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diff --git a/34852-h/34852-h.htm b/34852-h/34852-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c34f6f --- /dev/null +++ b/34852-h/34852-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7174 @@ +<!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 Moonshine & Clover, by Laurence Housman. + </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: 15%; margin-right: 15%; 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;} + .small {font-size: 70%;} + .big {font-size: 110%;} + .author {font-size: 120%; text-align: center;} + .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: 70%;} + + .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;} + .sig {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;} + + .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> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Moonshine & Clover, by Laurence Housman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Moonshine & Clover + +Author: Laurence Housman + +Illustrator: Clemence Housman + +Release Date: January 5, 2011 [EBook #34852] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOONSHINE & CLOVER *** + + + + +Produced by Beginners Projects, Suzanne Shell, Emmy and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 322px;"> +<img src="images/coverpage.jpg" width="322" height="500" alt="cover" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h1>MOONSHINE & CLOVER</h1> + + +<div class="blockquot">This selection of fairy-tales is +reprinted from the following +original editions, now out of +print:</div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Books"> +<tr><td align='left'><i>A Farm in Fairyland</i></td><td align='left'>(1894)</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>The House of Joy</i></td><td align='left'>(1895)</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>The Field of Clover</i> </td><td align='left'>(1898)</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>The Blue Moon</i></td><td align='left'>(1904)</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/frontis.png" width="500" height="758" alt="Shine Moon! Grow, Clover!" title="" /> +</div> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/tp.png" width="500" height="762" alt="Title Page" title="" /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>MOONSHINE & CLOVER</h1> + +<div class='author'>BY LAURENCE HOUSMAN</div> + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br />ENGRAVED BY<br /> +CLEMENCE HOUSMAN<br /> + +<br /><br /><br /> +NEW YORK<br /> +HARCOURT, BRACE & COMPANY<br /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<div class='copyright'> +<i>Made and<br /> +Printed in Great Britain by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld.,<br /> +London and Aylesbury.</i><br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Prince with the Nine Sorrows</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">How Little Duke Jarl Saved the Castle</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Capful of Moonshine</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Story of the Herons</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Crown's Warranty</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rocking-Horse Land</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Japonel</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Gammelyn, the Dressmaker</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Feeding of the Emigrants</span> </td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">White Birch</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Luck of the Roses</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The White Doe</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Moon-Stroke</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Gentle Cockatrice</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Green Bird</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Man who Killed the Cuckoo</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Chinese Fairy-Tale</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Happy Returns</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE PRINCE WITH THE NINE SORROWS</h2> + +<div class='poem'> +"Eight white peahens went down to the gate:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Wait!' they said, 'little sister, wait!'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">They covered her up with feathers so fine;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And none went out, when there went back nine."</span><br /> +<br /><br /></div> + + +<div class='cap'>A LONG time ago there lived a King and +a Queen, who had an only son. As soon +as he was born his mother gave him to the +forester's wife to be nursed; for she herself had +to wear her crown all day and had no time for +nursing. The forester's wife had just given birth +to a little daughter of her own; but she loved both +children equally and nursed them together like +twins.</div> + +<p>One night the Queen had a dream that made the +half of her hair turn grey. She dreamed that she +saw the Prince her son at the age of twenty lying +dead with a wound over the place of his heart; +and near him his foster-sister was standing, with a +royal crown on her head, and his heart bleeding +between her hands.</p> + +<p>The next morning the Queen sent in great haste +for the family Fairy, and told her of the dream. +The Fairy said, "This can have but one meaning, +and it is an evil one. There is some danger that +threatens your son's life in his twentieth year, and +his foster-sister is to be the cause of it; also, it +seems she is to make herself Queen. But leave her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +to me, and I will avert the evil chance; for the +dream coming beforehand shows that the Fates +mean that he should be saved."</p> + +<p>The Queen said, "Do anything; only do not +destroy the forester's wife's child, for, as yet at least, +she has done no wrong. Let her only be carried +away to a safe place and made secure and treated +well. I will not have my son's happiness grow out +of another one's grave."</p> + +<p>The Fairy said, "Nothing is so safe as a grave +when the Fates are about. Still, I think I can +make everything quite safe within reason, and leave +you a clean as well as a quiet conscience."</p> + +<p>The little Prince and the forester's daughter +grew up together till they were a year old; then, +one day, when their nurse came to look for them, +the Prince was found, but his foster-sister was +lost; and though the search for her was long, she +was never seen again, nor could any trace of her +be found.</p> + +<p>The baby Prince pined and pined, and was so +sorrowful over her loss that they feared for a time +that he was going to die. But his foster-mother, +in spite of her grief over her own child's disappearance, +nursed him so well and loved him so much +that after a while he recovered his strength.</p> + +<p>Then the forester's wife gave birth to another +daughter, as if to console herself for the loss of the +first. But the same night that the child was born +the Queen had just the same dream over again. +She dreamed that she saw her son lying dead at +the age of twenty; and there was the wound in +his breast, and the forester's daughter was standing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +by with his heart in her hand and a royal crown +upon her head.</p> + +<p>The poor Queen's hair had gone quite white +when she sent again for the family Fairy, and told +her how the dream had repeated itself. The Fairy +gave her the same advice as before, quieting her +fears, and assuring her that however persistent the +Fates might be in threatening the Prince's life, all +in the end should be well.</p> + +<p>Before another year was passed the second of the +forester's daughters had disappeared; and the +Prince and his foster-mother cried themselves ill +over a loss that had been so cruelly renewed. The +Queen, seeing how great were the sorrow and the +love that the Prince bore for his foster-sisters, +began to doubt in her heart and say, "What have +I done? Have I saved my son's life by taking +away his heart?"</p> + +<p>Now every year the same thing took place, the +forester's wife giving birth to a daughter, and the +Queen on the same night having the same fearful +dream of the fate that threatened her son in his +twentieth year; and afterwards the family Fairy +would come, and then one day the forester's wife's +child would disappear, and be heard of no more.</p> + +<p>At last when nine daughters in all had been born +to the forester's wife and lost to her when they +were but a year old, the Queen fell very ill. Every +day she grew weaker and weaker, and the little +Prince came and sat by her, holding her hand and +looking at her with a sorrowful face. At last one +night (it was just a year after the last of the forester's +children had disappeared) she woke suddenly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +stretching out her arms and crying. "Oh, Fairy," +she cried, "the dream, the dream!" And covering +her face with her hands, she died.</p> + +<p>The little Prince was now more than ten years +old, and the very saddest of mortals. He said that +there were nine sorrows hidden in his heart, of +which he could not get rid; and that at night, +when all the birds went home to roost, he heard +cries of lamentation and pain; but whether these +came from very far away, or out of his own heart +he could not tell.</p> + +<p>Yet he grew slenderly and well, and had such +grace and tenderness in his nature that all who +saw him loved him. His foster-mother, when he +spoke to her of his nine sorrows, tried to comfort +him, calling him her own nine joys; and, indeed, +he was all the joy left in life for her.</p> + +<p>When the Prince neared his twentieth year, the +King his father felt that he himself was becoming +old and weary of life. "I shall not live much +longer," he thought: "very soon my son will be +left alone in the world. It is right, therefore, now +that he should know of the danger ahead that +threatens his life." For till then the Prince had +not known anything; all had been kept a secret +between the Queen and the King and the family +Fairy.</p> + +<p>The old King knew of the Prince's nine sorrows, +and often he tried to believe that they came by +chance, and had nothing to do with the secret that +sat at the root of his son's life. But now he feared +more and more to tell the Prince the story of those +nine dreams, lest the knowledge should indeed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +serve but as the crowning point of his sorrows, +and altogether break his heart for him.</p> + +<p>Yet there was so much danger in leaving the +thing untold that at last he summoned the Prince +to his bedside, meaning to tell him all. The King +had worn himself so ill with anxiety and grief in +thinking over the matter, that now to tell all was +the only means of saving his life.</p> + +<p>The Prince came and knelt down, and leaned his +head on his father's pillow; and the King whispered +into his ear the story of the dreams, and of +how for his sake all the Prince's foster-sisters had +been spirited away.</p> + +<p>Before his tale was done he could no longer bear +to look into his son's face, but closed his eyes, and, +with long silences between, spoke as one who prayed.</p> + +<p>When he had ended he lay quite still, and the +Prince kissed his closed eyelids and went softly out +of the room.</p> + +<p>"Now I know," he said to himself; "now at +last!" And he came through the wood and +knocked at his foster-mother's door. "Other +mother," he said to her, "give me a kiss for each +of my sisters, for now I am going out into the +world to find them, to be rid of the sorrows in +my heart."</p> + +<p>"They can never be found!" she cried, but +she kissed him nine times. "And this," she said, +"was Monica, and this was Ponica, and this was +Veronica," and so she went over every name. +"But now they are only names!" she wept, as +she let him go.</p> + +<p>He went along, and he went along, mile after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +mile. "Where may you be going to, fair sir?" +asked an old peasant, at whose cabin the Prince +sought shelter when night came to the first day of +his wanderings. "Truly," answered the Prince, +"I do not know how far or whither I need to go; +but I have a finger-post in my heart that keeps +pointing me."</p> + +<p>So that night he stayed there, and the next day +he went on.</p> + +<p>"Where to so fast?" asked a woodcutter when +the second night found him in the thickest and +loneliest parts of the forest. "Here the night is +so dark and the way so dangerous, one like you +should not go alone."</p> + +<p>"Nay, I know nothing," said the Prince, "only +I feel like a weather-cock in a wind that keeps +turning me to its will!"</p> + +<p>After many days he came to a small long valley +rich in woods and water-courses, but no road ran +through it. More and more it seemed like the +world's end, a place unknown, or forgotten of its +old inhabitants. Just at the end of the valley, +where the woods opened into clear slopes and +hollows towards the west, he saw before him, low +and overgrown, the walls of a little tumble-down +grange. "There," he said to himself when he +saw it, "I can find shelter for to-night. Never +have I felt so tired before, or such a pain at my +heart!"</p> + +<p>Before long he came to a little gate, and a winding +path that led in among lawns and trees to the door +of an old house. The house seemed as if it had +been once lived in, but there was no sign of any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +life about it now. He pushed open the door, and +suddenly there was a sharp rustling of feathers, and +nine white peahens rose up from the ground and +flew out of the window into the garden.</p> + +<p>The Prince searched the whole house over, and +found it a mere ruin; the only signs of life to be +seen were the white feathers that lifted and blew +about over the floors.</p> + +<p>Outside, the garden was gathering itself together +in the dusk, and the peahens were stepping daintily +about the lawns, picking here and there between +the blades of grass. They seemed to suit the +gentle sadness of the place, which had an air of +grief that has grown at ease with itself.</p> + +<p>The Prince went out into the garden, and walked +about among the quietly stepping birds; but they +took no heed of him. They came picking up their +food between his very feet, as though he were not +there. Silence held all the air, and in the cleft of +the valley the day drooped to its end.</p> + +<p>Just before it grew dark, the nine white peahens +gathered together at the foot of a great elm, and +lifting up their throats they wailed in chorus. +Their lamentable cry touched the Prince's heart; +"Where," he asked himself, "have I heard such +sorrow before?" Then all with one accord the +birds sprang rustling up to the lowest boughs of +the elm, and settled themselves to roost.</p> + +<p>The Prince went back to the house, to find some +corner amid its half-ruined rooms to sleep in. But +there the air was close, and an unpleasant smell of +moisture came from the floor and walls: so, the +night being warm, he returned to the garden, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +folding himself in his cloak lay down under the tree +where the nine peahens were at roost.</p> + +<p>For a long time he tried to sleep, but could not, +there was so much pain and sorrow in his heart.</p> + +<p>Presently when it was close upon midnight, over +his head one of the birds stirred and ruffled through +all its feathers; and he heard a soft voice say:</p> + +<p>"Sisters, are you awake?"</p> + +<p>All the other peahens lifted their heads, and +turned towards the one that had spoken, saying, +"Yes, sister, we are awake."</p> + +<p>Then the first one said again, "Our brother is +here."</p> + +<p>They all said, "He is our enemy; it is for him +that we endure this sorrow."</p> + +<p>"To-night," said the first, "we may all be free."</p> + +<p>They answered, "Yes, we may all be free! Who +will go down and peck out his heart? Then we +shall be free."</p> + +<p>And the first who had spoken said, "I will go +down!"</p> + +<p>"Do not fail, sister!" said all the others. "For +if you fail you can speak to us no more."</p> + +<p>The first peahen answered, "Do not fear that I +shall fail!" And she began stepping down the long +boughs of the elm.</p> + +<p>The Prince lying below heard all that was said. +"Ah! poor sisters," he thought, "have I found you +at last; and are all these sorrows brought upon you +for me?" And he unloosed his doublet, and opened +his vest, making his breast bare for the peahen to +come and peck out his heart.</p> + +<p>He lay quite still with his eyes shut, and when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +she reached the ground the peahen found him lying +there, as it seemed to her fast asleep, with his white +breast bare for the stroke of her beak.</p> + +<p>Then so fair he looked to her, and so gentle in +his youth, that she had pity on him, and stood +weeping by his side, and laying her head against +his, whispered, "O, brother, once we lay as babes +together and were nursed at the same breast! +How can I peck out your heart?"</p> + +<p>Then she stole softly back into the tree, and +crouched down again by her companions. They +said to her, "Our minute of midnight is nearly gone. +Is there blood on your beak! Have you our brother's +heart for us?" But the other answered never a +word.</p> + +<p>In the morning the peahens came rustling down +out of the elm, and went searching for fat carnation +buds and anemone seeds among the flower-beds in +the garden. To the Prince they showed no sign +either of hatred or fear, but went to and fro carelessly, +pecking at the ground about his feet. Only one +came with drooping head and wings, and sleeked +itself to his caress, and the Prince, stooping down, +whispered in her ear, "O, sister, why did you not +peck out my heart?"</p> + +<p>At night, as before, the peahens all cried in chorus +as they went up into the elm; and the Prince came +and wrapped himself in his cloak, and lay down at +the foot of it to watch.</p> + +<p>At midnight the eight peahens lifted their heads, +and said, "Sister, why did you fail last night?" +But their sister gave them not a word.</p> + +<p>"Alas!" they said, "now she has failed, unless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +one of us succeed, we shall never hear her speak +with her human voice again. Why is it that you +weep so," they said again, "now when deliverance is +so near?" For the poor peahen was shaken with +weeping, and her tears fell down in loud drops upon +the ground.</p> + +<p>Then the next sister said, "I will go down! He +is asleep. Be certain, I will not fail!" So she +climbed softly down the tree, and the Prince opened +his shirt and laid his breast bare for her to come and +take out his heart.</p> + +<p>Presently she stood by his side, and when she saw +him, she too had pity on him for the youth and +kindness of his face. And once she shut her eyes, +and lifted her head for the stroke; but then weakness +seized her, and she laid her head softly upon his heart +and said, "Once the breast that gave me milk gave +milk also to you. You were my sister's brother, and +she spared you. How can I peck out your heart?" +And having said this she went softly back into the +tree, and crouched down again among her sisters.</p> + +<p>They said to her, "Have you blood upon your +beak? Is his heart ours?" But she answered them +no word.</p> + +<p>The next day the two sisters, who because their +hearts betrayed them had become mute, followed +the Prince wherever he went, and stretched up +their heads to his caress. But the others went and +came indifferently, careless except for food; for until +midnight their human hearts were asleep; only now +the two sisters who had given their voices away had +regained their human hearts perpetually.</p> + +<p>That night the same thing happened as before.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +"Sisters," said the youngest, "to-night I will go +down, since the two eldest of us have failed. My +wrong is fresher in my heart than theirs! Be sure +I shall not fail!" So the youngest peahen came +down from the tree, and the Prince laid his heart +bare for her beak; but the bird could not find the +will to peck it out. And so it was the next night, +and the next, until eight nights were gone.</p> + +<p>So at last only one peahen was left. At midnight +she raised her head, saying, "Sisters, are you +awake?"</p> + +<p>They all turned, and gazed at her weeping, but +could say no word.</p> + +<p>Then she said, "You have all failed, having all +tried but me. Now if I fail we shall remain mute +and captive for ever, more undone by the loss of +our last remaining gift of speech than we were at +first. But I tell you, dear sisters, I will not fail; +for the happiness of you all lies with me now!"</p> + +<p>Then she went softly down the tree; and one by +one they all went following her, and weeping, to +see what the end would be.</p> + +<p>They stood some way apart, watching with +upturned heads, and their poor throats began catching +back a wish to cry as the little peahen, the last +of the sisters, came and stood by the Prince.</p> + +<p>Then she, too, looked in his face, and saw the white +breast made bare for her beak; and the love of him +went deep down into her heart. And she tried and +tried to shut her eyes and deal the stroke, but could +not.</p> + +<p>She trembled and sighed, and turned to look at +her sisters, where they all stood weeping silently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +together. "They have spared him," she said to +herself: "why should not I?"</p> + +<p>But the Prince, seeing that she, too, was about to +fail like the rest of them, turned and said, as if in his +sleep, "Come, come, little peahen, and peck out my +heart!"</p> + +<p>At that she turned back again to him, and laid her +head down upon his heart and cried more sadly than +them all.</p> + +<p>Then he said, "You have eight sisters, and a +mother who cries for her children to return!" Yet +still she thought he was dreaming, and speaking only +in his sleep. The other peahens came no nearer, +but stood weeping silently. She looked from him to +them. "O," she cried, "I have a wicked heart, to +let one stand in the way of nine!" Then she threw +up her neck and cried lamentably with her peafowl's +voice, wishing that the Prince would wake up and +see her, and so escape. And at that all the other +peahens lifted up their heads and wailed with her: +but the Prince never turned, nor lifted a finger, nor +uttered a sound.</p> + +<p>Then she drew in a deep breath, and closed her +eyes fast. "Let my sisters go, but let me be as I +am!" she cried; and with that she stooped down, +and pecked out his heart.</p> + +<p>All her sisters shrieked as their human shapes +returned to them. "O, sister! O, wicked little +sister!" they cried, "What have you done?"</p> + +<p>The little white peahen crouched close down to the +side of the dead Prince. "I loved him more than +you all!" she tried to say: but she only lifted her +head, and wailed again and again the peafowl's cry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Prince's heart lay beating at her feet, so glad +to be rid of its nine sorrows that mere joy made it +live on, though all the rest of the body lay cold.</p> + +<p>The peahen leaned down upon the Prince's breast, +and there wailed without ceasing: then suddenly, +piercing with her beak her own breast, she drew out +her own living heart and laid it in the place where +his had been.</p> + +<p>And, as she did so, the wound where she had +pierced him closed and became healed; and her +heart was, as it were, buried in the Prince's breast. +In her death agony she could feel it there, her own +heart leaping within his breast for joy.</p> + +<p>The Prince, who had seemed to be dead, flushed +from head to foot as the warmth of life came back +to him; with one deep breath he woke, and found +the little white peahen lying as if dead between his +arms.</p> + +<p>Then he laughed softly and rose (his goodness +making him wise), and taking up his own still beating +heart he laid it into the place of hers. At the first +beat of it within her breast, the peahen became transformed +as all her sisters had been, and her own +human form came back to her. And the pain and +the wound in her breast grew healed together, so that +she stood up alive and well in the Prince's arms.</p> + +<p>"Dear heart!" said he: and "Dear, dear +heart!" said she; but whether they were speaking +of their own hearts or of each other's, who can tell? +for which was which they themselves did not know.</p> + +<p>Then all round was so much embracing and happiness +that it is out of reach for tongue or pen to +describe. For truly the Prince and his foster-sisters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +loved each other well, and could put no bounds +upon their present contentment. As for the Prince +and the one who had plucked out his heart, of no +two was the saying ever more truly told that they +had lost their hearts to each other; nor was ever love +in the world known before that carried with it such +harmony as theirs.</p> + +<p>And so it all came about according to the Queen's +dream, that the forester's daughter wore the royal +crown upon her head, and held the Prince's heart +in her hand.</p> + +<p>Long before he died the old King was made happy +because the dream he had so much feared had +become true. And the forester's wife was happy +before she died. And as for the Prince and his wife +and his foster-sisters, they were all rather happy; +and none of them is dead yet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> +<h2>HOW LITTLE DUKE JARL SAVED THE CASTLE</h2> + + +<p>DUKE JARL had found a good roost for +himself when his long work of expelling +the invader was ended. Seawards and below +the town, in the mouth of the river, stood a rock, +thrusting out like a great tusk ready to rip up any +armed vessel that sought passage that way. On the +top of this he had built himself a castle, and its roots +went deep, deep down into the solid stone. No man +knew how deep the deepest of the foundations went; +but wherever they were, just there was old Duke +Jarl's sleeping-chamber. Thither he had gone to +sleep when the world no longer needed him; and +he had not yet returned.</p> + +<p>That was three hundred years ago, and still the +solid rock vaulted the old warrior's slumber; and +over his head men talked of him, and told how he +was reserving the strength of his old age till his +country should again call for him.</p> + +<p>The call seemed to come now; for his descendant, +little Duke Jarl the Ninth, was but a child; and +being in no fear of him, the invader had returned, +and the castle stood besieged. Also, farther than +the eye could see from the topmost tower, the land +lay all overrun, its richness laid waste by armed +bands who gathered in its harvest by the sword, and +the town itself lay under tribute; from the tower +one could see the busy quays, and the enemy loading +his ships with rich merchandise.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sent up there to play in safety, little Duke Jarl +could not keep his red head from peering over the +parapet. He began making fierce faces at the enemy—he +was still too young to fight: and quick a grey +goose-shaft came and sang its shrill song at his ear. +So close had it gone that a little of the ducal blood +trickled out over his collar. His face worked with +rage; leaning far out over the barrier, he began +shouting, "I will tell Duke Jarl of you!" till an attendant +ran up and snatched him away from danger.</p> + +<p>Things were going badly: the castle was cut off +from the land, and on the seaward side the foe had +built themselves a great mole within which their +warships could ride at anchor safe from the reach of +storm. Thus there was no way left by which help +or provender could come in.</p> + +<p>Little Duke Jarl saw men round him growing +more gaunt and thin day by day, but he did not +understand why, till he chanced once upon a soldier +gnawing a foul bone for the stray bits of meat that +clung to it; then he learned that all in the castle +except himself had been put upon quarter-rations, +though every day there was more and more fighting +work to be done.</p> + +<p>So that day when the usual white bread and +savouries were brought to him, he flung them all +downstairs, telling the cook that the day he really +became Duke he would have his head off if he ever +dared to send him anything again but the common +fare.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 313px;"> +<img src="images/gs01.png" width="313" height="500" alt="Looking down on the valley" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Hearing of it, the old Chief Constable picked up +little Master Ninth Duke between finger and +thumb, and laughed, holding him in the air.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +"With you alive," said he, "we shall not have to +wake Duke Jarl after all!" The little Duke asked +when he would let him have a sword; and the +Constable clapped his cheeks and ran back cheerfully +at a call from the palisades.</p> + +<p>But others carried heavy looks, thinking, "Long +before his fair promise can come to anything our +larders will be empty and our walls gone!"</p> + +<p>It was no great time after this that the Duke's +Constable was the only man who saw reason in +holding out. That became known all through the +castle, and the cook, honest fellow, brought up +little Jarl's dinner one day with tears in his eyes. +He set down his load of dainties. "It is no use!" +said he, "you may as well eat to-day, since to-morrow +we give up the castle."</p> + +<p>"Who dares to say 'we'?" cried little Duke +Jarl, springing to his feet.</p> + +<p>"All but the Constable," said the cook; "even +now they are in the council-hall, trying to make +him see reason. Whether or no, they will not let +him hold on."</p> + +<p>Little Jarl found the doors of the great hall +barred to the thunderings of his small fist: for, in +truth, these men could not bear to look upon one +who had in his veins the blood of old Duke Jarl, +when they were about to give up his stronghold +to the enemy.</p> + +<p>So little Jarl made his way up to the bowery, +where was a minstrel's window looking down into +the hall. Sticking out his head so that he might +see down to where the council was sitting, "If you +give up the castle, I will tell Duke Jarl!" he cried.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +Hearing his young master's voice, the Constable +raised his eyes; but not able to see him for tears +in them, called out: "Tell him quick, for here +it is all against one! Only for one day more have +they promised to follow my bidding, and keep the +carrion crows from coming to Jarl's nest."</p> + +<p>And even as he spoke came the renewed cry of +attack, and the answering shout of "Jarl, Jarl!" +from the defenders upon the walls. Then all leapt +up, overturning the council-board, and ran out to +the battlements to carry on with what courage was +left to them a hopeless contest for one more day.</p> + +<p>Little Duke Jarl remained like a beating heart +in the great empty keep. He ran wildly from +room to room, calling in rage and desperation on +old Jarl to return and fight. From roof to basement +he ran, commanding the spirit of his ancestor +to appear, till at last he found himself in the deepest +cellars of all. Down there he could hear but +faintly the sound of the fighting; yet it seemed to +him that through the stone he could hear the slow +booming of the sea, and as he went deeper into the +castle's foundations the louder had grown its note. +"Does the sea come in all the way under the castle?" +he wondered. "Oh that it would sap the foundations +and sink castle and all, rather than let them +give up old Jarl's stronghold to his enemies!"</p> + +<p>All was quite dark here, where the castle stood +embedded; but now and then little Duke Jarl +could feel a puff of wind on his face, and presently +he was noticing how it came, as if timed to the +booming of the sea underneath: whenever came +the sound of a breaking wave, with it came a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +draught of air. He wondered if, so low down, +there might not be some secret opening to the +shore.</p> + +<p>Groping in the direction of the gusts, his feet +came upon stairs. So low and narrow was the +entrance, he had to turn sideways and stoop; but +when he had burrowed through a thickness of wall +he was able to stand upright; and again he found +stairs leading somewhere.</p> + +<p>Down, these led down. He had never been so +low before. And what a storm there must be +outside! Against these walls the thunders of the +sea grew so loud he could no longer hear the tramp +of his own feet descending.</p> + +<p>And now the wind came at him in great gusts; +first came the great boom of the sea, and then a +blast of air. The way twisted and circled, making +his head giddy for a fall; his feet slipped on the +steepness and slime of the descent, and at each +turn the sound grew more appalling, and the +driving force of the wind more and more like the +stroke of a man's fist.</p> + +<p>Presently the shock of it threw him from his +standing, so that he had to lie down and slide feet +foremost, clinging with his eyelids and nails to +break the violence of his descent. And now the +air was so full of thunder that his teeth shook in +their sockets, and his bones jarred in his flesh. The +darkness growled and roared; the wind kept lifting +him backwards—the force of it seemed almost +to flay the skin off his face; and still he went on, +throwing his full weight against the air ahead.</p> + +<p>Then for a moment he felt himself letting go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +altogether: solid walls slipping harshly past him +in the darkness, he fell; and came headlong, +crashed and bruised, to a standstill.</p> + +<p>At first his brain was all in a mist; then, raising +himself, he saw a dim blue light falling through a +low vaulted chamber. At the end of it sat old +Jarl, like adamant in slumber. His head was down +on his breast, buried in a great burning bush of +hair and beard; his hands, gripping the arms of +his iron throne, had twisted them like wire; and +the weight of his feet where they rested had hollowed +a socket in the stone floor for them to sink +into.