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diff --git a/25913.txt b/25913.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8271148 --- /dev/null +++ b/25913.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6580 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tales of Folk and Fairies, by Katharine Pyle + +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: Tales of Folk and Fairies + +Author: Katharine Pyle + +Release Date: June 27, 2008 [EBook #25913] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF FOLK AND FAIRIES *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ronnie Sahlberg and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: He took out his pipe and blew a tune.] + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + TALES OF + FOLK AND FAIRIES + + WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED + + BY + + KATHARINE PYLE + + + BOSTON + + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + + 1929 + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + _Copyright, 1919_, + + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + + THE MEESTER STOORWORM _A Story from Scotland_ 1 + + JEAN MALIN AND THE BULL-MAN _A Louisiana Tale_ 22 + + THE WIDOW'S SON _A Scandinavian Tale_ 35 + + THE WISE GIRL _A Serbian Story_ 61 + + THE HISTORY OF ALI COGIA _From the Arabian Nights_ 72 + + OH! _A Cossack Story_ 101 + + THE TALKING EGGS _A Story from Louisiana_ 123 + + THE FROG PRINCESS _A Russian Story_ 137 + + THE MAGIC TURBAN, THE MAGIC SWORD AND THE MAGIC CARPET + _A Persian Story_ 159 + + THE THREE SILVER CITRONS _A Persian Story_ 180 + + THE MAGIC PIPE _A Norse Tale_ 201 + + THE TRIUMPH OF TRUTH _A Hindu Story_ 221 + + LIFE'S SECRET _A Story of Bengal_ 251 + + DAME PRIDGETT AND THE FAIRIES 278 + + + + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE + + He took out his pipe and blew a tune. Frontispiece + + Seeing no one, the creature dropped on its knees and + bellowed, "Beau Madjam!" 29 + + She sat down beside the hearth and took off her head. 127 + + Then the demon flew out through the window and away + through the night. 169 + + The Princess took the cup and drank. 191 + + The Rajah brought the girl down, while the crows + circled about his head. 241 + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + + TALES OF FOLK AND + FAIRIES + + + + + THE MEESTER STOORWORM + + A STORY FROM SCOTLAND + + +There was once a lad, and what his real name was nobody remembered, +unless it was the mother who bore him; but what every one called him +was Ashipattle. They called him that because he sat among the ashes to +warm his toes. + +He had six older brothers, and they did not think much of him. All the +tasks they scorned to do themselves they put upon Ashipattle. He +gathered the sticks for the fire, he swept the floor, he cleaned the +byre, he ran the errands, and all he got for his pains were kicks and +cuffs and mocking words. Still he was a merry fellow, and as far as +words went he gave his brothers as good as they sent. + +Ashipattle had one sister, and she was very good and kind to him. In +return for her kindness he told her long stories of trolls and giants +and heroes and brave deeds, and as long as he would tell she would sit +and listen. But his brothers could not stand his stories, and used to +throw clods at him to make him be quiet. They were angry because +Ashipattle was always the hero of his own stories, and in his tales +there was nothing he dared not do. + +Now while Ashipattle was still a lad, but a tall, stout one, a great +misfortune fell upon the kingdom, for a Stoorworm rose up out of the +sea; and of all Stoorworms it was the greatest and the worst. For this +reason it was called the Meester Stoorworm. Its length stretched half +around the world, its one eye was as red as fire, and its breath was +so poisonous that whatever it breathed upon was withered. + +There was great fear and lamentation throughout the land because of +the worm, for every day it drew nearer to the shore, and every day the +danger from it grew greater. When it was first discovered it was so +far away that its back was no more than a low, long, black line upon +the horizon, but soon it was near enough for them to see the horns +upon its back, and its scales, and its one fierce eye, and its +nostrils that breathed out and in. + +In their fear the people cried upon the King to save them from the +monster, but the King had no power to save them more than any other +man. His sword, Snickersnapper, was the brightest and sharpest and +most wonderful sword in all the world, but it would need a longer +sword than Snickersnapper to pierce through that great body to the +monster's heart. The King summoned his councillors,--all the wisest +men in the kingdom,--and they consulted and talked together, but none +of them could think of any plan to beat or drive the Stoorworm off, so +powerful it was. + +Now there was in that country a sorcerer, and the King had no love for +him. Still, when all the wisemen and councillors could think of no +plan for destroying the Stoorworm, the King said, "Let us send for +this sorcerer, and have him brought before us, and hear what he has to +say; for 'twould seem there is no help in any of us for this evil that +has come upon us." + +So the sorcerer was brought, and he stood up in the council and looked +from one to another. Last of all he looked at the King, and there his +eyes rested. + +"There is one way, and only one," said he, "by which the land can be +saved from destruction. Let the King's only daughter, the Princess +Gemlovely, be given to the Stoorworm as a sacrifice, and he will be +satisfied and quit us." + +No sooner had the sorcerer said this than a great tumult arose in the +council. The councillors were filled with horror, and cried aloud that +the sorcerer should be torn to pieces for speaking such words. + +But the King arose and bade them be silent,--and he was as white as +death. + +"Is this the only way to save my people?" he asked. + +"It is the only way I know of," answered the sorcerer. + +The King stood still and white for a time. "Then," said he, "if it is +the only way, so let it be. But first let it be proclaimed, far and +wide throughout my kingdom, that there is an heroic deed to be done. +Whosoever will do battle with the Stoorworm and slay it, or drive it +off, shall have the Princess Gemlovely for a bride, and the half of my +kingdom, and my sword Snickersnapper for his own; and after my death +he shall rule as king over all the realm." + +Then the King dismissed the Council, and they went away in silence, +with dark and heavy looks. + +A proclamation was sent out as the King commanded, saying that whoever +could kill the Stoorworm or drive it away should have the Princess, +and the half of the kingdom as a reward, and the King's sword, and +after the King's death should reign over the whole realm. + +When this news went out many a man wished he might win these three +prizes for himself, for what better was there to be desired than a +beauteous wife, a kingdom to reign over, and the most famous sword in +all the world. But fine as were the prizes, only six-and-thirty bold +hearts came to offer themselves for the task, so great was the fear of +the Stoorworm. Of this number the first twelve who looked at the +Stoorworm fell ill at sight of him and had to be carried home. The +next twelve did not stay to be carried, but ran home on their own legs +and shut themselves up in strong fortresses; and the last twelve +stayed at the King's palace with their hearts in their stomachs, and +their wrists too weak with fear to strike a blow, even to win a +kingdom. + +So there was nothing left but for the Princess to be offered up to the +Stoorworm, for it was better that one should be lost, even though that +one were the Princess, than that the whole country should be +destroyed. + +Then there was great grief and lamenting throughout the land, for the +Princess Gemlovely was so kind and gentle that she was beloved by all, +both high and low. Only Ashipattle heard it all unmoved. He said +nothing, but sat by the fire and thought and thought, and what his +thoughts were he told to nobody. + +The day was set when the Princess was to be offered up to the +Stoorworm, and the night before there was a great feast at the palace, +but a sad feast it was. Little was eaten and less was said. The King +sat with his back to the light and bit his fingers, and no one dared +to speak to him. + +In the poorer houses there was a great stir and bustle and laying out +of coats and dresses, for many were planning to go to the seashore to +see the Princess offered up to the Stoorworm,--though a gruesome sight +'twould be to see. Ashipattle's father and brothers were planning to +go with the rest, but his mother and sister wept, and said they would +not see it for anything in the world. + +Now Ashipattle's father had a horse named Feetgong, and he was not +much to look at. Nevertheless the farmer treasured him, and it was not +often he would let any one use him but himself. When the farmer rode +Feetgong he could make him go like the wind,--none faster,--and that +without beating him, either. Then when the farmer wished him to stop +Feetgong would stand as still as though he were frozen to the ground; +no one could make him budge. But if any one other than the farmer rode +him, then it was quite different. Feetgong would jog along, and not +even a beating would drive him faster, and then if one wanted him to +stop that was as hard to do as it was to start him. Ashipattle was +sure there was some secret about this; that his father had a way to +make him go that no one knew about; but what that way was he could not +find out. + +The day before the beauteous Gemlovely was to be sacrificed Ashipattle +said to his mother, "Tell me something; how is it that Feetgong will +not go for you or my brothers or any one, but when my father mounts +him he goes like the wind,--none faster?" + +Then his mother answered, "Indeed, I do not know." + +"It seems a strange thing that my father would not tell you that," +said Ashipattle, "and you his own true wife." + +To this his mother answered nothing. + +"A strange thing," said Ashipattle; "and in all the years you've lived +together not a thing have you kept back from him, whether he wished it +or no. But even a good husband always holds back some secret from his +wife." + +Still his mother spoke never a word, but Ashipattle could see that she +was thinking. + +That night Ashipattle lay awake long after the others were asleep. He +heard his father snoring and his brothers, too, but it seemed his +mother could not sleep. She turned and twisted and sighed aloud, until +at last she awakened her husband. + +"What ails you," he asked, "that you turn and twist in bed and sigh so +loud that a body scarce can sleep." + +"It's no wonder I sigh and cannot sleep," answered his wife. "I have +been thinking and turning things over in my mind, and I can see very +plainly that you do not love me as a good husband should love his +wife." + +"How can you say that?" asked her husband. "Have I not treated you +well in all these years? Have I not shown my love in every way?" + +"Yes, but you do not trust me," said his wife. "You do not tell me +what is in your heart." + +"What have I not told you?" + +"You have never told me about Feetgong; you have never told me why it +is that he goes like the wind whenever you mount him, and when any one +else rides him he is so slow there is no getting anywhere with him." +Then she began to sob as if her heart would break. "You do not trust +me," said she. + +"Wait, wait!" cried the Goodman. "That is a secret I had never thought +to tell any one, but since you have set your heart on knowing--listen! +Only you must promise not to tell a living soul what I tell you now." + +His wife promised. + +"Then this is it," said her husband. "When I want Feetgong to go +moderately fast I slap him on the right shoulder; when I want him to +stop I slap him on the left shoulder, and when I want him to go like +the wind I blow upon the dried windpipe of a goose that I always carry +in the right-hand pocket of my coat." + +"Now indeed I know that you love me when you tell me this," said his +wife. And then she went to sleep, for she was satisfied. + +Ashipattle waited until near morning, and then he arose and dressed +himself. He put on the coat of one brother, and the breeches of +another, and the shoes of a third, and so on, for his own clothes were +nothing but rags. He felt in the right-hand pocket of his father's +coat, and there, sure enough, he found the dried windpipe of a goose. +He took that and he took a pot of burning peat, and covered it over so +it would keep hot; and he took also a big kitchen knife. Then he went +out and led Feetgong from the stable. He sprang upon his back and +slapped him on the right shoulder, and away they went. + +The noise awoke the goodman and he jumped from bed and ran to the +window. There was some one riding away on his dear Feetgong. Then he +called out at the top of his voice: + + "Hie! Hie! Ho! + Feetgong, whoa!" + +When Feetgong heard his master calling he stopped and stood stockstill. +But Ashipattle whipped out the dried windpipe of the goose and blew +upon it, and away went Feetgong like the wind; none could go faster. No +one could overtake them. + +After a while, and not so long either, they came to the seashore, and +there, a little way out from the shore, lay the King's own boat with +the boatman in it. He was keeping the boat there until day dawned. +Then the King and his court would come, bringing the beauteous +Gemlovely to offer up to the Stoorworm. They would put her in the boat +and set the sails to carry her toward him. + +Ashipattle looked out across the water, and he could see the black +back of the beast rising out of the sea like a long low mountain. + +He lighted down from Feetgong and called across the water to the +boatman, "Hello, friend! How fares it with you out there?" + +"Bitterly, bitterly!" answered the boatman. "Here I sit and freeze all +night, for it is cold on the water, and not a soul except myself but +what is safe asleep in a good warm bed." + +"I have a fire here in the pot," called Ashipattle. "Draw your boat in +to shore and come and warm yourself, for I can see even from here that +you are almost perished." + +"That I may not do," answered the man. "The King and his court may +come at any time now, and they must find me ready and waiting for them +as the commands were." + +Then Ashipattle put his pot down on the shore and stood and thought a +bit. Suddenly he dropped on his knees and began to dig in the sand as +though he had gone mad. "Gold! Gold!" he shouted. + +"What is the matter?" called the boatman. "What have you found?" + +"Gold! Gold!" shouted Ashipattle, digging faster than ever. + +The boatman thought Ashipattle must certainly have found a treasure in +the sand. He made haste to bring the boat to land. He sprang out upon +the shore, and pushing Ashipattle aside, he dropped on his knees and +began to scoop out the sand. But Ashipattle did not wait to see +whether he found anything. He caught up the pot and leaped into the +boat, and before the boatman could stop him he pushed off from the +shore. + +Too late the boatman saw what he was doing. He ran down to the edge of +the water and shouted and stormed and cried to Ashipattle to come +back, but Ashipattle paid no heed to him. He never even turned his +head. He set the sail and steered over toward where the great monster +lay, with the waves washing up and breaking into foam against him. + +And now the dawn was breaking. It was time for the monster to awake, +and down the road from the castle came riding the King and all his +court, and the Princess Gemlovely rode among them on a milk-white +horse. All the color was gone from her face, and she looked as white +as snow. + +When the King and all the others reached the shore there stood the +boatman, wringing his hands and lamenting, and the boat was gone. + +"What is this?" asked the King. "What have you done with my boat, and +why are you standing here?" + +"Look! Look!" cried the boatman and he pointed out to sea. + +The King looked, and then first he saw Ashipattle in the boat, sailing +away toward the monster,--for before his eyes had been dim with +sorrow, and he had seen naught but what was close before him. + +The King looked, and all the court looked with him, and a great cry +arose, for they guessed that Ashipattle was sailing out to do battle +with the Stoorworm. + +As they stood staring the sun shone red and the monster awoke. Slowly, +slowly his great jaws opened in a yawn, and as he yawned the water +rushed into his mouth like a great flood and on down his throat. +Ashipattle's boat was caught in the swirl and swept forward faster +than any sail could carry it. Then slowly the monster closed his mouth +and all was still save for the foaming and surging of the waters. + +Ashipattle steered his boat close in against the monster's jaws, and +it lay there, rocking in the tide, while he waited for the Stoorworm +to yawn again. + +Presently slowly, slowly, the great jaws gaped, and the flood rushed +in, foaming. Ashipattle's boat was swept in with the water, and it +almost crushed against one of the monster's teeth, but Ashipattle +fended it off, and it was carried on the flood down into the +Stoorworm's throat. + +Down and down went the boat with Ashipattle in it and the sound of +surging waters filled his ears. It was light there in the monster's +throat, for the roof and the sides of it shone with phosphorescence so +that he could see everything. + +As he swept on, the roof above him grew lower and lower, and the water +grew shallower and shallower; for it drained off into passages that +opened off from the throat into the rest of the body. + +At last the roof grew so low that the mast of the boat wedged against +it. Then Ashipattle stepped over the side of the boat into the water, +and it had grown so shallow it was scarce as high as his knees. He +took the pot of peat, that was still hot, and the knife, and went a +little further until he came to where the beast's heart was. He could +see it beat, beat, beating. + +Ashipattle took his knife and dug a hole in the heart, and emptied the +hot peat into it. Then he blew and blew on the peat. He blew until his +cheeks almost cracked with blowing, and it seemed as though the peat +would never burn. But at last it flared up; the oil of the heart +trickled down upon it, and the flame burst into a blaze. Higher and +higher waxed the fire. All the heart shone red with the light of it. + +Then the lad ran back and jumped into the boat and pushed it clear of +the roof. And none too soon, for as the fire burned deeper into the +heart, the monster felt the burn of it and began to writhe and twist. +Then he gave a great cough that sent the waters surging back out of +his body and into the sea again in a mighty flood. + +Ashipattle's boat was caught in the rush and swept like a straw up out +of the Stoorworm's throat and into the light of day. The monster +spewed him and his boat all the way across the sea and up on the +shore, almost at the King's feet. + +The King himself sprang from his steed and ran and helped Ashipattle +to his feet. Then every one fled back to a high hill, for the sea was +rising in a mighty flood with the beating and tossing of the +Stoorworm. + +Then began such a sight as never was seen before and perchance will +never be seen again. For first the monster flung his tail so high that +it seemed as though it would strike the sun from the sky. And next it +fell into the sea with such a slap as sent the waves high up the +rocks; and now it was his head that flung aloft, and the tongue caught +on the point of the crescent moon and hung there, and for a while it +looked as though the moon would be pulled from the sky, but it stood +firm, and the monster's tongue tore, so that the head dropped back +into the sea with such force that the teeth flew out of its mouth, and +these teeth became the Orkney Islands. + +Again its head reared high and fell back, and more teeth flew out, and +these became the Shetland Islands. The third time his head rose and +fell, and teeth flew out; they became the Faroe Islands. + +So the monster beat and threshed and struggled, while the King and the +Princess and Ashipattle and all the people looked on with fear and +wonder at the dreadful sight. + +But at last the struggle became weaker, for the heart was almost +burned out. Then the Stoorworm curled up and lay still, for it was +dead, and its great coils became the place called Iceland. + +So was the monster killed, and that was the manner of his death! + +But the King turned to Ashipattle and called him son, and took the +hand of the Princess Gemlovely and laid it in the lad's hand, for now +she was to be his bride as the King had promised. + +Then they all rode back to the palace together, and the King took the +sword Snickersnapper and gave it to Ashipattle for him to keep as his +own. + +A great feast was spread in honor of the slaying of the Stoorworm. All +who chose to come were welcome, and all was mirth and rejoicing. + +The honest farmer, Ashipattle's father, and his mother and his sister +and his brothers heard of the feast and put on their best clothes and +came, but the farmer had no Feetgong to ride. When they entered the +great hall and saw Ashipattle sitting there at the King's right hand +in the place of honor, with the Princess Gemlovely beside him, they +could hardly believe their eyes, for they had not known he was the +hero every one was talking about. But Ashipattle looked at them and +nodded, and all was well. + +Not long after that Ashipattle and the Princess were married, and a +grand wedding it was, I can tell you; and after the old King died +Ashipattle became ruler of the whole realm, and he and the Princess +lived in mutual love and happiness together the rest of their long +lives. + + + + + JEAN MALIN AND THE BULL-MAN + + A LOUISIANA TALE + + +There was once a little boy who was all alone in the world; he had no +father or mother, and no home; and no one to care for him. That made +him very sad. + +One day he sat by the roadside, and he was so sad that he began to +weep. Presently a fine coach came rolling along, and in it sat a +beautiful, grand lady. She leaned back against the cushions and looked +about, first on this side and then on that, and enjoyed herself. + +When she saw the little boy she made the coachman stop. + +"Come here, little boy," she called in a gentle voice. + +The child lifted his head, and then he rose and came over to her. + +"What is your name?" asked the lady. + +"Jean Malin," the child answered. + +"Why are you weeping, Jean? Has some one been unkind to you?" + +"No; I am weeping because I have no one to be either unkind or kind to +me. I am all alone in the world, and I have no home." + +When the lady heard that she felt very sorry for him. "Come; sit here +in the coach beside me," she said, "and I will take you home with me. +My home shall be your home, and I will keep you with me always if you +are a good boy and do as I tell you." + +Jean Malin climbed into the coach, and the lady took him home with +her. She talked to him and questioned him on the way, and she soon +found that he was a clever boy and very polite in his manners. + +When they arrived at the lady's house she gave him a pretty little +suit of clothes and bade him wash and dress himself, and then he came +in and waited on her at supper. + +After that he lived there, and the lady became very fond of him. As +for Jean Malin, he soon loved his mistress so dearly that if she had +been his own mother he could not have loved her better. Everything she +said and did seemed to him exactly right. + +The lady had a lover who was a great, handsome man with a fine deep +voice. This gentleman often came to the house to take meals with the +lady, and he always spoke to Jean Malin very pleasantly; but Jean +could not abide him. He used to run and hide whenever this man came to +the house. The lady scolded him for it, but he could not help it. + +The gentleman's name was Mr. Bulbul. + +"I do not know what is the matter with you," said the lady to Jean +Malin. "Why is it you do not like Mr. Bulbul? He is very kind to you." + +"I do not know, but I wish I might never see him again," answered +Jean. + +"That is very wrong of you. Perhaps sometime I may marry Mr. Bulbul. +Then he will be your master. What will you do then?" + +"Perhaps I will run away." + +That angered the lady. "And perhaps I will send you away if you do not +behave better and learn to like him." + +Now not far from the lady's house there was a pasture, and in this +pasture there was a bull,--a fine, handsome animal. Jean Malin often +saw it there. + +After a while Jean began to notice a curious thing. Whenever Mr. +Bulbul came to the house, which was almost every day, the bull +disappeared from the pasture, and whenever the bull was in the pasture +there was nothing to be seen of the gentleman. + +"That is a curious thing," said Jean to himself. "I will watch and +find out what this means. I am sure something is wrong." + +So one day Jean went out and hid himself behind some rocks at the edge +of the pasture. The bull was grazing with his head down and did not +see him. After a while the bull raised his head and looked all about +him to see if there were any one around. He did not see Jean, because +the little boy was behind the rocks, so the animal thought itself +alone. Then it dropped on its knees and cried, "Beau Madjam, fat +Madjam, djam, djam, djara, djara!" + +At once the bull became a man, and the man was the very Mr. Bulbul who +came to visit Jean's mistress. + +The boy was so frightened he shivered all over as though he were cold. + +Mr. Bulbul walked away in the direction of the lady's house, and after +he had gone Jean Malin ran home by another way. He crept into the +house and heard the lady calling to him, but he would not go to her or +show himself. She did not know what had become of him. + +The next day Mr. Bulbul came again to the lady's house. He came very +early for he was to have breakfast with her. The lady called Jean +Malin to come and wait on them. He did not want to come, but he was +obliged to. He was so frightened that he darted about the room, first +on one side and then on the other, and did not understand what was +said to him. When the lady asked for water he gave her the toast rack, +and when she asked for toast he brought her a towel. It really was +very provoking. + +After Mr. Bulbul had gone the lady called Jean Malin to her. "I am +very angry," said she. "You have acted very stupidly this morning. If +you cannot do better and behave in a sensible manner, I will have to +send you away." + +When she said this Jean Malin felt very much hurt. He could hardly +refrain from weeping. + +"Mistress, I will tell you why I acted so. I was afraid, and if you +knew what I know, you would be afraid, too, and you would never let +that big man come into your house again." + +"What is it that you know and I do not know?" asked the lady. + +But Jean Malin would not tell her. + +"Very well," said his mistress; "if you will not tell me willingly I +will have you beaten. I will have you beaten until you do tell, so you +had better speak now before they begin." + +Jean Malin began to cry. "I did not want to tell you," said he, "but +if I must I must. Dear Mistress, Mr. Bulbul is not a man at all, but +that bull that you sometimes see over in the pasture. He uses magic to +make himself look like a man so as to come to see you, and then he +goes right out and becomes a bull again and eats grass." + +The lady began to laugh. "You are either crazy or dreaming," said she. +"Or, more likely still, you are telling me an untruth so as to excuse +yourself and make trouble between him and me." + +But Jean Malin insisted that what he told her was true. "I have seen +it, and I know it," said he. "Moreover I will prove it to you. I do +not know how, but I am sure I can prove it." + +"Very well," said the lady, "if you prove it I will forgive you and +treat you as my own son, but if you do not I will have you beaten and +sent out of the house as a mischief maker." + +After that Jean went away by himself and thought and thought. He tried +to remember the exact words the bull had said when he turned himself +into a man, but he could not be sure about them. So the next day he +went out and hid himself behind the rocks again, taking care, as +before, that the bull should not see him. The bull's head was down, +and it was eating grass. + +[Illustration: Seeing no one, the creature dropped on its knees and +bellowed, "Beau Madjam!"] + +Soon, however, it raised its head and looked all about it. Seeing no +one, the creature dropped on its knees and bellowed, "Beau Madjam, fat +Madjam, djam, djam, djara, djara!" At once the bull became a man and +walked away in the direction of the lady's house. + +Jean Malin followed, being careful to keep out of sight, and as he +went he kept saying over and over to himself, "Beau Madjam, fat +Madjam, djam, djam, djara, djara, Beau Madjam, fat Madjam, djam, djam, +djara, djara!" He said it over and over, so that he should not forget +any least word of it. + +When Jean Malin reached home Mr. Bulbul was in the salon with his +mistress; Jean could hear them talking together there; his mistress's +voice very fine and clear and then Mr. Bulbul's big, deep voice. + +Jean Malin took a tray of cakes and wine and carried it into the salon +just as though his mistress had ordered him to do so. The lady was +surprised to see him coming with the tray, but she said, "That is +right, Jean. Offer the cake and wine to Mr. Bulbul." + +Jean Malin went over to Mr. Bulbul, close in front of him, and then he +said in a low voice, as though to himself, "Beau Madjam, fat Madjam, +djam, djam, djara, djara!" + +Such a noise you never heard. The fine Mr. Bulbul bellowed aloud and +jumped up, smashing his chair and knocking the tray with all the +plates and glasses and everything out of Jean Malin's hands. The lady +shrieked and almost fainted. Then, right there before her, Mr. +Bulbul's head grew long and hairy, horns sprouted from his forehead, +his arms turned into legs, and his hands and feet into hoofs, and he +became a bull and all his clothes fell off him,--his trousers and coat +and vest and eyeglasses and collar and everything. He galloped across +the salon in a fright, his hoofs clattering on the floor, and burst +out through the glass door so fast that he carried it away on his +horns and back into the pasture with him. + +Then the lady knew that everything Jean Malin had told her was true, +and she could not thank him enough. + +"Now you shall indeed be to me as a son," said she, "and you shall +live here always and never leave me." + +Jean Malin was very happy when the lady said that to him. Nevertheless, +when he thought of Mr. Bulbul, he could not feel easy in his mind. He +was sure the bull would try to revenge itself on him in some way or +other. He kept away from the pasture, and wherever he went he was +always looking around to see whether the bull were anywhere in sight. + +At last he grew so afraid that he determined to go and talk to a black +man he knew who dealt in magic. He found the man sitting at the door +of his hut, making magic with a horsehair and a snakeskin, and some +ground-up glass. Jean Malin, told him everything that had happened, +about the bull, and how it had changed itself into a man and had come +to visit the lady, and about the magic words, and how he had forced +the man to turn back into a bull again. "And now," said he, "I am +afraid, for I think he means harm to me." + +"You do well to be afraid," said the black man. "Bulbul will certainly +try to do you harm. He knows much magic, but my magic is stronger than +his magic, and I will help you. Get me three owl's eggs and a cup of +black goat's milk and bring them here." + +Jean Malin went away and got the three owl's eggs and the cup of black +goat's milk, though they were things not easy to find, and then he +brought them to the black man. + +The black man took them from him and rolled the owl's eggs in the milk +and made magic over them. Then he gave them back to the boy. "Keep +these by you all the time," said he. "Then if the bull comes after you +do thus and so, and this and the other, and you will have no more +trouble with him." + +Jean Malin thanked the black man and gave him a piece of silver, and +went away with the eggs tied up in his handkerchief. + +It was a good thing he had them. He had not gone more than halfway +home, and was just coming out from a wood, when he heard a big noise, +and the bull burst out of a thicket and came charging down on him. + +But quick as a flash Jean Malin put the eggs in his mouth and climbed +up a tree, and the eggs were not broken. + +The bull galloped up and struck the tree with its horns. "You think +you are safe, but I will soon have you down," it cried. + +It dropped down on its knees and muttered magic, but Jean could not +hear what it said. Then the bull changed into a man with an ax in his +hands and began to chop down the tree. Gip, gop! Gip, gop! The chips +flew and the branches trembled. + +Jean tried to remember the words that would turn the man back into a +bull again, but he was so frightened he could not think of them. What +he did remember, though, were the eggs the black man had given him. He +took one out of his mouth and dropped it down on the bull-man's right +shoulder, and at once his right arm fell off, and the ax dropped to +the ground. This did not trouble the bull-man, however. He caught up +the ax in his left hand and chopped away, Gip, gop! Gip, gop! The +chips flew faster than ever. + +Then Jean Malin dropped the second egg down on the man's left +shoulder, and his left arm fell off. Now he had no arms, but he caught +up the ax in his mouth and went on chopping, Gip, gop! Gip, gop! The +whole tree shook and trembled. + +Then Jean Malin dropped the third and last egg down on the man's head, +and at once his head fell off. + +That ended the man's magic; he could do nothing more, and had to turn +into a bull again. He bellowed like anything, but he could not help +it, for the black man's magic was stronger than his magic. Away he +galloped, with his tail in the air, and that was the last Jean Malin +ever saw of him. What became of him nobody ever knew, but he must have +gone far, far away. + +But Jean Malin climbed down from the tree and went on home, and after +that he lived very happily in the lady's house and was like a son to +her, just as she had promised him. + + + + + THE WIDOW'S SON + + A SCANDINAVIAN TALE + + +Once upon a time there was a poor widow who had only one son, and he +was so dear to her that no one could have been dearer. All the same +she was obliged to send him out into the world to seek his fortune, +for they were so very poor that as long as he stayed at home they were +like to starve. + +The lad kissed her good-by, and she gave him her blessing, and then +off he set, always putting one foot before the other. + +He journeyed on a short way and a long way, and