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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Blue Rose Fairy Book + +Author: Maurice Baring + +Release Date: May 1, 2011 [EBook #36008] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** 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) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img id="coverpage" border="0" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" title="Cover" /> +</div> + +<p class="caption">The Blue Rose Fairy Book<br /> +Maurice Baring</p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> + <a href="images/frontisf.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/frontist.jpg" alt="frontispiece" title="frontispiece" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">THE HOOFS OF HIS STEED LEFT BEHIND THEM A TRAIL OF TWINKLING ANEMONES</p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img border="0" src="images/i001t.jpg" alt="titlepage" title="titlepage" /> +</div> + +<h1 id="booktitle">The Blue Rose Fairy Book</h1> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p class="h4">BY</p> + +<p class="h3">MAURICE BARING</p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p class="h4">NEW YORK<br /> +DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY<br /> +1911</p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p class="h5">DEDICATED</p> +<p class="h6">TO</p> +<p class="h5"><i>MARY and AUBREY</i></p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[vii]</span></p> +<p class="h2">NOTE</p> + +<p class="noin">One of these stories, "The Glass +Mender," appeared first in <i>The English +Review</i>, and six of the shorter stories in +<i>The Morning Post</i>. I wish to thank the +editors and proprietors concerned for +their kindness in letting me republish +them. The rest of the stories are new.</p> + +<p class="author">M. B.</p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum">[ix]</span></p> +<p class="h2">CONTENTS</p> + + + +<div> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="85%"> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE GLASS MENDER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE BLUE ROSE</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE STORY OF VOX ANGELICA AND LIEBLICH GEDACHT</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE VAGABOND</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE MINSTREL</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE HUNCHBACK, THE POOL, AND THE MAGIC RING</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE SILVER MOUNTAIN</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE RING</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE CUNNING APPRENTICE</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">ORESTES AND THE DRAGON</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE WISE PRINCESS</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[xi]</span></p> +<p class="h2">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</p> + +<div> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="List of Illustrations" width="85%"> +<tr> + <td align="left" width="70%"> + And as he galloped through the wood, the hoofs of his steed left behind them a trail + of twinkling anemones + </td> + <td align="right" colspan="2"> + <a href="#frontis"> + <i>Frontispiece</i> + </a> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left"> + One evening he was playing his one-stringed instrument outside a dark wall + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>To face p.</i> + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#i002">41</a> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left"> + As he said this he climbed on to the manuals and disappeared into the heart of the organ + </td> + <td align="right"> + " + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#i003">95</a> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left"> + And there stood before the throng a wonderful shining figure with wings + </td> + <td align="right"> + " + </td><td align="right"> + <a href="#i004">133</a> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left"> + And turning round she saw an old woman, bent and worn, who was muttering a supplication + </td> + <td align="right"> + " + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#i005">139</a> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left"> + The sun was shining on the sea and a fresh breeze was blowing + </td> + <td align="right"> + " + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#i006">160</a> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left"> + And towards the evening he emerged from the forest and saw the hill before him shining in the sunset + </td> + <td align="right"> + " + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#i007">176</a> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left"> + Her mother, when she was walking in the garden of the palace, found a silver horseshoe lying on one of the paths + </td> + <td align="right"> + " + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#i008">181</a> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left"> + A garment on which the month of May, and all its flowers, was painted + </td> + <td align="right"> + " + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#i009">210</a> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left"> + He changed himself into a hawk + </td> + <td align="right"> + " + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#i010">223</a> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left"> + The dragon appeared, and seizing the little Princess with its tail, flew away + </td> + <td align="right"> + " + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#i011">235</a> + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="left"> + 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" + </td> + <td align="right"> + " + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#i012">252</a> + </td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE GLASS MENDER</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[3]</span><span class="sc">Once</span> 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:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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."<span class="pagenum">[4]</span></p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[5]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[6]</span></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[7]</span> +its joyous music and its thousand and one +sights.</p> + +<p>The vision disappeared and she cried out: +"Let me go into the world and let me taste +and see this wonderful new thing!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>At last the Queen sent for a Wise Woman<span class="pagenum">[8]</span> +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:</p> + +<p>"I understand quite well what has happened. +Your daughter has seen the Spring."</p> + +<p>"But that's impossible," said the Queen, +"for during the whole of the Spring months +she has never left her room."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>The King at once sent for the court +musicians and told them to play the Spring's +Song. They fiddled, and they blew upon<span class="pagenum">[9]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>The news was spread far and wide, and +people came from the four corners of the +world to play to the Princess.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then an uncouth minstrel came from +Greece; he had furry ears and a pointed<span class="pagenum">[10]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[11]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[12]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[13]</span></p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>There was no doubt about it. Rainbow +from that moment was cured, and the glass +mender went to the King and claimed his +reward.