</p> + +<p>All his hair and his armour shone with a red-and-blue +flame; and the light of him struck the +vaulting and the floor like the rays of a torch as it +burns. Over his head a dark tunnel, bored in the +solid rock, reached up a hollow throat seawards. +But not by that way came the wind and the sound +of the sea; it was old Jarl himself, breathing peacefully +in his sleep, waiting for the hour which should +call his strength to life.</p> + +<p>Young Duke Jarl ran swiftly across the chamber, +and struck old Jarl's knees, crying, "Wake, Jarl! +or the castle will be taken!" But the sleeper +did not stir. Then he climbed the iron bars of the +Duke's chair, and reaching high, caught hold of +the red beard. "Forefather!" he cried, "wake, +or the castle will be betrayed!"</p> + +<p>But still old Duke Jarl snored a drowsy hurricane.</p> + +<p>Then little Jarl sprang upon his knee, and seizing +him by the head, pulled to move its dead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +weight, and finding he could not, struck him <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'ful'">full</ins> +on the mouth, crying, "Jarl, Jarl, old thunderbolt! +wake, or you will betray the castle!"</p> + +<p>At that old Jarl hitched himself in his seat, and +"Humph!" cried he, drawing in a deep breath.</p> + +<p>In rushed the wind whistling from the sea, and +all down the way by which little Duke Jarl had +come; like the wings of cranes flying homewards +in spring, so it whistled when old Jarl drew in his +breath.</p> + +<p>Off his knee dropped little Ninth Jarl, buffeted +speechless to earth. And old Jarl, letting go a +breath, settled himself back to slumber.</p> + +<p>Far up overhead, at the darkening-in of night, +the besiegers saw the eyes of the castle flash red +for an instant, and shut again; then they heard +the castle-rock bray out like a great trumpet, and +they trembled, crying, "That is old Jarl's warhorn; +he is awake out of slumber!"</p> + +<p>They had reason enough to fear; for suddenly +upon their ships-of-war there crashed, as though +out of the bowels of the earth, wind and a black +sandblast; and coming, it took the reefed sails and +rigging, and snapped the masts and broke every +vessel from its moorings, and drove all to wreck +and ruin against the great mole that had been +built to shelter them.</p> + +<p>And away inland, beyond the palisades and under +the entrenched camp of the besiegers, the ground +pitched and rocked, so that every tent fell grovelling; +and whenever the ground gaped, captains and +men-at-arms were swallowed down in detachments.</p> + +<p>Hardly had the call of old Jarl's warhorn ceased,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +before the Constable commanded the castle gates +to be thrown open, and out he came leading a +gaunt and hungry band of Jarl-folk warriors; for +over in the enemy's camp they had scent of a hot +supper which must be cooked and eaten before +dawn. And in a little while, when the cooking +was at its height, young Duke Jarl stuck his red +head out over the battlements, and laughed.</p> + +<p>So this has told how old Duke Jarl once turned +and talked in his sleep; but to tell of the real +awakening of old Jarl would be quite another story.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> +<h2>A CAPFUL OF MOONSHINE</h2> + + +<p>ON the top of Drundle Head, away to the +right, where the foot-track crossed, it was +known that the fairies still came and danced +by night. But though Toonie went that way +every evening on his road home from work, never +once had he been able to spy them.</p> + +<p>So one day he said to the old faggot-maker, "How +is it that one gets to see a fairy?" The old man +answered, "There are some to whom it comes by +nature; but for others three things are needed—a +handful of courage, a mouthful of silence, and a +capful of moonshine. But if you would be trying +it, take care that you don't go wrong once too +often; for with the third time you will fall into +the hands of the fairies and be their bondsman. But +if you manage to see the fairies, you may ask whatever +you like of them."</p> + +<p>Toonie believed in himself so much that the very +next night he took his courage in both hands, filled +his cap with moonshine, shut his mouth, and set out.</p> + +<p>Just after he had started he passed, as he thought, +a priest riding by on a mule. "Good evening to +you, Toonie," called the priest.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, your reverence," cried Toonie, +and flourished off his cap, so that out fell his capful +of moonshine. And though he went on all the +way up over the top of Drundle Head, never a +fairy did he spy; for he forgot that, in passing +what he supposed to be the priest, he had let go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +both his mouthful of silence and his capful of +moonshine.</p> + +<p>The next night, when he was coming to the ascent +of the hill, he saw a little elderly man wandering +uncertainly over the ground ahead of him; and he +too seemed to have his hands full of courage and +his cap full of moonshine. As Toonie drew near, +the other turned about and said to him, "Can you +tell me, neighbour, if this be the way to the fairies?"</p> + +<p>"Why, you fool," cried Toonie, "a moment ago +it was! But now you have gone and let go your +mouthful of silence!"</p> + +<p>"To be sure, to be sure—so I have!" answered +the old man sadly; and turning about, he disappeared +among the bushes.</p> + +<p>As for Toonie, he went on right over the top of +Drundle Head, keeping his eyes well to the right; +but never a fairy did he see. For he too had on the +way let go his mouthful of silence.</p> + +<p>Toonie, when his second failure came home to +him, was quite vexed with himself for his folly and +mismanagement. So that it should not happen +again, he got his wife to tie on his cap of moonshine +so firmly that it could not come off, and to gag up +his mouth so that no word could come out of it. +And once more taking his courage in both hands, he +set out.</p> + +<p>For a long way he went and nothing happened, +so he was in good hopes of getting the desire of his +eyes before the night was over; and, clenching his +fists tight upon his courage, he pressed on.</p> + +<p>He had nearly reached to the top of Drundle +Head, when up from the ground sprang the same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +little elderly man of the evening before, and began +beating him across the face with a hazel wand. And +at that Toonie threw up both hands and let go his +courage, and turned and tried to run down the hill.</p> + +<p>When her husband did not return, Toonie's wife +became a kind of a widow. People were very kind +to her, and told her that Toonie was not dead—that +he had only fallen into the hands of the good-folk; +but all day long she sat and cried, "I fastened +on his cap of moonshine, and I tied up his tongue; +and for all that he has gone away and left me!" +And so she cried until her child was born and named +little Toonie in memory of his lost father.</p> + +<p>After a while people, looking at him, began to +shake their heads; for as he grew older it became +apparent that his tongue was tied, seeing that he +remained quite dumb in spite of all that was done +to teach him; and his head was full of moonshine, +so that he could understand nothing clearly by day—only +as night came on his wits gathered, and he +seemed to find a meaning for things. And some +said it was his mother's fault, and some that it was +his father's, and some that he was a changeling sent +by the fairies, and that the real child had been taken +to share his father's bondage. But which of these +things was true Little Toonie himself had no idea.</p> + +<p>After a time Little Toonie began to grow big, as +is the way with children, and at last he became bigger +than ever old Toonie had been. But folk still called +him Little Toonie, because his head was so full of +moonshine; and his mother, finding he was no good +to her, sold him to the farmer, by whom, since he +had no wits for anything better, he was set to pull<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +at waggon and plough just as if he were a cart-horse; +and, indeed, he was almost as strong as one. +To make him work, carter and ploughman used to +crack their whips over his back; and Little Toonie +took it as the most natural thing in the world, +because his brain was full of moonshine, so that he +understood nothing clearly by day.</p> + +<p>But at night he would lie in his stable among +the horses, and wonder about the moonlight that +stretched wide over all the world and lay free on the +bare tops of the hills; and he thought—would it +not be good to be there all alone, with the moonbeams +laying their white hands down on his head? +And so it came that one night, finding the door of +his stable unlocked, he ran out into the open world +a free man.</p> + +<p>A soft wind breathed at large, and swung slowly +in the black-silver treetops. Over them Little +Toonie could see the quiet slopes of Drundle Head, +asleep in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>Before long, following the lead of his eyes, he had +come to the bottom of the ascent. There before +him went walking a little shrivelled elderly man, +looking to right and left as if uncertain of the +road.</p> + +<p>As Little Toonie drew near, the other one turned +and spoke. "Can you tell me," said he, "if this +be the way to the fairies?"</p> + +<p>Little Toonie had no tongue to give an answer; +so, looking at his questioner, he wagged his head and +went on.</p> + +<p>Quickening his pace, the old man came alongside +and began peering; then he smiled to himself,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +and after a bit spoke out. "So you have lost your +cap, neighbour? Then you will never be able to +find the fairies." For he did not know that Little +Toonie, who wore no cap on his head, carried his +capful of moonshine safe underneath his skull, where +it had been since the hour of his birth.</p> + +<p>The little elderly man slipped from his side, +disappearing suddenly among the bushes, and Toonie +went on alone. So presently he was more than half +way up the ascent, and could see along the foot-track +of the thicket the silver moonlight lying out +over the open ahead.</p> + +<p>He had nearly reached to the top of the hill, when +up from the ground sprang the little elderly man, +and began beating him across the face with a hazel +wand. Toonie thought surely this must be some +carter or ploughman beating him to make him go +faster; so he made haste to get on and be rid of +the blows.</p> + +<p>Then, all of a sudden, the little elderly man threw +away his hazel stick, and fell down, clutching at +Little Toonie's ankles, whining and praying him not +to go on.</p> + +<p>"Now that I have failed to keep you from coming," +he cried, "my masters will put me to death +for it! I am a dead man, I tell you, if you go +another step!"</p> + +<p>Toonie could not understand what the old fellow +meant, and he could not speak to him. But the +poor creature clung to his feet, holding them to +prevent him from taking another step; so Toonie +just stooped down, and (for he was so little and light) +picked him up by the scruff, and by the slack of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +breeches, so that his arms and legs trailed together +along the ground.</p> + +<p>In the open moonlight ahead little people were +all agog; bright dewdrops were shivering down like +rain, where flying feet alighted—shot from bent +grass-blades like arrows from a drawn bow. Tight, +panting little bodies, of which one could count the +ribs, and faces flushed with fiery green blood, +sprang everywhere. But at Toonie's coming one +cried up shriller than a bat; and at once rippling +burrows went this way and that in the long grass, +and stillness followed after.</p> + +<p>The poor, dangling old man, whom Toonie was +still carrying, wriggled and whined miserably, crying, +"Come back, masters, for it is no use—this +one sees you! He has got past me and all my +poor skill to stop him. Set me free, for you +see I am too old to keep the door for you any +longer!"</p> + +<p>Out buzzed the fairies, hot and angry as a swarm +of bees. They came and fastened upon the unhappy +old man, and began pulling him. "To the +ant-hills!" they cried; "off with him to the +ant-hills!" But when they found that Toonie +still held him, quickly they all let go.</p> + +<p>One fairy, standing out from the rest, pulled off +his cap and bowed low. "What is your will, +master mortal?" he inquired; "for until you +have taken your wish and gone, we are all slaves +at your bidding."</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 319px;"> +<img src="images/gs02.png" width="319" height="500" alt="Toonie carrying the man" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>They all cringed round him, the cruel little +people; but he answered nothing. The moonbeams +came thick, laying their slender white palms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +graciously upon Toonie's head; and he, looking up, +opened his mouth for a laugh that gave no sound.</p> + +<p>"Ah, so! That is why—he is a mute!" cried +the fairies.</p> + +<p>Quickly one dipped his cap along the grass and +brought it filled with dew. He sprang up, and +poured it upon Toonie's tongue; and as the fairy +dew touched it, "Now speak!" they all cried in +chorus, and fawned and cringed, waiting for him +to give them the word.</p> + +<p>Cudgelling his brain for what it all meant, he +said, "Tell me first what wish I may have."</p> + +<p>"Whatever you like to ask," said they, "for +you have become one of our free men. Tell us +your name?"</p> + +<p>"I am called Little Toonie," said he, "the son +of old Toonie that was lost."</p> + +<p>"Why, as I live and remember," cried the little +elderly man, "old Toonie was me!" Then he +threw himself grovelling at his son's feet, and began +crying: "Oh, be quick and take me away! Make +them give me up to you: ask to have me! I am +your poor, loving old father whom you never saw; +all these years have I been looking and longing for +you! Now take me away, for they are a proud, +cruel people, as spiteful as they are small; and my +back has been broken twenty years in their bondage."</p> + +<p>The fairies began to look blue, for they hate +nothing so much as to give up one whom they have +once held captive. "We can give you gold," said +they, "or precious stones, or the root of long living, +or the waters of happiness, or the sap of youth, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +the seed of plenty, or the blossom of beauty. +Choose any of these, and we can give it you."</p> + +<p>The old man again caught hold of his son's feet. +"Don't choose these," he whimpered, "choose +me!"</p> + +<p>So because he had a capful of moonshine in his +head, and because the moonbeams were laying +their white hands on his hair, he chose the weak, +shrivelled old man, who crouched and clung to +him, imploring not to be let go.</p> + +<p>The fairies, for spite and anger, bestowed every +one a parting pinch on their tumbledown old +bondsman; then they handed him to his son, and +swung back with careless light hearts to their revels.</p> + +<p>As father and son went down the hill together, +the old man whistled and piped like a bird. "Why, +why!" he said, "you are a lad of strength and +inches: with you to work and look after me, I +can keep on to a merry old age! Ay, ay, I have +had long to wait for it; but wisdom is justified +in her children."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE STORY OF THE HERONS</h2> + + +<p>A LONG time ago there lived a King and +a Queen who loved each other dearly. +They had both fallen in love at first sight; +and as their love began so it went on through all +their life. Yet this, which was the cause of all +their happiness, was the cause also of all their +misfortunes.</p> + +<p>In his youth, when he was a beautiful young +bachelor, the King had had the ill-luck to attract +the heart of a jealous and powerful Fairy; and +though he never gave her the least hope or encouragement, +when she heard that his love had been +won at first sight by a mere mortal, her rage and +resentment knew no bounds. She said nothing, +however, but bided her time.</p> + +<p>After they had been married a year the Queen +presented her husband with a little daughter; +before she was yet a day old she was the most +beautiful object in the world, and life seemed to +promise her nothing but fortune and happiness.</p> + +<p>The family Fairy came to the blessing of the +new-born; and she, looking at it as it lay beautifully +asleep in its cradle, and seeing that it had +already as much beauty and health as the heart +could desire, promised it love as the next best gift +it was within her power to offer. The Queen, who +knew how much happiness her own love had +brought her, was kissing the good Fairy with all +the warmth of gratitude, when a black kite came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +and perched upon the window-sill crying: "And +I will give her love at first sight! The first living +thing that she sets eyes on she shall love to distraction, +whether it be man or monster, prince or +pauper, bird, beast or reptile." And as the wicked +Fairy spoke she clapped her wings, and up through +the boards of the floor, and out from under the +bed, and in through the window, came a crowd +of all the ugliest shapes in the world. Thick and +fast they came, gathering about the cradle and +lifting their heads over the edge of it, waiting for +the poor little Princess to wake up and fall in love +at first sight with one of them.</p> + +<p>Luckily the child was asleep; and the good +Fairy, after driving away the black kite and the +crowd of beasts it had called to its aid, wrapped the +Princess up in a shawl and carried her away to a +dark room where no glimmer of light could get in.</p> + +<p>She said to the Queen: "Till I can devise a +better way, you must keep her in the dark; and +when you take her into the open air you must +blindfold her eyes. Some day, when she is of a +fit age, I will bring a handsome Prince for her; and +only to him shall you unblindfold her at last, and +make love safe for her."</p> + +<p>She went, leaving the King and Queen deeply +stricken with grief over the harm which had befallen +their daughter. They did not dare to present +even themselves before her eyes lest love for them, +fatal and consuming, should drive her to distraction. +In utter darkness the Queen would sit and +cherish her daughter, clasping her to her breast, +and calling her by all sweet names; but the little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +face, except by stealth when it was sound asleep, +she never dared to see, nor did the baby-Princess +know the face of the mother who loved her.</p> + +<p>By and by, however, the family Fairy came +again, saying: "Now, I have a plan by which your +child may enjoy the delights of seeing, and no ill +come of it." And she caused to be made a large +chamber, the whole of one side of which was a +mirror. High up in the opposite wall were windows +so screened that from below no one could +look out of them, but across on to the mirror came +all the sweet sights of the world, glimpses of wood +and field, and the sun and the moon and the stars, +and of every bird as it flew by. So the little Princess +was brought and set in a screened place looking +towards the mirror, and there her eyes learned +gradually all the beautiful things of the world. +Over the screen, in the glass before her, she learned +to know her mother's face, and to love it dearly in +a gentle child-like fashion; and when she could +talk she became very wise, understanding all that +was told her about the danger of looking at anything +alive, except by its reflection in the glass.</p> + +<p>When she went out into the open air for her +health, she always wore a bandage over her eyes, +lest she should look, and love something too well: +but in the chamber of the mirror her eyes were free +to see whatever they could. The good Fairy, +making herself invisible, came and taught her to +read and make music, and draw; so that before she +was fifteen she was the most charming and accomplished, +as well as the most beautiful Princess of +her day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>At last the Fairy said that the time was come for +her world of reflections to be made real, and she +went away to fetch the ideal Prince that the Princess +might at first sight fall in love with him.</p> + +<p>The very day after she was gone, as the morning +was fine, the Princess went out with one of her +maids for a wait through the woods. Over her +patient eyes she wore a bandage of green silk, +through which she felt the sunlight fall pleasantly.</p> + +<p>Out of doors the Princess knew most things by +their sounds. She passed under rustling leaves, +and along by the side of running water; and at +last she heard the silence of the water, and knew that +she was standing by the great fish-pond in the +middle of the wood. Then she said to her waiting-woman, +"Is there not some great bird fishing +out there, for I hear the dipping of his bill, and the +water falling off it as he draws out the fish?"</p> + +<p>And just as she was saying that, the wicked +Fairy, who had long bided her time, coming softly +up from behind, pushed the waiting-woman off the +bank into the deep water of the pond. Then she +snatched away the silk bandage, and before the +Princess had time to think or close her eyes, she had +lost her heart to a great heron that was standing +half-way up to his feathers fishing among the reeds.</p> + +<p>The Princess, with her eyes set free, laughed for +joy at the sight of him. She stretched out her arms +from the bank and cried most musically for the bird +to come to her; and he came in grave, stately +fashion, with trailing legs, and slow sobbing creak +of his wings, and settled down on the bank beside +her. She drew his slender neck against her white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +throat, and laughed and cried with her arms round +him, loving him so that she forgot all in the world +beside. And the heron looked gravely at her with +kind eyes, and, bird-like, gave her all the love he +could, but not more; and so, presently, casting his +grey wings abroad, lifted himself and sailed slowly +back to his fishing among the reeds.</p> + +<p>The waiting-woman had got herself out of the +water, and stood wringing her clothes and her hands +beside the Princess. "O, sweet mistress," she cried, +with lamentation, "now is all the evil come about +which it was our whole aim to avoid! And what, +and what will the Queen your mother say?"</p> + +<p>But the Princess answered, smiling, "Foolish +girl, I had no thought of what happiness meant till +now! See you where my love is gone? and did +you notice the bend of his neck, and the exceeding +length of his legs, and the stretch of his grey wings +as he flew? This pond is his hall of mirrors, wherein +he sees the reflection of all his world. Surely I, +from my hall of mirrors, am the true mate for him!"</p> + +<p>Her maid, seeing how far the evil had gone, and +that no worse could now happen, ran back to the +palace and curdled all the court's blood with her +news. The King and the Queen and all their +nobility rushed down, and there they found the +Princess with the heron once more in her arms, +kissing and fondling it with all the marks of a sweet +and maidenly passion. "Dear mother," she said, +as soon as she saw the Queen, "the happiness, which +you feared would be sorrow, has come; and it is such +happiness I have no name for it! And the evil +that you so dreaded, see how sweet it is! And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +how sweet it is to see all the world with my own +eyes and you also at last!" And for the first +time in her life she kissed her mother's face in the +full light of day.</p> + +<p>But her mother hung sobbing upon her neck, +"O, my darling, my beautiful," she wept, "does +your heart belong for ever to this grey bird?"</p> + +<p>Her daughter answered, "He is more than all +the world to me! Is he not goodly to look upon? +Have you considered the bend of his neck, the length +of his legs, and the waving of his wings; his skill also +when he fishes: what imagination, what presence +of mind!"</p> + +<p>"Alas, alas," sorrowed the Queen, "dear +daughter, is this all true to you?"</p> + +<p>"Mother," cried the Princess, clinging to her +with entreaty, "is all the world blind but me?"</p> + +<p>The heron had become quite fond of the Princess; +wherever she went it followed her, and, indeed, +without it nowhere would she go. Whenever it +was near her, the Princess laughed and sang, and +when it was out of her sight she became sad as night. +All the courtiers wept to see her in such bondage. +"Ah," said she, "your eyes have been worn out +with looking at things so long; mine have been kept +for me in a mirror."</p> + +<p>When the good family Fairy came (for she was +at once sent for by the Queen, and told of all that +had happened), she said, "Dear Madam, there are but +two things you can do: either you can wring the +heron's neck, and leave the Princess to die of grief; +or you can make the Princess happy in her own way, +by——" Her voice dropped, and she looked from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +the King to the Queen before she went on. "At +her birth I gave your daughter love for my gift; +now it is hers, will you let her keep it?"</p> + +<p>The King and the Queen looked softly at each +other. "Do not take love from her," said they, +"let her keep it!"</p> + +<p>"There is but one way," answered the Fairy.</p> + +<p>"Do not tell me the way," said the Queen weeping, +"only let the way be!"</p> + +<p>So they went with the Fairy down to the great +pond, and there sat the Princess, with the grey +heron against her heart. She smiled as she saw +them come. "I see good in your hearts towards +me!" she cried. "Dear godmother, give me the +thing that I want, that my love may be happy!"</p> + +<p>Then the Fairy stroked her but once with her +wand, and two grey herons suddenly rose up from the +bank, and sailed away to a hiding-place in the reeds.</p> + +<p>The Fairy said to the Queen, "You have made +your daughter happy; and still she will have her +voice and her human heart, and will remember you +with love and gratitude; but her greatest love will +be to the grey heron, and her home among the reeds."</p> + +<p>So the changed life of the Princess began; every +day her mother went down to the pool and called, +and the Princess came rising up out of the reeds, +and folded her grey wings over her mother's heart. +Every day her mother said, "Daughter of mine, +are you happy?"</p> + +<p>And the Princess answered her, "Yes, for I love +and am loved."</p> + +<p>Yet each time the mother heard more and more +of a note of sadness come into her daughter's voice;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +and at last one day she said, "Answer me truly, as +the mother who brought you into the world, whether +you be happy in your heart of hearts or no?"</p> + +<p>Then the heron-Princess laid her head on the +Queen's heart, and said, "Mother, my heart is +breaking with love!"</p> + +<p>"For whom, then?" asked the Queen astonished.</p> + +<p>"For my grey heron, whom I love, and who loves +me so much. And yet it is love that divides us, for +I am still troubled with a human heart, and often it +aches with sorrow because all the love in it can never +be fully understood or shared by my heron; and I +have my human voice left, and that gives me a hundred +things to say all day, for which there is no word +in heron's language, and so he cannot understand +them. Therefore these things only make a gulf +between him and me. For all the other grey herons +in the pools there is happiness, but not for me who +have too big a heart between my wings."</p> + +<p>Her mother said softly, "Wait, wait, little +heron-daughter, and it shall be well with you!" +Then she went to the Fairy and said, "My +daughter's heart is lonely among the reeds, for the +grey heron's love covers but half of it. Give her +some companions of her own kind that her hours may +become merry again!"</p> + +<p>So the Fairy took and turned five of the Princess's +ladies'-maids into herons, and sent them down to +the pool.</p> + +<p>The five herons stood each on one leg in the +shallows of the pool, and cried all day long; and their +tears fell down into the water and frightened away +the fish that came their way. For they had human<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +hearts that cried out to be let go. "O, cruel, cruel," +they wept, whenever the heron-Princess approached, +"see what we suffer because of you, and what they +have made of us for your sake!"</p> + +<p>The Princess came to her mother and said, "Dear +mother, take them away, for their cry wearies me, +and the pool is bitter with their tears! They only +awake the human part of my heart that wants to +sleep; presently, maybe, if it is let alone, it will +forget itself."</p> + +<p>Her mother said, "It is my coming every day also +that keeps it awake." The Princess answered, +"This sorrow belongs to my birthright; you must +still come; but for the others, let the Fairy take them +away."</p> + +<p>So the Fairy came and released the five ladies'-maids +whom she had changed into herons. And +they came up out of the water, stripping themselves +of their grey feather-skins and throwing them back +into the pool. The Fairy said, "You foolish maids, +you have thrown away a gift that you should have +valued; these skins you could have kept and held +as heirlooms in your family."</p> + +<p>The five maids answered, "We want to forget +that there are such things as herons in the world!"</p> + +<p>After much thought the Queen said to the Fairy, +"You have changed a Princess into a heron, and five +maids into herons and back again; cannot you +change one heron into a Prince?" But the Fairy +answered sadly, "Our power has limits; we can +bring down, but we cannot bring up, if there be +no heart to answer our call. The five maids only +followed their hearts, that were human, when I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +called them back; but a heron has only a heron's +heart, and unless his heart become too great for a +bird and he earn a human one, I cannot change him +to a higher form." "How can he earn a human +one?" asked the Queen. "Only if he love the Princess +so well that his love for her becomes stronger than +his life," answered the Fairy. "Then he will have +earned a human body, and then I can give him the +form that his heart suits best. There may be a +chance, if we wait for it and are patient, for the +Princess's love is great and may work miracles."</p> + +<p>A little while after this, the Queen watching, saw +that the two herons were making a nest among the +reeds. "What have you there?" said the mother +to her daughter. "A little hollow place," answered +the heron-Princess, "and in it the moon lies." A +little while after she said again, "What have you +there, now, little daughter?" And her daughter +answered, "Only a small hollow space; but in it two +moons lie."</p> + +<p>The Queen told the family Fairy how in a hollow +of the reeds lay two moons. "Now," said the Fairy, +"we will wait no longer. If your daughter's love has +touched the heron's heart and made it grow larger +than a bird's, I can help them both to happiness; +but if not, then birds they must still remain."</p> + +<p>Among the reeds the heron said in bird language +to his wife, "Go and stretch your wings for a little +while over the water; it is weary work to wait here +so long in the reeds." The heron-Princess looked +at him with her bird's eyes, and all the human love +in her heart strove, like a fountain that could not +get free, to make itself known through them; also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +her tongue was full of the longing to utter sweet +words, but she kept them back, knowing they were +beyond the heron's power to understand. So she +answered merely in heron's language, "Come with +me, and I will come!"</p> + +<p>They rose, wing beating beside wing; and the +reflection of their grey breasts slid out under them +over the face of the water.</p> + +<p>Higher they went and higher, passing over the +tree tops, and keeping time together as they flew. +All at once the wings of the grey heron flagged, then +took a deep beat; he cried to the heron-Princess, +"Turn, and come home, yonder there is danger +flying to meet us!" Before them hung a brown +blot in the air, that winged and grew large. The two +herons turned and flew back. "Rise," cried the +grey heron, "we must rise!" and the Princess knew +what was behind, and struggled with the whole +strength of her wings for escape.</p> + +<p>The grey heron was bearing ahead on stronger +wing. "With me, with me!" he cried. "If +it gets above us, one of us is dead!" But the +falcon had fixed his eye on the Princess for his +quarry, and flew she fast, or flew she slow, there +was little chance for her now. Up and up she +strained, but still she was behind her mate, and +still the falcon gained.</p> + +<p>The heron swung back to her side; she saw the +anguish and fear of his downward glance as his head +ranged by hers. Past her the falcon went, towering +for the final swoop.</p> + +<p>The Princess cried in heron's language, "Farewell, +dear mate, and farewell, two little moons<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +among the reeds!" But the grey heron only kept +closer to her side.</p> + +<p>Overhead the falcon closed in its wings and fell +like a dead weight out of the clouds. "Drop!" +cried the grey heron to his mate.</p> + +<p>At his word she dropped; but he stayed, stretching +up his wings, and, passing between the descending +falcon and its prey, caught in his own body +the death-blow from its beak. Drops of his blood +fell upon the heron-Princess.</p> + +<p>He stricken in body, she in soul, together they +fell down to the margin of the pool. The falcon +still clung fleshing its beak in the neck of its prey. +The heron-Princess threw back her head, and, +darting furiously, struck her own sharp bill deep +into the falcon's breast. The bird threw out its +wings with a hoarse cry and fell back dead, with +a little tuft of the grey heron's feathers still upon +its beak.