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diff --git a/34339-h/34339-h.htm b/34339-h/34339-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08a6133 --- /dev/null +++ b/34339-h/34339-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7350 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + .copyright {text-align: center; font-size: 70%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .chaptertitle {text-align: center; font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold; font-size: 90%;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .right {text-align: right;} + .poem {margin-left: 30%; text-align: left;} + .poem2 {margin-left: 15%; text-align: left;} + .hang1 {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em;} + .cap:first-letter {float: left; clear: left; margin: -0.2em 0.1em 0; margin-top: 0%; + padding: 0; line-height: .75em; font-size: 300%; text-align: justify;} + .cap {text-align: justify;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Princess and the Goblin + +Author: George MacDonald + +Illustrator: Jessie Willcox Smith + +Release Date: November 16, 2010 [EBook #34339] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 392px;"> +<img src="images/coverpage.jpg" width="392" height="550" alt="Coverpage" title="" /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h1>THE PRINCESS<br />AND THE GOBLIN</h1> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='center'><i>Illustrations especially engraved and printed by the Beck Engraving Company, Philadelphia</i></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 397px;"> +<img src="images/tp.jpg" width="397" height="500" alt="Title page" title="" /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>THE PRINCESS<br /> +AND THE GOBLIN</h1> + +<h2><i>By</i> George MacDonald</h2> + + + +<div class='center'> +<small>ILLUSTRATED BY</small><br /> +JESSIE WILLCOX SMITH<br /> +<small>DAVID MCKAY COMPANY <i>Publishers</i></small><br /> +<small>Philadelphia, MCMXX.</small><br /> +</div> + +<div class='copyright'><br /><br /> +Copyright, 1920, by David McKay Company<br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='center'><small>FACING</small><br /><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>She ran for some distance, turned several times, and then began to be afraid</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>She clapped her hands with delight, and up rose such a flapping of wings</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"Never mind, Princess Irene," he said. "You mustn't kiss me to-night. But you shan't break your word. I will come another time"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>In an instant she was on the saddle, and clasped in his great strong arms</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"Come," and she still held out her arms</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>The goblins fell back a little when he began, and made horrible grimaces all through the rhyme</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>Curdie went on after her, flashing his torch about</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>There sat his mother by the fire, and in her arms lay the princess fast asleep</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left' colspan='2'><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>I. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Why the Princess Has a Story About Her</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Princess Loses Herself</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Princess and—We Shall See Who</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">What the Nurse Thought of It</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Princess Lets Well Alone</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Little Miner</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Mines</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VIII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Goblins</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IX. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Hall of the Goblin Palace</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>X. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Princess's King-Papa</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XI. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Old Lady's Bedroom</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Short Chapter about Curdie</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Cobs' Creatures</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIV. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">That Night Week</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XV. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Woven and then Spun</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVI. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Ring</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Spring-Time</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVIII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Curdie's Clue</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIX. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Goblin Counsels</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XX. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Irene's Clue</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXI. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Escape</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Old Lady and Curdie</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXIII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Curdie and His Mother</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXIV. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Irene Behaves Like a Princess</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXV. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Curdie Comes to Grief</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXVI. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Goblin-Miners</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXVII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Goblins in the King's House</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXVIII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Curdie's Guide</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXIX. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mason-Work</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXX. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The King and the Kiss</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXXI. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Subterranean Waters</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXXII. </td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Last Chapter</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>WHY THE PRINCESS HAS A STORY ABOUT HER</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THERE was once a little princess who—</div> + +<p>"<i>But, Mr. Author, why do you always write about +princesses?</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Because every little girl is a princess.</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>You will make them vain if you tell them that.</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Not if they understand what I mean.</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Then what do you mean?</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>What</i> do you <i>mean by a princess?</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>The daughter of a king.</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Very well, then every little girl is a princess, and there would +be no need to say anything about it, except that she is always in +danger of forgetting her rank, and behaving as if she had grown +out of the mud. I have seen little princesses behave like the children +of thieves and lying beggars, and that is why they need to +be told they are princesses. And that is why, when I tell a story +of this kind, I like to tell it about a princess. Then I can say better +what I mean, because I can then give her every beautiful thing I +want her to have.</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Please go on.</i>"</p> + +<p>There was once a little princess whose father was king over +a great country full of mountains and valleys. His palace<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +was built upon one of the mountains, and was very grand and +beautiful. The princess, whose name was Irene, was born +there, but she was sent soon after her birth, because her mother +was not very strong, to be brought up by country people in a +large house, half castle, half farm-house, on the side of another +mountain, about halfway between its base and its peak.</p> + +<p>The princess was a sweet little creature, and at the time my +story begins was about eight years old. I think, but she got +older very fast. Her face was fair and pretty, with eyes like +two bits of night-sky, each with a star dissolved in the blue. +Those eyes you would have thought must have known they +came from there, so often were they turned up in that direction. +The ceiling of her nursery was blue, with stars in it, +as like the sky as they could make it. But I doubt if ever she +saw the real sky with the stars in it, for a reason which I had +better mention at once.</p> + +<p>These mountains were full of hollow places underneath; +huge caverns, and winding ways, some with water running +through them, and some shining with all colors of the rainbow +when a light was taken in. There would not have been much +known about them, had there not been mines there, great deep +pits, with long galleries and passages running off from them, +which had been dug to get at the ore of which the mountains +were full. In the course of digging, the miners came upon +many of these natural caverns. A few of them had far-off +openings out on the side of a mountain, or into a ravine.</p> + +<p>Now in these subterranean caverns lived a strange race of +beings, called by some gnomes, by some kobolds, by some +goblins. There was a legend current in the country that at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +one time they lived above ground, and were very like other +people. But for some reason or other, concerning which there +were different legendary theories, the king had laid what they +thought too severe taxes upon them, or had required observances +of them they did not like, or had begun to treat them +with more severity in some way or other, and impose stricter +laws; and the consequence was that they had all disappeared +from the face of the country. According to the legend, however, +instead of going to some other country, they had all +taken refuge in the subterranean caverns, whence they never +came out but at night, and then seldom showed themselves +in any numbers, and never to many people at once. It was +only in the least frequented and most difficult parts of the +mountains that they were said to gather even at night in the +open air. Those who had caught sight of any of them said +that they had greatly altered in the course of generations; +and no wonder, seeing they lived away from the sun, in cold +and wet and dark places. They were now, not ordinarily +ugly, but either absolutely hideous, or ludicrously grotesque +both in face and form. There was no invention, they said, +of the most lawless imagination expressed by pen or pencil, +that could surpass the extravagance of their appearance. +And as they grew mis-shapen in body, they had grown in +knowledge and <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'clevernesss'">cleverness</ins>, and now were able to do things +no mortal could see the possibility of. But as they grew in +cunning, they grew in mischief, and their great delight was +in every way they could think of to annoy the people who +lived in the open-air-story above them. They had enough +of affection left for each other, to preserve them from being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +absolutely cruel for cruelty's sake to those that came in their +way; but still they so heartily cherished the ancestral grudge +against those who occupied their former possession, and +especially against the descendants of the king who had caused +their expulsion, that they sought every opportunity of tormenting +them in ways that were as odd as their inventors; +and although dwarfed and mis-shapen, they had strength +equal to their cunning. In the process of time they had got +a king, and a government of their own, whose chief business, +beyond their own simple affairs, was to devise trouble for +their neighbors. It will now be pretty evident why the little +princess had never seen the sky at night. They were much +too afraid of the goblins to let her out of the house then, even +in company with ever so many attendants; and they had +good reason, as we shall see by-and-by.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE PRINCESS LOSES HERSELF</div> + + +<div class='cap'>I HAVE said the Princess Irene was about eight years old +when my story begins. And this is how it begins.</div> + +<p>One very wet day, when the mountain was covered +with mist which was constantly gathering itself together +into rain-drops, and pouring down on the roofs of the great +old house, whence it fell in a fringe of water from the eaves +all round about it, the princess could not of course go out. +She got very tired, so tired that even her toys could no longer +amuse her. You would wonder at that if I had time to describe +to you one half of the toys she had. But then you +wouldn't have the toys themselves, and that makes all the +difference: you can't get tired of a thing before you have it. +It was a picture, though, worth seeing—the princess sitting +in the nursery with the sky-ceiling over her head, at a great +table covered with her toys. If the artist would like to draw +this, I should advise him not to meddle with the toys. I am +afraid of attempting to describe them, and I think he had +better not try to draw them. He had better not. He can do +a thousand things I can't, but I don't think he could draw +those toys. No man could better make the princess herself +than he could, though—leaning with her back bowed into the +back of the chair, her head hanging down, and her hands in +her lap, very miserable as she would say herself, not even +knowing what she would like, except to go out and get very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +wet, catch a particularly nice cold, and have to go to bed and +take gruel. The next moment after you see her sitting there, +her nurse goes out of the room.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 429px;"> +<img src="images/col01.jpg" width="429" height="600" alt="She ran for some distance, turned several times, and then began to be afraid." title="" /> +<span class="caption">She ran for some distance, turned several times, and then began to be afraid.</span> +</div> + +<p>Even that is a change, and the princess wakes up a little, +and looks about her. Then she tumbles off her chair, and +runs out of the door, not the same door the nurse went out +of, but one which opened at the foot of a curious old stair of +worm-eaten oak, which looked as if never any one had set +foot upon it. She had once before been up six steps, and that +was sufficient reason, in such a day, for trying to find out what +was at the top of it.</p> + +<p>Up and up she ran—such a long way it seemed to her! until +she came to the top of the third flight. There she found +the landing was the end of a long passage. Into this she ran. +It was full of doors on each side. There were so many that +she did not care to open any, but ran on to the end, where she +turned into another passage, also full of doors. When she had +turned twice more, and still saw doors and only doors about +her, she began to get frightened. It was so silent! And all +those doors must hide rooms with nobody in them! That was +dreadful. Also the rain made a great trampling noise on the +roof. She turned and started at full speed, her little footsteps +echoing through the sounds of the rain—back for the +stairs and her safe nursery. So she thought, but she had lost +herself long ago. It doesn't follow that she <i>was</i> lost, because +she had lost herself though.</p> + +<p>She ran for some distance, turned several times, and then +began to be afraid. Very soon she was sure that she had lost +the way back. Rooms everywhere, and no stair! Her little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +heart beat as fast as her little feet ran, and a lump of tears was +growing in her throat. But she was too eager and perhaps too +frightened to cry for some time. At last her hope failed her. +Nothing but passages and doors everywhere! She threw herself +on the floor, and began to wail and cry.</p> + +<p>She did not cry long, however, for she was as brave as could +be expected of a princess of her age. After a good cry, she +got up, and brushed the dust from her frock. Oh what old +dust it was! Then she wiped her eyes with her hands, for princesses +don't always have their handkerchiefs in their pockets +any more than some other little girls I know of. Next, like +a true princess, she resolved on going wisely to work to find +her way back: she would walk through the passages, and look +in every direction for the stair. This she did, but without +success. She went over the same ground again and again +without knowing it, for the passages and doors were all alike. +At last, in a corner, through a half-open door, she did see a +stair. But alas! it went the wrong way: instead of going down, +it went up. Frightened as she was, however, she could not +help wishing to see where yet further the stair could lead. +It was very narrow, and so steep that she went up like a four-legged +creature on her hands and feet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE PRINCESS AND—WE SHALL SEE WHO</div> + + +<div class='cap'>WHEN she came to the top, she found herself in a little +square place, with three doors, two opposite each +other, and one opposite the top of the stair. She stood +for a moment, without an idea in her little head what to do +next. But as she stood, she began to hear a curious humming +sound. Could it be the rain? No. It was much more gentle, +and even monotonous than the sound of the rain, which now +she scarcely heard. The low sweet humming sound went on, +sometimes stopping for a little while and then beginning +again. It was more like the hum of a very happy bee that had +found a rich well of honey in some globular flower, than anything +else I can think of at this moment. Where could it come +from? She laid her ear first to one of the doors to hearken if +it was there—then to another. When she laid her ear against +the third door, there could be no doubt where it came from: +it must be from something in that room. What could it be? +She was rather afraid, but her curiosity was stronger than +her fear, and she opened the door very gently and peeped in. +What do you think she saw? A very old lady who sat spinning.</div> + +<p>"<i>Oh, Mr. Editor! I know the story you are going to tell: +it's The Sleeping Beauty; only you're spinning too, and making +it longer.</i>"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>No, indeed, it is not that story. Why should I tell one that +every properly educated child knows already? More old ladies +than one have sat spinning in a garret. Besides, the old lady in +that story was only spinning with a spindle, and this one was +spinning with a spinning wheel, else how could the princess have +heard the sweet noise through the door? Do you know the difference? +Did you ever see a spindle or a spinning wheel? I daresay +you never did. Well, ask your mamma to explain to you the +difference. Between ourselves, however, I shouldn't wonder if she +didn't know much better than you. Another thing is, that this is +not a fairy story; but a goblin story. And one thing more, this +old lady spinning was not an old nurse—but—you shall see who. +I think I have now made it quite plain that this is not that lovely +story of The Sleeping Beauty. It is quite a new one, I assure +you, and I will try to tell it as prettily as I can.</i>"</p> + +<p>Perhaps you will wonder how the princess could tell that +the old lady was an old lady, when I inform you that not only +was she beautiful, but her skin was smooth and white. I will +tell you more. Her hair was combed back from her forehead +and face, and hung loose far down and all over her back. +That is not much like an old lady—is it? Ah! but it was white +almost as snow. And although her face was so smooth, her +eyes looked so wise that you could not have helped seeing she +must be old. The princess, though she could not have told +you why, did think her very old indeed—quite fifty—she said +to herself. But she was rather older than that, as you shall +hear.</p> + +<p>While the princess stared bewildered, with her head just +inside the door, the old lady lifted hers, and said in a sweet,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +but old and rather shaky voice, which mingled very pleasantly +with the continued hum of her wheel:</p> + +<p>"Come in, my dear; come in. I am glad to see you."</p> + +<p>That the princess was a real princess, you might see now +quite plainly; for she didn't hang on to the handle of the door, +and stare without moving, as I have known some do who +ought to have been princesses, but were only rather vulgar +little girls. She did as she was told, stepped inside the door +at once, and shut it gently behind her.</p> + +<p>"Come to me, my dear," said the old lady.</p> + +<p>And again the princess did as she was told. She approached +the old lady—rather slowly, I confess, but did not stop until +she stood by her side, and looked up in her face with her +blue eyes and the two melted stars in them.</p> + +<p>"Why, what have you been doing with your eyes, child?" +asked the old lady.</p> + +<p>"Crying," answered the princess.</p> + +<p>"Why, child?"</p> + +<p>"Because I couldn't find my way down again."</p> + +<p>"But you could find your way up."</p> + +<p>"Not at first—not for a long time."</p> + +<p>"But your face is streaked like the back of a zebra. Hadn't +you a handkerchief to wipe your eyes with?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Then why didn't you come to me to wipe them for you?"</p> + +<p>"Please I didn't know you were here. I will next time."</p> + +<p>"There's a good child!" said the old lady.</p> + +<p>Then she stopped her wheel, and rose, and, going out of +the room, returned with a little silver basin and a soft white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +towel, with which she washed and wiped the bright little +face. And the princess thought her hands were so smooth +and nice!</p> + +<p>When she carried away the basin and towel, the little princess +wondered to see how straight and tall she was, for, although +she was so old, she didn't stoop a bit. She was dressed +in black velvet with thick white heavy-looking lace about it; +and on the black dress her hair shone like silver. There was +hardly any more furniture in the room than there might have +been in that of the poorest old woman who made her bread by +her spinning. There was no carpet on the floor—no table +anywhere—nothing but the spinning-wheel and the chair beside +it. When she came back, she sat down again, and without +a word began her spinning once more, while Irene, who +had never seen a spinning-wheel, stood by her side and looked +on. When the old lady had succeeded in getting her thread +fairly in operation again, she said to the princess, but without +looking at her:</p> + +<p>"Do you know my name, child?"</p> + +<p>"No, I don't know it," answered the princess.</p> + +<p>"My name is Irene."</p> + +<p>"That's <i>my</i> name!" cried the princess.</p> + +<p>"I know that. I let you have mine. I haven't got your +name. You've got mine."</p> + +<p>"How can that be?" asked the princess, bewildered. +"I've always had my name."</p> + +<p>"Your papa, the king, asked me if I had any objection to +your having it; and of course I hadn't. I let you have it with +pleasure."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It was very kind of you to give me your name—and such +a pretty one," said the princess.</p> + +<p>"Oh, not so <i>very</i> kind!" said the old lady. "A name is one +of those things one can give away and keep all the same. I +have a good many such things. Wouldn't you like to know +who I am, child?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that I should—very much."</p> + +<p>"I'm your great-great-grandmother," said the lady.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked the princess.</p> + +<p>"I'm your father's mother's father's mother."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! I can't understand that," said the princess.</p> + +<p>"I daresay not. I didn't expect you would. But that's +no reason why I shouldn't say it."</p> + +<p>"Oh no!" answered the princess.</p> + +<p>"I will explain it all to you when you are older," the lady +went on. "But you will be able to understand this much now: +I came here to take care of you."</p> + +<p>"Is it long since you came? Was it yesterday? Or was it +to-day, because it was so wet that I couldn't get out?"</p> + +<p>"I've been here ever since you came yourself."</p> + +<p>"What a long time!" said the princess. "I don't remember +it at all."</p> + +<p>"No. I suppose not."</p> + +<p>"But I never saw you before."</p> + +<p>"No. But you shall see me again."</p> + +<p>"Do you live in this room always?"</p> + +<p>"I don't sleep in it. I sleep on the opposite side of the landing. +I sit here most of the day."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't like it. My nursery is much prettier. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +must be a queen too, if you are my great big grandmother."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am a queen."</p> + +<p>"Where is your crown then?"</p> + +<p>"In my bedroom."</p> + +<p>"I <i>should</i> like to see it."</p> + +<p>"You shall some day—not to-day."</p> + +<p>"I wonder why nursie never told me."</p> + +<p>"Nursie doesn't know. She never saw me."</p> + +<p>"But somebody knows that you are in the house?"</p> + +<p>"No; nobody."</p> + +<p>"How do you get your dinner then?"</p> + +<p>"I keep poultry—of a sort."</p> + +<p>"Where do you keep them?"</p> + +<p>"I will show you."</p> + +<p>"And who makes the chicken broth for you?"</p> + +<p>"I never kill any of my chickens."</p> + +<p>"Then I can't understand."</p> + +<p>"What did you have for breakfast this morning?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I had bread and milk, and an egg.—I daresay you eat +their eggs."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's it. I eat their eggs."</p> + +<p>"Is that what makes your hair so white?"</p> + +<p>"No, my dear. It's old age. I am very old."</p> + +<p>"I thought so. Are you fifty?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—more than that."</p> + +<p>"Are you a hundred?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—more than that. I am too old for you to guess. +Come and see my chickens."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 429px;"> +<img src="images/col02.jpg" width="429" height="600" alt="She clapped her hands with delight, and up rose such a flapping of wings." title="" /> +<span class="caption">She clapped her hands with delight, and up rose such a flapping of wings.</span> +</div> + +<p>Again she stopped her spinning. She rose, took the princess +by the hand, led her out of the room, and opened the +door opposite the stair. The princess expected to see a lot of +hens and chickens, but instead of that, she saw the blue sky +first, and then the roofs of the house, with a multitude of the +loveliest pigeons, mostly white, but of all colors, walking +about, making bows to each other, and talking a language +she could not understand. She clapped her hands with delight, +and up rose such a flapping of wings, that she in her turn +was startled.</p> + +<p>"You've frightened my poultry," said the old lady, smiling.</p> + +<p>"And they've frightened me," said the princess, smiling +too. "But what very nice poultry! Are the eggs nice?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, very nice."</p> + +<p>"What a small egg-spoon you must have! Wouldn't it be +better to keep hens, and get bigger eggs?"</p> + +<p>"How should I feed them, though?"</p> + +<p>"I see," said the princess. "The pigeons feed themselves. +They've got wings."</p> + +<p>"Just so. If they couldn't fly, I couldn't eat their eggs."</p> + +<p>"But how do you get at the eggs? Where are their nests?"</p> + +<p>The lady took hold of a little loop of string in the wall at +the side of the door, and lifting a shutter showed a great many +pigeon-holes with nests, some with young ones and some with +eggs in them. The birds came in at the other side, and she +took out the eggs on this side. She closed it again quickly, +lest the young ones should be frightened.</p> + +<p>"Oh what a nice way!" cried the princess. "Will you give +me an egg to eat? I'm rather hungry."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I will some day, but now you must go back, or nursie will +be miserable about you. I daresay she's looking for you +everywhere."</p> + +<p>"Except here," answered the princess. "Oh how surprised +she <i>will</i> be when I tell her about my great big grand-grandmother!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that she will!" said the old lady with a curious smile. +"Mind you tell her all about it exactly."</p> + +<p>"That I will. Please will you take me back to her?"</p> + +<p>"I can't go all the way, but I will take you to the top of the +stair, and then you must run down quite fast into your own +room."</p> + +<p>The little princess put her hand in the old lady's, who, +looking this way and that, brought her to the top of the first +stair, and thence to the bottom of the second, and did not +leave her till she saw her half way down the third. When she +heard the cry of her nurse's pleasure at finding her, she turned +and walked up the stairs again, very fast indeed for such a +very great grandmother, and sat down to her spinning with +another strange smile on her sweet old face.</p> + +<p>About this spinning of hers I will tell you more next time.</p> + +<p>Guess what she was spinning.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>WHAT THE NURSE THOUGHT OF IT</div> + + +<div class='cap'>"WHY, where can you have been, princess?" asked the +nurse, taking her in her arms. "It's very unkind of +you to hide away so long. I began to be afraid—"</div> + +<p>Here she checked herself.</p> + +<p>"What were you afraid of, nursie?" asked the princess.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," she answered. "Perhaps I will tell you another +day. Now tell me where you have been?"</p> + +<p>"I've been up a long way to see my very great, huge, old +grandmother," said the princess.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?" asked the nurse, who +thought she was making fun.</p> + +<p>"I mean that I've been a long way up and up to see my +great grandmother. Ah, nursie, you don't know what a +beautiful mother of grandmothers I've got upstairs. She is +<i>such</i> an old lady! with such lovely white hair!—as white as my +silver cup. Now, when I think of it, I think her hair must be +silver."</p> + +<p>"What nonsense you are talking, princess!" said the nurse.</p> + +<p>"I'm not talking nonsense," returned Irene, rather offended. +"I will tell you all about her. She's much taller than you, and +much prettier."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I daresay!" remarked the nurse.</p> + +<p>"And she lives upon pigeon's eggs."</p> + +<p>"Most likely," said the nurse.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And she sits in an empty room, spin-spinning all day long."</p> + +<p>"Not a doubt of it," said the nurse.</p> + +<p>"And she keeps her crown in her bedroom."</p> + +<p>"Of course—quite the proper place to keep her crown in. +She wears it in bed, I'll be bound."</p> + +<p>"She didn't say that. And I don't think she does. That +wouldn't be comfortable—would it? I don't think my papa +wears his crown for a night-cap. Does he, nursie?"</p> + +<p>"I never asked him. I daresay he does."</p> + +<p>"And she's been there ever since I came here—ever so many +years."</p> + +<p>"Anybody could have told you that," said the nurse, who +did not believe a word Irene was saying.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you tell me then?"</p> + +<p>"There was no necessity. You could make it all up for +yourself."</p> + +<p>"You don't believe me then!" exclaimed the princess, astonished +and angry, as well she might be.</p> + +<p>"Did you expect me to believe you, princess?" asked the +nurse coldly. "I know princesses are in the habit of telling +make-believes, but you are the first I ever heard of who expected +to have them believed," she added, seeing that the child +was strangely in earnest.</p> + +<p>The princess burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"Well, I must say," remarked the nurse, now thoroughly +vexed with her for crying, "it is not at all becoming in a princess +to tell stories <i>and</i> expect to be believed just because she +is a princess."</p> + +<p>"But it's quite true, I tell you, nursie."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You've dreamt it, then, child."</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't dream it. I went up-stairs, and I lost myself, +and if I hadn't found the beautiful lady, I should never have +found myself."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I daresay!"</p> + +<p>"Well, you just come up with me, and see if I'm not telling +the truth."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I have other work to do. It's your dinner-time, +and I won't have any more such nonsense."</p> + +<p>The princess wiped her eyes, and her face grew so hot that +they were soon quite dry. She sat down to her dinner, but ate +next to nothing. Not to be believed does not at all agree with +princesses; for a real princess cannot tell a lie. So all the afternoon +she did not speak a word. Only when the nurse spoke +to her, she answered her, for a real princess is never rude—even +when she does well to be offended.</p> + +<p>Of course the nurse was not comfortable in her mind—not +that she suspected the least truth in Irene's story, but that she +loved her dearly, and was vexed with herself for having been +cross to her. She thought her crossness was the cause of the +princess' unhappiness, and had no idea that she was really and +deeply hurt at not being believed. But, as it became more and +more plain during the evening in every motion and look, that, +although she tried to amuse herself with her toys, her heart was +too vexed and troubled to enjoy them, her nurse's discomfort +grew and grew. When bedtime came, she undressed and laid +her down, but the child, instead of holding up her little mouth +to be kissed, turned away from her and lay still. Then nursie's +heart gave way altogether, and she began to cry. At the sound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +of her first sob, the princess turned again, and held her face to +kiss her as usual. But the nurse had her handkerchief to her +eyes, and did not see the movement.</p> + +<p>"Nursie," said the princess, "why won't you believe me?"</p> + +<p>"Because I can't believe you," said the nurse, getting angry +again.</p> + +<p>"Ah! then you can't help it," said Irene, "and I will not be +vexed with you any more. I will give you a kiss and go to +sleep."</p> + +<p>"You little angel!" cried the nurse, and caught her out of bed, +and walked about the room with her in her arms, kissing and +hugging her.</p> + +<p>"You <i>will</i> let me take you to see my dear old great big grandmother, +won't you?" said the princess, as she laid her down +again.</p> + +<p>"And <i>you</i> won't say I'm ugly, any more—will you, princess?"</p> + +<p>"Nursie! I never said you were ugly. What can you +mean?"</p> + +<p>"Well, if you didn't say it, you meant it."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I never did."</p> + +<p>"You said I wasn't so pretty as that—"</p> + +<p>"As my beautiful grandmother—yes, I did say that; and +I say it again, for it's quite true."</p> + +<p>"Then I <i>do</i> think you <i>are</i> unkind!" said the nurse, and put +her handkerchief to her eyes again.</p> + +<p>"Nursie, dear, everybody can't be as beautiful as every other +body, you know. You are <i>very</i> nice-looking, but if you had +been as beautiful as my grandmother—"</p> + +<p>"Bother your grandmother!" said the nurse.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nurse, that's very rude. You are not fit to be spoken to—till +you can behave better."</p> + +<p>The princess turned away once more, and again the nurse +was ashamed of herself.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I beg your pardon, princess," she said, though +still in an offended tone. But the princess let the tone pass, +and heeded only the words.</p> + +<p>"You won't say it again, I am sure," she answered, once more +turning toward her nurse. "I was only going to say that if +you had been twice as nice-looking as you are, some king or +other would have married you, and then what would have become +of me?"</p> + +<p>"You are an angel!" repeated the nurse, again embracing her.</p> + +<p>"Now," insisted Irene, "you <i>will</i> come and see my grandmother—won't +you?"</p> + +<p>"I will go with you anywhere you like, my cherub," she answered; +and in two minutes the weary little princess was +fast asleep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE PRINCESS LETS WELL ALONE</div> + + +<div class='cap'>WHEN she woke the next morning, the first thing she +heard was the rain still falling. Indeed, this day was +so like the last, that it would have been difficult to +tell where was the use of it. The first thing she thought of, +however, was not the rain, but the lady in the tower; and the +first question that occupied her thoughts was whether she should +not ask the nurse to fulfill her promise this very morning, and +go with her to find her grandmother as soon as she had had +her breakfast. But she came to the conclusion that perhaps +the lady would not be pleased if she took anyone to see her +without first asking leave; especially as it was pretty evident, +seeing she lived on pigeons' eggs, and cooked them herself, +that she did not want the household to know she was there. +So the princess resolved to take the first opportunity of running +up alone and asking whether she might bring her nurse. +She believed the fact that she could not otherwise convince +her she was telling the truth, would have much weight with +her grandmother.</div> + +<p>The princess and her nurse were the best of friends all dressing +time, and the princess in consequence ate an enormous +little breakfast.</p> + +<p>"I wonder, Lootie"—that was her pet-name for her nurse—"what +pigeons' eggs taste like?" she said, as she was eating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +her egg—not quite a common one, for they always picked +out the pinky ones for her.</p> + +<p>"We'll get you a pigeon's egg, and you shall judge for yourself," +said the nurse.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no!" returned Irene, suddenly reflecting they +might disturb the old lady in getting it, and that even if they +did not, she would have one less in consequence.</p> + +<p>"What a strange creature you are," said the nurse—"first +to want a thing and then to refuse it!"