diff options
Diffstat (limited to '36008-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 36008-8.txt | 4835 |
1 files changed, 4835 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/36008-8.txt b/36008-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d8780c --- /dev/null +++ b/36008-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4835 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blue Rose Fairy Book, by Maurice Baring + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Blue Rose Fairy Book + +Author: Maurice Baring + +Release Date: May 1, 2011 [EBook #36008] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLUE ROSE FAIRY BOOK *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + [Illustration] + + + The Blue Rose Fairy Book + Maurice Baring + + + [Illustration: THE HOOFS OF HIS STEED LEFT BEHIND THEM A TRAIL OF + TWINKLING ANEMONES] + + + THE BLUE ROSE + FAIRY BOOK + + BY + MAURICE BARING + + [Decoration] + + NEW YORK + DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY + 1911 + + + + DEDICATED + TO + _MARY and AUBREY_ + + + + NOTE + + One of these stories, "The Glass Mender," appeared first in _The + English Review_, and six of the shorter stories in _The Morning + Post_. I wish to thank the editors and proprietors concerned for + their kindness in letting me republish them. The rest of the + stories are new. + M. B. + + + + CONTENTS + + PAGE + THE GLASS MENDER 1 + THE BLUE ROSE 31 + THE STORY OF VOX ANGELICA AND LIEBLICH GEDACHT 45 + THE VAGABOND 97 + THE MINSTREL 137 + THE HUNCHBACK, THE POOL, AND THE MAGIC RING 151 + THE SILVER MOUNTAIN 165 + THE RING 179 + THE MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER 193 + THE CUNNING APPRENTICE 219 + ORESTES AND THE DRAGON 233 + THE WISE PRINCESS 247 + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + And as he galloped through the wood, the hoofs + of his steed left behind them a trail of + twinkling anemones _Frontispiece_ + + One evening he was playing his one-stringed + instrument outside a dark wall _To face p._ 41 + + As he said this he climbed on to the manuals + and disappeared into the heart of the organ " 95 + + And there stood before the throng a wonderful + shining figure with wings " 133 + + And turning round she saw an old woman, bent + and worn, who was muttering a supplication " 139 + + The sun was shining on the sea and a fresh + breeze was blowing " 160 + + And towards the evening he emerged from the + forest and saw the hill before him shining + in the sunset " 176 + + Her mother, when she was walking in the + garden of the palace, found a silver horseshoe + lying on one of the paths " 181 + + A garment on which the month of May, and all + its flowers, was painted " 210 + + He changed himself into a hawk " 223 + + The dragon appeared, and seizing the little + Princess with its tail, flew away " 235 + + She went out on to the step and called out in a + loud voice, "Oh, you boisterous winds, bring + hither that same carpet on which I used to + sit in the house of my father" " 252 + + + + +THE GLASS MENDER + + +Once upon a time there lived a King and a Queen who had one daughter +called Rainbow. When she was christened, the people of the city were +gathered together outside the cathedral, and amongst them was an old +gipsy woman. The gipsy wanted to go inside the cathedral, but the Beadle +would not let her, because he said there was no room. When the ceremony +was over, and the King and Queen walked out, followed by the Head Nurse +who carried the baby, the gipsy called out to them: + +"Your daughter will be very beautiful, and as happy as the day is long, +until she sees the Spring!" And then she disappeared in the crowd. + +The King and the Queen took counsel together and the King said: "That +gipsy was evidently a fairy, and what she said bodes no good." + +"Yes," said the Queen, "there is only one thing to be done: Rainbow must +never see the Spring, nor even hear that there is such a thing." + +So an order was issued to the whole city, that if any one should say the +word "Spring" in the presence of Princess Rainbow he would have his head +cut off. Moreover, it was settled that the Princess should never be +allowed to go outside the palace, and during the springtime she should +be kept entirely indoors. + +The King and the Queen lived in a city which was on the top of a hill, +and had a wall round it, and the King's palace was in the middle of it. +In the springtime Rainbow was taken to a high tower which looked on to +the little round city, and from her window you could see the spires of +the churches, the ramparts, and the broad green plain beyond. But a +curtain made of canvas was fastened outside Rainbow's window, so that +she could see nothing, and she was not allowed to go outside her tower +until the springtime was over. + +Rainbow grew up into a most beautiful Princess, with grey eyes and fair +hair, and until she was sixteen all went well, and nothing happened to +interfere with her happiness. + +It was on her sixteenth birthday, which was in April, and she was +sitting alone in her room, looking at her birthday presents, when she +began to wonder for the first time why she was shut up in her tower +during three months of the year, and why a curtain was placed outside +her window, so that she could see nothing outside. Her mother and her +nurse had told her that this was done so that she might not fall ill, +and she had always believed it; but on that day, for the first time, she +began to wonder whether there might be any other reason as well. It was +a lovely Spring day, and the sun shone through the canvas curtain which +was stretched outside Rainbow's open window; a breeze came into her room +from the outside world, and Rainbow felt a great longing to tear aside +the curtain and to see what was happening out of doors. + +At that very moment, a sound came into her room from the city: it was +the sound of two or three notes played on some small reed or pipe, +unlike those of any of the musical instruments she had heard in the +palace, more tuneful and more artless and more gay. As she heard the few +reedy notes of this little tune, she felt something which she had never +known before. The whole room seemed to be full of a new sunshine, and +she smelt the fragrance of the grass; she heard the blackbird whistling, +and the lark singing; she saw the apple orchards in blossom, the violets +peeping from under the leaves, the hedges covered with primroses, the +daffodils fluttering in the wind, the fern uncrumpling her new leaves, +the green slopes starred with crocuses; fields of buttercups and +marigolds; forests paved with bluebells; lilac bushes; the trailing gold +of the laburnums; and the sharp green of the awakening beech-trees; and +she heard the cuckoo's note, and a thousand other unknown sounds of +meadow, wood, and stream; and before her passed the whole pageant of the +Spring, with its joyous music and its thousand and one sights. + +The vision disappeared and she cried out: "Let me go into the world and +let me taste and see this wonderful new thing!" + +Rainbow said nothing about her vision, either to her parents or to her +nurses, but she resolved to steal out of the palace as soon as she +could, and to see in the world what her vision had shown her; but that +very evening she fell ill, and she was obliged to go to bed. The next +day she was no better, and a week passed and she was just as ill as +ever. All the wisest physicians of the land examined her, but not one of +them could say what was the matter with her; some of them prescribed +medicines, and others strange things to eat and drink; but none of them +did her the least good. The months went by, and Rainbow was still lying +in bed, suffering from a strange malady which nobody could even find a +name for. When the Spring was past, Rainbow was borne on a couch into +the garden of the palace; but she got no better. + +At last the Queen sent for a Wise Woman who lived in a wood near the +city, and asked her advice. The Wise Woman was told Rainbow's history +and what the gipsy had said, and after she had looked at Rainbow and +spoken to her, she said to the Queen: + +"I understand quite well what has happened. Your daughter has seen the +Spring." + +"But that's impossible," said the Queen, "for during the whole of the +Spring months she has never left her room." + +"Somehow or other the Spring has reached her," said the old woman, and +then she asked Rainbow some more questions, and the end of this was that +Rainbow told her about the tune she had heard on her birthday, and the +vision she had seen. + +"I knew it," said the old woman, "she heard somebody playing the +Spring's own tune, and she won't get well until she hears it again, and +even then her troubles will be far from ended." So saying the old woman +went away. + +The King at once sent for the court musicians and told them to play the +Spring's Song. They fiddled, and they blew upon every kind of pipe and +flute; they beat the cymbals and struck the harp; but none of these +tunes kindled the slightest interest in Rainbow or roused her from her +listlessness. The King then issued a proclamation saying that whoever +should play the song that cured Rainbow would receive any reward he +should ask for, and even, if he wished it, his daughter's hand. + +The news was spread far and wide, and people came from the four corners +of the world to play to the Princess. + +First of all a lad came from the northern country, where he had slain a +huge dragon in single combat, and he said that if any one knew the Song +of Spring he did, for the birds themselves had taught it him; and when +he was shown into the Princess's room he blew a blast on his horn, so +strong that the rafters trembled, and so sweet that the palace seemed to +be full of the scent of the northern forests. But Rainbow paid no heed, +and the lad went his way. + +Then an uncouth minstrel came from Greece; he had furry ears and a +pointed beard, and he played on a double pipe and he said: "I know the +Song of Spring if any one knows it, for the bees taught it me." He +breathed on his pipe and the whole room seemed to be full of the smell +of thyme, the murmur of reeds, and the drone of bees. But Rainbow paid +no heed to him, and the uncouth minstrel went his way. + +Then there came a man who carried a lyre. His face was beautiful and +sad, and he said: "I know the Song of Spring if any one knows it, for I +heard it played in the happy fields." And he struck his lyre and sang a +song which was so lovely and so plaintive that the horses neighed in +their stalls, the dogs came to listen, and the trees of the garden bent +over the palace windows, and the King and the Queen and all the +courtiers wept: but Rainbow paid no heed, and the man with the lyre went +his way. + +Then came a knight from over the sea, from the West Country; and he was +the most splendid knight ever seen, and he carried neither harp nor +pipe, and he said: "I know the Song of Spring if any one knows it, for +I learnt it in the forests of Tintagel:" and he sang the song that only +those who dwell in the forests of the West know, and it was a song of +love. But Rainbow paid no heed, and the knight went his way. + +Then Prince Charming came from the Golden Isles and said: "I know the +Song of Spring if any one knows it, for my fairy-godmother gave me a +flute, and when I play on it the elves dance round me in a ring": and he +played a tune on his flute, and the lights and rainbows of the golden +islands seemed to twinkle in the room. But Rainbow paid no heed, so +Prince Charming went his way. + +Then there came a Prince who was a changeling and who had been brought +up in Fairyland itself, and he said: "I know the Song of Spring if any +one knows it, for Proserpine, the Queen of the Fairies, herself taught +me the song she heard in the Vales of Enna, when she was picking flowers +in the Spring." And he sang of the Sicilian fields, a song of the +swallow and the corn; and the song was like a vision, and the room +seemed to be full of the sound of the southern seas; but Rainbow paid no +heed, and the changeling went his way. + +Then Prince Apollo himself came from Italy with his fiddle, and he said: +"If I do not know the Song of Spring, who can know it? For my music +excels that of all mortal men." + +Prince Apollo struck up a tune on his fiddle and the room was filled +with a glory; but Rainbow paid no heed, and Prince Apollo went away in a +rage, saying that the Princess had no ear. + +After this people gave up the quest, for they said: "If all these great +people fail, how should we succeed?" Now it happened one day, when the +springtime came round again, that two tumblers were playing at ball in +the Princess's room to try and amuse her, and one of them in throwing, +threw the ball and broke the pane of her casement; so a glass mender was +sent for to mend the window, and there happened to be one that day just +outside the palace. + +The glass mender was a youth, and his eyes were blue and his cheeks +fresh, and as he strode up the staircase to the Princess's room, he +whistled on a small glass pipe the tune that glass menders have always +whistled ever since the beginning of the world. Directly Rainbow heard +this sound, she leaped from her bed and cried out: + +"That is it! I hear it, the Song of Spring!" And as the glass mender +came into the room with his basket and his tools, she said: "At last +you've come! You've cured me, and I am now quite well again." + +There was no doubt about it. Rainbow from that moment was cured, and the +glass mender went to the King and claimed his reward. + +At first the King was vexed that his daughter should have to wed a +humble glass mender, but he did not dare play any tricks with his +daughter's life after what had happened, for fear she should fall ill +again; and besides, Rainbow was determined to marry him, and as he was +so young, so handsome, and so well-spoken, the King told the Queen that +he was very likely a Prince in disguise. + +But the glass mender made two conditions about his marriage: the first +was that he was to continue to be a wandering glass mender who earned +his living by going from city to city, and from village to village, +mending glass, and the second was that Rainbow was never to ask him +where he came from nor who were his parents, and that she should call +him Blue Eyes, nor ever ask him whether he had another name. + +This convinced the King that Blue Eyes was a Prince in disguise, and the +conditions were readily agreed to, and Rainbow and Blue Eyes were +married without further delay. The King gave them each a white pony for +a wedding present and they started off on their travels. + +They rode through the fields and the woods, from village to village, +sleeping now in a house and now out of doors, and for the first time in +her life Rainbow tasted and saw the Spring; and no words can tell how +happy they were: all day long Blue Eyes played a tune on his glass +pipe, and he showed Rainbow the haunts of the birds and the beasts; and +whenever they came to a village it was as though they brought the +sunshine of the morning with them, for as soon as any one looked at Blue +Eyes, they could not help being happy, and when he played on his pipe +people danced for joy. They wandered over the wide world, and they saw +every kind of country and city, and wherever they went smiling faces met +them and they made sad people happy, and happy people happier still. + +When they were in the woods or meadows the birds and beasts seemed to +know Blue Eyes, and he talked with them just as if they were real +people; and the most savage beasts--wolves and bears and wild +boars--were as tame as lap-dogs when he spoke to them; and the +nightingales used to perch on Blue Eyes' shoulder in the evening, and +sing, as he rode with Rainbow through the forest; the bees and +butterflies used to fly in front of them and show them the way. + +The years went by and they had a little son who was called Blue Boy, +who grew up just like his father, and talked with the birds and beasts +directly he could speak, and they were all three of them together as +happy as the day is long. + +One Spring evening they arrived rather late in a wood, and after they +had made a fire and cooked their supper, Rainbow and Blue Boy went to +sleep, and Blue Eyes sat by the fire for he said he wasn't sleepy. + +After Rainbow had been sleeping for a few hours she woke up with a +start. The moon had risen and the camp-fire had not yet gone out, but +the ashes were smouldering and there by the fire sat Blue Eyes. Rainbow +could see him distinctly, but he seemed to her to look different from +usual; strange, beautiful, and more like a fairy Prince than a glass +mender. Sitting with him by the fire was a lovely maiden with roses in +her hair and some ears of wheat in her hand, and a silver sickle hanging +from her girdle. They were talking together. Rainbow was so surprised +that she uttered a cry, and immediately the beautiful maiden vanished +into the wood. Blue Eyes at once went to Rainbow, but she turned over +on her side and pretended to be asleep. + +The next day Blue Eyes said nothing about the strange maiden, and +Rainbow began to be jealous and sad. She tried not to think of it, but +she could not get rid of the thought that perhaps Blue Eyes loved +somebody else. The next evening they again camped out in the wood, and +Rainbow said she was tired and lay down to sleep early; but she only +pretended to go to sleep, and she was really wide awake. + +As soon as Blue Eyes thought that Rainbow was asleep, he blew a note on +his glass pipe, and once more the strange maiden came out of the wood, +and she and Blue Eyes talked together in a whisper, and once more Blue +Eyes seemed to look quite different, and not at all like a glass mender, +only, as it was dark that night, Rainbow could not see him distinctly. + +The next morning Blue Eyes again said nothing about the strange maiden, +and Rainbow was sadder than ever. If Blue Eyes would only explain, she +said to herself, everything would be all right. So as they were riding +through the wood, Rainbow said to him: + +"I saw you in the wood last night talking to a strange maiden; and, Blue +Eyes, you looked different. I am sure now that you are not a glass +mender; and now that I have seen you talking to that strange maiden, I +shall have no peace until you tell me who you are and who she is." + +"Alas, alas, alas!" said Blue Eyes. "Oh; Rainbow, why could you not +trust me? I must tell you now, whether I wish it or no, but you have +destroyed our happiness, and I shall have to leave you. My name is +Spring, and I was talking to my sister Summer; and now I shall have to +leave you, for I can only take a mortal shape as long as nobody knows +who I am." + +Then Rainbow wept bitterly, and said: + +"Do you mean you must leave me for ever, and that I shall never see you +again?" + +"There is one hope left," said Blue Eyes. "We shall meet again if you +are able to find me. You will have to search all over the world, and you +will not find me until you recognise my look and my voice in the speech +or the look of a human being; and if you fail to recognise it, when it +is there, you will never find me at all." + +"And when I recognise you either in the speech or the look of a human +being," said Rainbow, "what must I do then?" + +"Then," said Blue Eyes, "you must say this: + + 'Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me, + Over the hills and over the sea; + Brother of Summer, husband and friend, + Come and stay till the world shall end.'" + +"But what will happen," asked Rainbow, "if I make a mistake and say the +rhyme to some one who seems to have your look and your speech, when +really they are not there?" + +"If you make a mistake," said Blue Eyes, "you will never see me again." + +Rainbow again began to weep bitterly. She implored Blue Eyes to forgive +her, but she no longer begged him to stay, for she knew it was useless; +and Blue Eyes kissed her and Blue Boy, and when he had said good-bye, he +leapt on to his pony and galloped off into the wood. As he galloped away +his appearance changed; his glass mender's clothes fell away from him; +instead of his blue cap, there was a crown of dew on his head, and he +was clothed with the petals of snowdrops and cowslips; he wore a rainbow +for a scarf, which fluttered in the wind; his pony changed into a white +horse with silver wings; in his hand he carried a large wand of almond +blossom, and a starling perched on his wrist. And as he galloped through +the wood, the hoofs of his steed left behind them a trail of twinkling +anemones. Thus he galloped on until he disappeared into the heart of the +forest, and Rainbow was left alone with Blue Boy. + +After she had had a long cry she dried her eyes and began at once to +look for Blue Eyes. She wandered on through the wood with Blue Boy until +they came to a hermit's cave. The hermit lived there all the year round, +and his only companions were the birds and the beasts of the forest, +and Rainbow thought if she talked to him she would perhaps hear the +voice or see the look of Blue Eyes. But when she spoke to him she saw +that he had forgotten what human beings were like, and he gave Rainbow +and Blue Boy some bread and milk just as though they were birds. Then he +opened his big book and began reading in it, and no longer noticed their +presence. + +The months went by, and Rainbow searched everywhere. She searched all +through the summer, and although she met many kind faces, and saw many a +happy smile, and heard many a young voice, nowhere did she meet any one +who in the least reminded her of Blue Eyes. + +When the winter came, they went to a city, and Blue Boy, who was growing +up into a big boy, was apprenticed to a glass mender, and Rainbow and he +lived together in a little room in the glass mender's house. The glass +mender had a pretty daughter called Joan, and she had a tame blackbird +which she kept in a wicker cage. All through the winter the city had +been muffled in snow, and it had been bitterly cold; at last the snow +melted; and March came with his boisterous wind and his cold showers of +sleet and rain. + +But one day the rain stopped; the sun shone in the blue sky, and Joan +cried out: + +"This is the first Spring day!" She ran out of doors with her bird cage +and hung it up on the wall outside the house, and although there were as +yet no green leaves anywhere, the blackbird knew that the spring had +come, and he began to sing. While Joan was looking at the blackbird, +Rainbow was watching her from her window, and was thinking to herself. +"Surely now I shall hear the voice of Blue Eyes or see his look!" She +was on the point of calling out: + + "Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me," + +when Joan looked up at her and met her gaze; and laughed, and blushed, +and ran away. Rainbow knew that it was neither the voice nor the look of +Blue Eyes; and she cried from disappointment. + +By the time the spring was over, Blue Boy had learned his trade, and he +was able to work on his own account and to support his mother, so they +left the city together when the summer came, and they went from village +to village and from city to city, mending broken window panes. + +The years went by. Blue Boy was almost a man, and still Rainbow had not +come across any one who had reminded her of Blue Eyes. She was sad, +because she knew that in a year's time Blue Boy would be a man, and that +it would be time for him to marry, and that she would then be left all +alone. She knew that this was the last year that she and Blue Boy would +be together. + +One day they were walking through a grassy wood which was yellow with +cowslips. It was a lovely April morning, and in the wood a lot of +children were playing, and making chains and wreaths with the cowslips. + +"Now, at last," thought Rainbow, "I shall hear the voice of Blue Eyes." +She ran up to the children, but when the children saw her running +towards them, they were frightened, and they ran away into the wood, +and although she called and called they would not come back. + +A little further on they came to a lovely village on a hill, overlooking +a river which was a small arm of the sea. The hill was covered with +orchards which were in full blossom, and in front of the little white +straw-thatched cottages the neat flower-beds were full of sweet-smelling +violets. + +Rainbow and Blue Boy stayed in this village, and found plenty of work. +One evening Rainbow was strolling in a lane on the top of the hill; the +steep lane had on each side of it two grassy banks, on the top of which +bushes and brambles and nut-trees grew so thickly that the ends of their +boughs almost met across the lane, and the banks were covered with +primroses. Walking along this lane, with their faces towards the sunset, +Rainbow met a youth and a maiden; they were whispering to each other +little broken words, with many sighs and smiles, and their talk was like +the talk of two birds. + +Rainbow's heart leapt as she heard them, and she was just going to cry +out: + + "Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me," + +when they caught sight of her and stopped talking, and Rainbow knew that +Blue Eyes was not there. + +Then came the month of May, and the woods grew green and the lilac +blossomed, and Rainbow grew sadder and sadder. One night she could not +sleep, and she got up and walked through the moonlit village, right down +to the quay by the river-side where the fishermen kept their boats and +their nets. Many of the fishermen were out fishing on the sea, and one +of them, a young lad, was setting the brown sail of his boat on the +river, and as he did so, he sang a song which was like this: + + "I have a cottage I love well, + In the sweet west countree: + And there my love and I shall dwell, + When I come back from sea. + + We'll stow the sail and stow the oar, + And oh, how glad she'll be + To mend the nets upon the shore, + When I come back from sea. + + I have a cottage on the hill, + Just right for her and me, + And she will say 'I love you still,' + When I come back from sea." + +The fisherman's voice was so glad and joyous as he sang this song, that +Rainbow thought Blue Eyes must be there, and she ran to the shore. At +that moment the moonlight fell full upon the fisherman, so that Rainbow +could see his face, and she stopped herself calling out just in time, +for she saw he was not at all like Blue Eyes. + +During that same month Blue Boy fell in love with a Dairy Maid called +Cherry-Ripe, and it was arranged that they should be married at +Michaelmas. But as Michaelmas drew near, Rainbow grew sadder and sadder, +because she could not bear to think what she would do without Blue Boy. + +September came, and the corn was carried, and the leaves began to turn +gold. On Michaelmas Eve, Rainbow was sitting in her garden watching the +autumn sunset. Not far from her garden, which was on the side of a steep +hill, there was a quarry in which there was an old seat, and this was a +favourite spot for lovers, for from this place you could see the little +river, all the village and the sea beyond, and the view was beautiful. +Rainbow thought she would walk to the quarry, so as to get a better view +of the sunset. + +When she got there, she saw an old couple sitting on the seat. The man +was a fisherman; his face was bronzed and wrinkled by the wind and the +waves, and the woman's hair was grey and silvery. They did not notice +Rainbow coming, and the old woman said to the man: + +"Do you remember how we used to meet here in the days when you were +courting me?" + +And the old man said: "It was in the spring, and the apple-trees were +out." + +And the old woman said: "Ah! I was a comely lass then. There was no one +like me in the village. Folks wouldn't believe it now, what with my +white hair and my wrinkles." + +And the old man said: "I see no difference in you, lassie. You've the +same lovely blue eyes as you always had, and if your hair has turned +silver, it's none the less fair for that." + +And the old woman said: "And I see no difference in you, Sweetheart; +you're just as strong and as brave as ever." + +And the old man said: "Why, it's forty years ago, but it makes nought to +us, for as long as I've got you, and you've got me, we shan't see any +change in each other, for with us it has always been springtide and +courting time, and it always