then he came to a dark +and gloomy wood. He had not gone far into it when he met a tall man as +dark and gloomy as the wood itself. The man stopped the lad and said +to him, "Are you seeking work or shunning work?" + +"I am seeking work," answered the widow's son. + +"Then come with me, and I will give you enough to do but not too +much," said the man, "and the wages will be according." + +That suited the lad. He was quite willing to work for the tall +stranger. They set out and traveled along, and after a while they came +to a great dark house set all alone in the midst of the wood. The man +showed him in and told him what to do. The lad set to work, and +everything the man told him to do he did so well and willingly that +his master was much pleased with him. After he had done all the tasks +set, his master gave him a good bite of supper and a comfortable bed +to sleep in. + +The next day it was the same thing over. The master told the lad what +to do, and the lad did it willingly and well. So it went on for three +days. At the end of that time the man said, "Now I am obliged to go +away on a journey. Until I return you may do as you please and be your +own master. But there is one part of the house you have never seen, +and those are the four cellars down below. Into these you must not go +under any consideration. If you so much as open one of the doors, you +will suffer for it." + +"Why should I want to go into the cellars?" asked the lad. "The house +and the yard are good enough for me." + +"That is well," answered the master, and then he mounted a great black +steed and rode away. + +The lad stayed at home and cleaned and polished and ate and drank. "I +wonder what can be in those cellars that my master does not want me to +see!" thought the lad. "Not that I mean to look, but it does no harm +to wonder about it." + +Every hour the lad stayed there in the house alone he grew more +curious about the cellars. At last he could bear it no longer. "I'll +just take a wee peep into one of them," he said. "That can surely do +no harm to any one." + +So he opened the cellar door and went down a flight of stone steps +into the first cellar. He looked all about him, and there was nothing +at all there but a switch made of brier lying on a shelf behind the +door. "That is not much for the Master to have made such a fuss +about," said the lad. "I could see as much as that any day without +coming into a cellar for it;" and he went upstairs again and shut the +door behind him. + +The next day the master came home, and the first thing he asked was, +"Have you looked into any of the cellars?" + +"Why should I do that?" asked the lad. "I have plenty to do upstairs +without poking my nose in where it is not wanted." + +"I will just see for myself whether or not you have looked," said the +master. + +He opened one of the doors and went down into the first cellar. When +he came back his face was as black as thunder. + +"You have disobeyed me and have gone into one of the cellars," said +he. "Now you shall suffer for it!" He took up a cudgel and beat the +lad until he was black and blue. "It's lucky for you you went only +into the first cellar," said he. "Otherwise you would not have come +off so lightly." + +Then he sat down to supper. + +As for the lad he sat and nursed his bruises and wished he had never +heard tell of such a thing as a cellar. + +Not long after the master said he was going on another journey. "I +will be gone two weeks," said he, "and whatever you do, do not dare to +look into any of the other cellars, or you will suffer for it." + +"I have learned my lesson," said the lad. "You'll not find me doing +such a thing again." + +After that the master mounted his horse and rode away. + +After he had gone the lad cleaned and polished and ate and drank, and +then he began to wonder what was in the second cellar. "There must be +something more than a stick to see," said he, "or my master would not +be so particular about it." In the end he determined to look at what +was in the second cellar, whatever it cost him. He opened the door and +went down the stone steps that led to it and looked about, but all he +saw was a shelf behind the door, and on it a stone and a water bottle. + +"They are not much to see, and I wish I had not come," said the lad to +himself. "I hope my master will not know about it;" and then he went +upstairs and shut the door behind him. + +Not long afterward his master came home. The first thing he asked was, +"Have you been down in any of the cellars again?" + +"How can you think such a thing!" cried the lad. "I have no wish for +another beating." + +"All the same, I will see for myself," said the master, and he went +down into the second cellar. Then the lad was frightened, you may well +believe. + +When the Master came back his face was as red as fire. "You have +disobeyed me again," cried he. Then he seized a cudgel and beat the +lad till he could hardly stand. + +"This should teach you to obey," said he, "but I fear as long as you +live you will not learn." + +Not long after the Master was going away on a third journey, and this +time he was to be away for three weeks. "And if you look in the third +cellar," said he, "your life shall pay the forfeit." After that he +rode away into the forest and out of sight. + +Well, for two weeks the lad would not look into the third cellar, but +at last his curiosity got the better of him. He opened the third door +and went down into the third cellar. There in the middle of it was a +brazen caldron set deep in the floor and full of something that +seethed and bubbled. "I wonder what that is in the caldron," said the +lad to himself, and he stuck his finger in. When he drew it out it was +covered all over with gold. The lad scrubbed and scrubbed, but he +could not get the gold off. Then he was terribly frightened. He took a +rag and wound it about his finger and hoped his master would not +notice it. He shut the door into the cellar and tried to forget about +it. + +The first thing the Master asked when he came home was, "Have you been +down in the third cellar?" + +"How can you think it?" asked the lad. "Two drubbings are enough for +any one." + +"What is the matter with your finger?" asked the Master. + +"Oh, I cut it with the bread-knife." + +The Master snatched the rag off, and there the lad's finger shone as +though it were all of solid gold. + +"You have been down in the third cellar," cried the Master, "and now +you must die,"--and his face was as pale as death. He took down a +sword from the wall, but the lad fell on his knees and begged and +pleaded so piteously for his life that at last the man had to spare +him. All the same he gave him such a beating that the lad could not +rise from the floor. There he lay and groaned. Then the Master took a +flask of ointment from the wall and bathed him all over, and after +that the lad was just as well as ever. + +Now the Master stayed at home for a long while, but at last he had to +go away on still another journey, and now he was to be gone a whole +month. "And if you dare to look in the fourth cellar while I am away, +then you shall surely die," said he. "Do not hope that I will spare +you again, for I will not." + +After he had gone the lad resisted his curiosity for three whole +weeks. He was dying to look in the fourth cellar and see what was +there, but he dared not, for dear life's sake. But at the end of the +third week he was so curious that he could resist no longer. He opened +the fourth door and went down the steps into the cellar, and there was +a magnificent coal-black horse chained to a manger, and the manger was +filled with red-hot coals. At the horse's tail was a basket of hay. + +"That is a cruel thing to do to an animal," cried the lad, and he +loosed the horse from the manger and turned him so he could eat. + +Then the black steed spoke to him in a human tone. "You have done a +Christian act," said the horse, "and you shall not suffer for it. If +the Troll Master finds you here when he returns he will surely take +your life, and that must not be. Look over in yonder corner, and you +will find a suit of armor and a sword. Put on the armor and take up +the sword in your hand." + +The lad went over to the corner, and there lay the armor and the +sword, but when he would have taken them up they were too heavy for +him. He could scarce stir them. "Well, there is no help for it," said +the horse. "You will have to bathe in the caldron that is in the third +cellar. Only so can you take up the armor and wear it." + +This the lad did not want to do, for he was afraid. "If you do not," +said the horse, "we will both of us lose our lives." + +Then the lad went back to the third cellar and shut his eyes and +stepped down into the caldron, and though the waters in it bubbled and +seethed they were as cold as ice and as bitter as death. He thought he +would have died of cold, but presently he grew quite warm again. He +stepped out from the caldron, and he had become the handsomest lad in +the world; his skin was red and white, and his eyes shone like stars. +He went back to where the horse was, and now he lifted the armor with +ease, he had become so strong. He put it on and buckled the sword +about him. + +"Now we must be off," cried the horse. "Take the briar whip and the +stone and the jug of water and the flask of ointment. Then mount my +back and ride. If the Troll Master finds us here when he returns, it +will be short shrift for both of us." + +The lad did as the horse bade him; he took the briar whip and the +stone, the jug of water and the flask of ointment, and mounted the +black steed's back; and the steed carried him up the steps and out of +the house and fast, fast away through the forest and over the plains +beyond. + +After a while the black horse said, "I hear a noise behind us. Look +and see whether any one is coming." + +The lad turned and looked. "Yes, yes; it is the Master," said he, "and +with him is a whole crowd of people." + +"They are his friends he has brought out against us," said the steed. +"If they catch us it will go ill with us. Throw the thorn whip behind +us, but be sure you throw it clear and do not let it touch even the +tip of my tail." + +The lad threw the whip behind him, and at once a great forest of +thorns grew up where it fell. No one could have forced a way through +it. The Master and his friends were obliged to go home and get +hatchets and axes and cut a path through. + +Meanwhile the black horse had gone a long way. Then he said, "Look +behind you, for I hear a noise; is any one coming?" + +The youth looked over his shoulder. "Yes, it is the Master," said he, +"and with him are a multitude of people--like a church congregation." + +"Still more of his friends have come to help him catch us," said the +horse. "Throw the stone behind us, but be very sure it does not touch +me." + +The lad threw the stone behind him, and at once a great stone mountain +rose up where it fell. The Master and his friends could by no means +cross over it. They were obliged to go home and get something to bore +a way through, and this they did. + +But by this time the horse had gone a long, long way. Then he said to +the lad, "Look back and see whether you see any one, for I hear a +noise behind us." + +The lad looked back. "I see the Master coming," said he, "and a great +multitude with him, so that they are like an army for numbers." + +"Yes, yes," said the horse. "He has all of his friends with him now. +Woe betide us if they catch us. Pour the water from the jug behind us, +but be careful that none of it touches me." + +The lad stretched back his arm and poured the water out from the jug, +but his haste was such that three drops fell upon the horse's flanks. +Immediately a great lake rose about them, and because of the three +drops that had fallen on the horse, the lake was not only behind them +but about them, too; the steed had to swim for it. + +The Trolls came to the edge of the lake, and as there was no way to +cross over they threw themselves down on their stomachs and began to +drink it up. They drank and they drank and they drank, until at last +they all burst. + +But the steed came out from the water and up on dry land. Then he went +on until he came to a wood, and here he stopped. "Light down now," +said he to the lad, "and take off your armor and my saddle and bridle +and hide them in yon hollow oak tree. Over there, a little beyond, is +a castle, and you must go and take service there. But first make +yourself a wig of hanging gray mosses and put it on." + +The lad did as the horse told him. He took off the saddle and bridle +and the armor and hid them in the tree, and made for himself a moss +wig; when he put it upon his head all the beauty went out of his face, +and he looked so pale and miserable that no one would have wanted him +around. + +"If you ever need me," said the horse, "come here to the wood and take +out the bridle and shake it, and at once I will be with you." Then he +galloped away into the wood. + +The lad in his moss wig went on until he came to the castle. He went +to the kitchen door and knocked, and asked if he might take service +there. + +The kitchen wench looked at him and made a face as though she had a +sour taste in her mouth. "Take off that wig and let me see how you +look," said she. "With that on your head you are so ugly that no one +would want you around." + +"I cannot take off my wig," said the lad, "for that I have been told +not to do." + +"Then you may seek service elsewhere, for I cannot bear the look of +you," said the kitchen wench, and she shut the door in his face. + +Next the lad went to the gardener and asked if he could help him in +the gardens, digging and planting. + +The gardener looked and stared. "You are not a beauty," said he, "but +out here in the garden no one will be apt to see you, and I need a +helper, so you may stay." + +So the lad became the gardener's helper and dug and hoed in the garden +all day. + +Now the King and Queen of that country had one fair daughter, and she +was as pretty and as fresh as a rose. + +One day the gardener set the lad to spading under the Princess's +window. She looked out, and there she saw him. "Br-r-r! But he is an +ugly one," said she. Nevertheless she couldn't keep her eyes off him. + +After a while the lad grew hot with his work. He looked about him, and +he saw nobody, so he whipped off his wig to wipe his forehead, and +then he was as handsome a lad as ever was seen, so that the Princess's +heart turned right over at the sight of him. Then he put on his wig +and became ugly again, and went on spading, but now the Princess knew +what he was really like. + +The next day there was the lad at work under her window again, but as +he had his wig on he was just as ugly as before. Then the Princess +said to her maid, "Go down there where the gardener's lad is working +and creep up behind him and twitch his wig off." + +The maid went down to the garden and crept up back of the lad and gave +the wig a twitch, but he was too clever for her. He heard her coming, +and he held the wig tight down over his ears. All the same the +Princess had once seen what he was like without it, and she made up +her mind that if she could not have the gardener's lad for a husband +she would never marry any one. + +Now after this there was a great war and disturbance in the land. The +King's enemies had risen up against him and had come to take away his +land from him. But the King with his courtiers and his armed men rode +out to meet them and turn them back. The lad would have liked to ride +with them and strike a blow for the King, but the gardener would not +hear of it. Nevertheless the day the King and his army were ready to +set out the lad stole away to the stables and begged the stablemen to +give him a mount. + +It seemed to the men that that would be a merry thing to do. He was +such a scarecrow they gave him a scarecrow horse. It was old and blind +of one eye and limped on three legs, dragging the fourth behind it. +The lad mounted and rode forth with all the rest, and when the +courtiers saw him they laughed and laughed until their sides ached. + +They had not gone far before they had to cross a swamp, and midway +through it the nag stuck fast. There sat the lad, beating it and +shouting, "Hie! Hie! Now will you go? Hie! Hie! Now will you go?" +Every one went riding by, and as they passed him they pointed and +laughed and jeered. + +After they had all gone the lad slipped from the nag's back and ran +off to the wood. He snatched off his wig and took his armor from the +hollow tree and shook the bridle. At once the black steed came +galloping up. The lad mounted him and rode off after the others. His +armor shone in the sun, and so handsome was he, and so noble his air +that any one would have taken him for a prince at least. + +When he reached the battle ground he found the King sore pressed, but +he rode so fiercely against the enemy that they were obliged to fall +back, and the King's own forces won the day. Then the lad rode away so +quickly that no one knew what had become of him. The King was sorry, +for he wished to thank the brave hero who had fought for him. + +But the lad rode back to the wood and hid his armor in a tree and +turned the black steed loose. Then he put on his wig and ran back and +mounted the sorry nag that was still stuck in the swamp where he had +left it. + +When the King and his courtiers came riding back there sat the lad in +rags and a gray moss wig, and he was beating his horse and shouting, +"Hie! Hie! Now will you go?" + +Then the courtiers laughed more than ever, and one of them threw a +clod at him. + +The next day the King again rode forth to war with all his train. +There was the lad still seated on the nag in the swamp. "What a fool +he is," they cried. "He must have been sitting there all night." Then +they rode on and left him. + +But the lad ran with haste to the wood and took his armor from the +tree and put it on. He shook the bridle, and the black steed came +galloping up to him. The lad mounted and rode away to the battle +field. The King's forces were falling back, but the lad attacked the +enemy so fiercely that they were put to rout. Every one wondered who +the hero could be, but as soon as the battle was won he rode away so +swiftly that no one had a chance to question him and no one knew what +had become of him. "If I could but find him," said the King, "I would +honor him as I have never honored any one, for such a hero never was +seen before." + +But the lad hastened back to the wood; he laid aside his armor and +turned the black steed loose. Then he put on his wig again and ran +back to the swamp and mounted the sorry nag. + +When the King's forces came riding home, there sat the gardener's ugly +lad, whipping his sorry nag and crying "Hie! Hie! Now will you go?" + +The courtiers looked upon him with scorn. "Why does he not go home and +get to work?" they cried. "Such a scarecrow is an insult to all who +see him." One of the courtiers, more ill-natured than the rest, shot +an arrow at him, and it pierced his leg so the blood flowed. The lad +cried out so that it was pitiful to hear him. The King felt sorry for +him, ugly though he was, and drew out his own royal handkerchief and +threw it to him. + +"There, Sirrah! Take that and bind up thy wound!" he cried. + +The lad took the handkerchief and bound it about his leg, and so the +bleeding was stopped. + +The next day, when the courtiers rode by, there sat the lad still upon +his broken-down nag, shouting to it as if to urge it forward, and his +leg was tied up with the bloody kerchief, and the King's own initials +were on the kerchief in letters of gold. + +The courtiers did not dare to jeer at him this time, because the King +had been kind to him, but they turned their faces aside so as not to +see him. + +As soon as they had gone the lad sprang down and ran to the wood and +put on his armor and shook the bridle for the black steed, but he was +in such haste, that he forgot the kerchief that he had used to bind up +his wound, and so, when he rode out upon the battle field, he had it +still tied about his leg. + +That day the lad fought more fiercely than ever before, and it was +well he did, for otherwise the King's forces would certainly have been +defeated. Already they were in retreat when the lad rode forth upon +the field. But at sight of him they took heart again, and he led them +on and did not stop or stay till he came to where the enemy's leader +was, and with one blow of his sword cut off his head. + +Then all the enemy's forces fled back, and the King's men pursued +after them and cut many of them to pieces, and the rest were glad to +get safely back into their own country. + +After that the lad would have ridden away as before, but this the King +would not allow. He called to him and rode up to where he was, and +when he saw the bloody kerchief tied about the stranger's leg he knew +he must be the very one he had left sitting on the old nag in the +swamp awhile back. + +This the lad could not deny, and when the King questioned him he told +him everything. + +Then the King said, "Though you are only a gardener's lad still you +are a mighty hero, and the hand of the Princess shall be yours. You +shall marry her, and after I die you shall rule over the kingdom in my +stead." + +You may guess the lad did not say no to that, for he had seen the +Princess sitting at her window, and just from looking at her there he +loved her with all his heart. + +So the King and the courtiers rode home with the lad in their midst, +and when the Princess heard she was to marry him she was filled with +joy, for she recognized him at once as the gardener's boy who had +worked beneath her window. + +Then all was joy and happiness. A great feast was prepared, and the +lad and the Princess were married with the greatest magnificence. But +first the lad rubbed his leg with the ointment and then it became +quite well again; for it would never have done for him to go limping +to his own wedding. + +Now as soon as he was married he went out to the stable to tell it to +the black steed. He found the horse sad and sorrowful. It stood +drooping and would not raise its head or speak when he entered the +stall. + +The lad was troubled at this. "What ails you, my steed, that you stand +there so sorrowful when all around rejoice?" asked he. + +"I am sick at heart," answered the steed, "and you alone can cure me +of my sickness." + +"How is that?" asked the lad. + +"Promise to do whatsoever I ask of you, and I will tell you." + +"I promise," replied the lad, "for there is nothing I would not do for +you." + +"Then take your sword and cut off my head," said the steed. + +When the lad heard this he was horrified. "What is this you ask of +me?" he cried. "All that I have I owe to you, and shall I in return do +you such an injury?" + +But the black horse reminded him that he had promised. "If you do not +do as I ask you," said he, "then I shall know that you are a coward +who dares not keep his word." + +The youth could not refuse after that. He was obliged to do as the +horse bade him, but the tears dimmed his eyes so that he could +scarcely see. He drew his sword and cut off the horse's head. At once, +instead of a coal-black steed, a handsome young Prince stood before +him. The lad could scarce believe his eyes. He stared about him, +wondering what had become of the horse. + +"There is no need to look for the black steed," said the princely +stranger, "for I am he." He then told the lad that he was the son of +the King of a neighboring country. An enemy had risen up and slain the +King and had given the Prince to the black master who had turned him +into a horse and taken him away to his castle. "You have rescued me +from the enchantment, and now I am free to claim my land again," said +the Prince. He then told the lad that the enemy King whom he had +lately slain in battle was the very one who had taken his kingdom from +him. + +Then the Prince went back with the lad to the palace, and was +introduced to the King and the Princess and all the court. + +After that the lad and his bride and the Prince rode forth with a +great retinue into the Prince's own country, and his people received +him with joy, and he and the lad lived in the greatest love and +friendship forever after. + + + + + THE WISE GIRL + + A SERBIAN STORY + + +There was once a girl who was wiser than the King and all his +councilors; there never was anything like it. Her father was so proud +of her that he boasted about her cleverness at home and abroad. He +could not keep his tongue still about it. One day he was boasting to +one of his neighbors, and he said, "The girl is so clever that not +even the King himself could ask her a question she couldn't answer, or +read her a riddle she couldn't unravel." + +Now it so chanced the King was sitting at a window near by, and he +overheard what the girl's father was saying. The next day he sent for +the man to come before him. "I hear you have a daughter who is so +clever that no one in the kingdom can equal her; and is that so?" +asked the King. + +Yes, it was no more than the truth. Too much could not be said of her +wit and cleverness. + +That was well, and the King was glad to hear it. He had thirty eggs; +they were fresh and good, but it would take a clever person to hatch +chickens out of them. He then bade his chancellor get the eggs and +give them to the man. + +"Take these home to your daughter," said the King, "and bid her hatch +them out for me. If she succeeds she shall have a bag of money for her +pains, but if she fails you shall be beaten as a vain boaster." + +The man was troubled when he heard this. Still his daughter was so +clever he was almost sure she could hatch out the eggs. He carried +them home to her and told her exactly what the King had said, and it +did not take the girl long to find out that the eggs had been boiled. + +When she told her father that, he made a great to-do. That was a +pretty trick for the King to have played upon him. Now he would have +to take a beating and all the neighbors would hear about it. Would to +Heaven he had never had a daughter at all if that was what came of it. + +The girl, however, bade him be of good cheer. "Go to bed and sleep +quietly," said she. "I will think of some way out of the trouble. No +harm shall come to you, even though I have to go to the palace myself +and take the beating in your place." + +The next day the girl gave her father a bag of boiled beans and bade +him take them out to a certain place where the King rode by every day. +"Wait until you see him coming," said she, "and then begin to sow the +beans." At the same time he was to call out this, that, and the other +so loudly that the King could not help but hear him. + +The man took the bag of beans and went out to the field his daughter +had spoken of. He waited until he saw the King coming, and then he +began to sow the beans, and at the same time to cry aloud, "Come sun, +come rain! Heaven grant that these boiled beans may yield me a good +crop." + +The King was surprised that any one should be so stupid as to think +boiled beans would grow and yield a crop. He did not recognize the +man, for he had only seen him once, and he stopped his horse to speak +to him. "My poor man," said he, "how can you expect boiled beans to +grow? Do you not know that that is impossible?" + +"Whatever the King commands should be possible," answered the man, +"and if chickens can hatch from boiled eggs why should not boiled +beans yield a crop?" + +When the King heard this he looked at the man more closely, and then +he recognized him as the father of the clever daughter. + +"You have indeed a clever daughter," said he. "Take your beans home +and bring me back the eggs I gave you." + +The man was very glad when he heard that, and made haste to obey. He +carried the beans home and then took the eggs and brought them back to +the palace of the King. + +After the King had received the eggs he gave the man a handful of +flax. "Take this to your clever daughter," he said, "and bid her make +for me within the week a full set of sails for a large ship. If she +does this she shall receive the half of my kingdom as a reward, but if +she fails you shall have a drubbing that you will not soon forget." + +The man returned to his home, loudly lamenting his hard lot. + +"What is the matter?" asked his daughter. "Has the King set another +task that I must do?" + +Yes, that he had; and her father showed her the flax the King had sent +her and gave her the message. + +"Do not be troubled," said the girl. "No harm shall come to you. Go to +bed and sleep quietly, and to-morrow I will send the King an answer +that will satisfy him." + +The man believed what his daughter said. He went to bed and slept +quietly. + +The next day the girl gave her father a small piece of wood. "Carry +this to the King," said she. "Tell him I am ready to make the sails, +but first let him make me of this wood a large ship that I may fit the +sails to it." + +The father did as the girl bade him, and the King was surprised at the +cleverness of the girl in returning him such an answer. + +"That is all very well," said he, "and I will excuse her from this +task. But here! Here is a glass mug. Take it home to your clever +daughter. Tell her it is my command that she dip out the waters from +the ocean bed so that I can ride over the bottom dry shod. If she does +this, I will take her for my wife, but if she fails you shall be +beaten within an inch of your life." + +The man took the mug and hastened home, weeping aloud and bemoaning +his fate. + +"Well, and what is it?" asked his daughter. "What does the King demand +of me now?" + +The man gave her the glass mug and told her what the King had said. + +"Do not be troubled," said the girl. "Go to bed and sleep in peace. +You shall not be beaten, and soon I shall be reigning as Queen over +all this land." + +The man had trust in her. He went to bed and slept and dreamed he saw +her sitting by the King with a crown on her head. + +The next day the girl gave her father a bunch of tow. "Take this to +the King," she said. "Tell him you have given me the mug, and I am +willing to dip the sea dry, but first let him take this tow and stop +up all the rivers that flow into the ocean." + +The man did as his daughter bade him. He took the tow to the King and +told him exactly what the girl had said. + +Then the King saw that the girl was indeed a clever one, and he sent +for her to come before him. + +She came just as she was, in her homespun dress and her rough shoes +and with a cap on her head, but for all her mean clothing she was as +pretty and fine as a flower, and the King was not slow to see it. +Still he wanted to make sure for himself that she was as clever as her +messages had been. + +"Tell me," said he, "what sound can be heard the farthest throughout +the world?" + +"The thunder that echoes through heaven and earth," answered the girl, +"and your own royal commands that go from lip to lip." + +This reply pleased the King greatly. "And now tell me," said he, +"exactly what is my royal sceptre worth?" + +"It is worth exactly as much as the power for which it stands," the +girl replied. + +The King was so well satisfied with the way the girl answered that he +no longer hesitated; he determined that she should be his Queen, and +that they should be married at once. + +The girl had something to say to this, however. "I am but a poor +girl," said she, "and my ways are not your ways. It may well be that +you will tire of me, or that you may be angry with me sometime, and +send me back to my father's house to live. Promise that if this should +happen you will allow me to carry back with me from the castle the +thing that has grown most precious to me." + +The King was willing to agree to this, but the girl was not satisfied +until he had written down his promise and signed it with his own royal +hand. Then she and the King were married with the greatest magnificence, +and she came to live in the palace and reign over the land. + +Now while the girl was still only a peasant she had been well content +to dress in homespun and live as a peasant should, but after she +became Queen she would wear nothing but the most magnificent robes and +jewels and ornaments, for that seemed to her only right and proper for +a Queen. But the King, who was of a very jealous nature, thought his +wife did not care at all for him, but only for the fine things he +could give her. + +One time the King and Queen were to ride abroad together, and the +Queen spent so much time in dressing herself that the King was kept +waiting, and he became very angry. When she appeared before him, he +would not even look at her. "You care nothing for me, but only for the +jewels and fine clothes you wear," he cried. "Take with you those that +are the most precious to you, as I promised you, and return to your +father's house. I will no longer have a wife who cares only for my +possessions and not at all for me." + +Very well; the girl was willing to go. "And I will be happier in my +father's house than I was when I first met you," said she. Nevertheless +she begged that she might spend one more night in the palace, and that +she and the King might sup together once again before she returned +home. + +To this the King agreed, for he still loved her, even though he was so +angry with her. + +So he and his wife supped together that evening, and just at the last +the Queen took a golden cup and filled it with wine. Then, when the +King was not looking, she put a sleeping potion in the wine and gave +it to him to drink. + +He took it and drank to the very last drop, suspecting nothing, but +soon after he sank down among the cushions in a deep sleep. Then the +Queen caused him to be carried to her father's house and laid in the +bed there. + +When the King awoke the next morning he was very much surprised to +find himself in the peasant's cottage. He raised himself upon his +elbow to look about him, and at once the girl came to the bedside, and +she was again dressed in the coarse and common clothes she had worn +before she was married. + +"What means this?" asked the King, "and how came I here?" + +"My dear husband," said the girl, "your promise was that if you ever +sent me back to my father's house I might carry with me the thing that +had become most precious to me in the castle. You are that most +precious thing, and I care for nothing else except as it makes me +pleasing in your sight." + +Then the King could no longer feel jealous or angry with her. He +clasped her in his arms, and they kissed each other tenderly. That +same day they returned to the palace, and from that time on the King +and his peasant Queen lived together in the greatest love and +happiness. + + + + + THE HISTORY OF ALI COGIA + + FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS + + +In the city of Bagdad there once lived a merchant named Ali Cogia. +This merchant was faithful and honest in all his dealings, but he had +never made the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. He often felt troubled over +this, for he knew he was neglecting a religious duty, but he was so +occupied with