</p> + +<p>But she did not say it crossly, and the princess never minded +any remarks that were not unfriendly.</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, Lootie, there are reasons," she returned, +and said no more, for she did not want to bring up the subject +of their former strife, lest her nurse should offer to go before +she had had her grandmother's permission to bring her. Of +course she could refuse to take her, but then she would believe +her less than ever.</p> + +<p>Now the nurse, as she said herself afterward, could not be +every moment in the room, and as never before yesterday had +the princess given her the smallest reason for anxiety, it had +not yet come into her head to watch her more closely. So she +soon gave her a chance, and the very first that offered, Irene +was off and up the stairs again.</p> + +<p>This day's adventure, however, did not turn out like yesterday's, +although it began like it; and indeed to-day is very +seldom like yesterday, if people would note the differences—even +when it rains. The princess ran through passage after +passage, and could not find the stair of the tower. My own +suspicion is that she had not gone up high enough, and was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +searching on the second instead of the third floor. When she +turned to go back, she failed equally in her search after the +stair. She was lost once more.</p> + +<p>Something made it even worse to bear this time, and it was +no wonder that she cried again. Suddenly it occurred to her +that it was after having cried before that she had found her +grandmother's stair. She got up at once, wiped her eyes, and +started upon a fresh quest. This time, although she did not +find what she hoped, she found what was next best: she did +not come on a stair that went up, but she came upon one that +went down. It was evidently not the stair she had come up, +yet it was a good deal better than none; so down she went, +and was singing merrily before she reached the bottom. There, +to her surprise, she found herself in the kitchen. Although +she was not allowed to go there alone, her nurse had often taken +her, and she was a great favorite with the servants. So there +was a general rush at her the moment she appeared, for every +one wanted to have her; and the report of where she was soon +reached the nurse's ears. She came at once to fetch her; but +she never suspected how she had got there, and the princess +kept her own counsel.</p> + +<p>Her failure to find the old lady not only disappointed her, +but made her very thoughtful. Sometimes she came almost +to the nurse's opinion that she had dreamed all about her; +but that fancy never lasted very long. She wondered much +whether she should ever see her again, and thought it very sad +not to have been able to find her when she particularly wanted +her. She resolved to say nothing more to her nurse on the +subject, seeing it was so little in her power to prove her words.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE LITTLE MINER</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THE next day the great cloud still hung over the mountain, +and the rain poured like water from a full sponge. +The princess was very fond of being out of doors, and +she nearly cried when she saw that the weather was no better. +But the mist was not of such a dark dingy gray; there was +light in it; and as the hours went on, it grew brighter and +brighter, until it was almost too brilliant to look at; and late +in the afternoon, the sun broke out so gloriously that Irene +clapped her hands, crying,</div> + +<p>"See, see, Lootie! The sun has had his face washed. Look +how bright he is! Do get my hat, and let us go out for a walk. +Oh dear! oh dear! how happy I am!"</p> + +<p>Lootie was very glad to please the princess. She got her hat +and cloak, and they set out together for a walk up the mountain; +for the road was so hard and steep that the water could +not rest upon it, and it was always dry enough for walking a +few minutes after the rain ceased. The clouds were rolling +away in broken pieces, like great, overwoolly sheep, whose +wool the sun had bleached till it was almost too white for the +eyes to bear. Between them the sky shone with a deeper and +purer blue, because of the rain. The trees on the road-side +were hung all over with drops, which sparkled in the sun like +jewels. The only things that were no brighter for the rain, +were the brooks that ran down the mountain; they had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +changed from the clearness of crystal to a muddy brown; +but what they lost in color they gained in sound—or at least +in noise, for a brook when it is swollen is not so musical as +before. But Irene was in raptures with the great brown +streams tumbling down everywhere; and Lootie shared in +her delight, for she too had been confined to the house for +three days. At length she observed that the sun was getting +low, and said it was time to be going back. She made +the remark again and again, but, every time, the princess +begged her to go on just a little farther and a little farther; reminding +her that it was much easier to go down hill, and saying +that when they did turn, they would be at home in a +moment. So on and on they did go, now to look at a group +of ferns over whose tops a stream was pouring in a watery +arch, now to pick a shining stone from a rock by the wayside, +now to watch the flight of some bird. Suddenly the shadow +of a great mountain peak came up from behind, and shot in +front of them. When the nurse saw it, she started and shook, +and tremulously grasping the hand of the princess turned and +began to run down the hill.</p> + +<p>"What's all the haste, nursie?" asked Irene, running alongside +of her.</p> + +<p>"We must not be out a moment longer."</p> + +<p>"But we can't help being out a good many moments +longer."</p> + +<p>It was too true. The nurse almost cried. They were much +too far from home. It was against express orders to be out +with the princess one moment after the sun was down; and +they were nearly a mile up the mountain! If his Majesty,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +Irene's papa, were to hear of it, Lootie would certainly be +dismissed; and to leave the princess would break her heart. +It was no wonder she ran. But Irene was not in the least +frightened, not knowing anything to be frightened at. She +kept on chattering as well as she could, but it was not easy.</p> + +<p>"Lootie! Lootie! why do you run so fast? It shakes my +teeth when I talk."</p> + +<p>"Then don't talk," said Lootie.</p> + +<p>But the princess went on talking. She was always saying, +"Look, look, Lootie," but Lootie paid no more heed to anything +she said, only ran on.</p> + +<p>"Look, look, Lootie! Don't you see that funny man peeping +over the rock?"</p> + +<p>Lootie only ran the faster. They had to pass the rock and +when they came nearer, the princess clearly saw that it was +only a large fragment of the rock itself that she had mistaken +for a man.</p> + +<p>"Look, look, Lootie! There's <i>such</i> a curious creature at +the foot of that old tree. Look at it, Lootie! It's making +faces at us, I do think."</p> + +<p>Lootie gave a stifled cry, and ran faster still—so fast, that +Irene's little legs could not keep up with her, and she fell with +a clash. It was a hard down-hill road, and she had been running +very fast—so it was no wonder she began to cry. This +put the nurse nearly beside herself; but all she could do was +to run on, the moment she got the princess on her feet again.</p> + +<p>"Who's that laughing at me?" said the princess, trying to +keep in her sobs, and running too fast for her grazed knees.</p> + +<p>"Nobody, child," said the nurse, almost angrily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> + +<p>But that instant there came a burst of coarse tittering from +somewhere near, and a hoarse indistinct voice that seemed +to say, "Lies! lies! lies!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried the nurse with a sigh that was almost a scream, +and ran on faster than ever.</p> + +<p>"Nursie! Lootie! I can't run any more. Do let us walk a bit."</p> + +<p>"What <i>am</i> I to do?" said the nurse. "Here, I will carry +you."</p> + +<p>She caught her up; but found her much too heavy to run +with, and had to set her down again. Then she looked wildly +about her, gave a great cry, and said—</p> + +<p>"We've taken the wrong turning somewhere, and I don't +know where we are. We are lost, lost!"</p> + +<p>The terror she was in had quite bewildered her. It was +true enough they had lost the way. They had been running +down into a little valley in which there was no house to be seen.</p> + +<p>Now Irene did not know what good reason there was for her +nurse's terror, for the servants had all strict orders never to +mention the goblins to her, but it was very discomposing to +see her nurse in such a fright. Before, however, she had time +to grow thoroughly alarmed like her, she heard the sound of +whistling, and that revived her. Presently she saw a boy +coming up the road from the valley to meet them. He was +the whistler; but before they met, his whistling changed to +singing. And this is something like what he sang:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Ring! dod! bang!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Go the hammers' clang!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hit and turn and bore!</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Whizz and puff and roar!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Thus we rive the rocks.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Force the goblin locks.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">See the shining ore!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">One, two, three—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Bright as gold can be!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Four, five, six—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Shovels, mattocks, picks!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Seven, eight, nine—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Light your lamp at mine.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Ten, eleven, twelve—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Loosely hold the helve.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">We're the merry miner-boys,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Make the goblins hold their noise."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>"I wish you would hold <i>your</i> noise," said the nurse rudely, for +the very word goblin at such a time and in such a place made +her tremble. It would bring the goblins upon them to a certainty, +she thought, to defy them in that way. But whether +the boy heard her or not, he did not stop his singing.</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">This is worth the siftin';</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">There's the match, and lay't in.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Nineteen, twenty—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Goblins in a plenty."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>"Do be quiet," cried the nurse, in a whispered shriek. +But the boy, who was now close at hand, still went on.</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Hush! scush! scurry!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">There you go in a hurry!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Gobble! gobble! gobblin'!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">There you go a wobblin';</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hobble, hobble, hobblin'!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Cobble! cobble! cobblin'!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hob-bob-goblin—Huuuuuh!"</span><br /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There!" said the boy, as he stood still opposite them. +"There! that'll do for them. They can't bear singing, and +they can't stand that song. They can't sing themselves, for +they have no more voice than a crow; and they don't like +other people to sing."</p> + +<p>The boy was dressed in a miner's dress, with a curious cap +on his head. He was a very nice-looking boy, with eyes as +dark as the mines in which he worked, and as sparkling as the +crystals in their rocks. He was about twelve years old. His +face was almost too pale for beauty, which came of his being +so little in the open air and the sunlight—for even vegetables +grown in the dark are white; but he looked happy, merry +indeed—perhaps at the thought of having routed the goblins; +and his bearing as he stood before them had nothing clownish +or rude about it.</p> + +<p>"I saw them," he went on, "as I came up; and I'm very glad +I did. I knew they were after somebody, but I couldn't see who +it was. They won't touch you so long as I'm with you."</p> + +<p>"Why, who are you?" asked the nurse, offended at the freedom +with which he spoke to them.</p> + +<p>"I'm Peter's son."</p> + +<p>"Who's Peter?"</p> + +<p>"Peter the miner."</p> + +<p>"I don't know him."</p> + +<p>"I'm his son, though."</p> + +<p>"And why should the goblins mind <i>you</i>, pray?"</p> + +<p>"Because I don't mind them. I'm used to them."</p> + +<p>"What difference does that make?"</p> + +<p>"If you're not afraid of them, they're afraid of you. I'm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +not afraid of them. That's all. But it's all that's wanted—up +here, that is. It's a different thing down there. They won't +always mind that song even, down there. And if anyone +sings it, they stand grinning at him awfully; and if he gets +frightened, and misses a word, or says a wrong one, they—oh! +don't they give it him!"</p> + +<p>"What do they do to him?" asked Irene, with a trembling +voice.</p> + +<p>"Don't go frightening the princess," said the nurse.</p> + +<p>"The princess!" repeated the little miner, taking off his +curious cap. "I beg your pardon; but you oughtn't to be out +so late. Everybody knows that's against the law."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed it is!" said the nurse, beginning to cry again. +"And I shall have to suffer for it."</p> + +<p>"What does that matter?" said the boy. "It must be your +fault. It is the princess who will suffer for it. I hope they +didn't hear you call her the princess. If they did, they're +sure to know her again: they're awfully sharp."</p> + +<p>"Lootie! Lootie!" cried the princess. "Take me home."</p> + +<p>"Don't go on like that," said the nurse to the boy, almost +fiercely. "How could I help it? I lost my way."</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't have been out so late. You wouldn't have +lost your way if you hadn't been frightened," said the boy. +"Come along. I'll soon set you right again. Shall I carry your +little Highness?"</p> + +<p>"Impertinence!" murmured the nurse, but she did not say +it aloud, for she thought if she made him angry, he might +take his revenge by telling some one belonging to the house, +and then it would be sure to come to the king's ears.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, thank you," said Irene. "I can walk very well, though +I can't run so fast as nursie. If you will give me one hand, +Lootie will give me another, and then I shall get on famously."</p> + +<p>They soon had her between them, holding a hand of each.</p> + +<p>"Now let's run," said the nurse.</p> + +<p>"No, no," said the little miner. "That's the worst thing +you can do. If you hadn't run before, you would not have +lost your way. And if you run now, they will be after you in +a moment."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to run," said Irene.</p> + +<p>"You don't think of <i>me</i>," said the nurse.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do, Lootie. The boy says they won't touch us if +we don't run."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but if they know at the house that I've kept you out +so late, I shall be turned away, and that would break my heart."</p> + +<p>"Turned away, Lootie. Who would turn you away?"</p> + +<p>"Your papa, child."</p> + +<p>"But I'll tell him it was all my fault. And you know it was, +Lootie."</p> + +<p>"He won't mind that. I'm sure he won't."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll cry, and go down on my knees to him, and beg +him not to take away my own dear Lootie."</p> + +<p>The nurse was comforted at hearing this, and said no more. +They went on, walking pretty fast, but taking care not to run +a step.</p> + +<p>"I want to talk to you," said Irene to the little miner; "but +it's so awkward! I don't know your name."</p> + +<p>"My name's Curdie, little princess."</p> + +<p>"What a funny name! Curdie! What more?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Curdie Peterson. What's your name, please?"</p> + +<p>"Irene."</p> + +<p>"What more?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know what more.—What more is my name, Lootie?"</p> + +<p>"Princesses haven't got more than one name. They don't +want it."</p> + +<p>"Oh then, Curdie, you must call me just Irene, and no more."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," said the nurse indignantly. "He shall do no +such thing."</p> + +<p>"What shall he call me, then, Lootie?"</p> + +<p>"Your royal Highness."</p> + +<p>"My royal Highness! What's that? No, no, Lootie, I will +not be called names. I don't like them. You said to me once +yourself that it's only rude children that call names; and I'm +sure Curdie wouldn't be rude.—Curdie, my name's Irene."</p> + +<p>"Well, Irene," said Curdie, with a glance at the nurse which +showed he enjoyed teasing her, "it's very kind of you to let +me call you anything. I like your name very much."</p> + +<p>He expected the nurse to interfere again; but he soon saw +that she was too frightened to speak. She was staring at something +a few yards before them, in the middle of the path, where +it narrowed between rocks so that only one could pass at a time.</p> + +<p>"It's very much kinder of you to go out of your way to take +us home," said Irene.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going out of my way yet," said Curdie. "It's on +the other side those rocks the path turns off to my father's."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't think of leaving us till we're safe home, I'm +sure," gasped the nurse.</p> + +<p>"Of course not," said Curdie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You dear, good, kind Curdie! I'll give you a kiss when we +get home," said the princess.</p> + +<p>The nurse gave her a great pull by the hand she held. But +at that instant the something in the middle of the way, which +had looked like a great lump of earth brought down by the +rain, began to move. One after another it shot out four long +things, like two arms and two legs, but it was now too dark to +tell what they were. The nurse began to tremble from head +to foot. Irene clasped Curdie's hand yet faster, and Curdie +began to sing again.</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"One, two—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hit and hew!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Three, four—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Blast and bore!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Five, six—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">There's a fix!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Seven, eight—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hold it straight.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Nine, ten—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hit again!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hurry! scurry!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Bother! smother!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">There's a toad</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In the road!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Smash it!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Squash it!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Fry it!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Dry it!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">You're another!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Up and off!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">There's enough!—Huuuuuh!"</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>As he uttered the last words, Curdie let go his hold of his +companion, and rushed at the thing in the road, as if he would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +trample it under his feet. It gave a great spring, and ran straight +up one of the rocks like a huge spider. Curdie turned back +laughing, and took Irene's hand again. She grasped his very +tight, but said nothing till they had passed the rocks. A few +yards more and she found herself on a part of the road she knew, +and was able to speak again.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/col03.jpg" width="450" height="600" alt=""Never mind, Princess Irene," he said. "You mustn't kiss me to-night. But you sha'n't break your word. I will come another time."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Never mind, Princess Irene," he said. "You mustn't kiss me to-night. But you sha'n't break your word. I will come another time."</span> +</div> + +<p>"Do you know, Curdie, I don't quite like your song; it +sounds to me rather rude," she said.</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps it is," answered Curdie. "I never thought +of that; it's a way we have. We do it because they don't like it."</p> + +<p>"Who don't like it?"</p> + +<p>"The cobs, as we call them."</p> + +<p>"Don't!" said the nurse.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" said Curdie.</p> + +<p>"I beg you won't. Please don't."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if you ask me that way, of course I won't; though I +don't a bit know why. Look! there are the lights of your great +house down below. You'll be at home in five minutes now."</p> + +<p>Nothing more happened. They reached home in safety. +Nobody had missed them, or even known they had gone out; +and they arrived at the door belonging to their part of the +house without anyone seeing them. The nurse was rushing +in with a hurried and not over-gracious good-night to Curdie; +but the princess pulled her hand from hers, and was just throwing +her arms around Curdie's neck, when she caught her again +and dragged her away.</p> + +<p>"Lootie, Lootie, I promised Curdie a kiss," cried Irene.</p> + +<p>"A princess mustn't give kisses. It's not at all proper," +said Lootie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I promised," said the princess.</p> + +<p>"There's no occasion; he's only a miner-boy."</p> + +<p>"He is a good boy, and a brave boy, and he has been very +kind to us. Lootie! Lootie! I promised."</p> + +<p>"Then you shouldn't have promised."</p> + +<p>"Lootie, I promised him a kiss."</p> + +<p>"Your royal Highness," said Lootie, suddenly growing very +respectful, "must come in directly."</p> + +<p>"Nurse, a princess must <i>not</i> break her word," said Irene, +drawing herself up and standing stockstill.</p> + +<p>Lootie did not know which the king might count the worst—to +let the princess be out after sunset, or to let her kiss a +miner-boy. She did not know that, being a gentleman, as +many kings have been, he would have counted neither of them +the worse. However much he might have disliked his daughter +to kiss the miner-boy, he would not have had her break +her word for all the goblins in creation. But, as I say, the +nurse was not lady enough to understand this, and so she was +in a great difficulty, for, if she insisted, some one might hear +the princess cry and run to see, and then all would come out. +But here Curdie came again to the rescue.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Princess Irene," he said. "You mustn't +kiss me to-night. But you sha'n't break your word. I will +come another time. You may be sure I will."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, Curdie!" said the princess, and stopped +crying.</p> + +<p>"Good night, Irene; good night, Lootie," said Curdie, and +turned and was out of sight in a moment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I should like to see him!" muttered the nurse, as she carried +the princess to the nursery.</p> + +<p>"You <i>will</i> see him," said Irene. "You may be sure Curdie +will keep his word. He's <i>sure</i> to come again."</p> + +<p>"I should like to see him!" repeated the nurse, and said no +more. She did not want to open a new cause of strife with +the princess by saying more plainly what she meant. Glad +enough that she had succeeded both in getting home unseen, +and in keeping the princess from kissing the miner's boy, she +resolved to watch her far better in future. Her carelessness +had already doubled the danger she was in. Formerly the +goblins were her only fear; now she had to protect her charge +from Curdie as well.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE MINES</div> + + +<div class='cap'>CURDIE went home whistling. He resolved to say +nothing about the princess for fear of getting the nurse +into trouble, for while he enjoyed teasing her because +of her absurdity, he was careful not to do her any harm. He +saw no more of the goblins, and was soon fast asleep in his bed.</div> + +<p>He woke in the middle of the night, and thought he heard +curious noises outside. He sat up and listened; then got up, +and, opening the door very quietly, went out. When he peeped +round the corner, he saw, under his own window, a group of +stumpy creatures, whom he at once recognized by their shape. +Hardly, however, had he begun his "One, two, three!" when +they broke asunder, scurried away, and were out of sight. He +returned laughing, got into bed again, and was fast asleep in +a moment.</p> + +<p>Reflecting a little over the matter in the morning, he came +to the conclusion that, as nothing of the kind had ever happened +before, they must be annoyed with him for interfering +to protect the princess. By the time he was dressed, however, +he was thinking of something quite different, for he did not +value the enmity of the goblins in the least.</p> + +<p>As soon as they had had breakfast, he set off with his father +for the mine.</p> + +<p>They entered the hill by a natural opening under a huge +rock, where a little stream rushed out. They followed its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +course for a few yards, when the passage took a turn, and +sloped steeply into the heart of the hill. With many angles +and windings and branchings off, and sometimes with steps +where it came upon a natural gulf, it led them deep into the +hill before they arrived at the place where they were at present +digging out the precious ore. This was of various kinds, for +the mountain was very rich with the better sorts of metals. +With flint and steel, and tinder box, they lighted their lamps, +then fixed them on their heads, and were soon hard at work +with their pickaxes and shovels and hammers. Father and +son were at work near each other, but not in the same <i>gang</i>—the +passages out of which the ore was dug, they called <i>gangs</i>—for +when the <i>lode</i>, or vein of ore, was small, one miner would +have to dig away alone in a passage no bigger than gave him +just room to work—sometimes in uncomfortable cramped +positions. If they stopped for a moment they could hear +everywhere around them, some nearer, some farther off, the +sounds of their companions burrowing away in all directions +in the inside of the great mountain—some boring holes in the +rock in order to blow it up with gunpowder, others shoveling +the broken ore into baskets to be carried to the mouth of the +mine, others hitting away with their pickaxes. Sometimes, +if the miner was in a very lonely part, he would hear only a +tap-tapping, no louder than that of a woodpecker, for the +sound would come from a great distance off through the solid +mountain rock.</p> + +<p>The work was hard at best, for it is very warm underground; +but it was not particularly unpleasant, and some of the miners, +when they wanted to earn a little more money for a particular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +purpose, would stop behind the rest, and work all night. But +you could not tell night from day down there, except from +feeling tired and sleepy; for no light of the sun ever came into +those gloomy regions. Some who had thus remained behind +during the night, although certain there were none of their +companions at work, would declare the next morning that +they heard, every time they halted for a moment to take +breath, a tap-tapping all about them, as if the mountain were +then more full of miners than ever it was during the day; +and some in consequence would never stay over night, for +all knew those were the sounds of the goblins. They worked +only at night, for the miners' night was the goblins' day. +Indeed, the greater number of the miners were afraid of the +goblins: for there were strange stories well known amongst +them of the treatment some had received whom the goblins +had surprised at their work during the night. The more +courageous of them, however, amongst them Peter Peterson +and Curdie, who in this took after his father, had stayed in +the mine all night again and again, and although they had +several times encountered a few stray goblins, had never yet +failed in driving them away. As I have indicated already, the +chief defence against them was verse, for they hated verse of +every kind, and some kinds they could not endure at all. I +suspect they could not make any themselves, and that was +why they disliked it so much. At all events, those who were +most afraid of them were those who could neither make verses +themselves, nor remember the verses that other people made +for them; while those who were never afraid were those who +could make verses for themselves; for although there were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +certain old rhymes which were very effectual, yet it was well +known that a new rhyme, if of the right sort, was even more +distasteful to them, and therefore more effectual in putting +them to flight.</p> + +<p>Perhaps my readers may be wondering what the goblins +could be about, working all night long, seeing they never carried +up the ore and sold it; but when I have informed them +concerning what Curdie learned the very next night, they +will be able to understand.</p> + +<p>For Curdie had determined, if his father would permit him, +to remain there alone this night—and that for two reasons: +first, he wanted to get extra wages in order that he might buy +a very warm red petticoat for his mother, who had begun to +complain of the cold of the mountain air sooner than usual +this autumn; and second, he had just a faint glimmering of +hope of finding out what the goblins were about under his window +the night before.</p> + +<p>When he told his father, he made no objection, for he had +great confidence in his boy's courage and resources.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I can't stay with you," said Peter; "but I want +to go and pay the parson a visit this evening, and besides I've +had a bit of a headache all day."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry for that, father," said Curdie.</p> + +<p>"Oh! it's not much. You'll be sure to take care of yourself, +won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, father; I will. I'll keep a sharp lookout, I promise +you."</p> + +<p>Curdie was the only one who remained in the mine. About +six o'clock the rest went away, every one bidding him good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +night, and telling him to take care of himself; for he was a +great favorite with them all.</p> + +<p>"Don't forget your rhymes," said one.</p> + +<p>"No, no," answered Curdie.</p> + +<p>"It's no matter if he does," said another, "for he'll only +have to make a new one."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but he mightn't be able to make it fast enough," +said another; "and while it was cooking in his head, they +might take a mean advantage and set upon him."</p> + +<p>"I'll do my best," said Curdie. "I'm not afraid."</p> + +<p>"We all know that," they returned, and left him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE GOBLINS</div> + + +<div class='cap'>FOR some time Curdie worked away briskly, throwing +all the ore he had disengaged on one side behind him, +to be ready for carrying out in the morning. He heard a +good deal of goblin-tapping, but it all sounded far away in the +hill, and he paid it little heed. Toward midnight he began to +feel rather hungry; so he dropped his pickaxe, got a lump of +bread which in the morning he had laid in a damp hole in the +rock, sat down on a heap of ore and ate his supper. Then he +leaned back for five minutes' rest before beginning his work +again, and laid his head against the rock. He had not kept +the position for one minute before he heard something which +made him sharpen his ears. It sounded like a voice inside the +rock. After a while he heard it again. It was a goblin-voice—there +could be no doubt about that—and this time he could +make out the words.</div> + +<p>"Hadn't we better be moving?" it said.</p> + +<p>A rougher and deeper voice replied:</p> + +<p>"There's no hurry. That wretched little mole won't be +through to-night, if he work ever so hard. He's by no means +at the thinnest place."</p> + +<p>"But you still think the lode does come through into our +house?" said the first voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but a good bit farther on than he has got to yet. If +he had struck a stroke more to the side just here," said the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +goblin, tapping the very stone, as it seemed to Curdie, against +which his head lay, "he would have been through; but he's +a couple of yards past it now, and if he follow the lode it will +be a week before it leads him in. You see it back there—a +long way. Still, perhaps, in case of accident, it would be as +well to be getting out of this. Helfer, you'll take the great +chest. That's your business, you know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, dad," said a third voice. "But you must help me to +get it on my back. It's awfully heavy, you know."</p> + +<p>"Well, it isn't just a bag of smoke, I admit. But you're as +strong as a mountain, Helfer."</p> + +<p>"You say so, dad. I think myself I'm all right. But I could +carry ten times as much if it wasn't for my feet."</p> + +<p>"That is your weak point, I confess, my boy."</p> + +<p>"Ain't it yours, too, father?"</p> + +<p>"Well, to be honest, it is a goblin-weakness. Why they +come so soft, I declare I haven't an idea."</p> + +<p>"Specially when your head's so hard, you know, father."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my boy. The goblin's glory is his head. To think +how the fellows up above there have to put on helmets and +things when they go fighting. Ha! ha!"</p> + +<p>"But why don't we wear shoes like them, father? I should +like it—specially when I've got a chest like that on my head."</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, it's not the fashion. The king never wears +shoes."</p> + +<p>"The queen does."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but that's for distinction. The first queen, you see—I +mean the king's first wife—wore shoes of course, because +she came from upstairs; and so, when she died, the next queen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +would not be inferior to her as she called it, and would wear +shoes too. It was all pride. She is the hardest in forbidding +them to the rest of the women."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I wouldn't wear them—no, not for—that I wouldn't!" +said the first voice, which was evidently that of the +mother of the family. "I can't think why either of them +should."</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you the first was from upstairs?" said the +other. "That was the only silly thing I ever knew his Majesty +guilty of. Why should he marry an outlandish woman like +that—one of our natural enemies too?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose he fell in love with her."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! pooh! He's just as happy now with one of his own +people."</p> + +<p>"Did she die <i>very</i> soon? They didn't tease her to death, +did they?"</p> + +<p>"Oh dear no! The king worshipped her very footmarks."</p> + +<p>"What made her die, then? Didn't the air agree with her?"</p> + +<p>"She died when the young prince was born."</p> + +<p>"How silly of her! <i>We</i> never do that. It must have been +because she wore shoes."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that."</p> + +<p>"Why do they wear shoes up there?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! now that's a sensible question, and I will answer it. +But in order to do so, I must first tell you a secret. I once +saw the queen's feet."</p> + +<p>"Without her shoes?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—without her shoes."</p> + +<p>"No! Did you? How was it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Never you mind how it was. <i>She</i> didn't know I saw them. +And what do you think!—they had <i>toes!</i>"</p> + +<p>"Toes! What's that?"</p> + +<p>"You may well ask! I should never have known if I had +not seen the queen's feet. Just imagine! the ends of her feet +were split up into five or six thin pieces!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, horrid! How <i>could</i> the king have fallen in love with +her?"</p> + +<p>"You forget that she wore shoes. That is just why she +wore them. That is why all the men, and women too, upstairs +wear shoes. They can't bear the sight of their own feet +without them."</p> + +<p>"Ah! now I understand. If ever you wish for shoes again, +Helfer, I'll hit your feet—I will."</p> + +<p>"No, no, mother; pray don't."</p> + +<p>"Then don't you."</p> + +<p>"But with such a big box on my head—"</p> + +<p>A horrid scream followed, which Curdie interpreted as in +reply to a blow from his mother upon the feet of her eldest +goblin.</p> + +<p>"Well, I never knew so much before!" remarked a fourth +voice.</p> + +<p>"Your knowledge is not universal quite yet," said the father. +"You were only fifty last month. Mind you see to the bed +and bedding. As soon as we've finished our supper, we'll +be up and going. Ha! ha! ha!"</p> + +<p>"What are you laughing at, husband?"</p> + +<p>"I'm laughing to think what a mess the miners will find +themselves in—somewhere before this day ten years."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, what do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, you do mean something. You always do mean +something."</p> + +<p>"It's more than you do, then, wife."</p> + +<p>"That may be; but it's not more than I find out, you know."</p> + +<p>"Ha! ha! You're a sharp one. What a mother you've +got, Helfer!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, father."</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose I must tell you. They're all at the palace +consulting about it to-night; and as soon as we've got away +from this thin place, I'm going there to hear what night they +fix upon. I should like to see that young ruffian there on the +other side, struggling in the agonies of—"</p> + +<p>He dropped his voice so low that Curdie could hear only a +growl. The growl went on in a low bass for a good while, as +inarticulate as if the goblin's tongue had been a sausage; and +it was not until his wife spoke again that it rose to its former +pitch.