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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fairy Circles, by Unknown
+
+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: Fairy Circles
+       Tales and Legends of Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites
+       and Hobgoblins
+
+Author: Unknown
+
+Editor: Villamaria
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2012 [EBook #39560]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAIRY CIRCLES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Matthew Wheaton and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HELGA IN THE FAIRY KING'S PARADISE. p. 154.]
+
+
+
+
+    Fairy Circles
+
+    TALES AND LEGENDS
+    OF
+    Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites, and Hobgoblins
+
+
+    FROM THE GERMAN OF VILLAMARIA
+
+    WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+    London:
+    MARCUS WARD & CO., 67 & 68, CHANDOS STREET
+    AND ROYAL ULSTER WORKS, BELFAST
+    1877
+
+
+
+
+    CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                             PAGE
+    BARBAROSSA'S YOUTHFUL DREAM                 7
+    KING LAURIN                                32
+    THE DWARF OF VENICE                        54
+    RHINE GOLD                                100
+    THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE DWARFS--
+         PART I. THE DYING DWARF-QUEEN        115
+        PART II. THE FRIENDS IN THE ROCK      124
+    THE FLOWER OF ICELAND                     142
+    THE SEA-FAIRY                             172
+    THE FAITHFUL GOBLIN                       201
+    THE FALLEN BELL                           223
+    THE LAST HOME OF THE GIANTS               249
+
+
+
+
+    Illustrations.
+
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+    HELGA IN THE FAIRY KING'S PARADISE (p. 155)          _Frontispiece._
+    FREDERICK TAKES LEAVE OF GELA                                      7
+    BARBAROSSA IN THE HOLY LAND                                       21
+    BARBAROSSA AND GELA IN THE KYFFH�USER                             27
+    VRENELI IN KING LAURIN'S ROSE-GARDEN                              32
+    KING LAURIN IN VRENELI'S COTTAGE                                  43
+    THE DWARF OF VENICE TAKES HIS DEPARTURE FOR HIS NATIVE LAND       54
+    HANS SEES KING LAURIN'S KINGDOM IN THE MAGIC MIRROR               63
+    HANS RECEIVES A HEARTY WELCOME FROM AN OLD FRIEND                 92
+    HACO THROWS THE TREASURE OF THE NIBELUNGEN INTO THE RHINE        100
+    CHARLEMAGNE MEETS WITH KRIEMHILD                                 109
+    THE COUNTESS MATILDA RESTORES THE DWARF-QUEEN TO HEALTH          115
+    ECKBERT'S WILD RIDE ON KUNO'S HORSE                              124
+    KUNO LISTENS TO THE WISE MAN'S TALK                              134
+    HELGA AT HER MOTHER'S FEET                                       142
+    "IN HELGA'S HEART MEMORY CEASED TO THRILL"                       155
+    THE OLD MAN BESIDE THE CORPSE OF ANTONIO                         172
+    ANTONIO IN THE CRYSTAL CASTLE                                    178
+    ANTONIO LAYS THE DEAD MAIDEN IN HER LAST RESTING-PLACE           189
+    FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH PUCK                                     201
+    "GERO CAUGHT PUCK SUDDENLY AND SET HIM BEFORE HIM ON HIS
+      SADDLE"                                                        212
+    THE STORM HURLS THE BELL INTO THE STREAM                         223
+    THE WATER-ELF AND THE LITTLE SOUL ON THE RAFT OF WATER-LILIES    238
+    ASLOG RETURNS TO HER FATHER                                      249
+    GURU AWAKES THE ROCK TO LIFE                                     269
+
+
+
+
+FAIRY CIRCLES.
+
+
+
+
+Barbarossa's Youthful Dream.
+
+[Illustration: FREDERICK TAKES LEAVE OF GELA.]
+
+
+More than a thousand years have rolled away since a castle looked down
+cheerfully from a height amid the Franconian plains into the
+well-watered Kinzig Valley, with its pleasant villages and towns.
+
+It belonged to the powerful Swabian duke Frederick of Hohenstaufen,
+whose young and valiant son loved this the best of all his father's
+proud castles, and often left his uncle's splendid palace to hunt in
+its forests, or to look down from its lofty oriel window on the
+blooming plain below.
+
+His father and uncle indeed missed him sadly. His clear blue eye, and
+the cheerful expression of his noble countenance, seemed to the two
+grave and war-weary men so gladdening to look upon, that they were
+always unwilling to let him leave them.
+
+But the young Frederick used to beg them so earnestly to grant him the
+freedom of the forest for just this once, that father and uncle
+smilingly granted him permission, though "this once" was often
+repeated.
+
+So it happened the autumn of that year when Bernard of Clairvaux
+passed through Germany, calling prince and people in words of burning
+eloquence to aid in the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+"Just this once!" said young Frederick again; and King Conrad and Duke
+Frederick granted him permission.
+
+As he bent in courteous farewell to take his uncle's hand, the king
+whispered, "Be ready, my Frederick, to return as soon as my messenger
+calls thee. Great things are before us, and I can ill spare thy strong
+right arm!" And young Frederick smiled his own cheery smile, and
+answered, "I come when my king and lord calls!"
+
+Then he galloped away as if he were bound that day to ride round the
+world. His Barbary steed bore him as on wings through the dark
+forests of the Spessart, and as the latest sunbeams sank in the waters
+of the Kinzig, he mounted the steep path towards the castle, and rode
+over the lowered drawbridge into the court.
+
+Was it really the stags and boars in the vast forests, or the treasure
+of rare old manuscripts of the castle archives, which drew the young
+prince again and again to the small and lonely fortress?
+
+So his father and uncle thought, but they knew not of his deep
+unconquerable love for the beautiful Gela, the daughter of a humble
+retainer. He had seen her while resting from the chase in the forest
+of the Kinzig Valley, and so great had his love for her become that he
+was willing to renounce all dreams of future power and greatness to
+live in blissful retirement with the beloved one whom he could not
+raise to his own rank.
+
+But the lovers had to guard their secret carefully; they dared trust
+no confidant, lest their paradise should be laid waste before its
+gates had been fully opened to admit them. So they breathed their love
+to none but each other.
+
+The prince passed Gela with cold indifference if he met her in the
+castle court or at her work about the house, and Gela made lowly
+reverence, as if she were the meanest of his maids, to him who counted
+it his greatest honour to do her service.
+
+But at evening, when Frederick had roamed the forest since early
+morning, his bow on his shoulder and his faithful hounds by his side,
+the fair Gela might be seen walking along the high-road with a basket
+on her arm, or with a stock of newly-spun yarn, as if she were going
+to seek purchasers in the nearest town. But in the forest she would
+leave the broad path, and make her way through briars and underwood to
+a height on which her young prince awaited her beneath the shelter of
+a giant oak.
+
+There they would talk happily and innocently till the last sunbeam was
+quenched in the Kinzig stream, and the convent bell resounded through
+the arches of the forest; then they would fold their hands in prayer
+before saying farewell, in hope of a meeting on the morrow.
+
+So had it been for many a year. Their love remained unbetrayed, their
+hope unquenched, their faith unshaken. In the splendid halls of the
+palace, amid the proud and lovely ladies who surrounded the young
+prince with flattering marks of favour, the longing after the lonely
+forest in the Kinzig Valley and the fair and gentle loved one never
+died from his heart.
+
+They had met thus one evening with the old, yet ever new tenderness.
+Frederick drew Gela's fair head to his breast, and spoke to her of the
+near and blissful future, which would be theirs in a few weeks, when
+he would be of age, and would be able to lead her openly as his wife
+to his castle in the fair land of Bavaria, to the inheritance of his
+dead mother. And the oak tree overhead rustled gently, scattering
+golden leaves on Gela's beautiful hair, for it was far on in autumn.
+
+When the vesper bell of the forest cloister began to sound, it was
+already dark; the moonlight gleamed on the path, and Gela walked with
+her lover as far as the high-road, supported by his arm. But there
+the moon shone so brightly that they had to part, lest some prying eye
+should see them. "Meet me to-morrow, dearest!" said the young prince,
+once more kissing her blooming cheek; then Gela tripped lightly down
+the high-road towards the valley, while Frederick gazed after her till
+she vanished from his sight, when he called his dogs, and turned
+towards the castle.
+
+But there the usual stillness and loneliness had given place to bustle
+and confusion. The young prince's aged tutor, who was the
+father-confessor and confidential friend alike of his father and of
+his uncle, had arrived a few hours before, accompanied by a troop of
+horsemen. Inquiries after the young prince passed impatiently from
+mouth to mouth, for the message was one which called for haste. At
+last he came riding over the drawbridge, his handsome face glowing as
+in a transformation, for his vision of the forest still hovered before
+his mind.
+
+The old chaplain of the brothers of Hohenstaufen had been long and
+anxiously awaiting his pupil; now he hastened to meet him as quickly
+as his infirmities permitted, and greeted his dear one, who had left
+him but a few days before, as if he had not seen him for years.
+
+Then they went together to the room with the oriel window, for there
+the young prince liked best to sit, as it afforded a view of Gela's
+lattice. They sat long in confidential conversation, and the light
+that fell on the pavement for hours after all others in the castle
+were asleep told Gela, who stood at the window opposite, that
+important and serious matters were being discussed by her dear one and
+his aged tutor.
+
+Next morning the people flocked out of the castle chapel, where the
+old priest who had arrived the evening before had spoken to them in
+eloquent words, and claimed the arm and heart of young and old for the
+approaching crusade to the Holy Land. And not in vain. Men and youths
+were ready to venture wealth and life, and the aged were with
+difficulty persuaded to remain at home to till the ground and protect
+the women and the little ones.
+
+All returned home to arrange their business hastily, and make needful
+preparations. One alone remained in the sacred place. It was Gela,
+who, when all had left the chapel, rose from her seat and threw
+herself prostrate before the altar, there to pour forth all the
+anguish of broken hopes, of parting, and of lonely sorrow that
+oppressed her heart.
+
+She lay thus, her hands clasped, and her face uplifted in an agony of
+grief. There were light footsteps behind her, but Gela, lost in sorrow
+and prayer, heeded them not. A hand was laid on her shoulder; she
+looked up and saw the face of him on whose account she suffered.
+
+"Gela," said the young prince tenderly and low, as if in reverence to
+the holy place--"Gela, we must part! We must wait a while for the
+fulfilment of yesterday's beautiful dream! I can scarcely bear it, and
+yet I cannot refuse, either as prince and knight, or as son and
+subject."
+
+"No," said Gela calmly; "thou must obey, my Frederick, even though our
+hearts will bleed."
+
+"And thou wilt be true to me, Gela, and wait patiently till I come
+back, and not give thy heart to another?" asked the prince, and his
+voice was full of pain.
+
+"Frederick," said Gela, laying her hand on his shoulder, "bid me give
+my life; if it were necessary to thy happiness, I would give it
+gladly. Thine will I be through all the sorrow of separation; and if I
+die, my soul will leave heaven at thy call."
+
+Frederick drew her to his heart. "I go content, my Gela; danger and
+death cannot harm me, for I am sheltered by thy love! Farewell till we
+meet again in joy!"
+
+He hastened away to hide the tears that started to his eyes, and Gela
+sank again on the altar steps and bent her head in silent prayer.
+
+She did not perceive the footsteps that once more broke the stillness
+of the place, and she only looked up when a second time a hand was
+laid on her shoulder. It was not into Frederick's youthful face that
+she looked this time, but into the grave countenance of the aged
+priest who had come to call her darling and the people of the
+surrounding country to the Holy War.
+
+She shuddered as she thought that he had perhaps been a listener to
+their conversation, and had thus discovered the carefully guarded
+secret.
+
+"Be not afraid, my daughter," said the old man gently; "I have been an
+unwilling witness of your meeting, but your words have fallen into the
+ear and heart of a man whose calling makes him the guardian of many a
+secret."
+
+Gela breathed more freely.
+
+"Thou art of pure heart, my daughter," continued the old man mildly;
+"who could chide thee for giving thy love to a youth to whom God has
+given a power to charm that wins the affection of almost every heart?
+But, my daughter, if thou love him thou must renounce him."
+
+Gela looked up in terror at the priest.
+
+"Yes, renounce him!" he repeated gravely, nodding his white head as he
+spoke.
+
+"I cannot, reverend father!" faltered the maiden with trembling lips.
+
+"Canst thou not?" asked the old man still more earnestly; "canst thou
+not give up thine own happiness for his sake, and yet thou art ready
+to give thy life if his happiness should demand it?"
+
+"Oh, reverend father," Gela faltered, raising her hands to him
+entreatingly, "look not so stern! You know not what it is to renounce
+him, and with him all that I call happiness. But if his welfare
+demands it, my heart shall break without a murmur."
+
+A gentle radiance beamed from the old priest's eyes.
+
+"Thou hast well spoken, my daughter," he said gently. "Frederick loves
+thee now with the force of his unestranged affection, and is ready to
+sacrifice rank and worldly prospects for thy sake; but he is a man and
+a prince, and, above all, of the house of Hohenstaufen, in whose soul
+lies a longing after great and praiseworthy deeds, though these
+aspirations are lulled to slumber by his love for thee. But when he
+comes to years of manhood, he will be unhappy that thou hast kept him
+from the tasks incumbent on one of his noble race. And then, my
+daughter, not he alone, but all Germany will blame thee, for every
+far-seeing eye recognises already in this heroic youth the future
+leader who is destined to bring this divided realm to unity and
+greatness. Canst thou think of the future of thy lover, and of us all,
+and yet act but for thine own happiness?"
+
+Gela raised herself as out of a dream.
+
+"No, my father," she said in a firm voice, though the light of her
+eyes seemed quenched as she gazed at the priest; "no, I renounce him.
+But if he should ever think with bitterness of Gela, I ask of you that
+you will tell him of this hour, and why I have renounced him; because
+I loved his happiness more than myself. May this sacrifice not be in
+vain!"
+
+The priest laid his hand, trembling with emotion, on her beautiful
+head. "Peace be with thee, my daughter!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On a dewy May morning, two years after that farewell scene in the
+castle chapel, young Frederick rode over the drawbridge of the
+fortress on the height beside the Kinzig Valley.
+
+The sun of Syria had dyed his white skin with a deeper hue, the toils
+of war and grief at dispelled illusions had drawn a slight furrow in
+the smooth brow, but on his flowing beard and hair lay the same golden
+splendour, and his blue eyes beamed brightly as of yore.
+
+The castle servants flocked to greet their beloved young master, who
+had meantime, through his father's death, become Duke of Swabia and
+their feudal lord. His princely mouth spoke many a gracious word, and
+his winning smile hovered among them like a sunbeam. His eye passed
+quickly from line to line, till it rested inquiringly on the features
+of an old bent man. It was Gela's father. Then he sprang from his
+horse, and ascended the stair to his favourite room.
+
+The butler placed a goblet of the richest wine on the table, a drink
+of honour which he kept carefully in the driest corner of the cellar
+for the greatest occasions; and Dame Barbara, the housekeeper, brought
+in proudly the delicious pastry which she had prepared for this
+festive day; but the young duke gave no heed to these attentions. He
+stood in the oriel window, and looked down at a little lattice in the
+buildings that surrounded the castle court. There, in a green
+window-box, gillyflower and rosemary used to bloom, and behind them he
+often had watched a face bent over the spinning-wheel--a face that he
+had not found surpassed by any even among the Flowers of the East.
+
+But now all was changed. No blossom sent forth fragrance; the green
+box hung empty and half-broken; the clear lattice panes were blinded,
+and no dear face looked through to him in love.
+
+A pang of dread presentiment pierced his heart.
+
+"Who dwells in that room with the blinded window?" he asked as calmly
+as he could of Dame Barbara, who was rattling her keys to call her
+young lord's attention to herself and her masterpiece of culinary
+skill.
+
+The old woman drew near, and looked at the desolate window to which
+the duke's finger pointed.
+
+"Alas! my lord duke," said the loquacious old woman, "Gela used to
+live there, the good child; but she became a nun two years ago last
+autumn, and entered the convent of St. Clarissa, in the heart of the
+forest."
+
+Frederick stood for a moment motionless, then he beckoned silently to
+the door, for his first sound must have been a cry of pain.
+
+Barbara went, but her master sank into the window-seat, his gaze fixed
+on the deserted lattice.
+
+There was a gentle knocking at the door, but the duke heard it not for
+the painful beating of his heart. Then the door opened, and on the
+threshold stood the old man on whom the prince's inquiring glance had
+rested on his arrival. He approached the window with a low reverence,
+and waited patiently till his young master raised his head. When at
+last he looked up, the old man started to see the beloved face that
+used to beam like the sunlight now covered as with the shadow of
+death.
+
+"My lord duke," said the old man, when Frederick signed to him to
+speak, "I had an only child. I know not if your grace has ever noticed
+her. When the men went from the country round to the Holy War, she
+entered the forest cloister, because she thought she could there pray
+undisturbed for the safety and victory of our soldiers. Before she
+went she made me promise to give this letter into your hands as soon
+as you returned."
+
+Then he drew from his doublet a strip of parchment carefully sewed in
+purple silk, and handed it to the duke.
+
+And again Frederick spoke not, but silently took the missive, for his
+heart was full to overflowing.
+
+The old man withdrew in silence. When Frederick found himself alone,
+he cut the silken covering with his hunting-knife, and drew out a
+piece of parchment; and when it was unfolded, he saw the childish
+handwriting which he himself had taught Gela in their happy hours in
+the forest, and with which she now bade him the last farewell, for she
+could not break her promise to the aged monk.
+
+While Frederick, two years before, hastened to his uncle's palace, the
+holy man had gone on to other parts of the country to call on the
+people to join the Holy War, and from this errand death had called
+him.
+
+The sun was already far past the meridian, but yet no sound had broken
+the stillness of the room where Frederick sat. The butler's drink of
+honour was untasted; Dame Barbara's masterpiece remained untouched.
+
+At last the young duke rose, left the room, and descended the winding
+stair into the court; but when his steed was brought, the attendant
+esquire thought that this could scarcely be the same young and joyous
+prince who, a few hours before, had ridden across the bridge. He
+sprang into the saddle, cast a last glance on the desolate window, and
+then turned without a word of farewell to take the road which, but a
+short time before, he had galloped over with hopeful heart. It was the
+same road which Gela had so often followed with him to the little hill
+in the forest, and when he came to the narrow path, he led his
+obedient horse to one side, fastened the bridle round the trunk of a
+tree, and then walked slowly along the mossy path.
+
+Now he stood beneath the oak. Its leafy roof and the moss at its foot
+were green and fresh as ever. Once he was like it in his love and
+hope, but all was changed! He sat down at the foot of the tree, and
+its rustling brought back to his soul the dream of his now vanished
+youth.
+
+Suddenly bells sounded from the forest depths. But he could not, as in
+days gone by, fold his hands in pious awe, and pour forth every grief
+in a believing prayer. No; at the sound of these bells which now
+called Gela, his Gela, to devotion, it seemed to him as if he must
+rush to the cloister gate, knock with his sword hilt, and cry, "Come
+back, Gela, come back; for thy sacrifice will be in vain!"
+
+He hastened down the hill to his horse, and sprang into the saddle.
+
+"Away, my faithful steed!" he cried aloud. "Show me the way, for love
+and grief have bewildered my clear brain. Bear me where knightly duty
+and princely honour claim my presence--for I know not where."
+
+And the good beast, as if it understood his master's words, rushed
+with him away farther and still farther south through the dim
+twilight, and beneath the bright beams of the full moon. Without
+weariness, though without rest, it bore him on, and when the morrow's
+sun stood in noonday splendour they had reached the goal, and the
+young duke stood before the gate of his own Staufenburg.
+
+Gela's sacrifice was not offered in vain. The words the old monk
+uttered that morning in the castle chapel were fulfilled. After his
+uncle's death, young Frederick of Swabia was raised to the throne of
+Germany, and all that the realm and people of Germany had hoped from
+him was more than fulfilled.
+
+His strong hand gave unity, strength, and majesty to the divided land,
+such as no ruler after him was ever able to bestow; and when the
+imperial crown of Rome was also placed upon his head, the proud people
+of Italy bowed before Frederick Barbarossa, did him homage, and
+acknowledged his power.
+
+The laurels of many a victory rested on the Emperor's brow; his house
+was happy, his race flourished, his name lay like a word of blessing
+on every lip; and when Gela, still in the bloom of youth, closed her
+eyes in death, she knew that she had not in vain renounced Frederick
+and happiness.
+
+Beneath the shelter of his favourite castle the Emperor founded a
+town, and named it after the unforgotten loved one of his youth,
+"Gelashausen;" and when on his travels he came to the forest of the
+Kinzig Valley, he led his horse silently aside, fastened the bridle to
+a tree stem, and ascended the hill to the majestic oak. There leaning
+his head, amid whose gold full many a thread of silver gleamed,
+against the trunk, he closed his eyes, and dreamed once more the old
+delightful dream.
+
+And the people called that tree ever after "the Emperor's oak."
+
+The sun of Asia Minor once more sent its glowing rays on the head of
+the heroic Emperor, though they gleamed back now with a silvery
+radiance.
+
+[Illustration: BARBAROSSA IN THE HOLY LAND.]
+
+The cry of distress had risen once again from the Land of Promise, and
+drawn the aged monarch from his German home; he placed himself at the
+head of his army, and led it with prudence, courage, and military
+skill safely through the heat of the Eastern sun, in spite of the
+treachery and malice of the foe, in spite of the pangs of hunger and
+consuming thirst.
+
+On a warm summer evening the army reached the steep bank of a foaming
+mountain torrent. There on the farthest side lay the road that they
+must take.
+
+Barbarossa's son Frederick, that "Flower of Chivalry," sprang with a
+chosen band from the high rocky bank into the stream and reached the
+other side in safety.
+
+The Emperor now prepared to follow. Without heeding the advice of his
+attendants, the aged hero, who had never known what fear meant, put
+spurs to his steed and plunged with him into the waters of the Seleph.
+For a few seconds the golden armour gleamed amid the waves, once or
+twice the reverend, hoary head rose above the stream, then the deadly
+waters carried horse and rider into their raging depths, and the
+beloved hero vanished from the eyes of his sorrowing army. His most
+valiant knights indeed and chosen friends plunged after him into the
+flood to save their honoured prince or die with him, but the wild
+mountain torrent bore them all to death. With bitter lamentations the
+army wandered up and down the stream, if perchance they might at least
+win the precious corpse from the waters. But night came and threw its
+dark veil over the sorrow and mourning of the day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+All around were wrapped in slumber, even deeper than was their wont.
+The moon stood high in heaven, and beneath its beams the waters of the
+Seleph flowed more gently like molten silver. Once more they roused
+their angry strength, and from their midst a white head rose, golden
+armour gleamed above the waves, and Barbarossa and his faithful steed
+slowly emerged from the waters. With noiseless hoof they wandered up
+and down the stream, and out from the depths mounted the troops of
+faithful ones who had followed their Emperor to danger and death. The
+drops gleamed like diamonds as they fell from head and armour with a
+gentle splash into the shining stream.
+
+Silently the band of warriors rode along the waves; not a sound, not a
+footstep broke the stillness; thus they turned to the shore, and the
+horses clambered up the rocky bank.
+
+There Barbarossa and his silent warriors halted on the height. For a
+moment the Emperor's glance rested on the slumbering army, he held out
+his hand as if blessing them in a last farewell, then he shook the
+reins, and horse and rider, freed from the laws of earthly gravity,
+swept onwards to the beloved Fatherland.
+
+They passed over the Bosphorus. Far below them gleamed the towers of
+Constantinople with the golden cross on their summits, but Barbarossa
+heeded them not. His head was bent forward, so that his white locks
+fluttered in the night wind, and his eyes were directed solely to the
+land towards which the horses moved with the swiftness of the
+storm-wind on their cloudy path.
+
+Soon German forests rustled beneath them, and round the Emperor's lips
+played something like the reflection of the old sunny smile.
+
+To the south lay the Italian plains which had claimed the best years
+of his life and his youthful energy, but the Emperor turned his head
+from these. Perhaps he saw already the destiny of his proud race,
+which must some day be fulfilled in those fragrant fields.
+
+Now their native air surrounds them. The fir trees of the Black Forest
+scent the air, the waves of the Neckar gleam below them, and, bathed
+in the full moon's silvery splendour, there lies at their feet the
+Staufenburg, the cradle of the lofty imperial race.
+
+Barbarossa raised his hand to bless its battlements and pinnacles, but
+still he held on his way northwards.
+
+The Spessart forests rustled beneath him in the darkness of the night,
+not a moonbeam pierced their thickly-leaved summits. But there gleamed
+the waters of the Kinzig, the walls of Gelashausen in its gently
+flowing stream, and over on the mountain's brow shone the aged
+Emperor's favourite castle, with the high oriel window, and Gela's
+deserted lattice.
+
+Barbarossa bent over his horse's neck, and cast a look of recognition
+on the scene of his early happiness.
+
+Soon they hovered above the high-road, and then over the familiar
+forest with its spreading "Emperor's oak." The old man's head was
+still bent forward, as if his eye would pierce the whispering
+tree-tops. A sound of clear bells greeted his ear. Below in the
+convent they called to midnight prayer, and these tones, which had
+once well-nigh broken his heart, acted now as a spell to bring back
+the old loved images. His breast heaved as of yore in mingled joy and
+grief, and "Gela, my Gela!" was the cry that started from his lips
+and reached the convent in whose vaults the loved one slumbered.
+
+But still the steeds held on their unhalting course over Thuringia's
+golden plain to the Kyffh�user Mountain, within which Frederick
+Barbarossa must hold council to-night with his faithful ones about the
+people of Germany and their future.
+
+The castle, which in bygone days had so often opened its hospitable
+gates to him and his court, within whose halls many a gladsome feast
+had been held, of whose magnificence and splendour old chronicles tell
+us--this castle still kept watch over the land with unbroken
+pinnacles, but Barbarossa knocked not at its gate.
+
+Gently the horses sank to the earth, and halted at a hidden door in
+the mountain side.
+
+The Emperor struck the stone with his sword, so that a loud echo
+answered from the hollow interior. Then the rocky door opened, and
+Barbarossa and his faithful warriors entered the spacious hall of the
+Kyffh�user Mountain. The rock had not long closed behind them when a
+gentle tapping was heard, the magic gate swung open, and the lovely
+Gela entered, arrayed in bridal attire as she had been laid in the
+tomb.
+
+The hand of death had touched her heart, but had not quenched her
+love. When Frederick's cry reached her ear, she had opened her eyes as
+out of a deep sleep, and had left the vault to seek her beloved with
+the swiftness of a spirit's tread. Now she stands before him in
+unchanged grace and beauty.
+
+Barbarossa's youthful dream was fulfilled. Gela, his first love, was
+now at his side to tend him and bless him for ever as she could never
+have done on earth. It was she, the faithful one, who ruled henceforth
+in the magic kingdom of the Kyffh�user, and cared for the beloved hero
+and his trusty band. It was she who knew when Barbarossa's heart
+yearned over the memories of his glorious past. Then she would lead
+the knights--his faithful comrades in the Holy War--into his room.
+They would range themselves round the marble table at which Barbarossa
+sat, with his long white beard flowing round him like imperial ermine,
+and over the golden goblets, filled from the exhaustless stores of the
+mountain cellars, they talked with the hero about the glorious days
+that they had spent together, about "the golden age" of the Holy
+German Empire. And the minstrels, who had been wont to go with him to
+the Holy Land, and had entered with him the enchanted mountain of the
+"Golden Meadow," would strike their harps, and the song of the future,
+which still slumbered in their souls, rose to their lips and echoed
+loudly through the enchanted arches of the Kyffh�user Mountain.
+
+When Barbarossa's heart longed for news of the fatherland, Gela would
+pass at midnight out through the door in the rock, down through the
+"Golden Meadow," and listen at many a door, and look through many a
+window. Then all that she heard there of sad lamentation or joyous
+hope she would faithfully pour into the Emperor's ear on her return.
+And what Gela failed to find out was seen by other eyes and heard by
+other ears. Just as once Odin's ravens flew down from the dwelling
+of the gods to the home of men to tell the heavenly Ruler of all
+that happened on the earth, so did the ravens that built their nests
+in the clefts of Kyffh�user hover through the plains to hear of joy
+and sorrow, and bear the tidings back in silence to their rocky home.
+
+[Illustration: BARBAROSSA AND GELA IN THE KYFFH�USER. F. C., p. 26.]
+
+But at the still hour of midnight, when the mountain opened, and the
+little dwarfs who dwelt secretly among Barbarossa's vaulted halls
+slipped out into the moonlight, then the wise birds opened their
+mouths, and the little friends--like Solomon, learned in the languages
+of birds--heard all that the ravens told. The dwarfs in their turn
+brought the news to the old Emperor, before whom they appeared from
+time to time to fill his treasury with newly-coined gold.
+
+With liberal hand Barbarossa gave of these hoards to pious and honest
+mortals, whom Gela led into the magic kingdom of the Kyffh�user, that
+the beloved prince might be gladdened by the sight of the new
+generation, which, different though it was from that of his day, still
+held in loving remembrance the noble Barbarossa, and cherished a firm
+hope of his return to earth.
+
+The fortress on the mountain mouldered to decay. Herds grazed where
+once the tread of armed men was heard, but once every century the
+walls stood at midnight in their ancient splendour; the drawbridge
+rattled, the watchman's horn sounded shrill and clear, and over the
+castle court, through the gates with their carved coat of arms, on to
+the brightly illumined halls of revelry, passed a brilliant
+procession. It was Barbarossa leading by the hand the lovely Gela, and
+followed by his knights and vassals, all eager to breathe the air of
+the upper world.
+
+But while the knights were spending the few short hours with music and
+feasting amid the pleasures of the past, the Emperor and Gela mounted
+to the highest battlement of the castle, and looked down longingly on
+the plains of their beloved Germany.
+
+All around lay wrapped in slumber. Night and peace had conquered all
+the cares that gnaw in daylight at the heart of man, but they had also
+stilled its hopes.
+
+"They are all asleep and dreaming," said the old Emperor, "but the
+morrow will come, and my people will awake and find the strife that
+now divides their hearts laid at rest for ever. Brave men will draw
+the sword and wield it victoriously. Then the minstrels will seize
+their harps, and the fame of our great and united Germany shall sound
+from the North Sea to the fair gardens of Italy. Then will our watch
+be over, and we shall go to our eternal rest."
+
+So spake the aged monarch, as he leant across the battlement to
+stretch his hands in blessing over his former kingdom. But when the
+first streak of dawn showed faintly in the east, Barbarossa and his
+Gela descended, the revelry ceased, the knights grasped their swords,
+and the glittering throng passed over court and bridge back to the
+heart of the mountain, while behind them the magic castle melted into
+mist.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The great morning has dawned; the nation has awaked; their strife is
+stilled. The imperial jewels, "Unity and Strength," lie no longer
+buried in the waves of the Seleph, the German people henceforth have
+them in their midst.
+
+Barbarossa may now cease his watch and enter on his rest, for from the
+North Sea to the plains of Italy is sounded the fame of the great
+united Fatherland.
+
+Thus has the aged Emperor's prophecy been fulfilled, though it was but
+the nation's youthful dream.
+
+
+
+
+KING LAURIN.
+
+[Illustration: VRENELI IN KING LAURIN'S ROSE-GARDEN]
+
+
+In the Tyrol, that true home of the good little dwarf-folk, is a
+lovely valley where in olden days a substantial farm-house stood,
+whose owner had come from the other side of the mountain enticed by
+the beauty and fertility of this favoured spot.
+
+In those days it was still possible to find good servants capable of
+forming a faithful attachment to their master and his household. But
+the farmer thought they were still better in his old home, and for
+this reason he generally brought his servants from the other side of
+the high mountain ridge.
+
+Spring had returned; the mountain pastures were green once more, and
+it was time for the herds to leave the valley; but the old herdswoman
+who for years had had the charge of the mountain farm, and in whose
+capability and conscientiousness the farmer had the fullest
+confidence, now took ill and died.
+
+This was a matter of some anxiety to the farmer and his household, for
+everything was ready for the removal of the cattle.
+
+"Go over, Tony, to our native valley," said the old farmer to his only
+son and heir. "An aged cousin of mine lives there; they say her
+daughter is a fine girl; it might be a good thing if you could
+persuade her to come to us as herdswoman."
+
+Early next morning the young man set out on his errand.
+
+The shades of night still lurked among the rocks like giants in
+disguise, but the peaks of the glacier were already aglow with the
+light of morning. The youth, accustomed to the beauties of his native
+mountains, gave scarcely a glance to the splendour of the Alps, but
+hastened onwards with head and heart full of anxiety about his cattle.
+Soon he reached the narrow mountain ridge between the two lofty
+glaciers, from which the way led downwards to his native valley.
+
+At this spot stood a tall cross, with dark arms outstretched over both
+the glaciers, as if it would tell of the dangers which had threatened
+the traveller who, out of gratitude for his deliverance, had caused a
+cross to be erected on this lonely height.
+
+Tony knelt to pray, as was the custom in those times and in that
+country. His head was bent low, so that he did not see the grave face
+which looked down on him from one of the glaciers.
+
+Surely it must have been carried thither on eagles' wings, for there,
+to that glassy height which seemed almost nearer the sky than the
+earth, no human foot could ever climb. Yet that figure stood there
+calm, strong, and erect. Long silvery hair flowed over the shoulders;
+round the head flashed something like sunbeams, or like a mysterious
+diadem of carbuncles; and the dark eyes pierced the distance, and
+rested on the kneeling one with an earnestness that went deep down
+into his heart.
+
+The young man rose and descended the winding path to the valley. The
+apparition on the lofty glacier stood long looking after his receding
+figure, and then, with the sunbeams playing among his silvery locks,
+walked with sure footsteps that never slipped down over the gleaming
+field of ice.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Late in the afternoon Tony sat once more at the foot of the cross,
+with a lovely maiden by his side. She had placed her little bundle on
+the ground at her feet, her hands lay folded on her lap, and with an
+expression of mingled grief and newly-awakened hope she looked into
+the face of her companion.
+
+Her mother had died a few days before, and poverty was even in those
+good old days a bitter thing, as the poor orphan learned to her cost.
+For the warden of the village told her bluntly that the cottage in
+which she had lived with her mother, being public property, was
+claimed now by another widow, and that Vreneli must make her own way
+in the world.
+
+Many a farmer's wife would have been glad to hire the good Vreneli as
+servant, but the rough words of the warden had so frightened her that
+she determined not to stay in this inhospitable valley; and just as
+she had tied up her little bundle, Tony came to offer her a home in
+his rich father's house.
+
+Joyfully she agreed, for the farmer was a relation, though a distant
+one, and she had a dread of going among strangers. So Tony and she set
+out together on the mountain path, and now they were resting under the
+old cross and chatting pleasantly.
+
+Vreneli's beauty and innocence had taken Tony's heart by storm, and
+now he told her that he loved her, and that she, none but she, should
+be his wife. Vreneli clasped her hands and listened with her whole
+soul to these words so new to her. Ah! how sweet they sounded after
+the harsh tones that had made her so unhappy a few hours ago! Her
+heart went out in gratitude and love to the manly youth who had so
+generously offered his heart and his home to the poor desolate orphan.
+
+"But I am poor, Tony, and I have learned to-day how evil a thing
+poverty is," said she at last.
+
+"What does that matter, Vreneli?" answered Tony, cheerfully; "I have
+enough for both. And I do not like the rich bride that my father has
+chosen for me, she is ugly and empty-headed. When they see you at
+home, Vreneli, they must love you, you are so good and beautiful! And
+when you have tended the herds on the mountain with faithful diligence
+for the summer months, and when you bring back the well cared-for
+cattle at the end of the season, you shall be my wife--I will soon
+bring my parents round to my mind."
+
+"Ah, how delightful that will be!" said Vreneli, smiling. "How I will
+love you, and what good care I will take of your old parents! Are you
+sure you are not making fun of me, Tony?"
+
+The young man put his arm around her graceful form. "How can you talk
+so, Vreneli? Do I not love you better than any one in the whole world?
+and if it makes your mind easier, I will swear love and faithfulness
+to you under this cross--I will swear that none but you shall be my
+wife."
+
+He put his right hand in hers and took the oath. Perfect stillness
+reigned around them; the spirits of the mountain listened in silence;
+noiselessly the beams of the evening sun hovered above the cross, and
+then sank, as if in blessing, on Vreneli's braided hair; while far
+overhead at the summit of the glacier stood the dark figure that had
+watched Tony on his journey that morning. The poor orphan and her
+lover did not see the grave countenance that looked down on them from
+the lofty peak, but Tony's words of solemn promise floated upwards on
+the evening breeze to the lonely old man's ear.
+
+Again he cast a searching glance on the kneeling youth, but when his
+eyes rested on the sweet maiden that listened to those earnest words,
+the stern expression of his countenance melted, and the wrinkled
+features bore traces of some sad memories that seemed to be awakened
+by the sight of her beauty and grace. He leant gently forward, so that
+his shining locks flowed down like a silver stream, and his eyes
+followed the two young people with an expression almost of longing, as
+they walked cheerfully on. But soon the twilight laid its dim veil
+over hill and valley, and the receding figures faded altogether from
+his view.
+
+The rich farmer owned the pasture of a whole mountain, and Vreneli was
+to have the sole charge of the herds that grazed on it, while on
+another mountain the herds of the other villagers wandered, watched
+over by several herdsmen.
+
+"Now, Vreneli," said the old farmer next morning, when the cows had
+been let out of the stalls, and were already climbing the well-known
+mountain path to the music of their jingling bells--"now, Vreneli, do
+your duty faithfully, and take good care of my herds, and if the
+produce of the mountain farm be richer than that yielded in the days
+of my former herdswomen, I will not be stingy about a reward."
+
+Vreneli blushed, and cast a stolen glance at Tony, who stood behind
+his father; she could not but think of the reward which he had
+promised her. She assured the farmer that she would do her duty,
+shook hands with the whole household, and then turned to follow the
+herds.
+
+Tony went with her; he wanted to show her everything in the senner's
+cottage, and to point out the richest pastures on which the herds were
+to graze, taking a different place each day, till at last they
+returned to the first, which by that time would be covered with a
+fresh growth of grass.
+
+It was a lovely spring morning. The distant glacier was radiant with
+sunlight, the bells tinkled softly on the necks of the cattle, and
+wild flowers bloomed at the edge of the torrent which rushed foaming
+over the moss-grown rocks. But what was all this external beauty in
+comparison with the blooming world in their own hearts?
+
+They exchanged looks, and words, and happy smiles. Not till the herds
+had been milked and led to rest on the night pasture did Tony say
+good-bye. Vreneli stood at the door of the cottage, her hands clasped,
+and her eyes brimming with happy tears, and watched him till a turn of
+the road hid him from her view.
+
+Inside, in the cosy cottage, it seemed to her, all the time that she
+was filling the milk vessels and putting everything in order, as if
+she still heard his caressing words, and as if his brown eyes looked
+out on her from every corner. Love and hope quickened her hands, so
+that her work seemed mere child's play. Then when everything was done,
+and the fire had died out on the hearth, she stepped out again to the
+door.
+
+Like a faithful senner she looked first at the night pasture where
+the herds were resting peacefully. Now and then one of the beautiful
+animals would lift its head, and the bell at its throat would tinkle
+softly; the night-wind moved gently among the lofty trees, making the
+long moss of their stems wave to and fro like dark soft veils. Then
+Vreneli's eyes sought the valley, and to the moonbeams which hastened,
+in their glittering robes, down the rocky path to the village she
+entrusted tender messages of love. And when she turned back into the
+cottage she knelt at her mossy couch beside the hearth, and mingled
+with her evening prayer words of joyful thanksgiving. Her last thought
+before she fell asleep was this, that she was the happiest herdswoman
+and her Tony the handsomest and truest fellow in the whole land of the
+Tyrol.
+
+Sunny days succeeded to nights filled with golden dreams. When the
+first sunbeams flashed from the summit of the glacier, the goat-bells
+sounded below in the valley, and the goat-herd led his flock to seek
+the juicy plants that grew on heights inaccessible to less sure-footed
+herds.
+
+Then Vreneli ran joyfully to meet him, for he always brought some
+message from Tony, or some other token of his love. With joy-quickened
+energy she went then about her daily toil. The cows left their nightly
+resting-place, and came to Vreneli to be milked, and then she led them
+to some new pasture.
+
+And while the cattle grazed there, she leant against a rock and
+carefully watched each step of the animals entrusted to her care, lest
+any one of them should go too near a precipice, or, enticed by the
+plants that grew most richly beside the torrent, be hurried away in
+its mad whirl. And when evening sank on the mountain, and clothed the
+ice-columns in a splendour of red and purple, the goat-herd led his
+flock back to the valley, and received every evening from Vreneli's
+hand a bunch of mountain violets for her beloved Tony.
+
+Then she drove the cows again to the milking-place, and repeated the
+task of the morning. But this did not end her day's work. She was busy
+for hours in the cottage, and moon and stars had long looked down on
+the slumbering mountain before Vreneli had finished arranging her milk
+vessels in the dairy, or placed the newly-made cheese to dry, or
+rolled out her golden butter-pats.
+
+Then after a simple prayer she lay down on her lowly couch, and when
+the distant thunder of avalanches broke the silence of the night, and
+the mountain torrent roared close behind her tiny cottage, Vreneli
+slept as sweetly as a child, and round her head dreams of love and
+home hovered on golden wing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So the weeks flew by, and the day arrived when the butter and cheese
+which the mountain farm had hitherto produced was to be taken home to
+the farm-house. The farmer and Tony were to come to bring it, as the
+goat-herd had told Vreneli yesterday, and her usually dexterous
+fingers trembled with glad excitement just when it was most needful to
+show the farmer that he had entrusted his property to capable hands.
+
+At last--how often she had looked impatiently along the path--at last
+the old farmer came toiling up, and behind him, not Tony, as she
+expected, but two servants with tall baskets on their backs.
+
+Vreneli was bitterly disappointed, but she controlled herself and
+walked out calmly to meet her master. In spite of the sunny morning
+dark clouds lay upon his brow, and it did not clear even when Vreneli
+took him into the faultless dairy and showed him the rows of large
+rich cheese and the golden butter. Silently they were laid in the
+basket, and the servants returned homewards with heavy burdens.