will be." + +And the old man looked at the old woman, and smiled and took her hand, +and her eyes filled with tears. And when Rainbow saw this, before she +knew what happened, she had called out: + + "Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me, + Over the hills and over the sea. + Brother of Summer, husband and friend, + Come and stay till the world shall end." + +As soon as she had said this, Blue Eyes stood before her just as he had +been when he rode away, clothed in snowdrops and cowslips, wearing the +rainbow for a scarf, and carrying a branch of blossom in his hand. + +Rainbow was so glad to see Blue Eyes that she almost fainted. She led +him to her cottage, and there she wept a long time for joy. Then Blue +Eyes told her that he would never leave her again, but that he could not +live on the earth a second time in the guise of a glass mender. During +the spring they would ride through the world, scattering sunshine, +laughter, and hope; mortals would see them, but they would not know who +they were. During the summer and the autumn they would be invisible to +mortals, and during the winter they would slumber in the Diamond Palace +of his mother, the Snow Queen. + +They waited to see Blue Boy and Cherry-Ripe married, and Blue Eyes gave +them as a wedding present a little glass pipe, which, whenever he played +it, brought the spring into the hearts of all who heard it. And Blue +Eyes promised that whenever Blue Boy whistled on the pipe, he and +Rainbow would immediately answer his call and come to him. + +When the wedding was over, Blue Eyes gave Rainbow his scarf, and they +mounted on two winged steeds and galloped off through the lanes. Now if +you ever meet in a wood or by a river a man with blue eyes, on a winged +horse, with a crown of dew, and a tunic of snowdrops and cowslips, and +by his side, on a white pony, a beautiful woman wearing the rainbow for +a scarf, and holding a branch of blossom in her hand, you will know it +is Blue Eyes and Rainbow. + +And if ever you hear on a spring morning, in a city or a village, three +little notes played on a pipe which make your heart dance for joy, you +will know that Blue Boy is calling for his father and his mother; for he +does this very often. + + + + +THE BLUE ROSE + + +Once upon a time there lived in China a wise Emperor, whose daughter was +remarkable for her perfect beauty. Her feet were the smallest in the +world; her eyes were long and slanting, and as bright as brown onyxes, +and when you heard her laugh it was like listening to a tinkling stream, +or to the chimes of a silver bell. Moreover, the Emperor's daughter was +as wise as she was beautiful, and she chanted the verse of the great +poets better than any one in the land. The Emperor was old in years; his +son was married and had begotten a son; he was, therefore, quite happy +about the succession to the throne, but he wished before he died to see +his daughter wedded to some one who should be worthy of her. + +Many suitors presented themselves at the palace, as soon as it became +known that the Emperor desired a son-in-law, but when they reached the +palace, they were met by the Lord Chamberlain, who told them the Emperor +had decided that only the man who found and brought back the Blue Rose +should marry his daughter. The suitors were much puzzled by this order. +What was the Blue Rose, and where was it to be found? In all a hundred +and fifty suitors had presented themselves, and out of these, fifty at +once put away from them all thought of winning the hand of the Emperor's +daughter, since they considered the condition imposed to be absurd. + +The other hundred set about trying to find the Blue Rose. One of +them--his name was Ti-Fun-Ti, he was a merchant and immensely rich--went +at once to the largest shop in the town and said to the shopkeeper: "I +want a blue rose, the best you have." + +The shopkeeper, with many apologies, explained that he did not stock +blue roses. He had red roses in profusion, white, pink, and yellow +roses, but no blue rose. There had hitherto been no demand for the +article. + +"Well," said Ti-Fun-Ti, "you must get one for me. I do not mind how much +money it costs, but I must have a blue rose." + +The shopkeeper said he would do his best, but he feared it would be an +expensive article and difficult to procure. + +Another of the suitors, whose name I have forgotten, was a warrior and +extremely brave; he mounted his horse, and taking with him a hundred +archers and a thousand horsemen he marched into the territory of the +King of Five Rivers, whom he knew to be the richest king in the world +and the possessor of the rarest treasures, and demanded of him the Blue +Rose, threatening him with a terrible doom should he be reluctant to +give it up. + +The King of the Five Rivers, who disliked soldiers, and had a horror of +noise, violence, and every kind of fuss (his bodyguard was armed solely +with fans and sunshades), rose from the cushions on which he was lying +when the demand was made, and, tinkling a small bell, said to the +servant who straightway appeared, "Fetch me the Blue Rose." + +The servant retired and returned presently bearing on a silken cushion a +large sapphire which was carved so as to imitate a full-blown rose with +all its petals. + +"This," said the King of the Five Rivers, "is the Blue Rose. You are +welcome to it." + +The warrior took it, and after making brief, soldier-like thanks, he +went straight back to the Emperor's palace, saying that he had lost no +time in finding the Blue Rose. He was ushered into the presence of the +Emperor, who as soon as he heard the warrior's story and saw the Blue +Rose which had been brought, sent for his daughter and said to her: +"This intrepid warrior has brought you what he claims to be the Blue +Rose. Has he accomplished the quest?" + +The Princess took the precious object in her hands, and after examining +it for a moment, said: "This is not a rose at all. It is a sapphire; I +have no need of precious stones." And she returned the stone to the +warrior, with many elegantly-expressed thanks. And the warrior went +away in discomfiture. + +When Ti-Fun-Ti, the merchant, heard of the warrior's failure, he was all +the more anxious to win the prize. He sought the shopkeeper and said to +him: "Have you got me the Blue Rose? I trust you have; because if not, I +shall most assuredly be the means of your death. My brother-in-law is +chief magistrate, and I am allied by marriage to all the chief officials +in the kingdom." + +The shopkeeper turned pale and said: "Sir, give me three days, and I +will procure you the Blue Rose without fail." The merchant granted him +the three days and went away. Now the shopkeeper was at his wit's end as +to what to do, for he knew well there was no such thing as a blue rose. +For two days he did nothing but moan and wring his hands, and on the +third day he went to his wife and said: "Wife, we are ruined!" + +But his wife, who was a sensible woman, said: "Nonsense! If there is no +such thing as a blue rose we must make one. Go to the apothecary and +ask him for a strong dye which will change a white rose into a blue +one." + +So the shopkeeper went to the apothecary and asked him for a dye, and +the chemist gave him a bottle of red liquid, telling him to pick a white +rose and to dip its stalk into the liquid and the rose would turn blue. +The shopkeeper did as he was told; the rose turned into a beautiful blue +and the shopkeeper took it to the merchant, who at once went with it to +the palace, saying that he had found the Blue Rose. + +He was ushered into the presence of the Emperor, who as soon as he saw +the blue rose sent for his daughter and said to her: "This wealthy +merchant has brought you what he claims to be the Blue Rose. Has he +accomplished the quest?" + +The Princess took the flower in her hands, and after examining it for a +moment said: "This is a white rose; its stalk has been dipped in a +poisonous dye and it has turned blue. Were a butterfly to settle upon +it, it would die of the potent fume. Take it back. I have no need of a +dyed rose." And she returned it to the merchant with many +elegantly-expressed thanks. + +The other ninety-eight suitors all sought in various ways for the Blue +Rose. Some of them travelled all over the world seeking it; some of them +sought the aid of wizards and astrologers, and one did not hesitate to +invoke the help of the dwarfs that live underground. But all of them, +whether they travelled in far countries, or took counsel with wizards +and demons, or sat pondering in lonely places, failed to find the Blue +Rose. + +At last they all abandoned the quest except the Lord Chief Justice, who +was the most skilful lawyer and statesman in the country. After thinking +over the matter for several months, he sent for the most skilful artist +in the country and said to him: "Make me a china cup. Let it be +milk-white in colour and perfect in shape, and paint on it a rose, a +blue rose." + +The artist made obeisance and withdrew, and worked for two months at the +Lord Chief Justice's cup. In two months' time it was finished, and the +world has never seen such a beautiful cup, so perfect in symmetry, so +delicate in texture, and the rose on it, the blue rose, was a living +flower, picked in fairyland and floating on the rare milky surface of +the porcelain. When the Lord Chief Justice saw it he gasped with +surprise and pleasure, for he was a great lover of porcelain, and never +in his life had he seen such a piece. He said to himself: "Without doubt +the Blue Rose is here on this cup, and nowhere else." + +So, after handsomely rewarding the artist, he went to the Emperor's +palace and said that he had brought the Blue Rose. He was ushered into +the Emperor's presence, who as he saw the cup sent for his daughter and +said to her: "This eminent lawyer has brought you what he claims to be +the Blue Rose. Has he accomplished the quest?" + +The Princess took the bowl in her hands, and after examining it for a +moment, said: "This bowl is the most beautiful piece of china I have +ever seen. If you are kind enough to let me keep it I will put it aside +until I receive the blue rose. For so beautiful is it that no other +flower is worthy to be put in it except the Blue Rose." + +[Illustration: ONE EVENING HE WAS PLAYING HIS ONE-STRINGED INSTRUMENT +OUTSIDE A DARK WALL] + +The Lord Chief Justice thanked the Princess for accepting the bowl with +many elegantly-turned phrases, and he went away in discomfiture. + +After this there was no one in the whole country who ventured on the +quest of the Blue Rose. It happened that not long after the Lord Chief +Justice's attempt, a strolling minstrel visited the kingdom of the +Emperor. One evening he was playing his one-stringed instrument outside +a dark wall. It was a summer's evening, and the sun had sunk in a glory +of dusty gold, and in the violet twilight one or two stars were +twinkling like spear-heads. There was an incessant noise made by the +croaking of frogs and the chatter of grasshoppers. The minstrel was +singing a short song over and over again to a monotonous tune. The sense +of it was something like this:-- + + "I watched beside the willow trees + The river, as the evening fell; + The twilight came and brought no breeze, + No dew, no water for the well, + + "When from the tangled banks of grass, + A bird across the water flew, + And in the river's hard grey glass + I saw a flash of azure blue." + +As he sang he heard a rustle on the wall, and looking up he saw a slight +figure, white against the twilight, beckoning to him. He walked along +under the wall until he came to a gate, and there some one was waiting +for him, and he was gently led into the shadow of a dark cedar tree. In +the twilight he saw two bright eyes looking at him, and he understood +their message. In the twilight a thousand meaningless nothings were +whispered in the light of the stars, and the hours fled swiftly. When +the East began to grow light, the Princess (for it was she) said it was +time to go. + +"But," said the minstrel, "to-morrow I shall come to the palace and ask +for your hand." + +"Alas!" said the Princess, "I would that were possible, but my father +has made a foolish condition that only he may wed me who finds the Blue +Rose." + +"That is simple," said the minstrel, "I will find it!" And they said +good-night to each other. + +The next morning the minstrel went to the palace, and on his way he +picked a common white rose from a wayside garden. He was ushered into +the Emperor's presence, who sent for his daughter and said to her: "This +penniless minstrel has brought you what he claims to be the Blue Rose. +Has he accomplished the quest?" + +The Princess took the rose in her hands and said: "Yes, this is without +doubt the Blue Rose." + +But the Lord Chief Justice and all who were present respectfully pointed +out that the rose was a common white rose and not a blue one, and the +objection was with many forms and phrases conveyed to the Princess. + +"I think the rose is blue," said the Princess. "It is, in fact, the Blue +Rose. Perhaps you are all colour blind." + +The Emperor, with whom the decision rested, decided that if the Princess +thought the rose was blue, it was blue, for it was well known that her +perception was more acute than that of any one else in the kingdom. + +So the minstrel married the Princess, and they settled on the sea-coast +in a little green house with a garden full of white roses, and they +lived happily for ever afterwards. And the Emperor, knowing that his +daughter had made a good match, died in peace. + + + + +THE STORY OF VOX ANGELICA AND LIEBLICH GEDACHT + + +Once upon a time there was a poor tanner called Hans who lived with his +wife Martha in a town in which there were two hundred churches, a +hundred chapels, and a huge cathedral. + +Hans lived in a wooden house opposite the gates of the cathedral. They +had only one son and he was so delicate that they did not know what +trade he could learn when he grew bigger. In the meantime they taught +him how to read and write. The boy was christened Johan; for he was born +on St. John's Day. When Johan was quite a tiny little boy he liked +listening to the sound of the organ in the big cathedral, and in the +evenings he would sit for hours in the darkness, listening to the +organist at his practice. + +The organist was an old man called Doctor Sebastian, and he wore a +powdered wig and large tortoise-shell spectacles. When he played the +organ, which was an immense instrument and had five keyboards, the +windows trembled in all the houses which nestled round the cathedral. + +Doctor Sebastian soon noticed the little Johan and allowed him to come +up into the organ-loft while he was playing, and Johan used to sit as +still as a mouse, and watch him pull out the stops, and play with his +feet as skilfully as he did with his hands. Doctor Sebastian had a pupil +called Frantz, a lad with curly brown hair and large brown eyes. Frantz +used to practise on the organ every day; but Doctor Sebastian was severe +with him, and Frantz was not allowed to play the organ at High Mass on +Sundays. One day Johan asked Doctor Sebastian whether this was because +Frantz played badly, and Doctor Sebastian said: + +"Frantz has much to learn and he must be trained, but one day, when he +has learnt all that I can teach him, he will be able to teach me what I +shall not be able to learn." + +Johan did not understand what this meant, but he guessed that Doctor +Sebastian thought well of Frantz, in spite of his being so severe with +him. Johan thought that Frantz was the most wonderful player in the +world, and whereas Doctor Sebastian only made the organ speak in deep +single tones, and only used the open stops and the booming pedal +bass-notes, Frantz--when Doctor Sebastian was not there to listen--used +to make the organ sigh and speak like a castle full of spirits, and +Johan thought this was wonderful. + +One day, it was in winter just before Christmas, and Johan was eight +years old, Doctor Sebastian was laid up in bed with a bad cold, and he +sent for Frantz and said to him: + +"I shall never rise from my bed again. I am going thither where I shall +hear the music which we only guess at here on earth. You must play the +organ on Christmas Day. I have taught you all I know. I have been severe +and gruff with you; but being a musician, you know that if I had not +thought you worthy of it, I should not have taken any trouble with you +at all. I have been spared until you were ready to take my place, and +now I can go in peace, for I know that I leave behind me a worthy +successor. I have scolded you and pulled your ears, rapped your fingers +and blamed your playing, but you have got that which I should never +learn if I lived for two hundred years. You have the divine gift, and as +a musician I am not worthy to unlatch the shoes of what you will be; for +you will play on earth the music that I am now going to hear in Heaven!" + +After that Doctor Sebastian squeezed Frantz's hand and said no more. The +next day he died. + +Frantz was very sad, and he spent the whole day that the Doctor died in +the cathedral composing a requiem in memory of his dead master. Little +Johan, in a corner of the aisle, listened to the music: he had never +heard anything so beautiful; some new power seemed to have come to +Frantz, and when he touched the keys the pipes spoke in a way they had +never spoken before. + +Frantz went on playing until late into the night, and Johan had been +carried so far away into dreamland by the music that he did not notice +when Frantz stopped, but all at once he became aware that he was alone +in the cathedral and that the organ-loft was dark and no sound came from +it. + +Johan ran up the winding stair into the organ-loft, but Frantz had gone, +and Johan knew that he was locked in the cathedral for the night. He +made up his mind to sleep there where he was, and he was just taking one +of Frantz's missals to use as a pillow when he became aware that he was +no longer alone. Sitting on the bench in front of the keys was a strange +figure. It was an old man with a grey beard, twinkling eyes, and a deep +voice like the buzzing of a hornet. He wore a brown coat and grey +stockings, and a black three-cornered hat. + +"Who are you?" asked Johan. + +"My name is Quint," said the little old man, "and I live in one of the +big wooden pipes of the organ." + +"Do you always live there?" asked Johan. + +"No, not always," said Quint. "We don't live here as a rule, but some of +them oblige us to come here and sing----" + +"I don't understand," said Johan. + +"Well, I will explain it to you," answered Quint. "It's like this: Every +one of the stops of the organ has some one who belongs to it and to whom +it belongs--but these people do not live in the stops; they live in +their own country, which is called Musicland, and they only come to the +organs when they are obliged to." + +"But who obliges them?" asked Johan. + +Quint thought for a moment, and then he said: "Those who have the gift." + +"But what is the gift?" asked Johan. + +"That I can't tell you," said Quint. "All I know is that some have it +and others haven't." + +"Did Doctor Sebastian have the gift?" asked Johan. + +"No," said Quint, "he was a learned man and a very good man; but he +hadn't got the gift. But young Frantz: he's got it. That's why I am here +to-day." + +"Are the people of the other stops here too?" asked Johan, who was +deeply interested in what Quint told him. + +"They've all gone home," said Quint. "You see, as long as the player +plays, we can stay here and not come out except just when we're wanted; +but if we don't get back into the pipes before the player has finished, +we can't go home. Now just before Frantz finished I crept out of my pipe +because I wasn't wanted, and I wished to look at the cathedral, and then +suddenly he stopped playing, before I could get back into my pipe again, +and if we are not in our pipes when the organist stops playing we can't +get home." + +"What will you do then?" asked Johan. + +"I shall have to wait till he plays again to-morrow. I can get into a +pipe of course, but I can't go home." + +"To Musicland?" asked Johan. + +"Yes," said Quint, "and it's annoying, because I shall miss the end of +the wedding festivities." + +"Whose wedding?" asked Johan. + +"Vox Angelica's, of course," said Quint. "She was married yesterday." + +"Vox Angelica is that lovely soft stop in the swell," said Johan. "I +suppose she's going to marry 'Lieblich Gedacht'?" + +"Of course she is," said Quint, "but it's a long business. If you like I +will tell you all about it." + +"Oh, please do!" said Johan. + +"Well," began Quint, "Vox Angelica is the most beautiful person you have +ever seen. Her eyes are just like blue waters, grave and still, and her +hair is long and as bright as the gold on a harp. And as for her voice, +well, you can hear that whenever Frantz plays the organ. She is as kind +and gentle as she is beautiful, and everybody in our country loves her. +She lives in that part of Musicland where the hills and white mountains +are. In the winter it is covered with snow which gleams in the sunshine, +whiter and brighter than any snow you have ever seen, but when the +spring comes the snow disappears and the slopes of the mountains are +covered with millions and millions of flowers which are soft and white +and glisten like stars. + +"Lieblich Gedacht was the son of a forester, and he lives in the Woods +of Melody, right in the heart of our country where the old oak forests +grow, which are carpeted with bluebells in the spring so that the +enormous stems look as if they rose out of a blue sea, and in the spring +and in the summer the woods are full of birds; but no bird there has so +sweet a note as Lieblich Gedacht when he sings in the wood. The birds +stop singing to listen to him. He sings all the year round: when the +woods are green, and in the autumn too, when they are gold and crimson +like the tattered banners of our King, and in the winter, when the oak +trees spread their bare arms across the clear cold sky. + +"One day Lieblich Gedacht put on a green jerkin, a green cap, and taking +with him a sword and a pipe he set out on his travels. He wandered +through Musicland until he came to a castle which was on the top of a +mountain. This castle had a tower with one window in it, and from the +window came the sound of a whisper which sounded so soft and wonderful +that Lieblich Gedacht thought it must be the voice of a flower speaking +to itself: the jessamine perhaps, or the briar rose. Then he looked up +and he saw leaning out of the window a maid with gold hair which fell +from the window far down the tower, and she was as frail and as lovely +as a gentian on the mountains. + +"Then Lieblich Gedacht sang a song. He sang of all the beautiful things +he had ever dreamed of; he sang of the sun and the moon and the stars, +of the spring, the grass, the great woods and their secret; he sang the +song the leaves sing when they wake in the dawn, and the song the boughs +sing in the evening when they lull the birds and the flowers to sleep. +He sang of the love he felt for all the beautiful things in the world, +and about how glad he was to be alive in a beautiful country like +Musicland. + +"Vox Angelica heard him, and answered his song, and they sang a duet +together, and Lieblich Gedacht's part said, 'I love you,' and Vox +Angelica's part said, 'I love you too.' + +"Then Lieblich Gedacht asked Vox Angelica to marry him, and she said she +would, and they settled they would start at once for the City of +Pleasant Sounds and be married. They started at once. Lieblich Gedacht +rode on a grey horse, and Vox Angelica rode on the saddle in front of +him. Now their way lay through a perilous wood called the Forest of +Discord, which was infested by imps called Chromatics, and by hundreds +of gnomes who made a hideous noise, and in the middle of this wood lived +Bourdon, who is a wizard. + +"When they reached the wood it was already dark, and from every bush and +tree came sharp sounds, ugly cries, moans, groans, squeaks, wheezes, and +in the distance they could hear a deep buzzing boom. + +"Vox Angelica and Lieblich Gedacht were rather frightened, since it was +dark and neither of them knew the way, for neither of them had ever been +near the Forest of Discord before, and they knew none of the people who +belonged to it. So they made up their minds not to go any farther but to +sleep under the shade of an oak-tree. It was summer, so it was warm. +They made themselves a bed of leaves and lay down; but the Chromatics +made such a noise that they could not go to sleep. At last they put moss +into their ears so that they could not hear the ugly sounds, and they +both fell asleep. + +"In the middle of the night Lieblich Gedacht had a bad dream. He dreamed +that the trees had come to life and had stretched out their arms and +taken Vox Angelica away from him, and that when he tried to keep her +they bound him down to the ground. + +"When Lieblich Gedacht awoke, it was daylight and the sun was shining +through the dark trees. But what was his grief and despair when he saw +that Vox Angelica was no longer there! She had gone, disappeared, and +left no trace. He looked for her everywhere; he called out her name in a +thousand ways till the ugly wood re-echoed with the sweetness of his +song, but no Vox Angelica answered. She was nowhere to be found. +Lieblich Gedacht was in despair. He did not know what to do nor where to +look. 'But,' he thought to himself, 'one thing is certain: it is no use +wasting time in this forest, I must go and find some one who will be +likely to help me.' + +"So he rode out of the Forest of Discord as quickly as he could, and +crossed the plains which lie beyond it, and he rode on until he reached +the Wood of Dreams, which is on the other side of the plains. + +"In this wood there lives a hermit called Sackbut, who is well known for +his goodness and his wisdom, and Lieblich Gedacht made up his mind to go +and ask him for his help and advice. Sackbut lives in a cave +underground. He is very old, and has a long white beard six times as +long as mine. Lieblich Gedacht, after searching for some time in the +wood, found a clear space in the thickets, and in the middle of it a +circle of built bricks which looked like the top of a well. But when he +looked down into what he thought was the well he saw there were steps +in it which went down underground. He went boldly down the steps and +into the dark, and when he had counted thirty-two of them they stopped +and he came to the door. He knocked at this door, and he heard a hoarse +voice saying: 'Who is there?' + +"'It is I, Lieblich Gedacht,' he answered. 'I have come for advice.' + +"The door was opened at once, and Lieblich Gedacht found himself in a +cell lit by a lantern, and in front of him, sitting at a table and +reading a large book, which had nothing but notes in it, was Sackbut the +Hermit. + +"'Well, what do you want?' asked the hermit in a gruff voice. 'Be quick +and tell me, because I am busy and I have got no time to waste. I am +learning a fugue by one of those new-fangled German musicians, and I +must know it by next Sunday, for there's a man in one of their cities +who has the gift, and I shall have to go.' + +"'I have plighted my troth to Vox Angelica,' said Lieblich Gedacht. 