +The farmer went away, and presently came back bearing a bowl of corn; +and Noodle saw the Plough lift its head to its master's palm, and feed +like a horse on the grain. + +Then Noodle, gay of heart, waited till it was night, and surely his +time was short, for on the morrow his wages were to be paid, and the +Plough was to be his, or else he was to be the farmer's bondservant +for the rest of his life. He took with him three handfuls of corn, and +went down to where the Plough stood waiting by the furrow. Shaping his +lips to the ring, he whistled gently like a lover, and immediately the +Plough stirred, and lifted up its head as if to look at him. + +'O my moonbeam, my miracle,' whispered Noodle, 'wilt thou not come to +the one that feeds thee?' and he held out a handful of corn. But the +Plough gave no regard to him or his grain: slowly it moved away from +him back into the furrow. + +Then Noodle laughed softly and dropped his ring, the Sweetener, into +the hand that held the grain; and barely had he offered the corn +before he felt the silver Plough nozzling at his palm, and eating as a +horse eats from the hand of its master. + +Then he whistled again, placing the Sweetener back between his lips; +and the Galloping Plough sprang after him, and followed at his heels +like a dog. + +So, finding himself its master, he bid it stay for the night; and in +the morning he said to the farmer, 'Give me my wages, and let me go!' +And the farmer laughed, saying, 'Take your wages, and go!' + +Then Noodle took off his ring, the Sweetener, and laid it between his +lips and blew through it; and up like a moonbeam, and like an Arab +mare, sprang the Galloping Plough at his call. So he leaped upon its +back, crying, 'Carry me away out of this land, O thou moonbeam, and +miracle of beauty, and never slacken nor stay except I bid thee!' + +Vainly the farmer, borne down on a torrent of rage and amazement, +whistled his best, and threw corn and rice from the rear; for the +whistling of Noodle was sweeter to the ear, and his corn sweeter to +the taste, and he nearer to the heart of the Galloping Plough than was +the old master whom it left behind. + + + + +[Illustration] + +III + +THE THIRSTY WELL + + +So they escaped, slitting the swift hours with ungovernable speed. The +furrow they two made in the world that day, as they went shooting over +the round of it, was called in after times the Equator, and men still +know it by the heat of it, though it has since been covered over by +the dust of ages. + +To Noodle, as he went careering round it, the whole world's circuit +ran in a line across his brain, entering his vision and passing +through it as a thread through the needle's eye. Nor would he of his +own will ever have stopped his galloping, but that at the completion +of the first round a mighty thirst took hold of him. 'O my moonbeam,' +he said, choking behind parched lips, and sick at heart, 'check me, +or I faint!' And the Galloping Plough stopped at once, and set him to +earth in a green space under the shadow of overhanging boughs. + +He found himself in a richly grown garden, a cool paradise for a +traveller to rest in. Close at hand and inviting to the eye was a well +with a bucket slung ready to be let down. Noodle had little thought of +seeking for the owner of the garden to beg for a drink, since water is +an equal gift to all and the right of any man; but as he drew near he +found the means to it withheld from him, the lid being fast locked. He +went on in search of the owner, till at length he came upon the same +lying half asleep under a thorn-bush with the key in her hand. She was +an old woman, so withered and dry, she looked as if no water could +have ever passed her lips. + +When Noodle asked for a drink from the well, she looked at him bright +and sharp, and said: 'Before any man drinks of my water he must make a +bargain with me.' 'What is the bargain?' asked Noodle; and she led him +down to the well. + +Then she unlocked the lid and bade him look in; and at the sight +Noodle knew for a second time that his heart had been stolen from him, +and that to be happy he must taste that water or die. + +Again he asked, with his eyes intent upon the blue wrimpling of the +water in the well's depth, 'What is the bargain?' And the old woman +answered, 'If you fail to draw water out of the well you must fling +yourself into it.' For answer Noodle swung down the bucket, lowering +it as fast as it would go; then he set both hands to the windlass and +wound. + +He heard the water splashing off the sides of the bucket all the way +up, as the shortening rope brought it near; but when he drew it over +the well's brink wonder and grief held him fast, for the bucket was as +empty as vanity. From behind him came a noise of laughter, and there +was the old witch running round and round in a circle; and everywhere +a hedge of thorns came shooting up to enclose him and keep him fast +for her. + +'What a trap I am in!' thought Noodle; but once more he lowered the +bucket, and once more it returned to him empty. + +The old woman climbed up into the thorn-hedge, and sat on its top, +singing: + + 'Overground, underground, round-about spell; + The Thirsty has come to the Thirsty Well!' + +Again Noodle let down the bucket; and this time as he drew it up he +looked over into the well's heart, and saw all the way up the side a +hundred blue arms reaching out crystal scallops and drawing water +out of the bucket as hard as they could go. He saw thick lips like +sea-anemones thrust out between the crevices of the wall, sucking the +crystals dry as fast as they were filled. 'Truly,' he said to himself, +'this is a thirsty well, but myself am thirstier!' + +When he had drawn up the bucket empty for the third time, he stood +considering; and at last he fastened to it the firestone ring, the +Sweetener, and lowered it once more. Then he laughed to himself as he +drew up, and felt the bucket lightening at every turn till it touched +the surface of things. + +Empty he found it, with only his firestone hanging by the rim, and +once again he let it down to be refilled. But this time as he wound +up, nothing could keep him from letting a curious eye go over the +brink, to see how the Well-folk fared over their wine; and in what he +beheld there was already comfort for his soul. + +The blue arms went like oars out of unison; like carpet-beaters +stricken in the eyes and throat with dust, they beat foolishly against +the sides and bottom of the bucket, shattering and letting fall their +goblets in each unruly attempt. And because Noodle wound leniently at +the rope, willing that they should have their fill, at the last gasp +they were able to send the bucket empty to the top. It was the last +staving off of destiny that lay in their power to make; thereafter +wine conquered them. + +Quickly Noodle drew out the ring, and sent the bucket flying on its +last errand. It smacked the water, heeled over, and dipped under a +full draught. Then Noodle spun the windlass with the full pinch of his +energies, calling on the bucket to ascend. He heard the water spilling +from its sides, and knew that the blue arms were there, battling to +arrest it as it flew, and to pay him back once more with emptiness and +mockery. Yet in spite of them the bucket hasted and lightened not, but +was drawn up to the well's head brimming largely, and winking a blue +eye joyously to the light of day. + +Over head and ears Noodle plunged for the quenching of his thirst, nor +stayed nor drew back till his head had smitten upon the bottom of the +bucket in his pursuit of the draught. Then it was apparent that only +a third of the water remained, the rest having obeyed the imperative +suction of his throat, and that the thirsty well had at last found a +master under the eye of heaven. + +In the depth of the bucket the water flashed like a burning sapphire +and swung circling, curling and coiling, tossing this way and that, +as if struggling to get out. At last with a laugh it threw down the +bucket, and tore back into the well with a crash like thunder. + +Up from the well rose a chant of voices: + + 'Under Heaven, over Hell, + You have broken the spell, + You are lord of the Well.' + +Noodle stepped over the brink of his new realm, calling the Well-folk +to reach hands for him and bear him down. All round, the blue arms +started out, catching him and handing him on from one to another +ladderwise, down, and down, and down. As he went, anemone lips came +out of the crannies in the wall, and kissed his feet and hands in +token of allegiance. 'You are lord of the well!' they said, as they +passed him each one to the next. + +He came to the bottom of the well; under his feet, wherever he stepped +upon its waters, hands came up and sustained him. The knowledge of +everything that was there had become his. 'Give me,' he said, 'the +crystal cup that is for him who holds kingship over you; so shall I be +lord of you in all places wherever I go.' + +A blue arm reached down and drew up from the water a small crystal, +that burned through the darkness with a blue fire, and gave it to +Noodle. 'Now I am your king, however far from you!' said Noodle. And +they answered, chanting: + + 'Under Heaven, over Hell, + You have broken the spell, + You are lord of the Well.' + +'Lift me up!' said he; and the blue arms caught him and lifted him up; +from one to another they passed him in ascending circles, till he came +to the mouth of the well. + +There overhead was the old witch, crouching and looking in to know +what had become of him; and her hair hung far down over her eyes into +the well. He caught her to him by it over the brink. 'Old witch,' he +said, 'you must change places with me now!' and he tossed her down to +the bottom of the well. + +She went like a falling shuttlecock, shrieking as she fell; and as she +struck the water, the drowned bodies of the men she had sent there +came to the surface, and caught her by the feet and hair, and drew her +down, making an end of her, as she also had made of them. + + + + +[Illustration] + +IV + +THE PRINCESS MELILOT + + +When Noodle, carrying the crystal with him, set foot once more upon +dry land, straightway he was again upon the back of the Galloping +Plough, with the world flying away under him. But now weariness came +over him, and his head weighed this way and that, so that earth and +sky mixed themselves before his gaze, and he was so drugged with +sleep that he had no wits to bid the Plough slacken from its speed. +Therefore it happened that as they passed a wood, a hanging bough +caught him, and brushed him like a feather from his place, landing him +on a green bosom of grass, where he slept the sleep of the weary, nor +ever lifted his head to see the Plough fast disappearing over hill and +valley and plain, out of sound of his voice or sight of his eye. + +When Noodle awoke and found that the Plough was gone, he was bitter +against himself for his folly. 'So poor a use to make of so noble +a steed!' he cried; 'no wonder it has gone from me to seek for a +worthier master! If by good fortune I find it again, needs must I do +great things by its aid to be worthy of its service.' So he set out, +following the furrow of its course, determined, however far he must +seek, to journey on till he found it. + +For a whole year he travelled, till at length he came, footsore and +weary, to a deserted palace standing in the midst of an overgrown +garden. The great gates, which lay wide open, were overrun with +creepers, and the paths were green with weeds. That morning he had +thought that he saw far away on the hills the gleam of his silver +Plough, and now hope rose high, for he could see by its track that +the Plough had passed before him into the garden of the palace. 'O my +moonbeam,' he thought, 'is it here I shall find you at last?' + +Within the garden there was a sound of cross questions and crooked +answers, of many talking with loud voices, and of one weeping apart +from the rest. When he got quite close, he was struck still with awe, +and joy, and wonder. For first there lay the Galloping Plough in the +middle of a green lawn, and round it a score of serving-men, tugging +at it and trying to make it move on. Near by stood an old woman, +wringing her hands and begging them to leave it alone: 'For,' cried +she, 'if the Plough touches but the feet of the Princess, she will be +uprooted, and will presently wither away and die. Of what use is it to +break one, if the other enchantments cannot be broken?' + +In the centre of the lawn grew a bower of roses, and beneath the bower +stood the loveliest princess that ever eye beheld; but she stood there +motionless, and without sign of life. She seemed neither to hear, nor +see, nor breathe; her feet were rooted to the ground; though they +seemed only to rest lightly under her weight upon the grass, no man, +nor a hundred men, could stir her from where she stood. And, as the +spell that held her fast bound to the spot, even so was the spell that +sealed her senses,--no man might lift it from her. When Noodle set +eyes upon her he knew that for the third time his heart had been +stolen from him, and that to be happy he must possess her, or die. + +He ran quickly to the old woman, who, unregarded by the serving-men, +stood weeping and wringing her hands. 'Tell me, said Noodle, 'who is +this sleeper who stands enchanted and rooted like a flower to earth? +And who are you, and these others who work and cry at cross purposes?' + +The old woman cried from a wide mouth: 'It is my mistress, the +honey-jewel of my heart, whom you see here so grievously enchanted. +All the gifts of the fairies at her christening did not prevent what +was foretold of her at her birth. In her seventeenth year, as you see +her now, so it was told of her that she should be.' + +'Does she live?' asked Noodle; 'is she asleep? She is not dead; when +will she wake? Tell me, old woman, her history, and how this fate has +come upon her.' + +'She was the daughter of the king of this country by his first wife,' +said the old woman, 'and heir to the throne after his death; but when +her mother died the king married again, and the three daughters he had +by his second wife were jealous of the beauty, and charm, and goodness +which raised their sister so high above them in the estimation of all +men. So they asked their mother to teach them a spell that should rob +Melilot of her charms, and make them useless in the eyes of men. And +their mother, who was wise in such arts, taught to each of them a +spell, so that together they might work their will. + +'One day they came running to Melilot, and said, "Come and play with +us a new game that our mother has taught us!" Then they began turning +themselves into flowers. "I will be a hollyhock!" said one. "And I +will be a columbine!" said another; and saying the spell over each +other they became each the flower they had named. + +'Then they unloosed the spells, and became themselves again. "Oh, it +is so nice to be a flower!" they cried, laughing and clapping their +hands. But Melilot knew no spell. + +'At last, seeing how her sisters turned into flowers, and came back +safe again, "I will be a rose!" she cried; "turn me into a rose and +out again!" + +'Then her three sisters joined their tongues together, and finished the +spell over her. And so soon as she had become a rose-tree, the three +sisters turned into three moles, and went down under the earth and +gnawed at the roots. + +'Then they came up, and took their own forms again, and sang,-- + + '"Sister, sister, here you are now, + Till the ploughman come with the Galloping Plough!" + +'Then they turned into bees, and sucked out the honey from the roses, +and coming to themselves again they sang,-- + + '"Sister, here you must doze and doze, + Till they bring you a flower of the Burning Rose!" + +'Then they shook the dewdrops out of her eyes, crying,-- + + "Sister, your brain lies under our spell, + Till water be brought from the Thirsty Well!" + +'Then they took the top blossom of all, and broke it to pieces, and +threw the petals away as they cried,-- + + "Sister, your life goes down for a term, + Till they bring you breath from the Camphor-Worm!" + +'And when they had done all this, they turned her back into her true +shape, and left her standing even as you see her now, without warmth, +or sight, or memory, or motion, dead saving for her beauty, that never +changes or dies. And here she must stand till the spells which have +been fastened upon her have been unloosed. No long time after, +the wickedness of the three sisters and of their cruel mother was +discovered to the king, and they were all put to death for the crime. +Yet the ill they had done remained; and the king's grief became so +great to see his loved daughter standing dead before him that he +removed with his court to another place, and left this palace to the +care of only a few serving-men, and myself to keep watch and guard +over the Princess. + +'So now four-fold is the spell that holds her, and to break the +lightest of them the water of the Thirsty Well is needed; with two of +its drops laid upon her eyes memory will come back to her, and her +mind will remember of the things of the past. And for the breaking +of the second spell is needed a blossom of the Burning Rose, and the +plucking of that no man's hand can achieve; but when the Rose is laid +upon her breast, her heart will belong to the world once more, and +will beat again under her bosom. And for the breaking of the third +spell one must bring the breath of the Camphor-Worm that has lain for +a whole year inside its body, and breathe it between her lips; then +she will breathe again, and all her five senses will return to her. +And for the last spell only the Galloping Plough can uproot her back +to life, and free her feet for the ways of earth. Now, here we have +the Galloping Plough with no man who can guide it, and what aid can it +be? If these fools should be able to make it so much as but touch the +feet of my dear mistress, she will be mown down like grass, and die +presently for lack of earth; for only the three other charms I have +told you of can put whole life back into her.' + +'As for the mastery of the Plough,' said Noodle, 'I will fetch that +from them in a breath. See, in a moment, how marvellous will be the +uplifting of their eyes!' He put to his lips the firestone ring--the +Sweetener--and blew but one note through it. Then in a moment the +crowd divided hither and thither, with cries of wonder and alarm, for +the Plough turned and bounded back to its master quickly, as an Arab +mare at the call of her owner. + +The old woman, weeping for gladness, cried: 'Thou art master of the +Plough! Art thou master of all the other things as well?' + +He said: 'Of one thing only. Tell me of the Burning Rose and the +Camphor-Worm; what and where are they? For I am the master of the ends +of the earth by reason of the speed with which this carries me; and I +am lord of the Thirsty Well, and have the Fire-eaters for my friends.' + +The old woman clapped her hands, and blessed him for his youth, and +his wisdom, and his courage. 'First,' she said, 'restore to the +Princess her memory by means of the water of the Thirsty Well; then I +will show you the way to the Burning Rose, for the easier thing must +be done first.' + +Then Noodle drew out the crystal and breathed in it, calling on the +Well-folk for the two drops of water to lay on Princess Melilot's +eyes. Immediately in the bottom of the cup appeared two blue drops +of water, that came climbing up the sides of the glass and stood +trembling together on the brim. And Noodle, touching them with the +firestone ring to make the memory of things sweet to her, bent back +the Princess's face, and let them fall under her closed lids. + +'Look!' cried the faithful nurse, 'light trembles within those eyes of +hers! In there she begins to remember things; but as yet she sees and +hears nothing. Now it is for you to be swift and fetch her the blossom +of the Burning Rose. Be wise, and you shall not fail!' + + + + +[Illustration] + +V + +THE BURNING ROSE + + +She told him how he was to go, across the desert southward, till he +found a giant, longer in length than a day's journey, lying asleep +upon the sand. Over his head, it was told, hung a cloud, covering him +from the heat and resting itself against his brows; within the cloud +was a dream, and within the dream grew the garden of the Burning +Rose. Than this she knew no more, nor by what means Noodle might gain +entrance and become possessor of the Rose. + +Noodle waited for no more; he mounted upon the Galloping Plough, and +pressed away over the desert to the south. For three days he travelled +through parched places, refreshing himself by the way with the water +of the Thirsty Well, calling on the Well-folk for the replenishment of +his crystal, and turning the draught to wine by the sweetness of his +magic ring. + +At length he saw a cloud rising to him from a distance; like a great +opal it hung motionless between earth and heaven. Coming nearer he saw +the giant himself stretched out for a day's journey across the sand. +His head lay under the colours of the dawn, and his feet were covered +with the dusk of evening, and over his middle shone the noonday sun. + +Under the giant's shadow Noodle stopped, and gazed up into the cloud; +through the outer covering of its mists he saw what seemed to be balls +of fire, and knew that within lay the dream and the garden of the +Burning Rose. + +The giant laughed and muttered in his sleep, for the dream was sweet +to him. 'O Rose,' he said, 'O sweet Rose, what end is there of +thy sweetness? How innumerable is the dance of the Roses of my +Rose-garden!' + +Noodle caught hold of the ropes of the giant's hair, and climbed till +he sat within the hollow of his right ear. Then he put to his lips the +ring, the Sweetener, and sang till the giant heard him in his sleep; +and the sweet singing mixed itself with the sweetness of the Rose in +the giant's brain, and he muttered to himself, saying: 'O bee, O sweet +bee, O bee in my brain, what honey wilt thou fetch for me out of the +Roses of my Rose-garden?' + +So, more and more, Noodle sweetened himself to the giant, till the +giant passed him into his brain, and into the heart of the dream, even +into the garden of the Burning Rose. + +Far down below the folds of the cloud, Noodle remembered that the +Galloping Plough lay waiting a call from him. 'When I have stolen the +Rose,' thought he, 'I may need swift heels for my flight.' And he put +the Sweetener to his lips and whistled the Plough up to him. + +It came, cleaving the encirclement of clouds like a silver gleam of +moonlight, and for a moment, where they parted, Noodle saw a rift of +blue sky, and the light of the outer world clear through their midst. + +The giant turned uneasily in his sleep, and the garden of the Burning +Rose rocked to its foundations as the edge of things real pierced into +it. + +'While I stay here there is danger,' thought Noodle. 'Surely I must +make haste to possess myself of the Rose and to escape!' + +All round him was a garden set thick with rose-trees in myriads of +blossom, rose behind rose as far as the eye could reach, and the +fragrance of them lay like a heavy curtain of sleep upon the senses. +Noodle, beginning to feel drowsy, stretched out his hand in haste to +the nearest flower, lest in a little while he should be no more than a +part of the giant's dream. 'O beloved Heart of Melilot!' he cried, and +crushed his fingers upon the stem. + +The whole bough crackled and sprang away at his touch; the Rose turned +upon him, screaming and spouting fire; a noise like thunder filled all +the air. Every rose in the garden turned and spat flame at where he +stood. His face and his hands became blistered with the heat. + +Leaping upon the back of his Plough, he cried, 'Carry me to the +borders of the garden where there are open spaces! The price of the +Princess is upon my head!' + +The Plough bounded this way and that, searching for some outlet by +which to escape. It flew in spirals and circles, it leaped like a +flea, it burrowed like a mole, it ploughed up the rose-trees by the +roots. But so soon as it had passed they stood up unharmed again, and +to whatever point of refuge the Plough fled, that way they all turned +their heads and darted out vomitings of fire. + +In vain did Noodle summon the Well-folk to his aid; his crystal shot +forth fountains of water that turned into steam as they rose, and fell +back again, scalding him. + +Then with two deaths threatening to devour him, he brandished the +ring, calling upon the Fire-eaters for their aid. + +They laughed as they came. 'Here is food for you!' he cried. 'Multiply +your appetites about me, or I shall be consumed in these flames!' + +'Brandish again!' cried they--the same seven whom he had fed. 'We are +not enough; this fire is not quenchable.' + +Noodle brandished till the whole garden swarmed with their kind. One +fastened himself upon every rose, a gulf opposing itself to a torrent. +All sight of the conflagration disappeared; but within there went a +roaring sound, and the bodies of the Fire-eaters crackled, growing +large and luminous the while. + +'Do your will quickly and begone!' cried the Fire-eaters. 'Even now we +swell to bursting with the pumping in of these fires!' + +Noodle seized on a rose to which one hung, sucking out its heats. He +tugged, but the strong fibres held. Then he locked himself to the back +of the Plough, crying to it and caressing its speed with all names +under heaven, and beseeching it in the name of Melilot to break free. +And the Plough giving but one plunge, the Rose came away into Noodle's +hand, panting and a prisoner. All blushing it grew and radiant, with a +soft inner glow, and an odour of incomparable sweetness. He seemed to +see the heart of Melilot beating before him. + +But now there came a blast of fire behind him, for the Fire-eaters had +disappeared, and all was whirling and shaken before his eyes; and the +Plough sped desperately over earthquake and space. For the plucking +of the Rose had awakened the giant from his sleep; and the dream +shrivelled and spun away in a whirl of flame-coloured vapours. Leaping +into clear day out of the unravelment of its mists, Noodle found +himself and his Plough launching over an edge of precipice for a +downward dive into space. The giant's hair, standing upright from his +head in the wrath and horror of his awakening, made a forest ending in +his forehead that bowered them to right and to left. Quitting it they +slid ungovernably over the bulge of his brow, and went at full spurt +for the abyss. + +Dexterously the Plough steered its descent, catching on the bridge and +furrowing the ridge of the nose; nine leagues were the duration of a +second. + +The giant, thinking some venomous parasite was injuring his flesh, +aimed, and a moment too late had thumped his fist upon the place. But +already the Plough skirting the amazed opening of his mouth was lost +in the trammels of his beard. Thence, as it escaped the rummaging +of his fingers, it flew scouring his breast, and inflicted a flying +scratch over the regions of his abdomen. Then, still believing it to +be the triumphal procession of a flea, he pursued it to his thigh, and +mistaking the shadow for the substance allowed it yet again to escape. +At his knee-cap there was but a hair's-breadth between Noodle and the +weight of his thumb; but thereafter the Plough out-distanced his every +effort, and, with Noodle preserved whole and alive, sped fast and far, +bearing the Burning Rose to the heart of the beloved Melilot. + +The crone was aware of his coming before she heard him, or saw the +gleam of his Plough running beam-like over the land. From her seat by +the Princess's bower she clapped her hands, and springing to his neck +ere he alighted: 'A long way off, and a long time off,' she cried, 'I +knew what fortune was with you; for when you plucked off the Rose, +and bore it out of the heart of the dream, the scent of it filled the +world; and I felt the sweetness of youth once more in my blood.' + +Then she led him to the Princess, and bade him lay the Rose in her +breast, that her heart might be won back into the world. Looking at +her face again, Noodle saw how memory had made it more beautiful than +ever, and how between her lips had grown the tender parting of a +smile. Then he laid the Rose where the movement of the heart should +be; and presently under the white breast rose the music of its +beating. + +'Ah!' cried the old nurse, weeping for happiness, 'now her heart that +loved me is come back, and I can listen all day to the sound of it! +You have brought memory to her, you have brought love; now bring +breath, and the awakening of her five senses. Surely the light of her +eyes will be your reward!' + + + + +[Illustration] + +VI + +THE CAMPHOR-WORM + + +'Tell me quickly of the Camphor-Worm,' cried the youth as he feasted +his eyes on the Princess's loveliness, made more unendurable by the +awakening within of love. 'Where and what is it?' 'It is not so far as +was the way to the Burning Rose,' answered the crone; 'an hour on the +back of the Plough shall bring it near to you; but the danger +and difficulty of this quest is more, not less. For to reach the +Camphor-Worm you need to be a diver in deep waters, whose weight +crushes a man; and to touch its lips you must master the loathing of +your nature; and to carry away its breath you must have strength of +will and endurance beyond what is mortal.' 'You trouble me with things +I need not know,' cried Noodle. 'Tell me,' he said, 'how I may reach +the Camphor-Worm; and of it and its ways.' + +'By this path, and by that,' said the old woman, pointing him, 'go on +till you come to the thick waters of the Bitter Lake; they are blacker +than night, and their weight is heavier than lead, and in the depths +dwells the Camphor-Worm. Once a year, when the air is sweetest with +the scents of summer, she rises to breathe, lifting her black snout +through the surface of the waters. Then she draws fresh air into her +lungs, flavoured with leaves and flowers, and after she has breathed +it in she lets go the last bubble of the breath she drew from the +summer of the year before; and it is this bubble of breath alone that +will give back life to the five senses of Princess Melilot. But the +Worm's time for rising is far; and how you shall bear the weight in +the depths of those waters, or make the Worm give up the bubble before +her time, or at last bear back the bubble to lay it on the lips of the +Princess so that she may wake,--these are things I know not the way +of, for to my eyes they seem dark with difficulty and peril.' + +Then Noodle, opening the petals of the Burning Rose as it lay upon the +heart of Melilot, drew out honey from its centre, filling his hand +with the golden crumblings of fragrance; and he leapt upon the +Galloping Plough, urging it in the way the Princess's nurse had +pointed out to him. As they went he caressed it with all the names +under heaven, stroking it with his hand and praising it for the +delicacy of its steering: saying, 'O my moonbeam, if thou wouldst save +the life of thy master, or restore the five senses of the Princess +Melilot, thou must surpass thyself to-day. Listen, thou heaven-sent +limb, thou miracle of quicksilver, and have a long mind to my words; +for in a short while I shall have no speech left in me till the +thing be done, and the deliverance, from head to feet, of my Beloved +accomplished.' + +Even while he spoke they came to the edge of the Bitter Lake--a small +pool, but its waters were blacker than night, and heavier than lead to +the eye. Then Noodle leapt down from the Plough, and caressed it for +the last time, saying: 'Set thy face for the garden where the Princess +Melilot is; and when I am come back to thee speechless out of the Lake +and am striding thee once more, then wait not for a word but carry me +to her with more speed than thou hast ever mustered to my aid till +now; go faster than wind or lightning or than the eye of man can see! +So, by good fortune, I may live till I reach her lips; but if thou +tarry at all I am a dead man. And when thou art come to Melilot set +thy share beneath the roots of her feet, and take her up to me out of +the ground. Do this tenderly, but abate not speed till it be done!' + +Then the youth put into his mouth the honey of the Burning Rose, and +into his lips the Sweetener, and stripped himself as a bather to the +pool. And the Plough, remembering its master's word, turned and set +its face to where lay the garden with Melilot waiting to be relieved +of her enchantment. Whereat Noodle, bowing his head, and blessing it +with lips of farewell, turned shortly and slid down into the blackness +of the lake. + +The weight of that water was like a vice upon his limbs, and around +his throat, as he swam out into the centre of the pool. As he went he +breathed upon the water, and the scent of the honey of the Burning +Rose passing through the Sweetener made an incomparable fragrance, +gentle, and subtle, and wooing to the senses. + +When he came to the middle of the lake he stayed breathing full +breaths, till the air deepened with fragrance around him. Presently +underneath him he felt the movement of a great thing coming up from +the bottom of the pool. It touched his feet and came grazing along his +side; and all at once shuddering and horror took hold upon him, for +his whole nature was filled with loathing of its touch. + +Out of the pool's surface before him rose a great black snout, that +opened, showing a round hole. Then he thought of Melilot and her +beauty laid fast under a charm, and drawing a full breath he laid his +lips containing the ring, the Sweetener, to the lips of the Worm. + +The Worm began to breathe. As the Worm drank the air out of him, he +drew in more through his nostrils, and more and more, till the great +gills were filled and satisfied. + +Then the Worm let go the last bubble of air which remained from the +year before, and had lain ever since in its body, by which alone life +could be given back to the five senses of Melilot. Then drawing in +its head it lowered itself once more to the bottom of the pool; and +Noodle, feeling in his mouth the precious globule of air, fastened his +lips upon it and shot out for shore. + +Against the weight of those leaden waters a longing to gasp possessed +him; but he knew that with the least breath the bubble would be lost, +and all his labour undone. Not too soon his feet caught hold of the +bank, and drew him free to land. He cast himself speechless across the +back of the Galloping Plough and clung. + +The Plough gathered itself together and sprang away through space. +Remembering its master's word it showed itself a miracle of speed; +like lightning became its flight. + +The eye of Noodle grew blind to the passing of things; he could take +no count of the collapsing leagues. More and more grew the amazingness +of the Plough's leaps, things only to be measured by miles, and +counted as joltings on the way; while fast to the back of it clung +Noodle, and endured, praying that shortness of breath might not +overmaster him, or the check of his lungs give way and burst him to +the emptiness of a drum. His senses rocked and swayed; he felt the +gates of his resolve slackening and forcing themselves apart; and +still the Galloping Plough plunged him blindly along through space. + +But now the shrill crying of the crone struck in upon his ears, and +he stretched open his arms for the accomplishment of the deliverance. +Even in that nick of time was the end of the thing brought about; for +the Plough, guiding itself as a thread to the needle's eye, gave the +uprooting stroke to the white feet of Melilot; and Noodle, swooning +for the last gasp, saw all at once her beauty swaying level to his +gaze and her body bending down upon his. + +Then he fastened his lips upon hers, and loosed the bubble from his +mouth; and panting and sobbing themselves back to life they hung in +each other's arms. She warmed and ripened in his embrace, opening upon +him the light of her eyes; and the greatness and beauty of the reward +abashed him and bore him down to earth. + +He heard the old crone clucking and crowing, like a hen over its egg, +of the happiness that had come to her old years; till recognising the +youth's state she covered him over with a cloak amid exclamations of +astonishment. + +The Princess saw nothing but her lover's face and the happy feasting +of his eyes. She bent her head nearer and nearer to his, and the story +of what he had done became a dream that she remembered, and that +waking made true. 'O you Noodle,' she said, laughing, 'you wise, wise +Noodle!' And then everything was finished, for she had kissed him! + +So Noodle and the Princess were married, and came to the throne +together and reigned over a happy land. The Fire-eaters were their +friends, and the gifts of fortune were theirs. The Galloping Plough +made all the waste places fertile; and the water of the Thirsty Well +rose and ran in rivers through the land; and over the walls of their +palace, where they had planted it, grew the flower of the Burning +Rose. + + + + +THE CROWN'S WARRANTY + +[Illustration] + +THE CROWN'S WARRANTY + + +Five hundred years ago or more a king died, leaving two sons: one +was the child of his first wife, and the other of his second, who +surviving him became his widow. When the king was dying he took off +the royal crown which he wore, and set it upon the head of the elder +born, the son of his first wife, and said to him: 'God is the lord of +the air, and of the water, and of the dry land: this gift cometh to +thee from God. Be merciful, over whatsoever thou holdest power, as God +is!' And saying these words he laid his hands upon the heads of his +two sons and died. + +Now this crown was no ordinary crown, for it was made of the gold +brought by the Wise men of the East when they came to worship at +Bethlehem. Every king that had worn it since then had reigned well and +uprightly and had been loved by all his people: but only to himself +was it known what virtue lay in his crown; and every king at dying +gave it to his son with the same words of blessing. + +So, now, the king's eldest son wore the crown; and his step-mother +knew that her own son could not wear it while he lived, therefore she +looked on and said nothing. Now he was known to all the people of his +country, because of his right to the throne, as the king's son; and +his brother, the child of the second wife, was called the queen's son. +But as yet they were both young, and cared little enough for crowns. + +After the king's death the queen was made regent till the king's son +should be come to a full age; but already the little king wore the +royal crown his father had left him, and the queen looked on and said +nothing. + +More than three years went by, and everybody said how good the queen +was to the little king who was not her own son; and the king's son, +for his part, was good to her and to his step-brother, loving them +both; and all by himself he kept thinking, having his thoughts guarded +and circled by his golden crown, 'How shall I learn to be a wise king, +and to be merciful when I have power, as God is?' + +So to everything that came his way, to his playthings and his pets, to +his ministers and his servants, he played the king as though already +his word made life and death. People watching him said, 'Everything +that has touch with the king's son loves him.' They told strange tales +of him: only in fairy books could they be believed, because they were +so beautiful; and all the time the queen, getting a good name for +herself, looked on and said nothing. + +One night the king's son was lying half-asleep upon his bed, with wise +dreams coming and going under the circle of his gold crown, when a +mouse ran out of the wainscot and came and jumped up upon the couch. +The poor mouse had turned quite white with fear and horror, and was +trembling in every limb as it cried its news into the king's ear. 'O +king's son,' it said, 'get up and run for your life! I was behind the +wainscot in the queen's closet, and this is what I heard: if you stay +here, when you wake up to-morrow you will be dead!' + +The king's son got up, and all alone in the dark night stole out of +the palace, seeking safety for his dear life. He sighed to himself, +'There was a pain in my crown ever since I wore it. Alas, mother, I +thought you were too kind a step-mother to do this!' + +Outside it was still winter: there was no warmth in the world, and not +a leaf upon the trees. He wandered away and away, wondering where he +should hide. + +The queen, when her villains came and told her the king's son was not +to be found, went and looked in her magic crystal to find trace of +him. As soon as it grew light, for in the darkness the crystal could +show her nothing, she saw many miles away the king's son running to +hide himself in the forest. So she sent out her villains to search +until they should find him. + +As they went the sun grew hot in the sky, and birds began singing. 'It +is spring!' cried the messengers. 