his business affairs that it was difficult for him to +leave home. Year after year he planned to make the pilgrimage, but +always he postponed it, hoping for some more convenient time. + +One night the merchant had a dream so vivid that it was more like a +vision than a dream. In this dream or vision an old man appeared +before him and, regarding him with a severe and reproachful look, +said, "Why have you not made the pilgrimage to Mecca?" + +When Ali Cogia awoke he felt greatly troubled. He feared this dream +had been sent him as a reproach and a warning from heaven. He was +still more troubled when the next night he dreamed the same dream; and +when upon the third night the old man again appeared before him and +asked the same question, he determined to delay no longer, but to set +out upon the pilgrimage as soon as possible. + +To this end he sold off all his goods except some that he decided to +carry with him to Mecca and to dispose of there. He settled all his +debts and rented his shop and his house to a friend, and as he had +neither wife nor family, he was now free to set out at any time. + +The sale of his goods had brought in quite a large sum of money, so +that after he had set aside as much as was needed for the journey he +found he had still a thousand gold pieces left over. + +These he determined to leave in some safe place until his return. He +put the money in an olive jar and covered it over with olives and +sealed it carefully. He then carried the jar to a friend named Abul +Hassan, who was the owner of a large warehouse. + +"Abul Hassan," said he, "I am about to make the journey to Mecca, as +you perhaps know. I have here a jar of olives that I would like to +leave in your warehouse until my return, if you will allow me to do +so." + +Abul Hassan was quite willing that his friend should do this and gave +him the keys of the warehouse, bidding him place the jar wherever he +wished. "I will gladly keep it until you return," said he, "and you +may rest assured the jar will not be disturbed until such time as you +shall come and claim it." + +Ali Cogia thanked his friend and carried the jar into the warehouse, +placing it in the farthest and darkest corner where it would not be in +the way. Soon after he set out upon his journey to Mecca. + +When Ali Cogia left Bagdad he had no thought but that he would return +in a year's time at latest. He made the journey safely, in company +with a number of other pilgrims. Arrived in Mecca, he visited the +celebrated temples and other objects of interest that were there. He +performed all his religious duties faithfully, and after that he went +to the bazaar and secured a place where he could display the goods he +had brought with him. + +One day a stranger came through the bazaar and stopped to admire the +beauty of the things Ali had for sale. + +"It is a pity," said the stranger, "that you should not go to Cairo. +You could go there at no great expense, and I feel assured that you +would receive a far better price for your goods there than here. I +know, for I have lived in that city all my life, and I am familiar +with the prices that are paid for such fine merchandise as yours." The +stranger talked with Ali for some time and then passed on his way. + +After he had gone the merchant meditated upon what had been said, and +he finally determined to follow the stranger's advice and to take such +goods as he had left to Cairo, and place them on sale there. This he +did and found that, as the stranger had promised, the prices he could +get there were much higher than those paid in Mecca. + +While Ali Cogia was in Cairo he made the acquaintance of some people +who were about to journey down into Egypt by caravan. They urged Ali +to join them, and after some persuasion he consented to do so, as he +had always wished to see that country. From Egypt Ali Cogia journeyed +to Constantinople, and then on to other cities and countries. Time +flew by so rapidly that when, finally, Ali stopped to reckon up how +long it was since he had left Bagdad, he found that seven years had +elapsed. + +He now determined to return without delay to his own city. He found a +camel that suited him, and having bought it he packed upon it such +goods as he had left, and set out for Bagdad. + +Now all the while that Ali Cogia had been travelling from place to +place the jar containing the gold pieces had rested undisturbed and +forgotten in Abul Hassan's warehouse. Abul and his wife sometimes +talked of Ali and wondered when he would return and how he had fared +upon his journey. They were surprised at his long absence and feared +some misfortune might have come upon him. At one time there was a +rumor that he was dead, but this rumor was afterward denied. + +Now the very day that Ali Cogia set out upon his return journey Abul +Hassan and his wife were seated at the table at their evening meal, +and their talk turned upon the subject of olives. + +"It is a long time since we have had any in the house," said the wife. +"Indeed, I do not remember when I last tasted one, and yet it is my +favorite fruit. I wish we had some now." + +"Yes, we must get some," said Abul Hassan. "And by the way, that +reminds me of the jar that Ali Cogia left with us. I wonder whether +the olives in it are still good. They have been there for some years +now." + +"Yes, for seven years," replied his wife. "No doubt they are all +spoiled by this time." + +"That I will see," said Abul Hassan, rising and taking up a light. "If +they are still good we might as well have some, for I do not believe +Ali Cogia will ever return to claim the jar." + +His wife was horrified. "What are you thinking of?" cried she. "Ali +Cogia entrusted this jar to you, and you gave your word that it would +not be disturbed until he came again to claim it. We heard, indeed, +that he was dead, but this rumor was afterward denied. What opinion +would he have of you if he returned and found you had helped yourself +to his olives?" + +Abul Hassan, still holding the light in his hand, waited impatiently +until his wife had finished speaking. Then he replied, "Ali Cogia will +not return; of that I feel assured. And at any rate, if he should, I +can easily replace the olives." + +"You can replace the olives, no doubt," answered his wife, "but they +would not be Ali Cogia's olives. This jar is a sacred trust and should +not be disturbed by you under any consideration." But though she spoke +thus strongly she could see by her husband's face that he had not +changed his determination. He now took up the dish and said, "If the +olives are good I will bring a dish full from the jar, but if they are +spoiled, as I suppose they are, I will replace the cover and no one +will be any the wiser." + +His wife would have tried again to dissuade him, but without listening +further he went at once to the warehouse. It did not take him long to +find the jar. He took off the cover and found that, as he had +suspected, the olives were spoiled. Wishing to see whether those +beneath were in the same condition he tilted the jar and emptied some +of them out into the dish. What was his surprise to see some gold +pieces fall out with the olives. Abul Hassan could hardly believe his +eyes. Hastily he plunged his hands down into the jar and soon found +that except for the top layer of fruit the whole jar was full of gold +pieces. + +Abul Hassan's eyes sparkled with desire. He was naturally a very +avaricious man, and the sight of the gold awakened all his greed. It +had been there in his warehouse, all unknown to him, for seven years. +He felt as though he had been tricked, for, thought he, "All this time +I might have been using this money to advantage by trading with it and +with no harm to any one, for I could have replaced it at any time I +heard Ali Cogia was about to return." + +For a while he stood there lost in thought. Then he returned the gold +to the jar, covered it over with olives as before, and replaced the +cover, and taking up the empty dish and the light he returned to his +wife. + +"You were quite right," said he carelessly. "The olives were spoiled, +so I did not bring any." + +"You should not even have opened the jar," said his wife. "Heaven +grant that no evil may come upon us for this." + +To this remark Abul Hassan made no reply, and soon after he and his +wife retired to rest. But the merchant could not sleep. All night he +tossed and twisted, thinking of the gold and planning how he could +make it his own, and it was not until morning that he fell into a +troubled sleep. + +The next day he arose early and as soon as the bazaar opened he went +out and bought a quantity of olives. He brought them home and carried +them into the warehouse secretly, and without his wife's knowing +anything about it. Then he again opened Ali Cogia's jar, and having +emptied it of its contents, he filled it with fresh olives and +replaced the cover in such a way that no one, looking at it, would +have known it had been disturbed. He then threw the spoiled olives +away and hid the gold in a secret place known only to himself. + +About a month after this Ali Cogia returned to Bagdad. As his own +house was still rented he took a room in a khan and at once hastened +to Abul Hassan's house to get his jar. + +Abul Hassan was confounded when he saw Ali Cogia enter his house, for +he had managed to convince himself that Ali must be dead. This he had +done to try to excuse himself in his own eyes for taking the gold. +However he hid his confusion as best he could, and made the returned +traveller welcome, and asked him how he had fared in his journeyings. + +Ali Cogia answered his inquiries politely, but he was uneasy and +restless, and as soon as he could make the opportunity he inquired +about the olive jar he had left in the warehouse. + +"The jar is there where you put it, I am sure," answered Abul Hassan, +"though I myself have not seen it. I do not even know in what part of +the warehouse you left it. But here are the keys, and as I am busy I +will ask you to get it for yourself." + +Ali Cogia made haste to seek out the jar and was much relieved to find +it exactly where he had left it and apparently untouched. He had trust +in Abul Hassan's honor, but a thousand pieces of gold was such a large +sum that he could not but feel some concern until he had it in his own +hands again. + +After thanking his fellow merchant for keeping the jar, more earnestly +than seemed necessary, he carried it back to his room in the khan, and +having locked the door he opened it. He removed the two top layers of +olives and was somewhat surprised not to see the gold. However, he +thought he must have covered the money more carefully than he had +supposed. He took out more olives, and then still more, but still +there were no signs of the gold. + +Filled with misgivings, Ali Cogia tilted the jar and emptied out the +rest of the olives so hastily that they rolled all over the floor, but +not a single piece of gold was there. + +The merchant was dismayed. He could scarcely believe that Abul Hassan +would rob him of his money, and yet there seemed no other explanation. +He knew that the merchant kept his warehouse locked except when he was +there himself, and that no one was allowed to visit it but those with +whom he was well acquainted, and then only upon special business. + +Deeply troubled he returned to the merchant's house, determined to +demand an explanation and, if necessary, to force him by law to return +the gold. + +Abul Hassan seemed surprised to see Ali return so soon. "Did you +forget something?" he asked. "Or do you wish to speak to me upon some +business?" + +"Do you not guess what I have come to speak to you about?" asked Ali. + +"How should I guess? Unless it is to thank me again for keeping your +jar for you." + +"Abul Hassan, when I went away I left a thousand pieces of gold in the +jar I placed in your warehouse. The gold is now gone. I suppose you +saw some way in which you could use it both for your advantage and my +own. If such is the case, please to give me some receipt for the +money, and I am willing to wait until you can return it to me, but I +think you should have spoken of the matter when I was here before." + +Abul Hassan showed the greatest surprise at this address. "I do not +know what you are talking about," said he. "I know nothing about any +gold. If there was any in the jar, which I very much doubt, it must be +there still, for the jar has never been disturbed since you yourself +placed it in my warehouse." + +"The gold certainly was in the jar when I placed it there, and you +must know it, for no one else could have taken it. No one goes into +the warehouse without your permission, as you have often told me and +then only for some express purpose." + +Ali Cogia would have said more, but his fellow merchant interrupted +him. "I repeat I know nothing of any gold," he cried angrily. "Go away +and do not trouble me any further, or you will find yourself in +difficulties. Do you not see how your loud talking has gathered a +crowd about my house?" + +And indeed a number of people had gathered in front of Abul's house, +drawn thither by the sound of the dispute. They listened with +curiosity to what the merchants were saying and presently became so +interested that they began to discuss the matter among themselves, and +to argue and dispute as to which of the merchants was in the right. + +At last Ali Cogia, finding that Abul would confess nothing, said, +"Very well. I see you are determined to keep the money if possible. +But you shall find it is not as easy to rob me as you seem to think." +Then, laying his hand upon Abul's shoulder, he added, "I summon you to +appear with me before the Cadi, that he may decide the matter between +us." + +Now this is a summons no true Mussulman can disobey. Abul was +compelled to go before the Cadi with Ali, and a great crowd of people +followed them, eager to know what decision would be given in the +matter by the judge. + +The Cadi listened attentively to all the two merchants had to say and +after reflecting upon the matter he asked, "Abul Hassan, are you ready +to swear that you know nothing of the gold Ali Cogia says he left with +you, and that you did not disturb the jar?" + +"I am," answered the merchant. "And indeed I wish to swear to it," and +this he did. + +"And you, Ali Cogia; have you any witnesses to prove there was gold in +the jar when you left it in Abul Hassan's warehouse?" + +"Alas! no; no one knew of it but myself." + +"Then it is your word against his. Abul Hassan has sworn that he did +not touch the jar, and unless you can bring witnesses to your truth, I +cannot compel him to pay you a thousand pieces of gold that you may +never have lost." + +The case was dismissed. Abul Hassan returned to his home, satisfied +and triumphant, but Ali Cogia with hanging head and bitterness of +heart. + +But though the Cadi had decided against him, Ali was not willing to +let the matter rest there. He was determined to have justice done him, +even though he were obliged to appeal to the Caliph himself. + +At that time Haroun-al-Raschid was Commander of the Faithful. Every +morning Haroun-al-Raschid went to the mosque to offer up prayers, +accompanied by his Grand Vizier and Mesrour the Chief Eunuch. As he +returned to the palace all who had complaints to make or petitions to +offer stationed themselves along the way and gave their complaints and +petitions in written form to Mesrour. Afterward these papers were +presented to the Caliph that he might read them and decide upon their +merits. + +The day after the Cadi had dismissed the case of the two merchants, +Ali Cogia set out early in the morning and placed himself beside the +way where he knew the Caliph would pass. + +In his hand he carried his complaint against Abul Hassan, written out +in due form. He waited until Haroun-al-Raschid was returning from the +mosque and then put the paper in the hand of Mesrour. + +Later, when the Caliph was reading the papers, he was particularly +interested in the one presented by Ali Cogia: "This is a curious +case," said he to his Vizier, "and one which it will be difficult to +decide. Order the two merchants to appear before me to-morrow, and I +will hear what they have to say." + +That evening the Caliph and his Vizier disguised themselves, and, +attended only by Mesrour, they went out to wander about the streets of +the city. It was the custom of the Caliph to do this, as in this way +he learned much about his people, their needs and wants and ways of +life, which would otherwise have been hidden from him. + +For some time after they set out they heard and saw nothing of +importance, but as they came near to a court that opened off one of +the streets they heard the voices of a number of boys who were at play +there in the moonlight. + +The Caliph motioned to his Vizier to be silent, and together they stole +to the opening of the court and looked in. The moon was so bright that +they could see clearly the faces of the boys at play there. They had +gathered about the tallest and most intelligent-looking lad, who +appeared to be their leader. + +"Let us act out some play," the leader was saying. "I will be the +Cadi, and you shall bring some case before me to be tried." + +"Very well," cried another. "But what case shall we take?" + +"Let us take the case of Ali Cogia and Abul Hassan. We all know about +that, and if it had come before me I should have decided it differently +from the way the Cadi did." + +All the boys agreed to this by clapping their hands. + +The leader then appointed one boy to take the part of Ali Cogia and +another to be Abul Hassan. Still others were chosen to be guards and +merchants and so on. + +The Caliph and his Vizier were much amused by this play of the boys, +and they sat down upon a bench so conveniently placed that they could +see all that went on without themselves being observed. + +The pretended Cadi took his seat and commanded that Abul Hassan and +Ali Cogia should be brought before him. "And let Ali Cogia bring with +him the jar of olives in which he said he hid the gold," said he. + +The lads who were taking the parts of Ali Cogia and Abul Hassan were +now led forward by some of the other boys and were told by the +pretended Cadi to state their cases. This they did clearly, for the +case had been much talked about by their elders, and they were well +acquainted with all the circumstances and had discussed them among +themselves. + +The pretended Cadi listened attentively to what they said, and then +addressing the lad who took the part of Abul he asked, "Abul Hassan, +are you willing to swear that you have not touched the jar nor opened +it?" + +The pretended merchant said he was. + +The lad then asked, "Has Ali Cogia brought the jar of olives into +court with him?" + +"It is here," said the boys who were taking the parts of officers of +the court. + +The feigned Cadi ordered them to place the jar before him, which they +pretended to do. He then went through the motions of lifting the lid +and examining the olives and even of tasting one. + +"These are very fine olives," said he. "Ali Cogia, when did you say +you placed this jar in the warehouse?" + +"It was when I left Bagdad, seven years ago," answered the pretended +merchant. + +"Abul Hassan, is that so?" + +The boy who acted the part of Abul said that it was. + +"Let the olive merchants be brought into court," commanded the +pretended Cadi. + +The boys who were taking the parts of olive merchants now came +forward. + +"Tell me," said the feigned Cadi, "how long is it possible to keep +olives?" + +"However great the care that is taken," they answered, "it is +impossible to preserve them for more than three years. After that time +they lose both color and flavor and are fit for nothing but to be +thrown out." The boys spoke with assurance, for their fathers were +among the most expert olive dealers in the city, and they knew what +they were talking about. + +The pretended Cadi then bade them examine the olives in the jar and +tell him how old they were. "As you see," said he, "they are of a fine +color, large, and of a delicious fresh taste." + +The feigned merchants pretended to examine them carefully and then +announced the olives were of that year's growth. + +"But Ali Cogia says he left them with Abul Hassan seven years ago, and +to this statement Abul Hassan agrees." + +"It is impossible they should have been kept that long," answered the +feigned merchants. "As we tell you, after three years olives are worth +nothing, and at the end of seven years they would be utterly spoiled. +These are fresh olives and of this year's growth." + +The boy who took the part of Abul Hassan would have tried to explain +and make excuses, but the pretended Cadi bade him be silent. + +"You have sworn falsely," said he, "and also proved yourself a thief." + +Then to the pretended guards he cried, "Take him away and let him be +hung according to the law." + +The feigned guards dragged away the boy who was acting Abul Hassan and +then, the play being finished, all the boys clapped their hands and +shouted their approval of the way the feigned Cadi had conducted the +case. + +Seeing that all was over the Caliph withdrew, beckoning to the Vizier +and Mesrour to follow him. After they had gone a short distance, +Haroun-al-Raschid turned to the Vizier and asked him what he thought +of the play they had just witnessed. + +"I think," said the Vizier, "that the pretended Cadi showed a wisdom +and a judgment that the real Cadi would do well to imitate. I also +think the boy is a lad of remarkable intelligence." + +"It is my own thought," replied the Caliph. "Moreover I have a further +thought. You know this very case between Ali Cogia and Abul Hassan is +to appear before me to-morrow, I have it in mind to send you to bring +this boy to the palace, and I will then let him conduct this case in +reality as he has to-day in play." + +The Vizier applauded this plan, and he and his master returned to the +palace, still talking of the boy. + +The next day the Vizier went back to the court they had visited the +evening before, and after looking about he found the lad who had taken +the part of the Cadi sitting in a doorway. The Vizier approached him +and spoke to him in a kind and friendly manner. + +"My boy," said he, "I have come here by order of the Commander of the +Faithful. Last evening, when you were acting your play, he overheard +all that was said, and he wishes to see you at the palace to-day." + +The boy was alarmed when he heard this, grew pale, and showed great +uneasiness. "Have I done something wrong?" he asked. "If I have I did +it unknowingly, and I hope I am not to be punished for something I did +without intention." + +"You have done no wrong," answered the Vizier, "and it is not to +punish you that the Caliph has sent for you. Indeed he is very much +pleased with your conduct, and his sending for you in this manner is a +great honor." He then told the lad what it was the Caliph wished him +to do. + +Instead of being put at ease by this the lad showed even greater +discomfort. "This seems a strange thing for me to do," said he:--"to +decide a case between two grown men--I who am only a child. I am +afraid I will not be able to please the Caliph, and that he will be +angry with me." + +"Conduct the case as wisely as you did last night when you were +playing," answered the Vizier, "and the Caliph will not be displeased +with you." + +The boy then asked permission to go and tell his mother where he was +going and for what purpose, and to this the Vizier consented. + +When the lad's mother heard that he was to go to the palace to act as +judge in a case of such importance she could hardly believe her ears. +She was frightened lest the lad should in some way offend the Caliph +by saying or doing something ill-judged. + +The lad tried to reassure her, though he himself was far from being at +ease. + +"If the Caliph was pleased with the way I conducted the case last +night I do not think he can be so very much displeased with me +to-day," said he; "for I feel sure that only in this way can we +discover the truth between the two merchants." + +When the lad returned to the Vizier he looked very grave, and as they +went along together on their way to the palace the Vizier tried in +every way to put him more at ease and give him confidence. + +Immediately upon their arrival at the palace they were shown into the +room where the Caliph was sitting. Haroun-al-Raschid greeted the boy +with no less kindness than the Vizier had shown and asked him if he +understood the purpose for which he had been brought thither. + +The lad said he did. + +"Then let the two merchants come in," said the Caliph. + +Ali Cogia and Abul Hassan were at once brought in by the officers of +the court. Ali Cogia brought with him the jar of olives, for so he had +been commanded to do. + +The Cadi who had judged between the two merchants had also been +ordered to attend, and he entered and took the place assigned to him. + +The Caliph then turned to the lad and bade him open the case by +bidding the merchants tell their stories, and this, after a moment's +pause, the lad did. + +Ali Cogia told his story just as he had before, stating that he had +left with Abul Hassan seven years before a thousand pieces of gold +packed in a jar and covered over with olives. + +"Is this the jar you left with Abul Hassan?" asked the boy, pointing +to the jar Ali had brought into court. + +Ali stated that it was. + +"Abul Hassan, do you also say this is the jar Ali Cogia left with +you?" asked the lad. + +Abul answered that it was. He also asked to be allowed to take his +oath that the jar had not been disturbed after it was left in his +warehouse until Ali Cogia had returned and removed it. + +"That is not necessary at present," answered the boy. "First let some +expert olive merchants be brought in." + +Several olive dealers, the most expert in the city, had been sent for, +and they now came forward. + +The lad asked these real merchants the same questions he had asked of +the feigned merchants the night before. "How long," said he, "is it +possible to keep olives good?" + +And the merchants answered, as had the boys, "Not more than three +years, for no matter how carefully they have been packed, after that +time they lose both color and flavor." + +"Look in that jar," said the lad, "and tell us how long you think +those olives have been kept there." + +The merchants examined the olives with the greatest care, and then +they all agreed that the olives were of that year's growth and quite +fresh. + +"And do you not think it possible they may have been kept a year or +so?" + +"No, it is not possible," answered the merchants. "We know, of a +surety, as we have already said, that these olives are of this year's +growth, and have only recently been packed in the jar." + +When Ali Cogia heard this he gave a cry of surprise, but Abul Hassan +was silent; his face grew as pale as ashes, and his legs failed under +him, for he knew that the merchants, in saying this, had pronounced +sentence against him. + +But the lad turned to the Caliph and begged that he might now be +allowed to hand over the case to him. "When I pronounced sentence last +night, it was but in play," said he. "But this is not play. A man's +life is at stake, and I dare not pronounce sentence upon him." + +To this request the Caliph agreed. "Abul Hassan, you have condemned +yourself," he said. He then bade the guards take Abul Hassan away and +execute him according to the law. + +Before the wretched man was hanged, however, he confessed his guilt +and told where he had hidden the thousand pieces of gold that belonged +to Ali Cogia. + +After Abul had been led away the Caliph caressed and praised the lad +for conducting the case so wisely and with so much judgment. + +"As for you," said he to the Cadi, "you have not shown the wisdom I +demand from my judges. Learn from this child that such cases are not +to be dismissed lightly, but to be inquired into with judgment and +care. Otherwise it may go ill with you." + +The Cadi retired, full of shame, but the Caliph ordered that a hundred +pieces of gold should be given to the boy and that he should be sent +home to his mother with honor. + + + + + OH! + + A COSSACK STORY + + +There was once a man who had one son, and he was so lazy that he would +not work at all. The father apprenticed him to a tailor, but the lad +went to sleep between the stitches. He apprenticed him to a cobbler +and the lad only sat and yawned instead of driving pegs. What to do +with him the man did not know. + +"Come," said the father one day, "we will go out into the wide world. +It may be that somewhere or other we will find a master who can make +you work." + +The lad was very good-natured. "Very well," said he, "I am willing"; +and he arose and stretched himself and yawned, and then he was ready +to set out. + +The father put on his cap and took a staff in his hand, and then he +was ready, too. + +The two of them journeyed along together, in step and out of step, and +after a while they came to a deep wood. When they were well into it, +the father grew so weary that he had to sit down and rest. + +"Oh! what have I done that I should have such a lazy son!" he cried. + +At once a little old, wrinkled, weazened man, all dressed in green, +with a green face, green hair, and a green beard stood before them. + +"Why did you call me," said he, "and what do you want?" + +"I did not call you," answered the man. + +"But you did call me, for I heard you. Did not you call 'Oh'? And that +is my name." + +"I said, 'Oh, what have I done to have such a lazy son,'" replied the +man, "but I did not call you, for I did not know that was your name." + +The Green one looked closely at the lad. "Is he so lazy?" he asked. +"He looks a stout, healthy fellow." + +"That is the worst of it," answered the father. "He is so stout and +healthy that he eats me out of house and home, and not one stroke will +he do to pay for it. I have tried to apprentice him to different +masters, but they soon weary of him and drive him out." + +"Very well; I will take him as an apprentice myself," answered the +little man. "Leave him here with me for a year. Come back at the end +of that time, and if you know him again and are able to choose him out +from among my other apprentices, then you shall take him home with +you, but if not, then he shall serve with me a year longer." + +Very well, the father was willing to agree to that. It would only be +for a year, for of course he would recognize his own son anywhere. So +he left the lad with Oh and went on home again. + +Oh took the lad down into the country that lies beneath this earth, +and the way was not long. There everything was green. Oh's house was +made of green rushes. His wife was green and his daughters were green +and his dog was green, and when they gave the lad food to eat, it was +green also. + +The oldest daughter would have been a beauty if she had not been green +all over--eyes, hair, and all. As soon as she saw the lad she loved +him and would have been glad to have him for a husband, but he had no +fancy for her. + +"When I marry," said he, "it shall be some girl who is good red and +white flesh and blood like myself." + +"Never mind," said Oh. "After you have lived here for a while you will +be glad enough to have her for a wife." + +The lad lived down in the under country for a year, and Oh taught him +much magic, and he was very useful to the old Green One. + +But at the end of the year the father came back in search of his son. +He stopped at the very same spot in the forest where he had stopped +before and cried out in a loud voice, "Oh! Oh! I would like to see my +son." + +At once Oh appeared before him. "Come with me," he said, "but remember +our bargain. If you know your son when you see him he is yours again, +but if you do not know him, then he must stay with me and serve me +still another year." + +The man was very willing to agree, for it would be a strange thing if +he did not know his own son when he saw him. + +Oh led him down the short way to the land that is under this, and when +he got there the man stared about him in wonder. Never had he seen so +many green things in all his life before. + +Oh took a handful of corn and scattered it about, calling as he did +so. Then a great number of cocks that were pecking about the place +came running and began to pick up the corn. + +"Tell me now, which of these is your son?" asked Oh, "for one of them +is he." + +The man stared and scratched his head and stared again, but he could +not tell, for one cock was just like another. He had to own that he +could not tell which was his son. + +"Very well," said Oh. "Then you will have to go home without him. Come +back at the end of another year, and then if you know him from his +mates you shall take him home with you, but if not then he shall stay +with me a twelvemonth longer." + +That did not suit the man at all, but he could not say no, for that +was what the bargain had been. + +At the end of the year the man came back to the forest again and +called upon Oh, and Oh was quickly before him. + +"Come along," said Oh. "You surely ought to know your son when you see +him. If you do he shall go home with you, and I shall not say no to +it, but if not then he shall stay with me a year longer." + +When the man heard this he was troubled, for he feared the Green One +meant to play some trick on him as he had before, and he wanted his +son home again, lazy or not. Moreover the lad's mother was grieving +for him. + +Oh led the man down to the underworld and over to a field where a +flock of rams was grazing. + +"All these are my servants," said Oh, "and one of them is your son. +Look well and tell me which is he, for unless you can choose him out +he must stay here with me." + +The man looked and looked, but he could not tell which of the rams was +his son, for they all looked alike to him, so he had to go home +without him. + +When the lad's mother heard of this second trick the Green One had +played on her husband she wept bitterly. "If we cannot find some way +to get round him, we will never have the lad back again," she said. + +"That is true," said the man; "but if our son looks like a cock, how +can I tell him from other cocks; and if he looks like a ram, how can I +tell him from other rams?" + +Well, time slipped by, and the man and his wife grew poorer and +poorer, for they were growing old, and they needed a young body in the +house to work for them. + +When it was about time for the man to set out for Oh's house his wife +said to him, "See now! we have nothing left in the house but a small +loaf and a bit of honeycomb. But we can do better than fill our +stomach with them. Do you take them to the old Wise Woman who lives +over beyond the hill. Tell her they are a gift, and then ask her what +we can do to meet the tricks of the little old Green One." + +The man did as his wife bade him, though he was hungry and would have +been glad of a bit of the bread himself. + +The Wise Woman was pleased with the gift, and thanked the man kindly. +Then the man told her all his troubles and asked her how he was to get +his son back again from Oh. + +"Listen!" said