'We +were travelling together to the City of Pleasant Sounds to be married, +and we stopped on the way in the Forest of Discord.' + +"'That was a silly thing to do,' said Sackbut. + +"'We slept the night there, and when I woke up in the morning Vox +Angelica had disappeared.' + +"'Did you hear anything in the night?' asked Sackbut. + +"'No,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'but I had a bad nightmare. I dreamed the +trees were taking her away and strangling me.' + +"'I see,' said Sackbut, 'it's Bourdon the wizard; he's at his old tricks +again. Vox Angelica has been carried away by Bourdon, and he has +probably hidden her somewhere. He would not dare keep her in his castle, +because the Chromatics are such gossips that the whole kingdom would +know it at once. She is a prisoner somewhere; of that you can be sure. +But where I cannot tell you. All I can advise you is to go and ask Echo: +she hears everything.' + +"'And where does Echo live?' asked Lieblich Gedacht. + +"'Echo,' said Sackbut, 'lives in the Castle of the Winds, which is not +very far away. You must go right through the Wood of Dreams, and across +the plains, and then you will come to a valley; you must descend into +this valley, which is steep, and climb up the other side of it; and +there on a high rock you will see the Castle of the Winds. Good-bye.' + +"And the Hermit bent over his music-book once more and hummed to himself +in his deep bass voice. But just as Lieblich Gedacht was going away, +Sackbut called him back and gave him a walnut, and said: 'Whenever you +are in danger and want my help, crack this. Now go.' + +"Lieblich Gedacht thanked Sackbut, and did as he had been told. He rode +through the Wood of Dreams, which is a quiet wood, shady and dim. There +are very few birds in it; but the nightingale sings there all day and +the nightjar sings there all night. And on his way he passed a cottage +where Waldhorn the hunter lives, and farther on he passed a castle +which belongs to Waldflöte the Lord of the Forest. But neither of them +were at home; for Waldhorn was out hunting, and Waldflöte was on a visit +to his cousin Cor de Nuit, who lives in the Orchards of Twilight. + +"Lieblich Gedacht soon reached the valley, which is deep and made of +great rocks and quarries. It is so steep that he had to lead his horse +down the whole way. But the other side was easier to climb because it +was grassy, and he was able to ride up it. When he reached the top, he +saw a castle with transparent walls which reflected the sunlight and +which had hundreds of windows, all of them wide open so as to let in the +winds from all the corners of the world. When he reached the door he +sang a soft note, and he immediately heard it repeated hundreds and +hundreds of times so that the whole world seemed to be full of calling +sounds. The door opened of itself, and Lieblich walked into a hall, at +the end of which was a winding staircase. He walked up this staircase +and he went on and on until he thought it would never end. At last he +came to the top, and there, in a little room which had eight sides, +sitting on a crystal throne, was Echo. + +"She was dressed in moonbeams and dewdrops and the fleece of a cloud, +and she had wings made of gossamer like those of a dragon-fly, and on +her head there trembled a star. + +"'I have come,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'to ask you to help me.' And he +told his story. + +"'Two nights ago,' said Echo when he had finished, 'I heard Bourdon +start from his castle in his large rumbling coach. His horses were +galloping. He left his castle and drove for some time through the Forest +of Discord, and then he stopped. At that moment I heard a sigh which I +am sure was Vox Angelica speaking. But the sigh was soon stifled, and +Bourdon drove off again in his coach. He drove right through the Forest +of Dreams, over the plains, till he came to the sea, and there he got +out and disappeared under the sea. After that I do not know what +happened, because the winds cannot bring me any news of what happens +underneath the sea; but he probably crossed the sea and went to +Muteland, which is beyond it. But I advise you to go and ask Unda Maris, +who lives under the sea. She will tell you.' + +"'But how shall I find Unda Maris?' asked Lieblich Gedacht. + +"'All you have got to do is to go to the seashore,' said Echo; 'you must +take this ring, and when you get there'--and here she gave Lieblich +Gedacht a silver ring with a strange blue stone in it--'you must throw +it into the sea and sing-- + + "Ring, ring, go home, + To the fishes and the foam; + Say the word and open the sea, + Come and show the way to me." + +But remember this: if any one asks you to do them a service, however +small, which might delay your journey, you must refuse, or evil will +come of it. And you had better take this with you, and whenever you are +in danger and want my help, open it.' And she gave Lieblich Gedacht a +little green egg. + +"Lieblich Gedacht thanked Echo and said good-bye, and then he rode as +quickly as he could to the seashore. There he threw the ring into the +sea and said-- + + 'Ring, ring, go home, + To the fishes and the foam; + Say the word and open the sea, + Come and show the way to me.' + +No sooner had he said this than the sea opened wide, and he saw before +him a stone staircase with a rope made of pearls for him to walk down +by; and a silver fish with webbed feet and hands went in front of him +and showed him the way. + +"The fish led him a long walk right to the bottom of the sea, and when +he got there, he found a place built of rocks and seaweeds. Inside it +was green and dim like a summer night, and sounds echoed through its +green corridors. The fish led Lieblich Gedacht through many halls to the +central grotto, which was built of sapphires, where Unda Maris lived. +She was lying on a bed of purple seaweed when he entered the grotto, +and she was touching the strings of a golden harp. She was almost hidden +by a veil, and her face shone behind it, pale like the moon behind a +cloud. She asked Lieblich Gedacht what he wanted, and he told his story. + +"'It is true,' she said when he had finished. 'Bourdon has carried away +Vox Angelica out of Musicland. He passed through the sea three days +ago--passed through and took her to Muteland beyond the sea, to the +Castle of Silence that stands in the middle of the Lake of Sighs. You +must go there if you wish to find her. You must cross the sea to get +there in a boat, and you must be sure on no account to stop anywhere on +the way, or else evil will come of it. Take this with you, and whenever +you are in danger, and want my help, open it.' So saying, she gave +Lieblich Gedacht a pearly shell. + +"So Lieblich Gedacht thanked Unda Maris and said good-bye, and walked +back by the staircase to the seashore again. When he got there the first +thing he did was to go to a fisherman's hut and ask him to lend him a +boat to cross the sea in. While he was talking to the fisherman he saw +three figures coming towards him. One was dressed in bright armour, and +wore a gold cloak on his left shoulder, and a crimson cap with a crimson +feather in it, and a sword. This was Prince Hautboy, and with him was +his page, Piccolo, a mischievous little boy with beady brown eyes, +clothed entirely in silver; and the second, who wore a scarlet tunic and +who carried a broadsword and a bugle, was Cornet the soldier; and the +third was a tall figure with a handsome, melancholy face, dressed in +black velvet and wearing a large black cap from which a proud white +plume waved. This was Viol d'Amore, the brave nobleman who was a +swordsman and who made beautiful verses and sang them. + +"Lieblich Gedacht walked up to them, and taking off his green cap made +obeisance to them. + +"Hautboy and Viol d'Amore asked him who he was. + +"'I am Lieblich Gedacht,' he said, 'the son of the forester. I live in +the Woods of Melody, and I am betrothed to Vox Angelica. But Bourdon has +taken her away and locked her up in the Castle of Silence on the Lake of +Sighs, and I am going to rescue her.' + +"'Then you can come with us,' said Hautboy, 'for we are bound upon a +like errand. I am betrothed to Clarabella, and Bourdon has taken her +away; and Viol d'Amore is looking for Dolce his betrothed, and Cornet +for Muzette, who is pledged to him, and Bourdon has taken them too.' + +"So Viol d'Amore, Hautboy, Cornet, and Lieblich Gedacht, and Piccolo the +page, got into the boat, hoisted the sail and set out to sea. They had a +fair breeze, and for three days their voyage continued smoothly without +any adventures; but on the fourth day they met a huge brass ship with a +serpent at the prow which challenged them. + +"'This is Bourdon's doing,' said Hautboy; 'he has had wind of our +adventure and sent his allies against us.' + +"In the brass ship there were two very fearsome warriors--Tromba, who +was a giant mailed in brazen armour, like the vessel, and Bassoon, who +was as large as a barrel and who had a voice like thunder; and with them +were fifty tin soldiers. As soon as the vessel approached, Tromba cried +out in a ringing voice-- + +"'Surrender, you are my prisoners!' + +"'In whose name?' cried out Hautboy. + +"'In the name of Bourdon, our King,' answered Tromba. + +"'We recognise no king save King Diapason, our lawful sovereign,' said +Hautboy unabashed. + +"'Then if you won't surrender we shall make you,' said Tromba; and he +told his soldiers to ram the little boat. + +"Hautboy thought that all was lost; and Lieblich Gedacht said, 'If only +Unda Maris were here she could help us.' Then he remembered the shell +which she had given to him, and he opened it. There was nothing inside +it except a tiny seed-pearl, and as he opened the shell the vessel gave +a lurch and the seed-pearl fell into the sea. Lieblich Gedacht cried out +in despair, but as he did so, a wave rose between them and the brazen +vessel, and from out this wave came a gigantic sea-serpent, which at +once attacked the brazen vessel. Tromba and Bassoon were frightened out +of their wits, and setting all sail they fled as fast as they could, and +their ship was soon out of sight. Then the sea-serpent disappeared, and +the sea at once became quite calm again. They journeyed on for two more +days, and the weather grew warmer and finer every hour, and the sky +turned to a softer azure, and the sea to a deeper blue; they were borne +along by the lightest of breezes, and sometimes their sail flapped idly +in the still air. + +"On the third day, they descried a speck of land on the horizon, and +towards the evening they could see that it was an island with misty +hills and lights on it. All round it on the sea, which the sunset had +turned fiery, little white sails seemed to be scudding towards it, and +when the sun set and the stars came out there came to them from the +island a faint thread of wonderful sound. + +"Hautboy and Cornet said they thought it would be a good thing to land +at this island for the night, and Lieblich Gedacht was so curious to +hear more of the lovely music that he forgot all about the warning Unda +Maris had given him not to stop anywhere on the way, and he consented. + +"So they ran their boat into a sandy cove, hauled her up on to the +beach, and landed. The island was overgrown with tall ferns; and shapes +of trees, such as none of them had ever seen before, nodded to them from +the hills. There appeared to be no birds, beasts, or any living creature +on the island, but the thread of sound they had heard in the distance, +was fuller now and more silvery, and they walked up along a grassy path +towards the place where it seemed to come from. After they had climbed +up the ground in front of them for some time, they reached a spot where +the ground ceased to rise. Lieblich Gedacht turned round to have one +last look at the sea before walking down into the valley which was +before them. The stars twinkled in the sky and the sea mirrored them +like quiet glass, and strange to say, all the little white sails which +they had seen at sunset scudding round the island had disappeared. + +"They went down into the valley, and the ferns became more dusky and +taller, the path darker and darker, and the sound of music sweeter and +more insistent; they crossed the valley, and the pathway led them uphill +once more to a clear space, and before them rose pinnacles and domes all +grey and shimmering like a mist which hides the sun, and in this frail +dwelling-place a hundred little lights glistened like glowworms, and the +whole place trembled with the magical silvery sound which they had +followed. + +"They walked on, and they came to a grey portal with colours in it like +those of a fading rainbow, and a voice bade them enter. They did so, and +found themselves beneath a cloudy dome, so high that they could not see +the top of it, and although there were myriads of small lights +twinkling everywhere, the air remained dim and mysterious: but the sound +was louder and clearer. They could not but follow it, and it led them +beyond the dome up a flight of steps to a terrace which was open to the +sky. The terrace was long and broad, and as unreal and unsubstantial as +though it were built of moonshine. They walked on, straight in front of +them, until they came to a transparent wall. They looked over this, and +beneath them was a steep slope covered with grasses and ferns, trees and +plants; down this slope, which was interrupted at intervals by the +outline of smaller terraces and ledges, in which were sheets of light, +like pools of water, they seemed to hear a hundred waterfalls rushing +whispering down the slope; and far away in the darkness they saw the +ghosts of white fountains rising and sobbing. On their left, the terrace +overlooked the sea, and went sheer down to the beach; and on their +right, tall shadows hid from their view the fern-forests of the island. +In the air there was scent of flowers, and the whole terrace was +overgrown with some sweet jessamine-like flower which they could not +see, for both the terrace and the sloping garden beneath them were +shrouded in a mist in which millions and millions of fireflies swarmed +and glistened. And all this time the sound grew softer, clearer, and +stronger. Just as they were wondering where it could be coming from, +there came to them from out and through the filmy walls of the dwelling, +a beautiful lady. Her face was like a pale flower, and her hair, which +fell to her feet, was dark as the night, and she was dressed in clinging +folds of dewy silver, and she stretched out her white arms to them and +said in a voice which seemed like that of the summer darkness-- + +"'Welcome!' Then she led them into the house, up into a high room, built +in the clouds and from which they could see the circle of the island and +the sea beyond. + +"They at once fell into a deep sleep, and in their dreams winged shapes +fanned them and soft voices whispered to them. The next morning when +they awoke, although the sun was shining the mists did not rise from the +island; everything remained filmy, grey, and dim, shimmering like a bell +of foam; lights twinkled and fountains and waterfalls plashed, and the +island echoed with hidden voices and the same magical sound. + +"'I suppose,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'we ought to go on with our +journey?' + +"'Yes,' said Hautboy, 'but where are we going to?' + +"'Yes, where _are_ we going to?' repeated Cornet. + +"And Lieblich Gedacht thought and thought, and puzzled and puzzled; but +neither he nor any of them could remember where they were going. +Presently Hautboy said-- + +"'Why should we go anywhere? What place could be better than this +island?' + +"'This is better than fighting,' said Cornet. + +"'And then making verses and singing them,' said Viol d'Amore. + +"'And then piping all day,' said Piccolo. + +"'Nobody asked your opinion,' said Hautboy. + +"And so they wandered about in this magical island, listening to the +delicious sound and smelling flowers which they could not see; they were +steeped in the mist of the place, and they could not remember what it +was they had set out to do. They were captives to the dream and the +spell of the place, and however much they tried they could not drive the +mist from their minds and remember what they had set out to do. At +sunset the beautiful lady appeared again and gave them fruits to eat and +water in a crystal cup, and she sang to them a song, and never had they +heard anything so lovely. When she had done singing, Lieblich Gedacht +asked her who she was and what the island was called. + +"She said: 'I am the daughter of the moon, and this island is called the +Island of Moon Dew. I am very lonely, but you shall keep me company +now.' + +"'But,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'we must not stay here long. We are bound +on a quest, only we can't remember just now exactly what it is.' + +"'We will talk of that later,' said the lady, 'in the meantime I will +sing you a song.' And she sang them to sleep with her wonderful voice. + +"A whole year passed, and every day was spent in the same way, in dream +and song and sleep. Cornet, Hautboy, and Viol d'Amore had quite stopped +worrying about their journey, and about what they should do in the +future. But Lieblich Gedacht was sad because he knew there was something +he ought to do, but he could not remember what it was. One day when he +was wandering by himself in the gardens of the island, he sat down to +rest on the grass beside some misty bushes. He was trying hard to +remember, and he happened to take out of his pocket the little egg which +Echo had given him. He had quite forgotten what it was, and he played +with it, throwing it up and catching it; and then growing tired of this +game, he put the egg on the grass next to the misty bushes so that it +touched one of them. Directly he did this a myrtle bush, which had not +been there before, appeared out of the mist quite distinct, and it at +once began to speak. + +"'Who are you,' it said, 'who have made me visible and given me the +power to speak?' + +"'I am Lieblich Gedacht,' he answered. 'I have been here a year, and +what I am doing I don't know, because I can't remember things.' + +"'You are protected by some powerful spell,' said the myrtle, 'or else +you would have suffered my fate already. Don't you know where you are?' + +"'No,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'we came here in a boat one evening after +sunset; we have seen the Lady of the Island, but we do not know her +name.' + +"'Then I will tell you,' said the myrtle. 'You are in the island of +Zauberflöte the enchantress. All who come here lose their memory and +forget their homes, their native country, and the faces that they love. +And when they have been here a year, Zauberflöte puts them to the test. +She bids them listen to the Moon Song, and if they can listen to it +without falling asleep, they are free, but if they fall asleep, then +they are hers for ever, and she changes them into ghostly shapes: +plants, fountains, streams, waterfalls, flowers, trees, ferns, or +whatever she wishes.' + +"'And who are you?' asked Lieblich Gedacht. + +"'I,' said the myrtle, 'am the youngest son of the Sleeping Beauty in +the wood. I was on my way to Musicland to seek adventure. I stopped at +this island, although my fairy godmother had warned me not to, and after +I had been here a year Zauberflöte sang me the Moon Song and I fell +asleep, and she changed me into a myrtle bush. There are many, many +people on this island who have suffered the same fate. From my country +there are the Marquis of Carrabas, who stayed here for a night to feed +his cat: he is changed into a fuchsia and the cat into a tiger-lily; and +Cinderella is here too: she was changed into a glass slipper; and there +are many knights and maidens from all the corners of the world, sleeping +here in the shape of ghostly ferns and trees and flowers.' + +"'What must I do?' he asked, 'to resist the Moon Song?' + +"'It is very difficult,' said the myrtle, 'no one has ever resisted it +yet; but you must have some spell about you or else you could not have +made me visible and given me speech. But look, what is that egg lying on +the grass next to my stem?' + +"'Oh, Echo gave me that,' said Lieblich Gedacht; 'I had forgotten, but I +remember now; she told me to crush it if I was in danger!' + +"'You must not crush it until the Moon Song has begun,' said the myrtle, +'and then the spell will be broken, and we shall all be free, for as +soon as some one is found who can resist the Moon Song, the spell will +cease to bind us; but if you don't break the egg in time, you will +sleep here for ever. Now I must not talk any more or else we shall be +discovered.' + +"Lieblich Gedacht thanked the myrtle and went away. That night there was +a full moon, and never had the island looked so beautiful. Zauberflöte +came on to the terrace, and called Hautboy, Cornet, Viol d'Amore, +Lieblich Gedacht and Piccolo, and said she would sing to them. + +"She began to sing the Moon Song, and never had her voice been so +silvery and never had they listened to such a song; all the island was +trembling with joy, and the moon and the stars seemed to be leaning out +of the sky to listen. And just as Lieblich Gedacht was yielding to the +spell and sinking into a delicious ocean of dreams he cracked the egg to +pieces between his fingers. + +"At that moment the song stopped, and Lieblich Gedacht heard the echo of +Vox Angelica's voice, which came from the egg, sighing: 'Lieblich +Gedacht, my betrothed, have you forgotten me?' + +"'Of course I haven't,' said Lieblich Gedacht. 'Come, Hautboy, Viol +d'Amore, and Cornet, we are bound for Bourdon's castle.' At that moment +Viol d'Amore, Hautboy, and Cornet remembered everything they had +forgotten and whither they were bound. + +"As Lieblich Gedacht said this, Zauberflöte disappeared at once into her +mysterious palace. The mists lifted and vanished and the garden appeared +in its true shape, just like an ordinary garden, with stone terraces +overgrown with jessamine, and trees and bushes, and flowers and grass +and weeds, just like anywhere else, and the shadows on one side of the +terrace were cypress trees, and Zauberflöte's palace was an ordinary +palace built of marble. From the garden came Prince Myrtle, the Marquis +of Carrabas, Cinderella, and a hundred other knights and maidens who had +been spellbound there for years; and they all thanked Lieblich Gedacht +for setting them free. They started at once in their boats, which they +found in the cove where they had left them. The Marquis of Carrabas, +Prince Myrtle, and Cinderella set out for Musicland, and Lieblich +Gedacht and his comrades started once more on their quest of rescue. + +"They sailed for three more days and for three more nights, and they +arrived at Muteland. Muteland is a flat country with no woods in it and +very few trees, and those have no leaves on them. Some people say this +is so that they may not rustle. But they couldn't rustle even if they +had leaves, because there is no wind in Muteland. There are no birds in +Muteland, and the only beasts there are dormice and salamanders. There +are no streams and no rivers, and the people who live there only speak +to each other by signs. In the middle of the country there is a large +lake called the Lake of Sighs, because some people say that the sound of +sighs is sometimes heard coming from it, and that these are the only +sounds which have ever been heard in the country. + +"As soon as Hautboy, Viol d'Amore, Cornet, Piccolo, and Lieblich Gedacht +landed on the coast of Muteland, the first thing they did was to sing a +song. This frightened the people there so much that they all ran into +their holes; for the inhabitants of Muteland live underground. They +walked for some hours over the barren plains until they came to an +avenue of leafless willows. Lieblich Gedacht was walking on ahead, and +as he passed one of these trees he stopped, for he thought he heard a +human moan coming from one of the trees. He paused and listened, and +again the sound was repeated. This time he heard it quite plainly. It +was the piteous and musical moan of a human creature in pain. It +trembled through the silence, and shook and quivered and touched +Lieblich Gedacht's kind heart. + +"He walked up to the tree which was nearest to him to see if he could +find out where the noise came from. Then from above, coming from the +heart of the tree, he heard the plaintive voice crying to him: 'Release +me. Set me free. I am imprisoned in the trunk of this tree.' + +"'Who are you?' asked Lieblich Gedacht. + +"'I am Vox Humana,' said the voice, 'I was imprisoned in this tree by a +wizard a hundred years ago, and nobody will set me free.' + +"'But how can I set you free?' asked Lieblich Gedacht. + +"'All you have got to do is to touch the tree and say-- + + "Willow-tree, willow-tree, + Hark to me, hark! + Set the poor captive free, + Open your bark."' + +"Lieblich Gedacht in his distress quite forgot what Echo had told him +about not delaying his journey to render any one a service, and he +touched the tree and said the words. + +"As soon as he had done this, the tree opened and Vox Humana came out of +it, with tears of gratitude in her soft brown eyes; but the spell which +the wizard had put on the tree was of such a kind that he who set free a +prisoner from it became a prisoner himself, and Vox Humana did not know +this. So directly she was set free, Lieblich Gedacht found himself in +her place, a prisoner in the dark trunk of the willow-tree, and +although Vox Humana, who was very unselfish, at once touched the tree, +and said the magic rhyme, because she preferred to be imprisoned herself +rather than to cause some one else to be a captive, the spell did not +work a second time. Indeed, like most spells, it could only be used +once. + +"Presently Hautboy, Viol d'Amore and Cornet came up, and they found Vox +Humana crying bitterly. She told them what had happened, and they did +not know what to do, for they could not even hear Lieblich Gedacht's +voice; because it is only after years and years that a person who is +imprisoned in a tree can be heard by any one else. And that is the +reason why Vox Humana has such a plaintive voice. They were all very +sad, and they settled to go on to the Lake of Sighs and accomplish their +quest, and then perhaps they would find some way of setting Lieblich +Gedacht free again. They soon reached the Lake of Sighs, and in the +middle of it, on a rocky island, stood the Castle of Silence. They found +a boat on the shore of the lake, and it carried them across by itself, +without oars or sail. They found the gates of the castle (which was all +black) wide open. They entered the castle. It was quite empty and +deserted. They went into room after room. They searched every nook and +corner, but they found nothing. When they came to the banqueting-hall +they found a meal ready for them, with fruits and bread and wine, which +were served by invisible hands; so they sat down and ate, for they were +hungry. + +"When they had had enough they began to search the castle once more, but +they soon felt sleepy, so they lay down in one of the rooms where they +found beds all ready for them, and fell fast asleep. + +"No sooner were they asleep than Bourdon's three cousins, Bass, Violone, +and Ophicleide, who were looking after the castle for him, and who had +been hiding in a secret room in the walls, came out and bound them and +cast them into an oubliette which was at the bottom of the castle, right +under the lake. And there they found Vox Angelica, Dolce, Muzette, and +Clarabella. + +"To go back to Lieblich Gedacht: he was of course miserable, and he +spent a whole month in the willow-tree, waiting for Hautboy and the +others to come to set him free. But they never came. At last one day he +remembered the walnut which Sackbut had given him. He had quite +forgotten it up to that moment. He took it out of his pocket and cracked +it, and in it he found a tiny silver key and a hazel nut. He put the +hazel nut in his pocket, and he looked everywhere in the tree for a +keyhole, and at last he found a tiny crack; he put the key in the crack +and it fitted exactly. The door of the tree opened and he was free once +more. He set out for the lake at once, and reached it in a few hours. +Exactly the same things happened to him as to the others. The boat took +him across the lake. He entered the empty castle and explored every nook +and corner of it, but he found nothing. When he came into the +banqueting-hall he saw the table spread by invisible hands; but he said +to himself: 'I will not eat and drink till I have found Vox Angelica.' +So he did not touch the food; but he went on searching. As he was +looking out of one of the windows of the castle he distinctly heard Vox +Angelica's sigh coming from the lake, and he at once understood that she +was imprisoned in some dungeon underneath the lake. He waited until it +was dark, and then he took the boat and rowed round the castle, and low +down by the water he came to a barred window, and from this window came +the sound of many sighs. Lieblich Gedacht now understood why the lake +was called the Lake of Sighs, for the sighs came from prisoners +imprisoned in Bourdon's dungeon. + +"'Is that you, Vox Angelica?' he whispered. + +"'Yes,' she whispered back, 'we are all here in the dungeon. But you +must be careful, because Bourdon's three brothers are hiding in the +castle.' + +"'How can I rescue you?' asked Lieblich Gedacht. + +"'I don't know,' said Vox Angelica. 