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum">[14]</span> +and so well-spoken, the King told the Queen +that he was very likely a Prince in disguise.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[15]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The years went by and they had a little<span class="pagenum">[16]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[17]</span> +Blue Eyes at once went to Rainbow, but she +turned over on her side and pretended to be +asleep.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The next morning Blue Eyes again said +nothing about the strange maiden, and +Rainbow was sadder than ever. If Blue Eyes<span class="pagenum">[18]</span> +would only explain, she said to herself, +everything would be all right. So as they +were riding through the wood, Rainbow +said to him:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Then Rainbow wept bitterly, and said:</p> + +<p>"Do you mean you must leave me for +ever, and that I shall never see you +again?"</p> + +<p>"There is one hope left," said Blue Eyes.<span class="pagenum">[19]</span> +"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."</p> + +<p>"And when I recognise you either in the +speech or the look of a human being," said +Rainbow, "what must I do then?"</p> + +<p>"Then," said Blue Eyes, "you must say +this:</p> + +<div class="inset" style="width:16em"> +<p class="noin">'Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me,<br /> +Over the hills and over the sea;<br /> +Brother of Summer, husband and friend,<br /> +Come and stay till the world shall end.'" +</p> +</div> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"If you make a mistake," said Blue Eyes, +"you will never see me again."</p> + +<p>Rainbow again began to weep bitterly. +She implored Blue Eyes to forgive her, but +she no longer begged him to stay, for she<span class="pagenum">[20]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[21]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[22]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>But one day the rain stopped; the sun +shone in the blue sky, and Joan cried +out:</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<div class="inset" style="width:20em"> +<p class="noin"> +"Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me," +</p> +</div> + +<p class="noin">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.</p> + +<p>By the time the spring was over, Blue Boy<span class="pagenum">[23]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[24]</span> +frightened, and they ran away into the wood, +and although she called and called they +would not come back.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[25]</span></p> + +<p>Rainbow's heart leapt as she heard them, +and she was just going to cry out:</p> + +<div class="inset" style="width:20em"> +<p>"Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="noin">when they caught sight of her and stopped +talking, and Rainbow knew that Blue Eyes +was not there.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i6"> + "I have a cottage I love well, + </p> + <p class="i8"> + In the sweet west countree: + </p> + <p class="i6"> + And there my love and I shall dwell, + </p> + <p class="i8"> + When I come back from sea. + </p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i6"> + We'll stow the sail and stow the oar, + </p> + <p class="i8"> + And oh, how glad she'll be + </p> + <p class="i6"> + To mend the nets upon the shore, + </p> + <p class="i8"> + When I come back from sea. + </p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i6"> + I have a cottage on the hill,<span class="pagenum">[26]</span> + </p> + <p class="i8"> + Just right for her and me, + </p> + <p class="i6"> + And she will say 'I love you still,' + </p> + <p class="i8"> + When I come back from sea." + </p> + </div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[27]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Do you remember how we used to meet +here in the days when you were courting +me?"</p> + +<p>And the old man said: "It was in the +spring, and the apple-trees were out."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>And the old man said: "I see no difference +in you, lassie. You've the same lovely blue<span class="pagenum">[28]</span> +eyes as you always had, and if your hair has +turned silver, it's none the less fair for that."</p> + +<p>And the old woman said: "And I see no +difference in you, Sweetheart; you're just as +strong and as brave as ever."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class="inset" style="width:17em"> +<p class="noin"> +"Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me,<br /> +Over the hills and over the sea.<br /> +Brother of Summer, husband and friend,<br /> +Come and stay till the world shall end." +</p> +</div> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[29]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When the wedding was over, Blue Eyes +gave Rainbow his scarf, and they mounted<span class="pagenum">[30]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE BLUE ROSE</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[33]</span><span class="sc">Once</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Many suitors presented themselves at the<span class="pagenum">[34]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[35]</span></p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The shopkeeper said he would do his best, +but he feared it would be an expensive article +and difficult to procure.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[36]</span> +straightway appeared, "Fetch me the Blue +Rose."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"This," said the King of the Five Rivers, +"is the Blue Rose. You are welcome to it."</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[37]</span> +thanks. And the warrior went away in discomfiture.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>But his wife, who was a sensible woman, +said: "Nonsense! If there is no such +thing as a blue rose we must make one.<span class="pagenum">[38]</span> +Go to the apothecary and ask him for a +strong dye which will change a white rose +into a blue one."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[39]</span> +back. I have no need of a dyed rose." And +she returned it to the merchant with many +elegantly-expressed thanks.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>The artist made obeisance and withdrew, +and worked for two months at the Lord +Chief Justice's cup. In two months' time<span class="pagenum">[40]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[41]</span> +is it that no other flower is worthy to be +put in it except the Blue Rose."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="i002" id="i002"></a> + <a href="images/i002f.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/i002t.jpg" alt="i002" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">ONE EVENING HE WAS PLAYING HIS ONE-STRINGED INSTRUMENT OUTSIDE A DARK WALL</p> + +<p>The Lord Chief Justice thanked the Princess +for accepting the bowl with many elegantly-turned +phrases, and he went away in discomfiture.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i6"> + "I watched beside the willow trees + </p> + <p class="i8"> + The river, as the evening fell; + </p> + <p class="i6"> + The twilight came and brought no breeze, + </p> + <p class="i8"> + No dew, no water for the well, + </p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i6"> + "When from the tangled banks of grass,<span class="pagenum">[42]</span> + </p> + <p class="i8"> + A bird across the water flew, + </p> + <p class="i6"> + And in the river's hard grey glass + </p> + <p class="i8"> + I saw a flash of azure blue." + </p> + </div> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"But," said the minstrel, "to-morrow I +shall come to the palace and ask for your +hand."</p> + +<p>"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."