</p> + +<p>The heron-Princess crouched down, and covered +with her wings the dying form of her mate; in her +sorrow she spoke to him in her own tongue, forgetting +her bird's language. The grey heron lifted +his head, and, gazing tenderly, answered her with +a human voice:</p> + +<p>"Dear wife," he said, "at last I have the happiness +so long denied to me of giving utterance in +the speech that is your own to the love that you +have put into my heart. Often I have heard you +speak and have not understood; now something +has touched my heart, and changed it, so that I +can both speak and understand."</p> + +<p>"O, beloved!" She laid her head down by his.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +"The ends of the world belong to us now. Lie +down, and die gently by my side, and I will die +with you, breaking my heart with happiness."</p> + +<p>"No," said the grey heron, "do not die yet! +Remember the two little moons that lie in the +hollow among the reeds." Then he laid his head +down by hers, being too weak to say more.</p> + +<p>They folded their wings over each other, and +closed their eyes; nor did they know that the +Fairy was standing by them, till she stroked them +both softly with her wand, saying to each of them +the same words:</p> + +<p>"Human heart, and human form, come out of +the grey heron!"</p> + +<p>And out of the grey heron-skins came two human +forms; the one was the Princess restored again to +her own shape, but the other was a beautiful +youth, with a bird-like look about the eyes, and +long slender limbs. The Princess, as she gazed on +him, found hardly any change, for love remained +the same, binding him close to her heart; and, +grey heron or beautiful youth, he was all one to +her now.</p> + +<p>Then came the Queen, weeping for joy, and +embracing them both, and after them, the Fairy. +"O, how good an ending," she cried, "has come +to that terrible dream! Let it never be remembered +or mentioned between us more!" And +she began to lead the way back to the palace.</p> + +<p>But the youth, to whom the Fairy gave the name +of Prince Heron, turned and took up the two +heron-skins which he and his wife had let fall, and +followed, carrying them upon his arm. And as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +they came past the bed of reeds, the Princess went +aside, and, stooping down in a certain place drew +out from thence something which she came carrying, +softly wrapped in the folds of her gown.</p> + +<p>With what rejoicing the Princess and her husband +were welcomed by the King and all the +Court needs not to be told. For a whole month +the festivities continued; and whenever she showed +herself, there was the Princess sitting with two +eggs in her lap, and her hands over them to keep +them warm. The King was impatient. "Why +cannot you send them down to the poultry yard +to be hatched?" he said.</p> + +<p>But the Princess replied smiling, "My moons +are my own, and I will keep them to myself."</p> + +<p>"Do you hear?" she said one day, at last; +and everybody who listened could hear something +going "tap, tap," inside the shells. Presently the +eggs cracked, and out of each, at the same moment, +came a little grey heron.</p> + +<p>When she saw that they were herons, the Queen +wrung her hands. "O Fairy," she cried, "what +a disappointment is this! I had hoped two +beautiful babies would have come out of those +shells."</p> + +<p>But the Fairy said, "It is no matter. Half of +their hearts are human already; birds' hearts do +not beat so. If you wish it, I can change them." +So she stroked them softly with her wand, saying +to each, "Human heart, and human form, come +out of the grey heron!"</p> + +<p>Yet she had to stroke them three times before +they would turn; and she said to the Princess,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +"My dear, you were too satisfied with your lot +when you laid <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'you'">your</ins> moon-children. I doubt if +more than a quarter of them is human."</p> + +<p>"I was very satisfied," said the Princess, and +she laughed across to her husband.</p> + +<p>At last, however, on the third stroke of the wand, +the heron's skins dropped off, and they changed +into a pair of very small babies, a boy and a girl. +But the difference between them and other children +was, that instead of hair, their heads were +covered with a fluff of downy grey feathers; also +they had queer, round, bird-like eyes, and were +able to sleep standing.</p> + +<p>Now, after this the happiness of the Princess was +great; but the Fairy said to her, "Do not let your +husband see the heron-skins again for some while, +lest with the memory a longing for his old life +should return to him and take him away from you. +Only by exchange with another can he ever get +back his human form again, if he surrenders it of +his own free will. And who is there so poor that +he would willingly give up his human form to +become a bird?"</p> + +<p>So the Princess took the four coats of feathers—her +own and her husband's and her two children's—and +hid them away in a closet of which she alone +kept the key. It was a little gold key, and to make +it safe she hung it about her neck, and wore it +night and day.</p> + +<p>The Prince said to her, "What is that little key +that you wear always hung round your neck?"</p> + +<p>She answered him, "It is the key to your happiness +and mine. Do not ask more than that!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +At that there was a look in his face that made her +say, "You <i>are</i> happy, are you not?"</p> + +<p>He kissed her, saying, "Happy, indeed! Have +I not you to make me so?" Yet though, indeed, +he told no untruth, and was happy whenever she +was with him, there were times when a restlessness +and a longing for wings took hold of him; for, as +yet, the life of a man was new and half strange to +him, and a taint of his old life still mixed itself +with his blood. But to her he was ashamed to say +what might seem a complaint against his great +fortune; so when she said "happiness," he thought, +"Is it just the turning of that key that I want +before my happiness can be perfect?"</p> + +<p>Therefore, one night when the early season of +spring made his longing strong in him, he took the +key from the Princess while she slept, and opened +the little closet in which hung the four feather +coats. And when he saw his own, all at once he +remembered the great pools of water, and how they +lay in the shine and shadow of the moonlight, while +the fish rose in rings upon their surface. And at +that so great a longing came into him to revisit +his old haunts that he reached out his hand and +took down the heron-skin from its nail and put it +over himself; so that immediately his old life took +hold of him, and he flew out of the window in the +form of a grey heron.</p> + +<p>In the morning the Princess found the key gone +from her neck, and her husband's place empty. +She went in haste to the closet, and there stood +the door wide with the key in it, and only three +heron-skins hanging where four had used to be.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then she came crying to the family Fairy, "My +husband has taken his heron-skin and is gone! +Tell me what I can do!"</p> + +<p>The Fairy pitied her with all her heart, but +could do nothing. "Only by exchange," said she, +"can he get back his human shape; and who is +there so poor that he would willingly lose his own +form to become a bird? Only your children, who +are but half human, can put their heron-skins on +and off as they like and when they like."</p> + +<p>In deep grief the Princess went to look for her +husband down by the pools in the wood. But now +his shame and sorrow at having deceived her were +so great that as soon as he heard her voice he hid +himself among the reeds, for he knew now that, +having put on his heron-skin again, he could not +take it off unless some one gave him a human form +in exchange.</p> + +<p>At last, however, so pitiful was the cry of the +Princess for him, that he could bear to hear it no +more; but rising up from the reeds came trailing +to her sadly over the water. "Ah, dear love!" +she said when he was come to her, "if I had not +distrusted you, you would not have deceived me: +thus, for my fault we are punished." So she sorrowed, +and he answered her:</p> + +<p>"Nay, dear love, for if I had not deceived you, +you would not have distrusted me. I thought I +was not happy, yet I feared to tell it you." Thus +they sorrowed together, both laying on themselves +the blame and the burden.</p> + +<p>Then she said to him: "Be here for me to-night, +for now I must go; but then I shall return."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> + +<p>She went back to the palace, and told her mother +of all that had happened. "And now," she said, +"you who know where my happiness lies will not +forbid me from following it; for my heart is again +with the grey heron." And the Queen wept, but +would not say her no.</p> + +<p>So that night the Princess went and kissed her +children as they slept standing up in their beds, +with their funny feather-pates to one side; and +then she took down her skin of feathers and put it +on, and became changed once more into a grey +heron. And again she went up to the two in their +cots, and kissed their birdish heads saying: "They +who can change at will, being but half human, +they will come and visit us in the great pool by +the wood, and bring back word of us here."</p> + +<p>In the morning the Princess was gone, and the +two children when they woke looked at each other +and said: "Did we dream last night?"</p> + +<p>They both answered each other, "Yes, first we +dreamed that our mother came and kissed us; and +we liked that. And then we dreamed that a grey +heron came and kissed us, and we liked that better +still!" They waved their arms up and down. +"Why have we not wings?" they kept asking. +All day long they did this, playing that they were +birds. If a window were opened, it was with the +greatest difficulty that they were kept from trying +to fly through.</p> + +<p>In the Court they were known as the "Feather-pates"; +nothing could they be taught at all. +When they were rebuked they would stand on one +leg and sigh with their heads on one side; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +no one ever saw tears come out of their birdish +eyes.</p> + +<p>Now at night they would dream that two grey +herons came and stood by their bedsides, kissing +them; "And where in the world," they said when +they woke, "<i>are</i> our wings?"</p> + +<p>One day, wandering about in the palace, they +came upon the closet in which hung the two little +feather coats. "O!!!" they cried, and opened +hard bright eyes at each other, nodding, for now +they knew what they would do. "If we told, they +would be taken from us," they said; and they waited +till it was night. Then they crept back and took +the two little coats from their pegs, and, putting +them on, were turned into two young herons.</p> + +<p>Through the window they flew, away down to +the great fish-pond in the wood. Their father and +mother saw them coming, and clapped their wings +for joy. "See," they said, "our children come to +visit us, and our hearts are left to us to love with. +What further happiness can we want?" But when +they were not looking at each other they sighed.</p> + +<p>All night long the two young herons stayed with +their parents; they bathed, and fished, and flew, +till they were weary. Then the Princess showed +them the nest among the reeds, and told them all +the story of their lives.</p> + +<p>"But it is much nicer to be herons than to be +real people," said the young ones, sadly, and became +very sorrowful when dawn drew on, and their mother +told them to go back to the palace and hang up the +feather coats again, and be as they had been the day +before.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> + +<p>Long, long the day now seemed to them; they +hardly waited till it was night before they took down +their feather-skins, and, putting them on, flew out +and away to the fish-pond in the wood.</p> + +<p>So every night they went, when all in the palace +were asleep; and in the morning came back before +anyone was astir, and were found by their nurses +lying demurely between the sheets, just as they had +been left the night before.</p> + +<p>One day the Queen when she went to see her +daughter said to her, "My child, your two children +are growing less like human beings and more like +birds every day. Nothing will they learn or do, +but stand all day flapping their arms up and down, +and saying, 'Where are our wings, where are our +wings?' The idea of one of them ever coming to +the throne makes your father's hair stand on end +under his crown."</p> + +<p>"Oh, mother," said the heron-Princess, "I have +made a sad bed for you and my father to lie on!"</p> + +<p>One day the two children said to each other, +"Our father and mother are sad, because they want +to be real persons again, instead of having wings and +catching fish the way we like to do. Let us give up +being real persons, which is all so much trouble, and +such a want of exercise, and make them exchange +with us!" But when the two young herons went +down to the pond and proposed it to them, +their parents said, "You are young; you do not +know what you would be giving up." Nor would +they consent to it at all.</p> + +<p>Now one morning it happened that the Feather-pates +were so late in returning to the palace that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +Queen, coming into their chamber, found the two +beds empty; and just as she had turned away to +search for them elsewhere, she heard a noise of wings +and saw the two young herons come flying in through +the window. Then she saw them take off their +feather-skins and hang them up in the closet, and after +that go and lie down in their beds so as to look as if +they had been there all night.</p> + +<p>The Queen struck her hands together with horror +at the sight, but she crept away softly, so that they +did not know they had been found out. But as +soon as they were out of their beds and at play in +another part of the palace, the Queen went to the +closet, and setting fire to the two heron-skins where +they hung, burnt them till not a feather of them was +left, and only a heap of grey ashes remained to tell +what had become of them.</p> + +<p>At night, when the Feather-pates went to the +closet and found their skins gone, and saw what +had become of them, their grief knew no bounds. +They trembled with fear and rage, and tears rained +out of their eyes as they beheld themselves deprived +of their bird bodies and made into real persons for +good and all.</p> + +<p>"We won't be real persons!" they cried. But +for all their crying they knew no way out of it. +They made themselves quite ill with grief; and +that night, for the first time since they had found +their way to the closet, they stayed where their +nurses had put them, and did not even stand up in +their beds to go to sleep. There they lay with gasping +mouth, and big bird-like eyes all languid with +grief, and hollow grey cheeks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> + +<p>Presently their father and mother came seeking +for them, wondering why they had not come down +to the fish-pond as they were wont. "Where are +you, my children?" cried the heron-Princess, +putting her head in through the window.</p> + +<p>"Here we are, both at death's door!" they cried. +"Come and see us die! Our wicked grandam has +burnt our feather-skins and made us into real persons +for ever and ever, Amen. But we will die rather!"</p> + +<p>The parent herons, when they heard that, flew +in through the window and bent down over the +little ones' beds.</p> + +<p>The two children reached up their arms. "Give +us your feathers!" they cried. "We shall die if you +don't! We <i>will</i> die if you don't! O, do!" But +still the parent birds hesitated, nor knew what to do.</p> + +<p>"Bend down, and let me whisper something!" +said the boy to his father: and "Bend down, and +whisper!" cried the girl to her mother. And +father and mother bent down over the faces of their +sick children. Then these, both together, caught +hold of them, and crying, "Human heart, and +human form, exchange with the grey heron!" +pulled off their parents' feather-skins, and put them +upon themselves.</p> + +<p>And there once more stood Prince Heron and the +Princess in human shape, while the two children +had turned into herons in their place.</p> + +<p>The young herons laughed and shouted and +clapped their wings for joy. "Are you not happy +now?" cried they. And when their parents saw +the joy, not only in their children's eyes, but in each +other's, and felt their hearts growing glad in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +bodies they had regained, then they owned that the +Feather-pates had been wise in their generation, +and done well according to their lights.</p> + +<p>So it came about that the Prince and the Princess +lived happily ever after, and the two young herons +lived happily also, and were the best-hearted birds +the world ever saw.</p> + +<p>In course of time the Prince and Princess had +other children, who pleased the old King better +than the first had done. But the parents loved none +better than the two who lived as herons by the great +fish-pond in the wood; nor could there be greater +love than was found between these and their younger +brothers and sisters, whose nature it was to be real +persons.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE CROWN'S WARRANTY</h2> + + +<p>FIVE hundred years ago or more, a king died, +leaving two sons: one was the child of his first +wife, and the other of his second, who surviving +him became his widow. When the king was dying +he took off the royal crown which he wore, and set +it upon the head of the elder born, the son of his +first wife, and said to him: "God is the lord of the +air, and of the water, and of the dry land: this gift +cometh to thee from God. Be merciful, over whatsoever +thou holdest power, as God is!" And +saying these words he laid his hands upon the heads +of his two sons and died.</p> + +<p>Now this crown was no ordinary crown, for it +was made of the gold brought by the Wise Men of the +East when they came to worship at Bethlehem. +Every king that had worn it since then had reigned +well and uprightly, and had been loved by all his +people; but only to himself was it known what +virtue lay in his crown; and every king at dying +gave it to his son with the same words of blessing.</p> + +<p>So, now, the king's eldest son wore the crown; +and his step-mother knew that her own son could not +wear it while he lived, therefore she looked on and +said nothing. Now he was known to all the people +of his country, because of his right to the throne, +as the king's son; and his brother, the child of the +second wife, was called the queen's son. But as +yet they were both young, and cared little enough +for crowns.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + +<p>After the king's death the queen was made regent +till the king's son should be come to a full age; but +already the little king wore the royal crown his +father had left him, and the queen looked on and +said nothing.</p> + +<p>More than three years went by, and everybody +said how good the queen was to the little king who +was not her own son; and the king's son, for his +part, was good to her and to his step-brother, loving +them both; and all by himself he kept thinking, +having his thoughts guarded and circled by his +golden crown, "How shall I learn to be a wise king, +and to be merciful when I have power, as God is?"</p> + +<p>So to everything that came his way, to his playthings +and his pets, to his ministers and his servants, +he played the king as though already his word made +life and death. People watching him said, "Everything +that has touch with the king's son loves him." +They told strange tales of him: only in fairy books +could they be believed, because they were so beautiful; +and all the time the queen, getting a good name +for herself, looked on and said nothing.</p> + +<p>One night the king's son was lying half-asleep upon +his bed, with wise dreams coming and going under +the circle of his gold crown, when a mouse ran out +of the wainscot and came and jumped up upon the +couch. The poor mouse had turned quite white +with fear and horror, and was trembling in every +limb as it cried its news into the king's ear. "O +king's son," it said, "get up and run for your life! +I was behind the wainscot in the queen's closet, and +this is what I heard: if you stay here, when you wake +up to-morrow you will be dead!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + +<p>The king's son got up, and all alone in the dark +night stole out of the palace, seeking safety for his +dear life. He sighed to himself, "There was a pain +in my crown ever since I wore it. Alas, mother, I +thought you were too kind a step-mother to do +this!"</p> + +<p>Outside it was still winter: there was no warmth +in the world, and not a leaf upon the trees. He +wandered away and away, wondering where he should +hide.</p> + +<p>The queen, when her villains came and told her +the king's son was not to be found, went and looked +in her magic crystal to find trace of him. As soon +as it grew light, for in the darkness the crystal could +show her nothing, she saw many miles away the +king's son running to hide himself in the forest. So +she sent out her villains to search until they should +find him.</p> + +<p>As they went the sun grew hot in the sky, and birds +began singing. "It is spring!" cried the messengers. +"How suddenly it has come!" They rode on till +they came to the forest.</p> + +<p>The king's son, stumbling along through the +forest under the bare boughs, thought, "Even +here where shall I hide? Nowhere is there a leaf +to cover me." But when the sun grew warm he +looked up; and there were all the trees breaking +into bud and leaf, making a green heaven above +his head. So when he was too weary to go farther, +he climbed into the largest tree he could find; and +the leaves covered him.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 320px;"> +<img src="images/gs03.png" width="320" height="500" alt="The queen" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The queen's messengers searched through all the +forest but could not find him; so they went back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +to her empty handed, not having either the king's +crown or his heart to show. "Fools!" she cried, +looking in her magic crystal, "he was in the big +sycamore under which you stopped to give your +horses provender!"</p> + +<p>The sycamore said to the king's son, "The +queen's eye is on you; get down and run for your +life till you get to the hollow tarn-stones among +the hills! But if you stay here, when you wake +to-morrow you will be dead."</p> + +<p>When the queen's messengers came once more +to the forest they found it all wintry again, and +without leaf; only the sycamore was in full green, +clapping its hands for joy in the keen and bitter air.</p> + +<p>The messengers searched, and beat down the +leaves, but the king's son was not there. They went +back to the queen. She looked long in her magic +crystal, but little could she see; for the king's +son had hidden himself in a small cave beside the +tarn-stones, and into the darkness the crystal could +not pry.</p> + +<p>Presently she saw a flight of birds crossing the +blue, and every bird carried a few crumbs of bread +in its beak. Then she ran and called to her villains, +"Follow the birds, and they will take you to where +the little wizard is; for they are carrying bread to +feed him, and they are all heading for the tarn-stones +up on the hills."</p> + +<p>The birds said to the king's son, "Now you are +rested; we have fed you, and you are not hungry. +The queen's eye is on you. Up, and run for your +life! If you stay here, when you wake up to-morrow +you will be dead."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where shall I go?" said the king's son. +"Go," answered the birds, "and hide in the rushes +on the island of the pool of sweet waters!"</p> + +<p>When the queen's messengers came to the tarn-stones, +it was as though five thousand people had +been feeding: they found crumbs enough to fill +twelve baskets full, lying in the cave; but no king's +son could they lay their hands on.</p> + +<p>The king's son was lying hidden among the +rushes on the island of the great pool of sweet +waters; and thick and fast came silver-scaled fishes, +feeding him.</p> + +<p>It took the queen three days of hard gazing in +her crystal, before she found how the fishes all +swam to a point among the rushes of the island in +the pool of sweet waters, and away again. Then +she knew: and running to her messengers she +cried: "He is among the rushes on the island in +the pool of sweet waters; and all the fishes are +feeding him!"</p> + +<p>The fishes said to the king's son: "The queen's +eye is on you; up, and swim to shore, and away +for your life! For if they come and find you here, +when you wake to-morrow you will certainly be +dead."</p> + +<p>"Where shall I go?" asked the king's son. +"Wherever I go, she finds me." "Go to the old +fox who gets his poultry from the palace, and ask +him to hide you in his burrow!"</p> + +<p>When the queen's messengers came to the pool +they found the fishes playing at <i>alibis</i> all about in +the water; but nothing of the king's son could +they see.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<p>The king's son came to the fox, and the fox hid +him in his burrow, and brought him butter and +eggs from the royal dairy. This was better fare +than the king's son had had since the beginning +of his wanderings, and he thanked the fox warmly +for his friendship. "On the contrary," said the +fox, "I am under an obligation to you; for ever +since you came to be my guest I have felt like an +honest man." "If I live to be king," said the +king's son, "you shall always have butter and eggs +from the royal dairy, and be as honest as you like."</p> + +<p>The queen hugged her magic crystal for a whole +week, but could make nothing out of it: for her +crystal showed her nothing of the king's son's +hiding-place, nor of the fox at his nightly thefts of +butter and eggs from the royal dairy. But it so +happened that this same fox was a sort of half-brother +of the queen's; and so guilty did he feel +with his brand-new good conscience that he quite +left off going to see her. So in a little while the +queen, with her suspicions and her magic crystal, +had nosed out the young king's hiding-place.</p> + +<p>The fox said to the king's son: "The queen's eye +is on you! Get out and run for your life, for if +you stay here till to-morrow, you will wake up and +find yourself a dead goose!"</p> + +<p>"But where else can I go to?" asked the king's +son. "Is there any place left for me?" The fox +laughed, and winked, and whispered a word; and +all at once the king's son got up and went.</p> + +<p>The queen had said to her messengers, "Go and +look in the fox's hole; and you shall find him!" +But the messengers came and dug up the burrow,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +and found butter and eggs from the royal dairy, +but of the king's son never a sign.</p> + +<p>The king's son came to the palace, and as he +crept through the gardens he found there his little +brother alone at play,—playing sadly because now +he was all alone. Then the king's son stopped and +said, "Little brother, do you so much wish to be +king?" And taking off the crown, he put it upon +his brother's head. Then he went on through +underground ways and corridors, till he came to +the palace dungeons.</p> + +<p>Now a dungeon is a hard thing to get out of, +but it is easy enough to get into. He came to the +deepest and darkest dungeon of all, and there he +opened the door, and went in and hid himself.</p> + +<p>The queen's son came running to his mother, +wearing the king's crown. "Oh, mother," he said, +"I am frightened! while I was playing, my brother +came looking all dead and white, and put this crown +on my head. Take it off for me, it hurts!"</p> + +<p>When the queen saw the crown on her son's +head, she was horribly afraid; for that it should +have so come there was the most unlikely thing of +all. She fetched her crystal ball, and looked in, +asking where the king's son might be, and, for +answer, the crystal became black as night.</p> + +<p>Then said the queen to herself, "He is dead at +last!"</p> + +<p>But, now that the king's crown was on the +wrong head, the air, and the water, and the dry +land, over which God is lord, heard of it. And the +trees said, "Until the king's son returns, we will +not put forth bud or leaf!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> + +<p>And the birds said, "We will not sing in the +land, or breed or build nests until the king's son +returns!"</p> + +<p>And the fishes said, "We will not stay in the +ponds or rivers to get caught, unless the king's +son, to whom we belong, returns!"</p> + +<p>And the foxes said, "Unless the king's son returns, +we will increase and multiply exceedingly +and be like locusts in the land!"</p> + +<p>So all through that land the trees, though it +was spring, stayed as if it were mid-winter; and +all the fishes swam down to the sea; and all the +birds flew over the sea, away into other countries; +and all the foxes increased and multiplied, and +became like locusts in the land.</p> + +<p>Now when the trees, and the birds, and the +beasts, and the fishes led the way the good folk of +the country discovered that the queen was a +criminal. So, after the way of the flesh, they took +the queen and her little son, and bound them, and +threw them into the deepest and darkest dungeon +they could find; and said they: "Until you tell +us where the king's son is, there you stay and +starve!"</p> + +<p>The king's son was playing all alone in his dungeon +with the mice who brought him food from +the palace larder, when the queen and her son +were thrown down to him fast bound, as though +he were as dangerous as a den of lions. At first he +was terribly afraid when he found himself pursued +into his last hiding-place; but presently he gathered +from the queen's remarks that she was quite powerless +to do him harm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, what a wicked woman I am!" she moaned; +and began crying lamentably, as if she hoped to +melt the stone walls which formed her prison.</p> + +<p>Presently her little son cried, "Mother, take off +my brother's crown; it pricks me!" And the +king's son sat in his corner, and cried to himself +with grief over the harm that his step-mother's +wickedness had brought about.</p> + +<p>"Mother," cried the queen's son again, "night +and day since I have worn it, it pricks me; I +cannot sleep!"</p> + +<p>But the queen's heart was still hard; not if she +could help, would she yet take off from her son +the crown.</p> + +<p>Hours went by, and the queen and her son grew +hungry. "We shall be starved to death!" she +cried. "Now I see what a wicked woman I +am!"</p> + +<p>"Mother," cried the queen's son, "someone is +putting food into my mouth!" "No one," said +the queen, "is putting any into mine. Now I +know what a wicked woman I am!"</p> + +<p>Presently the king's son came to the queen also, +and began feeding her. "Someone is putting food +into <i>my</i> mouth, now!" cried the queen. "If it +is poisoned I shall die in agony! I wish," she said, +"I wish I knew your brother were not dead; if I +have killed him what a wicked woman I am!"</p> + +<p>"Dear step-mother," said the king's son, "I am +not dead, I am here."</p> + +<p>"Here?" cried the queen, shaking with fright. +"Here? not dead! How long have you been +here?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Days, and days, and days," said the king's son, +sadly.</p> + +<p>"Ah! if I had only known <i>that!</i>" cried the +queen. "<i>Now</i> I know what a wicked woman I +am!"</p> + +<p>Just then, the trap-door in the roof of the dungeon +opened, and a voice called down, "Tell us +where is the king's son! If you do not tell us, you +shall stay here and starve."</p> + +<p>"The king's son is here!" cried the queen.</p> + +<p>"A likely story!" answered the gaolers. "Do +you think we are going to believe that?" And +they shut-to the trap.</p> + +<p>The queen's son cried, "Dear brother, come and +take back your crown, it pricks so!" But the +king's son only undid the queen's bonds and his +brother's. "Now," said he, "you are free: you +can kill me now."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried the queen, "what a wicked +woman I must be! Do you think I could do it +now?" Then she cried, "O little son, bring your +poor head to me, and I will take off the crown!" +and she took off the crown and gave it back to the +king's son. "When I am dead," she said, "remember, +and be kind to him!"</p> + +<p>The king's son put the crown upon his own head.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, outside the palace, all the land broke +into leaf; there was a rushing sound in the river +of fishes swimming up from the sea, and all the air +was loud and dark with flights of returning birds. +Almost at the same moment the foxes began to +disappear and diminish, and cease to be like locusts +in the land.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> + +<p>People came running to open the door of the +deepest and darkest dungeon in the palace: "For +either," they cried, "the queen is dead, or the +king's son has been found!"</p> + +<p>"Where is the king's son, then?" they called +out, as they threw wide the door. "He is here!" +cried the king; and out he came, to the astonishment +of all, wearing his crown, and leading his +step-mother and half-brother by the hand.</p> + +<p>He looked at his step-mother, and she was quite +white; as white as the mouse that had jumped +upon the king's bed at midnight bidding him fly +for his life. Not only her face, but her hair, her +lips, and her very eyes were white and colourless, +for she had gone blind from gazing too hard into +her crystal ball, and hunting the king's son to death.</p> + +<p>So she remained blind to the end of her days; +but the king was more good to her than gold, and +as for his brother, never did half-brothers love each +other better than these. Therefore they all lived +very happily together, and after a long time, the +queen learned to forget what a wicked woman she +had been.