+
+Then Vreneli led the farmer to the meadow where the herds were
+grazing, and his keen eye told him that the beasts were well fed and
+cared for. It was a faithful hand to which he had entrusted his
+property--_that_ he must acknowledge, however unwillingly. "You have
+done well, Vreneli; see that you go on as you have begun!" he said
+bluntly. How harsh the words sounded compared with those with which he
+had sent her to the mountain! Then when he turned to go home, and she
+politely begged him to taste the fritter that she had prepared for him
+according to the custom of the country, he refused it, looking all the
+time so gloomy that Vreneli did not dare to ask for Tony, though her
+heart throbbed in anxiety and longing. So he left her, and Vreneli
+stood watching him with a heart full of sadness and disappointment.
+
+It was evening, and the firelight fell as brightly as ever on
+Vreneli's lovely face, but it did not show the joyous expression of
+other evenings. Her movements were languid, and now and then a tear
+stole down her cheek.
+
+Why did not Tony come, as he had said he would? Why was the old farmer
+so gloomy? Why did the goat-herd refuse to take the daily bunch of
+violets, in return for which she might have hoped for some message
+from Tony? These were questions on which her life's happiness
+depended, and yet there was no one there to answer them.
+
+She sighed deeply. There had been a gentle knocking at the door, which
+Vreneli, lost in her sad thoughts, had not noticed; but at her loud
+sigh the door opened, and a figure of mysterious aspect stood on the
+threshold. Long silvery hair flowed down over the shoulders, and from
+the serious yet kindly eyes spoke a majesty which diadem and purple
+robes would not have been enough to give. Vreneli let fall the milk
+bowl in her astonishment, and she bowed low as to a mighty prince;
+then she wiped the low bench before the fire, the only seat which the
+simple cottage offered, and asked her strange guest to be seated.
+
+The old man nodded pleasantly, and sat down at the fire, leant his
+head on both hands, so that his silvery locks flowed almost to the
+ground, and directed his earnest gaze so searchingly on Vreneli that
+it seemed to her as if he could see into her very soul.
+
+"Why art thou so sad to-day, Vreneli?" he said at last very gently.
+
+Vreneli started. How did this stranger, who seemed to come from some
+distant land--how could he know her name? She looked at him, half in
+reverence and half in fear. "Come, Vreneli, wilt thou not tell me?"
+said the old man, and his eye rested almost with love upon her face.
+
+[Illustration: KING LAURIN IN VRENELI'S COTTAGE.]
+
+"I am an orphan," she faltered out at last, "and sometimes a painful
+feeling of loneliness comes over me."
+
+"And is that all, Vreneli?" asked the old man; "canst thou not
+confide in one who means well towards thee, and who has both the power
+and the desire to help thee? Dost thou think thyself unknown to me?
+Did I not see thee on the mountain side beneath the cross? Did I not
+hear the young man's oath, and see how love and hope had driven sorrow
+from thy heart? From that hour I have been thy friend. Dost thou think
+that thy care and watchfulness could have kept the dangers of the
+mountains far from thy roof and from thy herds? When thou wast asleep
+on thy couch of moss, and fair dreams led thy soul to golden meadows,
+I kept watch up there upon the rock, and warned the elements to leave
+thee and thy charge unhurt; I directed the course of the avalanches,
+and the flight of the snow-storm, so that they turned aside, and only
+softest breezes and the gentle starlight ever touched thy brow. Dost
+thou still mistrust me, Vreneli?"
+
+Vreneli had clasped her hands and drawn nearer to her venerable
+friend.
+
+"I thank you for your protection," said she, bowing once more in lowly
+reverence; "whoever you may be, to me you have been a benefactor, and
+such a one has a right to my confidence. But tell me how you read my
+heart and learned my love for Tony? For you know already what its
+burden is. I am troubled about what has happened to-day; I cannot
+understand it. Above all, I am disappointed at not having seen Tony,
+after I had looked forward so joyfully to meeting him."
+
+The old man cast a searching glance on her lovely face, as she stood
+there with the firelight falling brightly on her, and her blue eyes
+turned towards him in sorrow and touching confidence.
+
+"And wouldst thou like to see him now?" he asked gravely.
+
+Vreneli's eyes shone with delight.
+
+"But, Vreneli, the fulfilment of our wishes often brings something
+quite different from our hopes; we go to seek faithfulness, and we
+find treachery."
+
+"Ah!" said she, with the smile of unshaken trust, "that will not be
+the case with me. Tony is good and truer than gold, and did he not
+swear to me beneath the cross?"
+
+"Thou dear child!" answered the old man, while painful memories
+troubled his grave features; "if every broken oath could make a step,
+we would soon be able to reach the moon."
+
+"Stranger," said Vreneli, confidently, "you may have met with
+faithlessness enough in your long life to make you lose your
+confidence in human nature, but you do not know my Tony!"
+
+"Come then, Vreneli, since thou wishest it," said the old man, rising,
+"though I would fain have spared thee this pain." And they stepped out
+together into the night.
+
+Led by the old man's hand, Vreneli climbed up to the point of rock
+from which he had kept nightly watch over her and her herds. They went
+forward to the edge of the precipice. Far below, veiled by the
+darkness, lay Tony's home. High walls of rock and wide pasture-lands
+separated them from the farm-house, so that no human eye could pierce
+the distance.
+
+But the old man pulled down a branch of the lofty pine above them, and
+told Vreneli to look through a tiny knot-hole. She did so; the laws of
+space yielded, and her anxious glance flew to the distant farm-house.
+She looked through the lighted windows into the well-furnished rooms.
+All the costly vessels and ornaments, which were usually carefully
+laid past in chests and cupboards, were to-day displayed on the
+festive board, round which the most distinguished residents of the
+village were chatting and laughing merrily. Next his parents sat Tony,
+and at his side a richly dressed maiden. His eyes shone, and his mouth
+smiled and whispered, just as on that evening when he had sworn love
+and faithfulness to Vreneli beneath the cross on the mountain. His
+father's threatening words and the wealth of the bride so long chosen
+for him had quickly shaken Tony's purpose, and while the gentle
+Vreneli was thinking anxiously about his non-appearance, the fickle
+youth broke his solemn oath, and betrothed himself to the unloved but
+wealthy bride.
+
+Vreneli looked at the scene in tearless silence, then, when she could
+no longer doubt her lover's faithlessness, she let go the branch and
+turned her eyes away, so that once more night and distance covered the
+scene that had ruined her hopes. Vreneli silently descended the rock,
+but she did not seek the shelter of her cottage. She hurried past it,
+and wandered on aimlessly over the wilds of the mountain. It seemed
+almost as if she wished to reach the icy glacier heights.
+
+"Vreneli," said the voice at her side; "Vreneli, whither wilt thou
+go?" She turned her head as in a dream. Stony sorrow had fallen on her
+gentle features, and her once bright eyes were cold and fixed.
+"Whither?" she said quietly, "whither? I would like to go to the
+grave, but, since that may not be, I will go at least away, away as
+far as my feet will bear me."
+
+"Wilt thou come with me, Vreneli?" said the old man. "My home shall be
+thine, and the love and faithfulness which thou hast lost here thou
+shalt find there a thousand-fold."
+
+Vreneli looked into his mild eyes.
+
+"And who art thou, kind old man?" she asked with faltering voice.
+
+"I am King Laurin, the ruler of the powerful nation of the dwarfs, who
+for centuries were bound to men in faithful love. The impress of
+divinity which we spirits recognised in you, and before which we
+humbly bow, attracted us to your race. But in every generation we
+traced it less easily, and at last, despised and deceived in return
+for our kindness and help, we retired to the recesses of our
+mountains. There in the heart of the rock whose brow is crowned by the
+shining glacier, there stands my palace, adorned by my people with all
+the splendour of the precious stones which, hidden to mortal eyes,
+shine deep down in the heart of the earth.
+
+"There I live, but I have led for centuries a lonely life, for my only
+daughter, the last flower of a blooming garland, died long, long ago.
+Her rose-garden, to tend which was her greatest delight, still blooms
+in unfading beauty, but as often as my eyes fall on its wondrous
+flowers, I think with grief of my long-lost child. Thou, Vreneli, art
+a pure-hearted maiden like her, and since I first saw thee and looked
+into thine eyes, it has seemed to me as if I had found my child. I
+have watched over thee with a father's care, and I am ready now to
+love thee as my daughter."
+
+"Poor lonely king!" said Vreneli, in a tone of gentle pity, while the
+tears ran down her cheeks, "I will go with you to your mountain
+palace; I will love and honour you as your child once did, and I will
+tend the rose-garden that she loved; for I have no home and no heart
+to love me. But grant me one thing before I leave the sunlight."
+
+"Thou hast but to ask and it is granted!"
+
+"Ah, King Laurin!" said Vreneli, and her tears flowed faster, "I am
+still young, and this is the first disappointment that my heart has
+felt, and though it is almost broken, yet I have still a faint hope
+left. I cannot quite let go my faith in Tony."
+
+King Laurin looked even more gravely than before on the weeping
+maiden.
+
+"No, do not be angry!" she begged, raising her hands entreatingly to
+him; "call it not foolish weakness; remember that it needed hundreds
+of years before your noble heart would close against our deceitful
+race. I know that Tony has been persuaded by his friends to take this
+step; but he still loves me, and it would grieve him if I were to go
+without farewell. When he brings his bride up the mountain to-morrow,
+on their way to the wedding in the next valley, let me go out to meet
+him as he is passing my cottage--let me say farewell and part from him
+in peace."
+
+"Do as thou wilt, my child," answered King Laurin with gentle sadness,
+"though thou wilt find but a new sorrow. And now, Vreneli, it is late.
+Go to thy cottage, and lie down on thy couch, there to forget thy
+griefs for a few short hours at least."
+
+"Ah no!" said Vreneli, entreatingly; "let me stay here with you
+beneath the stars, for I dread the loneliness of the cottage. Wherever
+I may be I cannot sleep, and the shadows of past happiness would there
+trouble my soul. No; let me stay here and share your watch."
+
+They climbed the rock, and sat down side by side beneath the lofty
+pines. Vreneli folded her hands and looked up to the stars, while her
+prayer for peace and comfort arose to Him who sits enthroned above the
+sky.
+
+Not a word was spoken. King Laurin gazed in silence on the moonlit
+glacier, while his mind wandered back to the memories of a thousand
+years, and on Vreneli's brow lay the deep shadow of her young grief.
+
+Gradually her eyelids closed, and her head sank gently to the old
+king's shoulder. He placed his arm tenderly round the slumbering girl,
+and stretched out his right hand towards the lofty glacier.
+
+Then the storm-song in its icy clefts grew suddenly still, but the
+moonbeams still played around its jagged peaks; like glistening
+serpents they moved across the glassy sea, and then flowed slowly in a
+broad shining stream down on the crystal road. The mountain torrent
+meanwhile checked its thunder, and moved more gently on its rocky way.
+
+The night that hung above the mountain seemed but a pleasant twilight,
+and through the mild, soft air a bell tinkled gently now and then from
+the night pasture where the cattle lay at rest. All was peace. Nothing
+stirred save the summer breeze and the golden starlight, which
+ventured near to kiss the tear-stained cheek of the maiden who lay in
+sweet forgetfulness of sorrow on the old king's arm.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And now it was once more morning, and Vreneli's cheek grew pale as she
+thought of the sorrowful parting with him whom she had once called her
+Tony. But she was determined to do her duty to the very last, so she
+led her herds to the pasture, by the side of which the road ran, that
+she might be at hand to tend them while waiting by the wayside for
+Tony and his bride.
+
+The sun rose higher and higher, and the minutes of painful waiting
+seemed hours to the poor girl. Suddenly voices and loud laughter
+sounded in her ear, and soon two figures appeared from round the rock.
+For the first time since the morning when she brought the herds up the
+mountain Tony stood face to face with the poor orphan whose life's
+happiness he had ruined, and he started as he looked into the face so
+beautiful, but deadly pale. For one moment he remembered his oath.
+Then the rich bride at his side cried mockingly--"I suppose this is
+the servant girl of whom your father spoke, who had the presumption to
+dream of becoming a rich farmer's wife? Fancy the little beggar
+entertaining such an idea!"
+
+The scornful words cut deep into Vreneli's crushed heart.
+
+"I should never have thought of it myself," she said, sadly; "it was
+Tony who wished it, because he loved me so that my poverty seemed no
+obstacle."
+
+"Oh! indeed, Tony," said the bride, haughtily, "that is rather
+different from what you told me yesterday evening. Did you not tell me
+that you had never troubled your head about her, and that you had
+always wished to marry me? Tell this girl that she lies, or if you
+cannot do that, then you are free to choose this beggar still. I have
+plenty of suitors left!"
+
+Tony grew red with shame and vexation, but he did not vent his anger
+on the haughty bride, but on poor innocent Vreneli. "You lie, girl,"
+he cried; "I never made you any promise; I never loved you!"
+
+"Tony," answered Vreneli gently, "do not bring needless guilt on your
+head. Have you forgotten your oath beneath the lonely cross on the
+mountain? But I am not angry with you for forsaking me. Perhaps your
+parents persuaded you to do it; but I could not refrain from coming to
+say farewell, and to wish you happiness and prosperity."
+
+"Keep your farewell and your wishes to yourself!" cried Tony, white
+with anger and shame; "you were a fool, if you took my words in
+earnest. I and a beggar like you!"
+
+With a loud mocking laugh he turned away, gave his arm to his bride,
+and passed on without a word of farewell.
+
+Vreneli looked after him in speechless amazement. The wise king was
+right, then; she had met but a new blow, and this one more crushing
+than the first. She turned, and saw behind her King Laurin, who had
+been an unseen witness of Tony's shameful treachery. His eyes glowed,
+but he uttered not a word. Vreneli stooped again to raise his hands to
+her trembling lips. "I am ready to follow you!" she said in a low
+voice.
+
+Then the rock opened before them; Vreneli gave a farewell look at the
+midday sun, then, led by King Laurin's hand, she entered the magic
+kingdom of the dwarfs.
+
+That very moment an avalanche was set free from the snow-clad slopes
+of the glacier, rolled down with angry thunder, and at the cross where
+once Tony had sworn faithful love to Vreneli it overtook him and his
+heartless bride, and buried them so deep that their bodies were never
+found. Thus King Laurin avenged his adopted daughter.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Vreneli had found a home, and, instead of the one worthless heart that
+she had lost, a thousand hearts beat true to her in unchanging love.
+
+King Laurin loved her as he had once loved his own lost child, and she
+returned his affection with all the warmth of her young heart, while
+the little dwarfs obeyed her every wish with that cheerful eagerness
+with which they had once served their lost princess.
+
+She tended the rose-garden beside the king's crystal palace with such
+loving care that it bloomed once more as in the days in which the
+magic-mighty hand of the princess had moved among its fairy blossoms,
+and the sweet fragrance that the roses breathed into her very soul
+healed every wound of disappointed love.
+
+She did not miss the sunlight in this fairy kingdom, for the mild
+radiance of unseen stars lit it day and night; she never longed for
+earth, for here was unchanging spring; warm breezes kissed her brow,
+and the wild chamois, shy dwellers of the mountain solitudes, came up
+in friendly confidence, and let her stroke them with her snow-white
+hand.
+
+Many a time on starry nights she went by King Laurin's side out to the
+glacier peaks, to look around upon the slumbering land. Her eye, made
+keen by the light of the fairy world, pierced the distance and the
+darkness of night, and she gazed, even unaided by any "magic ring,"
+far beyond the boundaries which limit human vision. And what had once
+driven her from the region of sunlight she saw always and
+everywhere--sorrow, injustice, and untruth.
+
+And when she looked into many a joyless cottage and many a sorrowful
+heart, she would turn to the old king by her side, kiss his hand with
+loving reverence, and say, smiling--"Come, King Laurin, let us go back
+to our home, to our peaceful kingdom, where tears and guilt and
+fickleness are all unknown."
+
+
+
+
+The Dwarf of Venice.
+
+[Illustration: The Dwarf of Venice takes his Departure for his Native
+Land.]
+
+
+Evening was falling with the mild beauty of spring on the mountains
+and pasture-lands of the Tyrol. The latest sunbeams which streamed
+down from the lofty glacier bore the tones of the vesper bell through
+the quiet village street, and floated over the brook and in at the
+open windows of a substantial farm-house which stood at the end of
+the little valley. A neatly carved balcony surrounded the house, the
+window-panes gleamed like mirrors, and the orderly arrangements of the
+farm-yard showed the owner to be a man of some wealth.
+
+At the table in the oak-panelled sitting-room sat the rich farmer
+himself, but in spite of his possessions he seemed discontented and
+unhappy, for between his brows was a deep frown, and his eyes were
+dark and lowering. Opposite him sat his beautiful young wife, whose
+soft eyes looked anxiously into her husband's face. On her lap she
+held her only child, a lovely little girl, with eyes as blue as the
+flax blossom, and hair that shone like gold: she folded her little
+hands, as her mother did, as long as the vesper bell continued to call
+to prayer; but her eyes looked longingly, now on the pancakes that lay
+piled on the bright pewter plate, now casting a friendly glance on the
+boy that sat at the furthest end of the table, with his hands folded
+in devout reverence.
+
+It was Hans, the son of a poor relation, to whom the rich farmer, with
+unwonted generosity, had granted a place in his house and at his
+table, and who in return had to drive the goats every day up to the
+highest pastures on the mountain, to places inaccessible to other
+herds. He had just returned with his nimble charge, and had brought to
+little Anneli on her mother's knee a bunch of alproses, for he dearly
+loved the child.
+
+The bell had ceased ringing, the hands were unclasped, and the mother
+began to help the delicate pancakes. There was a gentle knocking at
+the door, and in walked a little man in a sombre and threadbare
+garment. His back was bent, either with the weight of years or by the
+wallet which hung from his shoulder; his hair was silver grey; but the
+dark shining eyes told that in this decrepit body lived a strong
+unconquered spirit.
+
+"Good evening, sir," said the little man humbly; "might I beg you for
+a bit of supper, for I am starving, and for a night's rest on your
+haystack, for I am tired to death."
+
+"Indeed," said the farmer angrily; "do you take my house for a
+beggar's tavern? if so, I am sorry your sight is so bad. You may seek
+elsewhere, for you will not find what you want here!"
+
+The dwarf looked in astonishment on the master of the house, who,
+regardless of the hospitable customs of the country, could thus turn a
+poor man away from his door; but the farmer took no notice of his
+surprise, nor of his wife's looks of entreaty.
+
+"No, wife," he said harshly, "this time you shall not have your own
+way. I will not keep open house for all the beggars in the land. Did I
+not give in to you about that boy over there? You might be content
+with that."
+
+Poor Hans blushed crimson at this allusion to his poverty, but when
+the little man turned away with a sigh and left the inhospitable
+threshold, sympathy with the poor old man overcame his fear of his
+employer; he seized the plate with the pancakes, and the great piece
+of bread which the farmer's wife had just given him, and ran out of
+the room.
+
+"What's the boy after?" asked the farmer angrily.
+
+"He is just doing what we ought to have done," answered the wife, with
+gentle reproach in her fair face; "he is sharing his meal with the
+poor man."
+
+"Yes, yes," growled the man, "birds of a feather flock together."
+
+Meantime the old man was creeping with weary steps across the yard,
+and had just reached the gate when Hans seized him by the arm.
+
+"Here, good little man," said he in mingled pity and fear--"here is my
+supper; come, sit down there on the well and eat."
+
+The old man's dark eyes rested with a pleased look on the boy. "And
+what hast thou for thyself, child, if thou givest away thine own
+share?"
+
+"Oh! that does not matter," said Hans unconcernedly, while he led the
+dwarf to the stone wall which surrounded the well. "I am not very
+hungry, and the farmer's good wife would give me more if I asked her."
+
+The old man sat down and began to eat, while Hans watched with delight
+how his aged friend enjoyed it. Soon the plate was empty, and the
+little man rose with thanks to set out on further wanderings, and to
+seek a night's shelter under a more hospitable roof.
+
+Hans went with him to the gate, and whispered hastily, "Do not think
+ill of the farmer for having refused you; he is not always so
+churlish, but to-day something has occurred to vex him--he was not
+re-elected as burgomaster of the village, but his bitterest foe was
+successful; that has soured him, and so every one who comes in his way
+must suffer for it. But listen, little man; to the right there, on
+the rock over which the path leads to the mountain, stands the
+hay-loft with its roof touching the stone. That's where I sleep, and
+if you climb a little way up the rock, and wait there till I go to
+bed, I will open the trap-door, and you can creep in to me among the
+hay."
+
+"Thou art a good boy," said the old man; "I will do as thou sayest,
+and wait for thee there upon the rock."
+
+It was night when Hans was at last allowed to seek his couch. More
+nimbly than usual he sprang up the slender ladder to the hay-loft, and
+then he quickly unfastened the trap-door which opened on the roof.
+
+The full moon stood large and bright above the mountain, and its pale
+beams played round the jagged brow of the glacier, and wove a veil of
+silver round the beech woods that adorned the mountain landscape.
+
+The old man was sitting silently on a ledge of rock; his hands lay
+folded on his lap, his head was bare, and the night wind moved lightly
+through his grey tresses. But the old man heeded it not. His eyes
+gazed fixedly on the night sky, as if they could, like the seers of
+olden time, decipher the records of the stars, and his features were
+ennobled by such a look of majesty that the boy gazed at him in
+astonishment, not daring to disturb him. At last he said softly, "Do
+not be angry, sir, at my troubling you, but the night is growing cold,
+and the dew is beginning to fall. Would you not be better in a warm
+bed?"
+
+The old man sighed, as if his thoughts returned unwillingly from their
+flight. Then he nodded pleasantly to the boy, went up to the
+trap-door, and let himself down upon the floor of the loft. He lay
+down silently on the fragrant hay, and was just about to close his
+weary eyes when he felt the boy's warm hand passing over him.
+
+The little fellow had taken off his jacket, and was now carefully
+spreading it over the old man that the night wind might not hurt him.
+With a silent smile the dwarf accepted the service of love, and soon
+their deep breathing told that slumber had fallen on the eyes of both.
+Several hours had passed by, when something like a flash of lightning
+woke the boy. He rose quickly; the trap-door was open, and the old man
+was rummaging busily in his wallet; he had just taken out of it a very
+bright hand-mirror, and the light of the moon, reflected with a flash
+from the crystal, had awakened the boy.
+
+The dwarf now threw his sack over his shoulder, took the mirror in his
+hand, and began to go through the trap-door to the rock.
+
+Hans could bear it no longer. "Oh, sir," he begged, "take me with you
+into the mountains, for that you are bound thither the mirror in your
+hand tells me. My dear mother has often told me about the mountain
+mirror, by means of which one can see into the depths of the earth,
+and watch the metal gleaming and glittering in its veins. And although
+you have not said so, yet I know that you are one of the mysterious
+strangers who come from far-off lands to seek the gold of our
+mountains, which is hidden from our dim eyes. Oh, take me with you!"
+
+The old man turned his face to the boy. "That is idle curiosity, my
+son," he said gravely, and his eyes shone almost as brightly as the
+mirror had a few minutes before; "stay at home and tend thy herds, as
+a good boy should."
+
+"Oh no, sir," begged Hans earnestly; "I have always longed to see the
+wonders of the mountains, and I will be quiet and silent as is
+befitting in presence of such marvels, and I will help you and serve
+you to the best of my power. Take me with you!"
+
+The old man thought a minute, glanced searchingly into the boy's eyes,
+who had come nearer to him in his earnestness, and then he
+said--"Come, then, and remember thy promise."
+
+They stepped out together, shut the trap-door behind them, and
+clambered up to the top of the rock, from which the broad footpath led
+up to the heights and abysses of the mountain. The moon poured its
+mystic radiance down from the deep blue sky of night, and the young
+foliage of the beech wood gleamed like silver as it fluttered in the
+breeze. Not a footstep was heard on the mossy ground, only their
+shadows glided in company with the lonely wanderers, who in silent
+haste pressed on deeper into the recesses of the mountains. The wood
+lay behind them, and the path led to a ravine, at the bottom of which
+a raging torrent rushed; they stood now at its edge.
+
+None save Tyrol's boldest mountain climbers know this path, and even
+they, though provided with ice-shoes and alpenstocks, tread its steep
+ascent with trembling hearts. But the little man seemed to heed no
+danger; fearlessly he set his foot upon the highest point, and
+securely, as if on level ground, he went down the side of the
+precipice, where one false step would have been certain death. The boy
+followed him with beating heart. The moonlight broke through the
+overhanging bushes and the lofty rocks overhead, and made its way down
+into the ravine.
+
+The wanderers stood now at the edge of the raging torrent, and walked
+along it to the high rock over which the glacier stream fell into its
+rocky bed, and which seemed to them, as it stood veiled in night, like
+one of the giants of old who, the old legends tell us, were turned to
+stone. Even in the distance they had seen the moving cloud of vapour
+above its head, which hovered in the light of the full moon, like a
+giant eagle, above the rushing waters. The milk-white billows of the
+torrent that rushed down from this height rolled in the moonlight like
+silvery tresses down from the rock's giant head. The old man walked
+quietly through the noise and foam round the foot of the rock and into
+a narrow cleft, which was the opening into the heart of the mountain;
+here he laid down his wallet.
+
+Now, now the boy's heart beat even more loudly than it had done amid
+the dangers of the abyss, when the old man silently beckoned to him.
+He held the mountain mirror in his hand: Hans stepped timidly to his
+side, and looked into the magic glass. Mists impenetrable as the
+curtain which parts the present from the future rolled over its
+crystal surface, but they became lighter and lighter, and soon the
+interior of the mountain lay open before the eyes of the delighted
+child. Through the wide rocky gates his eye pierced into a land of
+wonders such as are never seen on earth. Through the blue air rose the
+pinnacles of a crystal palace; the golden roof and the windows of
+precious stone shone in the splendour of another sun; and in the lofty
+star-spangled hall sat King Laurin, the hoary king of the dwarfs, on
+his emerald throne. Round him stood his subjects, the wise and aged
+dwarfs, who had long since forsaken the wicked world to lead an active
+but peaceful life here in their magic kingdom, where the malice and
+inquisitiveness of mortals could not come to disturb them. They
+listened with heads bent in reverent attention to the words of their
+king, and then went in different directions to obey his commands; but
+Laurin descended from his throne, laid aside crown and sceptre, and
+went down the golden steps to the rose-garden, which his beloved
+daughter, the only one left to him of all his circle of blooming
+children, tended with skilful hand. The lovely maiden was walking
+among the garden paths, tying up the young roses and moistening their
+roots with water from the golden vessel in her hand, when she saw her
+royal father coming. She hastened to meet him, took his strong hand
+with respectful tenderness, and led him joyfully through the blooming
+beds. Meantime, the little dwarfs had set busily to work: some were
+leading their herds of chamois through a secret gate out to the
+mountains of the upper world, that they might there enjoy earthly air
+and light; others hastened to the clear silvery springs which watered
+this realm, to guide their waters of blessing up to the meadows
+and woods of the children of men, that they might yield a more
+abundant increase; others, again, took pickaxes, mallets, and dark
+lanterns, all made of precious metal, and went into the heart of the
+surrounding mountains to bring their hidden wealth to light, and to
+increase still more the royal treasure, countless though their king's
+hoards already were.
+
+[Illustration: HANS SEES KING LAURIN'S KINGDOM IN THE MAGIC MIRROR. F.
+C., p. 62.]
+
+Glittering veins of gold streaked the stone, and out of the dark rock
+bubbled springs, whose clear waters flashed and sparkled, as if they
+bore onward with them grains of the precious and much longed-for
+metal. In a dark grotto lay something white and motionless like a
+slumbering eagle; but at the flash of the lanterns it roused itself,
+and the white serpent queen lifted her gem-crowned head. The drops
+that trickled down the walls of the grotto gleamed like jewels in the
+light of her diadem; but the serpent bent her head again, and coiled
+herself up for further sleep, for she knew well that the little
+dwarfs, unlike the robber sons of men, would never stretch forth their
+hands to seize the jewel on her brow. And there, at yonder spring,
+knelt a dark form busily engaged in gathering the gold sand from the
+bottom of the water, and putting it into the wallet beside him; but
+the figure could not be recognised in the shadow which lay deep at
+that spot. But when some of the industrious little men drew near with
+their flickering lanterns, the man at the spring turned his head and
+nodded to them a friendly greeting, which they returned as if he was
+an old and dear acquaintance.
+
+Then the boy recognised by his grey locks and his dark eyes full of
+gravity and wisdom the old man who had been showing him the mountain
+mirror. He raised his eyes in astonishment from the magic glass, and
+now for the first time he perceived that he held the mirror in his own
+hand, and that the old man was no longer by his side.
+
+"Ah! how thoughtless I am; I promised to help him, and now the kind
+old man is tiring himself, unaided, with his heavy work," said Hans in
+self-reproach. Then he hid the magic mirror in his bosom and turned
+towards the hole which formed the entrance to the treasures of the
+mountains. But just as he was stooping to creep in, the old man
+himself came out, bearing on his shoulder the shabby wallet with its
+priceless contents. "Forgive me, sir," begged Hans in a tone of true
+sorrow, "for having kept my promise so ill, but my mind was
+spell-bound by the wonders I beheld."
+
+"It matters not, my son," replied the old man mildly; "I have always
+had to work alone and without help, and I will continue to do so. All
+I ask of thee is a night's rest on the hay and a bite of bread when
+thou canst spare it. But come now! Seest thou how the cloud above the
+waterfall is gleaming rosy red? It is the reflection of the dawn. I
+would not that thy herds should wait for thee, and thy harsh master
+find thee behindhand with thy work. So let us hasten!"
+
+And back they hurried on the dangerous path by which they had come;
+the beech leaves gleamed in the first light of the new day as they
+passed through the wood, and the thrushes were just beginning their
+morning song.
+
+Soon they stood on the ledge of rock, and a few minutes brought them
+to the trap-door. The old man slipped in to snatch a little slumber
+before he began another day's wanderings, but the boy could not think
+of lying in his dark loft after all the splendour he had left behind,
+so he went to let out his goats and take them to the mountain. But
+to-day he could not bear to stay as usual in the tiny cottage where he
+performed the light duties of the mountain herdsman, while the goats
+clambered alone up the steep walls of rock in search of juicy plants,
+and came back uncalled at the sound of the evening bell. To-day he
+climbed with them up to the highest peaks, for he hoped to find some
+opening through which he might see into the magic kingdom which the
+mountain mirror had held before his view.
+
+It was, indeed, a wondrous land which stretched far and wide before
+him in fresh and fragrant beauty. It was his native land shining in
+unimagined splendour. Crystal lakes gleamed in the distance, and the
+snow-crowned mountain peaks glowed in the morning sunlight like the
+roses in King Laurin's magic garden. But there was no palace here, no
+lovely maiden among her flowers, and no old and yet nimble dwarfs. But
+there, far away, scarcely visible even to the sharpest eye, a little
+black dot moved along the winding mountain path, and the flashes which
+now and then darted from it over to the rock where Hans was standing
+amid his goats told him that it was the old man with the magic mirror.
+
+"Oh! how I wish it was evening," sighed the boy, looking longingly at
+the sun, which had scarcely run a quarter of its appointed course. At
+last it was evening, and herd-boy and herds hastened homewards. The
+boy did not stay long in the house. With a great piece of bread and
+meat in his hand he climbed the steep ladder to the hay-loft, and
+found to his joy the old man there already, waiting to receive the
+food with humble thanks. Hans lost no time in going to sleep, that the
+longed-for hour of the night journey might come the more quickly; and
+when again a sudden light flashed across his eyes, he opened them in
+delight and rose. But it was not the brilliance of the magic mirror
+that had awakened him, but the beam of the morning sun. He looked
+round in astonishment; he had slept so soundly that he had lost his
+expected journey. It was now clear daylight, and the goats were loudly
+calling their young master to his duty. He gave a hasty glance at his
+companion, who still lay in deep slumber. Whether he had slept thus
+since yesterday evening, or whether he was resting after his nightly
+labours, Hans had no time to ask. Quickly he ran down the ladder into
+the farm-yard, where all was life; then he took his shepherd's bag,
+which hung behind the door, already filled with the daily portion of
+food, and hurried with his impatient flock up towards the mountain.
+
+Again he looked wistfully from his high rocky seat down on the
+blooming meadows, and recognised the little man with the magic mirror
+in the remote distance, and determined to keep his eyes open the whole
+night. But when evening came, and he sought his couch, scarcely had he
+lain down by the side of his aged friend, when deep sleep fell on his
+eyelids, and left them only at the glance of the morning sun. Haste
+and timidity always prevented him from disturbing the old man in his
+sleep, and telling him once more the fervent wishes of his heart; and
+so every morning he bore his unfulfilled desires up with him to the
+mountain. Thus summer passed, and when one morning the first rough
+breath of autumn chilled the boy's brow, there was a rustling behind
+the rock on which he sat, and the old man, who had been his companion
+for so many months, stood before him. The wallet on his shoulder was
+full, and in his hand he held a staff as if he was ready to return to
+his distant home, for so indeed he was.
+
+"I come, my son," said the little man with his old grave kindliness,
+"to thank thee for shelter and food, and to ask thee if thou hast any
+wish which I can gratify."
+
+Hans shouted with joy; but the old man raised his finger gravely--he
+seemed to read into the boy's very soul.
+
+"Neglect not sacred duties for the sake of idle curiosity," said he in
+a tone of warning, and the boy blushed and was silent. Then Hans
+thought of his good mother down in the valley, whose cottage he passed
+every morning and evening, and found the poor woman always at the
+window waiting to whisper a loving word, a motherly blessing to her
+only child. But this morning her eyes had been dim with trouble, and
+when he asked what was wrong she had answered with a sigh--
+
+"Nothing, my good child, that thou canst alter; I am only thinking of
+the approach of winter, and how the cold wind will whistle through my
+battered cottage, and how I have no warm clothing to protect me from
+the cold."
+
+All this flashed like lightning through the boy's mind; tremblingly he
+clasped his hands, and a prayer for help fell from his lips.
+
+"That is right, my son," said the old man kindly, handing the boy a
+little coin. "Despise this not for its mean appearance, and never use
+it foolishly; and when I return next year, let me find thy hand as
+open and thy heart as pure as I have found them now. Farewell."
+
+He nodded kindly to the boy, took the cloak from his shoulder, spread
+it on the rock, and placed himself on it, staff in hand, and with the
+burden on his shoulders. Immediately the mantle rose, and hovered
+before the boy's astonished eyes, bearing the little man up into the
+air. The old man waved farewell from his airy height; then he pointed
+southwards with his staff, and swift as an arrow flew the magic mantle
+towards his far-off home. The boy watched the wonderful journey with
+devoutly folded hands. Like the beat of eagle's wings was the motion
+of the dark garment through the white clouds, and the little man kept
+his balance perfectly, he guiding his flight with the staff in his
+left hand, while the magic mirror in his right gleamed in the beams of
+the morning sun like the diadem of carbuncles on the head of the
+serpent queen. The last flash died away at last, and the boy sat once
+more alone on his rocky seat, dreamily gazing on the gold coin in his
+hand. It had evidently passed through many a hand before, for it
+needed a sharp eye to trace the impression on its surface; on one side
+the lion of San Marco stretched his royal limbs, and with raised head
+kept guard over Venice, the Queen of the Sea, whose foot the Adriatic
+kisses with its caressing waves, wedded to her anew each year by the
+Doge's ring. The other side bore the name of one of the rulers of that
+proud Republic. It was scarcely legible, and it had been long eclipsed
+by a younger glory.
+
+The boy, indeed, had no key to the understanding of the image and
+inscription, but he felt confident the gift out of such a hand must
+bring blessing in spite of its mean appearance, and so he kept the
+coin carefully in his pocket. To-day he started joyfully at the tone
+of the evening bell, said his prayer with more than usual fervour, and
+hastened with winged feet after his thriving flock.
+
+"Just look, dear mother, what I have brought you," he cried joyfully
+through the window of the cottage, showing the old man's gift. "Do not
+despise it," he begged earnestly, as he saw his mother's doubting
+smile; "he told me not to despise it, the kind, powerful man who gave
+it to me. Put it with your savings, and let us see what will happen."
+As he spoke, his eyes shone so brightly with joy and confidence that
+his good mother could not bear to vex him by her doubts; she promised
+to lay the gold piece in the drawer, and bade her boy good night with
+a loving smile.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ten springs had passed over Tyrol's mountains and valleys, and there
+had been many changes in the time. The young trees had grown tall and
+leafy; the children had become men and women. Hans was no longer a
+goat-herd, but a clever senner, as they call the mountain shepherds in
+the Tyrol, and now the farmer's herds had been entrusted to his sole
+care during the rest of their stay on the higher pastures, to which he
+had led them early in spring. The setting sun glowed on the lofty
+glacier before him, and its reflection flowed down to the night
+pasture, and hung like a golden veil over the pine trees, beneath
+whose wide branches the herds had lain down for their nightly rest.
+But Hans stood before his cottage, which he had entered to-day for the
+first time as senner, and gazed joyfully on his new charge.
+
+The valleys were already slumbering in the evening shadows, but the
+peaks of the glacier were aglow with purple, and reminded the young
+man of an image that he had long borne in his soul with secret
+longing; he thought now, as he had not done for months, of the
+rose-garden before the crystal palace, and of the little man who had
+been his yearly companion in the farmer's hay-loft, and who, every
+autumn, had climbed the mountain side to say farewell to him, and then
+with his wallet full of gold had returned on his magic mantle to his
+distant home. He had never asked the old man for a glance into the
+mountain mirror since he had received that grave warning about idle
+curiosity, and these memories of King Laurin's realm had gradually
+faded. But his reverence for the strange old man had remained
+unchanged, and every day he had shared his supper with him out of
+gratitude for the parting gift which Hans had long ago taken home to
+his mother. He had not hoped or promised too much. With the little
+man's dim old coin blessing had come into the hut of poverty, and the
+money in the drawer had never grown less. There was always some left,
+even when they erected on the site of the tumble-down cottage a firmly
+built and comfortable house, and though after that they bought many a
+much needed piece of furniture and warm clothing for the winter. There
+was no need now to creep in secretly at even to receive the gifts of
+the kind-hearted farmer's wife without her miserly husband's
+knowledge. They were able first to keep one cow, and then two, and
+then--Hans looked joyfully round on the slumbering herds--four fine
+cows now rested there, his mother's property, which he had been
+allowed to lead up to the mountain pastures to graze with his master's
+cattle. The churlish farmer, indeed, had never granted him this
+favour, but his unkindly eyes had closed for the last sleep the autumn
+before, and the eyes which now shone in the farm-house were so mild
+and lovely that it was a pleasure to obey their glance. What were
+these eyes like? Hans tried to remember as he gazed at the glacier,
+whose purple had changed to a pale rosy hue. Yes, yes, now he knows.
+The eyes of Anneli, whom he had loved from childhood as his own dear
+little sister, were just like the eyes of that fair maiden who used to
+walk in the rose-garden by the dwarf king's side, and this brought him
+back to the beginning of his reverie.
+
+And now he began to wonder if the little man, if he returned, would
+rest at night in the farmer's hay-loft, or, according to his old
+custom, climb up the mountain to seek him here. Then he heard, not far
+off, something like the sigh of a weary wanderer. The youth's sharp
+ear was directed attentively towards the path which led from the
+village to the senner's cottage, and which was now veiled in the
+double shadow of the trees and of the falling night. Yes, it was
+coming from that direction, and immediately Hans was ready to offer
+help. He took his lantern in his hand, seized his alpenstock, and ran
+down the path between the rocks and the dew-covered bushes. He had not
+far to seek, for there, on a stone by the wayside, sat a dwarf in a
+dark and shabby garment, and a well-remembered wallet hung from his
+bent shoulders. The young man cast a hasty glance at the figure, and
+then shouted aloud with delight. It was the old man of whom he had
+just been thinking, and it was with grateful emotion that he found
+that his old friend had not forgotten him, but that, in spite of the
+darkness and his increasing infirmities, he had toiled up the path to
+the mountains.
+
+"Good evening, sir," said he joyfully, bending as reverently to kiss
+the dwarf's withered hand as if he had been a lord of the land. "You
+must be tired; take my arm, and let me carry your sack; that's the
+way. And now, courage for a hundred steps or so, and we are at the end
+of our journey." And with such care and reverence as are shown rather
+to great princes than to such a poor little dwarf, Hans led the old
+man over the last difficulties of the mountain path, and over the
+threshold of his hut. Then he hastened to take the covering off his
+couch of moss and spread it over the wooden bench before the hearth,
+that the old man might rest his tired limbs on a softer seat. Next he
+kindled a fire, and made a fritter which the senner who had preceded
+him had taught him how to make. He had no drink to offer but good,
+sweet, new milk; but Anneli's hand had provided richly for the wants
+of the new senner, and the little wooden cupboard in the corner was
+stocked with good things from the farm-house. The young man searched
+in it joyfully for something dainty for his guest, and felt proud and
+happy in his unwonted work. A white cloth was spread over the coarse
+oaken table, and on it was placed the delicate fritter, with a plate
+of eggs and bacon sending forth fragrance by its side. Proudly the
+young man brought his guest to the well-set table, and both enjoyed
+its good things in silent comfort. Then Hans led the old man, tenderly
+as a child his beloved father, to his own couch of moss, and when the
+little dwarf sank on it with a look of love and gratitude, the young
+man spread the covering over him as he used to spread his jacket years
+ago in the hay-loft. Then he sat down before the fire that the
+flickering flame might not disturb the old man, and when at last his
+deep breathing told that he was asleep, the youth rose and went out
+into the open air. The moss-couch in the senner's cottage was not
+broad, and Hans must not spoil the old man's comfort, so he went to
+the night pasture, where the herds lay sleeping, and sank to rest in
+the soft moss beneath the aged pines. They let their evergreen
+branches fall over him protectingly, and the long moss that hung from
+them served as covering to the youthful sleeper, while the glacier
+torrents in the distant ravines sang his lullaby.