'How suddenly it has come!' They +rode on till they came to the forest. + +The king's son, stumbling along through the forest under the bare +boughs, thought, 'Even here where shall I hide? Nowhere is there a +leaf to cover me.' But when the sun grew warm he looked up; and there +were all the trees breaking into bud and leaf, making a green heaven +above his head. So when he was too weary to go farther, he climbed +into the largest tree he could find; and the leaves covered him. + +The queen's messengers searched through all the forest but could not +find him; so they went back to her empty handed, not having either the +king's crown or his heart to show. 'Fools!' she cried, looking in her +magic crystal, 'he was in the big sycamore under which you stopped to +give your horses provender!' + +The sycamore said to the king's son, 'The queen's eye is on you; get +down and run for your life till you get to the hollow tarn-stones +among the hills! But if you stay here, when you wake to-morrow you +will be dead.' + +When the queen's messengers came once more to the forest they found +it all wintry again, and without leaf; only the sycamore was in full +green, clapping its hands for joy in the keen and bitter air. + +The messengers searched, and beat down the leaves, but the king's son +was not there. They went back to the queen. She looked long in her +magic crystal, but little could she see; for the king's son had hidden +himself in a small cave beside the tarn-stones, and into the darkness +the crystal could not pry. + +Presently she saw a flight of birds crossing the blue, and every bird +carried a few crumbs of bread in its beak. Then she ran and called to +her villains, 'Follow the birds, and they will take you to where the +little wizard is; for they are carrying bread to feed him, and they +are all heading for the tarn-stones up on the hills.' + +The birds said to the king's son, 'Now you are rested; we have fed +you, and you are not hungry. The queen's eye is on you. Up, and run +for your life! If you stay here, when you wake up to-morrow you will +be dead.' + +'Where shall I go?' said the king's son. 'Go,' answered the birds, +'and hide in the rushes on the island of the pool of sweet waters!' + +When the queen's messengers came to the tarn-stones, it was as though +five thousand people had been feeding: they found crumbs enough to +fill twelve baskets full, lying in the cave; but no king's son could +they lay their hands on. + +The king's son was lying hidden among the rushes on the island of the +great pool of sweet waters; and thick and fast came silver-scaled +fishes, feeding him. + +It took the queen three days of hard gazing in her crystal, before +she found how the fishes all swam to a point among the rushes of the +island in the pool of sweet waters, and away again. Then she knew: and +running to her messengers she cried: 'He is among the rushes on the +island in the pool of sweet waters; and all the fishes are feeding +him!' + +The fishes said to the king's son: 'The queen's eye is on you; up, and +swim to shore, and away for your life! For if they come and find you +here, when you wake to-morrow you will certainly be dead.' + +'Where shall I go?' asked the king's son. 'Wherever I go, she finds +me.' 'Go to the old fox who gets his poultry from the palace, and ask +him to hide you in his burrow!' + +When the queen's messengers came to the pool they found the fishes +playing at _alibis_ all about in the water; but nothing of the king's +son could they see. + +The king's son came to the fox, and the fox hid him in his burrow, and +brought him butter and eggs from the royal dairy. This was better fare +than the king's son had had since the beginning of his wanderings, and +he thanked the fox warmly for his friendship. 'On the contrary,' said +the fox, 'I am under an obligation to you; for ever since you came to +be my guest I have felt like an honest man.' 'If I live to be king,' +said the king's son, 'you shall always have butter and eggs from the +royal dairy, and be as honest as you like.' + +The queen hugged her magic crystal for a whole week, but could make +nothing out of it: for her crystal showed her nothing of the king's +son's hiding-place, nor of the fox at his nightly thefts of butter and +eggs from the royal dairy. But it so happened that this same fox was +a sort of half-brother of the queen's; and so guilty did he feel with +his brand-new good conscience that he quite left off going to see her. +So in a little while the queen, with her suspicions and her magic +crystal, had nosed out the young king's hiding-place. + +The fox said to the king's son: 'The queen's eye is on you! Get out +and run for your life, for if you stay here till to-morrow, you will +wake up and find yourself a dead goose!' + +'But where else can I go to?' asked the king's son. 'Is there any +place left for me?' The fox laughed, and winked, and whispered a word; +and all at once the king's son got up and went. + +The queen had said to her messengers, 'Go and look in the fox's hole; +and you shall find him!' But the messengers came and dug up the +burrow, and found butter and eggs from the royal dairy, but of the +king's son never a sign. + +The king's son came to the palace, and as he crept through the gardens +he found there his little brother alone at play,--playing sadly +because now he was all alone. Then the king's son stopped and said, +'Little brother, do you so much wish to be king?' And taking off the +crown, he put it upon his brother's head. Then he went on through +underground ways and corridors, till he came to the palace dungeons. + +Now a dungeon is a hard thing to get out of, but it is easy enough to +get into. He came to the deepest and darkest dungeon of all, and there +he opened the door, and went in and hid himself. + +The queen's son came running to his mother, wearing the king's crown. +'Oh, mother,' he said, 'I am frightened! while I was playing, my +brother came looking all dead and white, and put this crown on my +head. Take it off for me, it hurts!' + +When the queen saw the crown on her son's head, she was horribly +afraid; for that it should have so come there was the most unlikely +thing of all. She fetched her crystal ball, and looked in, asking +where the king's son might be, and, for answer, the crystal became +black as night. + +Then said the queen to herself, 'He is dead at last!' + +But, now that the king's crown was on the wrong head, the air, and the +water, and the dry land, over which God is lord, heard of it. And the +trees said, 'Until the king's son returns, we will not put forth bud +or leaf!' + +And the birds said, 'We will not sing in the land, or breed or build +nests until the king's son returns!' + +And the fishes said, 'We will not stay in the ponds or rivers to get +caught, unless the king's son, to whom we belong, returns!' + +And the foxes said, 'Unless the king's son returns, we will increase +and multiply exceedingly and be like locusts in the land!' + +So all through that land the trees, though it was spring, stayed as if +it were mid-winter; and all the fishes swam down to the sea; and all +the birds flew over the sea, away into other countries; and all the +foxes increased and multiplied, and became like locusts in the land. + +Now when the trees, and the birds, and the beasts, and the fishes led +the way the good folk of the country discovered that the queen was a +criminal. So, after the way of the flesh, they took the queen and +her little son, and bound them, and threw them into the deepest and +darkest dungeon they could find; and said they: 'Until you tell us +where the king's son is, there you stay and starve!' + +The king's son was playing all alone in his dungeon with the mice who +brought him food from the palace larder, when the queen and her son +were thrown down to him fast bound, as though he were as dangerous as +a den of lions. At first he was terribly afraid when he found himself +pursued into his last hiding-place; but presently he gathered from the +queen's remarks that she was quite powerless to do him harm. + +'Oh, what a wicked woman I am!' she moaned; and began crying +lamentably, as if she hoped to melt the stone walls which formed her +prison. + +Presently her little son cried, 'Mother, take off my brother's crown; +it pricks me!' And the king's son sat in his corner, and cried to +himself with grief over the harm that his step-mother's wickedness had +brought about. + +'Mother,' cried the queen's son again, 'night and day since I have +worn it, it pricks me; I cannot sleep!' + +But the queen's heart was still hard; not if she could help, would she +yet take off from her son the crown. + +Hours went by, and the queen and her son grew hungry. 'We shall be +starved to death!' she cried. 'Now I see what a wicked woman I am!' + +'Mother,' cried the queen's son, 'some one is putting food into my +mouth!' 'No one,' said the queen, 'is putting any into mine. Now I +know what a wicked woman I am!' + +Presently the king's son came to the queen also, and began feeding +her. 'Someone is putting food into _my_ mouth, now!' cried the queen. +'If it is poisoned I shall die in agony! I wish,' she said, 'I wish I +knew your brother were not dead; if I have killed him what a wicked +woman I am!' + +'Dear step-mother,' said the king's son 'I am not dead, I am here.' + +'Here?' cried the queen, shaking with fright. 'Here? not dead! How +long have you been here?' + +'Days, and days, and days,' said the king's son, sadly. + +'Ah! if I had only known _that_!' cried the queen. '_Now_ I know what +a wicked woman I am!' + +Just then, the trap-door in the roof of the dungeon opened, and a +voice called down, 'Tell us where is the king's son! If you do not +tell us, you shall stay here and starve.' + +'The king's son is here!' cried the queen. + +'A likely story!' answered the gaolers. 'Do you think we are going to +believe that?' And they shut-to the trap. + +The queen's son cried, 'Dear brother, come and take back your crown, +it pricks so!' But the king's son only undid the queen's bonds and his +brother's. 'Now,' said he, 'you are free: you can kill me now.' + +'Oh!' cried the queen, 'what a wicked woman I must be! Do you think I +could do it now?' Then she cried, 'O little son, bring your poor head +to me, and I will take off the crown!' and she took off the crown and +gave it back to the king's son. 'When I am dead,' she said, 'remember, +and be kind to him!' + +The king's son put the crown upon his own head. + +Suddenly, outside the palace, all the land broke into leaf; there was +a rushing sound in the river of fishes swimming up from the sea, and +all the air was loud and dark with flights of returning birds. Almost +at the same moment the foxes began to disappear and diminish, and +cease to be like locusts in the land. + +People came running to open the door of the deepest and darkest +dungeon in the palace: 'For either,' they cried, 'the queen is dead, +or the king's son has been found!' + +'Where is the king's son, then?' they called out, as they threw wide +the door. 'He is here!' cried the king; and out he came, to the +astonishment of all, wearing his crown, and leading his step-mother +and half-brother by the hand. + +He looked at his step-mother, and she was quite white; as white as the +mouse that had jumped upon the king's bed at midnight bidding him fly +for his life. Not only her face, but her hair, her lips, and her very +eyes were white and colourless, for she had gone blind from gazing too +hard into her crystal ball, and hunting the king's son to death. + +So she remained blind to the end of her days; but the king was more +good to her than gold, and as for his brother, never did half-brothers +love each other better than these. Therefore they all lived very +happily together, and after a long time, the queen learned to forget +what a wicked woman she had been. + + + + +THE WISHING-POT + +[Illustration] + +THE WISHING-POT + + +Tulip was the son of a poor but prudent mother; from the moment of his +birth she had trained him to count ten before ever he wanted or asked +for anything. An otherwise reckless youth, he acquired an intrinsic +value through the practice of this habit. Only once, just as he was +reaching, but had not quite reached, years of discretion, did his +habit of precaution fail him; and this same failure became in the end +the opening of his fortunes. + +Bathing one day in the river, to whose banks the woods ran down in +steep terraces, he heard a voice come singing along one of the upper +slopes; and looking up under the boughs of cedar and sycamore, he saw +a pair of green feet go dancing by, up and down like grasshoppers on +the prance. + +There was such rhythm in them, and such sweetness in the voice, that +his heart was out of him before he could harness it to the number ten, +and he came out of the water the most natural and forlorn of lovers. + +Before he was dressed the green feet and the voice were gone, and +before he got home his health and his appetite seemed to have gone +also. He pined industriously from day to day, and spent all his hours +in searching among the woods by the river side for his lady of the +dear green feet. He did not know so much as the size or colour of her +face; the sound of her voice alone, and the running up and down of her +feet, had, as he told his mother, 'decimated his affections.' + +In his trouble he could think of only one possible remedy, and that he +counted well over, knowing its risk. Away in the loneliest part of the +forest there lived a wise woman, to whom, now and then, folk went for +help when everything else had failed them. So he had heard tell of a +certain Wishing-Pot that was hers in which people might see the thing +they desired most, and into which for a fee she allowed lovers and +other poor fools of fortune to look. One thing, however, was told +against the virtues of this Wishing-Pot, that though many had had a +sight of it, and their wishes revealed to them therein, others had +gone and had never again returned to their homes, but had vanished +altogether from men's sight, nor had any news ever been heard of them +after. There were some wise folk who held that they had only gone +elsewhere to seek the fortune that the Wishing-Pot had shown to them. +Nevertheless, for the most part the wise woman and her Wishing-Pot had +an ill name in that neighbourhood. + +To a lover's heart risk gives value; so one fine morning Tulip kissed +his mother, counted ten, and set out for the woods. + +Towards evening he came to the house of the witch and knocked at the +door. 'Good mother,' said he, when she opened to him, 'I have brought +you the fee to buy myself a wish over the Wishing-Pot.' 'Ay, surely,' +answered the crone, and drew him in. + +In one corner of the room stood a great crystal bowl. Nearly round it +was, and had a small opening at the top, to which a man might place +his eye and look in. To Tulip, as he looked at it, it seemed all +coloured fires and falling stars, and a soft crackling sound came +from it, as though heat burned in its veins. It threw long shapes and +lustres upon the walls, and within innumerable things writhed, and +ran, and whiffed in the floating of its vapours. + +'You may have two wishes,' said the old witch, 'a one and a two.' And +she said the spell that undid the secret of the Pot to the wisher. + +Then Tulip bent down his head and looked in, counting softly to +himself, and at ten, he let the wish go to his lady of the dear green +feet. + +The colours changed and sprang, as though stirred and fed with fresh +fuel; and down in the depths of the Wishing-Pot he saw the feet of his +Beloved go by in twinkling green slippers. + +As soon as he saw that he began counting ten in great haste for the +second wish. 'O to be inside the Wishing-Pot with her!' was his +thought now. He had got to nine, and the wish was almost on his +tongue, when he caught sight of the old woman's eye looking at him. +And the eye had become like a large green spider, with great long +limbs that kept clutching up and out again! + +His heart queegled to a jelly at the sight; but the green feet lured +him so, that he still thought how to get to them and yet be safe. +Surely, to be in the Wishing-Pot and out by the sound of the next +Angelus became the shape of his wish. He shut his eyes, cried ten upon +the venture, and was in the Wishing-Pot! + +The little green feet were trebling over the glass with a sound like +running water; and he himself began running at full speed, shot off +into the Wishing-Pot like a pellet from a pop-gun. Nothing could he +see of his dear but her wee green feet. But above them as they ran he +heard showery laughter, and he knew that his lady was there before +him, though invisible to the eye. + +The Pot, now he was in it, seemed bigger than the biggest dome in the +world; to run all round it took him two or three minutes. Away in the +centre of its base stood a great opal knob, like the axle to a wheel +round which he and the green feet kept circling. + +However much he wished and wished, the green feet still kept their +distance, for now he was _in_ the Wishing-Pot wishes availed him +nothing. The green feet flew faster than his; the light laugh rang +further and further away; right across to the other side of the hall +his lady had passed from him now. + +The magic fires of the crystal leapt and crackled under his tread; +now it seemed as if his feet ran on a green lawn, out of which broke +crocuses and daffodils, and now roses reddened in the track, and now +the purple of grapes spurted across the path like spilled wine. The +sound of the green feet and the running of overhead laughter, as they +distanced him in front, came nearer and nearer behind him from across +the hall. He felt that he must follow and not turn, however beaten he +might be. + +Presently a voice, that he knew was his Beloved's, cried,-- + + 'Heart that would have me must hatch me! + Feet that would find me must catch me! + Man that would mate me must match me!' + +Oh, how? wondered spent feet, and failing heart, and reeling brain. +He stumbled slower and slower in the race, till presently with quick +innumerable patterings the green feet grew closer, and were overtaking +him from the rear. + +Warm breath was in his hair,--lips and a hand; he turned, open armed, +to snatch the mischievous morsel, but all that he clasped was a gust +of air; and he saw the green feet scudding out and away on a fresh +start before him. + +Again, with laughter, the voice cried,-- + + 'Lap for lap you must wind me: + Equal, before you can find me! + You are a lap behind me!' + +Where they raced the surface of the glass sloped slightly to the +upward rise of its walls; Tulip shifted his ground, and ran where the +footing was leveller toward the centre, and the circle began to go +smaller. So he began to gain, till the green slippers, seeing how the +advantage had come about, shifted also in their turn. + +Thus they ran on; there were no inner posts to mark the course, only +the great opal standing in the centre of all formed the pivot of the +race, and round and round it, a great way off, they ran. + +All at once a big thought came into Tulip's head; he waited not to +count ten, but, before Green Slippers knew what he was after, he had +reached the opal centre, and was circling it. Then quickly all the +laughter stopped; the green feet came twinkling sixteens to the +dozens, so as to get round the post before him and away. + +One lap, he was before her; two laps, he turned again to her coming, +and found her falling into his arms. She blossomed into sight at his +touch: from top to toe she was there! All rosy and alive he had her in +his clasp, laughing, crying, clinging, yet struggling to be free. She +made a most endless handful, till Tulip had caught her by the hair and +kissed her between the eyes. + +All round and overhead the magic crystal reared up arches of fire, to +a roof that dropped like rain, while Tulip and his prize sank down +exhausted on the great hub of opal to rest. As he touched it all the +secret wonders of the Wishing-Pot were opened and revealed to his +gaze. + +Crowds and crowds of faces were what he most saw; everywhere that he +turned he saw old friends and neighbours who, he thought, had been +dead and gone, looking sadly, and shaking long sorrowful faces at +him. 'You here too, Tulip?' they seemed forever to be saying. 'Always +another, and another; and now you here too!' + +There was the dairyman's wife, who had waited seven years to have a +child, holding a little will-o'-the-wisp of a thing in her arms. Now +and then for a while it would lie still, and then suddenly it would +leap up and dart away; and she, poor soul, must up and after it, +though the chase were ever so long! + +There also was Miller Dick with his broad thumbs, counting over a rich +pile of gold, which, ever and anon, spun up into the air, and went +strewing itself like dead leaves before the wind. Then he too must +needs up and after it, till it was all caught again, and added +together, and made right. + +There were small playmates of Tulip's childhood, each with its little +conceit of treasure: one had a toy, and another a lamb, another a +bird; and all of them hunted and caught the thing they loved, and +kissed it and again let go. So it went on, over and over again, more +sad than the sight of a quaker as he twiddles his thumbs. + +Whenever they were at peace for a moment, they turned their eyes his +way. 'What, you here too, Tulip?' was always the thing they seemed to +be saying. + +While Tulip sat looking at them, and thinking of it all, suddenly his +lady disappeared, and only her green feet darted from his side and +began running round and round in a circle. Then was he just about to +set off running after them, when he felt himself caught up to the +coloured fires of the roof and sent spinning ungovernably through +space. Suddenly he was dumped to the ground, and just as his feet were +gathering themselves up under him he heard the Angelus bell ringing +from the village below the slopes of the wood. + +He was standing again by the side of the Wishing-Pot, and the old +woman sat cowering, and blinking her spider-eye at him, too much +astonished to speak or move. + +Tulip looked at her with a pleasant and engaging air. 'Oh, good +mother, what a treat you have given me!' he said. 'How I wish I had +money for another wish! what a pity it was ever to have wished myself +back again!' + +When the old witch heard that she thought still to entrap him, and +answered joyfully, 'Why, kind Sir, surely, kind Sir, if you like it +you shall look again! Take another wish, and never mind about the +money.' So she said the spell once more which opened to him the +wonders of the Wishing-Pot. + +Then cried Tulip, clapping his hands, 'What better can I wish than to +have you in the Wishing-Pot, in the place of all those poor folk whom +you have imprisoned with their wishes!' + +Hardly was the thing said than done; all the children who had been +Tulip's playmates, and Miller Dick with his broad thumbs, and the +dairyman's wife, were every one of them out, and the old witch woman +was nowhere to be seen. + +But Tulip put his eye to the mouth of the Wishing-Pot; and there down +below he saw the old witch, running round and round as hard as she +could go, pursued by a herd of green spiders. And there without doubt +she remains. + +And now everybody was happy except Tulip himself; for the children had +all of them their toys, and the old miller his gold, and as for the +dairyman's wife, she found that she had become the mother of a large +and promising infant. But Tulip had altogether lost his lady of the +dear green feet, for in thinking of others he had forgotten to think +of himself. All the gratitude of the poor people he had saved was +nothing to him in that great loss which had left him desolate. For his +part he only took the Wishing-Pot up under his arm, and went sadly +away home. + +But before long the noise of what he had done reached to the king's +ears; and he sent for Tulip to appear before him and his Court. Tulip +came, carrying the Wishing-Pot under his arm, very downcast and sad +for love of the lady of the dear green feet. + +At that time all the Court was in half mourning; for the Princess +Royal, who was the king's only child, and the most beautiful and +accomplished of her sex, had gone perfectly distraught with grief, of +which nothing could cure her. All day long she sat with her eyes shut, +and tears running down, and folded hands and quiet little feet. And +all this came, it was said, from a dream which she could not tell or +explain to anybody. + +The king had promised that whoever could rouse her from her grief, +should have the princess for his wife, and become heir to the throne; +and when he heard that there was such a thing in the world as a +Wishing-Pot, he thought that something might be done with it. + +From Tulip he learned, however, that no one knew the spell which +opened the resources of the Wishing-Pot save the old witch woman who +was shut up fast for ever in its inside. So it seemed to the king that +the Pot could be of no use for curing the princess. + +But it was so beautiful, with its shooting stars and coloured fires, +that, when Tulip brought it, they carried it in to show to her. + +After three hours the princess was prevailed upon to open her eyes; +and directly they fell upon the great opal bowl, all at once she +started to her feet and began laughing and dancing and singing. + +These are the words that they heard her sing,-- + + 'Lap for lap I must wind you; + Equal, before I can find you; + I am a lap behind you!' + +Tulip, as soon as he heard the sweetness of that voice, and the words, +pushed his way past the king and all his court, to where the princess +was. And there over the heads of the crowd he saw his lady of the dear +green feet laughing and opening her white arms to him. + +As she set eyes on his face the dream of the princess came true, and +all her unhappiness passed from her. So they loved and were married, +to the astonishment and edification of the whole court; and lived to +be greatly loved and admired by all their grandchildren. + + + + +THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS + +[Illustration] + +THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS + + +Over the sea went the birds, flying southward to their other home +where the sun was. The rustle of their wings, high over head, could be +heard down on the water; and their soft, shrill twitterings, and the +thirsty nibbling of their beaks; for the seas were hushed, and the +winds hung away in cloud-land. + +Far away from any shore, and beginning to be weary, their eyes caught +sight of a white form resting between sky and sea. Nearer they came, +till it seemed to be a great white bird, brooding on the calmed water; +and its wings were stretched high and wide, yet it stirred not. And +the wings had in themselves no motion, but stood rigidly poised over +their own reflection in the water. + +Then the birds came curiously, dropping from their straight course, to +wonder at the white wings that went not on. And they came and settled +about this great, bird-like thing, so still and so grand. + +Onto the deck crept a small child, for the noise of the birds had come +down to him in the hold. 'There is nobody at home but me,' he said; +for he thought the birds must have come to call, and he wished to be +polite. 'They are all gone but me,' he went on, 'all gone. I am left +alone.' + +The birds, none of them understood him; but they put their heads +on one side and looked down on him in a friendly way, seeming to +consider. + +He ran down below and fetched up a pannikin of water and some biscuit. +He set the water down, and breaking the biscuit sprinkled it over the +white deck. Then he clapped his hands to see them all flutter and +crowd round him, dipping their bright heads to the food and drink he +gave them. + +They might not stay long, for the waterlogged ship could not help +them on the way they wished to go; and by sunset they must touch land +again. Away they went, on a sudden, the whole crew of them, and the +sound of their voices became faint in the bright sea-air. + +'I am left alone!' said the child. + +Many days ago, while he was asleep in a snug corner he had found for +himself, the captain and crew had taken to the boats, leaving the +great ship to its fate. And forgetting him because he was so small, or +thinking that he was safe in some one of the other boats, the rough +sailors had gone off without him, and he was left alone. So for a +whole week he had stayed with the ship, like a whisper of its vanished +life amid the blues of a deep calm. And the birds came to the ship +only to desert it again quickly, because it stood so still upon the +sea. + +But that night the mermen came round the vessel's side, and sang; and +the wind rose to their singing, and the sea grew rough. Yet the child +slept with his head in dreams. The dreams came from the mermen's +songs, and he held his breath, and his heart stayed burdened by the +deep sweetness of what he saw. + +Dark and strange and cold the sea-valleys opened before him; blue +sea-beasts ranged there, guarded by strong-finned shepherds, and +fishes like birds darted to and fro, but made no sound. And that was +what burdened his heart,--that for all the beauty he saw, there was no +sound, no song of a single bird to comfort him. + +The mermen reached out their blue arms to him, and sang; on the top of +the waves they sang, striving to make him forget the silence of the +land below. They offered him the sea-life: why should he be drowned +and die? + +And now over him in the dark night the great wings crashed, and beat +abroad in the wind, and the ship made great way. And the mermen swam +fast to be with her, and ceased from their own song, for the wind sang +a coronach in the canvas and cordage. But the little child lifted his +head in his sleep and smiled, for his soul was eased of the mermen's +song, and it seemed to him that instead he heard birds singing in a +far-off land, singing of a child whose loving hand had fed them, faint +and weary, in their way over the wide ocean. + +In that far southern land the dawn had begun, and the birds, waking +one by one, were singing their story of him to the soft-breathing +tamarisk boughs. And none of them knew how they had been sent as +a salvage crew to save the child's spirit from the spell of the +sea-dream, and to carry it safely back to the land that loved him. + + * * * * * + +But with the child's body the white wings had flown down into the +wave-buried valleys, and to a cleft of the sea-hills to rest. + + + + +THE PASSIONATE PUPPETS + +[Illustration] + +THE PASSIONATE PUPPETS + + +When the long days of summer began, Killian, the cow-herd, was able +to lead his drove up into the hills, giving them the high pastures to +range. Then from sunrise to sunset he was alone, except when, early +each morning, Grendel and the other girls came up to carry down the +milk to the villages. + +All day long the cow-bells sounded in his ears, but still the time of +his wedding was a long way off; it would be five years before he and +Grendel could afford to set up a house and farm, with cows of their +own. + +The great stretch of world that lay out under him, like a broad map +coloured blue and green, made him full of a restless longing for a +move in life. Yonder he could pick out the towns with their spires and +glittering roofs, and the overhead mists, that gave token of crowded +life below. It was there that wealth could be got; and with wealth men +married soon, and were at ease. Somewhere, he had heard, lived kings +and queens, wearing rich robes and gold crowns on the top of their +heart's desire. For kings and queens, he supposed, loved as did he and +Grendel, regarding nothing else as much in the world besides. + +So Killian put heart into his deft hands, and presently had set to +work. + +One evening Grendel came up from the valley, after her day's work, to +have a look at her lover; she had brought him some brown cakes and a +bottle of wine. But Killian, who had caught sight of her eyes over the +green rise at his feet, was hiding something behind his back. + +'Whatever have you there?' she asked, as she saw chips, and tools, and +bits of bright foil, lying scattered about the ground. Yet for three +days he would show her nothing, only he said, 'What I do is because we +love each other so.' + +At the end of that time, he showed her what he had done. There she saw +a little king and queen, about six inches high; he was in blue, and +she in white; and they were both as dear as they were small. The king +was partly like a cow-herd, having a crown over his broad-brimmed hat, +with thick wooden shoes, and leather-bound legs; and the queen was +like Grendel, with great long plaits past her waist, and a gold-worked +bodice, such as Grendel had for Sunday wear. 'Aye, aye,' cried +Grendel, 'why, it is you and me!' + +Then Killian showed her how the joints of the little puppets moved on +delicate wires, and how five strings ran up, one from each limb, to be +fastened to the player's fingers, so that he might make them act as +though life were in them. + +'I shall take these down with me to the valley,' said Killian. 'First +I shall go about among the villages; then, when I can do better, I +shall go to the towns. After that no doubt the kings and queens will +hear of me, and will send for me to play before them, and I shall +become rich. Then I shall come home and marry you.' + +Grendel thought her lover the most wonderful man in the world, and it +is the truth he was very clever; she kissed him a hundred times, and +the little marionettes also. 'Ah,' she said, 'now we shall not have to +wait five years! in five months you will come back rich and famous, +and we shall marry, and live happily.' + +How Killian had loved her while making his puppets, only she knew as +well as he. Truly, he had put his heart into them, so that they were +like living beings,--and so small that their very smallness made them +a marvel. Being a lover, he had put inside each breast a little heart, +and, for the luck of the thing, had christened them with a drop of his +own blood, and a drop of Grendel's; so each heart had in it one little +drop of blood. Now he was to go out, and try his fortune. + +He found a lad to come and take his place and see after the cows; +then he said good-bye to Grendel, and set off on a round of all the +villages of the plain. + +At every inn where he put up, he called the country folk together to +the sound of his shepherd's bag-pipes, and showed them his play. It +was only himself and Grendel, no story at all, merely lovers parting +and meeting again, each believing the other dead, and in the end +living happily to the sound of cow-bells, that showed how rich they +were in herds. + +And the villagers laughed and cried, and gave him pence, and a night's +lodging, and food; so that presently he was able to make himself a +little travelling-stage, and hire a piper to play dance-music for him. +But it was always the one story of himself and Grendel, and no other, +though the two puppets wore crowns upon their heads. + + * * * * * + +The little marionettes had hearts. That was the beginning of things: +they remembered nothing else. When their eyes had grown open to the +fact, then for them life had begun. After that they lived like bee and +blossom, only that the bee never flew away, and the honey remained in +the blossom. + +How this came to pass was a question they never asked; why they loved +each other they did not know. If they had had to think of it they +would have said, 'It is because we cannot help it.' And every day +one same thing happened to them that they could not help, the most +beautiful thing in life. It came to them by instinct, taking hold of +them from head to feet and saying, 'love, love, love,' in all sorts of +wonderful ways. + +Whenever this thing happened they began to move about softly, going to +and fro, and round and round, dancing, and holding each other by +the hand, putting their cheeks so close together that their eyelids +brushed, and sometimes their little hearts that heaved. And all the +while music from somewhere was giving a meaning to these things; and +over and over again, 'love, love, love,' was what it kept saying to +them. + +Their happiness was so great, that they would begin playing with it, +pretending that it was all turned into grief. First he would kiss her +from forehead to chin, and into the hollow of her little throat; and +then all down each dear arm, even to the finger-tips; and last of all +her feet; and again last of all her lips, and again last of all her +breast. And then he would go away, walking backwards most of the time, +or if not, still turning round and round to take another look at her. +Then when he was altogether out of sight, she would sit down and cry, +though all the while he would be peeping at her from his hiding-place, +to let her know that he was not really gone. Then she would lie down, +and cry more, and at last leave off crying and stay almost still on a +little bed, that seemed to come to her from nowhere, just when she was +ready to fall on it. Then, at last, she would shut her eyes, and cover +her face up very slowly with a sheet, and lie so still that he would +grow quite frightened, and come running from his hiding-place, and +lift the sheet, and look at her; then he would fall down as if his +legs had been cut from under him; then he would get up and throw +flowers over her, and at last catch her up and begin to carry her; +and at that she would wake up all at once and kiss him, to a sound of +bells. + +They did not know why they did this; it was so beautiful they could +not have thought of it for themselves, and yet it said everything of +life that they wanted to say. For love was the beginning and the end +of it; and always, as they came to the sad part, they had tender +tremblings for fear the other should think the sorrow was real: he, +lest she should think he had really gone away and left her, never to +return; and she, lest he should believe that she always meant to lie +so cruelly still, with a sheet over her eyes. Yet the kissings that +came after made the fearfulness almost the sweetest thing in their +prayer-sayings to each other. + +For to them this was a daily prayer, the most solemn thing in their +lives; heart praying to heart, and hand reaching to hand; and from +somewhere overhead gentle monitions as to what they must do next +coming to them, so that they knew how to pray best, now by lifting a +hand, or now by turning the head, or now by running fast with both +feet. And all this beautiful worship of love their bodies learned to +do more perfectly day by day; yet the little quaking of fear was still +in the centre of it all. + + * * * * * + +Killian's fingers grew nimble; and yet he often wondered to see how +true to life his puppets were, how they sighed, how they embraced and +clung, as if their hearts were coming in two when the parting drew +near. How lingeringly the little queen drew up the sheet over her +face, when her lover did not return, and let it fall to cover her with +a quiet sigh. Often he cried when she did that part, so like Grendel +was it,--the tender waiting, and the last giving in! And then, how the +little king shuddered as he drew the cloth from her face; and how he +threw the flowers, as if there were not enough in the world to express +his grief! And yet it was only a play, made by the twitching of the +strings tied to his fingers, with love as the beginning and end of it. + +Killian was getting quite rich in copper coin, so he sent some of it +home to Grendel, that she might buy stock for the home that was so +soon to be theirs. And presently he made bold to go into the towns, +where, instead of copper, he might gain silver. He built a bigger +stage, and had more music to go to the dance; but still it was the +story of himself and Grendel, with crowns upon their heads, and +nothing more. + +And now, indeed, people began to cry, 'Here is a wonderful new actor! +He has it all at the ends of his fingers! What a pity he has no better +play in which to show himself off!' But Killian said, 'It is the only +play I know how to do.' + +Presently there came a sharp fellow to him, who said: 'If you will +go shares with me, I will make your fortune. We have only to put our +heads together, and the thing is done. I will write the plays for you, +and you shall play them on the strings. What is wanted is a little +more real life.' + +Killian was a simple fellow, who believed all the world to be wiser +than himself. He was glad enough to meet with a clever fellow who +could write plays for him. His partner wanted him to make new dresses +for the marionettes, to suit their new parts; but to that Killian +would not agree. So whatever they were they still wore their broad +hats and crowns, and their wooden shoes, that still he might watch +in his own mind himself and Grendel making their way to fortune and +happiness. + +The marionettes grew bewildered with their new taking; they did not +understand the meaning of all the coarse things they had to do. So in +the middle of a play, the little queen would fail now and then in +her part, and move awkwardly, wondering what her lover meant when he +sprawled to and fro, and seemed trying to find in the air more feet +than he had upon the ground. + +Yet the crowd found her bashful fear so irresistibly funny, that it +roared again. Also, when the little cow-herd with a crown on his head, +lifted his hand or foot toward his partner, and then shrank trembling +away, it roared yet more at the poltroon manner of the thing. + +Killian's partner said, 'You alter all my plays, but the way you do +them is something to marvel at. Only, why do you always bring them +round again to that silly lover's ending?' + +'I cannot help it,' said Killian; 'often now, with these new plays, I +can't get the strings to work properly. I think the poor puppets are +getting worn out.' + +His partner began examining the puppets, and watching how Killian +played them, with more attention; and presently he knew that there was +more in it than met the eye. 