the old woman. "Oh would gladly keep your son with him +as a husband for his daughter, and if you do not bring the lad away +with you this time, you will never have him back. This time Oh will +show you a flock of doves, and one of them will be your son. Look +closely at them, and the one that has tears in its eyes is he, for +only a human soul can weep." + +The father thanked the old woman and hurried back home again, and very +soon after it was time to set out for Oh's house. + +The man travelled along till he came to the wood and the place where +he had come twice already, and he stood there and cried, "Oh! Oh!" + +Then Oh appeared before him. "Here I am," said Oh, "ready and waiting +for you. This time, as before, I tell you that if you know your son +when you see him you shall take him away with you, but if, this time, +you do not know him, then he is mine forever." + +"Very well," said the man, "that is a bargain." + +Then Oh took him down to the underworld. He called to a flock of doves +that was perched on the roof and scattered a handful of peas on the +ground for them. The doves flew down all about them and began to peck +up the peas; but one dove would not eat but sat mournfully on a low +bough and looked at them, and its eyes were full of tears. + +"This one is my son," cried the man, pointing to the dove that wept. + +As soon as he said this the dove changed its shape and became a young +man, and this was the son, though he had become so fine and tall and +handsome in these three years that his father could scarcely recognize +him. + +Then Oh was in a fine rage. He danced with fury and tore his beard. + +"Very well," he cried, "he is yours now, but you shall not keep him +long, and when I once get him back again he is mine forever." + +But the lad paid no heed to his threats. He and his father were soon +on the upper earth again, and they set out for home, one foot before +the other. + +On the way the father told the lad how badly it had gone with him and +the mother in the past years; of how poor they were, and of how their +hut was tumbling to pieces, and how their cow had died. + +"Never mind," said the lad. "I learned quite a bit of magic from the +Green One, and that should help us out now. Do you hear the huntsmen +winding their horns farther on in the open?" + +Yes, the father heard them. + +"I will turn myself into a greyhound," said the lad. "The hunt is +coming this way, and when the huntsmen see me they will want to buy +me. Ask them three hundred dollars for me; no more, no less, but when +they take me do not leave the leash on me, whatever you do. Take it +off and put it in your pocket, and then all will be well with me. Fail +to do this, and misfortune will surely overtake me." + +The father promised to do as the son said, and then the lad turned +himself into a greyhound, and he was so sleek and handsome that the +man could not admire him enough; but about his neck was an old, worn +leash that did not look as though it were worth a penny. It seemed a +pity to leave it on the neck of such a handsome dog. + +The man went on a little further and then he came to where a grand +nobleman and his friends were hunting a hare. They had a pack of dogs +with them but the hare had outrun them. + +When the nobleman saw the man and the greyhound he stopped his horse. + +"That is a fine greyhound you have there." + +"Yes, it is," answered the man. + +"Do you think it could course down the hare we are chasing?" + +Yes, the man was sure it could. + +"Then let me have it and I will pay you a good price for it." + +Very well, he could have it for three hundred dollars, but that was +without the leash; the leash was not for sale. + +The nobleman laughed aloud, "when the dog is mine," he said, "he shall +have a golden leash, for that one you have is fit for nothing but the +ash heap." + +The nobleman then paid the man three hundred dollars and unfastened +the leash from the dog's neck. + +Away he flew like the wind and soon caught the hare. But when the +hunters reached the spot where the hare lay they could see nothing of +the dog. Only a tall and handsome youth stood there, and he was +flushed and hot as though he had been running. + +"Have you seen my greyhound, a sleek and handsome dog?" asked the +nobleman. + +No, the youth had not seen any dog. + +The nobleman called and whistled, and he and his huntsman hunted far +and near, but they never found the greyhound. + +As for the lad he set out on the road his father had taken and soon +caught up with him. + +"That was a very pretty trick," said the father; "but after all three +hundred dollars is not much. It will barely buy us a cow and clothes +and put a new roof on the hut." + +"Yes, but that is not the only trick I know," answered the son. "Look +at the hill over yonder and tell me what you see." + +The father looked. "I see a company of fine ladies and gentlemen," +answered the father, "and they are flying their falcons." + +"I will change myself into a falcon, and when you have come to where +they are you shall loose me, and I will strike down a quail. Then they +will want to buy me. Sell me for three hundred dollars, no more, no +less. But whatever you do take off my hood and keep it, or misfortune +will surely overtake us." + +The father promised he would do this, and then the lad turned himself +into a falcon and perched upon his father's hand. + +Presently the father came up to where the ladies and gentlemen were at +their sport. They loosed their falcons, and the falcons flew after the +quail, but always they failed to strike, and the quail escaped. + +"That is poor sport," said the man. "I can show you better." + +He took off the hood and cast his falcon at the quail, and it quickly +struck down its prey. + +The gentlemen and ladies were astonished at the quickness of the +falcon and at the beauty of its feathers. + +"Sell us the bird," they said. + +Yes, the man was willing to do that, but his price was three hundred +dollars without the hood; the hood was not for sale for love nor +money. + +All the fine folk began to laugh. "What do we want with that old +hood?" they cried. "We will give the bird a hood that is worthy of a +king." + +So the man took the three hundred dollars and the hood and went on his +way. + +The one who had bought the falcon cast it at a quail, and it struck +down its prey as before, but when the hunters reached the place where +the birds had fallen they saw no falcon, but only a handsome young man +who stood there looking down at the dead quail. + +"What became of the falcon that was here?" they asked. + +But the youth had seen no falcon. + +He set out and soon overtook his father, who had not gone far. "And +now art thou content?" he asked. + +"Six hundred dollars is not a fortune," answered the man. "Since you +have done so well you might have done better." + +"Very well," answered the son. "We are now coming to a town where they +are holding a fair. I will change myself into a horse, and you shall +take me there and sell me for a thousand dollars,--no more, no less. +But heed what I say. Do not sell the halter whatever you do, or evil +will surely come of it." + +"Very well," said the father. "I will remember." + +The son then changed himself into a coal-black horse. His skin was +like satin, his eyes like jewels, and when he moved, his hoofs +scarcely seemed to touch the ground. But around his neck was an old +leather halter that was scarcely fit for an old farm nag. + +The father led the horse on to where the fair was being held, and at +once a crowd gathered around him, all bidding for the horse. Some +offered him more and some less. + +"The price is a thousand dollars," said the father, "no more, no less. +But that is without the halter." + +Then the people all laughed. "Who wants the halter?" they cried. "What +we offer is for the horse alone. The halter we would not take as a +gift." + +Then a rough looking, black-haired gypsy elbowed his way through the +crowd. He was really the Green One who had taken on this form, though +this the man did not know. + +"I will give you two thousand," he cried. "One thousand for the horse +and one thousand for the halter, but I will not have one without the +other." + +When the crowd heard this they laughed louder than ever. They thought +the gypsy was crazy to offer such a price. + +As for the father he stood there gaping and he did not know what to +do. + +"The price of the horse is a thousand dollars," he said. + +"And a thousand for the halter," said the gypsy. + +Well, two thousand dollars seemed a fortune to the man. Moreover he +did not see what harm it could do to sell the halter too. + +So he let the gypsy have the horse and the halter as well, and the +gypsy paid him two thousand dollars and led the horse away. + +And now the lad could not change himself back into his human shape, +because the halter held him, and this Oh knew very well. + +He led the horse back to the forest and down to the world that is +under this. "Now I have you again," he said, "and this time you shall +not escape me." + +Then he called to his youngest daughter and bade her take the horse +down to the river to drink. + +When she had brought the horse to the river bank it said to her. +"Loosen, I pray of thee, the halter, that I may drink more easily." + +Then the girl, who was a stupid wench, loosened the halter. At once +the lad slipped out of it and changed himself into a perch and fled +away down the river. + +But the Green One knew what had happened. He rushed down to the river +and changed himself into a pike and pursued after the perch. + +On and on they went, but the pike swam faster than the perch and was +just about to catch it when the perch sprang clear out of the water. + +The daughter of the Tsar was walking by the river, and she was such a +beauty that it made the heart ache to look at her. On her arm she +carried a basket. + +As the perch leaped he changed himself into a ruby ring and fell into +the basket. + +The damsel was very much astonished to see the ring in her basket. She +did not know where it had come from. She looked up, and she looked +down, but she could see no one who could have thrown the ring. + +Then she took it up and slid it upon her finger, and at once she loved +it as she had never loved anything in all her life before. + +She carried it to her father and said to him, "Look what a pretty ring +I have found!" + +"Yes," answered her father, "but where did you find it?" + +"I found it in my basket, but how it came there I do not know." + +The Tsaritsa's mother also admired the ring very much. Never had they +seen such a brilliant and flashing ruby before. + +Now at first, after the perch leaped out of the river and into the +Tsaritsa's basket, Oh did not know what had become of him. He was +obliged to go home and get out his magic books, and then he soon +learned where the lad was. + +He then changed himself into a venerable merchant, clothed in velvet +robes and with a long white beard. He broke a stick from an ash tree +and changed it into a horse, and mounted on it and rode away to the +Tsar's palace. + +Then he asked to speak with the Tsar, and so old and venerable did he +look that they would not refuse him, but brought him before the Tsar. + +"What dost thou want, old man?" asked the Tsar. + +"Your majesty," answered the Green One, "I have had a great loss. I +was crossing the river in a boat, and I had with me a very handsome +ruby ring that I was carrying with me to my master, who is also a +Tsar. Unfortunately I lost the ring overboard, and I thought it might +perchance have washed up on the shore and have been picked up by one +of thy servants." + +"What was thy ring like?" asked the Tsar. + +Then the pretended merchant described the Tsaritsa's ring exactly. + +The Tsar sent for his daughter, and she came with the ring on her +finger, for she would not take it off, either night or day. + +"Let me see thy ring," said the Tsar. + +He took her hand in his and examined the ring carefully, and it was in +every respect exactly as the Green One had described it. + +"Is this thy ring?" the Tsar asked of the merchant. + +"Yes, your majesty, it is." + +"Then," said the Tsar to his daughter, "it is right that thou shouldst +return it to him." + +The Tsaritsa wept and implored. She offered the merchant her pearls +and every other gem she had if he would but let her keep the ring, but +he refused. + +"Very well, then, it shall be neither thine nor mine," cried the +Tsaritsa, and she drew the ring from her finger and dashed it against +the wall. + +At once the ring changed into a hundred millet seeds and was scattered +all over the floor. + +But the Green One as quickly changed himself into a cock and ran about +this way and that, pecking up the millet seeds and swallowing them. +Ninety-nine millet seeds he found and ate, but the hundredth he did +not find, because it had fallen beside the Tsaritsa's foot, and the +hem of her robe covered it. + +As soon as the cock had swallowed the ninety-ninth seed he sprang upon +the window sill, and stretched his neck and crowed with triumph. + +But the hundredth seed was really the lad, and in that moment he +changed himself back into his human form, and before the cock knew +what had happened, he caught hold of it and wrung its neck and that +was the end of Oh and his magic. + +As for the Tsaritsa, no sooner had she seen the lad than her heart +went out to him, and she loved him even better than she had her ring, +and she declared that he and he only should be her husband. + +The Tsar did not know what to say to that, for it did not seem fitting +that his daughter should marry a common man. But the Tsaritsa begged +and plead with him till he could no longer withstand her. + +So she and the lad were married with great pomp and magnificence. + +His old father and mother were bidden to the wedding, and they could +hardly believe their eyes when they saw their son stand there in those +costly robes with a crown upon his head and the Tsaritsa beside him as +his bride. + +The old people were given a house to live in and plenty of money to +spend, and they all lived in peace and happiness forever after. + + + + + THE TALKING EGGS + + A STORY FROM LOUISIANA + + +There was once a widow who had two daughters, one named Rose and the +other Blanche. + +Blanche was good and beautiful and gentle, but the mother cared +nothing for her and gave her only hard words and harder blows; but she +loved Rose as she loved the apple of her eye, because Rose was exactly +like herself, coarse-looking, and with a bad temper and a sharp +tongue. + +Blanche was obliged to work all day, but Rose sat in a chair with +folded hands as though she were a fine lady, with nothing in the world +to do. + +One day the mother sent Blanche to the well for a bucket of water. +When she came to the well she saw an old woman sitting there. The +woman was so very old that her nose and her chin met, and her cheeks +were as wrinkled as a walnut. + +"Good day to you, child," said the old woman. + +"Good day, auntie," answered Blanche. + +"Will you give me a drink of water?" asked the old woman. + +"Gladly," said Blanche. She drew the bucket full of water, and tilted +it so the old woman could drink, but the crone lifted the bucket in +her two hands as though it were a feather and drank and drank till the +water was all gone. Blanche had never seen any one drink so much; not +a drop was left in the bucket. + +"May heaven bless you!" said the old woman, and then she went on her +way. + +And now Blanche had to fill the bucket again, and it seemed as though +her arms would break, she was so tired. + +When she went home her mother struck her because she had tarried so +long at the well. Her blows made Blanche weep. Rose laughed when she +saw her crying. + +The very next day the mother became angry over nothing and gave +Blanche such a beating that the girl ran away into the woods; she +would not stay in the house any longer. She ran on and on, deeper and +deeper into the forest, and there, in the deepest part, she met the +old woman she had seen beside the well. + +"Where are you going, my child? And why are you weeping so bitterly?" +asked the crone. + +"I am weeping because my mother beat me," answered Blanche; "and now I +have run away from her, and I do not know where to go." + +"Then come with me," said the old woman. "I will give you a shelter +and a bite to eat, and in return there is many a task you can do for +me. Only, whatever you may see as we journey along together you must +not laugh nor say anything about it." + +Blanche promised she would not, and then she trudged away at the old +woman's side. + +After a while they came to a hedge so thick and wide and so set with +thorns that Blanche did not see how they could pass it without being +torn to pieces, but the old hag waved her staff, and the branches +parted before them and left the path clear. Then, as they passed, the +hedge closed together behind them. + +Blanche wondered but said nothing. + +A little further on they saw two axes fighting together with no hand +to hold them. That seemed a curious thing, but still Blanche said +nothing. + +Further on were two arms that strove against each other without a +sound. Still Blanche was silent. + +Further on again two heads fought, butting each other like goats. +Blanche looked and stared but said no word. Then the heads called to +her. "You are a good girl, Blanche. Heaven will reward you." + +After that she and her companion came to the hut where the old woman +lived. They went in, and the hag bade Blanche gather some sticks of +wood and build a fire. Meanwhile she sat down beside the hearth and +took off her head. She put it in her lap and began to comb her hair +and twist it up. + +Blanche was frightened, but she held her peace and built the fire as +the old woman had directed. When it was burning the old woman put back +her head in place, and told Blanche to look on the shelf behind the +door. "There you will find a bone; put it on to boil for our dinners," +said she. + +[Illustration: She sat down beside the hearth and took off her head.] + +Blanche found the bone and put it on to boil, though it seemed a poor +dinner. + +The old woman gave her a grain of rice and bade her grind it in the +mortar. Blanche put the rice in the mortar and ground it with the +pestle, and before she had been grinding two minutes the mortar was +full of rice, enough for both of them and to spare. + +When it was time for dinner she looked in the pot and it was full of +good, fresh meat. She and the old woman had all they could eat. + +After dinner was over the old woman lay down on the bed. "Oh, my back! +Oh, my poor back! How it does ache," groaned she. "Come hither and rub +it." + +Blanche came over and uncovered the old crone's back, and she was +surprised when she saw it; it was as hard and ridgy as a turtle's. +Still she said nothing but began to rub it. She rubbed and rubbed till +the skin was all worn off her hand. + +"That is good," said the old woman. "Now I feel better." She sat up +and drew her clothes about her. Then she blew upon Blanche's hand, and +at once it was as well as ever. + +Blanche stayed with the old woman for three days and served her well; +she neither asked questions nor spoke of what she saw. + +At the end of that time her mistress said to her, "My child, you have +now been with me for three days, and I can keep you here no longer. +You have served me well, and you shall not lack your reward. Go to the +chicken-house and look in the nests. You will find there a number of +eggs. Take all that say to you, 'Take me,' but those that say, 'Do not +take me,' you must not touch." + +Blanche went out to the chicken-house and looked in the nests. There +were ever so many eggs; some of them were large and beautiful and +white and shining and so pretty that she longed to take them, but each +time she stretched out her hand toward one it cried, "Do not take me." +Then she did not touch it. There were also some small, brown, +muddy-looking eggs, and these called to her, "Take me!" So those were +the ones she took. + +When she came back to the house the old woman looked to see which ones +she had taken. "You have done what was right," said she, "and you will +not regret it." She then showed Blanche a path by which she could +return to her own home without having to pass through the thorn hedge. + +"As you go throw the eggs behind you," she said, "and you will see +what you shall see. One thing I can tell you, your mother will be glad +enough to have you home again after that." + +Blanche thanked her for the eggs, though she did not think much of +them, and started out. After she had gone a little way she threw one +of the eggs over her shoulder. It broke on the path, and a whole +bucket full of gold poured out from it. Blanche had never seen so much +gold in all her life before. + +She gathered it up in her apron and went a little farther, and then +she threw another egg over her shoulder. When it broke a whole bucket +full of diamonds poured out over the path. They fairly dazzled the +eyes, they were so bright and sparkling. + +Blanche gathered them up, and went on farther, and threw another egg +over her shoulder. Out from it came all sorts of fine clothes, +embroidered and set all over with gems. Blanche put them on, and then +she looked like the most beautiful princess that ever was seen. + +She threw the last egg over her shoulder, and there stood a magnificent +golden coach drawn by four white horses, and with coachman and footman +all complete. Blanche stepped into the coach, and away they rolled to +the door of her mother's house without her ever having to give an order +or speak a word. + +When her mother and sister heard the coach draw up at the door they +ran out to see who was coming. There sat Blanche in the coach, all +dressed in fine clothes, and with her lap full of gold and diamonds. + +Her mother welcomed her in and then began to question her as to how +she had become so rich and fine. It did not take her long to learn the +whole story. + +Nothing would satisfy her but that Rose should go out into the forest, +and find the old woman, and get her to take her home with her as a +servant. + +Rose grumbled and muttered, for she was a lazy girl and had no wish to +work for any one, whatever the reward, and she would rather have sat +at home and dozed; but her mother pushed her out of the door, and so +she had to go. + +She slouched along through the forest, and presently she met the old +woman. "Will you take me home with you for a servant?" asked Rose. + +"Come with me if you will," said the old woman, "but whatever you may +see do not laugh nor say anything about it." + +"I am a great laugher," said Rose, and then she walked along with the +old woman through the forest. + +Presently they came to the thorn hedge, and it opened before them just +as it had when Blanche had journeyed there. "That is a good thing," +said Rose. "If it had not done that, not a step farther would I have +gone." + +Soon they came to the place where the axes were fighting. Rose looked +and stared, and then she began to laugh. + +A little later they came to where the arms were striving together, and +at that Rose laughed harder still. But when she came to where the +heads were butting each other, she laughed hardest of all. Then the +heads opened their mouths and spoke to her. "Evil you are, and evil +you will be, and no luck will come through your laughter." + +Soon after they arrived at the old woman's house. She pushed open the +door, and they went in. The crone bade Rose gather sticks and build a +fire; she herself sat down by the hearth, and took off her head, and +began to comb and plait her hair. + +Rose stood and looked and laughed. "What a stupid old woman you are," +she said, "to take off your head to comb your hair!" and she laughed +and laughed. + +The old woman was very angry. Still she did not say anything. She put +on her head and made up the fire herself. Rose would not do anything. +She would not even put the pot on the fire. She was as lazy at the old +woman's house as she was at home, and the old crone was obliged to do +the work herself. At the end of three days she said to Rose. "Now you +must go home, for you are of no use to anybody, and I will keep you +here no longer." + +"Very well," said Rose. "I am willing enough to go, but first pay me +my wages." + +"Very well," said the old woman. "I will pay you. Go out to the +chicken-house and look for eggs. All the eggs that say, 'Take me', you +may have, but if they say, 'Do not take me', then you must not touch +them." + +Rose went out to the chicken-house and hunted about and soon found the +eggs. Some were large and beautiful and white, and of these she +gathered up an apronful, though they cried to her ever so loudly, "Do +not take me." Some of the eggs were small and ugly and brown. "Take +me! Take me!" they cried. + +"A pretty thing if I were to take you," she cried. "You are fit for +nothing but to be thrown out on the hillside." + +She did not return to the hut to thank the old woman or bid her +good-by but set off for home the way she had come. When she reached +the thorn thicket it had closed together again. She had to force her +way through, and the thorns scratched her face and hands and almost +tore the clothes off her back. Still she comforted herself with the +thought of all the riches she would get out of the eggs. + +She went a little farther, and then she took the eggs out of her +apron. "Now I will have a fine coach to travel in the rest of the +way," said she, "and gay clothes and diamonds and money," and she +threw the eggs down in the path, and they all broke at once. But no +clothes, nor jewels, nor fine coach, nor horses came out of them. +Instead snakes and toads sprang forth, and all sorts of filth that +covered her up to her knees and bespattered her clothing. + +Rose shrieked and ran, and the snakes and toads pursued her, spitting +venom, and the filth rolled after her like a tide. + +She reached her mother's house, and burst open the door, and ran in, +closing it behind her. "Look what Blanche has brought on me," she +sobbed. "This is all her fault." + +The mother looked at her and saw the filth, and she was so angry she +would not listen to a word Blanche said. She picked up a stick to beat +her, but Blanche ran away out of the house and into the forest. She +did not stop for her clothes or her jewels or anything. + +She had not gone very far before she heard a noise behind her. She +looked over her shoulder, and there was her golden coach rolling after +her. Blanche waited until it caught up to her, and then she opened the +door and stepped inside, and there were all her diamonds and gold +lying in a heap. Her mother and Rose had not been able to keep any of +them. + +Blanche rode along for a long while, and then she came to a grand +castle, and the King and Queen of the country lived there. The coach +drew up at the door, and every one came running out to greet her. They +thought she must be some great Princess come to visit them, but +Blanche told them she was not a Princess, but only the daughter of a +poor widow, and that all the fine things she had, had come out of some +eggs an old woman had given her. + +When the people heard this they were very much surprised. They took +her in to see the King and Queen, and the King and Queen made her +welcome. She told them her story, and they were so sorry for her they +declared she should live there with them always and be as a daughter +to them. + +So Blanche became a grand lady, and after a while she was married to +the Prince, the son of the old King and Queen, and she was beloved by +all because she was so good and gentle. + +But when Blanche's mother and sister heard of the good fortune that +had come to her, and how she had become the bride of the Prince, they +were ready to burst with rage and spite. Moreover they turned quite +green with envy, and green they may have remained to the end of their +lives, for all that I know to the contrary. + + + + + THE FROG PRINCESS + + A RUSSIAN STORY + + +There was once a Tsar[1] who had three sons, and they were all dear to +him, but the youngest, Ivan, was the dearest of them all. + +When the Princes grew to manhood the Tsar began to talk and talk to +them about getting married, but it so happened not one of the Princes +had ever seen the girl he wished to have for a wife. There were many +in the kingdom whom they might well have loved, but not one of them +meant more to any of the Princes than another. + +"Very well, then," said the Tsar at last, "we will leave it to chance. +Take your bows and arrows and come with me into the courtyard. You +shall each shoot an arrow, and in whatever places your arrows fall, +there shall you take your brides." + +The Princes were not greatly pleased with this plan, but still they +dared not say no to their father. They took their bows and went with +him into the courtyard. + +First the eldest son shot his arrow, and he aimed it toward the east, +where the sun rises. The arrow fell upon the balcony of a great +nobleman's house. + +Well and good! The nobleman had a daughter, and she was so stately and +handsome that the Prince was very glad to take her for a wife. + +Then the second Prince shot an arrow and aimed it toward the west, +where the sun is in its glory. He was no less lucky than his brother, +for his arrow fell into the court of a rich merchant, and he also had +a daughter who was a beauty. So the second son took her for a bride, +and he was well content. + +Last of all Prince Ivan shot his arrow, and he aimed neither toward +the east nor the west, but straight up into the sky above him. Then a +sudden gust of wind arose and caught the arrow and blew it away so +that it fell in a great swamp. In this swamp were no rich nor +beautiful ladies, but only a poor, green, croaking frog. + +When the young Prince Ivan saw where his arrow had fallen he was in +despair. "How can I marry a frog," said he, "and have her rule with me +as my Princess?" + +"It is a great pity," said the Tsar; "nevertheless what I have said I +have said, and where your arrow fell there must you take your bride." + +So Prince Ivan was married to the frog, and the Tsar built a castle on +the edge of the swamp for them to live in. + +Now the Tsar was growing old, and he began to consider in his mind to +which of his sons he would leave his kingdom. Gladly would he have +left it to his youngest son, who was his favorite, but it did not seem +right that a frog should ever rule over the kingdom as Queen. + +At last he called the three Princes before him and said, "My sons, +to-morrow let your wives bake me some soft white bread. I will eat of +it, and in this way I will know which of you has the cleverest wife, +and he who has the cleverest wife shall inherit my kingdom." + +After they had heard him the three Princes went away to their own +homes, and Prince Ivan was very sad. + +"What ails you, my dear husband," said the frog, "that you hang your +head and are so downcast?" + +"It is no wonder I am downcast," answered Prince Ivan. "My father +has commanded that you shall make him a loaf of soft white bread +to-morrow, and well I know that your webby fingers can never make +bread that he would taste or even so much as look at." + +"Do not be too sure of that," answered the frog. "Sleep in peace, and +I promise that to-morrow I will provide a loaf that even the Tsar will +be glad to eat of." + +The Prince did not believe this, but grief is heavy, so no sooner was +he in bed than he fell into a deep sleep. + +Then the frog arose from beside him and went into a far-off room and +took off her frog-skin; for she was really a Princess who had been +enchanted. She combed her hair and washed herself and then she went +out on the balcony of the castle and cried, "Nurses dear, nurses dear, +bring me a loaf of bread such as I used to have in the palace of my +own dear father, the King." + +After she had called this three times three crows appeared, carrying +among them a fine napkin embroidered with gold, and in this napkin was +a loaf of bread. They laid the napkin before the Princess and bowed +three times, croaking solemnly, and then they flew away again into the +night. + +The Princess took up the bread and went back into the room and put on +her frog-skin again; after that she returned to her chamber and lay +down beside her husband. + +The next day when the Prince was ready to set out for the Tsar's +palace, the frog brought him the loaf of bread still wrapped in the +napkin. + +"Take this, dear husband," said she, "and carry it to your father, the +Tsar, but do not open it on the way lest the dust should spoil the +fineness of the bread." + +The Prince took the loaf and rode away with it, but he could not +forbear from peeping into the napkin to see what was there, and what +he saw filled him with admiration and wonder. Quickly he rode on his +way, and soon reached the Tsar's palace. + +The two older brothers were there, and each brought a loaf of fine +white bread that his wife had made. + +When Prince Ivan entered his brothers could not forbear from smiling. +"Come!" said they, "show us quickly what kind of bread the Frog +Princess has made. Does it smell of reeds and rushes?" + +The young Prince made no answer but gave what he carried to his +father. + +When the Tsar saw the fineness of the napkin and the beautiful +embroidery upon it he was very much surprised. But he was still more +surprised when he opened the napkin and saw what it contained. Never +before had he seen such bread. Not only was it soft and light and +fine, but it was molded along the sides in cunning scenes, castles and +cities, moats and bridges, and upon the top was the imprint of the +royal eagle, perfect even to the claws and feathers. + +The Tsar could not admire it enough. Still he was not willing to leave +the kingdom to Prince Ivan and so make a queen of a frog. + +"This is very beautiful, but a loaf of bread is soon eaten and +forgotten," said he. "I now wish each one of you to bring me a carpet +to lay before my throne, and he who brings me the finest carpet, him +will I make my heir." + +The Princes returned to their own homes, and the youngest one was very +sad and sorrowful. + +"What ails you, my dear husband?" asked the frog. "Why are you so +downcast, and why do you hang your head. Was not the Tsar pleased with +the bread you carried to him?" + +"He was well pleased," answered the Prince; "but now he has commanded +each one of us to bring him a carpet, and to him who brings the finest +carpet he will leave his kingdom. No wonder I am sad, for where, in +this swamp, can I find a carpet such as I require?" + +"Do not trouble yourself about that," answered the frog. "Do you go +and lie down and go quietly to sleep. I will supply you such a carpet +as you need." + +The Prince did not believe her, but because grief is heavy he lay down +and soon fell into a deep sleep. + +Again as before the frog stole away to a distant chamber and laid +aside her frog-skin. Then she went out on the balcony and cried aloud +three times; "Nurses dear, nurses true, bring me a carpet such as lay +before my bed in my own home." + +At once the three crows