<span class="pagenum">[43]</span></p> + +<p>"That is simple," said the minstrel, "I +will find it!" And they said good-night to +each other.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>The Princess took the rose in her hands +and said: "Yes, this is without doubt the +Blue Rose."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I think the rose is blue," said the Princess. +"It is, in fact, the Blue Rose. Perhaps you +are all colour blind."</p> + +<p>The Emperor, with whom the decision +rested, decided that if the Princess thought<span class="pagenum">[44]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE STORY OF VOX ANGELICA AND LIEBLICH GEDACHT</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[47]</span><span class="sc">Once</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The organist was an old man called Doctor<span class="pagenum">[48]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."<span class="pagenum">[49]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[50]</span> +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!"</p> + +<p>After that Doctor Sebastian squeezed +Frantz's hand and said no more. The next +day he died.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[51]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" asked Johan.</p> + +<p>"My name is Quint," said the little old +man, "and I live in one of the big wooden +pipes of the organ."</p> + +<p>"Do you always live there?" asked Johan.<span class="pagenum">[52]</span></p> + +<p>"No, not always," said Quint. "We +don't live here as a rule, but some of them +oblige us to come here and sing——"</p> + +<p>"I don't understand," said Johan.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"But who obliges them?" asked Johan.</p> + +<p>Quint thought for a moment, and then he +said: "Those who have the gift."</p> + +<p>"But what is the gift?" asked Johan.</p> + +<p>"That I can't tell you," said Quint. "All +I know is that some have it and others +haven't."</p> + +<p>"Did Doctor Sebastian have the gift?" +asked Johan.</p> + +<p>"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."<span class="pagenum">[53]</span></p> + +<p>"Are the people of the other stops here +too?" asked Johan, who was deeply interested +in what Quint told him.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What will you do then?" asked +Johan.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"To Musicland?" asked Johan.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Quint, "and it's annoying, +because I shall miss the end of the wedding +festivities."<span class="pagenum">[54]</span></p> + +<p>"Whose wedding?" asked Johan.</p> + +<p>"Vox Angelica's, of course," said Quint. +"She was married yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Vox Angelica is that lovely soft stop in +the swell," said Johan. "I suppose she's +going to marry 'Lieblich Gedacht'?"</p> + +<p>"Of course she is," said Quint, "but it's +a long business. If you like I will tell you +all about it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, please do!" said Johan.</p> + +<p>"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 moun<span class="pagenum">[55]</span>tains +are covered with millions and millions +of flowers which are soft and white and +glisten like stars.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[56]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Vox Angelica heard him, and answered +his song, and they sang a duet together, and +Lieblich Gedacht's part said, 'I love you,'<span class="pagenum">[57]</span> +and Vox Angelica's part said, 'I love you +too.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[58]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[59]</span> +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.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[60]</span> +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?'</p> + +<p>"'It is I, Lieblich Gedacht,' he answered. +'I have come for advice.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"'I have plighted my troth to Vox +Angelica,' said Lieblich Gedacht. 'We were<span class="pagenum">[61]</span> +travelling together to the City of Pleasant +Sounds to be married, and we stopped on +the way in the Forest of Discord.'</p> + +<p>"'That was a silly thing to do,' said +Sackbut.</p> + +<p>"'We slept the night there, and when I +woke up in the morning Vox Angelica had +disappeared.'</p> + +<p>"'Did you hear anything in the night?' +asked Sackbut.</p> + +<p>"'No,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'but I +had a bad nightmare. I dreamed the +trees were taking her away and strangling +me.'</p> + +<p>"'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.'<span class="pagenum">[62]</span></p> + +<p>"'And where does Echo live?' asked +Lieblich Gedacht.</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[63]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[64]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'I have come,' said Lieblich Gedacht, +'to ask you to help me.' And he told his +story.</p> + +<p>"'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<span class="pagenum">[65]</span> +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.'</p> + +<p>"'But how shall I find Unda Maris?' +asked Lieblich Gedacht.</p> + +<p>"'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—</p> + +<div class="inset" style="width:14em"> +<p class="noin"> +"Ring, ring, go home,<br /> +To the fishes and the foam;<br /> +Say the word and open the sea,<br /> +Come and show the way to me." +</p> +</div> + +<p class="noin">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<span class="pagenum">[66]</span> +danger and want my help, open it.' And +she gave Lieblich Gedacht a little green egg.</p> + +<p>"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—</p> + +<div class="inset" style="width:14em"> +<p class="noin"> +'Ring, ring, go home,<br /> +To the fishes and the foam;<br /> +Say the word and open the sea,<br /> +Come and show the way to me.' +</p> +</div> + +<p class="noin">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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[67]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"'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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[68]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"Lieblich Gedacht walked up to them, +and taking off his green cap made obeisance +to them.</p> + +<p>"Hautboy and Viol d'Amore asked him +who he was.</p> + +<p>"'I am Lieblich Gedacht,' he said, 'the<span class="pagenum">[69]</span> +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.'</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'This is Bourdon's doing,' said Hautboy; +'he has had wind of our adventure and sent +his allies against us.'</p> + +<p>"In the brass ship there were two very +fearsome warriors—Tromba, who was a giant<span class="pagenum">[70]</span> +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—</p> + +<p>"'Surrender, you are my prisoners!'</p> + +<p>"'In whose name?' cried out Hautboy.</p> + +<p>"'In the name of Bourdon, our King,' +answered Tromba.</p> + +<p>"'We recognise no king save King +Diapason, our lawful sovereign,' said Hautboy +unabashed.</p> + +<p>"'Then if you won't surrender we shall +make you,' said Tromba; and he told his +soldiers to ram the little boat.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[71]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class="pagenum">[72]</span></p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[73]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[74]</span> +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<span class="pagenum">[75]</span> +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—</p> + +<p>"'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.