</p> + +<p>"But what shall we do when you are at the palace?" she +asked.</p> + +<p>"I will see you safe in the new house I've been digging for +you for the last two months. Podge, you mind the table and +chairs. I commit them to your care. The table has seven +legs—each chair three. I shall require them all at your hands."</p> + +<p>After this arose a confused conversation about the various +household goods and their transport; and Curdie heard nothing +more that was of any importance.</p> + +<p>He now knew at least one of the reasons for the constant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +sound of the goblin hammers and pickaxes at night. They +were making new houses for themselves, to which they might +retreat when the miners should threaten to break into their +dwellings. But he had learned two things of far greater importance. +The first was, that some grievous calamity was +preparing, and almost ready to fall upon the heads of the miners; +the second was—the one weak point of a goblin's body: +he had not known that their feet were so tender as he had now +reason to suspect. He had heard it said that they had no +toes: he had never had opportunity of inspecting them closely +enough in the dusk in which they always appeared, to satisfy +himself whether it was a correct report. Indeed, he had not +been able even to satisfy himself as to whether they had no +fingers, although that also was commonly said to be the fact. +One of the miners, indeed, who had had more schooling than +the rest, was wont to argue that such must have been the primordial +condition of humanity, and that education and handicraft +had developed both toes and fingers—with which proposition +Curdie had once heard his father sarcastically agree, +alleging in support of it the probability that babies' gloves +were a traditional remnant of the old state of things; while +the stockings of all ages, no regard being paid in them to the +toes, pointed in the same direction. But what was of importance +was the fact concerning the softness of the goblin-feet, +which he foresaw might be useful to all miners. What he had +to do in the mean time, however, was to discover, if possible, +the special evil design the goblins had now in their heads.</p> + +<p>Although he knew all the gangs and all the natural galleries +with which they communicated in the mined part of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +mountain, he had not the least idea where the palace of the +king of the gnomes was; otherwise he would have set out at +once on the enterprise of discovering what the said design +was. He judged, and rightly, that it must lie in a farther part +of the mountain, between which and the mine there was as +yet no communication. There must be one nearly completed, +however; for it could be but a thin partition which now separated +them. If only he could get through in time to follow +the goblins as they retreated! A few blows would doubtless +be sufficient—just where his ear now lay; but if he attempted +to strike there with his pickaxe, he would only hasten the departure +of the family, put them on their guard, and perhaps +lose their involuntary guidance. He therefore began to feel +the wall with his hands, and soon found that some of the stones +were loose enough to be drawn out with little noise.</p> + +<p>Laying hold of a large one with both his hands, he drew it +gently out, and let it down softly.</p> + +<p>"What was that noise?" said the goblin father.</p> + +<p>Curdie blew out his light, lest it should shine through.</p> + +<p>"It must be that one miner that stayed behind the rest," +said the mother.</p> + +<p>"No; he's been gone a good while. I haven't heard a blow +for an hour. Besides, it wasn't like that."</p> + +<p>"Then I suppose it must have been a stone carried down +the brook inside."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. It will have more room by and by."</p> + +<p>Curdie kept quite still. After a little while, hearing nothing +but the sounds of their preparations for departure, mingled +with an occasional word of direction, and anxious to know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +whether the removal of the stone had made an opening into +the goblins' house, he put in his hand to feel. It went in a +good way, and then came in contact with something soft. +He had but a moment to feel it over, it was so quickly withdrawn: +it was one of the toeless goblin-feet. The owner of it +gave a cry of fright.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Helfer?" asked his mother.</p> + +<p>"A beast came out of the wall, and licked my foot."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! There are no wild beasts in our country," +said his father.</p> + +<p>"But it was, father. I felt it."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, I say. Will you malign your native realms and +reduce them to a level with the country up-stairs? That is +swarming with wild beasts of every description."</p> + +<p>"But I did feel it, father."</p> + +<p>"I tell you to hold your tongue. You are no patriot."</p> + +<p>Curdie suppressed his laughter, and lay still as a mouse—but +no stiller, for every moment he kept nibbling away with +his fingers at the edges of the hole. He was slowly making +it bigger, for here the rock had been very much shattered with +the blasting.</p> + +<p>There seemed to be a good many in the family, to judge +from the mass of confused talk which now and then came +through the hole; but when all were speaking together, and +just as if they had bottle-brushes—each at least one—in their +throats, it was not easy to make out much that was said. At +length he heard once more what the father-goblin was saying.</p> + +<p>"Now then," he said, "get your bundles on your backs. +Here, Helfer, I'll help you up with your chest."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I wish it <i>was</i> my chest, father."</p> + +<p>"Your turn will come in good time enough! Make haste. +I <i>must</i> go to the meeting at the palace to-night. When that's +over, we can come back and clear out the last of the things +before our enemies return in the morning. Now light your +torches, and come along. What a distinction it is to provide +our own light, instead of being dependent on a thing hung up +in the air—a most disagreeable contrivance—intended no +doubt to blind us when we venture out under its baleful influence! +Quite glaring and vulgar, I call it, though no doubt +useful to poor creatures who haven't the wit to make light +for themselves!"</p> + +<p>Curdie could hardly keep himself from calling through to +know whether they made the fire to light their torches by. But +a moment's reflection showed him that they would have said +they did, inasmuch as they struck two stones together, and +the fire came.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE HALL OF THE GOBLIN PALACE</div> + + +<div class='cap'>A SOUND of many soft feet followed, but soon ceased. +Then Curdie flew at the hole like a tiger, and tore and +pulled. The sides gave way, and it was soon large +enough for him to crawl through. He would not betray himself +by rekindling his lamp, but the torches of the retreating company, +departing in a straight line up a long avenue from the +door of their cave, threw back light enough to afford him a +glance round the deserted home of the goblins. To his surprise, +he could discover nothing to distinguish it from an ordinary +cave in the rock, upon many of which he had come with +the rest of the miners in the progress of their excavations. +The goblins had talked of coming back for the rest of their +household gear: he saw nothing that would have made him +suspect a family had taken shelter there for a single night. +The floor was rough and stony; the walls full of projecting +corners; the roof in one place twenty feet high, in another +endangering his forehead; while on one side a stream, no +thicker than a needle, it is true, but still sufficient to spread +a wide dampness over the wall, flowed down the face of the +rock. But the troop in front of him was toiling under heavy +burdens. He could distinguish Helfer now and then, in the +flickering light and shade, with his heavy chest on his bending +shoulders; while the second brother was almost buried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +in what looked like a great feather-bed. "Where do they get +the feathers?" thought Curdie; but in a moment the troop +disappeared at a turn of the way, and it was now both safe and +necessary for Curdie to follow them, lest they should be round +the next turning before he saw them again, for so he might +lose them altogether. He darted after them like a grayhound. +When he reached the corner and looked cautiously round, +he saw them again at some distance down another long passage. +None of the galleries he saw that night bore signs of +the work of man—or of goblin either. Stalactites far older +than the mines hung from their roofs; and their floors were +rough with boulders and large round stones, showing that +there water must have once run. He waited again at this +corner till they had disappeared round the next, and so followed +them a long way through one passage after another. +The passages grew more and more lofty, and were more and +more covered in the roof with shining stalactites.</div> + +<p>It was a strange enough procession which he followed. But +the strangest part of it was the household animals which +crowded amongst the feet of the goblins. It was true they +had no wild animals down there—at least they did not know +of any; but they had a wonderful number of tame ones. I +must, however, reserve any contributions toward the natural +history of these for a later position in my story.</p> + +<p>At length, turning a corner too abruptly, he had almost rushed +into the middle of the goblin family; for there they had already +set down all their burdens on the floor of a cave considerably +larger than that which they had left. They were +as yet too breathless to speak, else he would have had warning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +of their arrest. He started back, however, before any one +saw him, and retreating a good way, stood watching till the +father should come out to go to the palace. Before very long, +both he and his son Helfer appeared and kept on in the same +direction as before, while Curdie followed them again with +renewed precaution. For a long time he heard no sound except +something like the rush of a river inside the rock; but +at length what seemed the far-off noise of a great shouting +reached his ears, which however presently ceased. After advancing +a good way farther, he thought he heard a single +voice. It sounded clearer and clearer as he went on, until at +last he could almost distinguish the words. In a moment or +two, keeping after the goblins round another corner, he once +more started back—this time in amazement.</p> + +<p>He was at the entrance of a magnificent cavern, of an oval +shape, once probably a huge natural reservoir of water, now +the great palace hall of the goblins. It rose to a tremendous +height, but the roof was composed of such shining materials, +and the multitude of torches carried by the goblins who crowded +the floor lighted up the place so brilliantly, that Curdie could +see to the top quite well. But he had no idea how immense the +place was, until his eyes had got accustomed to it, which was +not for a good many minutes. The rough projections on the +walls, and the shadows thrown upward from them by the +torches, made the sides of the chamber look as if they were +crowded with statues upon brackets and pedestals, reaching +in irregular tiers from floor to roof. The walls themselves +were, in many parts, of gloriously shining substances, some +of them gorgeously colored besides, which powerfully contrasted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +with the shadows. Curdie could not help wondering +whether his rhymes would be of any use against such a multitude +of goblins as filled the floor of the hall, and indeed felt +considerably tempted to begin his shout of <i>One, two, three!</i> but +as there was no reason for routing them, and much for endeavoring +to discover their designs, he kept himself perfectly quiet, +and peeping round the edge of the doorway, listened with +both his sharp ears.</p> + +<p>At the other end of the hall, high above the heads of the +multitude, was a terrace-like ledge of considerable height, +caused by the receding of the upper part of the cavern wall. +Upon this sat the king and his court, the king on a throne +hollowed out of a huge block of green copper ore, and his court +upon lower seats around it. The king had been making them +a speech, and the applause which followed it was what Curdie +had heard. One of the court was now addressing the multitude. +What he heard him say was to the following effect:</p> + +<p>"Hence it appears that two plans have been for some time +together working in the strong head of his Majesty for the deliverance +of his people. Regardless of the fact that we were +the first possessors of the regions they now inhabit, regardless +equally of the fact that we abandoned that region from +the loftiest motives; regardless also of the self-evident fact +that we excel them as far in mental ability as they excel us +in stature, they look upon us as a degraded race, and make a +mockery of all our finer feelings. But the time has almost +arrived when—thanks to his Majesty's inventive genius—it +will be in our power to take a thorough revenge upon them +once for all, in respect of their unfriendly behavior."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>"May it please your Majesty—" cried a voice close by the +door, which Curdie recognized as that of the goblin he had +followed.</p> + +<p>"Who is he that interrupts the Chancellor?" cried another +from near the throne.</p> + +<p>"Glump," answered several voices.</p> + +<p>"He is our trusty subject," said the king himself, in a slow +and stately voice: "let him come forward and speak."</p> + +<p>A lane was parted through the crowd, and Glump having +ascended the platform and bowed to the king, spoke as follows:</p> + +<p>"Sire, I would have held my peace, had I not known that +I only knew how near was the moment to which the Chancellor +had just referred. In all probability, before another day +is past, the enemy will have broken through into my house—the +partition between being even now not more than a foot +in thickness."</p> + +<p>"Not quite so much," thought Curdie to himself.</p> + +<p>"This very evening I have had to remove my household +effects; therefore the sooner we are ready to carry out the +plan, for the execution of which his Majesty has been making +such magnificent preparations, the better. I may just add, +that within the last few days I have perceived a small outbreak +in my dining-room, which combined with observations +upon the course of the river escaping where the evil men enter, +has convinced me that close to the spot must lie a deep gulf +in its channel. This discovery will, I trust, add considerably +to the otherwise immense forces at his Majesty's disposal."</p> + +<p>He ceased, and the king graciously acknowledged his speech +with a bend of his head; whereupon Glump, after a bow to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +his Majesty, slid down amongst the rest of the undistinguished +multitude. Then the Chancellor rose and resumed.</p> + +<p>"The information which the worthy Glump has given us," +he said, "might have been of considerable import at the present +moment, but for that other design already referred to, +which naturally takes precedence. His Majesty, unwilling +to proceed to extremities, and well aware that such measures +sooner or later result in violent reactions, has excogitated a +more fundamental and comprehensive measure, of which I +need say no more. Should his Majesty be successful—as who +dares to doubt?—then a peace, all to the advantage of the +goblin kingdom, will be established for a generation at least, +rendered absolutely secure by the pledge which his royal +Highness the prince will have and hold for the good behavior +of his relatives. Should his Majesty fail—which who shall +dare even to imagine in his most secret thoughts?—then will +be the time for carrying out with rigor the design to which +Glump referred, and for which our preparations are even now +all but completed. The failure of the former will render the +latter imperative."</p> + +<p>Curdie perceiving that the assembly was drawing to a +close, and that there was little chance of either plan being +more fully discovered, now thought it prudent to make his +escape before the goblins began to disperse, and slipped quietly +away.</p> + +<p>There was not much danger of meeting any goblins, for all +the men at least were left behind him in the palace; but there +was considerable danger of his taking a wrong turning, for he +had now no light, and had therefore to depend upon his memory<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +and his hands. After he had left behind him the glow +that issued from the door of Glump's new abode, he was utterly +without guide, so far as his eyes were concerned.</p> + +<p>He was most anxious to get back through the hole before +the goblins should return to fetch the remains of their furniture. +It was not that he was in the least afraid of them, but, +as it was of the utmost importance that he should thoroughly +discover what the plans they were cherishing were, he must +not occasion the slightest suspicion that they were watched +by a miner.</p> + +<p>He hurried on, feeling his way along the walls of rock. Had +he not been very courageous, he must have been very anxious, +for he could not but know that if he lost his way it would be +the most difficult thing in the world to find it again. Morning +would bring no light into these regions; and toward him least +of all, who was known as a special rhymster and persecutor, +could goblins be expected to exercise courtesy? Well might +he wish that he had brought his lamp and tinder-box with +him, of which he had not thought when he crept so eagerly +after the goblins! He wished it all the more when, after a +while, he found his way blocked up, and could get no farther. +It was of no use to turn back, for he had not the least idea +where he had begun to go wrong. Mechanically, however, +he kept feeling about the walls that hemmed him in. His +hand came upon a place where a tiny stream of water was +running down the face of the rock. "What a stupid I am!" +he said to himself. "I am actually at the end of my journey!—and +there are the goblins coming back to fetch their things!" +he added, as the red glimmer of their torches appeared at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +end of the long avenue that led up to the cave. In a moment +he had thrown himself on the floor, and wriggled backward +through the hole. The floor on the other side was several feet +lower, which made it easier to get back. It was all he could +do to lift the largest stone he had taken out of the hole, but he +did manage to shove it in again. He sat down on the ore-heap +and thought.</p> + +<p>He was pretty sure that the latter plan of the goblins was +to inundate the mine by breaking outlets for the water accumulated +in the natural reservoirs of the mountain, as well as +running through portions of it. While the part hollowed by +the miners remained shut off from that inhabited by the goblins, +they had had no opportunity of injuring them thus; but +now that a passage was broken through, and the goblins' part +proved the higher in the mountain, it was clear to Curdie that +the mine could be destroyed in an hour. Water was always +the chief danger to which the miners were exposed. They met +with a little choke-damp sometimes, but never with the explosive +fire-damp so common in coal mines. Hence they +were careful as soon as they saw any appearance of water.</p> + +<p>As the result of his reflections while the goblins were busy +in their old home, it seemed to Curdie that it would be best +to build up the whole of this gang, filling it with stone, and clay +or lime, so that there should be no smallest channel for the water +to get into. There was not, however, any immediate danger, +for the execution of the goblins' plan was contingent upon +the failure of that unknown design which was to take precedence +of it; and he was most anxious to keep the door of +communication open, that he might if possible discover what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +that former plan was. At the same time they could not then +resume their intermitted labors for the inundation without +his finding it out; when by putting all hands to the work, the +one existing outlet might in a single night be rendered impenetrable +to any weight of water; for by filling the gang entirely +up, their embankment would be buttressed by the sides of the +mountain itself.</p> + +<p>As soon as he found that the goblins had again retired, he +lighted his lamp, and proceeded to fill the hole he had made +with such stones as he could withdraw when he pleased. He +then thought it better, as he might have occasion to be up a +good many nights after this, to go home and have some sleep.</p> + +<p>How pleasant the night-air felt upon the outside of the +mountain after what he had gone through in the inside of it! +He hurried up the hill, without meeting a single goblin on +the way, and called and tapped at the window until he woke +his father, who soon rose and let him in. He told him the +whole story, and, just as he had expected, his father thought +it best to work that lode no farther, but at the same time to +pretend occasionally to be at work there still, in order that +the goblins might have no suspicions. Both father and son +then went to bed, and slept soundly until the morning.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE PRINCESS'S KING-PAPA</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THE weather continued fine for weeks, and the little +princess went out every day. So long a period of fine +weather had indeed never been known upon that mountain. +The only uncomfortable thing was that her nurse was +so nervous and particular about being in before the sun was +down, that often she would take to her heels when nothing +worse than a fleecy cloud crossing the sun threw a shadow +on the hillside; and many an evening they were home a full +hour before the sunlight had left the weathercock on the stables. +If it had not been for such behavior, Irene would by this time +have almost forgotten the goblins. She never forgot Curdie, +but him she remembered for his own sake, and indeed would +have remembered him if only because a princess never forgets +her debts until they are paid.</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 458px;"> +<img src="images/col04.jpg" width="458" height="600" alt="In an instant she was on the saddle, and clasped in his great strong arms." title="" /> +<span class="caption">In an instant she was on the saddle, and clasped in his great strong arms.</span> +</div> + +<p>One splendid sunshiny day, about an hour after noon, +Irene, who was playing on a lawn in the garden, heard the +distant blast of a bugle. She jumped up with a cry of joy, +for she knew by that particular blast that her father was on his +way to see her. This part of the garden lay on the slope of +the hill, and allowed a full view of the country below. So +she shaded her eyes with her hand, and looked far away to +catch the first glimpse of shining armor. In a few moments +a little troop came glittering round the shoulder of a hill. +Spears and helmets were sparkling and <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'gleamimg'">gleaming</ins>, banners<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +were flying, horses prancing, and again came the bugle-blast, +which was to her like the voice of her father calling across the +distance, "Irene, I'm coming." On and on they came, until +she could clearly distinguish the king. He rode a white horse, +and was taller than any of the men with him. He wore a +narrow circle of gold set with jewels around his helmet, and +as he came still nearer, Irene could discern the flashing of the +stones in the sun. It was a long time since he had been to +see her, and her little heart beat faster and faster as the shining +troop approached, for she loved her king-papa very dearly, +and was nowhere so happy as in his arms. When they reached +a certain point, after which she could see them no more from +the garden, she ran to the gate, and there stood till up they +came clanging and stamping, with one more bright bugle-blast +which said, "Irene, I am come."</p> + +<p>By this time the people of the house were all gathered at +the gate, but Irene stood alone in front of them. When the +horseman pulled up, she ran to the side of the white horse, and +held up her arms. The king stooped, and took her hands. +In an instant she was on the saddle, and clasped in his great +strong arms. I wish I could describe the king, so that you +could see him in your mind. He had gentle blue eyes, but a +nose that made him look like an eagle. A long dark beard, +streaked with silvery lines, flowed from his mouth almost to his +waist, and as Irene sat on the saddle and hid her glad face upon +his bosom, it mingled with the golden hair which her mother had +given her, and the two together were like a cloud with streaks +of the sun woven through it. After he had held her to his +heart for a minute, he spoke to his white horse, and the great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +beautiful creature, which had been prancing so proudly a little +while before, walked as gently as a lady—for he knew he +had a little lady on his back—through the gate and up to the +door of the house. Then the king set her on the ground, and, +dismounting, took her hand and walked with her into the +great hall, which was hardly ever entered except when he came +to see his little princess. There he sat down with two of his +councillors who had accompanied him, to have some refreshment, +and Irene bestowed herself on his right hand, and drank +her milk out of a wooden bowl curiously carved.</p> + +<p>After the king had eaten and drunk, he turned to the princess +and said, stroking her hair—</p> + +<p>"Now, my child, what shall we do next?"</p> + +<p>This was the question he almost always put to her first +after their meal together; and Irene had been waiting for it +with some impatience, for now, she thought, she should be +able to settle a question which constantly perplexed her.</p> + +<p>"I should like you to take me to see my great old grandmother."</p> + +<p>The king looked grave, and said—</p> + +<p>"What does my little daughter mean?"</p> + +<p>"I mean the Queen Irene that lives up in the tower—the +very old lady, you know, with the long hair of silver."</p> + +<p>The king only gazed at his little princess with a look which +she could not understand.</p> + +<p>"She's got her crown in her bedroom," she went on; "but +I've not been in there yet. You know she's here, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the king very quietly.</p> + +<p>"Then it must be all a dream," said Irene. "I half thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +it was; but I couldn't be sure. Now I <i>am</i> sure of it. Besides, +I couldn't find her the next time I went up."</p> + +<p>At that moment a snow-white pigeon flew in at an open +window and, with a flutter, settled upon Irene's head. She +broke into a merry laugh, cowered a little and put up her hands +to her head, saying—</p> + +<p>"Dear dovey, don't peck me. You'll pull out my hair with +your long claws, if you don't have a care."</p> + +<p>The king stretched out his hand to take the pigeon, but it +spread its wings and flew again through the open window, +when its whiteness made one flash in the sun and vanished. +The king laid his hand on the princess's head, held it back a +little, gazed in her face, smiled half a smile and sighed half a sigh.</p> + +<p>"Come, my child; we'll have a walk in the garden together," +he said.</p> + +<p>"You won't come up and see my huge, great, beautiful +grandmother, then, king-papa?" said the princess.</p> + +<p>"Not this time," said the king very gently. "She has not +invited me, you know, and great old ladies like her do not +choose to be visited without leave asked and given."</p> + +<p>The garden was a very lovely place. Being upon a mountain +side, there were parts in it where the rocks came through in +great masses, and all immediately about them remained quite +wild. Tufts of heather grew upon them, and other hardy +mountain plants and flowers, while near them would be lovely +roses and lilies, and all pleasant garden flowers. This mingling +of the wild mountain with the civilized garden was very +quaint, and it was impossible for any number of gardeners to +make such a garden look formal and stiff.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + +<p>Against one of these rocks was a garden-seat, shadowed, +from the afternoon sun by the overhanging of the rock itself. +There was a little winding path up to the top of the rock, and +on the top another seat; but they sat on the seat at its foot, +because the sun was hot; and there they talked together of +many things. At length the king said:</p> + +<p>"You were out late one evening, Irene."</p> + +<p>"Yes, papa. It was my fault; and Lootie was very sorry."</p> + +<p>"I must talk to Lootie about it," said the king.</p> + +<p>"Don't speak loud to her, please, papa," said Irene. "She's +been so afraid of being late ever since! Indeed she has not +been naughty. It was only a mistake for once."</p> + +<p>"Once might be too often," murmured the king to himself, +as he stroked his child's head.</p> + +<p>I cannot tell you how he had come to know. I am sure Curdie +had not told him. Some one about the palace must have +seen them, after all. He sat for a good while thinking. There +was no sound to be heard except that of a little stream which +ran merrily out of an opening in the rock by where they sat, +and sped away down the hill through the garden. Then he +rose, and leaving Irene where she was, went into the house +and sent for Lootie, with whom he had a talk that made her cry.</p> + +<p>When in the evening he rode away upon his great white +horse, he left six of his attendants behind him, with orders +that three of them should watch outside the house every +night, walking round and round it from sunset to sunrise. It +was clear he was not quite comfortable about the princess.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE OLD LADY'S BEDROOM</div> + + +<div class='cap'>NOTHING more happened worth telling for some time. +The autumn came and went by. There were no more +flowers in the garden. The winds blew strong, and +howled among the rocks. The rain fell, and drenched the few +yellow and red leaves that could not get off the bare branches. +Again and again there would be a glorious morning followed +by a pouring afternoon, and sometimes, for a week together, +there would be rain, nothing but rain, all day, and then the +most lovely cloudless night, with the sky all out in full-blown +stars—not one missing. But the princess could not see much +of them, for she went to bed early. The winter drew on, and +she found things growing dreary. When it was too stormy to +go out, and she had got tired of her toys, Lootie would take +her about the house, sometimes to the housekeeper's room, +where the housekeeper, who was a good, kind old woman, made +much of her—sometimes to the servants' hall or the kitchen, +where she was not princess merely, but absolute queen, and +ran a great risk of being spoiled. Sometimes she would run +of herself to the room where the men-at-arms whom the king +had left, sat, and they showed her their arms and accoutrements, +and did what they could to amuse her. Still at times +she found it very dreary, and often and often wished that her +huge great grandmother had not been a dream.</div> + +<p>One morning the nurse left her with the housekeeper for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +while. To amuse her, she turned out the contents of an old +cabinet upon the table. The little princess found her treasures, +queer ancient ornaments and many things the uses of which +she could not imagine, far more interesting than her own toys, +and sat playing with them for two hours or more. But at +length, in handling a curious old-fashioned brooch, she ran +the pin of it into her thumb, and gave a little scream with the +sharpness of the pain, but would have thought little more of +it, had not the pain increased and her thumb begun to swell. +This alarmed the housekeeper greatly. The nurse was fetched; +the doctor was sent for; her hand was poulticed, and long +before her usual time she was put to bed. The pain still continued, +and although she fell asleep and dreamed a good many +dreams, there was the pain always in every dream. At last +it woke her up.</p> + +<p>The moon was shining brightly into the room. The poultice +had fallen off her hand, and it was burning hot. She fancied +if she could hold it into the moonlight, that would cool +it. So she got out of bed, without waking the nurse who lay +at the other end of the room, and went to the window. When +she looked out, she saw one of the men-at-arms walking in the +garden, with the moonlight glancing on his armor. She was +just going to tap on the window and call him, for she wanted +to tell him all about it, when she bethought herself that that +might wake Lootie, and she would put her into bed again. +So she resolved to go to the window of another room, and +call him from there. It was so much nicer to have somebody +to talk to than to lie awake in bed with the burning pain in +her hand. She opened the door very gently and went through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +the nursery, which did not look into the garden, to go to the +other window. But when she came to the foot of the old +staircase, there was the moon shining down from some window +high up, and making the worm-eaten oak look very strange +and delicate and lovely. In a moment she was putting her +little feet one after the other in the silvery path up the stair, +looking behind as she went, to see the shadow they made in +the middle of the silver. Some little girls would have been +afraid to find themselves thus alone in the middle of the night, +but Irene was a princess.</p> + +<p>As she went slowly up the stairs, not quite sure that she was +not dreaming, suddenly a great longing woke up in her heart +to try once more whether she could not find the old, old lady +with the silvery hair.</p> + +<p>"If she is a dream," she said to herself, "then I am the likelier +to find her, if I am dreaming."</p> + +<p>So up and up she went, stair after stair, until she came to +the many rooms—all just as she had seen them before. Through +passage after passage she softly sped, comforting herself that +if she should lose her way it would not matter much, because +when she woke she would find herself in her own bed, with +Lootie not far off. But as if she had known every step of the +way, she walked straight to the door at the foot of the narrow +stair that led to the tower.</p> + +<p>"What if I should realliality-really find my beautiful old +grandmother up there!" she said to herself, as she crept up the +steep steps.</p> + +<p>When she reached the top, she stood a moment listening +in the dark, for there was no moon there. Yes! it was! it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +the hum of the spinning-wheel! What a diligent grandmother +to work both day and night!</p> + +<p>She tapped gently at the door.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Irene," said the sweet voice.</p> + +<p>The princess opened the door, and entered. There was the +moonlight streaming in at the window, and in the middle of +the moonlight sat the old lady in her black dress with the white +lace, and her silvery hair mingling with the moonlight, so that +you could not have distinguished one from the other.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Irene," she said again. "Can you tell me what +I am spinning?"</p> + +<p>"She speaks," thought Irene, "just as if she had seen me +five minutes ago, or yesterday at the farthest.—No," she answered; +"I don't know what you are spinning. Please, I +thought you were a dream. Why couldn't I find you before, +great-great-grandmother?"</p> + +<p>"That you are hardly old enough to understand. But you +would have found me sooner if you hadn't come to think I was +a dream. I will give you one reason, though, why you couldn't +find me. I didn't want you to find me."</p> + +<p>"Why, please?"</p> + +<p>"Because I did not want Lootie to know I was here."</p> + +<p>"But you told me to tell Lootie."</p> + +<p>"Yes. But I knew Lootie would not believe you. If she were +to see me sitting spinning here, she wouldn't believe me either."</p> + +<p>"Why."</p> + +<p>"Because she couldn't. She would rub her eyes, and go +away and say she felt queer, and forget half of it and more, and +then say it had been all a dream."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Just like me," said Irene, feeling very much ashamed of +herself.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a good deal like you, but not just like you; for you've +come again; and Lootie <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'would'nt'">wouldn't</ins> have come again. She would +have said, No, no—she had had enough of such nonsense."</p> + +<p>"Is it naughty of Lootie then?"</p> + +<p>"It would be naughty of you. I've never done anything +for Lootie."</p> + +<p>"And you did wash my face and hands for me," said Irene, +beginning to cry.</p> + +<p>The old lady smiled a sweet smile and said—</p> + +<p>"I'm not vexed with you, my child—nor with Lootie either. +But I don't want you to say anything more to Lootie about +me. If she should ask you, you must just be silent. But I do +not think she will ask you."</p> + +<p>All the time they talked, the old lady kept on spinning.</p> + +<p>"You haven't told me yet what I am spinning," she said.</p> + +<p>"Because I don't know. It's very pretty stuff."</p> + +<p>It was indeed very pretty stuff. There was a good bunch +of it on the distaff attached to the spinning-wheel, and in the +moonlight it shone like—what shall I say it was like? It was +not white enough for silver—yes, it was like silver, but shone +gray rather than white, and glittered only a little. And the +thread the old lady drew out from it was so fine that Irene +could hardly see it.</p> + +<p>"I am spinning this for you, my child."</p> + +<p>"For me! What am I to do with it, please?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you by and by. But first I will tell you what it +is. It is spider-webs—of a particular kind. My pigeons bring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +it me from over the great sea. There is only one forest where +the spiders live who make this particular kind—the finest and +strongest of any. I have nearly finished my present job. +What is on the rock now will be quite sufficient. I have a +week's work there yet, though," she added, looking at the bunch.</p> + +<p>"Do you work all day and night too, great-great-great-great +grandmother?" said the princess, thinking to be very +polite with so many <i>greats</i>.</p> + +<p>"I am not quite so great as all that," she answered, smiling +almost merrily. "If you call me grandmother, that will do.—No. +I don't work every night—only moonlit nights, and then +no longer than the moon shines upon my wheel. I sha'n't +work much longer to-night."