+
+The days passed by in keener enjoyment than even his boyish dreams had
+pictured. The hours were bright with happy sunshine, in spite of the
+double burden of work which he, contrary to the custom of his
+predecessors, had undertaken in the consciousness of his own powers
+and fidelity. And when the day had flown by with its quick succession
+of pleasure and toil, the evening hour would come when the beloved
+guest sat at the fire and at the oaken table, and sometimes the
+hitherto so silent lips would let fall words of grave wisdom.
+
+Then came the hour of rest, calling the old man to the moss-bed under
+the senner's roof; but Hans slipped out when the fire was dead to the
+shelter of the old pine trees, and slept in their protection, lulled
+to slumber by the song of the glacier stream.
+
+One warm spring evening, when the jagged ice-crown of the glacier
+gleamed with a bluish light beneath the full moon's beams, he did not
+turn towards his soft couch beneath the trees, but hastened to the
+grove of pines which rose above him on a steep wall of rock. With a
+sharp axe on his shoulder, gleaming brightly in the moonlight, he
+stepped along the well-known path across the green meadows to the dark
+ravine which separated him from the wood on the rocky height. Was the
+dream of his childhood now really fulfilled--was he going to look
+through the magic mirror into the heart of the mountains? Oh no. The
+spirit world had lost its power over his soul. His thoughts and
+desires belonged now more than ever to real life.
+
+A few days ago Anneli had come up with her mother to the senner's
+cottage to see about the produce of the mountain farm, as the farmers
+are in the habit of doing when the herds have been some time on the
+high pastures; and while the mother inspected the dairy, tried the
+cheese, and tasted the balls of butter, Anneli stood outside with Hans
+and the grazing herds, and chatted with him pleasantly as in days gone
+by.
+
+"And do you remember, good Hans, what day to-morrow is?" she asked
+with an arch look in her eyes, when Hans, after thinking in vain,
+shook his head.
+
+"Do you not know?" she said, laughing. "Why, Hans, to-morrow is the
+first of May, and I am curious to know if I shall have a May-pole
+raised for me."
+
+"You, Anneli!" cried Hans, looking in astonishment on her beautiful
+face--"you will have many a tree; they call you already 'the pearl of
+the valley,' and the rich farmers' sons will fight for the honour," he
+added in a low sorrowful tone.
+
+This tone thrilled Anneli's heart; she leant towards him with innocent
+confidence, and said with emotion--"Let them, Hans; but you know that
+I shall take pleasure in no May-pole but _one_."
+
+It was these words which were driving Hans now in the silence of night
+through the dangerous ravine and the foaming torrent, and up the steep
+precipice to the pine wood. Here he felled the chosen tree skilfully,
+tore the bark from the smooth stem, and bore the trunk carefully on
+his shoulder through shrubs and narrow mountain ways down into the
+valley. His path was dark and difficult, and jutting rocks often
+hemmed his footsteps; but his love for Anneli kept him from feeling
+weary, and the thought of her joy always gave him new strength. Thus,
+after hours of toil, he arrived at last in the village, and stood
+before Anneli's door. Then he took a packet carefully out of his
+shepherd's bag, and with the prettiest ribbons which his mother had
+been able to find in the nearest town he adorned the tree; and that
+Anneli's heart might make no mistake, he tied at the top a bunch of
+alproses, such as he used to bring every evening when he was the
+goat-herd and she a lovely little child. Then he planted the pole
+firmly in the ground right before Anneli's window, and with a glance
+at the bright ribbons fluttering gaily in the wind like the streamers
+from a ship, he turned joyfully towards the mountain and his
+slumbering herds.
+
+It was evening, and the farewell sunbeams shed their gold on the
+mountain meadows and the senner's dark flowing hair, as he went with
+pail and stool to milk the herds just returning from the pasture. Well
+he loved the mountain, the herds, and the evenings full of sunset
+splendour and of peace. But to-day he had no eye for the glory around
+him; he thought of the valley and of Anneli, who was to join to-day
+for the first time in the village dance, and who would be led by some
+richer hand. Hitherto, he had thought himself passing rich; to-day,
+for the first time, he sighed over his poverty. He sat down beside his
+favourite, Brownie, and began to milk; but in the middle of his work
+his hands dropped on his lap, and he began to wonder who besides
+himself had set up trees for Anneli, and whether she had known his
+among them all. Surely she must have. The bunch of alproses at the top
+would tell her, and he smiled to himself, and began again to milk.
+
+Then a well-known voice called to him from the cottage, "Hallo, Hans!
+where are you hiding? I have been searching the whole place for you."
+
+Hans shouted back an answer, and there appeared above the hedge the
+face of Seppi, the only one of the farm-servants who did not grudge
+Hans his place in Anneli's favour, and who had always remained his
+firm and faithful friend.
+
+"Well, Seppi, what good news do you bring?" asked Hans, with a feeling
+of presentiment. "What brings you so late to the mountain?"
+
+"It is Anneli, self-willed girl," answered Seppi, laughing. "She will
+not go to the dance without you. Quick, quick, put on your best
+clothes. The fiddlers are ready, and the maidens waiting to be
+fetched. I will stay here in your place to-night." Hans darted up like
+an arrow and flew into the cottage, while Seppi took his seat beside
+the cows, and went on with the unfinished work.
+
+In a few minutes Hans appeared in holiday clothes, and in his hat a
+garland and a ribbon like those on Anneli's May-pole. "Now, Seppi,
+take good care of the cattle," said he, coming back to the hedge. "You
+have known the beasts for years--ever since you were here for a while
+as under-senner. Good-bye." And he hurried off.
+
+But suddenly he remembered the little man, and that he had not told
+Seppi about the expected guest. Notwithstanding his eagerness about
+Anneli and the evening's merry-making, he ran back and commended the
+dwarf to the care of his astonished friend. But now nothing kept him
+back. Swift as the chamois before the hunter he flew down the steep
+path, and reached the gate of the farm just as the festal procession
+was moving along the village street to escort the "pearl of the
+valley" to the dance.
+
+She was waiting for him at the gate, and watching impatiently for his
+coming. "I am so glad you are here at last," she said, stretching out
+both her hands towards him. "You shall be my partner; I have chosen
+you out of all the lads who have set up May-poles for me. Just look
+how yours looks down on the other contemptible little things. Seppi,
+the good fellow, went up to bring me the bunch of alproses and the
+ribbon, that I might wear them for your sake."
+
+She pointed smilingly to her fair head, which was gay with a sky-blue
+ribbon, and to the bouquet at her breast. Hans looked at her in a
+rapture of delight, and grasped her dear hand more firmly, for the
+procession had now reached the farm-house, and the youths who had set
+up May-poles in Anneli's honour came out from the rest and stood
+before her, that she might choose one as her partner in the dance. But
+great were the astonishment and envy of them all when they saw that
+the former goat-herd had been preferred to them, and although they had
+to consent to this arrangement, yet poor Hans owned from this moment
+a number more of bitter foes. But he neither thought of this nor
+feared it; he led the "pearl" which had fallen to his lot out through
+the gate, and his face shone with happy excitement as he joined the
+procession, and led his fair partner to the linden-trees where the
+dance was to be.
+
+[Illustration: ANNELI SEES THE MAY-POLE ERECTED BY HANS.]
+
+Hans had always counted himself a happy fellow, but as he now led the
+lovely Anneli in the merry dance beneath the green linden-trees, it
+seemed as if he had never known before what happiness meant, and his
+whole past life he counted now as nothing. But this life offers no
+lasting happiness, and the purer it is the shorter is its reign.
+Anneli looked up at him with unconscious tenderness, and whispered
+that she would not dance that night with any one but him. The maiden's
+softly spoken words reached the ear of Nazerl, the son of a rich
+neighbour; and anger and envy blazed forth in his soul.
+
+"Anneli, you must dance once with me," he said, stepping up to her;
+but his petition sounded more like an imperious command.
+
+"You know, Nazerl," answered the girl, "that Hans is my partner; you
+must ask his consent." Now Hans was just bringing a glass to offer
+Anneli some refreshment.
+
+"Listen, goat-boy," said the rich farmer's son haughtily to the poor
+senner, "I will let you know that I mean to dance now with Anneli."
+And he seized her hand.
+
+Hans was of a peaceable disposition, and his new happiness had not
+made him proud, but this taunt was too much for him.
+
+"Let go her hand, Nazerl," he said quietly, though his voice trembled.
+"She may not dance with you."
+
+"May she not, indeed, you beggar?" cried Nazerl; "then take this," and
+he struck Hans in the face with clenched fist.
+
+Anneli screamed, and poor Hans lost all control over himself; without
+thinking, he hurled the glass in his tormentor's face, and with a loud
+groan Nazerl fell pale and bloody to the ground. Again a cry of terror
+escaped Anneli's lips, but it was not for the sake of the fallen
+Nazerl, but for Hans, whose thoughtless deed must bring him into
+trouble.
+
+The music ceased, and all hastened to the motionless form that lay
+stretched on the grass to offer help, while Hans stood by in
+speechless astonishment at his own mad act.
+
+Then he felt his hand seized, and Anneli's gentle voice whispered in
+his ear, "Flee, oh flee, dear Hans, at once, for a minute's delay may
+make flight hopeless."
+
+But when Hans still hesitated, she caught his arm and, unnoticed by
+the others, drew him away till they stood at some distance from the
+lindens, and were hidden from their companions by the trees. Hans
+still looked stunned and paralysed.
+
+"Hans," she said more earnestly than before, laying her little hand
+upon his arm--"Hans, listen to me and follow me. Flee as quickly as
+you can, for all, all are against you, because I chose you in
+preference to them. Flee, and hide yourself somewhere till the noise
+of this is over and Nazerl is recovered."
+
+"Ah, Anneli," answered Hans shuddering, "he is dead! Did you not see
+how pale and motionless he lay?"
+
+"Then there is all the more need for you to flee," said the maiden
+decidedly; "listen, they are coming; go, go," she urged anxiously.
+
+"Farewell, Anneli. Do not be angry with me, and never forget poor
+Hans," and he looked down at her with sorrowful eyes.
+
+"Never, never, Hans," she said in a firm voice, for the experience of
+the last few minutes had ripened her self-knowledge and her will. "But
+you will come back some day, guiltless and happy; I know you will. But
+now go. They are coming to look for you."
+
+He stooped, and, overcome with the sorrow of the moment, pressed a
+kiss on her sweet lips.
+
+"Farewell, farewell, my Anneli," he whispered once more, and then he
+turned and fled like a hunted chamois. It was dark on the path along
+which he hastened, but darker in his soul. The short-lived happiness
+to which he had so joyfully opened his heart was gone, perhaps never
+to return; even the thought of Anneli's love, which she had so frankly
+revealed to him, could not scatter the dark shadows.
+
+If Nazerl was dead, then he was a murderer, and must remain so all his
+life, no matter what might be his punishment and his repentance. He
+shuddered, and hastened trembling up the very path which his joyful
+footsteps had pressed a few hours before, when his heart was full of
+vague but sweetest hopes.
+
+How all, all had changed in so short a time!
+
+The moon, which before had beamed almost with the golden light of day,
+seemed now as pale as Nazerl's face; the night wind moaned through the
+trees like the sighs of a dying man, and the harp-like music of the
+glacier stream sounded like avenging thunder. Hans flew onwards,
+despair in his heart, great drops of anguish on the brow so lately
+crowned with calm content. There lay the night pasture. The moonbeams
+fell across it, and showed him the slumbering animals. He pressed his
+lips closer at the thought that he must say farewell to the herd that
+had grown so dear to him.
+
+Soon he stood at the senner's cottage. He looked through the window.
+All was peaceful as usual. The bed was still unoccupied, and the old
+man was not at the table; but Seppi was merrily turning the fritters
+and whistling a cheerful tune.
+
+"Seppi, Seppi!" cried poor Hans outside, as he knocked with trembling
+finger against the panes.
+
+Seppi turned his head in surprise, and when he saw Hans standing out
+in the moonlight, he came to the window and drew back the bolt.
+
+"What's the matter, Hans? Is anything wrong?" he said hastily.
+
+"Alas! yes," sighed Hans, and he told his friend in hurried words the
+misfortune that had befallen him.
+
+"The impudent fellow," cried Seppi angrily. "You may be sure your
+reminder will not do him any harm; and as for his being dead, you
+know, Hans, 'weeds wont die.' So don't be vexing yourself beyond
+measure. And are you going away? Where will you go?"
+
+"I do not know, Seppi," answered Hans sadly--"as far as my feet will
+carry me; away from my beloved country, perhaps for ever;" and he
+wiped a tear from his cheek. "But you must do me one kindness, that I
+may go content. As soon as you can get down to the valley, go to my
+good old mother, and tell her not to grieve too much. Tell her that I
+will try to do right, though I must leave the mountains of the Tyrol;
+and beg Anneli never, never to forget me. And one thing more, Seppi.
+Take good care of the little man, and let him want for nothing.
+Promise me this."
+
+Seppi nodded, and his good, honest face had a cheery smile on it as he
+gave his hand to his friend, who hurried away on his restless
+wandering. He gave a hasty glance at the night pastures, which he now
+reached; the long mossy veil of the old pine-trees, beneath which he
+had so often slept, fluttered in the wind like mourning banners. His
+favourite brown cow raised her head slowly, and the bell round her
+neck sounded like a sad farewell. Hot tears flowed from his eyes, but
+he had no time for long leave-taking, he must hurry on. Yonder rose
+the rugged brow of the glacier, with its furrows lighted by the weird
+moonbeams. He passed it by winding paths through the gloom of the
+fir-trees, now climbing steep ascents, now descending into a ravine
+with its foaming torrent--paths known to no eye and foot save those of
+the boldest mountaineer.
+
+At last he stood on the lofty ridge from which the road led downwards
+into an unknown valley and unfamiliar fields. He threw a last glance
+back towards his own loved mountain, then he hastened without further
+delay on his sorrowful journey.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The golden sunlight of evening lay once more on mountain and valley,
+and floated on the waves of the lovely river Inn, which flowed as
+peacefully as if it had never tried to foam and rage like its brothers
+in the mountains. A youth was descending the mountain with tottering
+footsteps. It was the last of the hills that had lain between him and
+the great and populous town that stood in the valley below. His blue
+eyes looked dim and sunken, his long hair hung tangled round his head,
+and his once respectable clothing bore traces of hasty and toilsome
+journeying.
+
+The son of the quiet mountains looked down in amazement at the bustle
+in the town below, and a deep sigh escaped his lips. But he collected
+himself, and descended the last declivity to the bank of the stream,
+across which a bridge led to the town. At one end of this bridge stood
+a watch-house, for it was a needful thing in those unsettled times to
+keep a sharp look-out on friend and foe. Two soldiers sat at the oaken
+table before the door. The young man went up to the building, and
+stood timidly a few steps from the men. At last the elder of the two
+raised his head.
+
+"Look, Franzerl," said he, after a hasty glance at the young wanderer;
+"there comes a lad from your mountains, but he does not look so
+cheerful as you did when you came."
+
+Franzerl looked up, but scarcely had he met the wanderer's eye than he
+sprang up and with a cry of joy caught his arm.
+
+"Hans, dear Hans, where have you come from?" he cried. "Do not you
+remember me? Do you not know Franzerl, with whom you and Anneli used
+so often to play, and with whom you so often shared your bread and
+cheese, when my poor mother had nothing to give to her hungry little
+Franzerl?"
+
+Hans--for it was he--looked with joyful surprise at the cheerful
+young face, and recognised at once his old playfellow, who years ago
+had left his native valley to push his fortune in the great world, and
+whose friends had long believed him to be dead. He had become a
+soldier; but in spite of his stern employment his heart had remained
+as warm and true as ever. He drew his old friend to the table where
+the other man sat, and offered him some of the fiery drink in the
+glass before him.
+
+"Drink, my good fellow," he said pressingly, "drink--you seem to be in
+need of refreshment--and then tell me what brings you hither."
+
+The rough kindness touched the poor wanderer's heart, and acted like
+magic on his weary spirit. It was the first familiar face that he had
+seen for many days--the first pleasant reminder of days gone by, and
+he found it sweet to open his heart to this friend of his childhood,
+and tell him of the folly that had driven him from home, and how he
+had wandered since from mountain to mountain begging a bite of bread
+and a drink of milk from kind-hearted herdsmen; for he had not
+ventured to go down to the villages, where the news of what had
+happened might have arrived before him. "And now," he said, "I am
+going away--away to some far-off country, where they know nothing of
+Nazerl or of Hans, or even of the beautiful land of the Tyrol."
+
+"You are very foolish," laughed Franzerl. "Are you quite sure that
+Nazerl is dead? He had always a thick skull, as I know full well.
+Don't be a fool, but stay here and become a brave soldier like us.
+Believe me, it is a merry life, and it is possible to be a good man
+even under this coat."
+
+Hans hesitated a moment; he had never thought of this, but Franzerl
+overwhelmed him with persuasive eloquence.
+
+"Look here, Hans; to-morrow or next day we are going to Italy, a
+country that, they say, is even more lovely than our own. Ours is a
+cheerful life, and when you come back in two or three years grass will
+have grown over the whole affair, and they will not dare to say a word
+to you after you have worn the Emperor's uniform."
+
+"But Anneli?" sighed Hans.
+
+"You cannot see Anneli for a time at any rate, and if she is really
+worthy of you, she will be true to you."
+
+Yes, Franzerl was right, Hans saw that; so he agreed to his proposal,
+and went with his friend to the recruiting sergeant, who was glad to
+receive the fine fellow into his ranks.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was autumn. The morning wind swept over the Adriatic, rippling its
+deep blue waves, and played with the dark hair of a youth who leant in
+deep reverie against the archway of the Piazza di San Marco, gazing
+dreamily at the flow of the Grand Canal, which, after cutting Venice
+with its great curve, mingles its waters with the waves of the
+Adriatic.
+
+It was Hans. The mountains and valleys of his native land lay far
+away. It was long since he had left the last mountain-pass of the
+Tyrol far behind, but he could not leave his love for home there at
+the boundary--it filled him with secret longings in this beautiful,
+but foreign land. What good did all the splendour of this strange
+country do him--all the lofty palaces and art-trophies of the queenly
+city--all the sweet melody of this unknown tongue? Could one of those
+musical sounds be compared with Anneli's voice when she said, "I am so
+glad you have come, dear Hans"? Could one of these marble towers
+attempt to rival the jagged glacier peaks when they shone with the
+purple of the evening sky? And when the horn sounded at sunset through
+the mountains, echoed a hundred-fold from clefts and deep ravines, and
+dying softly amid the shades of the valley, who would compare with
+that the tones of the music which day and night hovered on the waters
+through the streets of Venice?
+
+Hans raised his tearful eyes: the sky, at least, must be the same
+which spans the valleys of the Tyrol. Then he noticed a figure on a
+slender pillar--a figure which he must have seen long years before. A
+brazen lion with a proudly flowing mane raised its kingly head, as if
+keeping watch over the city below, and over the sea that kissed its
+feet. The young man dashed the rising tear from his eye, and looked
+thoughtfully up at the kingly beast. Yes, indeed, that was the same
+lion which was marked on the coin that the little man gave him long
+ago, and which in the secret drawer had kept watch and guard over his
+mother's treasure. A smile passed like a sunbeam over his troubled
+face as he thought of that sunny autumn morning when the old man said
+good-bye to him, and when he watched him from the rock as he sailed
+through the air on his magic mantle.
+
+"Oh! I wish I had such a ship," he said with a sigh. Then, in the
+familiar accents of his native tongue, the words sounded in his ear,
+"Good morning, Hans."
+
+Hans started--there was no one near. Had a dream mocked him? But no,
+there it was again--"Look up, Hans, up here." And Hans looked up.
+
+Above him, out of the high bow-window of one of those proud palaces,
+leant a familiar head with snowy locks and dark earnest eyes that
+smiled kindly down on poor Hans.
+
+He uttered a cry of joy, his first since he came to this foreign land,
+and quick as an arrow he darted into the archway, and entered the
+portal of the palace. His foot flew over marble steps and velvet
+carpets; but he had no eye for that. On he went, up to where, leaning
+over the golden banister of the landing-place, a noble and
+well-remembered face awaited him. Full of emotion, he stood before the
+old man, who gave him his hand in loving greeting. No longer a shabby
+coat, but a garment of black velvet covered his form, and his withered
+but wonder-working hand gleamed with costly diamonds. But the youth's
+affection broke the barriers of this marvellous change, and tenderly,
+as on that spring evening on the mountain when he had brought the old
+man into his cottage, he pressed his lips against the kind hand, and
+said from the fulness of his heart, "God bless you, sir. I bless Him
+for letting me find you here in this foreign land."
+
+[Illustration: HANS RECEIVES A HEARTY WELCOME FROM AN OLD FRIEND.]
+
+"Not a foreign land, Hans; I am in my own country," answered the noble
+Venetian, as he led the young man through the splendid halls, whose
+stately walls were adorned with the masterpieces of those immortal
+artists who called Italy their home. Then they sat down together in
+the wide bow-window, and Hans looked joyfully into the old man's
+venerable countenance.
+
+"So you did not forget the poor herdsman in your splendid home?" said
+he.
+
+"Forget thee, Hans!" replied the noble Venetian--"forget thee, who
+didst think of me in the midst of love and pleasure, and even in thy
+flight, when thy heart was filled with deadly anguish! No, indeed. I
+long to reward those years of faithful love, and perhaps the
+opportunity has come at last."
+
+"Oh, sir," cried Hans with shining eyes, "will you tell me how things
+go at home, where you have been more lately than I? Tell me if Nazerl
+recovered, if my mother has ceased to grieve about me, and if Anneli
+still remembers me."
+
+"Nazerl is dead--but through no fault of thine," said the old man
+soothingly, for Hans had looked terror-stricken at his opening words.
+"He soon recovered from the trifling wound caused by thy hand; but his
+own foolhardiness drove him up to the highest points of rock after a
+chamois, and a rash step hurled him into the ravine. It was not till
+long afterwards that they found his mangled corpse. As for thy mother
+and Anneli, thou mayest see for thyself."
+
+So saying he rose, stepped up to a richly carved cabinet, and took
+from a secret compartment a flashing jewel. The young man recognised
+it well; it was the wondrous mountain mirror; and now he held it once
+more in his hand, and looked searchingly on its shining surface. Light
+mists rolled over it; they grew gradually thinner and thinner, till at
+last there lay before him in the splendour of the morning sunlight his
+own beloved valley, and the substantial farm-house, Anneli's home. He
+gave no heed to the cheerful stir in barn and stable, nor to the busy
+preparation for the returning herds. No, his eye pressed through the
+clear window-panes to a well-remembered room. It was quiet and cosy,
+as in days gone by. At the window sat Anneli, fair and lovable as
+ever, but her countenance bore traces of gentle melancholy. The
+snow-white thread rested in her hands, and her lips moved in earnest
+talk with the two women at the other window--the farmer's widow and
+the old mother that Hans was longing to comfort. It seemed to Hans
+that the conversation concerned him, and as if now and then his name
+fell from Anneli's rosy lips. And every time she raised her eyes
+towards the opposite wall, Hans followed the direction of her gaze,
+and saw, carefully preserved by glass and frame, a well-remembered
+blue ribbon and bunch of withered mountain flowers. At this sign of
+faithful memory tears started to the young man's eyes, and when he had
+dried them, and looked again on the magic mirror, the dear vision had
+vanished, and the glass flashed once more in the light of the Italian
+sun.
+
+"Listen, my son; I will tell thee the wish that my heart cherishes for
+thee," said the old man, as he laid the magic mirror carefully back in
+the cabinet. "I am alone and lonely, the last representative of a name
+of ancient renown. When I was young and strong, I was filled with a
+desire after secret knowledge. I sought the gold of the mountains far
+and near--thou knowest this well--heaping treasures on treasures, and
+all the while I never noticed that I was growing old, and was still
+alone in life. Stay now with me. I will enrich thy mind with the
+treasures of my knowledge, and thy heart shall remain pure. Thou shalt
+be my son, the heir of my wealth; and thy name shall be inscribed
+among the noblest names in the golden book of Venice."
+
+The young man clasped his hands, and leant towards his aged friend.
+"Forgive me, noble sir," he begged humbly, "if I cannot gratify your
+wishes; but what can riches and honour do for a heart that is pining
+with longings after home? The scene which I have just witnessed--the
+vision of Anneli and my home--has shown me where alone my happiness
+must be sought. But if you wish to grant me a favour, then loose the
+fetters that bind me here, and let me go as quickly as possible back
+to my loved mountains."
+
+The old man sat a moment in silent thought. "I would fain have kept
+thee with me," he said at last, "for thy heart is true and pure; but
+my wishes must yield to thy happiness."
+
+So saying, he rose and once more opened the cupboard which hid his
+magic hoards. From its most secret recess he brought a dark object,
+and when he unrolled it, it proved to be the magic mantle, the
+air-ship of which Hans had thought so longingly a short time before.
+The old man spread it on the balcony, embraced the astonished youth
+with the tenderness of a father, and led him towards the mantle.
+
+"Now stand on it," he said; "take this staff to guide thy flight; and
+think of me with love."
+
+Hans obeyed as in a dream. The old Venetian waved his hand, and the
+mantle rose and bore the young man up into the air.
+
+Not till his eyes met the full light of the open air, and the fresh
+wind played with the folds of the mantle, did Hans awake to the
+reality of his situation. He looked sorrowfully back at his noble
+friend, who still stood in the bow-window looking after him, with a
+smile on his aged features, and waving a farewell with his withered
+hand. Hans stretched out his arms towards him, and cried in a voice of
+deep emotion, "Farewell, farewell, noble sir," and the mantle bore him
+onwards with the swiftness of the storm-wind.
+
+For a moment the Queen of the Sea gleamed far below, in the splendour
+of her towers and palaces; the sunlight flashed from the high windows
+of her churches, and the black gondolas glided noiselessly over the
+winding canals. But soon this scene grew faint in the distance, and
+nothing was left of it all but the sea stretching in a blue line along
+the horizon. Hans turned his face homewards, and directed his course
+towards the north. Swift as an arrow he flew onwards; the air rustled
+around him like the sound of eagles' wings; in the dim distance lay
+the mountain peaks of his native land, but they began to shine out
+more and more clearly from the blue mists. Soon he was floating above
+that rocky pass which long months before he had trodden with deadly
+sorrow in his heart; and now he breathes the air of his native land.
+
+With beaming eyes he looked down over the side of the magic eagle
+whose dark pinions were bearing him onwards to his home. Far below
+him lay the mountains with the grazing herds; from his cloudy height
+they seemed no larger than the lady-birds with which he used to play
+when a boy, and the senners' cottages like the round pebbles in the
+village brook. He almost felt as if he could touch the glacier peaks
+with his hand, so near did they seem in the splendour of the midday
+sun. He looked down into their icy clefts, and saw the glacier torrent
+rolling far below in milk-white waves; but the magic boat sped further
+and further, still bearing Hans swiftly onwards to his home.
+
+The young man now began to view the country more carefully, and soon
+he directed his course westwards. Then he uttered a cry of joy, for
+they were sailing towards a well-known mountain, and the mantle, as if
+it knew exactly its appointed task, sank gently downwards, till Hans
+found himself on a projecting rock. It was the same spot from which he
+had often, when a goat-herd, looked down longingly on the smiling
+meadows, searching for the entrance to the dwarf king's magic
+realm--the same spot where the old man bade him farewell that autumn
+morning long ago, before taking his airy journey to his distant home.
+Hans sprang joyously from his magic boat, laid the staff on it with
+whispered words of thanks, and immediately the mantle rose, and flew
+swift as an arrow up into the clouds. Hans stood watching it for a few
+moments, then he hurried down the old familiar path. A little below
+herds were grazing--his herds--and Seppi was leaning against a rock
+watching them, and singing the while in his own cheery way. Hans
+glanced joyfully at the distant scene, and hurried on. There was the
+night pasture, and now he arrived at the senner's cottage; he did not
+wait, however, even to peep in at the window, so eager was he to reach
+the village. With flying footsteps he hurried down the rocky path
+which he had climbed a few months before with deadly anguish in his
+heart.
+
+But to-day--to-day all was changed. With joy throbbing in every
+pulse-beat Hans felt the stony path softer than the grass of the
+pasture-lands, and the sound of the stream seemed sweeter than the
+melody of harps. At last he reached the valley, and just as he entered
+it the evening bell began to ring. At the sound he stopped, bared his
+head, and knelt by the wayside; but when the last tone died away he
+rose and hastened up the village street, then with a bound he crossed
+the brook and reached the farm-yard gate. There was no one to be seen,
+for the servants were at supper in the house. Quickly, but
+noiselessly, Hans slipped through the yard, and stood with beating
+heart at the door of the sitting-room. There was no sound of life
+within. Hans put his ear to the key-hole and listened. Then he heard
+Anneli's sweet voice saying, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and
+bless Thy gifts. Amen." And when the Amen was said, Hans opened the
+door and stepped over the threshold.
+
+"Have you any of God's gifts to spare for a poor wanderer?" he said
+softly.
+
+"Hans, dear Hans!" was Anneli's glad cry, for in spite of the twilight
+and his unfamiliar dress she recognised him at a glance, and soon she
+lay weeping with joy in the tall soldier's arms.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Next May-day a stately May-pole stood, as before, at Anneli's window,
+richly adorned with fluttering blue ribbons and with the bunch of
+alproses at the top, and Anneli once more walked on the arm of her
+Hans to the dance beneath the lindens. But this time the rich farmers'
+sons could not say a word of protest, for Anneli was now a fair and
+happy bride.
+
+Meantime, the brave Franzerl had tired of the merry soldier's life,
+for it had grown dull to him since the return home of his dear friend
+Hans. So he had laid aside the Emperor's uniform, and come back to his
+native valley.
+
+
+
+
+RHINE GOLD: A Tale of the Nibelungen
+
+[Illustration: HACO THROWS THE TREASURE OF THE NIBELUNGEN INTO THE
+RHINE.]
+
+
+Evening's dim shadows had ceased to hover in vague mystery around the
+walls of Worms. They had, hours before, gathered in dark masses in
+every nook of the royal city, hiding like traitors from the light of
+the clear full moon that flooded with silvery splendour the Rhine
+river and the Wonnegau on its banks, where, transformed by the soft
+touch of the moonbeams, stood the proud seat of Burgundy's mighty
+kings.
+
+Slumber and silence reigned in the palace which, but the morning
+before, had resounded with the clash of weapons and a cheerful
+bustling life; for King Gunther, accompanied by his brothers and his
+bravest men-at-arms, had that day set out on a warlike expedition,
+leaving the town and the castle and his fair queen Brunhild to the
+care of the truest of the true, bold Haco, in whose courage and wisdom
+he placed the fullest confidence.
+
+With a loose velvet mantle half hiding his gold-gleaming armour, Haco
+paced the streets of the lonely city, and listened attentively for
+some sound to break the stillness of the night. A distant noise like
+the rumbling of many wheels reached his ear, and an eager look came
+into his eyes. He glanced over at the palace, in the safest room of
+which lay Brunhild, his honoured queen. Out of love to her he had
+murderously slain the noble Siegfried, the immortal hero of the
+Nibelungen; and the shame of the deed will last to the remotest ages,
+dimming with rust the splendid escutcheon of his fame.
+
+When he had convinced himself of the undisturbed repose of the royal
+household, he turned and walked towards the minster, in whose shadow
+lay another palace. There dwelt the beautiful Kriemhild, King
+Gunther's sister, and widow of the noble Siegfried, whose death she
+mourned with inconsolable grief. The stillness of repose hovered also
+round these walls. The windows were dark, the doors barred, and amidst
+her maids lay the royal widow in her first deep sleep.
+
+The moonbeams glided over the roof of the palace, and glanced
+suspiciously at the dark figure of the man who stood gazing anxiously
+up at the windows. When he saw that there was no movement, he went
+towards the tower built of huge blocks which guarded the entrance to
+the castle, took a bunch of rusty keys from under his mantle, and
+opened the locks and bolts of the ironbound door which led into the
+vaults. The last bolt was loosed, the heavy gate opened, and the
+moonlight streamed in freely over the treasures which were here
+displayed in splendid piles. Crowns of gold richly adorned with
+diamonds, bracelets and chains gleaming with jewels, lay there in rich
+profusion. Wrought by the skilful hands of the dwarfs, they had been
+kept hid by the little folk in secret mountain recesses until
+Siegfried came, and Alberich, the dwarf-king, had been obliged,
+notwithstanding his magic power and cunning, to yield to the might of
+the hero's arm, and give him the precious hoards of jewels. And beside
+these, heaped up to the very roof, were bars upon bars of uncoined
+gold, only waiting the impress of the mint to change them into an
+exhaustless hoard. This was the treasure of the Nibelungen, the widow
+Kriemhild's rightful possession, which the heroes had brought her a
+few weeks before from the land of the Nibelungen. With full hands she
+had scattered gold among these heroes, and had also given rich gifts
+to the vassals of her brother, the king of Burgundy, for she had now
+come to live in his land that she might be near the corpse of her
+beloved husband. And what Kriemhild's beauty and misfortune had failed
+to do, her bounteous gifts accomplished. The hearts of the Burgundians
+were turned towards her, so that Haco, the watchful hero, began to be
+anxious about his own influence and her probable revenge. So he
+determined to rob her of the Nibelungen treasure, that she might be
+deprived of the means of working his ruin.
+
+At a place not far from the royal city, where the Rhine flows in a
+still deeper channel, stood Haco a few hours later in a boat on the
+river, and watched the high-piled waggons, the first of which now
+passed over the shaking bridge, rolled on with threatening rumble, and
+stopped close to the low parapet. Haco stretched forth his stalwart
+arm and removed the back of the waggon, so that its precious burden
+slid into the depths below.
+
+The stream gleamed brightly in the radiance of gold and precious
+stones, the jewels whirled round and round in the rapid waters, then
+sank down flashing from wave to wave, till they had reached the still,
+deep bed of the river. Waggon after waggon was silently emptied by
+Haco's powerful hand, and each time the costly load made the Rhine
+river flash with borrowed splendour. So hour after hour went by in
+silent and restless haste. When the last gold bar had disappeared
+beneath the water, the drivers swore an oath of eternal secrecy,
+received rich rewards of gold, and led their waggons away in endless
+line. Haco stood alone in the boat, and watched them till the last man
+had vanished in the shades of night; then he stooped to gaze down into
+the stream.
+
+There far down lay the treasure of the Nibelungen, and the Rhine
+flowed on in silence over the golden secret that it hid. No tongue
+would ever tell the tale, no arm would ever reach the hoards. Why,
+then, did Haco still stand lost in thought?--why did he gaze down
+gloomily into the river depths? Was it that the shadows of the past,
+or visions of a bloody future, rose from the gleaming waves? Was he
+thinking of Kriemhild's beauty and the passionate love which his now
+hard heart had once felt for the beautiful princess, and which, when
+rejected, changed into anger and hatred that moved his arm to the
+murder of Siegfried and the robbery of the Nibelungen treasure? Or did
+he see with prophetic eye that time in which the now helpless one
+should take revenge on all who had injured her--a revenge which should
+exterminate the heroes of Burgundy to the last man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Many hundred years had passed over the world since that night robbery;
+blood and tears had been shed, dried, and forgotten; new nations had
+arisen and the old ones fallen, so that there was scarcely a page of
+the world's chronicle to tell of their struggles, hopes, and tears.
+All things had changed. The new had taken the place of the old, only
+to yield in its turn to a newer order still. Nothing was the same but
+ever young, ever beautiful, ever innocent nature, and the human heart
+with its love and hate. The Rhine still flowed and the Wonnegau on its
+banks still bloomed as of old, but its name was changed; the Cathedral
+of Worms still pointed to the sky, but it was not the same building in
+the shadow of which Kriemhild's palace used to stand. The generation
+that now trod the same soil knew nothing of the Nibelungen--the
+tradition of those heroes lived only in some half-forgotten songs. The
+sunken treasure had long since been thought a myth, and with an
+incredulous smile the wise men of those days pointed to the stream
+which was said to hide such a "golden secret."
+
+Nevertheless, it was no myth; the treasure still lay beneath the
+waters. Not a crown, not a bracelet was lost; not a diamond had fallen
+from the brilliant setting; for, as if held together by magic hand,
+the jewels had remained firmly united; but wave after wave had rolled
+on unceasingly, day and night, from year's end to year's end, and
+softly and gradually the treasure had been pressed on further into the
+bed of the river. The Wonnegau lay behind it; there the waves foamed,
+whirling over the hidden reefs beneath, and further on towards the sea
+they roared loudly against the walls of the Pfalzburg, then flowed
+caressingly past the blooming vines which wound their clustered
+garlands round the white cottages of the vine-dressers.
+
+The treasure of the Nibelungen had been carried in safety, though
+without any guiding hand, past all these different scenes, and the
+waves had borne it further and further into the shadow of the bank,
+bit by bit, until, after many years, it lay at the foot of a rock that
+rose high and bold above the waves. The moonbeams wove a silver
+garland round its granite brow, and for centuries tradition echoed
+round its jagged peak; but a row of crags surrounded the foot of the
+rock, and the foaming rage of the waves kept away even the boldest.
+There into that deep rocky bed the waves bore the treasure, and now
+it rested safely hidden at the foot of the Loreley rock.
+
+But treasures which have once gleamed in the sunlight, and been
+grasped by human hands, can never rest in darkness; they strive to
+reach again the light of day and the warm living hand of man. Slowly
+they rise from year to year, till at last they glow in the light of
+the sun, and await a pure hand to set them free, to do good with their
+riches, and so to expiate the guilt which was attached to them. It was
+thus that the treasure of the Nibelungen pressed upwards. It rose
+slowly, slowly, for sighs and blood and tears hung more heavily on it
+than on other sunken hoards. But at last, about a thousand years after
+that night when Haco threw the treasure into the stream, it had made
+its way up through the water.
+
+It was just such a delightful spring night as that memorable one long
+ago; work had long since ended in the blooming vineyards, rest and
+peace lay all around. The night-wind came softly from the mountains
+and bore the fragrance of the vines across the Rhine; the moon stood
+high in heaven, its light glided trembling down on the ledges of the
+Loreley and kissed the feet of the rock, which until now had lain in
+deep shadow. There in magic radiance floated the jewels of the
+Nibelungen treasure, so that the Rhine shone brightly as its waves
+played round the golden hoard. The night-wind blew more strongly,
+bearing on its wings something like a spirit, which sank in a veil of
+mist round the point of the rock, and then stood in that majestic
+beauty which had in days long past touched Haco's proud heart and won
+the love of the hero Siegfried. It was Kriemhild, once Siegfried's
+sorrowing widow, and afterwards King Etzel's queen in the distant land
+of the Huns. As Queen of Hungary, she invited the Burgundian heroes to
+her kingdom, that she might demand the stolen treasure from Haco, or
+take revenge on him for Siegfried's murder and the robbery of her
+gold. But the vengeance which should only have overtaken one fell upon
+all, even on her own little son. Kriemhild's proud heart was softened
+by the blow, and with a pang of keen repentance she thought of those
+other mothers whom her mad revenge had rendered childless. One way
+only was left her of giving happiness instead of sorrow. With a desire
+that rose to heaven like a prayer, she thought of her lost treasure.
+If she could but get it now, what troubled hearts would be soothed by
+her who had heretofore brought misery to happy ones! But the swift
+sword sent her to the grave with her longings unsatisfied. The same
+slaughter that had freed her from her enemies had robbed her of her
+child and of her life.
+
+Her spirit hovered often round the scenes of her youthful happiness,
+seeking the hidden treasure in the river-bed. That night, when it rose
+to the surface, and its golden radiance was seen bright and clear,
+Kriemhild came, thinking to set it free. Her eyes gazed longingly on
+the floating gold, and her arms, light and transparent as the
+moonbeams, were outstretched over the rock as if she would fain grasp
+the moving treasure. Then she glided with spirit tread down over the
+jagged moonlit rock by paths which no human foot could follow, and
+soon she stood on the narrow ledge over which the Rhine river flowed
+in gleaming ripples. Her white foot was covered by the water, but she
+heeded it not; her eye gazed fixedly on the treasure for which she had
+longed unceasingly in life, and which now hovered close to her feet in
+the dancing waves. Her lips moved softly, her hands were clasped as if
+in earnest desire, and she stooped to reach the golden crown which now
+knocked with a metallic sound against the rock and almost touched her
+foot; but when she stretched out her transparent hand, and thought she
+had touched the point of the diamond cross, the crown shrank from her
+fingers, sank into the stream, and was borne away out of her reach by
+the mighty waters. Kriemhild sank on her knees; the waves wet her long
+flowing locks, and the hem of her purple robe--but she felt them not.
+Only one thought, one feeling, lived in her heart--the longing to
+recover the treasure. She bent forward once more; her white hands
+clutched again and again at the jewels which shone around her in
+tempting nearness, and yet always shrank from her touch. Other
+treasures floated towards her, the bars of gold came close to her
+feet, then started back when the white hands grasped at them, and
+gradually all disappeared in the middle of the stream.
+
+Kriemhild's cold lips trembled, her transparent hands ceased their
+useless toil, and were clasped again in prayer. Then there was a
+louder rushing in the river, and a majestic shadow floated down the
+stream. Kriemhild's eye watched its onward movement; nearer and nearer
+it came, till it passed through the foaming gold stream, and
+approached the rock where the Queen now stood erect and majestic.
+
+[Illustration: CHARLEMAGNE MEETS WITH KRIEMHILD. F. C., p. 108.]
+
+It was Charlemagne, once Germany's beloved and mighty ruler, who every
+year leaves his tomb at Aachen, glides along the Rhine to bless the
+vineyards on its banks, and then lies down again in the golden coffin
+until the fragrance of a new spring awakes him to another beneficent
+progress. Now he stood before her on the river, clad in his purple
+mantle and his golden crown, with the sword which formerly decided the
+fate of nations in his cold right hand. His foot rested on the shield
+of Roland, his beloved nephew, which they had laid beside him in the
+tomb, and which now bore him like a trusty boat. The water rippled
+over the golden edge, and washed the grave-dust from the flashing
+emerald which the hero of Ronceval once won from the giant and
+fastened as an ornament on his shield.