'It is the puppets who are the marvel, +not the man,' he said to himself. 'I could work them better myself, if +I had practice.' + +Soon after this he proposed that they should set off for another town; +it was the chief town of all, where they hoped at last to be allowed +to show their plays to the queen herself. 'It must be a real play this +time,' said the partner, 'a tragedy; but it wants a third person. You +must make another puppet, while I write the play!' + +So Killian set to work. But he had no love for the third puppet, which +was neither himself nor Grendel, and he put no heart inside it, and no +little drop of blood. So the new marionette was but limbs, and a head +drawn on wires. + +'Soon,' thought Killian, 'I shall be rich enough to go home and marry +Grendel. Then I will throw this stupid third one away; but the other +two we will always keep close to the niche with the statue of Saint +Lady, to help to make us thankful for the good things God gives us in +this world.' + +It was beautiful late spring weather when he and his companion set out +for the capital. On the way Killian's partner told him the play that +would have to be played before the queen, and said, 'In case three +should be too much for you to manage, you had better teach me also +to handle the strings.' So Killian began to teach him, with the two +little marionettes alone, the first play which he had brought down +with him from the mountains,--that being the easiest of all to learn, +and the one he loved best to teach. + +The partner was surprised to find how wonderfully the puppets followed +the leading-strings; in spite of his clumsiness the story acted itself +to perfection. + +Simple-hearted Killian was charmed. 'Ah! you clever townsman,' said +he, 'see how at first trial you equal poor me, who have been at it for +months! It had better be you, after all, to do the play when it is +called for at the court.' And this Killian proposed truly out of pure +modesty, but also because he did not like the play his partner had +made for him. 'It is too cruel a one!' he said. 'After they have +played it together so long, I feel as if my two puppets can do nothing +else so well as love each other, and live happily.' + +'Ah, but,' said his partner, 'the queen would find that very dull!' +Killian could not see why, but he believed that the townsman was wiser +than himself, and gave in. All he wanted now was to get money enough +to run back home with, and throw himself into his dear Grendel's arms +for life. + +So they journeyed on, and at last, one day, they came in sight of +the capital. But it had been such a long way to come that when they +reached the gates they found them shut. + +The night was warm, and a high moon was overhead. 'Come,' said +Killian, 'and let us lie down in one of these orchards that are +outside the walls!' So they left the high-road, and went and lay down. + +First they ate some food that they carried with them. Then Killian +opened the case in which lay the two marionettes, and looked them over +to see that they were in working order. His partner took up the odd +number, and began practising it; but Killian's attention all went to +the little king cow-herd and his queen. + +He fondled them gently with his hands, and as he looked at them his +heart went up into the mountains to pray for his dear Grendel. + +Presently he began dreaming to himself like Jacob, only his dream was +just of the simple things of earth. Down the great green uplands came +troops of white cattle; but to him they seemed to be bridesmaids +coming to Grendel's wedding day, and the ringing of the cow-bells was +as sweet to him as the songs of angels. Before he was fast asleep the +two marionettes had slipped off his knee and lay in the deep grass +looking up at the sky. + + * * * * * + +They had never seen so beautiful a sight before, for never had they +spent a night in the sweet open air till now. Over their heads swung +dusky clusters of blossom, that would look white by day; and over them +the moon went kissing its way from star to star. + +Now and then single blossoms dropped as if they had something to say +to the little cow-herd and his queen, lying there in the cool grass. + +But the marionettes said nothing; their hearts were very full; now, at +last, they found their old happiness return to them. Their prayers, +that they used to say to each other so tenderly, had been going wrong +for quite a long time; sudden starts and tremblings of fear had taken +hold of their light-hearted deceptions of each other; and every day +things had been going worse. But now they felt like entering upon a +long rest. + +As they lay, their hands met together. The little cow-herd could +count her fingers across the palm of his hand, and never once did she +pretend to be drawing them away. How good it all seemed! + +Close by them the odd man was strutting in stiff, ungainly attitudes, +cricking his neck and elbows, and tossing up his toes. How foolish he +seemed to them in their innocent wisdom! They knew he was nothing to +them, for he had no heart; he was nothing but a trick on springs. Yet +they wished he would go away, and give them room to be alone, while +the moon was making a white dream over their lives. + + * * * * * + +The partner grumbled to himself at the awkward ways of the new +puppet. Instead of obeying, it kicked at the leading strings, and did +everything like a stick, all angles and corners. Presently he put it +back into its box; and then he saw the little king and queen lying +together on the damp grass. He picked them up, growling at Killian as +a simpleton, for leaving them there to get rusty with the dew. Then he +put them also away, and curled himself up to dream about the success +of his play on the morrow. + +Quite early in the morning he and Killian went into the city, and set +up their stage in a corner of the marketplace. The wonderful acting of +the little king and queen, compared with the ungainly hobblings and +jerkings of the odd man, threw the townspeople into ecstasies of +laughter. They declared they had never seen so funny a sight in their +lives as the beautiful nervous acting of the pair, side by side with +the stiff-jointed awkwardness of the other. + +Presently, sure enough, the queen heard tell of this new form of +entertainment, and sent word for the mummers to appear at the palace. + +Killian said to his partner: 'There is something the matter with the +puppets to-day; they want careful handling. I am glad we settled +that you are to do the new play; for, before the queen and her great +ladies, I am likely to lose my head.' + +All the court was gathered together to watch the puppet-play, while +behind the scenes the partner took all the leading strings into his +own hands. + + * * * * * + +The two marionettes opened their eyes, and saw daylight; they began +moving to and fro softly; every now and then they put their faces +together and kissed. The stupid odd man seemed to have gone; they were +so glad to be left alone. + +Soon the little king lay down, pretending to be tired, but it was only +that he might put his head in the queen's lap. She bent over him, and +laid her fingers on his eyes, seeming to say, 'Go to sleep, then! I +will shut your eyes for you.' How pretty it was of her! + +Then she covered his face over with her handkerchief; and all at once +in came the odd man, walking on the points of his toes. The little +king, now that the handkerchief was over his face, opened his eyes, +and looked through it, to see what his dear queen would be doing now. +The odd man had his arms round her neck, and was kissing her, and the +queen looked as if she were going to kiss him back; but all at once +she had pushed away the odd man so hard that he fell down with his +heels in the air; and then she snatched the handkerchief from the +king's face, and began trembling, and kissing him. + +The whole of the court shouted, first with laughter at the odd man's +fall, and then with admiration at the wonderful acting of the little +queen. + +Behind the scenes the partner began grumbling to Killian: 'They are +going all wrong! It's all your doing, leaving them to lie in the damp +grass last night!' + +But still the whole court shouted and applauded. So the play went on; +and now, more and more, the showman had cause to grumble. Whenever he +came to a part where the play required that the queen should turn from +her own cow-herd to the ugly odd man, everything went wrong. 'Very +well,' thought he at last, 'she may be as innocent as Desdemona but it +will all come to the same at the last!' + +And so, still more, as the play went on, the little marionettes +trembled and shook with fear. They wished the silly odd man would go +away, and not come interrupting their prayers; and all the while they +loved each other so! No idea of jealousy ever entered the little +king's head; and as for the queen, if the odd man came and put his +arms round her neck and kissed her, could she help it? All she could +do was to run and put her arms round her own lover when he reappeared; +and how the court shouted and applauded, when she went so quick from +one to the other. + +At last the final act was begun; the king came running in with a sword +in his hand, why, he did not know, until he saw his poor little queen +struggling in the arms of the odd man. 'Ah,' thought he, 'it is to +drive him away! Then we shall be by ourselves again, and happy.' + +No one ever fought so wonderfully on a stage before as the little +cow-herd. All the court started to their feet, shouting; and still, +while they shouted, they laughed to see the impossible odd man +scooping about with his sword, and jerking head over heels, and high +up into the air, to get away from the little king's sword-play. The +partner had to keep snatching him up out of harm's way, for fear of a +wrong ending. Then, suddenly he let him come down with a jump on the +little king's head. And at that the king fell back upon the ground, +and felt a sharp pain go through his heart. + +The odd man drew out his sword and laughed; on the end of it was a +tiny drop of blood. The poor little queen ran up, and bent down to +look in her lover's face, to know if he were really hurt. And then a +terrible thing happened. + +Three times the little king raised his sword and pointed it at her +heart, and dropped it again. And all the time the partner was tugging +at the strings, and swearing by all the worst things he knew. + +The little king felt himself growing weak; he was very frightened. He +felt as if he were going away altogether, and leaving her to think +he did not love her any more. And still his arm went up and down, +pointing the sword at her heart. + +The showman tugged angrily; then there was the sound of a wire that +snapped--the king had thrown away his sword. + +He reached up his two arms, and laid them fast round the queen's neck. +'Now at last she knows that I have not left off loving her.' He felt +her drawing herself away, he held her more and more tightly to his +breast; and now her little face lay close against his. Nothing should +take her away from him now! + +The showman pulled violently with all his might, to get her away; +there was a snapping of strings, and then--the queen reached out two +weak little hands, and laid them under her lover's head. + +They lay quite still, quite still for a long time, and never moved. +'The play is over!' said the showman, disgusted and angry at the wreck +of his plot. + +Suddenly the whole stage became showered with gold; the great queen +and all her court threw out showers of it like rain. It fell all over +the two marionettes, covering them where they lay, just as the babes +in the wood when they died were covered over with leaves. + +Killian dropped his head on to the boards of the little stage, and +sobbed. The partner let down the curtain, and began gathering up the +gold. + +And still, from without, the queen and her court clapped, and cried +their applause; and still within lay Killian with his head upon the +stage, sobbing for the two little marionettes, lying still with all +the springs and strings of their bodies quite broken. Inside, though +he could not see them, their hearts were broken also. 'Now,' he +thought, 'I must go back to Grendel, or I too shall die!' + +That night, in the middle of the night, the partner went away, +carrying with him all the gold that the little marionettes had earned +by their deaths. And these, indeed, he left, seeing that they were +useless any more. But to Killian, when he woke the next morning, they +were the only things left him in the world, to take back to Grendel. + +He took them just as they were, locked in each other's arms, and went +back all the long way to Grendel, up into the hills of his home, as +poor in money as when he first started. + +But Grendel saw that he had come back rich; for his face was grown +tender and wise. And for five years they waited very patiently +together, till by cow-keeping he had earned enough for them to keep +some cows of their own, and to live in married happiness. + +The little marionettes they put on a shelf, beneath the cross, and the +statue of our Lady; and there, locked in each other's arms, those two +disciples and martyrs of love lie at peace, feeling no pain any more +in their broken hearts. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Field of Clover, by Laurence Housman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIELD OF CLOVER *** + +***** This file should be named 18872-8.txt or 18872-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/8/7/18872/ + +Produced by Brad Norton, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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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 Field of Clover + +Author: Laurence Housman + +Illustrator: Clemence Housman + +Release Date: July 19, 2006 [EBook #18872] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIELD OF CLOVER *** + + + + +Produced by Brad Norton, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>The Field of Clover<br /></h1> +<h2>By Laurence Housman.</h2> +<h3>ENGRAVED BY</h3> +<h2>CLEMENCE HOUSMAN</h2> +<hr class="half" /> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/001.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/001.png" alt= +"MERCURY GOD OF MERCHANDISE LOOK ON WITH FAVORABLE EYES" /></a> +<div class="ctr">MERCURY GOD OF MERCHANDISE LOOK ON WITH +FAVOURABLE EYES<br /></div> +</div> +<br /> +<hr class="half" /> +<br /> +<br /> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/002.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/002.png" alt="THE FIELD OF CLOVER (TITLE PAGE)" /></a> +<div class="ctr">BE KINDLY TO THE WEARY DROVER & PIPE THE +SHEEP INTO THE CLOVER</div> +</div> +<br /> +<hr class="half" /> +<br /> +<p>This Dover edition, first published in 1968, is an unabridged +and unaltered republication of the work originally published by +Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. in 1898.</p> +<p><i>Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-30802</i></p> +<p>Manufactured in the United States of America Dover +Publications, Inc. 180 Varick Street New York, N. Y. 10014</p> +<br /> +<hr class="half" /> +<h3>Contents</h3> +<pre> +<br /> +THE BOUND PRINCESS (<i>in six parts</i>) PAGE +<br /> + I <a href="#fire-eaters">THE FIRE-EATERS</a> 3 +<br /> + II <a href="#galloping">THE GALLOPING PLOUGH</a> 13 +<br /> +III <a href="#thirsty">THE THIRSTY WELL</a> 23 +<br /> + IV <a href="#princess">THE PRINCESS MELILOT</a> 33 +<br /> + V <a href="#burning">THE BURNING ROSE</a> 45 +<br /> + VI <a href="#camphor">THE CAMPHOR WORM</a> 57 +<br /> +THE <a href="#warranty">CROWN'S WARRANTY</a> 69 +<br /> +THE <a href="#wishing-pot">WISHING-POT</a> 81 +<br /> +THE <a href="#feeding">FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS</a> 111 +<br /> +THE <a href="#passionate">PASSIONATE PUPPETS</a> 119 +</pre> +<br /> +<hr class="half" /> +<h4>TO MY DEAR WOOD-ENGRAVER</h4> +<br /> +<hr class="half" /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 1]</span> +<h3>THE BOUND PRINCESS</h3> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 2]</span> +<hr class="half" /> +<br /> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/007.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/007.png" alt="THE BOUND PRINCESS" /></a></div> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 3]</span> +<h3>THE BOUND PRINCESS</h3> +<a name="fire-eaters"></a><h3>I</h3> +<h3>THE FIRE-EATERS</h3> +<p><img width="7%" src="images/008.png" alt="A" class= +"firstletter" />long time ago there lived a man who had the +biggest head in the world. Into it he had crammed all the +knowledge that might be gathered from the four corners of the +earth. Every one said he was the wisest man living. "If I could +only find a wife," said the sage, "as wise for a woman as I am +for a man, what a race of head-pieces we could bring into the +world!"</p> +<p>He waited many years before any such mate could be found for +him: yet, at last, <span class="pagenum">[pg 4]</span> found she +was—one into whose head was bestowed all the wisdom that +might be gathered from the four quarters of heaven.</p> +<p>They were both old, but kings came from all sides to their +wedding, and offered themselves as god-parents to the first-born +of the new race that was to be. But, to the grief of his parents, +the child, when he arrived, proved to be a simpleton; and no +second child ever came to repair the mistake of the first.</p> +<p>That he was a simpleton was evident; his head was small and +his limbs were large, and he could run long before he could talk +or do arithmetic. In the bitterness of their hearts his father +and mother named him Noodle, without the aid of any royal +god-parents; and from that moment, for any care they took in his +bringing-up, they washed their wise hands of him.</p> +<p>Noodle grew and prospered, and enjoyed <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 5]</span> life in his own foolish way. When his +father and mother died within a short time of each other, they +left him alone without any friend in the world.</p> +<p>For a good while Noodle lived on just what he could find in +the house, in a hand-to-mouth sort of way, till at last only the +furniture and the four bare walls were left to him.</p> +<p>One cold winter's night he sat brooding over the fire, +wondering where he should get food for the morrow, when he heard +feet coming up to the door, and a knock striking low down upon +the panel. Outside there was a faint chirping and crackling +sound, and a whispering as of fire licking against the woodwork +without.</p> +<p>He opened the door and peered forth into the night. There, +just before him, stood seven little men huddled up together; +three feet high they were, with bright yellow faces all +shrivelled and sharp, and eyes <span class="pagenum">[pg 6]</span> whose light leaped and sank like candle flame before a +gust.</p> +<p>When they saw him, they shut their eyes and opened famished +mouths at him, pointing inwards with flickering finger-tips, and +shivering from head to foot with cold, although it seemed to the +youth as if the warmth of a slow fire came from them. 'Alas!' +said Noodle, in reply to these signs of hunger, 'I have not left +even a crust of bread in the house to give you! But at least come +in and make yourselves warm!' He touched the foremost, making +signs for them all to enter. 'Ah,' he cried, 'what is this, and +what are you, that the mere touch of you burns my finger?'</p> +<p>Without answer they huddled tremblingly across the threshold; +but so soon as they saw the fire burning on the hearth, they +yelped all together like a pack of hounds, and, throwing +themselves face forwards into the hot embers, began ravenously +<span class="pagenum">[pg 7]</span> to lap up the flames. They +lapped and lapped, and the more they lapped the more the fire +sank away and died. Then with their flickering finger-tips they +stirred the hot logs and coals, burrowing after the thin tapes +and swirls of vanishing flame, and fetching them out like small +blue eels still wriggling for escape.</p> +<p>After each blue wisp had been gulped down, they sipped and +sucked at their fingers for any least tricklet of flavour that +might be left; and at the last seemed more famished than when +they began.</p> +<p>'More, more, O wise Noodle, give us more!' they cried; and +Noodle threw the last of his fuel on the embers.</p> +<p>They breathed round it, fanning it into a great blaze that +leaped and danced up to the rafters; then they fell on, till not +a fleck or a flake of it was left. Noodle, seeing them still +famished, broke up a stool and threw that on the hearth. And +again <span class="pagenum">[pg 8]</span> they flared it with +their breath and gobbled off the flame. When the stool was +finished he threw in the table, then the dresser, and after that +the oak-chest and the window-seat.</p> +<p>Still they feasted and were not fed. Noodle fetched an axe, +and broke down the door; then he wrenched up the boards from the +floor, and pulled the beams and rafters out of the ceiling; yet, +even so, his guests were not to be satisfied.</p> +<p>'I have nothing left,' he said, 'but the house itself; but +since you are still hungry you shall be welcome to it!'</p> +<p>He scattered the fire that remained upon the hearth, and threw +it out and about the room; and as he ran forth to escape, up +against all the walls and right through the roof rose a great +crackling sheaf of flame. In the midst of the fire, Noodle could +see his seven guests lying along on their bellies, slopping their +hands in the heat, <span class="pagenum">[pg 9]</span> and +lapping up the flames with their tongues. 'Surely,' he thought, +'I have given them enough to eat at last!'</p> +<p>After a while all the fire was eaten away, and only the black +and smouldering ruins were left. Day came coldly to light, and +there sat Noodle, without a home in the world, watching with +considerate eye his seven guests finishing their inordinate +repast.</p> +<p>They all rose to their feet together, and came towards him +bowing; as they approached he felt the heat of their bodies as it +had been seven furnaces.</p> +<p>'Enough, O wise Noodle!' said they, 'we have had enough!' +'That,' answered Noodle, 'is the least thing left me to wonder +at. Go your ways in peace; but first tell me, who are you?' They +replied, 'We are the Fire-eaters: far from our own land, and +strangers, you have done us this service; what, now, can we +<span class="pagenum">[pg 10]</span> do to serve you?' 'Put me in +the way of a living,' said Noodle, 'and you will do me the +greatest service of all.'</p> +<p>Then the one of them who seemed to be chief took from his +finger a ring having for its centre a great firestone, and threw +it into the snow, saying, 'Wait for three hours till the ring +shall have had time to cool, then take it, and wear it; and +whatever fortune you deserve it shall bring you. For this ring is +the sweetener of everything that it touches: bread it turns into +rich meats, water into strong wine, grief into virtue, and labour +into strength. Also, if you ever need our help, you have but to +brandish the ring, and the gleam of it will reach us, and we will +be with you wherever you may be.'</p> +<p>With that they bowed their top-knots to the ground and +departed, inverting themselves swiftly till only the shining +print of seven pairs of feet remained, red-hot, over the place +where they had been standing.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 11]</span> +<p>Noodle waited for three hours; then he took up the firestone +ring, and putting it on his finger set out into the world.</p> +<p>At the first door he came to, he begged a crust of bread, and +touching it with the ring found it tasted like rich meats, well +cooked and delicately flavoured. Also, the water which he drew in +the hollow of his hand from a brook by the roadside tasted to him +like strong wine.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 12]</span><br /> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/017.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/017.png" alt="Image17" /></a></div> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 13]</span> +<a name="galloping"></a><h3>II</h3> +<h3>THE GALLOPING PLOUGH</h3> +<p><img width="7%" src="images/018.png" alt="N" class= +"firstletter" />oodle went on many miles till he came near to a +rich man's farm. Though it was the middle of winter, all the +fields showed crops of corn in progress; here it was in thin +blade, and here green, but in full ear; and here it was ripe and +ready for harvest. 'How is this,' he said to the first man he +met, 'that you have corn here in the middle of winter?' 'Ah!' +said the man, 'you have not heard of the Galloping Plough; you +too have to fall under bondage to my master.' 'What is your +master?' inquired Noodle, 'and in what bondage does he bind +man?'</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 14]</span> +<p>'My master, and your master that shall soon be,' answered the +old man, 'is the owner of all this land and the farmer of it. He +is rich and sleek and fat like his own furrows, for he has the +Galloping Plough as his possession. Ah, that! 't is a very +miracle, a wonder, a thing to catch at the heartstrings of all +beholders; it shines like a moonbeam, and is better than an Arab +mare for swiftness; it warms the very ground that it enters, so +that seeds take root and spring, though it be the middle of +winter. No man sees it but what he loses his heart to it, and +sells his freedom for the possession of it. All here are men like +myself who have become slaves because of that desire. You also, +when you see it, will become slave to it.'</p> +<p>Noodle went on through the summer and the spring corn, till he +came to bare fields. Ahead of him on a hill-top he saw the farmer +himself, sleek and rosy, and of <span class="pagenum">[pg 15]</span> full paunch, lolling like a lord at his ease; yet with +a working eye in the midst of his leisure.</p> +<p>To and fro, up to him and back, shot a silver gleam over the +purple brown of the fields; and Noodle's heart gave a thump at +the sight, for the spell of the Galloping Plough was on him.</p> +<p>Now and then he heard a clear sound that startled him with its +note. It was like the sweet whistling cry of a bird many times +multiplied. Ever when the silver gleam of the Plough had run its +farthest from the farmer, the cry sounded; and at the sound the +gleam wavered and stayed and flew back dartingly to the farmer's +side. So Noodle understood how this was the farmer's signal for +the Plough to return; and the Plough knew it as a horse its +master's voice, and came so fast that the wind whistled against +its silver side.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 16]</span> +<p>As he watched, Noodle's heart went down into the valley and up +the hillside, following in the track of the Galloping Plough. 'I +can never be happy again,' thought he; 'either I must possess it, +or must die.'</p> +<p>He came to the farmer where he sat calling his Plough to him +and letting it go; and the farmer smiled, the wide indulgent +smile of a man who knows that a bargain is about to fall his +way.</p> +<p>'What is the price,' asked Noodle, 'of yonder Galloping +Plough, that runs like an Arab mare, and returns to you at your +call?'</p> +<p>Said the farmer, 'A year's service; and if the Plough will +follow you, it is yours; if not, then you must be my bondman +until you die!'</p> +<p>Noodle looked once the way of the Galloping Plough, and his +heart flapped at his side like a sail which the wind drops +<span class="pagenum">[pg 17]</span> and lets go; and he had no +thought or will left in him but to be where the Galloping Plough +was. So he closed hands on the bargain, to be the farmer's +servant either for a year, or for his whole life.</p> +<p>For a year he worked upon the farm, and all the while plotted +how he might win the Galloping Plough to himself. The farmer kept +no watch upon it, nor put it under lock and key, for the Plough +recognised no voice but his own, nor went nor came save at his +bidding. In the night Noodle would go down to the shed or field +where it lay, and whistle to it, trying to put forth notes of the +same magical power as those which came through the farmer's +lips.</p> +<p>But no sound that came from his lips ever stroked life into +its silver sides. The year was nearly run out, and Noodle was in +despair.</p> +<p>Then he remembered the firestone ring, <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 18]</span> the Sweetener. 'May be,' said he, 'since +it changes to sweetness whatever I eat and drink, it will sweeten +my voice also, so that the Plough will obey.' So he put the ring +between his lips and whistled; and at the sound his heart turned +a somersault for joy, for he felt that out of his mouth the +farmer's magic had been over-topped and conquered.</p> +<p>The Galloping Plough stirred faintly from the furrow where it +lay, breaking the ground and marring its smooth course. Then it +shook its head slowly, and returned impassively to rest.</p> +<p>In the morning the farmer came and saw the broken earth close +under the Plough's nose. Noodle, hiding among the corn hard by, +heard him say, 'What hast thou heard in the night, O my moonbeam, +my miracle, that thy lily-foot has trodden up the ground? Hast +thou forgotten whose hand feeds thee, whose corn <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 19]</span> it is thou lovest, whose heart's care +also cherishes thee?'</p> +<p>The farmer went away, and presently came back bearing a bowl +of corn; and Noodle saw the Plough lift its head to its master's +palm, and feed like a horse on the grain.</p> +<p>Then Noodle, gay of heart, waited till it was night, and +surely his time was short, for on the morrow his wages were to be +paid, and the Plough was to be his, or else he was to be the +farmer's bondservant for the rest of his life. He took with him +three handfuls of corn, and went down to where the Plough stood +waiting by the furrow. Shaping his lips to the ring, he whistled +gently like a lover, and immediately the Plough stirred, and +lifted up its head as if to look at him.</p> +<p>'O my moonbeam, my miracle,' whispered Noodle, 'wilt thou not +come to the one that feeds thee?' and he held out a <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 20]</span> handful of corn. But the Plough gave no +regard to him or his grain: slowly it moved away from him back +into the furrow.</p> +<p>Then Noodle laughed softly and dropped his ring, the +Sweetener, into the hand that held the grain; and barely had he +offered the corn before he felt the silver Plough nozzling at his +palm, and eating as a horse eats from the hand of its master.</p> +<p>Then he whistled again, placing the Sweetener back between his +lips; and the Galloping Plough sprang after him, and followed at +his heels like a dog.</p> +<p>So, finding himself its master, he bid it stay for the night; +and in the morning he said to the farmer, 'Give me my wages, and +let me go!' And the farmer laughed, saying, 'Take your wages, and +go!'</p> +<p>Then Noodle took off his ring, the <span class="pagenum">[pg 21]</span> Sweetener, and laid it between his lips and blew +through it; and up like a moonbeam, and like an Arab mare, sprang +the Galloping Plough at his call. So he leaped upon its back, +crying, 'Carry me away out of this land, O thou moonbeam, and +miracle of beauty, and never slacken nor stay except I bid +thee!'</p> +<p>Vainly the farmer, borne down on a torrent of rage and +amazement, whistled his best, and threw corn and rice from the +rear; for the whistling of Noodle was sweeter to the ear, and his +corn sweeter to the taste, and he nearer to the heart of the +Galloping Plough than was the old master whom it left behind. +<span class="pagenum">[pg 22]</span></p> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/027.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/027.png" alt="Image27" /></a></div> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 23]</span> +<a name="thirsty"></a><h3>III</h3> +<h3>THE THIRSTY WELL</h3> +<p><img width="7%" src="images/028.png" alt="S" class= +"firstletter" />o they escaped, slitting the swift hours with +ungovernable speed. The furrow they two made in the world that +day, as they went shooting over the round of it, was called in +after times the Equator, and men still know it by the heat of it, +though it has since been covered over by the dust of ages.</p> +<p>To Noodle, as he went careering round it, the whole world's +circuit ran in a line across his brain, entering his vision and +passing through it as a thread through the needle's eye. Nor +would he of his own will ever have stopped his galloping, but +<span class="pagenum">[pg 24]</span> that at the completion of +the first round a mighty thirst took hold of him. 'O my +moonbeam,' he said, choking behind parched lips, and sick at +heart, 'check me, or I faint!' And the Galloping Plough stopped +at once, and set him to earth in a green space under the shadow +of overhanging boughs.</p> +<p>He found himself in a richly grown garden, a cool paradise for +a traveller to rest in. Close at hand and inviting to the eye was +a well with a bucket slung ready to be let down. Noodle had +little thought of seeking for the owner of the garden to beg for +a drink, since water is an equal gift to all and the right of any +man; but as he drew near he found the means to it withheld from +him, the lid being fast locked. He went on in search of the +owner, till at length he came upon the same lying half asleep +under a thorn-bush with the key in her hand. She was an old +woman, so <span class="pagenum">[pg 25]</span> withered and dry, +she looked as if no water could have ever passed her lips.</p> +<p>When Noodle asked for a drink from the well, she looked at him +bright and sharp, and said: 'Before any man drinks of my water he +must make a bargain with me.' 'What is the bargain?' asked +Noodle; and she led him down to the well.</p> +<p>Then she unlocked the lid and bade him look in; and at the +sight Noodle knew for a second time that his heart had been +stolen from him, and that to be happy he must taste that water or +die.</p> +<p>Again he asked, with his eyes intent upon the blue wrimpling +of the water in the well's depth, 'What is the bargain?' And the +old woman answered, 'If you fail to draw water out of the well +you must fling yourself into it.' For answer Noodle swung down +the bucket, lowering it as fast as it would go; then he set both +hands to the windlass and wound.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 26]</span> +<p>He heard the water splashing off the sides of the bucket all +the way up, as the shortening rope brought it near; but when he +drew it over the well's brink wonder and grief held him fast, for +the bucket was as empty as vanity. From behind him came a noise +of laughter, and there was the old witch running round and round +in a circle; and everywhere a hedge of thorns came shooting up to +enclose him and keep him fast for her.</p> +<p>'What a trap I am in!' thought Noodle; but once more he +lowered the bucket, and once more it returned to him empty.</p> +<p>The old woman climbed up into the thorn-hedge, and sat on its +top, singing:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'Overground, underground, round-about spell;</p> +<p>The Thirsty has come to the Thirsty Well!'</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Again Noodle let down the bucket; and this time as he drew it +up he looked over <span class="pagenum">[pg 27]</span> into the +well's heart, and saw all the way up the side a hundred blue arms +reaching out crystal scallops and drawing water out of the bucket +as hard as they could go. He saw thick lips like sea-anemones +thrust out between the crevices of the wall, sucking the crystals +dry as fast as they were filled. 'Truly,' he said to himself, +'this is a thirsty well, but myself am thirstier!'</p> +<p>When he had drawn up the bucket empty for the third time, he +stood considering; and at last he fastened to it the firestone +ring, the Sweetener, and lowered it once more. Then he laughed to +himself as he drew up, and felt the bucket lightening at every +turn till it touched the surface of things.</p> +<p>Empty he found it, with only his firestone hanging by the rim, +and once again he let it down to be refilled. But this time as he +wound up, nothing could keep him from letting a curious eye go +over the <span class="pagenum">[pg 28]</span> brink, to see how +the Well-folk fared over their wine; and in what he beheld there +was already comfort for his soul.</p> +<p>The blue arms went like oars out of unison; like +carpet-beaters stricken in the eyes and throat with dust, they +beat foolishly against the sides and bottom of the bucket, +shattering and letting fall their goblets in each unruly attempt. +And because Noodle wound leniently at the rope, willing that they +should have their fill, at the last gasp they were able to send +the bucket empty to the top. It was the last staving off of +destiny that lay in their power to make; thereafter wine +conquered them.</p> +<p>Quickly Noodle drew out the ring, and sent the bucket flying +on its last errand. It smacked the water, heeled over, and dipped +under a full draught. Then Noodle spun the windlass with the full +pinch of his energies, calling on the bucket <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 29]</span> to ascend. He heard the water spilling +from its sides, and knew that the blue arms were there, battling +to arrest it as it flew, and to pay him back once more with +emptiness and mockery. Yet in spite of them the bucket hasted and +lightened not, but was drawn up to the well's head brimming +largely, and winking a blue eye joyously to the light of day.</p> +<p>Over head and ears Noodle plunged for the quenching of his +thirst, nor stayed nor drew back till his head had smitten upon +the bottom of the bucket in his pursuit of the draught. Then it +was apparent that only a third of the water remained, the rest +having obeyed the imperative suction of his throat, and that the +thirsty well had at last found a master under the eye of +heaven.</p> +<p>In the depth of the bucket the water flashed like a burning +sapphire and swung circling, curling and coiling, tossing this +<span class="pagenum">[pg 30]</span> way and that, as if +struggling to get out. At last with a laugh it threw down the +bucket, and tore back into the well with a crash like +thunder.</p> +<p>Up from the well rose a chant of voices:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'Under Heaven, over Hell,</p> +<p>You have broken the spell,</p> +<p>You are lord of the Well.'</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Noodle stepped over the brink of his new realm, calling the +Well-folk to reach hands for him and bear him down. All round, +the blue arms started out, catching him and handing him on from +one to another ladderwise, down, and down, and down. As he went, +anemone lips came out of the crannies in the wall, and kissed his +feet and hands in token of allegiance. 'You are lord of the +well!' they said, as they passed him each one to the next.</p> +<p>He came to the bottom of the well; under his feet, wherever he +stepped upon its waters, hands came up and sustained <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 31]</span> him. The knowledge of everything that +was there had become his. 'Give me,' he said, 'the crystal cup +that is for him who holds kingship over you; so shall I be lord +of you in all places wherever I go.'</p> +<p>A blue arm reached down and drew up from the water a small +crystal, that burned through the darkness with a blue fire, and +gave it to Noodle. 'Now I am your king, however far from you!' +said Noodle. And they answered, chanting:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'Under Heaven, over Hell,</p> +<p>You have broken the spell,</p> +<p>You are lord of the Well.'</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>'Lift me up!' said he; and the blue arms caught him and lifted +him up; from one to another they passed him in ascending circles, +till he came to the mouth of the well.</p> +<p>There overhead was the old witch, crouching and looking in to +know what had become of him; and her hair hung far <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 32]</span> down over her eyes into the well. He +caught her to him by it over the brink. 'Old witch,' he said, +'you must change places with me now!' and he tossed her down to +the bottom of the well.