</p> + +<p>"And what will you do next, grandmother?"</p> + +<p>"Go to bed. Would you like to see my bedroom?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that I should."</p> + +<p>"Then I think I won't work any longer to-night. I shall be +in good time."</p> + +<p>The old lady rose, and left her wheel standing just as it was. +You see there was no good in putting it away, for where there +was not any furniture, there was no danger of being untidy.</p> + +<p>Then she took Irene by the hand, but it was her bad hand, +and Irene gave a little cry of pain.</p> + +<p>"My child!" said, her grandmother, "what is the matter?"</p> + +<p>Irene held her hand into the moonlight, that the old lady +might see it, and told her all about it, at which she looked +grave. But she only said—"Give me your other hand"; +and, having led her out upon the little dark landing, opened +the door on the opposite side of it. What was Irene's surprise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +to see the loveliest room she had ever seen in her life! It was +large and lofty, and dome-shaped. From the centre hung a +lamp as round as a ball, shining as if with the brightest moonlight, +which made everything visible in the room, though not +so clearly that the princess could tell what many of the things +were. A large oval bed stood in the middle, with a coverlid of +rose-color, and velvet curtains all round it of a lovely pale +blue. The walls were also blue—spangled all over with what +looked like stars of silver.</p> + +<p>The old lady left her, and going to a strange-looking cabinet, +opened it and took out a curious silver casket. Then she sat +down on a low chair, and calling Irene, made her kneel before +her, while she looked at her hand. Having examined it, she +opened the casket, and took from it a little ointment. The +sweetest odor filled the room—like that of roses and lilies—as +she rubbed the ointment gently all over the hot swollen +hand. Her touch was so pleasant and cool, that it seemed to +drive away the pain and heat wherever it came.</p> + +<p>"Oh, grandmother! it is <i>so</i> nice!" said Irene. "Thank you; +thank you."</p> + +<p>Then the old lady went to a chest of drawers, and took out +a large handkerchief of gossamer-like cambric, which she tied +around her hand.</p> + +<p>"I don't think that I can let you go away to-night," she +said. "Do you think you would like to sleep with me?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, yes, dear grandmother!" said Irene, and would +have clapped her hands, forgetting that she could not.</p> + +<p>"You won't be afraid then to go to bed with such an old +woman?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No. You are so beautiful, grandmother."</p> + +<p>"But I am <i>very</i> old."</p> + +<p>"And I suppose I am very young. You won't mind sleeping +with such a <i>very</i> young woman, grandmother?"</p> + +<p>"You sweet little pertness!" said the old lady, and drew her +toward her, and kissed her on the forehead and the cheek and +the mouth.</p> + +<p>Then she got a large silver basin, and having poured some +water into it, made Irene sit on the chair, and washed her +feet. This done, she was ready for bed. And oh, what a delicious +bed it was into which her grandmother laid her! She +hardly could have told she was lying upon anything: she felt +nothing but the softness. The old lady having undressed +herself, lay down beside her.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you put out your moon?" asked the princess.</p> + +<p>"That never goes out, night or day," she answered. "In +the darkest night, if any of my pigeons are out on a message, +they always see my moon, and know where to fly to."</p> + +<p>"But if somebody besides the pigeons were to see it—somebody +about the house, I mean—they would come to look what +it was, and find you."</p> + +<p>"The better for them then," said the old lady. "But it +does not happen above five times in a hundred years that any +one does see it. The greater part of those who do, take it for +a meteor, wink their eyes, and forget it again. Besides, nobody +could find the room except I pleased. Besides again—I will tell +you a secret—if that light were to go out, you would fancy yourself +lying in a bare garret, on a heap of old straw, and would +not see one of the pleasant things round about you all the time."</p> + +<p>"I hope it will never go out," said the princess.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I hope not. But it is time we both went to sleep. Shall +I take you in my arms?"</p> + +<p>The little princess nestled close up to the old lady, who +took her in both her arms, and held her close to her bosom.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear! this is so nice!" said the princess. "I didn't +know anything in the whole world could be so comfortable. +I should like to lie here for ever."</p> + +<p>"You may if you will," said the old lady. "But I must put +you to one trial—not a very hard one, I hope.—This night week +you must come back to me. If you don't, I do not know when +you may find me again, and you will soon want me very much."</p> + +<p>"Oh! please, don't let me forget."</p> + +<p>"You shall not forget. The only question is whether you +will believe I am anywhere—whether you will believe I am +anything but a dream. You may be sure I will do all I can to +help you to come. But it will rest with yourself after all. On +the night of next Friday, you must come to me. Mind now."</p> + +<p>"I will try," said the princess.</p> + +<p>"Then good night," said the old lady, and kissed the forehead +which lay in her bosom.</p> + +<p>In a moment more the little princess was dreaming in the +midst of the loveliest dreams—of summer seas and moonlight +and mossy springs and great murmuring trees, and beds of +wild flowers with such odors as she had never smelled before. +But after all, no dream could be more lovely than what she +had left behind when she fell asleep.</p> + +<p>In the morning she found herself in her own bed. There was +no handkerchief or anything else on her hand, only a sweet odor +lingering about it. The swelling had all gone down; the prick of +the brooch had vanished:—in fact her hand was perfectly well.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>A SHORT CHAPTER ABOUT CURDIE</div> + + +<div class='cap'>CURDIE spent many nights in the mine. His father +and he had taken Mrs. Peterson into the secret, for +they knew mother could hold her tongue, which was +more than could be said of all the miners' wives. But Curdie +did not tell her that every night he spent in the mine, part of +it went in earning a new red petticoat for her.</div> + +<p>Mrs. Peterson was such a nice good mother! All mothers +are more or less, but Mrs. Peterson was nice and good all <i>more</i> +and no <i>less</i>. She made a little heaven in that poor cottage on +the hillside—for her husband and son to go home to out of +the dreary earth in which they worked. I doubt if the princess +was very much happier even in the arms of her huge +great-grandmother than Peter and Curdie were in the arms +of Mrs. Peterson. True, her hands were hard, and chapped, +and large, but it was with work for them; and therefore in the +sight of the angels, her hands were so much the more beautiful. +And if Curdie worked hard to get her a petticoat, she +worked hard every day to get him comforts which he would +have missed much more than she would a new petticoat even +in winter. Not that she and Curdie ever thought of how much +they worked for each other: that would have spoiled everything.</p> + +<p>When left alone in the mine, Curdie always worked on for +an hour or two first, following the lode which, according to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +Glump, would lead at last into the deserted habitation. After +that, he would set out on a reconnoitering expedition. In order +to manage this, or rather the return from it, better than the +first time, he had bought a huge ball of fine string, having +learned the trick from Hop-o'-my-Thumb, whose history his +mother had often told him. Not that Hop-o'-my-Thumb had +ever used a ball of string—I should be sorry to be supposed so +far out in my classics—but the principle was the same as that +of the pebbles. The end of this string he fastened to his pickaxe, +which figured no bad anchor, and then, with the ball in +his hand, unrolling as he went, set out in the dark through the +natural gangs of the goblins' territory. The first night or two +he came upon nothing worth remembering; saw only a little +of the home-life of the <i>cobs</i> in the various caves they called +houses; failed in coming upon anything to cast light upon the +foregoing design which kept the inundation for the present in +the background. But at length, I think on the third or fourth +night, he found, partly guided by the noise of their implements, +a company of evidently the best sappers and miners amongst +them, hard at work. What were they about? It could not +well be the inundation, seeing that had in the meantime been +postponed to something else. Then what was it? He lurked +and watched, every now and then in the greatest risk of being +detected, but without success. He had again and again to +retreat in haste, a proceeding rendered the more difficult that +he had to gather up his string as he returned upon its course. +It was not that he was afraid of the goblins, but that he was +afraid of their finding out that they were watched, which +might have prevented the discovery at which he aimed. Sometimes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +his haste had to be such that, when he reached home +toward morning, his string for lack of time to wind it up as he +"dodged the cobs," would be in what seemed the most hopeless +entanglement; but after a good sleep though a short one, +he always found his mother had got it right again. There it +was, wound in a most respectable ball, ready for use the moment +he should want it!</p> + +<p>"I can't think how you do it, mother," he would say.</p> + +<p>"I follow the thread," she would answer—"just as you do +in the mine."</p> + +<p>She never had more to say about it; but the less clever she +was with her words, the more clever she was with her hands; +and the less his mother said, the more, Curdie believed, she +had to say.</p> + +<p>But still he had made no discovery as to what the goblin +miners were about.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE COBS' CREATURES</div> + + +<div class='cap'>ABOUT this time, the gentlemen whom the king had left +behind him to watch over the princess, had each occasion +to doubt the testimony of his own eyes, for more +than strange were the objects to which they would bear witness. +They were of one sort—creatures—but so grotesque +and misshapen as to be more like a child's drawings upon his +slate than anything natural. They saw them only at night, +while on guard about the house. The testimony of the man +who first reported having seen one of them was that, as he was +walking slowly round the house, while yet in the shadow, he +caught sight of a creature standing on its hind legs in the moonlight, +with its fore feet upon a window-ledge, staring in at the +window. Its body might have been that of a dog or wolf—he +thought, but he declared on his honor that its head was +twice the size it ought to have been for the size of its body, and +as round as a ball, while the face, which it turned upon him +as it fled, was more like one carved by a boy upon the turnip +inside which he is going to put a candle, than anything else +he could think of. It rushed into the garden. He sent an +arrow after it, and thought he must have struck it; for it gave +an unearthly howl, and he could not find his arrow any more +than the beast, although he searched all about the place where +it vanished. They laughed at him until he was driven to hold +his tongue; and said he must have taken too long a pull at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +ale-jug. But before two nights were over, he had one to side +with him; for he too had seen something strange, only quite +different from that reported by the other. The description +the second man gave of the creature he had seen was yet more +grotesque and unlikely. They were both laughed at by the +rest; but night after night another came over to their side, +until at last there was only one left to laugh at all his companions. +Two nights more passed, and he saw nothing; but on +the third, he came rushing from the garden to the other two +before the house, in such an agitation that they declared—for +it was their turn now—that the band of his helmet was +cracking under his chin with the rising of his hair inside it. +Running with him into that part of the garden which I have +already described, they saw a score of creatures, to not one of +which they could give a name, and not one of which was like +another, hideous and ludicrous at once, gamboling on the lawn +in the moonlight. The supernatural or rather subnatural +ugliness of their faces, the length of legs and necks in some, +and the apparent absence of both or either in others, made the +spectators, although in one consent as to what they saw, yet +doubtful, as I have said, of the evidence of their own eyes—and +ears as well; for the noises they made, although not loud, +were as uncouth and varied as their forms, and could be described +neither as grunts nor squeaks nor roars nor howls nor +barks nor yells nor screams nor croaks nor hisses nor mews +nor shrieks, but only as something like all of them mingled in +one horrible dissonance. Keeping in the shade, the watchers +had a few moments to recover themselves before the hideous +assembly suspected their presence; but all at once, as if by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +common consent, they scampered off in the direction of a great +rock, and vanished before the men had come to sufficiently to +think of following them.</div> + +<p>My readers will suspect what these were; but I will now give +them full information concerning them. They were of course +household animals belonging to the goblins, whose ancestors +had taken their ancestors many centuries before from the +upper regions of light into the lower regions of darkness. The +original stocks of these horrible creatures were very much the +same as the animals now seen about farms and homes in the +country, with the exception of a few of them, which had been +wild creatures, such as foxes, and indeed wolves and small +bears, which the goblins, from their proclivity toward the +animal creation, had caught when cubs and tamed. But in +the course of time, all had undergone even greater changes +than had passed upon their owners. They had altered—that +is, their descendants had altered—into such creatures as I +have not attempted to describe except in the vaguest manner—the +various parts of their bodies assuming, in an apparently +arbitrary and self-willed manner, the most abnormal developments. +Indeed, so little did any distinct type predominate +in some of the bewildering results, that you could only have +guessed at any known animal as the original, and even then, +what likeness remained would be more one of general expression +than of definable conformation. But what increased the +gruesomeness tenfold, was that, from constant domestic, or +indeed rather family association with the goblins, their countenances +had grown in grotesque resemblance to the human. +No one understands animals who does not see that every one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +of them, even amongst the fishes, it may be with a dimness and +vagueness infinitely remote, yet shadows the human: in the +case of these the human resemblance had greatly increased: +while their owners had sunk toward them, they hod risen toward +their owners. But the conditions of subterranean life +being equally unnatural for both, while the goblins were worse, +the creatures had not improved by the approximation, and its +result would have appeared far more ludicrous than consoling +to the warmest lover of animal nature. I shall now +explain how it was that just then these animals began to show +themselves about the king's country house.</p> + +<p>The goblins, as Curdie had discovered, were mining on—at +work both day and night, in divisions, urging the scheme +after which he lay in wait. In the course of their tunneling, +they had broken into the channel of a small stream, but the +break being in the top of it, no water had escaped to interfere +with their work. Some of the creatures, hovering as they +often did about their masters, had found the hole, and had, +with the curiosity which had grown to a passion from the restraints +of their unnatural circumstances, proceeded to explore +the channel. The stream was the same which ran out by the +seat on which Irene and her king-papa had sat as I have told, +and the goblin-creatures found it jolly fun to get out for a +romp on a smooth lawn such as they had never seen in all +their poor miserable lives. But although they had partaken +enough of the nature of their owners to delight in annoying +and alarming any of the people whom they met on the mountain, +they were of course incapable of designs of their own, +or of intentionally furthering those of their masters.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + +<p>For several nights after the men-at-arms were at length of +one mind as to the facts of the visits of some horrible creatures, +whether bodily or spectral they could not yet say, they watched +with special attention that part of the garden where they had +last seen them. Perhaps indeed they gave in consequence +too little attention to the house. But the creatures were too +cunning to be easily caught; nor were the watchers quick-eyed +enough to descry the head, or the keen eyes in it, which, +from the opening whence the stream issued, would watch +them in turn, ready, the moment they left the lawn to report +the place clear.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THAT NIGHT WEEK</div> + + +<div class='cap'>DURING the whole of the week, Irene had been thinking +every other moment of her promise to the old lady, +although even now she could not feel quite sure that +she had not been dreaming. Could it really be that an old +lady lived up in the top of the house with pigeons and a spinning-wheel, +and a lamp that never went out? She was, however, +none the less determined, on the coming Friday, to +ascend the three stairs, walk through the passages with the +many doors, and try to find the tower in which she had either +seen or dreamed her grandmother.</div> + +<p>Her nurse could not help wondering what had come to the +child—she would sit so thoughtfully silent, and even in the +midst of a game with her, would so suddenly fall into a dreamy +mood. But Irene took care to betray nothing, whatever efforts +Lootie might make to get at her thoughts. And Lootie had +to say to herself, "What an odd child she is!" and give it up.</p> + +<p>At length the long looked-for Friday arrived, and lest Lootie +should be moved to watch her, Irene endeavored to keep herself +as quiet as possible. In the afternoon she asked for her +doll's house, and went on arranging and rearranging the various +rooms and their inhabitants for a whole hour. Then she +gave a sigh and threw herself back in her chair. One of the +dolls would not sit, and another would not stand, and they +were all very tiresome. Indeed there was one that would not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +even lie down, which was too bad. But it was now getting +dark, and the darker it got the more exited Irene became, and +the more she felt it necessary to be composed.</p> + +<p>"I see you want your tea, princess," said the nurse: "I will +go and get it. The room feels close: I will open the window +a little. The evening is mild: it won't hurt you."</p> + +<p>"There's no fear of that, Lootie," said Irene, wishing she +had put off going for the tea till it was darker, when she might +have made her attempt with every advantage.</p> + +<p>I fancy Lootie was longer in returning than she had intended; +for when Irene, who had been lost in thought, looked up, she +saw it was nearly dark, and at the same moment caught sight +of a pair of eyes, bright with a green light, glowering at her +through the open window. The next instant something leaped +into the room. It was like a cat, with legs as long as a horse's, +Irene said, but its body no bigger and its legs no thicker than +those of a cat. She was too frightened to cry out, but not too +frightened to jump from her chair and run from the room.</p> + +<p>It is plain enough to every one of my readers what she ought +to have done—and indeed Irene thought of it herself; but +when she came to the foot of the old stair, just outside the +nursery door, she imagined the creature running up those long +ascents after her, and pursuing her through the dark passages—<i>which, +after all, might lead to no tower!</i> That thought was +too much. Her heart failed her, and turning from the stair, +she rushed along to the hall, whence, finding the front-door +open, she darted into the court, pursued—at least she thought +so—by the creature. No one happening to see her, on she +ran, unable to think for fear, and ready to run anywhere to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +elude the awful creature with the stilt-legs. Not daring to +look behind her, she rushed straight out of the gate, and up +the mountain. It was foolish indeed—thus to run farther and +farther from all who could help her, as if she had been seeking +a fit spot for the goblin-creature to eat her in at his leisure; +but that is the way fear serves us: it always takes the side of +the thing that we are afraid of.</p> + +<p>The princess was soon out of breath with running up hill; +but she ran on, for she fancied the horrible creature just +behind her, forgetting that, had it been after her, such legs +as those must have overtaken her long ago. At last she +could run no longer, and fell, unable even to scream, by the +roadside, where she lay for sometime, half dead with terror. +But finding nothing lay hold of her, and her breath beginning +to come back, she ventured at length to get half up, and peer +anxiously about her. It was now so dark that she could see +nothing. Not a single star was out. She could not even tell +in what direction the house lay, and between her and home +she fancied the dreadful creature lying ready to pounce upon +her. She saw now that she ought to have run up the stairs at +once. It was well she did not scream; for, although very few +of the goblins had come out for weeks, a stray idler or two +might have heard her. She sat down upon a stone, and nobody +but one who had done something wrong could have been +more miserable. She had quite forgotten her promise to visit +her grandmother. A rain-drop fell on her face. She looked +up, and for a moment her terror was lost in astonishment. At +first she thought the rising moon had left her place, and drawn +nigh to see what could be the matter with the little girl, sitting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +alone, without hat or cloak, on the dark bare mountain; but +she soon saw she was mistaken, for there was no light on the +ground at her feet, and no shadow anywhere. But a great +silvery globe was hanging in the air; and as she gazed at the +lovely thing, her courage revived. If she were but indoors +again she would fear nothing, not even the terrible creature +with the long legs! But how was she to find her way back? +What could that light be? Could it be—? No, it couldn't. +But what if it should be—yes—it must be—her great-great-grandmother's +lamp, which guided her pigeons home through +the darkest night! She jumped up: she had but to keep that +light in view, and she must find the house.</p> + +<p>Her heart grew strong. Speedily, yet softly, she walked +down the hill, hoping to pass the watching creature unseen. +Dark as it was, there was little danger now of choosing the +wrong road. And—which was most strange—the light that +filled her eyes from the lamp, instead of blinding them for a +moment to the object upon which they next fell, enabled her +for a moment to see it, despite the darkness. By looking at +the lamp and then dropping her eyes, she could see the road +for a yard or two in front of her, and this saved her from several +falls, for the road was very rough. But all at once, to her +dismay, it vanished, and the terror of the beast, which had +left her the moment she began to return, again laid hold of +her heart. The same instant, however, she caught the light +of the windows, and knew exactly where she was. It was too +dark to run, but she made what haste she could, and reached +the gate in safety. She found the house door still open, ran +through the hall, and, without even looking into the nursery,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +bounded straight up the stair, and the next, and the next; +then turning to the right, ran through the long avenue of +silent rooms, and found her way at once to the door at the +foot of the tower stair.</p> + +<p>When first the nurse missed her, she fancied she was playing +her a trick, and for some time took no trouble about her; but +at last, getting frightened, she had begun to search; and when +the princess entered, the whole household was hither and +thither, over the house, hunting for her. A few seconds after +she reached the stair of the tower, they had even begun to +search the neglected rooms, in which they would never have +thought of looking had they not already searched every other +place they could think of in vain. But by this time she was +knocking at the old lady's door.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>WOVEN AND THEN SPUN</div> + + +<div class='cap'>"COME in, Irene," said the silvery voice of her grandmother.</div> + +<p>The princess opened the door, and peeped in. But +the room was quite dark, and there was no sound of the spinning-wheel. +She grew frightened once more, thinking that, +although the room was there, the old lady might be a dream +after all. Every little girl knows how dreadful it is to find a +room empty where she thought somebody was; but Irene had +to fancy for a moment that the person she came to find was +nowhere at all. She remembered however that at night she +spun only in the moonlight, and concluded that must be why +there was no sweet, bee-like humming: the old lady might be +somewhere in the darkness. Before she had time to think another +thought, she heard her voice again, saying as before—</p> + +<p>"Come in, Irene."</p> + +<p>From the sound, she understood at once that she was not in +the room beside her. Perhaps she was in her bedroom. She +turned across the passage, feeling her way to the other door. +When her hand fell on the lock, again the old lady spoke—</p> + +<p>"Shut the other door behind you, Irene. I always close the +door of my workroom when I go to my chamber."</p> + +<p>Irene wondered to hear her voice so plainly through the +door; having shut the other, she opened it and went in. Oh, +what a lovely haven to reach from the darkness and fear through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +which she had come! The soft light made her feel as if she +were going into the heart of the milkiest pearl; while the blue +walls and their silver stars for a moment perplexed her with +the fancy that they were in reality the sky which she had left +outside a minute ago covered with rainclouds.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 458px;"> +<img src="images/col05.jpg" width="458" height="600" alt=""Come," and she still held out her arms." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Come," and she still held out her arms.</span> +</div> + +<p>"I've lighted a fire for you, Irene: you're cold and wet," +said her grandmother.</p> + +<p>Then Irene looked again, and saw that what she had taken +for a huge bouquet of red roses on a low stand against the wall, +was in fact a fire which burned in the shapes of the loveliest +and reddest roses, glowing gorgeously between the heads and +wings of two cherubs of shining silver. And when she came +nearer, she found that the smell of roses with which the room +was filled, came from the fire-roses on the hearth. Her grandmother +was dressed in the loveliest pale-blue velvet, over +which her hair, no longer white, but of a rich gold color, streamed +like a cataract, here falling in dull gathered heaps, there rushing +away in smooth shining falls. And even as she looked, the +hair seemed pouring down from her head, and vanishing in a +golden mist ere it reached the floor. It flowed from under the +edge of a circle of shining silver, set with alternated pearls and +opals. On her dress was no ornament whatever, neither was +there a ring on her hand, or a necklace or carcanet about her +neck. But her slippers glimmered with the light of the Milky-way, +for they were covered with seed-pearls and opals in one +mass. Her face was that of a woman of three-and-twenty.</p> + +<p>The princess was so bewildered with astonishment and admiration +that she could hardly thank her, and drew nigh with +timidity, feeling dirty and uncomfortable. The lady was seated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +on a low chair by the side of the fire, with hands outstretched +to take her, but the princess hung back with a troubled smile.</p> + +<p>"Why, what's the matter?" asked her grandmother. "You +haven't been doing anything wrong—I know that by your +face, though it <i>is</i> rather miserable. What's the matter, my +dear?"</p> + +<p>And still she held out her arms.</p> + +<p>"Dear grandmother," said Irene, "I'm not so sure that I +haven't done something wrong. I ought to have run up to +you at once when the long-legged cat came in at the window, +instead of running out on the mountain, and making myself +such a fright."</p> + +<p>"You were taken by surprise, my child, and are not so +likely to do it again. It is when people do wrong things willfully +that they are the more likely to do them again. Come."</p> + +<p>And still she held out her arms.</p> + +<p>"But, grandmother, you're so beautiful and grand with +your crown on! and I am so dirty with mud and rain!—I +should quite spoil your beautiful blue dress."</p> + +<p>With a merry little laugh, the lady sprang from her chair, +more lightly far than Irene herself could, caught the child +to her bosom, and kissing the tear-stained face over and +over, sat down with her in her lap.</p> + +<p>"Oh, grandmother! you'll make yourself such a mess!" +cried Irene, clinging to her.</p> + +<p>"You darling! do you think I care more for my dress than +for my little girl? Beside—look here!"</p> + +<p>As she spoke she set her down, and Irene saw to her dismay +that the lovely dress was covered with the mud of her fall on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +the mountain road. But the lady stooped to the fire, and +taking from it, by the stalk in her fingers, one of the burning +roses, passed it once and again and a third time over the +front of her dress; and when Irene looked, not a single stain +was to be discovered.</p> + +<p>"There!" said her grandmother, "you won't mind coming +to me now?"</p> + +<p>But Irene again hung back, eyeing the flaming rose which +the lady held in her hand.</p> + +<p>"You're not afraid of the rose—are you?" she said, and she +was about to throw it on the hearth again.</p> + +<p>"Oh! don't, please!" cried Irene. "Won't you hold it to my +frock and my hands and my face? And I'm afraid my feet +and my knees want it too!"</p> + +<p>"No," answered her grandmother, smiling a little sadly, +as she threw the rose from her; "it is too hot for you yet. It +would set your frock in a flame. Besides, I don't want to make +you clean to-night. I want your nurse and the rest of the people +to see you as you are, for you will have to tell them how +you ran away for fear of the long-legged cat. I should like to +wash you, but they would not believe you then. Do you see +that bath behind you?"</p> + +<p>The princess looked, and saw a large oval tub of silver, shining +brilliantly in the light of the wonderful lamp.</p> + +<p>"Go and look into it," said the lady.</p> + +<p>Irene went, and came back very silently, with her eyes shining.</p> + +<p>"What did you see?" asked her grandmother.</p> + +<p>"The sky and the moon and the stars," she answered. "It +looked as if there was no bottom to it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>The lady smiled a pleased, satisfied smile, and was silent +also for a few moments. Then she said—</p> + +<p>"Any time you want a bath, come to me. I know you have a +bath every morning, but sometimes you want one at night too."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, grandmother; I will—I will indeed," answered +Irene, and was again silent for some moments thinking. Then +she said, "How was it, grandmother, that I saw your beautiful +lamp—not the light of it only—but the great round silver +lamp itself, hanging alone in the great open air high up? It +was your lamp I saw—wasn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my child; it was my lamp."</p> + +<p>"Then how was it? I don't see a window all round."</p> + +<p>"When I please, I can make the lamp shine through the +walls—shine so strong that it melts them away from before +the sight, and shows itself as you saw it. But, as I told you, +it is not everybody can see it."</p> + +<p>"How is it that I can then? I'm sure I don't know."</p> + +<p>"It is a gift born with you. And one day I hope everybody +will have it."</p> + +<p>"But how do you make it shine through the walls?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! that you would not understand if I were to try ever +so much to make you—not yet—not yet. But," added the +lady rising, "you must sit in my chair while I get you the +present I have been preparing for you. I told you my spinning +was for you. It is finished now, and I am going to fetch it. I +have been keeping it warm under one of my brooding pigeons."</p> + +<p>Irene sat down in the low chair, and her grandmother left +her, shutting the door behind her. The child sat gazing, now +at the rose-fire, now at the starry walls, now at the silvery<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +light; and a great quietness came over her heart. If all the +long-legged cats in the world had come rushing helter-skelter +at her then, she would not have been afraid of them for a single +moment. How this was, however, she could not tell;—she +only knew there was no fear in her, and everything was so +right and safe that it could not get in.</p> + +<p>She had been gazing at the lovely lamp for some minutes +fixedly: turning her eyes, she found the wall had vanished, +for she was looking out on the dark cloudy night. But though +she heard the wind blowing, none of it blew upon her. In a +moment more, the clouds themselves parted, or rather vanished +like the wall, and she looked straight into the starry +herds, flashing gloriously in the dark blue. It was but for a +moment. The clouds gathered again and shut out the stars; +the wall gathered again and shut out the clouds; and there +stood the lady beside her with the loveliest smile on her face, +and a shimmering ball in her hand, about the size of a pigeon's +egg.</p> + +<p>"There, Irene; there is my work for you!" she said, holding +out the ball to the princess.</p> + +<p>She took it in her hand, and looked at it all over. It sparkled +a little, and shone here and shone there, but not much. +It was of a sort of gray whiteness, something like spun glass.</p> + +<p>"Is this <i>all</i> your spinning, grandmother?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"All since you came to the house. There is more there than +you think."</p> + +<p>"How pretty it is! What am I to do with it?"</p> + +<p>"That I will now explain to you," answered the lady, turning +from her, and going to her cabinet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>She came back with a small ring in her hand. Then she +took the ball from Irene's, and did something with the two—Irene +could not tell what.</p> + +<p>"Give me your hand," she said.</p> + +<p>Irene held up her right hand.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is the hand I want," said the lady, and put the +ring on the forefinger of it.</p> + +<p>"What a beautiful ring!" said Irene. "What is the stone +called?"</p> + +<p>"It is a fire-opal."</p> + +<p>"Please, am I to keep it?"</p> + +<p>"Always."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, grandmother! It's prettier than anything +I ever saw, except those—of all colors—in your—Please, is +that your crown?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is my crown. The stone in your ring is of the same +sort—only not so good. It has only red, but mine have all +colors, you see."</p> + +<p>"Yes, grandmother. I will take such care of it!—But—" +she added, hesitating.</p> + +<p>"But what?" asked her grandmother.</p> + +<p>"What am I to say when Lootie asks me where I got it?"</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> will ask <i>her</i> where you got it," answered the lady smiling.</p> + +<p>"I don't see how I can do that."</p> + +<p>"You will though."</p> + +<p>"Of course I will if you say so. But you know I can't pretend +not to know."</p> + +<p>"Of course not. But don't trouble yourself about it. You +will see when the time comes."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + +<p>So saying, the lady turned, and threw the little ball into +the rose-fire.</p> + +<p>"Oh, grandmother!" exclaimed Irene; "I thought you had +spun it for me."</p> + +<p>"So I did, my child. And you've got it."</p> + +<p>"No; it's burnt in the fire."</p> + +<p>The lady put her hand in the fire, brought out the ball, +glimmering as before, and held it toward her. Irene stretched +out her hand to take it, but the lady turned, and going to her +cabinet, opened a drawer, and laid the ball in it.</p> + +<p>"Have I done anything to vex you, grandmother?" said +Irene pitifully.</p> + +<p>"No, my darling. But you must understand that no one +ever gives anything to another properly and really without +keeping it. That ball is yours."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I'm not to take it with me! You are going to keep it +for me!"</p> + +<p>"You are to take it with you. I've fastened the end of it to +the ring on your finger."</p> + +<p>Irene looked at the ring.</p> + +<p>"I can't see it there, grandmother," she said.</p> + +<p>"Feel—a little way from the ring—toward the cabinet," +said the lady.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I do feel it!" exclaimed the princess. "But I can't +see it," she added, looking close to her outstretched hand.</p> + +<p>"No. The thread is too fine for you to see it. You can only +feel it. Now you can fancy how much spinning that took, +although it does seem such a little ball."</p> + +<p>"But what use can I make of it, if it lies in your cabinet?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That is what I will explain to you. It would be of no use +to you—it wouldn't be yours at all if it did not lie in my cabinet. +Now listen. If ever you find yourself in any danger—such, +for example, as you were in this evening—you must +take off your ring, and put it under the pillow of your bed. +Then you must lay your forefinger, the same that wore the +ring, upon the thread, and follow the thread wherever it leads +you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how delightful! It will lead me to you, grandmother, +I know!