+
+"Who art thou?" asked the dead Emperor, when his gaze had rested long
+on Kriemhild's face. "Thou art no mortal woman; I know that by the
+glance of thine eye, which speaks to me of bygone ages. It was thus
+that Fastrada's eyes shone; her golden hair was soft and silken as
+thine. I have not forgotten it, though I have slept for more than
+half-a-thousand years in the dark vault--yet thou art not Fastrada,
+the Emperor's beloved wife."
+
+"No, great Emperor," said the Queen; "I was once Kriemhild, the wife
+of Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungen, who ruled over the land
+which was also subject to thy sway. The present generation know almost
+nothing of his glory, but in thy times, O Emperor, his renown was
+still bright."
+
+"I know him well, that model of all knightly virtues," said the
+Emperor thoughtfully, "and his fate and thine are familiar to me. It
+was but the old and yet ever new song that sounds through all
+time--the song of the victory of evil over good--which made my life
+also one of pain and trouble. But what brings thee hither, O Queen?"
+
+"If thou knowest my fate, noble Emperor," answered Kriemhild, "thou
+knowest also what I seek for here. Thou knowest the misery I caused in
+life. When repentance came it was at the last moment, and my time was
+gone for earthly works of love. But now, perhaps, my spirit may be
+permitted to grasp this treasure, cause of so much sin, and use it
+well and wisely, till as many tears are dried as have been shed, and
+as much sorrow healed as was once caused by me.
+
+"See yonder, noble Emperor! there gleams the Nibelungen hoard, the
+bequest left me by my husband, but of which Haco robbed me. It has
+risen, and awaits only the delivering hand; but no one comes. So I
+would fain grasp the treasures and seize the moving bars of gold. Then
+in the stillness of the night I would take them into the abodes of
+poverty and misfortune, so that when the inmates awake Kriemhild's
+treasure might dry the tears of need and despair. But it is not
+permitted me."
+
+The Emperor turned his face and gazed searchingly down at the jewels,
+which floated in bright clear radiance on the waters of the Rhine.
+
+"Thou askest a thing impossible, O Queen," he said at length; "knowest
+thou not the limits which debar spirits from the deeds of mortals? It
+is only a guiltless, living, human hand which may change the sentence
+that hangs over them. But the Nibelungen treasure has long since been
+forgotten. Yet look! Thou no longer seest the jewels in the full size
+of olden days. Wave after wave has gnawed at them; the waters have
+worked unceasingly through long centuries at this tedious task. See
+how the ornaments on the bracelets and crowns have shrunk, and how
+slender the links of the chains have become. The Rhine has taken the
+gold of thy treasure, and with it fertilised the blooming meadows on
+its banks. Nightly the gold set free rises in light mists above the
+stream and sinks in blessing on mountain and valley, and when autumn
+comes thy gold gleams in every cluster, ripens in every ear of corn.
+Freer, stronger, more joyous are the people of these meadows--and that
+is the blessing of the Nibelungen treasure, which rests unseen in
+earth and air and water--thus will the guilt and tears be done away
+with which once lay heavy on this hoard. Then have patience, O Queen,
+for a few short years--then thou wilt search in vain for thy treasure.
+Meantime other ministries are thine."
+
+The Emperor bowed his head in courteous farewell, and sailed on his
+magic boat up the moonlit stream.
+
+Kriemhild gazed after him. The emerald in the point of the shield
+flashed brightly in the moonlight, and the wide purple mantle
+fluttered above the gleaming waves. The Emperor blessed the vineyards
+as he passed; and when the last glimmer of his crown grew pale and
+the veil of night concealed him, the Queen once more looked at the
+gold hoard at her feet. The dead Emperor had spoken truly; her eyes
+now perceived it too; so she could wait in patience till the last
+crown, the last gold bar, had melted in the sparkling river.
+
+The treasure's time of freedom was passed; no delivering hand had
+come. The jewels slowly shrank together round the foot of the Loreley
+and fell into their watery bed. Their splendour was extinguished;
+still and dark the river flowed. Then Kriemhild turned and ascended
+the rock. She gave one long farewell look at the meadows of her former
+home, and then vanished like a mist in the distance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Again centuries have passed. Kriemhild no longer hovers round the
+Loreley, for the Nibelungen treasure has melted in the waves; only its
+diamonds rest uninjured in the river bed, and any one gazing into its
+depths on starry nights may see them flash and sparkle far below. But
+the gold runs freely through the Rhine, so that its waters flow in
+bright, clear waves; and on summer nights the precious substance rises
+to the clouds, and then falls in fertilising dew on the meadows and
+vineyards all around. Gold shines in the ripening berries and gleams
+in the waving corn; with the clear ring of gold sound the songs of the
+Rhenish people; pure as gold is their honesty--that surest safeguard
+against every foe.
+
+That is the German Nibelungenhort--that is the Rhine gold.
+
+
+
+
+The Friendship of the Dwarfs.
+
+[Illustration: THE COUNTESS MATILDA RESTORES THE DWARF-QUEEN TO
+HEALTH.]
+
+
+
+
+PART I.
+
+The DYING DWARF-QUEEN.
+
+
+A stately and strongly-built fortress stood many hundred years ago on
+a high rock of the Thuringian Mountains. The lord of this castle was
+descended from one of the noblest families in the land, and had chosen
+this place from all his numerous estates as a home for himself, his
+wife, and his little son, because its cheerful situation and mild
+climate were best suited to the Countess Matilda's delicate health.
+
+They had come home to it, after a long journey, on the evening which
+preceded the night on which my story begins, and the Countess, wearied
+with all the ceremonies of the reception, had just fallen into a
+gentle and refreshing sleep. Crimson curtains hung in heavy silken
+folds round the lady's couch; through them the lamps shed a softened
+light on the sleeper, lending to her cheeks a rosy glow which was,
+alas! but seldom seen there.
+
+It was midnight. Every one in the castle was asleep, resting from the
+exertions of the past day, when the lofty door was noiselessly opened,
+and a little tiny man with a long grey beard approached the couch of
+the slumbering Countess, and let the light of a lantern fall on her
+delicate features. He was scarcely three feet high, and his figure was
+of ungraceful build. But in the rather large head gleamed a pair of
+bright and intelligent eyes, and in the aged features shone an
+expression of benevolence and truth. The little man's clothes were of
+a plain dark colour; his little smock-frock was bound by a girdle with
+a silver buckle; under his arm he carried an invisible cap, a little
+black head-dress with a long point, and ornamented with silver bells.
+Very gently he drew near the couch, raised his lantern, and softly
+touched the arm of the Countess, which was carelessly thrown over the
+silken coverlet. The Countess awoke, looked in amazement on the queer
+little figure, and asked at length, "Who are you, little man?"
+
+The dwarf bowed low and answered politely, "I am one of the race of
+dwarfs, gracious lady, who live in great numbers in the rock below
+your castle. Our Queen lies at the point of death; her only hope of
+recovery is in the touch of a human hand. The King, therefore, sent
+me, when he heard of your arrival, to beg you to show this kindness to
+our beloved Queen."
+
+"Alas!" answered the Countess sadly, "I am so ill myself, can I be of
+any use to another?"
+
+"It will be all right, gracious lady, and will cost you no fatigue,"
+answered the little man, "if you will only trust yourself to my care."
+
+The Countess turned to waken her husband, and to ask his advice, but
+the dwarf begged earnestly, "Let him sleep, noble Countess. Long
+before he wakes you will be back again. No evil will befall you. We
+have always honoured your race--have lived in peace and friendship
+with them through long centuries, and have secretly done them many a
+good turn."
+
+The Countess was of a kind and obliging disposition; so,
+notwithstanding her delicate health and present weariness, she agreed
+to follow the dwarf. She was also afraid of making the powerful little
+people angry by a refusal, and thus bringing evil on her family. She
+threw her cloak quickly about her, and prepared to go with the dwarf.
+With noiseless tread he led her through hall after hall, room after
+room, till they came to a little round bow-windowed chamber in the
+tower on the western side of the castle, whence they descended by a
+narrow winding stair into the castle garden.
+
+It was a lovely summer night. The little guide darkened his lantern,
+for moon and stars threw a clear light on their path, and thus they
+went on in silence along the foot of the castle rock, beneath
+overhanging trees, which showered down their fragrant blossoms on the
+lady's dark hair. At last they came to a rock which projected somewhat
+into the road, and the foot of which was thickly covered with ferns.
+The dwarf parted them asunder, and the Countess saw a narrow passage
+which led away into the heart of the mountain. They entered. The dwarf
+opened his lantern again, and its light showed the walls of a vaulted
+cave, which, at first low and narrow, became wider and higher as they
+went on, till at last they walked through a beautifully arched
+corridor. Soon they arrived at a door, and when it opened they entered
+a room with crystal walls, which shone as with the radiance of a
+thousand lights. Among the points of the crystal darted countless
+little lizards, whose bodies seemed made of transparent emerald; on
+their heads were little golden crowns set with rubies; and when the
+pretty little creatures with their shining diadems slipped so nimbly
+and lightly through the crystal points, the walls gleamed and flashed
+so strangely that the Countess was filled with astonishment. But the
+roof of this room seemed an ever-changing picture of living wonders.
+Great white and blue snakes with diamond eyes, and slender bodies
+transparent as the air of heaven, wound in endless circles the one
+through the other; and as they moved in gleaming coils, sweet music
+and refreshing fragrance filled the crystal hall. Here in this
+subterranean kingdom sin and enmity seemed unknown. Creatures which on
+earth fight and oppress one another lived here in friendly intimacy.
+So fair and lovable seemed these little animals to the Countess, and
+they looked down on her with such soft intelligent eyes, that she
+wished one of them would come near enough for her to stroke and caress
+it. Absorbed by these wonders, she had not noticed that her little
+guide was already at the further end of the room, and was holding the
+second door open and beckoning to her to enter. At last she saw him
+and followed.
+
+The walls of the second hall gleamed with brightly polished silver
+ore, out of which bloomed flowers of such beauty as are never found in
+earthly gardens. They were carved out of precious stones so skilfully
+as to deceive the eye and to tempt one to bend over their cups to
+breathe their fragrance. Bright silver ore formed the pavement, and
+the light that streamed from a huge diamond in the centre of the
+ceiling trembled in thousand-fold reflection on the silver walls and
+the jewel-flowers.
+
+In this hall were many of the dwarfs assembled. All were simply clad,
+like the dwarf that had acted as guide to the Countess; all had grave,
+wise countenances and beaming eyes, dimmed now with anxiety and grief.
+As the Countess entered they bowed low, holding in their hands the
+little caps with the silver bells, which, by making them invisible,
+enable them to play many tricks on the human race. Now they arrived at
+the third room, which was the Queen's bed-chamber. At the ceiling of
+this room hovered a golden eagle with its wings outspread, and
+holding in its beak four diamond chains, on which the Queen's bed
+swung gently to and fro. The bed was a single gigantic ruby, skilfully
+cut, and on it rested on pillows of white satin the dying Queen of
+this enchanted realm.
+
+The stillness of death reigned in the place. Goldemar, the mighty
+dwarf-king, stood by the ruby couch, sunk in silent grief. His hair
+and beard, gleaming like silver, flowed down over his mantle of royal
+purple; he had taken the shining crown from his head and laid it at
+the feet of the dying Queen. His nobles stood in a wide circle round
+the King, and seemed to share his grief.
+
+The Countess went up to the couch. There, on pillows of white satin,
+rested the loveliest being that her eyes had ever beheld; she was
+smaller than her subjects, while her husband, on the contrary,
+exceeded them in stature; but her form was exquisitely symmetrical,
+and her tender limbs seemed formed of wax. Round her closed eyes and
+blanched lips the smile of youthfulness and kindliness still hovered,
+while her wondrous hair flowed round her whole form like liquid gold.
+The Countess bent silently over the dying Queen, listening for a
+breath, but in vain. Not a sound disturbed the solemn stillness. Only
+the golden eagle flapped his mighty wings, making a current of cool
+air through the lofty apartment, so that the rosy flames flickered in
+the crystal vessels, and threw a quivering reflection on the gilding
+of the walls and on the diamond crown at the dying Queen's feet.
+
+"It is too late!" thought the Countess; but she did as her little
+guide directed, laying one hand on the brow, the other on the breast
+of the dying Queen, and then awaited the result in anxious silence.
+
+Slowly and sorrowfully the moments passed by. The Countess was about
+to remove her hands, when she saw Goldemar's eye fixed on her in
+earnest entreaty, and she had not the courage to rob the sorrowing
+King of his last hope; so she let her warm hand remain a little longer
+on the rigid form. Suddenly, whether it was a reality or only her own
+fancy, a slight tremor seemed to move the delicate frame, then a
+second and a third time, and gently, very gently, the heart began to
+throb once more.
+
+The Countess bent again over the Queen, and listened to her breathing.
+Gentle and sweet like the fragrance of flowers the breath passed in
+and out over the beautiful, half-parted lips, and life once more
+tinged the sweet face with a faint bloom. It was not the gleam of the
+candles or the ruby lights that caused the rosy hue that now
+overspread her face; it was life, true life. At last she opened her
+eyes, raised herself, and looked round in astonishment.
+
+"Am I still with thee?" she said to her husband, whose glance rested
+on her in delight, as she held out her soft white hand. "How did it
+happen? Tell me."
+
+Goldemar pointed to the Countess.
+
+"Oh, my deliverer!" she exclaimed, turning in surprise to the noble
+lady; "how shall I thank you?"
+
+The news of their beloved Queen's recovery soon spread to the rest of
+the dwarfs, and they came flocking in, their grave faces lit with a
+serene content. They crowded round the royal pair with affectionate
+congratulations, and poured forth their thanks to the Countess. Then a
+band of servants drew near, carrying vessels of precious metal,
+wherein lay fruits and flowers carved in precious stones of
+incalculable value, and so cunningly and wonderfully wrought that the
+treasuries of earthly princes have not their like to show.
+
+"Pray, accept these," begged the King, on whose brow the crown once
+more shone.
+
+"Pray, accept them," said the Queen, her beautiful eyes fixed in
+entreaty on the face of the Countess.
+
+The Countess shook her head gently. "Let me have the pleasure of
+having served you without reward," said she. "I have wealth enough;
+and now take me home again."
+
+"Thou despisest our gifts," said the beautiful Queen in a tone of
+disappointment, "and our laws do not permit us to leave any benefit
+unreturned. Thou hast surely some wish; name it, then, that we may
+fulfil it."
+
+The Countess shook her head, then all at once she thought of her
+child. The celebrated physician, to consult whom she had undertaken
+the long journey from which she had returned the evening before, had
+not concealed the truth. The span of life that remained to her was
+very short, and soon her beloved child Kuno would be left motherless.
+Perhaps he might some day need the help of the friendly dwarfs.
+
+"One petition, indeed, I have," she said with a faltering voice. "My
+child will soon perhaps be motherless, and if he should ever need
+protection, will you befriend him?"
+
+"From this moment," replied King Goldemar, "he is under our care, and
+we will hasten to his assistance as soon as he needs it."
+
+Then the dwarf who had acted as guide to the Countess before conducted
+her back through the castle garden; and soon she rested, tired, but
+with a peaceful and happy heart, once more on her couch.
+
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+THE FRIENDS IN THE ROCK.
+
+[Illustration: ECKBERT'S WILD RIDE ON KUNO'S HORSE.]
+
+
+A sunny terrace of the castle hill became the last resting-place of
+the Countess Matilda. It had been her favourite spot both in her days
+of health and of sickness. Here she had spent part of every day with
+her Kuno, and with him looked down on the fruitful plains of
+Thuringia; and here she had taken a sad farewell of the blooming life
+around. She did not wish to rest in the dark and gloomy vault, but
+here on the lonely height, with flowers around her and sunshine above
+her head.
+
+It was an autumn afternoon. There were no longer any flowers in field
+or garden, but around the grave of the Countess was a freshness and
+fragrance as of spring, and the sun in which she had so delighted let
+no day pass without looking kindly down on the lonely grave, if only
+for a few minutes.
+
+The wind was shaking the lofty trees of the castle garden, and
+playfully driving the yellow leaves along the paths, when a little
+figure with a pale sad face came up the broad gravel walk, climbed the
+rock, and threw himself on the grave. It was Kuno, Countess Matilda's
+only child.
+
+How one year had changed everything!--his dear mother dead, his father
+gone to distant scenes of war along with many noble knights, and he
+left alone with heartless and ill-natured strangers! A distant
+relation, the Lady Von Allenstein, had been asked by the Earl to
+preside over his household, and to act the part of a mother to the
+little Kuno. She was a woman as heartless as she was clever, and so
+successfully did she ingratiate herself into the favour of the
+unsuspicious Earl, that before he left he gave her full control over
+his vassals and his estate. Her son Eckbert, a lad of about fifteen
+years of age, had the reputation of being well brought up, because in
+the presence of strangers he could assume fine courtly manners; but
+he had a mischievous and malicious disposition, and was both feared
+and hated by the castle servants.
+
+That Kuno, this child, this dreamer, who in Eckbert's opinion
+possessed no knightly qualities whatsoever, should be some day lord
+and possessor of so many noble castles and estates with their numerous
+dependants, while to his lot had fallen nothing but one small and
+half-ruined castle, to which not even a single village was
+attached--this vexed him, and in his heart burned envious hatred
+towards the orphan child. Hitherto Kuno had borne all Eckbert's malice
+with the gentleness which he had inherited from his mother; but when
+the news came that the Earl had been dangerously wounded, and when the
+messenger spoke of his master's death as probable, Eckbert counted
+himself freed from restraint, and tormented the little Earl with
+greater spitefulness than ever.
+
+To-day he had cut him to the heart. Kuno's little horse, which had
+borne him when he was scarcely more than a baby, and which had never
+felt either whip or spur, had been mounted to-day by the cruel
+Eckbert. For the first time Kuno ventured a decided protest, and
+Eckbert, seeing by this unusual courage how dear the animal was to its
+young master, struck the spurs with all his might into the horse's
+sides, so that it reared suddenly and then dashed with bleeding flanks
+out by the castle gate. When Kuno, after Eckbert's return, ran to the
+stable to see how his favourite had borne the dreadful ride, the horse
+did not turn his head as usual to greet him with a joyous neigh; he
+lay panting on the straw, covered with foam and blood, his feet
+stretched out, his head drooping, and his breast heaving with a loud
+rattling sound. Kuno threw himself down beside him, put his arms round
+his neck, and called him by the tenderest names. Then the creature
+opened his eyes, fixed his last look on his young master, and with a
+feeble attempt at a neigh, that sounded like a death-sigh, he died.
+
+Kuno's tears were dried; he remained speechless before his dead
+favourite, and gazed with tearless eyes upon the body. Thus Margaret,
+the castellan's wife, Kuno's old nurse, found him. She had seen
+Eckbert mount the horse, and heard Kuno's words. When she saw the dead
+animal and the child's grief, her anger at Eckbert's malice knew no
+bounds. She went at once to Lady Von Allenstein, and said what she
+thought of Eckbert's shameful deed with vehemence such as the proud
+lady had never before witnessed in an inferior.
+
+"Do you know," said the lady, with flashing eyes, "what you
+deserve?--a place in the dungeon among frogs and toads. But I will be
+merciful. In one hour you and your family leave this castle; that will
+serve as a warning to your fellow-servants, and will make Master Kuno
+more submissive to me and my son, as he will no longer have you to
+encourage him in his obstinacy."
+
+So they left. In one short hour the last true friends of the poor
+orphan left the castle, although he clung to Margaret and besought her
+with passionate weeping not to leave him quite alone. He watched them
+as long as he could, and then crept back through the garden to his
+mother's grave.
+
+Here dreams of bygone days passed before his mind. He thought of the
+happy hours which he had spent here on the solitary height with his
+beloved mother; when he had looked down with her over the blooming
+country, and listened to her tales of the wonders of foreign lands, of
+our lost Paradise, and of the heavenly home which she soon hoped to
+reach. Then when, at the thought of the coming parting, his little
+heart shrank, his mother would take him in her arms and try to comfort
+him by telling him about the friendly feelings that the good dwarfs
+cherish towards poor defenceless children, and about the splendour and
+beauty of the enchanted realm below the ground.
+
+And now? He knelt down beside the grave, laid his head on the grass,
+and sobbed, till at last, tired out with grief and weeping, he fell
+asleep. The sun set, but he did not know it; the stars rose, and the
+child slept on, with his head pillowed on his mother's grave. A gentle
+touch on his shoulder woke him. He started up in surprise. Before him
+stood a tiny little man of insignificant appearance, and with a
+lantern in his hand. It was the same dwarf that had once led the boy's
+mother to King Goldemar's dying Queen.
+
+"Who are you?" asked the child in astonishment, as he rubbed his
+sleepy eyes.
+
+"One of your mother's friends," answered the little man kindly; "dost
+thou not remember what she told thee about us? Wilt thou come with
+me?"
+
+Kuno rose at once, took the dwarf's hand, and walked away by his side.
+They soon reached the clump of ferns that covered the secret
+entrance, and stepped into the vaulted corridor. The first door
+opened, and the child found himself suddenly in the enchanted realm of
+his mother's stories. Yes, this was the crystal hall with the emerald
+lizards and the sky-blue snakes. The place still glimmered and shone
+as when the Countess trod its floor; the snakes looked down kindly on
+the boy with their diamond eyes, and the transparent lizards bowed
+their crowned heads in friendly greeting.
+
+"I know what the other hall is like," said Kuno in delight to his
+little guide. "Do not flowers made of precious stones gleam along the
+silver walls; and in the third hall is there not the Queen's ruby bed
+swinging from the golden ceiling, and the eagle flapping his golden
+wings?"
+
+The dwarf smiled. "See for yourself," he said. Then he led him through
+the halls. Yes, it was all as Kuno's mother had described it;
+everything was wonderful, and yet he knew it all so well. Last of all,
+he was led into the throne-room.
+
+The walls and ceiling were of blue crystal, so that it looked like the
+vault of heaven, and in the high dome shone stars cut out of rubies.
+There were no lamps in the hall, but from without a hidden artificial
+light streamed through the crimson stars, and filled the whole room
+with rosy radiance. At the far end of the room stood a throne made of
+large and costly pearls, which glowed in the light like rosebuds, and
+on it sat in her brilliant beauty the Queen of this enchanted palace,
+with her golden hair flowing to the pearl-built steps of the throne.
+Beside her sat King Goldemar in a purple mantle, his noble brow
+adorned once more with the diamond crown.
+
+With a low obeisance the dwarf introduced the boy to the royal pair.
+
+The lovely Queen was much smaller than Kuno, and yet she looked so
+dignified that the child knelt and reverently kissed the little hand
+which she graciously extended to him.
+
+"Thy noble mother was my friend," she said with a gentle voice, "and
+thou art dear to us as one of our own. Every night, if thou wilt, thou
+mayest come to us to forget thy little troubles in our hall. Look thou
+around; all are ready to love thee and give thee pleasure."
+
+As she spoke she raised her white hand and pointed to the lovely
+children at the foot of the throne, and to the troops of little dwarfs
+that were assembled in the hall. Then the royal children came up to
+greet him, and after them the little dwarfs with their grave wise
+countenances; they gave him their hands, and met his wondering gaze
+with friendly looks. And the poor friendless boy, who hitherto had
+felt himself alone and forsaken, felt happy, now that he found such
+unexpected kindness and love such as he had never felt since his
+mother's death. All his troubles vanished from his memory in this
+enchanted kingdom. Hour after hour flew by, and to the child they
+seemed but minutes. Then the dwarf who had brought him took his hand
+and drew him away. Kuno was sorry to go, but he followed his little
+guide.
+
+"Do not weep," said the latter kindly. "Thou mayest come back every
+night; but take care that thou tell no one of thy visits, or some
+great calamity may be the consequence."
+
+When they reached the garden the stars had already grown pale, and the
+first streaks of dawn were showing in the east.
+
+"Let us make haste," said the dwarf anxiously, "for we dwellers below
+ground can only live under the light of the stars--the sun's rays kill
+us."
+
+Soon they arrived at the winding staircase at the foot of the tower.
+The gate was locked, but the dwarf brought out a strangely-formed key,
+put it into the lock, and immediately the heavy iron-barred door
+turned noiselessly on its hinges. It was the same with all the other
+doors as soon as the wonderful key touched them, and softly the
+wanderers slipped through the rooms and passed the sleeping servants.
+Kuno reached unseen the room that he shared with Eckbert, and then the
+dwarf hastened home.
+
+Eckbert had tried to keep awake to receive Kuno with scolding and
+reproaches, for the child had been missed at supper and sought for, of
+course in vain. But he had fallen asleep over his generous plan.
+
+Kuno was still slumbering sweetly when Eckbert woke, sprang out of
+bed, and shook the boy roughly.
+
+"Where were you yesterday? Speak!" he shouted; but Kuno, mindful of
+the dwarf's warning, kept silence. But when Eckbert raised his arm to
+strike the child, an invisible hand gave him such a powerful blow on
+the ear that he staggered half unconscious against the wall. He felt
+uncomfortable at the thought of the unseen avenger, and he left Kuno
+in peace, but told the whole story to his mother, wickedly distorting
+it as he went on. At breakfast she ordered the boy to tell where he
+had been; but though his heart beat fast with terror, he closed his
+lips tightly and remained silent.
+
+"I will conquer your obstinacy," said the lady angrily; "you shall
+sleep in the room in the tower, and go earlier to bed."
+
+In the evening she took him herself to the lonely chamber, from which
+the winding stair led to the garden; for she thought that fear of the
+uninhabited and lonely room would force the boy to tell his secret.
+But when he went without a word, and lay down uncomplainingly on his
+bed, anger rose high in the proud lady's heart. "Eckbert is right,"
+she thought; "his obstinacy must be conquered."
+
+With a prayer to God, and a fervent wish that his little friends would
+not forget him, Kuno fell asleep. And they did not forget him. About
+midnight the little dwarf stood once more at his side, wakened him,
+and led him into the enchanted palace.
+
+The little folk greeted him joyfully, the royal pair reached him their
+hands, and amid splendour and pleasure the hours flew by. His friends
+showed him the rooms that he had not seen the day before--the crystal
+chambers full of golden ornaments, which every family possessed, and
+which far outshone the most splendid palaces of earthly kings. They
+showed him wonderful things which they knew how to make--birds made of
+precious stones, from whose transparent throats sweet songs poured
+forth; fruits and flowers, shaped out of jewels, whose beauty and
+fragrance was like that of the flowers of Eden. Kuno's astonishment
+and delight knew no bounds; the hours went by too quickly, and when
+the stars began to pale the dwarf led him back to his room in the
+tower. And every night at midnight the same dwarf brought him back to
+the enchanted kingdom. There he forgot all the trials of the day--all
+Eckbert's spiteful tricks, and Lady Von Allenstein's injustice. But it
+was not alone to please and amuse him that the little people brought
+the boy to visit them--they cared also for his mind and heart.
+
+In this magic kingdom lived an aged dwarf with long snow-white hair
+and beard; a supernatural light shone in his eyes. All the dwarfs,
+even the King and Queen, treated him with the greatest reverence, for
+he was the oldest man of their nation, and also the wisest. He could
+look back through thousands of years; he knew everything in the whole
+earth--all plants and stones; he knew about their origin, and had
+watched their growth. Often, when the King and Queen were sitting on
+the throne, the wise man would come into the hall and seat himself on
+the pearl steps; then the lovely royal children, Kuno in their midst,
+would gather round and listen as he told with beaming eyes about the
+wonders of creation, and the mysterious forces of nature. Words of
+kindness and wisdom flowed from his lips, and it seemed to the boy as
+if he were sitting in church or at the feet of his dead mother.
+
+[Illustration: KUNO LISTENS TO THE WISE MAN'S TALK.]
+
+But even happier hours than these he spent playing with the children
+in the crystal hall, letting the beautiful lizards dart down on his
+outstretched hand, or the sky-blue snakes glide down and wind
+playfully round his feet. Once, when he was preparing to go home after
+one of his visits, King Goldemar held the hand that he had extended in
+farewell, and spoke to him in a low and confidential tone. Kuno nodded
+with a happy smile. Next morning joy shone from his soft eyes and
+betrayed itself in his cheerful mood, which made so strange a contrast
+to the silent gravity of his usual demeanour. The change did not
+escape the quick eye of the Countess; but she took care not to ask the
+reason, for she thought she could guess it already.
+
+Earlier than usual Kuno said "Good night," and went to his room, but
+not to bed. He worked about, fastening wax candles, which he had got
+beforehand from the steward, on the walls, and trying to give the room
+a festive appearance; then he put on his best clothes, sat down on his
+bed, and waited.
+
+At last the castle clock struck twelve, and immediately soft music
+sounded in the distance; it came nearer and nearer, and soon floated
+up the winding stair. In a few moments the door opened of itself, and
+in came Kuno's dwarf friends, marching two and two, and all arrayed in
+festive garments. They held their invisible caps in their hands,
+swinging them in measured time, so that the silver bells that
+ornamented them rang in magic melody. Then followed, escorted by
+Goldemar and the Queen, a bridal pair, whose wedding feast was to be
+held in a human dwelling for the blessing and well-being of its
+occupant. Kuno advanced to meet his guests, and greeted them joyfully;
+then to the sound of wondrous music the dance began. This was led by
+the King and his lovely consort, their crowns flashing lightning at
+every quick graceful movement; then followed the bridal pair in
+garments gleaming with gold. Kuno had taken the hand of a pretty
+dwarf-maiden, and now mingled merrily in the splendid throng. All was
+mirth and gaiety.
+
+Suddenly the music stopped, the dancers stood still, and all eyes
+turned in indignation towards an opening in the ceiling where the face
+of Lady Von Allenstein was visible.
+
+Goldemar's eyes flashed angrily.
+
+"Blow out the lights!" he cried to one of his train; and in a
+twinkling the little fellow had climbed up the wall, and before the
+lady had time to suspect that this command had anything to do with
+her, the dwarf reached the opening, and blew into her face.
+
+A fearful scream followed; then the King turned to Kuno and said--
+
+"Accept our thanks, my dear child, for thy hospitality; it is not thy
+fault that we cannot stay longer. Farewell!"
+
+Then the little people turned quickly towards the door, and soon the
+boy was alone.
+
+Faint moans were now heard from above, and a sound as of suppressed
+weeping.
+
+Kuno also had seen the face of the lady, and knew that these doleful
+sounds were uttered by her. Deep compassion filled his heart; he
+forgot all the unhappiness that this woman had caused him, and, filled
+only with the thought of helping her, he took a candle in his hand and
+hastened to clamber up to her.
+
+He found her crouching on the ground, her hands pressed before her
+eyes.
+
+"What is wrong, gracious lady?" asked Kuno timidly.
+
+"Oh, I am blind! I am blind!" she groaned piteously. "The dwarf blew
+into my eyes, and my sight left me."
+
+Kuno, full of pity, seized her hand and led her tenderly step by step
+down the winding stair, and on to her own apartment.
+
+After calling a maid to her assistance, he returned to say good-night
+to the poor lady. What he had never done in her days of health he did
+now--he drew her hand to his lips and kissed it fervently. The lady
+felt a hot tear drop on her hand; silently, but with scarce-concealed
+emotion, she drew it away. This tear burned like unquenchable fire,
+not only on her hand, but on her soul.
+
+She spent a long and sleepless night; this unexpected calamity had
+crushed her hard heart. But though the light was taken from her eyes,
+a new day dawned within her. Her dislike of Kuno, her hardness and
+injustice towards the orphan child, all passed through her mind in
+fiery procession; and when she thought of Kuno's noble conduct, a
+flood of penitent tears streamed from her sightless eyes.
+
+Eckbert, on hearing of his mother's misfortune, showed himself as
+heartless as ever. He railed at the dwarf and at Kuno as the real
+cause of it. But he had not any idea of sitting through the long
+tedious hours with his poor blind mother--that was Kuno's business, he
+thought, for he had been the cause of it all. On the contrary, freed
+from all restraint, Eckbert amused himself more than ever with the
+chase and with drinking bouts, and tyrannised worse than before over
+all around him.
+
+Kuno behaved towards the unhappy lady like a loving son. He sat with
+her and cared for her wants as if she had been his own beloved mother.
+When the summer came he led her out every day into the garden or to
+the rock where his mother lay, and tried to amuse her with his
+childish talk.
+
+Lady Von Allenstein was often deeply moved when she felt Kuno's
+tenderness and thought of her own heartlessness. Once her emotion
+overcame her, and she drew Kuno to her side, and said with tears--"You
+are so good to me, who was so unkind to you; can you forgive me for
+all the wrong I have done you? Oh! if I could only get back my sight,
+I would take every opportunity of making up to you for my injustice."
+
+Kuno was still on the most friendly terms with the dwarf nation, and
+regarded the enchanted palace as his second home.
+
+Exactly a year had passed since that wedding in the tower-chamber,
+when King Goldemar again expressed a wish to hold a similar feast in
+the same room.
+
+Kuno's heart beat high with joy at these words; perhaps--but he would
+cherish no presumptuous hopes.
+
+Again the room was festively decorated; but no one in the castle got
+the least hint of what was to take place in the isolated room. The
+little guests appeared, and this time the merriment went on
+undisturbed.
+
+But dawn, the time of separation, was drawing near, and Goldemar held
+out his hand to his prot�g� to say good-bye. Then Kuno held it fast,
+and looked entreatingly into the good King's face.
+
+"What dost thou want, Kuno?" asked Goldemar.
+
+"I have one petition, the fulfilment of which will make me happy,"
+answered the boy.
+
+"Name it," said the King graciously; "it is granted."
+
+Then Kuno led the King to the bed and drew back the curtains. There
+sat a pale lady in deep mourning, her dark sightless eyes fixed
+vacantly before her.
+
+"Give her back her sight," begged Kuno, pointing to Lady Von
+Allenstein.
+
+Goldemar's eyes shone as he looked approvingly on the boy; then he
+bent towards the lady and said, "I light the lamps again!" at the same
+time breathing into her eyes, so that the sight came back immediately.
+
+The newly-opened eyes shone with joy and gratitude, and in a burst of
+weeping she sank into Kuno's arms, while the royal pair and their
+train looked on in deep emotion.
+
+"Farewell then, Kuno," said King Goldemar. "Thou hast found what was
+needed to make thee happy--a mother's heart. We have kept our word.
+Shouldst thou ever in thy life again need our help, thou wilt find us
+ready."
+
+With a loving look the King held out his hand, and the Queen and the
+other dwarfs likewise took an affectionate leave of the boy before
+returning to their kingdom under ground. Just as they were going
+through the castle garden towards the entrance in the side of the
+rock, Eckbert returned from a drinking bout.
+
+"I have come upon these dull fellows unexpectedly," he said, grinding
+his teeth, when he noticed the procession of dwarfs. "Now they shall
+suffer for that box on the ear, and for my mother's blindness. I will
+cut off the last clown's head and throw it in at that stupid Kuno's
+window."
+
+He slipped softly behind the procession. When they reached the door in
+the rock, Eckbert waited till the last had put his foot on the
+threshold, then he sprang forward and raised his sword. The same
+instant the heavy rock door, which so artfully closed the opening,
+shut to and crushed Eckbert's head to atoms. Without uttering a sound
+he fell back, and his blood stained the snow.
+
+The next morning offered a sad spectacle to Lady Von Allenstein's
+newly-restored sight. It is true, Eckbert had been an undutiful son,
+but still it was her child, her own flesh and blood, that now lay
+before her a mangled corpse. The place where he had been found with
+his sword unsheathed made Kuno suspect whose hand had caused his
+death; but he was silent on this as on all that concerned his dwarf
+friends.
+
+Eckbert was buried with great pomp, but no eyes shed tears at the
+ceremony save those of his mother and of the good forgiving Kuno. From
+this time Lady Von Allenstein turned the whole affection of her
+ennobled heart towards Kuno, who repaid her love with the most
+heartfelt gratitude; and no one who did not know their relationship
+would have thought, to see them together, that they were anything but
+mother and son.
+
+Winter and spring were past, and the warm summer weather had come.
+
+On a bright summer evening the horn of the watchman on the tower
+announced a troop of horsemen, and as they drew near with the sound of
+trumpets Kuno's sharp eye recognised in their floating banner his
+father's colours.
+
+He had long since recovered, but instead of returning to his castle he
+had once more offered his strong arm and brave heart in service to his
+imperial lord. The war was now ended, and the Earl, whom they had long
+counted dead, had returned, covered with scars and with honours, to
+clasp his beloved son in his arms.
+
+Lady Von Allenstein still lived in the castle, and presided over it as
+before, but she was served now from love and not from fear. When she
+died in a good old age, Kuno knelt at her side; her cold hand rested
+on his head, and her dying lips spoke words of love and blessing over
+her adopted son.
+
+
+
+
+The Flower of Iceland.
+
+[Illustration: HELGA AT HER MOTHER'S FEET.]
+
+
+A substantial farm-house stood many, many years ago on the slope of a
+hill in bleak and frozen Iceland. The owner, who had spent his youth
+as a sailor in distant climes, had at last obeyed his dying father's
+summons, and exchanged the palms and orange groves of southern lands
+for the feeble sunlight and cold lava-fields of his native island. But
+as a living souvenir of those happy regions he brought home a young
+and beautiful wife, whose dark and eloquent eyes still shone in the
+memory of all who had beheld them, long after they had been closed in
+the last sleep.
+
+"Marietta," her husband had said before the priest had joined their
+hands in marriage, "have you considered well what you are renouncing
+when you promise to follow me as my wife? Here in your country an
+eternal spring reigns, sweet with the fragrance of flowers and musical
+with the warbling of birds, while the Italian sky shines in
+never-fading blue. On my island you will find none of these things. A
+pale sun, a grey sky overhead, and all around barren heaths and
+ice--ice and snow wherever you look; none but the Icelander can think
+this island beautiful."
+
+"But you will be there," answered Marietta; "and could I wish for any
+home but yours?"
+
+So she had gone with him to the far north.
+
+They had one child, a lovely little girl, who bore the name of Helga;
+she must be a true daughter of Iceland, and to this even her name must
+witness. But her foreign descent was not to be hid; true, she had the
+fair skin and beautiful flaxen hair of a northern girl, but her eyes
+were as dark and mysterious as her mother's.
+
+The Icelanders have no flowers; they know of their beauty only by the
+tales of their countrymen who have seen them on their travels; but
+every one who looked into little Helga's beautiful face thought that
+flowers must look like that, and thus she was called "the Flower of
+Iceland."
+
+Fair Helga loved her grave father, but she loved still more her
+beautiful and gentle mother, by whose side she spent most of her time.
+
+Every spring the father set out for the coast with a few servants to
+get fish for the year's household provisions; for though he dearly
+loved Marietta and his home, the sea still exercised the old spell on
+his heart. In summer and autumn he was accustomed to go to the distant
+trading places along the coast, there to exchange the wool of his
+large and well-conditioned flocks for the valuable products of foreign
+lands, with which he loved to please and adorn his dear ones.
+
+At such times Helga would sit at her mother's feet, listening as she
+told in the soft, sweet sounds of her native tongue about the blue sky
+and the warm golden sunlight of Italy, of the beautiful flowers and
+evergreen woods, and of the fine mild nights when the young girls
+would dance in the moonlight to the sound of the mandoline, and
+pleasure and melody reigned over land and sea.
+
+Ah! how beautiful that country must be; and here everything was so
+different. No dance, no song, either from human lips or from the
+throat of a bird. Helga had never even heard the sheep give a cheerful
+bleat; everything was stupid and grave; the silence of death was
+Nature's language here.
+
+Then Helga's dark eye would wander away over Iceland's wide and desert
+heaths, over the lava-fields that stretched for miles, and which had
+buried the freshness of nature under their stiff mantle of mourning.
+She gazed on those giant ice-mountains, untrod by human foot, which
+rise like monuments of death, with thick mist-veils about their brow.
+Even when a sunbeam happens to pierce the cloudy covering, the
+colossal piles of ice shine in the pale light like sarcophagi in a
+vault. Then Helga would shudder and think with ardent longing on her
+dear mother's native land.
+
+And she? Ah, her husband had been right. In spite of her love for him,
+she pined for the sunny valleys of her childhood, all the more as she
+never told her husband of the grief that gnawed at her heart, for he
+placed his Iceland before all the paradises of the world. Ten years
+had scarcely gone by till Marietta's warm heart lay still beneath the
+sod.
+
+Helga thought her heart would break when they carried her loved mother
+out towards the hill, whence she had so often looked longingly out
+over the sea, watching the blue waves as they hastened towards the
+beautiful but distant south.
+
+"When you bury me," said the dying woman to her husband, "lay me so
+that my face may look towards Italy." And they did as she wished.
+
+Helga often sat now on the grave, herself the only flower that
+brightened it; and along with her dear mother's image those distant
+countries came vividly before her mind, as she had heard them
+described as long as she could remember.
+
+A distant relation now came to take charge of the housekeeping. She
+had willingly left her home, bringing with her her only son, in
+compliance with her rich cousin's request. The stern old woman had no
+sympathy with Helga's longings, and counted her descriptions of
+distant lands as fairy tales; nothing, she thought, could be more
+beautiful than Iceland. But Olaffson, her boy, who was only a few
+years older than the little orphan, became Helga's eager listener.
+With equal delight he looked on her beautiful face and listened to her
+stories; the grave blue eyes, which were usually as cold as the
+glaciers of his native island, would kindle as she went on, and when
+Helga stopped he would say, "I will be a sailor, and travel to those
+countries to see if they are really so beautiful!"
+
+"But you will take me with you?"
+
+"Oh yes, of course."
+
+Thus the years went by, and the time drew quickly on when the tree,
+the seed of which had been sown by Helga's hand, bore fruit. Olaffson
+was no longer a boy, and he decided on going to sea. The head of the
+house willingly gave his consent, and the time of parting came.