</p> + +<p>"They at once fell into a deep sleep,<span class="pagenum">[76]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"'I suppose,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'we +ought to go on with our journey?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' said Hautboy, 'but where are we +going to?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, where <i>are</i> we going to?' repeated +Cornet.</p> + +<p>"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—</p> + +<p>"'Why should we go anywhere? What +place could be better than this island?'</p> + +<p>"'This is better than fighting,' said +Cornet.<span class="pagenum">[77]</span></p> + +<p>"'And then making verses and singing +them,' said Viol d'Amore.</p> + +<p>"'And then piping all day,' said Piccolo.</p> + +<p>"'Nobody asked your opinion,' said Hautboy.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"She said: 'I am the daughter of the +moon, and this island is called the Island<span class="pagenum">[78]</span> +of Moon Dew. I am very lonely, but you +shall keep me company now.'</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"'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.</p> + +<p>"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 for<span class="pagenum">[79]</span>gotten +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.</p> + +<p>"'Who are you,' it said, 'who have made +me visible and given me the power to +speak?'</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"'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?'</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"'Then I will tell you,' said the myrtle. +'You are in the island of Zauberflöte the<span class="pagenum">[80]</span> +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.'</p> + +<p>"'And who are you?' asked Lieblich +Gedacht.</p> + +<p>"'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,<span class="pagenum">[81]</span> +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.'</p> + +<p>"'What must I do?' he asked, 'to resist +the Moon Song?'</p> + +<p>"'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?'</p> + +<p>"'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!'</p> + +<p>"'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<span class="pagenum">[82]</span> +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.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?'<span class="pagenum">[83]</span></p> + +<p>"'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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[84]</span> +Carrabas, Prince Myrtle, and Cinderella set +out for Musicland, and Lieblich Gedacht +and his comrades started once more on their +quest of rescue.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"As soon as Hautboy, Viol d'Amore, +Cornet, Piccolo, and Lieblich Gedacht landed +on the coast of Muteland, the first thing they<span class="pagenum">[85]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"'Who are you?' asked Lieblich Gedacht.</p> + +<p>"'I am Vox Humana,' said the voice, 'I<span class="pagenum">[86]</span> +was imprisoned in this tree by a wizard a +hundred years ago, and nobody will set me +free.'</p> + +<p>"'But how can I set you free?' asked +Lieblich Gedacht.</p> + +<p>"'All you have got to do is to touch the +tree and say—</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i6"> + "Willow-tree, willow-tree, + </p> + <p class="i8"> + Hark to me, hark! + </p> + <p class="i6"> + Set the poor captive free, + </p> + <p class="i8"> + Open your bark."' + </p> + </div> +</div> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[87]</span>-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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[88]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class="pagenum">[89]</span></p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[90]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"'Is that you, Vox Angelica?' he +whispered.</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"'How can I rescue you?' asked Lieblich +Gedacht.</p> + +<p>"'I don't know,' said Vox Angelica. 'We +are all of us bound in fetters.'</p> + +<p>"'I will try and find a file,' said Lieblich<span class="pagenum">[91]</span> +Gedacht, 'to file the bars of the window and +set you free.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'Alas!' said Vox Humana, 'we are all +lost now.'</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"Piccolo needed no further telling, and he +soon managed to set himself free.</p> + +<p>"'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.</p> + +<p>"'Now,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'you must +put the cap on my head.' As soon as Piccolo +did this, Lieblich Gedacht's chains fell from<span class="pagenum">[92]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"'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.</p> + +<p>"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,<span class="pagenum">[93]</span> +to the palace of King Diapason, and they +told him the whole story.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class="pagenum">[94]</span></p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"And did Zauberflöte come?" asked +Johan.</p> + +<p>"No," said Quint, "she was not invited."</p> + +<p>"And what happened to Hautboy, Cornet, +and Viol d'Amore?" asked Johan.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[95]</span> +and Dolce, and Cornet and Muzette should +be married in a month's time, all on the +same day."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="i003" id="i003"></a> + <a href="images/i003f.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/i003t.jpg" alt="i003" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">HE CLIMBED ON TO THE MANUALS AND DISAPPEARED INTO THE HEART OF THE ORGAN</p> + +<p>"At any rate," said Johan, "you will not +miss that wedding. But where have Vox +Angelica and Lieblich Gedacht gone to for +their honeymoon?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE VAGABOND</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[99]</span><span class="sc">There</span> 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.</p> + +<p>The other fairies came, and they said that +Heartsease should be the kindest and the +cleverest princess ever seen: her eyes should<span class="pagenum">[100]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>So saying, the Fairy of the Yellow Mines +<span class="pagenum">[101]</span> +chuckled, and flew away in her yellow +chariot.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[102]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[103]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Now Elsa and Elfrida, Heartsease's sisters, +were very proud. They scowled at the vagabond, +and told him to go about his business<span class="pagenum">[104]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>As soon as she had done this Elsa and +Elfrida burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"Fancy giving a beggar a doll!" they said. +"We should like to know what he can do +with it!"</p> + +<p>"Thank you kindly, little Princess," said +the vagabond. "I shall never forget your +kindness."<span class="pagenum">[105]</span></p> + +<p>"A lot of good a beggar's kindness will do +her," said Elsa.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he will bring her a bridegroom," +said Elfrida.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he will wed her himself," said +Elsa, and they both laughed.</p> + +<p>"Nobody else will, for sure," said Elfrida.</p> + +<p>The vagabond then turned to the two +sisters and said—</p> + +<p>"A day will come when you will envy +your sister her bridegroom." And he hobbled +away.</p> + +<p>Elsa and Elfrida burst into a fit of laughter.</p> + +<p>"Fancy," said Elsa, "our envying Heartsease!"</p> + +<p>"Fancy," said Elfrida, "her ever having +a bridegroom!"</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[106]</span></p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Princess Elsa will be fifteen years old +come Michaelmas," said the nurse.