appeared, carrying among them a carpet rolled +up and covered with a piece of embroidered velvet. They laid the roll +before the Princess, bowed three times, and then flew away again. + +The Princess carried the carpet back into the chamber and put on her +frog-skin again, and then she went back and lay down quietly beside +the Prince. + +The next morning when the Prince was ready to set out, the frog +brought the roll of carpet to him. + +"Here," said she; "carry this to your father, but do not open it upon +the way lest the dust spoil its beauty." + +The Prince took the carpet and rode away. When he reached the Tsar's +palace his two brothers were already there, and each had brought with +him a piece of carpet so fine and rich that it was difficult to say +which of the two was the more beautiful. + +When the older brothers saw Ivan they began to laugh. "Come!" said +they. "Let us see what kind of a carpet he has brought from his swamp +home. No doubt it is very wonderful." + +The Prince laid the roll of carpet upon the floor and opened it out +and when they saw it every one was struck with wonder. The elder +Princes had not a word to say. Never before had they seen such a +carpet. Not only was it as thick and soft as eiderdown, but it shone +with wondrous colors that changed as one looked at them, and it was +embroidered with gold in strange designs. + +The Tsar was filled with admiration. All the same he still was +unwilling to have a frog reign in his kingdom. + +"This is all very well," said he, "and never before have I seen such a +beautiful carpet. But now I wish you all to appear before me to-morrow +with your wives. Let the Princesses wear their most beautiful dresses +and their finest jewels, and whichever of you has the wife best fitted +to be Queen, to him will I leave the kingdom." + +When the Prince Ivan heard this he was in despair. How could he ever +bring the frog to court and present her to the Tsar as though she were +a beautiful Princess? + +When he went home the frog at once asked him why he was so sad and +woebegone. "Is not the kingdom to be yours?" she asked. + +"No," answered the Prince, "for now my father, the Tsar, has demanded +something else of us." He then told her how the Tsar had bidden him +and his brothers bring their wives to court, and had said that +whichever of the Princesses was the finest and most beautiful should +reign as Queen, and her husband should be the Tsar. + +"Do not trouble over that," said the frog. "Only go to bed and sleep +quietly. The kingdom shall still be yours." + +Then the Prince went to bed, but he only closed his eyes and pretended +to go to sleep, for he had grown very curious as to how the frog had +been able to provide him with the wonderful loaf and the carpet. + +The frog kept very still until she thought the Prince was asleep. Then +she arose quietly from his side and slipped away, but the Prince also +arose and followed her without her being aware of it. She went to the +far-off chamber, and there she laid aside her frog-skin; and when the +prince saw her in her human form he was amazed at her beauty, and his +heart melted within him for love of her, for her hair was like spun +gold, her eyes as blue as the sky, and her skin as white as milk. +Never had he seen such a beauty. + +The Princess went out on a balcony as she had before, and cried aloud +three times, "Nurses dear, nurses true, bring me fine clothes and +jewels to wear, richer than ever were seen before." + +At once the three crows appeared, carrying with them jewels and fine +robes all encrusted with gems and embroidery. These they laid at the +Princess's feet and bowed three times, croaking hoarsely, and then +they flew away. + +The Princess took the robes and jewels back into the chamber to hide +them, and while she was doing this Prince Ivan returned to his bed and +lay down and closed his eyes as though he were asleep. When the frog +came back she looked at him carefully, but he kept so still she never +guessed that he had stirred from where he lay. + +The next morning the frog bade Ivan ride away alone to the palace of +the Tsar. "I will follow you," she said, "and when you hear a great +noise, say, 'That is my little Froggie, driving up in her basket made +of rushes.'" + +The Prince promised to do this and then he rode away to the palace of +the Tsar. + +His brothers were already there, and their two wives were with them, +both so handsome and so magnificently dressed that each looked finer +than the other. + +When Ivan came in they all began to laugh. "Where is thy dear frog?" +they asked. "Is she still asleep among her reeds and rushes, or is she +too hoarse to come?" + +Even as they spoke there was a great noise outside,--a roaring and +rumbling like thunder. + +The palace shook until it seemed as though it would fall about their +ears. Every one was terrified. Only Prince Ivan was calm. + +"There is my little Froggie now," he said; "she is driving up in her +little basket of rushes." + +At once the noise ceased, the doors were flung open, and a magnificent +Princess swept into the room. Never was such a beauty seen before. Her +golden hair fell almost to the floor and was bound about with jewels. +Her robes were stiff with embroidery and gems. The other Princesses +paled before her as stars pale before the rising moon. + +Prince Ivan took her by the hand and led her to the Tsar. "This is my +dear Princess," said he, "and surely it is she and she only who should +reign over this land." + +Well, there were no two ways to that. The Tsar could hardly contain +himself for joy over the beauty of Prince Ivan's bride. A great feast +was spread, and the Tsar himself led the Princess to the table. She +sat at his right hand and drank from his jewelled cup, and all was joy +and merriment. Only the older brothers and their wives were sad, for +they knew they had missed all chance of gaining the kingdom. + +Now while they were still at the table, all eating and drinking, +Prince Ivan arose and made some excuse for leaving the room. He went +quietly and mounted his horse and rode back to his own castle. + +There he made haste to the room where his wife had left her frog-skin. +He hunted about until he found it, and then he threw it into the fire, +for he did not intend that she should ever hide herself away in it +again. + +At once a clap of thunder sounded, and the Princess stood before him. +Her eyes were streaming with tears, and she wrung her hands in grief. + +"Alas and woe is me!" she cried. "Why did you burn my frog-skin? A +little longer, and I would have been free. Now I must go away and +leave you forever." + +"But where are you going?" cried the Prince in despair. "Wherever it +is I will follow and find you." + +"Seek me beyond the seven mountains, beyond the seven seas, in the +kingdom of Koshchei the Deathless, for it is in his house I will be," +answered the Princess. Then she turned into a great white swan and +flew out through the window and far, far away; so far the Prince could +no longer see her. + +Then Prince Ivan was filled with grief; and he neither stayed nor +tarried but set out at once in search of his Princess. + +He journeyed on and journeyed on a short way and a long way, and then +he met an old man with a grey beard that hung down far below his belt. + +"Good day, good youth," said the old man. + +"Good day, grandfather," answered Ivan. + +"Whither do you journey with so sad a face?" asked the stranger. + +"I journey over land and over sea in search of the kingdom of Koshchei +the Deathless," answered Ivan. + +"Then you have a long journey before you," said the old man. "But why +do you seek the kingdom of Koshchei the Deathless, that terrible man?" + +"I seek it that I may find what is lost." Then Ivan told the old man +his story, all about his frog bride and how she had turned into a +Princess,--how he had burned the frog-skin and how she had flown away +as a swan, and that now life would be nothing but a burden to him +until he could find her again. + +The old man shook his head. "Alas! alas! You should never have burned +the frog-skin!" he said. He then told Ivan that the name of the +Princess was Vasilisa the Fair. "Her mother was the sister of Koshchei +the Deathless," said the stranger, "and when she was born it was +foretold that before she was eighteen Koshchei should lose his life +because of her. It was for this reason that he changed her into a frog +and set her in the midst of the lonely swamp. In a month and a day +from now the Princess would have been eighteen, and the danger to +Koshchei would have been over. Then he would have allowed her to lay +aside her frog-skin and take back her human shape. But now he is angry +and has carried her away to his castle, and only by the grace of +Heaven will you be able to find her and set her free." + +The old man then gave Prince Ivan a little ball. "Take this," he said, +"and roll it before you as you go. It will show you which way to +travel, and with its help you may reach the kingdom of Koshchei." + +Ivan took the ball and thanked the old man and journeyed on. He rolled +the ball before him, and in whichever direction it rolled he followed. + +He went along and went along, until after a while he came to a forest, +and there he saw a bear. + +Prince Ivan would have shot it, but the bear cried to him, "Do not +shoot me, Prince. Take me with you as a servant, and the time may come +when I can help you." + +"Very well," said the Prince. "Come with me"; so he journeyed on with +the bear at his heels. + +Presently he saw a wild duck and would have shot it, but the duck +called to him, "Do not shoot me, dear Prince. Take me with you, and I +will be a faithful servant. The time may come when you will need me." + +"Very well," answered the Prince. "You also may come with us as a +companion." + +So the Prince journeyed along with the bear at his heels and the duck +flying overhead. + +After a while they came to the edge of a river, and there lay a great +fish, gasping out its life in the sunlight. + +"Now at last I shall have a good meal," said the Prince. + +But the fish cried to him in a human voice, "Throw me back into the +river, Prince, that I may live. The time may come when I can do you a +good turn also." + +So the Prince had mercy on the fish and threw it back into the water. + +After that he and his companions traveled on a long way. They +journeyed over seven mountains and crossed seven seas, and so they +came at last to the kingdom of Koshchei the Deathless. + +There the Prince saw a little hut. It stood on hen's legs and turned +this way and that, whichever way the wind blew. There was no getting +at the door. Then the Prince cried, "Little hut, stand the way my +mother built you with your back away from me and your door before me." + +At once the hut whirled round and stood with the open door in front of +him. + +Prince Ivan entered in, and saw a bony-legged Baba Yaga lying on the +stove with her grey hair over her face. + +"Who are you? And what seek you here in the kingdom of Koshchei the +Deathless?" she cried. + +"Do not ask questions but rise up and give me food and drink," said +the Prince; "for I am both hungry and thirsty." + +The Baba Yaga arose and served him food and drink. He ate and gave +part to the bear and the duck. Then he told the Baba Yaga why he had +come there--that he was wandering in search of his dear wife, Vasilisa +the Fair. + +The old witch shook her head. "It will be a hard thing to rescue her," +she said. "Koshchei is very powerful. Only in one way can you overcome +him. Not far from here stands a tree. It is as hard as rock, so that +no ax can dent it, and so smooth that none can climb it. On the top of +it is a nest. In the nest is an egg. A duck sits over the egg to guard +it. In that egg is a needle, and only with that needle can you kill +Koshchei the Deathless." + +The Baba Yaga then led Prince Ivan to the door and pointed out to him +where the tree grew, and Prince Ivan hurried on toward it, with his +two faithful servants, the bear and the duck. + +But when he reached the tree he looked at it with despair. It was +indeed very smooth and high,--as smooth as glass, and when he tried +his hunting knife upon it the knife bent and crumpled in his hand. + +"Master, now is the time that I can help you," said the bear. He went +to the tree and clasped it and shook it, so that its roots cracked, +and it fell with a mighty noise. + +At once the duck that was guarding the egg caught it up in its claws +and flew away with it. But Ivan's duck pursued so fiercely that the +other was forced to drop the egg in order to defend itself. + +Unfortunately they had both flown over a river, and into this river +the egg dropped and was lost to sight. + +Ivan sat down upon the bank of the river and wept. "Alas, alas!" he +cried. "Now truly is my dear wife lost to me, for never can I recover +the egg from the river." + +Hardly had he spoken when the fish he had thrown back into the river +appeared, bearing the egg in its mouth. + +Now Ivan's grief was turned to rejoicing. He broke the egg and took +out the needle. Then, with the little ball to lead him, he soon made +his way to Koshchei's palace. + +The Deathless One rushed out to meet him, but Ivan attacked him with +the point of the needle. It was in vain Koshchei tried to protect +himself. Ivan drove the needle into him deeper and deeper, and +presently Koshchei sank down dead before him, no better than a lump of +clay. + +Prince Ivan strode across him and on into the castle. From room to +room he went, and in the deepest dungeon he found the Princess +Vasilisa, his own dear wife. She threw herself into his arms, weeping +with joy. + +Then they went to Koshchei's treasure room and took from it all the +most precious jewels,--all that the faithful bear could carry they +loaded upon his back and carried away with them. + +After that they journeyed back to their own kingdom, and if any one +was glad to see them it was the Tsar himself. + +He built for them a castle close to his own, where they could not even +see the swamp. There Ivan and his frog princess lived in the greatest +love and happiness, and after the old Tsar's death they themselves +ruled over the kingdom as the Tsar and Tsaritsa. + +----- + + [1] King. + + + + + THE MAGIC TURBAN, THE MAGIC SWORD + AND THE MAGIC CARPET + + A PERSIAN STORY + + +There were once two brothers, the sons of a rich merchant, and when he +died he left all his estate to be divided between them equally. This +was done, and the elder at once set about trading and improving his +condition, so that very soon he became twice as rich as he had been. + +But the younger son had no luck. Everything he undertook failed. +Moreover, he never had the heart to say no to a friend in need. So +before long he was left with not a penny in his purse or a roof over +his head. + +In his distress he went to his elder brother and asked help of him. + +"How is this?" said the elder. "Our father left the same to both of +us, and I have prospered in the world and have now become a rich man, +but you have not even a roof to shelter your head or a bite to eat." + +"Well, that's a long tale," said the younger, "and what is done is +done. But give me another chance, and it may be that this time I will +succeed in the world." + +After they had talked a long time the elder brother consented to give +him fifty dollars, but if he wasted that the way he had the rest of +his property, he was not to come back again. + +The younger brother took the money and went off with it, but it was +not long before it had slipped through his fingers just the way his +other money had. Before long he was back at his brother's door, asking +for help again. + +The older brother scolded and reproached him. He was a spendthrift and +a waster. But in the end he gave him another fifty dollars, and bade +him be off, and not dare to return again. + +The younger brother went off with the fifty dollars and this time he +was sure he would succeed with it. But his luck was still no better +than it had been before. Soon it was all gone, and back he came to his +brother's house. + +So it went on. The older brother could not rid himself of him. At last +the elder brother, seeing there would be no peace for him as long as +he remained where he was, made up his mind to sell all his possessions +and take the money and journey to a far land without telling his +younger brother anything about it. + +This he did, but somehow or other the younger one got wind of it. He +found what ship his brother was to sail on, and then he crawled aboard +at night, when nobody was watching, and hid himself among the cargo. + +The next day the ship set sail. Soon they were out at sea. Then the +elder brother came out on deck and strutted up and down, and he +rejoiced at heart that he had shaken off the younger lad and with good +luck might never see him again. + +But just as he thought this, whom should he see but the lad coming +across the deck to meet him and give him greeting. + +The elder was a sick and sorry man. It seemed there was no ridding +himself of his brother. At the first port they touched he left the +ship, and his brother got off with him, for he had no idea of being +left behind. + +The elder brother stood there on the shore and looked about him. Then +he said, "Listen, now! It is a long way to the town. Do you stay here +while I go on farther, beyond yon spit of land, and see whether I can +find a dwelling where I can buy us a couple of horses; for I have no +wish to journey on foot." + +The younger brother was for going along too, but to this the elder +would not consent. No, no; the lad was to stay there and watch a box +that the elder brother had brought along. (The box had nothing in it, +but this the younger brother did not know.) + +So the elder brother set out and soon was out of sight, and the +younger one sat on the box and kicked his heels and waited, and waited +and waited and waited; but his brother never did come back. + +Then the lad knew the older one had made a fool of him. He looked in +the box and found it empty. So off he set to see whether he could make +his own way in the world and no thanks to any one. + +He journeyed on a short way and a long way, and so he came to a place +where three men were quarreling together fiercely, and the things they +were quarreling over were an old turban, a piece of carpet, and a +sword. + +As soon as they saw the lad they stopped quarreling and ran and caught +hold of him. "You shall decide! You shall decide!" they shouted all +together. + +"What is it you wish me to decide?" asked the lad. + +Then the men told him they were three brothers, and that when their +father died he had left them these three things,--the turban, the +carpet, and the sword. Whoever placed the turban on his head would at +once become invisible. Whoever sat on the carpet had only to wish +himself wherever he would be, and the carpet would carry him there in +a twinkling, and the sword would cut through anything, and no magic +could stand against it. + +"These things should belong to me, because I am the eldest," cried one +of the men. + +"No, I should have them because I am the strongest and stoutest," said +the second. + +"But I am the youngest and weakest and need them most," cried the +third. They then began to quarrel again and even came to blows. + +"Stop, stop," cried the lad. "You said that I should decide this +matter for you, so why quarrel about it? But before I decide I must +try the things and see whether what you have told me is really so." + +To this the brothers agreed. First they gave him the sword, and the +lad took it in his hand and aimed a blow at a rock near by, and the +sword cut through the rock as smoothly and easily as though it had +been a piece of cheese. + +"Now give me the turban," said the lad. + +The brothers gave him the turban, and he placed it upon his head and +at once became invisible! + +"Now the carpet." + +The brothers spread out the carpet on the ground, and the lad seated +himself upon it with the turban still upon his head and the sword in +his hand! Then he wished himself far away in some place where the +brothers would never find him. + +Immediately he found himself in the outskirts of a large city. He +stepped from the carpet and rolled it up and took the turban from his +head and looked about him. He had no idea of going back to return the +things to the brothers, and if they waited for him they waited a long +time. "It will teach them not to quarrel but to live at peace with +each other," said the lad to himself. Then he made his way to the +nearest house, for he was hungry and meant to ask for a bite to eat. + +He knocked, and an old woman opened the door, and she was so old that +her chin and her nose met. + +"Good day, mother," said the lad. + +"Good day to you," answered the crone. + +"Will you give me a bite to eat, for the love of charity?" + +Yes, the crone would do that. She gave him a bite and a sup and a bit +over, and while he was eating and drinking she sat and talked with +him. + +"What is the news here in the city?" asked the lad. + +"Oh the same news as ever." + +"And what is that? For I am a stranger here and know no more of +yesterday or the week before than of to-day." + +"Then I will tell you. Over yonder lies the castle, and the King lives +there. He has only one daughter, and she is a beauty, you may believe. +Every night the Princess disappears from the castle, and where she +goes no one can tell but herself, and she will not. So the King has +offered a reward to any one who will find out. The half of his kingdom +he offers and the hand of the Princess as well, if only any one can +tell him where she goes." + +"That is a good hearing," said the lad. "I have a mind to try for that +prize myself." + +"No, but wait a bit," said the old woman. "There is another side to +the story, for if you try and fail your head will be lifted from your +shoulders with a sharp sword, and you are too fine a young man to lose +your life in that way." + +But the lad was determined to try. In vain the old woman warned and +entreated him. He thanked her for the meal he had eaten, and then off +he set for the palace. There he told the errand that had brought him +and after that it did not take long for him to get to see the King. + +"So you think you can find out where the Princess goes at night," said +the King. + +Yes, the lad thought he could. + +Very well, then, he might have a try at it, but he must remember that +if he tried and failed his head would be cut from his shoulders with a +sharp sword. + +Yes, the lad understood that, and he was ready to take the risk. + +So that night he was taken to the door of a room in a high tower, and +the room was of iron and had only one door and one window. Into this +room the Princess was put every night, and it would be the duty of the +lad to watch at the door and see either that she did not leave it, or +where she went. + +Presently the Princess came upstairs and passed by the lad without so +much as a glance, but his heart leaped within him, she was so +beautiful. + +She opened the door to go in, and the lad put on his turban of +darkness and slipped in after her, but the Princess did not know that +because he was invisible. She closed the door tight and sighed three +times, and then a great black demon stood before her, and he was +terrible to look upon, he was so huge and ugly. + +"Oh, my dear Lala," said the Princess, "let us be off at once. I do +not know why, but I feel so frightened, just as though some misfortune +were about to come upon me." + +"That is nonsense," said the demon. "But do you seat yourself upon my +head, and we will be off at once." + +The demon wore a buckler upon his head, and now he stooped, and she +seated herself upon it, but the lad was quick and sprang up and took +his place beside her. + +"Ai! Ai!" cried the demon, "but you are heavy to-day, Princess." + +[Illustration: Then the demon flew out through the window and away +through the night.] + +"I do not know what you mean," answered the Princess. "I am no heavier +and no lighter than I was last night." + +Then the demon flew out through the window and away through the night +so fast that the lad had much ado to keep from falling off. + +After a while they came to a garden the like of which the lad had +never seen before and never expected to see again, for the leaves of +the trees were of silver, and the branches were of gold, and the +fruits were emeralds and rubies. + +As they passed through it the lad stretched out his hand and broke off +a twig and put it in his bosom. Then all the trees in the garden began +to sigh and moan. + +"Child of man! Child of man! why do you break and +torture us?" + +The Princess shuddered. "Some one besides ourselves is here in the +garden," she cried. + +"That cannot be, or we would see him," answered the demon, but he was +frightened and flew on faster than before. + +Presently they came to another garden and it was even more wonderful +than the first, for here the trees were of diamonds, and the fruits of +every kind of precious stones you can think of. + +As they passed through it the lad stretched out his hand and broke off +a twig. Then all the trees began to sigh and moan. + +"Child of man! Child of man! Why do you break and torture us?" they +cried. + +"Oh, my dear Lala, what did I tell you?" asked the Princess. "I am +afraid"; and she trembled all over her body. + +The demon answered nothing, but he flew on even faster than ever. + +Soon after they came to a magnificent palace, and the demon flew in +through a window and alighted. Then the Princess and the lad leaped +down from the buckler, and the demon was glad to have the weight off +him. After that he vanished. + +The Princess opened a door and went into another room, with the lad +close behind her, and there was the King of all the demons, and he was +so huge and black that the demon Lala was nothing to him. + +"My dearest dear one, why are you so late to-night?" asked he of the +Princess. + +"I do not know what was the matter," answered the fair one, "but +something is terribly wrong"; and she told him all that had happened. + +The Demon laughed at her. "You are nervous," said he. "But come! You +have not kissed me yet." + +He came close to the Princess to kiss her, but the lad stepped between +them and gave the Demon such a push that he almost fell over; at the +same time he himself gave the Princess a kiss upon the cheek. + +"Why do you push me away?" cried the Demon, and he was very angry. + +The Princess began to tremble again. "I did not push you," said she. +"Moreover, some one kissed me on the cheek. I am sure somebody is in +the room with us." + +The King Demon looked all around, but he could see nobody. Then he +called a slave to bring the Princess the jeweled slippers she always +wore when she came to his palace. + +The slave brought the slippers on a golden cushion, and they were +crusted over with pearls and precious stones. He knelt before the +Princess, and she took one and put it on, but at the same time the lad +took the other and slipped it in his bosom. The Princess and the Demon +did not know what had become of it. They hunted everywhere, but they +could not find it. + +"There, now! See how careless you are," said the Demon; and he bade +the slave bring another pair of slippers. + +This the slave did, but it was the same with this pair as with the +others. While the Princess was putting on one slipper the lad took the +other and hid it in his bosom. The Princess and the Demon and the +slave all looked for it, but they could not find it. + +At that the Princess flew into a passion and threw both the slippers +away from her. + +"I do not care," said she; "and now I will not wear any slippers at +all." + +"Never mind!" answered the Demon. "We will have a sherbet together, +and after that we will eat." + +He clapped his hands, and another slave appeared, bearing two crystal +goblets full of sherbet. The Princess took one goblet and the Demon +the other. Just as they were about to drink the lad smote the crystal +goblet from the Princess's hand so that it fell upon the marble floor +and was shattered, and all the sherbet was spilled. + +The lad picked up a splinter of the crystal and hid it in his bosom +with the golden twig, the diamond twig, and the two slippers. But the +Princess shook and trembled until she could hardly stand, and even the +Demon was troubled. + +"Why did you cast the goblet on the floor?" he asked. + +"I did not," answered the Princess, "but some one struck it from my +hand"; and she began to weep. + +The Demon comforted her and bade other slaves bring in the feast that +had been prepared for him and the Princess. + +Quickly the slaves brought it and placed it before them. The lad had +never seen such a feast. All the dishes were of gold and were carved +to represent scenes in demon life, and the handles were set thick with +precious stones and enamelled in strange colors. There were all sorts +of delicious things to eat, so that the lad's mouth watered at the +smell of them. + +The Demon and the Princess sat down to eat, but it was small good the +Princess got of the feast, for every time the Demon put anything on +her plate the lad snatched it away and ate it, and the Princess was +left hungry. The lad also took one of the golden forks and one of the +golden spoons and hid them in his bosom. + +"What did I tell you," cried the Princess. "Something is wrong! +Something is _terribly_ wrong." + +"Yes, I can see that myself," said the King Demon. "You had better go +on home again, for we will get no pleasure out of this night, and that +I can easily see." + +Lala was called, the Princess mounted the buckler in haste, and away +the Demon flew with her. But this time the lad did not fly with them. + +He waited until they were gone, and then he drew the Sword of +Sharpness and smote the King Demon's head from his shoulders. + +At once a clap of thunder sounded; the castle rocked, and the walls +crumbled about him. The trees in the gardens were withered, and a +thick darkness fell, while all about him sounded cries and groans. + +But the lad seated himself upon the carpet and wished himself back at +the door of the room in the tower, and there he was in a twinkling, +long before Lala had flown in through the window with the Princess, +even though he flew as swiftly as the wind. + +The lad took off the Turban of Darkness, and rolled up the carpet, and +lay down and closed his eyes as though he were asleep. + +Presently the Princess opened the door and peered out. There lay the +lad, snoring and with his eyes closed. The Princess drew a sharp +needle and ran it into the lad's heel, but he never flinched, so she +felt sure he was asleep. + +"Thou fool!" said she scornfully. "Sleep on, and to-morrow thou shalt +pay the penalty." + +Then she went back into the room and closed the door. + +The next day the Princess called the guards and bade them carry the +lad away and cut the head from his shoulders. + +"Wait a bit," said the lad. "Do not be in such a hurry. First we must +appear before thy father the King; he must decide in this case, and it +may be I have something to tell him that will be worth the hearing." + +The Princess could not refuse this, so she and the lad were brought +before the King, and the lad began to tell his story. When he came to +the part where the great black Demon had come and flown away with the +Princess she turned first as red as blood and then as pale as death. + +"It is not true!" she cried, but the King bade her be silent. + +Then the lad told how they had flown through the gardens. "It is all a +wicked lie," moaned the Princess, but the lad drew forth the twigs he +had broken from the trees and showed them to the King as proof of his +truth. + +After that the lad told of how they had entered the castle, and how +the King Demon had tried to kiss the Princess, and of the shattered +goblet and the uneaten feast, and he had the splinter of crystal and +the spoon and fork to show, so the King knew it was all true, and the +Princess looked as though she wished she were dead. + +Last of all he told how the Princess had returned on the Demon's +buckler, and how he had remained behind and cut off the King Demon's +head, and how the castle had fallen and the gardens had withered, and +all had become darkness and confusion. + +When the Princess heard this she gave a shriek of joy. "Then you have +saved me!" she cried. "Never again need I fly forth at night at the +will of the Demon nor be his slave!" + +Then it was her turn to tell her story. She told how one time the King +Demon had seen her walking in the palace gardens and had fallen in +love with her, and how he had used his magic to gain power over her. +She told how she hated him and feared him, but how against her will he +had forced her to come to visit him every night in his castle and had +sent the demon Lala to fetch her. But now that the King Demon was +dead, she was free, and it was the lad who had saved her. + +When the King, her father, heard this, he marveled greatly. Glad was +he that such a brave lad was to be his son-in-law, for that was his +promise. The lad and the Princess were betrothed then and there, and +the King gave orders that a grand wedding feast should be prepared, +for they were to be married as soon as possible. All the good folks +far and near were invited to come to the feast. + +The lad's elder brother was invited with the rest, but he never +dreamed that the brave lad who was to marry the Princess was his own +younger brother. + +He came to the palace on the feast day and took his place at the table +with the other guests, and then he looked up at the three thrones +where the King and the Princess and the lad were sitting, and there it +was his own younger brother who sat there. + +When the man saw that he was afraid, for he remembered how he had +deserted the lad on the seashore to live or die as fate willed, and he +feared he might be punished for it. + +But the younger brother bore him no grudge, but was grateful to him +for what he had done. As soon as he saw the elder one there among the +guests, he sent a servant for him and placed him in the seat of honor +and called him brother. + +So all was happiness and rejoicing. Everybody was happy, but the lad +and the Princess were happiest of all, because they loved each other +and had just been married. + + + + + THE THREE SILVER CITRONS + + A PERSIAN STORY + + +There was once a King who had three sons, and he loved them all +equally, one no more than the other. + +When he had grown old and felt his strength leaving him, he called the +three Princes before him. + +"My sons," said he, "I am no longer young, and soon the time will come +when I must leave you. I have it in mind to give the kingdom to one or +the other of you now and not to leave it for you to quarrel over after +I have gone. You have reached a time of life when you should marry. Go +forth into the world and seek, each one of you, a bride for himself. +He who brings home the most beautiful Princess shall have the +kingdom." + +The three Princes were well content with what their father said. At +once the two elder ones made ready to set out; but the youngest one +said he would wait a bit. "It is not right," said he, "that our father +should be left alone in his old age. I will wait until my brothers +return, and then I too will start out to try my fortune in the world." + +That was good hearing for the older Princes, for they had always been +a bit jealous of their younger brother and were just as well pleased +not to have him with them. + +Before they set out they packed a bag full of food to carry with them, +for they had no wish to starve by the wayside. They took baked meats +and boiled meats, and little cakes and big cakes, and fine white +bread, and wine to drink. + +Well, off they set, and on they went, a short way and a long way, +until they came to the edge of a forest, and there they sat down in +the shade to eat; and when they spread the food out before them it +made a fine feast I can tell you. + +Just as they were about to begin an old woman came hobbling out of the +forest. She was so old that her nose and her chin met and she was so +bent that she could barely get along even with the help of the crutch +she had. + +"Good masters, give me a bite and a sup, I beg of you," she said. "It +is a hundred years since I have tasted anything but black bread." + +"If you have lived on black bread that long you can live on it a +little longer," said one of the Princes, and then they both laughed. +However, they bade the old crone come back there after they had gone, +and it might be she would find some broken bits lying round, and those +she might have if she cared to gather them up. + +Then the Princes went on eating and drinking, and after they had +finished they journeyed on again. + +Presently they came to a cross roads, and there they separated; one +went east and one went west. The eldest Prince took the east road, and +soon it brought him to a castle, and in this castle lived a Princess +who was as pretty as a picture. It was not long before the Prince won +her to be his wife, for he was a stout and comely lad, and as soon as +they were married he set out for home, taking his bride with him. + +As it happened with the eldest Prince, so it did with the second +brother. He also found a castle and a Princess, and won her to be his +bride, and brought her home with him to his father's house; and when +the two Princesses met it was hard to choose between them, they were +both so pretty. It seemed as though the kingdom would have to be +divided between the elder brothers and their pretty brides. + +But first it was only right that the youngest Prince should have a +chance, so now that his brothers had returned he was ready to set out +into the wide world and see what sort of a beauty he could pick up. +His brothers laughed at him, for they had never had much of an opinion +of his wit, even though they were jealous of him. + +"Only see that she has two eyes and a stout pair of hands," said they. +"Our Princesses will find something for her to do about the palace, no +doubt, and as for you, you shall always have a warm place in the +chimney corner where you can sit." + +The youngest Prince answered never a word, but he put some food in a +scrip and off he set. + +He journeyed on and on, a short way and a long way, and then he too +came to the forest and sat down in the shade to eat, as his brothers +had done before him. + +Presently the old crone came hobbling out from the forest, and she was +more bent and hideous than ever. + +"Good youth, give me a bite and sup, I beg of you," she said. "It is a +hundred years since I have tasted anything but black bread." + +"Then it is high time you had something else to eat," said the Prince, +and he gave her the best of all he had, both food and wine. + +The old woman ate and drank, and by the time she finished there was +little enough left for the Prince. Then she drew out from her sleeve a +pretty little pipe and gave it to him. "Take this," she said, "and if +there is anything you wish for play a tune upon the pipe, and it may +help you to find it." + +After that she disappeared into the forest again. + +The Prince hung his scrip over his shoulder, and then he was ready to +set out, but first he thought he might as well see what the pipe was +good for. He set it to his lips and blew a tune. + +Immediately a score of little black Trolls with long noses appeared +before him. "Master, here we are!" they cried. "What would you have of +us?" + +"I did not know I was your master," thought the Prince, but what he +said was, "What I want is the prettiest Princess in twelve kingdoms +for a bride, and if you can get me such a one I'll thank you kindly." + +"We know where to find such a Princess, and we can show you the way," +said the oldest and blackest of the Trolls, "but we ourselves cannot +touch her. You will have to win her for yourself." + +Well, that suited the Prince, and if they would only show him the +Princess he would do his best to get her. So off they set, and +presently they came to a high mountain, and it belonged to the King of +the Trolls. The Prince blew upon the pipe again, and the mountain +opened before him. He went in, and there he was in a great chamber, +where the Troll kept the three daughters of three Kings whom he had +taken captive and brought there, and they were so beautiful that their +beauty lighted the whole place so there was no need of lamps. + +When the girls saw the Prince they were terrified and began to run +about this way and that, looking for a place to hide; but they could +find no place, for the chamber was quite smooth and bare. Then they +changed themselves into three silver citrons and rolled about this way +and that, all over the room. + +The Prince was terribly distressed that the girls had changed into +citrons, for they were so lovely that he would have been glad to have +any one of them for a wife. + +However, he took up the citrons and hid them in his bosom, and then, +as there seemed nothing better to do, he set out for home again, for +after having seen three such beauties as that he would never be +satisfied with any one else. + +After a while as he journeyed he came to the wood where he had seen +the old crone before, and there she was, waiting for him. + +"Well, and did you get what you set out to search for?" she asked. + +"I did and I didn't," answered the Prince;--and then he told her the +whole story and showed her the three citrons that he still carried in +his bosom. "They are three beauties, I can tell you," said he, "but of +what use are they as long as they remain as citrons?" + +"I may be able to help you again," said the old hag. She then gave him a +silver knife and a little golden cup. "Keep the citrons until you come +to a running stream. Then take one,--whichever one you please,--and cut +it open with this knife. At once one of the Princesses will appear. She +will ask you for a drink of water. Give it to her immediately in this +golden cup, and after that she will remain with you and you can have her +for your wife." + +The Prince was delighted. He took the knife and cup and thanked the +old woman gratefully, and then she again disappeared in the shadow of +the forest. + +The Prince journeyed on until he came to a running stream, and it was +not so very far from his father's palace. Then he got out the knife +and the cup and one of the citrons. He cut the citron, and at once one +of the Princesses appeared before him. If she had looked a beauty when +he saw her in the mountain she was ten times lovelier, now that he saw +her in the light of day. The Prince could only gape and gape at her. + +"Give me a cup of water to drink," demanded the Princess; but the +Prince was so busy staring at her that he did not move, and in a +moment the Princess vanished from before him, and where she went he +could not tell. He was filled with grief over the loss of her, but she +was gone, and that was all of it. + +Then the Prince took out the second citron. "This time I will be ready +for her," he thought. He took his knife and cut the second citron. At +once the second Princess appeared before him. + +"Give me a cup of water to drink," she demanded. But again the Prince +was so overcome by her beauty that he could no more move than if he +had been rooted to the ground, and the next moment she too disappeared +from before his eyes. + +The Prince was in despair. He ran this way and that way, calling aloud +and trying to find her, but she had vanished like the fading of a +breath. + +And now there was only one other citron left, and the Prince trembled +at the thought of opening it, for he was afraid he would lose this +third Princess as he had the others. At last he drew it from his bosom +and prepared to cut it, but first he filled the golden cup and set it +ready to his hand. Then he seized the knife and with one stroke +divided the citron in two. + +At once the third Princess stood before him, and though the others had +been beautiful she exceeded them in beauty as the full moon exceeds +the stars in splendor. + +"Give me a cup of water," said she; and this time the Prince was +ready. Almost before she could speak he had caught up the golden cup +and presented it to her. + +The Princess took the cup and drank, and then she smiled upon him so +brightly that he was dazzled. + +"Now I am yours, and you are mine," said she, "and where you go I will +follow, for I have no one in all the wide world but you." + +The Prince was almost wild with happiness. He kissed her hands and +looked with joy upon her face. + +But she was dressed only in a linen shift. + +The Prince took off his cloak and wrapped it about her. "Climb up into +a tree," said he, "and hide yourself among the branches, and I will go +to the castle and bring you from thence robes and jewels and all +things fitting for such a beautiful Princess to wear." + +To this the Princess agreed. The Prince helped her to climb up among +the branches of a tree that overhung the water, and then he hastened +away to the castle. + +The beauty sat there among the leaves waiting for his return, and the +time of waiting was long, for when the Prince reached the castle he +was obliged to stay and tell the whole story to his father before the +King would permit him to return with the robes and jewels he had +promised to bring to his bride. + +[Illustration: The Princess took the cup and drank.] + +Meanwhile an ugly kitchen wench who worked in the castle came to fetch +water from the spring, for every day the Princesses required it for +their baths. The girl had brought with her an earthen jar to hold the +water. + +As she leaned over the stream to fill the jar she looked down into the +water and saw the face of the Princess reflected there, as she peered +out from the leaves above. + +The servant wench, whose name was Lucy, thought it was the reflection +of her own face that she saw. She gazed upon it with wonder and joy. +"Ah! Ah!" she cried. "What a beauty I am; why did no one ever tell me +so? Not even the two Princesses are as beautiful as I." She knelt +there, staring and staring at the reflection. Then in a rage she +sprang to her feet. + +"And they send me to draw water for them! Me, who ought to sit on a +throne above them all. But I'll no longer be their slave. I'll break +their water jar to pieces, and if they send me with others I'll break +them too!" + +With that she threw down the jar with such violence that it was broken +into bits, and then she stamped about with rage. + +The sight amused the Princess so that she laughed aloud. The servant +wench looked up and saw the lovely face peering out at her from among +the green leaves; it was the same beautiful face she had seen +reflected in the water. + +"Who are you? What are you doing up there among the leaves?" she asked +in a thick voice. + +"I am the promised bride of the Prince who has just gone up to the +castle," answered the beauty. "He has gone to fetch fine robes and +jewels that I may dress myself properly before I appear before his +father." + +When she said this an evil thought came into the servant wench's head. + +"Come down," said she, "and I will dress your hair for you; I have +often done this for the other Princesses, and I can arrange it so that +you will look even more beautiful when the Prince returns." + +The Princess was nothing loath. She had no thought of evil. She +climbed down from the tree and sat herself upon a rock, while Lucy +looped and pinned her hair in place and wove a crown of flowers to +place upon it. "Come now, and see how beautiful you are," said the +servant. + +She led the Princess to the place where the stream was deepest, and +then, when the beauty stooped to look at herself in the water, Lucy +pushed her in. After that she stripped herself to her shift, and hid +her clothes under a rock, and climbed up into the tree. There she sat +among the leaves, peering out just as the Princess had done. + +Presently the Prince returned, bringing with him all sorts of +beautiful clothes and gifts for his Princess bride. What was his +amazement to see, instead of the beauty he left in the tree, the ugly +face of the servant wench smiling down at him from among the leaves. + +"What are you doing there?" he cried. "And what have you done with the +Princess?" + +"Alas," said the servant maid, pretending to weep, "I am the Princess. +After you left me a wicked enchantress came by this way and changed me +into this shape." + +The Prince was filled with grief and horror at these words. However, +he believed her and could not find it in his heart to punish her for a +misfortune she could not help. He showed her the robes and jewels he +had brought, and the servant wench made haste to come down and dress +herself in them. When she had done this she looked more hideous than +ever. The Prince could hardly bear to look at her, his grief and shame +were so great. Nevertheless he took her by the hand and led her back +to the castle. + +There the King was waiting full of impatience to see the bride of his +youngest son, this most beautiful Princess in all of twelve kingdoms. +But when the Prince brought the ugly servant wench before him he could +hardly believe his eyes. + +"This a beauty!" he cried. "Are you a fool or do you take me for one? +It is an insult to bring me such a creature for a daughter-in-law." + +The older Princes and their brides did not try to hide their scorn or +laughter, but the servant sank on her knees, weeping, and repeated to +the king the same story she had told the Prince. She assured him that +she had been as beautiful as the day when she had climbed up into the +tree and would be so still if the wicked enchantress had not passed by +and bewitched her. + +The King frowned and stroked his beard. "Yours is a sad case," said +he, "and since the Prince has given his word to marry you, marry you +he must. Perchance sometime your beauty may return." + +He then gave orders that Lucy should be shown to the apartments +prepared for the Princess and that she should be waited on and served +just as though she were the beauty his son had promised him. + +But the heart of the Prince was like a stone in his bosom, and he +could not bear to look upon the ugly one who was to be his bride. + +Now when the Princess had been pushed into the water she had not been +drowned, as Lucy thought. Instead she changed into a beautiful silver +fish that swam about in the stream or hid under a grassy bank. + +Now there was another servant who came down to the stream for water +instead of Lucy, and one day when this servant dipped the jar into the +water the fish swam into it, and she carried it back to the castle +with her. + +It was so pretty that she showed it to the Prince, hoping it might +cheer him for a moment. + +No sooner had the Prince looked upon the fish than he grew quite light +and happy. He would not let the servant take the fish away but kept it +with him in a crystal bowl and now he no longer grieved so bitterly +about his bride. + +Lucy did not know why the Prince had grown happier. She thought +perhaps he had begun to love her. But when she found that he scarcely +ever came to see her, but spent all his time watching the fish, she +became very angry. + +She bribed a servant to steal the fish from the Prince's room and +bring it to her. Then she had a fire built and threw the fish into it +to burn. + +No sooner did the flames touch the fish, however, than it changed into +a beautiful silver bird and flew out of the window. + +The false Princess was frightened. "There is some magic here," thought +she, "and magic that will prove my ruin." + +And now the silver bird sat on a branch outside the Princess's window +and sang and sang. The Prince heard it, and his heart was filled with +joy, he knew not why, and he forgot the fish that had disappeared from +the bowl. + +Lucy also heard it and was more frightened than ever. She sent for the +servant who had stolen the fish and bribed him to set a net to catch +the bird. This he did one day when the Prince was away, and then he +brought the bird to the false Princess. But she shuddered at sight of +it as though she were cold, and bade him take it outside and wring its +neck. + +This the servant was loath to do, but he dared not disobey her. He +carried the bird outside and did as she commanded, and three drops of +blood fell on the ground just below the Prince's window. + +The next morning when the Prince awoke he saw with amazement that a +beautiful citron tree was growing outside of his window. Its trunk was +silver, and its leaves were silver, and on the branch nearest his +window hung three silver citrons, and they were exactly like the +silver citrons he had brought from the Troll's home under the +mountain. + +The Prince saw them hanging there, and his heart was filled with joy +and hope as he looked at them. He reached out and plucked them and hid +them in his bosom. Then he took the silver knife and the golden cup +and hastened down to the stream where he had opened the citrons +before. + +He cut the first citron, and at once the first Princess appeared and +asked him for a drink of water, but he scarcely looked at her, and she +fled away. + +He cut the second citron, and the second Princess appeared and +demanded water, but he never stirred, and she too vanished. + +Then he filled the golden cup with water and with a trembling hand cut +the third citron. + +Immediately the third Princess appeared. "Give me of the water to +drink," said she. + +At once the Prince handed her the golden cup. She drank deeply, and +then she smiled upon him, and it was his own dear love who stood +before him more beautiful than ever. + +The Prince could hardly believe in his good fortune. But the Princess +told him all that had happened to her--how Lucy had pushed her into +the water, and how she had been changed first into a fish, and then +into a bird, and then into a citron as she had been before. The Prince +could not wonder and marvel enough. He took her by the hand and led +her up to the castle, and her golden hair fell all about her so that +she seemed to be clothed in a shimmering golden mantle. + +When she appeared before the King he was amazed at the beauty of her, +and when the Prince told him that this was his true bride and not the +other, his happiness knew no bounds. The whole palace resounded with +rejoicings. Only Lucy was so terrified that she ran and jumped out of +a window and broke her neck. + +But the kingdom was given to the youngest Prince, and he and the +Princess reigned there in peace and happiness as long as they lived. + + + + + THE MAGIC PIPE + + A NORSE TALE + + +There was once three brothers, all the sons of the same father and +mother. + +The two elder were hard-working, thrifty lads, who had no care except +as to how they might better themselves in the world. But the youngest, +whose name was Boots, was not thrifty at all. He was a do-nothing and +was quite content to sit in the chimney corner and warm his shins and +think about things. + +One day the eldest son came to his father and said, "I have it in mind +to go over yonder to the King's castle and take service there, for I +hear the King has need of a herdsman to take care of his hares for +him. The wages are six dollars a week, and if any one can keep the +herd together and bring them safe home every night without losing one +of them the King will give him the Princess for a wife." + +The father was pleased when he heard this. Six dollars a week was fair +pay, and it would be a fine thing if the lad could win the Princess +for his wife. At any rate it was worth trying for. + +So the eldest son cocked his hat over one ear, and off he set for the +palace. + +He had not gone so very far when he came to the edge of a forest, and +there was an old crone with a green nose a yard long, and it was +caught in a crack of a log. She was dancing and hopping about, but for +all her dancing and hopping she got no farther than that one spot, for +her nose held her there. + +The lad stopped and stared at her, and she looked so funny to his mind +that he laughed and laughed till his sides ached. + +"You gawk!" screamed the old hag. "Come and drive a wedge in the crack +so I can get my nose out. Here I have stood for twice a hundred years, +and no Christian soul has come to set me free." + +"If you have stood there twice a hundred years you might as well stay +a while longer. As for me, I'm expected at the King's palace, and I +have no time to waste driving wedges," said the lad, and away he went, +one foot before the other, leaving the old crone with her nose still +in the crack. + +When the lad came to the palace, he knocked at the door and told the +man who opened it that he had come to see about the place of herdsman. +When the man heard this he brought the lad straight to the King, and +told him what the lad had come for. + +The King listened and nodded his head. Yes, he was in need of a +herdsman and would be glad to take the lad into his service, and the +wages were just as the youth thought, with a chance of winning the +Princess to boot. But there was one part of the bargain that had been +left out. If the lad failed to keep the herd together and lost so much +as even one small leveret, he was to receive such a beating as would +turn him black and blue. + +That part of the bargain was not such pleasant hearing as the rest of +it. Still the lad had a mind to try for the Princess. So he was taken +out to the paddock where the hares were, and a pretty sight it was to +see them hopping and frisking about, hundreds and hundreds of them, +big and little. + +All morning the hares were kept there in the paddock with the new +herdsman watching them, and as long as that was the case everything +went well. But later on the hares had to be driven out on the hills +for a run and a bite of fresh grass, and then the trouble began. The +lad could no more keep them together than if they had been sparks from +a fire. Away they sped, some one way and some another, into the woods +and over the hills,--there was no keeping track of them. The lad +shouted and ran and ran and shouted till the sweat poured down his +face, but he could not herd them back. By the time evening came he had +scarce a score of them to drive home to the palace. + +And there on the steps stood the King with a stout rod in his hands, +all ready to give the lad a beating. And a good beating it was, I can +tell you. When the King had finished with him he could hardly stand. +Home he went with only his sore bones for wages. + +Then it was the second brother's turn. He also had a mind to try his +hand at keeping the King's hares, with the chance of winning the +Princess for a wife. Off he set along the same road his brother had +taken, and after a while he came to the place where the old crone was +dancing about with her long, green nose still caught in the crack of a +log. He was just as fond of a good laugh as his brother was, and he +stood for a while to watch her, for he thought it a merry sight. He +laughed and laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks, and the old +hag was screaming with rage. + +"You gawk! Come and drive a wedge into the crack so that I can get my +nose out," she bawled. "Here I have been for twice a hundred years and +no Christian soul has come to set me free." + +"If you have been there that long it will not hurt to stay a bit +longer," said the youth. "I'm no woodsman, and besides that I'm on my +way to the King's palace to win a Princess for a wife." And away he +went, leaving the old woman screaming after him. + +After a while the second brother came to the palace, and when the +servants heard why he had come they were not slow in bringing him +before the King. Yes, the King was as much in need of a herdsman for +his hares as ever, but was the lad willing to run the risk of having +only a beating for his pains? + +Yes, the lad was willing to run that risk, for he was almost sure he +could keep the herd together, and it was not every day one had a +chance of winning a Princess for a wife. + +So they took him out to the paddock where the hares were. All morning +he herded them there as his brother had done before him, and that was +an easy task. But it was in the afternoon that the trouble began. For +no sooner did the fresh wind of the hillside ruffle up their fur than +away they fled, this way and that, kicking up their heels behind them. +It was in vain the lad chased after them and shouted and sweated; he +could not keep them together. In the end he had scarcely threescore of +them to drive back to the palace in the evening. + +And the King was waiting for him with a cudgel in his hands, and if +the lad did not get a good drubbing that day, then nobody ever did. +When the King finished with him he was black and blue from his head to +his heels, and that is all he got for trying to win a Princess for a +wife. + +Now after the second son had come home again with his doleful tale, +Boots sat and thought and thought about what had happened. After a +while, however, he rose up and shook the ashes from his clothes and +said that now it was his turn to have a try at winning the Princess +for his wife. + +When the elder brothers heard that they scoffed and hooted. Boots was +no better than a numskull anyway, and how could he hope to succeed +where they had failed. + +Well, all that might be true or it might not, but at any rate he was +for having a try at this business, so off he set, just as the other +two had before him. + +After a while he came to the log where his brothers had seen the hag +with her nose caught in the crack, and there she was still, for no one +had come by in the meantime to set her free. He stood and stared and +stared, for it was a curious sight. + +"Oh, you gawk! Why do you stand there staring?" cried the old hag. +"Here I have been for twice a hundred years, and no Christian soul +will take the trouble to set me free. Drive a wedge into the crack so +that I may get my nose out." + +"That I will and gladly, good mother," said the youth. "Two hundred +years is a long time for one to have one's nose pinched in a crack." + +Quickly he found a wedge and drove it into the crack with a stone, and +then the old hag pulled her nose out. + +"Now you have done me a good turn, and I have it in mind to do the +same for you," she said. With that she took a pretty little pipe out +of the pocket of her skirt. "Do you take this," she said, "and it will +come in handy if you're on your way to the King's palace. If you blow +on the right end of the whistle the things around you will be blown +every which way as if a strong wind had struck them, and if you blow +on the wrong end of it they will be gathered together again. And those +are not the only tricks the pipe has, for if any one takes it from +you, you have only to wish for it, and you can wish it back into your +fingers again." + +Boots took the pipe and thanked the old hag kindly, and then he bade +her good-by and went on his way to the King's palace. + +When the King heard what Boots had come for, he was no less ready to +take him for a herdsman than he had been to take his brothers. "But, +mind you, you shall have a drubbing that will make your bones ache if +you come back in the evening with even the smallest leveret missing +from the herd," said the King. + +Yes, that was all right. The lad was ready to take the risk, so all +morning Boots herded the hares in the paddock, and in the afternoon he +took them out to the hills, as the bargain was. There the hares could +no longer be kept in a herd. They kicked up their heels and away they +went, every which way. + +So that was the game, was it? Boots was very willing to play it, too. +He took out his pipe and blew a tune on the right end of it, and away +the hares flew faster than they had intended, as though a strong wind +had blown them. Presently there was not one left on the hill. Then the +lad lay down in the sun and fell asleep. + +When he awoke it was toward evening and time to be bringing the hares +back to the castle, but not one of them was in sight. + +Then Boots sat up, and shook the hair out of his eyes and blew on the +wrong end of the pipe. Immediately there was the whole herd before +him, drawn up in ranks just like soldiers. Not even one of the +smallest leverets was missing. + +"That is well," said Boots. "And now we'll be going home again." + +Off he set for the palace, driving the hares before him, and as soon +as he came near enough he could see the King standing on the steps +waiting for him with a stout cudgel in his hand,--for he had no +thought but that Boots would fail in his task. + +When he saw the whole herd come hopping home, as tame as sheep, and +turning into the paddock, he could hardly believe his eyes. He hurried +after and began to count them. He counted them over and over again, +and not one was missing. + +Well, Boots had brought them all back safely that time, but the +question was whether he could do it again. + +Boots thought he could. Indeed, he was sure he could. So the next +afternoon he set out for the hills, whistling merrily as he tramped +along with the hares hopping before him. + +That day things happened just as they had before. As soon as the hares +began to stray Boots took his pipe and blew them away as though they +were so much chaff. He lay down and slept until it was time to take +them home again, and then he blew them together with the wrong end of +the pipe. + +When the King found the lad had brought the whole herd home again for +the second time he was greatly troubled, for he had no mind to give +the Princess to Boots for a bride. So the third day he bade the +Princess go out to the hills and hide herself among the bushes and +watch and see how it was that Boots managed to keep the hares +together. + +This the Princess did. She hid back of the bushes; she saw Boots come +tramping up the hill with the hares frisking before him; she saw him +blow them away with his pipe as though they had been so many dry +leaves in the wind, and then, after he had had a nap, she saw him blow +them together again. + +Then the Princess must and would have that pipe. She came out from the +bushes and offered to buy it. She offered ten dollars for it. + +"No." + +"Fifty!" + +"No!" + +"A hundred!" + +"No." Boots had no wish to sell, but as it was the Princess, and as +she seemed so set and determined on having it, he would tell her what +he would do; he would sell the pipe for a hundred dollars if she would +give him a kiss for every dollar she paid. + +The Princess did not know what to say to that. It was not becoming +that a Princess should kiss a herdsman; still she wanted the pipe and +as that was the only way to get it she at last agreed. She paid the +lad a hundred bright silver dollars, and she also gave him a hundred +kisses out there on the hillside, with no one to look on but the +hares. + +Then she took the pipe and hastened home with it. + +But small good the pipe did her. Just as she reached the palace steps +the pipe slipped out of her fingers as though it had been buttered, +and look as she might she could not find it again. + +That was because the lad had wished it back to himself. At that very +moment he was on his way home with the pipe in his pocket and the +hares hopping before him in lines like soldiers. + +When the King heard the story he thought and pondered. The Princess +had told him nothing of the kisses. He thought she had bought the pipe +for a hundred dollars, so the next day he sent the Queen out to the +hillside with two hundred dollars in her pocket. + +"The Princess is young and foolish," said he. "She must have lost the +pipe on the hillside, and no doubt the lad has it back by this time. +Do you go out and see if you can buy it from him and if you once have +your fingers on it you'll not lose it, I'll wager." + +So the Queen went out to the hillside and hid herself in the bushes, +and she saw Boots blow the hares away and lie down to sleep and +afterward blow them together again in a twinkling. + +Then she came out from the bushes and offered to buy the pipe. At +first the lad said no, and again no, and then no for the third time, +but in the end he sold the pipe to the Queen for two hundred dollars +and fifty kisses to go with them, and the Queen hoped the King would +never hear of it. She took the pipe and hastened home with it, but she +fared no better than the Princess, for just before she reached the +palace the pipe disappeared from her fingers, and what had become of +it she did not know. + +When the King heard that he was a wroth and angry man. Now he himself +would go out to the hill and buy the pipe, for there was no trusting +the womenfolk. If he once had the pipe in his hands there would be no +losing it again, and of that he felt very sure. So he mounted his old +mare Whitey and rode over to the hillside. There he hid himself among +the bushes, and he hid old Whitey there with him, and he watched until +he had seen all that the others had told him about. Then he came out +and tried to strike a bargain with the lad. But this time it seemed as +though Boots would not sell the pipe,--neither for love nor money. The +King offered him three hundred dollars, and four hundred dollars, and +five hundred dollars for it, and still Boots said no. + +"Listen!" said Boots suddenly. "If you'll go over there in the bushes +and kiss old Whitey on the mouth five-and-twenty times, I'll sell you +the pipe for five hundred dollars, but not otherwise." + +That was a thing the King was loath to do, for it ill befitted a king +to kiss an old horse, but have the pipe he must and would; and besides +there was nobody there to see him do it but Boots, and he did not +count. "May I spread a handkerchief between old Whitey's mouth and +mine before I do it?" asked the King. + +Yes, he might do that. + +So the King went back into the bushes and spread his handkerchief over +old Whitey's mouth and kissed her through it five-and-twenty times. +Then he came back and the lad gave him the pipe, and the King mounted +and rode away with it, and he was well pleased with himself for his +cleverness, and he held the pipe tight in one hand and the bridle in +the other. "No danger of my losing it as the Queen and the Princess +did," thought he. But scarcely had the King reached the palace steps +when the pipe slipped through his fingers