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But, remember, it may seem to you a very roundabout +way indeed, and you must not double the thread. Of +one thing you may be sure, that while you hold it, I hold it +too."</p> + +<p>"It is very wonderful!" said Irene thoughtfully. Then +suddenly becoming aware, she jumped up, crying—"Oh, +grandmother! here I have been sitting all this time in your +chair, and you standing! I <i>beg</i> your pardon."</p> + +<p>The lady laid her hand on her shoulder and said:</p> + +<p>"Sit down again, Irene. Nothing pleases me better than +to see any one sit in my chair. I am only too glad to stand so +long as any one will sit in it."</p> + +<p>"How kind of you!" said the princess, and sat down again.</p> + +<p>"It makes me happy," said the lady.</p> + +<p>"But," said Irene, still puzzled, "won't the thread get in +somebody's way and be broken, if the one end is fast to my +ring and the other laid in your cabinet?"</p> + +<p>"You will find all that <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'arrange'">arranges</ins> itself. I am afraid it is time +for you to go."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mightn't I stay and sleep with you to-night, grandmother?"</p> + +<p>"No, not to-night. If I had meant you to stay to-night, I +should have given you a bath; but you know everybody in +the house is miserable about you, and it would be cruel to +keep them so all night. You must go down stairs."</p> + +<p>"I'm so glad, grandmother, you didn't say—<i>go home</i>—for +this is my home. Mayn't I call this my home?"</p> + +<p>"You may, my child. And I trust you will always think +it your home. Now come. I must take you back without +any one seeing you."</p> + +<p>"Please, I want to ask you one question more," said Irene. +"Is it because you have your crown on that you look so young?"</p> + +<p>"No, child," answered her grandmother; "it is because I +felt so young this evening, that I put my crown on. And it +occurred to me that you would like to see your old grandmother +in her best."</p> + +<p>"Why do you call yourself old? You're not old, grandmother."</p> + +<p>"I am very old indeed. It is so silly of people—I don't mean +you, for you are such a tiny, and couldn't know better—but +it is so silly of people to fancy that old age means crookedness +and witheredness and feebleness and sticks and spectacles +and rheumatism and forgetfulness! It is so silly! Old age has +nothing whatever to do with all that. The right old age means +strength and beauty and mirth and courage and clear eyes and +strong painless limbs. I am older than you are able to think, +and—"</p> + +<p>"And look at you, grandmother!" cried Irene, jumping +up, and flinging her arms about her neck. "I won't be so silly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +again, I promise you. At least—I'm rather afraid to promise—but +if I am, I promise to be sorry for it—I do. I wish I +were as old as you, grandmother. I don't think you are ever +afraid of anything."</p> + +<p>"Not for long, at least, my child. Perhaps by the time I +am two thousand years of age, I shall, indeed, never be afraid +of anything. But I must confess that I have sometimes been +afraid about my children—sometimes about you, Irene."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so sorry, grandmother!—To-night, I suppose, +you mean."</p> + +<p>"Yes—a little to-night; but a good deal when you had all +but made up your mind that I was a dream, and no real great-great-grandmother. +You must not suppose that I am blaming +you for that, I daresay it was out of your power to help it."</p> + +<p>"I don't know, grandmother," said the princess, beginning +to cry. "I can't always do myself as I should like. And I +don't always try. I'm very sorry anyhow."</p> + +<p>The lady stooped, lifted her in her arms, and sat down with +her in her chair, holding her close to her bosom. In a few minutes +the princess had sobbed herself to sleep. How long she +slept, I do not know. When she came to herself she was sitting +in her own high chair at the nursery table, with her doll's-house +before her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE RING</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THE same moment her nurse came into the room, sobbing. +When she saw her sitting there, she started back +with a loud cry of amazement and joy. Then running +to her, she caught her up in her arms and covered her dear +little face with kisses.</div> + +<p>"My precious darling princess! where have you been? What +has happened to you? We've all been crying our eyes out, and +searching the house from top to bottom for you."</p> + +<p>"Not quite from the top," thought Irene to herself; and +she might have added—"not quite to the bottom," perhaps, +if she had known all. But the one she would not, and the +other she could not say.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lootie! I've had such a dreadful adventure!" she replied, +and told her all about the cat with the long legs, and +how she ran out upon the mountain, and came back again. +But she said nothing of her grandmother or her lamp.</p> + +<p>"And there we've been searching for you all over the house +for more than an hour and a half!" exclaimed the nurse. "But +that's no matter, now we've got you! Only, princess, I must +say," she added, her mood changing, "what you ought to +have done was to call for your own Lootie to come and help +you, instead of running out of the house, and up the mountain, +in that wild—I must say, foolish fashion."</p> + +<p>"Well, Lootie," said Irene quietly, "perhaps if you had a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +big cat, all legs, running at you, you mightn't exactly know +which was the wisest thing to do at the moment."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't run up the mountain, anyhow," returned Lootie.</p> + +<p>"Not if you had time to think about it. But when those +creatures came at you that night on the mountain, you were +so frightened yourself that you lost your way home."</p> + +<p>This put a stop to Lootie's reproaches. She had been on +the point of saying that the long-legged cat must have been +a twilight fancy of the princess's, but the memory of the horrors +of that night, and of the talking-to which the king had +given her in consequence, prevented her from saying that which +after all she did not half believe—having a strong suspicion +that the cat was a goblin; for the fact was that she knew +nothing of the difference between the goblins and their creatures: +she counted them all just goblins.</p> + +<p>Without another word she went and got some fresh tea and +bread and butter for the princess. Before she returned, the +whole household, headed by the housekeeper, burst into the +nursery to exult over their darling. The gentlemen-at-arms +followed, and were ready enough to believe all she told them +about the long-legged cat. Indeed, though wise enough to +say nothing about it, they remembered with no little horror, +just such a creature amongst those they had surprised at +their gambols upon the princess's lawn. In their own hearts +they blamed themselves for not having kept better watch. +And their captain gave order that from this night the front +door and all the windows on the ground floor should be +locked immediately the sun set, and opened after upon no +pretence whatever. The men-at-arms redoubled their vigilance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +and for some time there was no further cause of +alarm.</p> + +<p>When the princess woke the next morning, her nurse was +bending over her.</p> + +<p>"How your ring does glow this morning, princess!—just +like a fiery rose!" she said.</p> + +<p>"Does it, Lootie?" returned Irene. "Who gave me the +ring, Lootie? I know I've had it a long time, but where did +I get it? I don't remember."</p> + +<p>"I think it must have been your mother gave it you, princess; +but really, for as long as you have worn it, I don't remember +that ever I heard," answered her nurse.</p> + +<p>"I will ask my king-papa the next time he comes," said +Irene.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>SPRING-TIME</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THE spring, so dear to all creatures, young and old, +came at last, and before the first few days of it had +gone, the king rode through its budding valleys to see +his little daughter. He had been in a distant part of his dominions +all the winter, for he was not in the habit of stopping +in one great city, or of visiting only his favorite country +houses, but he moved from place to place, that all his people +might know him. Wherever he journeyed, he kept a constant +lookout for the ablest and best men to put into office, and +wherever he found himself mistaken, and those he had appointed +incapable or unjust, he removed them at once. Hence +you see it was his care of the people that kept him from seeing +his princess so often as he would have liked. You may wonder +why he did not take her about with him; but there were +several reasons against his doing so, and I suspect her great-great-grandmother +had had a principal hand in preventing +it. Once more Irene heard the bugle-blast, and once more +she was at the gate to meet her father as he rode up on his +great white horse.</div> + +<p>After they had been alone for a little while, she thought of +what she had resolved to ask him.</p> + +<p>"Please, king-papa," she said, "will you tell me where I +got this pretty ring? I can't remember."</p> + +<p>The king looked at it. A strange, beautiful smile spread<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +like sunshine over his face, and an answering smile, but at the +same time a questioning one, spread like moonlight over Irene's.</p> + +<p>"It was your queen-mamma's once," he said.</p> + +<p>"And why isn't it hers now?" asked Irene.</p> + +<p>"She does not want it now," said the king, looking grave.</p> + +<p>"Why doesn't she want it now?"</p> + +<p>"Because she's gone where all those rings are made."</p> + +<p>"And when shall I see her?" asked the princess.</p> + +<p>"Not for some time yet," answered the king, and the tears +came in his eyes.</p> + +<p>Irene did not remember her mother, and did not know why +her father looked so, and why the tears came in his eyes; but +she put her arms round his neck and kissed him, and asked no +more questions.</p> + +<p>The king was much disturbed on hearing the report of the +gentlemen-at-arms concerning the creatures they had seen; +and I presume would have taken Irene with him that very +day, but for what the presence of the ring on her finger assured +him of. About an hour before he left, Irene saw him +go up the old stair; and he did not come down again till they +were just ready to start; and she thought with herself that +he had been up to see the old lady. When he went away, he +left the other six gentlemen behind him, that there might be +six of them always on guard.</p> + +<p>And now, in the lovely spring-weather, Irene was out on +the mountain the greater part of the day. In the warmer +hollows there were lovely primroses, and not so many that +she ever got tired of them. As often as she saw a new one +opening an eye of light in the blind earth, she would clap her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +hands with gladness, and, unlike some children I know, instead +of pulling it, would touch it as tenderly as if it had been +a new baby, and, having made its acquaintance, would leave +it as happy as she found it. She treated the plants on which +they grew like birds' nests; every fresh flower was like a new little +bird to her. She would pay a visit to all the flower-nests she +knew, remembering each by itself. She would go down on +her hands and knees beside one and say "Good morning! +Are you all smelling very sweet this morning? Good-bye!" +And then she would go to another nest, and say the same. It +was a favorite amusement with her. There were many flowers +up and down, and she loved them all, but the primroses +were her favorites.</p> + +<p>"They're not too shy, and they're not a bit forward," she +would say to Lootie.</p> + +<p>There were goats too about, over the mountain, and when +the little kids came, she was as pleased with them as with the +flowers. The goats belonged to the miners mostly—a few of +them to Curdie's mother; but there were a good many wild +ones that seemed to belong to nobody. These the goblins +counted theirs, and it was upon them partly that they lived. +They set snares and dug pits for them; and did not scruple +to take what tame ones happened to be caught; but they did +not try to steal them in any other manner, because they were +afraid of the dogs the hill-people kept to watch them, for the +knowing dogs always tried to bite their feet. But the goblins +had a kind of sheep of their own—very queer creatures, which +they drove out to feed at night, and the other goblin-creatures +were wise enough to keep good watch over them, for they +knew they should have their bones by and by.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>CURDIE'S CLUE</div> + + +<div class='cap'>CURDIE was as watchful as ever, but was almost getting +tired of his ill-success. Every other night or so he +followed the goblins about, as they went on digging +and boring, and getting as near them as he could, watched +them from behind stones and rocks; but as yet he seemed no +nearer finding out what they had in view. As at first, he always +kept hold of the end of his string, while his pickaxe left +just outside the hole by which he entered the goblins' country +from the mine, continued to serve as an anchor and hold fast +the other end. The goblins hearing no more noise in that +quarter, had ceased to apprehend an immediate invasion, and +kept no watch.</div> + +<p>One night, after dodging about and listening till he was +nearly falling asleep with weariness, he began to roll up his +ball, for he had resolved to go home to bed. It was not long, +however, before he began to feel bewildered. One after another +he passed goblin-houses, caves that is, occupied by goblin +families, and at length was sure they were many more than he +had passed as he came. He had to use great caution to pass +unseen—they lay so close together. Could his string have led +him wrong? He still followed winding it, and still it led him +into more thickly populated quarters, until he became quite +uneasy, and indeed apprehensive; for although he was not +afraid of the <i>cobs</i>, he was afraid of not finding his way out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +But what could he do? It was of no use to sit down and wait +for the morning—the morning made no difference here. It +was all dark, and always dark; and if his string failed him he +was helpless. He might even arrive within a yard of the mine, +and never know it. Seeing he could do nothing better, he +would at least find where the end of the string was, and if possible +how it had come to play him such a trick. He knew by +the size of the ball that he was getting pretty near the last of it, +when he began to feel a tugging and pulling at it. What could +it mean? Turning a sharp corner, he thought he heard strange +sounds. These grew, as he went on, to a scuffling and growling +and squeaking; and the noise increased, until, turning a +second sharp corner, he found himself in the midst of it, and +the same moment tumbled over a wallowing mass, which he +knew must be a knot of the cobs' creatures. Before he could +recover his feet, he had caught some great scratches on his +face, and several severe bites on his legs and arms. But as he +scrambled to get up, his hand fell upon his pickaxe, and before +the horrid beasts could do him any serious harm, he was laying +about with it right and left in the dark. The hideous cries +which followed gave him the satisfaction of knowing that he +had punished some of them pretty smartly for their rudeness, +and by their scampering and their retreating howls, he perceived +that he had routed them. He stood a little, weighing +his battle-axe in his hand as if it had been the most precious +lump of metal—but indeed no lump of gold itself could have +been so precious at that time as that common tool—then untied +the end of the string from it, put the ball in his pocket, +and still stood thinking. It was clear that the cobs' creatures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +had found his axe, had between them carried it off, and had +so led him he knew not where. But for all his thinking he +could not tell what he ought to do, until suddenly he became +aware of a glimmer of light in the distance. Without a moment's +hesitation he set out for it, as fast as the unknown and +rugged way would permit. Yet again turning a corner, led +by the dim light, he spied something quite new in his experience +of the underground regions—a small irregular shape of +something shining. Going up to it, he found it was a piece of +mica, or Muscovy glass, called sheep-silver in Scotland, and +the light flickering as if from a fire behind it. After trying in +vain for some time to discover an entrance to the place where +it was burning, he came at length to a small chamber in which +an opening high in the wall revealed a glow beyond. To this +opening he managed to scramble up, and then he saw a strange +sight.</p> + +<p>Below sat a little group of goblins around a fire, the smoke +of which vanished in the darkness far aloft. The sides of the +cave were full of shining minerals like those of the palace-hall; +and the company was evidently of a superior order, for +every one wore stones about head, or arms, or waist, shining, +dull, gorgeous colors in the light of the fire. Nor had Curdie +looked long before he recognized the king himself, and found +that he had made his way into the inner apartment of the +royal family. He had never had such a good chance of hearing +something! He crept through the hole as softly as he +could, scrambled a good way down the wall toward them without +attracting attention, and then sat down and listened. The +king, evidently the queen, and probably the crown-prince<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +and the prime minister were talking together. He was sure of +the queen by her shoes, for as she warmed her feet at the fire, +he saw them quite plainly.</p> + +<p>"That <i>will</i> be fun!" said the one he took for the crown-prince.</p> + +<p>It was the first whole sentence he heard.</p> + +<p>"I don't see why you should think it such a grand affair!" +said his stepmother, tossing her head backward.</p> + +<p>"You must remember, my spouse," interposed his Majesty, +as if making excuse for his son, "he has got the same blood in +him. His mother—"</p> + +<p>"Don't talk to me of his mother! You positively encourage +his unnatural fancies. Whatever belongs to <i>that</i> mother, +ought to be cut out of him."</p> + +<p>"You forget yourself, my dear!" said the king.</p> + +<p>"I don't," said the queen, "nor you either. If you expect +<i>me</i> to approve of such coarse tastes, you will find yourself mistaken. +<i>I</i> don't wear shoes for nothing."</p> + +<p>"You must acknowledge, however," the king said, with a +little groan, "that this at least is no whim of Harelip's, but a +matter of state-policy. You are well aware that his gratification +comes purely from the pleasure of sacrificing himself to +the public good. Does it not, Harelip?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, father; of course it does. Only it <i>will</i> be nice to make +her cry. I'll have the skin taken off between her toes, and tie +them up till they grow together. Then her feet will be like +other people's, and there will be no occasion for her to wear +shoes."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to insinuate <i>I've</i> got toes, you unnatural<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +wretch?" cried the queen; and she moved angrily toward +Harelip. The councilor, however, who was betwixt them, +leaned forward so as to prevent her touching him, but only as +if to address the prince.</p> + +<p>"Your royal Highness," he said, "possibly requires to be +reminded that you have got three toes yourself—one on one +foot, two on the other."</p> + +<p>"Ha! ha! ha!" shouted the queen triumphantly.</p> + +<p>The councilor, encouraged by this mark of favor, went on.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me, your royal Highness, it would greatly endear +you to your future people, proving to them that you are +not the less one of themselves that you had the misfortune to +be born of a sun-mother, if you were to command upon yourself +the comparatively slight operation which, in a more extended +form, you so wisely meditate with regard to your future +princess."</p> + +<p>"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the queen, louder than before, and +the king and the minister joined in the laugh. It was anything +but a laughing matter to Harelip. He growled, and for +a few moments the others continued to express their enjoyment +of his discomfiture.</p> + +<p>The queen was the only one Curdie could see with any distinctness. +She sat sideways to him, and the light of the fire +shone full upon her face. He could not consider her handsome. +Her nose was certainly broader at the end than its extreme +length, and her eyes, instead of being horizontal, were set up +like two perpendicular eggs, one on the broad, the other on the +small, end. Her mouth was no bigger than a small buttonhole +until she laughed, when it stretched from ear to ear—only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +to be sure her ears were very nearly in the middle of her +cheeks.</p> + +<p>Anxious to hear everything they might say, Curdie ventured +to slide down a smooth part of the rock just under him, to a +projection below, upon which he thought to rest. But whether +he was not careful enough, or the projection gave way, down +he came with a rush on the floor of the cavern, bringing with +him a great rumbling shower of stones.</p> + +<p>The goblins jumped from their seats in more anger than +consternation, for they had never yet seen anything to be +afraid of in the palace. But when they saw Curdie with his +pick in his hand, their rage was mingled with fear, for they +took him for the first of an invasion of miners. The king notwithstanding +drew himself up to his full height of four feet, +spread himself to his full breadth of three and a half, for he was +the handsomest and squarest of all the goblins, and strutting +up to Curdie, planted himself with outspread feet before him, +and said with dignity—</p> + +<p>"Pray what right have you in my palace?"</p> + +<p>"The right of necessity, your majesty," answered Curdie. "I +lost my way, and did not know where I was wandering to."</p> + +<p>"How did you get in?"</p> + +<p>"By a hole in the mountain."</p> + +<p>"But you are a miner! Look at your pickaxe!"</p> + +<p>Curdie did look at it, answering,</p> + +<p>"I came upon it, lying on the ground, a little way from here. +I tumbled over some wild beasts who were playing with it. +Look, your majesty." And Curdie showed him how he was +scratched and bitten.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/col06.jpg" width="454" height="600" alt="The goblins fell back a little when he began, and made horrible grimaces all through the rhyme." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The goblins fell back a little when he began, and made horrible grimaces all through the rhyme.</span> +</div> + +<p>The king was pleased to find him behave more politely than +he had expected from what his people had told him concerning +the miners, for he attributed it to the power of his own +presence; but he did not therefore feel friendly to the intruder.</p> + +<p>"You will oblige me by walking out of my dominions at +once," he said, well knowing what a mockery lay in the words.</p> + +<p>"With pleasure, if your majesty will give me a guide," said +Curdie.</p> + +<p>"I will give you a thousand," said the king, with a scoffing +air of magnificent liberality.</p> + +<p>"One will be quite sufficient," said Curdie.</p> + +<p>But the king uttered a strange shout, half halloo, half roar, +and in rushed goblins till the cave was swarming. He said +something to the first of them which Curdie could not hear, +and it was passed from one to another till in a moment the +farthest in the crowd had evidently heard and understood it. +They began to gather about him in a way he did not relish, +and he retreated toward the wall. They pressed upon him.</p> + +<p>"Stand back," said Curdie, grasping his pickaxe tighter +by his knee.</p> + +<p>They only grinned and pressed closer. Curdie bethought +himself, and began to rhyme.</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Ten, twenty, thirty—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">You're all so very dirty!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Twenty, thirty, forty—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">You're all so thick and snorty!</span><br /> +<br /> +"Thirty, forty, fifty—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">You're all so puff-and-snifty!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Forty, fifty, sixty—</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Beast and man so mixty!</span><br /> +<br /> +"Fifty, sixty, seventy—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Mixty, maxty, leaventy—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Sixty, seventy, eighty—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">All your cheeks so slaty.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Seventy, eighty, ninety,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">All your hands so flinty!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Eighty, ninety, hundred,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Altogether dundred!"</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>The goblins fell back a little when he began, and made horrible +grimaces all through the rhyme, as if eating something +so disagreeable that it set their teeth on edge and gave them +the creeps; but whether it was that the rhyming words were +most of them no words at all, for a new rhyme being considered +more efficacious, Curdie had made it on the spur of the +moment, or whether it was that the presence of the king and +queen gave them courage, I cannot tell; but the moment the +rhyme was over, they crowded on him again, and out shot a +hundred long arms, with a multitude of thick nailless fingers +at the end of them, to lay hold upon him. Then Curdie heaved +up his axe. But being as gentle as courageous and not wishing +to kill any of them, he turned the end which was square and +blunt like a hammer, and with that came down a great blow +on the head of the goblin nearest him. Hard as the heads of +all goblins are, he thought he must feel that. And so he did, +no doubt; but he only gave a horrible cry, and sprung at +Curdie's throat. Curdie however drew back in time, and just +at that critical moment, remembered the vulnerable part of +the goblin-body. He made a sudden rush at the king, and +stamped with all his might on his Majesty's feet. The king +gave a most unkingly howl, and almost fell into the fire. Curdie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +then rushed into the crowd, stamping right and left. The +goblins drew back howling on every side as he approached, +but they were so crowded that few of those he attacked could +escape his tread; and the shrieking and roaring that filled the +cave would have appalled Curdie, but for the good hope it +gave him. They were tumbling over each other in heaps in +their eagerness to rush from the cave, when a new assailant +suddenly faced him:—the queen, with flaming eyes and expanded +nostrils, her hair standing half up from her head, +rushed at him. She trusted in her shoes; they were of granite—hollowed +like French <i>sabots</i>. Curdie would have endured +much rather than hurt a woman, even if she was a goblin; but +here was an affair of life and death: forgetting her shoes, he +made a great stamp on one of her feet. But she instantly returned +it with very different effect, causing him frightful pain +and almost disabling him. His only chance with her would +have been to attack the granite shoes with his pickaxe, but before +he could think of that, she had caught him up in her arms, +and was rushing with him across the cave. She dashed him +into a hole in the wall, with a force that almost stunned him. +But although he could not move, he was not too far gone to +hear her great cry, and the rush of multitudes of soft feet, +followed by the sounds of something heaved up against the +rock; after which came a multitudinous patter of stones falling +near him. The last had not ceased when he grew very +faint, for his head had been badly cut, and at last insensible.</p> + +<p>When he came to himself, there was perfect silence about +him, and utter darkness, but for the merest glimmer in one +tiny spot. He crawled to it, and found that they had heaved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +a slab against the mouth of the hole, past the edge of which a +poor little gleam found its way from the fire. He could not +move it a hair's breadth, for they had piled a great heap of +stones against it. He crawled back to where he had been lying, +in the faint hope of finding his pickaxe. But after a vain +search, he was at last compelled to acknowledge himself in an +evil plight. He sat down and tried to think, but soon fell fast +asleep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>GOBLIN COUNSELS</div> + + +<div class='cap'>HE must have slept a long time, for when he awoke, +he felt wonderfully restored—indeed he felt almost +well, and he was also very hungry. There were +voices in the outer cave.</div> + +<p>Once more then, it was night; for the goblins slept during +the day, and went about their affairs during the night.</p> + +<p>In the universal and constant darkness of their dwelling, +they had no reason to prefer the one arrangement to the other; +but from aversion to the sun-people, they chose to be busy +when there was least chance of their being met either by the +miners below, when they were burrowing, or by the people of +the mountain above, when they were feeding their sheep or +catching their goats. And indeed it was only when the sun +was away that the outside of the mountain was sufficiently +like their own dismal regions to be endurable to their mole-eyes, +so thoroughly had they become disused to any light beyond +that of their own fires and torches.</p> + +<p>Curdie listened, and soon found that they were talking of +himself.</p> + +<p>"How long will it take?" asked Harelip.</p> + +<p>"Not many days, I should think," answered the king. +"They are poor feeble creatures, those sun-people, and want +to be always eating. <i>We</i> can go a week at a time without food, +and be all the better for it; but I've been told <i>they</i> eat two or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +three times every day! Can you believe it?—They must be +quite hollow inside—not at all like us, nine-tenths of whose +bulk is solid flesh and bone. Yes—I judge a week of starvation +will do for him."</p> + +<p>"If I may be allowed a word," interposed the queen, "—and +I think I ought to have some voice in the matter—"</p> + +<p>"The wretch is entirely at your disposal, my spouse," interrupted +the king. "He is your property. You caught him +yourself. We should never have done it."</p> + +<p>The queen laughed. She seemed in far better humor than +the night before.</p> + +<p>"I was about to say," she resumed, "that it does seem a +pity to waste so much fresh meat."</p> + +<p>"What are you thinking of, my love?" said the king. "The +very notion of starving him implies that we are not going to +give him any meat, either salt or fresh."</p> + +<p>"I'm not such a stupid as that comes to," returned her Majesty. +"What I mean is, that by the time he is starved, there +will hardly be a picking upon his bones."</p> + +<p>The king gave a great laugh.</p> + +<p>"Well, my spouse, you may have him when you like," he +said. "I don't fancy him for my part. I am pretty sure he is +tough eating."</p> + +<p>"That would be to honor instead of punish his insolence," +returned the queen. "But why should our poor creatures be +deprived of so much nourishment? Our little dogs and cats +and pigs and small bears would enjoy him very much."</p> + +<p>"You are the best of housekeepers, my lovely queen!" said +her husband. "Let it be so by all means. Let us have our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +people in, and get him out and kill him at once. He deserves +it. The mischief he might have brought upon us, now that he +had penetrated so far as our most retired citadel, is incalculable. +Or rather let us tie him hand and foot, and have the pleasure +of seeing him torn to pieces by full torchlight in the great hall."</p> + +<p>"Better and better!" cried the queen and prince together, +both of them clapping their hands. And the prince made an +ugly noise with his hare-lip, just as if he had intended to be +one at the feast.</p> + +<p>"But," added the queen, bethinking herself, "he is so troublesome. +For as poor creatures as they are, there is something +about those sun-people that is <i>very</i> troublesome. I cannot +imagine how it is that with such superior strength and skill +and understanding as ours, we permit them to exist at all. +Why do we not destroy them entirely, and use their cattle and +grazing lands at our pleasure? Of course, we don't want to +live in their horrid country! It is far too glaring for our quieter +and more refined tastes. But we might use it for a sort of outhouse, +you know. Even our creatures' eyes might get used to +it, and if they did grow blind, that would be of no consequence, +provided they grew fat as well. But we might even keep their +great cows and other creatures, and then we should have a +few more luxuries, such as cream and cheese, which at present +we only taste occasionally, when our brave men have succeeded +in carrying some off from their farms."</p> + +<p>"It is worth thinking of," said the king; "and I don't know +why you should be the first to suggest it, except that you have +a positive genius for conquest. But still, as you say, there is +something very troublesome about them; and it would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +better, as I understand you to suggest, that we should starve +him for a day or two first, so that he may be a little less frisky +when we take him out."</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Once there was a goblin<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Living in a hole;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Busy he was cobblin'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">A shoe without a sole.</span><br /> +<br /> +"By came a birdie:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Goblin, what do you do?'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Cobble at a sturdie</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Upper leather shoe.'</span><br /> +<br /> +"'What's the good o' that, sir?'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Said the little bird,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Why it's very pat, sir—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Plain without a word.</span><br /> +<br /> +"'Where 'tis all a hill, sir,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Never can be holes:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Why should their shoes have soles, sir,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When they've got no souls?'"</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>"What's that horrible noise?" cried the queen, shuddering +from pot-metal head to granite shoes.</p> + +<p>"I declare," said the king with solemn indignation, "it's +the sun-creature in the hole!"</p> + +<p>"Stop that disgusting noise!" cried the crown-prince valiantly, +getting up and standing in front of the heap of stones, +with his face toward Curdie's prison.—"Do now, or I'll break +your head."</p> + +<p>"Break away," shouted Curdie, and began singing again—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Once there was a goblin<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Living in a hole,—"</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>"I really cannot bear it," said the queen. "If I could only +get at his horrid toes with my slippers again!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I think we had better go to bed," said the king.</p> + +<p>"It's not time to go to bed," said the queen.</p> + +<p>"I would if I was you," said Curdie.</p> + +<p>"Impertinent wretch!" said the queen, with the utmost +scorn in her voice.</p> + +<p>"An impossible <i>if</i>," said his Majesty with dignity.</p> + +<p>"Quite," returned Curdie, and began singing again—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Go to bed,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Goblin, do.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Help the queen</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Take off her shoe.</span><br /> +<br /> +"If you do,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It will disclose</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">A horrid set</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Of sprouting toes."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>"What a lie!" roared the queen in a rage.</p> + +<p>"By the way, that reminds me," said the king, "that, for +as long as we have been married, I have never seen your feet, +queen. I think you might take off your shoes when you go to +bed! They positively hurt me sometimes."</p> + +<p>"I will do just as I like," retorted the queen sulkily.</p> + +<p>"You ought to do as your hubby wishes you," said the king.</p> + +<p>"I will not," said the queen.</p> + +<p>"Then I insist upon it," said the king.</p> + +<p>Apparently his Majesty approached the queen for the purpose +of following the advice given by Curdie, for the latter +heard a scuffle, and then a great roar from the king.</p> + +<p>"Will you be quiet then?" said the queen wickedly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, queen. I only meant to coax you."</p> + +<p>"Hands off!" cried the queen triumphantly. "I'm going<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +to bed. You may come when you like. But as long as I am +queen, I will sleep in my shoes. It is my royal privilege. Harelip, +go to bed."</p> + +<p>"I'm going," said Harelip sleepily.</p> + +<p>"So am I," said the king.</p> + +<p>"Come along then," said the queen; "and mind you are +good, or I'll—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no, no!" screamed the king, in the most supplicating +of tones.</p> + +<p>Curdie heard only a muttered reply in the distance; and +then the cave was quite still.</p> + +<p>They had left the fire burning, and the light came through +brighter than before. Curdie thought it was time to try again +if anything could be done. But he found he could not get +even a finger through the chink between the slab and the rock. +He gave a great rush with his shoulder against the slab, but +it yielded no more than if it had been part of the rock. All he +could do was to sit down and think again.</p> + +<p>By and by he came to the resolution to pretend to be dying, +in the hope they might take him out before his strength was +too much exhausted to let him have a chance. Then, for the +creatures, if he could but find his axe again, he would have no +fear of them; and if it were not for the queen's horrid shoes, +he would have no fear at all.