</p> + +<p>"They'll be looking for a bridegroom for +her soon," said the nurserymaid. "She's +as tall as a grown-up lass already."</p> + +<p>"I pity her husband," said the nurse; +"she's a regular cross-patch she is, and as +proud as a peacock."</p> + +<p>"And as different from the little one as +cloth from silk," said the nurserymaid.</p> + +<p>"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."<span class="pagenum">[107]</span></p> + +<p>Heartsease wondered what this could mean, +and the more she pondered over it, the sadder +she became.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[108]</span> +always be dressed in gold, and wear a heavy +crown.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Because," said Heartsease, "nobody has +asked me to."</p> + +<p>"Will you dance with me?" asked Simple +Simon.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[109]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"They are laughing because I dance so +awkwardly," said Simple Simon. "Everybody +laughs at me, except Lizbeth."</p> + +<p>"Who is Lizbeth?" asked Heartsease.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I do not know," said Simple Simon.</p> + +<p>"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."<span class="pagenum">[110]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"What is a mirror?" asked Heartsease.</p> + +<p>"I will show you to-morrow morning," +said Simple Simon.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The next morning Heartsease was feeding +her tame birds in the garden when Simple +Simon appeared before her.<span class="pagenum">[111]</span></p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>Heartsease looked at her face, and then +two large tears ran down her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"No, no," said Heartsease, "I understand +everything. Nobody will ever marry me."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>Heartsease said good-bye to him and +thanked him for his kindness, for she understood +now that he had not meant to mock<span class="pagenum">[112]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[113]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[114]</span> +lean over the street, there was not a light +left.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum">[115]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[116]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[117]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The night Elfrida was married, Heartsease<span class="pagenum">[118]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The King and the Queen were miserable,<span class="pagenum">[119]</span> +and they settled to wait another year, in +case some kind prince might come who +would be willing to marry Heartsease.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[120]</span> +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.<span class="pagenum">[121]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I quite understand," said the Fairy.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Now this was quite true, and Elfrida and<span class="pagenum">[122]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"But," said the Queen, "I hope he won't +interfere with me."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Thus it was settled that Heartsease should +marry Crookedshanks, and the Fairy of the +Yellow Mines brought him to the palace<span class="pagenum">[123]</span> +the next day, which was Heartsease's birthday.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[124]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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—</p> + +<p>"Come, for I have heard and I am +ready!"</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[125]</span>—</p> + +<p>"At last you have come, my lover, my +lord and my bridegroom!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum">[126]</span> +until at last they gave it up and the banquet +was begun without her.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The vagabond sang a song outside the +castle, so that Heartsease's mother could +hear him, and he told her that Heartsease<span class="pagenum">[127]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[128]</span> +hut where the vagabond and Heartsease were +lying fast asleep on a heap of leaves.</p> + +<p>"Here they are, poor, poor people!" said +Elsa; "they have got nothing to eat."</p> + +<p>"They must be very cold," said Elfrida, +and she took off her cloak and laid it over +them.</p> + +<p>"Do you remember a vagabond telling us +we should one day envy Heartsease her +husband?" said Elsa.</p> + +<p>"Poor Heartsease, she'll never have a +husband; but I'm sure we envy her now, +wherever she is," said Elfrida.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The next morning when the vagabond and +Heartsease rose, they found the gifts that<span class="pagenum">[129]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"Now," said the vagabond, "we will go +to your father's castle."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>At last they reached the city of the King, +and there they read the King's proclama<span class="pagenum">[130]</span>tion, +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[131]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[132]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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—</p> + +<p>"It is the vagabond we heard when we<span class="pagenum">[133]</span> +were children, and it <i>is</i> Heartsease after +all!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="i004" id="i004"></a> + <a href="images/i004f.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/i004t.jpg" alt="i004" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">THERE STOOD BEFORE THE THRONG A WONDERFUL SHINING FIGURE WITH WINGS</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>But the wicked Queen said: "That is +impossible! How can you give half your +kingdom to a vagabond in rags and tatters?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum">[134]</span> +she was so angry that she burst with rage, +and all her spells were undone.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum">[135]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"This," said the Vagabond, "is my +kingdom. Here is our home where we shall +live happily together."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="i005" id="i005"></a> + <a href="images/i005f.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/i005t.jpg" alt="i005" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">TURNING ROUND SHE SAW AN OLD WOMAN</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE MINSTREL</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[139]</span><span class="sc">Once</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What can I do for you?" asked the +blacksmith's wife.<span class="pagenum">[140]</span></p> + +<p>"Give me the eggs you have in that +basket," said the old woman.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Thank you kindly," said the old woman; +"in return for your kindness I will grant +you a wish."</p> + +<p>The blacksmith's wife at once answered: +"I wish to have a daughter who shall be +more beautiful than the Queen's daughter."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[141]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[142]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[143]</span> +at once asked him whether it was he who +had been singing. He said—</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was I."</p> + +<p>"Shall I ever hear you again?" asked +Snowflower.</p> + +<p>"Yes, if you will give me a reward," said +the minstrel.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"All I want," said the minstrel, "is the +little copper coin in the shape of a heart that +hangs over your hearth."