like water, and what became +of it he did not know. + +But when Boots drove the hares home that evening he had the pipe +safely hidden away up his sleeve, though nobody knew it. + +And now how about the Princess? Would the King keep his promise and +give her to the herdsman for a wife? + +But that was a thing the King and Queen could not bear to think of. + +They put their heads together and talked and talked, and the more they +talked the more unwilling they were to have a herdsman in the family. +So in the end this is what they said. The Princess was a very clever +girl, and she must have a clever lad for a husband. If Boots could +tell bigger stories than the Princess then he should have her for a +wife, but if she could tell bigger stories than he, then he should +have three red strips cut from his back and be beaten all the way +home. + +To this Boots agreed. + +Then the Princess began. "I looked out of my window," said she, "and +there was a tree that grew straight up to the sky, and the fruit of it +was diamonds and pearls and rubies. I reached out and picked them and +made myself such a necklace as never was, and I might have it yet only +I leaned over the well to look at myself in the waters, and the +necklace fell off, and there it lies still at the bottom of the well +for any one who cares to dive for it." + +"That is a pretty story!" said Boots; "but I can tell a better. When I +was herding hares the Princess came up on the hill and gave me a +hundred bright silver dollars and a hundred kisses as well, one for +every dollar." + +Then the King scowled till his brows met, and the Princess grew as red +as fire. "Oh, what a story!" cried she. + +Then it was her turn again. + +"I went to see my god-mother, and she took me for a ride in a golden +coach drawn by six fleas, and the fleas were as big as horses, and +they went so fast we were back again a day before we started." + +"That's a good story," said Boots, "but here's a better. The Queen +came out on the hillside and made me a present of two hundred dollars, +and she kissed me over and over again; fifty kisses she gave me." + +"Is that true?" said the King to the Queen; and his face was as black +as thunder. + +"It's a great wicked story," cried the Queen, "and you must know it +is." + +Then the Princess tried again. "I had six suitors, and I cared for one +no more than another, but the seventh one was a demon, and he would +have had me whether or no. He would have flown away with me before +this, but I caught his tail in the crack of the door, and he howled +most horribly. There he is still, if you care to look, unless he has +vanished in a puff of smoke." + +"Now it is my turn," said Boots, "and you may believe this or not, but +it's mostly true. The King came up on the hillside and kissed the old +white mare twenty-five times. I was there and I saw. He kissed her +twenty-five times, and he gave me five hundred dollars not to tell." + +When Boots told this right out before every one, the King was so +ashamed he did not know which way to look. "There's not a word of it +true. It's the biggest story I ever heard," said he. + +"Very well, then I have won the Princess," said Boots. "And when shall +we be married?" + +And married they were that day week, for the King and Queen could no +longer refuse to give Boots the Princess for a wife. + +The Princess was willing, too, for Boots was a handsome, fine-looking +lad. They had a great feast at the wedding, with plenty of cake and +ale flowing like water. I was there, and I ate and drank with the best +of them. + +Pfst! There goes a mouse. Catch it and you may make a fine big cloak +of its skin,--and that's a story, too. + + + + + THE TRIUMPH OF TRUTH + + A HINDU STORY + + +There was once a Rajah who was both young and handsome, and yet he had +never married. One time this Rajah, whose name was Chundun, found +himself obliged to make a long journey. He took with him attendants +and horsemen, and also his Wuzeer. This Wuzeer was a very wise +man,--so wise that nothing was hid from him. + +In a certain far-off part of the kingdom the Rajah saw a fine garden, +and so beautiful was it that he stopped to admire it. He was surprised +to see growing in the midst of it a small bingal tree that bore a +number of fine bingals, but not a single leaf. + +"This is a very curious thing, and I do not understand it," said +Chundun Rajah to his Wuzeer. "Why does this tree bear such fine and +perfect fruit, and yet it has not a single leaf?" + +"I could tell you the meaning," said the Wuzeer, "but I fear that if I +did you would not believe me and would have me punished for telling a +lie." + +"That could never be," answered the Rajah; "I know you to be a very +truthful man and wise above all others. Whatever you tell me I shall +believe." + +"Then this is the meaning of it," said the Wuzeer. "The gardener who +has charge of this garden has one daughter; her name is Guzra Bai, and +she is very beautiful. If you will count the bingals you will find +there are twenty-and-one. Whosoever marries the gardener's daughter +will have twenty and one children,--twenty boys and one girl." + +Chundun Rajah was very much surprised at what his Wuzeer said. "I +should like to see this Guzra Bai," said he. + +"You can very easily see her," answered the Wuzeer. "Early every +morning she comes into the garden to play among the flowers. If you +come here early and hide you can see her without frightening her, as +you would do if you went to her home." + +The Rajah was pleased with this suggestion, and early the next morning +he came to the garden and hid himself behind a flowering bush. It was +not long before he saw the girl playing about among the flowers, and +she was so very beautiful the Rajah at once fell in love with her. He +determined to make her his Ranee, but he did not speak to her or show +himself to her then for fear of frightening her. He determined to go +to the gardener's house that evening and tell him he wished his +daughter for a wife. + +As he had determined, so he did. That very evening, accompanied only +by his Wuzeer, he went to the gardener's house and knocked upon the +door. + +"Who is there?" asked the gardener from within. + +"It is I, the Rajah," answered Chundun. "Open the door, for I wish to +speak with you." + +The gardener laughed. "That is a likely story," said he. "Why should +the Rajah come to my poor hut? No, no; you are some one who wishes to +play a trick on me, but you shall not succeed. I will not let you in." + +"But it is indeed Chundun Rajah," called the Wuzeer. "Open the door +that he may speak with you." + +When the gardener heard the Wuzeer's voice he came and opened the door +a crack, but still he only half believed what was told him. What was +his amazement to see that it was indeed the Rajah who stood there in +all his magnificence with his Wuzeer beside him. The poor man was +terrified, fearing Chundun would be angry, but the Rajah spoke to him +graciously. + +"Do not be afraid," said he. "Call thy daughter that I may speak with +her, for it is she whom I wish to see." + +The girl was hiding (for she was afraid) and would not come until her +father took her hand and drew her forward. + +When the Rajah saw her now, this second time, she seemed to him even +more beautiful than at first. He was filled with joy and wonder. + +"Now I will tell you why I have come here," he said. "I wish to take +Guzra Bai for my wife." + +At first the gardener would not believe him, but when he found the +Rajah did indeed mean what he said he turned to his daughter. "If the +girl is willing you shall have her," said he, "but I will not force +her to marry even a Rajah." + +The girl was still afraid, yet she could not but love the Rajah, so +handsome was he, and so kind and gracious was his manner. She gave her +consent, and the gardener was overjoyed at the honor that had come to +him and his daughter. + +Chundun and the beautiful Guzra Bai were married soon after in the +gardener's house, and then the Rajah and his new Ranee rode away +together. + +Now Chundun Rajah's mother, the old Ranee, was of a very proud and +jealous nature. When she found her son had married a common girl, the +daughter of a gardener, and that Chundun thought of nothing but his +bride and her beauty, she was very angry. She determined to rid +herself of Guzra Bai in some way or other. But Chundun watched over +his young Ranee so carefully that for a long time the old Queen could +find no chance to harm her. + +But after a while the Rajah found it was again necessary for him to go +on a long journey. Just before he set out he gave Guzra Bai a little +golden bell. "If any danger should threaten or harm befall you, ring +this bell," said he. "Wherever I am I shall hear it and be with you at +once, even though I return from the farthest part of my kingdom." + +No sooner had he gone than Guzra Bai began to wonder whether indeed it +were possible that he could hear the bell at any distance and return +to her. She wondered and wondered until at last her curiosity grew so +great that she could not forbear from ringing it. + +No sooner had it sounded than the Rajah stood before her. "What has +happened?" he asked. "Why did you call me?" + +"Nothing has happened," answered Guzra Bai, "but it did not seem to me +possible that you could really hear the bell so far away, and I could +not forbear from trying it." + +"Very well," said the Rajah. "Now you know that it is true, so do not +call me again unless you have need of me." + +Again he went away, and Guzra Bai sat and thought and thought about +the golden bell. At last she rang it again. At once the Rajah stood +before her. + +"Oh, my dear husband, please to forgive me," cried Guzra Bai. "It +seemed so wonderful I thought I must have dreamed that the bell could +bring you back." + +"Guzra Bai, do not be so foolish," said her husband. "I will forgive +you this time, but do not call me again unless you have need of me." +And he went away. + +Again and for the third time Guzra Bai rang the bell, and the Rajah +appeared. + +"Why do you call me again?" he asked. "Is it again for nothing, or has +something happened to you?" + +"Nothing has happened," answered Guzra Bai, "only somehow I felt so +frightened that I wanted you near me." + +"Guzra Bai, I am away on affairs of state," said the Rajah. "If you +call me in this way when you have no need of me, I shall soon refuse +to answer the bell. Remember this and do not call me again without +reason." + +And for the third time the Rajah went away and left her. + +Soon after this the young Ranee had twenty and one beautiful children, +twenty sons and one daughter. + +When the old Queen heard of this she was more jealous than ever. "When +the Rajah returns and sees all these children," she thought to +herself, "he will be so delighted that he will love Guzra Bai more +dearly than ever, and nothing I can do will ever separate them." She +then began to plan within herself as to how she could get rid of the +children before the Rajah's return. + +She sent for the nurse who had charge of the babies, and who was as +wicked as herself. "If you can rid me of these children, I will give +you a lac of gold pieces," she said. "Only it must be done in such a +way that the Rajah will lay all the blame on Guzra Bai." + +"That can be done," answered the nurse. "I will throw the children out +on the ash heaps, where they will soon perish, and I will put stones +in their places. Then when the Rajah returns we will tell him Guzra +Bai is a wicked sorceress, who has changed her children into stones." + +The old Ranee was pleased with this plan and said that she herself +would go with the nurse and see that it was carried out. + +Guzra Bai looked from her window and saw the old Queen coming with the +nurse, and at once she was afraid. She was sure they intended some +harm to her or the children. She seized the golden bell and rang and +rang it, but Chundun did not come. She had called him back so often +for no reason at all that this time he did not believe she really +needed him. + +The nurse and the old Ranee carried away the children, as they had +planned, and threw them on the ash heaps and brought twenty-one large +stones that they put in their places. + +When Chundun Rajah returned from his journey the old Ranee met him, +weeping and tearing her hair. "Alas! alas!" she cried. "Why did you +marry a sorceress and bring such terrible misfortune upon us all!" + +"What misfortune?" asked the Rajah. "What do you mean?" + +His mother then told him that while he was away Guzra Bai had had +twenty-one beautiful children, but she had turned them all into +stones. + +Chundun Rajah was thunderstruck. He called the wicked nurse and +questioned her. She repeated what the old Ranee had already told him +and also showed him the stones. + +Then the Rajah believed them. He still loved Guzra Bai too much to put +her to death, but he had her imprisoned in a high tower, and would not +see her nor speak with her. + +But meanwhile the little children who had been thrown out on the ash +heap were being well taken care of. A large rat, of the kind called +Bandicote, had heard them crying and had taken pity on them. She drew +them down into her hole, which was close by and where they would be +safe. She then called twenty of her friends together. She told them +who the children were and where she had found them, and the twenty +agreed to help her take care of the little ones. Each rat was to have +the care of one of the little boys and to bring him suitable food, and +the old Bandicote who had found them would care for the little girl. + +This was done, and so well were the children fed that they grew +rapidly. Before long they were large enough to leave the rat hole and +go out to play among the ash heaps, but at night they always returned +to the hole. The old Bandicote warned them that if they saw anyone +coming they must at once hide in the hole, and under no circumstances +must any one see them. + +The little boys were always careful to do this, but the little girl +was very curious. Now it so happened that one day the wicked nurse +came past the ash heaps. The little boys saw her coming and ran back +into the hole to hide. But the little girl lingered until the nurse +was quite close to her before she ran away. + +The nurse went to the old Ranee, and said, "Do you know, I believe +those children are still alive? I believe they are living in a rat +hole near the ash heap, for I saw a pretty little girl playing there +among the ashes, and when I came close to her she ran down into the +largest rat hole and hid." + +The Ranee was very much troubled when she heard this, for if it were +true, as she thought it might be, she feared the Rajah would hear +about it and inquire into the matter. "What shall I do?" she asked the +nurse. + +"Send out and have the ground dug over and filled in," the nurse +replied. "In this way, if any of the children are hidden there, they +will be covered over and smothered, and you will also kill the rats +that have been harboring them." + +The Ranee at once sent for workmen and bade them go out to the rat +holes and dig and fill them in, and the children and the rats would +certainly have been smothered just as the nurse had planned, only +luckily the old mother rat was hiding near by and overheard what was +said. She at once hastened home and told her friends what was going to +happen, and they all made their escape before the workmen arrived. She +also took the children out of the hole and hid them under the steps +that led down into an old unused well. There were twenty-one steps, +and she hid one child under each step. She told them not to utter a +sound whatever happened, and then she and her friends ran away and +left them. + +Presently the workmen came with their tools and began to fill in the +rat holes. The little daughter of the head workman had come with him, +and while he and his fellows were at work the little girl amused +herself by running up and down the steps into the well. Every time she +trod upon a step it pinched the child who lay under it. The little +boys made no sound when they were pinched, but lay as still as stones, +but every time the child trod on the step under which the Princess lay +she sighed, and the third time she felt the pinch she cried out, "Have +pity on me and tread more lightly. I too am a little girl like you!" + +The workman's daughter was very much frightened when she heard the +voice. She ran to her father and told him the steps had spoken to her. + +The workman thought this a strange thing. He at once went to the old +Ranee and told her he dared no longer work near the well, for he +believed a witch or a demon lived there under the steps; and he +repeated what his little daughter had told him. + +The wicked nurse was with the Ranee when the workman came to her. As +soon as he had gone, the nurse said: "I am sure some of those children +must still be alive. They must have escaped from the rat holes and be +hiding under the steps. If we send out there we will probably find +them." + +The Ranee was frightened at the thought they might still be alive. She +ordered some servants to come with her, and she and the nurse went out +to look for the children. + +But when the little girl had cried out the little boys were afraid +some harm might follow, and prayed that they might be changed into +trees, so that if any one came to search for them they might not find +them. + +Their prayers were answered. The twenty little boys were changed into +twenty little banyan trees that stood in a circle, and the little girl +was changed into a rose-bush that stood in the midst of the circle and +was full of red and white roses. + +The old Ranee and the nurse and the servants came to the well and +searched under every step, but no one was there, so went away again. + +All might now have been well, but the workman's mischievous little +daughter chanced to come by that way again. At once she espied the +banyan trees and the rose-bush. "It is a curious thing that I never +saw these trees before," she thought. "I will gather a bunch of +roses." + +She ran past the banyan trees without giving them a thought and began +to break the flowers from the rose-tree. At once a shiver ran through +the tree, and it cried to her in a pitiful voice: "Oh! oh! you are +hurting me. Do not break my branches, I pray of you. I am a little +girl, too, and can suffer just as you might." + +The child ran back to her father and caught him by the hand. "Oh, I am +frightened!" she cried. "I went to gather some roses from the +rose-tree, and it spoke to me;" and she told him what the rose-tree +had said. + +At once the workman went off and repeated to the Ranee what his little +daughter had told him, and the Queen gave him a piece of gold and sent +him away, bidding him keep what he had heard a secret. + +Then she called the wicked nurse to her and repeated the workman's +story. "What had we better do now?" she asked. + +"My advice is that you give orders to have all the trees cut down and +burned," said the nurse. "In this way you will rid yourself of the +children altogether." + +This advice seemed good to the Ranee. She sent men and had the trees +cut down and thrown in a heap to burn. + +But heaven had pity on the children, and just as the men were about to +set fire to the heap a heavy rain storm arose and put out the fire. +Then the river rose over its banks, and swept the little trees down on +its flood, far, far away to a jungle where no one lived. Here they +were washed ashore and at once took on their real shapes again. + +The children lived there in the jungle safely for twelve years, and +the brothers grew up tall and straight and handsome, and the sister +was like the new moon in her beauty, so slim and white and shining was +she. + +The brothers wove a hut of branches to shelter their sister, and every +day ten of them went out hunting in the forest, and ten of them stayed +at home to care for her. But one day it chanced they all wished to go +hunting together, so they put their sister up in a high tree where she +would be safe from the beasts of the forest, and then they went away +and left her there alone. + +The twenty brothers went on and on through the jungle, farther than +they had ever gone before, and so came at last to an open space among +the trees, and there was a hut. + +"Who can be living here?" said one of the brothers. + +"Let us knock and see," cried another. + +The Princes knocked at the door and immediately it was opened to them +by a great, wicked-looking Rakshas. She had only one red eye in the +middle of her forehead; her gray hair hung in a tangled mat over her +shoulders, and she was dressed in dirty rags. + +When the Rakshas saw the brothers she was filled with fury. + +She considered all the jungle belonged to her, and she was not willing +that any one else should come there. Her one eye flashed fire, and she +seized a stick and began beating the Princes, and each one, as she +struck him, was turned into a crow. She then drove them away and went +back into her hut and closed the door. + +The twenty crows flew back through the forest, cawing mournfully. When +they came to the tree where their sister sat they gathered about her, +trying to make her understand that they were her brothers. + +At first the Princess was frightened by the crows, but when she saw +there were tears in their eyes, and when she counted them and found +there were exactly twenty, she guessed what had happened, and that +some wicked enchantment had changed her brothers into this shape. Then +she wept over them and smoothed their feathers tenderly. + +After this the sister lived up in the tree, and the crows brought her +food every day and rested around her in the branches at night, so that +no harm should come to her. + +Some time after this a young Rajah came into that very jungle to hunt. +In some way he became separated from his attendants and wandered +deeper and deeper into the forest, until at length he came to the tree +where the Princess sat. He threw himself down beneath the tree to +rest. Hearing a sound of wings above him the Rajah looked up and was +amazed to see a beautiful girl sitting there among the branches with a +flock of crows about her. + +The Rajah climbed the tree and brought the girl down, while the crows +circled about his head, cawing hoarsely. + +"Tell me, beautiful one, who are you? And how come you here in the +depths of the jungle?" asked the Rajah. + +Weeping, the Princess told him all her story except that the crows +were her brothers; she let him believe that her brothers had gone off +hunting and had never returned. + +"Do not weep any more," said the Rajah. "You shall come home with me +and be my Ranee, and I will have no other but you alone." + +When the Princess heard this she smiled, for the Rajah was very +handsome, and already she loved him. + +She was very glad to go with him and be his wife. "But my crows must +go with me," she said, "for they have fed me for many long days and +have been my only companions." + +To this the Rajah willingly consented, and he took her home with him +to the palace; and the crows circled about above them, following +closely all the way. + +[Illustration: The Rajah brought the girl down, while the crows circled +about his head.] + +When the old Rajah and Ranee (the young Rajah's father and mother) saw +what a very beautiful girl he had brought back with him from the +jungle they gladly welcomed her as a daughter-in-law. + +The young Ranee would have been very happy now in her new life, for +she loved her husband dearly, but always the thought of her brothers +was like a weight upon her heart. She had a number of trees planted +outside her windows so that her brothers might rest there close to +her. She cooked rice for them herself and fed them with her own hands, +and often she sat under the trees and stroked them and talked to them +while her tears fell upon their glossy feathers. + +After a while the young Ranee had a son, and he was called Ramchundra. +He grew up straight and tall, and he was the joy of his mother's eyes. + +One day, when he was fourteen years old, and big and strong for his +age, he sat in the garden with his mother. The crows flew down about +them, and she began to caress and talk to them as usual. "Ah, my dear +ones!" she cried, "how sad is your fate! If I could but release you, +how happy I should be." + +"Mother," said the boy, "I can plainly see that these crows are not +ordinary birds. Tell me whence come they, and why you weep over them +and talk to them as you do?" + +At first his mother would not tell him, but in the end she related to +him the whole story of who she was, and how she and her brothers had +come to the jungle and had lived there happily enough until they were +changed into crows; and then of how the Rajah had found her and +brought her home with him to the palace. + +"I can easily see," said Ramchundra, when she had ended the tale, +"that my uncles must have met a Rakshas somewhere in the forest and +have been enchanted. Tell me exactly where the tree was--the tree +where you lived--and what kind it was?" + +The Ranee told him. + +"And in which direction did your brothers go when they left you?" + +This also his mother told him. "Why do you ask me these questions, my +son?" she asked. + +"I wish to know," said Ramchundra, "for sometime I intend to set out +and find that Rakshas and force her to free my uncles from her +enchantment and change them back to their natural shapes again." + +His mother was terrified when she heard this, but she said very little +to him, hoping he would soon forget about it and not enter into such a +dangerous adventure. + +Not long afterward Ramchundra went to his father and said, "Father, I +am no longer a child; give me your permission to ride out into the +world and see it for myself." + +The Rajah was willing for him to do this and asked what attendants his +son would take with him. + +"I wish for no attendants," answered Ramchundra. "Give me only a +horse, and a groom to take care of it." + +The Rajah gave his son the handsomest horse in his stables and also a +well-mounted groom to ride with him. Ramchundra, however, only allowed +the groom to go with him as far as the edge of the jungle, and then he +sent him back home again with both the horses. + +The Prince went on and on through the forest for a long distance until +at last he came to a tree that he felt sure was the one his mother had +told him of. From there he set forth in the same direction she told +him his uncles had taken. He went on and on, ever deeper and deeper +into the forest, until at last he came to a miserable looking hut. The +door was open, and he looked in. There lay an ugly old hag fast +asleep. She had only one eye in the middle of her forehead, and her +gray hair was tangled and matted and fell over her face. The Prince +entered in very softly, and sitting down beside her, he began to rub +her head. He suspected that this was the Rakshas who had bewitched his +uncles, and it was indeed she. + +Presently the old woman awoke. "My pretty lad," said she, "you have a +kind heart. Stay with me here and help me, for I am very old and +feeble, as you see, and I cannot very well look out for myself." + +This she said not because she really was old or feeble, but because +she was lazy and wanted a servant to wait on her. + +"Gladly will I stay," answered the lad, "and what I can do to serve +you, that I will do." + +So the Prince stayed there as the Rakshas' servant. He served her hand +and foot, and every day she made him sit down and rub her head. + +One day, while he was rubbing her head and she was in a good humor he +said to her, "Mother, why do you keep all those little jars of water +standing along the wall? Let me throw out the water so that we may +make some use of the jars." + +"Do not touch them," cried the Rakshas. "That water is very powerful. +One drop of it can break the strongest enchantment, and if any one has +been bewitched, that water has power to bring him back to his own +shape again." + +"And why do you keep that crooked stick behind the door? To-morrow I +shall break it up to build a fire." + +"Do not touch it," cried the hag. "I have but to wave that stick, and +I can conjure up a mountain, a forest, or a river just as I wish, and +all in the twinkling of an eye." + +The Prince said nothing to that, but went on rubbing her head. +Presently he began to talk again. "Your hair is in a dreadful tangle, +mother," he said. "Let me get a comb and comb it out." + +"Do not dare!" screamed the Rakshas. "One hair of my head has the +power to set the whole jungle in flames." + +Ramchundra again was silent and went on rubbing her head, and after a +while the old Rakshas fell asleep and snored till the hut shook with +her snoring. + +Then, very quietly, the Prince arose. He plucked a hair from the old +hag's head without awakening her, he took a flask of the magic water +and the staff from behind the door, and set out as fast as he could go +in the direction of the palace. + +It was not long before he heard the Rakshas coming through the jungle +after him, for she had awakened and found him gone. + +Nearer and nearer she came, and then the Prince turned and waved the +crooked stick. At once a river rolled between him and the Rakshas. + +Without pause the Rakshas plunged into the river and struck out +boldly, and soon she reached the other side. + +On she came again close after Ramchundra. Again he turned and waved +the staff. At once a thick screen of trees sprang up between him and +the hag. The Rakshas brushed them aside this way and that as though +they had been nothing but twigs. + +On she came, and again the Prince waved the staff. A high mountain +arose, but the Rakshas climbed it, and it did not take her long to do +this. + +Now she was so close that Ramchundra could hear her panting, but the +edge of the jungle had been reached. He turned and cast the Rakshas' +hair behind him. Immediately the whole jungle burst into fire, and the +Rakshas was burned up in the flames. + +Soon after the Prince reached the palace and hastened out into the +garden. There sat his mother weeping, with the crows gathered about +her. When she saw Ramchundra she sprang to her feet with a scream of +joy and ran to him and took him in her arms. + +"My son! my son! I thought you had perished!" she cried. "Did you meet +the Rakshas?" + +"Not only did I meet her, but I have slain her and brought back with +me that which will restore my uncles to their proper shapes," answered +the Prince. + +He then dipped his fingers into the jar he carried and sprinkled the +magic water over the crows. At once the enchantment was broken, and +the twenty Princes stood there, tall and handsome, in their own proper +shapes. + +The Ranee made haste to lead them to her husband and told him the +whole story. The Rajah could not wonder enough when he understood that +the Princes were his wife's brothers, and were the crows she had +brought home with her. + +He at once ordered a magnificent feast to be prepared and a day of +rejoicing to be held throughout all the kingdom. + +Many Rajahs from far and near were invited to the feast, and among +those who came was the father of the Ranee and her brothers, but he +never suspected, as he looked upon them, that they were his children. + +Before they sat down to the feast the young Ranee said to him, "Where +is your wife Guzra Bai? Why has she not come with you? We had expected +to see her here?" + +The Rajah was surprised that the young Ranee should know his wife's +name, but he made some excuse as to why Guzra Bai was not there. + +Then the young Rajah said, "Send for her, I beg of you, for the feast +cannot begin till she is here." + +The older Rajah was still more surprised at this. He could not think +any one was really concerned about Guzra Bai, and he feared the young +Rajah wished, for some reason, to quarrel with him. But he agreed to +send for his wife, and messengers were at once dispatched to bring +Guzra Bai to the palace. + +No sooner had she come than the young Ranee began to weep, and she and +the Princes gathered about their mother. Then they told the Rajah the +whole story of how his mother and the nurse had sought to destroy +Guzra Bai and her children, and how they had been saved, and had now +come to safety and great honor. + +The Rajah was overcome with joy when he found that Guzra Bai was +innocent. He prayed her to forgive him, and this she did, and all was +joy and happiness. + +As for the old Ranee, she was shut up in the tower where Guzra Bai had +lived for so many years, but the old nurse was killed as befitted such +a wicked woman. + + + + + LIFE'S SECRET + + A STORY OF BENGAL + + +In a far-off country there once lived a great Rajah who had two wives, +one named Duo and the other Suo. Both these Ranees were beautiful, but +Duo was of a harsh and cruel nature, while Suo was gentle and kind to +all. + +Though the Rajah had been married to his Ranees for some time they +neither of them had any children, and this was a great grief to every +one. Daily prayers were offered up in the temples for the birth of a +son to the Rajah, but the prayers remained unanswered. + +One day a beggar, a holy man who had vowed to live in poverty, came to +the palace asking for alms. Duo would have had him driven away, but +Suo felt compassion for him. She gave him the alms he asked and bade +him sit in the cool of the courtyard to rest. + +The beggar thanked her and ate the food she gave him. Just before he +left, he asked to speak to her in private. This favor Suo granted him. +She stepped aside with him, and as it so happened this brought them +directly under the windows of Duo's apartments. + +"Great Ranee, you have been very kind to me," said the beggar, "and I +wish to reward you. I know that for years you have desired to have a +son, but that this wish has not been granted. Now listen! In the midst +of the jungle over beyond the city there grows the most wonderful tree +in all the world. Its trunk is silver, and its leaves are of gold. +Once in every hundred years this tree bears a single crimson fruit. +She who eats this fruit, whosoever she may be, shall, within a year, +bear a son. This is that hundredth year,--the year in which the tree +bears fruit, and I have gathered that fruit and have it here." + +So saying, the beggar drew from among his rags a piece of silk +embroidered with strange figures. This he unfolded, and showed to the +Ranee, lying within it, a strange fruit such as she had never seen +before. It was pear shaped, and of such a vivid red that it seemed to +pulse and glow with light. + +Suo looked at it with wonder and awe. + +"If you wish to have it, it is yours," the beggar continued. "But I +must tell you one other thing. Whoever eats this fruit shall indeed +bear a son, but he will not be as other children. His life will not be +altogether within himself as with other people; it will be bound up +with an object quite outside of himself. If this object should fall +into the hands of an enemy that enemy could, by willing it, bring upon +him misfortune or even death, and this no matter how closely the child +was watched and guarded. And now, knowing