'We are all of us bound in fetters.' + +"'I will try and find a file,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'to file the bars +of the window and set you free.' + +"So he went back to the castle to look for a file, but as he entered the +gate Bourdon's three brothers fell upon him, and bound him, and cast him +into the dungeon. + +"'Alas!' said Vox Humana, 'we are all lost now.' + +"'Not at all!' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'we will soon be free. Piccolo is +so small he ought to be able to wriggle out of his chains, which are +much too big for him.' + +"Piccolo needed no further telling, and he soon managed to set himself +free. + +"'Now we are no better off than before,' said Vox Humana, who was always +inclined to take a gloomy view of things. But Piccolo was then told to +look in Lieblich Gedacht's pocket for a hazel nut, and when he found it +to crack it. Piccolo found the nut, cracked it, and inside the nut +tightly rolled up was a silk cap. + +"'Now,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'you must put the cap on my head.' As +soon as Piccolo did this, Lieblich Gedacht's chains fell from him and +he was free. For the cap was of that kind which makes a man invisible, +unchainable, and as strong as ten. The next thing he did was to break +the fetters of the eight other prisoners; then he pulled the bars from +the window. They could not get out, but in front of the window were the +waters of the lake, and they had no boat. + +"'Perhaps,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'the hazel nut will help us again +because it is faëry,' and he took half the nutshell and threw it into +the lake. It at once turned into a boat just big enough to hold Vox +Humana, Vox Angelica, Clarabella, Dolce, Muzette, Hautboy, Cornet, Viol +d'Amore, Piccolo, and himself. And they all got into it, and it took +them across the lake without sail or oars. + +"They reached the seashore without further adventures and sailed back to +Musicland. On the way they passed the island of Zauberflöte, which was +still trembling with lovely sound: but this time they knew better than +to stop there. They went straight back to the City of Pleasant Sounds, +to the palace of King Diapason, and they told him the whole story. + +"The King was angry with Bourdon, and he sent his army, under the +command of Tuba Mirabilis, who, helped by Posaune, Clarion, and Cymbal, +captured Bourdon and his three brothers, Bass, Violone, and Ophicleide, +and put them in prison in the Lake of Sighs. They are there to this day. +And they are never allowed to go free in their own country, but they +have to come to your world when some one has the gift; and that is why +their voices are so gruff. Bassoon and Tromba were let off with a severe +reprimand because they were sorry for what they had done. Then King +Diapason ordered a great wedding to be held. And Lieblich Gedacht and +Vox Angelica were married yesterday. It was the most gorgeous wedding +ever seen. We were all of us there, and Unda Maris came from her home in +the sea in a chariot drawn by sea-lions, and Echo came from her high +castle in a chariot drawn by zephyrs. Tuba Mirabilis, Clarion, and the +soldiers all wore their best armour and their brightest helmets. + +"Vox Angelica's bridesmaids were the seven daughters of Echo, and her +page was Piccolo. Lieblich Gedacht's best man was Waldhorn. And Voix +Céleste, who is a nun, came from her convent to sing in the choir. Many +of the fairies came to the wedding: Prince Myrtle was there, Cinderella, +and the Marquis of Carrabas and his cat." + +"And did Zauberflöte come?" asked Johan. + +"No," said Quint, "she was not invited." + +"And what happened to Hautboy, Cornet, and Viol d'Amore?" asked Johan. + +"Well," said Quint, "they were all to have been married on the same day; +but Muzette is very dainty and her wedding gown was not ready. It is +being woven in Fairyland by the elves, and it is to be made of the +petals of forget-me-nots and pinks, and her veil is to be spun out of +dewdrops caught in the new moon. All this takes such a long time that +the elves could not finish it by yesterday, so the King arranged that +Hautboy and Clarabella, Viol d'Amore and Dolce, and Cornet and +Muzette should be married in a month's time, all on the same day." + +[Illustration: HE CLIMBED ON TO THE MANUALS AND DISAPPEARED INTO THE +HEART OF THE ORGAN] + +"At any rate," said Johan, "you will not miss that wedding. But where +have Vox Angelica and Lieblich Gedacht gone to for their honeymoon?" + +"They have gone to Lieblich Gedacht's cottage in the Woods of Melody, +and they will live there for the rest of their lives; for all their +lives will be one long honeymoon," said Quint. As he said this he +climbed on to the manuals, and disappeared into the heart of the organ. + +And Johan noticed that the sun had risen and that the sacristan was +opening the cathedral for early Mass. A few minutes later Frantz walked +up into the organ loft, and Johan asked him to draw the stops of Vox +Angelica and Lieblich Gedacht together and alone. Frantz did this, and +they blent their voices together in unison, and Johan understood that +they were happier than they had ever been before. + + + + +THE VAGABOND + + +There was once upon a time a King and a Queen who had three daughters. +The eldest was called Elsa, the second Elfrida, and the third +Heartsease. All the fairies were invited to the christening of the two +eldest daughters, and not one was left out. They came and showered gifts +on the two babies, and promised them beauty, riches, prosperity, +happiness, and long life. But when Heartsease was born, the King +happened to be very busy drawing up a treaty with a neighbouring State, +about the rights of preserving gold-fish in a certain pond which lay +between the two kingdoms, so that when he invited the fairies to the +christening he left out one of them: the Fairy of the Yellow Mines, who +was wicked and powerful. + +The other fairies came, and they said that Heartsease should be the +kindest and the cleverest princess ever seen: her eyes should be as +blue as forget-me-nots, her smile as bright as the morning, her hands as +delicate as snowdrops, and her heart of pure gold. Moreover, she should +sing like a lark, and ride wild horses, and do needlework better than +all other princesses. Towards the end of the feast, the Fairy of the +Yellow Mines arrived in a chariot drawn by two snorting dragons. She was +all yellow, and her face was dry as a piece of parchment, and pinched +and wrinkled with spite and envy. + +"So it appears I am not worthy to be invited to this feast," she said. +"I know I am old-fashioned, but in my time kings used to take the +trouble to be civil to fairies. But since I have come unbidden I must +not depart without bestowing a gift. Heartsease, in spite of her eyes +the colour of forget-me-nots, in spite of her smile like the morning and +her hands like snowdrops, shall not be pretty to look at, for her skin +shall be marked with my special signature. And he who woos her will woo +her for herself and for her heart, and not for her face." + +So saying, the Fairy of the Yellow Mines chuckled, and flew away in her +yellow chariot. + +The King and the Queen were dreadfully vexed when this happened, and +they at once asked Heartsease's godmother, who was none other than the +Fairy of the Azure Lake, whether she could not do anything to help them. + +"Alas! I cannot undo the mischief that has been done," she answered, +"but nevertheless Heartsease shall be wooed and won, and her bridegroom +shall be greater than that of her beautiful sisters." And when she had +said this, the Fairy of the Azure Lake drove away in her chariot, which +was made of honeysuckle, and driven by ten obedient bees. + +Heartsease was the most beautiful little baby ever seen. Her hair was +curly, her skin as soft as that of a rose-leaf, with many dimples in it, +and her smile made those who looked at her happy the whole day long. Two +years passed, and the King and the Queen began to think that the wicked +fairy's words had only been a bad joke, when one day Heartsease began +to cry, and it became clear that she was not well. She was put to bed, +and the Court doctor was sent for. He looked at her, and said that the +case was a very serious one. During a whole month little Heartsease was +mortally sick, and she was given many nasty medicines which she drank +without complaining. The King and the Queen never left her bedside day +and night. + +At last, at the end of the sixth week, the doctor said the turning-point +had come, and that little Heartsease would get well. From that day +onwards she began to recover, and in a month's time she was able to run +about. But alas! her lovely soft skin had disappeared. It was pitted all +over with deep marks, so that it appeared to be all shrivelled, and as +yellow as the face of the Fairy of the Yellow Mines; and nobody could +recognise in this dried-up, wizened face the lovely little child that +had once been Heartsease. And in spite of her eyes, which were still as +blue as forget-me-nots, and in spite of her smile, people could scarcely +bear to look at her, poor little thing, such a fright had she become. +And this, of course, was the doing of the Fairy of the Yellow Mines, who +had cast a spell on Heartsease's face. + +The King ordered all the looking-glasses in the house to be broken, lest +Heartsease should catch sight of herself and be sad, and so she +continued to play with her toys and ride on her white pony and be happy. +But the King and the Queen were sad, because they loved Heartsease the +best of all their daughters. + +One day, when Heartsease was eight years old, she went out for a walk +with her two sisters, and they met a vagabond in dark, tattered cloak +who was playing a hurdy-gurdy, which is a thing like a big violin, with +strings, and keys, and a handle at the end of it which you turn. The +vagabond looked very poor and miserable, and he took off his cap and +asked for a few pence, for he had not a penny to buy bread with. + +Now Elsa and Elfrida, Heartsease's sisters, were very proud. They +scowled at the vagabond, and told him to go about his business quickly, +or else they would send for the soldiers and have him locked up in gaol. +But Heartsease was sorry for him and said: "I cannot give you any money, +because I have not got any, but take this: perhaps it will make you +happy, because I love it very much, and talk to it when I am alone." And +she took her favourite old doll which she always carried about with her, +and gave it to him. It was not a pretty doll, and she had played with it +so much that its clothes were frayed and torn; but it had a beautiful +crown made of gold paper, and a necklace of large blue beads. And +Heartsease loved it above all things, and it was her companion; because +Elsa and Elfrida never let her play with them, for they said she was too +small. + +As soon as she had done this Elsa and Elfrida burst out laughing. + +"Fancy giving a beggar a doll!" they said. "We should like to know what +he can do with it!" + +"Thank you kindly, little Princess," said the vagabond. "I shall never +forget your kindness." + +"A lot of good a beggar's kindness will do her," said Elsa. + +"Perhaps he will bring her a bridegroom," said Elfrida. + +"Perhaps he will wed her himself," said Elsa, and they both laughed. + +"Nobody else will, for sure," said Elfrida. + +The vagabond then turned to the two sisters and said-- + +"A day will come when you will envy your sister her bridegroom." And he +hobbled away. + +Elsa and Elfrida burst into a fit of laughter. + +"Fancy," said Elsa, "our envying Heartsease!" + +"Fancy," said Elfrida, "her ever having a bridegroom!" + +Now Heartsease could not understand what they meant, for she did not +know she was a fright; but their words made her thoughtful and sad, and +she wondered what they were talking about. When she got home, she asked +her father whether, when she grew up, she would find a bridegroom, and +be married. + +"Of course you will, dear little child," he said, and he took her on his +knee, but she noticed that his eyes were filled with tears. + +From that moment, Heartsease began to suspect that there was something +wrong about herself, and that she was not quite the same as other +children. One summer night, after she had been put to bed, her nurse and +the nurserymaid were sitting by the nursery window darning some +stockings. They thought Heartsease was asleep. + +"Princess Elsa will be fifteen years old come Michaelmas," said the +nurse. + +"They'll be looking for a bridegroom for her soon," said the +nurserymaid. "She's as tall as a grown-up lass already." + +"I pity her husband," said the nurse; "she's a regular cross-patch she +is, and as proud as a peacock." + +"And as different from the little one as cloth from silk," said the +nurserymaid. + +"Ah!" sighed the nurse, "poor little lamb! they'll have a hard task to +find her a suitor, although she deserves the best in the land." + +Heartsease wondered what this could mean, and the more she pondered over +it, the sadder she became. + +The years passed by, and a great feast was held at Court to celebrate +Princess Elsa's seventeenth birthday. All the princes of the land were +invited, for the King and the Queen thought that the time had come for +Elsa to be married. The three principal suitors were Prince Silvergilt, +who possessed immense riches and countless jewels; King Sharpsword, who +was a terrible fighter, and had slain two hundred knights in single +combat; and Prince Simple Simon, who was the youngest son of a powerful +king, and so simple that he was always laughed at by everybody. Besides +these there were a number of less important knights and princes. As soon +as the Prince Silvergilt set eyes on Princess Elsa, he made up his mind +that she would make just the right wife for him, because she was +beautiful and haughty, and he was determined that the queen of his +country should be the proudest woman in the world, and should always be +dressed in gold, and wear a heavy crown. + +The King's feast was the most splendid that had ever been known, and it +was followed by a display of fireworks and a ball. Prince Silvergilt +danced with Princess Elsa, and King Sharpsword danced with Elfrida, and +all the other princes and knights chose partners from among the crowd of +beautiful princesses who were there; but nobody chose poor Heartsease, +who sat lonely and very sad in a corner by herself. + +At last, when the ball was nearly over, Prince Simple Simon noticed that +Heartsease was all by herself, and he went up to her and asked her why +she did not dance. + +"Because," said Heartsease, "nobody has asked me to." + +"Will you dance with me?" asked Simple Simon. + +"Of course I will," said Heartsease, and he led her out. As he did this, +Heartsease noticed that the courtiers looked at each other and hid a +smile. They danced round the room; but Simple Simon was so awkward that +although Heartsease, who danced like the wind, steered him beautifully, +he kept on catching his sword in the trains of the princesses, and +bumping up against them, so that all the courtiers tittered, although +they tried to hide it, and Heartsease was obliged to ask him to go back +to the quiet corner where she had been sitting. + +"They are laughing because I dance so awkwardly," said Simple Simon. +"Everybody laughs at me, except Lizbeth." + +"Who is Lizbeth?" asked Heartsease. + +"Lizbeth is the goose-girl in our village," he answered. "We are +betrothed, and I am to wed her as soon as I have made my fortune." + +"It was at me they were smiling," said Heartsease. "They always smile at +me, and I do not know why. But perhaps you will tell me." + +"I do not know," said Simple Simon. + +"You see," said Heartsease, "the courtiers here pay me extravagant +compliments. They tell me I am beautiful and clever; but I do not know +whether it is true, because I have never seen my own face." + +This was true, because there was no such thing as a looking-glass in the +whole kingdom, and poor Heartsease had never been allowed to go near a +river, a pond, a pool, or any place where she might have seen the +reflection of her own face. + +"I think," said Simple Simon, "your face is very beautiful. You have +such nice, kind eyes. But then everybody says I am a bad judge. But +haven't you ever looked at yourself in a mirror?" + +"What is a mirror?" asked Heartsease. + +"I will show you to-morrow morning," said Simple Simon. + +At that moment a herald dressed in gold came into the ballroom, and blew +a blast on his silver trumpet which meant that supper was ready. +Heartsease would have liked to have gone in to supper with Simple Simon, +but the Court etiquette did not allow it, and an old duke who was deaf +came up, and gave her his arm. + +The next morning Heartsease was feeding her tame birds in the garden +when Simple Simon appeared before her. + +"I have brought you a mirror," he said. And he gave her a piece of +smooth polished steel which he had cut out of his own breastplate. + +Heartsease looked at her face, and then two large tears ran down her +cheeks. + +"Oh!" she said, "it was unkind of you to mock me. I understand +everything now. I see why nobody will speak to me. I am a hideous +fright; my face is covered with spots and marks." + +"But I wasn't mocking you," said Simple Simon. "I don't think those +spots matter a bit. You have got such nice, kind eyes." + +"No, no," said Heartsease, "I understand everything. Nobody will ever +marry me." + +"I am sure they will," said honest Simon; "why, I would have married you +gladly myself if I had not been betrothed to Lizbeth." And so saying, +Simple Simon said good-bye to Heartsease, for it was time for him to +start once more on his travels. + +Heartsease said good-bye to him and thanked him for his kindness, for +she understood now that he had not meant to mock her, but that he spoke +the truth, and she told him that she hoped he would make his fortune +soon, and marry Lizbeth the goose-girl, and be happy ever afterwards. + +When Simple Simon rode off on his old grey mare, Heartsease felt sad and +lonely, for the only friend she had ever made was now leaving her for +ever. The festivities went on all day long, because the Prince +Silvergilt asked Elsa to be his wife, and it was settled that they +should be married without any delay. So in the evening there was another +great State ball, but Heartsease felt so sad at heart that she said she +was not feeling well, and she went up to a little room where she kept +her dolls, and all the treasures she had had when she was a child. This +little room was in an attic in a side wing of the palace, and it looked +over a narrow street, for the palace stood in the middle of the city. +Heartsease had made this room a hiding-place for herself as soon as she +was big enough to leave the nursery. Nobody knew it existed except her +nurse, and she could go and play there when she wanted to be alone. She +liked to look out on to the street and see the people coming and going, +the horses and the carts clattering over the cobblestones, instead of on +to the big empty gardens on which all the state-rooms looked out, and +where you saw no one except the sentry walking up and down, and the +courtiers, strutting about like peacocks in their wigs and hoops. The +room had a little bed in it, and sometimes she slept there; but this +evening she was not at all sleepy, and she leant out of her window and +watched the evening star shining in the summer twilight, which was still +tinged with yellow in the west. + +Faintly in the distance she heard the sounds of harps, cymbals, and +drums coming from the banqueting-hall, where the King was holding a +feast. The little street beneath her was quite empty and silent, the +curfew had sounded, and the watchman had blown his horn and told all +good people to put out their lights and go to bed, and in the +jutting-out casements of the pointed red-gabled houses opposite her, +which seemed to lean over the street, there was not a light left. + +Suddenly she heard the sound of footsteps tramping on the cobblestones, +and round the corner of the street she saw a dark figure coming along, +which seemed to her to be a man. It was dark now, and the sky was a deep +and wonderful blue. The moon had not risen, and only a few stars +twinkled, very large and bright. + +The figure walked slowly along, keeping close to the walls of the houses +opposite to her. When he was opposite the palace he stopped. She could +not distinguish clearly who it was, but she saw at once it was a man. He +was carrying something in his hand, and presently she became aware that +it was a lute, or a musical instrument of some kind, for he began to +play, and a thin thread of sound crept from the darkness and found a way +straight into her heart. + +Then it all at once came into her mind that she had seen this man before +and heard these sounds already, and she remembered the vagabond who +played a hurdy-gurdy, and to whom she had given her favourite doll, +long ago when she was little. But now his music sounded different. +"Perhaps," she thought, "it is because I am older and can understand +it." However that may be, never in her life had she heard or imagined +anything so melodious and so sweet. For while the vagabond played, he +sang, and although the words of his song were in some tongue which was +unknown to her, she seemed to understand every word of it. Although she +had never heard the vagabond's voice before, it seemed familiar to her +as if she had known it all her life. And there was something warm in it +which gladdened you, and something soft and lovely like the tender +colours of summer dawn. But more than all things Heartsease felt that +the voice was the voice of a friend who would be kind to her and comfort +her; and Heartsease felt she could listen to it for ever. + +"Come away," it seemed to say, "from this palace and these unkind +people, and I will give you freedom, and we will roam together over the +wide world, and sleep beneath the stars, and drink of the clear brooks +and bathe in the streams; in the summer the sky shall be our tent, and +the stars shall be our candles, and in the winter we will make ourselves +snug and warm in the heart of the woods; we will wander over hill and +valley, and will float on a raft down the broad river till we come to +the sea; and we will cross the great sea, and I will give you a little +cottage of your own, all overgrown with honeysuckle, where the bees hum +and boom, and there I will lull you to sleep with a song." + +Then all at once the music ceased, and Heartsease wanted to call the +minstrel, but he had vanished, and although he had sung quite loud, none +of the people in the houses seemed to have noticed him. + +All night long Heartsease dreamed of the vagabond and of his singing, +and the next evening she waited at her window as soon as the sun set. + +But the vagabond did not come that evening, nor the next evening either, +and weeks and months went by but he did not come again. + +A year after this Princess Elsa was married. The King and the Queen gave +another great feast in honour of their second daughter, Elfrida, and +this time King Sharpsword was betrothed to her, and the wedding was +celebrated with pomp and ceremony. As usual there were feasting and +dances every night, and although all the princes of the land were there, +nobody took any notice of poor Heartsease except the old duke, who was +obliged to lead her in to supper according to the etiquette of the +Court. And this time Heartsease had no friend to talk to, for Simple +Simon was not there, although she had news of him. He had made his +fortune, much to everybody's surprise, by capturing a cruel ogre, and he +had married Lizbeth the goose-girl, and they were as happy as the day is +long. But although Heartsease was lonely and despised, she did not feel +lonely any longer, for somewhere she felt she had a friend who would not +forget her, and she remembered the marvellous song of the vagabond. + +The night Elfrida was married, Heartsease again said she did not feel +well, and she went to the little room in the attic, and waited by the +window while the light faded from the twilight sky. And as soon as it +grew dark, she heard the footsteps on the cobblestones, and soon the +piercing notes of the sweet familiar voice echoed in the street, +sighing, soothing, and binding her with a spell, healing her heartache +and taking away her homesickness, and calling her away to the valleys +and the hills. For hours she seemed to listen to the deep, deep tones, +and then, as the year before, the sound suddenly ceased and the vagabond +had vanished. + +The next year Heartsease herself was seventeen years old, the age at +which it was the custom for the royal princesses to be married. But +although the King and the Queen made a great feast and invited all the +princes of the land, not one of them asked the King for the hand of his +daughter Heartsease, because they all thought it was impossible to marry +a wife who was such a fright. + +The King and the Queen were miserable, and they settled to wait another +year, in case some kind prince might come who would be willing to marry +Heartsease. + +As for Heartsease, she begged her father and mother not to worry about +her. She told them she did not want to marry any one, and that she was +quite happy living at home and taking care of them. And they did not +know that she had looked at herself in a mirror and had seen her face. +But although she said this, and pretended to be happy and cheerful, she +was really sad at heart because she was such a fright, and she was sure +nobody could love her, and the only thing which consoled her was the +mysterious vagabond who came once a year and sang beneath her window. + +Soon after Heartsease's seventeenth birthday, her mother, the Queen, +went one day for a ride in the forest by herself, and the wicked Fairy +of the Yellow Mines carried her off in her chariot and locked her up in +a castle. The people of the city searched for the Queen everywhere, but +no trace of her was to be found, so that everybody thought she must +have been eaten by wild beasts; but Heartsease knew this was not true, +because she saw her mother in her dreams every night. Another year +passed, and just before Heartsease's birthday came round, the old King +married again. The new Queen was the godchild of the Fairy of the Yellow +Mines. She was wicked, and owing to the spells which her godmother had +taught her, she could make the King do anything she wished, and she made +him believe the Queen had been eaten by wild beasts. No sooner were they +married than her wickedness and her cruelty, which she had hidden up to +that moment, became plain to everybody. She hated Heartsease, because +Heartsease was good and unhappy, and she tormented her in every possible +way; and to crown all, on the day before Heartsease's birthday, she said +she could not have a lazy, good-for-nothing slut about the house, but +that Heartsease must marry at once, and that since nobody would marry +her of their own accord, she would find some one who should do so +whether he liked it or not. + +That very day the new Queen sent a message by a rat to her godmother, +and the Fairy of the Yellow Mines arrived in her chariot drawn by two +snorting dragons. + +"It's about that child," said the Queen, when her godmother had arrived +and settled herself comfortably in an arm-chair. "She bothers me. I want +you to find her a husband--some one who will keep her in order and not +stand any nonsense; at the same time I should like it to be a suitable +and proper alliance--suitable for me too, that is to say." + +"I quite understand," said the Fairy. + +"You see," said the Queen, "the King won't live long, and when he dies I +shall be Queen of the country, and I shall not want any of the King's +sons-in-law to come bothering or interfering, disputing my right to the +kingdom, or any nonsense of that kind. I am quite at my ease about +Prince Silvergilt and King Sharpsword; they are so busy beating their +wives that they will not bother me." + +Now this was quite true, and Elfrida and Elsa were both