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I promise to sing to you again, but not +now," said the minstrel, and he walked away +into the darkness.</p> + +<p>When Snowflower's father and mother +came home, they noticed at once that the +little copper coin had gone, and Snowflower<span class="pagenum">[144]</span> +told them that she had given it to a wandering +minstrel.</p> + +<p>Her mother was vexed and cried; but her +father said—</p> + +<p>"Never mind, never mind, no harm ever +came yet of giving alms to the poor."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>He came to the village and saw Snowflower,<span class="pagenum">[145]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The blacksmith was of course delighted +at his good fortune; but Snowflower said +that she did not wish to leave her native<span class="pagenum">[146]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It was arranged that the wedding should +be held a few days after her arrival.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[147]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[148]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[149]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[150]</span> +and set Snowflower in front of him, and they +galloped away through the gates, through +the city, and over the plains beyond.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE HUNCHBACK, THE POOL AND THE MAGIC RING</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[153]</span><span class="sc">There</span> 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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[154]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>And soon after he had said this he died.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[155]</span> +their brother had been eaten by a bear in the +night, entirely owing to his own fault.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The hunchback looked, and said that he +saw a gold ring.</p> + +<p>"You must pull out the gold ring and put +it on your finger," said the voice.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[156]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"You have done me a great service," said +the fairy, "and I will not be ungrateful. +Look into the pool."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class="pagenum">[157]</span></p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Prince consented readily enough to +marry so beautiful a Princess; but when +they were left alone he told her all his story.<span class="pagenum">[158]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[159]</span></p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i6"> + He brought me silver, he brought me gold, + </p> + <p class="i8"> + I bade him go his way; + </p> + <p class="i6"> + My heart was bought and my heart was sold + </p> + <p class="i8"> + Upon a summer's day. + </p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i6"> + He brought me horses and banners bold, + </p> + <p class="i8"> + I bade him go his way; + </p> + <p class="i6"> + My heart was bought and my heart was sold + </p> + <p class="i8"> + Upon a summer's day. + </p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i6"> + For a sigh, a song, and a tale half-told, + </p> + <p class="i8"> + And for a wisp of hay, + </p> + <p class="i6"> + My heart was bought and my heart was sold + </p> + <p class="i8"> + Upon a summer's day." + </p> + </div> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[160]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[161]</span> +the finches answered him from the oak-trees, +and far away the cuckoo called over and over +again.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="i006" id="i006"></a> + <a href="images/i006f.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/i006t.jpg" alt="i006" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">THE SUN WAS SHINING ON THE SEA AND A FRESH BREEZE WAS BLOWING</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>Then a soft moan was heard in the forest, +and the birds flew away from their nests. +The Prince stood before the fisherman's<span class="pagenum">[162]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then he heard a voice coming from the +pool, which said: "Look into the pool."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[163]</span> +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.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE SILVER MOUNTAIN</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[167]</span><span class="sc">There</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[168]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[169]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"We shall see about that," said the King's +son; and he proposed that they should fight<span class="pagenum">[170]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"It is for this reason we are sad," said the +man, "for we are without a king."</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[171]</span></p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[172]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[173]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>The people pointed to this mountain and +said: "Without doubt, that is the Silver +Mountain."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[174]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The third son started also on the quest.<span class="pagenum">[175]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[176]</span>—</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>And he turned back, and made for his home +as quickly as possible.</p> + +<p>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—</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[177]</span> +was here the whole time—at home—and +we have all lived on the top of it without +knowing it!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="i007" id="i007"></a> + <a href="images/i007f.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/i007t.jpg" alt="i007" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">TOWARDS THE EVENING HE EMERGED FROM THE FOREST</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="i008" id="i008"></a> + <a href="images/i008f.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/i008t.jpg" alt="i008" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">HER MOTHER FOUND A SILVER HORSE-SHOE</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE RING</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[181]</span><span class="sc">Once</span> 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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[182]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[183]</span> +face like the petal of a flower. She danced +like the surf of the sea, and she sang like +a bird.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When Emerald's seventeenth birthday came, +the King and the Queen prepared a grand +banquet to celebrate it, and they invited<span class="pagenum">[184]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum">[185]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[186]</span> +hear of them; so the King gave his consent, +and the Queen could do nothing +more, and Sweetbriar and Windflower were +married.</p> + +<p>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—</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I will do it," said Emerald.</p> + +<p>So one day Emerald said to Sweetbriar: +"You have a very beautiful wife. I hope +she is as devoted as she is beautiful."</p> + +<p>"Of course she is!" said Sweetbriar.</p> + +<p>"Do you think she would do anything you +wished?" asked Emerald.</p> + +<p>"Of course," answered Sweetbriar.</p> + +<p>Then Emerald laughed, and said: "I am +sure she would not even give you the ring she +wears on her finger."