</p> +<p>She went like a falling shuttlecock, shrieking as she fell; +and as she struck the water, the drowned bodies of the men she +had sent there came to the surface, and caught her by the feet +and hair, and drew her down, making an end of her, as she also +had made of them.</p> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/039.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/039.png" alt="Image39" /></a></div> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 33]</span> +<a name="princess"></a><h3>IV</h3> +<h3>THE PRINCESS MELILOT</h3> +<p><img width="7%" src="images/040.png" alt="W" class= +"firstletter" />hen Noodle, carrying the crystal with him, set +foot once more upon dry land, straightway he was again upon the +back of the Galloping Plough, with the world flying away under +him. But now weariness came over him, and his head weighed this +way and that, so that earth and sky mixed themselves before his +gaze, and he was so drugged with sleep that he had no wits to bid +the Plough slacken from its speed. Therefore it happened that as +they passed a wood, a hanging bough caught him, and brushed him +like a feather from his place, landing him on a green bosom of +grass, where he <span class="pagenum">[pg 34]</span> slept the +sleep of the weary, nor ever lifted his head to see the Plough +fast disappearing over hill and valley and plain, out of sound of +his voice or sight of his eye.</p> +<p>When Noodle awoke and found that the Plough was gone, he was +bitter against himself for his folly. 'So poor a use to make of +so noble a steed!' he cried; 'no wonder it has gone from me to +seek for a worthier master! If by good fortune I find it again, +needs must I do great things by its aid to be worthy of its +service.' So he set out, following the furrow of its course, +determined, however far he must seek, to journey on till he found +it.</p> +<p>For a whole year he travelled, till at length he came, +footsore and weary, to a deserted palace standing in the midst of +an overgrown garden. The great gates, which lay wide open, were +overrun with creepers, and the paths were green with <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 35]</span> weeds. That morning he had thought that +he saw far away on the hills the gleam of his silver Plough, and +now hope rose high, for he could see by its track that the Plough +had passed before him into the garden of the palace. 'O my +moonbeam,' he thought, 'is it here I shall find you at last?'</p> +<p>Within the garden there was a sound of cross questions and +crooked answers, of many talking with loud voices, and of one +weeping apart from the rest. When he got quite close, he was +struck still with awe, and joy, and wonder. For first there lay +the Galloping Plough in the middle of a green lawn, and round it +a score of serving-men, tugging at it and trying to make it move +on. Near by stood an old woman, wringing her hands and begging +them to leave it alone: 'For,' cried she, 'if the Plough touches +but the feet of the Princess, she will be uprooted, and will +<span class="pagenum">[pg 36]</span> presently wither away and +die. Of what use is it to break one, if the other enchantments +cannot be broken?'</p> +<p>In the centre of the lawn grew a bower of roses, and beneath +the bower stood the loveliest princess that ever eye beheld; but +she stood there motionless, and without sign of life. She seemed +neither to hear, nor see, nor breathe; her feet were rooted to +the ground; though they seemed only to rest lightly under her +weight upon the grass, no man, nor a hundred men, could stir her +from where she stood. And, as the spell that held her fast bound +to the spot, even so was the spell that sealed her +senses,—no man might lift it from her. When Noodle set eyes +upon her he knew that for the third time his heart had been +stolen from him, and that to be happy he must possess her, or +die.</p> +<p>He ran quickly to the old woman, who, unregarded by the +serving-men, stood <span class="pagenum">[pg 37]</span> weeping +and wringing her hands. 'Tell me, said Noodle, 'who is this +sleeper who stands enchanted and rooted like a flower to earth? +And who are you, and these others who work and cry at cross +purposes?'</p> +<p>The old woman cried from a wide mouth: 'It is my mistress, the +honey-jewel of my heart, whom you see here so grievously +enchanted. All the gifts of the fairies at her christening did +not prevent what was foretold of her at her birth. In her +seventeenth year, as you see her now, so it was told of her that +she should be.'</p> +<p>'Does she live?' asked Noodle; 'is she asleep? She is not +dead; when will she wake? Tell me, old woman, her history, and +how this fate has come upon her.'</p> +<p>'She was the daughter of the king of this country by his first +wife,' said the old woman, 'and heir to the throne after his +<span class="pagenum">[pg 38]</span> death; but when her mother +died the king married again, and the three daughters he had by +his second wife were jealous of the beauty, and charm, and +goodness which raised their sister so high above them in the +estimation of all men. So they asked their mother to teach them a +spell that should rob Melilot of her charms, and make them +useless in the eyes of men. And their mother, who was wise in +such arts, taught to each of them a spell, so that together they +might work their will.</p> +<p>'One day they came running to Melilot, and said, "Come and +play with us a new game that our mother has taught us!" Then they +began turning themselves into flowers. "I will be a hollyhock!" +said one. "And I will be a columbine!" said another; and saying +the spell over each other they became each the flower they had +named.</p> +<p>'Then they unloosed the spells, and <span class="pagenum">[pg 39]</span> became themselves again. "Oh, it is so nice to be a +flower!" they cried, laughing and clapping their hands. But +Melilot knew no spell.</p> +<p>At last, seeing how her sisters turned into flowers, and came +back safe again, "I will be a rose!" she cried; "turn me into a +rose and out again!"</p> +<p>Then her three sisters joined their tongues together, and +finished the spell over her. And so soon as she had become a +rose-tree, the three sisters turned into three moles, and went +down under the earth and gnawed at the roots.</p> +<p>Then they came up, and took their own forms again, and +sang,—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Sister, sister, here you are now,</p> +<p>Till the ploughman come with the Galloping Plough!"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Then they turned into bees, and sucked out the honey from the +roses, and coming to themselves again they sang,—</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 40]</span> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Sister, here you must doze and doze,</p> +<p>Till they bring you a flower of the Burning Rose!"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>'Then they shook the dewdrops out of her eyes, +crying,—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Sister, your brain lies under our spell,</p> +<p>Till water be brought from the Thirsty Well!"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>'Then they took the top blossom of all, and broke it to +pieces, and threw the petals away as they cried,—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Sister, your life goes down for a term,</p> +<p>Till they bring you breath from the Camphor-Worm!"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>'And when they had done all this, they turned her back into +her true shape, and left her standing even as you see her now, +without warmth, or sight, or memory, or motion, dead saving for +her beauty, that never changes or dies. And here she must stand +till the spells which have been fastened upon her have been +unloosed. No long time after, the wickedness of the three sisters +and of their cruel mother was <span class="pagenum">[pg 41]</span> discovered to the king, and they were all put to death +for the crime. Yet the ill they had done remained; and the king's +grief became so great to see his loved daughter standing dead +before him that he removed with his court to another place, and +left this palace to the care of only a few serving-men, and +myself to keep watch and guard over the Princess.</p> +<p>'So now four-fold is the spell that holds her, and to break +the lightest of them the water of the Thirsty Well is needed; +with two of its drops laid upon her eyes memory will come back to +her, and her mind will remember of the things of the past. And +for the breaking of the second spell is needed a blossom of the +Burning Rose, and the plucking of that no man's hand can achieve; +but when the Rose is laid upon her breast, her heart will belong +to the world once more, and will beat again under her bosom. And +for <span class="pagenum">[pg 42]</span> the breaking of the +third spell one must bring the breath of the Camphor-Worm that +has lain for a whole year inside its body, and breathe it between +her lips; then she will breathe again, and all her five senses +will return to her. And for the last spell only the Galloping +Plough can uproot her back to life, and free her feet for the +ways of earth. Now, here we have the Galloping Plough with no man +who can guide it, and what aid can it be? If these fools should +be able to make it so much as but touch the feet of my dear +mistress, she will be mown down like grass, and die presently for +lack of earth; for only the three other charms I have told you of +can put whole life back into her.'</p> +<p>'As for the mastery of the Plough,' said Noodle, 'I will fetch +that from them in a breath. See, in a moment, how marvellous will +be the uplifting of their eyes!' He put to his lips the firestone +ring—the <span class="pagenum">[pg 43]</span> +Sweetener—and blew but one note through it. Then in a +moment the crowd divided hither and thither, with cries of wonder +and alarm, for the Plough turned and bounded back to its master +quickly, as an Arab mare at the call of her owner.</p> +<p>The old woman, weeping for gladness, cried: 'Thou art master +of the Plough! Art thou master of all the other things as +well?'</p> +<p>He said: 'Of one thing only. Tell me of the Burning Rose and +the Camphor-Worm; what and where are they? For I am the master of +the ends of the earth by reason of the speed with which this +carries me; and I am lord of the Thirsty Well, and have the +Fire-eaters for my friends.'</p> +<p>The old woman clapped her hands, and blessed him for his +youth, and his wisdom, and his courage. 'First,' she said, +'restore to the Princess her memory by means of <span class="pagenum">[pg 44]</span> the water of the Thirsty Well; then I +will show you the way to the Burning Rose, for the easier thing +must be done first.'</p> +<p>Then Noodle drew out the crystal and breathed in it, calling +on the Well-folk for the two drops of water to lay on Princess +Melilot's eyes. Immediately in the bottom of the cup appeared two +blue drops of water, that came climbing up the sides of the glass +and stood trembling together on the brim. And Noodle, touching +them with the firestone ring to make the memory of things sweet +to her, bent back the Princess's face, and let them fall under +her closed lids.</p> +<p>'Look!' cried the faithful nurse, 'light trembles within those +eyes of hers! In there she begins to remember things; but as yet +she sees and hears nothing. Now it is for you to be swift and +fetch her the blossom of the Burning Rose. Be wise, and you shall +not fail!'<br /> +<br /> +</p> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/053.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/053.png" alt="Image pg 53" /></a></div> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 45]</span> +<a name="burning"></a><h3>V</h3> +<h3>THE BURNING ROSE</h3> +<p><img width="7%" src="images/054.png" alt="S" class= +"firstletter" />he told him how he was to go, across the desert +southward, till he found a giant, longer in length than a day's +journey, lying asleep upon the sand. Over his head, it was told, +hung a cloud, covering him from the heat and resting itself +against his brows; within the cloud was a dream, and within the +dream grew the garden of the Burning Rose. Than this she knew no +more, nor by what means Noodle might gain entrance and become +possessor of the Rose.</p> +<p>Noodle waited for no more; he mounted upon the Galloping +Plough, and pressed <span class="pagenum">[pg 46]</span> away +over the desert to the south. For three days he travelled through +parched places, refreshing himself by the way with the water of +the Thirsty Well, calling on the Well-folk for the replenishment +of his crystal, and turning the draught to wine by the sweetness +of his magic ring.</p> +<p>At length he saw a cloud rising to him from a distance; like a +great opal it hung motionless between earth and heaven. Coming +nearer he saw the giant himself stretched out for a day's journey +across the sand. His head lay under the colours of the dawn, and +his feet were covered with the dusk of evening, and over his +middle shone the noonday sun.</p> +<p>Under the giant's shadow Noodle stopped, and gazed up into the +cloud; through the outer covering of its mists he saw what seemed +to be balls of fire, and knew that within lay the dream and the +garden of the Burning Rose.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 47]</span> +<p>The giant laughed and muttered in his sleep, for the dream was +sweet to him. 'O Rose,' he said, 'O sweet Rose, what end is there +of thy sweetness? How innumerable is the dance of the Roses of my +Rose-garden!'</p> +<p>Noodle caught hold of the ropes of the giant's hair, and +climbed till he sat within the hollow of his right ear. Then he +put to his lips the ring, the Sweetener, and sang till the giant +heard him in his sleep; and the sweet singing mixed itself with +the sweetness of the Rose in the giant's brain, and he muttered +to himself, saying: 'O bee, O sweet bee, O bee in my brain, what +honey wilt thou fetch for me out of the Roses of my +Rose-garden?'</p> +<p>So, more and more, Noodle sweetened himself to the giant, till +the giant passed him into his brain, and into the heart of the +dream, even into the garden of the Burning Rose.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 48]</span> +<p>Far down below the folds of the cloud, Noodle remembered that +the Galloping Plough lay waiting a call from him. 'When I have +stolen the Rose,' thought he, 'I may need swift heels for my +flight.' And he put the Sweetener to his lips and whistled the +Plough up to him.</p> +<p>It came, cleaving the encirclement of clouds like a silver +gleam of moonlight, and for a moment, where they parted, Noodle +saw a rift of blue sky, and the light of the outer world clear +through their midst.</p> +<p>The giant turned uneasily in his sleep, and the garden of the +Burning Rose rocked to its foundations as the edge of things real +pierced into it.</p> +<p>'While I stay here there is danger,' thought Noodle. 'Surely I +must make haste to possess myself of the Rose and to escape!'</p> +<p>All round him was a garden set thick with rose-trees in +myriads of blossom, rose <span class="pagenum">[pg 49]</span> +behind rose as far as the eye could reach, and the fragrance of +them lay like a heavy curtain of sleep upon the senses. Noodle, +beginning to feel drowsy, stretched out his hand in haste to the +nearest flower, lest in a little while he should be no more than +a part of the giant's dream. 'O beloved Heart of Melilot!' he +cried, and crushed his fingers upon the stem.</p> +<p>The whole bough crackled and sprang away at his touch; the +Rose turned upon him, screaming and spouting fire; a noise like +thunder filled all the air. Every rose in the garden turned and +spat flame at where he stood. His face and his hands became +blistered with the heat.</p> +<p>Leaping upon the back of his Plough, he cried, 'Carry me to +the borders of the garden where there are open spaces! The price +of the Princess is upon my head!'</p> +<p>The Plough bounded this way and that, searching for some +outlet by which to <span class="pagenum">[pg 50]</span> escape. +It flew in spirals and circles, it leaped like a flea, it +burrowed like a mole, it ploughed up the rose-trees by the roots. +But so soon as it had passed they stood up unharmed again, and to +whatever point of refuge the Plough fled, that way they all +turned their heads and darted out vomitings of fire.</p> +<p>In vain did Noodle summon the Well-folk to his aid; his +crystal shot forth fountains of water that turned into steam as +they rose, and fell back again, scalding him.</p> +<p>Then with two deaths threatening to devour him, he brandished +the ring, calling upon the Fire-eaters for their aid.</p> +<p>They laughed as they came. 'Here is food for you!' he cried. +'Multiply your appetites about me, or I shall be consumed in +these flames!'</p> +<p>'Brandish again!' cried they—the same seven whom he had +fed. 'We are not enough; this fire is not quenchable.'</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 51]</span> +<p>Noodle brandished till the whole garden swarmed with their +kind. One fastened himself upon every rose, a gulf opposing +itself to a torrent. All sight of the conflagration disappeared; +but within there went a roaring sound, and the bodies of the +Fire-eaters crackled, growing large and luminous the while.</p> +<p>'Do your will quickly and begone!' cried the Fire-eaters. +'Even now we swell to bursting with the pumping in of these +fires!'</p> +<p>Noodle seized on a rose to which one hung, sucking out its +heats. He tugged, but the strong fibres held. Then he locked +himself to the back of the Plough, crying to it and caressing its +speed with all names under heaven, and beseeching it in the name +of Melilot to break free. And the Plough giving but one plunge, +the Rose came away into Noodle's hand, panting and a prisoner. +All blushing it grew and <span class="pagenum">[pg 52]</span> +radiant, with a soft inner glow, and an odour of incomparable +sweetness. He seemed to see the heart of Melilot beating before +him.</p> +<p>But now there came a blast of fire behind him, for the +Fire-eaters had disappeared, and all was whirling and shaken +before his eyes; and the Plough sped desperately over earthquake +and space. For the plucking of the Rose had awakened the giant +from his sleep; and the dream shrivelled and spun away in a whirl +of flame-coloured vapours. Leaping into clear day out of the +unravelment of its mists, Noodle found himself and his Plough +launching over an edge of precipice for a downward dive into +space. The giant's hair, standing upright from his head in the +wrath and horror of his awakening, made a forest ending in his +forehead that bowered them to right and to left. Quitting it they +slid ungovernably <span class="pagenum">[pg 53]</span> over the +bulge of his brow, and went at full spurt for the abyss.</p> +<p>Dexterously the Plough steered its descent, catching on the +bridge and furrowing the ridge of the nose; nine leagues were the +duration of a second.</p> +<p>The giant, thinking some venomous parasite was injuring his +flesh, aimed, and a moment too late had thumped his fist upon the +place. But already the Plough skirting the amazed opening of his +mouth was lost in the trammels of his beard. Thence, as it +escaped the rummaging of his fingers, it flew scouring his +breast, and inflicted a flying scratch over the regions of his +abdomen. Then, still believing it to be the triumphal procession +of a flea, he pursued it to his thigh, and mistaking the shadow +for the substance allowed it yet again to escape. At his knee-cap +there was but a hair's-breadth between Noodle and the weight of +his thumb; but thereafter <span class="pagenum">[pg 54]</span> +the Plough out-distanced his every effort, and, with Noodle +preserved whole and alive, sped fast and far, bearing the Burning +Rose to the heart of the beloved Melilot.</p> +<p>The crone was aware of his coming before she heard him, or saw +the gleam of his Plough running beam-like over the land. From her +seat by the Princess's bower she clapped her hands, and springing +to his neck ere he alighted: 'A long way off, and a long time +off,' she cried, 'I knew what fortune was with you; for when you +plucked off the Rose, and bore it out of the heart of the dream, +the scent of it filled the world; and I felt the sweetness of +youth once more in my blood.'</p> +<p>Then she led him to the Princess, and bade him lay the Rose in +her breast, that her heart might be won back into the world. +Looking at her face again, Noodle saw how memory had made it more +beautiful <span class="pagenum">[pg 55]</span> than ever, and how +between her lips had grown the tender parting of a smile. Then he +laid the Rose where the movement of the heart should be; and +presently under the white breast rose the music of its +beating.</p> +<p>'Ah!' cried the old nurse, weeping for happiness, 'now her +heart that loved me is come back, and I can listen all day to the +sound of it! You have brought memory to her, you have brought +love; now bring breath, and the awakening of her five senses. +Surely the light of her eyes will be your reward!' <span class="pagenum">[pg 56]</span></p> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/065.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/065.png" alt="Image pg 65" /></a></div> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 57]</span> +<a name="camphor"></a><h3>VI</h3> +<h3>THE CAMPHOR-WORM</h3> +<p><img width="7%" src="images/066.png" alt="T" class= +"firstletter" />ell me quickly of the Camphor-Worm, cried the +youth as he feasted his eyes on the Princess's loveliness, made +more unendurable by the awakening within of love. 'Where and what +is it?' 'It is not so far as was the way to the Burning Rose,' +answered the crone; 'an hour on the back of the Plough shall +bring it near to you; but the danger and difficulty of this quest +is more, not less. For to reach the Camphor-Worm you need to be a +diver in deep waters, whose weight crushes a man; and to touch +its lips you must master the loathing of your nature; +<span class="pagenum">[pg 58]</span> and to carry away its breath +you must have strength of will and endurance beyond what is +mortal.' 'You trouble me with things I need not know,' cried +Noodle. 'Tell me,' he said, 'how I may reach the Camphor-Worm; +and of it and its ways.'</p> +<p>'By this path, and by that,' said the old woman, pointing him, +'go on till you come to the thick waters of the Bitter Lake; they +are blacker than night, and their weight is heavier than lead, +and in the depths dwells the Camphor-Worm. Once a year, when the +air is sweetest with the scents of summer, she rises to breathe, +lifting her black snout through the surface of the waters. Then +she draws fresh air into her lungs, flavoured with leaves and +flowers, and after she has breathed it in she lets go the last +bubble of the breath she drew from the summer of the year before; +and it is this bubble of breath alone that will give back life to +the five senses of Princess <span class="pagenum">[pg 59]</span> +Melilot. But the Worm's time for rising is far; and how you shall +bear the weight in the depths of those waters, or make the Worm +give up the bubble before her time, or at last bear back the +bubble to lay it on the lips of the Princess so that she may +wake,—these are things I know not the way of, for to my +eyes they seem dark with difficulty and peril.'</p> +<p>Then Noodle, opening the petals of the Burning Rose as it lay +upon the heart of Melilot, drew out honey from its centre, +filling his hand with the golden crumblings of fragrance; and he +leapt upon the Galloping Plough, urging it in the way the +Princess's nurse had pointed out to him. As they went he caressed +it with all the names under heaven, stroking it with his hand and +praising it for the delicacy of its steering: saying, 'O my +moonbeam, if thou wouldst save the life of thy master, or restore +the five senses of <span class="pagenum">[pg 60]</span> the +Princess Melilot, thou must surpass thyself to-day. Listen, thou +heaven-sent limb, thou miracle of quicksilver, and have a long +mind to my words; for in a short while I shall have no speech +left in me till the thing be done, and the deliverance, from head +to feet, of my Beloved accomplished.'</p> +<p>Even while he spoke they came to the edge of the Bitter +Lake—a small pool, but its waters were blacker than night, +and heavier than lead to the eye. Then Noodle leapt down from the +Plough, and caressed it for the last time, saying: 'Set thy face +for the garden where the Princess Melilot is; and when I am come +back to thee speechless out of the Lake and am striding thee once +more, then wait not for a word but carry me to her with more +speed than thou hast ever mustered to my aid till now; go faster +than wind or lightning or than the eye of man can see! So, +<span class="pagenum">[pg 61]</span> by good fortune, I may live +till I reach her lips; but if thou tarry at all I am a dead man. +And when thou art come to Melilot set thy share beneath the roots +of her feet, and take her up to me out of the ground. Do this +tenderly, but abate not speed till it be done!'</p> +<p>Then the youth put into his mouth the honey of the Burning +Rose, and into his lips the Sweetener, and stripped himself as a +bather to the pool. And the Plough, remembering its master's +word, turned and set its face to where lay the garden with +Melilot waiting to be relieved of her enchantment. Whereat +Noodle, bowing his head, and blessing it with lips of farewell, +turned shortly and slid down into the blackness of the lake.</p> +<p>The weight of that water was like a vice upon his limbs, and +around his throat, as he swam out into the centre of the pool. As +he went he breathed upon the water, <span class="pagenum">[pg 62]</span> and the scent of the honey of the Burning Rose passing +through the Sweetener made an incomparable fragrance, gentle, and +subtle, and wooing to the senses.</p> +<p>When he came to the middle of the lake he stayed breathing +full breaths, till the air deepened with fragrance around him. +Presently underneath him he felt the movement of a great thing +coming up from the bottom of the pool. It touched his feet and +came grazing along his side; and all at once shuddering and +horror took hold upon him, for his whole nature was filled with +loathing of its touch.</p> +<p>Out of the pool's surface before him rose a great black snout, +that opened, showing a round hole. Then he thought of Melilot and +her beauty laid fast under a charm, and drawing a full breath he +laid his lips containing the ring, the Sweetener, to the lips of +the Worm.</p> +<p>The Worm began to breathe. As the <span class="pagenum">[pg 63]</span> Worm drank the air out of him, he drew in more through +his nostrils, and more and more, till the great gills were filled +and satisfied.</p> +<p>Then the Worm let go the last bubble of air which remained +from the year before, and had lain ever since in its body, by +which alone life could be given back to the five senses of +Melilot. Then drawing in its head it lowered itself once more to +the bottom of the pool; and Noodle, feeling in his mouth the +precious globule of air, fastened his lips upon it and shot out +for shore.</p> +<p>Against the weight of those leaden waters a longing to gasp +possessed him; but he knew that with the least breath the bubble +would be lost, and all his labour undone. Not too soon his feet +caught hold of the bank, and drew him free to land. He cast +himself speechless across the back of the Galloping Plough and +clung.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 64]</span> +<p>The Plough gathered itself together and sprang away through +space. Remembering its master's word it showed itself a miracle +of speed; like lightning became its flight.</p> +<p>The eye of Noodle grew blind to the passing of things; he +could take no count of the collapsing leagues. More and more grew +the amazingness of the Plough's leaps, things only to be measured +by miles, and counted as joltings on the way; while fast to the +back of it clung Noodle, and endured, praying that shortness of +breath might not overmaster him, or the check of his lungs give +way and burst him to the emptiness of a drum. His senses rocked +and swayed; he felt the gates of his resolve slackening and +forcing themselves apart; and still the Galloping Plough plunged +him blindly along through space.</p> +<p>But now the shrill crying of the crone <span class="pagenum">[pg 65]</span> struck in upon his ears, and he +stretched open his arms for the accomplishment of the +deliverance. Even in that nick of time was the end of the thing +brought about; for the Plough, guiding itself as a thread to the +needle's eye, gave the uprooting stroke to the white feet of +Melilot; and Noodle, swooning for the last gasp, saw all at once +her beauty swaying level to his gaze and her body bending down +upon his.</p> +<p>Then he fastened his lips upon hers, and loosed the bubble +from his mouth; and panting and sobbing themselves back to life +they hung in each other's arms. She warmed and ripened in his +embrace, opening upon him the light of her eyes; and the +greatness and beauty of the reward abashed him and bore him down +to earth.</p> +<p>He heard the old crone clucking and crowing, like a hen over +its egg, of the happiness that had come to her old years; till +recognising the youth's state she <span class="pagenum">[pg 66]</span> covered him over with a cloak amid exclamations of +astonishment.</p> +<p>The Princess saw nothing but her lover's face and the happy +feasting of his eyes. She bent her head nearer and nearer to his, +and the story of what he had done became a dream that she +remembered, and that waking made true. 'O you Noodle,' she said, +laughing, 'you wise, wise Noodle!' And then everything was +finished, for she had kissed him!</p> +<p>So Noodle and the Princess were married, and came to the +throne together and reigned over a happy land. The Fire-eaters +were their friends, and the gifts of fortune were theirs. The +Galloping Plough made all the waste places fertile; and the water +of the Thirsty Well rose and ran in rivers through the land; and +over the walls of their palace, where they had planted it, grew +the flower of the Burning Rose.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 67]</span> +<hr class="half" /> +<br /><a name="warranty"></a> +<h3>THE CROWN'S WARRANTY</h3> +<br /> +<hr class="half" /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 68]</span> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/077.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/077.png" alt="Image77" /></a></div> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 69]</span> +<h3>THE CROWN'S WARRANTY</h3> +<p><img width="7%" src="images/078.png" alt="F" class= +"firstletter" />ive hundred years ago or more a king died, +leaving two sons: one was the child of his first wife, and the +other of his second, who surviving him became his widow. When the +king was dying he took off the royal crown which he wore, and set +it upon the head of the elder born, the son of his first wife, +and said to him: 'God is the lord of the air, and of the water, +and of the dry land: this gift cometh to thee from God. Be +merciful, over whatsoever thou holdest power, as God is!' And +saying these words he laid his hands upon the heads of his two +sons and died.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 70]</span> +<p>Now this crown was no ordinary crown, for it was made of the +gold brought by the Wise men of the East when they came to +worship at Bethlehem. Every king that had worn it since then had +reigned well and uprightly and had been loved by all his people: +but only to himself was it known what virtue lay in his crown; +and every king at dying gave it to his son with the same words of +blessing.</p> +<p>So, now, the king's eldest son wore the crown; and his +step-mother knew that her own son could not wear it while he +lived, therefore she looked on and said nothing. Now he was known +to all the people of his country, because of his right to the +throne, as the king's son; and his brother, the child of the +second wife, was called the queen's son. But as yet they were +both young, and cared little enough for crowns.</p> +<p>After the king's death the queen was <span class="pagenum">[pg 71]</span> made regent till the king's son should be come to a +full age; but already the little king wore the royal crown his +father had left him, and the queen looked on and said +nothing.</p> +<p>More than three years went by, and everybody said how good the +queen was to the little king who was not her own son; and the +king's son, for his part, was good to her and to his +step-brother, loving them both; and all by himself he kept +thinking, having his thoughts guarded and circled by his golden +crown, 'How shall I learn to be a wise king, and to be merciful +when I have power, as God is?'</p> +<p>So to everything that came his way, to his playthings and his +pets, to his ministers and his servants, he played the king as +though already his word made life and death. People watching him +said, 'Everything that has touch with the king's son loves him.' +They told strange tales of <span class="pagenum">[pg 72]</span> +him: only in fairy books could they be believed, because they +were so beautiful; and all the time the queen, getting a good +name for herself, looked on and said nothing.</p> +<p>One night the king's son was lying half-asleep upon his bed, +with wise dreams coming and going under the circle of his gold +crown, when a mouse ran out of the wainscot and came and jumped +up upon the couch. The poor mouse had turned quite white with +fear and horror, and was trembling in every limb as it cried its +news into the king's ear. 'O king's son,' it said, 'get up and +run for your life! I was behind the wainscot in the queen's +closet, and this is what I heard: if you stay here, when you wake +up to-morrow you will be dead!'</p> +<p>The king's son got up, and all alone in the dark night stole +out of the palace, seeking safety for his dear life. He sighed +<span class="pagenum">[pg 73]</span> to himself, 'There was a +pain in my crown ever since I wore it. Alas, mother, I thought +you were too kind a step-mother to do this!'</p> +<p>Outside it was still winter: there was no warmth in the world, +and not a leaf upon the trees. He wandered away and away, +wondering where he should hide.</p> +<p>The queen, when her villains came and told her the king's son +was not to be found, went and looked in her magic crystal to find +trace of him. As soon as it grew light, for in the darkness the +crystal could show her nothing, she saw many miles away the +king's son running to hide himself in the forest. So she sent out +her villains to search until they should find him.</p> +<p>As they went the sun grew hot in the sky, and birds began +singing. 'It is spring!' cried the messengers. 'How suddenly it +has come!' They rode on till they came to the forest.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 74]</span> +<p>The king's son, stumbling along through the forest under the +bare boughs, thought, 'Even here where shall I hide? Nowhere is +there a leaf to cover me.' But when the sun grew warm he looked +up; and there were all the trees breaking into bud and leaf, +making a green heaven above his head. So when he was too weary to +go farther, he climbed into the largest tree he could find; and +the leaves covered him.</p> +<p>The queen's messengers searched through all the forest but +could not find him; so they went back to her empty handed, not +having either the king's crown or his heart to show. 'Fools!' she +cried, looking in her magic crystal, 'he was in the big sycamore +under which you stopped to give your horses provender!'</p> +<p>The sycamore said to the king's son, 'The queen's eye is on +you; get down and run for your life till you get to the +hollow +<span class="pagenum">[pg 75]</span> tarn-stones among the hills! +But if you stay here, when you wake to-morrow you will be dead.'</p> +<p>When the queen's messengers came once more to the forest they +found it all wintry again, and without leaf; only the sycamore +was in full green, clapping its hands for joy in the keen and +bitter air.</p> +<p>The messengers searched, and beat down the leaves, but the +king's son was not there. They went back to the queen. She looked +long in her magic crystal, but little could she see; for the +king's son had hidden himself in a small cave beside the +tarn-stones, and into the darkness the crystal could not pry.</p> +<p>Presently she saw a flight of birds crossing the blue, and +every bird carried a few crumbs of bread in its beak. Then she +ran and called to her villains, 'Follow the birds, and they will +take you to where the little wizard is; for they are carrying +<span class="pagenum">[pg 76]</span> bread to feed him, and they +are all heading for the tarn-stones up on the hills.'</p> +<p>The birds said to the king's son, 'Now you are rested; we have +fed you, and you are not hungry. The queen's eye is on you. Up, +and run for your life! If you stay here, when you wake up +to-morrow you will be dead.'</p> +<p>'Where shall I go?' said the king's son. 'Go,' answered the +birds, 'and hide in the rushes on the island of the pool of sweet +waters!'</p> +<p>When the queen's messengers came to the tarn-stones, it was as +though five thousand people had been feeding: they found crumbs +enough to fill twelve baskets full, lying in the cave; but no +king's son could they lay their hands on.</p> +<p>The king's son was lying hidden among the rushes on the island +of the great pool of sweet waters; and thick and fast came +silver-scaled fishes, feeding him.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 77]</span> +<p>It took the queen three days of hard gazing in her crystal, +before she found how the fishes all swam to a point among the +rushes of the island in the pool of sweet waters, and away again. +Then she knew: and running to her messengers she cried: 'He is +among the rushes on the island in the pool of sweet waters; and +all the fishes are feeding him!'</p> +<p>The fishes said to the king's son: 'The queen's eye is on you; +up, and swim to shore, and away for your life! For if they come +and find you here, when you wake to-morrow you will certainly be +dead.'</p> +<p>'Where shall I go?' asked the king's son. 'Wherever I go, she +finds me.' 'Go to the old fox who gets his poultry from the +palace, and ask him to hide you in his burrow!'</p> +<p>When the queen's messengers came to the pool they found the +fishes playing at <span class="pagenum">[pg 78]</span> +<i>alibis</i> all about in the water; but nothing of the king's +son could they see.</p> +<p>The king's son came to the fox, and the fox hid him in his +burrow, and brought him butter and eggs from the royal dairy. +This was better fare than the king's son had had since the +beginning of his wanderings, and he thanked the fox warmly for +his friendship. 'On the contrary,' said the fox, 'I am under an +obligation to you; for ever since you came to be my guest I have +felt like an honest man.' 'If I live to be king,' said the king's +son, 'you shall always have butter and eggs from the royal dairy, +and be as honest as you like.'</p> +<p>The queen hugged her magic crystal for a whole week, but could +make nothing out of it: for her crystal showed her nothing of the +king's son's hiding-place, nor of the fox at his nightly thefts +of butter and eggs from the royal dairy. <span class="pagenum">[pg 79]</span> But it so happened that this same fox +was a sort of half-brother of the queen's; and so guilty did he +feel with his brand-new good conscience that he quite left off +going to see her. So in a little while the queen, with her +suspicions and her magic crystal, had nosed out the young king's +hiding-place.</p> +<p>The fox said to the king's son: 'The queen's eye is on you! +Get out and run for your life, for if you stay here till +to-morrow, you will wake up and find yourself a dead goose!'</p> +<p>'But where else can I go to?' asked the king's son. 'Is there +any place left for me?' The fox laughed, and winked, and +whispered a word; and all at once the king's son got up and +went.</p> +<p>The queen had said to her messengers, 'Go and look in the +fox's hole; and you shall find him!' But the messengers came and +dug up the burrow, and found <span class="pagenum">[pg 80]</span> +butter and eggs from the royal dairy, but of the king's son never +a sign.</p> +<p>The king's son came to the palace, and as he crept through the +gardens he found there his little brother alone at +play,—playing sadly because now he was all alone. Then the +king's son stopped and said, 'Little brother, do you so much wish +to be king?' And taking off the crown, he put it upon his +brother's head. Then he went on through underground ways and +corridors, till he came to the palace dungeons.</p> +<p>Now a dungeon is a hard thing to get out of, but it is easy +enough to get into. He came to the deepest and darkest dungeon of +all, and there he opened the door, and went in and hid +himself.</p> +<p>The queen's son came running to his mother, wearing the king's +crown. 