+
+Fair Helga's cheek was pale. Olaffson fancied that it was the
+separation that troubled her so deeply, and that thought sweetened the
+bitter hour to him. But ah! it was only her grief at having to stay at
+home on the cold and barren island, and at not being allowed to see
+the countries to which, as she thought, she had a much better right
+than Olaffson.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another year had gone. Olaffson had come home and given an account of
+all that he had seen. The hour of parting again drew near. Early next
+morning he was to set out on a second and longer journey, and in
+spite of Helga's tears and entreaties to be allowed to go, her father
+and Olaffson had only shaken their heads and laughed at her
+childishness.
+
+It was evening. She went with Olaffson to the grave on the hill, there
+to hear once more about the wonders of foreign lands. Hour after hour
+flew by; she could not tire of the delightful theme.
+
+"Well, Helga," Olaffson at last concluded, "it is indeed as beautiful
+in those countries as your mother used to tell you; almost more
+beautiful--yes, much more beautiful; still, it is not Iceland. There
+is no place so beautiful as our native land--no place."
+
+Helga looked at him incredulously.
+
+"You may believe me, Helga," he said. "Look; it is now midnight. In
+those countries there has been night, deep night for hours; the sun
+has long ago forsaken them, but it loves our island better, for it
+lingers longer with us. Just look over yonder. It has just sunk into
+the sea, and on the rosy western sky it paints in silvery outline the
+beautiful leafy forests which are denied to our soil. Only look how
+they nod their gleaming heads; does it not seem as if you could hear a
+mysterious rustling among their branches? And are not the white clouds
+above like eagles circling over their summits? And now look at the
+clear light around you! The nights there are as dark as the
+consciences of criminals; our nights are like the heart of a pious
+child--light, clear, and still."
+
+"But it is so cold here--so cold that my very heart freezes within
+me," said Helga complainingly.
+
+"But the cold is bracing," said Olaffson. "There, I found men weak,
+cowardly, and effeminate. I could tell you many a sad story to show
+this. Now look at your own land, Flower of Iceland, for you belong to
+us; we are honest, brave, and strong as our fathers were, and our sons
+will be after us, and that we owe to Iceland and its glaciers, its
+cold but strengthening climate. I tell you, fair Helga, there is but
+one Iceland, as there is but one flower in it."
+
+Early next morning Olaffson was to set out. Helga's father said he
+would go down to the coast also with his servants, for it was the time
+of the yearly fishing, so that they might as well travel together so
+far.
+
+The farewell was short and silent. Helga struggled to keep back her
+tears when she saw how merrily they all sprang into the saddle, and
+when she thought of Olaffson's words about Iceland's brave people; for
+she must show herself worthy of her race. But her dark eyes rested so
+longingly on her father's face that he knew what was passing in her
+heart.
+
+"Come, Helga," said he, stooping down from his horse, "you may go with
+us as far as the hill where the lava-fields begin." Then he took her
+up before him on the saddle, and soon the horses were off at a canter.
+Soon they reached the hill at the foot of which the lava-fields began,
+whose dark lines stretched for miles along the horizon.
+
+Helga could no longer restrain her tears. She threw her arms sobbing
+round her father's neck and said, "Don't stay long away, dear father;
+it is so dreary at home when you are both away."
+
+"I will come back in a few weeks, my Helga," said her father,
+soothingly; "meantime be a good girl, and help your cousin with the
+housekeeping."
+
+He kissed her snow-white brow silently, but tenderly, lifted her down
+from the horse, and after one more pressure of the hand the little
+band set out again.
+
+Helga watched them till a sinking of the road hid them from view; then
+she went back towards the hill, leant against the side of a rock, and
+looked into the distance, shading her eyes with her hand. Then they
+came into sight again, but so far away that Helga's farewell could not
+reach their ear. A fleeting sunbeam rested on them a moment, making
+horses and riders shine out clearly from the desert plain over which
+they were moving. Then a mist, such as only Iceland's mountains could
+send forth, fell around them, and Helga saw them no more.
+
+She leaned her head sobbing against the rock, closed her eyes, and
+wept hot tears of grief and loneliness. Then a voice of wondrous
+sweetness sounded suddenly in her ear, "Why does fair Helga weep?"
+
+Helga opened her eyes in astonishment. No one was there; she could see
+nothing but the mist in the distance and the bare lava-fields at her
+feet. She closed her eyes again.
+
+"Helga, fair Helga, why are you so sad?" said the voice again; it
+seemed as if it came from the sky.
+
+A slight shudder passed through Helga's frame; she did not venture to
+stir, but she timidly opened her eyes and looked up. But what did she
+see? Was the azure Italian sky, of which she had so often dreamt,
+coming here to meet her? Right before her, on the summit of the hill,
+stood a form of majestic beauty, which must surely belong to some
+happier clime. Eyes of deep and mysterious blue shone down on Helga
+from the kingly countenance, and hair lovelier than her own, golden as
+the stars of the summer night, flowed down over the robe of purple
+velvet in which the stranger was clad.
+
+"Why does fair Helga weep?" he asked tenderly.
+
+Helga tried to regain her composure. "How do you know me, O stranger?"
+she asked shyly.
+
+"Who does not know the Flower of Iceland?" answered he with a smile.
+"Shall I tell you some things about yourself that will prove to you
+how long I have known you, and how well I am acquainted with your
+history? Shall I tell you how often I have seen you sitting on your
+mother's grave, and what images there passed before your mind? Shall I
+say what longing a moment ago stirred your soul--how you wished to be
+permitted to travel with Olaffson, that you might see those rich and
+wondrously beautiful lands? But no such journey is necessary to the
+fulfilment of your wish. Your mother's paradise is here--here close
+beside you."
+
+Helga's eyes shone, half in doubt, half in delight.
+
+"Here, here?" she asked, incredulously. "How can that be?"
+
+"Just come a few steps with me to the other side of the hill, and then
+you will see that I speak the truth."
+
+Helga took his proffered hand. The stranger who had known her so long
+and so well was no longer a stranger to her, and he could not be an
+enemy who was about to fulfil her heart's dearest wish. So she went
+fearlessly with him to the other side of the hill.
+
+The stranger placed his hand against the rock, which immediately
+opened, and allowed Helga and her guide to enter. She stood
+spell-bound with astonishment. Then she passed her hand over her brow,
+and tried to think if this could be a dream. But no, it was reality.
+There lay before her a wondrous region, more beautiful than her
+mother's native land or than all her childish dreams.
+
+Through the crystal dome that stretched above this paradise the sun
+sent beams bright and warm such as the children of Iceland never see
+or feel. Their golden light trembled among the green foliage of the
+majestic trees, played with the flashing fountain jet, and flamed in
+the cups of the transparent flowers.
+
+In the distance the ocean rolled its deep blue waves round wooded
+islands, and amid the fragrance of the flowers and the brilliant
+colours of the lovely scene hovered sweet and magic music, which
+floated to the shore of the sea, whose waves bore it in soft echo to
+the happy isles.
+
+Helga looked round with delight such as she had never felt before. Had
+earth really such beauties, and was she permitted to gaze on them?
+
+She stooped to examine the wonderful flowers, gently stroked the
+velvet of their leaves with her white hand, and pressed her lips into
+their fragrant cups. Then her delighted eye watched the fountain, as
+its waters rose in a line of light almost to the crystal dome, then
+fell in a graceful curve far beyond its basin, so that the shrubs and
+flowers bent beneath its shining dew.
+
+Then she turned towards the lofty trees, pressed her face gently
+against their smooth stems, and looked up at their shining foliage,
+which rustled softly in the breeze. Snow-white birds hopped from
+branch to branch, and threw friendly glances at Helga as at an old
+acquaintance. Was it these feathered songsters that made the sweet
+music which floated with the sunbeams and the soft spring air all
+through this lovely place? Or did the tall trees or the distant sea
+give forth the sweet sounds that soothed with soft caress Helga's
+heart and mind, bearing away on their melodious waves the past and its
+memories?
+
+Hours had flown by in this fairy kingdom, and to Helga they seemed but
+as one moment. At last she turned to the stranger, who had followed
+her every movement with loving eyes, and had noticed her delight.
+
+"Oh, how shall I thank you," she said, grasping his hand, "for
+bringing me here and satisfying the longing of years? But tell me
+where I am; for Iceland's cold hills hide no such paradise."
+
+"You are in my kingdom, fair Helga," answered the stranger in a gentle
+voice; "and I am the fairy king of Iceland."
+
+Helga looked at him in astonishment. No lips save her mother's had
+ever told her of such things, and _she_ knew nothing of Iceland's
+spirit kingdom. Therefore Helga felt neither terror nor anxiety.
+
+"Ah! if I could only stay here always," she cried earnestly.
+
+"I wish for nothing better," said the king; "and why should you not?"
+
+"Ah! my dear, good father--he has no one but me," said Helga, thinking
+for a moment of her home.
+
+"But he is now far away," said the fairy king persuasively; "and you
+can stay at least till he comes back."
+
+"So I can," cried Helga in delight. So she stayed with the fairy king.
+
+One day in this paradise was just like the next, as it will perhaps be
+in heaven, where there is nothing to remind the blessed of the flight
+of time, where it is all one gloriously happy present, because they
+have no past to look back on with sad memory, and the future has
+nothing more beautiful to excite their longings.
+
+Helga moved with happy heart by the side of the fairy king through
+this paradise. The white birds flitted around her, now and then
+settling on her hand or shoulder. The sea with the blue waves gave a
+sound of pleasant greeting when Helga and the fairy king drew near its
+shores. Then when he seized her hand and they stepped together on one
+of the little waves, this fairy boat carried them gently and swiftly
+over to the happy islands.
+
+At midnight, when Iceland's sun spread its crimson mantle along the
+horizon, its reflection streamed through the crystal dome, glowed like
+roses in the fountain and on the birds' white feathers, while the sea
+rolled to the shore in violet waves.
+
+Then Helga knew that she must close her eyes, in order to strengthen
+herself for a new day of happiness. She lay down on the soft moss,
+while the fairy king sat near her and took his harp. From its strings
+streamed forth magic music which banished memory from Helga's soul.
+The sweet sounds lulled her to sleep, and carefully guarded the gates
+of her heart, permitting no dream to knock there which could remind
+her of the past and its claims. But, once, the chord which nature has
+placed between the hearts of parent and child, and which never breaks
+even though seas lie between, sounded with a startling thrill.
+
+Helga's father had come home, and his grief and lamentation at the
+loss of his beloved child were so violent that Helga's slumbering
+heart awoke.
+
+"My father!" she said suddenly one day as she stood beside the sea,
+and drew back the foot which she was just on the point of placing on
+the wave that stood bowing its blue head before her. "My father! I
+think I hear you lamenting my loss. Is it not my duty to leave all
+these beautiful things here and return to him?"
+
+A shadow fell on the fairy king's face. He silently seized his harp
+and drew from it strains more beautiful, more heart-enthralling than
+Helga had ever heard before. They floated away over the sea till the
+waves sank into silence, unwilling to disturb the sweet melodies. And
+in Helga's heart memory ceased to thrill, and the visions of the past
+faded from her mind.
+
+Then the fairy king told her how he had chosen her years ago as the
+queen of this kingdom, and had watched over her since her childhood;
+that he had prepared all these beautiful things only for her, with the
+hope that she would some day be his wife, and thus gain for him
+that for which his soul had yearned during long centuries--an immortal
+soul, a boon which is denied to the poor fairies in every land.
+
+[Illustration: HELGA IN THE FAIRY KING'S PALACE. F. C., p. 154.]
+
+"Will you be my wife now, fair Helga?" he asked in conclusion. "I will
+love you with a faithful love such as you would seek in vain among
+your degenerate race. You shall never regret having given to the poor
+fairy king the desire of his heart."
+
+"I will, I will!" said she, seizing his hands with childish frankness.
+"I will always stay with you."
+
+The king's eyes shone with joy.
+
+"But, fair Helga, the laws of our kingdom are strict; we hold the vows
+of faithfulness more sacred than you do, although we look for no
+eternal reward. If you become my wife, and by uniting your soul to
+mine impart to me your immortality, then you belong henceforth to me,
+and to me alone. Your father and your home have no longer any claim on
+you, and if you ever return to them, then I must hold you guilty of
+robbing me of my soul, and our kingdom will demand your life as the
+penalty. Canst thou keep such faith as this with me, O Flower of
+Iceland?"
+
+Fair Helga leaned forward. "Look into my eyes," she said; "do you
+think me so ungrateful? I will be your wife, and you shall gain
+through me a never-dying soul. Do you think I could disappoint your
+hopes of immortality?"
+
+So fair Helga, the Flower of Iceland, was married to the fairy king.
+
+A year had gone by. The sun shone once more through the crystal dome,
+and fair Helga's fairy kingdom still bloomed in unfaded beauty; but
+the Flower of Iceland was pale and sorrowful, and a tear trembled on
+her lowered eyelashes.
+
+Was the fairy king's wife not happy? Oh yes, she was happy, almost too
+happy. Beauty and love surrounded her on every side; but undisturbed
+blessedness never lasts long on earth.
+
+Her husband was far away. The laws of the fairy kingdom compelled him
+to go every year across the sea to give account of his government to
+the supreme lord of the fairy race, whose throne stood in the rocky
+mountains of Norway. He had promised to return in a week, and now
+three weeks had gone by, and he had not come home. This thought gnawed
+at fair Helga's heart, and made her blind to all the beauty around
+her. In vain did the white birds flit around her head, stroking her
+cheeks with their soft wings. Helga's soul was sunk in sorrow, and the
+magic music with its soothing power lay asleep in the harp. At last
+she rose.
+
+"Ah! I must be disobedient, my husband; forgive me, forgive me! But
+anxiety will kill me, if I do not go out to look if I can see you in
+the distance."
+
+She sprang up and went to the door in the rock. The birds fluttered
+anxiously around her, but she frightened them away with her hand, and
+touched the wall through which she had entered a year ago. The rock,
+not daring to refuse obedience to its mistress, opened, and fair Helga
+stepped out on the barren soil of Iceland. But after being so long
+accustomed to the warm summer air, she shuddered as she felt the icy
+breath of her old home, and with hurried steps she went to the point
+of the rock. Here she stopped, turned her beautiful face, and looked
+over her left shoulder towards the south-east.
+
+Before the power of this magic glance the veil of the distance
+vanished. Her look pierced through Iceland's fogs, flew over the
+eastern mountains, and swam on the Atlantic waves to the steep
+rock-bound coast of Norway. She saw the mysterious inhabitants of the
+mountains, and the mighty fairy king seated on his diamond throne,
+over which thousands of years had passed, leaving it still unshaken.
+Around him stood his people in their unfading youth and beauty, bowing
+in lowly reverence. But her husband's noble form was not among them;
+she could not meet the glance of his deep blue eye, though she
+anxiously examined every countenance. At last she looked sadly away,
+and turned to go back to her lonely kingdom.
+
+But when she went round the corner of the rock she saw a tall, manly
+form standing in the very place whence she had once watched her father
+and Olaffson as they rode away over the lava-fields. With a cry of joy
+she ran to the spot. Could it be that her husband had been so near,
+while she believed him far away? But the man, hearing her light
+footstep, turned his head, and she looked not on her husband's
+youthful beauty, but on the careworn face of her long-forgotten
+father.
+
+"Helga, Helga!" The words fell on her ear with a strange thrill. "My
+child, you are still alive, you are still on earth?" and he stretched
+out his arms towards her, and pressed her to his breast, while the hot
+tears fell on her brow.
+
+The long-silenced chords now sounded loudly in Helga's heart, memory
+awoke, and the fairy king's harp was not near to lull it to sleep
+again.
+
+"My dear, good father," she said, thinking now of none but him, "weep
+not. Your Helga lives and is happy; but how old you have grown, and
+how white your hair is!"
+
+"Yes, Helga, I had lost you, my only child; but now that I have found
+you my youthful vigour will return. Come home quickly, my daughter.
+How glad Olaffson will be."
+
+At these words Helga's heart trembled. "My dear, dear father," she
+said, gently stroking the furrowed cheeks, "I cannot go with you; I
+belong now to another world." Then she told her astonished father all
+that had happened to her since the hour when she said good-bye to him
+at the edge of the lava-field.
+
+"I have given my word," she concluded, "and, hard as it seems not to
+go with you, I dare not, I dare not."
+
+"Alas, my child, my poor unhappy child!" said the father sorrowfully;
+"into what hands have you fallen?"
+
+"Into the best and tenderest, my father," said Helga, soothingly.
+"Would that my husband were at home, that you might see him; but I
+will show you my kingdom, that your mind may be set at rest."
+
+She took her father's hand and led him towards the side of the rock
+which concealed the entrance into the fairy land. She touched it, but
+the door remained closed; again and again she passed her hand over the
+hard stone, but there was no movement.
+
+Helga's heart throbbed as though it would break, and she sank down on
+the hard ground, begging with bitter tears for admission to her
+kingdom; but all was still, dead, and motionless.
+
+Poor Helga! Without knowing it, she had transgressed the laws of the
+fairies by speaking to a mortal of the mysteries of the spirit-world,
+and now its gates were barred against her. With bitter regret she now
+remembered her husband's parting command--not to return to the outer
+world, to which she had no longer any right. Soon, she thought, will
+the other awful threat be fulfilled, and she sank unconscious into her
+father's arms.
+
+He was rejoiced to see the fairy kingdom closed against his daughter,
+and with a lightened heart he bore the precious burden back to her
+childhood's home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After long hours and days of darkness, Helga's youthful strength
+triumphed, and she opened her eyes in full consciousness. Her first
+glance fell on her father, who sat at her bedside.
+
+"You here, my dear father? Then my meeting with you was not a dream?
+But now let me get up and go to my husband; he must have come home
+long before this, and he will believe me when I tell him that I did
+not intend to leave him."
+
+"My child, look round you," said the father, soothingly. "Let those
+feverish fancies die. See, you are where you have always been, at
+home with your old father. All through your long illness you have
+raved about a fairy king and his paradise, of your marriage and your
+promises. But these were only fancies, my Helga, such as fever often
+causes."
+
+Helga looked at him in trembling astonishment.
+
+"That is impossible," she said at last in a faltering voice. "Bring
+out my clothes, and see whether Iceland has such splendid garments as
+those."
+
+"Splendid garments?" repeated her father as if in surprise. Then he
+rose and brought Helga's dress, a garment such as she had always been
+accustomed to wear.
+
+Helga examined it doubtfully, then she passed her hand over her brow,
+looked up at her father, and said in a low voice, "I cannot understand
+it. Can one then dream such things as those?"
+
+"Certainly, my child; it is always so in fever. When I went to the
+coast a few weeks ago, taking you with me as far as the lava-field,
+you must have climbed the rock to watch us and fallen asleep there.
+Then the cold mountain mist crept round you, and almost prevented you
+from ever awaking. When your cousin thought you were staying too long,
+she set out with the servants to look for you; there they found you
+lying on the rock in a state of unconsciousness, and brought you home.
+A messenger was sent after us, and we returned as quickly as possible.
+I left my fishing, and Olaffson gave up thoughts of his voyage, that
+we might be near at hand to watch and care for you."
+
+Helga sighed. Her father had never told her an untruth, so she felt
+compelled to believe him, though her heart rebelled against his words
+with bitter grief.
+
+Ah! she little suspected that her father, in the hope of keeping his
+dear child beside him and hindering her return to fairyland, had
+invented this story, and carefully taught it to every one about the
+house.
+
+Helga's bodily strength increased day by day, but over her spirit
+rested a cloud of melancholy, and she pined in secret for the paradise
+of her "feverish dreams."
+
+She was at last almost convinced that such they had indeed been, for
+when she spoke to any of the servants about her lost fairy kingdom,
+they always smiled and said, "Those were mere fancies; we were about
+you all the time and heard you rave about them."
+
+As for the voyage round the world which Olaffson had completed since
+she went away, of that she heard nothing, nor was she aware that the
+world's history had advanced a year while she tarried in fairyland.
+The farm-houses in Iceland are separated from each other by long
+distances, so that it was but seldom that Helga came in contact with
+any of the neighbours; and if a chance stranger came to claim the
+rights of hospitality, the father or Olaffson took care to warn him
+beforehand not to disturb Helga's delusion.
+
+But the precaution was almost unnecessary; for the Flower of Iceland,
+once so cheerful and talkative, who used to greet the arrival of a
+stranger as a joyous event, and was never tired of asking questions
+about the wonders of foreign lands, the same Helga sat silent and
+listless, and left the room as soon as the conversation turned on
+beautiful scenery. For the visions of her lost paradise came back to
+her mind, and it needed a conflict of hours to still her restless
+heart. "Ah! it was only a dream."
+
+Olaffson had given up his seafaring life, and now busied himself about
+the farm. Helga's father loved him as a son, and intended making him
+the heir of his valuable property. But he had hopes of giving him
+something better still. He was only waiting till Helga should be once
+more the joyous Helga, till the Flower of Iceland should raise its
+drooping head. But this time seemed far distant.
+
+"Perhaps she will be better when she is married," said the father to
+himself, as he looked anxiously at Helga. She was leaning against the
+grassy ditch that enclosed the farm, and gazing into the glow of the
+evening sky. He stepped softly up to her.
+
+"What is my Helga thinking of?" he asked tenderly.
+
+"Of the evening rays that are now falling through the crystal dome, of
+the little waves crowned with the roses of the sunset sky, and of the
+sweet music of the harp," she answered dreamily.
+
+"Helga," said the old man reproachfully, "will you never shake off
+these delusions. You have heard from every tongue that they were fever
+fancies; but you want to vex my heart."
+
+"Oh, no, no, dear father. Do not think so ill of your Helga," she said
+quickly, as she turned and stroked his cheeks caressingly. "I know
+very well that they were only dreams, but you cannot believe how
+deeply they are burnt into my heart. It seems like faithlessness to
+tear them away."
+
+"That is a remnant of the fever," said the old man. "Ah, Helga, how
+happy should I be if you were yourself again!"
+
+"And I too, dear father," said Helga, with a gentle sigh.
+
+"I know one way of curing you, and if you love me you will try it."
+
+"That I will, father."
+
+"Do you promise it, my Helga?"
+
+"Yes, dear father," she answered unhesitatingly.
+
+"Then listen: Olaffson is good and brave, is he not?" Helga nodded.
+"He loves you dearly, and my most cherished wish is that you should
+become his wife, and that you should live under my roof, brightening
+my old age with the sight of your happiness."
+
+Helga grew deadly pale.
+
+"Ah, father, dear father, I cannot."
+
+"Why not, Helga? Have you anything against him? Is he not young,
+handsome, and strong? Is he not brave and good? Could you find me a
+better son, or yourself a more loving husband? Tell me, are you
+influenced in this matter by those foolish dreams, the wild images of
+your brain? Tell the truth, Helga."
+
+She looked at him in trembling entreaty.
+
+"Ah, my father, forgive me."
+
+"If you want to make your old father happy, say Yes, and become
+Olaffson's wife; if you wish to poison my last days with sorrow, then
+leave my wish unfulfilled."
+
+With these words the old man turned away in anxious grief, and moved
+towards the house.
+
+Helga hastened after him.
+
+"Do not be angry, my father," she begged; "I will fulfil your wish,
+come what will."
+
+"I thank you, my good child; but what do you fear? What could come of
+it but a father's blessing, with its fruits of happiness and peace?"
+
+So Helga became Olaffson's wife.
+
+Did the Flower of Iceland now regain its freshness and bloom? Alas!
+no. In spite of her father's tenderness and her husband's love, she
+still remained sorrowful and pale; deeper, if anything, was the shadow
+that oppressed her soul. To longing was now added remorse, the
+bitterest feeling that can disturb a human heart, for it is the only
+one for which time has no balm.
+
+"How could I ever rob you of your claim to immortality?" she had once
+said to the poor fairy king; and even though the words had been only
+spoken in a dream, yet they burned into her soul, and when she
+consented to be Olaffson's wife, it seemed to her as if she had really
+shut out that poor spirit from the heavenly paradise.
+
+The short summer passed, and Helga shuddered more than ever under the
+icy breath of the northern winter; but it too went by, and spring came
+at last across the ocean to Iceland's snowy plains. The roads were
+once more passable, and the first sacrament of the year was to be
+solemnised in the church of the parish to which the farm held by
+Helga's father belonged. Olaffson asked his wife to partake with him
+of the sacred symbols, and she gladly consented. Perhaps she thought
+this feast of reconciliation might bring back her long-lost peace.
+
+She went about her work with more energy than she had shown for many
+months, so anxious was she to have everything in readiness for the
+morrow, for they would have to set out early in order to reach the
+distant church in time for the service. She was just laying the table
+for supper when she saw her husband passing the window, and by his
+side a stranger of tall and manly form.
+
+"See, Helga," said Olaffson as they entered, "I bring an honoured
+guest; set out your best provisions, for he has travelled far, and is
+in need of refreshment."
+
+Helga looked at the stranger. His face was handsome, but over his
+youthful features sorrow had passed with heavy hand. But when he
+raised his deep blue eyes to Helga, and asked in soft and melodious
+tones--"Will the Flower of Iceland permit a stranger to rest beneath
+her roof?" a shudder passed through her frame, and the old conflict
+began in her soul more wildly and perplexingly than ever.
+
+These eyes, this voice, could they have spoken to her only in a
+feverish dream? And if she had been deceived--what then? The thought
+threatened to rob her of reason; but Olaffson stepped up to her and
+said--
+
+"Our guest must be tired and hungry, my Helga; will you not grant him
+the welcome which the stranger has always met beneath this roof?"
+
+Helga recovered herself by a great effort, and went out to prepare a
+room for the mysterious guest, while the latter sat down at table with
+the others. Then she slipped softly back, took a seat in a dark
+corner, and gazed with mingled anxiety and longing on the stranger's
+face.
+
+"Look here, sir," said Helga's father, pointing to the sky, "do you
+ever see anything like that in your native land? Do you not
+acknowledge Iceland to be the most beautiful country in the world?"
+
+"Yes," said the stranger, "your land is indeed beautiful; but your
+home and mine are not so very far distant from one another."
+
+He glanced at Helga--of whose presence the others were not aware--then
+he described the land in which he lived, the same land that Helga was
+said to have seen only in the delirium of fever.
+
+She listened with breathless attention. It seemed to her as if the
+splendour of fairyland once more surrounded her. She saw the blue
+waves rolling at her feet, and felt herself, as in days gone by,
+rocking on their gleaming crests. She ran merrily to the side of the
+fountain and caught at the water, that she might sprinkle it in sport
+on the birds; and she saw the transparent flowers bending their
+fragrant cups in friendly greeting. Every moment she expected to see
+the stranger throw aside his disguise, and, standing before her in
+royal purple, touch the long-disused strings of his golden harp.
+
+Alas! her father had then deceived her that he might keep her at home;
+her heart had told her the truth, and she, instead of listening to its
+entreaties, had weakly yielded to persuasion, and broken her sacred
+promise. And now? Too late, too late--all was over. Full of grief and
+despair, she hastened out of the house to pour out her heart in bitter
+weeping amid the stillness of the night.
+
+Next morning, when all was ready for the journey, when the horses were
+stamping impatiently before the door, the family all assembled to
+conform to an old Icelandic custom. In that island, before any family
+partake of the sacrament, each member asks forgiveness of all the rest
+for wrongs consciously or unconsciously committed. Helga took her
+father's hand and her husband's. "Forgive me for all the anxiety I
+have caused you," she begged in a low voice; then she added the
+mysterious words, "and also for the sorrow that I am about to bring
+upon you."
+
+"You must also ask forgiveness of our guest, Helga, in case you have
+offended him," said Olaffson. "You were not to be found yesterday when
+he wanted to bid you good-night."
+
+She shuddered, cast a farewell glance on her father's face, and moved
+towards the stranger's room.
+
+Yes, it was as she felt and knew. The dark garment of yesterday had
+disappeared; before her stood the fairy king in radiant beauty, with
+his golden hair flowing down over his purple robe.
+
+She clasped her hands in silent entreaty, and her beautiful eyes
+looked up with love and humility to the face of her beloved but
+deeply-wronged husband.
+
+"Helga, Helga," said he gravely, "is this how you have been faithful
+to your love and your promise?"
+
+"Oh, do not be angry with me," begged Helga; "to your spirit-eye
+nothing has been hidden; you know how it all came about--how my
+anxiety for you drove me to seek you--how my father found me, and how
+I was going to show him our kingdom in order to set his mind at rest.
+You know that the gates were closed against me, and that I was borne
+back unconscious to my old home--that they kept me there by
+cleverly-invented stories, and that at last my father's entreaties
+forced me to the last and hardest step. But you know also that I have
+loved only you, that my heart is yours alone."
+
+"Be judged by thine own words, O Flower of Iceland!" replied the fairy
+king quietly. "Why didst thou not listen to the voice of thy heart? We
+fairies know nothing of human weakness, therefore we cannot forgive
+it. Dost thou know the fate that now awaits thee, Helga?"
+
+"I know it well," answered Helga firmly, "and if my mouth has been
+unfaithful, my heart has been true. I welcome death, for it will
+reunite me to you!"
+
+Then a happy smile passed over the fairy king's noble countenance; he
+stretched out his arms, and pressed Helga dying to his heart.
+
+Finding that his wife did not come back, Olaffson hastened with his
+father-in-law to the stranger's room. They found fair Helga in the
+fairy king's arms. Both were cold and dead; in the same moment both
+hearts had broken. Olaffson tried to take Helga away from the
+stranger's arms, but in vain. What life had robbed him of, he held in
+death with a grasp that could not be loosed.
+
+"Leave them, my son," said the old grief-stricken father; "she is his
+by right. What has all our prudence done for us? Worse than nothing!
+The fairy king has reclaimed his own in spite of us."
+
+They laid them in the same coffin, and next morning the soil of
+Iceland was to receive them into its cold lap. But in the night that
+followed this eventful day, sleep fell more heavily than usual on the
+eyes of the mourners. They did not hear the whispering of gentle
+voices or the hasty tread of many feet. They did not see the multitude
+of fairies who had assembled from all parts of the island to show the
+last honour to their beloved king. Noiselessly the spirits lifted the
+coffin, carried it out of the house, and away to the rock where fair
+Helga had begged in vain for admission.
+
+To-day it was not denied her. The magic gates sprang open as the
+coffin approached. With drooping wings the white birds hovered round,
+and mourned the royal pair in notes of soft lamentation.
+
+At the shore of the beautiful blue sea the faithful spirits lowered
+their burden. There Helga and her fairy husband rest beneath the
+flowers of this paradise, and beside the gentle murmur of the waves.
+On the branches of the cypress that grows on their grave hangs the
+fairy king's harp. The hand is cold that once touched its chords; but
+when the morning breeze sweeps through them, they sound as of old in
+magic melody. The sweet notes float on the sunbeams through the
+evergreen paradise, pierce the hard rock, and hover as beautiful and
+undying legends over Iceland's heaths and snow-clad hills.
+
+
+
+
+THE SEA-FAIRY.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD MAN BESIDE THE CORPSE OF ANTONIO.]
+
+
+The evening sun was sinking in a glow of colour on the waters of the
+North Atlantic and on the rocky coast of Norway as a youth wandered
+alone by the edge of one of its numerous fiords.
+
+He was alone in the world; father and mother, brothers and sisters,
+were all dead, and he strove to still the longings of his heart by the
+wonders of foreign lands.
+
+He had seen the midnight sun from the cliffs of the North Cape, and
+his eye now rested in astonished admiration on the firmament and the
+ocean, which shone in a splendour unknown to other zones. He stepped
+close up to the edge of the sea, and looked down at the waves, which
+here broke in gold-sparkling foam. But from yon rock but a few yards
+distant he would be better able to enjoy the ever-changing play of the
+waves; so he went up to it, and laid his hand on one of its jagged
+projections to aid him in climbing. Then he saw something white and
+golden gleaming at his feet, and when he leant forward to observe it
+more closely he saw that it was the form of a young woman who was
+sitting in solitude on this uninhabited strand. Over her garment,
+white as spring blossoms, down to the purple hem, fell hair golden as
+the waves at her feet, and her tender hands lay clasped upon her knee,
+while she, dreamy and motionless, looked out upon the sea.
+
+The young man scarcely ventured to breathe lest he should frighten
+her; but a stone loosened beneath his hand and rolled rattling to the
+ground. She looked up and turned her head, and now his glance met a
+face of unimagined beauty.
+
+"Who art thou?" she asked, in gentle astonishment; "and what seekest
+thou here on this world-forsaken shore?"
+
+"I wished to see the beauties of Norway," he gathered courage to
+answer, "and I found them greater than I expected. But who art thou,
+wondrous being, who venturest to stay alone in this solitude, with
+none save the ocean and yon stern rocks to bear thee company?"
+
+"I am the sea-fairy," she answered gravely. "The golden evening
+sunshine, which streamed down into my castle, enticed me to the
+strand, as it has done many a time before. But thou art the first
+mortal that I have seen here for thousands of years."
+
+He did not answer, but gazed dreamily on her lovely form. In his soul
+the fairy tales of childhood shone dimly forth--tales of the crystal
+castle under the sea, and of the fascinating beauty of the sea-fairy;
+and now, could these have been no fables, but reality--sweet tangible
+reality?
+
+For a moment he covered his eyes with his hand, and looked again. No,
+she had not vanished. The rosy light of the evening sun lay now on her
+white garment, and her beautiful form seemed still more lovely in this
+radiance. She rose slowly, and apparently with the intention of going
+away to the waves, when such burning pain came in the young man's soul
+that he took his hand from the point of the rock and stepped
+respectfully, but with firm tread, up to the beautiful lady.
+
+"No, do not go," he begged, raising his hand in earnest entreaty; "do
+not go, thou vision of my childhood. But if thou canst not tarry
+longer here, then take me down into thy ocean kingdom. There is no one
+on earth to miss me; and now that I know that thou really dwellest
+beneath these waves, I shall feel an unappeasable longing after thee,
+as in the days of my childhood, when I lay for hours on the shore of
+my native land hoping to catch a glimpse of the pinnacles of thy
+castle."
+
+The fairy stood still, and her eye, blue and fathomless as the ocean
+at the horizon, looked in the young man's face as if to read his soul.
+
+"Knowest thou what thou askest?" she said earnestly. "If I grant thy
+petition and take thee with me, it is for no short amusement, which
+thou canst leave when tired, and wander further at thy will. No; if
+thou go with me it is to stay in my kingdom, and only with thy life
+wilt thou be permitted to release thyself from thy vow. Consider it
+well. In thy veins flows the blood of a faithless race; but we are of
+a different nature. Ingratitude and faithlessness we punish severely,
+and our heart knows no weak pity for those who incur our wrath."
+
+"Try me, lady," said the youth, with firm determination. "Take me with
+thee, and let me serve thee and surround thee with love and obedience;
+and if thou find me faithless, spare not thine anger."
+
+"Come then," said the sea-fairy, "and forget not that it is thine own
+choice." And Antonio, for that was the young man's name, walked
+joyfully beside the wondrous woman towards the waves. She loosed the
+star-set girdle from her dress, and gave it to the youth. "Put it on,"
+she said, "that those beneath the waves may recognise thee as one of
+mine;" and he did as she bade him. Then she gave him her hand, and
+stepped out upon the sea, which grew smooth beneath her foot as a path
+of crystal. Antonio followed joyfully; the magic girdle prevented him
+from sinking, and when the shore lay a few steps behind them, the
+glittering plain opened and disclosed a glassy stair that led down
+into the depths of the ocean kingdom. Did he step down on them, or
+did they, rising upwards, offer themselves to his foot? He could not
+make out how it was, for, now that he was led by the fairy's hand and
+girt with her girdle, earthly laws had no longer power over him. He
+only knew that they were descending into the water with marvellous
+swiftness, and that the waves of the Gulf Stream, which flows with the
+warmth of spring around these coasts, played softly round his head and
+shoulders, while he breathed among them as freely as on the air above.
+And when he looked upwards he saw the crystal steps break and form
+again into waves as soon as the foot left them, and above his head the
+sea heaved as was its wont, the great waves following one after the
+other with a glorious play of ever-changing colours.
+
+Soon he stood at the bottom of the sea; and here there was nothing
+dark or gloomy, as we are apt to think, but all around the reflection
+of the evening sky lit the clear depths with golden light.
+
+"Now thou art in my kingdom," said the sea-fairy; "forget not that it
+is the home of thine own choice."
+
+His eyes shone as he gave a joyful assent. "His home!" And he would
+never long for another; of that he was quite sure.
+
+They walked together over the soft, shining, golden sand. Not far off
+purple trees rose on their slender stems, and sent their wide branches
+out on every side.
+
+"That is my coral park," said the sea-fairy; "it stands in wide
+circles round the ocean castle, and keeps the wild waves far from this
+retreat."
+
+Soon they stood at the gate of the magic hedge, and the fairy laid
+her hand upon the rock. Suddenly an electric current seemed to stir
+the whole line of trees. Thousands of little slumbering creatures
+awoke, and stretched their tiny heads out of the openings between the
+branches to greet their lady. She, meantime, walked with Antonio
+through the intricate paths of the coral grove, till they reached the
+shining plain where the castle of the sea-fairy stood. Its lofty walls
+were crowned by a glittering roof, over which the waves glided to and
+fro with softest music.
+
+Antonio gazed in happy astonishment on the radiant edifice, which
+excelled in beauty all the childish dreams of which it reminded him.
+
+"And may I stay here? and shall I never be obliged to leave this
+splendour?" he asked in a gentle whisper; but before the fairy could
+answer there was a trembling in the waves around. Over the transparent
+roof, and out of the shadows of the coral grove, came myriads of
+little star-fishes of violet and rosy hues, and played round the head
+of Antonio and among the sea-fairy's locks like butterflies on a
+summer day. Then they fluttered away again, and lost themselves in the
+trembling dance of the waves.
+
+The beautiful lady, still carefully keeping hold of Antonio's hand,
+walked now over the watery meadow which surrounded the castle with its
+gentle waves; and when she reached the high-arched portal the
+transparent gates opened of themselves, and the empress of the ocean
+entered her enchanted palace.
+
+Antonio's eye was dazzled by the splendour all around. Hall after
+hall followed in brilliant succession, and over all stretched the high
+arches of the crystal roof, through which the evening sky shed its
+undiminished splendour. Warm and soft as the breath of spring, the
+little waves glided through these enchanted rooms and fell back with
+gentle splashing from the crystal walls--now shining like a flood of
+crimson, now azure blue, and now like liquid amber; thus they mirrored
+the changing play of colours in the fleeting clouds overhead.
+
+The sea-fairy looked into Antonio's joyous face. "Thinkest thou that
+thou canst forget thine earthly home here in my kingdom?" she asked
+graciously.
+
+"Forget it?" he replied. "If home is the fairest spot on earth, then I
+have only found mine now. Henceforth all other places lie eternally
+forgotten. But what is that yonder?" he asked, pointing to tall green
+pillars whose tops reached nearly to the crystal roof.
+
+"See for thyself," said the sea-fairy, and he moved by her side
+towards the last hall in which the graceful columns stood. And now he
+glides between their slender shafts, and utters a joyous cry as he
+looks up at the transparent dome, beneath which leafy tree-crowns
+waved, while little star-fishes gleamed brightly as they glided among
+the leaves.
+
+"Palm trees!" cried Antonio, breathless with astonishment--"palm
+trees, such as I have heard rustling by the banks of the Ganges! This
+must be some delusion, some golden dream, out of which I must sooner
+or later wake. No, no, there are the tender lianas winding round the
+kingly stems, and there in the shadow lurks my lotos flower, the
+most beautiful of all the gorgeous blossoms of India!"
+
+[Illustration: ANTONIO IN THE CRYSTAL CASTLE. F. C., p. 178.]
+
+He dropped the fairy's hand, hastened forward, and looked into the
+shining cup, whose purple streamers trembled in the waves.
+
+"Yes, indeed, it is the lotos, gleaming in snowy purity like its
+sisters in the holy stream, in whose cup the goddess slumbers. But oh!
+how camest thou hither, beloved flower? But what do I ask? The holy
+river of thy favoured home has caught thy falling seed and borne it
+onwards to the sea, and there on its protecting wave thou hast been
+rolled on and on, further and further, towards the south-west, till
+the warm Gulf Stream received thee. Carried northwards by this current
+of blessing which careful Nature sends to these icy realms, thou
+camest with broken palm branches and liana sprays into this northern
+fairyland, where the hand of the beauteous sea-fairy gave thee a
+second home--one beautiful enough to make thee forget even the sunny
+plains of India."
+
+Did the lotos flower think so? Its trembling cup gave no reply, but
+Antonio thought it did. Henceforth the kingdom of the sea-fairy should
+be his home, and she herself be dear to him as his father and mother
+used to be in the old half-forgotten days. His happiness seemed full
+as he moved by her side through the wide watery realm from one wonder
+to another, while her grave but beautiful mouth explained to him with
+easy eloquence the mysteries of the deep, problems in the solution of
+which curious men spend their lives in vain. Round them played the
+gay star-fishes; beside them, on the gleaming sand, thorny ray-fishes
+rolled like silver balls; behind them followed, in many-coloured
+throng, the fishes large and small, their fins and scales sparkling in
+the sunlight like silver and precious stones. They glided fearlessly
+around Antonio, let him catch and stroke them, and looked up at him
+with intelligent eyes when he spoke to them in human words. They did
+not indeed comprehend what he said, but they all understood the star
+pattern on the girdle, which still surrounded his waist with its
+radiant circle, and made him known as the friend of their beloved
+mistress.
+
+Yes, it was pleasant to glide through the waves, with beauty, peace,
+and harmony all around; but Antonio thought it more delightful still
+to wander with the majestic fairy through the halls of the crystal
+castle, to be lifted by gentle waves up to the lofty dome, and to look
+up through its clear vault to the bright sky far overhead.
+
+But Antonio's happiest moments were spent in the hall of palms, as he
+rested in the shady corner where the lotos bloomed. The flower would
+bend its white cup over his dreamy eyes, and the waves moved the
+purple stamens over his brow as gently as his mother's hand. The water
+flowed about him soft and warm, high overhead the palm trees waved
+their leafy tufts, and the sea-fairy glided through the brilliant
+halls, singing to her golden harp songs sweeter and more enthralling
+than anything Antonio had ever heard on earth. Is it any wonder then
+that he forgot his bleak, unmusical home--that he never gave it one
+longing thought?