this, do you still wish to +eat the fruit?" + +"Yes, yes!" cried Suo. + +"Then I will tell you what this object is and where it is to be +found," said the beggar. He drew still closer to the Ranee and +whispered in her ear, but though what he told her was so important Suo +paid but little attention to it; she thought only of the fruit, and +the happiness that might come to her if she ate it. + +Now all the while the beggar had been talking to Suo, Duo had been +seated at her window just above them, and she overheard all that was +said. Only when the beggar came closer to Suo and whispered in her ear +Duo could not hear what he said, though she leaned out as far as she +could and strained her ears to listen. So, though she had learned that +if Suo had a child its life would depend on some object outside of +itself, she did not learn what that object was. + +The beggar now gave the fruit to Suo, and she took it and ate all of +it. Not one seed or bit of rind did she miss. After that she went back +to her own apartments to dream upon the joy that might be coming to +her. + +Within the year, even as the beggar had promised, Suo bore a child, +and this child was so large and strong and handsome that he was the +wonder of all who saw him. + +The Rajah was wild with joy. He could scarcely think or talk of +anything but his son, and he showered gifts and caresses upon the +happy mother. Duo was quite forgotten. He never even went near her +apartments, and her heart was filled with jealousy and hatred toward +Suo and the little prince Dalim Kumar,--for so the child was named. +Nothing would have given her more joy than to be able to injure them +and bring sorrow and misfortune upon them. + +Now as Dalim Kumar grew older he became very fond of a flock of +pigeons that his father had given him, and he spent a great deal of +time playing with them in the courtyard. They were so tame they would +come at his call and light upon his head and shoulders. Sometimes they +flew in through the windows of Duo's apartments which overlooked the +courtyard. Duo scattered peas and grain on the floor for them, and +they came and ate them. Then one day she caught two or three of them. + +Soon after Dalim Kumar missed his pigeons and began calling them. + +Duo leaned from her window. "Your pigeons are up here," she cried. "If +you want them you must come up and get them." + +Suo had forbidden her son to go to Duo's apartments, but he quite +forgot this in his eagerness to regain his pets, and he at once ran up +to the Ranee's apartments. + +Duo took him by the wrist and drew him into her room. "You shall have +your pigeons again," said she, "but first there is something you must +tell me." + +"What is it?" asked Dalim Kumar. + +"I wish to know where your life lies and in what object it is bound +up." + +Dalim Kumar was very much surprised. "I do not know what you mean," +said he. "My life lies within me, in my head and my body and my limbs, +as it is with every one." + +"No, that is not so," said Duo. "Has your mother never told you that +your life is bound up in something outside of yourself?" + +"No, she has never told me that, and moreover I do not believe it." + +"Nevertheless it is so," said Duo. "If you will find out what this +thing is and come and tell me you shall have your pigeons again, and +if you do not do this I will wring their necks." + +Dalim Kumar was greatly troubled at the thought of harm coming to his +pigeons. "No, no! You must not do that," he cried. "I will go to my +mother and find out what she knows, and if there is indeed truth in +what you say I will come back at once and tell you the secret. But you +must do nothing to my pigeons while I am gone." + +To this Duo agreed. "There is another thing you must promise," said +she. "You must not let your mother know I have asked you anything +about your life. If you do I will wring your pigeons' necks even +though you tell me the secret." + +"I will not let her know," promised the boy, and then he hastened away +to his mother's apartments. When he came to the door he began to walk +slowly and with dragging steps. He entered in and threw himself down +among some cushions and closed his eyes. + +"What ails you, my son?" asked his mother. "Why do you sit there so +quietly instead of playing about?" + +"Nothing ails me now," answered the boy, "but there is something that +I wish to know, and unless you tell me I am sure I shall be quite +ill." + +"What is it that you wish to know, my darling?" + +"I wish to know where my life lies, and in what it is bound up," +answered the boy. + +When Suo heard this she was very much frightened. + +"What do you mean?" she cried. "Who has been talking to you of your +life?" + +Then Dalim said what was not true, for he feared that harm might come +to his pigeons. "No one has been talking to me," said he, "but I am +sure that my life lies somewhere outside of me, and if you will not +tell me about it I will neither eat nor drink, and then perhaps I may +die." + +At last Suo could withstand him no longer. "My son," she said, "it is +as you have guessed. You are not as other children. Your life is bound +up in some object outside of yourself, and if this object should fall +into the hands of an enemy the greatest misfortunes might come upon +you, and perhaps even death." + +"And what is this object?" asked the boy. + +Again Suo hesitated. Then she said: + +"The beggar told me that under the roots of that same tree that bore +the fruit lies buried a golden necklace, and it is with that necklace +that part of your life is bound up." + +Now that Dalim Kumar knew the secret he was content, and smiled upon +his mother and caressed her, and ate some of the sweetmeats she had +prepared for him. Then he ran away to get his pigeons. + +Duo was waiting for him impatiently. "Have you found out the secret of +your life?" she demanded. + +"Yes," answered the Prince. "It is bound up in a golden necklace that +lies buried under the roots of a tree over in the jungle,--a tree with +a silver trunk and golden leaves. And now give me my pigeons." + +Duo was very willing to do this; she had no longer any use for them. +She placed the cage in which she had put them in his hands and pushed +him impatiently from the room. + +As soon as the boy had gone the Ranee sent for a man upon whom she +could depend and told him what she wished him to do. She wished him to +go into the jungle and search until he found a tree with a silver +trunk and golden leaves. He was then to dig down about its roots until +he found a golden necklace that lay buried there. This necklace he was +to bring to her, and in return for his services she would give him a +lac of gold mohurs. + +The man willingly agreed to do as she wished and at once set out into +the jungle. After searching for some time he at last found the tree +and began to dig about its roots. + +Now at the very time this happened Dalim Kumar was with his mother +playing about in her apartment. But no sooner did the man in the +jungle begin to dig about the tree than the boy gave a cry and laid +his hand upon his heart. At the same time he became very pale. + +"What is the matter, my son?" cried his mother anxiously. "Are you +ill?" + +"I do not know what is the matter," answered the Prince, "but +something threatens me." + +His mother put her arm about him, and at the very moment she did so +the man who had been digging found the necklace and picked it up, and +at that the young Prince sank back senseless in his mother's arms. + +The Ranee was terrified. She sent at once for the Rajah, and +physicians were called in, but none of them could arouse the child nor +could they tell what ailed him. He lay there among the cushions where +they had placed him still breathing, but unconscious of all around +him. + +And so the boy lay all the while that the man with the necklace hidden +in his bosom was on his way back from the jungle. But when he reached +the apartments of Duo and gave the necklace into the hands of the evil +Ranee, the breath went out from the Prince's body, and he became as +one dead. + +The Rajah was in despair. His grief was now as great as his joy had +been when the child was born. He had a magnificent temple built in the +most beautiful of all his gardens, and in this temple the body of +Dalim Kumar was laid. After this was done the Rajah commanded that the +gates of the garden should be locked, and that no one but the +gardeners should ever enter there on pain of death. + +This command was carried out. The garden gates were kept locked, and +no one entered but the men who went there in the daytime to prune the +trees and water the flowers and keep the place in order. Not even Suo +might go into the garden to mourn beside the body of her son. + +But though every one believed Dalim Kumar to be dead, such was not +really the case. All day, while Duo wore the necklace, he lay without +breath or sign of life, but in the evening, when the Ranee took the +necklace off, he revived and returned to life. And this happened every +night, for every night the Rajah came to visit Duo, and just before he +came she always took the necklace off and hid it. She feared if he saw +it he might wonder and question her about it. + +The wicked Ranee was now satisfied and happy. She believed she had +destroyed the young Prince, and with him the Rajah's love for Suo. For +the Rajah now never went to Suo's apartments. He neither saw her nor +spoke of her, for she only reminded him of his grief for his son. + +Now the first time that Dalim Kumar awoke in the temple he was very +much surprised to find himself alone in a strange place, and with no +attendants around him. He arose and went out into the garden, and then +at once he knew where he was, though the temple was new to him. He +went to one gate after another of the garden, intending to go and +return to the palace, but he found them all locked. The gardeners had +gone away for the night, and before going they had securely fastened +the gates, according to the Rajah's orders. The young prince called +and called, but no one heard or answered. Feeling hungry, he plucked +some fruit and ate it, and after that he amused himself as best he +could, playing about among the trees and flowers. + +Toward morning he felt sleepy and returned to the temple. He lay down +upon the couch, and later on, when Duo again put on the necklace, his +breath left him, and he became as one dead. + +As it had been that night, so it was also in the many nights that +followed. In the evening the Prince revived and came out to play among +the flowers, but with the coming of day he returned to the temple and +lay down on the couch, and all appearance of life left him. After a +time he became used to the strange life he led, and no longer wondered +why he was left there alone and why no one came to seek him. + +So year after year slipped by, and from a child the Prince became a +youth, and in all that time he had seen no one, for the gardeners had +always gone away before he returned to life. + +Now there lived at this time, in a country far away, a woman who had +one only child, a daughter named Surai Bai. This girl was so beautiful +that she was the wonder of all who saw her. Her hair was as black as +night, her eyes like stars, her teeth like pearls, and her lips as red +as ripe pomegranates. + +When this child was born it was foretold to her mother that she would +sometime marry a Prince who was both alive and dead. This prophecy +frightened the mother so much that as soon as her daughter was of a +marriageable age she left her own country and journeyed away into a +far land, taking the girl with her. She hoped that if she went far +enough she might escape the fate that had been foretold for the child. + +Journeying on from one place to another, she came at last to the city +where Dalim Kumar's father reigned, and where the garden was, and the +temple where the young prince lay. + +It was toward evening when the mother and daughter reached the city, +and it was necessary for them to find some shelter for the night. +Surai Bai was weary, and her mother bade her sit down and rest by the +gate of one of the palace gardens while she went farther to seek a +lodging. As soon as she had found a place where they could stay she +would return for the girl. + +So Surai Bai seated herself beside the gate, and there her mother left +her. But the mother had not been gone long when some noise farther up +the street frightened the girl. She looked about for a place to hide, +and it occurred to her that she might go into the garden and wait +there. She tried the gate and found it unfastened, for by some chance +one of the gardeners had forgotten to lock it that evening when he +went away. + +Surai Bai pushed the gate open and stepped inside, closing it behind +her. When she looked about her, she was amazed at the beauty of the +garden. The fruit trees were laden with fruits of every kind. There +were winding paths and flowers and fountains, and in the midst of the +garden was a temple shining with gold and wondrous colors. + +Though daylight had faded the moon had arisen, and the garden was full +of light. Surai Bai went over close to the temple, wishing to examine +it, but just as she reached the foot of the steps that led up to it a +young man appeared above her at the door of the temple. It was Dalim +Kumar, who had aroused again to life and was coming forth to breathe +the air of the garden. + +When he saw Surai Bai he stood amazed, not only at her beauty, which +was so great, but because hers was the first face he had ever seen in +the years he had spent in the garden. As for Surai Bai, never before +had she beheld a youth so handsome, or with such a noble air, and as +the two stood looking at each other they became filled with love for +one another. + +Presently Dalim Kumar came down the steps of the temple and took Surai +Bai's hand. + +"Who are you, beautiful one?" he asked. "Whence come you, and what is +your name?" + +"My name is Surai Bai," answered the girl, "and I come from another +country far away. My mother left me sitting by the gate while she went +to find a lodging for us, but some noise frightened me, and I ran in +here to hide." + +"That is a strange thing," said the Prince. "In all the years I have +been living here, the gates have never been unlocked before." + +"But do you live here alone?" asked the girl. + +"Yes, all alone. Yours is the first face I have seen for years, and +yet I am a Prince, and the son of a great Rajah." + +"Then why are you here?" + +"I am here because my life was bound up in a golden necklace that lay +buried under the roots of a tree in the jungle. I told the secret to a +Ranee who was my enemy, though I did not know it at the time. She must +in some way have gained possession of the necklace, and now she is +using it for my harm. All day I lie there in the temple as though +dead; no sound reaches me, nothing arouses me; only at night can I +arise and come forth. I, a great prince, am as one both dead and +alive." + +When Dalim Kumar pronounced these words Surai Bai could not refrain +from giving a loud cry. She was overcome with amazement and confusion. + +The Prince at once wished to know what had moved her so. "Why do you +cry out and change color?" he asked. "And why do you tremble and look +at me so strangely?" + +At first Surai Bai would not tell him, but he was so urgent in his +questioning that finally she was obliged to recount to him the +prophecy made at the time of her birth;--that it had been foretold of +her that she was to marry a Prince who was both alive and dead. + +Dalim Kumar listened to her attentively. "That is a strange thing," +said he. "I do not suppose in all the world there is another prince +beside myself who is both alive and dead. If this saying is true, it +must be that I am the one you are to marry. If so, I am very happy, +for already I love you, and if you will stay here with me we will be +married by the ceremony of Grandharva, and I will be a true and loving +husband to you." + +To this Surai Bai willingly consented, for already she loved the +prince so dearly that she felt she could not live without him. That +very night she and the Prince presented each other with garlands of +flowers, for that is the ceremony of Grandharva, and so they became +man and wife. + +After that they lived together in great happiness, and nothing could +exceed their love for each other. By day, while Dalim Kumar lay +lifeless in the temple, his bride slept also, and at evening they +awoke and talked together and walked through the garden. + +But after a while a son was born to the young couple, and after that +Surai Bai was no longer gay and happy. Her look was sad, and often she +stole away from Dalim Kumar to weep in secret. + +The Prince was greatly troubled by this. At first he forbore to +question her, but one day he followed her and finding her in tears, he +said, "Tell me, why are you sad and downcast? Have you wearied of this +garden, and are you lonely here; or is it that you no longer love me?" + +"Dalim Kumar," answered the girl, "I love you as dearly as ever, and I +am never lonely with you. As long as we had no child I was content to +stay here in the garden and see no one. But now that we have a son I +wish him to be seen by your people, and I wish them to know that he is +the heir to the kingdom." + +At this Dalim Kumar became very thoughtful. "My dear wife," said he, +"you are right. Our son should be known as my heir; but every one +believes I died long ago when I was a child. If you went out among +them with the boy and told them he was my son, they would laugh at +you, and either think you were an impostor or that you were crazy. If +we could but gain possession of the necklace, then I could go out from +the garden with you, and if I showed myself to my people they would be +obliged to believe." + +"That is what I have thought also," said Surai Bai, "and it has been +in my mind to ask you to give me permission to leave the garden for a +while. If you will do this I will try to gain entrance to the palace +and the apartments of Duo. Then possibly I can find where she keeps +the necklace at night, and I may be able to get possession of it." + +Dalim Kumar eagerly agreed to this plan, and the very next day, while +he lay unconscious in the temple, Surai Bai took the child and managed +to steal out through one of the gates without being seen by any of the +gardeners. + +She at once sought out a shop in the city and bought for herself the +dress of a hairdresser; then, leading the child by the hand she made +her way to the palace. She told the attendants there that she was very +skillful in dressing the hair, and if they would take her to the +Ranees she was sure she could please them. + +After some hesitation the attendants agreed to do this, and led the +way first to the apartments of Suo. When Surai Bai entered the room +and saw her husband's mother sitting there thin and pale and +grief-stricken, her heart yearned over her. But Suo would not so much +as look at the pretended hairdresser. "Why do you bring her here?" she +asked. "I have no wish to look beautiful. My son is dead and my +husband no longer loves me nor comes to me. Take her away and leave me +alone with my sorrow." + +The attendants motioned to Surai Bai to come away, and they led her +across the palace to the apartments of Duo. + +Here all was bright and joyous. The beautiful Duo lay among the +cushions, smiling to herself and playing with the necklace that hung +about her neck. When she heard that the young woman they had brought +to her was a skilled hairdresser, she sat up and beckoned Surai Bai to +approach. + +"Come!" said she. "Let us see how well you can dress my hair. The +Rajah will be here before long, and I must be beautiful for him." + +Surai Bai at once came behind Duo and began to arrange her hair. The +child meanwhile kept close by her side. When Surai Bai had almost +finished she managed to loosen the clasp of the necklace so that it +slipped from Duo's neck and fell upon the floor. + +This was as the pretended hairdresser had planned, and she had +explained to her son beforehand that when the necklace fell he must +pick it up and hold it tight, and yield it to no one. So now, no +sooner did the necklace slip to the floor, than the child picked it up +and twisted it tight around his fingers. + +Duo was frightened. "Give me my necklace," cried she, and reaching +over she tried to take it from the boy, but at this he began to scream +so loudly that it seemed as though the whole palace must be aroused by +his cries. + +Duo drew back alarmed and bade the child be quiet. Then she turned to +the pretended hairdresser. "Make him give me the necklace again," she +demanded. + +Surai Bai pretended to hesitate. "If I try to take it from him now," +she said, "he might break it. Have patience, and let him keep it for a +while; he will soon tire of it. Then I can take it from him and bring +it to you." + +To this Duo was obliged to agree. It was growing late and she feared +at any moment now the Rajah might come in and that he might notice the +necklace in the child's hands and ask questions about it. + +"Very well," she said. "Let him keep it for the present, but bring it +back to me the first thing in the morning. If you neglect to do this +you shall be severely punished,--you and the child also." + +The pretended hairdresser made a deep obeisance, and then departed, +carrying the child who still held the necklace tightly clutched in his +hands. + +As soon as Surai Bai was outside of the palace she hastened away to +the garden and found Dalim Kumar awaiting her at the gate. + +"I know you have the necklace," he cried to her, "for I aroused while +it was still day, and with such a feeling of life and joy as I have +never felt before." + +"Yes, it is here," said Surai Bai, and she took the necklace from the +child and held it out to him. + +Dalim Kumar gave a cry of joy. His hands trembled with eagerness as he +grasped the necklace. "Oh, my dear wife," he cried, "you have saved +me. I have now again become as other men and can claim what is my own. +Come! Let us return to the palace and to my father and mother." + +So, with the child on his arm, and leading Surai Bai by the hand, the +Prince hastened back to the palace. But when he entered the gates no +one knew him, for when they had last seen him he had been only a boy. +They wondered to see a stranger enter in like a master, but his air +was so noble, and his appearance so handsome that no one dared to stop +him. + +Dalim Kumar went at once to his mother's apartments, and though no one +else had known him, she recognized him at once, even though he had +become a man. She knew not what miracle had brought him back, but she +fell upon his neck and kissed him, and wept aloud, so that all in the +palace heard the sound of her weeping. + +The Rajah was sent for in haste, and when he came Dalim Kumar quickly +made himself known to his father. The Rajah's joy was no less than the +Ranee's over the return of his son. + +Soon the news spread through all the palace, and there was great +rejoicing. But Duo was filled with fear. She knew not what punishment +would fall upon her for her evil doings, but she guessed the wrath of +the Rajah would be great. So she fled away secretly and in haste, and +for a long time she wandered about from place to place, miserable and +afraid, and at last died in poverty as she deserved. + +But Dalim Kumar and his young wife lived in happiness forever after, +and when the old Rajah died Dalim Kumar became Rajah in his stead, and +his own son ruled after him as Surai Bai and he had desired. + + + + + DAME PRIDGETT AND THE FAIRIES + + +Dame Pridgett was a fat, comfortable, good-natured old body, and her +business in life was to go about nursing sick folk and making them +well again. + +One day she was sitting by the window, rocking herself and resting +after a hard week of nursing. She looked from the window, and there +she saw a queer-looking little man come riding along the road on a +great fiery, prancing black horse. He rode up to her door and knocked +without getting off his horse, and when Dame Pridgett opened the door +he looked down at her with such queer pale eyes he almost frightened +her. + +"Are you Dame Pridgett?" he asked. + +"I am," answered the dame. + +"And do you go about nursing sick people?" + +"Yes, that is my business." + +"Then you are the one I want. My wife is ill, and I am seeking some +one to nurse her." + +"Where do you live?" asked the dame, for the man was a stranger to +her, and she knew he was not from thereabouts. + +"Oh, I come from over beyond the hills, but I have no time to talk. +Give me your hand and mount up behind me." + +Dame Pridgett gave him her hand, not because she wanted to, but +because, somehow, when he bade her do so she could not refuse. He gave +her hand a little pull, and she flew up through the air as light as a +bird, and there she was sitting on the horse behind him. The stranger +whistled, and away went the great black horse, fast, fast as the +wind;--so fast that the old Dame had much ado not to be blown off, but +she shut her eyes and held tight to the stranger. + +They rode along for what seemed a long distance, and then they stopped +before a poor, mean-looking house. Dame Pridgett stared about her, and +she did not know where they were. She knew she had never seen the +place before. In front of the house were some rocks with weeds growing +among them, and a pool of muddy water, and a few half-dead trees. It +was a dreary place. Two ragged children were playing beside the door +with a handful of pebbles. + +The little man lighted down and helped the old dame slip from the +horse; then he led the way into the house. They passed through a mean +hallway and into a room hung round with cobwebs. The room was poorly +furnished with a wooden bed, a table and a few chairs. In the bed lay +a little, round-faced woman with a snub nose and a coarse, freckled +skin, and in the crook of her arm was a baby so small and weak-looking +the nurse knew it could not be more than a few hours old. + +"This is my wife," said the stranger. "It will be your duty to wait on +her and to wash and dress the child." + +The baby was so queer looking that Dame Pridgett did not much care to +handle it, but still she had come there as a nurse, and she would do +what was required of her. + +The little man showed her where the kitchen was, and she heated some +water and then went back to the bedroom and took up the baby to wash +it. But so strange it all seemed, and she felt so shaken up by her +ride that she was awkward in handling the child, and as she bent her +head over it, it lifted its hand and gave her such a box on the ear +that her head rang with it. + +The old dame cried out and almost let the babe fall, she was so +thunderstruck. + +"What is the matter?" asked the woman from the bed. Then she slipped +her hand under her pillow and drew out a box of salve. "Here! Rub the +child's eyes with a bit of this," she said, "but be sure you do not +get any of it on your own eyes, or it will be a bad thing for +you,--scarce could be a worse." + +The nurse took a bit of the salve on her forefinger and rubbed the +baby's eyes with it, and then the mother bade her go and wash off any +particle of salve that might be left on her finger. + +All day Dame Pridgett waited on the mother and child, and when night +came she was shown into a room next to theirs where she was to sleep. + +The following day the dame was again kept busy with the mother and +child. She washed the baby and rubbed the salve on its eyelids as +before, and again the mother warned her not to let the least particle +of salve touch her own eyes, or it would be the worse for her. + +Food was set out for the nurse in a small room beyond her own. She did +not know whence it came, nor who prepared it, but she was hungry and +ate heartily of it, though it had a strange taste she did not like. +The two ragged children came in and ate with her. They did not speak, +but stared at her from under their matted hair. The little man she did +not see again for some time. + +So day followed day, and it was always the same thing over and over +for Dame Pridgett, and every day after she had washed the child she +rubbed salve on its eyelids. Soon its eyes, that had at first been +dull, grew so bright and strong they sparkled like jewels. Dame +Pridgett thought it must be a very fine salve. She would have liked to +try some of it on her own eyes, for her sight was somewhat dim, but +the mother watched her so closely that she never had a chance to use +it. + +Now, every day, after Dame Pridgett had washed the baby, she left the +basin on a chair beside her while she rubbed the salve on the child's +eyes. One day she managed to upset the basin with her elbow as though +by accident, though really by design. She gave a cry and bent over to +pick up the basin, and as she did so, unseen by her mistress, she +rubbed her right eye with the finger that still had some salve left on +it. + +When Dame Pridgett straightened up and looked about her she could +hardly keep from crying out again at what she saw. The room and +everything in it looked different. Instead of being poor and mean, it +was like a chamber in a castle. Where there had been cobwebs were now +shimmering silken hangings. The bed and all the furniture was of gold, +magnificently carved. The sheets and pillow cases were of silk, and +instead of a coarse, snub-nosed little woman, there among the pillows +lay the most exquisite little lady the old dame had ever set eyes on; +her skin was as fine as a rose leaf, her hair like spun gold, her lips +like coral, and her eyes as bright as stars. The babe, also, from +being a very ordinary looking child, had become the most exquisite +little elfin creature that ever was seen. + +Dame Pridgett managed somehow to keep quiet and hide her amazement, +but now she knew very well that it was to fairyland she had come, and +that these were fairy folk. + +She made some excuse to go to the window and look out. The change +outside was no less wonderful than that within. The muddy pool she now +saw was a shining lake; the rocks were grottoes; the trees were +covered with leaves and shining fruit, and the weeds were beds of +flowers of wondrous colors, such as she had never seen before. As for +the ragged children, she saw them now as fairy children clothed in the +finest of laces and playing, not with pebbles, but with precious +jewels so brilliant that they fairly dazzled the eyes. + +Dame Pridgett managed to keep her mouth shut and acted in such a way +that the fairies never suspected she had used the magic ointment, and +could now see them as they were. But it was only with the right eye, +the one she had touched with the salve, that she could see thus. When +she closed that eye and looked with the other, everything was just as +it had been before, and seemed so mean and squalid it was difficult to +believe it could appear otherwise. + +So time went on until the fairy lady was well again and had no need of +a nurse to care for her. Then one day the little man came again on his +black steed and called the old dame out to him. + +"You have served us well," said he, "and here is your reward," and he +placed a purse of gold pieces in her hand. Then he caught hold of her +and lifted her up behind him on to the horse, and away they went, +swifter than the wind. Dame Pridgett had to shut her eyes to keep from +growing dizzy and falling off. So it was that when she reached home +she knew no more of the way she had come than she knew of the way she +had gone. + +But this was not the last Dame Pridgett saw of the fairy folk. The +little man on the black steed came to her house no more, but there +were other little people about in the world who were now visible to +her salve-touched eye. Sometimes as she came through the wood she +would see them busy among the roots of the trees, setting their houses +in order, or bartering and trading in their fairy markets; or on +moonlight nights she would look out and see them at play among the +flowers in her garden; or she would pass them dancing in fairy rings +in the pastures or meadow lands, but she never told a soul of what she +saw, nor tried to speak to the wee folk, and they were so busy about +their own affairs that they paid no attention to her and never guessed +she could see them. + +And then at last came a day (and a sad day it was for Dame Pridgett) +when she again met the little man who had come for her on the great +black horse. + +She had gone to market to buy the stuff for a new apron and was +walking along, thinking of nothing but her purchase, when suddenly she +saw the little man slipping about among the market people, never +touching them and unseen by any. He was peeping into the butter +firkins, smelling and tasting, and wherever he found some very good +butter he helped himself to a bit of it and put it in a basket he +carried on his arm. + +Dame Pridgett pressed up close to him and looked into his basket, and +there in it was a dish almost full of butter. When the good dame saw +that, she was so indignant that she quite lost all prudence. + +"Shame on you," she cried to the little man. "Are you not ashamed to +be stealing butter from good folk who are less able to buy than +yourself." + +The little man stopped and looked at her. "So you can see me, can +you?" he said. + +"Yes, to be sure I can," said the old dame boldly. + +"And how does that happen?" asked the little man smoothly, and without +any show of anger. + +"Oh, when I was nursing your good lady, I managed to rub a bit of her +salve on one of my eyes, and that is how I can see you." + +"And which eye did you rub with the salve?" + +"My right eye." + +"And it is only with your right eye you see me?" + +"Only with my right eye." + +When the little man heard that, quick as a flash he pursed up his lips +and blew into her right eye, and he blew so hard he blew the sight +right out of it. The old dame blinked and winked and rubbed her eye +with her fingers. The little man had vanished from before her. She +could see everything else, but what she saw was with her left eye +only, and she could see no fairies with it for it had not been touched +with salve. + +So that was the end of it for Dame Pridgett, as far as the wee folk +were concerned, for she never got back the sight of her right eye; +only she still had the purse of gold pieces left, and that was enough +to comfort the old dame for a great deal. + + + +---------------------------------------------------------------+ + |Transcriber's Note: | + | | + |The page numbers numbers in the list of Illustrations have been| + |changed to match their position in this ebook. | + +---------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Tales of Folk and Fairies, by Katharine Pyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF FOLK AND FAIRIES *** + +***** This file should be named 25913.txt or 25913.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/9/1/25913/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ronnie Sahlberg 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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