<span class="pagenum">[187]</span></p> + +<p>Sweetbriar laughed, but Emerald only said: +"Try."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[188]</span> +ring. Give it to me, for I can no longer +bear Emerald's taunts."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[189]</span></p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"You are a good child," said the old +woman; "keep your bread and ask for a gift +and I will give it you."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Windflower, who was in rags and quite +unrecognisable, crept into the kitchen and<span class="pagenum">[190]</span> +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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"The ring upon your finger," said Windflower.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[191]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER</h2> + +<p class="h3">(A GREEK STORY)</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[195]</span><span class="sc">Once</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[196]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[197]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[198]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[199]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 sea<span class="pagenum">[200]</span>boat, +refused to stir. And this lasted all +day and all night.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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."<span class="pagenum">[201]</span></p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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 <i>the</i> Golden Ring."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[202]</span> +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?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[203]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"I wish to see the King," said the merchant, +"and to ask him if I may enter into his +palace."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The merchant said: "Your Majesty, I +want to speak to the Prince."</p> + +<p>The King said that nothing was easier, +and he led the merchant through a long<span class="pagenum">[204]</span> +corridor into another room, which belonged +to the Prince.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then the Prince said: "I quite understand. +Is your daughter Daphne very beautiful?"</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[205]</span> +night; but my third daughter, Daphne, is +like the first day of spring. She is more +beautiful than any woman in the world."</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>And the merchant said: "My daughter +Daphne is a thousand times more beautiful +than any of these pictures."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[206]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Now no sooner had he got home than his +daughters asked him: "Father, have you<span class="pagenum">[207]</span> +brought us back the presents which you +promised us?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But Daphne paid no heed to this. She +took her gifts to her room, and locked herself<span class="pagenum">[208]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[209]</span> +never seen him before, except in her dreams, +and they talked happily together for more +than an hour.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The next day all this happened again. +The pigeon flew in at Daphne's window, +changed into the Prince, and talked to her<span class="pagenum">[210]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Daphne cracked the hazel-nut, and inside +it she found a garment on which the month<span class="pagenum">[211]</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="i009" id="i009"></a> + <a href="images/i009f.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/i009t.jpg" alt="i009" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">A GARMENT IN WHICH THE MONTH OF MAY IN ALL ITS FLOWERS WAS PAINTED</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[212]</span> +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,<span class="pagenum">[213]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>Her father gave her the dress and the ship, +and she embarked on it and started for India,<span class="pagenum">[214]</span> +disguised as a pedlar, in order to find the +Prince.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>Directly Daphne heard this she took a +stone and killed the pigeons, and dipped<span class="pagenum">[215]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"I am looking," said Daphne, "for the +King's palace, where Prince Fortunate lives, +but I do not know where it is."</p> + +<p>The minstrel said: "Come with me, for I +know the way. But what is your trade?"</p> + +<p>"I am a physician," said Daphne, "and +I have good medicine to sell."</p> + +<p>So presently she reached the King's palace, +and called outside the windows: "Good +medicine to sell. Good medicine to sell."</p> + +<p>When the King heard that there was a +physician there, he sent for him and said: +"Can you cure my son?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[216]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[217]</span> +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—</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[218]</span> +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.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE CUNNING APPRENTICE</h2> + +<p class="h3">(A RUSSIAN STORY)</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[221]</span><span class="sc">Once</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>"How can I not be sad?" answered the +old man. "Look, I have taken my son<span class="pagenum">[222]</span> +everywhere, and nobody will teach him for +nothing, and I have no money."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[223]</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="i010" id="i010"></a> + <a href="images/i010f.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/i010t.jpg" alt="i010" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">HE CHANGED HIMSELF INTO A HAWK</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[224]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>He said good-bye to his parents, and went +out of the house, changed into a bird and +flew away to his master.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>The old man looked and looked, and +when one pigeon flew higher than the rest,<span class="pagenum">[225]</span> +he pointed to it and said: "I think that is +my son."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You have recognised him, old man. Yes,<span class="pagenum">[226]</span> +and it is not you who are cunning and wise, +but it is your son."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"O! huntsmen," answered the old man, +"that is my dog; I make my living by +him."<span class="pagenum">[227]</span></p> + +<p>"Sell him to us."</p> + +<p>"Buy it."</p> + +<p>"Is it dear?"</p> + +<p>"A hundred roubles."</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>"I am a traveller," said the old man, +"and the chain is necessary to me to bind +up my cloth leggings."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>The old man went on further with his son. +They came to a lake where huntsmen were +shooting geese, swans, and wild ducks. A<span class="pagenum">[228]</span> +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?"</p> + +<p>"O! huntsmen," he answered, "the hawk +is mine, and I earn my living by him."</p> + +<p>"Will you sell your hawk?"</p> + +<p>"Why should I not sell him? Buy him."</p> + +<p>"And is it dear?"</p> + +<p>"Two hundred roubles."</p> + +<p>The huntsmen paid the money, took the +hawk, and the old man took off its jesses. +"Why are you taking off the jesses?"