of them +unhappy; because their husbands were unkind, and they were obliged to +wear stiff robes all day, and heavy crowns, and they were beaten if they +did not look happy and cheerful. + +"I have got the very thing," said the Fairy; "my dear nephew +Crookedshanks is just what you want. He has been looking for a wife for +a long time, but so far nobody has consented to marry him. He's so +beautiful, you know"--and here the Fairy chuckled--"he's a dwarf and a +hunchback, and he's got such a sweet, sweet temper. He'll keep the minx +in order." + +"But," said the Queen, "I hope he won't interfere with me." + +"Never fear," said the Fairy, "he lives inside the copper mountain, deep +down underground, like a mole among the gnomes, and he would not leave +the treasures he hoards there for all the kingdoms of the earth." + +Thus it was settled that Heartsease should marry Crookedshanks, and the +Fairy of the Yellow Mines brought him to the palace the next day, which +was Heartsease's birthday. + +Crookedshanks was hideous to look at, and he was as spiteful as he was +ugly. And when Heartsease was brought to him, and told that this was to +be her husband, she could not believe her eyes. She begged her father to +save her; but her father was now so completely spellbound by the wicked +Queen that he could not do anything, and so all preparations were made +for Heartsease's wedding, which was to take place on the morrow. + +But in the evening, just before the feast began, Heartsease escaped from +the banqueting-hall when no one was looking, and ran up to the little +room in the attic. Then she opened the windows wide and leaned out into +the street. + +It was a lovely evening. There was a smell of sun-dried hay in the air, +and the dust of the town made a golden cloud in the west which faded +presently, and when the evening star lit its lamp the sky was soft and +blue. In the palace everybody was looking for Heartsease. They were +searching the halls and the gardens, but nobody thought of looking for +her in that out-of-the-way attic, except her nurse, but she did not tell +anybody. Presently Heartsease heard the well-known footstep of the +vagabond, and her heart gave a great leap for joy. + +He walked right up to the house opposite her window, and began to sing. +And this time his beautiful voice was louder and stronger than it had +ever been. And Heartsease leant out of the window and cried out-- + +"Come, for I have heard and I am ready!" + +The song ceased, but this time the vagabond did not vanish. He crossed +the narrow street, and entered at one of the side doors of the palace +which was just beneath Heartsease's window. Heartsease heard him walking +up the winding wooden stairway, and soon the vagabond entered her room +and stood before her in his rags and tatters, poor, pale, ill-kempt, +limping and miserable. And Heartsease ran to him and cried out-- + +"At last you have come, my lover, my lord and my bridegroom!" + +"Do you really wish to come with me?" he asked. "My kingdom is the open +field, and my palaces are the dark wood and the highway; my brothers and +sisters are the cold winds, the rain, the snow, and the hail; my jewels +are tears, and my wealth is sorrow." + +And Heartsease said: "I will come with you to your kingdom and dwell in +your palaces; and your brothers and sisters shall be my brothers and +sisters, and I will wear your jewels and share your wealth as long as I +live!" + +The vagabond gave Heartsease a silver penny, which was all his wealth, +and they climbed down the narrow staircase and went out into the night. + + * * * * * + +In the King's palace on the night of the banquet there was great +commotion because Heartsease could not be found anywhere. The courtiers +searched high and low, in the palace and in the gardens, but all in +vain, until at last they gave it up and the banquet was begun without +her. + +The Queen was angry, and the old King was sad, and Crookedshanks gnashed +his teeth and pinched everything he met, out of spite. The next morning +the nurse came to the King and told him Heartsease could not be found +anywhere. So the King issued a proclamation which was sent far and wide +over the whole kingdom, saying that whoever should find his daughter +Heartsease would receive half of his kingdom. But although a great +number of people set out to try and find Heartsease, they none of them +succeeded, and most of them gave up the quest after a time. + +Now Heartsease and the vagabond wandered far over hill and dale, north +and south, east and west, earning their bread by songs, until they came +to the grim castle in which Heartsease's mother had been imprisoned by +the wicked fairy. + +The vagabond sang a song outside the castle, so that Heartsease's mother +could hear him, and he told her that Heartsease was alive and had not +forgotten her, and that one day the wicked fairy's spell would be +broken. And Heartsease saw her mother's hand waving through the thick +bars of the narrow window of the castle. Then they wandered on till they +came to the kingdom of King Silvergilt, and there, in a castle, were +Prince Silvergilt and his wife Elsa; and King Sharpsword and his wife +Elfrida were staying with him. Elsa and Elfrida were both of them +unhappy because their husbands were so unkind. + +The vagabond and Heartsease went under Elfrida's window, and the +vagabond sang a song, but no sooner had he begun than Prince Silvergilt +sent out his soldiers, and told them to drive the vagabonds away. Now +Elsa and Elfrida were sad and sorry because the vagabond's song had made +them feel happier, but they dared not say a word. Only when it grew dark +they crept out of the castle, into the wood, which was next to it, to +see if they could find the two vagabonds and give them alms. They +wandered about in the forest, and they soon came to a little hut where +the vagabond and Heartsease were lying fast asleep on a heap of leaves. + +"Here they are, poor, poor people!" said Elsa; "they have got nothing to +eat." + +"They must be very cold," said Elfrida, and she took off her cloak and +laid it over them. + +"Do you remember a vagabond telling us we should one day envy Heartsease +her husband?" said Elsa. + +"Poor Heartsease, she'll never have a husband; but I'm sure we envy her +now, wherever she is," said Elfrida. + +"I would give worlds to see her again," said Elsa. "Poor, poor +Heartsease, to think how unkind we were to her!" And Elsa and Elfrida +began to cry bitterly, and their tears fell upon Heartease's face. + +Then leaving behind them some bread and wine which they had brought with +them, and a purse full of gold, and their cloaks, they went back to the +castle; neither of them had recognised Heartsease. + +The next morning when the vagabond and Heartsease rose, they found the +gifts that the sisters had brought, and the vagabond told Heartsease to +go and look at herself in a pool which was hard by. When Heartsease +looked into the pool she gave a cry of surprise, because the ugly marks +had gone from her face, and she looked like what she had been when she +was a little girl--lovely, and fresh as a rose in the morning dew, and +the loveliest princess in the world. + +"Now," said the vagabond, "we will go to your father's castle." + +So they started for the King's castle, but it was far off, and they had +to pass through many cities and villages; and when the people in the +cities and the villages heard the vagabond singing in the street, and +saw Heartsease, they wondered at her great beauty, and when the vagabond +sang they were afraid, and they thought he must be a wizard and that +Heartsease was a witch, and they often drove them away from their doors; +so that Heartsease and the vagabond with difficulty earned enough bread +to keep them alive. + +At last they reached the city of the King, and there they read the +King's proclamation, which said that whoever should find Heartsease +would receive half the kingdom. The vagabond went straight to the King's +palace, and asked to see the King; but the soldiers stopped him at the +gate and said that beggars were not allowed to go into the palace. But +when the vagabond said he had found Princess Heartsease they durst not +forbid him to enter. So the vagabond was led to the King, and he told +him that he had found his daughter. + +The King was overjoyed, but Heartsease's stepmother said it was not +true, and the King told the vagabond to bring Heartsease to the palace. +He went to fetch her, and when he brought her to the palace everybody +was dazzled by her beauty, but nobody recognised her, not even the King, +for he could not understand how the Heartsease whom he remembered could +have turned into such a vision of beauty. But there were two people in +the castle who said that they recognised her: one was her old nurse, and +the other was Simple Simon, who happened to be there. Simple Simon said +he saw no difference in her at all: that she was now just as she had +always been, with the same kind eyes and lovely smile. And when he said +this, the whole Court laughed, and they said that Simple Simon would +never cease to be a ninny. And as for the nurse, the Queen said she must +be locked up in the dungeon at once for telling lies. Then the wicked +Queen said that the vagabond was a wizard, and that Heartsease was a +witch, and that they had killed the real Heartsease, and that they must +both be burnt alive in the public square. And owing to her magic +everybody believed this, and the vagabond and Heartsease were thrown +into prison. + +But the King, who did not want them to be burnt, sent for his daughters +Elsa and Elfrida, to see if they recognised Heartsease. Elfrida and Elsa +arrived with their husbands, and Heartsease was brought before them, but +she was not allowed to speak; and owing to the wicked Queen's spells, +neither Elfrida nor Elsa recognised their sister. After this it was +settled that the vagabond and Heartsease should be burnt in the public +square. + +On the day this was to happen the whole town gathered together to see +the wizard; and the vagabond and Heartsease were driven from the prison +to the square, where a large pile of fagots had been prepared, in a +cart. And when the people saw Heartsease, a wave of pity went through +the crowd, so lovely and so innocent was her face. The King and the +Queen, his daughters, and all the Court were there, and when the +vagabond got out of the cart he asked the King to grant him one last +favour: and this was to allow him to sing a song before he died. And the +King granted it him. + +The vagabond began to sing, and he sang the sweetest and most wonderful +song that had ever been heard; he sang of the love that never dies, and +the love which is stronger than death; and as he sang, the evil spells +of the wicked Queen died in the King's heart, and he remembered his true +wife, and the great love he bore her; and Elsa and Elfrida recognised +the voice, and they cried out-- + +"It is the vagabond we heard when we were children, and it _is_ +Heartsease after all!" + +[Illustration: THERE STOOD BEFORE THE THRONG A WONDERFUL SHINING FIGURE +WITH WINGS] + +And the King cried out: "Yes, it is Heartsease after all!" And he ran to +her, and took her in his arms, and covered her with kisses. Then he said +to the vagabond: "You have brought me back my daughter. You shall be my +son and you shall have half my kingdom." + +But the wicked Queen said: "That is impossible! How can you give half +your kingdom to a vagabond in rags and tatters?" + +But the King said: "I do not care if he is a vagabond or not. He shall +wed my daughter and have half my kingdom." + +And as he said this the vagabond threw off his dark, tattered cloak, and +there stood before the throng a wonderful shining figure with wings, and +golden hair, and across his shoulder there was slung a silver bow with a +quiver full of silver arrows, and he held a lyre in his hand, and all +round him was a cloud of golden light like the fire of sunrise. And his +face shone, and his eyes were like stars. But when the wicked Queen saw +this, she was so angry that she burst with rage, and all her spells +were undone. + +At the very same moment the Fairy of the Azure Lake arrived in her +chariot of honeysuckle drawn by ten bees, and she brought Heartsease's +mother with her, and Heartsease's old nurse, whom she had released from +prison. You can imagine their surprise, and how they all cried for joy! +and how happy they all were! + +Then the King said to the vagabond: "You shall wed Heartsease and +receive half my kingdom; but who are you, noble prince, and what is your +name?" + +And the vagabond answered: "I will wed Heartsease, but I have a kingdom +of my own, and we must live there and nowhere else; and as for my name, +it is Love, the Vagabond, but now I shall wander no more." + +Then Crookedshanks was banished from the Court, and the Fairy of the +Azure Lake changed Prince Silvergilt into a candlestick, and King +Sharpsword into a grindstone, and she found two kind new husbands for +Elsa and Elfrida. And a great wedding was held, and the day after it +Love the Vagabond put Heartsease on a snow-white steed, and they started +for the kingdom of Love the Vagabond, and they galloped across the +plains, down the valleys, and over the hills until they came to the sea, +which is at the end of the world, and they rode over the sea as easily +as if it had been a grassy meadow. + +And on the other side of the sea they came to a country of blue hills +and green woods and golden cornfields, and there in a garden full of +roses was a little cottage covered with honeysuckle, round which the +bees hummed and boomed. + +"This," said the Vagabond, "is my kingdom. Here is our home where we +shall live happily together." + +And Heartsease and the Vagabond lived happily in this little cottage for +ever afterwards; and the King and Queen, and their sisters, and Simple +Simon and Lizbeth his wife, often paid them long visits. + +[Illustration: TURNING ROUND SHE SAW AN OLD WOMAN] + + + + +THE MINSTREL + + +Once upon a time, in a small village in the mountains, there lived a +blacksmith and his wife. They were poor but they were happy; the +blacksmith had always plenty of work, and their only sorrow was that +they had no children. + +One day the blacksmith's wife walked from the village down into the +valley to a farmhouse to buy some eggs from the farmer, whom she knew. +On her way back, as it was a fine spring day and the snows had melted, +she loitered on the mountain so as to gather some wild-flowers. + +As she was picking the flowers she heard some one muttering behind her, +and turning round, she saw an old woman, bent and worn, who was +muttering a supplication. + +"What can I do for you?" asked the blacksmith's wife. + +"Give me the eggs you have in that basket," said the old woman. + +The blacksmith's wife, although she was afraid she would be scolded at +home, durst not refuse, and gave the eggs to the old woman. + +"Thank you kindly," said the old woman; "in return for your kindness I +will grant you a wish." + +The blacksmith's wife at once answered: "I wish to have a daughter who +shall be more beautiful than the Queen's daughter." + +"Your wish shall be granted," said the old woman. "But take this charm, +hang it up over your hearth, and never give it away, for if you do, you +will give your daughter with it." + +So saying the old woman gave the blacksmith's wife a small copper coin +made in the shape of a heart, and as soon as she had done this she +hobbled off into the wood. + +The blacksmith's wife went home and told her husband about her +adventure, and they hung the copper coin over their hearth and they +laughed for joy. + +As the fairy had predicted, a daughter was born to them, and she grew to +be such a lovely little child that the blacksmith and his wife were +almost frightened. She was more like a fairy than a mortal. It seemed as +if she had invisible wings; her skin was more delicate than a pearly +sea-shell, and one expected to see little elves dancing round her when +she played in the fields. + +They had christened her Snowflower, because she was like the flowers +that grew on the great mountains. And the name was a proper one, for she +loved the snow-fields and the spaces of the great hills. Everybody who +saw her was amazed--some said that she would wed the King's son; others +that she would one day be the Empress of the West; but one old crone, +who was spiteful, said that she was much too beautiful to live long. + +One day when Snowflower was nine years old, her father and her mother +had gone up into the hills to visit some friends. It was Saturday +afternoon, and they had left Snowflower in charge of the shop, and had +said that they would not be back till late. Snowflower was sitting +outside in the street, watching the sunset--it was a warm summer's +eve--when she heard some one singing a strange song. + +Never had she heard anything so strange and so beautiful before: the +voice was a man's voice, deep and hoarse, and it seemed to come from +very far away; the song he sang was soft and sad, but it had a piercing +note in it, something that made you listen whether you wished to or no; +it was a voice which you felt must be obeyed. + +Snowflower was lost in dreams, and when the singing stopped, she would +have given worlds and worlds for it to begin again. While she was +wondering who the singer could be, she suddenly became aware of a shadow +across the street, and she saw before her a tall minstrel carrying a +lute. His face was half muffled in a black cloak; and all that she could +see distinctly were two dark eyes, very sad, but bright as stars. The +sun had set, the stars were coming out, and Snowflower was afraid. +Nevertheless she at once asked him whether it was he who had been +singing. He said-- + +"Yes, it was I." + +"Shall I ever hear you again?" asked Snowflower. + +"Yes, if you will give me a reward," said the minstrel. + +"What can I give you?" asked Snowflower. "I have no money, and my father +and my mother have gone to the farm and they won't be back till late." + +"All I want," said the minstrel, "is the little copper coin in the shape +of a heart that hangs over your hearth." + +"Oh! you may have that with pleasure," said Snowflower, "it is only a +brass farthing." And she ran indoors, and fetched it, and gave it to +him. "Only now you must sing to me again," she said. + +"I promise to sing to you again, but not now," said the minstrel, and he +walked away into the darkness. + +When Snowflower's father and mother came home, they noticed at once that +the little copper coin had gone, and Snowflower told them that she had +given it to a wandering minstrel. + +Her mother was vexed and cried; but her father said-- + +"Never mind, never mind, no harm ever came yet of giving alms to the +poor." + +The years passed by, and Snowflower never once saw the mysterious +minstrel again, and she soon forgot all about him. She grew up into a +most beautiful maiden; and when she was seventeen, there was no one to +compare with her in the whole country. She was dazzling like the snow on +the mountains, and soft as the blush that steals over them in the dawn, +and her eyes were like the pools that reflect the sky in the hidden +places of the hills. So beautiful was she that the fame of her spread +far and wide, and the King thought that she would make an excellent wife +for his only son, who was just old enough to marry. + +So he sent one of his courtiers in disguise to the village in the +mountains; he was to find out whether what the people said about +Snowflower was true or not. + +He came to the village and saw Snowflower, and when he returned to the +palace once more, he told the king that Snowflower was far more +beautiful than what men told of her, and that it was indeed impossible +to describe her, for she was more beautiful than all mortals, but like a +fairy or a dream-child. When the King heard this, he set out with many +of his courtiers for the village in the hills, and they found Snowflower +sitting and spinning at the door of the blacksmith's shop. + +The blacksmith and his wife were astonished and frightened when they saw +all these grand folk coming to their home, and when the King said that +he wished his son to marry their daughter they could hardly speak for +surprise. The King's son was as fine and as brave a lad as any in the +land, but it was settled that he was not to marry till he was +twenty-one, and now he was only twenty. So the King said he would come +back in a year's time and fetch Snowflower. + +The blacksmith was of course delighted at his good fortune; but +Snowflower said that she did not wish to leave her native village, and +her father's home, and that she was quite happy where she was. And her +mother, remembering what the fairy had said, and how Snowflower had +given away the copper coin, was frightened, and she and Snowflower cried +bitterly together. But the blacksmith said this was nonsense, and +laughed at the two women for being so silly. + +After a year had gone by, the King sent a whole train of courtiers to +fetch Snowflower, and they put her on a pony and they brought her to the +city and the palace of the King. + +It was arranged that the wedding should be held a few days after her +arrival. + +Snowflower was given a gorgeous room in the palace looking out on to a +wide courtyard, round which there were statues and colonnades; and +splendid preparations were made for her wedding ceremony. + +She was introduced to the Prince directly, and he fell in love with her +at first sight. As for Snowflower, she knew not whether she loved the +Prince or not, but she thought she had never seen so charming and +handsome a person before, and she would have been quite happy but for a +home-sickness which never left her, for she longed for the sight of the +snowy mountains, the green valleys, and the little village where she was +born; and she felt that she could not live for ever far away from the +snows, and the streams, and the flowers of the great white hills. + +She had gone to bed early and fallen asleep at once, but towards +midnight she was awakened by a sound which seemed to be familiar to her; +she ran to the window and looked out into the courtyard, whose pillars +were gleaming in the moonlight. Again she heard a sound, and then on the +midnight wind there were borne into the room the notes of a song which +she thought she had heard once before, long ago, in her home in the +hills. It was a hoarse voice, which seemed to come from far away; a +mournful voice and sweet, but in spite of its sweetness there was a +strange spell in it and something which called for and demanded +submission. She listened, and now, although she knew she had heard it +before, she could not tell when or where; it was different from +anything she remembered, and more beautiful; and yet, as she listened, +her heart beat fast, and she knew not whether it was the voice of a +friend or an avenging foe who was singing that hoarse serenade. + +She withdrew from the window in fright, but the song grew louder; it +called her with sound like that of bugles on a field of battle in the +evening when the fight is ended--silvery, manful, and triumphant. + +And then her heart beat faster than ever, for she knew that the voice +was that of a lover; and she knew that she could not resist his song. + +And she looked once more out of the window, and there in the courtyard, +dark against one of the gleaming pillars, she saw a tall man muffled in +a black cloak, a man whom she recognised. She ran back from the casement +and called out in a great terror, but nobody answered her call. + +Then across the cobblestones of the yard she heard the tramp of loud +footsteps, as though a knight in armour were walking across it; and +presently she heard the same heavy tramp on the wide marble steps that +led up to her room. Nearer and nearer they came, till she heard a rap +like that of a great sword against her door. He knocked so loudly that +the noise was like thunder, and yet no one in the palace seemed to be +disturbed. She tried to call out once more, but her voice died away in +her throat; she tried to run, but she remained motionless. + +Then the door was opened wide. And there entered, muffled in a dark +cloak so that you could only see his eyes, the minstrel to whom she had +given the heart-shaped copper coin that used to hang over her father's +hearth. And then all at once she knew that the minstrel was not a foe +but a friend, and she stretched out her hand and grasped his hand. + +As soon as she did this he threw aside his cloak, and there stood before +her a wonderful knight in armour, whose face was bright as snow and +whose eyes were like stars. And he took her in his arms and carried her +down the broad steps into the courtyard, and there a horse was waiting, +and he mounted it and set Snowflower in front of him, and they galloped +away through the gates, through the city, and over the plains beyond. + +The next day Snowflower could not be found anywhere, and although the +whole kingdom was searched far and wide, no trace of her was discovered. + +When Snowflower went away from her village, the blacksmith's wife was +very sad, although Snowflower had promised to visit her often. But when +she woke up on the morning that Snowflower should have wedded the +Prince, she was astonished to see that the little copper coin was +hanging once more over their hearth, and she felt quite happy once more; +for she knew now, although she could not tell why, that all was well +with Snowflower. + + + + +THE HUNCHBACK, THE POOL AND THE MAGIC RING + + +There was once upon a time a King and a Queen who had three sons. The +two eldest were big and strong, but the third was a cripple and a +hunchback, because a wicked fairy, whom the Queen had forgotten to +invite to his christening, had cast a spell over him in his cradle. Yet +the King and the Queen loved their third son best of all, and this made +his brothers jealous. When the three brothers were grown up, the King +fell sick, and he knew that he was going to die. And so he called his +three sons to him on his deathbed. + +"Now that you are big and strong," he said to the two eldest, "it is +time you went out into the world to seek your fortune. I will give to +each of you a good horse, a suit of armour, a bag of gold, and a sharp +sword; and to you," he said to the youngest, "I will give this castle, +because you are not strong enough to go and seek your fortune for +yourself. So you shall stay at home and look after your mother." + +And soon after he had said this he died. + +Now the two eldest brothers were very angry because the hunchback had +been given the castle, and they said to each other: "Our father was old +and feeble and did not know what he was doing: we will not give our +brother the castle. Indeed, it would be of no use to him, but we will +keep it for ourselves, and we will get rid of him, because it is a +disgrace to have a hunchback in the family." + +So they told their mother that they were going to take their brother +with them, to show him the world, and they promised to look after him +carefully. They started the next day, early in the morning, and when +they had reached a large forest, they told the hunchback that he must +seek his fortune by himself, and they took away his horse from him and +his sword and his cloak. And the next day they rode home to the castle +and said that their brother had been eaten by a bear in the night, +entirely owing to his own fault. + +When the young prince was left to himself, he was very sad, and did not +know what to do, and he sat down by the side of a pool and cried +bitterly. As he was crying, he heard a voice coming out of the pool and +asking him what was the matter. + +"I am crying," he said, "because I am a hunchback and I have been +deserted by my two brothers," and he told all his story. Then he heard +the voice laugh softly and say that everything could be put to rights. +"Look into the pool," said the voice, "and tell me what you see at the +bottom of it." + +The hunchback looked, and said that he saw a gold ring. + +"You must pull out the gold ring and put it on your finger," said the +voice. + +The hunchback thrust his arm into the pool and pulled out a gold ring, +and no sooner had he put it on his finger than a beautiful woman stood +in front of him. She had golden hair which fell to her feet, and large, +soft eyes, and he thought