</p> + +<p>Meantime, until they should come again at night, there was +nothing for him to do but forge new rhymes, now his only +weapons. He had no intention of using them at present, of +course; but it was well to have a stock, for he might live to +want them, and the manufacture of them would help to while +away the time.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>IRENE'S CLUE</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THAT same morning, early, the princess woke in a terrible +fright. There was a hideous noise in her room—of +creatures snarling and hissing and racketing about +as if they were fighting. The moment she came to herself, +she remembered something she had never thought of again—what +her grandmother told her to do when she was frightened. +She immediately took off her ring and put it under her pillow. +As she did so, she fancied she felt a finger and thumb take it +gently from under her palm. "It must be my grandmother!" +she said to herself, and the thought gave her such courage +that she stopped to put on her dainty little slippers before +running from the room. While doing this, she caught sight +of a long cloak of sky-blue, thrown over the back of a chair +by her bedside. She had never seen it before, but it was evidently +waiting for her. She put it on, and then, feeling with +the forefinger of her right hand, soon found her grandmother's +thread, which she proceeded at once to follow, expecting it +would lead her straight up the old stair. When she reached +the door, she found it went down and ran along the floor, so +that she had almost to crawl in order to keep a hold of it. +Then, to her surprise, and somewhat to her dismay, she found +that instead of leading her toward the stair it turned in quite +the opposite direction. It led her through certain narrow +passages toward the kitchen, turning aside ere she reached it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +and guiding her to a door which communicated with a small +back yard. Some of the maids were already up, and this door +was standing open. Across the yard the thread still ran along +the ground, until it brought her to a door in the wall which +opened upon the mountain side. When she had passed through, +the thread rose to about half her height, and she could hold +it with ease as she walked. It led her straight up the mountain.</div> + +<p>The cause of her alarm was less frightful than she supposed. +The cook's great black cat, pursued by the housekeeper's terrier, +had bounced against her bedroom door, which had not +been properly fastened, and the two had burst into her room +together and commenced a battle royal. How the nurse came +to sleep through it, was a mystery, but I suspect the old lady +had something to do with it.</p> + +<p>It was a clear warm morning. The wind blew deliciously +over the mountain-side. Here and there she saw a late primrose, +but she did not stop to call on them. The sky was +mottled with small clouds. The sun was not yet up, but +some of their fluffy edges had caught his light and hung out +orange and gold-colored fringes upon the air. The dew lay +in round drops upon the leaves, and hung like tiny diamonds +from the blades of grass about her path.</p> + +<p>"How lovely that bit of gossamer is!" thought the princess, +looking at a long undulating line that shone at some distance +from her up the hill. It was not the time for gossamers though; +and Irene soon discovered that it was her own thread she saw +shining on before her in the light of the morning. It was leading +her she knew not whither; but she had never in her life<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +been out before sunrise, and everything was so fresh and cool +and lively and full of something coming, that she felt too +happy to be afraid of anything.</p> + +<p>After leading her up a good distance, the thread turned to +the left, and down the path upon which she and Lootie had +met Curdie. But she never thought of that, for now in the +morning light, with its far outlook over the country, no path +could have been more open and airy and cheerful. She could +see the road almost to the horizon, along which she had so +often watched her king-papa and his troop come shining, with +the bugle-blast cleaving the air before them; and it was like +a companion to her. Down and down the path went, then +up, and then down, and then up again, getting rugged and +more rugged as it went; still along the path went the silvery +thread, and still along the thread went Irene's little rosy-tipped +forefinger. By and by she came to a little stream that +jabbered and prattled down the hill, and up the side of the +stream went both path and thread. And still the path grew +rougher and steeper, and the mountain grew wilder, till Irene +began to think she was going a very long way from home; +and when she turned to look back, she saw that the level country +had vanished and the rough bare mountain had closed in +about her. But still on went the thread, and on went the princess. +Everything around her was getting brighter and brighter +as the sun came nearer; till at length his first rays all at once +alighted on the top of a rock before her, like some golden creature +fresh from the sky. Then she saw that the little stream +ran out of a hole in that rock, that the path did not go past +the rock, and that the thread was leading her straight up to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +it. A shudder ran through her from head to foot when she +found that the thread was actually taking her into the hole +out of which the stream ran. It ran out babbling joyously, +but she had to go in.</p> + +<p>She did not hesitate. Right into the hole she went, which +was high enough to let her walk without stooping. For a little +way there was a brown glimmer, but at the first turn it all +but ceased, and before she had gone many paces she was in +total darkness. Then she began to be frightened indeed. +Every moment she kept feeling the thread backward, and as +she went farther and farther into the darkness of the great +hollow mountain, she kept thinking more and more about her +grandmother, and all that she had said to her, and how kind +she had been, and how beautiful she was, and all about her +lovely room, and the fire of roses, and the great lamp that sent +its light through stone walls. And she became more and more +sure that the thread could not have gone there of itself, and +that her grandmother must have sent it. But it tried her +dreadfully when the path went down very steep, and especially +when she came to places where she had to go down +rough stairs, and even sometimes a ladder. Through one narrow +passage after another, over lumps of rock and sand and +clay, the thread guided her, until she came to a small hole +through which she had to creep. Finding no change on the +other side—"Shall I ever get back?" she thought, over and +over again, wondering at herself that she was not ten times +more frightened, and often feeling as if she were only walking +in the story of a dream. Sometimes she heard the noise of +water, a dull gurgling inside the rock. By and by she heard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +the sounds of blows, which came nearer and nearer; but again +they grew duller and almost died away. In a hundred directions +she turned, obedient to the guiding thread.</p> + +<p>At last she spied a dull red shine, and came up to the mica-window, +and thence away and round about, and right into a +cavern, where glowed the red embers of a fire. Here the thread +began to rise. It rose as high as her head, and higher still. +What <i>should</i> she do if she lost her hold? She was pulling it +down! She might break it! She could see it far up, glowing +as red as her fire-opal in the light of the embers.</p> + +<p>But presently she came to a huge heap of stones, piled in a +slope against the wall of the cavern. On these she climbed, +and soon recovered the level of the thread—only however to +find, the next moment, that it vanished through the heap of +stones, and left her standing on it, with her face to the solid +rock. For one terrible moment, she felt as if her grandmother +had forsaken her. The thread which the spiders had spun far +over the seas, which her grandmother had sat in the moonlight +and spun again for her, which she had tempered in +the rose-fire, and tied to her opal ring, had left her—had +gone where she could no longer follow it—had brought her +into a horrible cavern, and there left her! She was forsaken +indeed!</p> + +<p>"When <i>shall</i> I wake?" she said to herself in an agony, but +the same moment knew that it was no dream. She threw +herself upon the heap, and began to cry. It was well she did +not know what creatures, one of them with stone shoes on her +feet, were lying in the next cave. But neither did she know +who was on the other side of the slab.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + +<p>At length the thought struck her, that at least she could +follow the thread backward, and thus get out of the mountain, +and home. She rose at once, and found the thread. But +the instant she tried to feel it backward, it vanished from her +touch. Forward, it led her hand up to the heap of stones—backward, +it seemed nowhere. Neither could she see it as +before in the light of the fire. She burst into a wailing cry, +and again threw herself down on the stones.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE ESCAPE</div> + + +<div class='cap'>AS the princess lay and sobbed, she kept feeling the +thread mechanically, following it with her finger many +times up the stones in which it disappeared. By and +by she began, still mechanically, to poke her finger in after it +between the stones as far as she could. All at once it came +into her head that she might remove some of the stones and +see where the thread went next. Almost laughing at herself +for never having thought of this before, she jumped to her +feet. Her fear vanished: once more she was certain her grandmother's +thread could not have brought her there just to +leave her there; and she began to throw away the stones from +the top as fast as she could, sometimes two or three at a handful, +sometimes taking both hands to lift one. After clearing +them away a little, she found that the thread turned and went +straight downward. Hence, as the heap sloped a good deal, +growing of course wider toward its base, she had to throw +away a multitude of stones to follow the thread. But this +was not all, for she soon found that the thread, after going +straight down for a little way, turned first sideways in one +direction, then sideways in another, and then shot, at various +angles, hither and thither inside the heap, so that she began +to be afraid that to clear the thread, she must remove the whole +huge gathering. She was dismayed at the very idea, but, +losing no time, set to work with a will; and with aching back,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +and bleeding fingers and hands, she worked on, sustained by +the pleasure of seeing the heap slowly diminish, and begin to +show itself on the opposite side of the fire. Another thing +which helped to keep up her courage was, that as often as she +uncovered a turn of the thread, instead of lying loose upon +the stones, it tightened up; this made her sure that her grandmother +was at the end of it somewhere.</div> + +<p>She had got about half way down when she started, and +nearly fell with fright. Close to her ear as it seemed, a voice +broke out singing—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Jabber, bother, smash!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">You'll have it all in a crash.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Jabber, smash, bother!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">You'll have the worst of the pother.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Smash, bother, jabber!—"</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Here Curdie stopped, either because he could not find a +rhyme to <i>jabber</i>, or because he remembered what he had forgotten +when he woke up at the sound of Irene's labors, that +his plan was to make the goblins think he was getting weak. +But he had uttered enough to let Irene know who he was.</p> + +<p>"It's Curdie!" she cried joyfully.</p> + +<p>"Hush, hush!" came Curdie's voice again from somewhere. +"Speak softly."</p> + +<p>"Why, you were singing loud!" said Irene.</p> + +<p>"Yes. But they know I am here, and they don't know you +are. Who are you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm Irene," answered the princess. "I know who you +are quite well. You're Curdie."</p> + +<p>"Why, how ever did you come here, Irene?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> + +<p>"My great-great-grandmother sent me; and I think I've +found out why. You can't get out, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"No, I can't. What are you doing?"</p> + +<p>"Clearing away a huge heap of stones."</p> + +<p>"There's a princess!" exclaimed Curdie, in a tone of delight, +but still speaking in little more than a whisper. "I can't +think how you got here, though."</p> + +<p>"My grandmother sent me after her thread."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you mean," said Curdie; "but so +you're there, it doesn't much matter."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes it does!" returned Irene. "I should never have +been here but for her."</p> + +<p>"You can tell me all about it when we get out, then. There's +no time to lose now," said Curdie.</p> + +<p>And Irene went to work, as fresh as when she began.</p> + +<p>"There's such a lot of stones!" she said. "It will take me +a long time to get them all away."</p> + +<p>"How far on have you got?" asked Curdie.</p> + +<p>"I've got about the half way, but the other half is ever so +much bigger."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you will have to move the lower half. Do +you see a slab laid up against the wall?"</p> + +<p>Irene looked and felt about with her hands, and soon perceived +the outlines of the slab.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she answered, "I do."</p> + +<p>"Then, I think," rejoined Curdie, "when you have cleared +the slab about half way down, or a little more, I shall be able +to push it over."</p> + +<p>"I must follow my thread," returned Irene, "whatever I do."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What <i>do</i> you mean?" exclaimed Curdie.</p> + +<p>"You will see when you get out of here," answered the princess, +and then she went on harder than ever.</p> + +<p>But she was soon satisfied that what Curdie wanted done, +and what the thread wanted done, were one and the same +thing. For she not only saw that by following the turns of +the thread she had been clearing the face of the slab, but that, +a little more than half way down, the thread went through the +chink between the slab and the wall into the place where Curdie +was confined, so that she could not follow it any farther +until the slab was out of her way. As soon as she found this, +she said in a right joyous whisper—</p> + +<p>"Now, Curdie! I think if you were to give a great push, +the slab would tumble over."</p> + +<p>"Stand quite clear of it then," said Curdie, "and let me +know when you are ready."</p> + +<p>Irene got off the heap, and stood on one side of it.</p> + +<p>"Now, Curdie!" she cried.</p> + +<p>Curdie gave a great rush with his shoulder against it. Out +tumbled the slab on the heap, and out crept Curdie over the +top of it.</p> + +<p>"You've saved my life, Irene!" he whispered.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Curdie! I'm so glad! Let's get out of this horrid +place as fast as we can."</p> + +<p>"That's easier said than done," returned he.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! it's quite easy," said Irene. "We have only to +follow my thread. I am sure that it's going to take us out +now."</p> + +<p>She had already begun to follow it over the fallen slab into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +the hole, while Curdie was searching the floor of the cavern +for his pickaxe.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 429px;"> +<img src="images/col07.jpg" width="429" height="600" alt="Curdie went on after her, flashing his torch about." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Curdie went on after her, flashing his torch about.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Here it is!" he cried. "No, it is not!" he added, in a disappointed +tone. "What can it be then?—I declare it's a +torch. That <i>is</i> jolly! It's better almost than my pickaxe. +Much better if it weren't for those stone shoes!" he went on, +as he lighted the torch by blowing the last embers of the expiring +fire.</p> + +<p>When he looked up, with the lighted torch casting a glare +into the great darkness of the huge cavern, he caught sight of +Irene disappearing in the hole out of which he had himself +just come.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going there?" he cried. "That's not the +way out. That's where I couldn't get out."</p> + +<p>"I know that," whispered Irene. "But this is the way my +thread goes, and I must follow it."</p> + +<p>"What nonsense the child talks!" said Curdie to himself. +"I must follow her, though, and see that she comes to no harm. +She will soon find she can't get out that way, and then she +will come with me."</p> + +<p>So he crept once more over the slab into the hole with his +torch in his hand. But when he looked about in it, he could +see her nowhere. And now he discovered that although the +hole was narrow, it was much larger than he had supposed; +for in one direction the roof came down very low, and the hole +went off in a narrow passage, of which he could not see the +end. The princess must have crept in there. He got on his +knees and one hand, holding the torch with the other, and +crept after her. The hole twisted about, in some parts so low<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +that he could hardly get through, in others so high that he +could not see the roof, but everywhere it was narrow—far too +narrow for a goblin to get through, and so I presume they +never thought that Curdie might. He was beginning to feel +very uncomfortable lest he could not see the end. The +princess when he heard her voice almost close to his ear, whispering—</p> + +<p>"Aren't you coming, Curdie?"</p> + +<p>And when he turned the next corner, there she stood waiting +for him.</p> + +<p>"I knew you couldn't go wrong in that narrow hole, but now +you must keep by me, for here is a great wide place," she said.</p> + +<p>"I can't understand it," said Curdie, half to himself, half +to Irene.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," she returned. "Wait till we get out."</p> + +<p>Curdie, utterly astonished that she had already got so far, +and by a path he had known nothing of, thought it better to +let her do as she pleased.</p> + +<p>"At all events," he said again to himself, "I know nothing +about the way, miner as I am; and she seems to think she +does know something about it, though how she should, passes +my comprehension. So she's just as likely to find her way as +I am, and as she insists on taking the lead, I must follow. We +can't be much worse off than we are, anyhow."</p> + +<p>Reasoning thus, he followed her a few steps, and came out +in another great cavern, across which Irene walked in a straight +line, as confidently as if she knew every step of the way. Curdie +went on after her, flashing his torch about, and trying to +see something of what lay around them. Suddenly he started<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +back a pace as the light fell upon something close by which +Irene was passing. It was a platform of rock raised a few feet +from the floor and covered with sheep skins, upon which lay +two horrible figures asleep, at once recognized by Curdie as +the king and queen of the goblins. He lowered his torch instantly +lest the light should awake them. As he did so, it +flashed upon his pickaxe, lying by the side of the queen, whose +hand lay close by the handle of it.</p> + +<p>"Stop one moment," he whispered. "Hold my torch, and +don't let the light on their faces."</p> + +<p>Irene shuddered when she saw the frightful creatures whom +she had passed without observing them, but she did as he requested, +and turning her back, held the torch low in front of +her. Curdie drew his pickaxe carefully away, and as he did +so, spied one of her feet, projecting from under the skins. The +great clumsy granite shoe, exposed thus to his hand, was a +temptation not to be resisted. He laid hold of it, and with +cautious efforts, drew it off. The moment he succeeded, he +saw to his astonishment that what he had sung in ignorance, +to annoy the queen, was actually true: she had six horrible +toes. Overjoyed at his success, and seeing by the huge bump +in the sheep skins where the other foot was, he proceeded to +lift them gently, for, if he could only succeed in carrying away +the other shoe as well, he would be no more afraid of the goblins +than of so many flies. But as he pulled at the second +shoe, the queen gave a growl and sat up in bed. The same +instant the king awoke also, and sat up beside her.</p> + +<p>"Run, Irene!" cried Curdie, for though he was not now in +the least afraid for himself, he was for the princess.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> + +<p>Irene looked once round, saw the fearful creatures awake, +and like the wise princess she was, dashed the torch on the +ground and extinguished it, crying out—</p> + +<p>"Here, Curdie, take my hand."</p> + +<p>He darted to her side, forgetting neither the queen's shoe +nor his pickaxe, and caught hold of her hand, as she sped fearlessly +where her thread guided her. They heard the queen +give a great bellow; but they had a good start, for it would be +some time before they could get torches lighted to pursue +them. Just as they thought they saw a gleam behind them, +the thread brought them to a very narrow opening, through +which Irene crept easily, and Curdie with difficulty.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Curdie; "I think we shall be safe."</p> + +<p>"Of course we shall," returned Irene.</p> + +<p>"Why do you think so?" asked Curdie.</p> + +<p>"Because my grandmother is taking care of us."</p> + +<p>"That's all nonsense," said Curdie. "I don't know what +you mean."</p> + +<p>"Then if you don't know what I mean, what right have you +to call it nonsense?" asked the princess, a little offended.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Irene," said Curdie; "I did not mean +to vex you."</p> + +<p>"Of course not," returned the princess. "But why do <i>you</i> +think we shall be safe?"</p> + +<p>"Because the king and queen are far too stout to get through +that hole."</p> + +<p>"There may be ways round," said the other.</p> + +<p>"To be sure there might; we are not out of it yet," acknowledged +Curdie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But what do you mean by the king and queen?" asked +the princess. "I should never call such creatures as those a +king and a queen."</p> + +<p>"Their own people do, though," answered Curdie.</p> + +<p>The princess asked more questions, and Curdie, as they +walked leisurely along, gave her a full account, not only of the +character and habits of the goblins, so far as he knew them, +but of his own adventures with them, beginning from the very +night after that in which he had met her and Lootie upon the +mountain. When he had finished, he begged Irene to tell him +how it was that she had come to his rescue. So Irene too had +to tell a long story, which she did in rather a roundabout manner, +interrupted by many questions concerning things she +had not explained. But her tale, as he did not believe more +than half of it, left everything as unaccountable to him as +before, and he was nearly as much perplexed as to what he +must think of the princess. He could not believe that she was +deliberately telling stories, and the only conclusion he could +come to was that Lootie had been playing the child tricks, +inventing no end of lies to frighten her for her own purposes.</p> + +<p>"But how ever did Lootie come to let you go into the mountain +alone?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Lootie knows nothing about it. I left her fast asleep—at +least I think so. I hope my grandmother won't let her get +into trouble, for it wasn't her fault at all, as my grandmother +very well knows."</p> + +<p>"But how did you find your way to me?" persisted Curdie.</p> + +<p>"I told you already," answered Irene;—"by keeping my +finger upon my grandmother's thread, as I am doing now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You don't mean you've got the thread there?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I do. I have told you so ten times already. I +have hardly—except when I was removing the stones—taken +my finger off it. There!" she added, guiding Curdie's hand +to the thread, "you feel it yourself—don't you?"</p> + +<p>"I feel nothing at all," replied Curdie.</p> + +<p>"Then what can be the matter with your finger? I feel it +perfectly. To be sure it is very thin, and in the sunlight looks +just like the thread of a spider, though there are many of them +twisted together to make it—but for all that I can't think +why you shouldn't feel it as well as I do."</p> + +<p>Curdie was too polite to say he did not believe there was +any thread there at all. What he did say was—</p> + +<p>"Well, I can make nothing of it."</p> + +<p>"I can though, and you must be glad of that, for it will do +for both of us."</p> + +<p>"We're not out yet," said Curdie.</p> + +<p>"We soon shall be," returned Irene confidently.</p> + +<p>And now the thread went downward, and led Irene's hand +to a hole in the floor of the cavern, whence came a sound +of running water which they had been hearing for some +time.</p> + +<p>"It goes into the ground now, Curdie," she said, stopping.</p> + +<p>He had been listening to another sound, which his practised +ear had caught long ago, and which also had been growing +louder. It was the noise the goblin miners made at their +work, and they seemed to be at no great distance now. Irene +heard it the moment she stopped.</p> + +<p>"What is that noise?" she asked. "Do you know, Curdie?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes. It is the goblins digging and burrowing," he answered.</p> + +<p>"And don't you know for what purpose they do it?"</p> + +<p>"No; I haven't the least idea. Would you like to see +them?" he asked, wishing to have another try after their +secret.</p> + +<p>"If my thread took me there, I shouldn't much mind; but +I don't want to see them, and I can't leave my thread. It leads +me down into the hole, and we had better go at once."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Shall I go in first?" said Curdie.</p> + +<p>"No; better not. You can't feel the thread," she answered, +stepping down through a narrow break in the floor of the cavern. +"Oh!" she cried, "I am in the water. It is running +strong—but it is not deep, and there is just room to walk. +Make haste, Curdie."</p> + +<p>He tried, but the hole was too small for him to get in.</p> + +<p>"Go on a little bit," he said, shouldering his pickaxe.</p> + +<p>In a few moments he had cleared a large opening and followed +her. They went on, down and down with the running +water, Curdie getting more and more afraid it was leading +them to some terrible gulf in the heart of the mountain. In +one or two places he had to break away the rock to make +room before even Irene could get through—at least without +hurting herself. But at length they spied a glimmer of light, +and in a minute more, they were almost blinded by the full +sunlight into which they emerged. It was some little time +before the princess could see well enough to discover that they +stood in her own garden, close by the seat on which she and +her king-papa had sat that afternoon. They had come out by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +the channel of the little stream. She danced and clapped her +hands with delight.</p> + +<p>"Now, Curdie!" she cried, "won't you believe what I told +you about my grandmother and her thread?"</p> + +<p>For she had felt all the time that Curdie was not believing +what she had told him.</p> + +<p>"There!—don't you see it shining on before us?" she added.</p> + +<p>"I don't see anything," persisted Curdie.</p> + +<p>"Then you must believe without seeing," said the princess; +"for you can't deny it has brought me out of the mountain."</p> + +<p>"I can't deny we <i>are</i> out of the mountain, and I should be +very ungrateful indeed to deny that <i>you</i> had brought <i>me</i> out +of it."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't have done it but for the thread," persisted Irene.</p> + +<p>"That's the part I don't understand."</p> + +<p>"Well, come along, and Lootie will get you something to +eat. I am sure you must want it very much."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I do. But my father and mother will be so anxious +about me, I must make haste—first up the mountain to +tell my mother, and then down into the mine again to acquaint +my father."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Curdie; but you can't get out without coming +this way, and I will take you through the house, for that is +nearest."</p> + +<p>They met no one by the way, for indeed, as before, the people +were here and there and everywhere searching for the +princess. When they got in, Irene found that the thread, as +she had half expected, went up the old staircase, and a new +thought struck her. She turned to Curdie and said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"My grandmother wants me. Do come up with me, and see +her. Then you will know that I have been telling you the +truth. Do come—to please me, Curdie. I can't bear you +should think I say what is not true."</p> + +<p>"I never doubted you believed what you said," returned +Curdie. "I only thought you had some fancy in your head +that was not correct."</p> + +<p>"But do come, dear Curdie."</p> + +<p>The little miner could not withstand this appeal, and though +he felt shy in what seemed to him such a huge grand house, he +yielded, and followed her up the stair.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE OLD LADY AND CURDIE</div> + + +<div class='cap'>UP the stair then they went, and the next and the next, +and through the long rows of empty rooms, and up +the little tower stairs, Irene growing happier and happier +as she ascended. There was no answer when she knocked +at length at the door of the workroom, nor could she hear any +sound of the spinning-wheel, and once more her heart sank +within her—but only for one moment, as she turned and +knocked at the other door.</div> + +<p>"Come in," answered the sweet voice of her grandmother, +and Irene opened the door and entered, followed by Curdie.</p> + +<p>"You darling!" cried the lady, who was seated by a fire of +red roses mingled with white—"I've been waiting for you, and +indeed getting a little anxious about you, and beginning to +think whether I had not better go and fetch you myself."</p> + +<p>As she spoke she took the little princess in her arms and +placed her upon her lap. She was dressed in white now, and +looking if possible more lovely than ever.</p> + +<p>"I've brought Curdie, grandmother. He wouldn't believe +what I told him, and so I've brought him."</p> + +<p>"Yes—I see him. He is a good boy, Curdie, and a brave +boy. Aren't you glad you have got him out?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, grandmother. But it wasn't very good of him not to +believe me when I was telling him the truth."</p> + +<p>"People must believe what they can, and those who believe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +more must not be hard upon those who believe less. I doubt +if you would have believed it all yourself if you hadn't seen +some of it."</p> + +<p>"Ah! yes, grandmother, I daresay. I'm sure you are right. +But he'll believe now."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that," replied her grandmother.</p> + +<p>"Won't you, Curdie?" said Irene, looking round at him as +she asked the question.</p> + +<p>He was standing in the middle of the floor, staring, and looking +strangely bewildered. This she thought came of his astonishment +at the beauty of the lady.</p> + +<p>"Make a bow to my grandmother, Curdie," she said.</p> + +<p>"I don't see any grandmother," answered Curdie, rather +gruffly.</p> + +<p>"Don't see my grandmother when I'm sitting in her lap!" +exclaimed the princess.</p> + +<p>"No I don't," said Curdie, almost sulkily.</p> + +<p>"Don't you see the lovely fire of roses—white ones amongst +them this time?" asked Irene almost as bewildered as he.</p> + +<p>"No I don't," answered Curdie, almost sulkily.</p> + +<p>"Nor the blue bed? Nor the rose-colored counterpane? Nor +the beautiful light, like the moon, hanging from the roof?"</p> + +<p>"You're making game of me, your royal Highness; and after +what we have come through together this day, I don't think it +is kind of you," said Curdie, feeling very much hurt.</p> + +<p>"Then what <i>do</i> you see?" asked Irene, who perceived at +once that for her not to believe him was at least as bad as +for him not to believe her.</p> + +<p>"I see a big, bare garret-room—like the one in mother's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +cottage, only big enough to take the cottage itself in, and leave +a good margin all round," answered Curdie.</p> + +<p>"And what more do you see?"</p> + +<p>"I see a tub, and a heap of musty straw, and a withered +apple and a ray of sunlight coming through a hole in the middle +of the roof, and shining on your head, and making all the +place look a curious dusky brown. I think you had better +drop it, princess, and go down to the nursery, like a good girl."</p> + +<p>"But don't you hear my grandmother talking to me?" asked +Irene, almost crying.</p> + +<p>"No. I hear the cooing of a lot of pigeons. If you won't +come down, I will go without you. I think that will be better +anyhow, for I'm sure nobody who met us would believe a word +we said to them. They would think we made it all up. I +don't expect anybody but my own father and mother to +believe me. They <i>know</i> I wouldn't tell a story."</p> + +<p>"And yet <i>you</i> won't believe <i>me</i>, Curdie?" expostulated the +princess, now fairly crying with vexation, and sorrow at the +gulf between her and Curdie.</p> + +<p>"No. I <i>can't</i>, and I can't help it," said Curdie, turning to +leave the room.</p> + +<p>"What <i>shall</i> I do, grandmother?" sobbed the princess, turning +her face round upon the lady's bosom, and shaking with +suppressed sobs.</p> + +<p>"You must give him time," said her grandmother; "and +you must be content not to be believed for a while. It is very +hard to bear; but I have had to bear it, and shall have to +bear it many a time yet. I will take care of what Curdie thinks +of you in the end. You must let him go now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are not coming, are you?" asked Curdie.</p> + +<p>"No, Curdie; my grandmother says I must let you go. +Turn to the right when you get to the bottom of all the stairs, +and in that way you will arrive safely at the hall where the +great door is."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I don't doubt I can find my way—without you, princess, +or your old grannie's thread either," said Curdie, quite +rudely.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Curdie! Curdie!"</p> + +<p>"I wish I had gone home at once. I'm very much obliged +to you, Irene, for getting me out of that hole, but I wish you +hadn't made a fool of me afterward."</p> + +<p>He said this as he opened the door, which he left open, and, +without another word, went down the stairs. Irene listened +with dismay to his departing footsteps. Then turning again to +the lady—</p> + +<p>"What does it all mean, grandmother?" she sobbed, and +burst into fresh tears.</p> + +<p>"It means, my love, that I did not mean to show myself. +Curdie is not yet able to believe some things. Seeing is not +believing—it is only seeing. You remember I told you that if +Lootie were to see me, she would rub her eyes, forget the half +she saw, and call the other half nonsense."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but I should have thought Curdie—"</p> + +<p>"You are right. Curdie is much farther on than Lootie, +and you will see what will come of it. But in the meantime, +you must be content, I say, to be misunderstood for a while. +We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard +not to be. But there is one thing much more necessary."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What is that, grandmother?"</p> + +<p>"To understand other people."</p> + +<p>"Yes, grandmother. I must be fair—for if I'm not fair to +other people, I'm not worth being understood myself I see. So +as Curdie can't help it, I will not be vexed with him, but just +wait."</p> + +<p>"There's my own dear child," said her grandmother, and +pressed her close to her bosom.</p> + +<p>"Why weren't you in your workroom, when we came up, +grandmother?" asked Irene, after a few moments' silence.</p> + +<p>"If I had been there, Curdie would have seen me well +enough. But why should I be there rather than in this beautiful +room?"</p> + +<p>"I thought you would be spinning."</p> + +<p>"I've nobody to spin for just at present. I never spin without +knowing for whom I am spinning."</p> + +<p>"That reminds me—there is one thing that puzzles me," +said the princess: "how are you to get the thread out of the +mountain again? Surely you won't have to make another for +me! That would be such a trouble!"</p> + +<p>The lady set her down, and rose, and went to the fire. Putting +in her hand, she drew it out again, and held up the shining +ball between her finger and thumb.</p> + +<p>"I've got it now, you see," she said, coming back to the +princess, "all ready for you when you want it."</p> + +<p>Going to her cabinet, she laid it in the same drawer as before.</p> + +<p>"And here is your ring," she added, taking it from the little +finger of her left hand, and putting it on the forefinger of +Irene's right hand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, grandmother. I feel so safe now!"</p> + +<p>"You are very tired, my child," the lady went on. "Your +hands are hurt with the stones, and I have counted nine +bruises on you. Just look what you are like."</p> + +<p>And she held up to her a little mirror which she had brought +from the cabinet. The princess burst into a merry laugh at +the sight. She was so draggled with the stream, and dirty +with creeping through narrow places, that if she had seen the +reflection without knowing it was a reflection, she would have +taken herself for some gypsy-child whose face was washed and +hair combed about once in a month. The lady laughed too, +and lifting her again upon her knee, took off her cloak and +night-gown. Then she carried her to the side of the room. +Irene wondered what she was going to do with her, but asked +no questions—only starting a little when she found that she +was going to lay her in the large silver bath; for as she looked +into it, again she saw no bottom, but the stars shining miles +away as it seemed in a great blue gulf. Her hands closed involuntarily +on the beautiful arms that held her, and that was all.</p> + +<p>The lady pressed her once more to her bosom, saying—</p> + +<p>"Do not be afraid, my child."</p> + +<p>"No, grandmother," answered the princess, with a little +gasp; and the next instant she sank in the clear cool water.