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> +<h2>ROCKING-HORSE LAND</h2> + + +<p>LITTLE Prince Freedling woke up with a +jump, and sprang out of bed into the sunshine. +He was five years old that morning, +by all the clocks and calendars in the kingdom; and +the day was going to be beautiful. Every golden +minute was precious. He was dressed and out of +his room before the attendants knew that he was +awake.</p> + +<p>In the ante-chamber stood piles on piles of glittering +presents; when he walked among them they +came up to the measure of his waist. His fairy +godmother had sent him a toy with the most +humorous effect. It was labelled, "Break me and +I shall turn into something else." So every time +he broke it he got a new toy more beautiful than +the last. It began by being a hoop, and from that +it ran on, while the Prince broke it incessantly for +the space of one hour, during which it became by +turn—a top, a Noah's ark, a skipping-rope, a man-of-war, +a box of bricks, a picture puzzle, a pair of +stilts, a drum, a trumpet, a kaleidoscope, a steam-engine, +and nine hundred and fifty other things +exactly. Then he began to grow discontented, +because it would never turn into the same thing +again; and after having broken the man-of-war he +wanted to get it back again. Also he wanted to see +if the steam-engine would go inside the Noah's +ark; but the toy would never be two <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'thing sat'">things at</ins> the +same time either. This was very unsatisfactory.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +He thought his fairy godmother ought to have +sent him two toys, out of which he could make +combinations.</p> + +<p>At last he broke it once more, and it turned +into a kite; and while he was flying the kite he +broke the string, and the kite went sailing away +up into nasty blue sky, and was never heard of +again.</p> + +<p>Then Prince Freedling sat down and howled at +his fairy-godmother; what a dissembling lot fairy-godmothers +were, to be sure! They were always +setting traps to make their god-children unhappy. +Nevertheless, when told to, he took up his pen and +wrote her a nice little note, full of bad spelling and +tarradiddles, to say what a happy birthday he was +spending in breaking up the beautiful toy she had +sent him.</p> + +<p>Then he went to look at the rest of the presents, +and found it quite refreshing to break a few that +did not send him giddy by turning into anything +else.</p> + +<p>Suddenly his eyes became fixed with delight; +alone, right at the end of the room, stood a great +black rocking-horse. The saddle and bridle were +hung with tiny gold bells and balls of coral; and +the horse's tail and mane flowed till they almost +touched the ground.</p> + +<p>The Prince scampered across the room, and threw +his arms around the beautiful creature's neck. All +its bells jangled as the head swayed gracefully +down; and the prince kissed it between the eyes. +Great eyes they were, the colour of fire, so +wonderfully bright, it seemed they must be really<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +alive, only they did not move, but gazed continually +with a set stare at the tapestry-hung wall, +on which were figures of armed knights riding to +battle.</p> + +<p>So Prince Freedling mounted to the back of +his rocking-horse; and all day long he rode and +shouted to the figures of the armed knights, +challenging them to fight, or leading them against +the enemy.</p> + +<p>At length, when it came to be bedtime, weary +of so much glory, he was lifted down from the +saddle and carried away to bed.</p> + +<p>In his sleep Freedling still felt his black rocking-horse +swinging to and fro under him, and heard +the melodious chime of its bells, and, in the +land of dreams, saw a great country open before +him, full of the sound of the battle-cry and the +hunting-horn calling him to strange perils and +triumphs.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the night he grew softly awake, +and his heart was full of love for his black rocking-horse. +He crept gently out of bed: he would go +and look at it where it was standing so grand and +still in the next room, to make sure that it was all +safe and not afraid of being by itself in the dark +night. Parting the door-hangings he passed through +into the wide hollow chamber beyond, all littered +about with toys.</p> + +<p>The moon was shining in through the window, +making a square cistern of light upon the floor. +And then, all at once, he saw that the rocking-horse +had moved from the place where he had left +it! It had crossed the room, and was standing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +close to the window, with its head toward the +night, as though watching the movement of the +clouds and the trees swaying in the wind.</p> + +<p>The Prince could not understand how it had +been moved so; he was a little bit afraid, and +stealing timidly across, he took hold of the bridle +to comfort himself with the jangle of its bells. +As he came close, and looked up into the dark +solemn face he saw that the eyes were full of +tears, and reaching up felt one fall warm against +his hand.</p> + +<p>"Why do you weep, my Beautiful?" said the +Prince.</p> + +<p>The rocking-horse answered, "I weep because I +am a prisoner, and not free. Open the window, +Master, and let me go!"</p> + +<p>"But if I let you go I shall lose you," said +the Prince. "Cannot you be happy here with +me?"</p> + +<p>"Let me go," said the horse, "for my brothers +call me out of Rocking-Horse Land; I hear my +mare whinnying to her foals; and they all cry, +seeking me through the ups and hollows of my +native fastnesses! Sweet Master, let me go this +night, and I will return to you when it is +day!"</p> + +<p>Then Freedling said, "How shall I know that +you will return: and what name shall I call you +by?"</p> + +<p>And the rocking-horse answered, "My name is +Rollonde. Search my mane till you find in it a +white hair; draw it out and wind it upon one of +your fingers; and so long as you have it so wound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +you are my master; and wherever I am I must +return at your bidding."</p> + +<p>So the Prince drew down the rocking-horse's +head, and searching the mane, he found the white +hair, and wound it upon his finger and tied it. +Then he kissed Rollonde between the eyes, saying, +"Go, Rollonde, since I love you, and wish you to +be happy; only return to me when it is day!" +And so saying, he threw open the window to the +stir of the night.</p> + +<p>Then the rocking-horse lifted his dark head +and neighed aloud for joy, and swaying forward +with a mighty circling motion rose full into the +air, and sprang out into the free world before +him.</p> + +<p>Freedling watched how with plunge and curve +he went over the bowed trees; and again he neighed +into the darkness of the night, then swifter than +wind disappeared in the distance. And faintly +from far away came a sound of the neighing of many +horses answering him.</p> + +<p>Then the Prince closed the window and crept +back to bed; and all night long he dreamed strange +dreams of Rocking-Horse Land. There he saw +smooth hills and valleys that rose and sank without +a stone or a tree to disturb the steel-like polish of +their surface, slippery as glass, and driven over by +a strong wind; and over them, with a sound like +the humming of bees, flew the rocking-horses. +Up and down, up and down, with bright manes +streaming like coloured fires, and feet motionless +behind and before, went the swift pendulum of +their flight. Their long bodies bowed and rose;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +their heads worked to give impetus to their +going; they cried, neighing to each other over +hill and valley, "Which of us shall be first? +which of us shall be first?" After them the +mares with their tall foals came spinning to watch, +crying also among themselves, "Ah! which shall +be first?"</p> + +<p>"Rollonde, Rollonde is first!" shouted the +Prince, clapping his hands as they reached the goal; +and at that, all at once, he woke and saw it was +broad day. Then he ran and threw open the +window, and holding out the finger that carried +the white hair, cried, "Rollonde, Rollonde, come +back, Rollonde!"</p> + +<p>Far away he heard an answering sound; and in +another moment there came the great rocking-horse +himself, dipping and dancing over the hills. +He crossed the woods and cleared the palace-wall at +a bound, and floating in through the window, +dropped to rest at Prince Freedling's side, rocking +gently to and fro as though panting from the strain +of his long flight.</p> + +<p>"Now are you happy?" asked the Prince as he +caressed him.</p> + +<p>"Ah! sweet Prince," said Rollonde, "ah, kind +Master!" And then he said no more, but became +the still stock staring rocking-horse of the day before, +with fixed eyes and rigid limbs, which could do nothing +but rock up and down with a jangling of sweet +bells so long as the Prince rode him.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 312px;"> +<img src="images/gs04.png" width="312" height="500" alt="That night" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>That night Freedling came again when all was +still in the palace; and now as before Rollonde had +moved from his place and was standing with his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +head against the window waiting to be let out. +"Ah, dear Master," he said, so soon as he saw the +Prince coming, "let me go this night also, and +surely I will return with day."</p> + +<p>So again the Prince opened the window, and +watched him disappear, and heard from far away the +neighing of the horses in Rocking-Horse Land +calling to him. And in the morning with the +white hair round his finger he called "Rollonde, +Rollonde!" and Rollonde neighed and came back +to him, dipping and dancing over the hills.</p> + +<p>Now this same thing happened every night; +and every morning the horse kissed Freedling, +saying, "Ah! dear Prince and kind Master," and +became stock still once more.</p> + +<p>So a year went by, till one morning Freedling +woke up to find it was his sixth birthday. And as +six is to five, so were the presents he received on his +sixth birthday for magnificence and multitude to +the presents he had received the year before. His +fairy godmother had sent him a bird, a real live bird; +but when he pulled its tail it became a lizard, and +when he pulled the lizard's tail it became a mouse, +and when he pulled the mouse's tail it became a cat. +Then he did very much want to see if the cat would +eat the mouse, and not being able to have them both +he got rather vexed with his fairy godmother. However, +he pulled the cat's tail and the cat became a dog, +and when he pulled the dog's the dog became a +goat; and so it went on till he got to a cow. And +he pulled the cow's tail and it became a camel, and +he pulled the camel's tail and it became an elephant, +and still not being contented, he pulled the elephant's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +tail and it became a guinea-pig. Now a +guinea-pig has no tail to pull, so it remained a +guinea-pig, while Prince Freedling sat down and +howled at his fairy godmother.</p> + +<p>But the best of all his presents was the one given +to him by the King his father. It was a most beautiful +horse, for, said the King, "You are now old +enough to learn to ride."</p> + +<p>So Freedling was put upon the horse's back, and +from having ridden so long upon his rocking-horse +he learned to ride perfectly in a single day, and was +declared by all the courtiers to be the most perfect +equestrian that was ever seen.</p> + +<p>Now these praises and the pleasure of riding a +real horse so occupied his thoughts that that night +he forgot all about Rollonde, and falling fast +asleep dreamed of nothing but real horses and +horsemen going to battle. And so it was the next +night too.</p> + +<p>But the night after that, just as he was falling +asleep, he heard someone sobbing by his bed, and +a voice saying, "Ah! dear Prince and kind Master, +let me go, for my heart breaks for a sight of my native +land." And there stood his poor rocking-horse +Rollonde, with tears falling out of his beautiful eyes +on to the white coverlet.</p> + +<p>Then the Prince, full of shame at having forgotten +his friend, sprang up and threw his arms round his +neck saying, "Be of good cheer, Rollonde, for now +surely I will let thee go!" and he ran to the window +and opened it for the horse to go through. "Ah, +dear Prince and kind Master!" said Rollonde. +Then he lifted his head and neighed so that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +whole palace shook, and swaying forward till his +head almost touched the ground he sprang out +into the night and away towards Rocking-Horse +Land.</p> + +<p>Then Prince Freedling, standing by the window, +thoughtfully unloosed the white hair from his +finger, and let it float away into the darkness, out +of sight of his eye or reach of his hand.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Rollonde," he murmured softly, +"brave Rollonde, my own good Rollonde! Go and +be happy in your own land, since I, your Master, was +forgetting to be kind to you." And far away he +heard the neighing of horses in Rocking-Horse +Land.</p> + +<p>Many years after, when Freedling had become +King in his father's stead, the fifth birthday of the +Prince his son came to be celebrated; and there on +the morning of the day, among all the presents +that covered the floor of the chamber, stood a beautiful +foal rocking-horse, black, with deep-burning +eyes.</p> + +<p>No one knew how it had come there, or whose +present it was, till the King himself came to look +at it. And when he saw it so like the old Rollonde +he had loved as a boy, he smiled, and, stroking its +dark mane, said softly in its ear, "Art thou, then, +the son of Rollonde?" And the foal answered him, +"Ah, dear Prince and kind Master!" but never a +word more.</p> + +<p>Then the King took the little Prince his son, and +told him the story of Rollonde as I have told it here; +and at the end he went and searched in the foal's +mane till he found one white hair, and, drawing it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +out, he wound it about the little Prince's finger, +bidding him guard it well and be ever a kind master +to Rollonde's son.</p> + +<p>So here is my story of Rollonde come to a good +ending.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> +<h2>JAPONEL</h2> + + +<p>THERE was once upon a time a young girl +named Japonel, the daughter of a wood-cutter, +and of all things that lived by the +woodside, she was the most fair.</p> + +<p>Her hair in its net was like a snared sunbeam, and +her face like a spring over which roses leaned down +and birds hung fluttering to drink—such being the +in-dwelling presence of her eyes and her laughing +lips and her cheeks.</p> + +<p>Whenever she crossed the threshold of her home, +the birds and the flowers began calling to her, +"Look up, Japonel! Look down, Japonel!" for +the sight of the sweet face they loved so much. The +squirrel called over its bough, "Look up, Japonel!" +and the rabbit from between the roots, "Japonel, look +down!" And Japonel, as she went, looked up and +looked down, and laughed, thinking what a sweet-sounding +place the world was.</p> + +<p>Her mother, looking at her from day to day, +became afraid: she said to the wood-cutter, +"Our child is too fair; she will get no good +of it."</p> + +<p>But her husband answered, "Good wife, why +should it trouble you? What is there in these +quiet parts that can harm her? Keep her only +from the pond in the wood, lest the pond-witch see +her and become envious."</p> + +<p>"Do not go near water, or you may fall in!" +said her mother one day as she saw Japonel bending<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +down to look at her face in a rain-puddle by the +road.</p> + +<p>Japonel laughed softly. "O silly little mother, +how can I fall into a puddle that is not large enough +for my two feet to stand in?"</p> + +<p>But the mother thought to herself, when Japonel +grows older and finds the pond in the wood, she will +go there to look at her face, unless she has something +better to see it in at home. So from the next pedlar +who came that way she bought a little mirror and +gave it to Japonel, that in it she might see her face +with its spring-like beauty, and so have no cause to +go near the pond in the wood. The lovely girl, who +had never seen a mirror in her life, took the rounded +glass in her hand and gazed for a long time without +speaking, wondering more and more at her own +loveliness. Then she went softly away with it into +her own chamber, and wishing to find a name for a +thing she loved so much, she called it, "Stream's +eye," and hung it on the wall beside her bed.</p> + +<p>In the days that followed, the door of her chamber +would be often shut, and her face seldom seen save +of herself alone. And "Look up, Japonel! Look +down, Japonel!" was a sound she no longer cared to +hear as she went through the woods; for the +memory of "Stream's eye" was like a dream that +clung to her, and floated in soft ripples on her +face.</p> + +<p>She grew tall like an aspen, and more fair, but pale. +Her mother said, "Woe is me, for now I have made +her vain through showing her her great beauty." +And to Japonel herself she said, "Oh, my beautiful, +my bright darling, though I have made thee vain, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +pray thee to punish me not. Do not go near the +pond in the wood to look in it, or an evil thing will +happen to thee." And Japonel smiled dreamily +amid half-thoughts, and kissing her mother, "Dear +mother," she said, "does 'Stream's eye' tell me +everything of my beauty, or am I in other eyes still +fairer?" Then her mother answered sadly, "Nay, +but I trust the open Eye of God finds in thee a better +beauty than thy mirror can tell thee of."</p> + +<p>Japonel, when she heard that answer, went away +till she came to the pond in the wood. It lay down +in a deep hollow, and drank light out of a clear sky, +which, through a circle of dark boughs, ever looked +down on it. "Perhaps," she said to herself, "it +is here that God will open His Eye and show me how +much fairer I am than even 'Stream's eye' can tell +me." But she thought once of her mother's words, +and went by.</p> + +<p>Then she turned again, "It is only that my +mother fears lest I become vain. What harm can +come if I do look once? it will be in my way home." +So she crept nearer and nearer to the pond, saying +to herself, "To see myself once as fair as God sees +me cannot be wrong. Surely that will not make me +more vain." And when she came through the last +trees, and stood near the brink, she saw before her a +little old woman, dressed in green, kneeling by the +water and looking in.</p> + +<p>"There at least," she said to herself, "is one who +looks in without any harm happening to her. I +wonder what it is she sees that she stays there so still." +And coming a little nearer, "Good dame," called +Japonel, "what is it you have found there, that you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +gaze at so hard?" And the old woman, without +moving or looking up, answered, "My own face; +but a hundred times younger and fairer, as it was in +my youth."</p> + +<p>Then thought Japonel, "How should I look now, +who am fair and in the full bloom of my youth? +It is because my mother fears lest I shall become vain +that she warned me." So she came quickly and knelt +down by the old woman and looked in. And even +as she caught sight of her face gazing up, pale and +tremulous ("Quick, go away!" its lips seemed to +be saying), the old woman slid down from the bank +and caught hold of her reflection with green, weed-like +arms, and drew it away into the pool's still +depths below. Beneath Japonel's face lay nothing +now but blank dark water, and far away in, a faint +face gazed back beseeching, and its lips moved with +an imprisoned prayer that might not make itself +heard. Only three bubbles rose to the surface, and +broke into three separate sighs like the shadow of +her own name. Then the pond-witch stirred the +mud, and all trace of that lost image went out, and +Japonel was left alone.</p> + +<p>She rose, expecting to see nothing, to be blind; +but the woods were there, night shadows were gathering +to their tryst under the boughs, and brighter +stars had begun blotting the semi-brightness of the +sky. All the way home she went feebly, not yet +resolved of the evil that had come upon her. She +stole quietly to her own little room in the fading +light, and took down "Stream's eye" from the +wall. Then she fell forward upon the bed, for +all the surface of her glass was grown blank:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +never could she hope to look upon her own face +again.</p> + +<p>The next morning she hung her head low, for +she feared all her beauty was flown from her, till +she heard her father say, "Wife, each day it seems +to me our Japonel grows more fair." And her +mother answered, sighing, "She is too fair, I know."</p> + +<p>Then Japonel set out once more for the pond in the +wood. As she went the birds and the flowers sang +to her, "Look up, Japonel; look down, Japonel!" +but Japonel went on, giving them no heed. She +came to the water's side, and leaning over, saw +far down in a tangle of green weeds a face that looked +back to hers, faint and blurred by the shimmering +movement of the water. Then, weeping, she wrung +her hands and cried:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Ah! sweet face of Japonel,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Beauty and grace of Japonel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Image and eyes of Japonel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Come back!' sighs Japonel."</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>And bubble by bubble a faint answer was returned +that broke like a sob on the water's surface:</div> + +<div class='poem'> +"I am the face of Japonel,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The beauty and grace of Japonel;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Here under a spell, Japonel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I dwell, Japonel."</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>All day Japonel cried so, and was so answered. +Now and again, green weeds would come skimming +to the surface, and seem to listen to her reproach, +and then once more sink down to their bed in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +pond's depths, and lie almost still, waving long slimy +fingers through the mud.</div> + +<p>The next day Japonel came again, and cried as +before:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Ah! sweet face of Japonel,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Beauty and grace of Japonel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Image and eyes of Japonel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Come back!' cries Japonel."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>And her shadow in the water made answer:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"I am the face of Japonel,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The beauty and grace of Japonel;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Here under a spell, Japonel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I dwell, Japonel."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Now as she sat and sorrowed she noticed that +whenever a bird flew over the pond it dropped +something out of its mouth into the water, and looking +she saw millet-seeds lying everywhere among the +weeds of its surface; one by one they were being +sucked under by the pond-witch.</p> + +<p>Japonel stayed so long by the side of the pond, +that on her way home it had fallen quite dark while +she was still in the middle of the wood. Then all +at once she heard a bird with loud voice cry out of +the darkness, "Look up, Japonel!" The cry was +so sudden and so strange, coming at that place and +that hour, that all through her grief she heard it, +and stopped to look up. Again in the darkness she +heard the bird cry, "Why do you weep, Japonel?" +Japonel said, "Because the pond-witch has carried +away my beautiful reflection in the water, so that I +can see my own face no more."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then the bird said, "Why have you not done as +the birds do? She is greedy; so they throw in +millet-seeds, and then she does not steal the reflection +of their wings when they pass over." And +Japonel answered, "Because I did not know that, +therefore I am to-day the most miserable of things +living." Then said the bird, "Come to-morrow, +and you shall be the happiest."</p> + +<p>So the next day Japonel went and sat by the pond +in the wood, waiting to be made the happiest, as the +bird had promised her. All day long great flocks +of birds went to and fro, and the pond became covered +with seeds. Japonel looked; "Why, they are +poppy-seeds!" she cried. (Now poppy-seeds when +they are eaten make people sleep.) Just as the sun +was setting all the birds began suddenly to cry in +chorus, "Look down, Japonel! Japonel, look down!" +And there, on the pond's surface, lay an old woman +dressed in green, fast asleep, with all the folds of her +dress and the wrinkles of her face full of poppy-seeds.</p> + +<p>Then Japonel ran fast to the pond's edge and +looked down. Slowly from the depth rose the pale +beautiful reflection of herself, untying itself from the +thin green weeds, and drifting towards the bank. It +looked up with tremulous greeting, half sadness, half +pleasure, seeming so glad after that long separation +to return to its sweet mistress. So as it came and +settled below her own face in the water, Japonel +stooped down over it and kissed it.</p> + +<p>Then she sprang back from the brink and ran +home, fast, fast in the fading light. And there, +when she looked in her mirror, was once more the +beautiful face she loved, a little blue and wan from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +its long imprisonment under water. And so it +ever remained, beautiful, but wan, to remind her +of the sorrow that had come upon her when, loving +this too well, she had not loved enough to listen to +the cry of the birds: "Look up, Japonel!" and, +"Japonel, look down!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> +<h2>GAMMELYN, THE DRESSMAKER</h2> + + +<p>THERE was once upon a time a King's +daughter who was about to be given in +marriage to a great prince; and when the +wedding-day was yet a long way off, the whole court +began to concern itself as to how the bride was to be +dressed. What she should wear, and how she should +wear it, was the question debated by the King and +his Court day and night, almost without interruption. +Whatever it was to be, it must be splendid, +without peer. Must it be silk, or velvet, or satin; +should it be enriched with brocade, or with gems, or +sewn thick with pearls?</p> + +<p>But when they came to ask the Princess, she said, +"I will have only a dress of beaten gold, light +as gossamer, thin as bee's-wing, soft as swan's-down."</p> + +<p>Then the King, calling his chief goldsmith, told +him to make for the Princess the dress of beaten gold. +But the goldsmith knew no way how such a dress +was to be made, and his answer to the King was, +"Sire, the thing is not to be done."</p> + +<p>Then the King grew very angry, for he said, +"What a Princess can find it in her head to wish, +some man must find it in his wits to accomplish." +So he put the chief goldsmith in prison to think +about it, and summoning all the goldsmiths in the +kingdom, told them of the Princess's wish, that a +dress should be made for her of beaten gold. But +every one of the goldsmiths went down on his knees<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +to the King, saying, "Sire, the thing is not to be +done." Thereupon the King clapped them all into +prison, promising to cut off all their heads if in three +weeks' time they had not put them together to +some purpose and devised a plan for making such a +dress as the Princess desired.</p> + +<p>Now just then Gammelyn was passing through +the country, and when he heard of all this, he felt +very sorry for the goldsmiths, who had done nothing +wrong, but had told honest truth about themselves +to the King. So he set his bright wits to work, and +at last said, "I think I can save the goldsmiths their +heads, for I have found a way of making such a dress +as this fine Princess desires."</p> + +<p>Then he went to the King and said, "I have a way +for making a dress of beaten gold."</p> + +<p>"But," said the King, "have a care, for if you +fail I shall assuredly cut off your head."</p> + +<p>All the same Gammelyn took that risk willingly +and set to work. And first he asked that the +Princess would tell him what style of dress it should +be; and the Princess said, "Beaten gold, light as +gossamer, thin as bee's-wing, soft as swan's-down, +and it must be made thus." So she showed him of +what fashion sleeve, and bodice, and train should +be. Then Gammelyn caused to be made (for he had +a palace full of workers put under him) a most lovely +dress, in the fashion the Princess had named, of +white cambric closely woven; and the Princess came +wondering at him, saying that it was to be only of +beaten gold.</p> + +<p>"You wait a while!" said Gammelyn, for he had +no liking for the Princess. Then he asked the King<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +for gold out of his treasury; but the King supplied +him instead with gold from the stores of the imprisoned +goldsmiths. So he put it in a sack, and +carried it to a mill, and said to the miller, "Grind +me this sack full of gold into flour." At first the +miller stared at him for a madman, but when he +saw the letter in Gammelyn's hands which the King +had written, and which said, "I'll cut off your head +if you don't!" then he set to with a will, and ground +the gold into fine golden flour. So Gammelyn +shouldered his sack and jogged back to the palace. +The next thing he did was to summon all the gold-beaters +in the kingdom, which he did easily enough +with the King's letter; for directly they saw the +words "I'll cut off your head if you don't!" and the +King's signature beneath, they came running as fast +as their legs could carry them, till all the streets which +led up to the palace were full of them.</p> + +<p>Then Gammelyn chose a hundred of the strongest, +and took them into the chamber where the wedding-dress +was in making. And the dress he took and +spread out on iron tables, and, sprinkling the golden +flour all over it, set the men to beat day and night +for a whole week. And at the end of the week there +was a splendid dress, that looked as if it were of pure +gold only. But the Princess said, "My dress must +be <i>all</i> gold, and no part cambric—this will not do." +"You wait!" said Gammelyn, "it is not finished +yet."</p> + +<p>Then he made a fire of sweet spices and sandalwood, +jasmine, and mignonette; and into the fire +he put the wonderful dress.</p> + +<p>The Princess screamed with grief and rage; for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +she was in love with the dress, though she was so +nice in holding him to the conditions of the decree. +But Gammelyn persevered, and what happened was +this: the fire burnt away all the threads of the +cambric, but was not hot enough to melt the gold; +and when all the cambric was burnt, then he drew +out of the fire a dress of beaten gold, light as +gossamer, thin as bee's-wing, soft as swan's-down, +and fragrant as a wind when it blows through a +Sultan's garden.</p> + +<p>So all the goldsmiths were set free from prison; +and the King appointed Gammelyn his chief goldsmith.</p> + +<p>But when the Princess saw the dress, she was +so beside herself with pride and pleasure that she +must have also a dress made of pearl, light as gossamer, +thin as bee's-wing, soft as swan's-down. And +the King sent for all his jewellers, and told them +that such a dress was to be made; but they all +went down on their bended knees, crying with +one voice, "Sire, the thing is not to be done." +And all the good they got for that was that they +were clapped into prison till a way for doing it +should be found.</p> + +<p>Then the King said to Gammelyn, "Since my +jewellers cannot make this dress, you must do it!" +But Gammelyn said, "Sire, that is not in our bargain." +And the only answer the King had to that +was, "I'll cut off your head if you don't."</p> + +<p>Gammelyn sighed like a sea-shell; but determining +to make the best of a bad business, he set +to work.</p> + +<p>And, as before, he made a dress in the fashion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +the Princess chose, of the finest weaving. He +made each part separate; the two sleeves separate, +the body separate, the skirt and train separate. +Then, at his desire, the King commanded that all +the oysters which were dredged out of the sea +should be brought to him. Out of these he selected +the five finest oysters of all; each one was the size +of a tea-tray. Then he put them into a large +tank and inside each shell he put one part of the +dress—the weaving of which was so fine that there +was plenty of room for it, as well as for the oysters. +And in course of time he drew out from each shell—from +one the body, from one the skirt, from one +the train, from one a sleeve, from another the +other sleeve. Next he fastened each part together +with thread, and put the whole dress back into +the tank; and into the mouth of one oyster he +put the joinery of body and skirt, and into the +mouth of another the joinery of skirt and train, +and into the mouth of two others the joinery of +the two sleeves, and the fifth oyster he ate. So +the oysters did their work, laying their soft inlay +over the gown, just as they laid it over the inside +of their shells; and after a time Gammelyn drew +forth a dress bright and gleaming, and pure mother-o'-pearl. +But "No," said the Princess, "it must +be all pure pearl, with nothing of thread in it." +But, "Wait a while!" said Gammelyn, "I have +not finished yet."