'Oh, mother,' he said, 'I am frightened! while I was +playing, my brother came +<span class="pagenum">[pg 81]</span> looking all dead and white, +and put this crown on my head. Take it off for me, it hurts!'</p> +<p>When the queen saw the crown on her son's head, she was +horribly afraid; for that it should have so come there was the +most unlikely thing of all. She fetched her crystal ball, and +looked in, asking where the king's son might be, and, for answer, +the crystal became black as night.</p> +<p>Then said the queen to herself, 'He is dead at last!'</p> +<p>But, now that the king's crown was on the wrong head, the air, +and the water, and the dry land, over which God is lord, heard of +it. And the trees said, 'Until the king's son returns, we will +not put forth bud or leaf!'</p> +<p>And the birds said, 'We will not sing in the land, or breed or +build nests until the king's son returns!'</p> +<p>And the fishes said, 'We will not stay <span class="pagenum">[pg 82]</span> in the ponds or rivers to get caught, +unless the king's son, to whom we belong, returns!'</p> +<p>And the foxes said, 'Unless the king's son returns, we will +increase and multiply exceedingly and be like locusts in the +land!'</p> +<p>So all through that land the trees, though it was spring, +stayed as if it were mid-winter; and all the fishes swam down to +the sea; and all the birds flew over the sea, away into other +countries; and all the foxes increased and multiplied, and became +like locusts in the land.</p> +<p>Now when the trees, and the birds, and the beasts, and the +fishes led the way the good folk of the country discovered that +the queen was a criminal. So, after the way of the flesh, they +took the queen and her little son, and bound them, and threw them +into the deepest and darkest dungeon they could find; and said +they: 'Until <span class="pagenum">[pg 83]</span> you tell us +where the king's son is, there you stay and starve!'</p> +<p>The king's son was playing all alone in his dungeon with the +mice who brought him food from the palace larder, when the queen +and her son were thrown down to him fast bound, as though he were +as dangerous as a den of lions. At first he was terribly afraid +when he found himself pursued into his last hiding-place; but +presently he gathered from the queen's remarks that she was quite +powerless to do him harm.</p> +<p>'Oh, what a wicked woman I am!' she moaned; and began crying +lamentably, as if she hoped to melt the stone walls which formed +her prison.</p> +<p>Presently her little son cried, 'Mother, take off my brother's +crown; it pricks me!' And the king's son sat in his corner, and +cried to himself with grief over the harm that his step-mother's +wickedness had brought about.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 84]</span> +<p>'Mother,' cried the queen's son again, 'night and day since I +have worn it, it pricks me; I cannot sleep!'</p> +<p>But the queen's heart was still hard; not if she could help, +would she yet take off from her son the crown.</p> +<p>Hours went by, and the queen and her son grew hungry. 'We +shall be starved to death!' she cried. 'Now I see what a wicked +woman I am!'</p> +<p>'Mother,' cried the queen's son, 'some one is putting food +into my mouth!' 'No one,' said the queen, 'is putting any into +mine. Now I know what a wicked woman I am!'</p> +<p>Presently the king's son came to the queen also, and began +feeding her. 'Someone is putting food into <i>my</i> mouth, now!' +cried the queen. 'If it is poisoned I shall die in agony! I +wish,' she said, 'I wish I knew your brother were not dead; if I +have killed him what a wicked woman I am!'</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 85]</span> +<p>'Dear step-mother,' said the king's son 'I am not dead, I am +here.'</p> +<p>'Here?' cried the queen, shaking with fright. 'Here? not dead! +How long have you been here?'</p> +<p>'Days, and days, and days,' said the king's son, sadly.</p> +<p>'Ah! if I had only known <i>that</i>!' cried the queen. +'<i>Now</i> I know what a wicked woman I am!'</p> +<p>Just then, the trap-door in the roof of the dungeon opened, +and a voice called down, 'Tell us where is the king's son! If you +do not tell us, you shall stay here and starve.'</p> +<p>'The king's son is here!' cried the queen.</p> +<p>'A likely story!' answered the gaolers. 'Do you think we are +going to believe that?' And they shut-to the trap.</p> +<p>The queen's son cried, 'Dear brother, come and take back your +crown, it pricks <span class="pagenum">[pg 86]</span> so!' But +the king's son only undid the queen's bonds and his brother's. +'Now,' said he, 'you are free: you can kill me now.'</p> +<p>'Oh!' cried the queen, 'what a wicked woman I must be! Do you +think I could do it now?' Then she cried, 'O little son, bring +your poor head to me, and I will take off the crown!' and she +took off the crown and gave it back to the king's son. 'When I am +dead,' she said, 'remember, and be kind to him!'</p> +<p>The king's son put the crown upon his own head.</p> +<p>Suddenly, outside the palace, all the land broke into leaf; +there was a rushing sound in the river of fishes swimming up from +the sea, and all the air was loud and dark with flights of +returning birds. Almost at the same moment the foxes began to +disappear and diminish, and cease to be like locusts in the +land.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 87]</span> +<p>People came running to open the door of the deepest and +darkest dungeon in the palace: 'For either,' they cried, 'the +queen is dead, or the king's son has been found!'</p> +<p>'Where is the king's son, then?' they called out, as they +threw wide the door. 'He is here!' cried the king; and out he +came, to the astonishment of all, wearing his crown, and leading +his step-mother and half-brother by the hand.</p> +<p>He looked at his step-mother, and she was quite white; as +white as the mouse that had jumped upon the king's bed at +midnight bidding him fly for his life. Not only her face, but her +hair, her lips, and her very eyes were white and colourless, for +she had gone blind from gazing too hard into her crystal ball, +and hunting the king's son to death.</p> +<p>So she remained blind to the end of her days; but the king was +more good to <span class="pagenum">[pg 88]</span> her than gold, +and as for his brother, never did half-brothers love each other +better than these. Therefore they all lived very happily +together, and after a long time, the queen learned to forget what +a wicked woman she had been.</p> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 89]</span> +<hr class="half" /> +<br /><a name="wishing-pot"></a> +<h3>THE WISHING-POT</h3> +<br /> +<hr class="half" /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 90]</span> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/099.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/099.png" alt="Image99" /></a></div> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 91]</span> +<h3>THE WISHING-POT</h3> +<p>Tulip was the son of a poor but prudent mother; from the +moment of his birth she had trained him to count ten before ever +he wanted or asked for anything. An otherwise reckless youth, he +acquired an intrinsic value through the practice of this habit. +Only once, just as he was reaching, but had not quite reached, +years of discretion, did his habit of precaution fail him; and +this same failure became in the end the opening of his +fortunes.</p> +<p>Bathing one day in the river, to whose banks the woods ran +down in steep <span class="pagenum">[pg 92]</span> terraces, he +heard a voice come singing along one of the upper slopes; and +looking up under the boughs of cedar and sycamore, he saw a pair +of green feet go dancing by, up and down like grasshoppers on the +prance.</p> +<p>There was such rhythm in them, and such sweetness in the +voice, that his heart was out of him before he could harness it +to the number ten, and he came out of the water the most natural +and forlorn of lovers.</p> +<p>Before he was dressed the green feet and the voice were gone, +and before he got home his health and his appetite seemed to have +gone also. He pined industriously from day to day, and spent all +his hours in searching among the woods by the river side for his +lady of the dear green feet. He did not know so much as the size +or colour of her face; the sound of her voice alone, and the +running up <span class="pagenum">[pg 93]</span> and down of her +feet, had, as he told his mother, 'decimated his affections.'</p> +<p>In his trouble he could think of only one possible remedy, and +that he counted well over, knowing its risk. Away in the +loneliest part of the forest there lived a wise woman, to whom, +now and then, folk went for help when everything else had failed +them. So he had heard tell of a certain Wishing-Pot that was hers +in which people might see the thing they desired most, and into +which for a fee she allowed lovers and other poor fools of +fortune to look. One thing, however, was told against the virtues +of this Wishing-Pot, that though many had had a sight of it, and +their wishes revealed to them therein, others had gone and had +never again returned to their homes, but had vanished altogether +from men's sight, nor had any news ever been heard of them after. +There were some wise folk who <span class="pagenum">[pg 94]</span> held that they had only gone elsewhere to seek the +fortune that the Wishing-Pot had shown to them. Nevertheless, for +the most part the wise woman and her Wishing-Pot had an ill name +in that neighbourhood.</p> +<p>To a lover's heart risk gives value; so one fine morning Tulip +kissed his mother, counted ten, and set out for the woods.</p> +<p>Towards evening he came to the house of the witch and knocked +at the door. 'Good mother,' said he, when she opened to him, 'I +have brought you the fee to buy myself a wish over the +Wishing-Pot.' 'Ay, surely,' answered the crone, and drew him +in.</p> +<p>In one corner of the room stood a great crystal bowl. Nearly +round it was, and had a small opening at the top, to which a man +might place his eye and look in. To Tulip, as he looked at it, it +seemed all coloured fires and falling stars, and a soft crackling +sound came from it, as though <span class="pagenum">[pg 95]</span> heat burned in its veins. It threw long shapes and +lustres upon the walls, and within innumerable things writhed, +and ran, and whiffed in the floating of its vapours.</p> +<p>'You may have two wishes,' said the old witch, 'a one and a +two.' And she said the spell that undid the secret of the Pot to +the wisher.</p> +<p>Then Tulip bent down his head and looked in, counting softly +to himself, and at ten, he let the wish go to his lady of the +dear green feet.</p> +<p>The colours changed and sprang, as though stirred and fed with +fresh fuel; and down in the depths of the Wishing-Pot he saw the +feet of his Beloved go by in twinkling green slippers.</p> +<p>As soon as he saw that he began counting ten in great haste +for the second wish. 'O to be inside the Wishing-Pot with her!' +was his thought now. He had got <span class="pagenum">[pg 96]</span> to nine, and the wish was almost on his tongue, when +he caught sight of the old woman's eye looking at him. And the +eye had become like a large green spider, with great long limbs +that kept clutching up and out again!</p> +<p>His heart queegled to a jelly at the sight; but the green feet +lured him so, that he still thought how to get to them and yet be +safe. Surely, to be in the Wishing-Pot and out by the sound of +the next Angelus became the shape of his wish. He shut his eyes, +cried ten upon the venture, and was in the Wishing-Pot!</p> +<p>The little green feet were trebling over the glass with a +sound like running water; and he himself began running at full +speed, shot off into the Wishing-Pot like a pellet from a +pop-gun. Nothing could he see of his dear but her wee green feet. +But above them as they ran he heard showery laughter, and he knew +that his lady was <span class="pagenum">[pg 97]</span> there +before him, though invisible to the eye.</p> +<p>The Pot, now he was in it, seemed bigger than the biggest dome +in the world; to run all round it took him two or three minutes. +Away in the centre of its base stood a great opal knob, like the +axle to a wheel round which he and the green feet kept +circling.</p> +<p>However much he wished and wished, the green feet still kept +their distance, for now he was <i>in</i> the Wishing-Pot wishes +availed him nothing. The green feet flew faster than his; the +light laugh rang further and further away; right across to the +other side of the hall his lady had passed from him now.</p> +<p>The magic fires of the crystal leapt and crackled under his +tread; now it seemed as if his feet ran on a green lawn, out of +which broke crocuses and daffodils, and now roses reddened in the +track, and now <span class="pagenum">[pg 98]</span> the purple +of grapes spurted across the path like spilled wine. The sound of +the green feet and the running of overhead laughter, as they +distanced him in front, came nearer and nearer behind him from +across the hall. He felt that he must follow and not turn, +however beaten he might be.</p> +<p>Presently a voice, that he knew was his Beloved's, +cried,—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'Heart that would have me must hatch me!</p> +<p>Feet that would find me must catch me!</p> +<p>Man that would mate me must match me!'</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Oh, how? wondered spent feet, and failing heart, and reeling +brain. He stumbled slower and slower in the race, till presently +with quick innumerable patterings the green feet grew closer, and +were overtaking him from the rear.</p> +<p>Warm breath was in his hair,—lips and a hand; he turned, +open armed, to snatch the mischievous morsel, but all that he +<span class="pagenum">[pg 99]</span> clasped was a gust of air; +and he saw the green feet scudding out and away on a fresh start +before him.</p> +<p>Again, with laughter, the voice cried,—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'Lap for lap you must wind me:</p> +<p>Equal, before you can find me!</p> +<p>You are a lap behind me!'</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Where they raced the surface of the glass sloped slightly to +the upward rise of its walls; Tulip shifted his ground, and ran +where the footing was leveller toward the centre, and the circle +began to go smaller. So he began to gain, till the green +slippers, seeing how the advantage had come about, shifted also +in their turn.</p> +<p>Thus they ran on; there were no inner posts to mark the +course, only the great opal standing in the centre of all formed +the pivot of the race, and round and round it, a great way off, +they ran.</p> +<p>All at once a big thought came into <span class="pagenum">[pg 100]</span> Tulip's head; he waited not to count ten, but, before +Green Slippers knew what he was after, he had reached the opal +centre, and was circling it. Then quickly all the laughter +stopped; the green feet came twinkling sixteens to the dozens, so +as to get round the post before him and away.</p> +<p>One lap, he was before her; two laps, he turned again to her +coming, and found her falling into his arms. She blossomed into +sight at his touch: from top to toe she was there! All rosy and +alive he had her in his clasp, laughing, crying, clinging, yet +struggling to be free. She made a most endless handful, till +Tulip had caught her by the hair and kissed her between the +eyes.</p> +<p>All round and overhead the magic crystal reared up arches of +fire, to a roof that dropped like rain, while Tulip and his prize +sank down exhausted on the great hub of opal to rest. As he +touched it all <span class="pagenum">[pg 101]</span> the secret +wonders of the Wishing-Pot were opened and revealed to his +gaze.</p> +<p>Crowds and crowds of faces were what he most saw; everywhere +that he turned he saw old friends and neighbours who, he thought, +had been dead and gone, looking sadly, and shaking long sorrowful +faces at him. 'You here too, Tulip?' they seemed forever to be +saying. 'Always another, and another; and now you here too!'</p> +<p>There was the dairyman's wife, who had waited seven years to +have a child, holding a little will-o'-the-wisp of a thing in her +arms. Now and then for a while it would lie still, and then +suddenly it would leap up and dart away; and she, poor soul, must +up and after it, though the chase were ever so long!</p> +<p>There also was Miller Dick with his broad thumbs, counting +over a rich pile of gold, which, ever and anon, spun up into the +air, and went strewing itself like <span class="pagenum">[pg 102]</span> dead leaves before the wind. Then he too must needs +up and after it, till it was all caught again, and added +together, and made right.</p> +<p>There were small playmates of Tulip's childhood, each with its +little conceit of treasure: one had a toy, and another a lamb, +another a bird; and all of them hunted and caught the thing they +loved, and kissed it and again let go. So it went on, over and +over again, more sad than the sight of a quaker as he twiddles +his thumbs.</p> +<p>Whenever they were at peace for a moment, they turned their +eyes his way. 'What, you here too, Tulip?' was always the thing +they seemed to be saying.</p> +<p>While Tulip sat looking at them, and thinking of it all, +suddenly his lady disappeared, and only her green feet darted +from his side and began running round and round in a circle. Then +was he just about to set off running after them, when +<span class="pagenum">[pg 103]</span> he felt himself caught up +to the coloured fires of the roof and sent spinning ungovernably +through space. Suddenly he was dumped to the ground, and just as +his feet were gathering themselves up under him he heard the +Angelus bell ringing from the village below the slopes of the +wood.</p> +<p>He was standing again by the side of the Wishing-Pot, and the +old woman sat cowering, and blinking her spider-eye at him, too +much astonished to speak or move.</p> +<p>Tulip looked at her with a pleasant and engaging air. 'Oh, +good mother, what a treat you have given me!' he said. 'How I +wish I had money for another wish! what a pity it was ever to +have wished myself back again!'</p> +<p>When the old witch heard that she thought still to entrap him, +and answered joyfully, 'Why, kind Sir, surely, kind Sir, +<span class="pagenum">[pg 104]</span> if you like it you shall +look again! Take another wish, and never mind about the money.' +So she said the spell once more which opened to him the wonders +of the Wishing-Pot.</p> +<p>Then cried Tulip, clapping his hands, 'What better can I wish +than to have you in the Wishing-Pot, in the place of all those +poor folk whom you have imprisoned with their wishes!'</p> +<p>Hardly was the thing said than done; all the children who had +been Tulip's playmates, and Miller Dick with his broad thumbs, +and the dairyman's wife, were every one of them out, and the old +witch woman was nowhere to be seen.</p> +<p>But Tulip put his eye to the mouth of the Wishing-Pot; and +there down below he saw the old witch, running round and round as +hard as she could go, pursued by a herd of green spiders. And +there without doubt she remains.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 105]</span> +<p>And now everybody was happy except Tulip himself; for the +children had all of them their toys, and the old miller his gold, +and as for the dairyman's wife, she found that she had become the +mother of a large and promising infant. But Tulip had altogether +lost his lady of the dear green feet, for in thinking of others +he had forgotten to think of himself. All the gratitude of the +poor people he had saved was nothing to him in that great loss +which had left him desolate. For his part he only took the +Wishing-Pot up under his arm, and went sadly away home.</p> +<p>But before long the noise of what he had done reached to the +king's ears; and he sent for Tulip to appear before him and his +Court. Tulip came, carrying the Wishing-Pot under his arm, very +downcast and sad for love of the lady of the dear green feet.</p> +<p>At that time all the Court was in half <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 106]</span> mourning; for the Princess Royal, who +was the king's only child, and the most beautiful and +accomplished of her sex, had gone perfectly distraught with +grief, of which nothing could cure her. All day long she sat with +her eyes shut, and tears running down, and folded hands and quiet +little feet. And all this came, it was said, from a dream which +she could not tell or explain to anybody.</p> +<p>The king had promised that whoever could rouse her from her +grief, should have the princess for his wife, and become heir to +the throne; and when he heard that there was such a thing in the +world as a Wishing-Pot, he thought that something might be done +with it.</p> +<p>From Tulip he learned, however, that no one knew the spell +which opened the resources of the Wishing-Pot save the old witch +woman who was shut up fast for ever in its inside. So it seemed +to <span class="pagenum">[pg 107]</span> the king that the Pot +could be of no use for curing the princess.</p> +<p>But it was so beautiful, with its shooting stars and coloured +fires, that, when Tulip brought it, they carried it in to show to +her.</p> +<p>After three hours the princess was prevailed upon to open her +eyes; and directly they fell upon the great opal bowl, all at +once she started to her feet and began laughing and dancing and +singing.</p> +<p>These are the words that they heard her sing,—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'Lap for lap I must wind you;</p> +<p>Equal, before I can find you;</p> +<p>I am a lap behind you!'</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Tulip, as soon as he heard the sweetness of that voice, and +the words, pushed his way past the king and all his court, to +where the princess was. And there over the heads of the crowd he +saw his lady <span class="pagenum">[pg 108]</span> of the dear +green feet laughing and opening her white arms to him.</p> +<p>As she set eyes on his face the dream of the princess came +true, and all her unhappiness passed from her. So they loved and +were married, to the astonishment and edification of the whole +court; and lived to be greatly loved and admired by all their +grandchildren.</p> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 109]</span> +<hr class="half" /><a name="feeding"></a> +<h3>THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS</h3> +<br /> +<hr class="half" /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 110]</span> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/119.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/119.png" alt="Image119" /></a></div> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 111]</span> +<h3>THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS</h3> +<p><img width="7%" src="images/120.png" alt="O" class= +"firstletter" />ver the sea went the birds, flying southward to +their other home where the sun was. The rustle of their wings, +high over head, could be heard down on the water; and their soft, +shrill twitterings, and the thirsty nibbling of their beaks; for +the seas were hushed, and the winds hung away in cloud-land.</p> +<p>Far away from any shore, and beginning to be weary, their eyes +caught sight of a white form resting between sky and sea. Nearer +they came, till it seemed to be a great white bird, brooding on +the calmed water; and its wings were stretched high <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 112]</span> and wide, yet it stirred not. And the +wings had in themselves no motion, but stood rigidly poised over +their own reflection in the water.</p> +<p>Then the birds came curiously, dropping from their straight +course, to wonder at the white wings that went not on. And they +came and settled about this great, bird-like thing, so still and +so grand.</p> +<p>Onto the deck crept a small child, for the noise of the birds +had come down to him in the hold. 'There is nobody at home but +me,' he said; for he thought the birds must have come to call, +and he wished to be polite. 'They are all gone but me,' he went +on, 'all gone. I am left alone.'</p> +<p>The birds, none of them understood him; but they put their +heads on one side and looked down on him in a friendly way, +seeming to consider.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 113]</span> +<p>He ran down below and fetched up a pannikin of water and some +biscuit. He set the water down, and breaking the biscuit +sprinkled it over the white deck. Then he clapped his hands to +see them all flutter and crowd round him, dipping their bright +heads to the food and drink he gave them.</p> +<p>They might not stay long, for the waterlogged ship could not +help them on the way they wished to go; and by sunset they must +touch land again. Away they went, on a sudden, the whole crew of +them, and the sound of their voices became faint in the bright +sea-air.</p> +<p>'I am left alone!' said the child.</p> +<p>Many days ago, while he was asleep in a snug corner he had +found for himself, the captain and crew had taken to the boats, +leaving the great ship to its fate. And forgetting him because he +was so small, or thinking that he was safe in <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 114]</span> some one of the other boats, the rough +sailors had gone off without him, and he was left alone. So for a +whole week he had stayed with the ship, like a whisper of its +vanished life amid the blues of a deep calm. And the birds came +to the ship only to desert it again quickly, because it stood so +still upon the sea.</p> +<p>But that night the mermen came round the vessel's side, and +sang; and the wind rose to their singing, and the sea grew rough. +Yet the child slept with his head in dreams. The dreams came from +the mermen's songs, and he held his breath, and his heart stayed +burdened by the deep sweetness of what he saw.</p> +<p>Dark and strange and cold the sea-valleys opened before him; +blue sea-beasts ranged there, guarded by strong-finned shepherds, +and fishes like birds darted to and fro, but made no sound. And +that was what burdened his heart,—that for <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 115]</span> all the beauty he saw, there was no +sound, no song of a single bird to comfort him.</p> +<p>The mermen reached out their blue arms to him, and sang; on +the top of the waves they sang, striving to make him forget the +silence of the land below. They offered him the sea-life: why +should he be drowned and die?</p> +<p>And now over him in the dark night the great wings crashed, +and beat abroad in the wind, and the ship made great way. And the +mermen swam fast to be with her, and ceased from their own song, +for the wind sang a coronach in the canvas and cordage. But the +little child lifted his head in his sleep and smiled, for his +soul was eased of the mermen's song, and it seemed to him that +instead he heard birds singing in a far-off land, singing of a +child whose loving hand had fed them, faint and weary, in their +way over the wide ocean.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 116]</span> +<p>In that far southern land the dawn had begun, and the birds, +waking one by one, were singing their story of him to the +soft-breathing tamarisk boughs. And none of them knew how they +had been sent as a salvage crew to save the child's spirit from +the spell of the sea-dream, and to carry it safely back to the +land that loved him.</p> +<p>But with the child's body the white wings had flown down into +the wave-buried valleys, and to a cleft of the sea-hills to +rest.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 117]</span> +<hr class="half" /> +<br /><a name="passionate"></a> +<h3>THE PASSIONATE PUPPETS</h3> +<br /> +<hr class="half" /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 118]</span> +<div class="ctr"><a href="images/127.png"><img width="30%" src= +"images/127.png" alt="Image1<h2></h2>27" /></a></div> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 119]</span> +<h3>THE PASSIONATE PUPPETS</h3> +<p><img width="7%" src="images/128.png" alt="W" class= +"firstletter" />hen the long days of summer began, Killian, the +cow-herd, was able to lead his drove up into the hills, giving +them the high pastures to range. Then from sunrise to sunset he +was alone, except when, early each morning, Grendel and the other +girls came up to carry down the milk to the villages.</p> +<p>All day long the cow-bells sounded in his ears, but still the +time of his wedding was a long way off; it would be five years +before he and Grendel could afford to set up a house and farm, +with cows of their own.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 120]</span> +<p>The great stretch of world that lay out under him, like a +broad map coloured blue and green, made him full of a restless +longing for a move in life. Yonder he could pick out the towns +with their spires and glittering roofs, and the overhead mists, +that gave token of crowded life below. It was there that wealth +could be got; and with wealth men married soon, and were at ease. +Somewhere, he had heard, lived kings and queens, wearing rich +robes and gold crowns on the top of their heart's desire. For +kings and queens, he supposed, loved as did he and Grendel, +regarding nothing else as much in the world besides.</p> +<p>So Killian put heart into his deft hands, and presently had +set to work.</p> +<p>One evening Grendel came up from the valley, after her day's +work, to have a look at her lover; she had brought him some brown +cakes and a bottle of wine. <span class="pagenum">[pg 121]</span> +But Killian, who had caught sight of her eyes over the green rise +at his feet, was hiding something behind his back.</p> +<p>'Whatever have you there?' she asked, as she saw chips, and +tools, and bits of bright foil, lying scattered about the ground. +Yet for three days he would show her nothing, only he said, 'What +I do is because we love each other so.'</p> +<p>At the end of that time, he showed her what he had done. There +she saw a little king and queen, about six inches high; he was in +blue, and she in white; and they were both as dear as they were +small. The king was partly like a cow-herd, having a crown over +his broad-brimmed hat, with thick wooden shoes, and leather-bound +legs; and the queen was like Grendel, with great long plaits past +her waist, and a gold-worked bodice, such as Grendel had for +Sunday wear. 'Aye, aye,' cried Grendel, 'why, it is you and +me!'</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 122]</span> +<p>Then Killian showed her how the joints of the little puppets +moved on delicate wires, and how five strings ran up, one from +each limb, to be fastened to the player's fingers, so that he +might make them act as though life were in them.</p> +<p>'I shall take these down with me to the valley,' said Killian. +'First I shall go about among the villages; then, when I can do +better, I shall go to the towns. After that no doubt the kings +and queens will hear of me, and will send for me to play before +them, and I shall become rich. Then I shall come home and marry +you.'</p> +<p>Grendel thought her lover the most wonderful man in the world, +and it is the truth he was very clever; she kissed him a hundred +times, and the little marionettes also. 'Ah,' she said, 'now we +shall not have to wait five years! in five months you will come +back rich and famous, and we shall marry, and live happily.'</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 123]</span> +<p>How Killian had loved her while making his puppets, only she +knew as well as he. Truly, he had put his heart into them, so +that they were like living beings,—and so small that their +very smallness made them a marvel. Being a lover, he had put +inside each breast a little heart, and, for the luck of the +thing, had christened them with a drop of his own blood, and a +drop of Grendel's; so each heart had in it one little drop of +blood. Now he was to go out, and try his fortune.</p> +<p>He found a lad to come and take his place and see after the +cows; then he said good-bye to Grendel, and set off on a round of +all the villages of the plain.</p> +<p>At every inn where he put up, he called the country folk +together to the sound of his shepherd's bag-pipes, and showed +them his play. It was only himself and Grendel, no story at all, +merely lovers parting and meeting again, each believing +<span class="pagenum">[pg 124]</span> the other dead, and in the +end living happily to the sound of cow-bells, that showed how +rich they were in herds.</p> +<p>And the villagers laughed and cried, and gave him pence, and a +night's lodging, and food; so that presently he was able to make +himself a little travelling-stage, and hire a piper to play +dance-music for him. But it was always the one story of himself +and Grendel, and no other, though the two puppets wore crowns +upon their heads.</p> + +<p>The little marionettes had hearts. That was the beginning of +things: they remembered nothing else. When their eyes had grown +open to the fact, then for them life had begun. After that they +lived like bee and blossom, only that the bee never flew away, +and the honey remained in the blossom.</p> +<p>How this came to pass was a question <span class="pagenum">[pg 125]</span> they never asked; why they loved each other they did +not know. If they had had to think of it they would have said, +'It is because we cannot help it.' And every day one same thing +happened to them that they could not help, the most beautiful +thing in life. It came to them by instinct, taking hold of them +from head to feet and saying, 'love, love, love,' in all sorts of +wonderful ways.</p> +<p>Whenever this thing happened they began to move about softly, +going to and fro, and round and round, dancing, and holding each +other by the hand, putting their cheeks so close together that +their eyelids brushed, and sometimes their little hearts that +heaved. And all the while music from somewhere was giving a +meaning to these things; and over and over again, 'love, love, +love,' was what it kept saying to them.</p> +<p>Their happiness was so great, that they <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 126]</span> would begin playing with it, pretending +that it was all turned into grief. First he would kiss her from +forehead to chin, and into the hollow of her little throat; and +then all down each dear arm, even to the finger-tips; and last of +all her feet; and again last of all her lips, and again last of +all her breast. And then he would go away, walking backwards most +of the time, or if not, still turning round and round to take +another look at her. Then when he was altogether out of sight, +she would sit down and cry, though all the while he would be +peeping at her from his hiding-place, to let her know that he was +not really gone. Then she would lie down, and cry more, and at +last leave off crying and stay almost still on a little bed, that +seemed to come to her from nowhere, just when she was ready to +fall on it. Then, at last, she would shut her eyes, and cover her +face up very slowly with a <span class="pagenum">[pg 127]</span> +sheet, and lie so still that he would grow quite frightened, and +come running from his hiding-place, and lift the sheet, and look +at her; then he would fall down as if his legs had been cut from +under him; then he would get up and throw flowers over her, and +at last catch her up and begin to carry her; and at that she +would wake up all at once and kiss him, to a sound of bells.</p> +<p>They did not know why they did this; it was so beautiful they +could not have thought of it for themselves, and yet it said +everything of life that they wanted to say. For love was the +beginning and the end of it; and always, as they came to the sad +part, they had tender tremblings for fear the other should think +the sorrow was real: he, lest she should think he had really gone +away and left her, never to return; and she, lest he should +believe that she always meant to <span class="pagenum">[pg 128]</span> lie so cruelly still, with a sheet over her eyes. Yet +the kissings that came after made the fearfulness almost the +sweetest thing in their prayer-sayings to each other.</p> +<p>For to them this was a daily prayer, the most solemn thing in +their lives; heart praying to heart, and hand reaching to hand; +and from somewhere overhead gentle monitions as to what they must +do next coming to them, so that they knew how to pray best, now +by lifting a hand, or now by turning the head, or now by running +fast with both feet. And all this beautiful worship of love their +bodies learned to do more perfectly day by day; yet the little +quaking of fear was still in the centre of it all.</p> + +<p>Killian's fingers grew nimble; and yet he often wondered to +see how true to life his puppets were, how they sighed, how +<span class="pagenum">[pg 129]</span> they embraced and clung, as +if their hearts were coming in two when the parting drew near. +How lingeringly the little queen drew up the sheet over her face, +when her lover did not return, and let it fall to cover her with +a quiet sigh. Often he cried when she did that part, so like +Grendel was it,—the tender waiting, and the last giving in! +And then, how the little king shuddered as he drew the cloth from +her face; and how he threw the flowers, as if there were not +enough in the world to express his grief! And yet it was only a +play, made by the twitching of the strings tied to his fingers, +with love as the beginning and end of it.</p> +<p>Killian was getting quite rich in copper coin, so he sent some +of it home to Grendel, that she might buy stock for the home that +was so soon to be theirs. And presently he made bold to go into +the towns, where, instead of copper, he might <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 130]</span> gain silver. He built a bigger stage, +and had more music to go to the dance; but still it was the story +of himself and Grendel, with crowns upon their heads, and nothing +more.</p> +<p>And now, indeed, people began to cry, 'Here is a wonderful new +actor! He has it all at the ends of his fingers! What a pity he +has no better play in which to show himself off!' But Killian +said, 'It is the only play I know how to do.'</p> +<p>Presently there came a sharp fellow to him, who said: 'If you +will go shares with me, I will make your fortune. We have only to +put our heads together, and the thing is done. I will write the +plays for you, and you shall play them on the strings. What is +wanted is a little more real life.'</p> +<p>Killian was a simple fellow, who believed all the world to be +wiser than <span class="pagenum">[pg 131]</span> himself. He was +glad enough to meet with a clever fellow who could write plays +for him. His partner wanted him to make new dresses for the +marionettes, to suit their new parts; but to that Killian would +not agree. So whatever they were they still wore their broad hats +and crowns, and their wooden shoes, that still he might watch in +his own mind himself and Grendel making their way to fortune and +happiness.</p> +<p>The marionettes grew bewildered with their new taking; they +did not understand the meaning of all the coarse things they had +to do. So in the middle of a play, the little queen would fail +now and then in her part, and move awkwardly, wondering what her +lover meant when he sprawled to and fro, and seemed trying to +find in the air more feet than he had upon the ground.</p> +<p>Yet the crowd found her bashful fear <span class="pagenum">[pg 132]</span> so irresistibly funny, that it roared again. Also, +when the little cow-herd with a crown on his head, lifted his +hand or foot toward his partner, and then shrank trembling away, +it roared yet more at the poltroon manner of the thing.</p> +<p>Killian's partner said, 'You alter all my plays, but the way +you do them is something to marvel at. Only, why do you always +bring them round again to that silly lover's ending?'</p> +<p>'I cannot help it,' said Killian; 'often now, with these new +plays, I can't get the strings to work properly. I think the poor +puppets are getting worn out.'</p> +<p>His partner began examining the puppets, and watching how +Killian played them, with more attention; and presently he knew +that there was more in it than met the eye. 'It is the puppets +who are the marvel, not the man,' he said to himself. +<span class="pagenum">[pg 133]</span> 'I could work them better +myself, if I had practice.'</p> +<p>Soon after this he proposed that they should set off for +another town; it was the chief town of all, where they hoped at +last to be allowed to show their plays to the queen herself. 'It +must be a real play this time,' said the partner, 'a tragedy; but +it wants a third person. You must make another puppet, while I +write the play!'</p> +<p>So Killian set to work. But he had no love for the third +puppet, which was neither himself nor Grendel, and he put no +heart inside it, and no little drop of blood. So the new +marionette was but limbs, and a head drawn on wires.