</p> + +<p>When she opened her eyes, she saw nothing but a strange +lovely blue over and beneath and all about her. The lady +and the beautiful room had vanished from her sight, and she +seemed utterly alone. But instead of being afraid, she felt +more than happy—perfectly blissful. And from somewhere +came the voice of the lady, singing a strange sweet song, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +which she could distinguish every word; but of the sense she +had only a feeling—no understanding. Nor could she remember +a single line after it was gone. It vanished, like the poetry +in a dream, as fast as it came. In after years, however, she +would sometimes fancy that snatches of melody suddenly rising +in her brain, must be little phrases and fragments of the air of +that song; and the very fancy would make her happier, and +abler to do her duty.</p> + +<p>How long she lay in the water she did not know. It seemed +a long time—not from weariness, but from pleasure. But at +last she felt the beautiful hands lay hold of her, and through +the gurgling waters she was lifted out into the lovely room. +The lady carried her to the fire, and sat down with her in her +lap, and dried her tenderly with the softest towel. It was so +different from Lootie's drying! When the lady had done, she +stooped to the fire, and drew from it her night-gown, as white +as snow.</p> + +<p>"How delicious!" exclaimed the princess. "It smells of all +the roses in the world, I think."</p> + +<p>When she stood up on the floor, she felt as if she had been +made over again. Every bruise and all weariness were gone, +and her hands were soft and whole as ever.</p> + +<p>"Now I am going to put you to bed for a good sleep," said +her grandmother.</p> + +<p>"But what will Lootie be thinking? And what am I to say +to her when she asks me where I have been?"</p> + +<p>"Don't trouble yourself about it. You will find it all come +right," said her grandmother, and laid her into the blue bed, +under the rosy counterpane.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There is just one thing more," said Irene. "I am a little +anxious about Curdie. As I brought him into the house, I +ought to have seen him safe on his way home."</p> + +<p>"I took care of all that," answered the lady. "I told you to +let him go, and therefore I was bound to look after him. +Nobody saw him, and he is now eating a good dinner in his +mother's cottage, far up the mountain."</p> + +<p>"Then I will go to sleep," said Irene, and in a few minutes, +she was fast asleep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>CURDIE AND HIS MOTHER</div> + + +<div class='cap'>CURDIE went up the mountain neither whistling nor +singing, for he was vexed with Irene for taking him in, +as he called it; and he was vexed with himself for having +spoken to her so angrily. His mother gave a cry of joy +when she saw him, and at once set about getting him something +to eat, asking him questions all the time, which he did +not answer so cheerfully as usual. When his meal was ready, +she left him to eat it, and hurried to the mine to let his father +know he was safe. When she came back, she found him fast +asleep upon her bed; nor did he wake until the arrival home of +his father in the evening.</div> + +<p>"Now, Curdie," his mother said, as they sat at supper, +"tell us the whole story from beginning to end, just as it all +happened."</p> + +<p>Curdie obeyed, and told everything to the point where they +came out upon the lawn in the garden of the king's house.</p> + +<p>"And what happened after that?" asked his mother. "You +haven't told us all. You ought to be very happy at having +got away from those demons, and instead of that, I never saw +you so gloomy. There must be something more. Besides, +you do not speak of that lovely child as I should like to hear +you. She saved your life at the risk of her own, and yet somehow +you don't seem to think much of it."</p> + +<p>"She talked such nonsense!" answered Curdie, "and told<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +me a pack of things that weren't a bit true; and I can't get +over it."</p> + +<p>"What were they?" asked his father. "Your mother may +be able to throw some light upon them."</p> + +<p>Then Curdie made a clean breast of it, and told them everything.</p> + +<p>They all sat silent for some time, pondering the strange tale. +At last Curdie's mother spoke.</p> + +<p>"You confess, my boy," she said, "there is something about +the whole affair you do not understand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course, mother," he answered, "I cannot understand +how a child knowing nothing about the mountain, or +even that I was shut up in it, should come all that way alone, +straight to where I was; and then, after getting me out of the +hole, lead me out of the mountain, too, where I should not +have known a step of the way if it had been as light as in the +open air."</p> + +<p>"Then you have no right to say that what she told you was +not true. She did take you out, and she must have had +something to guide her: why not a thread as well as a rope, +or anything else? There is something you cannot explain, and +her explanation may be the right one."</p> + +<p>"It's no explanation at all, mother; and I can't believe it."</p> + +<p>"That may be only because you do not understand it. If +you did, you would probably find it was an explanation, and +believe it thoroughly. I don't blame you for not being able +to believe it, but I do blame you for fancying such a child +would try to deceive you. Why should she? Depend upon it, +she told you all she knew. Until you had found a better way of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +accounting for it all, you might at least have been more sparing +of your judgment."</p> + +<p>"That is what something inside me has been saying all the +time," said Curdie, hanging down his head. "But what do +you make of the grandmother? That is what I can't get over. +To take me up to an old garret, and try to persuade me +against the sight of my own eyes that it was a beautiful room, +with blue walls and silver stars, and no end of things in it, +when there was nothing there but an old tub and a withered +apple and a heap of straw and a sunbeam! It was too bad! +She <i>might</i> have had some old woman there at least who could +pass for her precious grandmother!"</p> + +<p>"Didn't she speak as if she saw those other things herself, +Curdie?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. That's what bothers me. You would have thought +she really meant and believed that she saw every one of the +things she talked about. And not one of them there! It was +too bad, I say."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps some people can see things other people can't see, +Curdie," said his mother very gravely. "I think I will tell you +something I saw myself once—only perhaps you won't believe +me either!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, mother, mother!" cried Curdie, bursting into tears; +"I don't deserve that, surely!"</p> + +<p>"But what I am going to tell you is very strange," persisted +his mother; "and if having heard it, you were to say I +must have been dreaming, I don't know that I should have any +right to be vexed with you, though I know at least that I was +not asleep."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do tell me, mother. Perhaps it will help me to think better +of the princess."</p> + +<p>"That's why I am tempted to tell you," replied his mother. +"But first, I may as well mention, that according to old +whispers, there is something more than common about the +king's family; and the queen was of the same blood, for they +were cousins of some degree. There were strange stories told +concerning them—all good stories—but strange, very strange. +What they were I cannot tell, for I only remember the faces +of my grandmother and my mother as they talked together +about them. There was wonder and awe—not fear, in their +eyes, and they whispered, and never spoke aloud. But what +I saw myself, was this: Your father was going to work in the +mine, one night, and I had been down with his supper. It +was soon after we were married, and not very long before you +were born. He came with me to the mouth of the mine, and +left me to go home alone, for I knew the way almost as well +as the floor of our own cottage. It was pretty dark, and in +some parts of the road where the rocks overhung, nearly quite +dark. But I got along perfectly well, never thinking of being +afraid, until I reached a spot you know well enough, Curdie, +where the path has to make a sharp turn out of the way of a +great rock on the left-hand side. When I got there, I was +suddenly surrounded by about half-a-dozen of the cobs, the +first I had ever seen, although I had heard tell of them often +enough. One of them blocked up the path, and they all began +tormenting and teasing me in a way it makes me shudder to +think of even now."</p> + +<p>"If I had only been with you!" cried father and son in a breath.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> + +<p>The mother gave a funny little smile, and went on.</p> + +<p>"They had some of their horrible creatures with them too, +and I must confess I was dreadfully frightened. They had torn +my clothes very much, and I was afraid they were going to +tear myself to pieces, when suddenly a great white soft light +shone upon me. I looked up. A broad ray, like a shining +road, came down from a large globe of silvery light, not very +high up, indeed not quite so high as the horizon—so it could +not have been a new star or another moon or anything of +that sort. The cobs dropped persecuting me, and looked +dazed, and I thought they were going to run away, but presently +they began again. The same moment, however, down +the path from the globe of light came a bird, shining like silver +in the sun. It gave a few rapid flaps first, and then, with its +wings straight out, shot sliding down the slope of the light. +It looked to me just like a white pigeon. But whatever it was, +when the cobs caught sight of it coming straight down upon +them, they took to their heels and scampered away across the +mountain, leaving me safe, only much frightened. As soon as +it had sent them off, the bird went gliding again up the light, +and just at the moment it reached the globe, the light disappeared, +just the same as if a shutter had been closed over a +window, and I saw it no more. But I had no more trouble +with the cobs that night, or at any time afterward."</p> + +<p>"How strange!" exclaimed Curdie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is strange; but I can't help believing it, whether you +do or not," said his mother.</p> + +<p>"It's exactly as your mother told it to me the very next +morning," said his father.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You don't think I'm doubting my own mother!" cried Curdie.</p> + +<p>"There are other people in the world quite as well worth +believing as your own mother," said his mother. "I don't +know that she's so much the fitter to be believed that she happens +to be <i>your</i> mother, Mr. Curdie. There are mothers far +more likely to tell lies than that little girl I saw talking to the +primroses a few weeks ago. If she were to lie I should begin to +doubt my own word."</p> + +<p>"But princesses <i>have</i> told lies as well as other people," said +Curdie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but not princesses like that child. She's a good girl, I +am certain, and that's more than being a princess. Depend +upon it you will have to be sorry for behaving so to her, +Curdie. You ought at least to have held your tongue."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry now," answered Curdie.</p> + +<p>"You ought to go and tell her so, then."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how I could manage that. They wouldn't let a +miner boy like me have a word with her alone; and I couldn't +tell her before that nurse of hers. She'd be asking ever so +many questions, and I don't know how many of them the +little princess would like me to answer. She told me that +Lootie didn't know anything about her coming to get me out +of the mountain. I am certain she would have prevented her +somehow if she had known it. But I may have a chance before +long, and meantime I must try to do something for her. I +think, father, I have got on the track at last."</p> + +<p>"Have you, indeed, my boy?" said Peter. "I am sure you +deserve some success; you have worked very hard for it. +What have you found out?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's difficult you know, father, inside the mountain, especially +in the dark, and not knowing what turns you have taken, +to tell the lie of things outside."</p> + +<p>"Impossible, my boy, without a chart, or at least a compass," +returned his father.</p> + +<p>"Well, I think I have nearly discovered in what direction +the cobs are mining. If I am right, I know something else +that I can put to it, and then one and one will make three."</p> + +<p>"They very often do, Curdie, as we miners ought to be well +aware. Now tell us, my boy, what the two things are, and see +whether we guess at the same third as you."</p> + +<p>"I don't see what that has to do with the princess," interposed +his mother.</p> + +<p>"I will soon let you see that, mother. Perhaps you may +think me foolish, but until I am sure there is nothing in my +present fancy, I am more determined than ever to go on with +my observations. Just as we came to the channel by which +we got out, I heard the miners at work somewhere near—I +think down below us. Now since I began to watch them, +they have mined a good half mile, in a straight line; and so +far as I am aware, they are working in no other part of the +mountain. But I never could tell in what direction they were +going. When we came out in the king's garden, however, I +thought at once whether it was possible they were working +toward the king's house; and what I want to do to-night is +to make sure whether they are or not. I will take a light +with me—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Curdie," cried his mother, "then they will see you."</p> + +<p>"I'm no more afraid of them now than I was before," rejoined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +Curdie,—"now that I've got this precious shoe. They +can't make another such in a hurry, and one bare foot will do +for my purpose. Woman as she may be, I won't spare her next +time. But I shall be careful with my light, for I don't want +them to see me. I won't stick it in my hat."</p> + +<p>"Go on, then, and tell us what you mean to do."</p> + +<p>"I mean to take a bit of paper with me and a pencil, and +go in at the mouth of the stream by which we came out. I +shall mark on the paper as near as I can the angle of every +turning I take until I find the cobs at work, and so get a good +idea in what direction they are going. If it should prove to be +nearly parallel with the stream, I shall know it is toward the +king's house they are working."</p> + +<p>"And what if you should. How much wiser will you be +then?"</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute, mother, dear. I told you that when I +came upon the royal family in the cave, they were talking of +their prince—Harelip, they called him—marrying a sun-woman—that +means one of us—one with toes to her feet. +Now in the speech one of them made that night at their great +gathering, of which I heard only a part, he said that peace +would be secured for a generation at least by the pledge the +prince would hold for the good behavior of <i>her</i> relatives: that's +what he said, and he must have meant the sun-woman the +prince was to marry. I am quite sure the king is much too +proud to wish his son to marry any but a princess, and much +too knowing to fancy that his having a peasant woman for a +wife would be of any material advantage to them."</p> + +<p>"I see what you are driving at now," said his mother.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But," said his father, "the king would dig the mountain +to the plain before he would have his princess the wife of a +cob, if he were ten times a prince."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but they think so much of themselves!" said his +mother. "Small creatures always do. The bantam is the +proudest cock in my little yard."</p> + +<p>"And I fancy," said Curdie, "if they once get her, they +would tell the king they would kill her except, he consented to +the marriage."</p> + +<p>"They might say so," said his father, "but they wouldn't +kill her; they would keep her alive for the sake of the hold it +gave them over our king. Whatever he did to them, they +would threaten to do the same to the princess."</p> + +<p>"And they are bad enough to torment her just for their own +amusement—I know that," said his mother.</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, I will keep a watch on them, and see what they +are up to," said Curdie. "It's too horrible to think of. I +daren't let myself do it. But they sha'n't have her—at least +if I can help it. So, mother dear—my clue is all right—will you +get me a bit of paper and a pencil and a lump of pease-pudding, +and I will set out at once. I saw a place where I can climb +over the wall of the garden quite easily."</p> + +<p>"You must mind and keep out of the way of the men on +the watch," said his mother.</p> + +<p>"That I will. I don't want them to know anything about +it. They would spoil it all. The cobs would only try some +other plan—they are such obstinate creatures! I shall take +good care, mother. They won't kill and eat me either, if they +should come upon me. So you needn't mind them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> + +<p>His mother got him what he asked for, and Curdie set out. +Close beside the door by which the princess left the garden for +the mountain, stood a great rock, and by climbing it Curdie +got over the wall. He tied his clue to a stone just inside the +channel of the stream, and took his pickaxe with him. He +had not gone far before he encountered a horrid creature coming +toward the mouth. The spot was too narrow for two of +almost any size or shape, and besides Curdie had no wish to +let the creature pass. Not being able to use his pickaxe, however, +he had a severe struggle with him, and it was only after +receiving many bites, some of them bad, that he succeeded +in killing him with his pocket knife. Having dragged him out, +he made haste to get in again before another should stop up +the way.</p> + +<p>I need not follow him farther in this night's adventures. He +returned to his breakfast, satisfied that the goblins were mining +in the direction of the palace—on so low a level that their +intention must, he thought, be to burrow under the walls of +the king's house, and rise up inside it—in order, he fully believed, +to lay hands on the little princess, and carry her off for +a wife to their horrid Harelip.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>IRENE BEHAVES LIKE A PRINCESS</div> + + +<div class='cap'>WHEN the princess awoke from the sweetest of +sleeps, she found her nurse bending above her, the +housekeeper looking over the nurse's shoulder, and +the laundry-maid looking over the housekeeper's. The room +was full of women-servants; and the gentlemen-at-arms, with +a long column of men-servants behind them, were peeping, or +trying to peep in at the door of the nursery.</div> + +<p>"Are those horrid creatures gone?" asked the princess, remembering +first what had terrified her in the morning.</p> + +<p>"You naughty little princess!" cried Lootie.</p> + +<p>Her face was very pale, with red streaks in it, and she looked +as if she were going to shake her; but Irene said nothing—only +waited to hear what should come next.</p> + +<p>"How <i>could</i> you get under the clothes like that, and make +us all fancy you were lost! And keep it up all day too! You +<i>are</i> the most obstinate child! It's anything but fun to us, I +can tell you!"</p> + +<p>It was the only way the nurse could account for her disappearance.</p> + +<p>"I didn't do that, Lootie," said Irene, very quietly.</p> + +<p>"Don't tell stories!" cried her nurse quite rudely.</p> + +<p>"I shall tell you nothing at all," said Irene.</p> + +<p>"That's just as bad," said the nurse.</p> + +<p>"Just as bad to say nothing at all as to tell stories!" exclaimed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +the princess. "I will ask my papa about that. He +won't say so. And I don't think he will like you to say so."</p> + +<p>"Tell me directly what you mean by it!" screamed the +nurse, half wild with anger at the princess, and fright at the +possible consequences to herself.</p> + +<p>"When I tell you the truth, Lootie," said the princess, who +somehow did not feel at all angry, "you say to me <i>Don't tell +stories:</i> it would appear that I must tell stories before you will +believe me."</p> + +<p>"You are very rude, my dear princess," said the nurse.</p> + +<p>"You are so rude, Lootie, that I will not speak to you again +till you are sorry. Why should I, when I know you will not +believe me?" returned the princess.</p> + +<p>For she did know perfectly well that if she were to tell +Lootie what she had been about, the more she went on to tell +her, the less would she believe her.</p> + +<p>"You are the most provoking child!" cried her nurse. "You +deserve to be well punished for your wicked behavior."</p> + +<p>"Please, Mrs. Housekeeper," said the princess, "will you +take me to your room and keep me till my king-papa comes? +I will ask him to come as soon as he can."</p> + +<p>Every one stared at these words. Up to this moment, they +had all regarded her as little more than a baby.</p> + +<p>But the housekeeper was afraid of the nurse, and sought to +patch matters up, saying—</p> + +<p>"I am sure, princess, nursey did not mean to be rude to +you."</p> + +<p>"I do not think my papa would wish me to have a nurse who +spoke to me as Lootie does. If she thinks I tell lies, she had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +better either say so to my papa, or go away. Sir Walter, will +you take charge of me?"</p> + +<p>"With the greatest of pleasure, princess," answered the +captain of the gentlemen-at-arms, walking with his great +stride into the room. The crowd of servants made eager way +for him, and he bowed low before the little princess's bed. "I +shall send my servant at once, on the fastest horse in the stable, +to tell your king-papa that your royal Highness desires his +presence. When you have chosen one of these under-servants +to wait upon you, I shall order the room to be cleared."</p> + +<p>"Thank you very much, Sir Walter," said the princess, and +her eye glanced toward a rosy-cheeked girl who had lately +come to the house as a scullery-maid.</p> + +<p>But when Lootie saw the eyes of her dear princess going in +search of another instead of her, she fell upon her knees by +the bedside, and burst into a great cry of distress.</p> + +<p>"I think, Sir Walter," said the princess, "I will keep Lootie. +But I put myself under your care; and you need not trouble +my king-papa until I speak to you again. Will you all please +to go away? I am quite safe and well, and I did not hide +myself for the sake either of amusing myself, or of troubling +my people. Lootie, will you please to dress me?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>CURDIE COMES TO GRIEF</div> + + +<div class='cap'>EVERYTHING was for some time quiet above ground. +The king was still away in a distant part of his dominions. +The men-at-arms kept watching about the +house. They had been considerably astonished by finding at +the foot of the rock in the garden, the hideous body of the +goblin-creature killed by Curdie; but they came to the conclusion +that it had been slain in the mines, and had crept out +there to die; and except an occasional glimpse of a live one +they saw nothing to cause alarm. Curdie kept watching in +the mountain, and the goblins kept burrowing deeper into the +earth. As long as they went deeper, there was, Curdie judged, +no immediate danger.</div> + +<p>To Irene, the summer was as full of pleasure as ever, and for +a long time, although she often thought of her grandmother +during the day, and often dreamed about her at night, she did +not see her. The kids and the flowers were as much her +delight as ever, and she made as much friendship with the +miners' children she met on the mountain as Lootie would +permit; but Lootie had very foolish notions concerning the +dignity of a princess, not understanding that the truest princess +is just the one who loves all her brothers and sisters best, +and who is most able to do them good by being humble toward +them. At the same time she was considerably altered for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +better in her behavior to the princess. She could not help seeing +that she was no longer a mere child, but wiser than her age +would account for. She kept foolishly whispering to the servants, +however—sometimes that the princess was not right in +her mind, sometimes that she was too good to live, and other +nonsense of the same sort.</p> + +<p>All this time, Curdie had to be sorry, without a chance of +confessing, that he had behaved so unkindly to the princess. +This perhaps made him the more diligent in his endeavors to +serve her. His mother and he often talked on the subject, +and she comforted him, and told him she was sure he would +some day have the opportunity he so much desired.</p> + +<p>Here I should like to remark, for the sake of princes and +princesses in general, that it is a low and contemptible thing +to refuse to confess a fault, or even an error. If a true princess +has done wrong, she is always uneasy until she has had an +opportunity of throwing the wrongness away from her by +saying, "I did it; and I wish I had not; and I am sorry for +having done it." So you see there is some ground for supposing +that Curdie was not a miner only, but a prince as well. Many +such instances have been known in the world's history.</p> + +<p>At length, however, he began to see signs of a change in the +proceedings of the goblin excavators: they were going no +deeper, but had commenced running on a level; and he +watched them, therefore, more closely than ever. All at once, +one night, coming to a slope of very hard rock, they began to +ascend along the inclined plane of its surface. Having reached +its top, they went again on a level for a night or two, after +which they began to ascend once more, and kept on at a pretty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +steep angle. At length Curdie judged it time to transfer +his observation to another quarter, and the next night, he did +not go to the mine at all; but, leaving his pickaxe and clue +at home, and taking only his usual lumps of bread and pease-pudding, +went down the mountain to the king's house. He +climbed over the wall, and remained in the garden the whole +night, creeping on hands and knees from one spot to the other, +and lying at full length with his ear to the ground, listening. +But he heard nothing except the tread of the men-at-arms as +they marched about, whose observation, as the night was +cloudy and there was no moon, he had little difficulty in avoiding. +For several following nights, he continued to haunt the +garden and listen, but with no success.</p> + +<p>At length, early one evening, whether it was that he had got +careless of his own safety, or that the growing moon had become +strong enough to expose him, his watching came to a +sudden end. He was creeping from behind the rock where the +stream ran out, for he had been listening all round it in the +hope it might convey to his ear some indication of the whereabouts +of the goblin miners, when just as he came into the +moonlight on the lawn, a whizz in his ear and a blow upon +his leg startled him. He instantly squatted in the hope of +eluding further notice. But when he heard the sound of running +feet, he jumped up to take the chance of escape by +flight. He fell, however, with a keen shoot of pain, for the bolt +of a cross-bow had wounded his leg, and the blood was now +streaming from it. He was instantly laid hold of by two or +three of the men-at-arms. It was useless to struggle, and he +submitted in silence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's a boy!" cried several of them together, in a tone of +amazement. "I thought it was one of those demons."</p> + +<p>"What are you about here?"</p> + +<p>"Going to have a little rough usage apparently," said Curdie +laughing, as the men shook him.</p> + +<p>"Impertinence will do you no good. You have no business +here in the king's grounds, and if you don't give a true account +of yourself, you shall fare as a thief."</p> + +<p>"Why, what else could he be?" said one.</p> + +<p>"He might have been after a lost kid, you know," suggested +another.</p> + +<p>"I see no good in trying to excuse him. He has no business +here anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Let me go away then, if you please," said Curdie.</p> + +<p>"But we don't please—not except you give a good account of +yourself."</p> + +<p>"I don't feel quite sure whether I can trust you," said +Curdie.</p> + +<p>"We are the king's own men-at-arms," said the captain, +courteously, for he was taken with Curdie's appearance and +courage.</p> + +<p>"Well, I will tell you all about it—if you will promise to listen +to me and not do anything rash."</p> + +<p>"I call that cool!" said one of the party laughing. "He +will tell us what mischief he was about, if we promise to do as +pleases him."</p> + +<p>"I was about no mischief," said Curdie.</p> + +<p>But ere he could say more he turned faint, and fell senseless +on the grass. Then first they discovered that the bolt they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +had shot, taking him for one of the goblin creatures, had +wounded him.</p> + +<p>They carried him into the house, and laid him down in the +hall. The report spread that they had caught a robber, and +the servants crowded in to see the villain. Amongst the rest +came the nurse. The moment she saw him she exclaimed with +indignation:</p> + +<p>"I declare it's the same young rascal of a miner that was +rude to me and the princess on the mountain. He actually +wanted to kiss the princess. <i>I</i> took good care of that—the +wretch! And <i>he</i> was prowling about—was he? Just like his +impudence!"</p> + +<p>The princess being fast asleep, and Curdie in a faint, she +could misrepresent at her pleasure.</p> + +<p>When he heard this, the captain, although he had considerable +doubt of its truth, resolved to keep Curdie a prisoner +until they could search into the affair. So, after they had +brought him round a little, and attended to his wound, which +was rather a bad one, they laid him, still exhausted from the +loss of blood, upon a mattress in a disused room—one of those +already so often mentioned—and locked the door, and left +him. He passed a troubled night, and in the morning they +found him talking wildly. In the evening he came to himself, +but felt very weak, and his leg was exceedingly painful. Wondering +where he was, and seeing one of the men-at-arms in +the room, he began to question him, and soon recalled the +events of the preceding night. As he was himself unable to +watch any more, he told the soldier all he knew about the +goblins, and begged him to tell his companions, and stir them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +up to watch with tenfold vigilance; but whether it was that +he did not talk quite coherently, or that the whole thing +appeared incredible, certainly the man concluded that Curdie +was only raving still, and tried to coax him into holding his +tongue. This, of course, annoyed Curdie dreadfully, who now +felt in his turn what it was not to be believed, and the consequence +was that his fever returned, and by the time when, +at his persistent entreaties, the captain was called, there could +be no doubt that he was raving. They did for him what they +could, and promised everything he wanted, but with no intention +of fulfilment. At last he went to sleep, and when at +length his sleep grew profound and peaceful, they left him, +locked the door again, and withdrew, intending to revisit him +early in the morning.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE GOBLIN MINERS</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THAT same night several of the servants were having a +chat together before going to bed.</div> + +<p>"What can that noise be?" said one of the housemaids, +who had been listening for a moment or two.</p> + +<p>"I've heard it the last two nights," said the cook. "If +there were any about the place, I should have taken it for +rats, but my Tom keeps them far enough."</p> + +<p>"I've heard though," said the scullery-maid, "that rats +move about in great companies sometimes. There may be an +army of them invading us. I heard the noises yesterday and +to-day too."</p> + +<p>"It'll be grand fun then for my Tom and Mrs. Housekeeper's +Bob," said the cook. "They'll be friends for once in +their lives, and fight on the same side. I'll engage Tom and +Bob together will put to flight any number of rats."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," said the nurse, "that the noises are much +too loud for that. I have heard them all day, and my princess +has asked me several times what they could be. Sometimes +they sound like distant thunder, and sometimes like the +noises you hear in the mountain from those horrid miners +underneath."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder," said the cook, "if it was the miners +after all. They may have come on some hole in the mountain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +through which the noises reach to us. They are always boring +and blasting and breaking, you know."</p> + +<p>As he spoke there came a great rolling rumble beneath them, +and the house quivered. They all started up in affright, and +rushing to the hall found the gentlemen-at-arms in consternation +also. They had sent to wake their captain, who said from +their description that it must have been an earthquake, an +occurrence which, although very rare in that country, had +taken place almost within the century; and then went to bed +again, strange to say, and fell fast asleep without once thinking +of Curdie, or associating the noises they had heard with what +he had told them. He had not believed Curdie. If he had, +he would at once have thought of what he had said, and +would have taken precautions. As they heard nothing more, +they concluded that Sir Walter was right, and that the danger +was over for perhaps another hundred years. The fact, as +discovered afterward, was that the goblins had, in working up +a second sloping face of stone, arrived at a huge block which +lay under the cellars of the house, within the line of the foundations. +It was so round that when they succeeded, after hard +work, in dislodging it without blasting, it rolled thundering +down the slope with a bounding, jarring roll, which shook the +foundations of the house. The goblins were themselves dismayed +at the noise, for they knew, by careful spying and measuring, +that they must now be very near, if not under, the +king's house, and they feared giving an alarm. They, therefore, +remained quiet for awhile, and when they began to work +again, they no doubt thought themselves very fortunate in +coming upon a vein of sand which filled a winding fissure in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +the rock on which the house was built. By scooping this away +they soon came out in the king's wine-cellar.</p> + +<p>No sooner did they and where they were, than they scurried +back again, like rats into their holes, and running at full speed +to the goblin palace, announced their success to the king and +queen with shouts of triumph. In a moment the goblin royal +family and the whole goblin people were on their way in hot +haste to the king's house, each eager to have a share in the +glory of carrying off that same night the Princess Irene.</p> + +<p>The queen went stumping along in one shoe of stone and +one of skin. This could not have been pleasant, and my +readers may wonder that, with such skillful workmen about +her, she had not yet replaced the shoe carried off by Curdie. +As the king however had more than one ground of objection +to her stone shoes, he no doubt took advantage of the discovery +of her toes, and threatened to expose her deformity if she had +another made. I presume he insisted on her being content +with skin-shoes, and allowed her to wear the remaining granite +one on the present occasion only because she was going out +to war.</p> + +<p>They soon arrived in the king's wine-cellar, and regardless +of its huge vessels, of which they did not know the use, began +as quietly as they could to force the door that led upward.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE GOBLINS IN THE KING'S HOUSE</div> + + +<div class='cap'>WHEN Curdie fell asleep he began at once to dream. +He thought he was ascending the mountain-side +from the mouth of the mine, whistling and singing +"<i>Ring, dod, bang!</i>" when he came upon a woman and child who +were lost; and from that point he went on dreaming all that +had happened since he met the princess and Lootie; how he +had watched the goblins, and been taken by them, how he had +been rescued by the princess; everything indeed, until he was +wounded, and imprisoned by the men-at-arms. And now he +thought he was lying wide awake where they had laid him, +when suddenly he heard a great thundering sound.</div> + +<p>"The cobs are coming!" he said. "They didn't believe a +word I told them! The cobs'll be carrying off the princess +from under their stupid noses! But they sha'n't! that they +sha'n't!"</p> + +<p>He jumped up, as he thought, and began to dress, but, to his +dismay, found that he was still lying in bed.</p> + +<p>"Now then I will!" he said. "Here goes! I <i>am</i> up now!"</p> + +<p>But yet again he found himself snug in bed. Twenty times +he tried, and twenty times he failed; for in fact he was not +awake, only dreaming that he was. At length in an agony of +despair, fancying he heard the goblins all over the house, he +gave a great cry. Then there came, as he thought, a hand +upon the lock of the door. It opened, and, looking up, he saw a +lady with white hair, carrying a silver box in her hand, enter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +the room. She came to his bed, he thought, stroked his head +and face with cool, soft hands, took the dressing from his leg, +rubbed it with something that smelled like roses, and then +waved her hands over him three times. At the last wave of her +hands everything vanished, he felt himself sinking into the +profoundest slumber, and remembered nothing more until he +awoke in earnest.</p> + +<p>The setting moon was throwing a feeble light through the +casement, and the house was full of uproar. There was soft +heavy multitudinous stamping, a clashing and clanging of +weapons, the voices of men and the cries of women, mixed +with a hideous bellowing, which sounded victorious. The cobs +were in the house! He sprang from his bed, hurried on some +of his clothes, not forgetting his shoes, which were armed with +nails; then spying an old hunting-knife, or short sword, hanging +on the wall, he caught it, and rushed down the stairs, +guided by the sounds of strife, which grew louder and louder.</p> + +<p>When he reached the ground floor he found the whole place +swarming. All the goblins of the mountain seemed gathered +there. He rushed amongst them, shouting—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"One, two,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hit and hew!