</p> + +<p>"I am a traveller," answered the old man, +"and if something comes off my leggings,<span class="pagenum">[229]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[230]</span></p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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."<span class="pagenum">[231]</span></p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[232]</span> +fell in love with the beautiful maiden, +the daughter of the merchant, and married +her. And they lived happily and merrily +together.</p> + +<p>That is the end of the story.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="i011" id="i011"></a> + <a href="images/i011f.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/i011t.jpg" alt="i011" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">THE DRAGON APPEARED</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> + +<h2>ORESTES AND THE DRAGON</h2> + +<p class="h3">(A GREEK STORY)</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[235]</span><span class="sc">There</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Now Orestes, since it had been through +his fault that his sister had been lost, wished<span class="pagenum">[236]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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—</p> + +<p>"You have saved my life! What can I +do for you in return?"</p> + +<p>"I wish for nothing," said Orestes, "save +to be able to climb to the top of this mountain."</p> + +<p>"Catch hold of my tail," said the snake, +"and I will take you to the top of the +mountain."<span class="pagenum">[237]</span></p> + +<p>And the snake wriggled up the mountain, +pulling the Prince after him, and as soon as +they reached the top it disappeared.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>And she asked her brother how he had +been able to climb it. He told her about +the snake, and then he said—</p> + +<p>"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."<span class="pagenum">[238]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[239]</span> +the secret room and killed the doves; and +immediately the dragon gave a great groan +and died.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>But when his brothers saw that the youngest +princess was the most beautiful of the three, +they were angry, and they jerked the rope<span class="pagenum">[240]</span> +out of Orestes' hands and left him on the +top of the mountain.</p> + +<p>Orestes was most sorrowful, and he went +into the castle of the dragon and looked into +all the rooms.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I do not wish for anything," said Orestes, +"save to be taken to the foot of this mountain!"</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum">[241]</span> +golden hairs, and said: "When you have +need of us, burn one of these hairs and we will +come."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>The goldsmith did this and shut the beggar<span class="pagenum">[242]</span> +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?"</p> + +<p>"I wish," said the beggar, "that you +should bring me the silken greyhound and +the silken hare."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[243]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[244]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>And the Prince told him everything that +had happened, and as soon as the King heard<span class="pagenum">[245]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>And they were married, and they lived +happily for ever afterwards.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE WISE PRINCESS</h2> + +<p class="h3">(A RUSSIAN STORY)</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum">[249]</span><span class="sc">Once</span> 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."</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum">[250]</span></p> + +<p>Ivan-the-King's-Son said: "How can I +marry a frog? She is not my size."</p> + +<p>"Marry her," said the King. "It means +that such is your fate."</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p>"Each of your wives must bake me a soft +white loaf of bread for breakfast to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Ivan-the-King's-Son went to his room with +a heavy heart and hung his head.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Do not worry, Ivan-the-King's-Son, go +to bed and sleep. In the morning you will +be wiser than in the evening."</p> + +<p>She sent him to bed, and no sooner had +she done so than she threw off her frog's skin<span class="pagenum">[251]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p>"Your wives shall each of them weave me +a carpet by to-night."</p> + +<p>Ivan-the-King's-Son came home with a +heavy heart and hung his head.</p> + +<p>"Croak, croak," said the frog, "why are +you so sad? Has your father spoken a +cruel or an unkind word to you?"</p> + +<p>"How can I not be sad?" answered<span class="pagenum">[252]</span> +Ivan-the-King's-Son. "The King, my father, +has ordered a silken carpet to be woven for +him by to-night."</p> + +<p>"Do not worry, Ivan-the-King's-Son, lie +down and sleep. In the morning you will +be wiser."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Ivan-the-King's-Son returned home with +a heavy heart and hung his head.</p> + +<p>"Croak, croak, Ivan-the-King's-Son," said<span class="pagenum">[253]</span> +the frog, "why are you so sad? Have +you heard from your father anything cruel +or unpleasant?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a name="i012" id="i012"></a> + <a href="images/i012f.jpg"> + <img border="0" src="images/i012t.jpg" alt="i012" /> + </a> +</div> + +<p class="caption">SHE WENT OUT ON TO THE STEP AND CALLED OUT IN A LOUD VOICE</p> + +<p>"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 +<i>you</i> to the people?"</p> + +<p>"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.'"</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[254]</span> +not be afraid, gentlemen, this is my little +frog who has come here in a basket."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[255]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>So saying, she turned herself into a white +swan, and flew away out of the window.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Good morrow, young man," said the old +man; "what are you looking for and where +are you going to?"<span class="pagenum">[256]</span></p> + +<p>Ivan-the-King's-Son told him all his misfortunes.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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—</p> + +<p>"Cottage, cottage, stand as you used to +stand—still, as your mother placed you, back +to the wood and front to me."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[257]</span> +in an angry voice: "Fie, fie, fie! Why +have you come here, Ivan-the-King's-Son?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Cottage, cottage, stand still, as your +mother placed you, with your back to the +wood and your front to me."</p> + +<p>The cottage turned round. Ivan-the-<span class="pagenum">[258]</span>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?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Ivan-the-King's-Son set out on his journey. +He walked and walked, but whether the way<span class="pagenum">[259]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>"Cottage, cottage, stand still, as your +mother placed you, with your front to me, +and your back to the wood."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class="pagenum">[260]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="h4">THE END</p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p class="h6">Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span><br /> +Edinburgh & London</p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +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-h.htm or 36008-h.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. 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