</p> + +<p>So by a decree of the King he caused to be +gathered together all the moths in the kingdom—millions +of moths; and he put them all into a bare +iron room along with the dress, and sealed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +doors and windows with red sealing-wax. The +Princess wept and sighed for the dress: "It will +be all eaten," said she. "Then I shall cut off his +head," said the King. But for all that, Gammelyn +persevered.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 307px;"> +<img src="images/gs05.png" width="307" height="500" alt="" title="Talking to princess" /> +</div> + +<p>And when he opened the door they found that +every thread had been eaten away by the moths, +while the mother-o'-pearl had been left uninjured. +So the dress was a perfect pearl, light as gossamer, +thin as bee's-wing, soft as swan's-down; and the +King made Gammelyn his chief jeweller, and set +all the other jewellers free.</p> + +<p>Then the Princess was so delighted that she +wished to have one more dress also, made all of +butterflies' wings. "That were easily done," said +Gammelyn, "but it were cruel to ask for such a +dress to be made."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the Princess would have it so, and +<i>he</i> should make it. "I'll cut off your head if you +don't," said the King.</p> + +<p>Gammelyn bumbled like a bee; but all he said +was, "Many million butterflies will be wanted for +such a work: you must let me have again the +two dresses—the pearl, and the gold—for butterflies +love bright colours that gleam and shine; and +with these alone can I gather them all to one +place."</p> + +<p>So the Princess gave him the two dresses; and +he went to the highest part of the palace, out on +to the battlements of the great tower. There he +faced towards the west, where lay a new moon, +louting towards the setting sun; and he laid the +two robes, one on either arm, spreading them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +abroad, till they looked like two wings—a gold and +a pearl. And a beam of the sun came and kissed +the gold wing, and a pale quivering thread of +moonlight touched the pearl wing; and Gammelyn +sang:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Light of the moon,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Light of the sun,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Pearl of the sky,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Gold from on high,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Hearken to me!</span><br /> +<br /> +"Light of the moon,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Pearl of the sea,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Gold of the land</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Here in my hand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I render to thee.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Butterflies come!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Carry us home,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Gold of the gnome,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Pearl of the sea."</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>And as he sang, out of the east came a soft muttering +of wings and a deep moving mass like a bright +storm-cloud. And out of the sun ran a long gold +finger, and out of the moon a pale shivering finger +of pearl, and touching the gold and the pearl, these +became verily wings and not millinery. Then +before the Princess could scream more than once, +or the King say anything about cutting off heads, +the bright cloud in the east became a myriad myriad +of butterflies. And drawn by the falling flashing +sun, and by the faint falling moon, and fanned by +the million wings of his fellow-creatures, Gammelyn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +sprang out from the palace wall on the crest of the +butterfly-wind, and flew away brighter and farther +each moment; and followed by his myriad train +of butterflies, he passed out of sight, and in that +country was never heard of again.</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS</h2> + + +<p>OVER the sea went the birds, flying southward +to their other home where the sun +was. The rustle of their wings, high overhead, +could be heard down on the water; and their +soft, shrill twitterings, and the thirsty nibbling of +their beaks; for the seas were hushed, and the +winds hung away in cloud-land.</p> + +<p>Far away from any shore, and beginning to be +weary, their eyes caught sight of a white form +resting between sky and sea. Nearer they came, +till it seemed to be a great white bird, brooding +on the calmed water; and its wings were +stretched high and wide, yet it stirred not. And +the wings had in themselves no motion, but +stood rigidly poised over their own reflection in +the water.</p> + +<p>Then the birds came curiously, dropping from +their straight course, to wonder at the white wings +that went not on. And they came and settled +about this great, bird-like thing, so still and so +grand.</p> + +<p>On to the deck crept a small child, for the +noise of the birds had come down to him in the +hold. "There is nobody at home but me," he +said; for he thought the birds must have come +to call, and he wished to be polite. "They are +all gone but me," he went on; "all gone. I am +left alone."</p> + +<p>The birds, none of them understood him; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +they put their heads on one side and looked +down on him in a friendly way, seeming to +consider.</p> + +<p>He ran down below and fetched up a pannikin +of water and some biscuit. He set the water +down, and breaking the biscuit sprinkled it over +the white deck. Then he clapped his hands to +see them all flutter and crowd round him, dipping +their bright heads to the food and drink he gave +them.</p> + +<p>They might not stay long, for the water-logged +ship could not help them on the way they wished +to go; and by sunset they must touch land again. +Away they went, on a sudden, the whole crew of +them, and the sound of their voices became faint +in the bright sea-air.</p> + +<p>"I am left alone!" said the child.</p> + +<p>Many days ago, while he was asleep in a snug +corner he had found for himself, the captain and +crew had taken to the boats, leaving the great ship +to its fate. And forgetting him because he was so +small, or thinking that he was safe in some one of +the other boats, the rough sailors had gone off +without him, and he was left alone. So for a whole +week he had stayed with the ship, like a whisper +of its vanished life amid the blues of a deep calm. +And the birds came to the ship only to desert it +again quickly, because it stood so still upon the +sea.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 336px;"> +<img src="images/gs06.png" width="336" height="500" alt="Mermen" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>But that night the mermen came round the +vessel's side, and sang; and the wind rose to their +singing, and the sea grew rough. Yet the child +slept with his head in dreams. The dreams came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +from the mermen's songs, and he held his breath, +and his heart stayed burdened by the deep sweetness +of what he saw.</p> + +<p>Dark and strange and cold the sea-valleys opened +before him; blue sea-beasts ranged there, guarded +by strong-finned shepherds, and fishes like birds +darted to and fro, but made no sound. And that +was what burdened his heart,—that for all the +beauty he saw, there was no sound, no song of a +single bird to comfort him.</p> + +<p>The mermen reached out their blue arms to +him, and sang; on the top of the waves they sang, +striving to make him forget the silence of the land +below. They offered him the sea-life: why should +he be drowned and die?</p> + +<p>And now over him in the dark night the great +wings crashed, and beat abroad in the wind, and +the ship made great way. And the mermen swam +fast to be with her, and ceased from their own +song, for the wind overhead sang loud in the rigging +and the sails. But the child lifted his head +in his sleep and smiled, for his soul was eased of +the mermen's song, and it seemed to him that +instead he heard birds singing in a far-off land, +singing of a child whose loving hand had fed +them, faint and weary, in their way over the wide +ocean.</p> + +<p>In that far southern land the dawn had begun, +and the birds, waking one by one, were +singing their story of him to the soft-breathing +tamarisk boughs. And none of them knew how +they had been sent as a salvage crew to save the +child's spirit from the spell of the sea-dream, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +to carry it safely back to the land that loved +him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>But with the child's body the white wings had +flown down into the wave-buried valleys, and to a +cleft of the sea-hills to rest.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> +<h2>WHITE BIRCH</h2> + + +<p>ONCE upon a time there lived in a wood a +brother and sister who had been forgotten +by all the world. But this thing did not +greatly grieve their hearts, because they themselves +were all the world to each other: meeting or parting, +they never forgot that. Nobody remained to +tell them who they were; but she was "Little +Sister," and he was "Fair Brother," and those +were the only names they ever went by.</p> + +<p>In their little wattled hut they would have been +perfectly happy but for one thing which now and +then they remembered and grieved over. Fair +Brother was lame—not a foot could he put to the +ground, nor take one step into the outside world. +But he lay quiet on his bed of leaves, while Little +Sister went out and in, bringing him food and +drink, and the scent of flowers, and tales of the joy +of earth and of the songs of birds.</p> + +<p>One day she brought him a litter of withered +birch-leaves to soften his bed and make it warmer +for the approaching season of cold; and all the +winter he lay on it, and sighed. Little Sister had +never seen him so sad before.</p> + +<p>In the spring, when the songs of the pairing +birds began, his sorrow only grew greater. "Let +me go out, let me go out," he cried; "only a little +way into the bright world before I die!" She +kissed his feet, and took him up in her arms and +carried him. But she could only go a very little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +way with her burden; presently she had to return +and lay him down again on his bed of leaves.</p> + +<p>"Have I seen all the bright world?" he asked. +"Is it such a little place?"</p> + +<p>To hide her sorrow from him, Little Sister ran +out into the woods, and as she went, wondering +how to comfort his grief, she could not help weeping.</p> + +<p>All at once at the foot of a tree she saw the +figure of a woman seated. It was strange, for she +had never before seen anybody else in the wood +but themselves. The woman said to her, "Why +is it that you weep so?"</p> + +<p>"The heart of Fair Brother is breaking," replied +Little Sister. "It is because of that that I am +weeping."</p> + +<p>"Why is his heart breaking?" inquired the +other.</p> + +<p>"I do not know," answered Little Sister. "Ever +since last autumn fell it has been so. Always, before, +he has been happy; he has no reason not to +be, only he is lame."</p> + +<p>She had come close to the seated figure; and +looking, she saw a woman with a very white skin, +in a robe and hood of deep grey. Grey eyes looked +back at her with just a soft touch in them of the +green that comes with the young leaves of spring.</p> + +<p>"You are beautiful," said Little Sister, drawing +in her breath.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am beautiful," answered the other. +"Why is Fair Brother lame? Has he no feet?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, beautiful feet!" said Little Sister. "But +they are like still water; they cannot run."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If you want him to run," said the other, "I +can tell you what to do. What will you give me +in exchange?"</p> + +<p>"Whatever you like to ask," answered Little +Sister; "but I am poor."</p> + +<p>"You have beautiful hair," said the woman; +"will you let that go?"</p> + +<p>Little Sister stooped down her head, and let the +other cut off her hair. The wind went out of it +with a sigh as it fell into the grey woman's lap. +She hid it away under her robe, and said, "Listen, +Little Sister, and I will tell you! To-night is the +new moon. If you can hold your tongue till the +moon is full, the feet of Fair Brother shall run like +a stream from the hills, dancing from rock to +rock."</p> + +<p>"Only tell me what I must do!" said Little +Sister.</p> + +<p>"You see this birch-tree, with its silver skin?" +said the woman. "Cut off two strips of it and +weave them into shoes for Fair Brother. And +when they are finished by the full moon, if you +have not spoken, you have but to put them upon +Fair Brother's feet, and they will outrun yours."</p> + +<p>So Little Sister, as the other had told her, cut +off two strips from the bark of the birch-tree, and +ran home as fast as she could to tell her brother of +the happiness which, with only a little waiting, was +in store for them.</p> + +<p>But as she came near home, over the low roof +she saw the new moon hanging like a white feather +in the air; and, closing her lips, she went in and +kissed Fair Brother silently.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p> + +<p>He said, "Little Sister, loose out your hair over +me, and let me feel the sweet airs; and tell me +how the earth sounds, for my heart is sick with +sorrow and longing." She took his hand and laid +it upon her heart that he might feel its happy +beating, but said no word. Then she sat down at +his feet and began to work at the shoes. All the +birch-bark she cut into long strips fit for weaving, +doing everything as the grey woman had told her.</p> + +<p>Fair Brother fretted at her silence, and cried, +calling her cruel; but she only kissed his feet, and +went on working the faster. And the white birch +shoes grew under her hands; and every night she +watched and saw the moon growing round.</p> + +<p>Fair Brother said, "Little Sister, what have you +done with your hair in which you used to fetch +home the wind? And why do you never go and +bring me flowers or sing me the song of the birds?" +And Little Sister looked up and nodded, but never +answered or moved from her task, for her fingers +were slow, and the moon was quick in its growing.</p> + +<p>One night Fair Brother was lying asleep, and his +head was filled with dreams of the outer world +into which he longed to go. The full moon looked +in through the open door, and Little Sister laughed +in her heart as she slipped the birch shoes on to his +feet. "Now run, dear feet," she whispered; "but +do not outrun mine."</p> + +<p>Up in his sleep leapt Fair Brother, for the dream +of the white birch had hold of him. A lady with +a dark hood and grey eyes full of the laughter of +leaves beckoned him. Out he ran into the moonlight, +and Little Sister laughed as she ran with him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> + +<p>In a little while she called, "Do not outrun +me, Fair Brother!" But he seemed not to hear +her, for not a bit did he slacken the speed of his +running.</p> + +<p>Presently she cried again, "Rest with me a +while, Fair Brother! Do not outrun me!" But +Fair Brother's feet were fleet after their long idleness, +and they only ran the faster. "Ah, ah!" +she cried, all out of breath. "Come back to me +when you have done running, Fair Brother." And +as he disappeared among the trees, she cried after +him, "How will you know the way, since you were +never here before? Do not get lost in the wood, +Fair Brother!"</p> + +<p>She lay on the ground and listened, and could +hear the white birch shoes carrying him away till +all sound of them died.</p> + +<p>When, next morning, he had not returned, she +searched all day through the wood, calling his +name.</p> + +<p>"Where are you, Fair Brother? Where have +you lost yourself?" she cried, but no voice answered +her.</p> + +<p>For a while she comforted her heart, saying, +"He has not run all these years—no wonder he is +still running. When he is tired he will return."</p> + +<p>But days and weeks went by, and Fair Brother +never came back to her. Every day she wandered +searching for him, or sat at the door of the little +wattled hut and cried.</p> + +<p>One day she cried so much that the ground +became quite wet with her tears. That night was +the night of the full moon, but weary with grief<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +she lay down and slept soundly, though outside the +woods were bright.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the night she started up, for +she thought she heard somebody go by; and, +surely, feet were running away in the distance. +And when she looked out, there across the doorway +was the print of the birch shoes on the ground she +had made wet with her tears.</p> + +<p>"Alas, alas!" cried Little Sister. "What have +I done that he comes to the very door of our home +and passes by, though the moon shines in and +shows it him?"</p> + +<p>After that she searched everywhere through the +forest to discover the print of the birch shoes upon +the ground. Here and there after rain she thought +she could see traces, but never was she able to track +them far.</p> + +<p>Once more came the night of the full moon, and +once more in the middle of the night Little Sister +started up and heard feet running away in the +distance. She called, but no answer came back +to her.</p> + +<p>So on the third full moon she waited, sitting in +the door of the hut, and would not sleep.</p> + +<p>"If he has been twice," she said to herself, "he +will come again, and I shall see him. Ah, Fair +Brother, Fair Brother, I have given you feet; why +have you so used me?"</p> + +<p>Presently she heard a sound of footsteps, and +there came Fair Brother running towards her. +She saw his face pale and ghostlike, yet he never +looked at her, but ran past and on without +stopping.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Fair Brother, Fair Brother, wait for me; do +not outrun me!" cried Little Sister; and was up +in haste to be after him.</p> + +<p>He ran fast, and would not stop; but she ran +fast too, for her love would not let him go. Once +she nearly had him by the hair, and once she caught +him by the cloak; but in her hand it shredded +and crumbled like a dry leaf; and still, though +there was no breath left in her, she ran on.</p> + +<p>And now she began to wonder, for Fair Brother +was running the way that she knew well—towards +the tree from which she had cut the two strips of +bark. Her feet were failing her; she knew that +she could run no more. Just as they came together +in sight of the birch-tree Little Sister +stumbled and fell.</p> + +<p>She saw Fair Brother run on and strike with his +hands and feet against the tree, and cry, "Oh, +White Birch, White Birch, lift the latch up, or she +will catch me!" And at once the tree opened its +rind, and Fair Brother ran in.</p> + +<p>"So," said Little Sister, "you are there, are +you, Brother? I know, then, what I have done +to you."</p> + +<p>She went and laid her ear to the tree, and inside +she could hear Fair Brother sobbing and crying. +It sounded to her as if White Birch were beating +him.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, Fair Brother, she shall not beat +you for long!" said Little Sister.</p> + +<p>She went home and waited till the next full +moon had come. Then, as soon as it was dark, +she went along through the wood until she came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +to the place, and there she crept close to the white +birch-tree and waited.</p> + +<p>Presently she heard Fair Brother's voice come +faintly out of the heart of the tree: "White +Birch, it is the full moon and the hour in which +Little Sister gave life to my feet. For one hour +give me leave to go, that I may run home and look +at her while she sleeps. I will not stop or speak, +and I promise you that I will return."</p> + +<p>Then she heard the voice of White Birch answer +grudgingly: "It is her hour and I cannot hold you, +therefore you may go. Only when you come again +I will beat you."</p> + +<p>Then the tree opened a little way, and Fair +Brother ran out. He ran so quickly in his eager +haste that Little Sister had not time to catch him, +and she did not dare to call aloud. "I must make +sure," she said to herself, "before he comes back. +To-night White Birch will have to let him go."</p> + +<p>So she gathered as many dry pieces of wood as she +could find, and made them into a pile near at hand; +and setting them alight, she soon had a brisk fire +burning.</p> + +<p>Before long she heard the sound of feet in the +brushwood, and there came Fair Brother, running +as hard as he could go, with the breath sobbing in +and out of his body.</p> + +<p>Little Sister sprang out to meet him, but as soon +as he saw her he beat with his hands and feet against +the tree, crying, "White Birch, White Birch, lift +the latch up, or she will catch me!"</p> + +<p>But before the tree could open Little Sister had +caught hold of the birch shoes, and pulled them off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +his feet, and running towards the fire she thrust them +into the red heart of the embers.</p> + +<p>The white birch shivered from head to foot, and +broke into lamentable shrieks. The witch thrust +her head out of the tree, crying, "Don't, don't! +You are burning my skin! Oh, cruel! how you are +burning me!"</p> + +<p>"I have not burned you enough yet," cried Little +Sister; and raking the burning sticks and faggots +over the ground, she heaped them round the foot of +the white birch-tree, whipping the flames to make +them leap high.</p> + +<p>The witch drew in her head, but inside she could +be heard screaming. As the flames licked the white +bark she cried, "Oh, my skin! You are burning +my skin. My beautiful white skin will be covered +with nothing but blisters. Do you know that you +are ruining my complexion?"</p> + +<p>But Little Sister said, "If I make you ugly you +will not be able to show your face again to deceive +the innocent, and to ruin hearts that were happy."</p> + +<p>So she piled on sticks and faggots till the outside +of the birch-tree was all black and scarred and +covered with blisters, the marks of which have remained +to this day. And inside, the witch could be +heard dancing time to the music of the flames, and +crying because of her ruined complexion.</p> + +<p>Then Little Sister stooped and took up Fair +Brother in her arms. "You cannot walk now," +she whispered, "I have taken away your feet; so +I will carry you."</p> + +<p>He was so starved and thin that he was not very +heavy, and all the long way home Little Sister carried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +him in her arms. How happy they were, looking +in each other's eyes by the clear light of the +moon!</p> + +<p>"Can you ever be happy again in the old way?" +asked Little Sister. "Shall you not want to run?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Fair Brother; "I shall never +wish to run again. And as for the rest"—he stroked +her head softly—"why, I can feel that your hair is +growing—it is ever so long, and I can see the wind +lifting it. White Birch has no hair of her own, but +she has some that she wears, just the same colour as +yours."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE LUCK OF THE ROSES</h2> + + +<p>NOT far from a great town, in the midst of +a well-wooded valley, lived a rose-gardener +and his wife. All round the old home +green sleepy hollows lay girdled by silver streams, +long grasses bent softly in the wind, and the half +fabulous murmur of woods filled the air.</p> + +<p>Up in their rose-garden, on the valley's side +facing the sun, the gardener and his wife lived contentedly +sharing toil and ease. They had been +young, they were not yet old; and though they had +to be frugal they did not call themselves poor. A +strange fortune had belonged always to the plot +of ground over which they laboured; whether +because the soil was so rich, or the place so +sheltered from cold, or the gardener so skilled in +the craft, which had come down in his family +from father to son, could not be known; but +certainly it was true that his rose-trees gave forth +better bloom and bore earlier and later through +the season than any others that were to be found +in those parts.</p> + +<p>The good couple accepted what came to them, +simply and gladly, thanking God. Perhaps it was +from the kindness of fortune, or perhaps because the +sweet perfume of the roses had mixed itself in their +blood, that her man and his wife were so sweet-tempered +and gentle in their ways. The colour of +the rose was in their faces, and the colour of the +rose was in their hearts; to her man she was the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +beautiful and dearest of sweethearts, to his wife he +was the best and kindest of lovers.</p> + +<p>Every morning, before it was light, her man and +his wife would go into the garden and gather all the +roses that were ripe for sale; then with full baskets +on their backs they would set out, and get to the +market just as the level sunbeams from the east +were striking all the vanes and spires of the city into +gold. There they would dispose of their flowers to +the florists and salesmen of the town, and after that +trudge home again to hoe, and dig, and weed, and +water, and prune, and plant for the rest of the day. +No man ever saw them the one without the other, +and the thought that such a thing might some day +happen was the only fear and sorrow of their lives.</p> + +<p>That they had no children of their own was +scarcely a sorrow to them. "It seems to me," said +her man after they had been married for some years, +"that God means that our roses are to be our children +since He has made us love them so much. +They will last when we are grown grey, and will +support and comfort us in our old age."</p> + +<p>All the roses they had were red, and varied little +in kind, yet her man and his wife had a name for +each of them; to every tree they had given a name, +until it almost seemed that the trees knew, and tried +to answer when they heard the voices which spoke +to them.</p> + +<p>"Jane Janet, and you ought to blossom more +freely at your age!" his wife might say to one some +evening as she went round and watered the flowers; +and the next day, when the two came to their dark +morning's gathering, Jane Janet would show ten or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +twelve great blooms under the light of the lantern, +every one of them the birth of a single night.</p> + +<p>"Mary Maudlin," the gardener would say, as he +washed the blight off a favourite rose, "to be sure, +you are very beautiful, but did I not love you so, you +were more trouble than all your sisters put together." +And then all at once great dew-drops would come +tumbling down out of Mary Maudlin's eyes at the +tender words of his reproach. So day by day the +companionable feet of the happy couple moved to +and fro, always intent on the nurture and care of +their children.</p> + +<p>In their garden they had bees too, who by strange +art, unlike other bees, drew all their honey from the +roses, and lived in a cone-thatched hive close to the +porch; and that honey was famous through all the +country-side, for its flavour was like no other honey +made in the world.</p> + +<p>Sometimes his wife said to her man, "I think our +garden is looked after for us by some good Spirit; +perhaps it is the Saints after whom we have named +our rose-children."</p> + +<p>Her man made answer, "It is rich in years, which, +like an old wine, have made it gain in flavour; it has +been with us from father to son for three hundred +years, and that is a great while."</p> + +<p>"A full fairy's lifetime!" said his wife. "'Tis +a pity we shall not hand it on, being childless."</p> + +<p>"When we two die," said her man, "the roses +will make us a grave and watch over us." As he +spoke a whole shower of petals fell from the trees.</p> + +<p>"Did no one pass, just then?" said his wife.</p> + +<p>Now one morning, soon after this, in the late<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +season of roses, her man had gone before his wife +into the garden, gathering for the market in the grey +dusk before dawn; and wherever he went moths +and beetles came flocking to the light of his lantern, +beating against its horn shutters and crying to get +in. Out of each rose, as the light fell on it, winged +things sprang up into the darkness; but all the roses +were bowed and heavy as if with grief. As he +picked them from the stem great showers of dew fell +out of them, making pools in the hollow of his palm.</p> + +<p>There was such a sound of tears that he stopped +to listen; and, surely, from all round the garden +came the "drip, drip" of falling dew. Yet the +pathways under foot were all dry; there had been +no rain and but little dew. Whence was it, then, +that the roses so shook and sobbed? For under the +stems, surely, there was something that sobbed; +and suddenly the light of the lantern took hold of a +beautiful small figure, about three feet high, dressed +in old rose and green, that went languidly from +flower to flower. She lifted up such tired hands to +draw their heads down to hers; and to each one she +kissed she made a weary little sound of farewell, +her beautiful face broken up with grief; and now +and then out of her lips ran soft chuckling laughter, +as if she still meant to be glad, but could not.</p> + +<p>The gardener broke into tears to behold a sight +so pitiful; and his wife had stolen out silently to his +side, and was weeping too.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 306px;"> +<img src="images/gs07.png" width="306" height="500" alt="In the garden" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"Drip, drip," went the roses: wherever she came +and kissed, they all began weeping. The gardener +and his wife knelt down and watched her; in and +out, in and out, not a rose blossom did she miss.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +She came nearer and nearer, and at last was standing +before them. She seemed hardly able to draw limb +after limb, so weak was she; and her filmy garments +hung heavy as chains.</p> + +<p>A little voice said in their ears, "Kiss me, I am +dying!"</p> + +<p>They tasted her breath of rose.</p> + +<p>"Do not die!" they said simply.</p> + +<p>"I have lived three hundred years," she answered. +"Now I must die. I am the Luck of the Roses, but +I must leave them and die."</p> + +<p>"When must you die?" said her man and his +wife.</p> + +<p>The little lady said: "Before the last roses are +over; the chills of night take me, the first frost +will kill me. Soon I must die. Now I must +dwindle and dwindle, for little life is left to me, +and only so can I keep warm. As life and heat grow +less, so must I, till presently I am no more."</p> + +<p>She was a little thing already—not old, she did +not seem old, but delicate as a snowflake, and so +weary. She laid her head in the hand of the gardener's +wife, and sobbed hard.</p> + +<p>"You dear people, who belong so much to me +too, I have watched over you."</p> + +<p>"Let us watch over you!" said they. They +lifted her like a feather-weight, and carried her +into the house. There, in the ingle-nook, she sat +and shivered, while they brought rose-leaves and +piled round her; but every hour she grew less and +less.</p> + +<p>Presently the sun shone full upon her from the +doorway: its light went through her as through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +coloured glass; and her man and his wife saw, over +the ingle behind her, shadows fluttering as of falling +rose-petals: it was the dying rose of her life, falling +without end.</p> + +<p>All day long she dwindled and grew more weak +and frail. Before sunset she was smaller than a +small child when it first comes into the world. +They set honey before her to taste, but she was too +weary to uncurl her tiny hands: they lay like two +white petals in the green lap of her gown. The +half-filled panniers of roses stood where they had +been set down in the porch: the good couple had +taken nothing to the market that day. The luck +of the house lay dying, for all their care; they +could but sit and watch.</p> + +<p>When the sun had set, she faded away fast: now +she was as small as a young wren. The gardener's +wife took her and held her for warmth in the hollow +of her hand. Presently she seemed no more than +a grasshopper: the tiny chirrup of her voice was +heard, about the middle of the night, asking them +to take her and lay her among the roses, in the +heart of one of the red roses, that there she and +death might meet sweetly at the last.</p> + +<p>They went together into the dark night, and +felt their way among the roses; presently they +quite lost her tiny form: she had slipped away +into the heart of a Jane Janet rose.</p> + +<p>The gardener and his wife went back into the +house and sat waiting: they did not know for +what, but they were too sad at heart to think just +then of sleep.</p> + +<p>Soon the first greys of morning began to steal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +over the world; pale shivers ran across the sky, +and one bird chirped in its sleep among the trees.</p> + +<p>All at once there rang a soft sound of lamentation +among the roses in the rose-garden; again and +again, like the cry of many gentle wounded things +in pain. The gardener and his wife went and +opened the door: they had to tell the bees of the +fairy's death. They looked out under the twilight, +into the garden they loved. "Drip," "drip," +"drip" came the sound of steady weeping under +the leaves. Peering out through the shadows they +saw all the rose-trees rocking softly for grief.</p> + +<p>"Snow?" said his wife to her man.</p> + +<p>But it was not snow.</p> + +<p>Under the dawn all the roses in the garden had +turned white; for they knew that the fairy was +dead.</p> + +<p>The gardener and his wife woke the bees, and +told them of the fairy's death; then they looked +in each other's faces, and saw that they, too, had +become white and grey.</p> + +<p>With gentle eyes the old couple took hands, and +went down into the garden to gather white roses +for the market.