</p> +<p>'Soon,' thought Killian, 'I shall be rich enough to go home +and marry Grendel. Then I will throw this stupid third one away; +but the other two we will always keep close to the niche with the +<span class="pagenum">[pg 134]</span> statue of Saint Lady, to +help to make us thankful for the good things God gives us in this +world.'</p> +<p>It was beautiful late spring weather when he and his companion +set out for the capital. On the way Killian's partner told him +the play that would have to be played before the queen, and said, +'In case three should be too much for you to manage, you had +better teach me also to handle the strings.' So Killian began to +teach him, with the two little marionettes alone, the first play +which he had brought down with him from the mountains,— +that being the easiest of all to learn, and the one he loved best +to teach.</p> +<p>The partner was surprised to find how wonderfully the puppets +followed the leading-strings; in spite of his clumsiness the +story acted itself to perfection.</p> +<p>Simple-hearted Killian was charmed. <span class="pagenum">[pg 135]</span> 'Ah! you clever townsman,' said he, 'see how at first +trial you equal poor me, who have been at it for months! It had +better be you, after all, to do the play when it is called for at +the court.' And this Killian proposed truly out of pure modesty, +but also because he did not like the play his partner had made +for him. 'It is too cruel a one!' he said. 'After they have +played it together so long, I feel as if my two puppets can do +nothing else so well as love each other, and live happily.'</p> +<p>'Ah, but,' said his partner, 'the queen would find that very +dull!' Killian could not see why, but he believed that the +townsman was wiser than himself, and gave in. All he wanted now +was to get money enough to run back home with, and throw himself +into his dear Grendel's arms for life.</p> +<p>So they journeyed on, and at last, one <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 136]</span> day, they came in sight of the capital. +But it had been such a long way to come that when they reached +the gates they found them shut.</p> +<p>The night was warm, and a high moon was overhead. 'Come,' said +Killian, 'and let us lie down in one of these orchards that are +outside the walls!' So they left the high-road, and went and lay +down.</p> +<p>First they ate some food that they carried with them. Then +Killian opened the case in which lay the two marionettes, and +looked them over to see that they were in working order. His +partner took up the odd number, and began practising it; but +Killian's attention all went to the little king cow-herd and his +queen.</p> +<p>He fondled them gently with his hands, and as he looked at +them his heart went up into the mountains to pray for his dear +Grendel.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 137]</span> +<p>Presently he began dreaming to himself like Jacob, only his +dream was just of the simple things of earth. Down the great +green uplands came troops of white cattle; but to him they seemed +to be bridesmaids coming to Grendel's wedding day, and the +ringing of the cow-bells was as sweet to him as the songs of +angels. Before he was fast asleep the two marionettes had slipped +off his knee and lay in the deep grass looking up at the sky.</p> + +<p>They had never seen so beautiful a sight before, for never had +they spent a night in the sweet open air till now. Over their +heads swung dusky clusters of blossom, that would look white by +day; and over them the moon went kissing its way from star to +star.</p> +<p>Now and then single blossoms dropped as if they had something +to say to the little cow-herd and his queen, lying there in the +cool grass.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 138]</span> +<p>But the marionettes said nothing; their hearts were very full; +now, at last, they found their old happiness return to them. +Their prayers, that they used to say to each other so tenderly, +had been going wrong for quite a long time; sudden starts and +tremblings of fear had taken hold of their light-hearted +deceptions of each other; and every day things had been going +worse. But now they felt like entering upon a long rest.</p> +<p>As they lay, their hands met together. The little cow-herd +could count her fingers across the palm of his hand, and never +once did she pretend to be drawing them away. How good it all +seemed!</p> +<p>Close by them the odd man was strutting in stiff, ungainly +attitudes, cricking his neck and elbows, and tossing up his toes. +How foolish he seemed to them in their innocent wisdom! They knew +he was nothing to them, for he had <span class="pagenum">[pg 139]</span> no heart; he was nothing but a trick on springs. Yet +they wished he would go away, and give them room to be alone, +while the moon was making a white dream over their lives.</p> + +<p>The partner grumbled to himself at the awkward ways of the new +puppet. Instead of obeying, it kicked at the leading strings, and +did everything like a stick, all angles and corners. Presently he +put it back into its box; and then he saw the little king and +queen lying together on the damp grass. He picked them up, +growling at Killian as a simpleton, for leaving them there to get +rusty with the dew. Then he put them also away, and curled +himself up to dream about the success of his play on the +morrow.</p> +<p>Quite early in the morning he and Killian went into the city, +and set up their stage in a corner of the marketplace. +<span class="pagenum">[pg 140]</span> The wonderful acting of the +little king and queen, compared with the ungainly hobblings and +jerkings of the odd man, threw the townspeople into ecstasies of +laughter. They declared they had never seen so funny a sight in +their lives as the beautiful nervous acting of the pair, side by +side with the stiff-jointed awkwardness of the other.</p> +<p>Presently, sure enough, the queen heard tell of this new form +of entertainment, and sent word for the mummers to appear at the +palace.</p> +<p>Killian said to his partner: 'There is something the matter +with the puppets to-day; they want careful handling. I am glad we +settled that you are to do the new play; for, before the queen +and her great ladies, I am likely to lose my head.'</p> +<p>All the court was gathered together to watch the puppet-play, +while behind the <span class="pagenum">[pg 141]</span> scenes the +partner took all the leading strings into his own hands.</p> + +<p>The two marionettes opened their eyes, and saw daylight; they +began moving to and fro softly; every now and then they put their +faces together and kissed. The stupid odd man seemed to have +gone; they were so glad to be left alone.</p> +<p>Soon the little king lay down, pretending to be tired, but it +was only that he might put his head in the queen's lap. She bent +over him, and laid her fingers on his eyes, seeming to say, 'Go +to sleep, then! I will shut your eyes for you.' How pretty it was +of her!</p> +<p>Then she covered his face over with her handkerchief; and all +at once in came the odd man, walking on the points of his toes. +The little king, now that the handkerchief was over his face, +opened his eyes, and looked through it, to see <span class= +"pagenum">[pg 142]</span> what his dear queen would be doing now. +The odd man had his arms round her neck, and was kissing her, and +the queen looked as if she were going to kiss him back; but all +at once she had pushed away the odd man so hard that he fell down +with his heels in the air; and then she snatched the handkerchief +from the king's face, and began trembling, and kissing him.</p> +<p>The whole of the court shouted, first with laughter at the odd +man's fall, and then with admiration at the wonderful acting of +the little queen.</p> +<p>Behind the scenes the partner began grumbling to Killian: +'They are going all wrong! It's all your doing, leaving them to +lie in the damp grass last night!'</p> +<p>But still the whole court shouted and applauded. So the play +went on; and now, more and more, the showman had cause to +grumble. Whenever he came to <span class="pagenum">[pg 143]</span> a part where the play required that the queen should +turn from her own cow-herd to the ugly odd man, everything went +wrong. 'Very well,' thought he at last, 'she may be as innocent +as Desdemona but it will all come to the same at the last!'</p> +<p>And so, still more, as the play went on, the little +marionettes trembled and shook with fear. They wished the silly +odd man would go away, and not come interrupting their prayers; +and all the while they loved each other so! No idea of jealousy +ever entered the little king's head; and as for the queen, if the +odd man came and put his arms round her neck and kissed her, +could she help it? All she could do was to run and put her arms +round her own lover when he reappeared; and how the court shouted +and applauded, when she went so quick from one to the other.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 144]</span> +<p>At last the final act was begun; the king came running in with +a sword in his hand, why, he did not know, until he saw his poor +little queen struggling in the arms of the odd man. 'Ah,' thought +he, 'it is to drive him away! Then we shall be by ourselves +again, and happy.'</p> +<p>No one ever fought so wonderfully on a stage before as the +little cow-herd. All the court started to their feet, shouting; +and still, while they shouted, they laughed to see the impossible +odd man scooping about with his sword, and jerking head over +heels, and high up into the air, to get away from the little +king's sword-play. The partner had to keep snatching him up out +of harm's way, for fear of a wrong ending. Then, suddenly he let +him come down with a jump on the little king's head. And at that +the king fell back upon the ground, and felt a sharp pain go +through his heart.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 145]</span> +<p>The odd man drew out his sword and laughed; on the end of it +was a tiny drop of blood. The poor little queen ran up, and bent +down to look in her lover's face, to know if he were really hurt. +And then a terrible thing happened.</p> +<p>Three times the little king raised his sword and pointed it at +her heart, and dropped it again. And all the time the partner was +tugging at the strings, and swearing by all the worst things he +knew.</p> +<p>The little king felt himself growing weak; he was very +frightened. He felt as if he were going away altogether, and +leaving her to think he did not love her any more. And still his +arm went up and down, pointing the sword at her heart.</p> +<p>The showman tugged angrily; then there was the sound of a wire +that snapped—the king had thrown away his sword.</p> +<p>He reached up his two arms, and laid them fast round the +queen's neck. 'Now <span class="pagenum">[pg 146]</span> at last +she knows that I have not left off loving her.' He felt her +drawing herself away, he held her more and more tightly to his +breast; and now her little face lay close against his. Nothing +should take her away from him now!</p> +<p>The showman pulled violently with all his might, to get her +away; there was a snapping of strings, and then—the queen +reached out two weak little hands, and laid them under her +lover's head.</p> +<p>They lay quite still, quite still for a long time, and never +moved. 'The play is over!' said the showman, disgusted and angry +at the wreck of his plot.</p> +<p>Suddenly the whole stage became showered with gold; the great +queen and all her court threw out showers of it like rain. It +fell all over the two marionettes, covering them where they lay, +just as the babes in the wood when they died were covered over +with leaves.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[pg 147]</span> +<p>Killian dropped his head on to the boards of the little stage, +and sobbed. The partner let down the curtain, and began gathering +up the gold.</p> +<p>And still, from without, the queen and her court clapped, and +cried their applause; and still within lay Killian with his head +upon the stage, sobbing for the two little marionettes, lying +still with all the springs and strings of their bodies quite +broken. Inside, though he could not see them, their hearts were +broken also. 'Now,' he thought, 'I must go back to Grendel, or I +too shall die!'</p> +<p>That night, in the middle of the night, the partner went away, +carrying with him all the gold that the little marionettes had +earned by their deaths. And these, indeed, he left, seeing that +they were useless any more. But to Killian, when he woke the next +morning, they were the only things left him in the world, to take +back to Grendel.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[pg 148]</span> +He took them just as they were, locked in each other's arms, +and went back all the long way to Grendel, up into the hills of +his home, as poor in money as when he first started.</p> +<p>But Grendel saw that he had come back rich; for his face was +grown tender and wise. And for five years they waited very +patiently together, till by cow-keeping he had earned enough for +them to keep some cows of their own, and to live in married +happiness.</p> +<p>The little marionettes they put on a shelf, beneath the cross, +and the statue of our Lady; and there, locked in each other's +arms, those two disciples and martyrs of love lie at peace, +feeling no pain any more in their broken hearts.</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Field of Clover, by Laurence Housman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIELD OF CLOVER *** + +***** This file should be named 18872-h.htm or 18872-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/8/7/18872/ + +Produced by Brad Norton, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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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 Field of Clover + +Author: Laurence Housman + +Illustrator: Clemence Housman + +Release Date: July 19, 2006 [EBook #18872] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIELD OF CLOVER *** + + + + +Produced by Brad Norton, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: MERCURY GOD OF MERCHANDISE LOOK ON WITH FAVOURABLE +EYES] + +[Illustration: + +THE FIELD OF CLOVER + +By Laurence Housman + +DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC., NEW YORK + +ENGRAVED BY CLEMENCE HOUSMAN + +BE KINDLY TO THE WEARY DROVER & PIPE THE SHEEP INTO THE CLOVER] + + +This Dover edition, first published in 1968, is an unabridged and +unaltered republication of the work originally published by Kegan +Paul, Trench, Truebner & Co. in 1898. + +_Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-30802_ + +Manufactured in the United States of America +Dover Publications, Inc. +180 Varick Street +New York, N. Y. 10014 + + + + +Contents + + + THE BOUND PRINCESS (_in six parts_) PAGE + I THE FIRE-EATERS 3 + II THE GALLOPING PLOUGH 13 + III THE THIRSTY WELL 23 + IV THE PRINCESS MELILOT 33 + V THE BURNING ROSE 45 + VI THE CAMPHOR WORM 57 + THE CROWN'S WARRANTY 69 + THE WISHING-POT 81 + THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS 111 + THE PASSIONATE PUPPETS 119 + + + + +TO MY DEAR WOOD-ENGRAVER + + + + +THE BOUND PRINCESS + +[Illustration] + +THE BOUND PRINCESS + + + + +I + +THE FIRE-EATERS + + +A long time ago there lived a man who had the biggest head in the +world. Into it he had crammed all the knowledge that might be gathered +from the four corners of the earth. Every one said he was the wisest +man living. "If I could only find a wife," said the sage, "as wise for +a woman as I am for a man, what a race of head-pieces we could bring +into the world!" + +He waited many years before any such mate could be found for him: +yet, at last, found she was--one into whose head was bestowed all the +wisdom that might be gathered from the four quarters of heaven. + +They were both old, but kings came from all sides to their wedding, +and offered themselves as god-parents to the first-born of the new +race that was to be. But, to the grief of his parents, the child, when +he arrived, proved to be a simpleton; and no second child ever came to +repair the mistake of the first. + +That he was a simpleton was evident; his head was small and his +limbs were large, and he could run long before he could talk or do +arithmetic. In the bitterness of their hearts his father and mother +named him Noodle, without the aid of any royal god-parents; and from +that moment, for any care they took in his bringing-up, they washed +their wise hands of him. + +Noodle grew and prospered, and enjoyed life in his own foolish way. +When his father and mother died within a short time of each other, +they left him alone without any friend in the world. + +For a good while Noodle lived on just what he could find in the house, +in a hand-to-mouth sort of way, till at last only the furniture and +the four bare walls were left to him. + +One cold winter's night he sat brooding over the fire, wondering where +he should get food for the morrow, when he heard feet coming up to the +door, and a knock striking low down upon the panel. Outside there was +a faint chirping and crackling sound, and a whispering as of fire +licking against the woodwork without. + +He opened the door and peered forth into the night. There, just before +him, stood seven little men huddled up together; three feet high they +were, with bright yellow faces all shrivelled and sharp, and eyes +whose light leaped and sank like candle flame before a gust. + +When they saw him, they shut their eyes and opened famished mouths at +him, pointing inwards with flickering finger-tips, and shivering from +head to foot with cold, although it seemed to the youth as if the +warmth of a slow fire came from them. 'Alas!' said Noodle, in reply to +these signs of hunger, 'I have not left even a crust of bread in the +house to give you! But at least come in and make yourselves warm!' He +touched the foremost, making signs for them all to enter. 'Ah,' he +cried, 'what is this, and what are you, that the mere touch of you +burns my finger?' + +Without answer they huddled tremblingly across the threshold; but +so soon as they saw the fire burning on the hearth, they yelped all +together like a pack of hounds, and, throwing themselves face forwards +into the hot embers, began ravenously to lap up the flames. They +lapped and lapped, and the more they lapped the more the fire sank +away and died. Then with their flickering finger-tips they stirred +the hot logs and coals, burrowing after the thin tapes and swirls of +vanishing flame, and fetching them out like small blue eels still +wriggling for escape. + +After each blue wisp had been gulped down, they sipped and sucked at +their fingers for any least tricklet of flavour that might be left; +and at the last seemed more famished than when they began. + +'More, more, O wise Noodle, give us more!' they cried; and Noodle +threw the last of his fuel on the embers. + +They breathed round it, fanning it into a great blaze that leaped and +danced up to the rafters; then they fell on, till not a fleck or a +flake of it was left. Noodle, seeing them still famished, broke up +a stool and threw that on the hearth. And again they flared it with +their breath and gobbled off the flame. When the stool was finished he +threw in the table, then the dresser, and after that the oak-chest and +the window-seat. + +Still they feasted and were not fed. Noodle fetched an axe, and broke +down the door; then he wrenched up the boards from the floor, and +pulled the beams and rafters out of the ceiling; yet, even so, his +guests were not to be satisfied. + +'I have nothing left,' he said, 'but the house itself; but since you +are still hungry you shall be welcome to it!' + +He scattered the fire that remained upon the hearth, and threw it out +and about the room; and as he ran forth to escape, up against all +the walls and right through the roof rose a great crackling sheaf of +flame. In the midst of the fire, Noodle could see his seven guests +lying along on their bellies, slopping their hands in the heat, and +lapping up the flames with their tongues. 'Surely,' he thought, 'I +have given them enough to eat at last!' + +After a while all the fire was eaten away, and only the black and +smouldering ruins were left. Day came coldly to light, and there sat +Noodle, without a home in the world, watching with considerate eye his +seven guests finishing their inordinate repast. + +They all rose to their feet together, and came towards him bowing; as +they approached he felt the heat of their bodies as it had been seven +furnaces. + +'Enough, O wise Noodle!' said they, 'we have had enough!' 'That,' +answered Noodle, 'is the least thing left me to wonder at. Go your +ways in peace; but first tell me, who are you?' They replied, 'We are +the Fire-eaters: far from our own land, and strangers, you have done +us this service; what, now, can we do to serve you?' 'Put me in the +way of a living,' said Noodle, 'and you will do me the greatest +service of all.' + +Then the one of them who seemed to be chief took from his finger a +ring having for its centre a great firestone, and threw it into the +snow, saying, 'Wait for three hours till the ring shall have had time +to cool, then take it, and wear it; and whatever fortune you deserve +it shall bring you. For this ring is the sweetener of everything that +it touches: bread it turns into rich meats, water into strong wine, +grief into virtue, and labour into strength. Also, if you ever need +our help, you have but to brandish the ring, and the gleam of it will +reach us, and we will be with you wherever you may be.' + +With that they bowed their top-knots to the ground and departed, +inverting themselves swiftly till only the shining print of seven +pairs of feet remained, red-hot, over the place where they had been +standing. + +Noodle waited for three hours; then he took up the firestone ring, and +putting it on his finger set out into the world. + +At the first door he came to, he begged a crust of bread, and touching +it with the ring found it tasted like rich meats, well cooked and +delicately flavoured. Also, the water which he drew in the hollow of +his hand from a brook by the roadside tasted to him like strong wine. + + + + +[Illustration] + +II + +THE GALLOPING PLOUGH + + +Noodle went on many miles till he came near to a rich man's farm. +Though it was the middle of winter, all the fields showed crops of +corn in progress; here it was in thin blade, and here green, but in +full ear; and here it was ripe and ready for harvest. 'How is this,' +he said to the first man he met, 'that you have corn here in the +middle of winter?' 'Ah!' said the man, 'you have not heard of the +Galloping Plough; you too have to fall under bondage to my master.' +'What is your master?' inquired Noodle, 'and in what bondage does he +bind man?' + +'My master, and your master that shall soon be,' answered the old man, +'is the owner of all this land and the farmer of it. He is rich and +sleek and fat like his own furrows, for he has the Galloping Plough as +his possession. Ah, that! 't is a very miracle, a wonder, a thing to +catch at the heartstrings of all beholders; it shines like a moonbeam, +and is better than an Arab mare for swiftness; it warms the very +ground that it enters, so that seeds take root and spring, though it +be the middle of winter. No man sees it but what he loses his heart to +it, and sells his freedom for the possession of it. All here are men +like myself who have become slaves because of that desire. You also, +when you see it, will become slave to it.' + +Noodle went on through the summer and the spring corn, till he came +to bare fields. Ahead of him on a hill-top he saw the farmer himself, +sleek and rosy, and of full paunch, lolling like a lord at his ease; +yet with a working eye in the midst of his leisure. + +To and fro, up to him and back, shot a silver gleam over the purple +brown of the fields; and Noodle's heart gave a thump at the sight, for +the spell of the Galloping Plough was on him. + +Now and then he heard a clear sound that startled him with its note. +It was like the sweet whistling cry of a bird many times multiplied. +Ever when the silver gleam of the Plough had run its farthest from the +farmer, the cry sounded; and at the sound the gleam wavered and stayed +and flew back dartingly to the farmer's side. So Noodle understood how +this was the farmer's signal for the Plough to return; and the Plough +knew it as a horse its master's voice, and came so fast that the wind +whistled against its silver side. + +As he watched, Noodle's heart went down into the valley and up the +hillside, following in the track of the Galloping Plough. 'I can never +be happy again,' thought he; 'either I must possess it, or must die.' + +He came to the farmer where he sat calling his Plough to him and +letting it go; and the farmer smiled, the wide indulgent smile of a +man who knows that a bargain is about to fall his way. + +'What is the price,' asked Noodle, 'of yonder Galloping Plough, that +runs like an Arab mare, and returns to you at your call?' + +Said the farmer, 'A year's service; and if the Plough will follow you, +it is yours; if not, then you must be my bondman until you die!' + +Noodle looked once the way of the Galloping Plough, and his heart +flapped at his side like a sail which the wind drops and lets go; and +he had no thought or will left in him but to be where the Galloping +Plough was. So he closed hands on the bargain, to be the farmer's +servant either for a year, or for his whole life. + +For a year he worked upon the farm, and all the while plotted how he +might win the Galloping Plough to himself. The farmer kept no watch +upon it, nor put it under lock and key, for the Plough recognised no +voice but his own, nor went nor came save at his bidding. In the night +Noodle would go down to the shed or field where it lay, and whistle to +it, trying to put forth notes of the same magical power as those which +came through the farmer's lips. + +But no sound that came from his lips ever stroked life into its silver +sides. The year was nearly run out, and Noodle was in despair. + +Then he remembered the firestone ring, the Sweetener. 'May be,' said +he, 'since it changes to sweetness whatever I eat and drink, it will +sweeten my voice also, so that the Plough will obey.' So he put the +ring between his lips and whistled; and at the sound his heart turned +a somersault for joy, for he felt that out of his mouth the farmer's +magic had been over-topped and conquered. + +The Galloping Plough stirred faintly from the furrow where it lay, +breaking the ground and marring its smooth course. Then it shook its +head slowly, and returned impassively to rest. + +In the morning the farmer came and saw the broken earth close under +the Plough's nose. Noodle, hiding among the corn hard by, heard him +say, 'What hast thou heard in the night, O my moonbeam, my miracle, +that thy lily-foot has trodden up the ground? Hast thou forgotten +whose hand feeds thee, whose corn it is thou lovest, whose heart's +care also cherishes thee?' + +The farmer went away, and presently came back bearing a bowl of corn; +and Noodle saw the Plough lift its head to its master's palm, and feed +like a horse on the grain. + +Then Noodle, gay of heart, waited till it was night, and surely his +time was short, for on the morrow his wages were to be paid, and the +Plough was to be his, or else he was to be the farmer's bondservant +for the rest of his life. He took with him three handfuls of corn, and +went down to where the Plough stood waiting by the furrow. Shaping his +lips to the ring, he whistled gently like a lover, and immediately the +Plough stirred, and lifted up its head as if to look at him. + +'O my moonbeam, my miracle,' whispered Noodle, 'wilt thou not come to +the one that feeds thee?' and he held out a handful of corn. But the +Plough gave no regard to him or his grain: slowly it moved away from +him back into the furrow. + +Then Noodle laughed softly and dropped his ring, the Sweetener, into +the hand that held the grain; and barely had he offered the corn +before he felt the silver Plough nozzling at his palm, and eating as a +horse eats from the hand of its master. + +Then he whistled again, placing the Sweetener back between his lips; +and the Galloping Plough sprang after him, and followed at his heels +like a dog. + +So, finding himself its master, he bid it stay for the night; and in +the morning he said to the farmer, 'Give me my wages, and let me go!' +And the farmer laughed, saying, 'Take your wages, and go!' + +Then Noodle took off his ring, the Sweetener, and laid it between his +lips and blew through it; and up like a moonbeam, and like an Arab +mare, sprang the Galloping Plough at his call. So he leaped upon its +back, crying, 'Carry me away out of this land, O thou moonbeam, and +miracle of beauty, and never slacken nor stay except I bid thee!' + +Vainly the farmer, borne down on a torrent of rage and amazement, +whistled his best, and threw corn and rice from the rear; for the +whistling of Noodle was sweeter to the ear, and his corn sweeter to +the taste, and he nearer to the heart of the Galloping Plough than was +the old master whom it left behind. + + + + +[Illustration] + +III + +THE THIRSTY WELL + + +So they escaped, slitting the swift hours with ungovernable speed. The +furrow they two made in the world that day, as they went shooting over +the round of it, was called in after times the Equator, and men still +know it by the heat of it, though it has since been covered over by +the dust of ages. + +To Noodle, as he went careering round it, the whole world's circuit +ran in a line across his brain, entering his vision and passing +through it as a thread through the needle's eye. Nor would he of his +own will ever have stopped his galloping, but that at the completion +of the first round a mighty thirst took hold of him. 'O my moonbeam,' +he said, choking behind parched lips, and sick at heart, 'check me, +or I faint!' And the Galloping Plough stopped at once, and set him to +earth in a green space under the shadow of overhanging boughs. + +He found himself in a richly grown garden, a cool paradise for a +traveller to rest in. Close at hand and inviting to the eye was a well +with a bucket slung ready to be let down. Noodle had little thought of +seeking for the owner of the garden to beg for a drink, since water is +an equal gift to all and the right of any man; but as he drew near he +found the means to it withheld from him, the lid being fast locked. He +went on in search of the owner, till at length he came upon the same +lying half asleep under a thorn-bush with the key in her hand. She was +an old woman, so withered and dry, she looked as if no water could +have ever passed her lips. + +When Noodle asked for a drink from the well, she looked at him bright +and sharp, and said: 'Before any man drinks of my water he must make a +bargain with me.' 'What is the bargain?' asked Noodle; and she led him +down to the well. + +Then she unlocked the lid and bade him look in; and at the sight +Noodle knew for a second time that his heart had been stolen from him, +and that to be happy he must taste that water or die. + +Again he asked, with his eyes intent upon the blue wrimpling of the +water in the well's depth, 'What is the bargain?' And the old woman +answered, 'If you fail to draw water out of the well you must fling +yourself into it.' For answer Noodle swung down the bucket, lowering +it as fast as it would go; then he set both hands to the windlass and +wound. + +He heard the water splashing off the sides of the bucket all the way +up, as the shortening rope brought it near; but when he drew it over +the well's brink wonder and grief held him fast, for the bucket was as +empty as vanity. From behind him came a noise of laughter, and there +was the old witch running round and round in a circle; and everywhere +a hedge of thorns came shooting up to enclose him and keep him fast +for her. + +'What a trap I am in!' thought Noodle; but once more he lowered the +bucket, and once more it returned to him empty. + +The old woman climbed up into the thorn-hedge, and sat on its top, +singing: + + 'Overground, underground, round-about spell; + The Thirsty has come to the Thirsty Well!' + +Again Noodle let down the bucket; and this time as he drew it up he +looked over into the well's heart, and saw all the way up the side a +hundred blue arms reaching out crystal scallops and drawing water +out of the bucket as hard as they could go. He saw thick lips like +sea-anemones thrust out between the crevices of the wall, sucking the +crystals dry as fast as they were filled. 'Truly,' he said to himself, +'this is a thirsty well, but myself am thirstier!' + +When he had drawn up the bucket empty for the third time, he stood +considering; and at last he fastened to it the firestone ring, the +Sweetener, and lowered it once more. Then he laughed to himself as he +drew up, and felt the bucket lightening at every turn till it touched +the surface of things. + +Empty he found it, with only his firestone hanging by the rim, and +once again he let it down to be refilled. But this time as he wound +up, nothing could keep him from letting a curious eye go over the +brink, to see how the Well-folk fared over their wine; and in what he +beheld there was already comfort for his soul. + +The blue arms went like oars out of unison; like carpet-beaters +stricken in the eyes and throat with dust, they beat foolishly against +the sides and bottom of the bucket, shattering and letting fall their +goblets in each unruly attempt. And because Noodle wound leniently at +the rope, willing that they should have their fill, at the last gasp +they were able to send the bucket empty to the top. It was the last +staving off of destiny that lay in their power to make; thereafter +wine conquered them. + +Quickly Noodle drew out the ring, and sent the bucket flying on its +last errand. It smacked the water, heeled over, and dipped under a +full draught. Then Noodle spun the windlass with the full pinch of his +energies, calling on the bucket to ascend. He heard the water spilling +from its sides, and knew that the blue arms were there, battling to +arrest it as it flew, and to pay him back once more with emptiness and +mockery. Yet in spite of them the bucket hasted and lightened not, but +was drawn up to the well's head brimming largely, and winking a blue +eye joyously to the light of day. + +Over head and ears Noodle plunged for the quenching of his thirst, nor +stayed nor drew back till his head had smitten upon the bottom of the +bucket in his pursuit of the draught. Then it was apparent that only +a third of the water remained, the rest having obeyed the imperative +suction of his throat, and that the thirsty well had at last found a +master under the eye of heaven. + +In the depth of the bucket the water flashed like a burning sapphire +and swung circling, curling and coiling, tossing this way and that, +as if struggling to get out. At last with a laugh it threw down the +bucket, and tore back into the well with a crash like thunder. + +Up from the well rose a chant of voices: + + 'Under Heaven, over Hell, + You have broken the spell, + You are lord of the Well.' + +Noodle stepped over the brink of his new realm, calling the Well-folk +to reach hands for him and bear him down. All round, the blue arms +started out, catching him and handing him on from one to another +ladderwise, down, and down, and down. As he went, anemone lips came +out of the crannies in the wall, and kissed his feet and hands in +token of allegiance. 'You are lord of the well!' they said, as they +passed him each one to the next. + +He came to the bottom of the well; under his feet, wherever he stepped +upon its waters, hands came up and sustained him. The knowledge of +everything that was there had become his. 'Give me,' he said, 'the +crystal cup that is for him who holds kingship over you; so shall I be +lord of you in all places wherever I go.' + +A blue arm reached down and drew up from the water a small crystal, +that burned through the darkness with a blue fire, and gave it to +Noodle. 'Now I am your king, however far from you!' said Noodle. And +they answered, chanting: + + 'Under Heaven, over Hell, + You have broken the spell, + You are lord of the Well.' + +'Lift me up!' said he; and the blue arms caught him and lifted him up; +from one to another they passed him in ascending circles, till he came +to the mouth of the well. + +There overhead was the old witch, crouching and looking in to know +what had become of him; and her hair hung far down over her eyes into +the well. He caught her to him by it over the brink. 'Old witch,' he +said, 'you must change places with me now!' and he tossed her down to +the bottom of the well. + +She went like a falling shuttlecock, shrieking as she fell; and as she +struck the water, the drowned bodies of the men she had sent there +came to the surface, and caught her by the feet and hair, and drew her +down, making an end of her, as she also had made of them. + + + + +[Illustration] + +IV + +THE PRINCESS MELILOT + + +When Noodle, carrying the crystal with him, set foot once more upon +dry land, straightway he was again upon the back of the Galloping +Plough, with the world flying away under him. But now weariness came +over him, and his head weighed this way and that, so that earth and +sky mixed themselves before his gaze, and he was so drugged with +sleep that he had no wits to bid the Plough slacken from its speed. +Therefore it happened that as they passed a wood, a hanging bough +caught him, and brushed him like a feather from his place, landing him +on a green bosom of grass, where he slept the sleep of the weary, nor +ever lifted his head to see the Plough fast disappearing over hill and +valley and plain, out of sound of his voice or sight of his eye. + +When Noodle awoke and found that the Plough was gone, he was bitter +against himself for his folly. 'So poor a use to make of so noble +a steed!' he cried; 'no wonder it has gone from me to seek for a +worthier master! If by good fortune I find it again, needs must I do +great things by its aid to be worthy of its service.' So he set out, +following the furrow of its course, determined, however far he must +seek, to journey on till he found it. + +For a whole year he travelled, till at length he came, footsore and +weary, to a deserted palace standing in the midst of an overgrown +garden. The great gates, which lay wide open, were overrun with +creepers, and the paths were green with weeds. That morning he had +thought that he saw far away on the hills the gleam of his silver +Plough, and now hope rose high, for he could see by its track that +the Plough had passed before him into the garden of the palace. 'O my +moonbeam,' he thought, 'is it here I shall find you at last?' + +Within the garden there was a sound of cross questions and crooked +answers, of many talking with loud voices, and of one weeping apart +from the rest. When he got quite close, he was struck still with awe, +and joy, and wonder. For first there lay the Galloping Plough in the +middle of a green lawn, and round it a score of serving-men, tugging +at it and trying to make it move on. Near by stood an old woman, +wringing her hands and begging them to leave it alone: 'For,' cried +she, 'if the Plough touches but the feet of the Princess, she will be +uprooted, and will presently wither away and die. Of what use is it to +break one, if the other enchantments cannot be broken?' + +In the centre of the lawn grew a bower of roses, and beneath the bower +stood the loveliest princess that ever eye beheld; but she stood there +motionless, and without sign of life. She seemed neither to hear, nor +see, nor breathe; her feet were rooted to the ground; though they +seemed only to rest lightly under her weight upon the grass, no man, +nor a hundred men, could stir her from where she stood. And, as the +spell that held her fast bound to the spot, even so was the spell that +sealed her senses,--no man might lift it from her. When Noodle set +eyes upon her he knew that for the third time his heart had been +stolen from him, and that to be happy he must possess her, or die. + +He ran quickly to the old woman, who, unregarded by the serving-men, +stood weeping and wringing her hands. 