she must be a fairy. And so she was: but she +had been imprisoned in the pool by the same wicked fairy who had not +been invited to the christening of the young Prince. + +"You have done me a great service," said the fairy, "and I will not be +ungrateful. Look into the pool." + +The hunchback looked into the pool and saw his own reflection. But +something wonderful had happened, for he was no longer hunchbacked, but +far taller and stronger than his brothers, and the handsomest and most +gallant-looking young Prince that the world had ever seen. + +"Now," said the fairy, "all will be well with you. You have only to go +into the world and you will make your fortune; but you must remember +carefully what I tell you now. You must not lose the ring which I have +given you, and never take it off your finger; and above all things you +must never put it back into the pool. For whenever you take it off your +finger, you will become a hunchback once more, and if you put it back +into the pool, you will remain a hunchback for ever." And so saying the +fairy disappeared. + +Then the hunchback walked through the forest, whistling for joy; and at +sunset he reached a large town. As soon as he reached the town, a large +coach drawn by six cream-coloured horses passed him, and in the coach +was a beautiful Princess, driving with her father, who was King of the +country. Directly she caught sight of the Prince she stopped the coach +and begged him to get in, and they drove to the palace. "At last," she +said to her father, "I have found a man whom I will consent to marry." + +And when the King, her father, learnt who the stranger was, he was very +pleased, and offered him the hand of his daughter. And the Prince +learned that from far and wide suitors had come to seek the hand of the +Princess, but she had never been willing to look at any of them. And as +the King was anxious that his daughter should marry, because she had a +bad temper, he was very pleased at what had happened. + +The Prince consented readily enough to marry so beautiful a Princess; +but when they were left alone he told her all his story. The Princess +did not believe it, and so as to prove the truth of his words he took +off his ring, and he stood before her in his true shape, a cripple and a +hunchback. + +The Princess screamed and burst into a flood of tears, and abused the +poor Prince, and although he had put the ring on again and resumed his +splendid shape, she bade him begone out of her sight for ever. "For how +could I marry a man," she said, "who might turn into a monster if he +happened to lose a ring?" + +So the Prince went away with a heavy heart, and started on his travels +once more. He travelled far, and visited many cities, and wherever he +went he was received with the greatest favour; for no one had ever seen +so handsome a Prince, and many kings offered him their daughters in +marriage. But the Prince turned a deaf ear now to their offers, and he +was sad at heart, for he felt that the magic gift which he had received +brought him no happiness, and he knew that he was wearing a mask and +deceiving himself and the whole world. + +Now it happened that one day during his travels he reached the seashore, +and as darkness was falling he asked for shelter from a fisherman who +had a hut on the beach. The fisherman bade him welcome, and told his +wife to bring him some porridge. And as he sat eating his supper the +fisherman's daughter worked at her spinning-wheel in the corner of the +room, and sang a song which was like this:-- + + "He brought me silver, he brought me gold, + I bade him go his way; + My heart was bought and my heart was sold + Upon a summer's day. + + He brought me horses and banners bold, + I bade him go his way; + My heart was bought and my heart was sold + Upon a summer's day. + + For a sigh, a song, and a tale half-told, + And for a wisp of hay, + My heart was bought and my heart was sold + Upon a summer's day." + +He looked at the fisherman's daughter. Her eyes were blue as the sky, +and her cheeks were fresh as the salt sea. He looked at her and he fell +in love with her at first sight. And she blushed and looked down, and +although neither of them had spoken a word, they both knew that they +would love each other for ever and ever. + +The next day the Prince said good-bye to the fisherman's daughter, and +when he said good-bye her eyes filled with tears so that it hurt him to +go away. The sun was shining on the sea and a fresh breeze was blowing, +and many white sails were scudding in the distance through the foam, and +something stirred and leapt in the Prince's heart, and before he knew +what he had done, he said: "I love you, and I shall always love you, and +I am going away." + +"Take me with you," said the fisherman's daughter, and the Prince smiled +and lifted the fisherman's daughter on to his saddle, and they galloped +away into the morning. They rode on and on, but the Prince guided his +horse to a dark forest. The thick grass underneath them was wet with +dew, and the bushes and the undergrowth glistened in the sunlight. The +blackbird was whistling, and the finches answered him from the +oak-trees, and far away the cuckoo called over and over again. + +[Illustration: THE SUN WAS SHINING ON THE SEA AND A FRESH BREEZE WAS +BLOWING] + +Soon they reached a dark pool. Up to now the Prince had not spoken a +word. He got off his horse and lifted the fisherman's daughter, who was +as light as a feather, on to the ground. + +"Now," he said, "I have got a sad tale to tell you. I am not really what +you think I am. I am not a handsome Prince, but only a poor crippled +hunchback, so ugly that people hate to look at me." + +"What does it matter?" said the fisherman's daughter. "I would love you +whether you were a hunchback or not. Perhaps I should love you even +more." + +"We will see," he said; "at any rate I have made up my mind to be what I +am for ever and not to deceive people any more." And he threw his ring +into the pool. + +Then a soft moan was heard in the forest, and the birds flew away from +their nests. The Prince stood before the fisherman's daughter in his +true shape: a hunchback and a cripple. He was so sad that he cried +bitterly, just as he had done on the day when his brothers had deserted +him. + +The fisherman's daughter cried too, to see that he was sad; but she +kissed away his tears, and she told him that she loved him more than +ever, and he knew by the sound of her voice that it was true. + +Then he heard a voice coming from the pool, which said: "Look into the +pool." + +And they both looked and saw the reflection of the Prince. The hunchback +had gone, and he was big, handsome, and strong, and just as he had been +when the fisherman's daughter had first seen him. And then they both +laughed, and kissed each other over and over again. The Prince had +regained his splendid shape, which he was never to lose again; and he +put the fisherman's daughter on his horse, and they rode home to the +castle where he had been born, and they found his mother looking out of +the window in case he should come back that day; and they were married +the next morning in great pomp, and his two brothers came +back--everything had fared ill with them, and they were poor and +miserable--and he forgave them, and the Prince and the fisherman's +daughter lived happily for ever afterwards. + + + + +THE SILVER MOUNTAIN + + +There was once upon a time a King who lived in a golden palace on the +top of a high hill. He was powerful, wise, and good; his reign had been +a scroll of glory, and he had scattered happiness and plenty on the +people of his kingdom. The King had three sons, and when he felt that +his death was approaching, he grew troubled in his mind as to which of +them should inherit his kingdom. In his country it had been the +everlasting custom for the King to leave his kingdom not to his eldest +son, but to that one of his family whom he considered to be fittest to +rule. + +Now the King's eldest son was a soldier, a fine lad and a brave man; +indeed, he was said to be the strongest and bravest youth in the land. +The second son was a scholar; from his earliest youth he had pored over +books, and he remembered what was in them even after he had finished +reading them; he knew all about the habits of animals, and he looked at +the stars through a long telescope of his own invention. The third son +was a fool. + +The King was perplexed as to which of these three should inherit his +kingdom, for he reasoned thus: "My eldest son is too wild, my second son +is too clever, and my third son is too foolish." So the King thought the +best thing he could do would be to consult his Fairy Godmother, and he +wrote her a long letter explaining the difficulty. + +His Fairy Godmother answered his letter directly. She said she was sorry +she could not come and see him, but that she was kept indoors by a bad +cold. She quite understood the difficulty of the choice, but she advised +the King to send his sons to look for the Silver Mountain, and to leave +his kingdom to him who should find it. + +The King said to himself, as soon as he had read this letter: "Of +course; how extremely stupid of me not to have thought of this before!" +So he sent for his sons, and he said: "To-morrow morning I wish all +three of you to start and to look for the Silver Mountain, and I will +leave my kingdom to him who finds it." + +Early the next morning the three youths--they were all grown up--started +on their search. The eldest son took his swiftest horse and went off at +a gallop. He had not gone very far before he met a man who was also +riding on a swift horse in the same direction. He asked him where he was +going, and the second man said he was looking for the Silver Mountain, +as he had heard that the man who found it should inherit a rich kingdom. + +"That is true," said the King's son, "nevertheless the quest is not for +you; it is only the sons of the King who are entitled to take part in +this quest." + +"But," said the stranger, "I intend to fight the King's sons and to kill +them; then I shall find the mountain and inherit the kingdom." + +"We shall see about that," said the King's son; and he proposed that +they should fight then and there, which they did, and the King's son +was victorious. He overcame the stranger and killed him, and leaving the +body to be picked by the crows, he went on his way. + +After many days, he came to a large town where the palace and chief +buildings were all draped in black, and the people of the place were +walking about with sad faces, talking in whispers. He asked some one +what was the cause of all this grief, and he was told that the chief man +of the country, who some time ago had set out upon some fantastic quest, +had been killed by a robber in the woods, and that it was only now his +bones had been brought home. + +"It is for this reason we are sad," said the man, "for we are without a +king." + +On hearing this the King's son said: "There is no cause for grief. I +will be your king." And he rode straight to the palace, and dismounting +from his horse walked up the steps of the throne and placed the crown +upon his head, and nobody durst say him nay. + +Then the King's son thought to himself: "I have now solved the whole +matter. It is needless for me to search all over the world for a Silver +Mountain which I possibly may never find at all, or which my brothers +may find sooner than I do, in order to inherit a kingdom, when I can +thus gain almost as good a kingdom without any trouble at all." + +So he thought no more about the Silver Mountain, or of his father, or of +his ancient home, but he remained in this foreign country and married a +wife, and ruled over it, and he lived in splendour and plenty. + +The first thing which the second son did when he started on his quest +was to consult an old scholar who lived in a hermitage, and who was +famous for being the most learned man in the whole world. The King's +second son went to him and said: "I want to find the Silver Mountain in +order that I may inherit my father's kingdom." + +The scholar said to him: "It is a good thing that you came to me for +advice. Nobody in the world can help you as well as I can. There is no +such thing as the Silver Mountain, and I daresay you know that already; +nevertheless your father was a wise man to have made this quest the +condition of the inheritance." + +"But," said the King's son, "if there is no such thing as the Silver +Mountain, there remains nothing for me to do but to go home and claim my +inheritance." + +"Not at all," said the old man. "It is of no avail to say that there is +no such thing as the Silver Mountain, especially when almost everybody +in the world is quite certain that the thing exists. Where your task +lies is to find out what people think is the Silver Mountain, and to +prove to them that it is not silver at all, but an ordinary mountain +just like any other. That is what you must do." And so saying the old +man refused to discuss the matter any further. + +So the King's son set out on his quest once more, and on the way he met +many people who were all seeking for the Silver Mountain. They were all +anxious to find it, because they said that the man who found it would be +a great king; and the King's son asked them to guide him to the place +where it was likely to be. This they were willing to do, and after they +had journeyed for many days, through forests and swamps, across large +rivers, down steep valleys, and over wooded hills, they reached a wide +plain; and beyond this plain rose a great chain of mountains, and in the +centre of this chain there towered one mountain higher than the rest, +and it was covered with clouds. + +The people pointed to this mountain and said: "Without doubt, that is +the Silver Mountain." + +The King's son said he would climb this mountain, and he took the people +with him. The ascent was steep and perilous, and many a time those who +were with him would have turned back, had he not encouraged them and led +them on by his fiery words, and after many days of toil and hardship, +they reached the summit of the mountain, whence they obtained a view +over the whole country. + +Then the King's son said to them: "This is the highest mountain in the +whole of the land--the whole of the land is now revealed to us. We know +all there is to be known about this country, and it is quite plain that +this mountain is a mountain just like any other, and that in the whole +world there is no such thing as a Silver Mountain; therefore we will now +go back and tell this to the whole world, and save our friends and our +brothers from wasting their time and exhausting themselves in fruitless +labour over an insane quest." + +So they went back to the country, and announced the news far and wide +that there was no such thing as a Silver Mountain, and that those who +had set out on the quest of it had better return to their homes. + +Now when the people heard this they were angry, and they threw stones at +the King's son, and he was compelled to flee from their city and to seek +shelter in the old scholar's home. But from that time forward many +people in the country ceased to think of the Silver Mountain any more, +or to search for it, and even among those who were angry with the King's +son there were many who felt that his words were true nevertheless. + +The third son started also on the quest. He sought out all the highest +mountains of the country, and convinced himself that none of them could +be the Silver Mountain, and yet he was sure there was such a thing +somewhere, and he persisted in believing this, and in saying it. He +spent many years of fruitless search, but he never gave up the quest, +nor did he ever lose hope that one day he should accomplish it. + +One evening, after he had been searching all day, he lay down, footsore +and weary, and he said to himself aloud: "If only the fairies would help +me, I should find the mountain soon enough." + +No sooner had he said this than a beautiful fairy stood before him and +said: "I will help you to find the Silver Mountain," and she gave him a +small mirror made of polished steel, whereupon she immediately vanished. + +The King's youngest son took the mirror and looked into it, and there he +saw very distinctly the image of his father lying ill, propped up by +pillows, dying and lonely, without any of his children about him. And +the King's youngest son said to himself-- + +"What does it matter to me whether I inherit the kingdom or not? Before +I think of that I must go back and see my father before he dies. I would +much rather my brothers found the mountain before me, and inherited the +kingdom, than that my father should die without my saying 'Good-bye' to +him." + +And he turned back, and made for his home as quickly as possible. + +Now the King's palace was on the top of a high hill, and the King's +youngest son approached it from the back, where he had never been before +in his life, and towards evening he emerged from the forest and saw this +hill before him, shining in the sunset, with the King's golden palace at +the summit of it; and in the clear glory of the sunset the hill shone +like silver, and the King's youngest son, as he looked at it, said-- + +"Why, this is the Silver Mountain!" And as he ran up the hill as fast as +he could he saw that it was of silver after all. So he rushed into his +father's bedroom, crying: "Father, I have found the Silver Mountain--it +was here the whole time--at home--and we have all lived on the top of +it without knowing it!" + +[Illustration: TOWARDS THE EVENING HE EMERGED FROM THE FOREST] + +The King was very pleased to see his son, and he said: "My son, what you +say is quite true, and you shall inherit my kingdom." And the King +kissed him, and soon after this he died, and the King's son reigned in +his stead, and reigned happily ever after as the King of this country. + +[Illustration: HER MOTHER FOUND A SILVER HORSE-SHOE] + + + + +THE RING + + +Once upon a time there was a King and a Queen who had only one daughter, +called Windflower. Just before Windflower's ninth birthday, the Queen, +her mother, when she was walking in the garden of the palace, found a +silver horseshoe lying on one of the paths. Now a silver horseshoe was +always found in the garden just before the death of a Queen, so the +Queen went to bed at once and sent for her daughter. + +"My child," she said, "I have found a silver horseshoe in the garden, +and that means I have not long to stay in this world. So listen +carefully to what I have to say. You will be the most beautiful Princess +the world has ever seen, and I hope you will find a husband who is +worthy of you. Take this ring; it is was given to me by my mother, who +in her turn received it from my grandmother. The ring is faëry, and you +must keep it and wear it always, for as long as you keep it you will be +sure of true love; but if you give it away you will give your heart and +all its power away with it, and evil will come of this. And if you are +blessed with a daughter you must give it to her before you die; but if +you have no daughter then you must cast the ring into the sea, for its +work will be done." + +When the Queen had said this she kissed Windflower and put the ring on +her finger. Then she sent for the King and bade him be a good father to +their child, and after she had said farewell she fell asleep and never +woke up again. + +Two years after the Queen died, the King married again. This second wife +had already been married before, and she had a daughter of her own who +was called Emerald, and who was just the same age as Windflower. As the +years rolled on the new Queen became jealous of her step-daughter, +because Windflower grew up into the most lovely creature that had ever +been seen. She was tall and slender, and her eyes were like dew and her +face like the petal of a flower. She danced like the surf of the sea, +and she sang like a bird. + +But Emerald, although she was handsome, had a proud face, with envious +green eyes that glittered balefully. And as, of course, everybody liked +Windflower much better than Emerald, this made the Queen angry, and she +determined, when the children were grown up and it was time that they +should marry, that none of the princes of the land should set eyes on +Windflower until Emerald was married. So she sent Windflower to a lonely +tower which was in a forest outside the city, and she told the King and +the Court that Windflower was not well, and had been ordered by the +physicians to live in a quiet place. So Windflower lived by herself in +the forest and saw nobody but her old nurse; but she was not sorry to +get away from her step-sister, who teased and pinched her dreadfully. + +When Emerald's seventeenth birthday came, the King and the Queen +prepared a grand banquet to celebrate it, and they invited all the +princes of the land, and of these the youngest and the handsomest was +Prince Sweetbriar. As he was heir to a large kingdom, the Queen was +anxious that he should marry Emerald. + +Now it happened that as Prince Sweetbriar was riding to the palace in +company with several other Princes, he dropped behind his companions and +lost his way, and presently he found himself in the forest where +Windflower lived, and he rode past just under the tower. Just then +Windflower was leaning out of the window. Her hair, which was like a +golden mist, was hanging about her shoulders, and her face blushed like +the dawn. Sweetbriar looked up, and he fell in love with her at first +sight, and Windflower looked at him and smiled and fell in love with him +too. Then he rode on till he found the city and the palace. + +The Queen paid every attention to him, and gave him the most gorgeous +room in the palace. The banquet was held in the evening, and after it +was over there was a State ball. Sweetbriar looked everywhere for +Windflower, but in vain. He asked one of the courtiers whether the King +had not got another daughter, and he was told that there was another +called Windflower, but nobody ever saw her because she was ill. But +Sweetbriar could think of nothing else but Windflower's face, and, in +spite of all the Queen did, he took no notice of Emerald. + +When the ball was over he found out from his page, who had been +gossiping in the kitchen, that Windflower was none other than the +beautiful maiden he had seen in the forest. So early next morning he set +out for the forest, and he found the tower without difficulty. +Windflower looked even more beautiful than before, and Sweetbriar +declared his love and asked her to be his wife, and she answered "Yes," +and they spent the whole morning together, talking about how happy they +would be. + +Then Sweetbriar rode back to the palace and asked the King for the hand +of his daughter Windflower, whom he had met in the forest. The Queen, of +course, tried to make objections, but Sweetbriar would not hear of +them; so the King gave his consent, and the Queen could do nothing more, +and Sweetbriar and Windflower were married. + +For a year they were as happy as the day is long, and a little daughter +was born to them whom they christened Sundew; but after a year had gone +by the Queen took counsel with her daughter Emerald, and said-- + +"All is not yet lost, and if you are skilful we may defeat the minx yet. +You have only to persuade Sweetbriar to make Windflower give him the +ring which her mother gave to her, and all will be well." + +"I will do it," said Emerald. + +So one day Emerald said to Sweetbriar: "You have a very beautiful wife. +I hope she is as devoted as she is beautiful." + +"Of course she is!" said Sweetbriar. + +"Do you think she would do anything you wished?" asked Emerald. + +"Of course," answered Sweetbriar. + +Then Emerald laughed, and said: "I am sure she would not even give you +the ring she wears on her finger." + +Sweetbriar laughed, but Emerald only said: "Try." + +So that very same day Sweetbriar said to Windflower: "Emerald is so +jealous of you that she says you would not even give me the ring which +you wear on your finger, if I ask it of you." + +Windflower was distressed when she heard this, and she told Sweetbriar +of her mother's warning, and Sweetbriar said that she had much better +not give him the ring, since he needed no ring to tell him that she +loved him. + +But when he next saw Emerald she mocked him, and said: "What did I tell +you? She doesn't even love you enough to give you a ring!" And every day +Emerald taunted him like this, and she said: "I've no doubt she finds +excellent excuses, but she will never give you the ring!" + +At last one day Sweetbriar could bear it no longer, and he said to +Windflower: "What does it matter if you give your heart away to me? Your +heart belongs to me already, so there can be no harm in giving me the +ring. Give it to me, for I can no longer bear Emerald's taunts." + +So Windflower gave him the ring. Now the ring, as I said, was faëry; as +long as she kept it her heart was her own and had the power to bind her +husband's heart, but as soon as she gave the ring away, she gave away +her heart and with it all its power; so that, although her heart still +belonged to Sweetbriar, Sweetbriar's love no more belonged to her--and +he soon forgot all about Windflower. + +As soon as the Queen and Emerald saw this, they drove Windflower and her +child from the palace, and left them in a wood to perish, and they said +they had been devoured by wild beasts, and Sweetbriar was wedded to +Emerald. + +But Windflower and Sundew did not perish. A woodcutter showed them the +way out of the wood, and they wandered for several years from city to +city begging their bread. One day, when they were both very hungry, and +Windflower had just earned a crust of bread, an old woman came up to her +and asked for alms. + +"I have got no money," said Windflower, "but take this; you need it more +than we do." And she gave her the crust of bread. + +"You are a good child," said the old woman; "keep your bread and ask for +a gift and I will give it you." + +"The only gift I crave is what nobody can give," said Windflower. "It is +my husband's love, which has been taken from me." And she told the old +woman her story. + +And the old woman said: "There is only one way of winning back your +husband's love. You must earn the ring which you gave him, and he must +give it you back and your heart with it in return for his life." So +saying the old woman disappeared. + +Windflower at once set out for the King's city, and when she got there +she found every one in woe and trouble because Prince Sweetbriar was +lying mortally sick and nobody could cure him. The King had offered half +his kingdom to any one who should cure the Prince, but nobody had even +tried. + +Windflower, who was in rags and quite unrecognisable, crept into the +kitchen and begged a little bread for herself and her little daughter +Sundew. She was allowed to warm herself at the fire, and she heard that +the Prince had been wounded by a poisoned arrow, and that if some one +would suck the poison from his wound he would recover; but nobody would +do this, for they knew that they would die themselves, and what was the +use of half a kingdom to a dead man? + +So Windflower went to the King, and offered to cure the Prince on the +condition that he should give her as a gift anything she should ask for. + +The King agreed, and Windflower went to the Prince and sucked the poison +from his arm. Sweetbriar at once began to get well, and he asked +Windflower what she craved as a reward. + +"The ring upon your finger," said Windflower. + +Sweetbriar gave her the ring, and immediately her heart came back to +her, and with it Sweetbriar's love, and he remembered everything and +recognised Windflower, and with a great cry he took her in his arms. + +And Windflower's heart overflowed with joy. She slipped the ring on her +little daughter's finger, then she looked at her husband and smiled, and +fell asleep in his arms. She never woke up again, because the poison she +had sucked from Sweetbriar's wound was deadly. + +And Sweetbriar drove Emerald and her mother from the house, and although +his heart was broken, he said no word and he shed no tear, for he knew +that it had all come about through his own fault, and that Windflower +was very happy and glad to be asleep, because she was so tired. + +But his little daughter Sundew laughed, and played with him every