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE WHITE DOE</h2> + + +<p>ONE day, as the king's huntsman was riding +in the forest, he came to a small pool. +Fallen leaves covering its surface had given +it the colour of blood, and knee-deep in their midst +stood a milk-white doe drinking.</p> + +<p>The beauty of the doe set fire to the huntsman's +soul; he took an arrow and aimed well +at the wild heart of the creature. But as he was +loosing the string the branch of a tree overhanging +the pool struck him across the face, and +caught hold of him by the hair; and arrow and +doe vanished away together into the depths of +the forest.</p> + +<p>Never until now, since he entered the king's +service, had the huntsman missed his aim. The +thought of the white doe living after he had willed +its death inflamed him with rage; he could not +rest till he had brought hounds to the trail, determined +to follow until it had surrendered to him +its life.</p> + +<p>All day, while he hunted, the woods stayed +breathless, as if to watch; not a blade moved, not +a leaf fell. About noon a red deer crossed his +path; but he paid no heed, keeping his hounds +only to the white doe's trail.</p> + +<p>At sunset a fallow deer came to disturb the +scent, and through the twilight, as it deepened, a +grey wolf ran in and out of the underwood. When +night came down, his hounds fled from his call,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +following through tangled thickets a huge black +boar with crescent tusks. So he found himself +alone, with his horse so weary that it could scarcely +move.</p> + +<p>But still, though the moon was slow in its rising, +the fever of the chase burned in the huntsman's +veins, and caused him to press on. For now he +found himself at the rocky entrance of a ravine +whence no way led; and the white doe being still +before him, he made sure that he would get her +at last. So when his horse fell, too tired to rise +again, he dismounted and forced his way on; and +soon he saw before him the white doe, labouring +up an ascent of sharp crags, while closer and higher +the rocks rose and narrowed on every side. Presently +she had leapt high upon a boulder that shook +and swayed as her feet rested, and ahead the wall +of rocks had joined so that there was nowhere +farther that she might go.</p> + +<p>Then the huntsman notched an arrow, and drew +with full strength, and let it go. Fast and straight +it went, and the wind screamed in the red feathers +as they flew; but faster the doe overleapt his aim, +and, spurning the stone beneath, down the rough-bouldered +gully sent it thundering, shivering to +fragments as it fell. Scarcely might the huntsman +escape death as the great mass swept past: but +when the danger was over he looked ahead, and saw +plainly, where the stone had once stood, a narrow +opening in the rock, and a clear gleam of moonlight +beyond.</p> + +<p>That way he went, and passing through, came +upon a green field, as full of flowers as a garden,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +duskily shining now, and with dark shadows in all +its folds. Round it in a great circle the rocks +made a high wall, so high that along their crest +forest-trees as they clung to look over seemed but +as low-growing thickets against the sky.</p> + +<p>The huntsman's feet stumbled in shadow and +trod through thick grass into a quick-flowing +streamlet that ran through the narrow way by +which he had entered. He threw himself down +into its cool bed, and drank till he could drink no +more. When he rose he saw, a little way off, a +small dwelling-house of rough stone, moss-covered +and cosy, with a roof of wattles which had taken +root and pushed small shoots and clusters of grey +leaves through their weaving. Nature, and not +man, seemed there to have been building herself +an abode.</p> + +<p>Before the doorway ran the stream, a track of +white mist showing where it wound over the +meadow; and by its edge a beautiful maiden sat, +and was washing her milk-white feet and arms in +the wrinkling eddies.</p> + +<p>To the huntsman she became all at once the most +beautiful thing that the world contained; all the +spirit of the chase seemed to be in her blood, +and each little movement of her feet made his +heart jump for joy. "I have looked for you all +my life!" thought he, as he halted and gazed, +not daring to speak lest the lovely vision should +vanish, and the memory of it mock him for +ever.</p> + +<p>The beautiful maiden looked up from her washing. +"Why have you come here?" said she.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> + +<p>The huntsman answered her as he believed to +be the truth, "I have come because I love +you!"</p> + +<p>"No," she said, "you came because you wanted +to kill the white doe. If you wish to kill her, it +is not likely that you can love me."</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to kill the white doe!" cried +the huntsman; "I had not seen you when I wished +that. If you do not believe that I love you, take +my bow and shoot me to the heart; for I will +never go away from you now."</p> + +<p>At his word she took one of the arrows, looking +curiously at the red feathers, and to test the sharp +point she pressed it against her breast. "Have a +care!" cried the hunter, snatching it back. He +drew his breath sharply and stared. "It is strange," +he declared; "a moment ago I almost thought +that I saw the white doe."</p> + +<p>"If you stay here to-night," said the maiden, +"about midnight you will see the white doe go +by. Take this arrow, and have your bow ready, +and watch! And if to-morrow, when I return, +the arrow is still unused in your hand, I will believe +you when you say that you love me. And +you have only to ask, and I will do all that you +desire."</p> + +<p>Then she gave the huntsman food and drink and +a bed of ferns upon which to rest. "Sleep or wake," +said she as she parted from him; "if truly you +have no wish to kill the white doe, why should you +wake? Sleep!"</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to kill the white doe," said the +huntsman. Yet he could not sleep: the memory<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +of the one wild creature which had escaped him +stung his blood. He looked at the arrow which he +held ready, and grew thirsty at the sight of it. +"If I see, I must shoot!" cried his hunter's heart. +"If I see, I must not shoot!" cried his soul, +smitten with love for the beautiful maiden, and +remembering her word. "Yet, if I see, I know I +must shoot—so shall I lose all!" he cried as midnight +approached, and the fever of long waiting +remained unassuaged.</p> + +<p>Then with a sudden will he drew out his hunting-knife, +and scored the palms of his two hands +so deeply that he could no longer hold his bow or +draw the arrow upon the string. "Oh, fair one, +I have kept my word to you!" he cried as midnight +came. "The bow and the arrow are both +ready."</p> + +<p>Looking forth from the threshold by which he +lay, he saw pale moonlight and mist making a white +haze together on the outer air. The white doe +ran by, a body of silver; like quicksilver she ran. +And the huntsman, the passion to slay rousing his +blood, caught up arrow and bow, and tried in vain +with his maimed hands to notch the shaft upon the +string.</p> + +<p>The beautiful creature leapt lightly by, between +the curtains of moonbeam and mist; and as she went +she sprang this way and that across the narrow +streamlet, till the pale shadows hid her altogether +from his sight. "Ah! ah!" cried the huntsman, +"I would have given all my life to be able to shoot +then! I am the most miserable man alive; but +to-morrow I will be the happiest. What a thing is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +love, that it has known how to conquer in me even +my hunter's blood!"</p> + +<p>In the morning the beautiful maiden returned; +she came sadly. "I gave you my word," said she: +"here I am. If you have the arrow still with you +as it was last night, I will be your wife, because +you have done what never huntsman before was +able to do—not to shoot at the white doe when +it went by."</p> + +<p>The huntsman showed her the unused arrow; +her beauty made him altogether happy. He caught +her in his arms, and kissed her till the sun grew high. +Then she brought food and set it before him; and +taking his hand, "I am your wife," said she, "and +with all my heart my will is to serve you faithfully. +Only, if you value your happiness, do not shoot ever +at the white doe." Then she saw that there was +blood on his hand, and her face grew troubled. She +saw how the other hand also was wounded. "How +came this?" she asked; "dear husband, you were +not so hurt yesterday."</p> + +<p>And the huntsman answered, "I did it for fear +lest in the night I should fail, and shoot at the white +doe when it came."</p> + +<p>Hearing that, his wife trembled and grew white. +"You have tricked us both," she said, "and have not +truly mastered your desire. Now, if you do not +promise me on your life and your soul, or whatever +is dearer, never to shoot at a white doe, sorrow will +surely come of it. Promise me, and you shall +certainly be happy!"</p> + +<p>So the huntsman promised faithfully, saying, +"On your life, which is dearer to me than my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +own, I give you my word to keep that it shall +be so." Then she kissed him, and bound up his +wounds with healing herbs; and to look at her all +that day, and for many days after, was better to +him than all the hunting the king's forest could +provide.</p> + +<p>For a whole year they lived together in perfect +happiness, and two children came to bless their +union—a boy and a girl born at the same hour. +When they were but a month old they could run; +and to see them leaping and playing before the door +of their home made the huntsman's heart jump for +joy. "They are forest-born, and they come of a +hunter's blood; that is why they run so early, and +have such limbs," said he.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered his wife, "that is partly why. +When they grow older they will run so fast—do +not mistake them for deer if ever you go +hunting."</p> + +<p>No sooner had she said the word than the +memory of it, which had slept for a whole year, +stirred his blood. The scent of the forest blew +up through the rocky ravine, which he had never +repassed since the day when he entered, and he +laid his hands thoughtfully on the weapons he no +longer used.</p> + +<p>Such restlessness took hold of him all that day +that at night he slept ill, and, waking, found himself +alone with no wife at his side. Gazing about the +room, he saw that the cradle also was empty. +"Why," he wondered, "have they gone out +together in the middle of the night?"</p> + +<p>Yet he gave it little more thought, and turning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +over, fell into a troubled sleep, and dreamed of +hunting and of the white doe that he had seen a year +before stooping to drink among the red leaves that +covered the forest pool.</p> + +<p>In the morning his wife was by his side, and the +little ones lay asleep upon their crib. "Where +were you," he asked, "last night? I woke, and you +were not here."</p> + +<p>His wife looked at him tenderly, and sighed. +"You should shut your eyes better," said she. "I +went out to see the white doe, and the little ones +came also. Once a year I see her; it is a thing I +must not miss."</p> + +<p>The beauty of the white doe was like strong +drink to his memory: the beautiful limbs that +had leapt so fast and escaped—they alone, of all +the wild life in the world, had conquered him. +"Ah!" he cried, "let me see her, too; let +her come tame to my hand, and I will not hurt +her!"</p> + +<p>His wife answered: "The heart of the white +doe is too wild a thing; she cannot come tame +to the hand of any hunter under heaven. Sleep +again, dear husband, and wake well! For a whole +year you have been sufficiently happy; the white +doe would only wound you again in your two +hands."</p> + +<p>When his wife was not by, the hunter took the two +children upon his knee, and said, "Tell me, what +was the white doe like? what did she do? and what +way did she go?"</p> + +<p>The children sprang off his knee, and leapt to and +fro over the stream. "She was like this," they cried,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +"and she did this, and this was the way she went!" +At that the hunter drew his hand over his brow. +"Ah," he said, "I seemed then almost to see the +white doe."</p> + +<p>Little peace had he from that day. Whenever +his wife was not there he would call the +little ones to him, and cry, "Show me the white +doe and what she did." And the children would +leap and spring this way and that over the little +stream before the door, crying, "She was like +this, and she did this, and this was the way she +went!"</p> + +<p>The huntsman loved his wife and children with +a deep affection, yet he began to have a dread +that there was something hidden from his eyes +which he wished yet feared to know. "Tell me," +he cried one day, half in wrath, when the fever +of the white doe burned more than ever in his +blood, "tell me where the white doe lives, and +why she comes, and when next. For this time I +must see her, or I shall die of the longing that +has hold of me!" Then, when his wife would +give no answer, he seized his bow and arrows and +rushed out into the forest, which for a whole year +had not known him, slaying all the red deer he +could find.</p> + +<p>Many he slew in his passion, but he brought none +of them home, for before the end a strange discovery +came to him, and he stood amazed, dropping the +haunch which he had cut from his last victim. "It +is a whole year," he said to himself, "that I have not +tasted meat; I, a hunter, who love only the meat +that I kill!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> + +<p>Returning home late, he found his wife troubling +her heart over his long absence. "Where have you +been?" she asked him, and the question inflamed +him into a fresh passion.</p> + +<p>"I have been out hunting for the white doe," he +cried; "and she carries a spot in her side where some +day my arrow must enter. If I do not find her I +shall die!"</p> + +<p>His wife looked at him long and sorrowfully; +then she said: "On your life and soul be it, and on +mine also, that your anger makes me tell what I +would have kept hidden. It is to-night that she +comes. Now it remains for you to remember your +word once given to me!"</p> + +<p>"Give it back to me!" he cried; "it is my fate +to finish the quest of the white doe."</p> + +<p>"If I give it," said she, "your happiness goes +with it, and mine, and that of our children."</p> + +<p>"Give it back to me!" he said again; "I cannot +live unless I may master the white doe! If she will +come tame to my hand, no harm shall happen to +her."</p> + +<p>And when she denied him again, he gave her his +bow and arrows, and bade her shoot him to the heart, +since without his word rendered back to him he +could not live.</p> + +<p>Then his wife took both his hands and kissed +them tenderly, and with loud weeping quickly set +him free of his promise. "As well," said she, "ask +the hunter to go bound to the lion's den as the white +doe to come tame into your keeping; though she +loved you with all her heart, you could not look at +her and not be her enemy." She gazed on him with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +full affection, and sighed deeply. "Lie down for +a little," she said, "and rest; it is not till midnight +that she comes. When she comes I will +wake you."</p> + +<p>She took his head in her hands and set it upon her +knee, making him lie down. "If she will come and +stand tame to my hand," he said again, "then I will +do her no harm."</p> + +<p>After a while he fell asleep; and, dreaming of +the white doe, started awake to find it was already +midnight, and the white doe standing there before +him. But as soon as his eyes lighted on her they +kindled with such fierce ardour that she trembled +and sprang away out of the door and across the +stream. "Ah, ah, white doe, white doe!" cried +the wind in the feathers of the shaft that flew after +her.</p> + +<p>Just at her leaping of the stream the arrow touched +her; and all her body seemed to become a mist +that dissolved and floated away, broken into thin +fragments over the fast-flowing stream.</p> + +<p>By the hunter's side his wife lay dead, with an +arrow struck into her heart. The door of the house +was shut; it seemed to be only an evil dream from +which he had suddenly awakened. But the arrow +gave real substance to his hand: when he drew it +out a few true drops of blood flowed after. Suddenly +the hunter knew all he had done. "Oh, +white doe, white doe!" he cried, and fell down with +his face to hers.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 299px;"> +<img src="images/gs08.png" width="299" height="500" alt="White doe" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>At the first light of dawn he covered her with +dry ferns, that the children might not see how +she lay there dead. "Run out," he cried to them,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +"run out and play! Play as the white doe used +to do!" And the children ran out and leapt this +way and that across the stream, crying, "She was +like this, and she did this, and this was the way +she went!"</p> + +<p>So while they played along the banks of the +stream, the hunter took up his beautiful dead wife +and buried her. And to the children he said, +"Your mother has gone away; when the white doe +comes she will return also."</p> + +<p>"She was like this," they cried, laughing and +playing, "and she did this, and this was the way +she went!" And all the time as they played he +seemed to see the white doe leaping before him in +the sunlight.</p> + +<p>That night the hunter lay sleepless on his bed, +wishing for the world to end; but in the crib by +his side the two children lay in a sound slumber. +Then he saw plainly in the moonlight, the white doe +with a red mark in her side, standing still by the +doorway. Soon she went to where the young ones +were lying, and, as she touched the coverlet softly +with her right fore-foot, all at once two young +fawns rose up from the ground and sprang away +into the open, following where the white doe +beckoned them.</p> + +<p>Nor did they ever return. For the rest of his +life the huntsman stayed where they left him, a +sorrowful and lonely man. In the grave where +lay the woman's form he had slain he buried his +bow and arrows far from the sight of the sun or +the reach of his own hand; and coming to the place +night by night, he would watch the mists and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +moonrise, and cry, "White doe, white doe, will +you not some day forgive me?" and did not know +that she had forgiven him then when, before she died, +she kissed his two hands and made him sleep for +the last time with his head on her knee.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE MOON-STROKE</h2> + + +<p>IN the hollow heart of an old tree a Jackdaw +and his wife had made themselves a nest. As +soon as the mother of his eggs had finished +laying, she sat waiting patiently for something to +come of it. One by one five mouths poked out of +the shells, demanding to be fed; so for weeks the +happy couple had to be continually in two places +at once searching for food to satisfy them.</p> + +<p>Presently the wings of the young ones grew +strong; they could begin to fly about; and the +parents found time for a return to pleasuring and +curiosity-hunting. They began gathering in a +wise assortment of broken glass and chips of platter +to grace the corners of their dwelling. All but the +youngest Jackdaw were enchanted with their unutterable +beauty and value; they were never tired of +quarrelling over the possession and arrangement +of them.</p> + +<p>"But what are they for?" asked the youngest, +a perverse bird who kept himself apart from the +rest, and took no share in their daily squabblings.</p> + +<p>The mother-bird said: "They are beautiful, +and what God intended for us: therefore they +must be true. We may not see the use of them +yet, but no doubt some day they will come true."</p> + +<p>The little Jackdaw said: "Their corners scratch +me when I want to go to sleep; they are far worse +than crumbs in the bed. All the other birds do +without them—why should not we?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That is what distinguishes us from the other +birds!" replied the Janedaw, and thanked her +stars that it was so.</p> + +<p>"I wish we could sing!" sighed the littlest +young Jackdaw.</p> + +<p>"Babble, babble!" replied his mother angrily.</p> + +<p>And then, as it was dinner-time, he forgot his +grief, as they all said grace and fell-to.</p> + +<p>One evening the old Jackdaw came home very +late, carrying something that burned bright and +green, like an evening star; all the nest shone where +he set it down.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of that for a discovery?" +he said to the Janedaw.</p> + +<p>"Think?" she said; "I can't. Some of it +looks good to eat; but that fire-patch at the end +would burn one's inside out."</p> + +<p>Presently the Jackdaw family settled itself down +to sleep; only the youngest one sat up and watched. +Now he had seen something beautiful. Was it going +to come true? Its light was like the song of the +nightingale in the leaves overhead: it glowed, and +throbbed, and grew strong, flooding the whole place +where it lay.</p> + +<p>Soon, in the silence, he heard a little wail of +grief: "Why have they carried me away here," +sighed the glow-worm, "out of the tender grass that +loves the ground?"</p> + +<p>The littlest Jackdaw listened with all his heart. +Now something at last was going to become true, +without scratching his legs and making him feel as +though crumbs were in his bed.</p> + +<p>A little winged thing came flying down to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +green light, and two voices began crying together—the +glow-worm and its mate.</p> + +<p>"They have carried you away?"</p> + +<p>"They have carried me away; up here I shall +die!"</p> + +<p>"I am too weak to lift you," said the one with +wings; "you will stay here, and you will die!" +Then they cried yet more.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," thought the Jackdaw, "that +as soon as the beautiful becomes true, God does +not intend it to be for us." He got up softly from +among his brothers. "I will carry you down," he +said. And without more ado, he picked it up and +carried it down out of the nest, and laid it in the +long grass at the foot of the tree.</p> + +<p>Overhead the nightingale sang, and the full moon +shone; its rays struck down on the little Jackdaw's +head.</p> + +<p>For a bird that is not a nightingale to wake up +and find its head unprotected under the rays of a +full moon is serious: there and then he became +moon-struck. He went back into bed; but he was +no longer the same little Jackdaw. "Oh, I wish +I could sing!" he thought; and not for hours +could he get to sleep.</p> + +<p>In the morning, when the family woke up, the +beautiful and the true was gone. The father Jackdaw +thought he must have swallowed it in his sleep.</p> + +<p>"If you did," said his wife, "there'll be a smell +of burnt feathers before long!"</p> + +<p>But the littlest Jackdaw said, "It came true, and +went away, because it was never intended for us."</p> + +<p>Now some days after this the old Jackdaw again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +came carrying something that shone like an evening +star—a little spike of gold with a burning +emerald set in the end of it. "And what do you +think of that?" said he to his wife.</p> + +<p>"I daren't come near it," she answered, "for +fear it should burn me!"</p> + +<p>That night the little Jackdaw lay awake, while +all the others slept, waiting to hear the green stone +break out into sorrow, and to see if its winged mate +would come seeking it. But after hours had gone, +and nothing stirred or spoke, he slipped softly out +of the nest, and went down to search for the poor +little winged mate who must surely be about somewhere.</p> + +<p>And now, truly, among the grasses and flowers +he heard something sobbing and sighing; a little +winged thing darted into sight and out again, +searching the ground like a dragon-fly at quest. +And all the time, amid the darting and humming of +its wings, came sobbing and wringing of hands.</p> + +<p>The young Jackdaw called: "Little wings, +what have you lost? Is it not a spike with a green +light at the end of it?"</p> + +<p>"My wand, my wand!" cried the fairy, beside +herself with grief. "Just about sunset I was asleep +in an empty wren's nest, and when I woke up my +wand was gone!"</p> + +<p>Then the little Jackdaw, being moon-struck, and +not knowing the value of things, flew up to the +nest and brought back the fairy her wand.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she cried, "you have saved my life!" +And she thanked the Jackdaw till he grew quite +modest and shy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 309px;"> +<img src="images/gs09.png" width="309" height="500" alt="In a garden" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What is it for? What can you do with it?" +he asked.</p> + +<p>"With this," she answered, "I can make anything +beautiful come true! I can give you whatever +you ask; you have but to ask, and you shall +have."</p> + +<p>Then the little Jackdaw, being moon-struck, and +not knowing the value of things, said, "Oh, if I +could only sing like a nightingale!"</p> + +<p>"You can!" said the fairy, waving her wand +but once; and immediately something like a +melodious sneeze flew into his head and set it +shaking.</p> + +<p>"Chiou! chiou! True-true-true-true! Jug! +jug! Oh, beautiful! beautiful!" His beak went +dabbling in the sweet sound, rippling it this way +and that, spraying it abroad out of his blissful heart +as a jewel throws out its fires.</p> + +<p>The fairy was gone; but the little Jackdaw +sprang up into the high elm, and sang on endlessly +through the whole night.</p> + +<p>At dawn he stopped, and looking down, there +he saw the family getting ready for breakfast, and +wondering what had become of him.</p> + +<p>Just as they were saying grace he flew in, his +little heart beating with joy over his new-found +treasure. What a jewel of a voice he had: better +than all the pieces of glass and chips of platter lying +down there in the nest! As soon as the parent-birds +had finished grace, he lifted his voice and +thanked God that the thing he had wished for had +become true.</p> + +<p>None of them understood what he said, but they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +paid him plenty of attention. All his brothers and +sisters put up their heads and giggled, as the young +do when one of their number misbehaves.</p> + +<p>"Don't make that noise!" said his mother; +"it's not decent!"</p> + +<p>"It's low!" said the father-bird.</p> + +<p>The littlest young Jackdaw was overwhelmed +with astonishment. When he tried to explain, his +unseemly melodies led to his immediate expulsion +from the family circle. Such noises, he was told, +could only be made in private; when he had quite +got over them he might come back,—but not until.</p> + +<p>He never got over them; so he never came back. +For a few days he hid himself in different trees of +the garden, and sang the praises of sorrow; but his +family, though they comprehended him not, recognised +his note, and came searching him with beak +and claw, and drove him out so as not to have him +near them committing such scandalous noises to the +ears of the public.</p> + +<p>"He lies in his throat!" said the old Jackdaw. +"Everything he says he garbles. If he is our son +he must have been hatched on the wrong side of +the nest!"</p> + +<p>After that, wherever he went, all the birds jeered +at and persecuted him. Even the nightingales +would not listen to his brotherly voice. They made +fun of his black coat, and called him a Nonconformist +without a conscience. "All this has come +about," thought he, "because God never meant +anything beautiful to come true."</p> + +<p>One day a man who saw him and heard him singing, +caught him, and took him round the world in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +cage for show. The value of him was discovered. +Great crowds came to see the little Jackdaw, and to +hear him sing. He was described now as the +"Amphabulous Philomel, or the Mongrel-Minstrel"; +but it gave him no joy.</p> + +<p>Before long he had become what we call tame—that +is to say, his wings had been clipped; he was +allowed out of his cage, because he could no longer +fly away, and he sang when he was told, because he +was whipped if he did not.</p> + +<p>One day there was a great crowd round the travelling +booth where he was on view: the showman had +a new wonder which he was about to show to the +people. He took the little Jackdaw out of his cage, +and set him to perch upon his shoulder, while he +busied himself over something which he was taking +carefully out of ever so many boxes and coverings.</p> + +<p>The Jackdaw's sad eye became attracted by a +splendid scarf-pin that the showman wore—a gold +pin set with a tiny emerald that burned like fire. +The bird thought, "Now if only the beautiful could +become true!"</p> + +<p>And now the showman began holding up a small +glass bottle for the crowd to stare into. The +people were pushing this way and that to see what +might be there.</p> + +<p>At the bottom sat the little fairy, without her +wand, weeping and beating her hands on the glass.</p> + +<p>The showman was so proud he grew red in the +face, and ran shouting up and down the plank, +shaking and turning the bottle upside down now and +then, so as to make the cabined fairy use her wings, +and buzz like a fly against the glass.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Jackdaw waggled unsteadily at his perch on +the man's shoulder. "Look at him!" laughed someone +in the crowd, "he's going to steal his master's +scarf-pin."</p> + +<p>"Ho, ho, ho!" shouted the showman. "See +this bird now! See the marvellous mongrel nature +of the beast! Who tells me he's only a nightingale +painted black?"</p> + +<p>The people laughed the more at that, for there +was a fellow in the crowd looking sheepish. The +Jackdaw had drawn out the scarf-pin, and held it +gravely in its beak, looking sideways with cunning +eyes. He was wishing hard. All the crowd laughed +again.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the showman's hand gave a jerk, the +bottle slipped from his hold and fell, shivering itself +upon the ground.</p> + +<p>There was a buzz of wings—the fairy had escaped.</p> + +<p>"The beautiful is coming true," thought the +Jackdaw, as he yielded to the fairy her wand, and +found, suddenly, that his wings were not clipped +after all.</p> + +<p>"What more can I do for you?" asked the fairy, +as they flew away together. "You gave me back my +wand; I have given you back your wings."</p> + +<p>"I will not ask anything," said the little Jackdaw; +"what God intends will come true."</p> + +<p>"Let me take you up to the moon," said the +fairy. "All the Jackdaws up there sing like nightingales."</p> + +<p>"Why is that?" asked the little Jackdaw.</p> + +<p>"Because they are all moon-struck," she answered.</p> + +<p>"And what is it to be moon-struck?" he asked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Surely you should know, if anyone!" laughed +the fairy. "To see things beautifully, and not as +they are. On the moon you will be able to do that +without any difficulty."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said the little Jackdaw, "now I know at +last that the beautiful is going to come true!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE GENTLE COCKATRICE</h2> + + +<p>FAR above the terraces of vine, where the goat +pastures ended and the rocks began, the eye +could take a clear view over the whole plain. +From that point the world below spread itself out +like a green map, and the only walls one could see +were the white flanks and tower of the cathedral +rising up from the grey roofs of the city; as for the +streets, they seemed to be but narrow foot-tracks +on which people appeared like ants walking.</p> + +<p>This was the view of the town which Beppo, the +son of the common hangman, loved best. It was +little pleasure to him to be down there, where all the +other lads drove him from their play: for the hangman +had had too much to do with the fathers and +brothers of some of them, and his son was not popular. +When there was a hanging they would rush off to +the public square to see it; afterwards they made it +their sport to play at hanging Beppo, if by chance +they could catch him; and that play had a way at +times of coming uncomfortably near to reality.</p> + +<p>Beppo did not himself go to the square when his +father's trade was on; the near view did not please +him. Perched on the rocky hillside, he would look +down upon a gathering of black specks, where two +others stood detached upon a space in their midst, +and would know that there his father was hanging +a man.</p> + +<p>Sometimes it was more than one, and that made +Beppo afraid. For he knew that for every man that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +he hanged his father took a dram to give him courage +for the work; and if there were several poor fellows +to be cast off from life, the hangman was not pleasant +company afterwards for those very near and dear +to him.</p> + +<p>It happened one day that the hangman was to +give the rope to five fellows, the most popular and +devil-may-care rakes and roysterers in the whole +town. Beppo was up very early that morning, +and at the first streak of light had dropped himself +over the wall into the town ditch, and was away for +the open country and the free air of the hills; for +he knew that neither at home nor in the streets +would life be worth living for a week after, because of +all the vengeances that would fall on him.</p> + +<p>Therefore he had taken from the home larder a +loaf of bread and a clump of dried figs; and with +these hoped to stand the siege of a week's solitude +rather than fall in with the hard dealings of his own +kind. He knew a cave, above where the goats found +pasture, out of which a little red, rusty water +trickled; there he thought to make himself a castle +and dream dreams, and was sure he would be happy +enough, if only he did not grow afraid.