+
+The summer sun had often sent its golden light, unbroken by night's
+darkness, into the sea-fairy's kingdom; the stars of the winter sky
+had often twinkled through the crystal roof of the ocean palace; but
+Antonio had taken no heed to the flight of time. The years passed over
+him in pleasant but monotonous repose; the little waves rippled and
+sang with unchanging cheerfulness; and Antonio hastened from pleasure
+to pleasure, without remembrance, without longing, feeling only the
+present delight.
+
+The sunlight of a new summer was making its way into the ocean realm
+when Antonio came out of the palace and walked through the gleaming
+water-meadows. The fairy had been called to a distance by some
+business in a remote part of her extensive kingdom, and Antonio had
+thus been left alone in the castle. But the splendid halls seemed to
+him only half as beautiful without their lovely queen, and he
+determined to seek the society of the merry fishes without. They came
+swimming to meet him, slipped through his fingers, splashed the water
+merrily with their fins and tails, and formed themselves into a wide
+and brilliant procession behind him as he walked.
+
+Soon the oddly-jagged branches of the coral grove arched above his
+head. He intended to-day to explore every corner of this lovely park,
+of which he had hitherto seen but one spot. He went further and
+further into the maze of trees, and the fishes followed him at every
+step and glided like silver stars through the deep red branches.
+
+Antonio looked back; the bright sunny plain and the gleaming palace
+had disappeared, hidden by the dense grove of coral; but to the side
+at the outer edge of the forest he heard a sullen, ceaseless roaring,
+for the ocean billows rolled high and dark beyond the magic circle.
+
+He went further; everything became strange and awful. There was not a
+glimpse of the bright familiar regions he knew so well. Purple
+twilight lay around him, and to the side the darkly rolling ocean; but
+there before him was a faint glimmering of light which became
+gradually brighter. Could it be the crystal castle which he thought he
+had left far behind?
+
+At last he reached the light, and looked down on the scene at his
+feet. Before him lay an open space, over which the sunlight streamed,
+unhindered, in golden radiance, and under this flood of sunshine
+rested rows of pale, silent sleepers, heart to heart and arm in arm,
+as the rage of the ocean or the anger of the sea-fairy had torn them
+away from their full, warm, joyous life. They had sailed fearlessly in
+their trusty ships over the sea, perhaps even rejoicing in their
+nearness to the haven, and in the prospect of happy meetings, when
+they were suddenly shattered by a hidden reef, or dragged downward by
+the treacherous whirlpool.
+
+Antonio walked with loudly-beating heart among the sleepers. Here lay
+an old man with long and silvery hair, and his withered hand rested
+tenderly on the head of a beautiful boy; beside him lay a man, whose
+youthful wife, even in the death-struggle, had not loosed her hold on
+her tender infant; there slept two stalwart youths, their hands
+clasped as in strong affection--they were brothers, as the likeness
+of the features showed. And there--and there--and there, wherever
+Antonio's glance fell, lay forms once beautiful in their youthful
+strength, now cold and stiff in death. And yet they only seemed to be
+asleep, for, however long they might have rested there, time had made
+no ravages among them. Their features were unchanged, save for a
+deeper peace; and when the coral branches overhead rocked in the
+waves, sending their purple shadows over the lonely ocean graveyard,
+there fell on the faces of the dead something like the reflection of
+their former life.
+
+Antonio bent over them, as if to read the last sad thought of the pale
+lips--to learn the last unspoken wish, that he might take it with him
+as a solemn vow, and fulfil it as soon as he could reach the upper
+world. For the spell of the ocean kingdom was broken at the sight of
+these white faces, and he longed now for his home, bleak and unmusical
+though it was. With a deep sigh he took his eyes from this sad scene,
+and advanced to the outer edge of the coral grove, where the lofty
+branches bent and formed a low network, which divided the
+resting-place of the dead from the raging ocean. He leant with folded
+arms against the fence, and looked out on the billowy sea. The huge
+waves rose black as thunder-clouds, hurled their white froth toward
+heaven, and sank with sullen roar back into the deep. It was a scene
+of fascinating horror, and Antonio could not tear his eyes away.
+
+Then suddenly northwards through the surging waves came something
+strange, dreadful, horrible. Its long outstretched serpent neck was
+of changing green, and its wide gaping throat was full of sharp
+destructive teeth; its gigantic body wound dark through the flood--now
+drawn together, now stretched out in its immeasurable length, so that
+even the lifeless waves shrank back, and Antonio's heart almost ceased
+to beat with dread amazement. Thus the monster of the deep rose in
+slow but ceaseless movements, and its threatening head was raised
+above the foaming heaps of water beside the coral fence just as
+Antonio caught the first glimpse of its poisonous tail.
+
+"It is the sea serpent," he faltered at last, as soon as he recovered
+his power of speech--"the monster of which the fairy told me that
+death and destruction follow in its wake. The poor sailors up above on
+the surface of the water, who have perhaps laughed and mocked at it as
+an exploded fable, will now see and feel it in the last terror of the
+death-struggle." And he clasped his hands tightly as he gazed upwards
+in an agony of fear.
+
+Suddenly a wide shadow darkened the waters, covering with its gloomy
+wing the purple fence and the golden waves that flowed above the dead.
+Antonio sought for the cause of this phenomenon, and saw far above in
+the surging sea a low rock which he had not noticed before. Whether
+the wild waves had torn it from the coast and driven it hither, or
+whether the storm had forced it up from the bed of the ocean, he knew
+not; but there it stood, dark and immovable, with the waves dashing
+over it, and the sea serpent gliding round it in foaming coils.
+
+Now he knew for what end the ocean was preparing all its horrors.
+There, from the south, came a ship with well-filled sails, of firm,
+substantial build, and guided by a skilful hand; it seemed to mock at
+the terrors of the deep, for the deadly rock and the lurking serpent
+were hidden beneath the water; the huge waves surged above both, and
+covered them with their foam.
+
+The captain of the stately vessel saw the heaving waves, but he knew
+the powers of his noble ship. With flashing eye he stood on the deck,
+calming the passengers with cheerful words, and shouting his orders to
+the nimble sailors. He steered his ship confidently right over the
+familiar track, in the midst of which the treacherous rock lay waiting
+his approach.
+
+Antonio watched the ship's advance. His terror-sharpened eye
+distinguished every mast, every plank. It seemed to him as if he saw
+smiling, happy, unsuspecting faces bending over the side and nodding
+friendly greetings to him in his calm, safe depths below. He wrung his
+hands in despair, and cried in his loudest voice, "Steer to the left;
+oh! steer to the left, for to the right lurks double death." But the
+next wave drowned the cry, and granted him not even the faintest echo.
+
+Now, now must the end come--unavoidable and dread. Antonio covered his
+eyes in trembling anguish. A sudden crash, one single piercing scream,
+which with awful clearness rose above the roar of the ocean and the
+hissing of the serpent, trembled through the waves, and thrilled
+through Antonio's loudly-beating heart. His hands fell from his
+blanched face, and he looked up through the sea.
+
+The waves still rolled, the rock still stood in dreadful gloom, the
+serpent still wound its frightful coils, but the scattered planks of
+the broken vessel were driven round and round by the mad whirlpool,
+and those who a moment before had smiled in the fulness of life and
+happiness now wrestled with the waves. Strong men among them, who
+would not part from life without a struggle, grasped after floating
+planks, raised themselves above the waves, and looked round for their
+dear ones. But the sea serpent came darting over the white-crested
+billows, struck with its tail the floating timbers, and sent their
+trembling burden down to the hungry depths.
+
+Happy were those who, already choked by the water, had sunk down
+unconscious to the bed of the ocean, there to slumber undisturbed. The
+survivors were the prey of the monster. With its tail curled in horrid
+rage, its green eyes flashing, and its vast jaws gaping wide, it
+darted on every man whose powerful arm and stout heart would not give
+up the struggle with the waves, and in a moment his death-cry was lost
+in the sea serpent's horrid throat. With insatiable rage it glided
+from one to another till all had perished, and not one was left to
+carry home the dreadful tale. None would ever know the fate of the
+goodly vessel and its precious freight.
+
+Antonio had sunk on his knees, and his eyes had followed every motion
+of the sea serpent till the dreadful work was done.
+
+When all was over, the sea serpent rocked itself in horrid
+satisfaction on the waves, and let them drive it at their will. But
+the dark rock retained the power of motion, and sank slowly down into
+the deep, making the waves foam and toss as they parted right and left
+to let it pass. Then Antonio perceived that what at a distance he had
+taken for a rock was a gigantic kraken, one of those sea monsters
+which often lie quietly for years at the bottom of the ocean, then
+rise to the surface and lurk with deadly purpose in the path of
+unsuspecting men. He saw the supple, far-reaching polypus-arms, which,
+grasping at the masts, had cracked them like reeds, and torn the
+planks asunder with swifter and more complete destruction than the
+mere force of the waves could have accomplished. The snaky limbs were
+feeling aimlessly about the flood, groping down towards the soft
+sea-bed where the monster would now fasten itself for a long period of
+repose.
+
+Antonio involuntarily shrank back, although the ocean, with its
+billows and its still more dreadful monsters, could not break through
+the coral fence or disturb the sparkling waters of the Gulf Stream. He
+watched the kraken reach the bottom, settle down in its soft bed, and
+draw in its long arms as for sleep. Then all became peaceful as
+before.
+
+The wild waves sank to rest, and the ocean flowed still and clear; a
+deep blue sky arched overhead, the sun shot golden glances through the
+billows, piercing to the lowest depths, and dyeing with amber light
+the waves that flowed above the kraken, which lay like a long dark
+hill not far from the coral fence, and parted from it by a narrow
+current.
+
+Antonio stepped back hesitatingly to the fence, and looked through. On
+the sea-monster's back waved a forest of tall grass wrack, which had
+taken root there during its long years of inaction. Through the waving
+blades little fishes and sea-urchins glided fearlessly, and lazy
+turtles crept along in the shade. But in the midst, as in a nest of
+brown moss, lay something like a swan of dazzling whiteness, with
+lifeless outstretched wings. Antonio was gazing fixedly on this
+object, when a gleaming wave swept through the grass wrack, and raised
+the dead swan's limbs. The next loosed it from its dreadful
+resting-place, and bore it into the current which flowed towards the
+place of the dead.
+
+Nearer and nearer floated the bird, till it struck against the coral
+network, and Antonio stretched out his arms to grasp it. Then he saw
+that it was no swan, but a lovely maiden in a wide flowing garment,
+whom the waves had hurled down from the ship to the sea monster's
+back, and who had thus been borne to her grave. With a sorrowful heart
+he caught her in his arms, lifted her through the coral fence, and
+carried her to where the dead lay in their peaceful resting-place.
+There he laid her by the old man's side, knelt beside the dead maiden,
+and arranged the long fair hair, tossed by the waves, around the pale
+but lovely face, and folded her marble hands as if in prayer.
+
+The last duty was fulfilled, and he would now have been free to return
+to the crystal castle, there to revel in new joy and splendour, but he
+still knelt beside the maiden's corpse, looking dreamily into the
+still, white face as one looks into a dim, far distance. He knew that
+from her sleep there was no awaking; for in these deep waters no
+living thing could breathe save one that wore, like him, the
+sea-fairy's girdle; she was dead, and must slumber on till the
+resurrection morn. The eyes remained closed, and the mouth could never
+smile again, yet Antonio gazed at it as if it were about to tell him
+some dear familiar tale--perhaps the story of his own life. Antonio
+knew the sweet, innocent, tender face, but the flood of fear and
+horror which had raged for hours in his soul had confused his
+memories, and he only felt that the eyes and mouth now so firmly
+closed in death had once smiled at him in love and friendship.
+
+[Illustration: ANTONIO LAYS THE DEAD MAIDEN IN HER LAST
+RESTING-PLACE.]
+
+At last he rose, cast a last look on the lines of sleepers, stepped
+back into the coral grove, and made his way through the shadowy paths
+back to the sea-fairy's castle.
+
+His ocean vision had lost its charm, the paradise of his childish
+dreams was laid in ruins; the sunny waves, which so short a time
+before had played around him with the soft warmth of summer breezes,
+felt now so cold that he shuddered, and his breathing became laboured
+and painful.
+
+Again he rested in the hall of palms, and the stamens of the
+lotos-blossom floated caressingly over his temples, in which the blood
+now flowed more quickly, for the death-cry of the sinking crew still
+rang in his ears, and before his eyes hovered the pale, beautiful
+image of the dead maiden.
+
+Where, ah! where had he seen those features? He looked up into the
+waving summits of the palms. Could it have been on the banks of the
+Ganges that such a mouth had smiled at him, from the band of Hindu
+girls who passed him every evening with pitchers on their heads on
+their way to fetch water from the sacred stream? No, no, it was not
+there, nor in any of the favoured countries of the new world, that he
+had seen that face, for there the maidens' hair was of a darker hue.
+No; no foreign land had ever shown him those sweet features, and his
+thoughts turned to his old, half-forgotten home.
+
+The palm-trees beneath the crystal dome changed as he gazed into the
+old wide-spreading lime-tree in his father's garden, and the song of
+the waves in the fairy halls sounded in his ear like the tones of the
+little organ which his father played at evening when the day's work
+was done.
+
+Antonio closed his eyes. Was it to call up more easily the old
+long-forgotten scenes, or to hide the hot tears which started to his
+eyes? It seemed to him as if he lay once more on the round bench below
+the lime-tree, with his head on his tender mother's lap, and her soft
+hand upon his brow; above him rustled the lime leaves, and through the
+open windows floated the soft notes of his father's evening song.
+Antonio lay there listening in silence. His mother sat with a happy
+smile on her loved face, and by her side Antonio's old teacher, on
+whose lips he and his wild companions hung in rapt attention, as he
+told them of the strange lands which he had visited in his youth.
+
+Oh, what a flood of memories rushed over Antonio's heart!--music and
+fragrance, his mother's gentle hand, and the old man's wonderful
+descriptions; and in the midst of all a tender, fairy-like child, in a
+soft white dress and golden hair, who flitted like a sunbeam through
+the garden paths! When she had gathered enough flowers, she came
+softly up, sat down at her father's feet, and wove a garland; Antonio
+kept his eyes closed, not to sleep, but to listen undisturbed. The
+little one, thinking him asleep, rose softly and placed the garland on
+his brow. Then he caught her hands, and playfully held her fast; but
+she bent over him till her fair locks touched his cheeks and
+whispered, "Be quiet, Tony; thy father is telling a story, and does
+not like to be interrupted;" and she looked down at him and smiled.
+
+The riddle was solved at last. It was she. It was the sweet child to
+whom his wild boyish heart had gone out in tender love, and whose
+image had gone with him into distant lands till it faded before the
+brilliant, ever-changing scenes through which he passed. But now it
+stood before him in its old beauty, and he loved her as though they
+had parted yesterday--now, when she lay cold and stiff among the dead.
+
+He rose, clasped his hands in anguish, and looked up at the crystal
+roof, through which the evening sky sent all the bright hues of a
+northern sunset. But all that he had loved to look on here had no
+beauty for him now. Within was melody and song and unearthly
+splendour; without, death, horror, and unutterable grief. He sprang
+up, ran as if hunted through the glittering halls, and out to the
+plain before the castle; but the floods which were wont to send
+fragrance and song and radiance to hail his coming seemed to him now
+filled with deadly darkness, and the sound of their waves was like
+suppressed sobbing.
+
+He turned away shuddering, and, for the first time since he came to
+the fairy's kingdom, he directed his steps to the coral gate which
+parted the Gulf Stream from the darker billows of the ocean. He passed
+out, and walked in gloomy silence over the sand, which to-day seemed
+to have lost its golden glitter. Soon he stood at the spot where the
+crystal steps ended, and he looked up longingly through the heaving
+flood.
+
+"Oh that I could return just once to the free fresh air," he
+sighed--"to my old forsaken home!" And his wish was fulfilled, for he
+still wore the starry girdle which made the elements obedient to his
+will. The waves parted like the petals of a lily, and formed
+themselves into glassy steps. With a shout of joy Antonio placed his
+foot on the lowest one, and he scarcely knew whether he moved himself
+or whether the water lifted him from step to step. He saw the blue
+waters become clearer and clearer, until he stood on the last step,
+his head rose above the waves, and he drew deep breaths of his native
+air.
+
+With flashing eye and heaving breast Antonio looked westwards, where
+the sun's radiant ball rested on a bed of purple clouds, while the
+reflection fell in roseate and amber shadows over the whole heaven,
+and the distant billows flowed like a mantle of royal purple.
+
+But the waves which bore Antonio to the strand dashed up golden spray
+just as on that summer evening when he descended to the fairy-land
+below the sea. There lay also the red rock at which he had first seen
+the fairy, and with a sigh he bent his steps in that direction. Was
+there not some one sitting there now? Antonio shaded his eyes with his
+hand, for he was still dazzled by the unaccustomed light. It was no
+illusion. There, where the fairy once sat, was to-day a bent and aged
+figure, and instead of the golden locks flowed silvery hair about the
+temples.
+
+"A human being!" was Antonio's first ecstatic thought as he ran across
+the strand.
+
+"Good evening, sir," he cried joyfully.
+
+The old man raised his weary head, and his sad eyes rested with
+indifference upon the youth. But the last few hours had changed
+Antonio. The veil had fallen from his eyes and heart, and he saw now
+with the keen true eye of childhood. The hair on the old man's head
+had indeed grown whiter since he saw it last, and sorrow had graven
+its deep lines on the high forehead; but it was the same clear-cut
+mouth to whose words Antonio had once listened with burning eagerness,
+and in the dark eyes still flashed something of the old fire. It was
+his aged teacher, the father of the pale, beautiful maiden among the
+dead in the ocean depths.
+
+"Do you not know me, revered sir?" asked Antonio, with faltering
+voice, as he bowed in courteous greeting.
+
+The old man looked at him again.
+
+"No," he said slowly, "I did not notice you among the crew; but though
+you are a stranger, I am glad that you are saved. I thought I was the
+only survivor from the shipwreck."
+
+"Look at me once more, sir," said Antonio, trying to steady his
+faltering voice, "and turn back a few pages in your life's history.
+Think of a little garden, and of an old lime-tree beneath whose leafy
+roof you often sat, while the sweet tones of an organ thrilled through
+the summer air."
+
+The old man's eyes shone more brightly, and his lips trembled.
+
+"Antonio!" he stammered out, "Antonio!" and his white head sank on the
+shoulder of his favourite pupil, who knelt before him with his arm
+wound in filial tenderness round the childless man.
+
+"Oh, Antonio! I have lost my child to-day, only to-day. She would not
+let me go alone to the distant north, to which some luckless impulse
+drove me in my old age, and so she came with me on my toilsome
+journey. Today we struck on a hidden reef, and the same wave which
+dashed her against the dark rock drove me, despite my struggling, on
+this barren strand, though I would fain lie with my darling child
+below the waves."
+
+The old man covered his face with his hands, and Antonio did not
+venture on any words of consolation.
+
+"If I could even find her corpse," said the poor old man at last, "I
+could bury her at home; but even the sad consolation of visiting her
+grave is denied me."
+
+"She has found a better resting-place than you could give her," said
+Antonio--"she sleeps on a golden bed; a coral grove surrounds the
+spot; corruption has no power over her fair features, and no worm can
+touch her. Amid noble companions she slumbers, while the sunbeams kiss
+her snowy eyelids, and the warm waters of the Gulf Stream flow gently
+over her."
+
+"How do you know all this, Antonio?" asked the old man in
+astonishment.
+
+And Antonio told him about that evening when he met the beautiful
+sea-fairy at this very rock, and descended with her into her ocean
+kingdom, there to live in forgetfulness of home and friends, until,
+awakened by what he had seen and felt to-day, the old memories
+acquired new power over him, and throbbed more strongly than ever in
+his soul.
+
+"What will you do now, my son?" asked the old man.
+
+"I will go home with you," Antonio answered promptly. "I will be to
+you a devoted and obedient son, if you will but let me."
+
+The old man gazed at him with beaming eyes.
+
+"Then let us go," he said, rising, "for I long to leave this place of
+horror. In a few hours we shall reach the little harbour in which we
+cast anchor yesterday evening, and there we can embark in a
+homeward-bound ship."
+
+"Let it be as you will, my father," replied Antonio. "But one duty
+remains yet unfulfilled. If the sea-fairy had led me by deceit or
+violence into her kingdom, flight would be but right; but I went of my
+own free will, bound myself to obedience and unchanging fidelity, and
+enjoyed her kindness and hospitality. It seems to me cowardly and
+ungrateful to go away secretly, without a word of thanks or of
+farewell, and the thought of this would destroy my happiness at home.
+To-day she is to return. I will go to meet her, tell her what broke
+the spell of her kingdom, and beg her to let me go in peace, and with
+her blessing. Wait for me here. The air of this zone is soft, and its
+night skies clear. Before the bright night changes to the brighter
+day, I will come back to leave you no more."
+
+He kissed the old man's hand, and went towards the sea. Meantime the
+fairy had returned. The open coral gate and the empty halls of her
+palace told her that Antonio was gone. Her soul was filled with grief
+and rage. He was one, indeed, of that faithless race whom she already
+knew and hated; but his eye and heart had still that divine image
+which she sought in vain among the cold, dumb creatures of the ocean,
+and in comparison with which the beauty and harmony of her fairy realm
+seemed poor and unsatisfying. He had become very dear to her. She had
+begun to believe in his fidelity only to find herself once more
+deceived. But, as she had told him, the weak pity of mortals found no
+room in her heart. She did not complain, and no word of anger escaped
+her firm-set lips. She would go up to punish the faithless one, if he
+was still within her reach, according to her former threatenings.
+
+She passed through the coral gate to the place where the heaving steps
+led to the world above. She beckoned, and the rocking staircase grew
+firm beneath her tread. Just as she set her foot on the first step,
+Antonio began to descend. They met half-way in the midst of the sea.
+Antonio trembled, as she stood before him in the full splendour of her
+magic beauty and her overwhelming majesty and might, and his soul
+shrank from her, and turned with ardent longing to his own loved home.
+
+"Whence comest thou?" she asked sternly, although her keen ear heard
+the story of the last few hours in the louder beating of his heart.
+"Whence comest thou?" Then he gathered courage to tell her all, and
+begged her to let him go in peace.
+
+"Rememberest thou not that summer evening when thou insistedst on
+coming with me, notwithstanding my warning?" she asked in the same
+severe tone.
+
+"Yes," Antonio faltered.
+
+"And dost thou not remember my threat, and thy demand that I should
+punish thee if thou shouldst break thy faith?"
+
+"I remember it all," Antonio said, with trembling lips.
+
+"And in the face of all this dread and certain future dost thou still
+dream of leaving me?"
+
+"I cannot do otherwise," he cried passionately; "the ocean kingdom has
+lost its charm since I have seen the gulf of irreconcilable enmity
+which divides it from my race--since it has robbed me of what was once
+my heart's dearest treasure. No, proud lady, let me go; I should be
+henceforth but a dismal guest."
+
+Her eyes grew dark and fathomless as the deep sea beneath them.
+
+"Go," she said slowly, "but first loose thy girdle."
+
+He drew a deep breath of hope and delight, took the starry girdle from
+his waist, and gave it to the fairy. She took it, looked once more
+into his face, and glided down over the breaking steps.
+
+Antonio turned to seek the upper world, but the stair above him had
+vanished, the step on which his foot rested melted from beneath him,
+and he found himself floating through the dark, deep waters. But the
+waves flowed no longer soft and free as spring breezes over his head
+and breast. With his girdle he had given up his power over them, and
+now he was but a weak mortal struggling with the raging elements. The
+waves roared round him, and tossed him hither and thither like a
+ball, while he strove in vain to breathe. He looked up to measure the
+distance, then he struggled with all the strength of despair against
+the waves. His young strong arm bore him upwards; once more he raised
+his head above the flood and breathed the air of heaven. His eye
+sought the red rock on which his old teacher sat, with his arms
+stretched out helplessly towards his adopted son, whose desperate
+struggles he had no power to help.
+
+"I am coming, I am coming, my father," he cried confidently, but a
+giant billow swept over the youth and hurled him down into the boiling
+deep.
+
+The evening hues were fading from the ocean, and the old man still
+stood beside the rock, his hands clasped, and his eyes gazing fixedly
+on the now tranquil deep. A dark object came floating from the west,
+and the waves left it on the beach almost at the old man's feet. He
+raised his dark eyes and looked at the motionless form, then he rose
+and walked with tottering footsteps to the spot. There lay Antonio,
+pale, cold, and dead. He had kept his word; before the bright night
+had passed into the brighter morning he had come back, but not as he
+had dreamed and hoped. The old man's trembling hands dug his grave at
+the foot of the red rock where Antonio had first seen the fairy. Then
+he turned his footsteps towards his distant, lonely home.
+
+As soon as evening came again to visit earth and ocean, the sea-fairy
+rose through the waves, went up to the rock, and sat down beside the
+rock beneath which Antonio lay. There she sat, silent and motionless,
+her white hands lying idly in her lap, and her dreamy eyes looking
+out on the heaving billows; but down her beautiful face ran great
+tears, that shone in the light of the setting sun, and told the pain
+that throbbed in her proud and lonely heart.
+
+Not till the hues of evening gave place to the rosy tints of dawn did
+the sea-fairy go back to her ocean kingdom, never to return to earth.
+
+No mortal eye has since beheld her, and the old saga of the sea-fairy
+is no longer heard along the coast of Norway.
+
+Antonio's resting-place is desolate, as of old. It is known only to
+the Norwegian sky, which looks down brightily and sunnily upon it, and
+the little waves sometimes dash over it, sparkling like the
+sea-fairy's tears.
+
+
+
+
+The Faithful Goblin.
+
+[Illustration: FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH PUCK.]
+
+
+A Castle stood long years ago on a lofty hill in the old land of
+Hesse. Not a stone of its proud walls is now standing, and even its
+site is well-nigh forgotten by tradition; but in those days its high
+pinnacles were seen for miles over the country, and a haughty and
+noble race ruled in its halls.
+
+The beams of the setting sun were falling through the little
+lead-framed window-panes into a round turret chamber, and rested on
+the fair hair of a lovely little girl. She was kneeling on an
+arm-chair beside the window, leaning her head on her little rounded
+arms, and weeping silent but bitter tears.
+
+"Oh, Margaret, Margaret, why are you so long?" she cried at length,
+sobbing aloud, as she slipped down from her seat and ran to the door;
+but the massive door of the castle chamber was too high for the little
+hand to reach to open it, and the thick oaken panels kept any sound of
+her crying from reaching friendly ears.
+
+Everybody was far away--everybody, even Margaret her nurse, who,
+forgetful of her duty, had left the child alone while she was watching
+what was going on at the splendid banquet which was being given to
+celebrate the betrothal of the eldest daughter of the noble house.
+
+"Oh, Margaret, dear Margaret, come to your little Maude!" cried the
+child again, as she rose on tiptoe and tried to open the lofty door.
+But her efforts were in vain, her entreaties all unheard; and at last
+she went back to the window, for it was beginning to grow gradually
+dusk in the high-ceiled turret chamber. She climbed up again to the
+arm-chair, leaned her arm against the window-sill, and looked with
+silent weeping into the glowing red of the evening sky, where little
+white clouds were swimming like swans in a sea of crimson.
+
+"Maude, Maude!" said a clear voice suddenly at the other side of the
+room.
+
+The child turned her head in astonishment; at the fireplace there
+stood a little boy, not any bigger than herself, and with just the
+same lovely golden hair and rosy face. His coat was of red velvet, and
+his feet were encased in little buckskin boots, richly embroidered
+with costly pearls.
+
+Maude's tears forgot to flow. Half terrified, half delighted, she kept
+her eyes fixed on the form of the beautiful little stranger, and at
+last she asked shyly, "Who are you, little boy, and how did you get
+in? The door is still shut!"
+
+The little fellow laughed merrily, and came towards Maude's chair.
+
+"Ah, Maude! you have known me this long time. Just think now; doesn't
+Margaret always threaten to call me when you won't go to sleep at once
+at night?"
+
+"You don't mean to say you are Puck, our castle goblin, who has played
+so many tricks on people that everybody is afraid of him?" asked the
+little girl quite fearlessly; "but they always speak of him as old and
+wrinkled."
+
+"Yes, I am he," nodded the little boy; "but I only tease wicked people
+who tease me, and I am old and ugly only in their eyes. But I will not
+tease you, but serve you whenever I can, and play with you when
+Margaret leaves you alone, so that you need not be afraid of me. Would
+you like that, Maude?"
+
+"Indeed I should," said the child, with beaming eyes, "I am so often
+alone, now that dear mother is dead. Father is always out hunting. I
+am too little for my sisters, and Margaret so often goes to gossip
+with the other servants, and shuts me up here. She has been so long
+away now that I am hungry, and it is getting dark, and she is not
+coming with candles and supper."
+
+"You shall have both immediately, Maude; just wait a minute!" cried
+the little boy eagerly, as he hastened back to the fire, swung himself
+up by the iron bars, and climbed nimbly and easily up the chimney.
+
+Maude had got down from her chair, and was standing in astonishment
+looking up after him.
+
+"Oh! you will spoil your lovely coat, dear Puck!" she cried anxiously;
+but the only answer was a merry laugh from the goblin. Then all was
+still, and the little fellow had vanished.
+
+She stood with clasped hands, looking expectantly up the dark, strange
+road which little Puck had chosen. She felt that it was all so
+mysterious, and yet so delightful; it was just like waiting on
+Christmas Eve for the presents. Then there was a rustling and
+clattering away high up, and quick as a squirrel the little fellow
+clambered down the sooty wall, and in a twinkling he laid his burden
+down before the astonished child.
+
+"Just wait a minute," he cried merrily, "and you will see how light it
+will be!"
+
+As he spoke he climbed up the wall, and in a moment the silver sconces
+were radiant with lighted wax candles.
+
+The little girl clapped her hands in delight.
+
+"That is not all," said the goblin with an air of importance; "just
+look here."
+
+He opened the basket which he had brought with him. With magic
+quickness, the table was covered and set with the daintiest dishes.
+
+Maude needed no pressing to taste them.
+
+"Oh you good Puck," she said gratefully, "how kind you are to me! Did
+Margaret give you all that?"
+
+"Margaret, indeed!" answered the goblin, growling; "she has no time to
+think of you. She is too busy staring at what's going on, and tasting
+stolen bits."
+
+"But who gave you all this--this delicious cake and this splendid pie?
+This must surely be the dish that Margaret says cook is so proud of!"
+
+"Yes, that it is!" said the little fellow, nodding; "and the guests
+made such faces when it suddenly vanished from before their eyes that
+I nearly died with laughing at them--ha, ha, ha!"
+
+"Vanished?" asked the child in astonishment.
+
+"Yes, vanished!" laughed Puck; "do you think they would have given it
+of their own accord; I put on my cap, so that they did not see me, and
+then I packed up everything that I thought you would like."
+
+Maude dropped the bit that she was just putting to her mouth, and
+gazed incredulously at her little friend.
+
+"What do you mean?" she asked anxiously.
+
+The little fellow laughed heartily.
+
+"Look," said he, as soon as he was able to control himself; "do you
+see this little red cap? I have had it under my arm all the time I
+have been talking to you; now I am going to put it on!"
+
+In a moment he had vanished from the child's sight--though she peered
+anxiously about the room, she could see nothing. Not a gleam of his
+red coat nor of his golden hair was to be seen at all, yet his clear
+laugh close beside her told her that he was there and as near as ever.
+
+"Oh, Puck, dear Puck, don't play such tricks, please," she begged; "I
+am afraid when you do that."
+
+That instant he stood again before her, handsome and merry, shaking
+his golden locks and smiling.
+
+"You must not be frightened," he said soothingly; "I will always be
+visible for you, and my cap will only be used in your service. Now
+give me something to eat. No, not that cake! Break me some white bread
+into this dish, and pour some nice white milk over it; that's what I
+have been accustomed to for generations. In your great-grandfather's
+time the good maid used to leave me some every evening, and in return
+I used to help with all sorts of work about the house. Now, men are
+not so good-natured, and won't give me my dues, and so I don't care to
+be friendly with them."
+
+"My good Puck," said the little girl, handing him his bowl, "you shall
+want for nothing now! I get white bread and milk every evening for
+supper, and I will always go shares with you."
+
+Then the friends ate their supper with keen appetites, chatting all
+the while like old acquaintances. At last sleep overcame the tired
+child. Then Puck sat at the foot of her couch, and sang a strange,
+soft, sweet lullaby. As soon as Maude was asleep, the goblin busied
+himself in removing all the traces of their feast; and when Margaret
+returned late at night, with many misgivings about her neglected duty,
+she found the child in a quiet sleep, instead of being, as she feared,
+ready to receive her with bitter reproaches.
+
+Margaret breathed more freely, and resolved to be more mindful of her
+charge in future. For a few days she kept her resolution faithfully,
+but she soon began to slip out in the twilight to chat with a friend,
+only for a few minutes, as she assured Maude. It was not long till the
+minutes became a half-hour, and in a week or two she had forgotten all
+her repentance and good resolutions, and poor little Maude would have
+had cause again for bitter tears if it had not been for her little
+friend.
+
+Scarcely had the door closed after Margaret, when the goblin popped
+his fair head out of the chimney, and sprang into the room with a
+merry greeting. Then Maude would clap her hands with delight, for now
+began the pleasantest hour of the day. There was no end to the stories
+that Puck could tell for her entertainment. For hours together, while
+her nurse was away, the child sat motionless, with clasped hands,
+listening with bated breath to tales about days long gone by. For
+hundreds of years the little goblin had lived in the castle as an
+honoured member of the household, and his memory preserved more
+faithfully than the family chronicle the history of every individual
+of the long ancestral line. And before the astonished child the grave
+seemed opened, and the forefathers who had long since mingled with the
+dust all passed in the bloom of youth before her eyes. Then she would
+go to the ancestral hall, and standing before the pictures gaze at
+them, now in love, now in horror, for she knew the story connected
+with each one of the old portraits.
+
+No one in the whole castle knew of the child's friendship with Puck.
+She was afraid that the servants might tease him if they knew of his
+presence, or perhaps drive him away, so she kept her secret
+carefully.
+
+It was winter. The snow lay deep, the storm howled at night and
+whistled in the wide chimney, and the windows were covered with thick
+frost.
+
+"Poor Puck," said Maude one evening, as the goblin came down the
+chimney, his teeth chattering with cold, "I cannot allow you to stay
+any longer up there. See, your hair is white with frost and snow, and
+you are trembling all over."
+
+"Yes, yes," said the little fellow; "it is very cold."
+
+"Look here, then," said the child, going to her dolls' corner, and
+drawing aside the curtain; "I have turned out the dollies. You shall
+have the big four-post bed, and in the day-time you can stay here too.
+I have set a little table and chair for you, so that you may have
+something like a little room till the summer comes."
+
+So all winter long Puck crept at night into the warm, soft little bed,
+instead of springing back at Margaret's return up the cold dark
+chimney.
+
+Spring came with its primroses and fleecy clouds, and then followed
+summer with its splendour of flowers in field and grove.
+
+And now Maude and her nurse used to go out into the woods, to the
+child's intense delight. But one day Margaret found the sun too warm
+and the way too long for her lazy mood, and was easily persuaded to
+sit down and rest while Maude ran to gather wild strawberries.
+
+Scarcely was she out of sight of her nurse when Puck, who had
+invisibly accompanied her, took off his cap, threw it into the air
+with a shout, and stood before his little friend laughing his own
+merry laugh. What delightful hours those were! What rich beds of
+strawberries Puck knew--what choice flowers he could find! Then, when
+the child was tired, she threw herself down on the moss, with Puck at
+her side, and they both gazed up into the green tree-tops.
+
+The goblin understood the language of Nature. He heard what the trees
+whispered to each other about the trees of Paradise, with the golden
+stems and the flowers of precious stones; he understood the song of
+the nightingale as he sang to his mate about the beauty of the bird
+Phoenix and its undying youth; he saw the beetles gleaming in the
+grass, and heard even their soft sounds as they talked about their
+brothers in the distant Indies, whose wings gleam so like emeralds
+that the dark-eyed Hindoo women use them to deck their raven hair; and
+even the silent, lifeless stone had an intelligible language for
+Puck--it told him of the diamonds far away beyond the seas, which the
+poor slave seeks with eager eyes, trying to find one large enough to
+purchase his freedom. All this he understood, and told the child about
+it as she listened in silent rapture, and gazed up into the whispering
+trees.
+
+Thus, in pleasant alternation, the seasons rolled by, and Maude
+blossomed into maidenly grace and loveliness. She had become her
+father's darling. Many an hour that he had formerly spent at the chase
+or at the wine-cup he now passed with his daughter, amused with her
+astonishing tales out of the family history. But she never would tell
+him how she got all her knowledge, for she shrank from bringing
+trouble on the faithful goblin, who still continued to be her friend,
+and the companion of her hours of solitude.
+
+Maude's only unmarried sister, Gertrude, was about to be united to a
+brave young knight, whom she had chosen in preference to a powerful
+but universally dreaded Earl, whose castle stood at no great distance.
+
+At the marriage, Maude appeared for the first time among the grown-up
+people, and, as befitted the occasion, she received as attendant page
+the son of a neighbouring nobleman, who, being an old friend of her
+father's, had allowed his son to come and learn knightly service in
+the household of Maude's father, preparatory to his filling an office
+in the Imperial Court. He was a handsome youth, a little older than
+his young mistress, with brown hair and dark, dreamy eyes, and Maude
+took an innocent pleasure in the beauty of her future attendant; but
+Puck looked not well pleased when she told him about her new page.
+
+"I will send him away if I don't like him," said he angrily.
+
+"Oh no, dear, dear Puck, you must not do that!" said Maude coaxingly.
+"If you love me, be kind to him; he is motherless, as I am."
+
+But the little goblin was offended for the first time since the
+beginning of their friendship, and when Maude went to rest he refused
+the soft little doll's bed that had grown so dear to him, and sprang
+instead up the chimney to the top of the tower. There he sat looking
+gloomily up at the stars, and many were the sad thoughts that chased
+each other through his ancient breast.
+
+Next morning, when Gero came to the turret chamber with a bouquet of
+flowers for his young mistress, he found Puck seated beside her in the
+window-sill watching her at her spinning. The goblin had put on his
+invisible cap at Gero's entrance, but it was of no avail, for the page
+had been born during the ember weeks, and could see the little fellow
+in spite of the charm.
+
+"Why, Lady Maude," he cried in angry astonishment, "who is this that
+you have in your company? It cannot surely be one of the goblins who
+do so much mischief."
+
+"Puck has been my friend and companion from my childhood up," said
+Maude, a little hotly; "and I have to thank him for many a pleasant
+hour."
+
+"That may be," answered Gero, "but he must not take my place with my
+mistress. And now your palfrey is ready, and I will escort you on your
+ride."
+
+Then the goblin's wrath broke loose. He called Gero a proud fool, and
+said he would not let him interfere with him. Then he followed Maude,
+who descended the winding turret stair, her mind full of distress at
+the discord between her companions. When she sprang to her saddle at
+the castle gate, Puck jumped up behind her, as was his wont, and went
+trotting merrily off with her down the mountain. But his pleasure was
+not to last long, for scarcely had they reached the broad, even road,
+when Gero rode up to the side of his lady's horse, caught little Puck
+suddenly, and set him before himself on his saddle.
+
+The goblin would have been able easily to free himself from the hand
+of the youth, if it had not been that Gero had wisely taken possession
+of the invisible cap, and all the little fellow's efforts to release
+himself only increased his tormentor's mockery. At last, when Gero set
+him down again at the castle gate, Puck clenched his little fist, and
+growled, "I will pay you back for this."
+
+[Illustration: "GERO CAUGHT PUCK SUDDENLY AND SET HIM BEFORE HIM ON
+HIS SADDLE."]
+
+From this time on the page had little peace. At night Puck would slip
+into his room, and disturb his sleep with all sorts of malicious
+tricks; and once he even lifted Gero from his bed, and laid him down
+close to the edge of the great well, hoping that, waking with a start,
+he might fall into the cold, deep water. Gero escaped the danger, but
+the adventure taught him to keep on terms of at least outward peace
+with his little foe.
+
+Maude did her part towards preserving this show of harmony by
+allowing Gero alone to accompany her when she went to walk or ride,
+and by granting the little goblin the old cosy morning and twilight
+hours.
+
+Puck accepted this arrangement with some grumbling. When the hour came
+for the ride, he would mount to the top of the tower, and look after
+the riders, as they trotted along so cheerfully, with a sad look in
+his eyes.
+
+"But he can't tell her stories like mine," he said exultingly; "no, he
+can't take my place there."
+
+No indeed; the young page had never listened to the language of
+Nature, but he had delightful things to tell about tournaments and
+noble deeds, and the soft voice of the forest trees began to die
+gradually from the girl's soul, overpowered by the noise and bustle of
+life.
+
+Very pleasantly the maiden's days went by. The morning hours in the
+turret chamber grew more and more dear to her; the rides in the green
+wood and the tales of the unknown world had every day new charms; and
+in the warm evenings her wise goblin friend used to tell her wonderful
+things about the stars, as the two stood on the top of the old tower
+watching the far-off lights peep out one by one.
+
+One night, as she lay dreaming sweet dreams, woven out of memories of
+the day's delights, she was awakened by Puck's sudden call.
+
+"Quick, quick! do you not hear anything?" cried the little fellow
+anxiously; "rise and flee for your freedom and your life."
+
+Maude started up in terror.
+
+"What is wrong?" she cried.
+
+"The powerful Earl, whom your sister refused, has heard that your
+father is absent, and has come to take a mean revenge by robbing your
+father of his wealth and of his child."
+
+"What am I to do, good Puck?" cried Maude in bitter anguish, clasping
+her trembling hands.
+
+"Dress quickly, and let us go."
+
+"Through the midst of the enemy?" asked the maiden, trembling, for she
+heard the oaken stairs creaking with the tramp of many feet.
+
+"Yes, right through the midst of the enemy," said Puck, "but not
+without my cap. Cover me with your cloak, and put this on your head.
+Now, no one can see us."
+
+So they passed unseen through the midst of the rough soldiers. Once
+Maude nearly betrayed herself when she saw Gero fighting single-handed
+against a multitude of foes. The winding stair that led to his lady's
+turret chamber was narrow enough to be defended by one, and with the
+courage of a lion he guarded the way to the place where he believed
+his precious charge to be.
+
+How hard it was for Maude to keep from telling him that his efforts
+were needless! But Puck laid his little hand against her lips, and
+forced her to silence.
+
+"Puck, dear Puck, can you not save him?" cried the maiden, in
+distress, when they were once outside the castle walls.
+
+"Not till your safety is beyond a doubt," said the little goblin
+resolutely; "not till you are away in the depth of the forest, where
+they will never be able to find you."
+
+With trembling haste Maude ran towards the wood, but the way was long,
+and her eager feet tottered under her. Turning to look towards the
+castle, she saw flames bursting from door and window. Still more
+anxiously she pressed on till the tall forest trees hid the castle
+from her sight. Even then Puck refused to leave her.
+
+"Would Gero, who has, I confess, done his duty by you--would he, since
+he seems to love you, wish me to go back to save him a little trouble,
+and leave you unsheltered?"
+
+Further and further they went through the very scenes where Puck had
+spent so many pleasant hours with his child-friend. But now, the trees
+that used to whisper so softly looked down like grim giants, and the
+night-wind in the branches howled "Flee!"
+
+Suddenly a gleam of light broke on their path with a mild silvery
+radiance. A gentle murmur of water fell on the wanderer's ear, and in
+a few minutes they stood by the side of a valley, which here,
+forgotten by the world, lay like a home of peace in the heart of the
+forest.
+
+There, in the shelter of a mossy rock, stood the cosy cottage of the
+old forest-warden. The moonbeams flashed back from the single window,
+and trembled on the stone bench before the door. The cottage was
+uninhabited, for the good old man whose home it had once been had
+years since passed away, and his office had never been filled. Yet
+nothing bore traces of decay. There was even a bright fire on the
+hearth, and a boiling kettle hung upon the hook above it. For the old
+forest-warden had been a good friend to Puck, and the little fellow
+loved to keep the little cottage as neat and homelike as it used to
+be.
+
+Maude smiled gratefully as she looked around. "Thanks, dear Puck," she
+said; "now hasten back to Gero. I will lie down on this nice bed of
+fragrant moss, and I will not be afraid, I promise you."
+
+When Puck returned, he found that the maiden's weariness had overcome
+her anxiety, but he knew by the tears that trembled on her eyelashes
+that she was thinking, even in dreams, of her brave page, and he
+dreaded to tell her when she awoke that he had not been able to find
+any trace of the faithful Gero. A great portion of the turret stair
+had fallen in, and among the bodies that lay piled beneath its ruins
+it was impossible to distinguish any one.
+
+When the maiden woke, she almost for a moment fancied herself in her
+own turret chamber, for there, at the open window, stood the
+richly-carved arm-chair, the one carefully-preserved souvenir of her
+sainted mother, where Maude had so often sat and chatted with her
+little friend, and there in the corner stood her harp and the silver
+spindle, with its snowy thread.
+
+But alas! she soon remembered the terrors of the night, and when, in
+answer to her questioning look, Puck told her, with faltering voice,
+his fears for Gero, the maiden's grief found vent in bitter weeping.
+
+But Puck would not allow her to dwell on these sad thoughts. Drawing
+aside a curtain that hung against the wall, he disclosed to her
+astonished eyes the portraits of her dear parents, which had hung
+just so in her own room at home. And while she stood gazing on the
+beloved faces, her hands clasped in silent emotion, the flame was
+crackling on the hearth beneath the bubbling kettle, and Puck was
+rummaging in cupboards and chests, rattling with plates and cups, and
+preparing a meal for himself and his dear charge.
+
+Maude, with the happy buoyancy of youth, half forgot her trouble of
+the night, while her colour came back with the needed food, and her
+heart was cheered by Puck's pleasant chatter, so willing was she to
+believe his prophecies of better days.
+
+"You must stay here, Maude," he said, "until your father returns, and
+till he has punished the wicked Earl for his malice. For you would not
+be as safe, even in your father's protection, as here in this forest
+retreat. So be patient, and I will give you back in time to your
+friends, even to Gero, if he still lives, though that will be the
+hardest thing of all. But I know now that he was worthy of you, or he
+could not have fought as he did last night. It was nobly done!"
+
+And the little fellow rubbed his hands with delight, which he felt, in
+spite of himself, in thinking of that valiant defence.
+
+"You would have been friends yet if he had lived," said Maude
+tearfully. "Two such dear, good people could not have been enemies all
+their lives."
+
+Days and weeks passed by, and still Maude was kept in her place of
+concealment. From time to time Puck went out to see what was going on
+between the hostile noblemen. The report brought back was always the
+same--"The Earl is sending out spies--I see them lurking in all
+directions--to find out your retreat, for they seem to know that you
+escaped the fire, or to suspect it from not finding your body among
+the dead. He wants to take you now as a hostage against your father's
+vengeance." Then, when Maude's cheek would pale at the words, he would
+add, "But they cannot find you in the midst of this thicket."
+
+So the maiden still stayed in the forest cottage, and if her grief
+about Gero and her longing for her beloved father had not gnawed at
+her heart, she could have been nearly as happy in the lovely valley as
+she was once in her old home.
+
+Puck was at work every morning by break of day, as if he wanted to
+make up for a century of idleness, nor would he ever allow Maude to
+share his household toil. But she sat spinning on the stone bench at
+the door, while he bustled cheerily about the little cottage. Then,
+when all the work was done, they would go into the wood, and it seemed
+as if the old days had come back again. For they still lay on the soft
+moss gazing into the shady trees while Puck told his marvellous
+stories.
+
+Autumn and winter came, and the leisure hours were spent now by the
+cheery fire that burned on the clean-swept hearth. Never was there
+such a servant or such a merry companion as the little faithful
+goblin.
+
+At last spring came. And now Puck went away every day to see what was
+going on at the wicked Earl's castle, for Maude's father had laid
+siege to his enemy's stronghold, hoping to force him to give up the
+dear one whom he believed to be imprisoned within those walls. Puck
+never let the sorrowing father know of his child's safety, for he did
+not wish her to be removed from his protection till her powerful enemy
+had been reduced by war, or even slain.
+
+As the wood grew greener, the hopes of the besiegers waxed daily
+brighter. The fall of the castle was sure, and its defence could last
+but a few days longer.
+
+This was the news which Puck brought home one day as he came to the
+noonday meal, and when he again went out to get further information,
+or, if possible, lend, unseen, a helping hand to the besiegers, Maude
+sat on the stone bench before the cottage, and tried to busy her
+trembling fingers with her spinning. But Puck was longer absent than
+usual, and she asked herself anxiously should she regard it as a good
+sign or the contrary.
+
+At last she could stand it no longer. She rose and went along the
+narrow path by which she had come to her place of refuge. She had
+never before ventured alone through those forest shades; but the birds
+sang sweetly as she passed along, and she thought their cheerful
+voices bid her hope.
+
+Soon she came to the scenes familiar to her from her childhood. Here
+was the place where Margaret used to sit and rest, and there--what
+memories filled her soul with sad emotion!--there was the old
+oak-stump on which she had sat by Gero's side, as he told her of the
+great world of which she knew so little. And now the eloquent mouth
+was silent, and her faithful page had fallen in her defence, for
+Puck, in all his journeys to the castle, had never seen Gero among the
+besiegers.
+
+She leant her head against a tree-stem, and wept long and bitterly.
+Then she raised her head to take one more look at the sacred spot. But
+were her tear-filled eyes deceiving her? There sat, as if lost in
+painful memories, a tall, manly form in gleaming armour, with a
+well-remembered sash of silver and blue across his breast.
+
+Maude uttered a cry. The knight raised his head, and she looked into a
+familiar, but now pale and grief-marked face.
+
+"Gero, Gero!" she cried, forgetting every other feeling in her wild
+delight, and rushing with outstretched arms to where he stood.
+
+The young knight's brain swam. At first he thought the sweet
+apparition must be his dear one's spirit; but no, he clasped in his
+arms the trembling form of the lost maiden.
+
+For one moment she lay sobbing on his breast; then, recollecting
+herself, she tore herself blushing from his arms.
+
+"Forgive me, Gero, my surprise overcame me. So you are alive, and I
+had mourned for you as dead."
+
+"Did you mourn for me, lady?" asked the young knight. "Thanks for the
+sweet assurance. I too sorrowed--oh! how deeply--for your loss; and
+to-day I rose from what I thought would be my death-bed, and came to
+visit the spot where we had spent so many happy hours together, here
+to indulge my grief undisturbed. The wicked Earl who caused our
+trouble fell to-day in the storming of his own castle, but great was
+our disappointment not to find you anywhere within its walls. And now
+you are here, and I am not deceived by a blessed dream!"
+
+"No, it is no dream," said Maude joyfully; "but now let us hasten to
+relieve my father's grief."
+
+As they went together through the wood, Maude told the knight how Puck
+had saved her, and how he had cared for her in the lonely valley.
+
+"The brave little goblin!" cried Gero, as she finished. "Let bygones
+be bygones; we will be friends henceforth."
+
+They had now reached the blackened ruins of Maude's former home, but,
+in the joy of dispelling the grief from the dear face of her father,
+who stood gazing, in deep sadness, on the scene of desolation, the
+maiden forgot to mourn at the wreck before her.
+
+Ere the sun set, Gero and Maude were formally betrothed, and the work
+was at once begun of repairing the ruined castle. Meantime, Maude
+found a home with her future father-in-law, who was delighted to
+welcome as a daughter the child of his trusted friend; and Puck found
+no lack of employment among the busy builders, who wondered sometimes
+what made the work progress so quickly.
+
+Before another spring the castle stood in more than its old strength
+and greatness, and no part had received such careful attention as the
+turret where Puck had made the lonely child his friend.
+
+No guest at Gero's wedding received such marked deference and
+attention from the bridegroom as his former enemy, and the servants
+of the new household, catching their tone from their master, treated
+little Puck with kindness such as he had experienced at the hands of
+former generations.
+
+The turret chamber was his home henceforth, and all through the long
+winter Maude's children loved to gather there at twilight, and coax
+the merry goblin to join them in their games, or tell them tales of
+the old days of the castle. But perhaps their mother's story was the
+one that they loved best--the story about the old enmity that changed
+to such firm friendship between the Lady Maude's page and her faithful
+goblin.
+
+
+
+
+THE FALLEN BELL.
+
+[Illustration: THE STORM HURLS THE BELL INTO THE STREAM.]
+
+
+Ere the light of the Gospel had shone on the benighted land of Saxony,
+there stood on the green banks of the Saale a stately temple, within
+whose walls a throng of ignorant worshippers presented the offering of
+praise and of sacrifice to the gods who had been honoured, as they
+believed, by their remotest ancestors. Then came Charlemagne, who cast
+out the heathen gods of Saxony, threw down their altars, and
+introduced Christianity. Among the rest fell the temple on the banks
+of the Saale. The Christian priest with pious zeal seized the idol
+which had there been worshipped, and hurled it into the river. From
+that time on, the rejected god lived as a water-sprite down in the
+waters of the Saale, cherishing a deadly hatred against the new
+religion, which had robbed him of his old-established rights. On the
+site of his former shrine rose now a cloister, and the bell, whose
+deep rich voice reached even the dwelling of the water-elf, stirring
+up afresh his bitter wrath and jealousy, called the inhabitants of the
+surrounding district to the new God and His sanctuary.
+
+But the old honoured faith did not so easily die out from the hearts
+of the Saxons, and though they were obliged to join in the
+newly-enforced worship, they clung long to their ancient divinities,
+and secretly brought them the usual sacrifices.
+
+At last the power of the Gospel triumphed, and the innocent child who
+had yearly been offered to the water-spirit on St. John's day was now
+withheld.
+
+Wild was the rage of the mortified elf. All day long he watched among
+the willows on the bank, whence he could look unseen far over the
+fields, to see if they had really forgotten him. No sacrifice was
+brought. He felt that the last vestige of his power was gone. In
+gloomy anger against the thankless race, he resolved to take by force
+the victim of which he had been cheated.
+
+A lovely child approached the bank, heedless of danger, holding in its
+tiny hand a bunch of forget-me-nots. Close by the water's edge were
+more of the blue flowers, and he ran forward to pluck the tempting
+blossoms. Then the waters of the Saale suddenly rose, swept over the
+place where the child was standing, and carried him down in their cold
+embrace. From that time people were careful to avoid the river on St.
+John's day, fearing a similar fate.
+
+As Christianity became more powerful, the cloister, formerly a centre
+of holy influence, became the seat of arrogance and idle luxury, and
+the water-elf, who knew that the God whom he hated was a righteous
+judge, who would punish evil, often sat on moonlight nights among the
+willows gazing at the cloister, from whose lighted windows came the
+noise of clinking glasses and wild revelry. Then he murmured between
+his teeth--
+
+"I shall live to see you brought to shame! Your God cannot suffer such
+doings, and I shall have my revenge."
+
+And he did live to see it.
+
+One night, when, instead of pious hymns, drinking-songs were ascending
+from the cloister cells, a dark storm-cloud spread across the sky.
+Thunder growled and lightning flashed, making all nature tremble. Men
+fell on their knees; the monks alone heeded not the voice of the
+Almighty. At every peal of thunder they raised their voices in the
+vain attempt to drown with their wild chorus the tumult without.
+
+Then came an awful flash, which gleamed like a coronet of fire on the
+summit of the tower, and darted through the roof to the refectory,
+where in one moment its deadly shaft sent all the profane and godless
+scoffers before the throne of the eternal. The flame next seized the
+furniture of the hall, and it was not long till the fire burst from
+the shattered windows, for every hand was still that might have been
+raised to check its progress.
+
+The water-sprite sat on a stone at the river's edge, contentedly
+watching the awful spectacle.
+
+Every moment the flames gained greater force. Their fiery tooth gnawed
+beam and pillar till they burst asunder with a crash, and at last the
+devouring element rose from the ruined pile below to the belfry tower.
+Then the bell, swayed by the heat, began to stir. Faster and faster
+came the strokes, like a cry of anguish or a mournful knell sounding
+in wild and awful tones through the uproar of the storm. The beams
+from which it hung gave way, and with a great swing it fell into the
+Saale, making the water foam and hiss as it felt the glowing metal.
+The tower fell in, and the stately building was changed into a mass of
+smoking ruins.
+
+Gradually the rage of the elements was stilled, and nature sank again
+to peaceful repose. The clouds were parted, and from the once more
+azure sky the moon looked down on the heaps of rubbish with the same
+mild and gentle glance as it used formerly to cast on the proud
+cloister.
+
+And what of the water-fairy. The downfall of his foes almost
+reconciled him with his lot. The hated chimes no longer reached his
+ear, reminding him of what he so wished to forget, his lost dominion.
+The bell had found a resting-place on a beautiful green meadow which
+lay at the bottom of the Saale. The sprite planted water-lilies all
+round it, just as human beings adorn graves with the fairest of
+flowers. Then he built a crystal castle right in front of it, and
+brought home as his bride a beautiful water-fairy from the
+neighbouring river, Elbe.
+
+After a time children played in the shell-adorned halls of the crystal
+castle, two beautiful boys with bright eyes and little red caps, and
+their sister, a gentle little water-elf, as sweet and beautiful as her
+relations of the land, the fairies of mountains and trees.
+
+The sons were like their father; they hated the human race, of whom
+the old fairy had told them nothing but evil, and they helped him
+every St. John's day to entice some heedless mortal down into the
+stream.
+
+Their lovely little sister was of a very different stamp. A secret
+longing drew her heart towards the land and its inhabitants, and it
+was only by the sternest prohibition that her father could induce her
+to remain at home. But at night, when sleep reigned in the crystal
+castle, she would rise to the surface of the water, take her stand on
+the great white water-lilies, which willingly joined to do her
+service, and thus on this slender raft she would float up and down the
+stream. Her long fair hair flowed down till it touched the water; in
+her white arms she held a golden harp; and when she touched the
+strings and sang her sweet songs that told of her longing after the
+beautiful sunlight, after the blue sky and the unknown human race, the
+trees bowed their tall heads to the water's edge, the birds hushed
+their song, and even the night-wind held his breath while he listened
+to the music of the little water-sprite.
+
+It was once more St. John's day, and the old water-elf was in one of
+his tempers.
+
+The sun was shining on the river, and its rays flashed back in rainbow
+hues from the crystal pillars of the water-castle. The meadows in the
+cool bed of the Saale showed their freshest green, and the long grass
+waved to and fro among the water, while fishes and water-beetles
+darted between its stalks like golden stars.
+
+The two boys sharpened their scythes and began to mow the grass, for
+it was haymaking time. Their sister stood among the lilies beside the
+great bell, holding one of the white flowers in her hand, and striking
+the metal with its slender stem, so that it answered her in strange
+and mellow tones. But she did it softly, very softly, for she knew how
+hateful the sound of the old bell was to her father, especially on
+this day. The sound was deep and musical, reminding the little fairy
+of the chimes which she sometimes heard on quiet nights, as she
+floated up and down the river on her raft of water-lilies.
+
+Pleased with the dear, familiar tones, she forgot that her father was
+near, and she struck the bell so loudly that the sound, borne on the
+waves, thrilled through the castle, where the old fairy was leaning,
+lost in thought, against a pillar, passing his fingers through his
+grey-green beard, and dreamily watching his sons at their work.
+
+When the hated sound struck on his ear, he started up with a cry of
+anger, and looked fiercely at his trembling daughter. But before he
+had time to give vent to his wrath a shadow fell over the palace and
+meadow, followed by a crash, as if something had been broken in the
+castle.
+
+And such was indeed the case.
+
+A boat was passing slowly through the waves above; the steersman had
+happened to let the rudder fall, and its iron point struck with such
+force against one of the crystal panes of the water-sprite's palace
+that it fell, shattered into a thousand pieces.
+
+This was too much for the enraged fairy. He rose foaming through the
+water, and stood with flaming eyes before the boatman. "Insolent man,"
+he growled, "what hast thou done? Repair the injury at once. If the
+pane is not replaced within half-an-hour, thou shalt pay for it with
+thy life."
+
+The boatman laughed. "I don't understand glazier's work," said he,
+"and I shall hardly be able to find any one who could work down there
+in the water; so I cannot satisfy your demand. But as for your
+threats, my good fellow, the time of your authority is long gone by.
+There is not even a child now who fears you; and, besides, I have a
+cargo of steel bars, and you know, my dear waterman, that they would
+prevent you from coming into my boat to do me any harm."
+
+At the mention of steel, a metal very hurtful to water-elves, the
+fairy unwillingly retired. He cast one more look of anger on the bold
+boatman, and on the little girl, who, on seeing the wrathful
+apparition, had clung terrified to her father's arm; then he slowly
+sank into the water. He sat down in his crystal hall, leaned his head
+on his hand, and tried to devise some plan by which he could entice
+the little girl from the boat into his kingdom, and, by choosing her
+as the victim of the day, avenge himself on the boatman.
+
+"I have it!" he cried at length; "the trick with the green ribbon that
+I learned the other day from my cousin the water-prince in Bohemia
+will be of use to me now. To-day there is some great ceremony in the
+next village, and I am sure the father will send his child there to
+have her out of my way, and then I may find an opportunity of trying
+my skill."
+
+So saying, he put on his hat of plaited rushes, drew on his green
+coat, and rose to the surface to place himself not far from the boat
+among the willows by the river's brink.
+
+He had guessed rightly. Though the boatman had seemed courageous when
+speaking to the water-sprite, a secret uneasiness rankled in his
+heart. It was not for himself he feared, but for his only child; for
+he had seen the wicked glance that the waterman had cast on the girl
+as he disappeared beneath the stream. He consulted his wife about what
+they ought to do for their child's safety; for they knew well the
+dangers of St. John's day, which the mischance with the rudder had
+unhappily doubled.
+
+In the next village lived a distant relation, and the fair gave an
+excellent excuse for paying her a visit. The little girl dressed
+herself in her best, said good-bye to her parents, and received
+injunctions to stay all night with her friends, and not return to the
+boat before morning. Joyfully she hastened along the high-road, which
+lay for some distance by the river-side, till she came to the place
+where the water-sprite sat so quietly in his summer clothes, that no
+one would have recognised in him the angry and revengeful spirit of
+the morning.
+
+"Where are you going so briskly, fair maiden?" he asked pleasantly.
+
+"To the village, to the dance!" answered the little one merrily;
+"don't you hear the music?"
+
+"My dear child," said the water-sprite artfully, "the girls there are
+all so finely dressed that you in your plain clothes will look very
+shabby among them, and perhaps you will not even be able to get a
+partner. But look at this lovely ribbon, of which I have such a
+quantity. If you had that twined in among your golden hair, or wound
+as a sash round your slender waist, you would outshine all the girls
+at the fair."
+
+The little one, who had thought until the old man spoke to her that
+she would never get soon enough to the dance, now stopped, and looked
+with a critical eye, first on herself, and then on the bright green
+ribbon, which the water-sprite was pulling in endless lengths from the
+river which flowed on the other side of the willows.
+
+"Look how pretty it is!" said he, and she let him wind it, as if to
+try the effect, around her slender form.
+
+But immediately she was in the old fairy's power. With a mocking
+laugh, he said--
+
+"Now, my little one, thou art mine! We shall see whether thy father
+will say to-morrow that my authority is overthrown, and that I have no
+longer power to frighten a child. Come!"
+
+As he spoke he seized the ribbon, and walked towards the river.
+
+The terrified child began to scream, but father and mother were far
+away. She tried to escape, but the ribbon forced her to follow the
+water-sprite. Her feet would bear her in no other direction, no matter
+how she tried. Nearer and nearer to the rushing stream was she drawn
+by the dreadful ribbon. Soon the water touched her feet.
+
+"Father, mother, farewell!" she cried in a voice of anguish. Then the
+old water-elf caught her in his arms, and, with a horrid laugh,
+plunged with her into the stream. The waters did their deadly work on
+the poor child's body, but the water-sprite kept the soul of the
+drowned girl prisoner at the bottom of the Saale. She could not mount
+to heaven; she could not even rejoice in the sunlight which pressed in
+softened radiance through the water to the meadow on the river's bed,
+nor might she play like the little water-elf with the silvery fishes.
+Heedless of her entreaties, the water-man put her under the heavy bell
+among the lilies, and said, as he went back to his castle, "Here thou
+shalt stay in punishment for thy father's insolence; and my watchful
+eye and the weight of the bell will prevent any one from setting thee
+free."
+
+He went away, and left the soul of the poor little girl alone in her
+prison. Her sighs and lamentations could not pierce through the thick
+metal walls, but they were only sent back to her in dismal echo.
+
+Meantime the little water-elf stood outside the bell in sympathetic
+grief. She wound a garland of the fairest lilies round the little
+girl's corpse, carried it gently up through the water, and left it
+near the boat. The parents would never again see their dear child
+alive, but she had laid the little body in a soft bed of flowers, to
+make the sad sight less startling to their loving hearts.
+
+Next morning, when the sun began to gild the waters of the Saale, the
+boatman left his cabin to make preparations for departure, while the
+mother, shading her eyes with her hand, stood looking along the
+high-road, where she expected every moment to see the child appear.
+
+"Look there, wife!" said the boatman, pointing to an object in the
+water, which slowly approached the boat. "Look there! What is that?"
+
+The woman turned to see. The waters of the Saale were gently bringing
+a great garland of blooming lilies, and in their midst lay, with
+closed eyes and folded hands, their loved and only child.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The little girl's soul sat beneath the bell. She could not leave her
+prison. Not a chink was visible, and the heavy bell would not move one
+hairsbreadth, notwithstanding all her efforts.
+
+"What will my father and mother say if I do not come home?" sighed the
+child's soul. "Oh, my poor dear parents! Never to see the pleasant
+sunlight or the blue sky! To stay down here for ever in this narrow,
+dark coffin--oh, how dreadful!" And if a soul could have died with
+terror, grief, and longing, that would certainly have been the fate of
+the little girl's spirit The hours passed silently over her and her
+prison. The hours became days. How many had gone by? The little soul
+did not know. At last she sank into a kind of stupor, and almost
+ceased to feel.
+
+But one day something approached her prison, the edge of the bell was
+raised, and the water-sprite's rough voice said, "Come out."
+
+The opening through which the light was peeping was small, but souls,
+with their light transparent forms, do not need much space, and in a
+moment the little spirit slipped out, and now stood trembling before
+the wicked water-man.
+
+"Thou mayest play here for a little," he said; "but in an hour thou
+must return to the bell."
+
+The soul looked up. She had been so long in that dismal tomb, and now
+she found herself all at once in God's gloriously beautiful creation,
+though only for a short time, and as a prisoner! She forgot her past
+sorrow, and thought not of the future; she rejoiced in the delightful
+present, and looked up at the sun, which in noontide splendour stood
+in the blue canopy of heaven, sending its rays down on the green
+meadow, their brilliance softened by the crystal flood.
+
+Then she looked around. Before her stood the splendid palace, with its
+glittering walls and transparent pillars, and round her swam the
+prettiest little fishes as fearlessly as if the little soul had been
+an acquaintance for years.
+
+A lovely young girl came out of the shining building, and asked her to
+play with her.
+
+The old water-sprite frowned in displeasure at his daughter's
+friendliness, but the little elf did not look at him, and the child's
+soul thought, "I must go back to prison at any rate, and he cannot do
+anything worse to me!" So she took the friendly fairy's hand, and rose
+with her through the silvery flood, chasing the fishes and trying to
+grasp the sunbeams with her little transparent hand. Then she wound
+garlands of reeds, and let them rise to the top of the water, after
+she had pressed sweet kisses on them, and laden them with loving
+messages for her dear ones up above.
+
+As she stood watching them with tearful longing as they rose nearer
+and nearer to her home, she heard herself called once more. The
+water-sprite stood behind her, seized her hand, and led her back to
+the bell. She turned for a last look at the clear blue sky; the next
+moment she was back in her dark and narrow prison.
+
+Hours and days passed slowly by. The time seemed endless to the poor
+little soul. Her only amusement and her only pleasure was to go over
+again and again that one hour of freedom and happiness.
+
+One day, just as she was doing this, there was a noise outside the
+bell; the ray of light pierced her prison again, and before the old
+water-sprite had time to give her permission the little prisoner
+slipped through, spread out her delicate transparent arms towards the
+light of heaven, and with a cry of joy greeted the fair, free world.
+Her playfellow was standing waiting for her, and together they left
+the bell with joyous haste, slipped through the waving grass, and
+danced on the sunbeams with the dragon-flies and fishes.
+
+"Oh!" said the little soul sadly, "why does this delightful hour come
+so seldom. Why may I not get out every day?"
+
+"I do not know," answered the water-fairy; "but it is only on
+Saturday, between twelve and one o'clock, that the spirits are allowed
+to leave their prison down here and play in the sunlight."
+
+"But it is so lonely and dark in the bell," said the child's soul
+dolefully.
+
+The little nymph looked at her compassionately. Both had lost all
+pleasure in their joyous play, and arm-in-arm they looked up through
+the water at the clouds which were slowly sailing past.
+
+"There comes your father to fetch me," said the little girl's soul,
+shuddering. "Oh! do come once, just once, every day to my prison;
+knock against the bell, and when the sound pierces through my metal
+walls I shall know that I am not quite alone in the world. Will you?"
+
+A thought struck the young water-sprite; she opened her mouth to tell
+it to her playmate, but just then her father came up, and she had to
+be silent. She could only nod kindly at the poor little prisoner, whom
+the old water-sprite led roughly away to the dismal prison, whose
+narrow walls soon shut her out from the cheerful daylight.
+
+It was night. Souls cannot sleep, but they may have waking dreams.
+
+Thus the child's spirit was led back in imagination to her home. She
+saw herself once more in the ship on which she had been born, and
+fancied herself sitting beside her mother, listening to pleasant
+stories told by the dear gentle voice, and as she dreamed she forgot
+the impassable gulf which separated her from the living ones above the
+stream.
+
+Then the sound of a bell fell gently on her ear. She had been so
+absorbed in her dreams that she started in alarm at the unexpected
+sound, and it was a moment or two before she could collect her
+thoughts to think. Then she remembered her request, of which this was
+evidently the fulfilment, so she struck softly against the inside of
+the bell as a sign that she had heard her friend's greeting.
+
+Then the edge of her prison was gently lifted, and with a cry of joy
+she slipped out into the water. There stood the little water-sprite.
+
+"Will you go up with me to the surface of the stream?" asked she.
+"Would you like to float up and down on my lily-raft?"
+
+"Indeed I should," answered the little soul. "What do I want but
+freedom, air, and light? Oh yes, take me with you!"
+
+The lovely nymph took the child's hand, and a little shining wave bore
+them upwards as on the wings of a swan.
+
+Now they are standing on the surface of the water. The little
+water-sprite beckoned, and from far and near swam the water-lilies and
+anemones to make a boat of flowers for their young mistress and her
+dear little pale companion.
+
+They glided down the stream. Oh, how beautiful it was!
+
+[Illustration: THE WATER-ELF AND THE LITTLE SOUL ON THE RAFT OF
+WATER-LILIES.]
+
+On they moved past lofty mountains crowned by stately castles--past
+villages lying in peaceful slumber, whose churches mirrored their
+graceful spires in the clear flood below--past the willows on the
+banks, that nodded their drowsy heads as the night-wind played
+through their branches. And over all these lovely scenes the moon
+shed her magic light, and the waves sang softly their everlasting
+song.
+
+Then the little water-elf took her golden harp, and sent her clear
+voice floating through the stillness of the night. She sang of what
+was stirring her own heart and filling the child's soul with
+sorrow--of their longing for happiness on earth or in heaven, which
+was so far, so far from them both. The sweet sounds floated through
+the silent night, till the waves checked their song, and the
+slumbering trees awoke to listen to the enthralling strains.
+
+"Oh!" said the child's soul at length, "why cannot I rise into the
+kingdom of light? why must I linger far away from my heavenly home,
+and pine down below in that dark dungeon?"
+
+"Because," answered the lovely water-elf kindly, "my father has
+sentenced you to the bell, and this spell holds you bound, and always
+forces you to return to darkness and captivity."
+
+"Can this sentence, this spell never be broken?" asked the little
+soul.
+
+"Yes, if a human being descends and overthrows the bell the charm will
+be broken, and you may rise to heaven."
+
+"Ah! would that that time would come!" said the little one
+sorrowfully. "The only ones whose love would be strong enough to make
+them take the risk are far away." And she looked sadly into the
+distance.
+
+When the moonlight began to pale, and the stars were dying out one by
+one, the friends left their lily-raft, plunged into the flood, and the
+little soul went back reluctantly to her dark prison.
+
+So the days went by. Alone, alone in the dark bell, and once a-week
+one short hour of freedom and sunlight--that was the lot of the little
+soul, with now and then a sail on the lily-raft by the side of the
+water-elf. Unspeakably delightful were these hours, but the longing
+for their return made the dark days seem all the longer to the poor
+little prisoner.
+
+And this pleasure was but rare. The little water-sprite had to be very
+prudent, for her cruel father might have made her pay for her nightly
+journeys with her life, so displeasing to him was her hankering after
+the human world, and her mild and friendly disposition.
+
+Many a night the old water-fairy rose himself to the surface, many a
+time did his sons sit among the willows; and often the water-man could
+not sleep, and went restlessly through the rooms of his palace to see
+that everything was right.
+
+It was only on nights when all in the crystal castle were fast asleep,
+and no discovery was to be feared, that the young nymph hastened to
+the little soul, opened her prison, by raising the edge of the bell,
+and rose with her for a sail in the lily-boat.
+
+Years passed by, and with them hope died out from the little girl's
+soul; nothing remained to her but memory and longing. In the world
+above the water, what she had last seen young and fresh had grown
+gradually old. The playmates of her childhood had been married long
+ago, and some of them had entered on their eternal rest. Her father
+had never recovered the shock of that unhappy day, and the secret
+thought that he had excited the water-fairy's wrath by his defiant
+words, and had thus caused his dear child's death, gnawed at his life,
+and brought him to an untimely grave. Her mother alone was left. Her
+hair had grown white, not so much through age as through sorrow. Once,
+when in her solitude a deep longing seized her to see once more the
+place where her child had died, she entrusted the guidance of the boat
+to her brother's son, who was one day to fall heir to all her little
+possessions, and told him to take her to her darling's grave.
+
+The boat reached its destination the night before Easter. Here,
+opposite the clump of willows, which had grown even denser than when
+she saw them last, and above which the spire of the village church
+raised its graceful form, the boat had stopped on that unhappy day so
+many years ago. Here, therefore, was the anchor lowered, and the
+boatman went to rest. But the mother, when she found herself so near
+the fatal spot, could not sleep. The most dreadful hour of her life,
+when she stood watching for the coming of her merry child, and saw
+instead but her pale, cold corpse, came again before her soul, and she
+passed the night in bitter weeping.
+
+When the first gleam of daylight played on the stream, she rose and
+went on deck. All the stars had gone to rest except the morning star,
+and even its radiance grew gradually fainter; for the young day began
+to don his golden festive robe. The poor mother leaned over the edge
+of the boat, and looked down into the water. The sky was one glow of
+purple, and on the stream lay the roses of the dawn. The Easter sun
+rose slowly above the horizon, and as its first beam struck the river
+a sound of solemn melancholy came upwards from its depths.
+
+"What was that?" said the woman, leaning forward to listen.
+
+A second chime broke the stillness of the morning, and soon the bell
+began to ring in tones of wondrous richness from the bed of the river.
+With the chimes, and borne on the sunbeams, which cheerfully plunged
+into the stream, and rose again radiant from the crystal flood, came a
+sweet, familiar voice to thrill the heart of the listening mother.
+
+    "Jesus lives, and I in Him:
+    Where is thy victory, O grave?
+    Jesus lives to set me free,
+    My captive soul His love will save;
+    Jesus will lead me to the light,
+    This the sure hope that cheers my night."
+
+So sang her child's clear voice in the words of the hymn which she
+herself had once taught her, and which the little one used to sing on
+Easter morning. The child's soul was still imprisoned, but now, on the
+day of Christ's resurrection, when the bell began to ring as the first
+sunbeam touched it, she felt a strange, sweet joy, that made her feel
+inclined to join her voice with its mellow chimes.
+
+On the great Christian festivals all bells that have sunk in rivers
+or lakes awake to join in the hymn of all creation, and when, among
+the rest, the little girl's bell began to sound, her grief and longing
+generally awoke afresh. But to-day with the first note her sadness
+suddenly vanished, and a strange joy sprang up in her heart. She
+folded her delicate hands, and sang the verse of her childhood. But
+the metal did not send the sound back to her as on other days; it
+pierced through the walls, and floated through the waves up to the ear
+and heart of her sorrowing mother.
+
+Yes, it was her child's voice; every drop of blood, every pulse-beat
+of her trembling body told her that. She had indeed found her little
+daughter's corpse; but her soul must have remained in the power of the
+cruel water-sprite, and had been pining all these years down in the
+stream, shut out from light and liberty and love. All the stories that
+she had heard of the imprisonment of souls, and which she had always
+laughed at as childish tales, came into her mind, and filled her with
+unspeakable anguish. Her captivity must be somehow connected with the
+bells, or else the chimes would not have mingled as they did with the
+hymn. She leaned over the edge of the boat, and looked down into the
+water.
+
+There was a sudden splashing and foaming in the river, and the old
+water-sprite slowly rose, parted the waves, and stood before the
+terrified woman. It was the same powerful form, the erect carriage,
+the long grey-green beard, for the hand of time passes more gently
+over spirits than over men. The woman recognised him at the first
+glance, for she had seen him from her cabin window as he vented his
+wrath on her husband, though she herself was out of sight. She knew
+that the murderer of her child stood before her, but the water-sprite
+did not suspect that this was the mother of his little prisoner.
+
+"My wife is ill," he said gloomily. "The chimes in the water always
+make her ill, but there must have been some special power in them
+to-day, for she is writhing in agony, and she begged me to bring her a
+woman of the human race, to lay her warm hand on her aching head, and
+restore her to health. Come with me," he concluded sullenly; "it is
+not for nothing that I ask this."
+
+The woman could have shouted with joy. Her enemy himself was about to
+lead her to the place where all her affections were centered; it
+seemed to her a sign from heaven, and she went fearlessly to the edge
+of the boat, and prepared to plunge into the stream.
+
+"Not so," growled the water-sprite: "thou couldst not reach the bottom
+alive--a thing which would have pleased me well enough at any other
+time, but to-day it would not suit my purpose. Take this ring!"
+
+She placed the glittering circle on her finger, and followed the
+water-elf into the river. Thus protected, she could walk through the
+water as on dry land, and breathe in the river as freely as in the
+air.
+
+They came to the beautiful green meadow, passed the clump of
+water-lilies, in the midst of which the woman's quick eye had already
+noted the bell, and entered the crystal castle. There, in a spacious
+and glittering hall, lay, on a glass bed with shining pillows of
+fish-scales, the wife of the water-elf. She was tossing in restless
+pain, and as the woman entered she stretched out her hands
+entreatingly. The little nymph knelt sobbing by her sick mother's
+side, and even the rough sons looked on with grave faces.
+
+The boatman's widow went up to the bed, and laid her warm hand on the
+sick fairy's cold, white forehead. Almost instantaneously the pain
+vanished, and she fell into a gentle sleep.
+
+The little nymph grasped the woman's hand, and said, while her eyes
+shone with grateful tears, "Come, I will get you some of our beautiful
+lilies."
+
+The old water-sprite, in his anxiety about his wife, had quite
+forgotten the little prisoner below the bell, and, besides, he had no
+reason to suspect that this strange woman knew anything about the
+little soul. So, though he did not like to see his daughter so
+friendly with the human race, he did not try to hinder her from
+getting the flowers, but sat down quietly to watch his sick wife's
+slumber.
+
+How the mother's heart beat as she arrived at the lilies, pressed
+through their intertwining stems, and stood at last close to the bell.
+With trembling hand she knocked, and the sound thrilled through the
+child's spirit.
+
+The little water-elf stood in amazement as she watched her visitor
+making her way so eagerly among the lilies, and great was her alarm
+when she heard the bell sound, for she thought of her sick mother and
+her father's wrath. But before she had time to remonstrate, the
+little soul said, "Who knocks?" She knew it could not be her friend
+the young nymph, for she came only at night, and this was early in the
+morning. "Who knocks?" she asked again with trembling voice.
+
+The mother thought her heart would break with joy; her breath left
+her, and she could not answer just at once; yet the greatest haste was
+needful, for the old water-sprite might be beside her every moment.
+
+"It is your mother, my dear child," she said at last with trembling
+lips; "tell me, oh! tell me quickly how I can set you free."
+
+"Mother, mother!" cried the little prisoner; "mother, is it you?"
+
+"It is indeed, my darling," said the mother anxiously; "but we must
+not lose any time, for the water-sprite may come any moment, and then
+I shall not be able to help you."
+
+The words brought the little soul back to reality.
+
+"Mother, dear mother, throw the bell down, and your child's soul will
+thank you for ever in the heavenly world," begged the girlish voice.
+
+The mother put forth all her strength, but the bell, which the spirits
+moved so easily, would not yield an inch before the woman's efforts.
+
+When the old water-sprite heard it sound, he went to one of the
+high-arched windows, and saw the widow struggling to overturn her poor
+child's prison. He beckoned to his sons, and quickly but noiselessly
+the three left the palace. Once outside, they screamed with furious
+rage.
+
+The little captive heard the wild cry, and trembled. The mother heard
+it, and the thought that on one moment hung her own life and her dear
+child's future happiness gave her gigantic strength; one desperate
+effort, and the heavy bell gave way, and lay on its side.
+
+It was almost too late; for the angry water-sprites had reached the
+spot, and stretched out their hands to seize the woman.
+
+But the little soul had left her prison, snatched up her mother in her
+arms, and darted quick as lightning up through the waves. When they
+reached the land the mother felt her child's arms taken from around
+her, while a light, cold kiss was pressed upon her cheek. Then the
+slight, transparent form of her loved one soared like a cloud towards
+heaven, till it was lost to her sight. With mingled joy and grief she
+watched the vanishing soul.
+
+"Oh! leave me not behind, my child; take me also up to heaven!" she
+cried, amid streaming tears.
+
+Night came once more, and with his starry mantle covered joy and
+sorrow, life and death. The poor mother lay on a narrow couch in the
+cabin of her boat. She was wearied out with the day's lamentations,
+and a gentle sleep had kindly blotted from her mind her bitter sorrow.
+It seemed to the sleeping one as if heavenly radiance filled the
+little room, and an angel with shining wings approached her bed. But
+when she looked on the face it was that of her dear child, whom she
+had yesterday freed from the power of the water-sprite.
+
+"Mother, dear mother, come!" said the loved voice; "I am sent to
+fetch thee, that thou mayest keep the Easter feast in heaven with
+father and me."
+
+And she took her mother in her arms, soared out into the night, high
+above land and sea, higher and higher, past the glittering stars, till
+they arrived at last in the glorious heavenly temple, and met the
+loved father and the beautiful angels.
+
+Next morning, when the nephew found the woman was not rising, he went
+into the cabin and stepped up to the bed. There she lay, cold and
+dead, but her hands were folded in prayer, and round her mouth and her
+closed eyes was a smile of peace and happiness.
+
+
+
+
+The Last Home of the Giants.
+
+[Illustration: ASLOG RETURNS TO HER FATHER.]
+
+
+Vale and mountain alternated in beautiful succession beneath the blue
+sky of Norway thousands of years ago just as they do to-day, and the
+Gulf Stream flowed then as now past its rugged coasts; yet it was a
+far different land. In the thick forests no axe had yet been heard
+felling the strong timbers that the Norwegian rivers would bear down
+to the sea, to float hereafter as noble ships upon the breast of the
+ocean; in the sheltered bays no cosy houses nestled with their
+neatly-kept surroundings of garden and field; no boat yet flew over
+the sea with nets and fishing tackle. Man had not yet sought out as a
+home this beautiful northern land.