day, +and she mended his broken heart for him very well, although it was never +quite the same as it had been before. And she grew up to be as beautiful +and as good as Windflower, and she never gave away her mother's +ring. + + + + +THE MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER + +(A GREEK STORY) + + +Once upon a time, long ago in Greece, there was a merchant, who used to +earn his living by trafficking with goods among the Greek Islands and +along the coast of Asia. Sometimes he used to go as far as Persia and +India. He possessed many argosies, and he used to take with him large +bales of embroideries, silks and other stuffs, spikenard, and all kinds +of rare scents and ointments, and these he used to sell for as much +money as he could get for them. + +But although he was wealthy, he was a kind merchant; and although he +considered trade to be important, and struck as good a bargain as he +could, when the time for bargaining came, yet there was something that +he considered more important than merchandise and than bargaining, and +that was his daughters. He had three daughters. The eldest was called +Heliodore, the second Hermione, and the third Daphne. They were all +three of them extremely beautiful. The eldest, Heliodore, was tall like +a lily; the second, Hermione, was dark like a rose; and the third, +Daphne, was like a flower that grows in the springtime. + +One day, when his daughters were grown up, it was necessary for the +merchant to make a long journey to the East--a longer journey than he +had ever made before. He was obliged to go to India in order to sell +some vases cunningly worked, which Indian princes were especially fond +of. Before he started he called his daughters to him and said good-bye +to them. They each of them kissed him on both cheeks, and begged him to +bring them back something from India. They knew that India was a +marvellous country, full of rich and strange things. He promised to +bring back something for each of them, and he asked them what they would +like. Heliodore said she would like a scarf woven of moonbeams, such as +is only to be found in the mountains which are in the north of India. +Hermione said she would like a necklace made of rubies, such as are +only found in the mines of India, where little gnomes work all day and +all night underground and never see the sky. But when he asked Daphne +what she would like, she answered: "The only thing that I want is the +Golden Ring." And Heliodore and Hermione laughed at her, and said: +"Silly child! she could buy a golden ring in any shop in Athens. What a +foolish thing to ask for." + +Before the merchant started, Heliodore, Hermione, and Daphne burnt a +sacrifice on the altar of Hermes, and they prayed that the winds and the +waves might be favourable to their father, and they entreated him that +he should remember his promise to them, and should not forget the gifts +which they desired; and they said at the end of their prayer: "If our +father forgets to bring back these gifts which he has promised us, then +grant us that his ship, swift Hermes, may not stir from the shore." And +the merchant confirmed their prayer, and burnt incense on the altar +himself. Then he started for India. + +He arrived in India without difficulty, and during several months he +carried on his trade and did excellent business. He sold cunningly +wrought cups to the Indian princes, and statues, and garments, and +sandals, and lamps, and many other things besides. He travelled all over +India, trafficking and striking bargains; and during his travels he went +up to the northern mountains, and bought from an old woman a veil made +of moonbeams, for his eldest daughter Heliodore. This veil was +expensive, and he was obliged to give in exchange for it some of the +grass of Parnassus, gathered while Apollo was playing upon his fiddle, +and some water from the spring of Helicon, taken in a crystal flask on +the night when the Muses cease from quarrelling and sing in unison to +the new moon. + +After he had bought this veil at such a high price, he went to the +plains in the centre of India, and walked into the heart of a mountain, +and reached the caves which are under the earth, where the gnomes work +all day and all night, and there he asked the King of the Gnomes to +sell him the necklace of rubies. The King of the Gnomes said: "What will +you give me for it?" And the merchant said: "I will give you whatever +you ask." And the King of the Gnomes said to him: "I will have in +exchange for a necklace of rubies the nightingale that sings in the +thickets of Daulis." So the merchant gave him this nightingale, although +he was sorry to part with it, and received the necklace of rubies in +exchange. + +The merchant remembered these gifts, which were so difficult to get, but +he quite forgot what he had promised to his third daughter, which was +only a golden ring, and he started home without the golden ring. When he +reached the coast, and embarked on his argosy, there was a fair breeze, +and he was pleased because he thought his journey would be swift. But +what was his surprise to find that the ship would not stir from the +shore. Many other ships belonging to other sailors were scudding fast +through the waves, leaving behind them a trail of foam, and yet his +ship, although she was an excellent seaboat, refused to stir. And this +lasted all day and all night. + +At last he disembarked and sat down on the shore, and thought, saying to +himself, "What spell has been put on my ship? What have I done? In what +way have I displeased the gods that they prevent me from going home?" + +As he was pondering over this, a peasant walked along the coast. He was +carrying a basket of eggs home from the market, and he stopped and asked +the merchant what he was thinking of. + +The merchant hardly liked to tell him about his private family affairs, +but the peasant said to him: "I am sure there is something on your mind, +otherwise it is impossible that your ship should not be scudding over +the sea. Perhaps you promised something to somebody before you started." + +The merchant thought about this, and then at last he remembered what he +had promised to Daphne, and he said to the peasant: "I promised my +daughter to bring her back the Golden Ring from India, and I have +forgotten to do so." + +The peasant said: "That accounts for it all. If you have promised to +bring back something to somebody who is dear to you and have forgotten +it, it is quite impossible that you should sail back home." + +"That is all very well," said the merchant, "but can you tell me where I +can find the Golden Ring? You see, there are many golden rings +everywhere, but my daughter Daphne, who is my youngest daughter, asked +me to bring her back _the_ Golden Ring." + +The peasant nodded and turned round, and then he said: "You see this +road running in front of you into the distance? Walk along it, without +looking to the right or to the left, and when you have walked for three +hours you will reach a spot, and in that spot is the Golden Ring." + +The merchant did what the peasant had told him, and he walked for three +hours without looking to the right or to the left. When the three hours +were over he reached a milestone, on which was written: "To the Coast, +three hours; to the Palace, one minute." Near the milestone an old man +with a long grey beard was sitting, so the merchant spoke to the old +man, and said to him: "Sir, can you tell me where I can find the Golden +Ring?" + +The old man answered him: "The Golden Ring is in the palace of the King. +The palace of the King is a minute's walk from here. You turn to the +right, and before you you will find two golden gates. You must open +these gates, walk through them, and you will find the palace of the King +in front of you. In this palace there is a Prince, who is the King's +son, and that Prince is the Golden Ring." + +The merchant did as he was told. He walked for a minute, and found in +front of him two golden gates. Here he stopped a moment, because he was +afraid to walk into the house of somebody whom he did not know. +Nevertheless he took heart and opened the gates, and walked straight +along a broad road until he reached the steps which led to the front +door of the King's palace. Now the King's palace was made entirely of +red marble, and when the merchant saw it he was frightened. However, he +walked up the steps, and knocked loudly on the door, and immediately a +slave appeared and asked him what he wanted. + +"I wish to see the King," said the merchant, "and to ask him if I may +enter into his palace." + +The slave went away, and presently he came back again and said to the +merchant: "The King will be very glad if you will do him the honour of +entering his palace. Moreover, the King would like to talk to you +himself. He is at this moment in the Throne Room, sitting on the +throne." + +So the merchant was ushered into the Throne Room, and there was the King +sitting on a throne made of ivory and studded with emeralds. As he +entered this room, the King walked down the steps of the throne, and +asked him politely what was his business. + +The merchant said: "Your Majesty, I want to speak to the Prince." + +The King said that nothing was easier, and he led the merchant through a +long corridor into another room, which belonged to the Prince. + +The Prince was a young man, scarcely twenty-one years old. His hair was +as bright as the rice-fields in winter, and his eyes were as blue as the +sea. He was strong and nimble, and his voice was as tuneful as a bell. + +The Prince said to the merchant: "I am very glad to see you. I am always +glad to see people who come from a far country; but what do you want of +me?" + +So the merchant told him all his story--how he had three daughters; how +he had remembered to bring back the gifts which the two eldest had asked +of him; and how he had forgotten the Golden Ring which he had promised +to his youngest daughter, Daphne. + +Then the Prince said: "I quite understand. Is your daughter Daphne very +beautiful?" + +And the merchant said: "All my daughters are beautiful. My eldest +daughter, Heliodore, is as beautiful as the day; and my second daughter, +Hermione, is as glorious as the night; but my third daughter, Daphne, +is like the first day of spring. She is more beautiful than any woman in +the world." + +Then the Prince led him along a long corridor into a room in which there +were many beautiful pictures of beautiful women; and he said to the +merchant: "Is your daughter Daphne as beautiful as any of the people who +are pictured here?" + +And the merchant said: "My daughter Daphne is a thousand times more +beautiful than any of these pictures." + +And the Prince knew by the tone of voice in which he said it, that what +he said was true. He then led him into another room, in which there was +only one picture, and this was a picture of a woman he had once seen +long ago, in a dream, when he had dreamt of her who should be his wife; +and this picture was the most beautiful picture in the world; and the +woman who was painted in this picture was like a dream or a vision, so +that those people who looked at it could not believe that such a +beautiful thing could possibly be true. When the Prince had drawn the +curtain from this picture he said to the merchant, "Is your daughter as +beautiful as that?" and the merchant answered, "That is my daughter +Daphne." Then the Prince said to him: "I thought so. I will give you +something to take back to her." + +He took the merchant into another room, and gave him a letter written on +parchment, a cup made of crystal, and a small golden ring of plain gold, +and he said to the merchant: "Please do not forget to take these three +gifts to your youngest daughter, Daphne. Farewell." + +The Prince said good-bye to the merchant, and the King said good-bye to +him also, and a slave was sent with him to show him the way out of the +palace, and the nearest road to the coast; and there he found his ship +waiting for him, and directly he got on board and set sail, the ship +answered to the breeze, and swiftly and surely he arrived in his native +country. + +Now no sooner had he got home than his daughters asked him: "Father, +have you brought us back the presents which you promised us?" + +"Yes," said the merchant, "I have. I have brought Heliodore a veil woven +of moonbeams, which I found in the northern hills of India, and it was +very expensive. And I have brought Hermione a necklace of rubies, in +exchange for which I had to part with a precious nightingale. And I have +brought Daphne the gifts which she asked for." So saying, he gave his +daughters their various presents, and to Daphne the letter, the cup, and +the ring which the Prince had given him. + +When Heliodore and Hermione saw what their father had brought Daphne, +they were very pleased, because they thought a piece of paper, a cup +such as was to be seen in almost any shop in Athens, and a golden ring +worth at the most a few pieces of silver, were indeed shabby presents +compared with the treasures which they had received, and they laughed at +their sister. + +But Daphne paid no heed to this. She took her gifts to her room, and +locked herself in, and there she unrolled the scroll of paper which her +father had given her, and read what was written in it. It was written on +the parchment that she was to pour water into the crystal cup, throw the +Golden Ring into it, and call three times aloud: "Come hither, come +hither, come hither, my Golden Ring!" No sooner had she read this than +she filled the crystal cup with water, threw the Golden Ring into it, +and called out to the ring as she had been told to do; and as she +called, lo and behold! a wood-pigeon flew into her room and alighted on +the crystal cup, and dived and swam in the water; and as soon as its +body was completely immersed in the water, it changed into the very +Prince whom the merchant had seen in India. + +"I am Prince Fortunate," said the Prince, "and I live in India. I have +seen you many times in my dreams, and the first time I saw you I made up +my mind that you should be my wife, for you are the most beautiful woman +in the world, and I love you with all my heart." And Daphne told the +Prince that she loved him too, although she had never seen him before, +except in her dreams, and they talked happily together for more than an +hour. + +Then the Prince dipped his fingers into the crystal cup, and instantly +changed into a wood-pigeon, and flew away through the window. But before +he flew away, the bird gave Daphne a nut, and told her to crack it and +to put on what she should find inside it. + +As soon as Daphne was left alone, she cracked the nut, and she found +inside it a beautiful dress, as dark as a summer night, but on the folds +of which were painted the sun, the moon, and all the stars of heaven. +She put it on, and went for a walk in the garden, and her dress shone +like a starry night, and it was a wonderful sight to behold; and her +sisters, who were leaning out of a window which overlooked the garden, +were dazzled by the sight of the shining garment, and they wondered +greatly, and they were filled with envy and jealousy. + +The next day all this happened again. The pigeon flew in at Daphne's +window, changed into the Prince, and talked to her for an hour, and +when the hour was over changed back into a pigeon again and flew away, +leaving her a fig, which he told her to cut open, and to wear what she +should find inside it. She cut open the fig, and inside it she found a +dress on which the azure sea and all its white waves were painted. This +dress was like the sea at dawn, when the wind ruffles it, and little +waves of crested foam dance for joy in the morning air. + +Daphne put it on, and went for a walk in her garden, and her sisters, +who were leaning out of the window, were amazed at the lovely sight, and +cried out in surprise--for at first they thought it was Queen Aphrodite +just fresh from the sea; and they envied Daphne sorely. + +The next day the same thing happened again. Daphne threw the ring into +the cup, and all happened as before; and when the pigeon flew away, he +left her a hazel-nut, and told her to crack it and wear what she should +find inside it. + +Daphne cracked the hazel-nut, and inside it she found a garment on which +the month of May with all its flowers was painted. She put it on, and +she again went for a walk in the garden, and her sisters, who were +leaning out of the window, gave a great cry when they saw her--for +beautiful as had been the dress on which the sun, the moon, and the +stars were painted, and beautiful the dress on which were pictured the +sea and all its waves, this one was far lovelier still, for it was as +frail as blossom, and as soft, and fragrant exceedingly; and as Daphne +walked across the grass in it, her sisters thought that Queen Proserpine +had left her dismal home and had come back to visit the earth once more, +arrayed in the glory of May--and then they saw that it was only their +sister Daphne, whom they had always despised. This made Heliodore and +Hermione so jealous that they took counsel one with the other how they +might do Daphne harm, and at last they settled on a plan. + +[Illustration: A GARMENT IN WHICH THE MONTH OF MAY IN ALL ITS FLOWERS +WAS PAINTED] + +Every morning, as soon as the sun rose, the three sisters used to go to +the baths and bathe. So the morning after Daphne had walked about in the +garden, in the dress, on which the month of May and all its flowers +were painted, as they were walking together to the baths, Heliodore took +with her a bag full of seed-pearls, and all at once she pretended to +slip, and in slipping scattered the pearls on to the path. Then she said +to Hermione and Daphne, "You go on in front, whilst I pick up my +pearls." As soon as Hermione and Daphne were out of sight, she swept up +the pearls with a small broom and put them all back into the bag, and +then she returned to the house. There she took the key of Daphne's +room--for she had noticed that Daphne always hid this key in a crevice +on the hearth--and she opened Daphne's door, went into her room, and +searched in every corner to see what she might find; and there, at the +back of the cupboard, she found the Prince's letter, the crystal cup, +and the Golden Ring. She read the Prince's letter, filled the crystal +cup with water, threw the Golden Ring into it, and called out the magic +words. But it so happened that Daphne had that day left her knife in the +cup; so when Heliodore cried out, "Come hither, come hither, come +hither, my Golden Ring!" the wood-pigeon flew in at the window, and +dived into the crystal cup, but just as he was going to change into the +Prince he fell upon the knife, and he flew away with a wound in his +breast. + +Now when Heliodore saw that there was a drop of blood in the crystal +cup, she was afraid, and she ran away from Daphne's room, and rejoined +her sisters at the baths. + +When they came back from the baths, Daphne went to her room and took the +cup from the cupboard. But when she saw that there was a drop of blood +in it, she cried bitterly, for she saw what had happened, and she +understood what her sister had done; and when she had cried for a long +time by herself, she went out of doors, and she found her father and +said to him: "Oh sir, buy me a man's dress, such as will prevent those +who see me from recognising me, when I wear it; and buy me a swift ship, +so that I may travel." + +Her father gave her the dress and the ship, and she embarked on it and +started for India, disguised as a pedlar, in order to find the Prince. + +She sailed to India, but when she disembarked, she was at a loss as to +what to do, for she did not know where the Prince lived, nor the way to +his palace. As she was brooding in her perplexity, she caught sight of +two pigeons who were quarrelling with each other, and one of them was +threatening to kill the other. Daphne listened to their conversation, +for she understood the language of birds because of the Golden Ring +which she wore on her finger. And one of the birds was saying to the +other: "Prince Fortunate is sick, and the physicians do not know how to +cure him." And the other bird said: "Will he be cured?" And the first +pigeon answered: "If some one were to kill us and to dip our bodies in +the spring which is hard by, and then make an ointment of the water of +the spring, and rub the Prince with that ointment, he would surely get +well." + +Directly Daphne heard this she took a stone and killed the pigeons, and +dipped them into the water of the spring, and made an ointment, as they +had said. No sooner had she done this than a wandering minstrel passed +her, and asked her whither she was going. + +"I am looking," said Daphne, "for the King's palace, where Prince +Fortunate lives, but I do not know where it is." + +The minstrel said: "Come with me, for I know the way. But what is your +trade?" + +"I am a physician," said Daphne, "and I have good medicine to sell." + +So presently she reached the King's palace, and called outside the +windows: "Good medicine to sell. Good medicine to sell." + +When the King heard that there was a physician there, he sent for him +and said: "Can you cure my son?" + +Daphne answered: "In eight days I will make him so well that he will +ride on his horse, and shoot with his bow and arrow." + +The King was pleased; but when the other doctors heard of this, they +said that if this new physician cured the King's son in a week, the King +would be at liberty to cut off their heads. + +So Daphne, in the disguise of a doctor, was taken to the Prince, and she +rubbed him with the ointment she had made, and instantly he grew a +little better, and in two or three days' time he grew much better, and +in a week's time he was quite well and able to ride on his horse and to +shoot with his bow and arrow. + +Now, when the King saw this, he was greatly pleased, and he said to the +physician: "You have cured my son; what can I do for you in return?" + +And the physician answered, "All I desire is that your Majesty should +give a great banquet, and invite to it all the kings and princes of +India." + +The King said: "That is but a trifling favour to ask." And he gave +orders at once that a great feast should be prepared, and he invited to +it all the kings and princes of India, Persia, and Arabia, and they ate +and drank and made merry. + +When the banquet was over, Daphne, in the disguise of the doctor, said +to the King: "Let there be silence, for I have a story to tell the +company." The King gave orders, and every one was silent. Then Daphne +told the whole of her story, as I have told it now, and she told +everything except one thing--she did not say who she was, for she was +keeping this to the end. But when she reached the end of the story and +told how the merchant's daughter had disguised herself as a doctor in +order to cure the Prince, she said-- + +"I am the merchant's daughter. My name is Daphne, and in the disguise of +a doctor I cured the Prince. I did it because I am betrothed to him, and +because he will make me his wife; and I never did the Prince any harm, +but my sister did that evil thing from envy, because she was jealous of +our happiness." + +As soon as the Prince heard this, he recognised Daphne, and he embraced +her and said: "It is true. This is Daphne, my betrothed, and my bride +that is to be." + +And the King prepared a splendid wedding-feast, which lasted three days, +and they were married in a temple of gold, and on the first day of the +feast Daphne wore the dress on which the sun, the moon, and the stars +were painted; and on the second day she wore the dress on which were +pictured the sea and all its waves; but on the third day she wore the +dress which was adorned with the month of May and all its flowers, and +on that day she was more beautiful than ever she had been before, for it +was her wedding-day. And she lived with the Prince happily for ever +afterwards. + + + + +THE CUNNING APPRENTICE + +(A RUSSIAN STORY) + + +Once upon a time there was an old man and an old woman who had one son. +The old man was poor, and he wished his son to acquire knowledge, so +that he should be able to comfort his parents in his youth, to support +them when he grew up, and to pray for them after their death. But what +is to be done when one has no money? He took him to the village. +"Perhaps," he thought, "somebody will give him lessons for nothing." But +nobody wished to teach his son for nothing. The old man returned home, +and he and his wife cried bitterly, lamenting their poverty. + +Once more he took his son to the town. As soon as he reached the town a +stranger met them, and asked what was the matter. "Why, old man," he +said, "are you so sad?" + +"How can I not be sad?" answered the old man. "Look, I have taken my +son everywhere, and nobody will teach him for nothing, and I have no +money." + +"Well, give him to me," said the stranger, "and in three years I will +teach him all the knowledge there is. And in three years' time, on this +same day and at the same hour, come and fetch your son. But take care +that you are not late, for if you come in time and recognise him you +shall receive your son back again, but if you are late he shall remain +with me." + +The old man was so pleased that he did not ask who the stranger was, +where he lived, or how and what he would teach the lad. He left his son +with him, and went home. He reached home in great joy, and told his wife +all about it. Now the stranger was a wizard. + +Three years passed. The old man had long ago forgotten on what day and +at what hour he had left his son with the stranger, and he did not know +what to do. But the son, on the day before the appointed space of time +came to an end, flew to him in the shape of a bird, and entered the +cottage in his true shape. He greeted his parents, and said: "Father, +to-morrow my apprenticeship, which has lasted three years, comes to an +end. Do not forget to come and fetch me." And he told him where to come +and how to recognise him. + +[Illustration: HE CHANGED HIMSELF INTO A HAWK] + +"I am not the only apprentice at my master's: there are eleven more lads +like myself, who remain with him for ever, and all because their parents +did not know how to recognise them. And if you do not recognise me, I +shall also stay with him for ever, and be the twelfth. To-morrow, when +you come for me, my master will change us into twelve white pigeons, all +alike, feather for feather, tail for tail, and head for head. Now +listen: All of us will fly high in the air, but I will fly higher than +the rest. My master will ask, 'Have you recognised your son?' And you +must then point to the pigeon which is flying higher than the others. +After this he will bring to you twelve ponies, all of the same colour, +and all with their manes on the same side, and just alike. When he takes +you to these ponies they will all be standing still, but I shall give a +kick with my right leg. My master will ask you, 'Have you recognised +your son?' And you must then point me out. After this he will bring to +you twelve lads, all of the same height, all alike, hair for hair and +voice for voice, and all dressed alike. As soon as you see them look +carefully; on my right cheek there will be a little fly, so that you may +recognise me." + +He said good-bye to his parents, and went out of the house, changed into +a bird and flew away to his master. + +The next morning his father got up, made ready and went to fetch his +son. He arrived at the wizard's. "Now, old man," said the wizard, "I +have taught your son everything that is to be known, but if you don't +recognise him, he must stay with me for ever and ever." He then let fly +into the air twelve white pigeons, all alike, feather for feather, tail +for tail, and head for head; and he said: "Old man, do you recognise +your son?" + +The old man looked and looked, and when one pigeon flew higher than the +rest, he pointed to it and said: "I think that is my son." + +"You have recognised him, old man," said the wizard. He then brought +twelve ponies, all of the same colour, and their manes all on the same +side. The old man walked round the ponies and looked, and the wizard +asked: "Now, old man, have you recognised your son?" "Not yet, wait a +little." And when he said that, one of the ponies gave a kick with his +right