</p> + +<p>Beppo had discovered the cave one day from seeing +a goat push out through a thicket of creepers on +the side of the hill; and, hidden under their leaves, +he had found it a wonderful, cool refuge from the +heat of summer noons. Now, as he entered, the +place struck very cold; for it was early spring, and +the earth was not yet warmed through with the +sun. So he set himself to gather dead grass, and +briers, and tufts of goat's hair and from farther<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +down the hillside the wood of a ruined goat-paddock, +till he had a great store of fuel at hand. He worked +all day like a squirrel for its winter hoard; and as +his pile mounted he grew less and less afraid of the +cave where he meant to live.</p> + +<p>Seeing so large a heap of stuff ready for the feeding +of his fire, he began to rise to great heights in his +own imagination. First he had been a poor outlaw, +a mere sheep-stealer hiding from men's clutches; +then he became a robber-chief; and at last he was +no less than the king of the mountains.</p> + +<p>"This mountain is all caves," he said to himself, +"and all the caves are full of gold; and I am the +king to whom it all belongs."</p> + +<p>In the evening Beppo lighted his fire, in the far +back of his cave, where its light would not be seen, +and sat down by its warmth to eat dried figs and +bread and drink brackish water. To-morrow he +meant to catch a kid and roast it and eat it. Why +should he ever go home again? Kid was good—he +did not get that to eat when he was at home; +and now in the streets the boys must be looking for +him to play at their cruel game of hanging. Why +should he go back at all?</p> + +<p>The fire licked its way up the long walls of the +cavern; slowly the warmth crept round on all sides. +The rock where Beppo laid his hand was no longer +damp and cold; he made himself a bed of the dried +litter in a niche close to the fire, laid his head on a +smooth knob of stone, and slept. But even in his +sleep he remembered his fire, dreading to awake and +find himself in darkness. Every time the warmth of +it diminished he raised himself and put on more fuel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 286px;"> +<img src="images/gs10.png" width="286" height="500" alt="Gathering" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the morning—for faint blue edges of light +marking the ridged throat of the cavern told that +outside the day had begun—he woke fully, and the +fire still burned. As he lay, his pillow of rock felt +warm and almost soft; and, strangely enough, through +it there went a beating sound as of blood. This must +be his own brain that he heard; but he lifted his +head, and where he laid his hand could feel a slow +movement of life going on under it. Then he stared +hard at the overhanging rock, and surely it heaved +softly up and down, like some great thing breathing +slowly in its sleep.</p> + +<p>Yet he could make out no shape at all till, having +run to the other side of the cave, he turned to see +the whole face of the rock which seemed to be +taking on life. Then he realised very gradually +what looked to be the throat and jaws of a great +monster lying along the ground, while all the rest +passed away into shadow or lay buried under masses +of rock, which closed round it like a mould. Below +the nether-jaw bone the flames licked and caressed +the throat; and the tough, mud-coloured hide +ruffled and smoothed again as if grateful for the +heat that tickled its way in.</p> + +<p>Very slowly indeed the great Cockatrice, which +had lain buried for thousands of years, out of reach +of the light or heat of the sun, was coming round +again to life. That was Beppo's own doing, and +for some very curious reason he was not afraid.</p> + +<p>His heart was uplifted. "This is my cave," +thought he, "so this must be my Cockatrice! +Now I will ride out on him and conquer the world. +I shall be really a king then!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> + +<p>He guessed that it must have been the warmth +which had waked the Cockatrice, so he made fires +all down the side of the cave; wherever the great +flank of the Cockatrice seemed to show, there he +lighted a fire to put heat into the slumbering body +of the beast.</p> + +<p>"Warm up, old fellow," he cried; "thaw out, I +tell you! I want you to talk to me."</p> + +<p>Presently the mouth of the Cockatrice unsealed +itself, and began to babble of green fields. "Hay—I +want hay!" said the Cockatrice; "or grass. +Does the world contain any grass?"</p> + +<p>Beppo went out, and presently returned with an +armful. Very slowly the Cockatrice began munching +the fresh fodder, and Beppo, intent on feeding +him back to life, ran to and fro between the hillside +and the cavern till he was exhausted and could +go no more. He sat down and watched the Cockatrice +finish his meal.</p> + +<p>Presently, when the monster found that his fodder +was at an end, he puckered a great lid, and far up +aloft in the wall of the cave flashed out a green eye.</p> + +<p>If all the emeralds in the world were gathered +together, they might shine like that; if all the +glow-worms came up out of the fields and put their +tails together, they might make as great an orb of +fire. All the cave looked as green as grass when +the eye of the Cockatrice lighted on it; and Beppo, +seeing so mighty an optic turning its rays on him, +felt all at once shrivelled and small, and very weak +at the knees.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Cockatrice," he said, in a monstrous sad +voice, "I hope I haven't hurt you!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + +<p>"On the contrary," said the Cockatrice, "you +have done me much good. What are you going +to do with me now?"</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> do with <i>you?</i>" cried Beppo, astonished at +so wild a possibility offering to come true. "I +would like to get you out, of course—but can +I?"</p> + +<p>"I would like that dearly also!" said the +Cockatrice.</p> + +<p>"But how can I?" inquired Beppo.</p> + +<p>"Keep me warm and feed me," returned the +monster. "Presently I shall be able to find out +where my tail is. When I can move that I shall +be able to get out."</p> + +<p>Beppo undertook whatever the Cockatrice told +him—it was so grand to have a Cockatrice of his +own. But it was a hard life, stoking up fires day +and night, and bringing the Cockatrice the fodder +necessary to replenish his drowsy being. When +Beppo was quite tired out he would come and lay +his head against the monster's snout: and the +Cockatrice would open a benevolent eye and look +at him affectionately.</p> + +<p>"Dear Cockatrice," said the boy one day, "tell +me about yourself, and how you lived and what +the world was like when you were free!"</p> + +<p>"Do you see any green in my eye?" said the +Cockatrice.</p> + +<p>"I do, indeed!" said Beppo. "I never saw +anything so green in all the world."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, then!" said the Cockatrice. +"Climb up and look in, and you will see what the +world was like when I was young."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> + +<p>So Beppo climbed and scrambled, and slipped +and clung, till he found himself on the margin of +a wonderful green lake, which was but the opening +into the whole eye of the Cockatrice.</p> + +<p>And as soon as Beppo looked, he had lost his +heart for ever to the world he saw there. It was +there, quite real before him: a whole world full +of living and moving things—the world before the +trouble of man came to it.</p> + +<p>"I see green hills, and fields, and rocks, and +trees," cried Beppo, "and among them a lot of +little Cockatrices are playing!"</p> + +<p>"They were my brothers and sisters; I remember +them," said the Cockatrice. "I have them all in +my mind's eye. Call them—perhaps they will +come and talk to you; you will find them very +nice and friendly."</p> + +<p>"They are too far off," said Beppo, "they +cannot hear me."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes," murmured the Cockatrice, "memory +is a wonderful thing!"</p> + +<p>When Beppo came down again he was quite +giddy, and lost in wonder and joy over the beautiful +green world the Cockatrice had shown him. "I +like that better than this!" said he.</p> + +<p>"So do I," said the Cockatrice. "But perhaps, +when my tail gets free, I shall feel better."</p> + +<p>One morning he said to Beppo: "I do really +begin to feel my tail. It is somewhere away down +the hill yonder. Go and look out for me, and tell +me if you can see it moving."</p> + +<p>So Beppo went to the mouth of the cave, and +looked out towards the city, over all the rocks and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +ridges and goat-pastures and slopes of vine that lay +between.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, as he looked, the steeple of the cathedral +tottered, and down fell its weathercock and +two of its pinnacles, and half the chimneys of the +town snapped off their tops. All that distance +away Beppo could hear the terrified screams of the +inhabitants as they ran out of their houses in +terror.</p> + +<p>"I've done it!" cried the Cockatrice, from +within the cave.</p> + +<p>"But you mustn't do that!" exclaimed Beppo +in horror.</p> + +<p>"Mustn't do what?" inquired the Cockatrice.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't wag your tail! You don't know +what you are doing!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, master!" wailed the Cockatrice; "mayn't +I? For the first time this thousand years I have +felt young again."</p> + +<p>Beppo was pale and trembling with agitation +over the fearful effects of that first tail-wagging. +"You mustn't feel young!" said he.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" asked the Cockatrice, with a +piteous wail.</p> + +<p>"There isn't room in the world for a Cockatrice +to feel young nowadays," answered Beppo gravely.</p> + +<p>"But, dear little master and benefactor," cried +the Cockatrice, "what did you wake me up for?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," replied Beppo, terribly perplexed. +"I wouldn't have done it had I known +where your tail was."</p> + +<p>"Where is it?" inquired the Cockatrice, with +great interest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's right underneath the city where I mean +to be king," said Beppo; "and if you move it the +city will come down; and then I shall have nothing +to be king of."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said the Cockatrice sadly; "I will +wait!"</p> + +<p>"Wait for what?" thought Beppo. "Waiting +won't do any good." And he began to think what +he must do. "You lie quite still!" said he to the +Cockatrice. "Go to sleep, and I will still look +after you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, little master," said the Cockatrice, "but +it is difficult to go to sleep when the delicious +trouble of spring is in one's tail! How long does +this city of yours mean to stay there? I am so +alive that I find it hard to shut an eye!"</p> + +<p>"I will let the fires that keep you warm go down +for a bit," said Beppo, "and you mustn't eat so +much grass; then you will feel better, and your +tail will be less of an anxiety."</p> + +<p>And presently, when Beppo had let the fires +which warmed him get low, and had let time go +by without bringing him any fresh fodder, the +Cockatrice dozed off into an uneasy, prehistoric +slumber.</p> + +<p>Then Beppo, weeping bitterly over his treachery +to the poor beast which had trusted him, raked +open the fires and stamped out the embers; and, +leaving the poor Cockatrice to get cold, ran down +the hill as fast as he could to the city he had saved—the +city of which he meant to be king.</p> + +<p>He had been away a good many days, but the +boys in the street were still on the watch for him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +He told them how he had saved the city from the +earthquake; and they beat him from the city gate +to his father's door. He told his own father how +he had saved the city; and his father beat him +from his own door to the city gate. Nobody believed +him.</p> + +<p>He lay outside the town walls till it was dark, +all smarting with his aches and pains; then, when +nobody could see him, he got up and very miserably +made his way back to the cave on the hill. And +all the way he said to himself, "Shall I put fire +under the Cockatrice once more, and make him +shake the town into ruins? Would not that be +fine?"</p> + +<p>Inside, the cave was quite still and cold, and +when he laid his hand on the Cockatrice he could +not feel any stir or warmth in its bones. Yet when +he called, the Cockatrice just opened a slit of his +green eye and looked at him with trust and affection.</p> + +<p>"Dear Cockatrice," cried Beppo, "forgive me +for all the wrong I have done you!" And as he +clambered his way towards the green light, a great +tear rolled from under the heavy lid and flowed +past him like a cataract.</p> + +<p>"Dear Cockatrice," cried Beppo again when he +stood on the margin of the green lake, "take me to +sleep with you in the land where the Cockatrices +are at play, and keep quite still with your tail!"</p> + +<p>Slowly and painfully the Cockatrice opened his +eye enough to let Beppo slip through; and Beppo +saw the green world with its playful cockatrices +waiting to welcome him. Then the great eyelid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +shut down fast, and the waking days of the Cockatrice +were over. And Beppo's native town lay safe, +because he had learned from the Cockatrice to be +patient and gentle, and had gone to be king of a +green world where everything was harmless.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE GREEN BIRD</h2> + + +<p>THERE was once a Prince whose palace lay +in the midst of a wonderful garden. From +gate to gate was a day's journey, where +spring, summer, and autumn stayed captive; for +warm streams flowed, bordering its ways, through +marble conduits, and warm winds, driven by brazen +fans, blew over it out of great furnaces that were +kept alive through the cold of winter. And day by +day, when no sun shone in heaven, a ball of golden +fire rose from the palace roof and passed down to +the west, sustained invisibly in mid-air, and giving +light and warmth to the flowers below. And after +it by night went a lamp of silver flame, that changed +its quarters as the moon changes hers in heaven, and +threw a silver light over the lawns and the flowered +avenues.</p> + +<p>All these things were that the Prince might have +delight and beauty ever around him. To his eyes +summer was perpetual, without end, and nothing +died save to give out new life on the morrow. So +through many morrows he lived, and trod the beautiful +soft ways devised for him by cunning hands, and +did not know that there was winter, or cold, or +hunger to be borne in the world, for he never crossed +the threshold of his enchanted garden, but stayed +lapped in the luxury of its bright colours and soft +airs.</p> + +<p>One day he was standing by a bed of large white +bell-lilies. Their great bowls were full of water, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +inside among the yellow stamens gold fish went +darting to and fro. While he watched he saw, +mirrored in the water, the breast of a green bird +flying towards the trees of the garden.</p> + +<p>It had come from a far country surely, for its +shape and colour were strange to him; and the +most curious thing of all was that it carried its nest +in its beak.</p> + +<p>Its flight came keen as a sword's edge through +those bowery spaces, till its wings closed with a +shock that sent the golden fruit tumbling from +the branches where it had lodged: and through +the whole garden went a crashing sound as of soft +thunder.</p> + +<p>The Prince waited long, hoping to hear the bird +sing, but it hid itself silently among the thickest of +the leaves, and never moved or uttered a sound. He +went back to the palace a little sorry not to have +heard the green bird sing; "But, at least," he said +to himself, "I shall hear it to-morrow."</p> + +<p>That night he dreamed that something came and +tapped at his heart; and that his heart tapped back +saying, "Go away, for if I let you in there will be +sorrow!"</p> + +<p>In the morning on the window-sill he saw a green +feather lying; but as he opened the window a puff +of wind lifted it, and carried it high up into the air +and out of sight.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 304px;"> +<img src="images/gs11.png" width="304" height="500" alt="Sitting on a wall" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>All that day the Prince saw nothing of the Green +Bird, nor heard a note of its singing. "Strange," +thought he to himself, "I have never heard its song; +yet I know quite well somehow that it sings most +beautifully." At dusk, when the lilies began to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +close their globes around the gold fish and the yellow +stamens, he went back to the palace, and before long +to bed, and slept.</p> + +<p>Once more he heard in dreams someone come +tapping at his heart, and this time his heart said, +"Who is there?" Then a voice answered back, +"The Green Bird"; but his heart said, "Go away, +for if I let you in there will be sorrow!"</p> + +<p>Now it had been foretold of the Prince at his birth +that if he ever knew sorrow, his wealth, and his estate, +and his power would all go from him. Therefore +from his childhood he had been shut up in a beautiful +palace with miles and miles of enchanted gardens, +so that sorrow might not get near him; and it was +said that if ever sorrow came to him the palace and the +enchanted gardens would suddenly fall into ruin +and disappear, and he would be left standing alone +to beg his way through the world. Therefore it +was for this that his heart said in his dream, "Go +away, for if I let you in there will be sorrow!"</p> + +<p>In the morning a green feather lay on the window-sill; +but as he opened the window the wind took it +up and carried it away.</p> + +<p>So the next night, as soon as his attendants were +gone, the Prince got up softly and opening the window +called "Green Bird!"</p> + +<p>Then all at once he felt something warm against +his heart, and suddenly his heart began to ache: and +there was the green bird with its wings spread gently +about him, keeping time ever so softly to the beating +of his heart.</p> + +<p>Then the Prince said, "Beautiful Green Bird, +what have you brought me?" and the Green Bird<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +answered, "I have brought you dreams out of a +far-off country of things you never saw; if you +will come and sleep in my nest you shall dream +them."</p> + +<p>So the Prince went out by the window and along +the balcony, and so away into the garden and up +into the heart of the great tree where the Green +Bird had its nest. There he lay down, and the +Green Bird spread its wings over him, and he fell +fast asleep.</p> + +<p>Now as he slept he dreamed that the Green Bird +put in his hand three grains of seed saying, "Take +these and keep them till you come to the right place +to sow them in. And so soon as one is sown, go on +till you come to the place where the next must be +sown, following the signs which I shall tell you of. +Now the first you must not sow till you find yourself +in a white country, where the trees and the grass +are white." (And the Prince said in his heart, +"Where can I find that?") "And the second one +you must not sow till you see a thing like a tortoise +put out a small white hand." ("And where," said +the Prince, "can I meet with that wonder?") +"And when you have seen the second sprout up +through the ground, go on till you come again to a +land you had lost and the place where you first knew +sorrow." ("And what is sorrow?" said the Prince +to his heart.) "Then when you have sown the +third seed and watched it sprout you will know +perfect happiness, and will be able to hear the song +which I sing."</p> + +<p>Then the Green Bird lifted its wings and flew +away through the night; and out of the darkness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +came three notes that filled the Prince with wonderful +delight.</p> + +<p>But afterwards, when they ceased, came sorrow.</p> + +<p>Now, when the Prince woke he was in his own bed; +and he rose much puzzled by the dream which had +seemed so true. Then there came to him one of +his pages who said, "There was a strange bird flying +over the palace about dawn, and a watchman on +the high tower shot it; so I have brought it +for you to see." And as he spoke, the page +showed him the Green Bird lying dead between +his hands.</p> + +<p>The Prince took it without a word, and kissed it +before them all, afterwards burying it where the +white lilies full of gold fishes grew, wherein he had +first seen the image of its green breast fly. And +as he stood sorrowing, the garden faded before +his eyes, and a cold wind blew; and the palace +which had its foundations on happiness crumbled +away into ruin; and heaven came down kissing the +earth and making it white.</p> + +<p>He opened his hand and found in it three grains +of seed, and then he knew that some of his dream +was really coming to pass. For he saw the whole +world was turning white before his eyes, all the trees +and the grass; therefore he sowed the first grain of +seed over the little grave that he had made, and set +out over hill and dale to fulfil the dream that the +Green Bird had given him. "But the Green Bird +I shall see no more!" he said, and wept.</p> + +<p>For a year he went on through a waste and +desolate country, meeting no man, nor discovering +any sign. Till one day as he was coming down a mountain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +he saw at the bottom a hut with a round roof +like a great tortoise; and when he got quite near, +out of the door came a small white hand, palm upward, +feeling to know if it rained. All at once he +remembered the word of the Green Bird, and as he +dropped the second seed into the ground it seemed +to him that he heard again the three notes of its +song.</p> + +<p>A young girl looked out of the hut; "What do +you want?" she said when she saw the Prince. He +saw her eyes, how blue and smiling they were, and +it seemed as if he had dreamed of them once. "Let +me stay here for a little," he said, "and rest." "If +you will rest one day and work the next, you may," +she answered. So he rested that day, and the next +he worked at her bidding in a small patch of ground +that was before the hut.</p> + +<p>When the day was over and he had returned to +the hut for the night, he looked again at the young +girl, and seeing how beautiful she was, said, "Why +are you here all alone, with no one to protect you?" +And she answered, "I have come from my own +country, which is very far away, in search of a beautiful +Green Bird which while it was mine I loved +greatly, and which one day flew away promising to +return. When you came, something made me think +the bird was with you, but perhaps to-morrow it +will return." At that the Prince sighed in his heart, +for he knew that the bird was dead. Then also she +told him how in her own country she had been a +Princess; so now she from whom the Green Bird +had flown, and he to whom it had come, were living +there together like beggars in a hut.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> + +<p>For a whole year he toiled and waited, hoping for +the second seed to sprout; and at last one day, just +where he had planted it, he saw a little spring rising +out of the ground. When the Princess saw it, she +clapped her hands, "Oh," she cried, "it is the sign +I have waited for! If we follow it, it will take us +to the Green Bird." But the Prince sighed, for in +his heart he knew that the Green Bird was dead.</p> + +<p>Yet he let her take his hand, and they two went +on following the course of the spring till they came +to a wild desolate place full of ruins; and as soon as +they came to it the spring disappeared into the +ground.</p> + +<p>Then the Prince began to look about him, and saw +that he was standing once more in the land that he +had lost, above the very spot in the enchanted garden +where he had buried the Green Bird and sorrowed +over it. Then he stooped down, and set the last +grain of seed into the ground; and as he did so, surely +from below the soil came the three sweet notes of a +song! Then all at once the earth opened and out +of it grew a tree, tall and green and waving, and out +of the midst of the tree flew the Green Bird with its +nest in its beak.</p> + +<p>The sun was setting; in the east rose a full red +moon: grey mists climbed out of the grass. The +Bird sang and sang and sang; every note had the +splendour of palace-walls and towers, and gardens, +and falling fountains. The Princess ran fast and +let herself be caught in the Prince's arms while she +listened.</p> + +<p>Many times they hung together and kissed, and +all the time the Bird sang on.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I see the palace walls grow," said the Princess. +"They are high as the hills, and the garden covers +the valleys: and the sun and the moon lighten it." +And, in truth, round them a new palace had grown, +and the Green Bird was building his nest in the roof.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE MAN WHO KILLED THE CUCKOO</h2> + + +<p>ONCE upon a time there was a man who lived +in a small house with a large garden. He +made his living by gardening, while his wife +looked after the house. They were better off than +most of their neighbours, but they were an envious +couple who looked sourly over the hedge at all +who passed by, and took no man's advice about +anything.</p> + +<p>At the end of the garden stood a large pear-tree: +and one day the man was working in the +shade beneath it, when a cuckoo came and perched +itself on the topmost branch, crying "Cuckoo, +cuckoo!"</p> + +<p>The man looked up with a frown on his face, +and cried, "Get out of my tree, you noisy thing!" +But the cuckoo only sat and stared at the landscape, +going up and down on its two notes like a +musical see-saw.</p> + +<p>The man stooped down, and took up a clod of +earth and cast it at the cuckoo, which immediately +flew away.</p> + +<p>A neighbour who was passing at the time saw him, +and said, "It's ill-luck to drive away cuckoos: you +would be better not to do it again." "Do it +again?" cried the man. "If it comes into my tree +again I'll kill it!" "Nobody dares kill a cuckoo;" +replied the neighbour, "it's against Providence." +"I'll not only kill it, if it returns," exclaimed the +man in a fury, "but I'll eat it too!" "No, no,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +cried his neighbour, "you will think better of it. +Even the parson daren't kill a cuckoo." "Wait and +see if I don't better the parson, then!" growled the +man, as he turned to go on with his work; "just +wait and see!"</p> + +<p>All the day he heard the cuckoo crying about in +the field, now here, now there, but always somewhere +close at hand. It seemed to be making a mock of +him, for it always kept within sound, but never +returned to the tree. When he left off work for the +day, he went into the house and grumbled to his wife +about that everlasting cuckoo. "Did you see what +a big one it was?" said his wife. "I saw it as it sat +in our tree this morning." "It will make all the +bigger pie then," said the man, "if it comes +again."</p> + +<p>The next morning he had hardly begun to work, +when the bird came and settled on the pear-tree +over his head, and shouted "Cuckoo!"</p> + +<p>Then the man took up a great stone, which he had +by him ready, and aimed with all his might; his aim +was so true, that the stone hit the bird on the side +of the head, so that it fell down out of the tree into +the grass in front of his feet.</p> + +<p>"Wife," he shouted, "I've killed the cuckoo! +Come and carry it in, and cook it for my dinner." +"Oh, what a great fat one!" cried his wife, as she +ran and picked it up by the neck; "and heavy! +It feels as heavy as a turkey!"</p> + +<p>She laid it in her apron, and went and sat in the +doorway, and began plucking it, while her husband +went on with his work. Presently she called to him, +"Just look here at all these feathers! I never saw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +anything like it; there are enough to stuff a feather-bed!" +He looked round, and saw the ground all +covered with a great heap of feathers that had been +plucked from the bird: enough, as she said, for a +feather-bed.</p> + +<p>"This is a new discovery," cried he, "that a +cuckoo holds so many feathers. We can make our +fortunes in this way, wife—I going about killing +cuckoos, and you plucking them into feather-beds."</p> + +<p>Then his wife carried the cuckoo indoors, and set +it down to roast. But directly the spit began to +turn, the cat jumped up from before the front of +the fire, and ran away screaming.</p> + +<p>The smell of the roast came out to the man as he +worked in his garden. "How good it smells!" +said he. "Don't <i>you</i> touch it, wife! You mustn't +have a bit!" "I don't care if I don't," she +replied: for she had watched it as it went turning +on the spit; and up and down, up and down, it +kept moving its wings!</p> + +<p>When dinner-time came the man sat down, and +his wife dished up the bird, and set it upon the table +before him. He ate it so greedily that he ate it all—the +bones, and the back, and the head, and the wings, +and the legs down to the last claw.</p> + +<p>Then he pushed back his plate, and cried, "So +there's an end of him!" But just as he was about +saying that, a voice from inside of him called, +"Cuckoo! cuckoo! cuckoo!"</p> + +<p>"Oh my heart and liver!" cried the man. +"What's that!"</p> + +<p>Then his wife began laughing and jiggering at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +him. "It's because you were so greedy. If you +had given me half of that cuckoo this wouldn't have +happened. Now you see you are paid."</p> + +<p>"Cuckoo! cuckoo! cuckoo!" cried the voice +again from within.</p> + +<p>"What have I done to myself?" cried the man, +in an agony of terror. "What a poisonous noise +to come from a man's belly! I shall die of it, I +know I shall!"</p> + +<p>His wife only said, "See, then, what comes of +being greedy."</p> + +<p>He got up on to his feet, and looked down at his +empty plate: there was not a scrap left on it. Then +he put his hands to his sides, and shrieked, "I feel +as if a windmill were turning round inside me! +And I'm so light! Wife, hold me down—I'm going +off my feet!" And as he spoke, he swung sideway, +and began rising with a wobbling motion into the air. +His wife caught him by the head, while his feet swung +like the pendulum of a clock, and all the time a voice +inside him kept calling, "Cuckoo! cuckoo! cuckoo! +cuckoo!"</p> + +<p>Presently it seemed to the unfortunate man as if +the windmill had stopped, and he was able to strike +the ground with his feet once more. "Oh, blessed +Mother Earth!" he cried, and began rubbing it +up and down with his feet, and caressing it as if it +had been a pet animal. But his face had grown very +white.</p> + +<p>"Put me to bed," he said to his wife; and she put +him to bed on the top of the great feather-mattress +which she had made only that morning from the +cuckoo-pluckings.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> + +<p>The cuckoo kept him awake far into the night, +and his wife herself could get no sleep; but towards +morning he dozed off into a disturbed sort of +slumber, and began to dream.</p> + +<p>He felt his eyes turning inwards, so that he could +see into the middle of his body. And there sat the +cuckoo, like an unpleasant nestling, with great red +eyes staring at him, and the wound on its head burning +a blue flame. It seemed to grow and grow and +grow, dislocating his bones, and thrusting aside his +heart to make room for itself. Its wings seemed to +be sawing out his ribs, and its head was pushed far +up into his throat, where with its angry beak it +seemed reaching to peck out his eyes. "I will +torment you for ever," said the bird. "You shall +have no peace until you let me go. I am the King +of the Cuckoos; I will give you no rest. You will +be surprised at what I can do to you; even in your +despair you will be surprised." Then it drew down +its head and pecked his heart, so that he woke in +great pain. And as his eyes turned outwards he saw +that it was morning.</p> + +<p>"Wife," he said, before going out, "I feel as +though, if I went out, I might be carried away, like +a worm in a bird's beak. Fasten a chain round me, +and drive it with a stake into the ground, and let me +see if so I be able to work safely in my garden."</p> + +<p>So his wife did as he told her; but whenever he +caught hold of a spade the bird lifted him off his +feet, so that he could not drive it into the ground. +He wrung his hands and wailed, "Alas, alas! now +my occupation is gone, and my wife and I shall become +beggars!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> + +<p>The villagers came and looked over the hedge, +wagging their heads. "Ah, you are the man who +killed the cuckoo yesterday! and already you are +come to this!"</p> + +<p>Every day things got worse and worse. His wife +used to have to hold him down and feed him with +a spoon, for if he took up a knife to eat with, the bird +hurled him upon it so violently as to put him in +danger of his life. Also it kept him ceaselessly awake +with its cry, so that he was worn to a shadow.</p> + +<p>One day in the end of the month of June he heard +a change come in its horrible singing; instead of +crying "Cuckoo" as before, it now broke its note as +is the cuckoo's habit to do before it goes abroad for +the winter, and cried "Cuck-cuck-Cuckoo, cuck-cuck-Cuckoo!" +Some sort of a hope came into the +man's heart at that. "Presently it will be winter," +he thought to himself, "and the cuckoo must die +then, even if I have to eat ice and snow to make him! +if only I do not die first," he added, and groaned, for +he was now indeed but a shadow.</p> + +<p>Soon after this the cuckoo left off its crying altogether. +"Is he dead already?" thought the man. +All the other cuckoos had gone out of the country: +he grew quite happy with this new idea and began +to put on flesh.