'Tell me, said Noodle, 'who is +this sleeper who stands enchanted and rooted like a flower to earth? +And who are you, and these others who work and cry at cross purposes?' + +The old woman cried from a wide mouth: 'It is my mistress, the +honey-jewel of my heart, whom you see here so grievously enchanted. +All the gifts of the fairies at her christening did not prevent what +was foretold of her at her birth. In her seventeenth year, as you see +her now, so it was told of her that she should be.' + +'Does she live?' asked Noodle; 'is she asleep? She is not dead; when +will she wake? Tell me, old woman, her history, and how this fate has +come upon her.' + +'She was the daughter of the king of this country by his first wife,' +said the old woman, 'and heir to the throne after his death; but when +her mother died the king married again, and the three daughters he had +by his second wife were jealous of the beauty, and charm, and goodness +which raised their sister so high above them in the estimation of all +men. So they asked their mother to teach them a spell that should rob +Melilot of her charms, and make them useless in the eyes of men. And +their mother, who was wise in such arts, taught to each of them a +spell, so that together they might work their will. + +'One day they came running to Melilot, and said, "Come and play with +us a new game that our mother has taught us!" Then they began turning +themselves into flowers. "I will be a hollyhock!" said one. "And I +will be a columbine!" said another; and saying the spell over each +other they became each the flower they had named. + +'Then they unloosed the spells, and became themselves again. "Oh, it +is so nice to be a flower!" they cried, laughing and clapping their +hands. But Melilot knew no spell. + +'At last, seeing how her sisters turned into flowers, and came back +safe again, "I will be a rose!" she cried; "turn me into a rose and +out again!" + +'Then her three sisters joined their tongues together, and finished the +spell over her. And so soon as she had become a rose-tree, the three +sisters turned into three moles, and went down under the earth and +gnawed at the roots. + +'Then they came up, and took their own forms again, and sang,-- + + '"Sister, sister, here you are now, + Till the ploughman come with the Galloping Plough!" + +'Then they turned into bees, and sucked out the honey from the roses, +and coming to themselves again they sang,-- + + '"Sister, here you must doze and doze, + Till they bring you a flower of the Burning Rose!" + +'Then they shook the dewdrops out of her eyes, crying,-- + + "Sister, your brain lies under our spell, + Till water be brought from the Thirsty Well!" + +'Then they took the top blossom of all, and broke it to pieces, and +threw the petals away as they cried,-- + + "Sister, your life goes down for a term, + Till they bring you breath from the Camphor-Worm!" + +'And when they had done all this, they turned her back into her true +shape, and left her standing even as you see her now, without warmth, +or sight, or memory, or motion, dead saving for her beauty, that never +changes or dies. And here she must stand till the spells which have +been fastened upon her have been unloosed. No long time after, +the wickedness of the three sisters and of their cruel mother was +discovered to the king, and they were all put to death for the crime. +Yet the ill they had done remained; and the king's grief became so +great to see his loved daughter standing dead before him that he +removed with his court to another place, and left this palace to the +care of only a few serving-men, and myself to keep watch and guard +over the Princess. + +'So now four-fold is the spell that holds her, and to break the +lightest of them the water of the Thirsty Well is needed; with two of +its drops laid upon her eyes memory will come back to her, and her +mind will remember of the things of the past. And for the breaking +of the second spell is needed a blossom of the Burning Rose, and the +plucking of that no man's hand can achieve; but when the Rose is laid +upon her breast, her heart will belong to the world once more, and +will beat again under her bosom. And for the breaking of the third +spell one must bring the breath of the Camphor-Worm that has lain for +a whole year inside its body, and breathe it between her lips; then +she will breathe again, and all her five senses will return to her. +And for the last spell only the Galloping Plough can uproot her back +to life, and free her feet for the ways of earth. Now, here we have +the Galloping Plough with no man who can guide it, and what aid can it +be? If these fools should be able to make it so much as but touch the +feet of my dear mistress, she will be mown down like grass, and die +presently for lack of earth; for only the three other charms I have +told you of can put whole life back into her.' + +'As for the mastery of the Plough,' said Noodle, 'I will fetch that +from them in a breath. See, in a moment, how marvellous will be the +uplifting of their eyes!' He put to his lips the firestone ring--the +Sweetener--and blew but one note through it. Then in a moment the +crowd divided hither and thither, with cries of wonder and alarm, for +the Plough turned and bounded back to its master quickly, as an Arab +mare at the call of her owner. + +The old woman, weeping for gladness, cried: 'Thou art master of the +Plough! Art thou master of all the other things as well?' + +He said: 'Of one thing only. Tell me of the Burning Rose and the +Camphor-Worm; what and where are they? For I am the master of the ends +of the earth by reason of the speed with which this carries me; and I +am lord of the Thirsty Well, and have the Fire-eaters for my friends.' + +The old woman clapped her hands, and blessed him for his youth, and +his wisdom, and his courage. 'First,' she said, 'restore to the +Princess her memory by means of the water of the Thirsty Well; then I +will show you the way to the Burning Rose, for the easier thing must +be done first.' + +Then Noodle drew out the crystal and breathed in it, calling on the +Well-folk for the two drops of water to lay on Princess Melilot's +eyes. Immediately in the bottom of the cup appeared two blue drops +of water, that came climbing up the sides of the glass and stood +trembling together on the brim. And Noodle, touching them with the +firestone ring to make the memory of things sweet to her, bent back +the Princess's face, and let them fall under her closed lids. + +'Look!' cried the faithful nurse, 'light trembles within those eyes of +hers! In there she begins to remember things; but as yet she sees and +hears nothing. Now it is for you to be swift and fetch her the blossom +of the Burning Rose. Be wise, and you shall not fail!' + + + + +[Illustration] + +V + +THE BURNING ROSE + + +She told him how he was to go, across the desert southward, till he +found a giant, longer in length than a day's journey, lying asleep +upon the sand. Over his head, it was told, hung a cloud, covering him +from the heat and resting itself against his brows; within the cloud +was a dream, and within the dream grew the garden of the Burning +Rose. Than this she knew no more, nor by what means Noodle might gain +entrance and become possessor of the Rose. + +Noodle waited for no more; he mounted upon the Galloping Plough, and +pressed away over the desert to the south. For three days he travelled +through parched places, refreshing himself by the way with the water +of the Thirsty Well, calling on the Well-folk for the replenishment of +his crystal, and turning the draught to wine by the sweetness of his +magic ring. + +At length he saw a cloud rising to him from a distance; like a great +opal it hung motionless between earth and heaven. Coming nearer he saw +the giant himself stretched out for a day's journey across the sand. +His head lay under the colours of the dawn, and his feet were covered +with the dusk of evening, and over his middle shone the noonday sun. + +Under the giant's shadow Noodle stopped, and gazed up into the cloud; +through the outer covering of its mists he saw what seemed to be balls +of fire, and knew that within lay the dream and the garden of the +Burning Rose. + +The giant laughed and muttered in his sleep, for the dream was sweet +to him. 'O Rose,' he said, 'O sweet Rose, what end is there of +thy sweetness? How innumerable is the dance of the Roses of my +Rose-garden!' + +Noodle caught hold of the ropes of the giant's hair, and climbed till +he sat within the hollow of his right ear. Then he put to his lips the +ring, the Sweetener, and sang till the giant heard him in his sleep; +and the sweet singing mixed itself with the sweetness of the Rose in +the giant's brain, and he muttered to himself, saying: 'O bee, O sweet +bee, O bee in my brain, what honey wilt thou fetch for me out of the +Roses of my Rose-garden?' + +So, more and more, Noodle sweetened himself to the giant, till the +giant passed him into his brain, and into the heart of the dream, even +into the garden of the Burning Rose. + +Far down below the folds of the cloud, Noodle remembered that the +Galloping Plough lay waiting a call from him. 'When I have stolen the +Rose,' thought he, 'I may need swift heels for my flight.' And he put +the Sweetener to his lips and whistled the Plough up to him. + +It came, cleaving the encirclement of clouds like a silver gleam of +moonlight, and for a moment, where they parted, Noodle saw a rift of +blue sky, and the light of the outer world clear through their midst. + +The giant turned uneasily in his sleep, and the garden of the Burning +Rose rocked to its foundations as the edge of things real pierced into +it. + +'While I stay here there is danger,' thought Noodle. 'Surely I must +make haste to possess myself of the Rose and to escape!' + +All round him was a garden set thick with rose-trees in myriads of +blossom, rose behind rose as far as the eye could reach, and the +fragrance of them lay like a heavy curtain of sleep upon the senses. +Noodle, beginning to feel drowsy, stretched out his hand in haste to +the nearest flower, lest in a little while he should be no more than a +part of the giant's dream. 'O beloved Heart of Melilot!' he cried, and +crushed his fingers upon the stem. + +The whole bough crackled and sprang away at his touch; the Rose turned +upon him, screaming and spouting fire; a noise like thunder filled all +the air. Every rose in the garden turned and spat flame at where he +stood. His face and his hands became blistered with the heat. + +Leaping upon the back of his Plough, he cried, 'Carry me to the +borders of the garden where there are open spaces! The price of the +Princess is upon my head!' + +The Plough bounded this way and that, searching for some outlet by +which to escape. It flew in spirals and circles, it leaped like a +flea, it burrowed like a mole, it ploughed up the rose-trees by the +roots. But so soon as it had passed they stood up unharmed again, and +to whatever point of refuge the Plough fled, that way they all turned +their heads and darted out vomitings of fire. + +In vain did Noodle summon the Well-folk to his aid; his crystal shot +forth fountains of water that turned into steam as they rose, and fell +back again, scalding him. + +Then with two deaths threatening to devour him, he brandished the +ring, calling upon the Fire-eaters for their aid. + +They laughed as they came. 'Here is food for you!' he cried. 'Multiply +your appetites about me, or I shall be consumed in these flames!' + +'Brandish again!' cried they--the same seven whom he had fed. 'We are +not enough; this fire is not quenchable.' + +Noodle brandished till the whole garden swarmed with their kind. One +fastened himself upon every rose, a gulf opposing itself to a torrent. +All sight of the conflagration disappeared; but within there went a +roaring sound, and the bodies of the Fire-eaters crackled, growing +large and luminous the while. + +'Do your will quickly and begone!' cried the Fire-eaters. 'Even now we +swell to bursting with the pumping in of these fires!' + +Noodle seized on a rose to which one hung, sucking out its heats. He +tugged, but the strong fibres held. Then he locked himself to the back +of the Plough, crying to it and caressing its speed with all names +under heaven, and beseeching it in the name of Melilot to break free. +And the Plough giving but one plunge, the Rose came away into Noodle's +hand, panting and a prisoner. All blushing it grew and radiant, with a +soft inner glow, and an odour of incomparable sweetness. He seemed to +see the heart of Melilot beating before him. + +But now there came a blast of fire behind him, for the Fire-eaters had +disappeared, and all was whirling and shaken before his eyes; and the +Plough sped desperately over earthquake and space. For the plucking +of the Rose had awakened the giant from his sleep; and the dream +shrivelled and spun away in a whirl of flame-coloured vapours. Leaping +into clear day out of the unravelment of its mists, Noodle found +himself and his Plough launching over an edge of precipice for a +downward dive into space. The giant's hair, standing upright from his +head in the wrath and horror of his awakening, made a forest ending in +his forehead that bowered them to right and to left. Quitting it they +slid ungovernably over the bulge of his brow, and went at full spurt +for the abyss. + +Dexterously the Plough steered its descent, catching on the bridge and +furrowing the ridge of the nose; nine leagues were the duration of a +second. + +The giant, thinking some venomous parasite was injuring his flesh, +aimed, and a moment too late had thumped his fist upon the place. But +already the Plough skirting the amazed opening of his mouth was lost +in the trammels of his beard. Thence, as it escaped the rummaging +of his fingers, it flew scouring his breast, and inflicted a flying +scratch over the regions of his abdomen. Then, still believing it to +be the triumphal procession of a flea, he pursued it to his thigh, and +mistaking the shadow for the substance allowed it yet again to escape. +At his knee-cap there was but a hair's-breadth between Noodle and the +weight of his thumb; but thereafter the Plough out-distanced his every +effort, and, with Noodle preserved whole and alive, sped fast and far, +bearing the Burning Rose to the heart of the beloved Melilot. + +The crone was aware of his coming before she heard him, or saw the +gleam of his Plough running beam-like over the land. From her seat by +the Princess's bower she clapped her hands, and springing to his neck +ere he alighted: 'A long way off, and a long time off,' she cried, 'I +knew what fortune was with you; for when you plucked off the Rose, +and bore it out of the heart of the dream, the scent of it filled the +world; and I felt the sweetness of youth once more in my blood.' + +Then she led him to the Princess, and bade him lay the Rose in her +breast, that her heart might be won back into the world. Looking at +her face again, Noodle saw how memory had made it more beautiful than +ever, and how between her lips had grown the tender parting of a +smile. Then he laid the Rose where the movement of the heart should +be; and presently under the white breast rose the music of its +beating. + +'Ah!' cried the old nurse, weeping for happiness, 'now her heart that +loved me is come back, and I can listen all day to the sound of it! +You have brought memory to her, you have brought love; now bring +breath, and the awakening of her five senses. Surely the light of her +eyes will be your reward!' + + + + +[Illustration] + +VI + +THE CAMPHOR-WORM + + +'Tell me quickly of the Camphor-Worm,' cried the youth as he feasted +his eyes on the Princess's loveliness, made more unendurable by the +awakening within of love. 'Where and what is it?' 'It is not so far as +was the way to the Burning Rose,' answered the crone; 'an hour on the +back of the Plough shall bring it near to you; but the danger +and difficulty of this quest is more, not less. For to reach the +Camphor-Worm you need to be a diver in deep waters, whose weight +crushes a man; and to touch its lips you must master the loathing of +your nature; and to carry away its breath you must have strength of +will and endurance beyond what is mortal.' 'You trouble me with things +I need not know,' cried Noodle. 'Tell me,' he said, 'how I may reach +the Camphor-Worm; and of it and its ways.' + +'By this path, and by that,' said the old woman, pointing him, 'go on +till you come to the thick waters of the Bitter Lake; they are blacker +than night, and their weight is heavier than lead, and in the depths +dwells the Camphor-Worm. Once a year, when the air is sweetest with +the scents of summer, she rises to breathe, lifting her black snout +through the surface of the waters. Then she draws fresh air into her +lungs, flavoured with leaves and flowers, and after she has breathed +it in she lets go the last bubble of the breath she drew from the +summer of the year before; and it is this bubble of breath alone that +will give back life to the five senses of Princess Melilot. But the +Worm's time for rising is far; and how you shall bear the weight in +the depths of those waters, or make the Worm give up the bubble before +her time, or at last bear back the bubble to lay it on the lips of the +Princess so that she may wake,--these are things I know not the way +of, for to my eyes they seem dark with difficulty and peril.' + +Then Noodle, opening the petals of the Burning Rose as it lay upon the +heart of Melilot, drew out honey from its centre, filling his hand +with the golden crumblings of fragrance; and he leapt upon the +Galloping Plough, urging it in the way the Princess's nurse had +pointed out to him. As they went he caressed it with all the names +under heaven, stroking it with his hand and praising it for the +delicacy of its steering: saying, 'O my moonbeam, if thou wouldst save +the life of thy master, or restore the five senses of the Princess +Melilot, thou must surpass thyself to-day. Listen, thou heaven-sent +limb, thou miracle of quicksilver, and have a long mind to my words; +for in a short while I shall have no speech left in me till the +thing be done, and the deliverance, from head to feet, of my Beloved +accomplished.' + +Even while he spoke they came to the edge of the Bitter Lake--a small +pool, but its waters were blacker than night, and heavier than lead to +the eye. Then Noodle leapt down from the Plough, and caressed it for +the last time, saying: 'Set thy face for the garden where the Princess +Melilot is; and when I am come back to thee speechless out of the Lake +and am striding thee once more, then wait not for a word but carry me +to her with more speed than thou hast ever mustered to my aid till +now; go faster than wind or lightning or than the eye of man can see! +So, by good fortune, I may live till I reach her lips; but if thou +tarry at all I am a dead man. And when thou art come to Melilot set +thy share beneath the roots of her feet, and take her up to me out of +the ground. Do this tenderly, but abate not speed till it be done!' + +Then the youth put into his mouth the honey of the Burning Rose, and +into his lips the Sweetener, and stripped himself as a bather to the +pool. And the Plough, remembering its master's word, turned and set +its face to where lay the garden with Melilot waiting to be relieved +of her enchantment. Whereat Noodle, bowing his head, and blessing it +with lips of farewell, turned shortly and slid down into the blackness +of the lake. + +The weight of that water was like a vice upon his limbs, and around +his throat, as he swam out into the centre of the pool. As he went he +breathed upon the water, and the scent of the honey of the Burning +Rose passing through the Sweetener made an incomparable fragrance, +gentle, and subtle, and wooing to the senses. + +When he came to the middle of the lake he stayed breathing full +breaths, till the air deepened with fragrance around him. Presently +underneath him he felt the movement of a great thing coming up from +the bottom of the pool. It touched his feet and came grazing along his +side; and all at once shuddering and horror took hold upon him, for +his whole nature was filled with loathing of its touch. + +Out of the pool's surface before him rose a great black snout, that +opened, showing a round hole. Then he thought of Melilot and her +beauty laid fast under a charm, and drawing a full breath he laid his +lips containing the ring, the Sweetener, to the lips of the Worm. + +The Worm began to breathe. As the Worm drank the air out of him, he +drew in more through his nostrils, and more and more, till the great +gills were filled and satisfied. + +Then the Worm let go the last bubble of air which remained from the +year before, and had lain ever since in its body, by which alone life +could be given back to the five senses of Melilot. Then drawing in +its head it lowered itself once more to the bottom of the pool; and +Noodle, feeling in his mouth the precious globule of air, fastened his +lips upon it and shot out for shore. + +Against the weight of those leaden waters a longing to gasp possessed +him; but he knew that with the least breath the bubble would be lost, +and all his labour undone. Not too soon his feet caught hold of the +bank, and drew him free to land. He cast himself speechless across the +back of the Galloping Plough and clung. + +The Plough gathered itself together and sprang away through space. +Remembering its master's word it showed itself a miracle of speed; +like lightning became its flight. + +The eye of Noodle grew blind to the passing of things; he could take +no count of the collapsing leagues. More and more grew the amazingness +of the Plough's leaps, things only to be measured by miles, and +counted as joltings on the way; while fast to the back of it clung +Noodle, and endured, praying that shortness of breath might not +overmaster him, or the check of his lungs give way and burst him to +the emptiness of a drum. His senses rocked and swayed; he felt the +gates of his resolve slackening and forcing themselves apart; and +still the Galloping Plough plunged him blindly along through space. + +But now the shrill crying of the crone struck in upon his ears, and +he stretched open his arms for the accomplishment of the deliverance. +Even in that nick of time was the end of the thing brought about; for +the Plough, guiding itself as a thread to the needle's eye, gave the +uprooting stroke to the white feet of Melilot; and Noodle, swooning +for the last gasp, saw all at once her beauty swaying level to his +gaze and her body bending down upon his. + +Then he fastened his lips upon hers, and loosed the bubble from his +mouth; and panting and sobbing themselves back to life they hung in +each other's arms. She warmed and ripened in his embrace, opening upon +him the light of her eyes; and the greatness and beauty of the reward +abashed him and bore him down to earth. + +He heard the old crone clucking and crowing, like a hen over its egg, +of the happiness that had come to her old years; till recognising the +youth's state she covered him over with a cloak amid exclamations of +astonishment. + +The Princess saw nothing but her lover's face and the happy feasting +of his eyes. She bent her head nearer and nearer to his, and the story +of what he had done became a dream that she remembered, and that +waking made true. 'O you Noodle,' she said, laughing, 'you wise, wise +Noodle!' And then everything was finished, for she had kissed him! + +So Noodle and the Princess were married, and came to the throne +together and reigned over a happy land. The Fire-eaters were their +friends, and the gifts of fortune were theirs. The Galloping Plough +made all the waste places fertile; and the water of the Thirsty Well +rose and ran in rivers through the land; and over the walls of their +palace, where they had planted it, grew the flower of the Burning +Rose. + + + + +THE CROWN'S WARRANTY + +[Illustration] + +THE CROWN'S WARRANTY + + +Five hundred years ago or more a king died, leaving two sons: one +was the child of his first wife, and the other of his second, who +surviving him became his widow. When the king was dying he took off +the royal crown which he wore, and set it upon the head of the elder +born, the son of his first wife, and said to him: 'God is the lord of +the air, and of the water, and of the dry land: this gift cometh to +thee from God. Be merciful, over whatsoever thou holdest power, as God +is!' And saying these words he laid his hands upon the heads of his +two sons and died. + +Now this crown was no ordinary crown, for it was made of the gold +brought by the Wise men of the East when they came to worship at +Bethlehem. Every king that had worn it since then had reigned well and +uprightly and had been loved by all his people: but only to himself +was it known what virtue lay in his crown; and every king at dying +gave it to his son with the same words of blessing. + +So, now, the king's eldest son wore the crown; and his step-mother +knew that her own son could not wear it while he lived, therefore she +looked on and said nothing. Now he was known to all the people of his +country, because of his right to the throne, as the king's son; and +his brother, the child of the second wife, was called the queen's son. +But as yet they were both young, and cared little enough for crowns. + +After the king's death the queen was made regent till the king's son +should be come to a full age; but already the little king wore the +royal crown his father had left him, and the queen looked on and said +nothing. + +More than three years went by, and everybody said how good the queen +was to the little king who was not her own son; and the king's son, +for his part, was good to her and to his step-brother, loving them +both; and all by himself he kept thinking, having his thoughts guarded +and circled by his golden crown, 'How shall I learn to be a wise king, +and to be merciful when I have power, as God is?' + +So to everything that came his way, to his playthings and his pets, to +his ministers and his servants, he played the king as though already +his word made life and death. People watching him said, 'Everything +that has touch with the king's son loves him.' They told strange tales +of him: only in fairy books could they be believed, because they were +so beautiful; and all the time the queen, getting a good name for +herself, looked on and said nothing. + +One night the king's son was lying half-asleep upon his bed, with wise +dreams coming and going under the circle of his gold crown, when a +mouse ran out of the wainscot and came and jumped up upon the couch. +The poor mouse had turned quite white with fear and horror, and was +trembling in every limb as it cried its news into the king's ear. 'O +king's son,' it said, 'get up and run for your life! I was behind the +wainscot in the queen's closet, and this is what I heard: if you stay +here, when you wake up to-morrow you will be dead!' + +The king's son got up, and all alone in the dark night stole out of +the palace, seeking safety for his dear life. He sighed to himself, +'There was a pain in my crown ever since I wore it. Alas, mother, I +thought you were too kind a step-mother to do this!' + +Outside it was still winter: there was no warmth in the world, and not +a leaf upon the trees. He wandered away and away, wondering where he +should hide. + +The queen, when her villains came and told her the king's son was not +to be found, went and looked in her magic crystal to find trace of +him. As soon as it grew light, for in the darkness the crystal could +show her nothing, she saw many miles away the king's son running to +hide himself in the forest. So she sent out her villains to search +until they should find him. + +As they went the sun grew hot in the sky, and birds began singing. 'It +is spring!' cried the messengers. 'How suddenly it has come!' They +rode on till they came to the forest. + +The king's son, stumbling along through the forest under the bare +boughs, thought, 'Even here where shall I hide? Nowhere is there a +leaf to cover me.' But when the sun grew warm he looked up; and there +were all the trees breaking into bud and leaf, making a green heaven +above his head. So when he was too weary to go farther, he climbed +into the largest tree he could find; and the leaves covered him. + +The queen's messengers searched through all the forest but could not +find him; so they went back to her empty handed, not having either the +king's crown or his heart to show. 'Fools!' she cried, looking in her +magic crystal, 'he was in the big sycamore under which you stopped to +give your horses provender!' + +The sycamore said to the king's son, 'The queen's eye is on you; get +down and run for your life till you get to the hollow tarn-stones +among the hills! But if you stay here, when you wake to-morrow you +will be dead.' + +When the queen's messengers came once more to the forest they found +it all wintry again, and without leaf; only the sycamore was in full +green, clapping its hands for joy in the keen and bitter air. + +The messengers searched, and beat down the leaves, but the king's son +was not there. They went back to the queen. She looked long in her +magic crystal, but little could she see; for the king's son had hidden +himself in a small cave beside the tarn-stones, and into the darkness +the crystal could not pry. + +Presently she saw a flight of birds crossing the blue, and every bird +carried a few crumbs of bread in its beak. Then she ran and called to +her villains, 'Follow the birds, and they will take you to where the +little wizard is; for they are carrying bread to feed him, and they +are all heading for the tarn-stones up on the hills.' + +The birds said to the king's son, 'Now you are rested; we have fed +you, and you are not hungry. The queen's eye is on you. Up, and run +for your life! If you stay here, when you wake up to-morrow you will +be dead.' + +'Where shall I go?' said the king's son. 'Go,' answered the birds, +'and hide in the rushes on the island of the pool of sweet waters!' + +When the queen's messengers came to the tarn-stones, it was as though +five thousand people had been feeding: they found crumbs enough to +fill twelve baskets full, lying in the cave; but no king's son could +they lay their hands on. + +The king's son was lying hidden among the rushes on the island of the +great pool of sweet waters; and thick and fast came silver-scaled +fishes, feeding him. + +It took the queen three days of hard gazing in her crystal, before +she found how the fishes all swam to a point among the rushes of the +island in the pool of sweet waters, and away again. Then she knew: and +running to her messengers she cried: 'He is among the rushes on the +island in the pool of sweet waters; and all the fishes are feeding +him!' + +The fishes said to the king's son: 'The queen's eye is on you; up, and +swim to shore, and away for your life! For if they come and find you +here, when you wake to-morrow you will certainly be dead.' + +'Where shall I go?' asked the king's son. 'Wherever I go, she finds +me.' 'Go to the old fox who gets his poultry from the palace, and ask +him to hide you in his burrow!' + +When the queen's messengers came to the pool they found the fishes +playing at _alibis_ all about in the water; but nothing of the king's +son could they see. + +The king's son came to the fox, and the fox hid him in his burrow, and +brought him butter and eggs from the royal dairy. This was better fare +than the king's son had had since the beginning of his wanderings, and +he thanked the fox warmly for his friendship. 'On the contrary,' said +the fox, 'I am under an obligation to you; for ever since you came to +be my guest I have felt like an honest man.' 'If I live to be king,' +said the king's son, 'you shall always have butter and eggs from the +royal dairy, and be as honest as you like.' + +The queen hugged her magic crystal for a whole week, but could make +nothing out of it: for her crystal showed her nothing of the king's +son's hiding-place, nor of the fox at his nightly thefts of butter and +eggs from the royal dairy. But it so happened that this same fox was +a sort of half-brother of the queen's; and so guilty did he feel with +his brand-new good conscience that he quite left off going to see her. +So in a little while the queen, with her suspicions and her magic +crystal, had nosed out the young king's hiding-place. + +The fox said to the king's son: 'The queen's eye is on you! Get out +and run for your life, for if you stay here till to-morrow, you will +wake up and find yourself a dead goose!' + +'But where else can I go to?' asked the king's son. 'Is there any +place left for me?' The fox laughed, and winked, and whispered a word; +and all at once the king's son got up and went. + +The queen had said to her messengers, 'Go and look in the fox's hole; +and you shall find him!' But the messengers came and dug up the +burrow, and found butter and eggs from the royal dairy, but of the +king's son never a sign. + +The king's son came to the palace, and as he crept through the gardens +he found there his little brother alone at play,--playing sadly +because now he was all alone. Then the king's son stopped and said, +'Little brother, do you so much wish to be king?' And taking off the +crown, he put it upon his brother's head. Then he went on through +underground ways and corridors, till he came to the palace dungeons. + +Now a dungeon is a hard thing to get out of, but it is easy enough to +get into. He came to the deepest and darkest dungeon of all, and there +he opened the door, and went in and hid himself. + +The queen's son came running to his mother, wearing the king's crown. +'Oh, mother,' he said, 'I am frightened! while I was playing, my +brother came looking all dead and white, and put this crown on my +head. Take it off for me, it hurts!' + +When the queen saw the crown on her son's head, she was horribly +afraid; for that it should have so come there was the most unlikely +thing of all. She fetched her crystal ball, and looked in, asking +where the king's son might be, and, for answer, the crystal became +black as night. + +Then said the queen to herself, 'He is dead at last!' + +But, now that the king's crown was on the wrong head, the air, and the +water, and the dry land, over which God is lord, heard of it. And the +trees said, 'Until the king's son returns, we will not put forth bud +or leaf!' + +And the birds said, 'We will not sing in the land, or breed or build +nests until the king's son returns!' + +And the fishes said, 'We will not stay in the ponds or rivers to get +caught, unless the king's son, to whom we belong, returns!' + +And the foxes said, 'Unless the king's son returns, we will increase +and multiply exceedingly and be like locusts in the land!' + +So all through that land the trees, though it was spring, stayed as if +it were mid-winter; and all the fishes swam down to the sea; and all +the birds flew over the sea, away into other countries; and all the +foxes increased and multiplied, and became like locusts in the land. + +Now when the trees, and the birds, and the beasts, and the fishes led +the way the good folk of the country discovered that the queen was a +criminal. So, after the way of the flesh, they took the queen and +her little son, and bound them, and threw them into the deepest and +darkest dungeon they could find; and said they: 'Until you tell us +where the king's son is, there you stay and starve!' + +The king's son was playing all alone in his dungeon with the mice who +brought him food from the palace larder, when the queen and her son +were thrown down to him fast bound, as though he were as dangerous as +a den of lions. At first he was terribly afraid when he found himself +pursued into his last hiding-place; but presently he gathered from the +queen's remarks that she was quite powerless to do him harm. + +'Oh, what a wicked woman I am!' she moaned; and began crying +lamentably, as if she hoped to melt the stone walls which formed her +prison. + +Presently her little son cried, 'Mother, take off my brother's crown; +it pricks me!' And the king's son sat in his corner, and cried to +himself with grief over the harm that his step-mother's wickedness had +brought about. + +'Mother,' cried the queen's son again, 'night and day since I have +worn it, it pricks me; I cannot sleep!' + +But the queen's heart was still hard; not if she could help, would she +yet take off from her son the crown. + +Hours went by, and the queen and her son grew hungry. 'We shall be +starved to death!' she cried. 'Now I see what a wicked woman I am!' + +'Mother,' cried the queen's son, 'some one is putting food into my +mouth!' 'No one,' said the queen, 'is putting any into mine. Now I +know what a wicked woman I am!' + +Presently the king's son came to the queen also, and began feeding +her. 'Someone is putting food into _my_ mouth, now!' cried the queen. +'If it is poisoned I shall die in agony! I wish,' she said, 'I wish I +knew your brother were not dead; if I have killed him what a wicked +woman I am!' + +'Dear step-mother,' said the king's son 'I am not dead, I am here.' + +'Here?' cried the queen, shaking with fright. 'Here? not dead! How +long have you been here?' + +'Days, and days, and days,' said the king's son, sadly. + +'Ah! if I had only known _that_!' cried the queen. '_Now_ I know what +a wicked woman I am!' + +Just then, the trap-door in the roof of the dungeon opened, and a +voice called down, 'Tell us where is the king's son! If you do not +tell us, you shall stay here and starve.' + +'The king's son is here!' cried the queen. + +'A likely story!' answered the gaolers. 'Do you think we are going to +believe that?' And they shut-to the trap. + +The queen's son cried, 'Dear brother, come and take back your crown, +it pricks so!' But the king's son only undid the queen's bonds and his +brother's. 'Now,' said he, 'you are free: you can kill me now.' + +'Oh!' cried the queen, 'what a wicked woman I must be! Do you think I +could do it now?' Then she cried, 'O little son, bring your poor head +to me, and I will take off the crown!' and she took off the crown and +gave it back to the king's son. 'When I am dead,' she said, 'remember, +and be kind to him!' + +The king's son put the crown upon his own head. + +Suddenly, outside the palace, all the land broke into leaf; there was +a rushing sound in the river of fishes swimming up from the sea, and +all the air was loud and dark with flights of returning birds. Almost +at the same moment the foxes began to disappear and diminish, and +cease to be like locusts in the land. + +People came running to open the door of the deepest and darkest +dungeon in the palace: 'For either,' they cried, 'the queen is dead, +or the king's son has been found!' + +'Where is the king's son, then?' they called out, as they threw wide +the door. 'He is here!' cried the king; and out he came, to the +astonishment of all, wearing his crown, and leading his step-mother +and half-brother by the hand. + +He looked at his step-mother, and she was quite white; as white as the +mouse that had jumped upon the king's bed at midnight bidding him fly +for his life. Not only her face, but her hair, her lips, and her very +eyes were white and colourless, for she had gone blind from gazing too +hard into her crystal ball, and hunting the king's son to death. + +So she remained blind to the end of her days; but the king was more +good to her than gold, and as for his brother, never did half-brothers +love each other better than these. Therefore they all lived very +happily together, and after a long time, the queen learned to forget +what a wicked woman she had been. + + + + +THE WISHING-POT + +[Illustration] + +THE WISHING-POT + + +Tulip was the son of a poor but prudent mother; from the moment of his +birth she had trained him to count ten before ever he wanted or asked +for anything. An otherwise reckless youth, he acquired an intrinsic +value through the practice of this habit. Only once, just as he was +reaching, but had not quite reached, years of discretion, did his +habit of precaution fail him; and this same failure became in the end +the opening of his fortunes. + +Bathing one day in the river, to whose banks the woods ran down in +steep terraces, he heard a voice come singing along one of the upper +slopes; and looking up under the boughs of cedar and sycamore, he saw +a pair of green feet go dancing by, up and down like grasshoppers on +the prance. + +There was such rhythm in them, and such sweetness in the voice, that +his heart was out of him before he could harness it to the number ten, +and he came out of the water the most natural and forlorn of lovers. + +Before he was dressed the green feet and the voice were gone, and +before he got home his health and his appetite seemed to have gone +also. He pined industriously from day to day, and spent all his hours +in searching among the woods by the river side for his lady of the +dear green feet. He did not know so much as the size or colour of her +face; the sound of her voice alone, and the running up and down of her +feet, had, as he told his mother, 'decimated his affections.' + +In his trouble he could think of only one possible remedy, and that he +counted well over, knowing its risk. Away in the loneliest part of the +forest there lived a wise woman, to whom, now and then, folk went for +help when everything else had failed them. So he had heard tell of a +certain Wishing-Pot that was hers in which people might see the thing +they desired most, and into which for a fee she allowed lovers and +other poor fools of fortune to look. One thing, however, was told +against the virtues of this Wishing-Pot, that though many had had a +sight of it, and their wishes revealed to them therein, others had +gone and had never again returned to their homes, but had vanished +altogether from men's sight, nor had any news ever been heard of them +after. There were some wise folk who held that they had only gone +elsewhere to seek the fortune that the Wishing-Pot had shown to them. +Nevertheless, for the most part the wise woman and her Wishing-Pot had +an ill name in that neighbourhood. + +To a lover's heart risk gives value; so one fine morning Tulip kissed +his mother, counted ten, and set out for the woods. + +Towards evening he came to the house of the witch and knocked at the +door. 'Good mother,' said he, when she opened to him, 'I have brought +you the fee to buy myself a wish over the Wishing-Pot.' 'Ay, surely,' +answered the crone, and drew him in. + +In one corner of the room stood a great crystal bowl. Nearly round it +was, and had a small opening at the top, to which a man might place +his eye and look in. To Tulip, as he looked at it, it seemed all +coloured fires and falling stars, and a soft crackling sound came +from it, as though heat burned in its veins. It threw long shapes and +lustres upon the walls, and within innumerable things writhed, and +ran, and whiffed in the floating of its vapours. + +'You may have two wishes,' said the old witch, 'a one and a two.' And +she said the spell that undid the secret of the Pot to the wisher. + +Then Tulip bent down his head and looked in, counting softly to +himself, and at ten, he let the wish go to his lady of the dear green +feet. + +The colours changed and sprang, as though stirred and fed with fresh +fuel; and down in the depths of the Wishing-Pot he saw the feet of his +Beloved go by in twinkling green slippers. + +As soon as he saw that he began counting ten in great haste for the +second wish. 'O to be inside the Wishing-Pot with her!' was his +thought now. He had got to nine, and the wish was almost on his +tongue, when he caught sight of the old woman's eye looking at him. +And the eye had become like a large green spider, with great long +limbs that kept clutching up and out again! + +His heart queegled to a jelly at the sight; but the green feet lured +him so, that he still thought how to get to them and yet be safe. +Surely, to be in the Wishing-Pot and out by the sound of the next +Angelus became the shape of his wish. He shut his eyes, cried ten upon +the venture, and was in the Wishing-Pot! + +The little green feet were trebling over the glass with a sound like +running water; and he himself began running at full speed, shot off +into the Wishing-Pot like a pellet from a pop-gun. Nothing could he +see of his dear but her wee green feet. But above them as they ran he +heard showery laughter, and he knew that his lady was there before +him, though invisible to the eye. + +The Pot, now he was in it, seemed bigger than the biggest dome in the +world; to run all round it took him two or three minutes. Away in the +centre of its base stood a great opal knob, like the axle to a wheel +round which he and the green feet kept circling. + +However much he wished and wished, the green feet still kept their +distance, for now he was _in_ the Wishing-Pot wishes availed him +nothing. The green feet flew faster than his; the light laugh rang +further and further away; right across to the other side of the hall +his lady had passed from him now. + +The magic fires of the crystal leapt and crackled under his tread; +now it seemed as if his feet ran on a green lawn, out of which broke +crocuses and daffodils, and now roses reddened in the track, and now +the purple of grapes spurted across the path like spilled wine. The +sound of the green feet and the running of overhead laughter, as they +distanced him in front, came nearer and nearer behind him from across +the hall. He felt that he must follow and not turn, however beaten he +might be. + +Presently a voice, that he knew was his Beloved's, cried,-- + + 'Heart that would have me must hatch me! + Feet that would find me must catch me! + Man that would mate me must match me!' + +Oh, how? wondered spent feet, and failing heart, and reeling brain. +He stumbled slower and slower in the race, till presently with quick +innumerable patterings the green feet grew closer, and were overtaking +him from the rear. + +Warm breath was in his hair,--lips and a hand; he turned, open armed, +to snatch the mischievous morsel, but all that he clasped was a gust +of air; and he saw the green feet scudding out and away on a fresh +start before him. + +Again, with laughter, the voice cried,-- + + 'Lap for lap you must wind me: + Equal, before you can find me! + You are a lap behind me!' + +Where they raced the surface of the glass sloped slightly to the +upward rise of its walls; Tulip shifted his ground, and ran where the +footing was leveller toward the centre, and the circle began to go +smaller. So he began to gain, till the green slippers, seeing how the +advantage had come about, shifted also in their turn. + +Thus they ran on; there were no inner posts to mark the course, only +the great opal standing in the centre of all formed the pivot of the +race, and round and round it, a great way off, they ran. + +All at once a big thought came into Tulip's head; he waited not to +count ten, but, before Green Slippers knew what he was after, he had +reached the opal centre, and was circling it. Then quickly all the +laughter stopped; the green feet came twinkling sixteens to the +dozens, so as to get round the post before him and away. + +One lap, he was before her; two laps, he turned again to her coming, +and found her falling into his arms. She blossomed into sight at his +touch: from top to toe she was there! All rosy and alive he had her in +his clasp, laughing, crying, clinging, yet struggling to be free. She +made a most endless handful, till Tulip had caught her by the hair and +kissed her between the eyes. + +All round and overhead the magic crystal reared up arches of fire, to +a roof that dropped like rain, while Tulip and his prize sank down +exhausted on the great hub of opal to rest. As he touched it all the +secret wonders of the Wishing-Pot were opened and revealed to his +gaze. + +Crowds and crowds of faces were what he most saw; everywhere that he +turned he saw old friends and neighbours who, he thought, had been +dead and gone, looking sadly, and shaking long sorrowful faces at +him. 'You here too, Tulip?' they seemed forever to be saying. 'Always +another, and another; and now you here too!' + +There was the dairyman's wife, who had waited seven years to have a +child, holding a little will-o'-the-wisp of a thing in her arms. Now +and then for a while it would lie still, and then suddenly it would +leap up and dart away; and she, poor soul, must up and after it, +though the chase were ever so long! + +There also was Miller Dick with his broad thumbs, counting over a rich +pile of gold, which, ever and anon, spun up into the air, and went +strewing itself like dead leaves before the wind. Then he too must +needs up and after it, till it was all caught again, and added +together, and made right. + +There were small playmates of Tulip's childhood, each with its little +conceit of treasure: one had a toy, and another a lamb, another a +bird; and all of them hunted and caught the thing they loved, and +kissed it and again let go. So it went on, over and over again, more +sad than the sight of a quaker as he twiddles his thumbs. + +Whenever they were at peace for a moment, they turned their eyes his +way. 'What, you here too, Tulip?' was always the thing they seemed to +be saying. + +While Tulip sat looking at them, and thinking of it all, suddenly his +lady disappeared, and only her green feet darted from his side and +began running round and round in a circle. Then was he just about to +set off running after them, when he felt himself caught up to the +coloured fires of the roof and sent spinning ungovernably through +space. Suddenly he was dumped to the ground, and just as his feet were +gathering themselves up under him he heard the Angelus bell ringing +from the village below the slopes of the wood. + +He was standing again by the side of the Wishing-Pot, and the old +woman sat cowering, and blinking her spider-eye at him, too much +astonished to speak or move. + +Tulip looked at her with a pleasant and engaging air. 'Oh, good +mother, what a treat you have given me!' he said. 'How I wish I had +money for another wish! what a pity it was ever to have wished myself +back again!' + +When the old witch heard that she thought still to entrap him, and +answered joyfully, 'Why, kind Sir, surely, kind Sir, if you like it +you shall look again! Take another wish, and never mind about the +money.' So she said the spell once more which opened to him the +wonders of the Wishing-Pot. + +Then cried Tulip, clapping his hands, 'What better can I wish than to +have you in the Wishing-Pot, in the place of all those poor folk whom +you have imprisoned with their wishes!' + +Hardly was the thing said than done; all the children who had been +Tulip's playmates, and Miller Dick with his broad thumbs, and the +dairyman's wife, were every one of them out, and the old witch woman +was nowhere to be seen. + +But Tulip put his eye to the mouth of the Wishing-Pot; and there down +below he saw the old witch, running round and round as hard as she +could go, pursued by a herd of green spiders. And there without doubt +she remains. + +And now everybody was happy except Tulip himself; for the children had +all of them their toys, and the old miller his gold, and as for the +dairyman's wife, she found that she had become the mother of a large +and promising infant. But Tulip had altogether lost his lady of the +dear green feet, for in thinking of others he had forgotten to think +of himself. All the gratitude of the poor people he had saved was +nothing to him in that great loss which had left him desolate. For his +part he only took the Wishing-Pot up under his arm, and went sadly +away home. + +But before long the noise of what he had done reached to the king's +ears; and he sent for Tulip to appear before him and his Court. Tulip +came, carrying the Wishing-Pot under his arm, very downcast and sad +for love of the lady of the dear green feet. + +At that time all the Court was in half mourning; for the Princess +Royal, who was the king's only child, and the most beautiful and +accomplished of her sex, had gone perfectly distraught with grief, of +which nothing could cure her. All day long she sat with her eyes shut, +and tears running down, and folded hands and quiet little feet. And +all this came, it was said, from a dream which she could not tell or +explain to anybody. + +The king had promised that whoever could rouse her from her grief, +should have the princess for his wife, and become heir to the throne; +and when he heard that there was such a thing in the world as a +Wishing-Pot, he thought that something might be done with it. + +From Tulip he learned, however, that no one knew the spell which +opened the resources of the Wishing-Pot save the old witch woman who +was shut up fast for ever in its inside. So it seemed to the king that +the Pot could be of no use for curing the princess. + +But it was so beautiful, with its shooting stars and coloured fires, +that, when Tulip brought it, they carried it in to show to her. + +After three hours the princess was prevailed upon to open her eyes; +and directly they fell upon the great opal bowl, all at once she +started to her feet and began laughing and dancing and singing. + +These are the words that they heard her sing,-- + + 'Lap for lap I must wind you; + Equal, before I can find you; + I am a lap behind you!' + +Tulip, as soon as he heard the sweetness of that voice, and the words, +pushed his way past the king and all his court, to where the princess +was. And there over the heads of the crowd he saw his lady of the dear +green feet laughing and opening her white arms to him. + +As she set eyes on his face the dream of the princess came true, and +all her unhappiness passed from her. So they loved and were married, +to the astonishment and edification of the whole court; and lived to +be greatly loved and admired by all their grandchildren. + + + + +THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS + +[Illustration] + +THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS + + +Over the sea went the birds, flying southward to their other home +where the sun was. The rustle of their wings, high over head, could be +heard down on the water; and their soft, shrill twitterings, and the +thirsty nibbling of their beaks; for the seas were hushed, and the +winds hung away in cloud-land. + +Far away from any shore, and beginning to be weary, their eyes caught +sight of a white form resting between sky and sea. Nearer they came, +till it seemed to be a great white bird, brooding on the calmed water; +and its wings were stretched high and wide, yet it stirred not. And +the wings had in themselves no motion, but stood rigidly poised over +their own reflection in the water. + +Then the birds came curiously, dropping from their straight course, to +wonder at the white wings that went not on. And they came and settled +about this great, bird-like thing, so still and so grand. + +Onto the deck crept a small child, for the noise of the birds had come +down to him in the hold. 'There is nobody at home but me,' he said; +for he thought the birds must have come to call, and he wished to be +polite. 'They are all gone but me,' he went on, 'all gone. I am left +alone.' + +The birds, none of them understood him; but they put their heads +on one side and looked down on him in a friendly way, seeming to +consider. + +He ran down below and fetched up a pannikin of water and some biscuit. +He set the water down, and breaking the biscuit sprinkled it over the +white deck. Then he clapped his hands to see them all flutter and +crowd round him, dipping their bright heads to the food and drink he +gave them. + +They might not stay long, for the waterlogged ship could not help +them on the way they wished to go; and by sunset they must touch land +again. Away they went, on a sudden, the whole crew of them, and the +sound of their voices became faint in the bright sea-air. + +'I am left alone!' said the child. + +Many days ago, while he was asleep in a snug corner he had found for +himself, the captain and crew had taken to the boats, leaving the +great ship to its fate. And forgetting him because he was so small, or +thinking that he was safe in some one of the other boats, the rough +sailors had gone off without him, and he was left alone. So for a +whole week he had stayed with the ship, like a whisper of its vanished +life amid the blues of a deep calm. And the birds came to the ship +only to desert it again quickly, because it stood so still upon the +sea. + +But that night the mermen came round the vessel's side, and sang; and +the wind rose to their singing, and the sea grew rough. Yet the child +slept with his head in dreams. The dreams came from the mermen's +songs, and he held his breath, and his heart stayed burdened by the +deep sweetness of what he saw. + +Dark and strange and cold the sea-valleys opened before him; blue +sea-beasts ranged there, guarded by strong-finned shepherds, and +fishes like birds darted to and fro, but made no sound. And that was +what burdened his heart,--that for all the beauty he saw, there was no +sound, no song of a single bird to comfort him. + +The mermen reached out their blue arms to him, and sang; on the top of +the waves they sang, striving to make him forget the silence of the +land below. They offered him the sea-life: why should he be drowned +and die? + +And now over him in the dark night the great wings crashed, and beat +abroad in the wind, and the ship made great way. And the mermen swam +fast to be with her, and ceased from their own song, for the wind sang +a coronach in the canvas and cordage. But the little child lifted his +head in his sleep and smiled, for his soul was eased of the mermen's +song, and it seemed to him that instead he heard birds singing in a +far-off land, singing of a child whose loving hand had fed them, faint +and weary, in their way over the wide ocean. + +In that far southern land the dawn had begun, and the birds, waking +one by one, were singing their story of him to the soft-breathing +tamarisk boughs. And none of them knew how they had been sent as +a salvage crew to save the child's spirit from the spell of the +sea-dream, and to carry it safely back to the land that loved him. + + * * * * * + +But with the child's body the white wings had flown down into the +wave-buried valleys, and to a cleft of the sea-hills to rest. + + + + +THE PASSIONATE PUPPETS + +[Illustration] + +THE PASSIONATE PUPPETS + + +When the long days of summer began, Killian, the cow-herd, was able +to lead his drove up into the hills, giving them the high pastures to +range. Then from sunrise to sunset he was alone, except when, early +each morning, Grendel and the other girls came up to carry down the +milk to the villages. + +All day long the cow-bells sounded in his ears, but still the time of +his wedding was a long way off; it would be five years before he and +Grendel could afford to set up a house and farm, with cows of their +own. + +The great stretch of world that lay out under him, like a broad map +coloured blue and green, made him full of a restless longing for a +move in life. Yonder he could pick out the towns with their spires and +glittering roofs, and the overhead mists, that gave token of crowded +life below. It was there that wealth could be got; and with wealth men +married soon, and were at ease. Somewhere, he had heard, lived kings +and queens, wearing rich robes and gold crowns on the top of their +heart's desire. For kings and queens, he supposed, loved as did he and +Grendel, regarding nothing else as much in the world besides. + +So Killian put heart into his deft hands, and presently had set to +work. + +One evening Grendel came up from the valley, after her day's work, to +have a look at her lover; she had brought him some brown cakes and a +bottle of wine. But Killian, who had caught sight of her eyes over the +green rise at his feet, was hiding something behind his back. + +'Whatever have you there?' she asked, as she saw chips, and tools, and +bits of bright foil, lying scattered about the ground. Yet for three +days he would show her nothing, only he said, 'What I do is because we +love each other so.' + +At the end of that time, he showed her what he had done. There she saw +a little king and queen, about six inches high; he was in blue, and +she in white; and they were both as dear as they were small. The king +was partly like a cow-herd, having a crown over his broad-brimmed hat, +with thick wooden shoes, and leather-bound legs; and the queen was +like Grendel, with great long plaits past her waist, and a gold-worked +bodice, such as Grendel had for Sunday wear. 'Aye, aye,' cried +Grendel, 'why, it is you and me!' + +Then Killian showed her how the joints of the little puppets moved on +delicate wires, and how five strings ran up, one from each limb, to be +fastened to the player's fingers, so that he might make them act as +though life were in them. + +'I shall take these down with me to the valley,' said Killian. 'First +I shall go about among the villages; then, when I can do better, I +shall go to the towns. After that no doubt the kings and queens will +hear of me, and will send for me to play before them, and I shall +become rich. Then I shall come home and marry you.' + +Grendel thought her lover the most wonderful man in the world, and it +is the truth he was very clever; she kissed him a hundred times, and +the little marionettes also. 'Ah,' she said, 'now we shall not have to +wait five years! in five months you will come back rich and famous, +and we shall marry, and live happily.' + +How Killian had loved her while making his puppets, only she knew as +well as he. Truly, he had put his heart into them, so that they were +like living beings,--and so small that their very smallness made them +a marvel. Being a lover, he had put inside each breast a little heart, +and, for the luck of the thing, had christened them with a drop of his +own blood, and a drop of Grendel's; so each heart had in it one little +drop of blood. Now he was to go out, and try his fortune. + +He found a lad to come and take his place and see after the cows; +then he said good-bye to Grendel, and set off on a round of all the +villages of the plain. + +At every inn where he put up, he called the country folk together to +the sound of his shepherd's bag-pipes, and showed them his play. It +was only himself and Grendel, no story at all, merely lovers parting +and meeting again, each believing the other dead, and in the end +living happily to the sound of cow-bells, that showed how rich they +were in herds. + +And the villagers laughed and cried, and gave him pence, and a night's +lodging, and food; so that presently he was able to make himself a +little travelling-stage, and hire a piper to play dance-music for him. +But it was always the one story of himself and Grendel, and no other, +though the two puppets wore crowns upon their heads. + + * * * * * + +The little marionettes had hearts. That was the beginning of things: +they remembered nothing else. When their eyes had grown open to the +fact, then for them life had begun. After that they lived like bee and +blossom, only that the bee never flew away, and the honey remained in +the blossom. + +How this came to pass was a question they never asked; why they loved +each other they did not know. If they had had to think of it they +would have said, 'It is because we cannot help it.' And every day +one same thing happened to them that they could not help, the most +beautiful thing in life. It came to them by instinct, taking hold of +them from head to feet and saying, 'love, love, love,' in all sorts of +wonderful ways. + +Whenever this thing happened they began to move about softly, going to +and fro, and round and round, dancing, and holding each other by +the hand, putting their cheeks so close together that their eyelids +brushed, and sometimes their little hearts that heaved. And all the +while music from somewhere was giving a meaning to these things; and +over and over again, 'love, love, love,' was what it kept saying to +them. + +Their happiness was so great, that they would begin playing with it, +pretending that it was all turned into grief. First he would kiss her +from forehead to chin, and into the hollow of her little throat; and +then all down each dear arm, even to the finger-tips; and last of all +her feet; and again last of all her lips, and again last of all her +breast. And then he would go away, walking backwards most of the time, +or if not, still turning round and round to take another look at her. +Then when he was altogether out of sight, she would sit down and cry, +though all the while he would be peeping at her from his hiding-place, +to let her know that he was not really gone. Then she would lie down, +and cry more, and at last leave off crying and stay almost still on a +little bed, that seemed to come to her from nowhere, just when she was +ready to fall on it. Then, at last, she would shut her eyes, and cover +her face up very slowly with a sheet, and lie so still that he would +grow quite frightened, and come running from his hiding-place, and +lift the sheet, and look at her; then he would fall down as if his +legs had been cut from under him; then he would get up and throw +flowers over her, and at last catch her up and begin to carry her; +and at that she would wake up all at once and kiss him, to a sound of +bells. + +They did not know why they did this; it was so beautiful they could +not have thought of it for themselves, and yet it said everything of +life that they wanted to say. For love was the beginning and the end +of it; and always, as they came to the sad part, they had tender +tremblings for fear the other should think the sorrow was real: he, +lest she should think he had really gone away and left her, never to +return; and she, lest he should believe that she always meant to lie +so cruelly still, with a sheet over her eyes. Yet the kissings that +came after made the fearfulness almost the sweetest thing in their +prayer-sayings to each other. + +For to them this was a daily prayer, the most solemn thing in their +lives; heart praying to heart, and hand reaching to hand; and from +somewhere overhead gentle monitions as to what they must do next +coming to them, so that they knew how to pray best, now by lifting a +hand, or now by turning the head, or now by running fast with both +feet. And all this beautiful worship of love their bodies learned to +do more perfectly day by day; yet the little quaking of fear was still +in the centre of it all. + + * * * * * + +Killian's fingers grew nimble; and yet he often wondered to see how +true to life his puppets were, how they sighed, how they embraced and +clung, as if their hearts were coming in two when the parting drew +near. How lingeringly the little queen drew up the sheet over her +face, when her lover did not return, and let it fall to cover her with +a quiet sigh. Often he cried when she did that part, so like Grendel +was it,--the tender waiting, and the last giving in! And then, how the +little king shuddered as he drew the cloth from her face; and how he +threw the flowers, as if there were not enough in the world to express +his grief! And yet it was only a play, made by the twitching of the +strings tied to his fingers, with love as the beginning and end of it. + +Killian was getting quite rich in copper coin, so he sent some of it +home to Grendel, that she might buy stock for the home that was so +soon to be theirs. And presently he made bold to go into the towns, +where, instead of copper, he might gain silver. He built a bigger +stage, and had more music to go to the dance; but still it was the +story of himself and Grendel, with crowns upon their heads, and +nothing more. + +And now, indeed, people began to cry, 'Here is a wonderful new actor! +He has it all at the ends of his fingers! What a pity he has no better +play in which to show himself off!' But Killian said, 'It is the only +play I know how to do.' + +Presently there came a sharp fellow to him, who said: 'If you will +go shares with me, I will make your fortune. We have only to put our +heads together, and the thing is done. I will write the plays for you, +and you shall play them on the strings. What is wanted is a little +more real life.' + +Killian was a simple fellow, who believed all the world to be wiser +than himself. He was glad enough to meet with a clever fellow who +could write plays for him. His partner wanted him to make new dresses +for the marionettes, to suit their new parts; but to that Killian +would not agree. So whatever they were they still wore their broad +hats and crowns, and their wooden shoes, that still he might watch +in his own mind himself and Grendel making their way to fortune and +happiness. + +The marionettes grew bewildered with their new taking; they did not +understand the meaning of all the coarse things they had to do. So in +the middle of a play, the little queen would fail now and then in +her part, and move awkwardly, wondering what her lover meant when he +sprawled to and fro, and seemed trying to find in the air more feet +than he had upon the ground. + +Yet the crowd found her bashful fear so irresistibly funny, that it +roared again. Also, when the little cow-herd with a crown on his head, +lifted his hand or foot toward his partner, and then shrank trembling +away, it roared yet more at the poltroon manner of the thing. + +Killian's partner said, 'You alter all my plays, but the way you do +them is something to marvel at. Only, why do you always bring them +round again to that silly lover's ending?' + +'I cannot help it,' said Killian; 'often now, with these new plays, I +can't get the strings to work properly. I think the poor puppets are +getting worn out.' + +His partner began examining the puppets, and watching how Killian +played them, with more attention; and presently he knew that there was +more in it than met the eye. 'It is the puppets who are the marvel, +not the man,' he said to himself. 'I could work them better myself, if +I had practice.' + +Soon after this he proposed that they should set off for another town; +it was the chief town of all, where they hoped at last to be allowed +to show their plays to the queen herself. 'It must be a real play this +time,' said the partner, 'a tragedy; but it wants a third person. You +must make another puppet, while I write the play!' + +So Killian set to work. But he had no love for the third puppet, which +was neither himself nor Grendel, and he put no heart inside it, and no +little drop of blood. So the new marionette was but limbs, and a head +drawn on wires. + +'Soon,' thought Killian, 'I shall be rich enough to go home and marry +Grendel. Then I will throw this stupid third one away; but the other +two we will always keep close to the niche with the statue of Saint +Lady, to help to make us thankful for the good things God gives us in +this world.' + +It was beautiful late spring weather when he and his companion set out +for the capital. On the way Killian's partner told him the play that +would have to be played before the queen, and said, 'In case three +should be too much for you to manage, you had better teach me also +to handle the strings.' So Killian began to teach him, with the two +little marionettes alone, the first play which he had brought down +with him from the mountains,--that being the easiest of all to learn, +and the one he loved best to teach. + +The partner was surprised to find how wonderfully the puppets followed +the leading-strings; in spite of his clumsiness the story acted itself +to perfection. + +Simple-hearted Killian was charmed. 'Ah! you clever townsman,' said +he, 'see how at first trial you equal poor me, who have been at it for +months! It had better be you, after all, to do the play when it is +called for at the court.' And this Killian proposed truly out of pure +modesty, but also because he did not like the play his partner had +made for him. 'It is too cruel a one!' he said. 'After they have +played it together so long, I feel as if my two puppets can do nothing +else so well as love each other, and live happily.' + +'Ah, but,' said his partner, 'the queen would find that very dull!' +Killian could not see why, but he believed that the townsman was wiser +than himself, and gave in. All he wanted now was to get money enough +to run back home with, and throw himself into his dear Grendel's arms +for life. + +So they journeyed on, and at last, one day, they came in sight of +the capital. But it had been such a long way to come that when they +reached the gates they found them shut. + +The night was warm, and a high moon was overhead. 'Come,' said +Killian, 'and let us lie down in one of these orchards that are +outside the walls!' So they left the high-road, and went and lay down. + +First they ate some food that they carried with them. Then Killian +opened the case in which lay the two marionettes, and looked them over +to see that they were in working order. His partner took up the odd +number, and began practising it; but Killian's attention all went to +the little king cow-herd and his queen. + +He fondled them gently with his hands, and as he looked at them his +heart went up into the mountains to pray for his dear Grendel. + +Presently he began dreaming to himself like Jacob, only his dream was +just of the simple things of earth. Down the great green uplands came +troops of white cattle; but to him they seemed to be bridesmaids +coming to Grendel's wedding day, and the ringing of the cow-bells was +as sweet to him as the songs of angels. Before he was fast asleep the +two marionettes had slipped off his knee and lay in the deep grass +looking up at the sky. + + * * * * * + +They had never seen so beautiful a sight before, for never had they +spent a night in the sweet open air till now. Over their heads swung +dusky clusters of blossom, that would look white by day; and over them +the moon went kissing its way from star to star. + +Now and then single blossoms dropped as if they had something to say +to the little cow-herd and his queen, lying there in the cool grass. + +But the marionettes said nothing; their hearts were very full; now, at +last, they found their old happiness return to them. Their prayers, +that they used to say to each other so tenderly, had been going wrong +for quite a long time; sudden starts and tremblings of fear had taken +hold of their light-hearted deceptions of each other; and every day +things had been going worse. But now they felt like entering upon a +long rest. + +As they lay, their hands met together. The little cow-herd could +count her fingers across the palm of his hand, and never once did she +pretend to be drawing them away. How good it all seemed! + +Close by them the odd man was strutting in stiff, ungainly attitudes, +cricking his neck and elbows, and tossing up his toes. How foolish he +seemed to them in their innocent wisdom! They knew he was nothing to +them, for he had no heart; he was nothing but a trick on springs. Yet +they wished he would go away, and give them room to be alone, while +the moon was making a white dream over their lives. + + * * * * * + +The partner grumbled to himself at the awkward ways of the new +puppet. Instead of obeying, it kicked at the leading strings, and did +everything like a stick, all angles and corners. Presently he put it +back into its box; and then he saw the little king and queen lying +together on the damp grass. He picked them up, growling at Killian as +a simpleton, for leaving them there to get rusty with the dew. Then he +put them also away, and curled himself up to dream about the success +of his play on the morrow. + +Quite early in the morning he and Killian went into the city, and set +up their stage in a corner of the marketplace. The wonderful acting of +the little king and queen, compared with the ungainly hobblings and +jerkings of the odd man, threw the townspeople into ecstasies of +laughter. They declared they had never seen so funny a sight in their +lives as the beautiful nervous acting of the pair, side by side with +the stiff-jointed awkwardness of the other. + +Presently, sure enough, the queen heard tell of this new form of +entertainment, and sent word for the mummers to appear at the palace. + +Killian said to his partner: 'There is something the matter with the +puppets to-day; they want careful handling. I am glad we settled +that you are to do the new play; for, before the queen and her great +ladies, I am likely to lose my head.' + +All the court was gathered together to watch the puppet-play, while +behind the scenes the partner took all the leading strings into his +own hands. + + * * * * * + +The two marionettes opened their eyes, and saw daylight; they began +moving to and fro softly; every now and then they put their faces +together and kissed. The stupid odd man seemed to have gone; they were +so glad to be left alone. + +Soon the little king lay down, pretending to be tired, but it was only +that he might put his head in the queen's lap. She bent over him, and +laid her fingers on his eyes, seeming to say, 'Go to sleep, then! I +will shut your eyes for you.' How pretty it was of her! + +Then she covered his face over with her handkerchief; and all at once +in came the odd man, walking on the points of his toes. The little +king, now that the handkerchief was over his face, opened his eyes, +and looked through it, to see what his dear queen would be doing now. +The odd man had his arms round her neck, and was kissing her, and the +queen looked as if she were going to kiss him back; but all at once +she had pushed away the odd man so hard that he fell down with his +heels in the air; and then she snatched the handkerchief from the +king's face, and began trembling, and kissing him. + +The whole of the court shouted, first with laughter at the odd man's +fall, and then with admiration at the wonderful acting of the little +queen. + +Behind the scenes the partner began grumbling to Killian: 'They are +going all wrong! It's all your doing, leaving them to lie in the damp +grass last night!' + +But still the whole court shouted and applauded. So the play went on; +and now, more and more, the showman had cause to grumble. Whenever he +came to a part where the play required that the queen should turn from +her own cow-herd to the ugly odd man, everything went wrong. 'Very +well,' thought he at last, 'she may be as innocent as Desdemona but it +will all come to the same at the last!' + +And so, still more, as the play went on, the little marionettes +trembled and shook with fear. They wished the silly odd man would go +away, and not come interrupting their prayers; and all the while they +loved each other so! No idea of jealousy ever entered the little +king's head; and as for the queen, if the odd man came and put his +arms round her neck and kissed her, could she help it? All she could +do was to run and put her arms round her own lover when he reappeared; +and how the court shouted and applauded, when she went so quick from +one to the other. + +At last the final act was begun; the king came running in with a sword +in his hand, why, he did not know, until he saw his poor little queen +struggling in the arms of the odd man. 'Ah,' thought he, 'it is to +drive him away! Then we shall be by ourselves again, and happy.' + +No one ever fought so wonderfully on a stage before as the little +cow-herd. All the court started to their feet, shouting; and still, +while they shouted, they laughed to see the impossible odd man +scooping about with his sword, and jerking head over heels, and high +up into the air, to get away from the little king's sword-play. The +partner had to keep snatching him up out of harm's way, for fear of a +wrong ending. Then, suddenly he let him come down with a jump on the +little king's head. And at that the king fell back upon the ground, +and felt a sharp pain go through his heart. + +The odd man drew out his sword and laughed; on the end of it was a +tiny drop of blood. The poor little queen ran up, and bent down to +look in her lover's face, to know if he were really hurt. And then a +terrible thing happened. + +Three times the little king raised his sword and pointed it at her +heart, and dropped it again. And all the time the partner was tugging +at the strings, and swearing by all the worst things he knew. + +The little king felt himself growing weak; he was very frightened. He +felt as if he were going away altogether, and leaving her to think +he did not love her any more. And still his arm went up and down, +pointing the sword at her heart. + +The showman tugged angrily; then there was the sound of a wire that +snapped--the king had thrown away his sword. + +He reached up his two arms, and laid them fast round the queen's neck. +'Now at last she knows that I have not left off loving her.' He felt +her drawing herself away, he held her more and more tightly to his +breast; and now her little face lay close against his. Nothing should +take her away from him now! + +The showman pulled violently with all his might, to get her away; +there was a snapping of strings, and then--the queen reached out two +weak little hands, and laid them under her lover's head. + +They lay quite still, quite still for a long time, and never moved. +'The play is over!' said the showman, disgusted and angry at the wreck +of his plot. + +Suddenly the whole stage became showered with gold; the great queen +and all her court threw out showers of it like rain. It fell all over +the two marionettes, covering them where they lay, just as the babes +in the wood when they died were covered over with leaves. + +Killian dropped his head on to the boards of the little stage, and +sobbed. The partner let down the curtain, and began gathering up the +gold. + +And still, from without, the queen and her court clapped, and cried +their applause; and still within lay Killian with his head upon the +stage, sobbing for the two little marionettes, lying still with all +the springs and strings of their bodies quite broken. Inside, though +he could not see them, their hearts were broken also. 'Now,' he +thought, 'I must go back to Grendel, or I too shall die!' + +That night, in the middle of the night, the partner went away, +carrying with him all the gold that the little marionettes had earned +by their deaths. And these, indeed, he left, seeing that they were +useless any more. But to Killian, when he woke the next morning, they +were the only things left him in the world, to take back to Grendel. + +He took them just as they were, locked in each other's arms, and went +back all the long way to Grendel, up into the hills of his home, as +poor in money as when he first started. + +But Grendel saw that he had come back rich; for his face was grown +tender and wise. And for five years they waited very patiently +together, till by cow-keeping he had earned enough for them to keep +some cows of their own, and to live in married happiness. + +The little marionettes they put on a shelf, beneath the cross, and the +statue of our Lady; and there, locked in each other's arms, those two +disciples and martyrs of love lie at peace, feeling no pain any more +in their broken hearts. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Field of Clover, by Laurence Housman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIELD OF CLOVER *** + +***** This file should be named 18872.txt or 18872.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/8/7/18872/ + +Produced by Brad Norton, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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