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Three, four,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Blast and bore!"</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>and with every rhyme he came down a great stamp upon a +foot, cutting at the same time at their faces—executing, indeed, +a sword dance of the wildest description. Away scattered +the goblins in every direction,—into closets, upstairs, into +chimneys, up on rafters, and down to the cellars. Curdie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +went on stamping and slashing and singing, but saw nothing +of the people of the house until he came to the great hall, in +which, the moment he entered it, arose a great goblin shout. +The last of the men-at-arms, the captain himself, was on the +floor, buried beneath a wallowing crowd of goblins. For, while +each knight was busy defending himself as well as he could, +by stabs in the thick bodies of the goblins, for he had soon +found their heads all but invulnerable, the queen had attacked +his legs and feet with her horrible granite shoe, and he was soon +down; but the captain had got his back to the wall and stood +out longer. The goblins would have torn them all to pieces, +but the king had given orders to carry them away alive, and +over each of them, in twelve groups, was standing a knot of +goblins, while as many as could find room were sitting upon +their prostrate bodies.</div> + +<p>Curdie burst in dancing and gyrating and stamping and +singing like a small incarnate whirlwind,</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Where 'tis all a hole, sir,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Never can be holes:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Why should their shoes have soles, sir,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">When they've got no souls?</span><br /> +<br /> +"But she upon her foot, sir,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Has a granite shoe:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The strongest leather boot, sir,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Six would soon be through."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>The queen gave a howl of rage and dismay; and before she +recovered her presence of mind, Curdie, having begun with +the group nearest him, had eleven of the knights on their legs +again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Stamp on their feet!" he cried, as each man rose, and in a +few minutes the hall was nearly empty, the goblins running +from it as fast as they could, howling and shrieking and limping, +and cowering every now and then as they ran to cuddle +their wounded feet in their hard hands, or to protect them +from the frightful stamp-stamp of the armed men.</p> + +<p>And now Curdie approached the group which, trusting in +the queen and her shoe, kept their guard over the prostrate +captain. The king sat on the captain's head, but the queen +stood in front, like an infuriated cat, with her perpendicular +eyes gleaming green, and her hair standing half up from her +horrid head. Her heart was quaking, however, and she kept +moving about her skin-shod foot with nervous apprehension. +When Curdie was within a few paces, she rushed at him, +made one tremendous stamp at his opposing foot, which happily +he withdrew in time, and caught him round the waist, to +dash him on the marble floor. But just as she caught him, +he came down with all the weight of his iron-shod shoe upon +her skin-shod foot, and with a hideous howl she dropped him, +squatted on the floor and took her foot in both her hands. +Meanwhile the rest rushed on the king and the bodyguard sent +them flying, and lifted the prostrate captain, who was all but +pressed to death. It was some moments before he recovered +breath and consciousness.</p> + +<p>"Where's the princess?" cried Curdie again and again.</p> + +<p>No one knew, and off they all rushed in search of her.</p> + +<p>Through every room in the house they went, but nowhere +was she to be found. Neither was one of the servants to be +seen. But Curdie, who had kept to the lower part of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +house, which was now quiet enough, began to hear a confused +sound as of a distant hubbub, and set out to find where it +came from. The noise grew as his sharp ears guided him to a +stair and so to the wine cellar. It was full of goblins, whom +the butler was supplying with wine as fast as he could draw it.</p> + +<p>While the queen and her party had encountered the men-at-arms, +Harelip with another company had gone off to search +the house. They captured every one they met, and when +they could find no more, they hurried away to carry them safe +to the caverns below. But when the butler, who was amongst +them, found that their path lay through the wine cellar, he +bethought himself of persuading them to taste the wine, and, +as he had hoped, they no sooner tasted than they wanted +more. The routed goblins, on their way below, joined them, +and when Curdie entered, they were all, with outstretched +hands, in which were vessels of every description, from sauce-pan +to silver cup, pressing around the butler, who sat at the +tap of a huge cask, filling and filling. Curdie cast one glance +around the place before commencing his attack, and saw in the +farthest corner a terrified group of the domestics unwatched, +but cowering without courage to attempt their escape. +Amongst them was the terror-stricken face of Lootie; but +nowhere could he see the princess. Seized with the horrible +conviction that Harelip had already carried her off, he rushed +amongst them, unable for wrath to sing any more, but stamping +and cutting with greater fury than ever.</p> + +<p>"Stamp on their feet; stamp on their feet!" he shouted, and +in a moment the goblins were disappearing through the hole in +the floor like rats and mice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> + +<p>They could not vanish so fast, however, but that many +more goblin feet had to go limping back over the underground +ways of the mountain that morning.</p> + +<p>Presently however they were reinforced from above by the +king and his party, with the redoubtable queen at their head. +Finding Curdie again busy amongst her unfortunate subjects, +she rushed at him once more with the rage of despair, and this +time gave him a bad bruise on the foot. Then a regular stamping +fight got up between them, Curdie with the point of his +hunting knife keeping her from clasping her mighty arms +about him, as he watched his opportunity of getting once +more a good stamp at her skin-shod foot. But the queen was +more wary as well as more agile than hitherto.</p> + +<p>The rest meantime, finding their adversary thus matched +for the moment, paused in their headlong hurry, and turned to +the shivering group of women in the corner. As if determined +to emulate his father and have a sun-woman of some +sort to share his future throne. Harelip rushed at them, caught +up Lootie and sped with her to the hole. She gave a great +shriek, and Curdie heard her, and saw the plight she was in. +Gathering all his strength, he gave the queen a sudden cut +across the face with his weapon, came down, as she started +back, with all his weight on the proper foot, and sprang to +Lootie's rescue. The prince had two defenceless feet, and on +both of them Curdie stamped just as he reached the hole. He +dropped his burden and rolled shrieking into the earth. +Curdie made one stab at him as he disappeared, caught hold of +the senseless Lootie, and having dragged her back to the corner, +there mounted guard over her, preparing once more to encounter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +the queen. Her face streaming with blood, and her +eyes flashing green lightning through it, she came on with +her mouth open and her teeth grinning like a tiger's, followed +by the king and her bodyguard of the thickest goblins. But +the same moment in rushed the captain and his men, and ran +at them stamping furiously. They dared not encounter such +an onset. Away they scurried, the queen foremost. Of course +the right thing would have been to take the king and queen +prisoners, and hold them hostages for the princess, but they +were so anxious to find her that no one thought of detaining +them until it was too late.</p> + +<p>Having thus rescued the servants, they set about searching +the house once more. None of them could give the least information +concerning the princess. Lootie was almost silly +with terror, and although scarcely able to walk, would not +leave Curdie's side for a single moment. Again he allowed the +others to search the rest of the house—where, except a dismayed +goblin lurking here and there, they found no one—while +he requested Lootie to take him to the princess's room. +She was as submissive and obedient as if he had been the king. +He found the bed-clothes tossed about, and most of them on +the floor, while the princess's garments were scattered all over +the room, which was in the greatest confusion. It was only too +evident that the goblins had been there, and Curdie had no +longer any doubt that she had been carried off at the very +first of the inroad. With a pang of despair he saw how wrong +they had been in not securing the king and queen and prince; +but he determined to find and rescue the princess as she had +found and rescued him, or meet the worst fate to which the +goblins could doom him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>CURDIE'S GUIDE</div> + + +<div class="figright" style="width: 456px;"> +<img src="images/col08.jpg" width="456" height="600" alt="There sat his mother by the fire, and in her arms lay the princess fast asleep." title="" /> +<span class="caption">There sat his mother by the fire, and in her arms lay the princess fast asleep.</span> +</div> + +<div class='cap'>JUST as the consolation of this resolve dawned upon his +mind, and he was turning away for the cellar to follow +the goblins into their hole, something touched his hand. +It was the slightest touch, and when he looked he could see +nothing. Feeling and peering about in the gray of the dawn, +his fingers came upon a tight thread. He looked again, and +narrowly, but still could see nothing. It flashed upon him +that this must be the princess's thread. Without saying a +word, for he knew no one would believe him any more than he +had believed the princess, he followed the thread with his +finger, contrived to give Lootie the slip, and was soon out of the +house, and on the mountain-side—surprised that, if the thread +were indeed her grandmother's messenger, it should have led +the princess, as he supposed it must, into the mountain, where +she would be certain to meet the goblins rushing back enraged +from their defeat. But he hurried on in the hope of overtaking +her first. When he arrived however at the place where the +path turned off for the mine, he found that the thread did not +turn with it, but went straight up the mountain. Could it be +that the thread was leading him home to his mother's cottage? +Could the princess be there? He bounded up the mountain +like one of its own goats, and before the sun was up, the +thread had brought him indeed to his mother's door. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +it vanished from his fingers, and he could not find it, search as +he might.</div> + +<p>The door was on the latch, and he entered. There sat his +mother by the fire, and in her arms lay the princess fast +asleep.</p> + +<p>"Hush, Curdie!" said his mother. "Do not wake her. I'm +so glad you're come! I thought the cobs must have got you +again!"</p> + +<p>With a heart full of delight, Curdie sat down at a corner of +the hearth, on a stool opposite his mother's chair, and gazed +at the princess, who slept as peacefully as if she had been in +her own bed. All at once she opened her eyes and fixed them +on him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Curdie! you're come!" she said quietly. "I thought +you would!"</p> + +<p>Curdie rose and stood before her with downcast eyes.</p> + +<p>"Irene," he said, "I am very sorry I did not believe you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, never mind, Curdie!" answered the princess. "You +couldn't, you know. You do believe me now, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"I can't help it now. I ought to have helped it before."</p> + +<p>"Why can't you help it now?"</p> + +<p>"Because, just as I was going into the mountain to look for +you, I got hold of your thread, and it brought me here."</p> + +<p>"Then you've come from my house, have you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know you were there."</p> + +<p>"I've been there two or three days, I believe."</p> + +<p>"And I never knew it!—Then perhaps you can tell me why +my grandmother has brought me here? I can't think. Something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +woke me—I didn't know what, but I was frightened, and +I felt for the thread, and there it was! I was more frightened +still when it brought me out on the mountain, for I thought +it was going to take me into it again, and I like the outside of +it best. I supposed you were in trouble again, and I had to +get you out, but it brought me here instead; and, oh, Curdie! +your mother has been so kind to me—just like my own grandmother!"</p> + +<p>Here Curdie's mother gave the princess a hug, and the +princess turned and gave her a sweet smile, and held up her +mouth to kiss her.</p> + +<p>"Then you didn't see the cobs?" asked Curdie.</p> + +<p>"No; I haven't been into the mountain, I told you, Curdie."</p> + +<p>"But the cobs have been into your house—all over it—and +into your bedroom making such a row!"</p> + +<p>"What did they want there? It was very rude of them."</p> + +<p>"They wanted you—to carry you off into the mountain +with them, for a wife to their Prince Harelip."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how dreadful!" cried the princess, shuddering.</p> + +<p>"But you needn't be afraid, you know. Your grandmother +takes care of you."</p> + +<p>"Ah! you do believe in my grandmother then? I'm so glad! +She made me think you would some day."</p> + +<p>All at once Curdie remembered his dream, and was silent, +thinking.</p> + +<p>"But how did you come to be in my house, and me not +know it?" asked the princess.</p> + +<p>Then Curdie had to explain everything—how he had +watched for her sake, how he had been wounded and shut up by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +the soldiers, how he heard the noises and could not rise, and how +the beautiful old lady had come to him, and all that followed.</p> + +<p>"Poor Curdie! to lie there hurt and ill, and me never to +know it!" exclaimed the princess, stroking his rough hand. +"I would not have hesitated to come and nurse you, if they +had told me."</p> + +<p>"I didn't see you were lame," said his mother.</p> + +<p>"Am I, mother? Oh—yes—I suppose I ought to be. I +declare I've never thought of it since I got up to go down +amongst the cobs!"</p> + +<p>"Let me see the wound," said his mother.</p> + +<p>He pulled down his stocking—when behold, except a great +scar, his leg was perfectly sound!</p> + +<p>Curdie and his mother gazed in each other's eyes, full of +wonder, but Irene called out—</p> + +<p>"I thought so, Curdie! I was sure it wasn't a dream. I was +sure my grandmother had been to see you.—Don't you smell +the roses? It was my grandmother healed your leg, and sent +you to help me."</p> + +<p>"No, Princess Irene," said Curdie; "I wasn't good enough +to be allowed to help you: I didn't believe you. Your grandmother +took care of you without me."</p> + +<p>"She sent you to help my people, anyhow. I wish my king-papa +would come. I do want so to tell him how good you +have been!"</p> + +<p>"But," said the mother, "we are forgetting how frightened +your people must be.—You must take the princess home at +once, Curdie—or at least go and tell them where she is."</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother. Only I'm dreadfully hungry. Do let me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +have some breakfast first. They ought to have listened to +me, and then they wouldn't have been taken by surprise as +they were."</p> + +<p>"That is true, Curdie; but it is not for you to blame them +much. You remember?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother, I do. Only I must really have something +to eat."</p> + +<p>"You shall, my boy—as fast as I can get it," said his +mother, rising and setting the princess on her chair.</p> + +<p>But before his breakfast was ready, Curdie jumped up so +suddenly as to startle both his companions.</p> + +<p>"Mother, mother!" he cried, "I was forgetting. You must +take the princess home yourself. I must go and wake my +father."</p> + +<p>Without a word of explanation, he rushed to the place +where his father was sleeping. Having thoroughly roused him +with what he told him, he darted out of the cottage.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>MASON-WORK</div> + + +<div class='cap'>HE had all at once remembered the resolution of the +goblins to carry out their second plan upon the failure +of the first. No doubt they were already busy, +and the mine was therefore in the greatest danger of being +flooded and rendered useless—not to speak of the lives of the +miners.</div> + +<p>When he reached the mouth of the mine, after rousing all +the miners within reach, he found his father and a good many +more just entering. They all hurried to the gang by which +he had found a way into the goblin country. There the foresight +of Peter had already collected a great many blocks of +stone, with cement, ready for building up the weak place—well +enough known to the goblins. Although there was not room +for more than two to be actually building at once, they managed, +by setting all the rest to work in preparing the cement, +and passing the stones, to finish in the course of the day a huge +buttress filling the whole gang, and supported everywhere by +the live rock. Before the hour when they usually dropped +work, they were satisfied that the mine was secure.</p> + +<p>They had heard goblin hammers and pickaxes busy all the +time, and at length fancied they heard sounds of water they +had never heard before. But that was otherwise accounted +for when they left the mine; for they stepped out into a tremendous +storm which was raging all over the mountain. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +thunder was bellowing, and the lightning lancing out of a huge +black cloud which lay above it, and hung down its edges of +thick mist over its sides. The lightning was breaking out of the +mountain, too, and flashing up into the cloud. From the state +of the brooks, now swollen into raging torrents, it was evident +that the storm had been storming all day.</p> + +<p>The wind was blowing as if it would blow him off the mountain, +but, anxious about his mother and the princess, Curdie +darted up through the thick of the tempest. Even if they had +not set out before the storm came on, he did not judge them +safe, for, in such a storm even their poor little house was in +danger. Indeed he soon found that but for a huge rock against +which it was built, and which protected it both from the +blasts and the waters, it must have been swept if it was not +blown away; for the two torrents into which this rock parted +the rush of water behind it united again in front of the cottage—two +roaring and dangerous streams, which his mother and +the princess could not possibly have passed. It was with great +difficulty that he forced his way through one of them, and up +to the door.</p> + +<p>The moment his hand fell on the latch, through all the +uproar of winds and waters came the joyous cry of the princess:—</p> + +<p>"There's Curdie! Curdie! Curdie!"</p> + +<p>She was sitting wrapped in blankets on the bed, his mother +trying for the hundredth time to light the fire which had been +drowned by the rain that came down the chimney. The +clay floor was one mass of mud, and the whole place looked +wretched. But the faces of the mother and the princess shone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +as if their troubles only made them merrier. Curdie laughed +at sight of them.</p> + +<p>"I never <i>had</i> such fun!" said the princess, her eyes twinkling +and her pretty teeth shining. "How nice it must be to live in +a cottage on the mountain!"</p> + +<p>"It all depends on what kind your inside house is," said the +mother.</p> + +<p>"I know what you mean," said Irene. "That's the kind <ins title="Transcriber's Note: these words added to the text'">of thing</ins> +my grandmother says."</p> + +<p>By the time Peter returned, the storm was nearly over, but +the streams were so fierce and so swollen, that it was not only +out of the question for the princess to go down the mountain, +but most dangerous for Peter even or Curdie to make the +attempt in the gathering darkness.</p> + +<p>"They will be dreadfully frightened about you," said Peter +to the princess, "but we cannot help it. We must wait till +the morning."</p> + +<p>With Curdie's help, the fire was lighted at last, and the +mother set about making their supper; and after supper they +all told the princess stories till she grew sleepy. Then Curdie's +mother laid her in Curdie's bed, which was in a tiny little garret-room. +As soon as she was in bed, through a little window +low down in the roof she caught sight of her grandmother's +lamp shining far away beneath, and she gazed at the beautiful +silvery globe until she fell fast asleep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE KING AND THE KISS</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THE next morning the sun rose so bright that Irene said +the rain had washed his face and let the light out clean. +The torrents were still roaring down the side of the +mountain, but they were so much smaller as not to be dangerous +in the daylight. After an early breakfast, Peter went to +his work, and Curdie and his mother set out to take the princess +home. They had difficulty in getting her dry across the +streams, and Curdie had again and again to carry her, but at +last they got safe on the broader part of the road, and walked +gently down toward the king's house. And what should they +see as they turned the last corner, but the last of the king's +troop riding through the gate!</div> + +<p>"Oh, Curdie!" cried Irene, clapping her hands right joyfully, +"my king-papa is come."</p> + +<p>The moment Curdie heard that, he caught her up in his +arms, and set off at full speed, crying—</p> + +<p>"Come on, mother dear! The king may break his heart +before he knows that she is safe."</p> + +<p>Irene clung round his neck, and he ran with her like a deer. +When he entered the gate into the court, there sat the king +on his horse, with all the people of the house about him, +weeping and hanging their heads. The king was not weeping, +but his face was white as a dead man's, and he looked as if +the life had gone out of him. The men-at-arms he had brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +with him, sat with horror-stricken faces, but eyes flashing with +rage, waiting only for the word of the king to do something—they +did not know what, and nobody knew what.</p> + +<p>The day before the men-at-arms belonging to the house, as +soon as they were satisfied the princess had been carried away, +rushed after the goblins into the hole, but found that they had +already so skilfully blockaded the narrowest part, not many +feet below the cellar, that without miners and their tools they +could do nothing. Not one of them knew where the mouth +of the mine lay, and some of those who had set out to find it +had been overtaken by the storm and had not even yet returned. +Poor Sir Walter was especially filled with shame, and +almost entertained the hope that the king would order him to +be decapitated, for the very thought of that sweet little face +down amongst the goblins was unendurable.</p> + +<p>When Curdie ran in at the gate with the princess in his arms, +they were all so absorbed in their own misery and awed by the +king's presence and grief, that no one observed his arrival. +He went straight up to the king, where he sat on his horse.</p> + +<p>"Papa! papa!" the princess cried, stretching out her arms +to him; "here I am!"</p> + +<p>The king started. The color rushed to his face. He gave an +inarticulate cry. Curdie held up the princess, and the king +bent down and took her from his arms. As he clasped her to +his bosom, the big tears went dropping down his cheeks and his +beard. And such a shout arose from all the bystanders, that +the startled horses pranced and capered, and the armor rang +and clattered, and the rocks of the mountain echoed back the +noises. The princess greeted them all as she nestled in her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +father's bosom, and the king did not set her down until she +had told them all the story. But she had more to tell about +Curdie than about herself, and what she did tell about herself +none of them could understand except the king and Curdie, +who stood by the king's knee stroking the neck of the great +white horse. And still as she told what Curdie had done, +Sir Walter and others added to what she told, even Lootie +joining in the praises of his courage and energy.</p> + +<p>Curdie held his peace, looking quietly up in the king's face. +And his mother stood on the outskirts of the crowd listening +with delight, for her son's deeds were pleasant in her ears, +until the princess caught sight of her.</p> + +<p>"And there is his mother, king-papa!" she said. "See—there. +She is such a nice mother, and has been so kind to me!"</p> + +<p>They all parted asunder as the king made a sign to her to +come forward. She obeyed, and he gave her his hand, but +could not speak.</p> + +<p>"And now, king-papa," the princess went on, "I must tell +you another thing. One night long ago Curdie drove the goblins +away and brought Lootie and me safe from the mountain. +And I promised him a kiss when we got home, but Lootie +wouldn't let me give it to him. I would not have you scold +Lootie, but I want you to impress upon her that a princess +<i>must</i> do as she promises."</p> + +<p>"Indeed she must, my child—except it be wrong," said the +king. "There, give Curdie a kiss."</p> + +<p>And as he spoke he held her toward him.</p> + +<p>The princess reached down, threw her arms round Curdie's +neck, and kissed him on the mouth, saying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"There, Curdie! There's the kiss I promised you!"</p> + +<p>Then they all went into the house, and the cook rushed to +the kitchen, and the servants to their work. Lootie dressed +Irene in her shiningest clothes, and the king put off his armor, +and put on purple and gold; and a messenger was sent for +Peter and all the miners, and there was a great and grand feast, +which continued long after the princess was put to bed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE SUBTERRANEAN WATERS</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THE king's harper, who always formed a part of his escort, +was chanting a ballad which he made as he went +on playing on his instrument—about the princess and +the goblins, and the prowess of Curdie, when all at once he +ceased, with his eyes on one of the doors of the hall. Thereupon +the eyes of the king and his guests turned thitherward +also. The next moment, through the open doorway came the +princess Irene. She went straight up to her father, with her +right hand stretched out a little sideways, and her forefinger, +as her father and Curdie understood, feeling its way along the +invisible thread. The king took her on his knee, and she said +in his ear—</div> + +<p>"King-papa, do you hear that noise?"</p> + +<p>"I hear nothing," said the king.</p> + +<p>"Listen," she said, holding up her forefinger.</p> + +<p>The king listened, and a great stillness fell upon the company. +Each man, seeing that the king listened, listened also, +and the harper sat with his harp between his arms, and his +fingers silent upon the strings.</p> + +<p>"I do hear a noise," said the king at length—"a noise as of +distant thunder. It is coming nearer and nearer. What can +it be?"</p> + +<p>They all heard it now, and each seemed ready to start to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +feet as he listened. Yet all sat perfectly still. The noise came +rapidly nearer.</p> + +<p>"What can it be?" said the king again.</p> + +<p>"I think it must be another storm coming over the mountain," +said Sir Walter.</p> + +<p>Then Curdie, who at the first word of the king had slipped +from his seat, and laid his ear to the ground, rose up quickly, +and approaching the king said, speaking very fast—</p> + +<p>"Please your Majesty, I think I know what it is. I have no +time to explain, for that might make it too late for some of us. +Will your Majesty order that everybody leave the house as +quickly as possible, and get up the mountain?"</p> + +<p>The king, who was the wisest man in the kingdom, knew +well there was a time when things must be done, and questions +left till afterward. He had faith in Curdie, and rose instantly, +with Irene in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Every man and woman follow me," he said, and strode +out into the darkness.</p> + +<p>Before he had reached the gate, the noise had grown to a +great thundering roar, and the ground trembled beneath their +feet, and before the last of them had crossed the court, out +after them from the great hall-door came a huge rush of turbid +water, and almost swept them away. But they got safe out +of the gate and up the mountain, while the torrent went roaring +down the road into the valley beneath.</p> + +<p>Curdie had left the king and the princess to look after his +mother, whom he and his father, one on each side, caught up +when the stream overtook them and carried safe and dry.</p> + +<p>When the king had got out of the way of the water, a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +up the mountain, he stood with the princess in his arms, looking +back with amazement on the issuing torrent, which glimmered +fierce and foamy through the night. There Curdie rejoined +them.</p> + +<p>"Now, Curdie," said the king, "what does it mean! Is this +what you expected?"</p> + +<p>"It is, your Majesty," said Curdie; and proceeded to tell +him about the second scheme of the goblins, who, fancying +the miners of more importance to the upper world than they +were, had resolved, if they should fail in carrying off the +king's daughter, to flood the mine and drown the miners. +Then he explained what the miners had done to prevent it. +The goblins had, in pursuance of their design, let loose all the +underground reservoirs and streams, expecting the water to +run down into the mine, which was lower than their part of the +mountain, for they had, as they supposed, not knowing of the +solid wall close behind, broken a passage through into it. +But the readiest outlet the water could find had turned out to +be the tunnel they had made to the king's house, the possibility +of which catastrophe had not occurred to the mind of the +young miner until he placed his ear close to the floor of the hall.</p> + +<p>What was then to be done? The house appeared in danger +of falling, and every moment the torrent was increasing.</p> + +<p>"We must set out at once," said the king. "But how to +get at the horses!"</p> + +<p>"Shall I see if we can manage that?" said Curdie.</p> + +<p>"Do," said the king.</p> + +<p>Curdie gathered the men-at-arms, and took them over the +garden wall, and so to the stables. They found their horses in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +terror; the water was rising fast around them, and it was quite +time they were got out. But there was no way to get them +out, except by riding them through the stream, which was now +pouring from the lower windows as well as the door. As one +horse was quite enough for any man to manage through such a +torrent, Curdie got on the king's white charger, and leading +the way, brought them all in safety to the rising ground.</p> + +<p>"Look, look, Curdie!" cried Irene, the moment that, having +dismounted, he led the horse up to the king.</p> + +<p>Curdie did look, and saw, high in the air, somewhere about +the top of the king's house, a great globe of light, shining like +the purest silver.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he cried in some consternation, "that is your grandmother's +lamp! We <i>must</i> get her out. I will go and find her. +The house may fall, you know."</p> + +<p>"My grandmother is in no danger," said Irene, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Here, Curdie, take the princess while I get on my horse," +said the king.</p> + +<p>Curdie took the princess again, and both turned their eyes +to the globe of light. The same moment there shot from it +a white bird, which, descending with outstretched wings, made +one circle round the king and Curdie and the princess, and +then glided up again. The light and the pigeon vanished +together.</p> + +<p>"Now, Curdie," said the princess, as he lifted her to her +father's arms, "you see my grandmother knows all about it, +and isn't frightened. I believe she could walk through that +water and it wouldn't wet her a bit."</p> + +<p>"But, my child," said the king, "you will be cold if you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +haven't something more on. Run, Curdie, my boy, and fetch +anything you can lay your hands on, to keep the princess +warm. We have a long ride before us."</p> + +<p>Curdie was gone in a moment, and soon returned with a +great rich fur, and the news that dead goblins were tossing +about in the current through the house. They had been +caught in their own snare; instead of the mine they had +flooded their own country, whence they were now swept up +drowned. Irene shuddered, but the king held her close to his +bosom. Then he turned to Sir Walter, and said—</p> + +<p>"Bring Curdie's father and mother here."</p> + +<p>"I wish," said the king, when they stood before him, "to +take your son with me. He shall enter my bodyguard at +once, and wait further promotion."</p> + +<p>Peter and his wife, overcome, only murmured almost inaudible +thanks. But Curdie spoke aloud.</p> + +<p>"Please your Majesty," he said, "I cannot leave my father +and mother."</p> + +<p>"That's right, Curdie!" cried the princess. "<i>I</i> wouldn't if +I was you."</p> + +<p>The king looked at the princess and then at Curdie with a +glow of satisfaction on his countenance.</p> + +<p>"I too think you are right, Curdie," he said, "and I will +not ask you again. But I shall have a chance of doing something +for you some time."</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty has already allowed me to serve you," said +Curdie.</p> + +<p>"But, Curdie," said his mother, "why shouldn't you go +with the king? We can get on very well without you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I can't get on very well without you," said Curdie. +"The king is very kind, but I could not be half the use to him +that I am to you. Please your Majesty, if you wouldn't mind +giving my mother a red petticoat! I should have got her one +long ago, but for the goblins."</p> + +<p>"As soon as we get home," said the king, "Irene and I will +search out the warmest one to be found, and send it by one +of the gentlemen."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that we will, Curdie!" said the princess.</p> + +<p>"And next summer we'll come back and see you wear it, +Curdie's mother," she added. "Sha'n't we, king-papa?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my love; I hope so," said the king.</p> + +<p>Then turning to the miners, he said——</p> + +<p>"Will you do the best you can for my servants to-night? I +hope they will be able to return to the house to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The miners with one voice promised their hospitality.</p> + +<p>Then the king commanded his servants to mind whatever +Curdie should say to them, and after shaking hands with him +and his father and mother, the king and the princess and all +their company rode away down the side of the new stream +which had already devoured half the road, into the starry +night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> + +<div class='chaptertitle'>THE LAST CHAPTER</div> + + +<div class='cap'>ALL the rest went up the mountain, and separated in +groups to the homes of the miners. Curdie and his +father and mother took Lootie with them. And the +whole way, a light, of which all but Lootie understood the +origin, shone upon their path. But when they looked round +they could see nothing of the silvery globe.</div> + +<p>For days and days the water continued to rush from the +doors and windows of the king's house, and a few goblin bodies +were swept out into the road.</p> + +<p>Curdie saw that something must be done. He spoke to his +father and the rest of the miners, and they at once proceeded +to make another outlet for the waters. By setting all hands +to the work, tunneling here and building there, they soon +succeeded; and having also made a little tunnel to drain the +water away from under the king's house, they were soon able +to get into the wine cellar, where they found a multitude of +dead goblins—among the rest the queen, with the skin-shoe +gone, and the stone one fast to her ankle—for the water had +swept away the barricade which prevented the men-at-arms +from following the goblins, and had greatly widened the passage. +They built it securely up, and then went back to their +labors in the mine.</p> + +<p>A good many of the goblins with their creatures escaped +from the inundation out upon the mountain. But most of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +them soon left that part of the country, and most of those who +remained grew milder in character, and indeed became very +much like the Scotch Brownies. Their skulls became softer +as well as their hearts, and their feet grew harder, and by +degrees they became friendly with the inhabitants of the +mountain and even with the miners. But the latter were +merciless to any of the <i>cobs' creatures</i> that came their way, until +at length they all but disappeared. Still—</p> + +<p><i>"But, Mr. Author, we would rather hear more about the Princess +and Curdie. We don't care about the goblins and their nasty +creatures. They frighten us—rather."</i></p> + +<p><i>"But you know if you once get rid of the goblins there is no +fear of the princess or of Curdie."</i></p> + +<p><i>"But we want to know more about them."</i></p> + +<p><i>"Some day, perhaps, I may tell you the further history of both +of them; how Curdie came to visit Irene's grandmother, and +what she did for him; and how the princess and he met again after +they were older—and how—But there! I don't mean to go any +farther at present."</i></p> + +<p><i>"Then you're leaving the story unfinished, Mr. Author!"</i></p> + +<p><i>"Not more unfinished than a story ought to be, I hope. If you +ever knew a story finished, all I can say is, I never did. Somehow, +stories won't finish. I think I know why, but I won't say +that either, now."</i></p> + + +<div class='center'><br /><br />THE END</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> + +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN *** + +***** This file should be named 34339-h.htm or 34339-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/3/3/34339/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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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