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 315px;"> +<img src="images/gs12.png" width="315" height="500" alt="On the wall" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>But one night, at the dead of night, the cuckoo +felt a longing to be in lands oversea come into its +wings. The man woke with a loud cry, and found +himself sailing along through the air with only the +stars overhead, and the feeling of a great windmill +inside him. And the cuckoo was crying with a new +note into the darkness: the cry it makes in far lands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +oversea which is never heard in this country at all: +a cry so strange and terrible and wonderful that we +have no word that will give the sound of it. This +man heard it, and at the sound his hair went quite +white with fright.</p> + +<p>When his wife woke up in the morning, her husband +was nowhere to be seen. "So!" she said to +herself, "the cuckoo has picked him up and thrown +him away somewhere; and I suppose he is dead. +Well, he was an uncomfortable husband to have; +and it all came of being greedy."</p> + +<p>She drew down the front blinds, and dressed herself +in widow's mourning all through the winter; and +the next spring told another man he might marry +her if he liked. The other man happened to like +the idea well enough, for there was a house and a nice +garden for anyone who would have her. So the +first fine day they went off to the Parson and got +married.</p> + +<p>It was a very fine day, and well on in spring: +and just as they were coming back from the church +they heard the note of a cuckoo.</p> + +<p>The widow-bride felt a cold shiver go down her +marrow. "It does make one feel queer," she said; +"that sound gave me quite a turn." "Hullo! +look at him up there!" cried the man. She +stared up, and there was her husband sailing through +the air, looking more of a shadow than ever, and very +miserable with the voice of the cuckoo calling across +the land from the inside of him.</p> + +<p>The cuckoo deposited him at his own doorstep in +front of the bridal couple.</p> + +<p>"O you miserable scare-crow!" said his wife,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +"whatever brought you back?" The unhappy +man pointed below the surface, and the shut-up +cuckoo spoke for him.</p> + +<p>"And here I find you marrying yourself to another!" +cried her returned spouse: but the other +man had shrunk away in disgust and disappeared, so +there was no more trouble with him.</p> + +<p>But the old trouble was as bad as ever, the cuckoo +was just as industrious in his cuckooings, and just +as untimely: and the man went on wearing himself +to a shadow with vexation and grief.</p> + +<p>So all the summer went by, till again the cuckoo +was heard to break its note into a double sound. +But this time, no glimmer of hope came to the man's +mind. "Tie me fast to the bed," he said sorrowfully +to his wife, "and keep me there, lest this demon +of a bird carry me away again as he did last year; a +thing which I could never survive a second time. +Nay, give me a sheath-knife to keep always with me, +for if he carry me away again I am resolved that he +or I shall die."</p> + +<p>So his wife gave him the sheath-knife, and by-and-by +the bird became very quiet, so that they almost +hoped he was dead from old age.</p> + +<p>But one night, at the dead of night, into the +birds wings came the longing to be once more in +lands oversea. He stretched out his wings, and the +man woke with a loud cry. And behold, there were +he and his wife, sailing along under the stars tied +into the feather-bed together, all complete and compact; +and inside him was the feeling of a great windmill +going round and round and round.</p> + +<p>Then in despair he drew out his sheath-knife and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +cut himself open like a haggis. And on a sudden out +flew the cuckoo, all plucked and bald and ready to +roast. At the very same moment the bed-ticking +burst, and away went the cuckoo with his feathers +trailing after him, uttering through the darkness +that strange terrible cry of the lands oversea.</p> + +<p>But the man and his wife and the empty bed-ticking, +they fell and they fell and they fell right +down, till they got to the bottom of the deep blue +sea; and there was an end of them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p> +<h2>A CHINESE FAIRY TALE</h2> + + +<p>TIKI-PU was a small grub of a thing; but he +had a true love of Art deep down in his soul. +There it hung mewing and complaining, +struggling to work its way out through the raw +exterior that bound it.</p> + +<p>Tiki-pu's master professed to be an artist: he +had apprentices and students, who came daily to +work under him, and a large studio littered about +with the performances of himself and his pupils. +On the walls hung also a few real works by the older +men, all long since dead.</p> + +<p>This studio Tiki-pu swept; for those who worked +in it he ground colours, washed brushes, and ran +errands, bringing them their dog chops and bird's +nest soup from the nearest eating-house whenever +they were too busy to go out to it themselves. He +himself had to feed mainly on the breadcrumbs +which the students screwed into pellets for their +drawings and then threw about upon the floor. It +was on the floor, also, that he had to sleep at night.</p> + +<p>Tiki-pu looked after the blinds, and mended the +paper window-panes, which were often broken when +the apprentices threw their brushes and mahl-sticks +at him. Also he strained rice-paper over the linen-stretchers, +ready for the painters to work on; and +for a treat, now and then, a lazy one would allow him +to mix a colour for him. Then it was that Tiki-pu's +soul came down into his finger-tips, and his heart +beat so that he gasped for joy. Oh, the yellows and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +the greens, and the lakes and the cobalts, and the +purples which sprang from the blending of them! +Sometimes it was all he could do to keep himself +from crying out.</p> + +<p>Tiki-pu, while he squatted and ground at the +colour-powders, would listen to his master lecturing +to the students. He knew by heart the names of +all the painters and their schools, and the name +of the great leader of them all who had lived and +passed from their midst more than three hundred +years ago; he knew that too, a name like the sound +of the wind, Wio-wani: the big picture at the end +of the studio was by him.</p> + +<p>That picture! To Tiki-pu it seemed worth all +the rest of the world put together. He knew, too, +the story which was told of it, making it as holy to +his eyes as the tombs of his own ancestors. The +apprentices joked over it, calling it "Wio-wani's +back-door," "Wio-wani's night-cap," and many +other nicknames; but Tiki-pu was quite sure, since +the picture was so beautiful, that the story must be +true.</p> + +<p>Wio-wani, at the end of a long life, had painted +it; a garden full of trees and sunlight, with high-standing +flowers and green paths, and in their midst +a palace. "The place where I would like to rest," +said Wio-wani, when it was finished.</p> + +<p>So beautiful was it then, that the Emperor himself +had come to see it; and gazing enviously at those +peaceful walks, and the palace nestling among the +trees, had sighed and owned that he too would be +glad of such a resting-place. Then Wio-wani stepped +into the picture, and walked away along a path till<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +he came, looking quite small and far-off, to a low +door in the palace wall. Opening it, he turned and +beckoned to the Emperor; but the Emperor did +not follow; so Wio-wani went in by himself, and +shut the door between himself and the world for +ever.</p> + +<p>That happened three hundred years ago; but +for Tiki-pu the story was as fresh and true as if it +had happened yesterday. When he was left to himself +in the studio, all alone and locked up for the +night, Tiki-pu used to go and stare at the picture till +it was too dark to see, and at the little palace with the +door in its wall by which Wio-wani had disappeared +out of life. Then his soul would go down into his +finger-tips, and he would knock softly and fearfully +at the beautifully painted door, saying, "Wio-wani, +are you there?"</p> + +<p>Little by little in the long-thinking nights, and the +slow early mornings when light began to creep back +through the papered windows of the studio, Tiki-pu's +soul became too much for him. He who could +strain paper, and grind colours, and wash brushes, +had everything within reach for becoming an artist, +if it was the will of Fate that he should be one.</p> + +<p>He began timidly at first, but in a little while he +grew bold. With the first wash of light he was up +from his couch on the hard floor and was daubing +his soul out on scraps, and odds-and-ends, and stolen +pieces of rice-paper.</p> + +<p>Before long the short spell of daylight which +lay between dawn and the arrival of the apprentices +to their work did not suffice him. It took him so +long to hide all traces of his doings, to wash out the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +brushes, and rinse clean the paint-pots he had used, +and on the top of that to get the studio swept and +dusted, that there was hardly time left him in which +to indulge the itching of his fingers.</p> + +<p>Driven by necessity, he became a pilferer of +candle-ends, picking them from their sockets in the +lanterns which the students carried on dark nights. +Now and then one of these would remember that, +when last used, his lantern had had a candle in it, +and would accuse Tiki-pu of having stolen it. "It +is true," he would confess; "I was hungry—I have +eaten it." The lie was so probable, he was believed +easily, and was well beaten accordingly. Down in +the ragged linings of his coat Tiki-pu could hear the +candle-ends rattling as the buffeting and chastisement +fell upon him, and often he trembled lest his +hoard should be discovered. But the truth of the +matter never leaked out; and at night, as soon as he +guessed that all the world outside was in bed, Tiki-pu +would mount one of his candles on a wooden +stand and paint by the light of it, blinding himself +over his task, till the dawn came and gave him a +better and cheaper light to work by.</p> + +<p>Tiki-pu quite hugged himself over the results; +he believed he was doing very well. "If only Wio-wani +were here to teach me," thought he, "I would +be in the way to becoming a great painter!"</p> + +<p>The resolution came to him one night that Wio-wani +<i>should</i> teach him. So he took a large piece of +rice-paper and strained it, and sitting down opposite +"Wio-wani's back-door," began painting. He had +never set himself so big a task as this; by the dim +stumbling light of his candle he strained his eyes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +nearly blind over the difficulties of it; and at last +was almost driven to despair. How the trees stood +row behind row, with air and sunlight between, and +how the path went in and out, winding its way up +to the little door in the palace-wall were mysteries +he could not fathom. He peered and peered and +dropped tears into his paint-pots; but the secret of +the mystery of such painting was far beyond him.</p> + +<p>The door in the palace-wall opened; out came a +little old man and began walking down the pathway +towards him.</p> + +<p>The soul of Tiki-pu gave a sharp leap in his grubby +little body. "That must be Wio-wani himself and +no other!" cried his soul.</p> + +<p>Tiki-pu pulled off his cap and threw himself down +on the floor with reverent grovellings. When he +dared to look up again Wio-wani stood over him big +and fine; just within the edge of his canvas he stood +and reached out a hand.</p> + +<p>"Come along with me, Tiki-pu!" said the great +one. "If you want to know how to paint I will +teach you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Wio-wani, were you there all the while?" +cried Tiki-pu ecstatically, leaping up and clutching +with his smeary little puds the hand which the old +man extended to him.</p> + +<p>"I was there," said Wio-wani, "looking at you +out of my little window. Come along in!"</p> + +<p>Tiki-pu took a heave and swung himself into the +picture, and fairly capered when he found his feet +among the flowers of Wio-wani's beautiful garden. +Wio-wani had turned, and was ambling gently back +to the door of his palace, beckoning to the small<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +one to follow him; and there stood Tiki-pu, opening +his mouth like a fish to all the wonders that surrounded +him. "Celestiality, may I speak?" he +said suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Speak," replied Wio-wani; "what is it?"</p> + +<p>"The Emperor, was he not the very flower of fools +not to follow when you told him?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot say," answered Wio-wani, "but he +certainly was no artist."</p> + +<p>Then he opened the door, that door which he had +so beautifully painted, and led Tiki-pu in. And outside +the little candle-end sat and guttered by itself, +till the wick fell overboard, and the flame kicked itself +out, leaving the studio in darkness and solitude to +wait for the growings of another dawn.</p> + +<p>It was full day before Tiki-pu reappeared; he +came running down the green path in great haste, +jumped out of the frame on to the studio floor, and +began tidying up his own messes of the night, and +the apprentices' of the previous day. Only just in +time did he have things ready by the hour when his +master and the others returned to their work.</p> + +<p>All that day they kept scratching their left ears, +and could not think why; but Tiki-pu knew, for he +was saying over to himself all the things that Wio-wani, +the great painter, had been saying about them +and their precious productions. And as he ground +their colours for them and washed their brushes, and +filled his famished little body with the breadcrumbs +they threw away, little they guessed from what an +immeasurable distance he looked down upon them +all, and had Wio-wani's word for it tickling his right +ear all the day long.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now before long Tiki-pu's master noticed a change +in him; and though he bullied him, and thrashed +him, and did all that a careful master should do, he +could not get the change out of him. So in a short +while he grew suspicious. "What is the boy up +to?" he wondered. "I have my eye on him all +day: it must be at night that he gets into mischief."</p> + +<p>It did not take Tiki-pu's master a night's watching +to find that something surreptitious was certainly +going on. When it was dark he took up his post +outside the studio, to see whether by any chance +Tiki-pu had some way of getting out; and before +long he saw a faint light showing through the window. +So he came and thrust his finger softly through one +of the panes, and put his eye to the hole.</p> + +<p>There inside was a candle burning on a stand, +and Tiki-pu squatting with paint-pots and brush in +front of Wio-wani's last masterpiece.</p> + +<p>"What fine piece of burglary is this?" thought +he; "what serpent have I been harbouring in my +bosom? Is this beast of a grub of a boy thinking to +make himself a painter and cut me out of my reputation +and prosperity?" For even at that distance +he could perceive plainly that the work of this boy +went head and shoulders beyond his, or that of any +painter then living.</p> + +<p>Presently Wio-wani opened his door and came +down the path, as was his habit now each night, to +call Tiki-pu to his lesson. He advanced to the front +of his picture and beckoned for Tiki-pu to come in +with him; and Tiki-pu's master grew clammy at the +knees as he beheld Tiki-pu catch hold of Wio-wani's +hand and jump into the picture, and skip up the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +green path by Wio-wani's side, and in through the +little door that Wio-wani had painted so beautifully +in the end wall of his palace!</p> + +<p>For a time Tiki-pu's master stood glued to the +spot with grief and horror. "Oh, you deadly little +underling! Oh, you poisonous little caretaker, you +parasite, you vampire, you fly in amber!" cried he, +"is that where you get your training? Is it there +that you dare to go trespassing; into a picture that +I purchased for my own pleasure and profit, and not +at all for yours? Very soon we will see whom it +really belongs to!"</p> + +<p>He ripped out the paper of the largest window-pane +and pushed his way through into the studio. +Then in great haste he took up paint-pot and brush, +and sacrilegiously set himself to work upon Wio-wani's +last masterpiece. In the place of the doorway +by which Tiki-pu had entered he painted a solid +brick wall; twice over he painted it, making it two +bricks thick; brick by brick he painted it, and +mortared every brick to its place. And when he +had quite finished he laughed, and called "Good-night, +Tiki-pu!" and went home to be quite +happy.</p> + +<p>The next day all the apprentices were wondering +what had become of Tiki-pu; but as the master +himself said nothing, and as another boy came to +act as colour-grinder and brush-washer to the +establishment, they very soon forgot all about him.</p> + +<p>In the studio the master used to sit at work +with his students all about him, and a mind full of +ease and contentment. Now and then he would +throw a glance across to the bricked-up doorway of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +Wio-wani's palace, and laugh to himself, thinking +how well he had served out Tiki-pu for his treachery +and presumption.</p> + +<p>One day—it was five years after the disappearance +of Tiki-pu—he was giving his apprentices a lecture +on the glories and the beauties and the wonders of +Wio-wani's painting—how nothing for colour could +excel, or for mystery could equal it. To add point +to his eloquence, he stood waving his hands before +Wio-wani's last masterpiece, and all his students +and apprentices sat round him and looked.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he stopped at mid-word, and broke off +in the full flight of his eloquence, as he saw something +like a hand come and take down the top brick from +the face of paint which he had laid over the little +door in the palace-wall which Wio-wani had so +beautifully painted. In another moment there was +no doubt about it; brick by brick the wall was being +pulled down, in spite of its double thickness.</p> + +<p>The lecturer was altogether too dumbfounded +and terrified to utter a word. He and all his apprentices +stood round and stared while the demolition +of the wall proceeded. Before long he recognised +Wio-wani with his flowing white beard; +it was his handiwork, this pulling down of the wall! +He still had a brick in his hand when he stepped +through the opening that he had made, and close +after him stepped Tiki-pu!</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 326px;"> +<img src="images/gs13.png" width="326" height="500" alt="Three men" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Tiki-pu was grown tall and strong—he was even +handsome; but for all that his old master recognised +him, and saw with an envious foreboding that +under his arms he carried many rolls and stretchers +and portfolios, and other belongings of his craft.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +Clearly Tiki-pu was coming back into the world, and +was going to be a great painter.</p> + +<p>Down the garden path came Wio-wani, and Tiki-pu +walked after him; Tiki-pu was so tall that his +head stood well over Wio-wani's shoulders—old man +and young man together made a handsome pair.</p> + +<p>How big Wio-wani grew as he walked down the +avenues of his garden and into the foreground of his +picture! and how big the brick in his hand! and ah, +how angry he seemed!</p> + +<p>Wio-wani came right down to the edge of the +picture-frame and held up the brick. "What did +you do that for?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I ... didn't!" Tiki-pu's old master was +beginning to reply; and the lie was still rolling on his +tongue when the weight of the brick-bat, hurled by +the stout arm of Wio-wani, felled him. After that +he never spoke again. That brick-bat, which he +himself had reared, became his own tombstone.</p> + +<p>Just inside the picture-frame stood Tiki-pu, +kissing the wonderful hands of Wio-wani, which had +taught him all their skill. "Good-bye, Tiki-pu!" +said Wio-wani, embracing him tenderly. "Now I +am sending my second self into the world. When +you are tired and want rest come back to me: old +Wio-wani will take you in."</p> + +<p>Tiki-pu was sobbing and the tears were running +down his cheeks as he stepped out of Wio-wani's +wonderfully painted garden and stood once more +upon earth. Turning, he saw the old man walking +away along the path towards the little door under +the palace-wall. At the door Wio-wani turned +back and waved his hand for the last time. Tiki-pu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +still stood watching him. Then the door opened +and shut, and Wio-wani was gone. Softly as a flower +the picture seemed to have folded its leaves over him.</p> + +<p>Tiki-pu leaned a wet face against the picture and +kissed the door in the palace-wall which Wio-wani +had painted so beautifully. "O Wio-wani, dear +master," he cried, "are you there?"</p> + +<p>He waited, and called again, but no voice answered +him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> +<h2>HAPPY RETURNS</h2> + + +<p>BY the side of a great river, whose stream +formed the boundary to two countries, lived +an old ferryman and his wife. All the day, +while she minded the house, he sat in his boat by +the ferry, waiting to carry travellers across; or, +when no travellers came, and he had his boat free, +he would cast drag-nets along the bed of the river +for fish. But for the food which he was able thus +to procure at times, he and his wife might well have +starved, for travellers were often few and far between, +and often they grudged him the few pence he asked +for ferrying them; and now he had grown so old and +feeble that when the river was in flood he could +scarcely ferry the boat across; and continually he +feared lest a younger and stronger man should +come and take his place, and the bread from his +mouth.</p> + +<p>But he had trust in Providence. "Will not God," +he said, "who has given us no happiness in this life, +save in each other's help and companionship, allow +us to end our days in peace?"</p> + +<p>And his wife answered, "Yes, surely, if we trust +Him enough He will."</p> + +<p>One morning, it being the first day of the year, +the ferryman going down to his boat, found that +during the night it had been loosed from its moorings +and taken across the river, where it now lay +fastened to the further bank.</p> + +<p>"Wife," said he "I can remember this same thing +happening a year ago, and the year before also. +Who is this traveller who comes once a year, like a +thief in the night, and crosses without asking me to +ferry him over?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it is the good folk," said his wife. "Go +over and see if they have left no coin behind them +in the boat."</p> + +<p>The old man got on to a log and poled himself +across, and found, down in the keel of the boat, the +mark of a man's bare foot driven deep into the wood; +but there was no coin or other trace to show who it +might be.</p> + +<p>Time went on; the old ferryman was all bowed +down with age, and his body was racked with pains. +So slow was he now in making the passage of the +stream, that all travellers who knew those parts took +a road higher up the bank, where a stronger ferryman +plied.</p> + +<p>Winter came; and hunger and want pressed hard +at the old man's door. One day while he drew his +net along the stream, he felt the shock of a great +fish striking against the meshes down below, and +presently, as the net came in, he saw a shape like +living silver, leaping and darting to and fro to find +some way of escape. Up to the bank he landed it, +a great gasping fish.</p> + +<p>When he was about to kill it, he saw, to his +astonishment, tears running out of its eyes, that +gazed at him and seemed to reproach him for his +cruelty. As he drew back, the Fish said: "Why +should you kill me, who wish to live?"</p> + +<p>The old man, altogether bewildered at hearing +himself thus addressed, answered: "Since I and my +wife are hungry, and God gave you to be eaten, I +have good reason for killing you."</p> + +<p>"I could give you something worth far more than +a meal," said the Fish, "if you would spare my life."</p> + +<p>"We are old," said the ferryman, "and want +only to end our days in peace. To-day we are +hungry; what can be more good for us than a meal +which will give us strength for the morrow, which is +the new year?"</p> + +<p>The Fish said: "To-night someone will come +and unfasten your boat, and ferry himself over, and +you know nothing of it till the morning, when you +see the craft moored out yonder by the further +bank."</p> + +<p>The old man remembered how the thing had +happened in previous years, directly the Fish spoke. +"Ah, you know that then! How is it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"When you go back to your hut at night to sleep, +I am here in the water," said the Fish. "I see what +goes on."</p> + +<p>"What goes on, then?" asked the old man, very +curious to know who the strange traveller might be.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said the Fish, "if you could only catch +him in your boat, he could give you something you +might wish for! I tell you this: do you and your +wife keep watch in the boat all night, and when he +comes, and you have ferried him into mid-stream, +where he cannot escape, then throw your net over +him and hold him till he pays you for all your +ferryings."</p> + +<p>"How shall he pay me? All my ferryings of a +lifetime!"</p> + +<p>"Make him take you to the land of Returning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +Time. There, at least, you can end your days in +peace."</p> + +<p>The old man said: "You have told me a strange +thing; and since I mean to act on it, I suppose I +must let you go. If you have deceived me, I trust +you may yet die a cruel death."</p> + +<p>The Fish answered: "Do as I tell you, and you +shall die a happy one." And, saying this he slipped +down into the water and disappeared.</p> + +<p>The ferryman went back to his wife supperless, +and said to her: "Wife, bring a net, and come +down into the boat!" And he told her the story +of the Fish and of the yearly traveller.</p> + +<p>They sat long together under the dark bank, +looking out over the quiet and cold moonlit waters, +till the midnight hour. The air was chill, and to +keep themselves warm they covered themselves over +with the net and lay down in the bottom of the +boat. It was the very hour when the old year dies +and the new year is born.</p> + +<p>Before they well knew that they had been asleep, +they started to feel the rocking of the boat, and +found themselves out upon the broad waters of the +river. And there in the fore-part of the boat, clear +and sparkling in the moonlight, stood a naked man +of shining silver. He was bending upon the pole +of the boat, and his long hair fell over it right down +into the water.</p> + +<p>The old couple rose up quietly, and unwinding +themselves from the net, threw it over the Silver +Man, over his head and hands and feet, and dragged +him down into the bottom of the boat.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 308px;"> +<img src="images/gs14.png" width="308" height="500" alt="On the ferry" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The old man caught the ferry pole, and heaved the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +boat still into the middle of the stream. As he did +so a gentle shock came to the heart of each; feebly +it fluttered and sank low. "Oh, wife!" sighed the +old man, and reached out his hand for hers.</p> + +<p>The Silver Man lay still in the folds of the net, +and looked at them with a wise and quiet gaze. +"What would you have of me?" he said, and his +voice was far off and low.</p> + +<p>They said, "Bring us into the land of Returning +Time."</p> + +<p>The Silver Man said: "Only once can you go +there, and once return."</p> + +<p>They both answered "We wish once to go there, +and once return."</p> + +<p>So he promised them that they should have +the whole of their request; and they unloosed +him from the net, and landed altogether on the +further bank.</p> + +<p>Up the hill they went, following the track of the +Silver Man. Presently they reached its crest; and +there before them lay all the howling winter of the +world.</p> + +<p>The Silver Man turned his face and looked back; +and looking back it became all young, and ruddy, +and bright. The ferryman and his wife gazed at +him, both speechless at the wonderful change. He +took their hands, making them turn the way by +which they had come; below their feet was a deep +black gulf, and beyond and away lay nothing but a +dark starless hollow of air.</p> + +<p>"Now," said their guide, "you have but to step +forward one step, and you shall be in the land +of Returning Time."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> + +<p>They loosed hold of his hands, joined clasp, +husband with wife, and at one step upon what +seemed gulf beneath their feet, found themselves +in a green and flowery land. There were perfumed +valleys and grassy hills, whose crops stretched down +before the breeze; thick fleecy clouds crossed their +tops, and overhead amid a blue air rang the shrill +trilling of birds. Behind lay, fading mistily as a +dream, the bare world they had left; and fast on +his forward road, growing small to them from a +distance, went the Silver Man, a shining point on +the horizon.</p> + +<p>The ferryman and his wife looked, and saw youth +in each other's faces beginning to peep out through +the furrows of age; each step they took made them +grow younger and stronger; years fell from them like +worn-out rags as they went down into the valleys +of the land of Returning Time.</p> + +<p>How fast Time returned! Each step made the +change of a day, and every mile brought them five +years back towards youth. When they came down +to the streams that ran in the bed of each valley, +the ferryman and his wife felt their prime return to +them. He saw the gold come back into her locks, +and she the brown into his. Their lips became open +to laughter and song. "Oh, how good," they cried, +"to have lived all our lives poor, to come at last to +this!"</p> + +<p>They drank water out of the streams, and tasted +the fruit from the trees that grew over them; till +presently, being tired for mere joy, they lay down +in the grass to rest. They slept hand within hand +and cheek against cheek, and, when they woke,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +found themselves quite young again, just at the age +when they were first married in the years gone by.</p> + +<p>The ferryman started up and felt the desire of +life strong in his blood. "Come!" he said to his +wife, "or we shall become too young with lingering +here. Now we have regained our youth, let us go +back into the world once more!"</p> + +<p>His wife hung upon his hand, "Are we not happy +enough," she asked, "as it is? Why should we +return?"</p> + +<p>"But," he cried, "we shall grow too young; +now we have youth and life at its best let us return! +Time goes too fast with us; we are in danger of it +carrying us away."</p> + +<p>She said no further word, but followed up towards +the way by which they had entered. And yet, in +spite of her wish to remain, as she went her young +blood frisked. Presently coming to the top of a hill, +they set off running and racing; at the bottom +they looked at each other, and saw themselves boy +and girl once more.</p> + +<p>"We have stayed here too long!" said the ferryman, +and pressed on.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the birds," sighed she, "and the flowers, +and the grassy hills to run on, we are leaving +behind!" But still the boy had the wish for a man's +life again, and urged her on; and still with every +step they grew younger and younger. At length, +two small children, they came to the border of that +enchanted land, and saw beyond the world bleak +and wintry and without leaf. Only a further step +was wanted to bring them face to face once more with +the hard battle of life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> + +<p>Tears rose in the child-wife's eyes: "If we go," +she said, "we can never return!" Her husband +looked long at her wistful face; he, too, was more of +a child now, and was forgetting his wish to be a man +again.</p> + +<p>He took hold of her hand and turned round with +her, and together they faced once more the flowery +orchards, and the happy watered valleys.</p> + +<p>Away down there light streams tinkled, and birds +called. Downwards they went, slowly at first, then +with dancing feet, as with shoutings and laughter +they ran.</p> + +<p>Down into the level fields they ran; their running +was turned to a toddling; their toddling to a +tumbling; their tumbling to a slow crawl upon +hands and feet among the high grass and flowers; +till at last they were lying side by side, curled up +into a cuddly ball, chuckling and dimpling and +crowing to the insects and birds that passed over +them.</p> + +<p>Then they heard the sweet laughter of Father +Time; and over the hill he came, young, ruddy, +and shining, and gathered them up sound asleep on +the old boat by the ferry.</p> + + +<div class='copyright'><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<i>Printed in Great Britain by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld.,</i><br /> +<i>London and Aylesbury.</i><br /> +</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 the Project Gutenberg EBook of Moonshine & Clover, by Laurence Housman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOONSHINE & CLOVER *** + +***** This file should be named 34852-h.htm or 34852-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/8/5/34852/ + +Produced by Beginners Projects, Suzanne Shell, Emmy and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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