leg. He pointed to him immediately and said: "I think that is my +son." + +"You have recognised him, old man," said the wizard. He then brought him +to twelve lads, all of the same height, all alike, hair for hair, and +voice for voice, as if they were the children of one mother. The old man +walked round the lads and noticed nothing. He did so a second time, and +again noticed nothing. He walked round them a third time, and then he +saw that on the right cheek of one of the lads there was a fly, and he +said: "I think that is my son." + +"You have recognised him, old man. Yes, and it is not you who are +cunning and wise, but it is your son." + +The old man took his son and went home. They walked along the road, and +whether it was long or whether it was short, and whether it was far or +whether it was near, it takes but little time to tell, but it took a +long time to do. On their way they met some huntsmen who were hunting a +red beast. In front of them a fox was running as though it would escape. + +"Father," said the son, "I will turn myself into a hound and catch the +fox. When the huntsmen come up to take the animal, say to them, 'O! +huntsmen, that is my dog; I make my living by him.' The huntsmen will +say, 'Sell him to us,' and they will count out to you much money. Sell +the dog, but do not give them the collar and the chain." He immediately +changed himself into a hound, ran after the fox and caught it. The +huntsmen rode up. "Old man," they cried, "why have you come here to +spoil our hunt?" + +"O! huntsmen," answered the old man, "that is my dog; I make my living +by him." + +"Sell him to us." + +"Buy it." + +"Is it dear?" + +"A hundred roubles." + +The huntsmen did not bargain, but paid him the money and took the dog, +and the old man took off its collar and its chain. "Why do you take off +the collar and the chain?" + +"I am a traveller," said the old man, "and the chain is necessary to me +to bind up my cloth leggings." + +"All right, take it," said the huntsmen, and they whipped their horses +and rode off at a gallop. But the fox got away again; they started their +hounds after it; the hounds ran but could not catch the fox. One of the +huntsmen said: "Let us try the new hound." They let it loose, and what +did they see? The fox ran off in one direction, and the hound in +another, and he caught up the old man and changed into a lad just as he +had been before. + +The old man went on further with his son. They came to a lake where +huntsmen were shooting geese, swans, and wild ducks. A flock of geese +was flying, and the son said to his father: "Father, I will change +myself into a hawk, and I will pursue the geese. The huntsmen will come +to you and begin to make a fuss. You say to them, 'That is my hawk; I +make my living by him.' They will bargain with you for the hawk. You +sell the hawk, but do not give up its jesses on any account." He changed +himself into a hawk, flew higher than the flock of geese, and began +pursuing them and driving them to the earth. As soon as the huntsmen saw +this, they came to the old man and said: "Old man, why are you spoiling +our sport?" + +"O! huntsmen," he answered, "the hawk is mine, and I earn my living by +him." + +"Will you sell your hawk?" + +"Why should I not sell him? Buy him." + +"And is it dear?" + +"Two hundred roubles." + +The huntsmen paid the money, took the hawk, and the old man took off its +jesses. "Why are you taking off the jesses?" + +"I am a traveller," answered the old man, "and if something comes off my +leggings, they serve to tie them up with." The huntsmen did not dispute +the matter, but went after their game. The flock of geese flew away. +"Let us loose the hawk," they said, and they loosed him, but what did +they see? The hawk flew higher than the geese, and flew right away to +the old man, and caught him up, touched the green ground, and changed +himself back into a lad as he had been before. And the father and son +went home and lived in clover. + +Sunday came, and the son said to his father: "Father, to-day I will +change myself into a horse. You shall sell the horse, but on no account +sell the bridle, for if you do I shall not come home again." He rolled on +the earth and changed into a magnificent horse, and his father led him +off to sell him. The merchants surrounded him, horse-dealers all of +them; one of them offered a large sum of money, another offered a still +larger sum of money. But the wizard, who appeared there, offered more +than all of them. The old man sold him his son, but did not give him the +bridle. + +"And how shall I be able to lead the horse without a bridle?" said the +wizard. "Give me the bridle to lead him as far as my house, and then +take it back, for I do not want it." + +Then the horse-dealers fell upon the old man and said: "That is only +fair; if you sell the horse you must sell the bridle." What could he do? +The old man gave up the bridle. The wizard led the horse to his house, +put it in the stables, tied it fast to the ring, and pulled his head up +high so that the horse stood on his hind legs, and his fore legs did not +touch the ground. The wizard called his daughter and said: "I have +bought the cunning fellow." "Where is he?" asked his daughter. "He is in +the stables." His daughter went to see, and she was sorry for the young +lad. She loosened the bridle and made it longer, and the horse shook his +head so that at last he freed himself from the bridle, and galloped away +for several miles. The daughter ran to her father and said: "Father, +forgive me, I have done a wicked thing. The horse has escaped." + +The wizard struck the green earth, changed himself into a grey wolf, and +pursued the horse. As soon as he got near him the horse galloped to a +river, struck the earth and changed himself into a minnow, and the +wizard changed himself into a pike. The minnow scudded through the water +and reached a pond, where beautiful maidens were washing linen and +wringing it out. He changed himself into a golden ring and lay close by +the hand of the merchant's daughter. The merchant's daughter saw the +ring and put it on her finger. The wizard changed himself into a man +once more, and said: "Give me your golden ring." + +"Take it," said the beautiful maiden, and threw the ring on to the +ground. As soon as it struck the ground, in that moment it changed into +a seed-pearl. The wizard changed himself into a cock and ran to pick up +the seed-pearl. But before he had picked it up, the pearl changed into a +hawk, and the hawk immediately flew at the cock, and killed him. After +that he changed once more into a fine lad, and fell in love with the +beautiful maiden, the daughter of the merchant, and married her. And +they lived happily and merrily together. + +That is the end of the story. + +[Illustration: THE DRAGON APPEARED] + + + + +ORESTES AND THE DRAGON + +(A GREEK STORY) + + +There was once upon a time a King who had three sons and one daughter. +Not far from the King's palace there was a large garden, and in this +garden lived a dragon. The King told his children never to go into the +garden lest they should be caught by the dragon, which had wings. But +one evening the youngest of the King's sons, whose name was Orestes, +went with his sister into the garden and began to play. No sooner had +they begun to play than the dragon appeared, and seizing the little +Princess with its tail, flew away into the air and took her to a high +mountain which no one could climb. + +When Orestes went home and told of the misfortune, the King was very +sad, and a black flag was hoisted on the top of the palace, and the +whole Court went into mourning. + +Now Orestes, since it had been through his fault that his sister had +been lost, wished to be allowed to seek her; but his father would not +let him do this, for Orestes was his favourite son. But one day when his +father was busy, Orestes stole out of the house and walked to the foot +of the high mountain, whither the dragon had taken his little sister. He +wondered how he could climb it, and the task seemed difficult, indeed +almost impossible, since the mountain was as smooth as glass. + +While he was thus wondering he noticed two snakes which were fighting. +One was black, and the other was white, and the black snake was getting +the best of the fight and on the verge of killing the white one. Orestes +at once killed the black snake, upon which the white snake said to him-- + +"You have saved my life! What can I do for you in return?" + +"I wish for nothing," said Orestes, "save to be able to climb to the top +of this mountain." + +"Catch hold of my tail," said the snake, "and I will take you to the top +of the mountain." + +And the snake wriggled up the mountain, pulling the Prince after him, +and as soon as they reached the top it disappeared. + +Upon the top of the mountain, Orestes found a shepherd looking after the +sheep of the dragon, and he entered into the service of this shepherd as +a herdsman. One day when he was looking after the sheep he met his +sister, and said to her: "I am your brother Orestes, and I have come to +set you free." + +His sister was surprised to see him, and frightened, and she said: "We +must be very careful and cunning, lest the dragon should find us out, +for it is impossible to escape from this place, nor can we save +ourselves from the dragon. His rooms are all full of princesses whom he +has taken captive, and who cannot climb down the mountain." + +And she asked her brother how he had been able to climb it. He told her +about the snake, and then he said-- + +"This evening, when the dragon comes back to his house, ask him where +his strength lies, and I will come to-morrow and you shall tell me." + +In the evening the dragon came home, and the Princess asked him where +his strength lay, and the dragon told her that he had three golden hairs +on the top of his head, and with these hairs one could open a room in +which there were three doves; and were any one to kill the first dove, +he would grow sick; and were any one to kill the second dove, he would +grow worse; and if any one were to kill the third dove, he would die. + +The next day, when the dragon had gone out on his daily business, which +was to look for disobedient children in the country round and to catch +them, the Princess went to her brother and told him what the dragon had +said. + +Orestes told her that when the dragon came back in the evening and fell +asleep, she was to take a pair of scissors and cut off the three golden +hairs, and open the secret room and kill the doves which were in it. + +In the evening when the dragon came back and fell asleep, which he did +at once, for he was tired, the Princess took a pair of scissors, cut off +his three golden hairs, opened the secret room and killed the doves; +and immediately the dragon gave a great groan and died. + +As soon as he was dead, all the doors of all the rooms in the house, +which had been carefully locked, flew open, and hundreds and hundreds of +prisoners were set free. Among these there were three princesses. +Orestes and his sister walked with these three princesses to the edge of +the mountain top, and when they reached it Orestes saw his brothers, who +were waiting at the foot of the hill. + +Orestes took a rope, and first he let down his sister; then he let down +the eldest of the princesses and said: "She shall be the wife of my +eldest brother." Afterwards he let down the second of the princesses, +and said: "She shall be the wife of my second brother." And, lastly, he +let down the youngest princess, and he said: "This shall be my wife." + +But when his brothers saw that the youngest princess was the most +beautiful of the three, they were angry, and they jerked the rope out +of Orestes' hands and left him on the top of the mountain. + +Orestes was most sorrowful, and he went into the castle of the dragon +and looked into all the rooms. + +Now in one room, which was carpeted with green grass, he found a silken +greyhound which was hunting a silken hare; and in another room he found +a golden beaker and a golden jug; and in another he found a golden hen +with golden chickens. Then he went to the stables, and there in a stall +he found three horses with golden wings, and one was white, and one was +red, and one was green. + +"By opening the doors of our stable," said the horses, "you have done us +a great favour. What can we do for you in return?" + +"I do not wish for anything," said Orestes, "save to be taken to the +foot of this mountain!" + +"Get on my back," said the green horse; and Orestes got on his back, and +the horse flew in a moment to the bottom of the mountain. Then each of +the horses gave him two golden hairs, and said: "When you have need of +us, burn one of these hairs and we will come." + +After some days had passed, Orestes went into the city where the King, +his father, lived, and putting an old blanket over his head he pretended +to be a beggar, and entered into the service of a goldsmith. + +Now when the little Princess and her two brothers reached their father's +house, with the three princesses who had been set free, the King asked +them what had become of Orestes, and they said that Orestes had died; +and the eldest of the brothers wished to marry the eldest of the +princesses, but she refused to wed him unless he could find her the +silken greyhound which hunted the silken hare. It was in the house of +the dragon. + +The King's herald proclaimed this everywhere. Then the beggar said to +the goldsmith that he could accomplish the quest. "You need only give me +a jug of wine and a basketful of chestnuts, and leave me alone in my +room." + +The goldsmith did this and shut the beggar up in his room, and he +looked through the keyhole to see what he was doing. But the beggar did +nothing at all; he merely ate the chestnuts and drank the wine, so the +goldsmith went to his bedroom and went to sleep. Then the beggar took +one of the hairs which the white horse had given him and burned it, and +immediately the white horse appeared and said: "What do you wish?" + +"I wish," said the beggar, "that you should bring me the silken +greyhound and the silken hare." + +The horse brought them immediately, and the beggar gave them to the +goldsmith. The goldsmith went to the palace and sold them for much money +to the eldest prince. + +On Sunday the eldest brother married the eldest princess, and everybody +went to a field and played quoits. And the beggar burned another golden +hair, and immediately the green horse appeared and brought him a green +garment. The beggar put it on, and went into the field and played quoits +with the company. After he had played for a whole hour everybody had +lost; he alone had won much money, and scattering on the grass the +money he had won, he went back to the goldsmith's shop and put the +blanket on his head once more. + +The next Sunday it was arranged that his second brother should marry the +second princess; she said she would not wed him unless he could bring +her the golden beaker and the golden jug which were in the house of the +dragon. + +The King sent for all the goldsmiths in the country, and asked them to +get him the golden beaker. And once more the beggar told his master that +he could get it, and that all he needed were two basketsful of chestnuts +and two jars of wine. And being left alone in a room he ate the nuts and +drank the wine. Then he burned one of the hairs, and immediately the red +horse appeared, and he said to him: "Bring me the golden beaker and the +golden jug." + +And the horse brought them, and the beggar went to the King, and the +King bought them for a large sum of money. Again they went to play +quoits in order to celebrate the second wedding, and the beggar burned +another of the hairs, and immediately the red horse came to him and +brought him a red garment, and when he put it on he went and played +quoits. After he had played for a long time, all had lost save himself, +and he went away, leaving the ground strewn with gold coins. + +On the following Sunday the youngest princess was to be married to a +brother of the King, but she did not wish to wed him, and she said that +she would not, unless he brought her the golden hen and the golden +chickens. + +Once more the beggar obtained these, and on Sunday, when the wedding was +to be held, they went and played quoits, and the beggar went riding on a +white horse and wearing a white garment; and as he was playing he threw +the quoit at his uncle who was to wed the youngest princess, and killed +him. And they took him to the palace, and the King said to him: "Why +have you killed my brother?" + +And the Prince told him everything that had happened, and as soon as the +King heard the story he gave orders that the two eldest brothers should +be put to death, and he gave the youngest princess to Orestes for a +wife. + +And they were married, and they lived happily for ever afterwards. + + + + +THE WISE PRINCESS + +(A RUSSIAN STORY) + + +Once upon a time in a certain kingdom there lived a King and a Queen. +They had three sons, who were all young, unmarried, and so brave that no +fairy tale could tell, no pen could write down, how brave they were. The +youngest was called Ivan-the-King's-Son. The King spoke to his children +thus: "My dear children, take each of you an arrow, draw your bow at a +venture, and shoot in various directions. And there, where the arrow +shall fall, go take a wife." + +The eldest brother drew his bow at a venture, and the arrow fell on a +nobleman's house, right opposite the women's attic. The second arrow +fell in the yard of a merchant's house, on a flight of steps; and on the +steps stood a beautiful girl, the merchant's daughter. The youngest +brother drew his bow at a venture, and the arrow fell into a dirty +marsh, and a frog caught it. + +Ivan-the-King's-Son said: "How can I marry a frog? She is not my size." + +"Marry her," said the King. "It means that such is your fate." + +So the sons of the King were married. The eldest married the +nobleman's daughter; the second one, the merchant's daughter; and +Ivan-the-King's-Son married a frog. And the King called them to him and +gave the following command:-- + +"Each of your wives must bake me a soft white loaf of bread for +breakfast to-morrow." + +Ivan-the-King's-Son went to his room with a heavy heart and hung his +head. + +"Ivan-the-King's-Son, why are you so sad?" the frog asked. "Has your +father spoken an angry or an unkind word to you?" + +"How can I not be sad? The King, my father, has ordered you to get ready +a loaf of soft white bread for his breakfast to-morrow." + +"Do not worry, Ivan-the-King's-Son, go to bed and sleep. In the morning +you will be wiser than in the evening." + +She sent him to bed, and no sooner had she done so than she threw off +her frog's skin and turned into a most beautiful girl, for she was none +other than the Wise Princess. She went out on to the steps and called +out in a loud voice: "Oh you, my nurses, get ready, get ready! Provide +yourselves with what is necessary, and make me a white loaf such as I +used to eat in my father's house." + +In the morning, when Ivan-the-King's-Son got up, the frog's loaf had +been ready for some time, and it was so excellent that the like of it +had never been seen. The loaf of bread was ornamented with various +devices: on the sides of it were kings' palaces, and stately towers with +their gardens and their walls. The King thanked Ivan-the-King's-Son for +the loaf, and at the same time he gave the following order to his three +sons:-- + +"Your wives shall each of them weave me a carpet by to-night." + +Ivan-the-King's-Son came home with a heavy heart and hung his head. + +"Croak, croak," said the frog, "why are you so sad? Has your father +spoken a cruel or an unkind word to you?" + +"How can I not be sad?" answered Ivan-the-King's-Son. "The King, my +father, has ordered a silken carpet to be woven for him by to-night." + +"Do not worry, Ivan-the-King's-Son, lie down and sleep. In the morning +you will be wiser." + +She put him to bed, and threw off her frog's skin, and turned into a +beautiful maiden. She went out on to the steps and called out in a loud +voice: "Oh, you boisterous winds, bring hither that same carpet on which +I used to sit in the house of my father." + +No sooner said than done. In the morning, when Ivan-the-King's-Son +awoke, the carpet had been ready for some time, and it was so beautiful +that the like of it had never been seen before. It was adorned with +gold, silver, and cunning devices. The King thanked his son for the +carpet, and at the same time he issued a new command, namely, that his +sons were to be present, each with his wife, at the grand review. + +Ivan-the-King's-Son returned home with a heavy heart and hung his head. + +"Croak, croak, Ivan-the-King's-Son," said the frog, "why are you so +sad? Have you heard from your father anything cruel or unpleasant?" + +[Illustration: SHE WENT OUT ON TO THE STEP AND CALLED OUT IN A LOUD +VOICE] + +"How can I not be sad? The King, my father, has ordered that I should be +present at the review with you. And how can I show _you_ to the people?" + +"Do not worry, Ivan-the-King's-Son! Go by yourself, and pay your +respects to the King. I will follow; and as soon as you hear a noise +like thunder, say, 'My little frog is coming hither in a basket.'" + +The two elder brothers appeared at the review with their wives, all in +beautiful clothes; they stood there and laughed at Ivan-the-King's-Son, +and said: "Why have you come here, brother, without your wife? You might +have brought her in your pocket. And where did you find such a beautiful +lady?" + +Suddenly a loud noise like thunder was heard, and the whole palace +shook. The guests were frightened to death, and jumped up from their +places and did not know what to do. But Ivan-the-King's-Son said: "Do +not be afraid, gentlemen, this is my little frog who has come here in a +basket." + +A golden coach drove up to the palace, drawn by six horses, and out of +it came the Wise Princess, so beautiful that it is impossible to +describe her. She took Ivan-the-King's-Son by the hand, and led him to +the oaken chairs and the spread tables. The guests began to eat and +drink, and to make merry. The Wise Princess, as she drank from a glass, +let a drop fall on to her left sleeve; and as she ate a piece of roast +swan, she hid one of the bones in her right sleeve. The wives of the +elder sons noticed this, and did the same. Afterwards, when the Wise +Princess was dancing with Ivan-the-King's-Son, she shook her left +sleeve, and at once a lake appeared. She shook her right sleeve, and +white swans swam about on the lake. + +The King and his guests were astonished, and when the elder sons' wives +began to dance they shook their left sleeves, but the only result of it +was to splash the guests. Then they shook their right sleeves, and in +so doing a swan's bone hit the King in the face. The King was angry, and +drove them away in disgrace. During that time Ivan-the-King's-Son took +the opportunity of going home. He found the frog's skin, and threw it +into a big fire. + +The Wise Princess arrived and asked where her frog's skin was. Then not +finding it, she grew sad and said: "Oh, Ivan-the-King's-Son, +Ivan-the-King's-Son, what have you done? If you had waited a moment I +would have been yours for ever. But now good-bye. Seek me at the end of +the world, in the Kingdom of Nowhere. Wear out three pairs of iron +boots." + +So saying, she turned herself into a white swan, and flew away out of +the window. + +Ivan-the-King's-Son wept bitterly, and prayed to God with all his might. +He put on iron boots, and walked on straight in front of him. He walked +and walked, and after a time he met an old man. + +"Good morrow, young man," said the old man; "what are you looking for +and where are you going to?" + +Ivan-the-King's-Son told him all his misfortunes. + +"Ah, Ivan-the-King's-Son, why did you burn the frog's skin? You did not +put it on, and it was not for you to take it off. The Wise Princess was +so far more cunning and wise than her father, that he clothed her in a +frog's skin and bade her be a frog for three years. Here is a ball for +you. Wherever it rolls, you must boldly follow." + +Ivan-the-King's-Son thanked the old man, and followed where the ball +rolled. Whether it rolled far or near, for a short time or a long time, +the story does not say; but it stopped at a cottage. This cottage stood +on chicken's legs and wobbled about. Ivan-the-King's-Son said-- + +"Cottage, cottage, stand as you used to stand--still, as your mother +placed you, back to the wood and front to me." + +The cottage turned round, with its back to the wood and its front to +him. Ivan-the-King's-Son went into the cottage, and there lay an old +woman, all bony, with a nose which grew to the ceiling. She said to him +in an angry voice: "Fie, fie, fie! Why have you come here, +Ivan-the-King's-Son?" + +"Oh, you old woman," he answered, "before asking me questions you should +give me something to eat and to drink, and you should prepare me a hot +steam bath; and then you can ask me questions." + +The old woman gave him food and drink, and a steam bath, and then the +King's son told her he was looking for his wife, the Wise Princess. + +"My child," said the old woman, "it is a pity you did not come before. +In the first years, after her flight, she remembered you, but now she +has ceased thinking of you. Go at once to my second sister; she knows +more than I do." + +Ivan-the-King's-Son set out on his journey, and followed the ball. He +walked and walked, and again there stood before him a cottage with +chickens' legs. + +"Cottage, cottage, stand still, as your mother placed you, with your +back to the wood and your front to me." + +The cottage turned round. Ivan-the-King's-Son went into it, and there +stood an old woman with bony legs. She saw the Prince and she said: +"Fie, fie! Ivan-the-King's Son, have you come here of your own accord or +because you were obliged to?" + +Ivan-the-King's-Son answered: "I have come here of my own accord, and +also because I can't help it. I am looking for the Wise Princess." + +"I am sorry for you, Ivan-the-King's-Son. You should have come before. +The Wise Princess has quite forgotten you. She wants to marry another +husband. At this moment she is living with my eldest sister. Go thither +quickly, but remember one thing, that as soon as you have entered the +cottage, the Wise Princess will turn into a spindle and my sister will +begin to spin golden threads, and to turn her wheel. Mind that you lose +no time in taking away the spindle from her and breaking it in two; +throw half of it behind you and the other half in front of you. Then the +Wise Princess will appear." + +Ivan-the-King's-Son set out on his journey. He walked and walked, but +whether the way was long, or whether it was short, whether it was near +or far, the story doesn't say. He wore out three pairs of iron boots, +and at last he reached a cottage with chickens' legs. + +"Cottage, cottage, stand still, as your mother placed you, with your +front to me, and your back to the wood." + +The cottage turned round, the King's Son went into it, and there an old +woman all bony was sitting and spinning gold. She took her spindle, shut +it up in a cupboard, and locked the door with a key. But +Ivan-the-King's-Son managed to snatch the key and to open the cupboard. +He took the spindle and broke it in two pieces; he threw one piece +behind him and one piece in front of him. At the same moment the Wise +Princess appeared before him. + +"Ah, Ivan-the-King's-Son, what a long time you have been coming! I had +nearly married some one else." Then she took him by the hand, and they +sat down on a magic carpet, and flew back to Ivan-the-King's-Son's +house. + +On the fourth day the carpet stopped at the royal palace. The King met +his son with great joy and gave a large feast. When it was over, he +appointed Ivan-the-King's-Son to be his heir. + + +THE END + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + Edinburgh & London + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Blue Rose Fairy Book, by Maurice Baring + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLUE ROSE FAIRY BOOK *** + +***** This file should be named 36008-8.txt or 36008-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/0/0/36008/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |