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diff --git a/37348-8.txt b/37348-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70e2395 --- /dev/null +++ b/37348-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7224 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Old-Fashioned Fairy Book, by Constance Cary Harrison + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Old-Fashioned Fairy Book + +Author: Constance Cary Harrison + +Illustrator: Rosina Emmet + +Release Date: September 8, 2011 [EBook #37348] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD-FASHIONED FAIRY BOOK *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + THE OLD-FASHIONED FAIRY BOOK + + BY + + MRS. BURTON HARRISON + + + ILLUSTRATED BY + + MISS ROSINA EMMET + + + LONDON + + SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, AND RIVINGTON + CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET + + + [_All rights reserved_] + + + Dedicated + + TO + + FAIRFAX, FRANK AND ARCHY + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + INTRODUCTION + + THE PRINCESS EGLANTINE + + DAME MARTHA'S STEP-DAUGHTER; OR, THE GRANDMOTHER OF THE GNOMES + + THE ADVENTURES OF HA'PENNY; OR, THE DWARF, THE + WITCH, AND THE MAGIC SLIPPERS + + SYBILLA, MYRTILLO, AND FURIOSO + + ANNETTE; OR, THE MAGIC COFFEE-MILL + + JULIET; OR, THE LITTLE WHITE MOUSE + + THE FAIRIES AND THE FIDDLER + + ETHELINDA; OR, THE ICE KING'S BRIDE + + DEEP-SEA VIOLETS + + THE WILD WOODSMAN + + THE FROZEN HEARTH-FAIRY + + ROSY'S STAY-AT-HOME PARTIES + + BLONDINA; OR, THE TURKEY-QUEEN + + TIMID AGNES + + THE OGRESS AND THE COOK + + MISS PEGGY AND THE FROG + + THE LEPERHAUN: A LEGEND OF THE EMERALD ISLE + + + ROMANCES OF THE MIDDLE AGES. + + + THE TRIALS OF SIR ISUMBRAS + + BISCLAVERET + + ROSWAL AND LILIAN + + ELIDUC AND GUILLIADUN + + THE FALCON-KING + + SIR EGLAMOUR AND CRYSTABELL + + + + +FAIRY DAYS. + + + Beside the old hall-fire--upon my nurse's knee, + Of happy fairy-days--what tales were told to me! + I thought the world was once--all peopled with princésses, + And my heart would beat to hear--their loves and their distresses; + And many a quiet night--in slumber sweet and deep, + The pretty fairy people--would visit me in sleep. + + I saw them in my dreams--come flying east and west, + With wondrous fairy gifts--the new-born babe they bless'd; + One has brought a jewel--and one a crown of gold, + And one has brought a curse--but she is wrinkled and old. + The gentle queen turns pale--to hear those words of sin, + But the king he only laughs--and bids the dance begin. + + The babe has grown to be--the fairest of the land, + And rides the forest green--a hawk upon her hand, + An ambling palfrey white--a golden robe and crown; + I've seen her in my dreams--riding up and down: + And heard the ogre laugh--as she fell into his snare, + At the little tender creature--who wept and tore her hair! + + But ever when it seemed--her need was at the sorest, + A prince--in shining mail--comes prancing through the forest, + A waving ostrich-plume--a buckler burnished bright; + I've seen him in my dreams--good sooth! a gallant knight. + His lips are coral red--beneath a dark moustache; + See how he waves his hand--and how his blue eyes flash! + + "Come forth, thou Paynim knight!"--he shouts in accents clear. + The giant and the maid--both tremble his voice to hear. + Saint Mary guard him well!--He draws his falchion keen, + The giant and the knight--are fighting on the green; + I see them in my dreams--his blade gives stroke on stroke, + The giant pants and reels--and tumbles like an oak! + + With what a blushing grace--he falls upon his knee + And takes the lady's hand--and whispers, "You are free!" + Ah! happy childish tales--of knight and faërie! + I waken from my dreams--but there's ne'er a knight for me; + I waken from my dreams--and wish that I could be + A child by the old hall-fire--upon my nurse's knee! + + W. M. THACKERAY. + +[Illustration: The Faithful Comrades.] + +[Illustration: Old-Fashioned Fairies.] + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + _To my Young Readers._ + + _Children Dear_: + + +Not long ago two little boys, who shall be nameless here, came to their +mother's side at that pleasant hour of the twenty-four called by the +English "blind-man's holiday," and by the French, "between dog and +wolf." The lamps had not been lighted, and the room was full of shadows; +but a strip of western sky, seen through the bay window, hung like a +pink veil behind which a few pale stars were beginning to show above +the dark line of hills. All that bright summer's day long, four little +busy feet had been in motion. Directly after breakfast they had raced +down the meadow-path, pursued by Colin Clout, their faithful Scotch +collie, between grass and daisies so tall that little could be seen of +the dog and his younger master, beyond a brown back and white-tipped +tail curveting around a scarlet fez that bobbed up and down like a buoy +upon the water. Soon the three companions had reappeared for a moment +under a low arch of fringy boughs at the entrance to the grove, and then +had descended a bank to the edge of a babbling brook, where, on the +grassy margin, the children played every day for hours, inventing a +hundred devices of boats and dams and waterfalls, whilst Colin lay at +ease among the ferns, and from time to time emitted a bark of pure good +fellowship. For them this shallow streamlet has a charm hardly to be +resisted, even for a summons to drive "over the hills and far away" +through the lovely country-side, or to assist in the delights of the +season when their pretty meadow grasses are laid low, tossed into +fragrant piles, and carted away by merry haying-folk--though sometimes +these water-elves pause to forage the neighboring woods for "hocky" +sticks and sling-shot crotches, to "shin up" the tall forest trees, or +pluck wild strawberries from the sunny slopes beyond their favorite +haunt. + +On the especial evening of which I write, the faithful comrades had +returned, tired, and scratched by the briers of this work-a-day world, +from a tramp of some miles in search of live bait for a fishing +excursion projected with their father at Lily Pond upon the morrow. The +doomed little fishes had been put into a bath-tub full of water, where +they were expected to suppose themselves still in their native pool. The +boys had been washed and fed--an astonishing supper, even for those +cormorants!--and now had elected to seek rest and refreshment at the +maternal knee. Colin, observing that everybody else was satisfactorily +adjusted in affectionate attitudes, had retired under the fringe of a +table-cover close at hand, and lay where only his loving eyes and open +mouth could be seen, breathing in short quick pants, or, as the boys +called it, "ha-ha-ha-ing at the company." + +"And now, mamma, until your tea is ready, we know what you must do," +said the children, in a breath. "Tell us a story--a 'real, truly' fairy +tale, about a giant and a dwarf, lots and lots of fairies, a prince and +a beautiful princess with hair to her very feet, a champion with a magic +sword, a dragon-chariot, a witch dressed in snake-skin--and, if you can, +an ogre. Don't punish anybody but the witch and the ogre; and _please_ +don't have any moral, only let everybody 'live in peace and die in a pot +of grease,' at the end of it." + +"To be sure, we know most of mamma's stories by heart," said the sage +elder of nine. "If she could only make up some new ones that aren't in +any of our books! Or else, mamma, tell us something you heard a little +bit of, long, long ago, from your nurse, and then make up the rest. But +whatever one you tell, we'll be sure to like it anyhow." + +The stories told, the mother fell to musing, and the result is the +little book here presented to the judgment of children other than her +own--a few new fairy tales, on the old, old pattern! + +In every country of the habitable globe are found the same myths, +variously dressed and styled. Let the ethnologist frame what theory he +will upon this subject, my own private belief is that once upon a time a +good fairy who loved mankind put on the wings of a stormy petrel and +flew over many lands, carrying in her hand a sieve full of tiny seeds, +and shaking it upon those spots where there appeared to be most +children. The seeds, falling to earth after this fashion, sprang up and +bore many-colored fairy tales, to rejoice all hearts for evermore. Since +then, the fables you and I love have been told from father to son among +nations living remote from each other and isolated. The Hindoo toiling +under the tropic sun, and the Lapp in his smoky hut banked in snow; the +English cottar resting in his ivy-covered porch, and the Russian peasant +stretched at length upon the stove which forms his bed; the Persian +stroking his gray beard beneath the archways of Ispahan, and the +Norwegian carving bits of wood under his rafters of illuminated +pine--all know and repeat versions of our favorite tales. In France, in +Spain, in Germany--mother of myths--in Italy, where they drop red from +the wine-press of Boccaccio--are these stories to be heard. The North +American Indian weaves them with his beads and wampum; our southern +negro croons them over the corn-cake baking in the spider upon his cabin +hearth; the poetical Chinese envelops them in the language of flowers; +and the distant dweller by the Amazon embalms them in his legendary +lore. So much for the fairy with the sieve! + +But great as is the enjoyment had in perusing the fairy tales of +different nations, to the child of Anglo-Saxon descent can come no such +pleasure so deep as that to be derived from the old romances of our +mother country. To me this delight was first revealed by a little fat +book that used to be found in our nurseries--the one containing +Cinderella, immortal maid--unprincipled Puss in Boots--and Jack, the +splendid champion! + +Of late years, fairy tales seem to have suffered from their increase of +dignity at the hands of grave scholars, who have so dressed them in fine +language, and hedged them with innumerable notes and references, that +the child shuns the fruit for fear of thorns about it. For my own part, +I prefer the older specimens of ancient fairy literature known as +chap-books. These were odd little yellow pamphlets, sprinkled with +abundant capital letters throughout the text, and "Illustrated with many +diverting cutts!" They were carried around the country-side in England +by peddlers, who sold them (with such other catch-penny wares as +ribbons, lace, and trinkets) indifferently at castle gate or cottage +lattice; and if you wish to see the sort of fairies your +great-grandmothers believed in, look at the three pictures that +accompany this preface, copied from a famous chap-book. + +There, quaintly depicted, first, appeared Jack in a funny full-bottomed +coat, diligently climbing a bean-stalk, where the ogre's castle was +perched atop like a bird's nest; lucky Ali-Baba, too; Bluebeard--mighty +and pitiless--with Fatima and sister Anne, their back hair down, +pleading to him on dislocated knees, their brothers, with drawn swords, +galloping to the rescue; and the husband in The Three Wishes, standing +agape before his fireside, while his wife danced a jig of rage in her +efforts to rid her nose of a pudding little smaller than a feather-bed! +There, also, was displayed that pushing suitor, the Yellow Dwarf, who +insisted on attaching to his lady-love's finger a ring made of a single +red hair, so fastened that she could not get it off. There was the +Desert Fairy, guarded by two lions which the wandering queen endeavored +to appease with "a cake made of millet, sugar-candy, and crocodile's +eggs." (How we children yearned to taste that cake!) And there were the +fascinating White Cat, seated side by side with her enamored prince in a +fine calash of blue embossed with gold, the Sleeping Beauty, the Babes +in the Wood--hapless cherubs--the Girl who dropped pearls and diamonds +when she spoke, dear Graciosa and ready Percinet, gallant +Riquet-with-the-Tuft, and Goody Two Shoes--the latter a little of a +prig, I fear--clever Hop o' my Thumb, Beauty and the Beast, Little Red +Riding-hood--the long procession of charmers to whom even now my heart +bows in salutation as I write their familiar names! + +Chap-books of ancient date have been recently reproduced in England; +from one of them, I have taken the substance of a story I never chanced +to see elsewhere, and under the title of "Juliet; or, the Little White +Mouse" have given it to you in language of my own. + +After the chap-books came other cheap fairy publications, notably those +of Mr. Newberry, a good old gentleman who, in the last century, sent out +numberless sixpenny booklets, many of them reaching America to give +pleasure to the infants of the colonies. Washington Irving goes so far +as to say that if George Washington had not read Newberry's +publications in his youth, especially "Whittington and his Cat," he +would not have been the first and greatest President of the United +States! The grave Benjamin Franklin, while a printer in Philadelphia, +emulated Newberry in publishing nursery tales, and no doubt devoured +them himself with relish. + +Many a pen of the great in history or literature has found a theme in +these favorites of ours. Of Cinderella, the famous Canning, premier of +England, wrote in glowing rhyme: + + "Six bobtailed mice transport her to the ball. + And liveried lizards wait upon her call." + +And Thackeray has thrown around fairy lore the rays of his noble genius, +not only in the lines already here quoted, but in a Christmas story so +enchanting that, if you are unfortunate enough not already to have made +acquaintance with Valoroso and Gruffanuff, Bulbo and Angelica, I urge +you to try at once the magician's art and coax "The Rose and the Ring" +out of the pocket of your nearest relative. By the giant Thackeray, when +entangled in the meshes of Fairydom, one is reminded of Gulliver under +bonds to the Lilliputians, yet wearing his bonds so easily! + +And now, I leave my new-old Fairy Book to you, my little critics. I am +sure you will accord a generous welcome to the pictures. What would our +benighted great-grandmothers have said to Miss Emmet's charming +illustrations? + + C. C. H. + + + + +THE PRINCESS EGLANTINE. + + +A certain queen had twin children, a boy and a girl, both as beautiful +as the dawn of a summer morning. As the mother was one day hanging over +the double cradle, shaped like two silver lilies growing on one stem, an +old aunt of hers, who knew a good deal about magic, arrived from the +country to see the babies and to spend the day. + +The old lady took the Princess Eglantine in her arms, and kissed her, +and joggled her, and clucked at her, after the fashion of all good +aunties. + +"That's a girl to be proud of, my dear!" she said, handing the baby +back to her mamma. "And she looks as good as she is pretty, too." + +"They are both _wonderful_ children, nurse says," replied the young +queen, modestly. "And the doctor thinks them the _finest pair_ he has +ever seen. Only the boy is _a little_ high-tempered. He kicks and snaps +at his attendants the whole time he is awake; so take care, aunty dear, +and don't disturb him for the world. We always let him sleep as long as +he will." + +"Hoity-toity!" cried aunty, "as if I came out of the woods to be +frightened by an owl. _I_ know how to manage _all_ children!" and the +boy opening his eyes at that moment, she lifted him from his crib, and +laid him on her lap. + +Sad to say, he behaved like an infant tiger. Never was there seen such a +tempestuous baby. He wriggled, and howled, and fought, and plunged, +until the poor mother and nurses turned red with mortification. But the +old aunty held on to him bravely, and examined him from top to toe. +Nothing could she find, till she came to the sole of the right foot, and +there was a tiny red mark like a burning torch. As soon as aunty saw +this she sighed, and whispered a word in the baby's ear, when he became +as quiet as any lamb. + +Aunty sent away the nurses, and told the poor queen there was no doubt +about it; her boy was bewitched, and when he grew up he would try to +devour his sister. The only thing was to keep them apart, and this the +queen told her husband; and he sent for a wise man, who confirmed what +aunty had said. The wise man added that all would go well so long as the +princess was kept apart from her brother, and as the brother was the +heir of the kingdom, there was nothing left but to banish the +unfortunate princess. The king built for his daughter, in the remotest +corner of his kingdom, an ivory tower. Around the tower was a crystal +moat full of gold and silver fish. Around the moat were lovely +flower-beds, and around the flower-beds was a thick and thorny hedge. In +this tower there was a room lined with tufted blue satin, like the +inside of a bonbon box, and all the furniture was made of fine carved +ivory. Here the princess was shut up for life, under the care of an old +dame, Madame Véloutine by name, who once had kept a boarding-school for +duchesses, and was very respectable indeed. Poor Eglantine was gradually +forgotten at court, and her cannibal brother grew up without knowing he +had ever had a sister. + +[Illustration: THE PRINCESS EGLANTINE.] + +Like all other captive princesses, past, present, and to come, Eglantine +was beautiful and accomplished. She could speak in every language, work +in silk and crewels, paint china plaques, make mince-pies, sing like a +nightingale, and play anything on the piano at sight with her eyes shut! +Her skin was milk-white, with a rosy flush on the cheeks, while her +glorious golden hair never came out of crimp, but rippled from the roots +to her very feet. + +One day a prince, cantering by upon his palfrey, looked up at the tower +window, and there saw this lovely creature, surrounded by a flock of +pretty white doves. Prince Charming gazed and gazed, and the longer he +stood there, the more enraptured he became. When he heard from the +country people that no one knew who or what was this mysterious beauty, +excepting that once a year, by night, a grand gentleman and lady visited +her, and looked at her while asleep, the ardent young prince made a vow +to solve the secret without delay. He engaged his old tutor to make love +to Eglantine's governess, and this plan succeeded so well that the tutor +was, ere long, invited to take a cup of tea at five o'clock, in the +ground floor apartment of the tower where Madame Véloutine kept house. +Madame Véloutine was very much fluttered by the attentions of the +tutor, a gloomy-looking individual with savage dark mustache and +deep-sunken eyes. The poor old thing, who had been reading novels +without any intermission for eighteen years, was very sentimental, and +the idea of a suitor coming to woo at some period of her existence was +never wholly absent from her thoughts. She dressed herself in one of the +Princess Eglantine's white robes, put a blue sash around her waist, and +covering her little red nose with rice powder, sat in a darkened corner +with a guitar upon her knees. The tutor flattered her, and soon she grew +confidential and told him the story of her charge. When the tutor took +his leave, Madame Véloutine sighed deeply, and pitied the poor man who +had fallen a victim to her charms. She did not see the fat purse of gold +the prince bestowed on him, upon learning the true state of the case +about the enchanting captive! + +Prince Charming rode, day and night, till he reached the king's palace. +"Give me your daughter for my wife," he said. The king turned pale at +hearing that the secret was betrayed. "For pity's sake speak lower, +young man," said the anxious father. "Only suppose her brother should +hear of it." With that he told the whole story to Prince Charming, who +forthwith rode to ask a wise man what he should do to set the princess +free, with safety to herself. + +"Ride as far as you will, and as fast as you will with her, you may not +escape the curse," said the wise man. + +The prince went off heavy hearted, and visited a witch he knew. She was +knitting a stocking, which ravelled every night as fast as it grew by +day. + +"I have been knitting this stocking for fifty years," said the witch, +taking a pinch of snuff out of the soup-tureenful that she always kept +beside her. "I could as soon make it whole in one night as keep away the +curse from her." + +The prince groaned as he rode away. Across his path was a green bough, +half covered by a huge cobweb. In this a tiny being, no bigger than a +fly, was entangled, and was making desperate struggles to be free. +Travelling toward it, with tremendous strides, came an enormous red +spider, with white spots and great protruding eyes. The prince, not +without a shudder, for, like most of us, he hated the nasty things, +killed the spider with a blow, and set free the pretty captive, who +proved to be a fairy. She tidied her iridescent frock, and thanked him +very nicely. + +"You have saved my life, dear prince," she said. "Pray let me do +something in return for it." + +"Perhaps you can help me," said the prince, eagerly. "If you can't, +never mind," he added, politely, when he had finished telling her the +sad story of his doomed princess. "I don't expect much of a person of +your size, you know; but really it's the greatest _relief_ to talk about +the dear darling!" + +"A person of my size!" said the little lady, with a shrill sniff. "I'd +have you to know, prince, that I'm the fairy Buz-fuz, the discoverer of +the celebrated invisibility powder. It is _never_ known to fail, is made +from a fern-seed that _I_ alone can pluck, and is _not_ for sale at +_any_ druggist's! As to lifting the spell from that poor young creature, +the princess, I can't undertake to do it, on any terms; but with the aid +of my powder, one pinch of which sprinkled on an object will make it +disappear from sight in a moment, I believe you can manage to keep clear +of the cannibal brother." + +The prince thanked the fairy, took the powder, and galloped off, +light-hearted, to his Eglantine. She, poor thing, had thought of nothing +but the prince and his beauty, and his kind glances and smiles, since he +left her. She wearied of the society of poor old Véloutine, and sighed +for change. Véloutine was in despair. To comfort the princess she +promised to allow her a single meeting with the prince, should he ever +come that way again. "That I am sure he will!" said the princess. "If +you had only seen his eyes when he looked at me! They were so kind, so +true! Oh! Véloutine! he _will_ come back!" + +So Eglantine settled down to her embroidery. This was a gown of white +damask with large white satin flowers outlined with real pearls. She had +been at work on it for several years, and a few stitches more would +finish it. She now wrought busily, until the last stitch was set, and +then, with trembling fingers, put it on. Around her neck and waist she +wrapped great chains of pearls, and left her long hair rippling to her +knees. When her toilet was complete she went to the window. It was the +sunset of a summer's day. Around her tower grew vines heavy with +deep-red roses; the shining surface of the moat beneath was streaked +with color from the western clouds. Along the path beyond the hedge rode +a horseman gayly clad in green and gold, who, smiling, doffed a cap with +a single long white plume, and bowed to his saddle-bow. Behind him came +a splendid cavalcade of courtiers and knights on horseback, surrounding +a golden coach in which sat the father and mother of Eglantine, who had +given consent to her marriage with the prince. The poor king and queen +were dreadfully frightened at the rashness of this proceeding. They had +sent the cannibal brother off on a hunting excursion in a distant part +of the country, and had come in fear and trembling, bringing with them +the most trustworthy of their people. They could not resist Prince +Charming, who, in addition to his other attractions, had just lost his +father, the old king, and was now the sole owner and ruler of a +neighboring kingdom, and just the match for their lovely daughter. He +had sworn to them that their child should be kept so securely guarded +that her brother could never reach her. + +Eglantine came down from her bower, to be introduced to her father, +mother, and lover all at once. The marriage took place without delay, +and the new king started with his bride for the sea-shore, where they +were to embark for his home. + +They set sail in a ship of which the sides were plated with beaten gold. +The sails were of pink satin, and the ropes golden threads plaited +together. The young king and queen sat upon cushions of velvet on the +deck, and talked of their happy future, when suddenly the sky was +darkened as by a cloud, and, riding upon a vulture, the cannibal brother +came after them. He had been hunting, and a wandering breeze carried to +him the story of his sister's escape. Although he had never before heard +he possessed a sister, the first whisper of such a thing was sufficient +to rouse in him the dreadful cannibal instinct to drink her blood. From +where the king and queen sat they could distinctly hear him smacking his +lips with joy at the prospect of his horrible meal. Queen Eglantine, +fearing she knew not what, shuddered from head to foot, and closing her +eyes cast herself upon the king's breast for protection. + +The king, bidding her be calm, sprinkled the deck of the ship with one +of the fairy's powders, which he carried in a little crystal box. At the +moment the huge foul bird of prey hovered above them and gave a fierce +swoop downward, the ship and all its contents vanished utterly from +sight, while the vulture with his rider plunged into the sea. + +The cannibal prince was a good swimmer, and although his vulture was +immediately drowned, managed to keep up, until he found a dolphin and +got astride its back. + +"Now, carry me in pursuit of yonder ship, and mind you swim fast and +well," he exclaimed. + +"Master, I obey," said the dolphin, who recognized in him a magician. +"But, look for yourself--blue sky above, blue water below, and not a +sail upon the sea." + +The prince looked, and in truth there was no ship to be seen; so, +ordering the dolphin to convey him to the nearest landing-place, he soon +reached the shores of a beautiful country, where flags were flying, and +all the inhabitants were dressed in holiday clothes. Over the wharf was +an arch of most lovely flowers, and five hundred little girls were +strewing the roads with orange blossoms. + +"What is taking place?" asked the cannibal brother of the people around +the wharf. + +"Where have _you_ been, pray?" said they scornfully, "not to know that +our king brings home his bride to-day!" + +Then the ship came in sight and the rejoicings began. The cannibal +brother had no sooner laid eyes upon his sister than a new longing to +drink her blood came over him; and he set about plotting how he could +get hold of her, no easy matter, since the palace was guarded night and +day by twenty white bull-dogs of the fiercest sort, besides the usual +soldiers and attendants. So he took service with a butcher near the +town, and made a bag full of little meat-balls, each one containing a +drop of deadly poison. One day his master sent him to the palace to +carry Queen Eglantine's sweetbreads and mutton-chops. "Now," thought the +brother, "I shall get inside;" but he was mistaken, for the sweetbreads +and mutton-chops were taken from him at the gate, and passed on through +twenty different hands till they reached the cook. As no outsider +whatever was allowed to penetrate the inner palace walls, behind which +the new queen lived surrounded by every luxury, the cannibal brother had +to wait many days for an opportunity to get a sight of her. Meantime his +appetite was gaining terribly, and he went to the blacksmith and had all +his teeth framed in iron, the better to enjoy his horrid meal. + +At last King Charming was summoned to meet a neighboring monarch about a +right of way for his armies across a certain peninsula; and, with many +injunctions to the queen not to admit any stranger during his absence, +he reluctantly set out. No sooner was he out of sight than the pretended +butcher's boy hastened to assume his own princely clothing, and, ringing +boldly at the castle gate, told the servants to announce to the queen +that her brother had arrived, bearing messages from her father and +mother. He sent in a golden locket containing likenesses of both the +king and queen, his parents, which convinced Queen Eglantine that his +tale was true. So, joyfully, she ran forth to meet him, and would have +cast herself upon his neck, but that the trained bull-dogs rushed +between, growling most horribly. + +"Come here, pretty fellow, nice fellow," said the cannibal brother, +coaxingly; but the dogs only opened their jaws wider than before and +growled defiance. + +"Give them these little dainties, sister," said the wily prince, +producing his poisoned meat-balls. "They are some that I always carry +for my own pets." + +The innocent queen called the dogs one after another to her side, and +fed them with the fatal balls, which they ate, licking her white hand +gratefully. At once, as the poison began to work, they all lay down in a +row, and became as quiet as they had been before ferocious. The queen +led her brother into an inner room, and bade him sit upon her silken +couch. The prince laughed to himself, for now, thought he, the hour has +come for my coveted meal. But he was seized with the notion to go into +another room in order to file his teeth, which were becoming rather +dull. + +"Will you not play for me upon the piano, sister?" he asked lovingly. + +The amiable queen, who never waited to be asked twice, sat down to play, +while her brother hid within a closet and began to file his teeth. Up +jumped the queen's cat, in great excitement, and sat on her mistress' +lap. + +"Mistress dear," said the affectionate creature, "fly, fly, as fast as +your feet will carry you. Your brother is at this moment getting ready +to make a meal of you, and as he is a magician no one in the castle is +strong enough to defend you from him. In the stable you will find the +king's gray steed. Jump upon his back, and be off, while I play the +piano in your stead." + +The terrified queen took to her royal heels, weeping as she stumbled +over the dead bodies of her faithful dogs, and the clever cat sat +playing beautifully so many runs and trills that the prince, admiring +his sister's brilliant execution, made no haste to leave his task until +it was finished to his entire satisfaction. + +And now, mounted upon the good gray steed, away flew Queen Eglantine in +search of her beloved spouse. Pretty soon she heard footsteps, and +there, swifter than any horse, swifter than wind, on flew the cannibal +brother after her. + +"What shall I do, dear steed?" said the alarmed queen. + +"Drop your cloak into the road," said the gray horse, who was the cat's +own cousin. + +The queen obeyed, and the cloak became a broad lake, across which the +cannibal brother took a long time to swim. The gray horse got a good +start, but presently the prince came nearly up with him. + +"What shall I do now, dear steed?" said the queen, almost ready to fall +fainting from his back. + +"Drop the veil from your head," said the horse. + +This was done, and the veil became a thick fog, causing the cannibal +brother to lose his way and stumble dreadfully. But he got out of it at +last, and came nearly up with them. + +"What shall I do next, dear steed?" said the queen, trembling in every +limb. + +"Take your scissors and cut a long lock from your hair, and throw that +behind you." + +The queen lifted the scissors that hung at her girdle, and in a moment, +snip! they went into her beautiful golden hair. The hair became a jungle +of tall reeds, and through it the cannibal brother had work indeed to +travel. While he was puffing and blowing and struggling in the reeds, +oh, joy! the queen saw her king riding swiftly to meet her. + +Just as the cannibal brother, by a desperate effort of magic strength +had freed himself from the jungle, and emerged in swift pursuit, he had +the mortification of seeing the queen rush into her husband's arms. His +dreadful hunger was now increased until it drove him to desperation. +With a roar of baffled rage he darted toward the royal couple, swearing +that both of them should be his victims; and this no doubt would have +been the case--since the monster was endowed with the strength of fifty +men--but that the king, bidding his queen have no fear, quickly +sprinkled them both, and their steeds, with a pinch of the fairy +fern-seed. Immediately they disappeared from sight, and the cannibal +brother, coming with full force upon the spot where they had been, +beheld only empty space. This disappointment, combined with his now +really appalling appetite, made the miserable wretch fall in a fit upon +the ground. + +The king would have killed him where he lay, but the queen pleaded for +her brother's life, so the attendants bore him, insensible, back to the +palace. There, the queen's clever cat advised that he should be left to +her to deal with. She shut herself up with the patient in a tower +bedroom, and during sixty days and nights not a morsel of food passed +the sufferer's lips, except the cat's magic castor-oil--a cupful every +ten minutes--each tasting more nauseous than the one before! In the +morning he was lifted from bed, and put into an ice-cold bath, and then +whipped soundly until his circulation was restored. At the end of the +second month the cat stopped his bath, whipping, and medicines, offering +him instead a handful of parched peas and a dry crust. This diet seemed +to him so delicious that never again could he be tempted to vary it. +Until he reached a green and virtuous old age this prince was never +known to look upon so much as a rare beefsteak without shuddering! His +father, mother, sister, and brother-in-law united their tears of joy at +this happy reform, and who should the clever cat turn out to be, but +aunty, who had taken this means of watching over her favorite Eglantine! +The gray steed was aunty's first cousin upon the mother's side; but when +peace was restored he preferred to go back to his own country to live, +although the grateful King Charming offered him every inducement to +remain, in the way of marble stalls and silver mangers, rose-water to +quench his thirst, and golden oats to eat. Aunty, too, retired to her +own distant castle, and the reformed cannibal lived quiet and happy +until the time came to reign in his good father's stead. + +As for Eglantine and King Charming, they never again found use for the +fern-seed powder. Even the faults of one were invisible to the other. + +Nothing occurred to disturb the serenity of their entire reign but a +suit for breach-of-promise of marriage, brought against the king's +former tutor by the queen's former governess, Madame Véloutine; and this +was settled speedily by the tutor announcing that, rather than make any +fuss about the matter, he would marry the old lady and be done with it, +although he really could not imagine what there had been in his past +conduct to put such an idea into her venerable head. So at last +Véloutine got a husband, and nobody could be surprised at anything after +that. + + + + +DAME MARTHA'S STEP-DAUGHTER; OR, THE GRANDMOTHER OF THE GNOMES. + + +Dame Martha lived at the foot of a high mountain. Her cottage was large +enough to give shelter only to herself and two young girls, one of them +her own child and the other the child of Dame Martha's late husband, +who, about six months before this story opens, slipped down a fissure in +the rocks and had nevermore been seen. Dame Martha did not bear a very +good character in the neighborhood, as she was known to be violent in +temper and dishonest in her dealings. While her husband lived, she had +quarrelled with him from morning till night, and after he disappeared, +people used to hint that Dame Martha knew better than any one else how +the poor man came to his sudden death. But nothing was ever proved upon +her, and as the dame's cottage stood in a desolate valley, overshadowed +by a frowning cliff on which grew a single lightning-blasted pine-tree, +children shunned the lonely spot, and few grown people found anything to +attract them in that direction. Margaret, the dame's own daughter, was a +handsome haughty lass of about nineteen, so spoiled and self-willed that +she bid fair to rival her mother in temper, in the course of time. +Hilda, the step-daughter, was a fair and gentle little creature, sixteen +years of age, who bore with patient cheerfulness all the unhappiness of +her lot. Sometimes, for days together, she would be left alone in the +house, while Dame Martha and Margaret dressed themselves up in all their +finery, and went off to fairs and merrymakings in the neighboring town. +Melancholy were the hours spent in a solitude unbroken save by the rush +of the waterfall leaping from cliff to cliff, or the hootings of owls +after nightfall, and the unceasing wail of the wind through the forest. +But Hilda was at least spared the sound of Margaret's taunting voice and +laugh, and the cruel scolding tongue of her step-mother. These two +wicked women were heartily tired of Hilda, and cast about in their +minds how they could get rid of her, and take possession of a little bag +of gold pieces coming to her from her father. Then, thought they, the +old house could be shut up and left to the rats and bats, while they +might set out on their travels and enjoy life. + +One day, when Hilda was bleaching the linen on a patch of grass near the +brook, her step-mother called out, "Hilda, the red cow has strayed away, +and I hear her bell over by the old stone quarry. Be quick, and you may +head her off." + +Hilda secured her linen, and with nimble steps, ran up the steep +mountain side. She did not fancy the idea of going by the old stone +quarry, for there it had been, six months before, that her dear father +was last seen in life. Near that spot his hat and shepherd-staff had +been found. But Hilda was accustomed to obey without remonstrance, and +away she ran, climbing as lightly as a mountain goat. She too, could +hear the tinkle of the little bell far up among the bushes, and guided +by the sound, she drew near the dreaded scene of her greatest sorrow. A +thick screen of fir bushes lay between her and the red cow's place of +refuge. Interwoven with evergreens, grew masses of alpine-rose, whose +tough branches became entangled in Hilda's feet, and hid the path from +sight. At last, she found herself in a dense thicket, not knowing how to +emerge. As she paused for a moment to look about her, the red cow's bell +tinkled again--a strange uncertain tinkle this--immediately behind the +bushes at her left. + +"There you are, good-for-nothing!" cried Hilda, struggling bravely +forward through the undergrowth in the direction indicated by the bell. +She heard a low mocking laugh. Surely that laugh could come only from +her step sister! "Margaret!" she called. No answer, and poor Hilda, +uttering a wild shriek for help, plunged headlong down a hidden opening +in the ground, into a fathomless abyss, where no foot of man might +follow her. + +Wicked Margaret stood on the brink of this treacherous pit-fall, known +only to her mother and herself, and laughed, holding in her hand the +little red cow's bell, with which she had lured Hilda to her doom. + +"Rest there!" the wretched girl said, kneeling down to peer into the +darkness of the rocky pit. "At any rate, you have found a burial-place +for your bones, alongside of your father, who was never heard to groan +after my mother and I pushed him over the brink here, last autumn! And +now, I will go home, and tell the old woman that we are rid of all our +burdens. Ha! ha! Won't we spend the father's gold, and revel! This very +night must we steal away, and seek our fortune in a distant country." + +Hilda fell, unharmed, upon a hillock of soft green moss, so far, so far +beneath the ledge whence Margaret had pushed her, that the opening above +looked no bigger than a star. The poor girl was overcome by her terrible +fate, and for a long time she lay weeping as if her heart would break. +Then, looking about her, she saw the opening to a cavern in the rocks, +resembling an arch of crystal, so bravely did it glitter. + +Around the hillock where she lay was a small courtyard with turf as +smooth as velvet, and upon the rocky walls encircling it were trained +vines of roses, myrtle and jasmine, covered with lovely blossoms. Hilda, +who knew best the alp-rose and the corn-flower, the hardy violet and the +rock-seeking columbine, had never seen such rare and radiant flowers as +these, and their rich perfume intoxicated her with delight. Stealing +down the side of the cliff, trickled a sparkling rivulet, its stream +caught in a basin of gleaming pearl. Hilda, enchanted by the lovely +scene, forgot her grief, and felt a longing desire to follow the path of +many-colored pebbles leading beneath the crystal arch. Without a token +of fear, she tripped along this pretty path winding through a gallery +supported by pillars of frosted silver. Here and there glowed a lamp of +pink, blue or crimson, fashioned like a flower. Strains of sweet music +were heard in the distance, and at last Hilda reached a gate of golden +trellis-work, beside which slept a tiny old man, whose beard and hair +fell over his red mantle to the very ground. + +"He is very old, and no doubt needs his rest," said Hilda; "I won't +disturb him, poor old man." So she sat down on the ground at his feet, +and every time his head nodded to his knees, she would pick up the queer +little red cap that fell off of it, and put it on again. After a long, +comfortable nap, the old fellow woke up, and saw Hilda sitting at his +feet. + +"You are a kind maiden," he said, for he was of a race that know +everything without waiting to be told--the Gnomes. "Since you have been +so good to me, I will let you pass the wicket. Six months ago your +father came this way, and if you can but make friends with our mistress, +you may be allowed to see him." + +"My father! My dear father!" cried Hilda, overjoyed. "Oh! you good, kind +gateman, do lead me to where he is." + +"Hush! not a sound," said the Gnome, looking about him in alarm. +"Everything has ears and tongues too in this place. One warning will I +give you. Answer not when spoken to, serve faithfully, break nothing, +show no surprise; and when you can capture the bird that bathes daily in +the fountain of life, save the drops from off his plumage. Now go on; +and farewell, as no one who passes me comes back this way." + +Hilda was frightened by the mystery of the warning, but continued on her +way, through a long and winding passage in the rocks, dimly lighted here +and there by hanging lamps of alabaster. Reaching another little +wicket-gate of golden trellis-work, she summoned all her courage and +rang the bell. Out came a hideous crone, whose ears, grown to an +enormous size, hung down upon her neck, and who, without asking her +business, opened the gate. + +"If ears grow like this," thought Hilda, "I had, indeed, better hold my +tongue and say nothing to give offence." So, pretending to be dumb, she +curtsied to the crone, and made signs that she wanted food and drink. +The old woman led Hilda along the path of a neglected garden, to a house +built of gray lichen from the bark of trees, and thatched with hoary +moss. The windows were barred, and in the open doorway sat a cross old +dame, at her knitting. She had a hump, ears larger than those of the +lodge-keeper, and claws hooked like an eagle's. + +"What! another of those foolish mortals fallen down our pit!" she cried, +angrily; "I have half a mind to kill her on the spot." But Hilda looked +so meek and imploring, standing there and saying not a word, that the +Grandmother of the Gnomes relented. "Well, well," she grunted, +"although she is decidedly overgrown, and has ridiculously small ears, I +suppose I may as well try her for a nurse-maid. If she proves +unfaithful, there will be plenty to tell of it, and she will soon go the +way of all the rest." + +Hilda was pleased at the idea of being a nurse-maid, for she always got +on well with children. She followed the G. G. (really, if you will +excuse me, it will save a great deal of trouble sometimes to abbreviate +the old lady's title) inside the queer little house, and there was a +room full of owls, bats, toads, mice, and spiders, who came flocking +around the new-comer, with every expression of delight. + +"Oh! you pretty darlings!" cried the old woman, kissing them +rapturously, "here is a new nurse for you; and mind you keep her busy." + +When Hilda found that she was expected to bathe, and clean, and walk out +with, and sleep with these loathsome creatures, she felt that she had +rather die. But fear of the terrible G. G. kept her silent, and setting +about her task, she soon had them ready for an airing in the garden. +Here she beheld many strange sights, but nothing more curious than to +see all the bushes and plants and trees bearing large ears, which, as +she drew near, became erect and fixed in an attitude of attention. +Remembering the caution of the friendly gnome to express no surprise, +Hilda drove her little flock before her along the garden path, then +returning to the house, fed them and put them to bed in the most orderly +fashion. For reward, she found, on a bench outside the door, a nice bowl +of milk with fine white bread and butter, and after devouring it +eagerly, she fell asleep. When she awoke next day, Hilda found herself +in another garden. This one was most beautiful. All the rose-bushes had +gold or silver leaves, and flowers made of jewels. She longed to twitch +off one of the shining leaves, but dared not, contenting herself with +watering their roots and neatly clearing up the paths, as the Gnome +Grandmother had directed her. For reward, she had a bowl of delicious +hot soup, and a cup of amber jelly, and falling asleep, she awakened +next day in still another garden. Here sported birds of radiant hue and +plumage, singing delightfully, as they flitted about the brim of a great +marble fountain on a grassy lawn, surrounded by blooming flowers. + +"Here, children, I bring you a new nurse-maid," said the Gnome +Grandmother, presenting her to the birds; and immediately, the lovely +creatures surrounded Hilda, perching on her arms, her head, her +shoulders, and caressing her with evident pleasure. + +"Now that you have successfully met my three tests--the first, of your +fidelity, by doing your duty toward the creatures you abhorred; +secondly, by passing through my jewel-garden without plucking a flower +or leaf; thirdly, by showing no surprise at the wonders you have +seen--you have proved yourself worthy to be the keeper of my birds," +said the old woman. "It is well for you that the ears have heard no +grumbling. And mind you go on as you've begun." + +Hilda thanked her with beaming glances, but would not venture to speak, +although she longed to ask news of her dear father. "To those who wait, +all things come in time," she remembered her father used to say, and +determined not to break silence yet a while. The Grandmother of the +Gnomes disappeared, and Hilda set herself to the task of caring for her +new and lovely pets. Around the garden were bowers of sweet-smelling +honeysuckle, and in each of these hung a silver cage. Hilda's duty was +to cover the bottoms of the cages with sand of broken diamonds, to +gather fresh sprays of flowers to stick between their bars, and to fill +the jewelled drinking-troughs with dew from the cups of flowers. Day +after day passed in attendance upon the birds, who all became devoted to +her, in return. Each morning the Grandmother of the Gnomes came into the +garden, and sometimes even smiled on Hilda, her grin making her ugliness +and deformity seem to increase, if possible. Still Hilda dared not speak +the words that were always trembling on her tongue. When night came, the +young girl retired to rest in a delightful little house shaped from a +bush of growing box, out of which doors and windows had been cut. Within +was a bed of moss like velvet, and a coverlet made of the woven wings of +the butterfly, with blankets of swansdown. Her meals were served by +unseen hands. Punctually at breakfast, dinner, and tea-time, there +sprang up in the bower house a little table shaped like a huge mushroom, +covered with dainty food in dishes of gold and silver. New clothes were +prepared for her, and laid across the foot of her couch while she slept. +Among them were gauzy gowns that seemed to have been cut from the clouds +after sunset, cobweb handkerchiefs, shoes made of mole-skin, and +necklaces of petrified dew-drops. Hilda might have been quite happy but +for the continual thought that her father was imprisoned somewhere near, +and her longing to find him and tell him she was there. One night, while +she lay thinking, apparently asleep, footsteps came to the side of her +bed, and stopped. Somebody held a lamp close to her face, but Hilda +pretended to be in a deep slumber, and soon the G. G., for she it was, +went away, pattering about the bower, and talking to the old +lodge-keeper, who followed her. + +"She is sound asleep, so come along. We are already a little late for +our round among the prisoners. Foolish creatures! Why hadn't they, too, +the sense to restrain themselves as this child did, and they might all +have been working in the gardens, to this day. But no! Each one must +needs twitch off a leaf here, or a rose there, and stare, and chatter +over what they saw, or else go into convulsions over the work given them +to do for my pretty toads, and bats, and serpents. That silly father of +hers, for example! He seemed an honest fellow, but what should he do, +when he thought no one was looking, but pluck one of my choicest ruby +roses to carry back to Hilda. Hum! much likelihood there is that Hilda +ever finds out where he is hidden, after a crime like that!" + +The Grandmother of the Gnomes seemed to have worked herself up into such +an angry state, that Hilda dared not give any sign of waking. So she +lay, still as a mouse, till the old couple had laid across her couch the +new robe for next day, and trotted off. Then, gliding swiftly from her +bed, the girl followed them, down a long green alley of the garden, to a +grassy bank she had often noticed. There, putting her hand upon a +trap-door, half hidden from sight by a mass of vines, the old crone +knocked thrice, saying, "Open to the Grandmother of the Gnomes!" + +The door opened, and behind it was a narrow passage-way guarded by two +dwarfs in red. No one spoke, and the dwarfs, prostrating themselves upon +their faces, remained motionless while their sovereign lady passed in. +Hilda seized this opportunity to follow, and crept unnoticed to the +mouth of a circular vault of gray granite, hung with curtains of black +velvet and lighted by swinging lamps of lurid red. In the centre was a +long row of white marble tombs, and on each one of these tombs lay a +human being apparently asleep, enclosed in a crystal casket. With a +thrill of emotion, Hilda recognized in one of these placid sleepers her +beloved father. The Grandmother of the Gnomes walked past each bier, +sprinkling it with the liquid from a vial in her hand. At once the +sleepers aroused and sat up, rolling their eyes and extending their arms +to her with a beseeching gesture. The G. G. sternly shook her head, and +proceeded to open a little door in each casket, through which the old +lodge-keeper gave food and drink to all the prisoners in turn. The poor +wretches ate and drank in silence, then turning over on their sides, the +crone waved her wand above them, and instantly they fell again into a +trance-like sleep. + +"Sleep now, till this day week!" said the Grandmother of the Gnomes, +solemnly, retiring as she came. Hilda hid in a nook of the wall of rock, +and followed her guides out, noiselessly and unnoticed by the prostrate +dwarfs in red. + +And now her sole thought was how she might get possession of the +reviving liquid. Alone and unprotected as she was, at the mercy of her +gnome mistress, Hilda knew not where to turn for help. In the extremity +of her distress, she thought of what the friendly gnome at the outer +gate had said to her. "When you can capture the bird that bathes in the +water of life, save the drops from off his plumage." But although Hilda +racked her brain for a solution of the mystery, none could she find. All +day long her birds came and went among the branches of the beautiful +garden, and at night returned to their silver cages in the honeysuckle +bowers. The only bath she had ever seen them take, was in the wide +marble basin on the grass-plot beneath the fountain. At last, lying down +to rest one day upon a bank of lilies, she fell asleep, and in her +dreams, heard two of the birds talking on the bough above. + +"To-morrow, our friend, the little brown wren returns from his travels +to the Spring of Life," said one of them. + +"Yes, he has been gone longer than usual, this time," said the other. +"What a lucky creature he is to have gained our mistress's favor, and to +be allowed to take those baths, which have the power to make him know +everything, live forever, and sing more sweetly than the nightingale." + +"There is something mysterious about that wren, undoubtedly," sighed the +first bird. "Nobody knows whether it is fear or favor that gains so many +more privileges for him than for the rest of us. Do you know that if he +should ever drop the single golden feather in his tail, he will become +like the rest of us again, a slave and captive? And the lucky person who +finds it, will be able to see all the hidden treasures of the caves +beneath the mountain, pierce his way through solid rock and iron, and +even defy the authority of our Sovereign Lady herself!" + +Hilda listened, her heart beating high with hope. Next day, indeed, +there came a new bird among her charges, a little brown wren, who sat +upon the topmost twig of the highest tree in the garden, and dried and +smoothed his feathers, singing so exquisitely that all the others +gathered around him in delight, while the disconsolate lark and +nightingale, canary, mocking-bird and wood-robin, retired to a thicket +of green leaves, and wept for jealousy. + +Spite of all Hilda's blandishments and wiles, the little brown wren +would never come near enough for her to handle him. She could see him, +flying amid the upper branches, the single golden feather in his tail +shining splendidly, but nothing secured his presence within reach or +touch. Even the Grandmother of the Gnomes was powerless to control the +wilful creature. + +Weeks passed and Hilda was always on guard to follow the Gnome +Grandmother and her attendant upon their expeditions to the crypt where +the prisoners were kept. By means of the stratagem she had first +employed, she never failed to be present when her father was so +mysteriously recalled to life, and then dismissed again into the shadowy +border-land of death. Although she could not speak to him, or tell him +she was near, it was some comfort to see him arise up strong and well. +Oh! if the day should come, when she might capture that tantalizing +little brown bird! He had become less shy with her of late, and more +inclined to perch upon the branch above her head, and, while keeping a +safe distance, observe her motions closely. At last, one evening, quite +disheartened, Hilda went within her own little bowery house, and sat her +down and wept. For the first time since her arrival in the gnome garden, +she spoke aloud. + +"Oh! I can bear it no longer. My heart will break! My heart will +break." + +To Hilda's utter astonishment, a voice came from the foliage around her +window, in reply. + +"Cheer up, dear maiden; the sound of a human voice has broken the spell +cast over me, and I now see you as you are. I am he whom you have known +as the little brown bird, in reality a mortal prince, bewitched by that +wicked old woman, the Grandmother of the Gnomes, who makes everything +within her kingdom subservient to her power. She is my deadly enemy, +because I once discovered the secret of her fountain of life; and, when +on a journey thither with my followers, I was captured and changed into +my present shape, while they, poor creatures, were carried prisoners to +her crypt. Should I regain my shape, it can only be done by the help of +a being brave and true like yourself." + +"But why, why did you not make friends with me at first?" said the +joyful Hilda. + +"The spell cast upon me forbade my recognizing one of my own kind, +unless she or he spoke, and you know how human speech is punished in +this place. For three long years I have lived in solitude, compelled by +the crone to fly back and forth to fetch her the water of life for her +magical incantations; what I receive upon my own plumage, while drawing +the water for her, has, however, secured my immortality. As for my +golden plume it is the magic blade presented to me at birth, by a +wonderful old wiseman, who said that it would point me to the treasures +beneath the earth, defy the powers of evil, and pierce its way through +solid rock. This sword, the Grandmother of the Gnomes was unable, much +as she wished to do so, to deprive me of. The utmost she could +accomplish was to transform it into a golden plume. Should I ever be so +unfortunate as to drop it, the finder will be my conqueror. See what +confidence I have in your goodness of heart, when I thus give my life +into your hands." + +"Never could I be so base as to betray you, dear prince," said Hilda +joyfully. + +"Oh! speak on, loveliest of maidens," cried the disguised prince. "Every +syllable you utter brings back life and hope to my sad heart. Strange +that I should have watched you come and go without knowing what you are. +It was the first utterance of your silvery voice in lamentation that +awakened my benumbed senses. Now, shall we not work together for our +deliverance?" + +Gladly did Hilda pour forth all the story of her woes to her newly found +confidant. The prince bade her to be of good cheer, for it was his +intention to set forth on the morrow upon his monthly journey in search +of the water of life. + +"A week hence I shall return, and although it would be impossible for me +to secrete any of the precious fluid so that our mistress would fail to +find it out, yet I will take care to saturate my plumage with the water, +so that you can obtain enough to free your father and the other +sufferers. That done, we can proceed to stronger measures. Only be +guided by me, and obey all I tell you to do, and I promise you release +and happiness." + +Hilda promised and the brown bird took his leave. Next day he was no +longer to be seen in the higher tree-tops, and after a week's absence, +he arrived at nightfall dripping wet, and perched upon Hilda's window. + +Carefully did Hilda collect every drop that fell from his plumage, and +when next she followed the Grandmother of the Gnomes into the fatal +crypt, it was with joyful footsteps, for in her hand she concealed a +leaf-cup full of the elixir of life. Not even Hilda noticed that the +little brown bird also entered the crypt when she did. On this occasion, +she waited as usual to see the prisoners aroused and fed, then cast +again into sleep; but instead of following the two crones on their +return, she remained concealed in her crevice of the rock, and saw close +upon her the doors of this living tomb. Now a sudden terror overtook +her, and her knees trembled. + +"Oh, dearest little bird, were you but by my side!" she whispered +imploringly. + +"I am here, Hilda," came in a well-known voice. "Remember that all +depends upon your courage and obedience. Go up to the crystal caskets +and sprinkle a drop upon each in turn." + +Hilda did so, and in a few moments had the inexpressible joy of seeing +about twenty brave knights and other captives arise from their couches +of marble. Last of all came her beloved father, who clasped her to his +breast with rapture unspeakable. + +"Now there is not a moment to be lost," said the brown bird, flying to +Hilda. "Here, brave maiden, pluck the golden feather from my tail." + +Hilda obeyed, and found that she held a shining sword within her hand. + +"Quick, stab me to the heart!" said the bird. + +Hilda burst into tears and pleaded with him to spare her; but the brown +bird reminded her that, because of the water of life, he could never +really die; so the young girl, trembling in every limb, plunged the +blade into his breast. + +As the warm blood rushed forth, a cloud of vapor arose, filling the +cave; and blowing presently away, it revealed to all present the face +and figure of a gallant youth, who, proud and smiling, knelt at Hilda's +feet. + +"Now is the enchantment banished!" he cried, as his friends, +recognizing their master, came flocking around him in delight. "But we +must not again venture into the precincts of the gnome's garden, for who +knows what might befall our lovely lady here? Come, my brave sword, +point us a way of exit." + +Swinging it in the air above his head, he brought the blade into a +horizontal line in front of him. At once the sword pointed to a fissure +in the walls of the crypt, and as the rescued band approached, it slowly +widened to an opening through which a man might pass. + +This was not a moment too soon, for the dwarfs on guard had discovered +their attempt to escape, and a shrill whistle sounded in their ears. +Swift as the lightning flash arrived the Grandmother of the Gnomes, this +time in her worst aspect, fire darting from her eyes. Behind her came an +army of angry little men in red, with hammers in their uplifted hands, +prepared to do battle to the death. What was their fury to find the +biers empty, and a long line of stalwart men, led by Hilda, escaping +through a doorway in the solid rock! The last to depart was the prince, +and advancing upon him with a horrible yell and glare of defiance came +the Grandmother of the Gnomes. The prince met her with extended sword, +and the enchanted blade pierced her to the heart. The frightened gnomes, +surrounding their dead chief, laid her upon the marble slab from which +Hilda's father had arisen, and then flew in pursuit of the avenger. But +it was too late. The rocky wall had closed upon the retreating party, +and the Grandmother of the Gnomes arose no more from her final +resting-place. + +The divining-sword led Hilda and her companions straightway to the +surface of the earth, taking care, as they passed it by, to point out +sufficient hidden treasure to enrich every man of the party. As for the +prince, as he was already the owner of one of the richest kingdoms of +the world, all he desired was to regain it, in company with his beloved +Hilda, who by this time had pledged herself to be his bride. Hilda's +father accompanied them to the palace of the prince, and was by him +ennobled and enriched. The marriage took place, and just as the guests +were enjoying the festivities, the new queen saw her servants turning +away from the door a miserable-looking pair of beggar women. Bidding +these pitiful creatures draw near to receive her alms, the queen +recognized in them Dame Martha and her daughter. Such was the generosity +of her nature, that Hilda could not resist disclosing her self to them, +and assuring them that the _accident_ of her fall had been the means of +securing her wonderful good fortune. + +She ordered fine clothes and fine rooms to be prepared for the couple, +and would have forgiven them entirely, but that her father and the +prince, interfering, ordered the wicked schemers to be driven from the +house and kingdom. + +Some time after, Dame Martha and Margaret reappeared in the neighborhood +of their old home. They were very sullen and close-mouthed, and were +last seen hovering around the mountain-side in the direction of the old +stone quarry, after which they were lost to human view. + +The facts in the case are that Dame Martha's envy of her step-daughter +led her to the desperate resolve to herself descend into the pit in +company with her amiable child. Upon reaching the dwelling of the late +Grandmother of the Gnomes, they were immediately seized and made to do +duty in the cellar with the toads, mice, serpents, owls, and bats, where +in all probability they are still enjoying life in congenial +companionship. + +Hilda and her prince lived a long and happy life. The bright sword hung +unused upon the wall, as no enemies appeared against whom to unsheath +it, and the prince never again felt tempted to risk a visit to the +kingdom of the gnomes. + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF HA'PENNY OR, THE DWARF, THE WITCH, AND THE MAGIC +SLIPPERS. + +[Illustration: Ha'penny Watching the Witch in the Underground Garden.] + + +Once upon a time lived a poor, little, crooked dwarf named "Ha'penny." +When he was born he was so small that his nurse exclaimed, "Why, he is +no bigger than a ha'penny!" and thus the nickname settled upon him, as +ugly nicknames often do upon very worthy people. His father was not very +kind to the unfortunate child, who, finding himself pitied and avoided +by children of his own age, soon learned to go off to the woods alone, +and to spend the days with birds and animals, over whom he had +extraordinary power. The most beautiful birds of many-colored plumage +would flutter away from their boughs in the forest to perch upon +Ha'penny's finger, and take sugar from his lips; shy little brown +squirrels would scamper down the trunks of the great trees to nestle +against his cheek; bees buzzed around his head without offering to sting +him; pretty striped snakes glided from under their stones and stumps at +his call; while all horses, and cows, and dogs, and cats loved to rub +against him, and let themselves be stroked and petted at his will. This +friendship with the world of animals and insects was Ha'penny's greatest +joy, and during the summer time, when he could live abroad, the little +creature was happy enough, after his fashion. In winter he had to +content himself with feeding the birds, and visiting the stables to hide +in the hay of the horses' manger, where the grooms would find him, +mouthing and chattering in an unknown tongue. They would often scold +him, and put him out of the stable, for Ha'penny was no favorite with +his father's people. His mother had died when Ha'penny was a little +fellow of five, and when he reached the age of fifteen (although looking +much younger) his father married a second wife, who proved a cruel +step-mother. + +"If that ugly, little, twisted fright were out of the way, I could +really enjoy life," the unkind woman would say to herself; and she lost +no opportunity to make Ha'penny's life a burden to him, by all sorts of +petty tricks and persecutions. + +He bore all in silence, creeping away to his attic bedroom, and lying +for hours on the floor sobbing bitterly. His only comfort was in his +pets, and a queer lot they were. Among them were a dog, who had had both +fore-paws cut off by the mowing-machine, a chicken with a cork leg, a +blind cat, a land-terrapin, a dozen white mice, a number of birds which +he had rescued from freezing and starvation, some trained fleas, a +squirrel that had lost its tail--everything that was maimed, or +homeless, or unfortunate. These he treasured in a little empty chamber +opening out of his, and no one but himself ever approached it. All the +poor dumb creatures loved him, and would swarm around him when he opened +the door; and, in return, he spent upon them all the passion of love he +had never bestowed on any one of his own kind. + +One day when Ha'penny had gone off to the woods to search for some ripe +partridge-berries for his birds, the step-mother found her way to his +hidden menagerie. One instant she looked about her, with disgust and +fury in her face, and then calling her maids she gave them cruel +orders. Ha'penny came in from his walk, opened the door of his +treasure-house--and alas! what a sight met his eyes! In two corners of +the room hung his pet dog and cat, his terrapin was crushed under a +heavy piece of iron, his birds were dead, his chicken's head was cut +off, his mice were drowned in a pail; not one living thing remained to +greet him but the trained fleas, who had taken refuge in the rafters +overhead after biting the wicked mistress and her maids until they +capered about in their misery! + +Ha'penny gave one glance at his beloved pets thus wantonly sacrificed, +and fell upon the floor sobbing with helpless rage and despair. He lay +there all day without being inquired for, and when night came he stole +out to the orchard and buried his poor dead favorites under the light of +the stars. He would not go back to the house, and, forgetful of cold, +hunger, everything but his burning sense of wrong, he wandered away, +away, into the forest. A few berries and a crust he had carried for the +birds were his only food until the evening of the next day, when he came +in sight of a queer little hut, half hidden from observation by the +trees that grew over it. Starving and desperate, Ha'penny was gaining +courage to knock at the door. All at once a little lattice window +opened, and an old woman poked her head out saying: + + "Come and eat, the table's spread + With sweetest milk and whitest bread. + Good cheer, enough for all I've got, + And more is cooking in the pot." + +At this Ha'penny pricked up his ears and licked his chaps like a hungry +cur; and just then a number of handsome cats and dogs came running out +of the woods and toward the cottage door, which the dame had by this +time opened. As no animal ever avoided Ha'penny, these creatures all +fawned upon him, refusing to go in; and the dame, perceiving the +new-comer, asked him, with an angry air, what was his business. + +"A little food and shelter, madam," said poor Ha'penny, the tears +running down his cheeks. + +"Begone, you rascal!" cried the angry woman; "I don't believe a word you +say. I believe you are a spy sent here to tempt away my pets. See how +they hang around you. You must be a magician, for in general they will +have nothing to do with strangers. Get you gone, sorcerer!" + +Ha'penny turned meekly away, but the dogs and cats followed him with +every show of affection. Faint with hunger as he was, his legs tottered +under him, and he soon fell to the ground. Then the cats and dogs +surrounded him, licking his face and hands in spite of all their +mistress's endeavors to coax them away. + +The old woman's anger ceased when she found the grotesque-looking little +stranger had really fainted from exhaustion. She lifted him in her arms +and carried him in to the fire, and rubbed his cold limbs, putting +spoonfuls of hot broth between his lips. By and by, when Ha'penny came +to himself, he told her all his sad story, and when he reached the part +about the killing of his pets, his heavy eyes flashed fire. + +"She is a horrible wicked woman!" he exclaimed. + +The dame answered by striking her staff on the floor. "See here, boy, if +you are honest, you may stay here and mind my animals." + +She took him into the next room, and there--what a funny spectacle! +Twelve cats and twelve dogs lay upon cushions before the fire. The +cushions were made of satin, and the covers were of velvet worked in +gold. Twenty-four silver bowls stood in a row, and every cat or dog had +its separate comb and brush, and bath-tub and towels, and sponge and +soap, and perfume bottle, on a shelf. In the middle of the room played a +fountain of rose-water, and at the windows hung pink silk curtains, +which were drawn when the creatures went to sleep. All in this room was +rich and costly, while the dame's own quarters were as plain as those of +any other cottager. _She_ was content to sleep in a big feather bed, to +be covered by a clean patchwork quilt, to eat on a deal table off blue +crockery, with a well-scoured pewter spoon. Ha'penny's eyes sparkled at +the idea of waiting on the cats and dogs. He made friends with them at +once. The dame gave him a clean bedroom under the roof, and every day +after feeding and combing his charges he took them for a walk in the +woods. + +"So long as you wait on my darlings faithfully, and mind your own +business," the dame said, "no trouble will come to you. But on no +account ever go near the little closet in the peak of the roof. Should +you do so, evil will happen, and your life may pay the forfeit." + +Ha'penny suspected from this that his mistress was a witch; but it +troubled him very little, as he was an honest lad and intended never to +disobey her. + +One day the dame brought home a new cat, a large, white Angora, a beauty +to look at, with pink eyes and flowing hair, fine and silken as spun +glass. From the moment of that cat's arrival the happy family was +completely upset. Félisette, for so she was named, proved to be vain, +selfish, and greedy; she fought for the best of everything, ate up her +neighbor's bowl of milk as well as her own, and actually bit and spit at +Ha'penny. Félisette soon became jealous of Ha'penny's affection for the +others, and determined to do him an evil turn. One day the dame was +going to the Witches' Sabbath, and said to Ha'penny, "Now mind and take +especial care of my lovely darling, Félisette. If she gets into any +trouble I shall hold you to answer for it, as I see the dear creature is +not your favorite." + +The dame went off riding on a broom-stick, and Félisette invented a +thousand spiteful tricks to make the time pass unpleasantly to the +others. At last she disappeared, and presently Ha'penny heard her crying +pitifully upstairs. He rushed to see what was the matter, and discovered +her with her tail caught in the door of the forbidden closet, up in the +peak of the roof. She seemed about to die of the pain she was suffering, +and, eager to set her free, the kind lad, without a moment's +hesitation, lifted the latch while stroking Félisette's fur, when lo! as +the door flew open, out came a skeleton hand, seizing poor Ha'penny in +its grip! Up jumped Félisette, laughing heartily at the success of her +trick, and ran away. + +[Illustration: Ha'penny opens the magic closet.] + +Ha'penny found himself held close in the embrace of two skeleton arms. +In vain he struggled; the dreadful clasp only grew closer. He knew that +this was a trap the witch had set to catch any one visiting the +forbidden closet, so he made up his mind to die when his mistress should +return. While he was in this sad way, the oldest of the dogs came up and +licked his hands. Tears were running from its eyes, and to Ha'penny's +great surprise the dog spoke. + +"My poor friend!" said the oldest of the dogs, "I am afraid your fate is +sealed. Know, then, that there is but one chance left for you to escape +the witch's power. In this closet she keeps the magic slippers and the +magic staff. Wearing the slippers, you may run faster than the wind; +holding the staff, you may discover all the hidden treasures of the +earth." + +"But how can I get free of this horrible trap?" said Ha'penny. + +The oldest of the dogs looked around to see that no one was listening, +and then whispered: + +"You must know that we twelve dogs were once twelve princes, and the +twelve cats were princesses--all of us having turn by turn fallen into +the power of the witch. She is bound to treat us according to our rank, +but there is no hope of ever regaining human shape, I fear. Still, we +may be able to help _you_, who have been so good to us." + +He gave a little short bark, and up the stairs came running all the dogs +and cats, who wept when they saw the sad plight of their friend. Up on a +high shelf over the skeleton's head were the magic staff and slippers, +and the thing was to get them down without touching the skeleton, which +held fast every living thing that touched it. One of the cats ran nimbly +up the wall and let herself hang; the next cat hung to her tail, and so +on till a bridge was made, over which the oldest of the dogs scrambled, +and got the coveted treasures. He put the staff in Ha'penny's hand, and +fitted the slippers on his feet. Ha'penny gave a kick, and struck the +ground with his staff. Instantly the arms of the skeleton relaxed their +grip, and he was free. He bade a fond farewell to his dear friends, +promising to come back to help them whenever he could. He set out to run +from the house, and speedily the slippers carried him off at such a +tremendous rate of speed that he was faint for want of breath. Vainly he +tried to stop, but no; on, on he went with a fearful rush. He heard the +cries of the old witch, who pursued him on her broom-stick. On, on, went +poor Ha'penny, more dead than alive, and now the witch seemed gaining on +him. He could hear the gnashing of her teeth. He struck out with his +staff, as he passed by a rock, and instantly the rock became a mountain +as high as the moon. The witch took some time to clamber over this, and +meantime Ha'penny got far ahead of her. Reaching a city, he dashed into +the midst of a funeral procession that was going through the street, and +hid himself under the pall of the coffin, kicking off the slippers as he +did so. Immediately he could walk as other men do, and when the old +witch arrived she saw nothing but the funeral creeping slowly along--no +sign of Ha'penny, who, hidden under the pall, clasped his magic slippers +to his breast, and held tight to his magic staff. The disappointed witch +flew homeward and whipped the cats and dogs soundly--excepting +Félisette, who, of course, had been the tell-tale on poor Ha'penny. + +The funeral train reached the cemetery, and Ha'penny thought it his duty +to cry as bitterly as the rest of the mourners; but after the coffin had +been put in the grave, and as they were turning away, he asked a +bystander whose funeral it was. + +"The king's messenger, to be sure, you simpleton," said the man. + +"Could I get the place?" asked Ha'penny. + +"You, the king's messenger!" said the man, scornfully. "Why, he must be +the swiftest runner in the country. Look at your cork-screw legs! Look +at your hump-back and your big head! As well expect a snail to carry +our king's messages." + +Nothing daunted, Ha'penny went to the king's chamberlain, and proffered +his request. The chamberlain laughed until his head nearly dropped off, +and then called the first Goldstick-in-waiting, who called the second, +and soon the whole court was roaring over the absurd request of this +poor mannikin to be the king's messenger. + +"All I ask is that you try me," said Ha'penny, stoutly holding his +ground. + +"Stop! An idea occurs to me," said the jolly chamberlain, holding his +aching sides. "To-morrow we shall have a running-match between this +champion and the swiftest runner of the kingdom. In truth, my lords, +this will be sport worth having," and he looked around at the courtiers, +who all set to laughing anew. + +Next day the match was held in a lovely grassy field. On a green mound +in the centre was pitched a white satin tent, under which sat the king +and queen and their children. An immense crowd assembled. Two bands of +music kept playing all the time; there were free Punch and Judy shows on +the outskirts of the crowd, and booths where lemonade was given away, +with peppermint sticks and molasses taffy, to all who asked for it. +Banners waved, trumpets blew, and then the race began. Side by side with +Ha'penny, little and insignificant and forlorn as he was, started the +king's swiftest runner, a man of beautiful light form and splendid +muscle. Once around the field they ran, the dwarf lagging; but on the +second round Ha'penny settled his feet well in his magic slippers, when, +see! like an arrow he sped past the athlete, and was in at the goal so +easily that the spectators hardly had time to wink their astonished +eyes! Hurrah! hurrah! A mighty cheer went up for the successful +Ha'penny, and the king called him to receive the purse of gold, which +was the prize. Ha'penny knelt at the king's feet, and again asked to be +made his messenger. + +"That shall you be, my mannikin!" said the pleased monarch. So Ha'penny +had a gold chain round his neck, a fine velvet coat to wear every day, +and a page to serve his meals. The king grew so fond of his new servant +that the rest of the courtiers became jealous. Soon Ha'penny again had +no friends but the animals around the palace. They, as usual, followed +him everywhere, and caressed him fondly. + +Once when the little dwarf was walking in the king's paddock, +accompanied by a train of young deer who loved to be near him, he felt +the staff in his hand give a loud thump on the ground. At the same time +all the deer formed in a circle round the spot, seeming by their eyes to +implore Ha'penny to remain there. At first he could not understand this, +but at length occurred to him what the oldest of the dogs had said about +hidden treasure. Ha'penny had no spade to dig with, but at once the deer +went to work with their hoofs, and soon they had made a deep hole, at +the bottom of which lay a large iron ring fastened to an iron door. + +Ha'penny was not strong enough to pull this up; but the magic staff, +when passed through the ring, lifted it easily. Below was a flight of +steps, leading to a gallery. Ha'penny went down the steps, followed the +windings of the gallery, and reached a second door. Touching this with +the magic staff it yielded, and flying open disclosed to view a lovely +garden, where roamed all sorts of strange shapes--men's and women's +bodies bearing the heads of bears, lions, wolves, foxes, dogs, cows, +horses, and cats. Instantly these creatures came flocking around +Ha'penny, calling him their deliverer, and telling him that they too +were victims of the witch, although by an accident she had only had time +to change their heads before her spell expired. To this garden the witch +was in the habit of coming once a week, to see how her victims were +getting on, and to-day was the day of her visit. Ha'penny took the magic +slippers from his pocket and put them on; and keeping firm hold of his +trusty staff he hid behind a lilac-bush. + +Soon, in came the witch, riding her broom-stick. Ha'penny had never +before seen her in her true witch dress. It was a black, tight-fitting +gown, made of scaly snake-skin, and she had a necklace of live coals. +Around her high-peaked cap were twined two living serpents, and a toad +formed her brooch. Under one arm she carried her familiar spirit, in the +likeness of a black cat, with a single emerald eye. She wore a mantle, +made of cobwebs and studded with large venomous red spiders. Oh! she was +a terror to look upon, and no mistake! Ha'penny's teeth chattered with +fear, and so would yours at sight of her! She rode sweeping her broom +down the garden path, and instantly all the animals with human bodies +came running to do her homage. She made them kneel before her, and, with +the three-thonged whip of live snakes she carried, whipped them all +cruelly, till they groaned and cried for mercy. Then, feeling tired, she +lay down on a bank to sleep, guarded by her familiar, who kept watch +with its single eye of flame; and on closely observing the horrid +creature Ha'penny made no doubt that it was none other than his enemy, +Félisette, in her rightful shape. + +When the witch was fairly snoring, Ha'penny crept up behind, and +summoning all his strength prepared to smite her with his staff. +Suddenly the black cat spit and hunched her back. The serpents around +the witch's hat began to writhe and uncoil. They knew an enemy was near. + +Ha'penny saw that he must lose no time, so aiming a fierce blow at the +witch's back, he broke her spinal column, just as you would break a +stick of sugar-candy. Then the dying witch uttered a shrill command to +her watchers, and instantly Félisette and the two serpents set upon the +audacious Ha'penny. "This time you shall not escape me!" cried +Félisette, spitting fire. The cat's breath was deadly poison, and the +serpents' fangs no man might feel and live. Ha'penny struck, swift and +sure, right into the middle of the cat's single eye, and pierced her +brain. As Félisette fell dead beside the groaning witch, the serpents +reared their full length from the ground, and prepared to strangle the +dwarf. The good staff proved true, and cut them both in two with a +single well-aimed blow. What was his horror to find the mangled remains +of the snakes change into four living ones, stronger than the first. +There was nothing for it but flight, and Ha'penny took to his heels. The +magic slippers carried him on and away, so swiftly that nothing could +catch him. He passed through the gallery and went out at the iron door, +finding himself safe, but a little out of breath, in the paddock with +the king's deer. + +Ha'penny told nobody of this exciting adventure, but could not sleep for +thinking of all the poor bewitched people down there in the underground +garden in the power of those dreadful snakes. He now suspected that +these two fighting serpents were of the multiplication variety. (This +means that if they were cut in two they would become four, from four +become eight, from eight sixteen, from sixteen thirty-two, and so on +indefinitely; and this, we are told, is the very worst species of snake +known to travellers!) + +Ha'penny got up early, went out again to the paddock, and found the deer +in a great state of excitement and agitation. They seemed to be waiting +for him to come, and led the way to the secret passage in the earth. +Ha'penny went down, staff in hand, and easily passed through the first +iron door. As he neared the second door, he heard a confused noise +beyond it of cries and lamentations. He opened the door softly, and +crept into the garden unobserved. There he saw the dying witch, who, as +witches always require twenty-four hours to die in, was lying on the +ground writhing horribly, groaning, and shrieking to her snakes to +multiply, which they did until almost the whole garden was one seething, +wriggling mass of the horrible creatures. The poor people in the garden +had climbed up the trees, and were every moment expecting to fall to the +ground poisoned by the breath of the serpents, which rose in a thick +vapor. + +In this terrible moment Ha'penny's heart almost failed him; but, +mustering all his courage, he sprang upon the witch, and tore from her +the mantle of cobwebs, to which he noticed she was clinging. Instantly +the witch set up a shrill shriek. + +"Give me back my mantle," she cried pitifully; "if I die with that +around me, I can be sure of rest in the grave. If you take it away, I +shall have to fly about like a bat forever." + +"If you order the snakes to shrivel up and die, and restore all your +victims to their natural shapes, I will give you the mantle," said +Ha'penny firmly. + +"Children, come home!" cried the witch, in a failing voice. Immediately +the snakes began rolling and gliding into each other, and in a short +while nothing was left but the two fiery serpents, who wreathed +themselves quietly around the witch's hat again, as if nothing had +occurred. + +"Children, be dust!" she said again--this time in a weaker voice--and +the snakes curled up and fell away, leaving behind them only two little +shining skins. + +"Be once more men and women, you accursed things!" she said spitefully, +making a sign at the transformed beings who were now flocking around +Ha'penny with delight and gratitude. As the witch spoke, the ugly +deformities melted away, and in their place were seen the heads of +handsome men and beautiful women, who wept for joy when they found +themselves restored. + +Ha'penny now threw the cobweb mantle over the witch, who, clutching it +in her arms, gave one long shudder and expired. They made a grave for +her then and there; and Ha'penny led his companions out of the magic +garden, which they were glad to leave, into the long passage-way. There +they showed him caverns filled with gold and silver, which it had been +their business to dig out of the earth and to pack away for the witch. +Ha'penny and his friends divided the spoil, although they told him it +was all his by right. When they got up into the light of day once more, +the bewitched people scattered in all directions to go to their various +homes, and Ha'penny was again alone in the world, although now very +rich. He persuaded the king to discharge him from the royal service, and +his first thought was to journey to the cabin in the woods. This, by aid +of the magic slippers, he did in very quick style, and there he found +the twelve dogs and the twelve cats living as before. This distressed +Ha'penny, as he had hoped that the breaking of the witch's spell would +set them also free. "What did I tell you?" said the oldest of the dogs +sadly. "We are doomed _never_ to regain our shapes; but, now that +Félisette has gone, we are comfortable here and don't repine. Only, +there _should_ be somebody to cook for us, and our hair has not been +decently brushed for a week." + +Ha'penny felt a sudden thrill of joy. Here, at last, was something to +depend on him, something that he might live and care for. He warmed the +water forthwith, and gave all the dogs and cats a bath apiece, and then +he combed and brushed them nicely. He made the fire and heated their +broth, and fetched fresh cream and white bread for their breakfast. +Nothing was heard but little barks and purrs of enjoyment. Ha'penny +waited till all were asleep on their cushions, and then he mounted the +stairs and nailed up the skeleton cupboard, so that it might never again +be opened. He could not take it quite away, you see, as every one must +have a skeleton of some kind in his closet, and this was the only one he +had. Ha'penny had never felt so happy and light-hearted as now. He had +found friends, and might remain alone with them in peace. + +So there he continued to live, and I am almost sure that if you would +visit that forest, you might, even now, succeed in finding the cottage, +the cats, and Ha'penny himself! + + + + +SYBILLA, MYRTILLO, AND FURIOSO. + + +A certain king had a beautiful golden-haired daughter named Sybilla, +whose suitors came from every country, though with small success, since +the princess had vowed to remain single until one proving to be the +mightiest hero of the world should appear. + +At no great distance from her father's country lived a horrible giant, +every hair of whose head could change, at will, into a fiery serpent. He +had one eye, the size of a mill-wheel, and his teeth looked like rocks +in a mighty cavern. His name was Furioso, and his strength was known to +surpass that of an army of ordinary men. What was the dismay of +Sybilla's father when this monster sent to request the lovely princess +for his wife! The king turned pale, and walked up and down his palace +floor all night, for he knew what it meant to refuse the request of +Furioso, who, up to this time, had lived at peace with his neighbor's +country. The queen-mother, hearing of the giant's offer, took to her +royal bed in kicking hysterics. As to the proud little princess, she +curled her pretty red lips scornfully and tossed her head. "I'd like to +see him do it, the fright!" was what she said. + +In a few days what the king feared had come to pass. The giant Furioso, +on receiving the beautiful diplomatic letter the king's secretary had +written him (after consultation with all the lords and lawyers of the +realm), frowned, scratched his head, which instantly bristled all over +with flaming serpents, and opening his mouth sent forth a blood-curdling +yell of defiance that resounded in the farthest part of the king's +dominions. Without a moment's delay he changed himself into a fearful +hurricane, and swept over the country and the palace of the Princess +Sybilla. Fences and iron gates, stone walls and marble palaces fell to +the ground like card-houses. Forests were uprooted, suspension bridges +snapped like cobwebs, villages entire rose up into the clouds and +disappeared, with their inhabitants looking in astonishment out of the +windows! Cows and horses, dogs and elephants were seen whirling about +in the air like Japanese day-fireworks. The king and queen found the +roof lifted from above their heads, and went sailing out the open space +in their nightcaps. They met all the court blowing wildly about up +there, and for some time it was like a mad dance without any bottom to +it. Dizzy and terrified, the royal couple at last fell down to earth +again, the queen lighting on the fat cook, so that she was not seriously +injured--the king falling on a tennis net, which the force of the wind +kept suspended like a hammock without any ropes. + +Picking themselves up, the first thought of the royal couple was for +their beloved princess. As fast as different members of the court and +household fell down from the clouds, which they continued to do all the +evening and night, the king sent them in search of the princess. Nobody +remembered having seen Sybilla anywhere in the air, and her +waiting-maid, who dropped somewhere about nine o'clock A.M., next day, +wept as she told how she was combing the princess' golden hair with the +ivory comb she still held in her hand, when the breeze came which +separated them. One thing was certain, the princess had disappeared. +When things settled down a little, and people began taking their +breath, a peasant turned up who reported seeing the princess flying +along at a fearful rate of speed in the arms of a tall, white-haired man +wrapped in a mantle, who hid his face as he passed. "It were just at +that moment, your honors," said the peasant, overwhelmed by the +questions that rained on him, "I were myself tooken, unexpected-like, +and turned upside down by the wind; and when I cum to, there I were +atop a haystack in Farmer Grimes' field, five miles from home as the +crow flies, a-standing on my head." + +The king and queen exchanged horrified glances. + +Each remembered to have heard that one of the tricks of Giant Furioso, +when he wished to be particularly wicked, was to change to the semblance +of a venerable white-haired man. No doubt about it, the whole calamity +to court and nation was the work of Furioso, and _he_ had got the +princess. + +The distracted king set out at the head of his army to visit Furioso's +castle. To his surprise, under the giant's name, upon a visiting card +inserted above the speaking-trumpet at the gate, were pencilled these +words: "Out of town till further notice." The windows were closed, and +green shades hung behind them. No smoke came out of the chimneys, and +the doors were chained. Evidently the giant had retired to some one of +his retreats, where he could not be followed. The king and his army +marched back again in gloomy silence. + +For six months nothing was heard of the unfortunate Sybilla, till one +day three young princes, travelling from a distant country in search of +adventure, found a wounded carrier-pigeon on the road. Under its wing +was a note, written in pale red ink, on a bit of torn linen cambric. The +note gave them considerable trouble to read it, but, at last, the +youngest prince, Myrtillo, who had always been the cleverest at school, +managed to decipher these words: + + "I write this with blood taken from my finger, on a fragment of + my only pocket-handkerchief. I am the wretched Princess + Sybilla, daughter of the King Rolando, and I pray any kind + mortal who finds this to come to my aid, in the dungeon of + Furioso, under the fifth mountain of the Impassable Range. Once + in twenty-four hours this mountain cleaves asunder to let my + oppressor take the air. Watch, and rescue me, in the name of + humanity." + +The Impassable Range was far away, but the princes journeyed thither +without delay. They found the fifth mountain easily, and hid under the +rocks at its base, to await developments. Exactly at sunrise a rumbling +sound was heard, and the cliffs shook. The mountain split apart from +summit to base, and between two yawning jaws of rock issued forth, +first, a head covered with flaming serpents, then a frightful purple +face, and lastly, the gigantic form of Furioso. Following him came the +wails and shrieks of his captives within the mountain, to which Furioso +paid no attention; he only turned his back and shouted: + + "Close you, mountain, fierce and grim, + Open but to Banbedrim!" + +The princes fancied that this last was the password, and when the giant +had disappeared they tried to make the mountain open by repeating it; +but in his excitement each one forgot how to pronounce the magic +syllables. So there they stayed till sunset, when the giant came home +from his hunting expedition. He had a pouch slung over his shoulder, and +in it were crowded the new men, women, and children he had caught. The +poor creatures were half dead with terror and rough treatment. The +princes watched the giant, and listened with all their ears for the +password. "Banbedrim!" thundered Furioso, and instantly the mountain +yawned to let him and his miserable prisoners pass in, when it closed, +as before. + +The three princes laid each his hand on his sword, and swore to be +avenged of the brutal treatment of their fellow-beings. Next morning +when the giant issued forth, hurling the password at the mountain, then +disappeared from sight, the oldest prince declared that he should be the +first to enter the mountain, that his brothers should wait twenty-four +hours for his reappearance, and that should he fail to come back the +second brother might come to his assistance. + +Bravely the young man sprang up the mountain-side, and called aloud the +password. Instantly amid thunderings and lightnings the ground split at +his feet and swallowed him from sight. They could see the tip of his +bright sword held aloft, as he sank into the gloomy abyss. + +Twenty-four hours passed, and the oldest prince failed to return. Then +the second brother set forth, and he, too, vanished from sight. A long +day and night of waiting had the youngest prince. Then he ascended the +mountain where there was every reason to fear his brothers had found a +horrible fate. Uttering the password, Myrtillo saw, through the opening +earth at his feet, a pit whence came fire and smoke; and he plainly +heard the cries for help of many human voices. + +Myrtillo fell a great distance, landing on his feet in a desolate +cavern. The smoke cleared away and he beheld a huge iron door before +which were four trumpets--one of copper, one of silver, one of gold, and +one of brass. Over them these words: "He who would enter here, choose +between us four." + +At the foot of the golden trumpet lay the mangled remains of his oldest +brother, who had perished in trying to blow it. At the foot of the +silver trumpet the corpse of the second prince had fallen; and now +Myrtillo must choose between the two remaining trumpets! Without a +moment's hesitation he put his lips to the copper trumpet, and gave a +loud, clear blast. At once the iron door flew open, and he was in a hall +surrounded by dungeons, through whose gratings he could see prisoners in +every stage of misery. They called to him frantically, and hailed him as +their deliverer. Alas! what could the poor prince do to save them. He +looked about and saw a long tunnel, ending in a massive gate of stone +and iron. As he gazed into the darkness of the tunnel something coiled +up at the end of it seemed to stir, and a hideous snake darted toward +him, opening a pair of jaws as wide as an ordinary fireplace, and +sending out a flaming tongue. Myrtillo charged upon the beast, and after +a desperate fight drove his sword down its throat, the point coming out +at the back of the neck. As he stooped to free his sword the serpent +gave a convulsive struggle and died. Myrtillo found a chain around its +neck on which was fastened a golden key. He took the key and put it in +the great key-hole of the iron door before him, and to his joy the door +opened. There, in a dismal dungeon within, lay a beautiful maiden in +chains. Myrtillo set her free, and found that she was the Princess +Sybilla, whom the giant treated with especial cruelty because she +persisted in refusing his love. She told him that the little pigeon was +one of many kept for the serpent's food, and that she had hidden it, and +helped it to fly out one day when the giant left her cell. "And now," +said the princess, when Myrtillo had in turn told her his story, "let us +be quick, and lose no time. In the court beyond my cell are two +fountains. One of them contains the water of strength, the other the +water of weakness. From the former fountain Furioso gains all his power. +A little of its water sprinkled upon the dead recalls them to life, and +we may save your poor brothers yet." + +Myrtillo and the lady hastened to the fountains; but to their dismay a +roaring noise and the groans of the wretched prisoners, who were +chastised daily upon his return, announced the arrival of the giant. +"Quick!" said the lady, pointing to the water of strength; "drink once +of this, and you will be strong enough to change the fountains, putting +each in the place of the other." + +Myrtillo obeyed, and at once felt able to move a mountain at command. He +seized the solid stone basins and changed them, and hardly had he done +so when the giant came rushing in. "Where is that insolent +whipper-snapper of a prince who has dared to kill my faithful serpent?" +roared he. + +"Here he is, at your service," said Myrtillo, stepping forth with a +gallant bow, and holding his glittering sword in hand. + +"Just wait till I quench my thirst," said the giant disdainfully, as he +stooped down to what he supposed to be his fountain of strength, and +drank a long, deep draught. Suddenly a strange trembling came over the +monster's huge bulk. His face turned pale, his eyes stared, his jaw +dropped, he sank to the ground. + +"Why, this is the water of weakness my prisoners drink," he cried. "What +trick have you been playing me, you scoundrel?" + +Myrtillo again drank of the water of strength, and now he felt as if he +could defy an army, single-handed. Swift as a lightning flash he +descended upon the giant, and severed his wicked head from his body. The +Princess Sybilla uttered a wild shriek of delight, which was heard and +understood by all her fellow-captives, and the dungeons echoed with +sobs and cries of joy. Myrtillo and the princess filled goblets with the +water of strength, and hastened to sprinkle all the prisoners, who, +paralyzed by their chains and wasted with hunger, could in many cases +barely stir upon the ground where they lay. Soon, a host of strong men +and women filled the main hall of the dungeon, and then Myrtillo had the +joy of seeing his two brothers return to life under the action of the +magic water, in which he bathed their limbs. As Myrtillo only had +_drank_ of the water of strength, he remained the strongest champion in +the world; and when Sybilla was taken back to her father and mother, she +told them that she had promised to take the Prince Myrtillo for her +husband. From the giant's stronghold Myrtillo brought away gems and gold +enough to enrich him for a lifetime, even after all the giant's victims +had been sent home with a bag of gold apiece. His brothers found brides +in two lovely fellow-sufferers they had led out of the giant's cavern to +the light of day; and so all were satisfied, and in a short time the +Giant Furioso was forgotten. No more hurricanes visited the kingdom of +Sybilla's father, where things continued to jog along in the old-time +peaceful fashion. + + + + +ANNETTE; OR, THE MAGIC COFFEE-MILL. + + +A poor woman and her daughter, who were on the verge of starvation, saw +a little green bud of a plant growing through their cottage floor. They +watered it, and in a day or two it sent forth long shoots, and became a +vine, fine and delicate to look at, but tough as an iron wire. The vine +put forth leaves, soon covering the inner walls of the cottage. The +tendrils waved longingly toward the sun, and so the mother and daughter +set their lattice window open, when, lo! the vine escaped as if it had +wings and grew quickly heavenward. Lovely flowers bloomed on it, in +shape like morning-glories, and rare birds came to drink the honey of +their chalices. The maiden leaned out of her window and looked up. +Higher, higher climbed the vine, till it was lost in the blue sky above +them. The girl was seized with a yearning desire to climb up and see +what could be seen. Her mother gave her leave, and she set out. Up, up, +she went, and the mother watched below till the clustering green and +many-colored bells hid her child from sight. At last the girl reached a +wonderful new country, and stepped off the vine upon a shining silver +path, which she followed through a green meadow till she came to a house +made of honey-comb that glittered, oh! so beautifully. The columns of +the porch were sticks of lemon-candy, and there were little benches to +rest yourself upon, made of maple-sugar and cushioned with gingerbread. +Annette, for so the girl was called, ventured to open the door of the +house and peep in. There she found more beautiful things than I can tell +you of--toys and books and pictures--and all the furniture was made of +cake with raisins in it, so that, if one sat down to read, one need only +turn around and nibble a knob off the chair, or pick raisins out of the +arm of the sofa. Annette played a little and read a story-book, then she +fell asleep on a couch made of apple-dumplings. Suddenly in came three +goats, who were the servants of the fairy to whom this house belonged. +"Let us butt her to death," said the oldest goat. "Let us trample on +her, and bite her," said the second goat. "Let her alone," said the +third goat, who was a kind little fellow with golden horns. "If she +holds her tongue, and if she don't find out the secret of the golden +coffee-mill, our mistress will let her stay here and work for her." + +Annette heard this while pretending to be asleep, and when the fairy +came home, she jumped up and made a nice little courtesy, begging to be +allowed to do the housework. "Well," said the fairy, after looking at +her sharply, "I will try you; only don't undertake to grind my coffee +for me, and don't gossip with the goats." + +Annette lived there for six months, and learned to make all kinds of +goodies; for the fairy was the queen's confectioner in that country. You +might eat all you pleased, provided you didn't talk; and not a word +spoke Annette, and not a word spoke the goats. Every day the fairy went +into a pantry and there ground her coffee; and every day she carried two +or three bags full of something heavy, and put them in her chariot, and +drove off with them. The coffee-mill looked like any other one, and +Annette wondered vainly what its secret was. At last curiosity overcame +her, and she stole into the pantry and began to grind the mill. Down +fell a stream of pure gold-dust, and it powdered Annette all over till +she looked like a golden image. "How shall I get rid of this?" she said, +trying to shake it off, but the gold dust stuck fast. She cried and +sobbed, for she knew that now the fairy would certainly find her out. In +came the friendly goat. "Cheer up," said he. "That was the way my horns +came to be gilded, because I yielded to my curiosity about the mill, +when I first came here to live. The fairy wanted to kill me, but she let +me off when I vowed to serve her faithfully for seven years. The time is +just up, and so I propose that we escape together. Take the magic mill +under your arm and get upon my back, and we will go down to your world." + +Annette joyfully obeyed the friendly goat, and carrying the coffee-mill +they set off from the fairy's house. Unfortunately she did not know how +to stop the mill from grinding, and it left a path of gold-dust behind +them as they fled, which showed the way to the fairy. The fairy followed +them, riding on a silver broom-stick; but the goat was swift as the wind, +and Annette clung to his golden horns, and held the magic mill tight +under her arm. By good luck they reached the opening, near which the +vine was growing, and, just as the furious fairy got near enough to +stretch out her long arm after them, down went Annette, goat, and +coffee-mill, through a rift in the clouds, to a land where their enemy +could not follow them. The faithful vine caught them as they fell, and +held them up stoutly. When they had climbed down, and touched the earth +in safety, Annette was astonished to see her goat turn into a handsome +young prince, with curling golden locks and kind blue eyes. + +"You have freed me from my enchantment, beautiful maiden," he said, +kneeling upon the grass at her feet. "Long years ago I and my wicked +brothers were captured by the fairy and became her slaves under the form +of goats, as you saw. For fear that they may find out some way to +follow us, we must cut down this vine, and then we shall be free forever +from all dread of disturbance." + +Annette's mother came running out, kissed her child, and listened with +wonder to the tale of her adventures. All this while the mill had gone +on grinding, and before they knew it the cottage floor was knee-deep in +gold-dust. "We shall be smothered at this rate," cried the prince +laughing, and he hastened to make a magic sign he had learned from the +fairy. The mill ceased to flow, and then the prince took an axe and cut +the beautiful vine at its root. Annette wept to see the lovely leaves +and blossoms shrivel up, but in a short time they vanished entirely from +sight. The prince married Annette, and every day the mill ground gold +enough to pay all the expenses of their palace and servants and horses, +and also the expenses of Annette's mother, who had a separate palace for +herself over the way. + +The country people, for years after the time when Annette and the prince +came down the magic vine, showering gold-dust along their way, continued +to talk about the wonderful rain of stars they had seen in the sky that +moon-lit night. + + + + +JULIET; OR, THE LITTLE WHITE MOUSE. + +[Illustration: _The Queen & the Princess in prison._] + + +Once upon a time there lived a king and queen who loved each other so +dearly that they were an example to all the married couples in their +kingdom. In an adjoining country lived a wicked king, who spent his life +in envying the happiness of his neighbors. He was a sworn enemy to all +good and charitable people, and his chosen companions were robbers and +murderers. His air was stern and forbidding. He was lean and withered, +dressed always in black, and his hair hung in long elf-locks over his +fiery eyes. This wicked wretch, determined to end the happiness of his +neighbor, raised an immense army and marched to attack the kingdom of +the Land of Sweet Content, for so the good king's country was called. + +The king of Sweet Content made a brave defence, but it was all in vain. +The immense numbers of the adversary overpowered him and his troops. +One day when his poor queen was sitting with her infant daughter in her +arms, waiting for news from the battle-field, a messenger on horseback +galloped up to the door, and entered the room where she was, with every +sign of terror. + +"Oh! madam," he cried, "all is lost. The king is slain, the army +defeated, and the ferocious King Grimgouger is even now marching to take +you prisoner." + +The queen fell senseless on the floor; and while her attendants were +making every effort to provide a means of flight for her and the little +princess, the army of the foe, with banners flying and with music +playing, marched into the city. Surrounding the palace, they called on +the queen to surrender. No answer was given, and the horrid King +Grimgouger instantly ordered a file of his most blood-thirsty soldiers +to march through the palace and to kill everybody they met, except the +queen and princess. + +Now nothing was heard but shrieks and lamentations from the doomed +attendants of the queen. When all were sacrificed, the tyrant Grimgouger +walked into the apartment where the terrified queen stood, clasping her +child in her arms, and prepared for death. + +"You won't die now, madam," he thundered, seizing her by the long hair, +and dragging her after him down the stairs and over the stones of the +courtyard to his chariot. She was all bruised and bleeding, and knew +nothing more till she found herself in a tower-room, where dampness +dripped from the walls, and the light of day could scarcely reach +through a small grated window. She lay upon a little heap of mouldy +straw, and her child cried for food beside her, while over her stood a +wicked fairy to whom King Grimgouger had given the prisoners in charge. +The fairy threw her a few crusts without any butter on them, and the +baby seized one eagerly, and stopped crying as she sucked it. + +"That is all either of you shall have to-day," said the fairy. +"To-morrow they will decide what to do with you. Probably you, queen, +will be hanged, and your daughter be saved to marry the son of our good +King Grimgouger." + +"What! That ugly little reptile of a prince!" screamed the queen. "Hang +me, if you will, but don't give my beautiful angel to a husband like +that!" + +"Then she, too, will be hanged," said the fairy, grinning maliciously, +and flying away with a fizz of flame, leaving behind her the smell of +sulphur matches. + +Next day the fairy gave the queen three boiled peas, and a small bit of +black bread, and the next, and the next, until the poor queen wasted to +skin and bone, and the baby looked like a wax doll that had been left +out in the rain all night. + +"In a few days it will be over," thought the poor queen. "We shall be +starved to death." + +She fell to spinning with what strength remained to her (for the fairy +made her work, to pay her board, she said), and just then she saw, +entering at a small hole, a pretty little mouse as white as snow. + +"Ah! pretty creature," cried the queen, "you have come to a poor place +for food. I have only three peas, which are to last me and my child all +day. Begone, if you, too, would not starve." + +The little mouse ran about, here and there, skipping so like a little +monkey that the baby smiled, and gave it the pea she had for her +supper. + +The instant she had fed the mouse, what was the queen's surprise to see, +start out of the prison floor, a neat little table, covered with a white +cloth, having on it silver dishes, containing a roast partridge, a +lovely cake, some raspberry jam, and for the baby a big bowl of fresh +bread and milk, with a silver spoon! How they did eat! I leave you to +imagine it! + +Next day the mouse came again, and devoured the queen's three peas, her +whole day's supply. The queen sighed, for she did not know where +anything else was to come from. She stroked the little mouse, and said +gently, "Pretty creature, you are welcome." Immediately the same little +table sprang up out of the floor. This time there was broiled chicken +and ice-cream, green peas, marsh-mallows and custard, with a fresh bowl +of bread and milk for the baby. "Oh! you dear little mouse," said the +queen. "This must be your work! If you could only help me to get my baby +out of this dreadful place, I would thank you forever." + +The mouse ran up to her with some straws in its mouth. This gave the +queen an idea, and taking them she began to weave a basket, for she was +a clever queen, and knew how to use her pretty white hands in a variety +of useful ways. The mouse understood her, and brought her more straws, +until she had made a nice covered basket large enough to hold the baby. +Then the queen cut her petticoat into strips, and plaited them, till she +had a long and strong cord. She tied the basket to this, and wrapping +the beautiful little smiling princess in the only covering she had, laid +her in the basket, crying all the time as if her heart would break. Then +she climbed up to the window, and (the little white mouse watching her +with a very friendly air) looked down to see if she could attract the +attention of any charitable person who might be passing in the street +below. + +There she saw an old woman leaning upon a stick and looking up at her. + +"Pray, goody," said the queen, "have pity on an innocent babe, and save +it from destruction. Feed and nurse her, and heaven will reward you, if +I cannot." + +"I don't want money," said the old woman; "but I am very nice in my +eating, and I have a positive longing for a nice, little, fat, white +mouse. If you can find such an one in your prison, kill it and throw it +out to me. Then, right willingly, will I take your pretty babe and nurse +it carefully." + +When the queen heard this, she exclaimed to herself, "Oh! the dreadful +old thing!" and began to cry. "There is only one mouse here, madam," she +said aloud, "and that is so pretty and engaging that I can't find it in +my heart to kill it, even to save my child." + +"Hoity-toity!" said the angry old creature, thumping her stick on the +ground below. "If you think more of a miserable little mouse than of +your child, keep them both, and be hanged to you!" + +So saying, her staff changed to a broom-stick, and with a fizz and a +bang the old hag shot up into the sky like a rocket. And there was again +a strong smell of sulphur matches in the air! + +The queen, seeing that this was, without doubt, the wicked fairy come to +try her, gave way to new grief. She kissed her hapless little one, and +just then the mouse jumped into the basket. The baby's rough clothes +changed to finest linen and lace, and a pillow of down was under her +head, while a gay silver rattle was put into her hand. + +More surprises! As the queen watched, the mouse's paws changed to tiny +hands with jewelled rings upon them. The little face grew into the image +of a smiling old woman's, and a figure of a pretty old-time fairy stood +before her. As these fairies have been rather out of fashion lately, I +will tell you just how she was dressed. She wore a chintz gown, looped +up over a blue silk quilted petticoat. A lace ruff was around her +throat, and her long-pointed bodice was laced with silver. Over her +mob-cap she had a high sugar-loaf hat tied on with pink ribbons, and her +feet were clad in the prettiest black silk stockings and high-heeled +black satin slippers, with big diamond buckles. When you remember that +she was just of a size with the baby princess, you will agree that you +would have liked to see her. + +"What is the baby's name?" said the fairy. + +"Oh--Juliet; I thought I had mentioned it," said the queen, +apologetically. + +"I have never heard anything but 'pecious wecious,' and 'mother's +blessing,' and things like that," said the fairy. "You may stop crying +now, for I will save Juliet. If you had given me to the wicked fairy, +she would have gobbled me up in a minute, so you see I owe my life to +you. Henceforth I will take Juliet under my protection. She shall live +to be an hundred years old, and never have an illness or a wrinkle." + +Fancy it, children! No mumps, no measles, no whooping-cough, no +castor-oil! What rapture in the thought! + +The queen kissed the fairy's little hand, and begged that Juliet should +at once be taken away. So the weeping princess was put into the basket, +and carefully let down to the bottom of the tower. Then the fairy +resumed the shape of a mouse and ran after her down the string, which +the queen still held in her hands. Suddenly she came running back again. +"Alas! alas!" she cried to the terrified queen, "our enemy, the fairy +Cancaline, was hidden below, and seized upon the child, and flew away +with it. Unfortunately she is older and more powerful than I am, and I +don't know how to rescue Juliet from her hands." + +At these words the queen uttered a loud cry, and in came running the +jailer of the tower, his men, some soldiers, and after them, gnashing +his teeth with rage, the horrid Grimgouger himself. + +"Where is the child?" he said, stamping. + +"Alas, I know not, king," said the mother. "A fairy has taken it off." + +"Then you shall be hanged at once," he cried in a fury. "Seize her, +guards." + +They dragged the poor queen by the hair of her head to the gallows. Just +as the executioner was about to tie the rope around her neck, the +gallows fell down beneath him and knocked out all his front teeth, while +invisible hands carried the queen through the air to a safe retreat in +the mountains. She found herself in a beautiful castle, where all her +attendants were white mice. Here the queen lived for eighteen years, +surrounded by luxury and tender care. But she always thought of her +little daughter, and dreamed of her by day and night. The mouse fairy +made every attempt to find news of the lost princess, but failed to do +so. + +At this period the son of the wicked King Grimgouger had grown up, and +everybody was talking about his strange fancy for a poultry-woman's +maid-servant, who had refused to marry him in spite of his rank and fine +clothes. The story went that the prince sent her, every day, a new gown +of silk or velvet, and that the girl would not look at them. So the +little white mouse fairy determined, through curiosity, to have a peep +at this strange damsel. Accordingly she visited King Grimgouger's +capital, and entering the poultry-yard found there an extremely +beautiful young creature dressed in a coarse woollen gown, with her feet +bare, and a cap of goat-skin on her head. Lying by her side were +magnificent dresses, embroidered with gold and silver and ornamented +with precious stones; the turkeys and other fowls that surrounded her +trampled on them and spoiled them. The poultry-girl sat upon a stone in +the yard when the king's son arrived; he was crooked, and hump-backed, +and horrible to look upon. + +"Do you still refuse to marry me, fair maiden?" he asked. "If so, I +shall have you put to death immediately." + +"I am not afraid of you, prince," the girl replied, modestly. "I +certainly should prefer death to marriage with you. And I like the +society of my chickens and turkeys better than yours, if it please your +highness." + +The prince went off in a rage, and the mouse fairy appeared, in her real +shape as a little old lady. + +"Good-day, fair damsel," she said. "I respect you and admire you--let me +be your friend." + +"Willingly, good madam," said the girl. "I am greatly in need of +friends, as you may see." + +"Have you, then, no father or mother, my child?" + +"None, madam; I am an orphan, and this poultry-yard is my refuge from +the cruelty of the only protector I have ever known. The fairy +Cancaline, who had charge of me, used to beat me until I was nearly +killed. Weary of suffering I ran away from her at last; and while +wandering in a wood I met the prince, who promised to befriend me, and +placed me here as poultry-girl. Alas! now that I find he is in love with +me, I must leave this place, and where to go I know not." + +"And what is your name, my dear?" asked the mouse fairy, affectionately. + +"Juliet, madam." + +"Then, kiss me, my dear; I knew you before you knew yourself," the fairy +cried, joyfully. "I am delighted to see you so sensible. But your +complexion is a little dark. Bathe in yonder fountain. And you should be +better dressed. Put on one of these dresses, and then let me see you." + +The girl obeyed. On taking off her cap of goat-skin her long golden +curls fell nearly to her knees. After bathing in the fountain she +revealed a complexion more bright and transparent than the choicest +pearls of India. Roses bloomed in her cheeks, and her eyes shone like +the brightest diamonds. Her figure was light and graceful as a young +fir-tree. The fairy gazed at her in wonder and delight. Her next thought +was to restore the lost child to her mother. + +"Stay here one moment," she said, "while I fly back to your mother, and +prepare her for this happiness, lest she should die of joy." + +The son of the wicked King Grimgouger went back to his father, and cried +and groaned dreadfully. His boo-hoo might have been heard for miles, and +the king naturally desired to stop it. + +"What in the world are you roaring about?" asked the father. + +"I'll roar as much as I like," said the spoiled prince. "If I can't +marry the poultry-girl, I'll roar for a week without stopping." + +"Good gracious!" cried the alarmed king; "guards, go and fetch her here +at once." + +The guards went to the poultry-yard, and found the princess Juliet, +dressed in gorgeous attire, and looking more beautiful than the new +moon. + +"Whom do you seek, my good men?" she said in a soft voice. + +"Madam," they answered humbly, "we are looking for a vile creature named +Juliet; but you would never have stooped to notice her." + +"I am she," the princess said, proudly. + +Upon this the guards seized her, bound her hands and feet, and roughly +carried her into the presence of the king. + +"So you won't have my son, miss," shouted the king. "Don't love him, +hey? Stuff and nonsense! Love! Gammon and spinach! Marry him at once, or +I'll have you flayed alive! Here, you rascal (addressing his son, who +had now roared himself quite black in the face), stop that racket, for +goodness' sake, or you'll split my head." + +But the princess held out firmly. They sent for a chaplain, but the +princess said "no," instead of "yes," and when they shook her till she +couldn't utter a syllable, she nodded her head from side to side. So, +finding it quite a hopeless matter, the king ordered the prince put to +bed with ice upon his head, and the princess to be shut up for life in a +high tower, where she would never more see the light of day. + +At this moment the good mouse fairy returned in her flying chariot, and +with her was the queen mother, who was almost crazy with delight at the +prospect of embracing her child. When they heard the sad fate of Juliet, +the queen wrung her hands in agony; but the fairy bade her cheer up, as +she would find a way to help the captive. + +King Grimgouger had gone to bed in a rage, and the little white mouse +ran up on his pillow. First she bit one ear, and made him turn over in +his sleep. Then she bit the other, and made him turn back again. Now the +king woke up, and howled for his attendants. They came running in, and +while they sought to stanch the blood that flowed from his royal ears, +the little white mouse ran to the chamber of the sleeping prince, and +served him exactly the same way. The prince, who, to the great relief of +the household, had fallen asleep in the very act of crying, now woke up +and began again, this time with a vengeance. + +"Confound that fellow, he's at it again," said the king, smarting from +his wounds. "Stop him, somebody; and get me the court-plaster, and the +arnica, and the Pond's extract, and the chloroform; and send for all the +surgeons." + +While the attendants ran hither and thither the mouse returned to visit +the king. She bit his nose, and bit his toes, and bit his fingers; and +when he opened his mouth to scold and yell, she bit a piece of his +tongue off, so that he could not articulate, but could only make absurd +mouthings, at which everybody wanted to laugh, yet dared not. + +Then she ran back to the prince, and ate out both of his eyes, which +sent him flying out of bed. He seized his sword, and ran storming and +swearing into the apartment of his father, who, on his side, had taken a +sword, and vowed to kill everybody around him if they did not catch the +mouse who had done this mischief. + +The prince could not understand what his father said, and as he was +blind, attacked the king furiously. The king made a violent cut back at +him, and in ten minutes they were in the thick of an awful fight, which +ended in both being mortally wounded at exactly the same moment. Seeing +them fall, their attendants, who hated the wicked tyrants, made haste to +tie them hands and feet, and tumbled them into the swiftly flowing +river. + +Thus ended the horrible King Grimgouger and his son. The good fairy now +took her own shape, and, leading the queen by the hand, opened the door +of the tower where Juliet was confined. Juliet flew into her mother's +arms, and all was happiness. + +The kingdom of Grimgouger and that of Sweet Content, which he had joined +to his, were now without a sovereign, and the people, by universal +consent, chose Juliet to reign over them. Juliet became their queen, and +in due time married a young king, who was rich and handsome, and wise +and witty, and brave and modest--all that a young husband ought to be. +The little white mouse continued to be their chief friend and +counsellor. + + + + +THE FAIRIES AND THE FIDDLER. + +[Illustration: Simon's Benefactor.] + + +In the pretty little village of Hayfield, not far from the borders of a +thick forest, lived a good-natured, idle fellow, named Simon, who +supported his wife and two children by trapping or shooting in winter, +and by fishing or doing odd jobs of harvest work in summer. Simon could +play upon the fiddle in a way to make the tears come into your eyes; or +if he chose to be merry, his tunes would set every foot in motion, as +the wind starts the leaves upon an aspen tree. This accomplishment +caused him to be much in demand among the young people of the village, +who dropped many a bit of silver into his worn old hat; and at all the +weddings and barn-dances, Simon might be seen with a huge bunch of +flowers in his buttonhole, and his fiddle under his arm, footing it in +the procession. Then, too, Simon was the best man in the village to +coax stories from, especially the old-time gossip about the little folk +in green, for whom in former days Hayfield had been famous. Simon knew +how the fairies dressed, what they ate and drank, how they punished +saucy human beings who offended them; and could point out the smooth +rings of short fine grass where they had held their midnight revels. +That the fairies really had haunted Hayfield and its surrounding woods, +nobody in the village doubted. They had heard too many things to prove +it from their grandparents, whose parents were said to have lived on the +best of terms with the little people--setting pans of cream by the +hearth-stone at night for them to skim--leaving, when the holidays came +around, a cheese and bag of nuts in a hollow tree at the entrance of the +wood--and getting all sorts of kind offices from the fairies back again. +Although it had now been a long time since any one could testify to +having actually seen a fairy (as it was well known that the band were +frightened out of Hayfield when the first stage-coach, with its noise +and clatter, took to dashing along the village street), many people +believed the men in green to be still lurking in the neighborhood. What +else could account for the trouble some of the good wives had with +their butter and their bees? What could it be but fairy thumps and +pinches that kept the lazy folk from sleeping soundly, when their houses +were not to rights before they went to bed. And what could explain the +silver penny often found in the shoe of a tidy housekeeper, when up she +jumped at break of day to set her maids to work? For fairies never show +by day, and it is only when the people of a house are fast asleep and +snoring, that they glide in by key-holes, through cracks and broken +panes of glass, and swarm over the rooms, spying out everything amiss, +and leaving tracks on the dust of shelves or tables, scattering the +ashes of an unswept hearth, and bewitching the inside of a dirty iron +pot, so that it never more may cook sweet porridge! + +Of all the villagers, as I have said, Simon alone professed to have any +recent acquaintance with the little folk, and the wonder was how they, +who were known to be sworn enemies to idleness, could keep him in their +favor. + +Simon's house was a poor little cottage on the outskirts of the town. +His wife, once a pretty, rosy lass, had taken to drink, and the husband +and children led a dog's life within doors. Consequently, their one +pleasure was to roam the woods and fields, and the children were growing +up brown and barefoot as two young gypsies. They were a boy named +Timothy and a girl named Bess, of whom Simon was very proud, their fresh +young faces making a strong contrast with his wizened visage, crossed +with a hundred lines, and topped with a sunburned mop of hair. As they +grew old enough to understand, their father instructed them in all the +arts of woodcraft. There was no tree or plant for which he had not a +name or a virtue. The habits of all birds and fishes and animals were as +familiar to him as their haunts. In this way, the vast green forest, +with its great tree-boles and twisted boughs, its verdant moss-carpet +and hidden streams, became to them an enchanted world, through which the +children strayed like a sylvan king and queen. A sad change it was to +come back to the dirt and confusion of their miserable home, where the +mother received them either with grudging welcome if they brought +berries or a string of brook trout, or with blows and drunken curses if +they came empty-handed. As his wife's intemperance increased, Simon +stayed less and less at home, and the children dreaded lest some day +their poor father would be driven to desert them altogether. So they +resolved to keep a close watch on his movements, and to follow him +should he go away. + +One night the harvest moon was riding her glorious way across the +heavens, and the little village of Hayfield lay steeped in silver light. +Not a lamp or a taper glimmered in the hamlet, and every one of the +brown thatched cottages was buried in profound repose. Not even a +watch-dog barked; and the forest-leaves yielded to the universal spell, +and ceased to rustle. + +There had been held a harvest-home that day, and Simon had been hard at +work with his fiddle, playing jigs and reels for the dance in the +squire's great barn. Between every dance, he had quenched his thirst at +the cider-barrel, or quaffed the big brown mug of beer they kept +brimming at his side. Naturally, Simon's brain was a little the worse +for such free potations; and when the last strains of the "Wind that +Shakes the Barley" had died upon his fiddle-strings, and all the gay +company had gone their homeward way, Simon with his pocket full of +silver pennies staggered out into the field, and lay down under a +haystack to take his well-earned rest. + +There, just before midnight, his two children, who had come in search of +him, found their father peacefully sleeping, his fiddle on his breast. +Not wishing to disturb him, the children decided to have their own +night's sleep in the same fragrant nest of hay; and curling up at some +little distance from the slumbering fiddler, they whispered together for +a while, and then were about to drop asleep. Just as their eyes were +closing they heard an odd sound, as of hundreds of little pattering +feet, and out from the shadow of the wood came into the unbroken argent +of the field a long train of little men, women, and children, dressed +magnificently in cobweb gauze and green, bespangled with glittering +gems, and wearing each a tiny crimson cap with a golden bell upon its +peak. The two children were broad awake in a moment, for they knew that +these were the fairies they had so longed to see, all dressed in holiday +costume, and proceeding to their famous midsummer festival. The +procession wavered like a gleaming snake across the field, and, when +passing near the haystack, came to a halt. To the children's surprise, +two queer little old men, holding carved ivory wands, came straight up, +and tapped the sleeping fiddler across the bridge of his nose. + +"Nay, I will play no more for you, you light-of-head and light-of-heel," +said sleepy Simon, believing himself to be still perched upon the barrel +that served as the fiddler's throne. + +"Aye, but play you shall, at his Majesty's command," said the little old +man, thumping him more sharply. "Isn't that part of your bargain with +us, if we allow the trout to haunt your brook, and the hares to run into +your traps? Come, mortal! Up with you and follow. Here's the bandage to +blindfold your eyes, as usual; and remember that, if you peep, you are +our prisoner for life." + +By this time thoroughly awakened, Simon stumbled upon his feet, and +stood making abject bows before the angry little fairy chamberlains. He +let his eyes be bound with a green silk ribbon, and leading-strings were +passed around his waist. At the blast of a golden trumpet, the +procession moved forward with a sound of tripping feet and whirring +gauzy wings and tinkling bells most lovely to the ear. + +Last of all came Simon, in fairy leading-strings, and the two children, +unable to resist the impulse, followed noiselessly. + +Their way led again into the forest, through the dense underwood, to a +smooth circle of velvet sward, set around with hundreds of little +mushrooms, on which the fairies took their seats. In the centre was a +hammock of silver cobweb, swinging by jewelled chains from the crossed +stems of two tall white lilies, under a bower of maiden-hair ferns. +Sweet blue violets were sprinkled in the grass, making a path where the +king and queen of the fairies marched to take their places on the +cobweb-throne. Dew was handed around in acorn-cups, of which the fairy +guests sipped daintily, followed by bark trays containing every variety +of fairy refreshment. There were delicate fried butterflies, +marrow-bones of a field-mouse, snail soup served in nutshells, and wild +strawberries in baskets made of moss. + +When the banquet was at an end, the chamberlains gave notice to Simon, +who had been bound with ropes made of plaited grass to the trunk of a +wide-spreading oak; the fiddle struck up a tune, and at once the dance +began. Such a mad and merry dance the wondering children had never seen +before! Old and young joined hands and trod a circle, then, breaking the +chain, formed into a hundred fantastic figures; and at each touch of a +light footstep, the earth opened to give birth to a flower, until the +entire fairy ring was enamelled with fragrant blossoms. Fast flew the +fiddle-bow, but faster flew the tiny feet; and when the mirth was at its +height, Simon who, as we know, had taken a drop too much, was suddenly +inspired to tear the bandage from his eyes, and crying, "It's my turn +now," capered right into the middle of the magic ring. + +The honest fellow had meant no harm, but his offence was a mortal one! + +Instantly, he was surrounded by a swarm of the furious little men in +green, who, without waiting for an excuse, stabbed out both his eyes, +and taking away his fiddle and bow, bound his arms behind his back. +Again the procession--this time sad and silent--was formed, and the king +striking the nearest tree with his wand, it flew open; the whole party, +leading Simon behind them, entered the aperture, and before the children +knew where to turn, it had closed upon their father. + +And now, in what a distressing condition were the unhappy Timothy and +Bess! Not knowing what better to do, they sat down at the foot of the +great oak-tree which had swallowed up their father, and from sheer +weariness fell asleep. When morning came, and the birds piped upon the +boughs, the children awoke and looked in wonder about them. All was +dewy, green, and fragrant in the deep woods, but no sign remained of the +fairy revel, except a fine fringe of newly sprung grass, growing in a +circle where their ring had been. + +The bark of the great oak tree was unbroken, and above stretched a broad +canopy of dark-green leaves, which whispered in the morning breeze, but +told no tales of what the children longed to know. Hunger drove them to +retrace their steps homeward; and when they reached the cottage, their +mother was so cross at her husband's failure to fetch her the usual +stock of silver pennies earned at the harvest-home, that she beat them +both soundly, and gave them but a dry crust apiece for breakfast. + +Still the children hoped their father might return; and, not knowing to +whom to confide their wonderful tale, they kept silence. When it was +found Simon had disappeared in earnest, all the wise heads in Hayfield +decided that he had run away to escape from his good wife's tongue, an +act of independence which had the bad effect of making more than one +married man in the village unduly restless. + +A month passed, and the two children were again wandering in the forest +trying to find a few berries to appease their hunger (for things at home +were now worse than before), when they fancied they heard a child crying +close at hand. They searched everywhere, and at length the sound was +renewed, seeming to come from a thicket of tall ferns. Falling on their +knees, the children worked their way under the bushes and through the +brakes, until they came in view of a lovely chubby elf sitting forlorn +upon a mushroom on a hillock of soft green moss, beneath a screen of +ferns and wild flowers, and letting fall a flood of tears from his big +blue eyes. He wore no clothing, if we may except a pair of drooping +wings, and in his hand he held a stalk of snowy lilies. + +"Who are you, dear little one, and how came you here?" they asked. + +"I am a fairy," the tiny creature sobbed. "Last night was the monthly +revel, and we sported till the moon set. But I saw these lilies growing +over in yonder swamp, and I wanted them so; and as I ran, they seemed to +run too. I had such hard work to gather them; when at last I succeeded, +my red cap dropped off; and without it I am as helpless as a mere +mortal. While searching for the cap, which I have not found, a cock in +the village crowed, and the fairies all fled away and left me. The door +of the mound is closed, and for a whole long month there is no hope of +my getting in again. Oh! I wish I could find my cap." + +"If we help you to find the cap, will you stop crying?" said the +children. + +The shivering sprite wiped his eyes and promised that he would weep no +more. The girl wrapped him in her apron, and then all three of them set +out in search of the missing treasure. At last Timothy saw in the water +around some reeds a red object which a bull-frog was opening his mouth +to swallow; and, wading into the stream, he was able to rescue the magic +cap, dry it in the sun, and restore it to its happy little owner. + +"And now," said the smiling elf, who appeared to have suddenly grown old +and wise, "as for a whole long month I am without a home, what do you +say to taking me to yours? You will never regret it, that I promise +you." + +The children told their new friend what a poor place their home was, but +the elf smiled and shook his head as if he knew what he was about. He +bade the children lead him to their cottage, and once across the +threshold of the wretched place, where the drunken mother was sleeping +heavily on a pallet of straw in the loft above, the elf took his perch +upon the mantel-shelf. + +"Next, since I am obliged to live with mortals, let me see what the +magic cap can do." + +He put on the cap and immediately disappeared from the children's sight. +When night came, Timothy fell asleep, but Bess watched; and at midnight +she saw her new friend appear upon the hearth, conducting a perfect +army of little workmen and workwomen. He waved his cap thrice around his +head, and at once little carpenters set to building up the +cottage-walls, little whitewashers made the ceilings wholesome, little +painters covered all the woodwork with a coat of yellow. By sunrise what +a change! The broken bricks of the floor were transformed into pretty +blue and white tiles, lattice windows took the place of their old and +dim ones, the pots and pans were scoured until they shone, roses looked +in at the outer door, where rows of larkspur and of gillyflower, of +bachelor's-button and "Love-in-a-mist" were growing on either side of a +neat flagged walk to the garden gate. Instead of Timothy's old straw +mattress, the boy lay on a clean white bed; and his sister, who had kept +awake all night in utter wonderment, falling asleep at dawn, because her +eyes refused to stay open any longer, found him shaking her arm, and +begging her to come and share in the nice hot breakfast that--wonder of +wonders!--their mother, sober, and clean, and smiling, had made ready at +the fire. + +It was a day of marvels! The mother seemed to have entirely forgotten +her past degraded life, and was once more the brisk and rosy woman +Simon had fallen in love with. A dozen times a day she paused in her +spinning, or weaving, or baking, to run to the gate and wonder when dear +father would come back. Timothy worked in the garden, Bess sewed and +helped her mother, not daring to tell what she alone knew of the magic +change. That night Bess slept, and Timothy kept watch. At midnight the +fairy appeared upon the hearth, leading a dozen little bakers in white +caps and aprons. + +"Now make ready fifty loaves of your best white bread, that the goodwife +may sell them on the morrow!" the fairy ordered; and at once the tiny +men set to work mixing and kneading and baking, and at daybreak there +were fifty of the sweetest white loaves money could buy. The fame of +Simon's widow soon spread through the village, and every one was eager +to see the wonderful reform worked in her, no less than in her cottage. +Her bread was bought up as fast as she could furnish it, and next night +Bess watched while Timothy slept. Then Bess saw the fairy appear at +midnight, followed by a swarm of bees like a cloud. + +"Make fifty pounds of your clearest honey, that the goodwife may sell it +on the morrow." + +The bees flew out of the door, and next morning the hives were found +overflowing with luscious honey that smelt like a bed of clover all +a-blow. + +Next night came the bakers, and next night again the bees. Money flowed +into the widow's purse as rapidly as it had once flowed out. Now was +there lacking but one thing to complete their happiness, and that was +the return of Simon to his family. Bess and Timothy together planned +what they should do, and when the month had passed away, and the night +of the full moon had come once more, neither went to bed, but both hid, +watching for the coming of the sprite. Exactly at twelve o'clock, their +kind little friend made his appearance, and summoning cooks and bees, +ordered them to keep up their service on alternate nights, until the +dame's coffers should be full to last a lifetime. Seeing him about to +take leave, out rushed Timothy and Bess, threw themselves on their knees +before the fairy, and, thanking him a thousand times over for his +goodness, begged for one more act of grace--their father's release and +restoration to his family. The fairy looked graver than they had ever +seen him, and his brows puckered in a frown. + +"Your father has committed an offence we never pardon," he said, after +a short silence. "He has been punished according to our laws, and must +abide by the sentence, which is imprisonment for life." + +The children burst into tears at this, and cried so that the fairy +sneezed several times. + +"I believe I am taking cold in all this dampness," he said, shivering +slightly. "Come, dry up that deluge, and say good-by to me. The utmost I +can do is to look up your father when I get back again, and tell him you +are well and happy. I suppose you do not know that for some years past +he has been attending our holiday frolics as musician, since our own +best player broke his arm. Simon was under oath never to look at us, or +to betray us, and this was the first time he transgressed. But our laws +are very strict, and I am afraid to bid you even hope to see him again. +One thing I may tell you. The king's chief counsellor has a mantle of +red, worked with a device of six golden birds flying into a serpent's +open jaws. If you should ever find that mantle, walk boldly to the +oak-tree in the forest, knock three times, and cry, 'The King's Chief +Counsellor!' Then you may be able to secure your father's freedom, but +not else. And now, good-by to you." + +The good elf vanished, and Timothy and Bess spent more time than ever in +the forest. They had now taken their mother into the secret, for she, +poor woman, had become as gentle and loving as she had before been hard +and cruel. The one desire of the entire family was to get possession of +the chief counsellor's mantle, but nothing seemed more unlikely. + +A year passed, and Timothy had gone out to look at his rabbit-trap +without particularly thinking of what it might contain, when a +tremendous bustle inside attracted his attention. Cautiously he lifted +the door, and up sprang an angry little man in green, having a long +white beard, and a hump upon his back, who vanished from sight as +quickly as he had appeared. Timothy lamented the loss of such unusual +game, and then espied at the bottom of the trap nothing less than a tiny +cloak of red, embroidered with six golden birds flying into a serpent's +open jaws! + +He made a joyful dive after the little garment, but, strange to say, it +stuck tight to the fingers of his right hand, dragging after it the +trap. Timothy shook it and pulled at it in vain; there it was, and not +to be dislodged. + +He ran home and called Bess to his assistance. The little girl came +out, and no sooner had she touched her brother than she stuck fast to +him. The mother flew to the rescue, and became fastened to her daughter; +and there they all were, in a long string, not knowing whether to laugh +or cry at their strange predicament. The only thing was to make a +pilgrimage to the oak-tree in the forest. Timothy's dog followed them, +and rubbed against his master's coat. He, too, stuck fast, and so did +Bessy's cat. Everybody they passed upon the way was attracted to the +queer family party, and before long a little army of curious people were +compelled to walk along in the direction of the forest. + +Timothy did not know the secret of the little cloak, which had power to +attract everything to it, drawing even people's thoughts out of their +hearts, as a magnet draws the needle. Only in fairy-land could the +objects so attracted be set free. + +When they reached the oak-tree in the forest, Timothy struck upon it +three times and called with a bold voice, though not without a trembling +of the legs, for the king's chief counsellor. The bark of the great tree +cleft slowly open, and out came the same old white-bearded fairy he had +captured in the rabbit-trap. Bowing with mock humility, the old fellow +asked what his visitors would be pleased to have. + +"I demand my father, and also to be rid of this wretched little rag," +said Timothy hotly. + +"Step inside, step inside," said the elf with a malicious smile, for he +knew that, once within, he might get the audacious mortals in his power, +and force them to work his gold mines. + +"Not a step will I go inside until I see my father," said Timothy +firmly. + +"Then here may you abide!" cried the old man, turning white with rage. + +Timothy put one hand _within_ the tree, holding the magic mantle at +arm's-length. + +"I demand my father," he cried in a loud voice. + +The power of the mantle did not fail, for, rising from the darkness +within, came poor blind Simon, stretching his arms toward his child, but +holding tight his fiddle. At the moment Timothy's hand had come inside +the fairy kingdom, the spell of enchantment was broken, and all of the +strangely linked people were set free. Simon's wife and children threw +their arms around him, and welcomed his return, while his neighbors +shook his hand in warm congratulation. As for the old fairy, he fairly +danced with rage. With the mantle in Timothy's possession, half the +chief counsellor's power and reputation for wisdom would pass away. He +offered rich bribes of gold and jewels, he threatened, he howled, he +grinned, he hurled curses on their heads, but Timothy was firm. + +"Then name your price, you wretch!" cried the angry fairy. + +"It is that you shall restore my father's eye-sight," said Timothy. + +This went very hard with the wicked old elf, who had been congratulating +himself that Simon would bear away at least one mark of fairy vengeance. +But he had met his match in Timothy, and there was no escape for the +chief counsellor, who, diving down into the cavern beneath the hollow +tree, reappeared fetching a box of magic ointment, which, rubbed upon +Simon's eyes, made them better than ever. + +When Simon saw not only the light of day, but his two dear children, and +his wife looking as he had known her in her blooming youth, he uttered a +cry of delight. + +Then, to relieve his feelings, he struck up the old "Wind that Shakes +the Barley," when, behold, not only all the people there assembled, but +a score of little green folk, who had been in hiding, enjoying the +discomfiture of the cross old counsellor, began to foot it on the +greensward. Simon himself danced, and the old counsellor, sorely against +his will, was forced to skip until his legs ached, for Timothy still +held the mantle in his hand. + +At last, when all were out of breath, the elf received his mantle. With +a storm of angry words, he disappeared from sight. Immediately the sky +darkened, a cold wind blew, and a shower of hail-stones fell upon our +friends, sending them scampering and laughing away from the region where +the fairy's spite prevailed. + +Under the spell of the kind little sprite who had been their guest, the +cottage was never approached by any unkind visitors. Simon fiddled and +grew fat, his wife remained as sweet as fresh cream to the last day of +her life, and their children came to be the pride of all the village. + +So far as I have heard, that is the last visit Hayfield has had from the +little men in green. + + + + +ETHELINDA; OR, THE ICE KING'S BRIDE. + + +Ethelinda lived alone with her father, Count Constant, in a quiet +country place, which had always been her home. Her mother was dead, and +her father had long before fallen under the displeasure of his king, and +was sentenced to exile for life in this lonely spot. Their castle was +gray and venerable, half of it in ruins, and near by grew a grove of +melancholy pine-trees; while only some stunted rose-bushes, and a black +pool of water, in which swam a few antiquated carp, relieved the +monotony of the grounds within the broken walls surrounding their +dwelling. + +One day a train of liveried servants on horseback, escorting a splendid +carriage, stopped on the road near the castle. + +Some accident had happened to the springs of the vehicle, and the two +passengers inside were forced to take refuge in the house of Ethelinda's +father. + +Count Constant himself, dressed in a faded court costume, but looking +handsome and stately, came forth to receive his unexpected guests. He +aided first a tall thin girl to descend from the broken carriage, and +then, an elderly dame, richly dressed, who, throwing back her veil, +revealed to him the face of his greatest enemy--the vindictive Duchess +Amoretta. This person, whom he had not seen for years, had once been in +love with Count Constant, and it was because he preferred to her the +young lady who afterward became his wife, that the Duchess had poisoned +the mind of his sovereign against him. To her he owed his banishment +from court, and the loss of his estates. During his wife's lifetime he +had heard nothing of the Duchess, and now to have to give her the +shelter of his roof was a terrible ordeal. + +The Duchess, however, was very kind and considerate in her manner to +him. She made many apologies for the accident which had brought her +there, and introduced to him her only child, the Lady Finella, who was, +truth to tell, the most ill-tempered, pert minx ever seen, and a +complete contrast to lovely Ethelinda. + +During supper, which the poor Count's servants tried to make presentable +with a few eggs cooked in an omelette, a bottle of good wine, and a dish +of stewed pigeons, the Duchess Amoretta was pleased with everything. She +praised the cookery, she praised the tattered tapestries on the wall, +she praised the Count's youthful looks, and she praised Ethelinda, till +that modest maiden was quite overwhelmed. + +When the two young ladies had retired (Ethelinda giving up her own +little tower bedroom to her visitor, and creeping off somewhere to lie +on a threadbare couch), the Duchess became confidential. She implored +the Count to believe that enemies had come between them. She said that +slanderers had arisen to tell him the wicked stories he had heard. She +told him that her one desire was to see him restored to rank and +fortune. And at last she drew from her pocket a paper signed by the +King, in which the Count Constant was promised a free pardon on +condition of his immediate marriage with the Duchess Amoretta. + +The wily Duchess had planned the whole affair to get possession of her +old lover again, and at first the Count, seeing himself caught in a trap +as it were, was very angry. + +Then the Duchess told him to think of his lovely young daughter, wasting +her youth in this desolate spot. She promised to Ethelinda a life of +happiness and prosperity. She worked upon the poor father with such +artful words and lying promises, that, at last, Count Constant signed +the contract, engaging to follow her in a few days to the capital, and +there to give her his hand in marriage. + +Ethelinda watched the fine chariot roll away with their unwelcome +guests, next morning, and when it was out of sight, turned and threw +herself upon her father's neck and kissed him fondly. + +"How glad I am to get rid of them, papa!" she cried. "The daughter was +so spoilt and haughty, and the mother was even worse; somehow I could +only shudder when she kissed me, in spite of the beautiful bracelet she +put upon my arm on taking leave." + +"The Duchess means to be your best friend, my dear," her father said +gravely, and went off to his study with a care-worn face. In a few days, +he set out upon his journey to the capital, giving Ethelinda no idea of +what he meant to do there. + +Winter had set in, and a great snow fell. All the country-side was +covered with a mantle of purest white. Ethelinda loved the frost and +snow, and every day she put on her little brown hood and cloak with the +scarlet lining, and set out for a walk in the forest, carrying a bagful +of crumbs, which she would scatter for her favorite little birds. One +day, while thus employed, she met an old woodman gathering sticks. + +"Good-morning, daddy," said the girl in a pleasant tone. + +"It's not a good morning with me, girl," the old man answered, crossly. +"I'm frozen and starving too, thanks to this accursed snow." + +"Don't speak ill of my dear snow," said Ethelinda, helping him to make +his fagot. "Isn't it keeping the ground warm, and sheltering our roots +and seeds for the spring-time? Come to the castle, if you will, and you +shall have hot soup and a corner of the kitchen-fire. But you won't be +allowed to abuse the beautiful work of the frost, in my hearing, that +I'll promise you." + +"Bravely said, fair maiden!" the old man exclaimed, dropping his bundle +of sticks, and vanishing behind a screen of closely woven fir-trees. A +moment later Ethelinda saw a sleigh containing a solitary traveller, +drawn by a fleet black horse, dash by her like the wind. The sleigh was +shaped like a silver swan and the bridle of the horse glittered with +gems. The traveller appeared to be a tall and stately youth, with long +fair locks and glowing cheeks. He was half hidden behind robes of snowy +down, and as he shot swiftly by, leaving in his wake a breath of icy +wind, Ethelinda fancied she heard him say, "We will meet again, dear +lady, we will meet again!" + +When, wondering over this incident, she reached the castle, it was to +find there a letter from her father, commanding her immediate attendance +at court, and announcing to her his marriage, which had already taken +place. + +Poor Ethelinda, full of astonishment, and fearing she knew not what, +bade farewell to her dear home and journeyed to the castle of the +Duchess Amoretta. Here she was received with tenderness by her father, +who commended her in loving accents to the care of her new mother. +Ethelinda could not help shuddering more than before when the dreadful, +painted old Duchess stooped down to kiss her. She dared not look her +father in the face, but it was easy to see that he was more unhappy in +his new splendor than ever he had been in exile and in poverty. +Ethelinda sighed deeply, and, looking around, encountered the snaky eyes +of her new step-sister, fixed on her with wicked triumph. + +And now, how changed was Ethelinda's life. Little by little, her +father's companionship was withdrawn from her; his time was spent away +from home, and soon, a war breaking out, Count Constant made haste to +draw his sword in his king's service. A great battle ensued, and one of +the first to fall, while gallantly fighting, was Ethelinda's father. He +murmured a blessing on his child, and saying he was glad to go, died +upon the battle-field, in the arms of his attendant. + +The Duchess Amoretta, who by this time was heartily tired of having +Ethelinda on her hands, now treated the poor girl with positive cruelty. +A few months after the Count's death, she made up her mind to marry +again, and in order to rid herself of her troublesome step-daughter, +consulted with her own child, who was skilled in all sorts of wicked +devices. + +They built a summer-house extending over the river, and made in the +floor of it a trap-door covered with moss and flowers, while beautiful +vines grew around the pillars, and a fountain played in the centre. Into +this pretty spot they invited Ethelinda to wander when ever she wished +to be alone. + +One day the poor girl went inside the summer-house, and began to weep +for her father. Suddenly, a hand was extended by some one concealed +behind the trellis-work of vines, and she was rudely pushed, so that +she fell with all her weight upon the concealed trap-door, and instantly +plunged into the rushing river below. One cry she uttered, and then to +her astonishment, although it was the morning of a balmy summer's day, +an icy breath blew over her, and above the surface of the river there +arose a bridge of glittering ice, which she was enabled to cross in +safety to the bank. + +Making her way back to the house of her step-mother, Ethelinda was +received with anger and astonishment. How she could have escaped, +neither of her enemies could imagine. Ethelinda told nobody of the +wonderful ice-bridge, which at the moment of her setting foot on shore +had vanished like frost before the sun. A few days after, she desired to +take her usual bath in the marble bath-room assigned to her use. No +sooner had she entered the door than two strong women flew out from +behind a curtain, and, seizing her by the shoulders, thrust her into a +tank of boiling water they had prepared for the unfortunate girl. + +Ethelinda saw that she was about to die a terrible death, and gave +herself up for lost, when suddenly the icy wind she had twice felt +before, blew over her. As the two furies plunged her into the tank, and +rushed away, leaving her to her fate, she felt, instead of the scalding +heat she expected, the delicious warmth of a tepid bath close round her +limbs. + +Again was she saved from evil by some unseen power; but now she knew +what a terrible enemy was in pursuit of her, and determined to fly from +the castle that very night. She hid in a little closet on the staircase, +and, when night came, glided past the sleepy servants on guard, and +escaped through the great gate into the open country. + +Swift as her feet could carry her, Ethelinda fled. Out of the city, into +the deep woods, under the cold glitter of the watching stars, the poor +girl ran, every moment fancying that she heard the messengers of the +cruel Duchess behind her. At last she fell down exhausted, saying to +herself, "Better to die here from cold and starvation, than to be foully +murdered by that wicked woman." She lay for a moment resting upon a bank +of soft moss, and felt a sudden blast of icy wind. + +Then was heard the cracking of a whip, and out of the woods came a +sleigh driven by a solitary traveller. + +Ethelinda had a vague idea that she had seen him once before, but +fainted away, and knew nothing more until she awoke to find herself in +the sleigh, gliding swiftly along, wrapped in warmest robes of snowy +fur. + +"Save me, save me from the Duchess!" she murmured in a terrified voice. + +"Sleep, poor child, you are safe now," a kind voice sounded in her ear. +"Are you warm? Are you comfortable?" + +"Very warm, very comfortable," Ethelinda answered, a strange drowsiness +coming over her. + +She slept again, and the black horse harnessed to the sleigh bounded +forward like the wind. And now they passed through vast forests of pine +and fir, into the regions of perpetual snow. For Ethelinda's guide was +the young monarch of the frozen zone, and ruler of all ice and frost. +Long had he loved the young girl secretly, and long had he vowed to make +her his bride. + +They stopped once, and now the sleigh was drawn by a span of magnificent +reindeer, pure white, with collars of jewels, having their great antlers +tipped with sparkling gems. Over snowy mountain peaks they glided, past +chains of icebergs, with many a frozen sea shining far below like a +sapphire. It was piercingly cold, and yet Ethelinda did not suffer. The +only thing she could not control was her power of speech. Not a word +could she utter, and the stranger, too, spoke no more, but smiled on her +kindly, from time to time, as he drove ahead. + +At last they reached a superb palace, built of ice, the roof fringed +with icicles. An arch of many-colored lights spanned the roof, and from +every door and window streamed forth a brilliant illumination. + +"Welcome home!" said the stranger. "This is my palace, and you shall be +my queen, fair maiden; for I am the King of the North Pole, and never, +till now, have I seen one worthy to share my throne." + +A train of milk-white bears with golden chains around their necks came +out to receive the king and Ethelinda. They entered the palace, which +blazed with splendid jewels on roof and walls. The throne was made of a +single opal, and the queen's crown, which was immediately placed on +Ethelinda's head, was composed of a circlet of diamonds, each one as +large as a robin's egg. + +The marriage took place at once; and Ethelinda's husband proved so kind +and loving, that she soon forgot her early sorrows, and became as happy +as all queens are supposed to be. Her fame spread into many countries; +and after a time, some celebrated traveller, who visited her court, went +back to the city where Ethelinda's wicked step-mother still lived and +flourished, and gave the Duchess a message from the beautiful Queen of +the North Pole. + +"Tell her that I forgive her all her unkindness to me," Ethelinda had +charged him to say, "since it was the means of securing to me my present +joy, and the love of my dearest husband." + +Ethelinda even sent gifts to her step-mother and sister; to each a +jewelled necklace of immense value, and a robe woven from the down of +the King's own eider-ducks, which only sovereigns might wear. The +Duchess and Finella eagerly seized the presents, but they almost died of +spite to hear of Ethelinda's good luck. Night and day they wondered how +they, too, might have similar fortune; and at length the Duchess +determined to dress her daughter in coarse clothes like those Ethelinda +had worn when found by the King of the North Pole, and to make her sally +forth to the border of the forest. + +Snow was falling fast when the young woman reached the wood. She was +dreadfully cold, and began complaining and quarrelling, as usual. She +did not hear the approach of a sleigh until it was close beside her. +There sat a handsome youth, driving a fleet coal-black steed. He +politely invited her to take a drive, and, with many groans over her +stiff limbs, she got in. They flew over the ground, and for not a single +minute did Finella cease finding fault with everything. She abused her +mother for exposing her to this dreadful cold, and vowed she should have +rheumatism and lumbago and pleurisy and influenza, all together, next +day. Her feet had chilblains already, and her hands were so chapped they +would never be fit to be seen. In this agreeable strain, she went on +till her companion, growing impatient of her whining tones, blew a +sudden breath upon her--when, behold! all the girl's conversation was +frozen on her tongue, a few cross words, like icicles, clinging to the +tip of it! + +When they stopped at the palace door, the King of the North Pole (for he +it was who had picked up Ethelinda's step-sister), instead of having her +conducted in state to her apartments by a train of snow-white bears with +golden chains about their necks, gave the cross girl in charge to an old +brown bear of a housekeeper, with instructions to keep her locked up +until the Queen should choose to set her free. + +Ethelinda's kind heart softened toward her step-sister; and, begging the +King to forgive her, the Queen hastened to set the prisoner at liberty. +Finella, dressed in the Queen's own robes, was taken into the royal +nurseries to see two splendid rosy babies, rolling upon soft furs, and +romping with a gentle little bear-cub, who was their playmate. + +[Illustration: _The princes & their playmate._] + +When the step-sister saw these treasures, she conceived a wicked scheme +of punishing Ethelinda through her love for them. So, pretending to +repent of her past follies and unkindness, Finella was allowed by the +King and Queen to live in comfort in their home. + +On the night of some festivity (I believe it was a special illumination +by the Northern Lights), the King and Queen went off sleighing in style, +through their dominions, leaving the babies in charge of their deceitful +step-aunt, who always kissed them and caressed them, before folks, as +though she loved them fondly. + +As soon as the parents had disappeared, Finella ordered another sleigh +to be harnessed, and taking the babies in her arms set forth. She +attempted to guide the reindeer, but, in an instant, the great creatures +were off like the wind, and soared up into the air, as the King himself +had trained them to do. And now, how terrified was the wicked Finella! +She knew no words with which to stop her fiery steeds, and presently +sank, breathless and giddy, into the bottom of the sleigh. Higher, +faster they went; the babies, like true sons of the frozen North, +crowing with delight in the piercing atmosphere. + +The sleigh stopped upon an iceberg, and there in the centre of the +glittering blue pyramid sat the imprisoned older brother of the King of +the North Pole. This wretch had been sentenced to be shut up there, +because he had tried to kill his father, the late King. All of his body +was changed to ice, excepting his heart, which burnt like fire. The +reindeer Finella had taken were those accustomed to be driven by the +King whenever he went to visit his wicked brother, whose eyes sparkled +as he saw the little princes within his power. At last, he thought, he +had a chance to be even with his enemies. He gnashed his teeth, shook +his chains, and stretched out his long arms, inviting the travellers to +come into his castle. + +"I have golden apples and many pretty things for boys in here," he said +deceitfully; but just as Finella, seeing her opportunity, was pushing +the children out of the sleigh into the grasp of their cruel uncle, the +reindeer set up a peculiar cry which could be heard half round the +globe. + +Instantly a chill wind blew, and riding on the wings of a mighty +sea-gull came the King of the North Pole. Fire flashed from his angry +eyes, and his face was so terrible that the wicked sister and brother +cowered and cringed before it. Snatching his babies in his arms, he +replaced them unharmed in the sleigh. For a moment, he seemed about to +crush both culprits to fragments in his wrath; but, relenting, he +pronounced their sentence--and Finella was condemned to be the bride of +the imprisoned brother. "Your fate is just," said the King of the North +Pole, to the wretch within the iceberg; "I could not, if I tried, think +of any worse punishment than to give you a complaining woman to share +your exile." + +And so Ethelinda was rid of her false step-sister, and from that day +forth nothing occurred to disturb the serenity of the King's household. + +As for the old Duchess (whose daughter had got a bridegroom she had not +reckoned on in the northern country), she, like her hopeful child, lived +and scolded forever and a day. + + + + +DEEP-SEA VIOLETS. + +[Illustration: Emma Carried Off by the Sea-King.] + + +In a modest hut upon the sea-shore, half-hidden from sight by an +enormous bank of drifted sand, lived a fisherman and his wife, with +their twin-children, John and Emma. Theirs was a hard life, and full of +privations; but the husband and wife loved each other tenderly and did +everything they could to provide for the little ones, who grew up, spite +of their poverty, tall and beautiful, and happy as the day was long. +Emma and John had a thousand pleasures that town-bred children covet. +They chased each other continually up and down the sandy beach, hard as +marble and glittering like silver in the beautiful patterns traced on it +by the tide. They ran barefoot into the surf, defying the mad onslaught +of the merry breakers, and dived fearlessly beneath the crested arch of +green waters to seize a bit of floating seaweed. They discovered +endless treasures in the rock-pools along the beach, and built with them +pretty grottoes, and mysterious caves, that none but themselves knew +where to find. Often their father would take them out in the +fishing-boat; for John had learned to manage the sail and the nets +almost as well as the fisherman himself. The two children thought it was +grand to feel the little boat answer to the wind, as a horse answers to +voice or whip. They liked to bound forward across the great green +billows, and to see the spray dash over them like a shower of jewels. +They would help their father to set his nets or lines, and wait +patiently till it was time to haul in the big shining fish that +sometimes lined the bottom of the boat, whiling away the hours by +munching bits of brown bread that served for lunch, and by telling each +other fanciful stories of the sea. + +The ocean did not always smile upon them, for there were days of heavy +fog, of raw east wind, when the beautiful water ceased to sparkle, while +the surf boomed as if in warning of danger or sorrow to come. Then the +children would run inside the cottage, and pile on drift-wood till the +fire burnt cheerily. This was their time for taking down from the +mantel-shelf their stores of shells, corals, and other sea-wonders. +John and Emma had polished these shells until they shone beautifully, +and some tiny disks of orange and gold were strung in long garlands, to +loop around the brown walls and above the little looking-glass. Their +mother kept the inside of the cottage as neat as a ship's cabin, which, +in truth, it much resembled, the children's beds being nothing more than +broad shelves in a cupboard, with doors to close by day; while every +corner of the tidy place was made to do duty for some household +implement, tucked away in the oddest fashion, until it should be needed. + +So the days passed on until the twins were about sixteen years old, John +a fine manly fellow, looking much older, and Emma a slender slip of a +girl, with floating locks of purest gold, and a voice in singing like a +carol of birds in a Maybush. Oftentimes when her father was steering his +boat homeward, after a day of toil, he would hear the piercing strain of +Emma's song come floating over the water from the rock where she stood +against the western sky, awaiting him. And he rightly thought this the +sweetest sound he was likely to hear before the angels should sing for +him in Paradise! + +One day the fisherman did not come home. A storm arose, and all that +evening the wind howled madly above the beating of the angry surf. The +sky was pitch-black, and the wife and children walked the shore in +silent fear. When darkness fell, they lighted a huge bonfire upon the +rocks, and John, begging his mother and Emma to go home to rest, stayed +feeding the flames with drift-wood, till morning broke over the sullen +waste of waters. Still no sign of his father, and at midday the familiar +boat drifted ashore, bottom upward. Then great sorrow darkened this +happy little home; and nevermore the sea gave up her dead. + +[Illustration: Emma Singing on the Rocks.] + +The fisherman's wife did not long survive him--dying, she told her +children, because she could not live without her beloved husband. John +followed his father's calling, and Emma kept the house, as her mother +had done. She was very sad and solitary in the changed life, but people +who work hard have not much time to give way to grief. The busy maiden +toiled all day over her duties in-doors, and when evening came, would go +out on the rocks to await John's return. The greatest pleasure she now +had was in singing. Her voice grew strong and firm, and every day at +sunset it might be heard, in waves of melody, mingling with the sound of +the breakers on the shore. + +One day, when John was later than usual in returning to his supper, +Emma wandered along the sands. It was a beautiful summer evening, the +sky painted with radiant colors, the sea reflecting them. Here and there +a sail dotted the horizon, but the shore was completely deserted. The +girl saw before her a rock-pool filled with sea-anemones and star-fish; +and, sitting down on the edge of it to study the lovely creatures, she +began, as usual, to sing, without knowing that she did so. + +Suddenly, over the water came rolling toward her a wonderful chariot +formed of a single conch-shell all rainbow-hued within. It was drawn by +two dolphins, and the driver was a handsome young man, whose long +floating locks were of a changeable green color, tipped with curling +white. Before Emma could recover from her astonishment, the youth spoke +to her gently, thanking her for the song that had wooed him from his +home beneath the sea. + +"I am the king of a wonderful country down there," he said, "and if you +will but sing for me once more, I shall give you gems and flowers from +my own garden, such as never an earth-born maiden owned." + +Dipping one hand carelessly over the chariot's edge, the king brought up +a string of rare carved coral with a jewelled clasp, and, smiling at +Emma's wonder, dipped his hand a second time, when out came a garland of +exquisite flowers. Sea-lilies, sea-roses, sea-narcissus, sea-violets +there were, larger and more beautiful than any upon land, and all +glittering with the ocean brine. Emma stretched out both hands for the +pretty things, while a song of joy burst from her lips. + +"May I crown your brow with my garland?" said the king. "For truly, I +have heard no voice to equal yours." + +"Thanks--thanks," cried the innocent girl, her eyes sparkling with +delight. She leant forward to receive the chain which the king threw +around her neck, at the same time laying the garland on her hair. At +once, Emma fell into a deep sleep, and the crafty sea-king, with a look +of triumph, lifted her into the seat at his side and urged forward his +chafing steeds; the chariot flew like a stormy petrel across the sea, +disappearing beneath the arch of a gigantic wave! + +John sought in vain for his cherished sister. The only trace of her, he +and the neighbors who helped him in the search, could find, was a little +gold cross, once her mother's, that Emma always wore. This lay in a +crevice of the rock, whence the sea-king had carried her away. The +neighbors believed her dead, but something within John convinced him +that he should see her yet again. Long and dreary were the winter months +without her. John forever wondered about Emma's disappearance; and, when +summer came once more, it was to find the youth still possessed of a +longing desire to go somewhere in search of her. + +Sad and solitary, John was sailing his little fishing-smack along the +coast one day, intending to go out to the usual fishing-ground, when, +tempted by a creek he noticed now, as if for the first time, a fancy +took him to follow up the windings of this silver inlet from the sea, +running between banks as green as emerald. Looking into the water, as a +light breeze carried him along, John saw a bed of weed and kelp starred +with shells, where crabs of an unusual size passed in and out of a +circular opening. Determined to fill a basket with these desirable +dainties, which would fetch a high price in market, John fished for them +so skilfully as to haul up a hand-net brimful, at the first attempt. +These were no common crabs he discovered, one of them in particular, +having its flippers set with rings of beaten gold, and a gold chain +around its body bearing a golden key. + +"My good sir," said the crab, speaking in a plaintive voice, "you +probably don't know that I am the keeper of the sea-king's summer +grotto, and these are my attendants. Only to-day, his majesty sent us +word to have all in readiness for a visit from him and his +bride-betrothed. We are in the greatest possible hurry, and if it is +quite the same to you, would take it as a friendly favor, if you will +let us go without delay." + +"My good Mr. Crab," said John, laughing, "I should like to oblige such +an important person, but really my circumstances are almost as +particular as yours. I am in the greatest possible need of funds, and +the price you and your friends would fetch at the present market rates +is most desirable to me." + +"Oh! if it is only gold and silver," said the crab, disdainfully, "you +should see his majesty's dominions. Our streets are paved with it." + +John became interested at this, and entered into a long conversation +with the crab, who was a gossipy old soul and told him of so many +wonders of the sea-king's kingdom that the lad could scarcely contain +his astonishment. + +What startled him more than all, was to hear of a sweet singing maiden, +from the upper world, his majesty had kept for a year past imprisoned +in a crystal cavern! His heart beat fast with excitement, as the crab +described Emma so exactly that it was impossible to mistake her. + +"Until the present time," the crab went on, with importance, "his +majesty has not told the earth-maiden of his intention to make her his +bride. By the laws of our kingdom, no one of us can marry a mortal, +until she has lived for a year contentedly below, without uttering the +name of any friend she knew in her former estate. But the year is up +to-day, and they are to make a grand tour of his majesty's possessions. +I should not wonder if the wedding were to take place in our grotto, for +that is the king's favorite palace, although only one of the many he +calls his own." + +"One thing is false! Emma will never marry him, if she is to do it by +forgetting those who loved her so tenderly," broke in John, furiously. + +"You are very rough, my dear friend," said the crab, fanning himself +with his flipper. "I think you forget you are addressing a courtier. +What I tell you about the Lady Emma is undoubtedly true, since I have it +from my cousin the clam. He is a close-mouthed creature, little likely +to spread a false report. Lady Emma is happy as a queen in swansdown. +Once a day she sings, and then his majesty always presents her with a +bunch of fresh sea-violets, her favorite flowers. Under the +circumstances, it is hardly possible she would keep up any of the +foolish fancies for earth-born folk she may have brought there." + +John pondered awhile, and finally promised the crab, who was growing +very impatient, to release that functionary and his companions, if they +would permit him to visit the wonders of the sea-king's grotto. The +crab, since he could not well help himself, said yes, and instructed +John how to dive into the round green hole, so like the nest of some +strange fish, he saw at the bottom of the stream. + +John made fast his boat, and sprang overboard, having first emptied the +net full of captives, who went scuttling to the bottom in very +undignified haste. So sure was his aim, that he reached without +difficulty the passage-way indicated, which widened from its mouth into +a funnel-shaped cavern, lined with seaweed and ferns of the rarest +varieties. Following the crab procession, John swam along a crystal +streamlet, reaching at length a second opening, larger than the first. +Within this was a door formed of a single sapphire. The crab put his +golden key into the key-hole, and admitted John into a large and +brilliant grotto, the sides lined with the iridescent scales of fish. +The roof was encrusted with jewels, through which streamed many colored +lights, and clusters of phosphorescent flame gleamed at intervals +between pillars of glittering spar. Beneath an arch of blooming +sea-flowers, stood a throne made of snowy coral branches, and cushioned +with velvet moss. At its foot was a pillow of blue violets, another one +hanging at the back. A tiny stream of clear water ran down the cavern's +side, and shot up in a fountain in the centre. John's eyes blinked with +pleasure when he came into the pretty place, but the sound of +approaching music made the crab hurry him into hiding, with the order on +no account to risk showing himself in the presence of the king, who +would instantly have him hugged to death by a giant devil-fish. John +kept quiet, you may be sure. The crabs formed into double rows, bowing +and scraping, in token of their deep reverence for the king (they had +been selected to be courtiers in consequence of their facility in +walking backward), and the sight almost made John laugh aloud; but he +was soon reduced to silence, not only by the imposing entry of the +monarch of the seas, but because, in the bride-betrothed, he saw indeed +his own dear Emma. + +Emma was greatly changed in appearance. She now wore a splendid robe of +some clinging white stuff, worked with little coral branches and sprays +of silver seaweed around the hem, and her neck, arms, and hair were +wreathed with row upon row of priceless pearls. She was pale, but more +beautiful than ever, and on her breast John saw a knot of big blue +violets. Emma was seated at the king's right hand, and lovely sea-nymphs +danced before her, to the music of unseen orchestras. Then his majesty +asked Emma to sing, pledging her health in a shell full of wine, that +shone and sparkled beautifully. Emma made no resistance, doing all that +she was bid, like a person walking in her sleep. Her eyes had a far-away +look and her voice, in singing, so unearthly a thrill, that John's +affectionate heart ached to seize her in his arms and tear her from the +spot. When Emma had finished singing, she appeared to be fatigued, and +two sea-nymphs bore her to a couch of pearl, laid her on purple +cushions, and combed her long hair with a golden comb, while other +sea-maidens interlaced their white arms above the girl's head, soothing +her to sleep. + +"Let her sleep here till this day week," said his majesty. "Then I will +summon my subjects and relations to the wedding. All of you present +withdraw, now, and on no account disturb her slumber." + +When the coast was clear, John seized his opportunity, and stealing +forth, knelt beside his sleeping sister, and whispered in her ear. Emma +moved, her eyes opened slowly, and uttering a deep sigh, she looked her +brother full in the face. But alas! she did not recognize him. In +despair, John seized her hand, and tried to urge her to fly with him. He +reminded her of her home, of their happy childhood, of their dead +parents, of everything that could touch the heart. All in vain! Emma +smiled sweetly, and stroked his head as, shedding bitter tears of +disappointment, he bent it upon her knees; but she knew him not. + +"Leave me in peace," she said, "I am the sea-king's bride-betrothed, and +you are but a poor fisher's lad. What you say to me of earth and home I +do not understand. This is my home, and if the king should find you +here, he would take your head off. If you love me as you say, please +go." + +Emma lifted to her face the cluster of purple violets, and at once her +lids drooped; and, sinking back upon her purple cushions, she slept +again. + +In bitter disappointment, John retraced his way along the vestibule of +the king's grotto and emerged into the inlet where his boat was moored. +Carefully marking the spot, he returned to it the next night, but no +trace could he find of the submarine opening. The old crab had taken +good care to prevent another visit from a marauder, who might cost him +his life. John felt ready to abandon all hopes, when, leaning over the +edge of the boat, and dragging the water through habit, he felt a +violent struggling and fluttering within the net. Hauling it quickly in, +a swarm of silver-bright little fishes, each one wearing a pretty +maiden's head, escaped from the meshes, leaving behind but a single +token, and that John found to be a tiny golden harp. He drew his fingers +across the strings, and the sweet sound it gave out was echoed by a sob +from beneath a rock ledge close at hand. + +"Who is there?" cried John. + +"It is I--chief of the sea-king's minstrels," said a voice. "This +evening, I and my band were amusing ourselves by the light of the moon, +when your cruel net almost frightened us to death. Oh! what shall I do? +It's nearly time for the king's visit to his bride-betrothed in the +grotto; and if you will not restore to me my harp, I shall be +behind-hand, and in disgrace. Oh! if you only knew how strict the leader +of the court orchestra is!" + +"Will you take me into the grotto, if I give the harp to you?" said +John, firmly. + +"Oh! I dare not," cried the little mermaid, shivering. "Only yesterday, +his majesty found out that some rude outsider had found his way into the +grotto, and he has placed on either side of the entrance a double-headed +shark. For you to attempt to pass them would be certain death! Pray, +pray ask something easier; for every moment is precious to me, now." + +"Then tell me what has caused Emma to forget all her life on earth?" + +"That I can do, right easily," said the mermaid, coquettishly; "for I +have a sister in the band of especial hand-maidens set apart by the king +to wait on the bride-betrothed. The fresh violets sent every day to Lady +Emma by his majesty, have the power to make her forgetful, and +indifferent to all save her present surroundings." + +"I knew she had not really grown cold," cried John, in a burst of +gratitude. "Here is your harp, pretty one, but answer me one question +more. How can I find the entrance to the grotto?" + +The little mermaid stood on tip-tail to receive her harp, and, as she +once more clasped it in her arms, whispered, in a frightened tone: +"When the moon is at the full, its rays strike a white cliff over +against yonder dark coast-line. Steer your boat evenly along the path +traced by those rays upon the water, and you may see the wedding +procession go in at the state entrance. But, of all things, take care +not to let yourself be perceived, for on this occasion all the monsters +of the deep will be on guard, and your life would not be worth a broken +clam-shell." + +John bade the mermaid good-by, and from that moment all his thoughts +turned upon how he might obtain admission to the wedding festival. He +cast his nets diligently, but with no success. All the fishes seemed to +have deserted their usual haunts; and no wonder, for the entire +population of the sea was in a state of preparation for the great event. + +At last the night of the full moon came, and you may be sure John was +abroad and watchful, as he cast his nets in feverish anxiety. A sudden +pull made him haul in rapidly, and this time he was rewarded by a catch +that cost him the most tremendous struggle. What was his surprise to +drag into the boat a huge fish, six feet long, with a tall fin nearly +the length of its body. The most curious part of it was that the tips +of this fin, and also a patch on the creature's head, shone with +imprisoned fire. Along the sides of the body were a double row of +luminous spots. The fish made no further fight, and John gazed at him in +admiration. + +"In the name of wonder, what have we here?" he said. + +"My good sir," answered the fiery fish, "if you had the least idea of +the nature of my business, I am sure you would not interrupt me for a +moment. I am one of his majesty's torch-bearers, and the procession is +already forming to go to the grotto of the bride-betrothed." + +"Hurrah!" said John. "If you will manage to take me with you, I will let +you go, but not else." + +In vain the torch-bearer protested and begged. John was inexorable. In +the end, the torch-bearer demanded time for reflection, and at last +spoke as follows: + +"I and four of my brothers lead the way, and by going with me you would +certainly be seen and punished. But at the very tail-end of the +procession, my old father and mother will jog along, accompanied by a +swarm of their younger grandchildren. These pretty little creatures, as +you may not know, are called Bombay ducks, and their whole bodies glow +with light. They are very good-natured, and if we can but win over the +other family who help to light the court festivals, the Chiasmodos, I +believe we might smuggle you in unobserved between the old people." + +"Who are the Chiasmodos?" asked John. + +"They are a tribe of deep-sea light-givers," said the torch-bearer, "who +consist entirely of a mouth and a stomach. The latter organ swells to an +enormous size, and floats beneath like a transparent balloon, while +above their great, wide-grinning mouth is worn a crown of light. They +are rather snappishly inclined, these Chiasmodos, and may give us +trouble; but we must run the risk, if you insist. So, come along, young +man, there's no time to waste in talking." + +John did not hesitate, but overboard he went, swimming after the +released torch-bearer, who proved a friendly fellow after all. It was a +beautiful summer's night, and the moon shed a path of radiant light upon +the ocean, lying calm and serene beneath her spell. John and the +torch-bearer swam along a track of liquid silver, and opposite the white +cliff they saw a marvellous array. + +The procession was formed, and about to take up its line of march. The +drum-fishes were already beating a roll-call; the fiddler crabs fiddled +wildly; while the sea-lions roared and rumbled, the whales blew their +trumpets, the porpoise puffed, and the electric eel, who was the court +jester, wriggled along the line, playing foolish tricks and giving +unexpected shocks to those who did not pay attention. Such a multitude! +To describe them all would fill many pages of this book; and besides, +you would never be able to remember the hard names. The pilot-fish +cruised around in front, the torch-bearers came next, then the mermaid +musicians, and a host of sea politicians with banners, preceding the +whales who sailed majestically ahead of the king's chariot of pearl, +drawn by twelve milk-white dolphins with jewelled harness. + +After them, every conceivable kind of fish, in regular order, according +to their dignity. The octopus party was a sight to make one shudder, but +they were in a good humor for once, and comparatively beaming. The +sea-serpent swam alone, considering himself too much of a rarity to +associate with every-day folk. The sword-fish saluted, and the skates +tried to smile, but only succeeded in looking more hideous than before, +very much as if they had pains under their waistcoats. The brilliant +angel-fishes and the fairy nautilus made the most lovely show it is +possible to imagine; though it is hardly fair to single out one or two +for praise, when all did so well. Even the herrings from the public +schools, and the vulgar little porgies, had clean faces and were allowed +to tag after the procession. And, last of all, came the cross +Chiasmodos, fortunately swimming before the old father and mother +torch-bearers, who, between them, carried John along, and were followed +by a gleaming myriad of little Bombay ducks, true glow-worms of the sea. + +Led by the moon rays to the white cliff on the coast, the procession +came to a halt; and immediately a pair of hidden doors flew back and +revealed a long tunnel glittering with lights, which opened directly +into John's well-remembered grotto. + +There, within, stood Emma, decked in bridal lace, worked by ancient +mermaids thousands of years before, to be worn by the queen at her +bridal; and on her head was a fragrant crown of violets. She smiled as +the king approached, and gave him her hand; the wedding at once began. +John, hidden behind a projecting crag, saw, with despair in his heart, +the ceremony go on. + +The entire walls were lined with ranks of octopi and sharks on guard. To +defy them would be death to Emma and himself. He leaned further forward +than he intended, and was seen by one of the Chiasmodos, who, flashing +her lantern in his face, at once informed on him to her neighbor. +Immediately a new monster swam toward John. This was another of the +deep-sea torch-bearers, the Chanliodus, appointed to act as chief sentry +to the cave. A more ferocious countenance cannot be imagined than was +his. The wide mouth bristled with sharp fangs, and his fins were tipped +with flame, while all along his sides extended a row of spots like +little windows in a ship, through which light was shining. + +John saw that in another moment he would be lost. So long as the bridal +procession was going on, no one dared to speak; and, beckoning the +fierce creature to come behind the rock, John met it with an open knife, +aiming so skilfully as to cut the fish open its entire length. The idea +now occurred to him to place himself within the body of his dead enemy, +which he promptly did, and to his joy, could swim out unobserved, and +take his place at the bride's right hand. Just as Emma was about to say +"I will," the sentry-fish managed to place in her hand the little gold +cross that was once her mother's. The queen-elect looked at the cross in +surprise, and as all had passed so quickly, not even the king understood +why her head drooped forward, and she seemed about to faint. The +sentry-fish whispered in her ear: + +"It is I--John--your brother; be brave, and find some excuse for putting +off the wedding, and we may yet be saved." + +So long as Emma wore the crown of violets, she was unable entirely to +break the charm they cast over her. But the little cross was a powerful +reminder of her life on earth; and while she held it, she appeared to be +awakening from a trance. Excusing herself to the king on the ground of +illness, she was supported to her coral couch, and was surrounded by her +mermaidens. The king ordered the crowd to withdraw, and soon the +disappointed revellers went away, feeling blue and cross, while his +majesty himself was in a terrible way, tramping up and down, tearing his +green locks, and casting himself on his knees beside Emma, imploring her +to speak to him once more. + +In vain! Emma's eyes were now obstinately closed, and her cheeks were +like marble. The faithful sentry-fish, whose duty it was to patrol the +grotto, swam up and down before the couch, and every time he passed near +Emma he whispered, "Be brave. I am here. Soon I will rescue you. Give no +sign of life." + +At last the king took the advice of an old dowager mermaid, and left +Emma to herself, consenting to go outside the grotto and smoke a seaweed +cigarette, until his bride should be ready to go on with the interrupted +wedding. + +John spied in the train of mermaidens the little creature whose harp he +had restored, and very cautiously, for fear of alarming her, he made +himself known. The pretty mermaid laughed and cried hysterically, when +she heard his story, and consented to aid him still further by removing +the crown of violets from Emma's head. Soon there was heard a great +whispering among the mermaid band, and one of the boldest of them +ventured to suggest to the dowager lady-in-waiting, that one reason for +her majesty's continued swoon might be that her hair was plaited too +tight. The dowager, for a wonder, took the suggestion in good part. She +ordered the attendants to unpin her majesty's long golden braids, and in +so doing the fatal crown fell to the ground unnoticed. + +The blood rushed into Emma's face; she sighed, and opening her eyes, +looked about her. There was the band of anxious mermaids, and a solitary +sentry-fish swimming up and down. In next passing her, he whispered, +"Order your attendants to withdraw." This was soon done, only the +friendly little mermaid remaining at Emma's side. John, throwing off his +disguise, clasped his sister in his arms, and warm tears of human +happiness rushed from Emma's eyes. Trampling under foot the crown of +violets, and keeping firm hold of her mother's cross, she begged John to +bear her back to their own world without delay. Cautiously putting on +his fish garb, John swam to the door to reconnoitre the situation. He +found there, on guard, only one of the shark sentries, who had taken so +much sea-beer, in honor of the king's wedding-day, that John's knife +made quick work in despatching him. + +And now the way seemed open for their flight. The brother and sister +bade farewell to the friendly mermaid, who pledged herself never to +reveal the secret of Emma's escape, and started to leave the grotto. +Suddenly, lashing the sea in his wrath and fury, both of his fierce +mouths spiked with rows of terrible teeth, came the other double-headed +shark! John still wore his Chanliodus disguise, and, without a moment's +hesitation, dashed bravely to meet the foe. Wielding his trusty knife, +he stabbed the shark again and again through the body, darting aside +before the monster could get the advantage of him. The shark, wounded +mortally and mad with rage, darted forward in a final effort, but John +planted his knife in its open jaws. Uttering a horrid death-shriek, the +creature lay without motion upon the threshold of the cave. + +John lost no time, for the noise of the conflict had already attracted +to the scene a number of curious loungers; and, as he feared, the king +himself, attended by his body-guard of monsters, now came in sight. +Darting swiftly through the waves, with Emma clinging bravely to his +shoulders, the assumed Chanliodus drove his sharp fin abruptly into the +middle of a party of squids. These poor fellows were the disappointed +reporters of a submarine newspaper, going home _without_ an account of +the wedding for their journals! The suddenness of the attack caused the +squids promptly to spill the contents of the ink-pots they always carry +with them, forming a dense black cloud, under cover of which the +fugitives safely reached the surface of the sea. + +The sun was rising, its rosy light lying upon the bright ocean like a +veil. Now, they knew they were secure, for so long as the sun rules in +heaven, the sea-king dares not show himself above the waves. John and +Emma gazed upon the shore, finding themselves but a little distance from +their boat at anchor, and wept tears of joy and thanksgiving for their +deliverance from the horrors of the deep. When they had clambered into +the boat, John begged his sister to cast away the embroideries and the +ropes of pearl she had brought from the sea-king's dominion. Even as he +spoke, they saw Emma's finery vanishing like a wisp of burnt paper, +while her lovely pearls had turned into strings of common pebbles. Of +all her ornaments only the little golden cross remained, and that shone +with new lustre. With the full force of his stalwart arm, John cast the +sea-king's tokens far into the water; and as they sank, both brother and +sister fancied they saw a huge hand arise to seize them with an angry +grasp, and heard a growl of baffled rage beneath the waves. Wrapping his +sister in his fisherman's cloak, John hastened to sail back to the +humble hut beneath the sand-drift, which had never looked so lovely in +their eyes. + +There they dwelt, loving and serene, until in due time a good husband +came for Emma, and John took to himself a fair young wife. From that day +forth, prosperity attended them, and John sailed his own ships across +the ocean, while Emma lived in a beautiful home near the shore. +Strangely enough, never again did John succeed in entrapping one of the +talking creatures of which, as we have clearly seen, there are plenty in +the sea, if one has luck to find them! And another curious thing is, +that never again was Emma able to lift her voice in song. The beautiful +gift which had brought about her strange adventure, and had well-nigh +proved so fatal to them both, had been lost forever! + + + + +THE WILD WOODSMAN. + +[Illustration: THE WILD WOODSMAN DISGUISED AS A TRAVELLER.] + + +Once there lived a peasant whose only daughter, Martha, had eyes as blue +as corn-flowers and long hair like the silk around an ear of corn. All +the lads of the village were after her, but she cared only for John, a +young huntsman, who was called by her father an idle vagabond, and sent +away from his cottage in disdain. Now, the village where they lived was +at the foot of a high mountain covered with a dense forest, into certain +portions of which few were found to venture, so wild and lonely they +were. One day Martha went, unknown to her father and mother, to ramble +in the forest. She said to some of her friends that she meant to gather +flowers and pick berries, to sell to a rich lady who lived near them; +but the truth was, that a week had passed without John having set foot +in the village, and she was anxious and uneasy, and wished to visit some +of her lover's favorite haunts, to see if he might be there. It was no +uncommon thing for John to be absent for several days, while trapping +and hunting. He could sleep as well on a bank of moss as on his pallet +at home, and he loved to go to rest under the broad canopy of the sky, +studded with bright stars, and to be lulled by the music of falling +waters. + +Martha, dressed in her brown cotton frock, with the scarlet handkerchief +knotted over her fair hair, was seen to go up a rocky pathway on the +mountain-side, where the firs and larches made a bower overhead; but +that night she did not come home, and next day, when John came into the +village with a splendid string of birds he had shot miles away from +there, in an opposite direction to the one Martha had taken, it was to +hear the sad news of the poor girl's disappearance. + +John's face grew pale and his stout heart grew faint; he thought of what +all the others were thinking of--the Wild Woodsman, against whose magic +his gun and staff might avail nothing! + +The mountain above was believed to be the haunt of a mysterious being, +half man, half brute, fierce and cruel, from whose den no living +creature might ever be rescued. The Wild Woodsman, for so the natives +called him, took many a shape to trap unwary travellers, and a fair +young girl like Martha would be a rich prize for him. John had long +vowed to capture the Wild Woodsman; and now he was filled with a mad +thirst to seek him at once. Without stopping to hear more, the young man +rushed off up the steep mountain path, bounding like a chamois from rock +to rock, as the villagers, awe-struck and tearful, gazed after him and +crossed themselves in superstitious fear. + +Through brake and brier, John darted on; he was soon in the dark +recesses of the forest, where the undergrowth was like a jungle. His +fleet foot never tired in the chase, and, erelong, he spied a little red +handkerchief upon the ground. Recognizing this to be Martha's, he gazed +about him, and saw, by the token of broken bushes, that the girl had +been dragged away from that spot up a rocky wall, which it seemed to him +no foot could scale. + +Struggling to keep down his sickening dread, John determined to follow. +He began to climb the steep rock. His faithful dog, who had kept close +beside him, suddenly gave a low fierce growl, and the hair on its back +bristled up in fury. John was already half-way up the cliff, when, on +looking down, there, just where he had picked up the handkerchief, he +saw a queer little old fellow, making shoes as quietly as if nothing at +all had happened. + +"Hallo, there!" roared John, for he suspected mischief. + +The old man looked up, and John saw that he had a young and rosy face +with hair as gray as a badger's. The odd creature made signs that he was +stone deaf, and beckoned John to come down. All this time, the dog was +growling fearfully, and John took warning from the sign. He levelled his +gun without more ado, and said: + +"Answer, you fellow. Who are you that have cheeks so fair, and an old +man's locks?" + +"I?" said the old man, hopping up with a dreadful grin, "you will know +me soon enough, sirrah, for I am the devil's grandfather." + +He stretched out an arm that grew longer every minute, and his hands +changed to the claws of a beast. John lost no time, but taking aim fired +at the Wild Woodsman, for he it was, and none other. Bang! The friendly +bullet made straight for the creature's heart, and though it did not +kill him outright, the Wild Woodsman was sorely wounded. He fell over a +log, groaning pitifully, and prayed John to come to the aid of a poor +old man. John said, "That I will with another bullet," when the Wild +Woodsman darted from the spot, and was lost in the thicket. + +After him went the dog, after the dog went John. Such a hunt there never +was! Through spots in the woods where man's foot had never penetrated, +into bogs, and into serpents' lairs, past the caves where bears were +lurking; but no animal would touch John, for the Wild Woodsman was their +deadly enemy. + +At last they came to a cleft in a little green hillock. Here was a hut +covered with moss, and the Wild Woodsman, uttering a frantic yell, fell +dead upon the threshold. John heard a shriek within the hut, and, +dashing down the door, saw Martha, lying, bound with ropes made of +plaited willow, in a corner. + +He flew to set her free; but, to his surprise, Martha did not appear to +know him. She let him take her by the hand and lead her from the fearful +spot where the inner walls were built of the bones of the Wild +Woodsman's victims. She looked up into his face and smiled, and John saw +she had lost her reason. He did not stop to pick up the jewels and gold, +stolen from murdered travellers, with which the hut was strewn, but made +all speed to leave behind the horrid place. He lifted Martha in his +strong arms and carried her down a path along the far side of the +mountain. A great storm arose, and the earth trembled under his feet; +but he kept bravely on his way, and looking back saw the cleft in the +hills widen; then a great gulf opened, fire and smoke burst forth, and +the hut of the Wild Woodsman was swallowed forever from sight. + +John gave a shout of joy, and began singing a hymn in his clear young +voice. The storm ceased. The clouds parted. Down in the valley below was +their own peaceful village, and the sound of the evening bells came +floating up to him. Martha, who had lain in his arms as if asleep, +stirred, and recognized him. Her strength returned, and she asked to +walk beside him. Strangely enough, she said nothing of her late +adventure, then or ever afterward. Not a trace of it remained in her +memory. + +When they reached the village, all the people came out to meet them, +rejoicing. John told them he had rescued the lost girl, but the true +history of his chase of the Wild Woodsman he kept to himself. Martha's +father and mother greeted her with tears of thankfulness; and before +another year had gone by John and Martha were married in the village +church. From that day forth, peace reigned upon the mountain-side; but +when stories of the Wild Woodsman were told to Martha's grandchildren, +they little knew the share their hale old grandsire had in ridding the +country-side of such a scourge. + + + + +THE FROZEN HEARTH-FAIRY. + + +Once upon a time, there were a poor couple who lived in a little cottage +overgrown with vines. From roof-tree to cellar, their home was as clean +as hands could make it, and the table and chairs were scoured every day +till they were as white as snow. The man went out into the woods to tie +up fagots, and the woman kept a few bees, and sold the honey. In this +way they managed to live, and were happy, till a great storm came, and +swept off the roof of their house; then the lightning set it on fire, +and it was soon burned to the ground. The man came running from the +forest, and found his wife crying as if her heart would break, beside +her bee-hives, which the wind had upset, scattering all their busy +inmates, and destroying the honey. + +"Where shall we sleep to-night?" said the wife. + +"Let us search till we find," answered the husband. So they set off and +wandered into the woods, while the storm raged over them. Long did they +stray, until night came. At last they saw a ruined hut, left by some +charcoal-burners, and thankfully entered it. There was dry straw in one +corner, and here the poor woman laid down, half dead with fright and +fatigue. Both of them were hungry, and the man putting his hand in his +pouch was glad to find there a bit of bread, which he was about to give +to his wife, when a queer little black object sprang down the wall and +seized the crust, running nimbly off with it. + +"Who are you?" cried the poor man. + +"I'm a lost hearth-fairy," said the little creature, in a piping voice. +"If you had made me a fire to warm my poor bones, I should not have +taken your food." + +The hearth-fairy's teeth were chattering, and the man pulled together +some sticks and straw, and lighted them with his flint and steel. The +smoke curled up, the flames sparkled merrily. The hearth-fairy slid down +and warmed himself. + +"Hallo there! give me back my crust," said the poor man, whose wife kept +pulling him by the sleeve, to remind him of her hunger. + +"Now that I think of it, I want this crust myself," said the +hearth-fairy. "I am off on a journey to seek a warm fireside, and I need +something to strengthen me. But here is a duck instead, only you had +better not kill her!" + +A fine fat duck tumbled at the poor man's feet. The hearth-fairy +vanished in the smoke. Oh! how the poor couple longed to kill and eat +that duck. Their mouths watered as they thought of onion-sauce, and of +breadcrumbs, and of sage. Faint and starving, they fell asleep in a +corner of the hut. When day broke the poor man rose up, and went to the +door. The storm had ceased and the duck was quacking on the door-sill. +She waddled away, and left behind her a large egg of purest gold. Just +then the lord of the forest rode by with his huntsman. They saw the +shining prize in the poor man's hand, and offered to buy it of him. + +"I will give it for a loaf of brown bread and a sausage," he said, "for +my wife lies starving, within." + +The huntsman gave him food and drink; and the lord of the forest, after +hearing his story, had the poor couple taken to a nice empty cottage +near by, and told them they should have it for their own. The golden egg +was sold, and the man and his wife lived in comfort all their days from +the money it fetched. They never saw either the hearth-fairy or the +magic duck again, but the good wife soon went to bee-keeping, which made +her very happy. + + + + +ROSY'S STAY-AT-HOME PARTIES. + + +"Oh! dear, oh! dear," sighed Rosy, "I'm the most unhappy little girl in +all the world." + +She was kneeling in a chair, gazing through the drawing-room window. In +the street outside was drawn up a carriage, into which Nurse was packing +all of Rosy's brothers and sisters. Clover was there, a boy of twelve, +looking rather disgusted with his surroundings, and having his head +nearly cut off by his first upright collar. Violet, Rosy's twin sister, +was there, dressed in the sweetest new pale blue camel's-hair, and +taking great care to turn the skirt of it up over her shoulders as she +nestled into her corner of the landau. (Rosy thought with a pang of her +own new dress, the double of Violet's, hanging upstairs in the wardrobe, +in a melancholy way!) Jonquil was there, the chubby, golden-haired, +big-eyed brother, aged three. And last of all was dear wee Honeysuckle, +like a bundle of lace and flannel in Marie's arms; while old Nurse's +spectacles could hardly be seen through the mass of sash-ends and fluted +petticoats, and scarlet stockings, and velvet breeches, and flying locks +of hair completely filling the roomy carriage. No one could doubt that +the children were going to a party, even if they had not announced that +fact to everybody within ear-shot by the chatter of their busy little +tongues! + +At last all were settled, and the carriage rolled away. "Good-by, Rosy," +"Good-by, Rosy!" came up in a shrill chorus; and, the last Rosy's +tear-dimmed eyes could see of them, hands and handkerchiefs were waving +a farewell to the sister left behind. + +Then it was that Rosy's fortitude completely forsook her, and she +dropped sobbing into the chair. It was a bitter disappointment, for the +party was to be given by their aunt in honor of these children, and, in +addition to Punch and Judy, magic, and a candy-bag, they were promised a +huge bran-pie, full of delightful hidden presents. Rosy had suffered +from a pretty bad sore-throat the night before, and the doctor had +forbidden her going out. It is no use for grown people to say, dear +children, these disappointments of yours don't matter much, for they +_do_. They seem as high as mountains in your path, and I fully +sympathize with you all, and especially with little weeping Rosy. + +So thought her mamma, evidently, for she came into the room just then, +and picked the little bunch of blue serge and cardinal ribbons up in her +arms, and sat down with it in a low chair by the fire. + +"Boo-hoo!" said Rosy, breaking out afresh when she felt mamma's kisses +on her hair and wet cheeks. Mamma said very little, but by and by the +little girl began to feel comforted, in spite of herself. You know how +it is, dears! First, you stop roaring and moan, then your eyes are +kissed dry, then you burrow your heads down and sigh, then you lie quite +still for a little while--and at last, after blowing your noses in an +heroic way, you are ready to laugh again! + +All this happened in Rosy's case, and for awhile she sat talking, until +her mamma was called away to attend to some household matter. By that +time Rosy was quite content to be tucked into a corner of the +comfortable sofa, covered with a down quilt, and left to gaze into the +depths of a woodfire, burning gently (for it had passed the spitting, +spluttering stage), upon two great old-fashioned brass andirons with +claw-feet and queer round bald heads. + +Around Rosy's couch was drawn a gay Japanese screen; before the fire was +spread a great black bear-skin rug, and on either side of it stood a +tall green porcelain jar. Clover always said these vases were like the +ones in which Morgiana hid the Forty Thieves, and the children had more +than once stuffed baby Honeysuckle into one of them to keep her out of +mischief during what Nurse called their "rampagin's to split one's +head." + +Over her mamma's writing-table, low enough for Rosy to look into the +very heart of it, hung a picture in a broad gold frame. The picture was +of a chestnut wood in Brittany, and standing in the shadow of a drooping +bough was a little girl of about ten, her own age. One of the little +peasant maiden's arms was clasped around the neck of a big dog, +harnessed to a cart of vegetables. Under the other arm she held a fat +goose with a dangling neck. Overhead, the sky was blue and the leaves +seemed to be rustling in a summer wind. Around the feet of the tiny +nut-brown maiden, with her odd high cap, grew tall heather and feathery +ferns, with here and there a clump of flame-shaped lilies. When snow was +on the ground outside Rosy always loved to gaze at this pretty scene, +and to fancy herself stepping over the frame to have a chat about +vegetables, and a ramble in the forest with Annette. + +Rosy's eyes wandered from one object to another in this pleasant room. +Fluff, her mother's Skye terrier, curled up on her feet and fell asleep. +The clock upon the mantel ticked softly, Fluff snored contentedly, +little particles of burning wood pattered into the bed of glowing embers +below. Even the familiar rumble of the street cars along the +thoroughfare at the end of their block seemed more subdued than usual; +and Rosy lay, never stirring, until--she found herself, without the +least warning, slipping down through one of her mother's great porcelain +jars, into Japan! Fluff woke up, and dashed to the rescue, with his +fierce little "Rah!" of a bark; but there was nothing to be seen of Miss +Rosy except the tip of a scarlet bow, with which Nurse was wont to adorn +the summit of her young lady's head. She felt the rustle of the dried +rose-leaves at the bottom of the jar falling over her in a fragrant +shower, as she fell through space, pulling up, decidedly out of breath, +in a very queer locality. + +It was a town where the houses looked as if they had been built for big +dolls to live in. Houses with sliding walls, doors, and galleries made +all of paper, that in two minutes you could take apart and pack up as +you do a box of Crandall's blocks. The streets were honeycombed with +quaint booths, and crowded with human beings going in and out of them +like bees. The carriages were babies' perambulators, drawn by a tandem +team of brown-skinned men, wearing a single garment each, and umbrella +hats. + +There were no horses to be seen, but the cows wore blue cotton wrappers +and shoes made of straw. Men, women, and children, at first sight, +seemed to be dressed alike, all clattering around on high clogs, +stooping painfully; and the funny little bald-headed babies were either +carried pick-a-back by their mammas, or else were tucked in the breast +of their fathers' loose wrappers, together with pipes, tobacco pouches, +books, and a variety of other useful articles. + +Rosy looked about her in astonishment, till a girl came up and saluted +her with solemn politeness, inviting her to a party, which was just +about to begin. "You had better have your hair dressed first," the girl +said, "and I will lend you a decent frock." + +"Very well," said Rosy, thinking fondly of the blue camel's-hair in the +wardrobe at home; "of course, this old every-day serge won't do for a +party." + +The girl took her to the shop of a female barber, who made Rosy kneel +down before a mirror of polished steel, and parted her hair in two or +three long manes, which were stiffened with bandoline, and tied with +paper twine in a wonderful bow-knot on top. A fine tortoise-shell skewer +was added, and the barberess, stepping back to survey her work, caught +sight of Rosy's eyebrows. + +"Tut, tut," she said, angrily; "what were her parents thinking of to let +them grow like this?" And without more ado Rosy's eyebrows were shaved +off, and her face and neck were daubed with a thick white paste. Her +under lip had a patch of red paint, and her teeth were stained with some +horrid black mixture. Then she went with the Japanese girl into a paper +house, where the party was to be held, and the girl lent her a loose +silk gown, tied round the waist by a wide sash of pink crępe. On her +feet were put foot mittens of white cloth, with a separate place for the +big toe, and high lacquered clogs. + +"How can I walk?" said Rosy, tottering around when she was finally +equipped in her narrow uncomfortable garments. + +"Sh-h! the company is arriving!" said her hostess; and as there was no +furniture, not even a chair, Rosy wondered where the company would sit. +The company solved this difficulty by sitting on the floor; and then +trays were handed around, containing all sorts of wonderful sweetmeats, +flowers and fruits in lovely colors, with conserved fruits, sugared +beans, and candy fish, animals, and birds. Each dainty was more tempting +than the one before, and Rosy found the loose front of her Japanese gown +the very thing for a "party-pocket," if any of you know what that means! + +Next came games; "Lady-go-to-see," "Sick man-and-doctor," +Alphabet-cards, and Proverbs; and then, more sweetmeats. Pleasant as it +was, a sudden stop was put to the entertainment, by a commotion, +everybody seizing hold of another, all with frightened faces. Without +warning, an earthquake came and turned the house upside down. Everybody +fell out on the ground but Rosy, who flew up in the air, becoming +entangled in the tail of a huge man-kite, carried along by the wind at a +fearful rate of speed. + +Rosy thought this much more exciting than any coasting down hill she had +ever tried; and she flew up, up, until the tail of the kite gave a flop, +tossing her through a rift in the clouds. There she was, passing again +through the bottom of the porcelain-jar, and in another moment she had +landed in the very centre of the bear-skin hearth-rug. + +Rosy was just getting her breath, and wondering how she came to have her +hair hanging in the usual tawny stream, when, to her great surprise, the +bear-skin began to move. + +"Hold on tight there. We are off," it said, in a low growling tone, +though not unkindly. "Want to go to a party, hey? Well, I'll see what we +can do for you in my part of the world." + +"Really you take one so unpleasantly by surprise," exclaimed poor Rosy, +as she felt herself again setting forth on an airy journey. "It is so +cold here, I wish you had let me stop for my seal-skin jacket." + +"Don't talk about seal-skins, child. We are going where you will see +enough of them. Ho! but it's grand there, up among the icebergs and the +everlasting snow-drifts, where the frozen lakes gleam like red jewels in +the light of the sun that never sets! Merry sports you'll see between my +brothers and sisters!" + +"But I should be dreadfully afraid of them," began Rosy, trembling. "I +have never met any bears outside of cages;" but the words were frozen on +her tongue, and some tears coming into her eyes rolled in little round +icicles into her lap. + +Now they came to a world of ice and snow. Even the fir-trees were no +longer seen. Clinging to the rocks was a little rough moss, which served +for reindeers' food. All else was chill and glittering--the sky arched +with radiant pink that seemed to palpitate. Far below them was a polar +sea, locking in chill embrace a lonely ship, her shrouds sheathed in +ice, her ribs cracked against the huge silvery bulk of an iceberg, on +whose jagged side she leaned despairingly--no sign of life on board. +Rosy shuddered and shut her eyes, only opening them again when the +bear-skin set her down at the side of an odd little hut, built on a +barren point of land above the ice-bound water. + +This hut was made of blocks of ice, the chinks filled in with moss, and +snow-caked over all. On top was a hole whence issued a faint curl of +smoke, and out of an opening, somewhere, crawled a funny Esquimaux lady, +apparently as broad as she was long. She welcomed Rosy politely, and +took her in to the fire, a civility Rosy thought she could have done +without. The whole family was collected there, with some guests invited +in Rosy's honor, who had come in sledges drawn by dogs over the snow. +The dogs also were within, and half a dozen children. It made Rosy think +of the worms in Clover's can the days when her brother went a-fishing, +so closely packed and squirming were her new-found friends. The place +was full of smoke, and smelled of fish oil. The feast consisted of +frozen whale's blubber, handed around to be gnawed by the company, and +of salt fish dried without cooking, with strips of reindeer meat. Rosy +tried to be very agreeable to everybody present, but when they brought +her the baby to kiss, she almost fainted! It was the greasiest little +thing, without a stitch of clothes on! By-and-by, sleep overpowered the +traveller, and Mrs. Esquimaux laid a skin before the fire, offering her, +for a pillow, what _do_ you think? that self-same greasy baby! + +As this ceremony is an especial compliment to a stranger among the +Esquimaux, no one can refuse it; and Rosy, with much compunction, laid +her head down on the poor little thing, who took it all as cheerfully as +possible. + +Scarcely had the weary traveller closed her eyes, when she opened them +again on the lounge in the drawing-room at home! + +There, looking down on her with a friendly smile, was the little Breton +maiden in the chestnut wood. + +"Come to my party," Rosy heard her whisper; and, charmed with such a +pretty new playmate, she stretched out her hands. The little French girl +dropped the goose from under her arm, and leaned out of her gold frame +to help Rosy, who, in two or three steps was safely beside her, treading +down the tall heather, and stirring the butterflies from their haunts +among the flowers. How green, and cool, and sweet it was, under the +arching boughs. Far as the eye could reach, on every side, were leaves +rustling in the fragrant air; and the trunks of the ancient trees were +gray and hoar as the beards of the old Druids who once haunted them. +Annette, for so the peasant maid was called, told Rosy many strange and +interesting tales about this forest as they walked on, followed by the +faithful dog dragging his cart of vegetables so carefully that he did +not need a word or look to guide him. + +"Ours is one of the oldest inhabited parts of France," said the girl, +proudly; "I can tell you stories about every tree and rock and hill in +the country-side, and I will, if you like to hear them; but we must make +haste to reach the market now, before the sun rises high enough to drink +the dew from my vegetables. I was up before day to pick them, and my +father has promised me that, if I sell all, I shall have a party in the +glen. Only think! Not to work in the field all the afternoon--and to +have as many chestnuts as we choose, a whole loaf of brown bread, and +perhaps--if the step-mother is good humored--a slice of seed-cake!" + +Rosy thought this a very poor sort of a party; but she found Annette +such good company that it seemed no hardship to trudge along the hot and +dusty road beside her, when they emerged from the shelter of the wood. +The two girls laughed and made merry until they reached the market town, +and there the good dog came to a halt, while Annette arranged her cress +and lettuces and beans and potatoes in tempting rows upon the +stall--standing beside them with such a patient smiling face, that many +passers-by were induced to buy of her. The fat goose went home in the +basket of a fat housekeeper, and left in his place a pile of silver +pieces. So, Annette and Rosy soon turned back to trudge again the dusty +high-road, talking of the party they were to have in the glen that +afternoon. + +Annette's home, which the two tired little travellers reached at last, +was a quaint cottage, the steep moss-grown roof looking twice the height +of its walls. Over the door grew a twisted pear-tree, and all the ground +around it, excepting the garden patch in a sheltered spot behind, was +one waving mass of heather, strewn with gray boulders of mossy rock. +Rosy gave a little cry of delight. + +"Why, it is the _sweetest_ place," she cried. "It is like a bird's nest, +Annette. How happy you must be here." + +Annette was about to answer, when out of the door came a cross +step-mother, who began scolding as soon as she saw the girls, snatched +the pouch of silver money from Annette's side, ordered her to the right +and left, and then, tired as the poor child was, harnessed her to the +cart beside the dog, and made her draw a heavy pile of linen to the +brook, where she was at once set to work to help her step-mother in the +family washing. Rosy, half-starved by her long fast, was glad to share +Annette's meagre dinner of brown bread and a handful of boiled +chestnuts, eaten under a tree by the brookside. Annette ventured to +remind her step-mother of the promised party, and, for answer, received +a smart box on the ear. + +"Is it a princess I have got to do my work, perchance?" said the cross +old thing. "Thy father is far enough off in the field, not here to spoil +thee, by luck; so do thou and that idle girl yonder set to work and +finish washing the linen. That's party enough for trapesing girls, in +_my_ mind!" + +So Rosy, too, was forced into service, and all through the long +afternoon she toiled with aching limbs. When night came, she and Annette +were glad to seek a straw bed in a tiny roof-chamber and cry themselves +to sleep. + +"Never mind," said Annette, patiently; "to-morrow, perhaps, she may be +kinder, and after we have worked all the forenoon in the field, who +knows but we may have our party yet?" + +Rosy remembered nothing more, except opening her eyes full upon the +hearth in her mother's drawing-room, where she was immediately addressed +by one of the old-fashioned brass andirons. + +"I should just like to show you what a party was in _my_ time," it said, +in a cracked, high-pitched voice. "We, sister Peggy and I, belonged, as +you know, to your mother's grandmother--a good old Revolutionary +stock--and we lived in the old house up yonder in Salem, Massachusetts, +until your mother took it into her fanciful head to fetch us here. I +should like to know what we have in common with that little +fiddle-faddle Dresden china clock and shepherdesses upon the +mantel-piece! However, I won't talk about my grievances, for sister +Peggy always says that it is in very bad taste, and sister Peggy knows. +We lived in the room where your grandmother was born, my dear, and her +first cap was fitted upon sister Peggy's knob----" + +"Will she never stop to take breath," Rosy wondered. "I am dying to ask +her a question. What's your name?" she suddenly called out, so abruptly +as to make the old andiron jump, and let fall a broken brand upon the +hearth. + +"Dear me, child, how you fluttered me!" it said, reprovingly. "I am +sister Polly, of course, as you would have heard in due time. Sister +Peggy always says that little girls should be seen and not heard, and +sister Peggy knows--Where was I--Oh! when your grandmother grew old +enough to invite her little friends to share her hospitality, the boys +and girls would arrive at about three o'clock in the afternoon. The +girls wore plain print gowns, and muslin aprons edged with tambour work. +Instead of that insane mop of hair you sport, with a bow in the middle, +looking for the world and all like your terrier, Fluff, they had decent +mob caps. Their hands were covered with mittens, and each one earned a +bag with a piece of white seam (or plain stitching), or else a sampler +frame. How pretty it was to see them sitting down to their work for +awhile! Then the tea-table was spread, with flowered china cups and +plates, and shining silver, muffins, crumpets, sliced ham, home-made +preserves and cream, and waffles strewn with cinnamon and sugar----" + +"You make my mouth water," said Rosy. + +"All this took place by five o'clock," said sister Polly, "and +afterward the children had a good game of 'blind-man's-buff,' or +'hunt-the-slipper'--and a handful of nuts with a big red apple, to stuff +in each of their pockets upon going home. I remember a very little +party your mamma had once, when she was a child----" + +"Do you? Tell me about it, please," said Rosy, eagerly, for nothing was +ever so enchanting to those children as stories about their mamma in her +youth. + +"She was just getting over the measles, and had been very much petted +during her convalescence. Your grandmother promised her, in reward for +taking a rather nasty dose of medicine, that she should have her little +cousins from next door, to drink tea on a trunk. This was an especial +treat to your mamma. A large flat-topped trunk served as table for the +little girls and their dollies. On it were spread the china doll +tea-things, and when they did not suffice in size or numbers, leaves +from the grape-vine above the dining-room porch, were also heaped with +goodies. Those children were satisfied with broken bits of peppermint +stick, ginger-nuts, wee biscuit, lemonade for tea, and in the centre of +the table a dish of horse-cakes." + +"Oh, I know!" said Rosy, with much interest. "Mamma has often told us +about horse-cakes, and the funny little old shop where she used to buy +them for a cent apiece. They had currants for eyes, and the children +never knew whether to begin to eat at the head first or the tail----" + +"Exactly," said sister Polly. "Well, as I was saying, four little girls +in clean white birds'-eye pinafores assembled around the trunk-party, +your mamma at the head, to pour out the lemonade tea. Each guest had a +dolly in her lap, and your mamma had twins on hers. I think the +difficulty began by her insisting that the twins should have a double +share of all the good things, which the guests, with some warmth, +disputed. At any rate, it is a sad tale to tell you, but a true one; a +quarrel set in, and what should the hostess do, but burst into tears, +declare that her company were mean horrid things, and then, dragging at +the table-cloth, whisk the entire contents of the tea-table upon the +floor!" + +"Oh!" said Rosy, "did my mamma do that? I don't believe a word of it! +You are nothing but an old tattle-tale, sister Polly, and I don't +believe sister Peggy is any better!" + +Scarcely had Rosy uttered these disrespectful words, when the enraged +sister Polly and sister Peggy flew out upon her from the fireplace. +Seizing her in their brassy claws, they shook the little girl fiercely, +bumping her head first on one side, then on the other, between their +knobs. + +Rosy screamed for help, and heard in return a merry peal of laughter. +She felt a warm shower of kisses on her face; and, opening her eyes, saw +Clover and Violet, Jonquil and the baby, mamma and the nurses, standing +in a laughing circle around her couch, while Fluff nearly barked his +head off in the general excitement. + +"Rosy, you had the funniest nightmare!" said Violet; "see here, what a +lovely bracelet was in the bran-pie for you, and we've all saved you +some of our bonbons." + +"It was rather a bully Punch and Judy," remarked Clover, patronizingly. +"That is, for the little ones, you know; _I've_ seen such lots of 'em." + +"Punch said, 'Doody, Doody, bing up de baby,'" squeaked happy little +Jonquil, capering about. + +Baby Honeysuckle had gone to sleep, after her first party. + +Rosy jumped up, and kissed everybody around twice. + +"Dear knows I've had enough of parties," she declared joyfully; but +nobody knew what she meant! + + + + +BLONDINA; OR, THE TURKEY-QUEEN. + +[Illustration: Queen Blondina Resting in her Garden.] + + +A certain king had two daughters, one of them lovely and accomplished, +and the other an ugly, cross-tempered personage, who early in life took +to meddling with the black arts, and learned a great deal more of magic +than she did of any thing else. Blondina, on the contrary--for so the +pretty princess was named--was the joy of all her nurses, and +governesses, and tutors, and music masters, from earliest infancy. Her +one fault was a tendency to laugh aloud on the slightest provocation. At +ten years old she could speak many languages, play on all known +instruments, write essays and sermons, dance like a sylph, sing like a +nightingale, and make chocolate caramel. Vixetta, the elder of the two +sisters, before she had reached the same age, had made short work of +_her_ instructors, wearing out the health and spirits of a governess in +a week, and driving twenty-four tutors into the lunatic asylum, while +her head-nurse was speedily reduced to skin and bone, and took a +permanent situation as the living skeleton in a dime-museum. The poor +king remonstrated in vain with his headstrong elder daughter. Ordinary +scolding had not the slightest effect upon her; black marks and crosses +against her name in the report-book only made her laugh scornfully; and +any attempt at bodily punishment ended in the Princess Vixetta throwing +herself flat upon the ground, turning purple in the face, and foaming at +the mouth with rage in a way to daunt the stoutest spirit. So, for this +reason, the unfortunate girl was allowed to follow her own fancies, +stealing off at dusk nobody knew whither, although it was suspected +that her favorite haunts were the black depths of a pine forest near the +palace--where the country folk never cared to ramble, even in broad +daylight--or a certain ruined tower, filled with bats and owls and +serpents. One night a peasant, who approached this tower in search of a +lost cow, saw green lights dancing madly around the broken walls, heard +wild shrieks of laughter issue from within, and, on venturing to insert +his inquisitive nose into a chink, had it tweaked by two red-hot +fingers; immediately afterward, he averred, he had seen the Princess +Vixetta, in true witch-dress, shoot by him on a broom-stick, leaving a +trail of brimstone in her wake. On reaching home he found his sheep +dead, his best cows gone dry, and his children ill of a fever. Such +tales as these, of which there were many current in the country-side, +came from time to time to the king's ears, and not being able to gainsay +them, _because of information he had got on his own private account_, +the unfortunate parent resigned himself to sink slowly to the tomb. In +fact he courted death rather than shunned it. Whenever he took cold, he +would sit all night long, in wet shoes, in the draft of two open +windows; and if that did not make him worse, would send away the +doctors, refuse medicine, and try to beat his brains out on the marble +floor of the palace bedroom. At last, one day, he choked, on too large a +mouthful of beefsteak, and when the physicians endeavored to relieve +him, waved them away, and cheerfully expired! + +[Illustration: Vixetta] + +[Illustration: _Blondina_.] + +The Princess Blondina was immediately proclaimed queen in her father's +stead. Nothing was heard but praises of the charming new sovereign, who, +after the period of mourning had passed away, ascended the throne with +much pomp and ceremony. All of this was gall and worm-wood to the +envious Vixetta, who, but for the kindness of her sister, would have +been sent, by a vote of all the people, into exile in a distant land. +Blondina announced that the Princess Vixetta should remain in her +palace, and be offered an opportunity to reform her bad ways. Vixetta, +thereupon, pretending to weep, promised to do better, and to give up +associating with her evil favorites, the witches, warlocks, and +magicians; but, in secret, her time was spent in conjuring a method to +get rid of her beautiful sister, and to mount the throne in her stead. + +One warm summer day, Queen Blondina had just come in from rowing in her +silver barge along the windings of the little river which watered the +palace grounds. She rested for a while in the garden upon a bank of +roses, myrtles, jasmine, and lilies-of-the-valley, while allowing her +maids-of-honor to fan her with huge fans of white ostrich plumes, and +listening to the drip of fountains of orange-flower water, and +eau-de-cologne. Suddenly, she espied a poor old tattered crone, carrying +a basket of luscious fruit, such as none of the queen's own gardens or +green-houses could produce. Pomegranates there were, dropping sweetest +juices when cleft in twain, purple figs that melted upon the tongue, +rosy nectarines, crimson plums frosted with silvery dew, and bunches of +grapes glowing like jewels where the sunbeams touched their clusters. +Queen Blondina sat up, and exclaimed with delight, "Oh! Goody, pray set +your basket down. My servants will pay you handsomely for your lovely +fruit." + +"Willingly, your Majesty," said the old woman. "You are welcome to the +contents of my basket, if you will but leave me the single hazel-nut at +the very bottom of it." + +The queen consented, with a laugh at the absurdity of her wanting that +one insignificant little hazel-nut, when such a delightful treat was at +her service. Her servants unpacked the basket, and there, sure enough, +at the bottom, was a tiny brown nut. + +"Queer, that she should desire to keep back that one little nut," +thought the queen. "I wonder why? Can it be so very delicious to the +taste, or what? I wish I could see its inside." + +And so she went on, wondering, and exciting her own imagination, till, +pretty soon, Blondina would have given all the rest of the basketful for +the possession of that single mysterious nut! She began by offering one +gold piece, then another, till a glittering pile lay at the crone's +feet, but still the old woman held out against parting with her +treasure. + +At last, Blondina burst into tears, when the crone appeared to be melted +by her sorrow, and, advancing, whispered in her ear. + +"If I give you this nut," she said, "it shall be on one condition, only, +your Majesty; and that is, that you crack it in the presence of your +prime minister alone, in some remote corner of your palace." + +Blondina gladly consented, and sending away her attendants, took +possession of the nut, and summoned her prime minister to her side. This +functionary was a very stern and important officer of State, who had +been foremost in the movement to banish the Princess Vixetta from the +court. He arrived all breathless, at the queen's behest, and in the +meantime the old crone had disappeared as mysteriously as she came. +Blondina ordered the prime minister to follow her to a secluded +summer-house, where, eagerly cracking the nut with her royal high-heeled +shoe, she found inside only a few pinches of white powder, and a scroll +containing some fine writing in an unknown tongue. + +"Thanks to my love of study, your Majesty," modestly suggested the prime +minister, "I have mastered the only language you have left unacquired, +which happens to be Arabic. On this bit of paper, I can decipher certain +instructions to the finder." + +"Tell me them, quickly, my dear lord," said the enchanted princess, "and +I will apply myself to the study of Arabic to-morrow. So much for a +neglected education," she added, with a sigh that she had left anything +so important undone; for, as I have said before, this princess had a +passion for acquiring languages. + +"If the finder of this treasure desires to acquaint himself with the +language of the animal world, and to take the form of any other living +thing, he has only to snuff up a pinch of the enclosed powder, bow to +the earth three times, and cry the name of the creature he desires to +become, followed by these exact words:-- + + 'Kurri-kuree, + Changed would I be.' + +"At once he will assume the likeness of the thing named, and will +understand all he hears going on around him, remaining in that shape as +long as he may choose. Whenever he wishes to resume his own natural +form, he has only to bow himself again three times to the earth, and +repeat the formula already given. But let him, during the period of +transformation, especially beware of laughing aloud--or he will +inevitably forget the formula, and run the risk of remaining as he has +chosen to be." + +"This is the most delightful thing I ever had happen to me," said the +merry young queen, clapping her hands. "Come, my lord, I am dying to try +the experiment. Suppose we become two turkeys, and wander into the +barn-yard. Nothing could please me more than a little adventure of that +kind. Besides, you forget I have never studied Turkish, and this will be +an excellent opportunity." + +The prime minister, who was a man of sober years, beyond the taste for +such mad-cap frolics, remonstrated in vain with his wilful mistress. +Blondina would have her way; and, in a short time, behold both queen and +minister indulging in a solemn pinch of white snuff, and pronouncing +distinctly the magic formula, while inclining themselves humbly to the +earth! + +At once, Blondina's gown of silken tissue was exchanged for a suit of +neat brown mottled feathers, while the prime minister became just such a +huge and unwieldy gobbler as would take first prize in a Christmas +poultry show! + +"Oh! what splendid fun!" the queen began, dying to laugh at her +companion. But reflecting upon the possible consequences of this +indiscretion, she became grave and silent, while the humiliated prime +minister waddled after her into the barn-yard, whither his perverse +little sovereign now took her way, leaving the hazel-nut securely hidden +in a corner of the summer-house. + +In the multitude of feathered folk assembled in the enclosure, our two +turkeys passed almost unnoticed at first. They were surprised to find +very much the same sort of talk going on among their new friends, as +among those they had left. The same struggle for prizes and for place, +the same greedy rapacity, the same love of gossip and display. Two new +peacocks had that day been added to the collection, and were strutting +up and down like fashionable loungers, discussing all the affairs of the +nation and the conduct of the rulers; and, in listening to their +discourse, the queen found herself much enlightened about many of her +subjects, and their doings. + +"As to her Majesty, Queen Blondina," said one of the peacocks, sending +his tail up in a magnificent fan when he saw the admiring gaze of two +young guinea hens bent upon him, "I have reason to believe that this +unfortunate young woman is doomed soon to fall a victim to the wiles of +that powerful enchantress, her sister, who, as is well known to all of +us, has just become the sovereign of the underground fraternity of +magicians, against whose spells all other witches and warlocks can do +nothing." + +Blondina strained her ears to catch the answer; but the two talkers had +passed on, and she heard a sharp voice say close beside her, "Come now, +no struggling, if you please, Mr. Mole. I have not tasted so much as a +mouse to-day, and you have crossed my path in the nick of time." + +"Dear Miss Tame Owl," pleaded the little velvet-coated victim, held +tight in the claws of a spinster-owl, domesticated in the barn-yard by +Blondina's special orders, "I must entreat you to let me off this time; +I was hurrying to my daughter's wedding, and mistook the way, straying +into this dreadful place by the most unfortunate mischance. Consider the +feelings of my family, who are all assembled and expecting me." + +"Come now, no nonsense," said the cross old thing. "My mouth is fairly +watering for you." + +She was about to cut short the victim's observations in the most abrupt +manner by taking him bodily into her crop, when Blondina interposed, and +flying at the owl, boxed her ears soundly. At this, the venerable lady +was so unpleasantly taken by surprise, that she opened her mouth to +gasp, and out fell the mole, who instantly scuttled away, but not +without bestowing upon his turkey benefactress the most ardent thanks. +After this little incident, Blondina's attention was distracted by a +variety of curious studies in fowl-life, and she forgot all about her +companion, the prime minister, until, chancing to look around, she +beheld him the centre of an admiring throng of ducks, geese, and +chickens, whose numbers were constantly increasing. "How grand he is!" +"How big!" "How noble!" echoed on every side; and the prime minister, +who was very vain, drooped his wings, set up his tail, and puffed +himself into a magnificent fluffy ball. "Never have we beheld a turkey +of so majestic a bearing!" cried a gushing goose-widow, and a pair of +young lady ducklings rolled up their eyes in rapture and nodded assent. +The prime minister was in his glory. + +"Yes, I am indeed the champion," he said, swelling into a balloon of +feathers. Just then, Queen Blondina's own pet kitten, Floss, wandered +across the yard, and having no especial occupation in view, charged at +full scamper upon the prime minister, who, alas! for his boasted +dignity, subsided ingloriously, and, shutting himself up tight, fairly +turned tail and ran away, looking so excessively crest-fallen and +foolish that Blondina could not resist bursting into a long and merry +peal of laughter. + +"What have you done, your Majesty?" cried the alarmed prime minister, +now remembering himself, as together they took refuge in a neighboring +field. "Is it possible you can have forgotten; and, for my part, I saw +nothing to laugh about. I never imagined a more dreadful beast than that +unmannerly little pet of yours which attacked me." + +The queen broke out afresh into laughter, and laughed until she cried. +Then, seeing the discomfiture of the prime minister, she decided that +she had for to-day had enough of the animal world, and would indulge no +more in such amusements until to-morrow. + +"I beg ten thousand pardons, my dear lord," she said, shaking with +suppressed laughter. "But if you could only have seen yourself! Ha, ha! +However, we have nothing now to do but bow three times, thus"--suiting +the action to the word, "and say--Kik-kuk-kik! Dear me, what is it we +must say? I can't for the life of me remember it." + +The prime minister was as much at a loss. + +"Perhaps your Majesty has forgotten _the price you were to pay for a +laugh_," he observed, bitterly. + +Blondina looked at him in blank horror. Too truly had she forgotten the +formula, and turkeys they must remain! + +And now, how sad their plight! In the midst of their other tribulations, +hunger assailed them, and they could not eat the food provided for the +rest. So they wandered into the fields and forest, picking at berries +here and there; though, when evening came, footsore and weary, they +determined to go back into the palace barn-yard, and see what was taking +place there. + +They found all the animals and fowls excited over the events of the day, +and soon heard the news that Queen Blondina had died suddenly that +morning, leaving a will appointing her sister to reign in her stead. + +Next day a funeral took place, when the coffin was filled by a lovely +waxen image of the late queen, and was placed in the vault beside her +father. The false Vixetta, dressed in mourning, had followed weeping +after it. + +Blondina and the prime minister now saw that they were indeed under the +spell of a powerful enchantress, and resolved to travel to the dwelling +of a certain wise woman in search of advice. + +After a long journey, the two turkeys reached the hut of the wise woman, +and told her their pitiful tale. + +"Unfortunately, I have no power against Queen Vixetta since she has +become the sovereign of the underground band," said the wise woman. +"But, if you could gain an entrance to one of their Friday councils, you +might pick up something to your advantage there." And then, as wise +women speak but once in twenty-four hours, she shut the door in their +faces, and left them to their fate. + +Blondina and the prime minister repaired to the ruined tower whither +Vixetta was wont to go on Fridays; and there, hiding behind a wall, they +saw the wicked sorceress arrive and, lifting a trap-door in the cellar, +disappear from sight. While they remained above, lamenting their hard +fate, Blondina saw a tiny black object emerge from the ground at her +feet, then another and another, till a troop of them were assembled. +These were moles, and their leader, addressing the queen, informed her +that he it was she had saved from the crop of the owl. + +"We have heard of your distressing predicament, your Majesty," the mole +added, with deep respect; "and hasten to offer our services to conduct +you to the council chamber of the underground band." + +Blondina thanked the mole fervently, and found, upon following him, that +with his companions he had burrowed a long and beautifully smooth +tunnel. Glow-worms were ranged along the sides to light the way, and +every thing was arranged for her comfort. After a considerable time had +elapsed, the travellers reached a gallery leading directly into a +vaulted chamber where the witches and warlocks sat, each upon a cushion +formed of a huge and swollen toad. In their midst, upon a throne made of +serpents intertwined, sat the Queen Vixetta, around whose brow flickered +a wreath of blue flames. Ah! she was a terrible witch to look upon. +Blondina shuddered to remember the kisses she had often innocently +pressed upon that skinny forehead and those lips of lurid red. Vixetta +was in high spirits; she and her familiars hatched mischief together, +and gloated over their evil doings in fiendish glee. Then Vixetta +listened to the reports of each of the wicked creatures in turn; and, to +Blondina's astonishment, in the narrators of these tales of witchcraft +she recognized more than one of the most respected of her own subjects. +Some of them were crones ancient and palsied, others were young and +blooming girls Vixetta had led astray; among the warlocks were the +gray-haired miller, the good sexton, and a courtier in whom the queen +had placed peculiar confidence. All were attended by black deformed +creatures, half cat, half human being. In the centre of the circle was a +fire, and before it they set up the very waxen image of the queen which +had been buried in her stead. Into this little imps were ordered to +thrust sharp blades and needles in the region of the heart, while +Vixetta pronounced a spell, at which all the others laughed rejoicingly. + +"I'll warrant my lady Blondina will be cured of her love of laughing, +after this--as well as of her curiosity. Long may she wander in her +present shape," said the sorceress. "It was a merry trick I played her +and that audacious old prime minister, who sought to do me harm." + +"And what, pray, was the rhyme your Majesty bid them recall?" asked the +courtier warlock, grinning maliciously. + +"A simple one," replied the sorceress, "and you will remember it was +once a password in our band,-- + + 'Kurri-kuree, + Changed would I be.'" + +Blondina almost betrayed herself in her delight. She repeated the words +again and again, in mind, keeping profoundly silent until the +witch-revels were at an end; and at cock-crow the unholy gang broke up, +vanishing like smoke through a trap-door in the ceiling of the vault. + +"And now, dear little mole, take us back again," said the turkey-queen, +who longed to breathe the free air of heaven and to break her awful +spell. + +"May it please your Majesty," said the mole, looking very unhappy, +"there is a new difficulty. Yonder image of you which they consumed in +the fire, is a fresh enchantment that dooms you to remain perpetually in +the place where you now are; and I find by consultation with a friend of +mine, a bat who lives in this cave, and who is the most kind and +obliging person, that on only one condition can you now leave this spot, +and that, I hardly dare name to you." + +"Summon this bat to appear before me immediately," cried the wretched +queen, who, finding that her feet were stuck fast to the earth, was +truly overwhelmed, while the prime minister gave himself up to complete +despair. + +The bat appeared, and a more repulsive huge creature it is impossible to +picture; but his voice was gentle and his manner most humble and +conciliatory. He began to apologize for presenting himself before the +queen, when she interrupted him impetuously. + +"Quick--quick! tell me the condition on which I may leave this horrible +place, where I shall die if I remain a moment longer. Who are you? why +are you here? and why should we trust in you when every living thing in +this foul spot is devoted to the service of the evil one?" + +"I, like yourself, am a victim of, not a partner in, crime, your +Majesty," said the bat, with dignity. "If you will permit----" + +"But I can't stop to listen to anything," sobbed the poor little +turkey-queen. "Get me into the daylight somehow or other, and then I +will hear you gladly. Oh! kind Mr. Bat, forgive my unkind words; only +free me from this living tomb, if it be possible." + +"You have been told that it is possible, lady," said the bat, +pathetically; "but, to be brief, since you insist upon it--only by +promising your fair hand in marriage to----" + +"To whom?" cried Blondina, in astonishment + +"To me," said the bat, withdrawing more into the shadows of the vault. + +Blondina screamed with horror. + +"Oh! never, never," she exclaimed, bursting again into tears of +anguish. + +The mole, the bat and the turkey prime minister consulted together in +low whispers; and the last-named gentleman, addressing the queen, set +before her the hopeless situation in which she now was, and urged her to +accept the proposition of the bat. + +"Hear me, too, fair queen," said the voice of the bat. "I swear that if +you consent, you shall never regret it. Only trust me, and all will go +well. In consigning me to this spot, your wicked sister, who, in my +former estate desired to marry me herself, in spite of my aversion for +her, swore that never should I be free from her enchantment, until a +beautiful young bride should come to the rescue and promise to marry me, +as I am, without asking any questions. Then, and then only, I might +escape, taking my bride and her attendants with me." + +"But your appearance--pardon me," said poor Blondina; "it is too +dreadful for anything." + +"Trust me," repeated the bat; and, in desperation, Blondina murmured a +promise to be his bride. + +Instantly the bat flew with alacrity into a corner of the vault, and, +bringing thence a bunch of mistletoe, angelica, and mountain-ash, waved +it thrice in a circle around Blondina, who up to that moment had +remained as if rooted to the spot where she stood. The spell broke, and +Blondina, starting joyfully forward, repeated, at his request, the same +ceremony of disenchantment for the bat, as also for the prime minister; +and all three of them, accompanied by the faithful mole, took their way +to the upper regions without delay. Upon reaching the meadow where they +had entered the underground passage, Blondina and the prime minister +lost no time in running back to the summer-house, where, regaining the +hidden hazel nut, they safely and joyfully resumed their own true +shapes. + +"And now, gentle lady," said the bat, who had flown after them, keeping +his distance modestly, "I pray you to perform for me another kindly +action. Close your eyes, and sprinkle me with this powder, at the same +time touching my head with the witch-defying plants. Then, kindle a fire +with these fagots of wood left here by your gardener, and cast me into +the hottest portion of it." + +Blondina shrank from the task, but, finding the bat as determined as he +was calm and dignified, obeyed him without another word of protest. +Aided by the now alert and cheerful prime minister, she kindled a fire +upon the hearth of the little summer-house; and when it blazed high, +and hot coals fell into the centre, she followed the bat's directions to +the letter. Immediately there was a loud explosion; the hideous bat skin +split asunder and shrivelled up, revealing a beautiful young prince, who +stepped unsinged from the ring of flame, and bent his knee before the +Queen Blondina. She recognized in him a playmate of her childhood, +Prince Florizel, son of a neighboring monarch, who years before had +disappeared from his father's court, and had been mourned as dead by his +sorrowing relatives. To enchant him, in punishment for his scorn of her, +had been one of the first acts of Vixetta's acquired magic; and to +accomplish it, the wretched girl had bargained away her entire life to +the service of the Evil One. + +Blondina greeted Florizel with the utmost pleasure and assured him of +her willingness to fulfil the pledge she had made to the dreaded +bat-lover. They returned to the palace, and on being observed by the +attendants, who, believing them to be ghosts, ran terrified away, had +some difficulty in persuading people that they were alive and in the +flesh. Then, what joy reigned over the palace. Quickly the news spread +through the city and kingdom. The indignant people flocked around the +apartments of Vixetta, who was still asleep after her orgies of the +previous night, and, summoning her to come forth, declared that she +should instantly be put to death in the presence of her victims. The +miserable sorceress fell upon her knees, and begged for her life. Again +the generous Blondina entreated that her sister might be spared; but +Prince Florizel interfered, and insisted that, for the future safety of +his queen, Vixetta should then and there be compelled to take a pinch of +the magic powder and change herself into a bat. This was done, and the +sorceress, flying from the window, was never heard of more. + +Blondina gave her hand and heart to Prince Florizel, as soon as he +returned from a visit to his parents, who were overjoyed to regain their +long-lost son and heir. The marriage took place with great magnificence, +and the royal couple lived in peace for the remainder of their long and +useful lives. They would often walk in the direction of the +poultry-yard, and Blondina loved to tell her husband of all the things +she had heard and seen there when in her turkey shape. + +But the prime minister, after he had weeded out of the kingdom certain +obnoxious individuals strongly resembling the warlocks seen at the +underground council, preferred to assume a dignified forgetfulness of +all that had passed during his enforced experience as a feathered biped. +To the latest day of his life he would always cross the road to avoid +meeting a turkey-gobbler, and for the race of pet kittens he continued +to maintain the most unconquerable dislike. + +By the laws of the kingdom, to kill or injure a mole was made a capital +offence; and once every year a little blind gentleman in a fine black +velvet coat arrived at the palace to pay his respects to their +majesties, who received him with every mark of favor and affection. + + + + +TIMID AGNES. + +[Illustration: Shutting Agnes into the Chest.] + + +Once there lived a poor girl whose wicked aunt treated her very cruelly. +One morning, the aunt set out for a day of shopping and visiting to the +neighboring town, after whipping her niece soundly (as she was in the +habit of doing for exercise, every morning), and shutting up the poor +girl in the garret, where a barrel of white sand had been spilt upon the +floor. + +"Pick up every grain of this sand before bedtime, or I will imprison you +in the dark closet for a week," said the aunt as she went away. + +The poor child cried so that she could not see the tiny particles; and +as she sat, crying and picking up what she could feel, she heard a +little scratching under the lid of the old wedding-chest in the corner. +Presently, a pretty blue mouse with topaz eyes ran down the side of the +chest, and came up to her. Now, if there was anything poor Agnes feared +more than death, it was a mouse. The very sight of one had always made +her shudder and scream and clutch at her petticoats, and climb up on +chairs or tables or anything convenient. + +So when she saw her visitor she gave a cry of terror, and climbed nimbly +up to the top of a broken chest of drawers in the corner of the garret. + +"Don't mind me," said the mouse, politely. + +"I _beg_ your pardon, but I'm so awfully afraid of you," said Agnes, +shuddering to her toes. "I think I could endure you if it were not for +your horrid tail! But you really make me creep all over, don't you see?" + +"If you would only take that apron off your head, and exercise a little +self-control," said the mouse, with a shade of impatience in its manner, +"you would soon see that I am a very superior kind of a mouse. Come, +Miss Agnes, I have watched you very often at your work here, and I have +a great desire to be of service to you. But there is really no talking +reason to a person hunched up on top of a chest of drawers with a pink +apron over her head; is there, now?" + +Agnes, hearing the mouse talk so pleasantly, made a desperate effort to +come down from her perch and converse with the little creature. After a +while the blue mouse's eloquence proved sufficient to induce her to +follow it near a crack in the wall, and to peep between the boards, as +directed. + +There she saw a secret room, full of beautiful things--clothes and +jewels--scattered on the floor. + +"All these shall be yours, fair Agnes," said the mouse, "if you will +carry me in your pocket for a day." + +Agnes trembled with horror so that she could hardly bring herself to +say, "Thank you kindly, good Mr. Blue Mouse, but I hardly need anything +new in the way of clothes, going out as little as I do. O--o--oh!" she +exclaimed, catching her breath, as the mouse seemed to scuttle toward +her. + +"Do not fear! I am entirely too proud to obtrude my company where it is +so little desired. Farewell, Miss Agnes; I leave you. But before I go, +allow me to arrange this little difficulty for you." + +The gallant little mouse whisked his tail (that hateful tail!), twice +over the pile of sand, and at once, every grain of the shining heap, and +all that lay scattered over the garret floor, flew back into the barrel. + +"Thank you, kind Mr. Blue Mouse," cried the grateful Agnes; but no +answer came. Her benefactor was nowhere to be seen. She looked in vain +for the crack in the wall he had led her to; it was no longer in view. + +When the wicked aunt found that Agnes had completed her task, she flew +into a violent rage, and determined to rid herself forever of the girl. +So, taking her again into the garret, she bound her hand-and-foot, tied +a handkerchief across her mouth to still her cries, and, opening the old +wedding-chest in the corner, thrust poor Agnes bodily into it, closing +the lid with a vicious bang, and locking it with the great iron key. + +"Lie there till doomsday, you tiresome thing!" said the wicked aunt, +going down-stairs to eat her supper. + +Poor Agnes thought she must soon die of suffocation, but just then she +heard a scratching noise; four little feet scuttled over her face, and a +long smooth tail whisked by her ear. + +"Ugh!" groaned poor Agnes. "It's a mouse shut up here with me! Oh! why +didn't she kill me, outright?" + +Then little teeth began gnawing at her bandages and at the ropes that +bound her, and in a few moments she was free. + +"I am here, Miss Agnes; though, indeed, I won't touch you again!" said +the familiar voice of the Blue Mouse. "But if you would only trust me, +and carry me in your pocket, how much I could do for you!" + +At last Agnes consented to grant his wish and, trembling in every limb, +she let the mouse run into her pocket. Without a moment's delay, the +bottom of the chest gave way, and Agnes felt herself sinking, sinking. +When she recovered her wits, which in that moment of terror seemed +fairly to forsake her, there she was in a beautiful garden, filled with +ladies and gentlemen walking two and two in a grand procession along a +bowery path strewn with roses and carnations. Fountains played in the +sunshine, birds sang on the boughs. It was a scene so gay and beautiful, +that Agnes clapped her hands for joy. + +"How happy I am here!" she cried. + +"And happy you shall always be here," said a voice behind her. + +Agnes, turning, saw a young gentleman dressed in a blue court costume +with topaz buttons, and wearing in his cap a long smooth plume of blue, +caught by a brilliant brooch of the same gems. + +He explained to her that he was none other than the mouse she had so +much feared. Condemned from childhood to remain a mouse until some fair +maiden should, of her own free will, allow him to run into her pocket, +the unfortunate prince had only now been released from his long +imprisonment. This garden belonged to his own palace, and the ladies and +gentlemen coming to meet him were his friends and courtiers. + +Agnes, shedding tears of penitence over the blindness of her former +prejudice, bestowed her hand upon the prince, and was happy evermore. + + + + +THE OGRESS AND THE COOK. + + +One summer afternoon, a young girl sat upon the door-stone of her +cottage home, awaiting the return of her father from the mill. Her day's +work was neatly done, and the tiny house, both within and without, was +as tidy as hands could make it; hollyhocks and sweet-peas grew beneath +the windows; the plates on the cupboard shelf glittered; and a little +fire sparkled upon the hearth, where a pot of savory broth was bubbling +cheerfully. On the table was set a brown loaf, light as a feather and +sweet as a nut, with a bunch of grapes from the trellis above the door, +and a pewter mug ready to be filled with frothing ale at the moment when +the good man should sit down. Dimple, whose fingers rarely rested, plied +her knitting-needles as she watched the bridge upon the road where the +first glimpse of her father might be caught. By-and-by, up came an old +crone, dusty and way-worn. + +"Pray, my kind little maiden, give me a bit of food, and a sup of drink, +for sweet charity's sake," begged the wayfarer, who looked as if she +were ready to drop from fatigue. + +"Willingly, dame," said pretty little Dimple; and bidding the crone be +seated, she ladled out for her a generous portion of the fragrant broth. + +The crone's eyes sparkled; and, seizing a great horn spoon, she +despatched the broth in two or three mouthfuls, then asked for more. +Dimple supplied her; and in a little while, all the broth in the iron +pot had disappeared. + +"Never mind," sighed Dimple to herself. "The good father will have to +put up with a rasher of bacon and some eggs, to-night." + +As if reading her thoughts, the crone, displaying a pair of jaws opening +as wide as a cavern and garnished with ferocious teeth, said: + +"I am just beginning to feel a little refreshed. If there were only such +a thing as a couple of fat slices of home-cured bacon, and a brace of +new-laid eggs to help a poor old creature on her way." + +Dimple ran to fetch the eggs, over the laying of which her fowls had +scarcely ceased to cackle in the barn. Quickly and cheerfully, she +prepared a delicious dish, which the crone despatched as before. The +loaf of bread followed the bacon, and a gallon of ale followed the +bread. All of the grapes, plucked and arranged in a basket for market +next morning, were consumed; and, when Dimple had just begun to tremble +with apprehension lest her voracious visitor should devour _her_ in +conclusion, the crone pushed back her chair, jumped up with surprising +agility and, running to the door, blew a shrill whistle. + +Instantly, there came flying through the air a pair of huge vampires +harnessed to a blood-red chariot. They halted at the cottage gate; and, +before Dimple had time to cry out in her terror, the crone whisked her +into the chariot, held her in place with a grasp of iron, and ordered +the foul creatures to be off. Dimple fainted away and, when she came to +herself, found that they were high above the earth, travelling with +frightful speed through a thunder cloud. In vain she cried for mercy, +and entreated to be restored to her father's house. + +"Be silent, brat," said the furious crone, who was, in reality, an +ogress. "Know that I have for a long time been in search of just such a +trig little cook-maid as you are. Ever since my husband ate up the two +last, I have had the greatest trouble to induce my servants to stay with +me. Besides, we are particular about our table, and rather hard to suit. +I dare say, now, you understand cooking a nice plump baby's thigh to +perfection, and how to prepare a dish of rosy cheeks smothered in cream, +hey? But it isn't every day we are in such luck as to get fare like +that. Many's the time I've had to palm off lamb chops for baby cutlets, +and to swear that the pig's tails I served up were boy's fingers. Now, +stop that ridiculous shuddering and crying, and listen to reason. If you +promise to serve me faithfully for seven years, I'll engage to keep you +out of his way, and to send you home with a fortune in your pocket." + +Dimple's fright and horror had by this time completely taken away her +power of speech. She sank upon the floor of the chariot in silent +despair; and when they reached the ogre's castle, situated on a frowning +peak of rocks, where not the most daring human foot could climb, she +allowed herself without resistance to be lifted out, and thrust into a +dark cavernous kitchen. There she was ordered to prepare a large pie, +made of rats and bats, for the ogre's supper. While poor Dimple was thus +engaged, a monstrous giant came home, and angrily asked for food. The +ogress greeted him affectionately, and nine young ogresses ran to meet +him and would have jumped upon his knees, but that he pushed them away +and fell to scolding everybody, every syllable of his speech sounding +like the loudest thunder-peal. Dimple finished her hateful task, and +such was her skill in cooking that the pastry on coming out of the oven +looked and smelt delicious. The giant ceased to frown as he devoured it, +and smiled when he laid down his knife and fork. + +[Illustration: _Dimple makes rat pie._] + +"Come here, lasses, and I'll kiss you all," he said, with rare +amiability--actually bestowing on his wife's shoulder a pat of approval +that would have felled Jumbo to the earth. + +The young ogresses were tall and spindling creatures, as slim as young +giraffes. They had pasty complexions, pink eyes, and long glistening +white teeth. Dimple's business was, after she had set her kitchen in +order, to go up into the nursery and put these frights to bed, each +requiring to be rocked to sleep in a cradle nine feet long, and all +howling like an army of pinched cats until slumber overtook them. Late +at night, when all was quiet, poor Dimple would creep up to bed in a +little turret room, where the wind moaned around the windows and owls +hooted in the ivy so that sleep was impossible. She lay on her wretched +bed and cried all night; and when day broke, she would scramble into her +clothes again, and steal down stairs to her work in trembling, for she +never knew at what moment the ogre might be prowling around in his +stocking feet, and pounce upon her for a tid-bit. Months passed on, and +one day the ogre came home in high good humor, carrying upon his back a +living human being, whose feet and hands were tied and his eyes securely +bandaged, while a gag in his mouth prevented the unfortunate victim +from making a sound of remonstrance. + +"Take this fellow to the kitchen," thundered the ogre, throwing his +victim down upon the stone floor of the entrance hall with a violent +bang; "see that he is in good condition for my table, and then serve him +with plenty of onions in the sauce. Just as I was beginning to hanker +after a young and tender morsel of human flesh, I came across this boy, +following the plough. I'll warrant, I stopped his whistle quickly, when +I grabbed him up! Now mind, wife, supper at sharp twelve, and don't +forget the onions!" + +The ogress lifted the prisoner as unconcernedly as one would handle a +dead turkey and, carrying him below, threw him down upon the kitchen +table, repeating her lord's directions to the cook. When Dimple +recognized in the fainting prisoner an old schoolmate and neighbor of +her own, Jim Hardy by name, she could scarcely refrain from a scream of +rapture. But, pretending to be indifferent, she merely felt the poor +youth's arms, as a cook examines the condition of her fowls for the +table. + +"Dear me, madam," she said, "surely you don't mean to cook this tough +creature to-night? Why, I wouldn't dare to send up such a dish to my +master. He would be in a fearful rage, and small blame to him. At least, +allow me to fatten the bumpkin a bit." + +"But what shall we serve my husband?" said the alarmed ogress. "He has +set his heart on a dish of boy with onion sauce, and I dare not +disappoint him." + +"Leave that to me," said clever Dimple. + +So she killed a lamb, and smothered it with onions, and the ogre knew no +difference. The poor youth was set free, and great was his joy to find a +friend in his proposed executioner. Dimple told him her story, and heard +from him how long and sorrowfully her father had mourned her +disappearance. Jim vowed to deliver her from the ogre; but both saw it +was necessary to act with caution, at first. She was obliged to shut him +up in an iron coop in the courtyard near the kitchen; and every time the +old crone came into the kitchen, she went to the coop and felt and +pinched the poor lad's legs and breast unmercifully. + +"Surely he is tender enough to serve to-night, cook," she would say, +impatiently. "Your master has an attack of the gout, and I am at my +wit's end to keep him in good humor. Nothing would please him so much as +a slice or two of the breast, grilled with pepper and mustard." + +"Leave that to me," Dimple would answer; and she forthwith killed a pig, +and served a dish so deliciously seasoned that the ogre forgot to growl, +for at least an hour after eating it. + +Once, while the supper was going on, Dimple and Jim crept up to listen +at the dining-room door. After the ogre had drank a gallon or two of +wine, he began to talk freely to his wife. + +"Such a dainty dish as this you have served me deserves a reward, my +dear," he said in a greasy voice, while the ogress meekly dipped some +bread in the gravy as her share of the feast. "Open the closet in the +corner yonder, and get me out my birdling." + +What should the birdling prove to be but a tiny nightingale shining like +gold! When its mouth opened at the ogre's command, "Sing, birdling, +sing!" out poured a rain of sapphires, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and +amethysts, that lay in a glittering stream upon the table-cloth. + +"Take these for a bracelet," said the ogre, gathering them up in his +hand, and tossing them to his wife; "and then put away my birdling, that +no covetous eye may look upon this wonder of the world." + +Dimple and Jim exchanged glances of astonishment, but dared not speak, +as they crept silently down the flight of stairs. + +Next day, the ogress came again into the kitchen to see about the supper +dish for the evening, and in her zeal to prove that Jim was really ready +for cooking, she bit his ear so that he could not help uttering a little +squeal. + +"See what you have done!" cried Dimple. "Now that the blood flows, he +will not be fit for eating for another day or two. Certainly, _I_ won't +engage to make a savory dish of him." + +"Oh, don't be vexed, cook," said the ogress, who by this time had grown +to depend absolutely upon Dimple's word in such matters. "I have a salve +here that will heal all wounds, and will even cause a limb that has been +cut off to grow again to the body." + +So saying, she whipped out of her pocket a little box of ointment, and +rubbed some of it on the wounded place, which at once ceased to bleed, +becoming whole as before. + +"What did I tell you?" asked the crone, triumphantly. "This salve is one +of the wonders of the world, and the recipe is handed down only in our +family." So saying, she carefully put away the box again in her pocket. + +Day after day passed, Dimple continuing to make excuses for failing to +serve the coveted dainty, and exerting all her skill to cook such dishes +as might make the ogress forget her disappointment. Meantime, Jim +occupied his time in the coop by weaving a rope long enough and strong +enough to support his weight and Dimple's while making their proposed +escape down the rocky precipice on which the castle stood. Once on the +sea-shore beneath, they hoped to hide in some fisherman's hut until a +ship might be found sailing to their own country. + +"One thing is certain, Dimple," said Jim, who was a bold and fearless +fellow; "we shall not leave this place without carrying off that +wonderful bird of his. Why, just to remember the dazzling stream that +poured from its mouth, makes my eyes wink." + +"Oh! Jim," answered Dimple, trembling. "Please, please, don't attempt +such a thing. It will make our punishment ten times worse if we are +caught. Besides, what hope have you of getting inside the iron closet? +It is madness to talk about it. For my part, what I would like to take, +is a little of that marvellous salve. Then, if we are bruised or our +bones are broken on the rocks, we can make all right again----" + +"Why should you forever be talking to yourself, cook?" exclaimed the +ogress, at that moment bursting in, carrying a bunch of keys that +clanked like fetters. "See here! No more nonsense! I'd just like to know +when you propose to give us that chap in yonder, who must have eaten +more than his weight in good food since he came here?" + +"Very soon, very soon, madam," said Dimple, with a palpitating heart; +"in a very few days he should be fit for my master's table. You know +that kind of a creature takes uncommonly long to fatten." + +"Hold your tongue!" cried the ogress, exploding in sudden fury, like a +mine of fire-crackers, and hurling at Dimple's unfortunate head a few +convenient saucepans, skewers, flat-irons, and dish-covers. Happily the +thrower was of the feminine gender, and so the projectiles missed their +aim; but, as Dimple dodged around in a dark corner of the kitchen, the +ogress continued to scold her angrily. + +"I know this," she exclaimed, "that for only one single day longer will +I consent to be put off by your palavering promises and excuses. The lad +is fit to kill now, if he is ever going to be; and as day after +to-morrow is my lord's two thousand and tenth birthday, you must prepare +a dish that shall be better than all that have gone before it. +Everything is arranged for a night of celebration. Exactly at midnight +to-morrow, we proceed in the vampire chariot to visit our neighbor, the +King of the Ghouls, and, returning, shall expect to find the feast +served punctually at cock-crow; the dear children may sit up for it, and +my brother, the Ogre of the Seven Mountains, is invited to partake." + +During this speech Dimple's blood ran cold, but, summoning up all her +resolution, she answered calmly, "All shall be ready, madam;" and when +the appeased ogress took her leave, Dimple flew to the iron coop, and +asked Jim if he had heard the conversation. + +"Indeed, did I, my lass," said Jim, trying to put a bold face on the +matter. Then, they fell to consulting, and it was decided that the +escape should be attempted that very night, as soon as the household was +at rest. Midnight came, and not a sound save the thunderous snoring of +the ogre family was heard within the castle. Dimple waited upon the +landing, while Jim glided up to the cupboard where the nightingale was +kept. As no one dared so much as lay a finger upon the giant's treasure +without his leave, the door had been left unlocked. There sat the lovely +birdling upon a jewelled spray, glittering so brilliantly that it shone +like a lamp in the darkness. As Jim laid his hand upon it, the bird sent +forth a note of silver sweetness, warning her captor to fly with all +speed, if he would escape with his life from the vengeance of the ogre. + +"I humbly beg your pardon," said Jim, respectfully; "I had no idea that +you are a talking creature." + +"Oh! I am glad of anything for a change! You must know that I am a +fairy, unfortunate enough to have been imprisoned in a shape assumed for +a frolic," the bird continued, greatly to Jim's astonishment. "And tired +enough I am, of being a plaything for that horrid old monster, who +captured me when I had just dressed for a masquerade party, in the +plumage that you see. Unluckily, it is my doom to remain a slave to +whosoever shall make a prisoner of me whilst I am thus attired and, +also, to have to pour forth jewels at his command. You will be a +different sort of a master, I am sure." + +Jim hurriedly promised the fairy-bird to treat her with kindness, and +hastened to place her in Dimple's keeping. They stole past the giant's +chamber-door, but the creaking of a board aroused the tyrant, who sprang +out of bed, roaring, "Who is there? Answer, or I will grind you to dust +beneath my heel!" + +Jim made no reply, and lifting in both hands a heavy iron bar with which +he had provided himself, hid in an angle of the stairs. + +Out rushed the giant, sputtering ferociously, fire shooting from his +eyes and nostrils. Jim, under cover of the darkness, dealt him a +tremendous blow upon the skull. The monster tottered, and fell crashing +down the long flight of stairs, carrying Jim with him to the bottom. +Dimple heard a terrible groan, and then all was silent. Feeling her way +to the spot, she whispered imploringly, "Jim, dear Jim, speak to me!" + +"I'm here, Dimple," said a stifled voice, in reply; "but this old +wretch (who is as dead as a door-nail, by-the-way), has fallen atop of +me, and I believe he has broken both of my legs. Ha! there, I have freed +myself, but it's no use. I can't walk a step. Don't waste time on a +cripple like me, lass; but make haste to slip down the rope and escape, +before the ogress finds out what has happened." + +"Never, dear Jim," cried Dimple, fervently. Just then a sleepy voice was +heard above in the chamber of the ogress, inquiring of her husband what +was going on below. Quick as thought, Dimple ran up to her. + +"Oh, madam!" she said, "such an accident! His lordship has slipped upon +the stairs, and sprained his ankle. You are on no account to disturb +yourself to come down; but I beg that you will send him the box of magic +salve without delay." + +In her sleepy state, it did not occur to the ogress to wonder how +Dimple, whose presence in the castle had so long been hidden from the +giant, should have been chosen as his messenger. She was so anxious to +enjoy her nap in peace, that, grunting out an order to Dimple to take +the box from the pocket of a gown hanging upon the bed, she turned upon +her pillow and was soon snoring as before. + +Seizing the magic salve with joyful fingers, Dimple flew back to Jim, +and applied it freely to his broken legs. Instantly, Jim sprang to his +feet, stronger than before, and the friends prepared for flight. +Unfortunately, in the darkness, Dimple had also anointed the dead +giant's head, and to their dismay it now began to roar most frightfully. + +"Wife, wife, wife, come down and seize these vagabonds!" + +The ogress, turning in her sleep, exclaimed, + +"Goodness! I know what that means. My husband has got into the pantry, +in one of his hungry fits, and can't find enough to satisfy him. Dear +me! Suppose he should devour the cook. That would be inconvenient. +Coming, my dear, coming!" And springing nervously out of bed, she began +to look for her dressing gown and slippers. + +"Oh, madam," said Dimple, bursting again into the room. "His lordship is +in haste to butcher the nice fat prisoner he has found below, and I beg +that you will send him his hunting-knife, which lies upon the table." + +"Is that all?" said the ogress, sinking back upon her pillow, greatly +relieved. "Take the knife, child; you will find it at my elbow." + +Armed with this formidable weapon, a blade so keen that it could split a +hair with ease, Dimple returned to Jim, who forthwith pierced his +howling enemy through the tongue, nailing him securely to the floor. +This was the end of the most wicked monster who had for many grievous +years afflicted mankind. All was still, at last, within the castle, when +Dimple and Jim, holding fast their well-earned trophies, climbed out of +the narrow window and began their perilous descent. The rope hung over +the jagged rocks of a precipice rising abruptly from the sea. The sky +was dark, and the sound of the hungry waves beneath was far from +comforting to the fugitives. When half-way down, they were discovered by +one of the vampires keeping watch upon the rampart. Uttering a +discordant shriek, the vampire flew straight to the window of his +mistress, and gave the alarm. + +As soon as the ogress found out the escape of her treacherous cook, her +anger knew no bounds. Tearing madly down toward the kitchen, she +stumbled over the dead body of her lord, who lay pinned by his own +hunting-knife to the floor. Her shrill cries now rent the air, and were +echoed by those of the nine young ogresses, who ran out in their +night-gowns, looking truly hideous, and cast themselves upon the body +of their father. + +"My salve, my magic salve, quick!" cried the ogress to her oldest +daughter. Then, remembering to whom she had consigned the treasure, she +rushed wildly off and, leaning out of the window, seized the rope with a +ferocious jerk. + +"Fly, my good vampires!" yelled the horrid creature, "and tear me those +wretches to shreds before my eyes!" + +Now, indeed, the fate of the fugitives seemed sealed. Dimple, clinging +to Jim, uttered a cry of terror. But suddenly, a silvery voice came from +the bird-fairy hidden in her dress. + +"Have no fear, maiden. Set me free, and I promise to save you both from +this awful fate." + +Dimple gladly complied with the fairy's request. What was their surprise +to see this tiny creature, no larger than a veritable nightingale, +transform herself into a mighty eagle upon whose outstretched wings the +fugitives, seating themselves securely, were at once carried with +astonishing speed over sea and land, never slackening until they came in +sight of their own beloved country! Rapid as was the flight of the +vampires in pursuit, that of the enchanted eagle was far more rapid. +The cruel foes were completely distanced, and it may be a satisfaction +to you to learn that, flying homeward, in their blind rage and spite, to +tell the ogress of the failure of their chase, the vampires ran headlong +into a passing thunderbolt, and were instantly killed, their bodies +falling upon the castle wall under the very eye of their despairing +mistress. As it was impossible to get away from her eyrie except in the +vampire chariot, the ogress and her nine daughters lived there for a +year and a day, gnashing their teeth over their changed lot; and then +they slowly starved to death. Her last moments in life were haunted by +memories of Dimple, and the scent of imagined sauces compounded by her +clever cook arose tantalizingly to her nostrils. At the very end, a fit +of unwonted weakness took possession of the dying ogress, and she was +heard to murmur, as if dreaming, "She was the best I ever had. Dear +girl! I feel now that I could forgive her everything--my husband's +death--her treachery--my children's untimely fate--my own approaching +end--could I but taste her batter-pudding ere I die!" + +[Illustration: THE NINE YOUNG OGRESSES] + +Happily for Dimple, who was a tender and sympathetic soul, she knew +nothing of the pangs that rent the spirit of her ancient foe. Our hero +and heroine had been set down by the obliging fairy-bird at some little +distance from their native village. There, after giving her their +thanks, they at once offered to set their captive free without +conditions. The fairy-bird, overjoyed at her good fortune, insisted upon +singing for them a whole day, and a pile of precious gems then lay +heaped at Dimple's feet, far surpassing in value those in the king's own +treasury. Dimple and Jim were now rolling in wealth and, being also in +possession of the magic salve which cures all maladies, felt reasonably +secure of a prosperous future. Bidding the fairy good-by, they proceeded +on foot toward the neighboring town, carrying their treasures in some +old potato sacks begged from a roadside hut. + +Jim sold a few of the stones, and with the proceeds purchased +magnificent garments for Dimple and himself; then, hiring a train of +servants to attend them, the two travellers returned to their own +village, seated upon cushions of pale blue velvet in a crystal chariot +drawn by six milk-white horses, with gold and silver harness. + +At the approach of this splendid procession, all the people of the +neighborhood came flocking from their houses to see the grand prince and +princess, who had done them so much honor. To their astonishment, the +chariot stopped directly in front of the miller's cottage, and out +sprang the beautiful princess, trailing her silks and satins along the +garden path, and, with a scream of delight, throwing her fair arms +around the poor old dusty miller, who sat mournfully upon his deserted +door-stone, rapt in thought. In a voice that all recognized, Dimple +cried: + +"Father, don't you know me? I am your loving child." + +Next to be astonished was Jim's mother, a lone widow, who sat at her +spinning-wheel as usual, thinking of the boy she had lost so many months +before. When Jim appeared before her in all his bravery, the poor old +thing nearly went into hysterics of delight--she had not hesitated for +one moment in recognizing the face that had never left her thoughts. + +Directly afterward, all the villagers were requested to proceed in a +body to the church, where a splendid wedding was held. Everyone agreed +that Dimple made the prettiest bride that had ever stepped from the old +church porch, and no one could dispute the fact that Jim was the +proudest of bridegrooms. + +The newly married pair built a superb palace in a park near their native +village, and also two smaller palaces for Jim's mother and Dimple's +father. A large share of their wealth was spent in beautifying the homes +of their friends; and, in time, the hamlet came to be known as the +"Happy Valley," so prosperous and fertile had it grown. No sickness came +near these fortunate villagers; and none of them ever died--thanks to +the free use made by Dimple of her inexhaustible ointment. + +At last reports, neither Jim nor Dimple had confided to anyone the true +story of their life in the giant's castle. When people expressed +curiosity as to the source of such wonderful wealth, Jim always +roguishly said that Dimple had made it all by good cooking. This report, +getting abroad, had the effect of inducing the girls of that country, +far and wide, to go into their kitchens and learn all they could of the +most useful of arts; which, perhaps, had as much as Dimple's magic salve +to do with the health and contentment of the inhabitants of Happy +Valley! + + + + +MISS PEGGY AND THE FROG. + +(_An old nursery tale told from memory._) + + +Once there lived a widow, whose only child was a pretty girl named +Peggy. Peggy loved to play by the water-side with her young companions, +and one day a large frog hopped out of the water and sat gazing at her +with a loving smile. + +"What a queer frog!" cried Peggy. + +"I _am_ a queer frog," he remarked, to her surprise. "Go back, Miss +Peggy, and tell your mother that I want to marry you." + +Peggy ran to fetch her mother to see the talking frog. When the mother +came, the frog dived down into the water and brought up in his mouth a +rich gold chain and a jewelled ring. + +"This will I give the mother, and much beside," he said, laying the +chain at the mother's feet; "and this ring with many like it is for my +bride, if Peggy will marry me." + +"Say yes, Peggy," whispered the mother, who was a covetous woman. "Of +course you can't marry a frog, but you may get the gold and jewels all +the same." + +Peggy burst out crying, but her mother nudged and poked her in the side +till she said "yes," in a very sobbing voice. + +The frog bowed politely, laid the gold chain and the ring at their feet, +dived down, and immediately brought up gold cups and silver dishes, with +many rare jewels set into them. Peggy's mother gasped for joy as he +heaped all these riches on the grassy bank. She ran up to the house, and +found a basket which would hold them. While she was gone, the frog said +nothing, but stood looking at Peggy and sighing from time to time. Peggy +sat under a tree, and cried and sobbed. At last the frog spoke: + +"Don't forget your bridegroom, Miss Peggy. This day year I shall come +to fetch you," and he hopped into the water with a splash. + +Peggy's mother sold one of the cups for a large sum of money, and +furnished their house all new. She bought gay clothes for herself and +Peggy, and went to church quite regularly, since she had so much finery +to show. Peggy forgot all about her promise to the frog, and the year +passed by rapidly. + +On the appointed day, however, the widow and Peggy were sitting at the +table when they heard a knock at the door. They peeped out, and saw, to +their dismay, the frog, dressed in a green and gold suit, and carrying a +jewelled sword. Peggy gave a scream, and ran and hid in the cupboard, +while the mother tripped to the door, and bade her strange guest good +morning. + +"I am sorry, but Peggy is from home to-day," she said. + +"Oh! never mind. I will come in and wait awhile," answered the frog; and +in he hopped cheerfully, and took a seat at the table. Peggy's mother +was too angry to offer him food, but the frog helped himself and ate out +of Peggy's plate. He stayed and he stayed, and all the time Peggy +crouched in the cupboard, cramped and hungry. He stayed till night came; +and at last poor Peggy, falling asleep, burst open the cupboard door, +and tumbled out upon the floor. + +The frog ran to pick her up, before her mother could get there. + +"You are a little late, my dear," he said politely. "But I can see very +well in the dark, so we may set out at once, for my palace in the pond." + +In vain did the widow beg and plead. The frog would not give Peggy up, +until the poor girl herself went down on her knees and implored him to +let her off for another year. At length he promised to go, if she would +be ready to marry him that day year. Peggy said "yes," and off went her +suitor, after having laid a purse of gold in the widow's lap. + +"It might have been worse, Peggy, so cheer up," said the woman, clapping +the purse in her pocket. "A year is a long time, and perhaps he will +forget you." + +Vain hope! That day year, Peggy was spinning beside her mother, when the +frog knocked at the door. This time, he was dressed in blue and silver, +and his hat had a waving plume; but he looked more hideous than before. + +Peggy gave a jump, and ran up the garret stairs, and thence out upon the +roof of the cottage, where she clung to the chimney in despair. The +mother opened the door, and said she was sorry Peggy was from home. The +frog replied that he did not mind, but would wait for Miss Peggy to +return. + +He sat in Peggy's chair; and this time he would not eat, but only sighed +and sighed. Presently it began to rain and hail, and thunder and lighten +dreadfully; and poor Peggy on the roof was frightened out of her life. +She crept into the chimney, and soon a great clap of thunder sent her +flying down into the room where her frog-lover sat. + +"You have an odd way of coming into the house, my dear," the frog said; +"but I don't mind, if you are ready to go now. It rains hard, but I am +used to water, and you must become so; so come along." + +He offered her his arm, but Peggy cried and implored to be let off. She +went down on her knees to him, and at last he went away, giving her +another purse and another year of freedom. + +Next year, the widow and Peggy barred and double-locked their doors. The +frog appeared, dressed in white and gold, but it was of no use for him +to knock and call. No answer came, and he went off sadly. Peggy and her +mother rejoiced at getting rid of the persistent suitor, and sat down to +supper merrily, without, however, unlocking their door. + +Presently, they heard a noise, and looking out saw a great army of frogs +coming up the hill, The frogs formed themselves into a column and, +aiming for the window, jumped through the glass, and landed on the +floor. They seized Peggy, and very gently carried her out of the door +and down the hill. Peggy fainted, and knew nothing till they stopped on +the edge of the pond. The widow came running down the hill just in time +to see the frogs plunge into the water with her child. + +Peggy sank--down, down--until she reached a beautiful grotto, where, on +a throne of coral and shells, sat her frog-lover. He looked at her +reproachfully, and said: + +"If you had not three times deceived me, Peggy, I should not have +carried you off in this way. Now that you are here, try to be resigned +to me, and say that you will be my wife." + +"Never, never," screamed Peggy; "you are so horrible to look at with +your goggle eyes." + +The goggle eyes filled with tears as Peggy spoke, and the frog shook his +head mournfully. + +"I see that it is of no use," he said sorrowfully, and ordered Peggy to +be taken to a beautiful sea-garden, where she lived and amused herself +for a long time, gradually forgetting all about her home on land. Every +evening the frog came and talked to Peggy through a wall of white coral; +and in time, she grew so fond of listening to his voice, that if he was +a minute late she would cry for him to come. + +Once when it was rather dark, the frog asked Peggy if she could bear to +look at him again. Peggy said yes, and he appeared before her. Somehow +he did not seem so ugly as before, and when, in a trembling voice, he +invited her to sit upon his knee, she at once did so. Instantly his leg +broke with a loud snap; and, as poor Peggy sprang to her feet in great +remorse, she beheld, instead of her frog suitor, a beautiful young +prince, holding out his arms to her! + +The prince told her he had been bewitched by a frog godmother, who +condemned him to remain in that horrid shape until a young girl could be +found who would either consent to marry him or sit upon his knee. Peggy +was very glad to have such an ending of her adventure. So they were +married at once, and were then very happy. When they went back for a +wedding visit to Peggy's mother, they found she had taken all the gold +and silver and moved away to a distant country; and they never saw the +wicked woman more. + + + + +THE LEPERHAUN: _A Legend of the Emerald Isle._ + + +Once upon a time, by the glimmer of the nursery-fire, a little girl sat +listening to the tales told by her buxom Irish nurse. The details of +most of these--notably of one very thrilling legend of the Banshee, who +has ever since seemed to float upon the wind that blows after +nightfall--have passed from memory; but the good old story of Molly +Jones and the Leperhaun remains, and, as best I can, I reproduce it +here. + +In a comfortable farm-house upon the outskirts of a small village in +Ireland, lived a farmer with his six sons. He was a prosperous man, and, +besides having better cows, pigs, and potatoes than any other man in the +county, was said to keep a tidy bit of money laid away in bank. Only one +maid-servant did the work of the house, and she had lived there for +many a year. At last she died, and the farmer looked about him for a +girl to take her place. The wages were high, and a strapping lass named +Mary Jones made up her mind that she was the right person for the +situation. The farmer liked her looks, and engaged her on the spot. + +"Now, Molly, lass," said the master, when he had finished taking her +around the house, and showing her how neat and convenient everything +was; "you see what you've got to do, and that's the end of it. Nobody in +this house, who works well, has ever cause to want for encouragement, +for _there's hands to help them that aren't too curious_! The main thing +you'd better guard against is takin' notes and askin' questions." + +Molly protested that she was innocent of the inheritance of Mother Eve; +and the farmer went on with his directions. + +"On the first night of every month the family goes early to bed, and it +will be your business to see that the hearth is well swept, and fresh +turf laid upon the fire, and to collect around it all the worn or broken +shoes about the house. The last thing before you leave the room, be sure +to set before the fire a nice bowl of mealy potatoes bursting from their +jackets, a couple of herrings broiled to a turn, and a jug of sweet +buttermilk--and, whatever you do, never forget the salt!" + +Molly, though burning with curiosity, courtesied, and said nothing. All +went well till the first night of the coming month. "When the family was +retiring, the farmer whispered: + +"Remember, Molly! Be abed and asleep before the clock strikes twelve; +and _don't forget the salt_." + +Molly tidied her kitchen, swept the hearth, arranged around it all the +worn and broken shoes in the house, her own Sunday pair included; and, +after setting a nice little meal, covered with a white cloth, near the +fire, wound up the clock and went to bed. Next morning what was her +surprise to find not only all the boots and shoes neatly mended, but the +empty jug and platter washed and restored to their places, while a +beautiful fire was blazing merrily! She dared not ask any questions of +the farmer or his sons, and no one appeared in the least surprised by +what had occurred. That month her work went so easily that Molly thought +it child's play. Her bread was baked brown and light, her potatoes were +a triumph, her churning was done sooner than anybody's in the place, and +her linen was hung out to dry by sunrise on Monday mornings. For a +month or two Molly never failed to set her kitchen in order, as before, +for the mysterious guest. But one night she was in a hurry, and forgot +the salt. Next morning the boots were mended, but the fire was scattered +on the hearth, ashes lay all about her neat kitchen, and the dishes were +left unwashed. This excited Molly's curiosity anew and, when the next +time came, she did everything as usual, but, instead of going to bed, +hid behind the kitchen clock. Punctually as the clock struck twelve, out +popped from behind a big stone in the chimney-place a queer little dwarf +dressed all in red. Apparently he suspected something, for he sniffed +and peered into the darkness of the kitchen. Molly held her breath +through fear, and the dwarf proceeded to blow up the fire and warm +himself before sitting down to supper. Then, uncovering his cup and +platter, and finding that all was to his taste, he smacked his lips, and +made an excellent repast. When it was over, he whipped out of his bag +some shoemaker's tools, and went to work to patch and mend the shoes, +with twinkling fingers. In an hour's time all was finished and, after +putting the room to rights, the dwarf took his leave. + +Molly told nobody that she had seen the veritable Leperhaun, the famous +shoemaking fairy; but the next month she happened to be in an ill humor +and hungry; so, without stopping to think of the consequences, she ate +his supper herself--leaving upon the platter only a heap of potato-skins +and the bones of the well-picked herrings. + +That night, while all the world was asleep, in came the Leperhaun and, +finding the trick that had been played on him, flew into a terrible +rage, scattered the boots and shoes over the floor, broke the crockery +and, seizing a broom, swept all the ashes out upon the kitchen floor. +Molly, who was watching, ran up to the garret and, jumping into bed, +pulled the clothes over her head in a cold perspiration with terror. But +hark! on the steps outside came the pit-pat of little feet. In rushed +the offended house-fairy. He seized Molly by the hair of her head, and +dragged her down the stairs, and over the flags of the yard, saying, + + "Molly Jones! Molly Jones! + Potato-skins and herring-bones! + I'll break your bones upon the stones, + Molly Jones, oh! Molly Jones!" + +In vain Molly cried for mercy. The farmer and his sons were fast asleep, +and not a soul heard her. All night long the Leperhaun dragged her +about; and when the cock crowed he vanished, leaving her bruised and +sore upon the threshold of the door. More dead than alive, Molly crawled +up to her bed, where she lay black and blue for many a day. + +The farmer, suspecting what lesson had been taught her, said nothing; +and we may be sure that, when the next time came for the visit of the +Leperhaun, the little red dwarf had no fault to find with Molly. + + + + +ROMANCES OF THE MIDDLE AGES + + +[_The stories here following are, it is hoped, so rendered, from +metrical romances of the Middle Ages, as to be adapted to the taste and +understanding of youthful readers._] + + + + +THE TRIALS OF SIR ISUMBRAS. + +(_From Ellis' Abridgment of the MS. in Caius College._) + + +Once upon a time there lived a knight so handsome, so rich, and so +valiant that all eyes were turned upon him. His name was Isumbras, and +fortune had given him everything that the heart of man could wish for. +He had a splendid castle, surrounded by vast forests, where every day he +went hunting or hawking; and so generous he was with his wealth that the +poor flocked to him from every quarter and never went away empty-handed. + +Sir Isumbras had a beautiful wife and three lovely sons to share the +blessings of his lot; but one thing he had not, and that was an humble +spirit. He forgot to own the Giver of good things, and took it as a +matter of course that his life should flow on in ease and luxury. + +One day when mounted on his favorite steed, surrounded by his dogs, and +having his hawk on fist, Sir Isumbras cast up his eyes to the sky, and +there saw an angel, who reproached him with his pride, announcing that +Heaven had in store for him a speedy punishment. + +Sir Isumbras fell to his knees in prayer; but hardly had the angel +vanished from his sight when, on remounting his horse, the noble +creature fell dead beneath him; the hawk dropped lifeless from his fist; +and the faithful hounds expired in agonies at his feet. Hastening on +foot to his castle, he was met by a servant, who informed him his horses +and oxen had been suddenly struck dead by lightning, and that his fowls +had all been stung to death by adders. Next came forward a page, who +told him the castle was burned to the ground, many of his servants had +perished, and that his wife and children had taken refuge, half naked, +in a thorn-bush close at hand. Sir Isumbras hastened to the aid of his +beloved family, stripping himself of his scarlet mantle and his surcoat +to clothe them. He embraced them fondly, and thanked heaven that, +though all the rest of his treasures were taken, these remained. He then +proposed to his wife that, as a sign of repentance for their sins, they +should all go on foot to the holy city, Jerusalem, begging their bread +from land to land. He cut with his knife upon his bare shoulder the +pilgrim's sign of the cross, and then the afflicted family set forth on +their travels. + +Long they journeyed, eating crusts when they could beg them, or berries +from wayside bushes, until, faint and weary, they reached a broad but +shallow stream. Taking his eldest son in his arms, Sir Isumbras bore him +across the river, and placed him beneath a bush of broom-plant, bidding +him play with the blossoms until his father's return. Scarcely had the +knight left his son, when an enormous lion burst from a neighboring +thicket and bore away the child. In like manner the second son became +the prey of a fierce leopard; and the poor mother, who saw them so +cruelly torn from her sight, fainted away, with her baby on her breast. +Sir Isumbras bowed to the will of God; and when his wife revived they +journeyed on to the shore of the Greek sea. Here they stood, and, +through eyes that were full of tears, saw a great fleet of three hundred +ships coming toward them. This was the navy of a famous heathen king, +and no sooner had he landed than the travellers, who had not touched +bread or meat for seven days, hastened to implore his charity. The king +soon observed the robust limbs and tall stature of the husband; and +perceived he was a knight in disguise, and that the wife, whose beauty +was as "bright as blossoms upon tree," was, in spite of her ragged +clothes, a lady of high degree. So, affecting to treat the poor couple +with respect, he offered them gold and treasure if the knight would +renounce Christianity and consent to fight under the Saracen banners. +This offer was at once declined, and the angry king made up his mind to +revenge himself by carrying away the knight's wife. So, upon an order to +the attendants, a purse of gold was pressed into the knight's hand, his +infant son was put into his arms, he was hurried ashore, cruelly beaten +by the king's servants, and, when he recovered himself, saw a heathen +ship, with his wife on board, set sail for Africa. + +Sir Isumbras clasped his only remaining treasure to his heart, and +followed the vessel with his eyes until it vanished from sight. Night +found him still there, until father and babe fell asleep upon the bare +ground, too weary to keep awake. Sir Isumbras had laid the fatal present +of the heathen king, the purse of gold, in the scarlet mantle which he +wrapped around his child. Scarcely had the next day's sun risen upon the +earth, when an eagle, attracted by the red cloth, darted down, carrying +off mantle, child, and purse in his talons. + +The poor knight was at last in utter despair. He fell on his knees, and +offered what remained of his life to the God he had offended. Just then +he heard the noise of a blacksmith's forge, and saw, not far off, some +men at work. They took pity on him and fed him. He entered their +service, and bound himself for seven long years to learn their trade. +During this time he forged a complete suit of armor for himself, being +determined at the first opportunity to take up arms against the +Saracens, whose king had not only done him such a cruel wrong, but was +oppressing God's people. + +At length his opportunity came. The Christian army was to fight the +Saracens on a field not far from the forge. Sir Isumbras buckled on his +awkward armor and, mounting a horse that had been used by the smith to +carry coals, proceeded to the field of battle. + +His heart beat with wild joy when he saw the foe before him. Uttering a +fervent prayer, he dashed into the thick of the combat, attracting all +eyes at first by his sorry steed and rough armor, and again by the +splendid skill and courage of his charge. Early in the action his horse +was killed under him, and the Christian chiefs made haste to present him +another one, also a suit of armor more worthy of the heroic soldier he +had proved himself to be. All that day the battle raged. + +By nightfall Sir Isumbras, single-handed, had killed the heathen king +and many of his followers. But he was himself sorely wounded, and when +brought for reward before the Christian king, and asked his name, could +hardly falter out, "I am a smith's man, sire." The king swore a great +oath to make a knight of this valiant "smith's man"; and, with all honor +and tenderness, Sir Isumbras was carried into a nunnery, where the good +sisters nursed him until he recovered from his many wounds. + +Sir Isumbras was not satisfied to remain quiet long, though he had slain +the heathen king. He went to the Holy Land, and for seven years wandered +about a pilgrim, as before, sleeping upon the ground by night, and +vainly seeking tidings of his wife by day. Once, during this time, when +he was starving upon the banks of a stream, there appeared to him a +cheering visitor. + + And as he sat, about midnight, + There came angel fair and bright, + And brought him bread and wine. + He said, "Palmer, well thou be! + The King of Heaven greeteth well thee; + Forgiven is sin thine." + +Very soon after this miraculous event Sir Isumbras found his wife, who +had dwelt, holy and charitable, in a secluded castle, where she had +been shut up by the Saracen king. She welcomed him with rapture, and +together they shed many tears over their lost children. They lived +together for some years, until Sir Isumbras was again summoned to do +battle with the Saracens, who had determined at all cost to kill him. +The fight was again hot and long, and just when Sir Isumbras was about +to be overpowered by numbers of the enemy, three new champions appeared +in the field, declaring themselves on the side of the Christians. These +were three splendid knights, the first mounted upon a lion, the second +upon a leopard, and the third upon an eagle. The Saracen cavalry, +terror-stricken at sight of them, dispersed in all directions. But +flight was in vain; three and twenty thousand unbelievers were soon laid +dead upon the plain by the lion, leopard, and eagle, fighting with +tireless fury, and driving all before them, until the entire heathen +army was utterly put to rout. Then, coming back to Sir Isumbras, the +three champions knelt before him, announcing themselves his long lost +sons, mercifully protected and befriended by the savage creatures by +whom they had been carried off. Sir Isumbras embraced his valiant sons, +and led them to their mother. The Christian king enriched the entire +family, restoring them to their former rank. And now wealth, titles, +honors, and all that he had lost, came back to Sir Isumbras, and the +remainder of his days was spent in blessed peace. + + "They lived and died in good intent; + Unto heaven their souls went, + When that they dead were. + Jesu Christ, heaven's king, + Give us, aye, his blessing, + And shield us from care!" + + + + +BISCLAVERET. + +(_From one of Marie's Lays._) + + +Once upon a time there lived in Brittany a baron who was handsome, wise, +courteous, and brave. Although admired and beloved by his neighbors, he +remained single until late in life, when he fell desperately in love +with a young lady, who did not hesitate long in accepting the offer of +so distinguished a suitor for her hand. They were married, and the bride +returned from her honeymoon to take up her abode in her husband's fine +castle. + +For a little while all went well, until the lady discovered that her +husband was regularly absent from home during three days of every week. +Overwhelmed with curiosity to know where he went, and how he was +occupied during this time, she used every means in her power to coax the +secret from him. + +"Do not ask me," said her kind lord; "rest assured that I have good +reasons for my conduct. If you know what takes me from you, it will only +be to hate and scorn your husband, and to ruin the happiness of our +life." + +The lady persisted, going from coaxings to prayers and tears. At last +the poor baron gave way, and confided to her that, owing to a cruel +spell cast on him at birth, he was during half the week a Bisclaveret, +or Man-Wolf, taking on the body of a wolf, but keeping his own feelings +and intelligence as a man. Upon hearing this dreadful story, the lady +fainted away. Henceforth, although her husband was more loving than +ever, she was filled with horror and loathing of him; and soon she +secretly resolved to destroy the monster and enjoy his wealth. + +By watching his movements she ascertained that when the baron became a +wolf he left his clothing in a deserted chapel on the edge of a certain +wood; and she formed a plan to seize and hide the garments. So long as +the Bisclaveret was without his man's clothes, he was condemned to +remain a brute. + +Accordingly, when, after his melancholy ramble through the woods, the +Bisclaveret went one night to resume his clothes, they were gone; and, +in agony of spirit, he knew that he was betrayed by his wife. He took +himself off to the forest, and was there lost to human sight. + +Meanwhile the wicked wife, announcing that her husband had died while on +a journey to some foreign land, enjoyed his wealth and his castle. A +year later, the king went hunting in the forest, and, after a stout +chase, had nearly run down the unhappy Bisclaveret, when that persecuted +beast, bounding from his thicket, fawned upon the king's feet, shedding +real tears and uttering almost human cries for mercy. The king, struck +with compassion, ordered his dogs to be whipped off, and had the strange +animal conveyed with care to his palace. Bisclaveret soon became the +royal favorite. He slept on a couch of soft furs, ate from a golden +dish, and returned with gratitude the caresses of all who noticed him. + +His gentleness and sagacity won for the man-wolf the right to roam +wherever he desired to go, unchained. One day the king gave a splendid +entertainment, to which were invited all the lords and ladies of the +land. Among them, dressed in silks and satins, and sparkling with +jewels, came the false wife. No sooner did Bisclaveret espy her chatting +with the king's guests, than, to the surprise of all present, the +usually mild creature rose up, growling horribly and, springing upon the +lady, bit off her nose. Bisclaveret was seized, and would have been +speedily killed, but that he again fawned upon the king's feet, moaning +and weeping as though he longed to speak. The king ordered him to be put +into a cage, and consulted with the oldest and wisest man in his +kingdom, as to what could be the meaning of the wolf's sudden fury +toward this lady. + +"Brittany is a land of wonders, sire," said the aged man. "The lady who +was attacked is as well known for a bad name as your favorite animal is +for a good one. Who knows what became of her late husband, the baron? +Perhaps this poor brute was beloved by that gentleman, and has some +secret wrong to avenge. At any rate, you should at once shut the lady in +prison until she is made to tell all _she_ knows about the matter. +Mayhap it is more than we suspect." + +The king followed his counsellor's advice; and, when the lady found +herself likely to be kept a prisoner, she preferred speech to silence. +With tears of professed penitence, she confessed all, and the king lost +no time in sending for the clothes of the late baron, and placing them +in the cage of Bisclaveret. At first the animal seemed indifferent, and +surveyed them listlessly. "Leave him to himself, sire," said the wise +man. "Above all, set him at liberty in a chamber suitable to his rank. +Then we shall see a wonderful change, I promise you." + +This was done, and in the morning the king ran impatiently to the +chamber of Bisclaveret. There, on the bed, dressed in his clothes and +sleeping sweetly, lay the baron. When his royal master entered, the +sleeper woke and, bending his knee before his sovereign, poured forth +his joy and gratitude. + +As for the wicked wife, her estates were taken from her and restored to +her husband, while she herself was sent into perpetual banishment. Most +people would think she had been sufficiently punished by the loss of her +nose, which never grew again! + + + + +ROSWAL AND LILIAN. + +(_From a Scottish Romance of the XVIth Century._) + +[Illustration: Tournament in honor of the Princess of Bealm.] + + +There lived once, at Naples, a king and queen whose only son, Roswal, +was a paragon of beauty and of valor. The boy, who was as generous as +the day was long, did not at all resemble his father, for the king was +harsh and cruel, and slow to forgive his enemies. + +In the prison of the king's palace were confined three noblemen, who, +having been suspected of plotting against the crown, were doomed to be +imprisoned for life, and had the most cruel treatment lavished upon them +every day. Roswal could not bear to hear their groans and sighs arising +from the dungeon, and one day conceived the bold project of taking the +prison keys from under the king's pillow while he slept, and setting +the three poor sufferers at liberty. This was done, and Roswal restored +the keys to their place without having been detected. + +When it was found that the prisoners had escaped, the king grew +furiously angry. In vain the head jailor and his assistants declared +their innocence in the matter. Their lives would have been instantly +sacrificed to the king's wrath, had not Roswal boldly come forward and +confessed that he alone had freed the prisoners. + +At first, the king vowed that Roswal should die for having defied him; +but the prayers of the queen, and perhaps the cool bravery of his son in +confronting him, moved him to relent. He decided to change Roswal's +sentence to banishment for life to a distant court, where he was to be +placed at the service of the King of Bealm, with recommendation to make +a soldier of the lad, henceforth a stranger to his home. + +Roswal set out on his journey to the court of Bealm, attended only by +the high-steward, an envious and ambitious man, who hated the prince and +would gladly have done him evil. + +The king, at parting with his son, had given him a letter of +introduction to the King of Bealm; and the fond mother had come +secretly to press all the gold and jewels she had, a fortune in +themselves, upon her beloved Roswal. Except for parting with his mother, +Roswal did not feel very sorry to set out thus from home. He longed to +see what marvels the wide world contained, and the memory of the three +brave men he had loosed from their vile bondage cheered him in spite of +his father's anger. + +The high-steward was full of projects of his own; and one night, when +they had stopped to rest by the side of a rushing torrent, and Roswal +had plunged into the crystal stream, as he loved to do, the wicked +steward seized him unawares, held him under water till he was half +strangled, and spared his life only on condition that Roswal would +pledge himself to give up all the money and jewels, his letter, his +horse and sword, and furthermore swear never to reveal the affair to +mortal man or woman. Roswal, seeing that he could not help himself, +submitted, and the false steward, laughing maliciously, put spurs to his +horse, leading Roswal's steed behind him, and soon disappeared from view +with all the treasures. + +Roswal found himself alone at nightfall in the forest, as hungry as a +hawk, and very much at a loss where to find food and shelter. He +wandered along till he saw a little brown hut, under the branches of a +wide-spreading oak-tree. Here, in the door, sat an old woman knitting, +and Roswal's youth and beauty soon won his way into her affections. She +led him into her house, gave him a good meal of brown bread, eggs, honey +and milk, and a bed of clean straw. Roswal slept as sweetly as ever he +had done on his golden bedstead and his pillow of down at home. Next +day, he offered to work for the old woman, and set to cutting up wood +and binding fagots cheerfully. For several months he lived thus, until +the chamberlain of the King of Bealm chanced to pass that way. Taking a +fancy to the handsome youth, he carried him off to court, where Roswal +was appointed cup-bearer to the king's lovely daughter. His duties were +light, and the princess was kind; so Roswal had little to complain of, +until one day he heard it announced that Prince Roswal, of Naples, was +about to wait upon the King of Bealm and demand his daughter's hand in +marriage. + +Roswal pricked up his ears at this, and immediately suspected the +supposed Prince of Naples to be none other than his late travelling +companion, the wicked steward; though, when he heard the princess say to +her maidens that this Prince Roswal was remarkably pushing, considering +that he had only recently presented a letter of introduction to them, +and that, for her part, she could not see what her papa found to fancy +in the young man, Roswal rejoiced. He was delighted to find that the +princess did not care for the impostor. Then he remembered his oath, +never to reveal what the steward had done to him, and his spirits fell +again. + +In a day or two, the King of Bealm announced to his daughter that he had +accepted the offer of the King of Naples' son, and that preparations for +their marriage would immediately begin. The princess was very unhappy, +for she had taken a great dislike to the pretended prince. Roswal met +his late servant face to face at one of the bridal feasts, and the eyes +of the steward fell before his scornful gaze. But he knew that he was +safe in trusting Roswal's honor not to tell the secret, and so carried +on his impudent pretence. + +A tournament, lasting three days, was announced in honor of the wedding, +which was soon to come off. Roswal found the Princess Lilian in tears +about that time and, while endeavoring to console her, let her know, +without intending it, that he, too, had fallen in love with her. This +made the pretty princess so happy, that she confessed to Roswal she had +loved him secretly ever since he was chosen to be her cup-bearer. She +was sure he was of noble birth from his manners and appearance; and she +urged him to admit that he was as worthy of her rank as of her love. + +Roswal was never so sorely tempted to reveal himself! He restrained the +impulse to confess by a strong effort, and, alone and melancholy, +wandered out into the forest--longing for an opportunity to enter the +lists of the tournament and prove his knightly skill before the king and +princess; and while he sat musing thus, there approached him a knight +leading a magnificent white war-horse, on whose saddle was suspended a +suit of splendid armor. + +"Prince," said the strange knight, bowing low before him, "put on this +armor, and mount this steed. The tournament has begun, and thou wilt be +in time to prove thy prowess. I await here thy return." + +Roswal said he had led his hounds to the forest, intending to hunt a +deer; and so the knight offered to hunt in his absence and keep the game +for him. How his heart beat with joy and pride when he found himself +once more mounted on a noble steed, and clad in knightly armor! Thanking +the stranger fervently, he put spurs to his horse, and galloped off. + +Entering the barriers, Roswal overset all who opposed him, and then, +with a tremendous rush, charged at full speed upon the false prince, who +was riding up and down with a great show in the presence of his lady. +The steward recoiled in terror; but the unknown knight as suddenly +checked his horse, turned around, saluted the company with the utmost +grace, and vanished, as he had come, like a meteor. + +The company applauded, and the old King of Bealm cried out that he would +give an earldom to find out who was the unknown knight. + +That evening, while all the palace was ringing with accounts of the +brave stranger, Roswal came home from the forest, laden with venison and +followed by his hounds. + +The Princess Lilian called him to her side, and told him of the events +of the day. It was evident that she wished to inspire Roswal with a +desire to break a lance in her behalf; but he appeared to be +indifferent, and she ended in a burst of tears. + +Next day, when Roswal went again with his hounds to the forest, a second +knight, leading a silver-gray war-horse laden with armor, appeared and +repeated the kind offer of the day before. Roswal again entered the +lists, and found the steward impudently advancing to meet him. Roswal +unhorsed half a dozen of the bravest riders, then, with all possible +ease, sent the steward to the ground with such a terrible crash, that +the miserable impostor lay as if dead for some time. The unknown knight +glanced up at the Princess Lilian, and saw a look in her face as if she +suspected him. Then, quickly retiring from the ring, Roswal reappeared +as before, at evening, with the spoils of the day of hunting. Lilian, +who was ready to declare that none other than her handsome young lover +could have been the stranger knight, was much perplexed when she found +Roswal quietly at home engaged in his usual occupations. + +On the third day, Roswal was mounted and equipped in a similar manner. +He had a bay horse, a red shield, green armor, and a golden helmet. He +cast down all of the other competitors, broke two of the steward's ribs, +threw a gold ring into the lap of his lady-love, and rode away like a +flash. Returning to the wood, he was met by all three of his friends, +the knights who had helped him. They revealed themselves, and Roswal +found to his delight that they were the three noblemen he had released +from his father's dungeon. They told him they were well aware of all he +had suffered for their sakes, and were prepared to befriend him still +farther. + +Next day had been fixed upon for the wedding, and all the court was +called together in a magnificent hall, to see their king bestow their +princess' hand upon the Prince of Naples. Pale and tearful, for she had +cried all night, appeared the princess. She was dressed in white satin, +with a silver train, carried by ten little pages in blue, and on her +head she wore a diadem of immense diamonds. The bridegroom, who had been +patched up by the doctors, sat, anything but cheerful, in a golden chair +beside the king. Behind a group of court ladies and gentlemen stood +Roswal, handsomer than any one present, and looking every inch a +prince, though he wore a plain brown velvet suit, with a gold chain +round his neck, the livery of Princess Lilian's household. Suddenly +visitors were announced, and in came three richly clad strangers, +scattering money among the servants, which made it an easy matter for +them to move along. + +The king received them courteously, for he recognized three noblemen of +the kingdom of Naples he had known long before. + +"You will be glad to salute your prince," the king said, when he had +greeted them, "and to be present at his nuptials." + +The noblemen refused to notice the steward, whose knees knocked together +with fear, for he saw he was on the brink of exposure. The three +strangers looked about them and, espying Roswal, ran up to him, fell on +their knees and kissed his hand, hailing him as the true Prince of +Naples. The steward, in terror, dropped upon his knees before Roswal and +confessed all, drawing from his pocket the casket containing the queen's +jewels, which he had been about to present to his bride. Roswal would +have dealt gently with the contemptible wretch, but the angry old King +of Bealm declared that he and his daughter should not be made sport of, +and the offender live to tell it. So the steward was hanged forthwith, +and Roswal, owning his love for Lilian, was made happy by promise of her +hand--he had already won her heart, as you know. + +That same day arrived news of the death of the King of Naples, and the +recall of Roswal to the throne. He was married to Lilian; and it is +certain that no one who had befriended him in his days of poverty was +ever forgotten by King Roswal. The good old woman in the forest was +enriched, the three noblemen were restored to their estates and +fortunes, and Roswal's mother was made happy by a speedy reunion with +her son. + + "So Roswal and Lilian sheen, + Lived many years in good liking. + I pray to Jesu, heaven's king, + To grant us heaven to our ending. + Of them I have no more to say: + God send them rest until doom's day!" + + + + +ELIDUC AND GUILLIADUN. + +(_From one of Marie's Lays._) + + +Eliduc was a knight of Brittany who, through the cabals of enemies, fell +under the displeasure of the king and was banished from his dominions. +Sir Eliduc did not wish to forsake his country, still less did he wish +to part with the fair Lady Guildeluec, to whom he was solemnly +betrothed. But the king's order was law; and, taking a fond leave of his +promised wife, while vowing ever to be faithful, Sir Eliduc called to +him ten of the bravest of his followers, and set sail for the English +coast. They had a short voyage with fair winds, landing at Totness, in +Devonshire, and proceeded at once to Exeter. The King of Exeter was at +that time plunged into a most distressful war with a neighboring +province, to whose prince he had refused to marry his only daughter and +heiress. Sir Eliduc offered his services to the king, which were gladly +accepted. After a few days a battle was fought, in which Eliduc's +knowledge of the art of war and his bravery, as well as that of his ten +followers, helped to decide the fortunes of the King of Exeter, who had +the satisfaction of seeing the foe put to flight. As a reward for his +aid, the king made Eliduc the supreme commander of all his armies. +Eliduc was the idol of the people, and soon the fair Princess Guilliadun +fell in love with him, confiding to the king, her father, that she would +have no other husband than this valiant stranger. The king thought he +could do no better than secure such a noble successor to his throne, and +sent his chamberlain to inform Eliduc of the honor in store for him. +Eliduc was now in a sad plight. He thought of his absent Guildeluec, who +was no doubt, even then, waiting and weeping for his return, and his +heart grew heavy within him. On the other hand, the Princess Guilliadun +was by far the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, and her love +for him was strong. To refuse her offered hand would bring down on him +the fierce wrath of a great king, to whom no man said nay. + +While Sir Eliduc was in this dilemma, a message came to him from his +former master, the Breton king, ordering his immediate return to protect +their country from invasion. All Sir Eliduc's love for his own land +stirred within him. To defend her borders he was ready to sacrifice his +present rank and wealth, and be a simple knight again. The image of his +promised wife arose clear and bright before him, and he forgot the +lovely Guilliadun, who, for a time, had so dazzled his imagination with +her charms. + +Laying down his sword before the sovereign, he resigned command of the +Exeter troops, and, in spite of the king's rich offers and temptations, +hurried to take ship for France. Among his attendants was a youth +muffled in a long mantle, who, when they were fairly out at sea, +revealed to the knight's astonished gaze the face and form of the wilful +Guilliadun. + +She had thus disguised herself to follow him, and now vowed that unless +he took her to be his wife, she would die by her own fair hand. There +was no time for discussion, for, at that moment, arose a mighty tempest +which threatened to engulf the ship. In vain were the efforts of the +sailors to manage the vessel, and all prepared for immediate death, as +wind and waves beat furiously upon them. Suddenly, one of the sailors +spoke up for the rest, and, in the hearing of Guilliadun, warned Sir +Eliduc that Heaven was angry with him for carrying off the princess in +disguise, when he was already promised in marriage to another woman. +Guilliadun hearing these words, fell lifeless to the deck. She appeared +so like a dead person that the crew offered to throw her overboard, but +Eliduc, seizing an oar, struck down the sailor who had spoken, and, +himself grasping the helm, drove the ship through foam and boiling waves +safely to port. In a few hours he might hope to reach the court of his +king; but what, meantime, should he do with the body of the unfortunate +princess? In this emergency, he remembered that in a forest near by had +once lived an aged hermit, in whose cell he might possibly leave the +corpse of the princess, until he should be able to dispose of it in a +style suited to her rank. He mounted his palfrey, took the body in his +arms, rode to the hermit's retreat, and, gaining entrance to a little +chapel, laid on a slab in the centre of it the unhappy Guilliadun. She +was beautiful as ever, and looked like a waxen image. The knight, +kneeling beside her, shed many bitter tears, and then, springing to his +saddle, galloped off to place himself at the service of his king. + +He found the affairs of his country in a bad way, but the mere mention +of his name sufficed to inspire the Breton soldiers with new courage. +Marching at the head of the king's troops, he led them to battle, and in +a short time had put the foe to confusion and rout. Covered with glory, +Eliduc rode back to receive the king's congratulations and thanks. +There, among the ladies attending the queen, was his faithful +Guildeluec; but when she came forward with open arms to greet him, a +thought of the Lady Guilliadun, who had died for love of him, shot into +his heart like an arrow. Guildeluec quickly saw that something was +amiss; but, hiding the anguish she felt, she resolved to keep close +watch upon her lover, and, if possible, discover the cause of his +coldness. + +For some days the court was given up to gaiety and festivals of all +kinds. Guildeluec noticed that every day her knight would steal away to +the forest and remain there for some hours, returning to the palace more +melancholy than before. She set a little page to follow Eliduc, and the +boy traced his master to a retreat all overgrown with trees, where the +knight entered and was lost to sight. + +Dismissing the boy with a piece of gold, the lady resolved herself to +unravel the mystery. Wrapped in a long veil, she stole along the green +alleys of the wood, and soon reached the little hermitage. Lifting up a +curtain of closely woven vines which drooped before it, she entered the +chapel door. There, on a bier richly hung with velvet, lay a young and +lovely maiden, apparently dead, save that her cheeks bloomed like a +new-blown rose. Guildeluec gazed for a while upon this sad sight, when a +noise of approaching footsteps startled her, and she hid behind a tomb. +The new-comer was none other than the brave knight Eliduc, who, casting +himself on the ground beside the bier, gave way to bitter grief, calling +the saints above to witness that he had been true to his pledge to +Guildeluec, even to hastening to an untimely end the fair maiden before +him. Guildeluec heard all, and understood what had taken his love from +her. Just then a weasel, running from behind the altar, passed near the +bier, which angered the knight, who, at one blow, struck the little +animal dead upon the ground. When Eliduc had gone, the watching lady +saw another weasel run up to his slaughtered companion, attempt to play +with her, and on finding her without life, go away with every appearance +of grief. Directly the weasel came back again, carrying a beautiful red +flower from the wood, which was carefully inserted in the mouth of his +companion. The effect was magical. Instantly, the dead weasel sprang up, +dropped the flower, and scampered off with her happy little comrade. + +Guildeluec stooped to pick up the fallen blossom. For a moment she +hesitated, for her love for the knight was very great. Then she bent +forward, and laid the stem of the flower between the rosy lips of the +entranced Guilliadun. Immediately there were signs of life. The girl +stirred, a blush came into her cheeks, and her lips parted. When her +eyes opened, Guildeluec sighed and said, "Truly, never was there seen so +fair a creature." + +Guildeluec soon explained to the awakened princess where she was, and +received her fervent thanks for delivery from so strange a spell. With +many tears, Guilliadun confessed to her unknown friend her love for the +knight Eliduc, and the way she had followed him from her father's court. +Guildeluec heard her tale in silence, and when it was at an end, led +her away from the hermitage to the palace, where the queen took the +princess under her charge, and in the evening presented her with much +pomp to the members of her court. When Eliduc saw Guilliadun alive and +well, richly clad and lovelier than before, his heart rejoiced, but he +turned away from her. Then came forward Guildeluec, who, with the +queen's permission, released him from his pledge to her, and gave him +back his ring, saying she had determined to retire to a convent and +devote her days to holy works. + +[Illustration: Guildeluec Reviving Guilliadun.] + +The queen then placed Guilliadun's hand in that of Eliduc. They were +married with great rejoicings; but when the blessing was said over them +by the priest, the knight fancied he heard a sigh breathed close in his +ear. He looked around; there was no one in sight, save the group of nuns +behind a grating, whose voices rose pure and clear in the strains of the +bridal hymn. + + + + +THE FALCON-KING. + +(_From one of Marie's Lays._) + + +There lived once, in Britain, an old knight who was lord of Caerwent, a +city situated on the River Douglas. He was wealthy and avaricious, and +the sole heir to his possessions, a lovely daughter, he kept locked up +in a high tower, under the care of a cross governess. His one fear was +that this daughter would marry, and thus give some one the right to lay +claim to the gold that was dearer to him than life itself. To prevent +her from getting a husband, the old knight used every method he could +think of to keep off visitors; and any stray caller at the castle was +set upon by fierce dogs, who would tear one to pieces as soon as gnaw a +beef-bone! + +Day after day the father rode off to the hunt, the governess told her +beads, and the damsel moped within the tower. One morning she was at her +wheel, singing a mournful ditty, and sighing from time to time, as she +glanced over the tree-tops at the roofs and spires of the distant city, +when suddenly the sky above her window was darkened, and she heard a +whirring noise, as of mighty wings astir. A falcon of huge size and +noble mien flew in at the casement, and lit submissively at her feet. +The maiden stroked his proud head, and at once the bird changed to a +beautiful young man, who, in a gentle voice, begged her to have no fear +of him, as he was not only a devoted lover but the humblest of her +slaves. + +"Bid me go if you will," said the prince, "and deeply as I should regret +your command, you will see how quickly I shall obey it. Long have I +watched you from afar, and dearly I love you. For your sake, I have +acquired the art of magic, enabling me to assume this shape in order to +reach your prison." + +"Oh! but I _don't_ want you to go!" cried the poor little mewed-up +damsel, who was tired to death of having nobody to talk to. + +As she had never seen a man younger than her father, it was a great +astonishment to her to find that the prince's hair was dark and his +cheek unwrinkled and rosy as a ripe peach. + +What he meant by being a lover, she did not in the least understand. +Only, it was pleasant to hear him talk in his kind, low voice; and +praises were so rare to her, that they sounded sweet as honey dropping +from his lips. + +As a matter of course, the afternoon passed quickly; but at last, +startled by the noise of a key grating in the lock of the door, the +prince quickly assumed his bird-shape, and promising to come again upon +the morrow, flew out of the window. The governess could not imagine what +had put her prisoner in such a silly state of cheerfulness, as she +thought it; and, boxing the poor girl's ears for smiling, gave her a +long piece of poetry to learn by heart, and allowed her nothing but +bread and water for her tea. + +Next day the falcon came again, and for many days he continued his +visits, until the girl grew to love him as he loved her, and promised to +be his wife. Once a month the chaplain was accustomed to come to see +her, and to make her say a catechism the longest ever heard of. When +next the day came around for his visit, what was her surprise, instead +of the stern chaplain, to find a gentle and kind old priest, who, when +left alone with her, avowed himself to be a friend of the falcon-prince. + +"As your father is a wicked and unworthy son of the church, and the +prince a noble and devoted one, I cannot but approve of the marriage +between you and your beloved," the old man said. "The ceremony will now +be performed, and may heaven's blessing rest upon you both." + +The falcon-prince arrived at the same moment, bearing in his beak a +wedding-ring of large bright diamonds. The couple were married, and the +prince told his wife that, very soon, he would be able to furnish her +also with wings to leave the tower. + +One day the governess, coming in unexpectedly, found the girl toying +with a beautiful ring, which she hurriedly concealed in her mattress. +Spite of all the governess' efforts, she could not find the jewel; nor +could she succeed in drawing from her captive any explanation of how she +had come by it. The governess told the father, who redoubled his +precautions and set spies to watch upon the outside of the tower. In a +few days, the spies reported to him that they had seen a bird of the +largest size fly in at the maiden's window, remain there for some hours, +and then fly out again. + +"I'll be a match for this carrier-pigeon of hers!" said the old knight +with malicious glee. That night a trap was set upon the outside of the +window, surrounded by sharp knives, so that anything passing through it +would inevitably be caught or wounded grievously. The young wife awaited +her husband anxiously, for it was the day fixed for her escape. Soon he +arrived; but as he touched the window the trap fell, and although he +managed to pass in, a long trail of blood was left behind him. + +"Lose no time, my beloved!" he said, in a voice altered by pain. "Our +enemies are upon us. Put this bracelet on your arm, and spring into the +air after me, without fear." + +She obeyed, and found herself upborne by magic wings, which carried her +more swiftly than the wind over forest tops, shining river, and city +spires and domes. Glorious as was her airy flight, she could see that +her companion grew weaker. They arrived in a country adjoining the one +in which she had lived, and stopped immediately above a splendid +palace--alighting in the marble balcony of a chamber furnished with the +utmost magnificence. Here the falcon regained his man's shape, and, with +despair, his wife saw that he was deathly pale, while the blood poured +from a wound beneath his heart. + +"I am dying," he exclaimed. "Help me to my bed yonder, and may heaven +grant me strength to tell my people that you are their lawful queen." + +The poor wife aided her husband to lie down, but when he would have +spoken to her again, his voice was gone--a moment more, and he was dead. + +And now in what a mournful plight the pretty new queen found herself! +Soon the attendants would, no doubt, come flocking into the room, to +discover their sovereign murdered in his bed, and a stranger cowering by +his side. Terror lent speed to her feet, and hastening back to the +balcony, she ran down a long flight of stairs communicating with the +outer court and garden of the palace. Thence she escaped to wander into +the forest, and until day broke again she never ceased to walk. For some +days she remained concealed in the forest, living upon fruit and +berries, until at last hunger drove her to the cottage of a poor +laborer. The wife of this man was very ill, and the queen offered to +stay and nurse her, which was gratefully accepted. So faithful and +devoted an attendant she proved that, when the woman of the house got +well, both husband and wife insisted their stranger guest should make +her home with them. In this secluded retreat, where only a stray +huntsman now and then passed by, the queen remained until a beautiful +son was born to her. And now, she felt a burning desire to have her boy +educated in a manner worthy of his father's rank; and poverty, that had +seemed so light a burden to herself, grew heavy when it weighed on him. +When the baby was three years old, a gay hunting-party passed that way, +among them a rich and childless lady, who, charmed with the beauty of +the boy, offered to adopt him on the spot. + +The poor queen wept so bitterly at thought of parting with her treasure, +that the lady, who was a kind-hearted person, proposed she should +accompany them and serve in the capacity of the boy's governess. + +To this plan the queen made no objection; and, bidding an affectionate +farewell to her humble friends, she took her place with the boy in a +travelling carriage sent to fetch them. + + * * * * * + +Years rolled on, and the child born in the forest had reached the age +of twenty-one. He was a handsome, manly youth, and skilled in all +athletic exercises. About this time, the family of his adopted mother +was invited to be present at a great religious ceremony in an abbey upon +the borders of a neighboring kingdom. Among the many attendants of the +nobles summoned for the occasion, was the real mother, who came dressed +in deep mourning and wearing a veil over her face; and one of the guests +was the wicked old knight, her father. The abbot of the monastery threw +open the doors of the chapel, that had long been sealed, and all flocked +into it. There, in the centre, stood a bier covered with cloth of gold +and surrounded by blazing wax-lights, while about it knelt an hundred +priests, at prayer. After a mass had been sung, the abbot announced that +in yonder bier lay the remains of the late king, their master, who, as +all his faithful subjects knew, was foully murdered twenty-one years +before; and that, by the terms of the king's will, found some time after +his death, the throne rightfully belonged to a lady who had been married +in secret by their sovereign, and was by him commended to their truest +love and honor. "For many long years," added the good abbot, "we have +sought vainly for the widow of our lamented ruler; not the faintest +trace of her has ever been found, and we have resolved to meet here and +choose to-day a successor to our king." + +"Here is a worthy successor to your king!" cried a voice from the +throng; and the unfortunate queen, throwing back her veil, pointed to +her astonished son. "Behold the rightful heir! Who dares to say that he +is not the image of his father? _I_ am the queen you have so long +sought, and this youth is, unknown to himself, my son. In proof of it, +here is the marriage ring given me by the king." + +"And in proof of it," exclaimed a venerable priest, coming forward, "I +attest that _I_ performed the marriage ceremony between our king and +this poor lady. Her appearance and her claim remove the seal from my +promise of secresy, and I unhesitatingly declare this youth to be our +lawful sovereign." + +All eyes turned upon the young man, and all tongues proclaimed his +marvellous resemblance to the king. The abbot knelt at the young man's +feet and offered him a golden crown carried on a velvet cushion. Loud +cries of joy and cheers filled the air, when suddenly the unfortunate +queen was seen to totter toward the bier of her husband. + +"I am glad to die on this spot," she said, snatching up the sword that +lay upon the tomb and placing it in her son's hand; then, bidding him +avenge the sad fate of his parents, she immediately expired. At the same +moment, a white-haired knight tried to steal away from the church; but +when the ancient priest perceived him, the fugitive was denounced as the +murderer of their king. Seized by the populace, the wretched old miser +was hurried to instant death; his grandson was carried in triumph to the +palace, and there installed as king. + +The new monarch reigned long and wisely--an example for all future +sovereigns. + + + + +EGLAMOUR AND CRYSTABELL. + +(_From Ellis' Abstract of Copy in Garrick Collection._) + +[Illustration: _Eglamour & Crystabell._] + + +Count Prinsamour, an independent sovereign of Artois, was famed for his +skill in training young men in the courtesy and accomplishments of +chivalry. His court was the resort of all youths who wished to excel in +those important arts. His daughter Crystabell, the heiress of Count +Prinsamour's dominions, was very beautiful and accomplished, and her +father designed to marry her to some powerful monarch. The tournaments +instituted at his court were in her honor, and for her sake all the +hotheaded young knights in training broke their lances. + +Crystabell herself had no desire to leave her own country to become the +wife of a foreign monarch. She loved the free and stirring air around +her father's castle, and had, unknown to the count, fallen in love with +a young knight, Sir Eglamour, who was ever victorious in the numerous +tournaments ridden in her name. + +Eglamour, on his side, looked up to the young countess as to a star. He +never dreamed of winning her love, because he was only a knight, without +wealth or lands, depending upon his sword alone to make his way through +life. At last, one day, something that Crystabell said made him think +that she cared for him more than for the rest of her followers. Sorely +troubled, and yet strangely happy, the young man wandered off to think +it over. He finally resolved to ask advice of the chamberlain, who had +always stood his friend. That personage counselled him to give up all +thoughts of the countess, who, he said, was destined by her father to be +the bride of a rich and great king. Eglamour sighed, and admitted that +his friend was right. But that night, in the solitude of his chamber, he +addressed a prayer to God: + + "Lord," he said, "grant me a boon, + As thou on rood me bought! + The erle's daughter, fair and free, + That she may my wife be! + + For she is most in my thought: + That I may wed her to my wife, + And in joy to lead our life! + From care then were I brought." + +In those days a true knight thought it no shame to his manhood to take +the burden of his every-day cares and lay it in all simplicity at the +feet of his Maker. When his devotions were at an end, Sir Eglamour slept +soundly, and awoke in better heart. + +After a while, Sir Eglamour fell ill, and the count desired his +daughter, who was skilled in medicine, as were all great ladies of the +time, to attend upon the invalid. Crystabell, followed by her damsels, +went at once into the sick-room. She found Sir Eglamour feverish and +unhappy, and on bending down to minister to him, his pulse throbbed so +violently at her touch, that the tears of sympathy came into her eyes. +"I have betrayed my love," thought Sir Eglamour; but what was his +happiness when the lady bent down to kiss his lips, confessing that the +chamberlain had told her what was the real cause of his malady; and, to +comfort Eglamour, she bid him live for her sake. + +After this, Eglamour got well rapidly; but he felt it right and +honorable to inform the count, at once, how matters stood between the +two young people. The count, who, although a brave knight, was largely +governed by selfish ambition, refused Sir Eglamour with scorn. Then, +after thinking a while, he told the youth that he would only bestow his +daughter upon the champion who might accomplish three perilous feats of +arms, each one of which would expose the candidate to the most imminent +danger; and that the victor should not only receive the hand of +Crystabell, but in time inherit the whole territory of Artois. + +Overjoyed, Sir Eglamour accepted the conditions without delay. He +declared he was ready to set off that day or the next upon the +enterprise. He did not suspect the count's real purpose in setting him +this task, which was to destroy the rash knight who presumed to love his +daughter. + +"At a little distance to the westward," said the count, "there is a +forest of noble trees belonging to a most terrible giant, named Maroke. +In a part of the forest shut off for the giant's own hunting ground, are +three deer, famed for their size and speed. To hunt one of these +celebrated animals is, of course, to challenge an encounter with their +owner. Consider whether you have courage enough for such an +enterprise." + +Sir Eglamour smiled, promised to kill the giant, and hurried off to tell +his lady-love. Crystabell trembled and wept, but bid her lover +God-speed. She told him that no man ever set forth upon a more arduous +journey in a Christian country, but that she gloried in his brave +spirit. She gave him a good greyhound, from whom no deer that ever ran +had yet escaped--also a sword, once found in the sea, the only one of +the kind in the world, and which could carve in two any helmet of steel +or iron. Eglamour kissed her farewell, as he received these gifts, and +set out with a light heart. + +Reaching the giant's park, he followed the wall to a massive gate, burst +it open, and entered the wood. This forest was of huge cypress trees, +and Eglamour had the luck soon to come upon the three deer grazing +quietly. They were the most immense creatures he had ever seen; and +singling out the largest, he attacked it. With the help of the dun +greyhound, he brought the stag to earth, and set to work to carve his +spoil. Laden with venison, he then approached the giant's castle, +blowing his horn at intervals; and, when arrived there, he sounded a +wild and merry blast, which roused Maroke from sleep and brought him in +fury to the gate. Sir Eglamour politely asked the monster to give him +leave to pass through the grounds with his prey. + +The giant, gnashing his teeth in rage, answered by aiming a blow with +his club at the saucy young knight's head. Sir Eglamour, at the same +moment, drew Crystabell's sword, which shone so brightly as to dazzle +the eyes of Maroke, striking him stone-blind where he stood. Then +followed a mighty combat. Blind as the giant was, he fought well and +skilfully for three entire days. At the end of the third day, Sir +Eglamour rallied all his strength and drove his sword into the giant's +heart, a thrust which sent Maroke crashing like a forest tree to earth. + +Sir Eglamour, having cut off his enemy's head, carried it, together with +the slaughtered stag, back to the court of his sovereign. The count +received him ruefully; but fair Crystabell laughed and rejoiced, while +the courtiers covered their champion with praises. After Eglamour was +rested and refreshed, the count hurried him off again. This time he was +to journey to the distant land of Satyn, where his task was to fetch +away the head of a prodigious boar, the terror of that ill-fated +country, half of whose inhabitants the creature had already eaten up. + +To reach the land of Satyn, Sir Eglamour had to travel a fortnight by +sea, a fortnight by land. Arriving there at nightfall, he thought it +prudent to spend the night in resting on the borders of the forest. At +sunrise next day he approached the den of the horrible boar, who had +just come back from taking his morning drink in the sea. The animal was +a terror to look upon, having flaming eyes and tusks a yard long. He lay +gnawing some human bones and growling frightfully, surrounded by dead +bodies, many of which were clad in knightly armor. At once Sir Eglamour +dashed at him with a shout--"For God and Crystabell!" The boar whetted +his long tusks and set upon his adversary, killing at the first blow Sir +Eglamour's noble horse, his own tough hide remaining unhurt by the +spear. Sir Eglamour now had recourse to his magic sword, and found to +his joy that, wherever he struck, the boar's hide was cut; although the +length of the animal's tusks made it difficult to close with him. This +combat, like that with the giant, lasted three days, and at the end Sir +Eglamour, by a sudden swift movement, made a terrible blow at the +creature's neck, severing the head from his body. + +Long before the close of this memorable fight, the boar's snorts of rage +and defiance had attracted to the spot the King of Satyn and fifteen of +his knights, who happened to be hunting in the forest. When the boar +dropped dead, Sir Eglamour fell over him, and lay there completely +exhausted. The king and his men drew near, showered compliments on the +strange knight's bravery, and told him that the wicked beast of whom he +had rid them had sometimes destroyed as many as forty men in one day. + +The king ordered a cloth to be laid upon the grass, and Sir Eglamour was +regaled with venison and rich wine, which brought strength back to his +arm and hope to his heart. The king's men then attempted to cut up the +boar, but failed, owing to the toughness of his hide. The sword of Sir +Eglamour was put into requisition, and in a moment the beast was cleft +asunder along the back bone. The meat was distributed among the knights +and men-at-arms, Sir Eglamour claiming the head alone. The King of Satyn +afterward ordered for the champion a warm bath of certain sweet-scented +herbs that healed his wounds and in which he rested pleasantly till +break of day. Then the party went on to the king's palace, where Sir +Eglamour was asked to stay and recover from his fatigue. + +Now it happened that the boar just slain was an intimate friend of +Manas, a huge and frightful giant, own brother to Maroke. Manas had +fallen in love with the King of Satyn's daughter, and had vowed to carry +her off. When Manas came prowling around the castle that evening, and +beheld on the point of a spear over the gateway the head of his friend +the boar, he flew into an awful passion, foaming at the mouth; and as he +looked on that head-- + + "Alas!" he cried, "art thou dead? + My trust was all in thee! + Now, by the law that I live in, + My little speckled hoglin, + Dear bought shall thy death be!" + +Manas beat upon the door and walls of the castle in a fury, demanding +the surrender of the murderer of his dear little speckled hoglin. +Presently, Sir Eglamour, fully armed and equipped, mounted on a fiery +courser, and with lance in rest, attacked the giant at full speed. + +Manas resisted vigorously, and in an instant overthrew man and horse. +The king, the princess, and the court, who had assembled on the walls of +the castle, began to tremble for the safety of their champion. But Sir +Eglamour, lightly springing to his feet, drew his invincible sword, and +closing with the giant, cut off his right arm. The monster roared with +pain, but continued to fight, though yelling at intervals as loudly as +ever, till near sunset, when the patient knight, who had hitherto +suffered him to exhaust himself by his own efforts, suddenly rushed +forward and completed the victory! The boar and Manas being dead, +Eglamour now took his leave of the grateful King of Satyn and his court, +who rejoiced greatly over the death of their two adversaries. The heads +of the boar and the giant Manas were carefully packed up, and in due +time Eglamour laid them at the feet of his faithful Crystabell. + +Count Prinsamour, secretly disgusted at his knight's success, at once +sent him off on another enterprise, more dangerous than the two +preceding ones. Eglamour and Crystabell, now seeing that the false +count was determined to prevent their marriage, parted from each other +with many tears. But Crystabell vowed to marry him, with or without her +father's leave, so soon as he should return, if ever he did, from the +present journey. + +The third mission was to kill a tremendous dragon, at that time +desolating the country around the gates of Rome. After sundry adventures +by the way, Eglamour encountered the beast, and fought it long and +valiantly. He succeeded in cutting off its wings, tail, and head; but at +last he fell himself, exhausted by his wounds and poisoned by the +dragon's sting, and was carried from the field. + +When Crystabell heard that her brave lover was lying at the point of +death in Rome, she left her father and journeyed to the knight's +bedside, where, to make him happy before he died, she consented to marry +him on the spot. + +Eglamour rallied under the care of his beloved Crystabell; but, after +they had spent some happy months together, Count Prinsamour found out +his daughter's place of retreat, and carried her off from her husband, +abusing him as a vile thief and imposter. + +Crystabell cried and lamented continually for her lost husband. After a +while, a son was born to her, which made the count more angry than +before. He took the unfortunate mother and child, put them, without +food, into an open boat, and set them adrift upon the sea. The boat +drifted for five days, and at last reached the shores of a country whose +king proved to be the brother of Crystabell's own mother. He took the +wayfarers under his care, and devoted himself to bringing up the boy, +named Degrabell, to be a valiant knight. + +After a time, Eglamour travelled to Artois, and entering the count's +hall by force, confronted his cruel father-in-law in the presence of all +the knights and squires. He had heard of the fate of his wife and child, +and his wrath was terrible to see. He cast the dragon's head, wings, and +tail before the count, reminded him that his daughter had been fairly +won, and called down God's judgment upon the unnatural father who had +bereaved Eglamour of all he held dear in life. The count retreated to +his strongest citadel in fear before the righteous anger of this mighty +champion; but Eglamour seized the property of his late master, divided +it among the count's worthy and needy subjects, and ordering masses to +be sung in all the churches for the soul of his lost Crystabell, +departed for the Holy Land, where, during many years, he distinguished +himself both in battle and in tournament against the Saracens. + +When her son, Sir Degrabell, had reached the age of eighteen, Crystabell +was more beautiful than ever, and the king, her uncle, resolved to marry +her to some knight who might make happy the remainder of her days. +Crystabell, who still cherished the memory of her lost Sir Eglamour, +begged her son to help her in this emergency. Sir Degrabell went to the +king and insisted that all of the knights aspiring to his mother's hand +should first meet him in the lists, and that only the one who should +overthrow him might claim the princess as a wife. + +The king smiled at the pretentions of this beardless youth, and gave his +consent. A tournament was announced, and to it came from all parts of +the country persons of high rank seeking adventure. Knight after knight +presented himself in the lists, and was swiftly unhorsed by the gallant +Degrabell. At length the boy, flushed with conquest, turned to a +stranger of distinguished appearance who stood gazing at the spectacle, +without seeming to take any great interest in it, and asked if he too +had a mind to break a lance. The stranger knight hesitated, then said +that, to amuse himself, he would do so. Mounting his horse, he rode with +the speed of a lightning flash against Degrabell, who was borne to the +earth on the spot. Princess Crystabell had been watching the tourney +with pride, but screamed aloud at her son's overthrow, and rushed into +the arena, throwing herself on her knees before the stranger and +imploring him to spare her boy. Trembling, she looked upon the victor's +shield, and there saw depicted a rude device of a golden boat containing +a lady and a child about to perish in the waves. + +On his side, the knight gazed at the lady in trembling, then bending his +knee before her, revealed himself the long-lost Eglamour. Crystabell +would have swooned for joy, had not her husband caught her in his arms. +Eglamour, equally astonished and delighted, had still in store for him +the rapture of recognizing in his brave young antagonist the son so +worthy of his sire. + +Sir Eglamour and Lady Crystabell, thus happily reunited, lived together +for the remainder of their days in prosperity. Degrabell became a famous +champion. The old Count Prinsamour broke his neck by falling from his +tower; and so, my tale is told! + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old-Fashioned Fairy Book, by +Constance Cary Harrison + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD-FASHIONED FAIRY BOOK *** + +***** This file should be named 37348-8.txt or 37348-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/3/4/37348/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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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