+
+A race of giants, of tall and powerful build, dwelt there. Their
+lifetime was measured by centuries as ours by years. They tore rocks
+asunder with their hands, and left the great streams a free channel.
+They bore huge blocks on their shoulders to the shore, and built them
+into castles whose turrets towered into the clouds. Their voice
+drowned the roar of the ocean, and scared the eagle from its nest. But
+this powerful race, beneath whose tread the ground trembled, were of
+peaceful, harmless disposition. No quarrel divided, nor envy
+embittered, their hearts. They lived together like the children of one
+great family.
+
+Their chief was Hrungnir. His companions voluntarily submitted to his
+control; for he excelled them all in years, wisdom, and strength, as a
+father his children.
+
+Hrungnir lived in a splendid castle by the sea. The mountains of
+Norway had had to yield their most precious metals to adorn the walls
+of his giant dwelling within and without. The chief's numerous flocks
+and herds roamed over miles of land, the bears of the thick forests
+were slain in hundreds by his hands that their skins might cover
+pillows for his guests, and the tables and drinking-horns gleamed with
+precious stones. But Hrungnir's most cherished possession was Guru,
+his only daughter. Her hair shone golden as the stars of the northern
+night, her eyes were blue as the sky of her native land, and her skin
+was of dazzling whiteness.
+
+The most powerful giants of the whole country were suitors for Guru's
+hand, and Hrungnir promised his daughter to him who should excel in
+swiftness in the race, or whose arm should be strongest to hurl huge
+boulders. Then the mighty men came down from their castles in the
+mountains, where the snowstorm sweeps round the hoary peaks, and from
+sea-side fortresses, till Hrungnir's roof could scarcely give shelter
+to the host of powerful suitors. The tables smoked with countless
+dishes, the horns of mead were filled and filled again, and from the
+windows the songs of the giants sounded forth so loudly that the waves
+fled back in terror towards the sea.
+
+After the feast, the giants went out to the strand, broke huge masses
+from the rocks, and hurled them out in the sea as children would throw
+pebbles. Far out into the ocean flew the masses of stones, but none so
+far as those thrown by the hand of Andfind, the valiant youth whose
+castle stood amid the rocks of the storm-swept Doverfjeld, whose
+wealth almost equalled Hrungnir's, whose beauty bore comparison with
+that of Guru herself. Then when the suitors arranged themselves on the
+strand for the race, and the shingle resounded with their golden
+sandals, Andfind left all his rivals far behind, and his long fair
+locks floated like golden pennons on the rock that was the goal of the
+race, while his fellow-suitors were still toiling along the course.
+
+Andfind was victor, and Guru's heart sang for joy, for she had long
+loved him in secret, though she was prepared to submit to her father's
+wish, even if he had chosen some other for his son-in-law.
+
+Far from grudging envy, the giants loudly applauded the conqueror,
+bore him on their shoulders to Hrungnir's castle, where the chief bade
+him welcome, and called his daughter to meet her chosen bridegroom.
+
+The lovely Guru came dressed in a sky-blue robe with a
+silver-embroidered hem, which she and her maids had woven and wrought
+in the retirement of the women's room. Round her white neck and
+rounded arms lay gleaming jewels, and her locks were bound with a
+golden fillet. Thus she came to meet the guests. Hrungnir took his
+daughter's hand, laid it in Andfind's right, and then, as priest of
+the household, the chief united them in the indissoluble ties of
+marriage.
+
+Night fell round the Castle of Hrungnir. The chief and his guests lay
+wrapped in deep slumbers, preparing for the enjoyment of a new day.
+But destruction approached them, as they slept, with stealthy steps;
+for Odin, that crafty king, of whose origin no man could tell, came
+with his trusty warriors down from the mountains. They had heard of
+the beauty of Norway, and wished to win it for their home. They had
+heard that the bravest in the land were feasting in Hrungnir's castle,
+and they had waited till the hours of slumber that they might strike
+unawares the foes with whom they could not have dared to cope on equal
+terms.
+
+The moonlight glided through the open windows and fell on the forms of
+the defenceless sleepers: the deep breathing of the warriors and the
+murmur of the waves were the only sounds that the ear could
+distinguish. But dark shadows fell in the moonlit hall, tall forms
+climbed in at the windows, and noiselessly, holding their weapons
+carefully to prevent them from clashing, they stole into the rooms.
+With sure aim they bathed their swords in the heart's blood of the
+sleepers, so that, with one last groan, each warrior yielded up his
+brave spirit. The pavement swam in blood, but Odin's band passed from
+hall to hall and never slipped on their gory path.
+
+The death-groan, though short, reached Guru's ear. She rose and
+listened. No, it was no dream; there came that sound again with
+dreadful distinctness. She threw on her garments and sprang to the
+window, and when she drew aside the curtain she saw strange forms in
+the courtyard, bearing with difficulty a heavy burden. She looked more
+closely, and recognised in the clear moonlight the bloody corpse of
+her noble father. She stole up to Andfind's couch, and whispered,
+"Awake, awake, my husband, and let us fly, for treachery and death
+have entered our house!"
+
+The bloody work seemed finished in the other rooms, and now the
+dreaded footsteps were drawing near.
+
+Guru raised a stone from the pavement and disclosed a secret stair.
+She bade Andfind descend, and then quickly following him, she
+carefully closed the opening behind her.
+
+By a narrow passage which led beneath the castle and the rocks to the
+strand they reached the sea unseen. There a boat lay rocking, which
+Guru and her maids had often used for pleasant sails. They stepped
+in. Andfind spread the sail and seized the helm, and the boat flew out
+into the open sea.
+
+Odin had conquered. The noblest of the land were killed in the
+inglorious victory of that night, and the weak remnant of the giant
+race were obliged to leave their old home and seek a refuge in unknown
+lands. Notwithstanding this ignoble beginning, Odin's reign was one of
+wisdom, power, and beneficence.
+
+Of Guru and her husband nothing more was ever heard. Whether the sea
+had swallowed the boat in its hungry depths, or whether the waves had
+borne them to happier coasts, none had ever brought back the tidings
+to their old home. But in the winter evenings, when the maidens sat
+around the blazing pine-log, and talked at their spinning about the
+days of the Norwegian giants, some aged dame would tell her shuddering
+listeners of that night of death, and of the mysterious fate of Guru
+and her noble bridegroom.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Odin's reign was long since ended. His wisdom and his crimes were both
+alike well-nigh forgotten. Olaf had many years ago brought in the
+knowledge of the Christian religion, and reared churches on the sites
+of the old altars; and to the ancient honesty and strength of the
+nation was added the mild spirit of the religion of the cross.
+
+On the spot where Hrungnir's castle once stood rose now a fortress as
+proud, and well-nigh as strong, as that of the giant chief; the flocks
+that grazed around it were as great as his; and the present
+possessor, S�mund, like him, counted as his dearest treasure an only
+daughter.
+
+It seemed almost as if the days of Guru were come back again, for
+Aslog's golden hair and snowy skin, Aslog's blue eyes and graceful
+form, attracted the wealthiest and most powerful nobles of the land to
+woo her.
+
+As each noble suitor was rejected, the father's heart swelled high
+with pride and hope. "She will only take the best and greatest," he
+thought. But when the most powerful prince in the land came, and the
+fair one's lips said "No" to him also, S�mund no longer praised his
+daughter's prudence. With bitter words he reproached her for her
+folly, and commanded her to choose before Christmas Eve some one on
+whom he might bestow her hand.
+
+Days came and went, and Aslog's cheek grew paler and her father's eye
+more gloomy, for her heart was given to Orm, the poor but beautiful
+youth whom her father had given her as page. Orm's strong arm had on
+lovely summer evenings rowed the boat out into the gold-flooded sea;
+Orm's hand had guided her over the vast snow-fields, as in snow-shoes,
+with points thin and supple as a beech-leaf, they glided swiftly
+through the bracing air; and in long winter evenings, while the guests
+were drinking and singing in her father's halls, Orm used to sit and
+tell her beautiful stories as she sat by the cheerful fire.
+
+S�mund loved the brave youth, but had any one spoken of him as his
+daughter's choice he would have challenged the informant to single
+combat.
+
+The lovers knew this, and it was with trembling that they awaited the
+decisive day.
+
+"If she has not chosen before the time I have named," said S�mund to
+Orm, "I will choose her a bridegroom myself, and you shall have the
+honour of bearing her bridal train."
+
+Orm gave no answer, but with trembling hand he arranged the table for
+the guests, and pressed his lips close together to restrain the eager
+words that his love prompted.
+
+It was the night before Christmas Eve--starry and cold. A secret door
+opened in the side of the mountain, and two muffled figures slipped
+out. They were Orm and Aslog. They had brought nothing with them but a
+little bundle of necessary clothing, a warm skin rug, and a bow and
+arrows which Orm had slung across his shoulder.
+
+On they hurried over the icy plain, swiftly and terror-stricken, like
+a pair of hunted doves. They reached the edge of the wide plain. Their
+snow-shoes were no longer of use, for their road led now towards the
+defiles and rocky heights of the highlands. It was bitterly cold, the
+wind whistled through the clefts of the mountain, and its icy breath
+made Aslog's frail form tremble. Long their path wound among the
+snow-clad mountains; then they reached a thick fir wood, in the midst
+of which stood a little hermit's cottage.
+
+"It is I, Father Jerome," said Orm to the old man who came to greet
+them at the door.
+
+"Welcome, my son!" said the old man, as the youth stooped to press a
+reverent kiss on his withered hand; "and the maiden at thy side is
+welcome too to the poor hospitality of the hermit's cell."
+
+The offered rest and refreshment were eagerly accepted by the weary
+maiden. With pitying eyes the hermit gazed on her grief-marked
+features, and when Orm begged him to unite them in marriage, the old
+man, after short consideration, granted their request.
+
+How different was this hour from Aslog's dreams! Not that she gave
+many thoughts to the splendour and festivity that should have done
+honour to her bridal, but she felt bitterly the want of her father's
+blessing.
+
+The ceremony over, there could be no further delay. On the wanderers
+pressed on their weary way, till Aslog would have sunk exhausted but
+for Orm's supporting arm. Through the thick fir woods, over rough
+mountain paths, they hastened on till the first streak of dawn gleamed
+in the eastern sky. Then Orm pointed to a cluster of dark rocks that
+lay before them.
+
+"There," said he cheerfully--"there, my Aslog, is rest and safety."
+
+Aslog's courage rose; with renewed energy she pressed over the
+intervening ground, till they reached a tall jagged rock and entered a
+cleft in its side. They now found themselves in a cave, which, though
+narrow at the entrance, became higher and wider as they went on, till
+it formed a spacious chamber. Out of this gloomy abode Orm's care and
+thoughtfulness made a home for his loved one that was not wholly
+lacking in comfort or happiness, and here they lived in secure
+retirement as long as the winter blocked the mountain roads. But when
+spring came, and the ways became accessible, S�mund's spies were able
+to explore more thoroughly, and Orm could no longer go out and in
+freely among the mountains. But when provisions ran short, he was
+obliged to tear himself from Aslog's weeping embrace, and sally forth
+with his bow and arrows. At last, when, after weeks of mild weather,
+no living soul had been seen near their retreat, their fears subsided,
+and Orm began to lay aside caution and to venture further from the
+cave. Perhaps Aslog's father had grown tired of the fruitless search,
+or perhaps he was even cherishing thoughts of forgiveness. Aslog's
+heart was quick to believe what she so ardently wished, and Orm began
+to believe it too. One night, while his wife was sleeping, he took the
+path towards the valley where the hermit's cell nestled amid the
+woods. His breast beat high with hope that the old man might be able
+to give him some good tidings to take back to his loved Aslog, who,
+although she bore her privations even cheerfully, was yet paler and
+feebler every day. He drew near a jutting rock, behind which lay the
+path to the hermit's cottage. In his glad excitement he had forgotten
+all fear. His bow hung with loose string behind him, and his hand
+grasped his staff but carelessly. Suddenly he heard a rustling in the
+thick bushes beside him, and two heavy hands were laid on his
+shoulder. With a strong effort he shook himself free, stepped back a
+few paces, and swung his stick menacingly.
+
+"It is he whom we seek," cried his assailants; "remember the reward."
+
+Then it seemed to Orm as if all the bushes and even the brown rock
+behind him became alive, so great a rustling was heard on every side.
+Quick as thought he brought his stick down on the heads of the two who
+had first attacked him, and before the others could leave their
+hiding-places he had turned and fled.
+
+At first there was wild shouting and a sound of eager feet behind, but
+he never stopped to look back, and he soon passed out of sight of his
+pursuers. The way was long and rough, but Orm was strong and fleet of
+foot, and before him lay his home and Aslog. At last he was at the
+cave.
+
+How different was this home-coming from his former hopes! Aslog lay in
+sweet sleep, with a happy smile on her lips, as if she dreamt of love
+and forgiveness; and Orm must soon waken her, and tell her that she
+must go forth once more a homeless wanderer.
+
+"Awake, awake, beloved one," he whispered, seizing her hand, "and let
+us flee, for your father's men are on our track, and we must be far
+from this before to-morrow dawns."
+
+Aslog opened her eyes, and gazed in speechless astonishment at her
+husband's lips, but when she could no longer doubt, she sprang quickly
+up and arranged her clothing and the soft skins which had formed her
+covering in a neat bundle. Without delay they crept out of the cave by
+its narrow entrance, and went forth, not, as they had hoped, to
+S�mund's castle, but to a dark and unknown future. Westward, where
+Aslog's home lay, danger and treachery threatened them, so they turned
+their steps northwards, on untried mountain paths. The air was mild,
+the moon shone brightly on their way, and the soft moss kept no trace
+of their footsteps that might betray them to their watchful enemies.
+Thus they wandered northwards for hours. The cave in the rock lay
+miles behind them, and they were far from the place where Orm had been
+seen by his father-in-law's men. Then at last he ventured to turn
+westwards, towards the sea. Their way led down towards the lowlands.
+The wintry mists were still hanging over the plain. Orm's keen eye
+could scarcely pierce their grey veil, and Aslog shuddered as she felt
+their cold embrace. They could no longer tell in what direction they
+were going, but they went on and on, hoping to come ere long to the
+friendly ocean. At last Aslog's pale face caught a flush of joy as she
+heard its distant murmur. Nearer and nearer sounded the familiar
+music, and soon the wanderers came to a narrow valley, at the further
+edge of which rose a cluster of dark rocks.
+
+"It is the coast!" said Aslog joyously, as she almost flew along the
+ground.
+
+In a little bay at the foot of the rocks lay a fishing-boat. Orm bore
+his wife in his arms along the sand, for on this open strand the
+greatest haste was necessary, lest some hostile eye might see them. He
+placed Aslog gently in the boat, sprang in after her, and with
+trembling hands spread the sail.
+
+The wind seemed to wish the fugitives well. It swept down from the
+mountains and filled the white sail, so that the little boat shot out
+into the sea like a swan with spreading wings. The sun rose higher and
+higher, the cliffs of their native coast seemed now but a line of low
+hills; proud ships glided not far from them, and on the farthest
+horizon appeared a group of islands gleaming in the golden mist. As
+the sun sank slowly to the horizon, the great ships passed by without
+noticing the wanderers, and the little islands were still in the far
+distance. Aslog's face, that had before glowed with hope, grew pale
+and wan.
+
+"What is wrong, my darling?" asked Orm anxiously.
+
+"I am hungry," answered Aslog faintly.
+
+Orm sighed deeply. They had had to flee without waiting to get
+provisions, and now they had been twenty-four hours without food, and
+the islands lay far, far away. The sun sank into the sea.
+
+"Sleep, my Aslog, sleep!" begged Orm at length; "you will not feel
+your hunger while you are asleep, and by the time you awake, perhaps
+we shall have reached one of the little islands before us."
+
+And Aslog smiled submissively, and loosing the skins from the bundle,
+lay down beneath their protecting warmth at the bottom of the boat.
+The waves rocked the little vessel gently, the oar splashed in
+measured monotony, and at last Aslog's eyes closed, and she fell
+asleep.
+
+Orm now kept watch alone on the wide ocean. Night had come, but a warm
+breath of spring was still hovering over the sea. The moon rose slowly
+above the distant mountains of Norway, and flooded the ocean with its
+silvery light. The waves danced sparkling round the boat, sails and
+masts shone brightly, and the hair of the slumbering fair one gleamed
+like waves of gold.
+
+Full of love and grief, Orm's eyes rested on Aslog's pale face.
+Allowing himself but short rest, and that at long intervals, he rowed
+on all night, and when morning dawned, a large island with blossoming
+trees lay before his eyes bathed in the purple light. His cry of joy
+woke Aslog, who rose and looked at this lovely haven of refuge, which
+seemed offered to the homeless wanderers. Like a guardian of their
+future safety a tall grey rock stood upon the shore, in form not
+unlike a gigantic human figure.
+
+Orm tried to steer between the small islands that lay round this
+tempting spot; but the waves, which had heretofore played so gently
+round the shores, now foamed and roared about the boat, and drove it
+back into the open sea. Nevertheless Orm undauntedly plied helm and
+oar, only to be driven back irresistibly again and again.
+
+Noon came, and the fruitless struggle still continued; and now the sun
+was inclining towards the west. Orm's strength and heroic perseverance
+began at length to fail. His hands bled, his arms trembled, hunger and
+exhaustion almost overpowered him; while Aslog, who had sunk from a
+state of the most eager hope into the deepest despondency, clung,
+well-nigh unconscious, to the mast. Orm thought her dying. Then
+despair gave him fresh strength. "Almighty God, pity us!" he cried
+aloud to heaven. Immediately the waves submitted to the holy name;
+the foaming billows glided gently beneath the boat; the vessel shot
+like an arrow through the midst of the islands, and drew near the
+haven where the giant rock with its dark countenance looked down on
+the little boat that glided past it to the smooth strand. Orm sprang
+out, took the exhausted Aslog in his arms, and carried her across to
+the dry, soft sand. He looked round for something to eat. Fruit-trees
+waved their blossoming crowns at no great distance, but the time for
+fruit was not come. Orm looked still more anxiously about the beach.
+Then he saw a mussel right at his feet, then another and another. He
+lifted them, and offered them to his half-fainting wife; and so much
+refreshed did she feel by the slight nourishment, that she was able to
+walk towards the centre of the island, supported by Orm's arm, in
+search of some place of shelter.
+
+The blossoming fruit-trees bore evidence of some careful hand, but no
+path, no footprint told of the cheering nearness of human beings. They
+went on further through the green island, over which the sun was
+shedding its last golden beams. There before them they saw a clear
+space amid the foliage, and with hearts beating with hope and fear
+they approached it. Soon they stood before a house of very ancient
+architecture. Its walls sank deep into the earth, and towered so high
+into the air that the firs could scarcely stretch their dark branches
+over the hide-covered roof. The windows were small, and their panes
+made of fishes' skins. The door was made of strong planks, and firmly
+bound with iron. The whole house looked as if it bade defiance to the
+storms, and had done so for centuries.
+
+But where were now its builders? Did they lie sleeping in the depths
+of the ocean? Did the tall grass of the little islands wave above
+their last resting-place, or did they still sit, spell-bound, behind
+the iron-bound door and the grey walls of the dreary dwelling?
+Checking the slight shudder that shook his frame at these thoughts,
+Orm knocked at the door of the mysterious house. No sound, no footstep
+told him that he had been heard within. He knocked again, then a third
+time, but there was still no movement. Then he laid his hand on the
+heavy latch; the door opened, and they entered a stone-paved hall.
+There was no one to bid them welcome or refuse them entrance. At one
+side of this hall was another door. Orm knocked, and when again there
+was no answer he opened it, and stepped with Aslog by his side into a
+large and lofty apartment. There was no one to be seen, yet everything
+bore traces of an orderly hand. A bright fire burned on the hearth,
+and above it hung a cauldron with fish, the smell of which greeted the
+hungry fugitives with pleasant invitation.
+
+"Forgive us, noble master of this house!" said Orm in a loud voice,
+yet in a respectful tone; "it is necessity, not forwardness, which
+makes us intruders."
+
+They both listened breathlessly; but there was still no answer. Then
+Orm poured some of the contents of the cauldron into two plates, and
+placed them on the table. With trembling at first, but afterwards with
+growing comfort and courage, the wanderers enjoyed the much-needed
+food.
+
+When their hunger was satisfied, and their spirits revived, they
+looked around them. At the farther side of the room stood two beds of
+gigantic size, and of an ancient, long-forgotten form. The fire below
+the cauldron was getting low, the evening light had ceased to fall
+through the windows, and the darkness was only broken by the faint
+glimmer of the dying embers.
+
+Nature at last claimed her rights. The wanderers' eyes were almost
+closing, and, laying aside all fear, they took possession of the
+couches where surely giant forms had once reposed.
+
+When they awoke the sun was shining brightly outside, but its beams
+could fall but dimly through the rude window-panes. The doors were
+firmly fastened, and there was no trace of human footsteps, yet the
+fire burned once more on the hearth, from the bubbling cauldron rose a
+tempting fragrance, and the table was laid as for a meal.
+
+"See, dear Orm," cried Aslog joyfully, pointing to the fire and the
+table, "this language is easy to understand, though it be a silent
+one. The unseen owners of this dwelling know our need, and bid us
+welcome to their hospitable roof."
+
+When they had again partaken of the contents of the boiling cauldron,
+Orm and Aslog went into the hall, and found there a stair which led up
+to a room just below the hide-covered roof. This and the room in which
+they had passed the night were the only apartments of the house, but
+they contained all that was necessary for a life of retirement. There
+was no sign of any inhabitant, yet it seemed as if some one had lately
+been there, whose hand had lovingly arranged everything for the poor
+homeless ones. They understood the silent language, and they remained
+henceforth contentedly in the house, enjoying the sweet feeling that
+they had at last a home.
+
+Orm never cast his net into the sea without drawing out a rich supply
+of delicious fish; the snares he set in the morning for the birds were
+never empty at evening. The fruit-trees bore abundantly, and Aslog
+found plenty of employment in gathering and storing the rich harvest.
+
+Summer passed away, and the short autumn was drawing towards its
+close, when a lovely baby boy came to cheer the hearts of Orm and
+Aslog through the dreary winter. The child was called S�mund, and
+seemed to his parents a pledge of future reconciliation.
+
+One day Orm was holding his little son in his arms, and watching with
+delight his baby smiles, and Aslog stood at the fire preparing the
+midday meal, when a tall shadow passed the window, the heavy house
+door swung open, and a loud knocking was heard at the door of the
+room. Aslog let the spoon fall in terror, and even brave Orm pressed
+his boy closer to his heart as the visitor entered.
+
+A gigantic woman stepped into the room. Her stature was greater than
+Orm and Aslog had ever seen among their own powerful nation. She wore
+a sky-blue robe with a silver-embroidered hem; a golden fillet bound
+her long snow-white hair, and on her once beautiful features centuries
+of joy and grief seemed to have left their traces.
+
+"Do not be afraid," said the majestic visitor, with gentle gravity;
+"this is my island and my house, but I gladly gave them up to you when
+I knew of your distress. Only one thing I ask of you. Christmas Eve is
+drawing near. For that one night let me have the room for a few hours,
+while we hold our yearly festivity. But you must promise me two
+things--not to speak a word while our feast lasts, and not to make any
+attempt to see what is going on in the room below. If you grant this
+request you may live here undisturbed, and enjoy my protection until
+you wish to leave the island."
+
+With lightened hearts Orm and Aslog gave the promise, then the
+majestic lady bowed her silvery head in gracious farewell, and passed
+out through the door.
+
+It was Christmas Eve; Aslog had cleaned and tidied the room with even
+more than her ordinary care. The boards were snow-white, and Orm
+strewed them with finely-cloven fir-twigs. The fire burned brightly on
+the neatly-swept hearth, and above it hung the shining cauldron. Aslog
+rolled her baby in the softest of the skins that served to cover her
+bed, and went with Orm to the upper room, where they sat down beside
+the warm chimney of the apartment below, which passed of necessity
+through this second storey.
+
+For a long time all was silent. Suddenly a sweet, soft sound was
+heard; others followed, and soon the music swelled in waves of melody
+through the night air. Aslog listened entranced, while Orm went to
+the gable end of the roof, and, since this was not forbidden, opened
+the shutter which in the daytime served to let in air and light.
+
+There was motion over the whole island. Little shrivelled forms, with
+grave and aged faces, were bustling about with blazing torches in
+their hands. They ran dry-shod over the waves, and made their way to
+the rock that guarded the entrance to the bay. When they reached it
+they placed themselves in a circle round it, and sat down on the
+ground in respectful humility. Then a tall form approached from the
+centre of the island. The dwarfs opened their circle to admit her, and
+Orm recognised by the flickering light the noble lady who had a few
+days before paid them so unlooked-for a visit. Her sky-blue robe and
+the gold in her hair gleamed with even more than their former
+brilliance. She stepped up to the rock, threw her arms round the cold
+stone, and remained so for a moment in a silent embrace. Suddenly the
+stone acquired life and motion. The gigantic limbs were freed from
+their petrifaction, the hair rolled down over the shoulders, the eyes
+began to glow once more with life. As if awaking from the sleep of
+death, the giant rose, seized the hand of the stately lady whose
+loving embrace had called him back to life, and they both turned
+towards the house, whither the dwarfs accompanied them with flaming
+torches and heart-enthralling melody. The ground seemed to tremble
+beneath the tread of the giants. Soon they reached the house-door.
+Then Orm shut the shutter, and groped his way back to where his wife
+sat beside the chimney.
+
+[Illustration: GURU AWAKES THE ROCK TO LIFE.]
+
+Below there was rattling of dishes and the patter of many feet; the
+young couple heard every sound through the wide chimney. The strong
+voice of the rock giant sounded like thunder to human ears, and the
+voice of the lady, which Orm and Aslog had heard once before, was like
+the powerful notes of some musical instrument. Tables and chairs were
+moved, drinking-horns were knocked together; the feast was beginning,
+and now was heard once more that music which had before so overwhelmed
+Aslog with delight. Then an irresistible longing seized her to see the
+wondrous company which Orm had described to her. She rose and groped
+for a crack in the floor through which it was possible to see into the
+room below. Orm in silence held out his hand to check her fatal
+rashness, but the movement woke the sleeping babe, who, terrified by
+the unwonted sounds below, raised a cry that went to the mother's
+heart. Forgetting everything now but her child's distress, she began,
+as was her wont, to soothe him with caressing words. Then suddenly an
+awful cry and a wild tumult arose below, the music ceased, and through
+the door rushed the dwarfs in wild commotion. Their torches went out,
+the noise of their flight sounded but a few moments, then night and
+silence reigned over the place which a minute before had resounded
+with festive merriment.
+
+In deadly terror Aslog had sunk back on her seat, tremblingly awaiting
+the fate that her rashness had called down on her dear ones. They were
+anxious hours that they spent now in the dark upper room, almost more
+anxious than those of their flight and of that hard struggle with the
+waves. At last the morning dawned. A clear sunbeam shot through a hole
+in the shutter and awoke the boy, who began to cry with cold and
+hunger. Then her love for her child overcame her fear, and Aslog
+persuaded her husband to go down with her and learn their fate. They
+descended the stairs, trembling at every step. Now they stood at the
+door of the room and listened. There was no sound--all was still as
+death. At last they lifted the latch; Aslog pressed her child to her
+heart and entered the room. A loud cry escaped her lips. At the far
+end of the room, at the seat of honour at the table, sat the mighty
+giant whose awakening Orm had witnessed; but life had again left his
+veins, and he sat there a cold, grey mass of rock. It seemed to Aslog
+that the stony hand which still grasped the drinking-horn might yet be
+raised to hurl destruction at her and her dear ones. She gazed in
+speechless terror at the rock-giant, her eyes passing slowly from the
+motionless head to the massive folds of the stone garment. Then she
+perceived another form, sunk motionless, as in deepest anguish, on the
+floor. The face was pressed against the cold stone, but the blue robe
+with the silver-embroidered hem and the flowing white hair told the
+terrified Aslog who it was.
+
+"Andfind, my Andfind!" moaned the giant lady, raising her face at
+last, "thou wilt never again smile on thy faithful Guru, and rejoice
+with her at thy short space of life and freedom."
+
+Aslog uttered a cry, but not, as before, of terror for her own fate,
+but of anguish and remorse. Her bitter sobbing caused even the
+grief-stricken giantess to raise her head.
+
+"Do not weep so," she said gently, "and do not be afraid; I could
+indeed easily kill you, and break this house, which I gave you as your
+home, like a child's toy. It is true that your forgetfulness has
+caused untold anguish to me, but the revenge of the powerful must
+be--forgiveness! Then do not weep, for there is nothing to fear."
+
+"Oh, that is not all!" sobbed Aslog. "The names which you named, noble
+lady, cut me to the heart. They remind me of a legend which I often
+heard when a child about Guru, the beautiful giant-maiden, who was
+obliged to flee from cruel Odin with her beloved Andfind. The story of
+their fate always touched me deeply, and I thought when I heard these
+names that you might perhaps be that Guru, and this thought added
+fresh bitterness to my remorse."
+
+The giantess appeared sunk in dreamy meditation.
+
+"And do they remember us still in the old Fatherland?" she said at
+length; "and are there yet any halls remaining of Hrungnir's castle?"
+
+"No, noble lady," answered Aslog, "they have all long since crumbled
+to dust, for many centuries have passed over Norway since those days.
+It is true a proud castle still looks down on the foaming waves, but
+it is owned by S�mund, whose only child I am."
+
+"Our fate, O daughter of my former home, is wondrously alike," said
+Guru; "but your life will end more joyfully than mine. We lived here
+in undisturbed happiness for many centuries, for it was to this island
+that our trusty bark bore us after that night of death. This house,
+which my husband's strong arm built for our home, is small and poor
+compared with my father's halls, but we did not miss the lost
+splendour. The days went by in quiet happiness, and we felt no
+longings after the land which drove out us and our friends. The dwarfs
+also, who like us had turned their backs on an inhospitable country,
+settled round about on the little islands, and lived there in the
+heart of the earth in peace and contentment. Every Christmas Eve we
+met in this room, and held festival as our forefathers did even before
+your religion had spread to these northern lands. Centuries passed
+away, and one evening I was standing with Andfind at the shore of our
+island looking out over the sea. On the northern horizon appeared a
+stately ship, and Andfind, whose eye was sharper than the eagle's, and
+had power to see into the future, recognised in the man at the prow a
+powerful foe of the freedom of Norway and of our authority. It was
+Olaf, whom you call a saint, who, not long afterwards, overcame the
+princes of Norway in one night, and destroyed the last vestiges of the
+old customs. All this my husband's prudent foresight saw, and with a
+mighty effort he blew the waves to fury with his breath, so that they
+threatened to break Olaf's proud ship to pieces. But the invader spoke
+some prayer such as you uttered when you approached our shores, and
+the raging sea grew calm. Then Andfind put forth his hand to push back
+the vessel as it drew near the shore, but Olaf, raising his hands
+towards heaven, said, in a tone of stern reproof--'Stand thou there a
+stone henceforth!' Immediately the eyes in which I had been wont to
+read my husband's every wish were closed, the hand that had grasped
+mine lovingly grew cold and hard, the form so full of life and beauty
+turned to unfeeling stone, and my beloved Andfind stood a grey,
+lifeless rock upon the shore. The invaders sailed on towards the coast
+of Norway, and I remained in dreary desolation on the now lonely
+island. Only once a year, on Christmas Eve, petrified giants are
+allowed a few hours of life if one of their own race embraces them,
+and thus sacrifices centuries of his own lifetime. I loved my husband
+too dearly not to offer this sacrifice willingly, that he and I might
+enjoy yearly a few hours of intercourse. I never counted how many
+times he woke to life at my embrace, how many centuries of my life I
+yielded for his sake; I did not wish to know the day when I, as I
+embraced him, should likewise turn to stone, and stand henceforth on
+the shore one for ever with my Andfind. Now all is over," Guru
+concluded; "I may never more awake my beloved one, for a human eye, a
+human voice has disturbed the sacred festival of our spirit-race.
+Stone must my Andfind remain till that day when all the rocks and
+mountains of old Norway will perish in the ruin of the world."
+
+She threw her arms once more round the cold stone, lifted her golden
+harp from the floor, and then turned to Orm and Aslog, who had
+listened in silent grief.
+
+"Farewell!" she said; "I leave you my protection and my blessing.
+Yours are henceforth the costly vessels that adorned our festive
+board; I need them no more. Live still in peace and happiness in this
+house until you return to receive S�mund's forgiveness, and live a
+life of gladness on the site of my old home."
+
+She passed out, and her sorrowing guests followed her to the door.
+Without once looking back, she glided away through the leafless trees;
+her blue robe gleamed far away over the snow-covered plain. Orm and
+Aslog watched her crossing the waves to the little islands; then they
+saw her no more.
+
+Had she descended to the music of her golden harp into the cold
+billows? or did she go to rule as queen in the kingdom of dwarfs? Orm
+and Aslog never knew her fate, but her prophecies of good were richly
+fulfilled.
+
+Sickness and misfortune kept far aloof from their island home. They
+were happy in their mutual love, strong in body, cheerful in spirit,
+contented even in their isolation. Their boy grew daily in beauty,
+strength, and obedience; the trees bore double fruit, the sea yielded
+its tribute more freely than ever, and the bird-snares were never
+empty. Sunshine and the fragrance of flowers filled the air, and they
+drank in life and happiness at every breath. And when winter came, the
+storm raged round the house, and the thick snowflakes whirled through
+the cracking fir branches against the window, then the little family
+sat cosily in their sheltered home; the dry wood blazed brightly on
+the hearth, and at the cheerful fireside sat Aslog making nets, while
+Orm carved away at a new oar, and the child listened eagerly to the
+tales of Old Norway.
+
+Year after year rolled away, and left no traces of care on the faces
+of the lonely exiles, save that when Aslog thought of her father a
+shadow crossed her white brow, and the old longing awoke for his love
+and forgiveness.
+
+It was the beginning of spring. The fruit-trees wore their wreaths of
+blossoms, and the sunbeams played through the dark fir branches on the
+roof of the lonely house. The door opened, and Orm, accompanied by
+Aslog and the boy, stepped out, bearing one of the precious vessels
+which Guru had left as a parting gift to her guests. The utensils
+which her motherly hand had provided had become worn out in the course
+of years, and Orm was going to the coast of Norway to sell the golden
+goblet, and buy the needed utensils with its price. He had long
+postponed this step, for he still feared the sharp eye of treachery
+and revenge; but their need was pressing, and there could be no longer
+delay.
+
+The parting was a bitter one. Aslog embraced him again and again, and
+even Guru's prophetic words had lost their power to comfort. But Orm,
+although his heart was far from light, soothed her with a promise of a
+quick return; then he tore himself away, sprang into a boat, and
+pushed from the shore.
+
+The boat flew like a sea-mew over the waves, through the circle of
+little islands, and out into the open sea. A wind as fresh as that
+which had favoured their flight came now from the north to swell the
+white sail. Orm drew in the oars and watched how his boat darted over
+the gleaming waves. He directed his course towards the south-east. As
+it was drawing towards noon the coasts of his native land appeared
+above the horizon; and long before the set of sun the boat sailed up
+the narrow waters of the Trondheim Fiord, and landed at the quay of
+the old royal city. Orm passed the streets with hurried steps, and
+with the precious vessel under his arm he entered the shop of a
+goldsmith.
+
+The man seemed amazed at the rich metal and the rare and elaborate
+workmanship, paid without demur the price asked, and Orm hastened
+gladly to another building to choose his purchases. There was a great
+crowd of buyers, and fearing lest some old acquaintance should be
+among them, he turned aside, and examined the wares in silence.
+
+"Welcome, friend! What's the news in your mountains?" said the
+merchant to a countryman who had just entered.
+
+"Thanks, sir, not much good," replied the newcomer.
+
+"What is wrong?" asked the merchant. "Is your master, rich S�mund, not
+well? Has he not yet submitted to his fate?"
+
+Orm listened eagerly.
+
+"It will soon be all over with him," replied the countryman; "his
+grief about his daughter is breaking his heart. He is ill, lonely, and
+sad. He has had it proclaimed through the whole land that he will
+forgive the fugitives everything if they will only return; and he has
+promised a great reward to any one who will bring him the smallest
+tidings of them. But they seem to have vanished from the earth, and it
+is most likely the old man will die without one of his kin to close
+his eyes in the last sleep."
+
+Orm thought no more about his purchases; he thought only of Aslog and
+her dying father. Without being noticed in the crowd he left the shop.
+Scarcely had he turned the first corner when he ran at full speed to
+the quay, sprang down the steps, loosed his boat, and by the last rays
+of the setting sun he steered skilfully along the narrow fiord among
+all the larger vessels, and rowed towards the ocean. His heart beat
+with eager longing and delight. Had not a reconciliation with the
+father of his loved Aslog long been the most cherished wish of his
+heart as well as of hers, though he had been silent on the subject for
+Aslog's sake?
+
+It was night when his boat glided out of the fiord and sailed out to
+sea. The wind, which had blown towards land all day, had turned, and,
+sweeping now from the Norwegian mountains, drove Orm's boat with the
+swiftness of an arrow over the waters. The moon rose clear and full
+above his native land, and the waves dashed their silver spray against
+the keel. Orm could not but think of that night when Aslog lay hungry
+and exhausted at his feet--behind him terror and treachery--before, an
+unknown future. The moon's clear radiance and the sparkling waves were
+the same then as now, but in all else how blessed was the change!
+
+Thus the night passed, and when the east began to glow with red his
+boat glided between the little islands, and when the first full beam
+fell on the fir-tree tops he landed on the shore of his island home.
+
+He scarcely took time to fasten the boat. Then he hastened under the
+blossoming fruit-trees--with empty hand, indeed, yet with a richer
+gift than Aslog would have dared to hope for.
+
+And now he stood beside her couch. "Awake, awake, beloved one!" he
+whispered as he bent over her; "I bring news of your father, the best
+news that your heart could wish for--love and forgiveness!"
+
+Then Aslog awoke, and her beaming eyes, the silent tears that fell
+over her clasped hands, told of even deeper joy than Orm had pictured
+to himself as he hastened home.
+
+Soon all was bustle in the quiet room. Once more Aslog lit the fire,
+once more the breakfast bubbled in the cauldron, while she adorned
+herself and her boy in festive garments, and Orm carried Guru's gifts
+of gold and precious stones down to the boat. Once more they sat
+together at the table enjoying the provisions of Guru's hospitable
+home. They gazed at the lofty walls which had afforded them shelter,
+and sadly looked on the stony form of Andfind, who had for years been
+a silent member of the little household. Then Orm seized his wife's
+hand; and they left the house, carefully closing the door behind them,
+and followed the boy, who had run on before in his eagerness, towards
+the strand.
+
+"Farewell, thou lovely island!" cried Orm, as he loosed the rope; "and
+if ever again hunted fugitives land on thy shore, be to them as sweet
+a home as thou hast been to us."
+
+The child was already seated in the boat, playing with the beautiful
+vessels of gold and precious stones, and Aslog sat down beside him to
+tell him about his new home and his dear grandfather, while Orm dipped
+the oars, and the boat left the strand of the "Last Home of the
+Giants."
+
+The sun was just about to sink into the sea; its rays cast a parting
+glance on the windows of the lonely castle, on the rock which had once
+resounded with mirth and revelry. And now the splendid halls were
+desolate. The servants, serving not out of love but out of fear,
+obeyed in sullen silence the commands of their gloomy master. The
+daughter, the only one whom his cold heart had ever loved, was lost to
+him. His old age was lonely and desolate. Then his pride yielded.
+"What if she has disgraced my house by choosing the servant instead of
+the prince?--still she is my child, my only one, and dear and loving
+she has always been to me! Oh, bring back my daughter, my Aslog, that
+I may look upon her face before I die!"
+
+Rich were the rewards offered by the sorrowing father for the least
+tidings of his child, but he waited days and weeks in vain. She seemed
+lost to him for ever.
+
+"Take me out, that I may see the sun as long as I have sight!" said he
+to his servants as the evening sun looked in at the castle windows.
+
+The servants supported his tottering steps to the edge of the rock.
+Then he beckoned to them to go, and leave him with his sorrow.
+
+The sun sank like a ball of fire into the ocean, and the sea rolled in
+purple waves from the farthest horizon, and broke them into golden
+spray at the foot of the castle rock.
+
+"Would that my old age could be calm and clear, like this sweet
+evening, and would that my life might sink in brightness as the sun
+into the sea!"
+
+Then he heard in the distance the splashing of oars, and his eye, keen
+as of old, looked eagerly towards the horizon. A boat, gently urged on
+by the wind, was sailing from the north-west. Nearer and nearer it
+came, and seemed to be directing its course to the rock where the old
+man sat. At the helm sat a manly form, and at the prow stood a
+graceful woman with a boy pressed closely to her side. Her hair
+gleamed golden, as his daughter's used to do; and now she raised her
+hand, and fluttered a white kerchief as in eager greeting. S�mund's
+heart beat with glad presentiment, he felt his weakness no longer, but
+raised himself, unaided, from the stone breastwork, and fixed his gaze
+on the approaching boat. Now the little vessel came up to the very
+foot of the rock, he heard the chain rattling round the post, and the
+sound of familiar voices was borne up to him on the evening air. It
+was no dream. There were light footsteps beside him, and when he
+turned to look, Aslog, his lost Aslog, knelt before him, her eyes full
+of humble penitence, and by her side knelt a fair-haired boy, who
+stretched out his hands to the old man, and echoed his mother's words
+in childish accents--"Oh, grandfather, forgive and love us!"
+
+The old man opened his arms, and pressed the welcome suppliants to his
+heart, and as he kissed his lovely grandson, he said in a voice more
+mild and soft than was his wont--"Thank God, I shall not die in my
+loneliness after all!"
+
+And he did not die. From day to day he felt more and more of his old
+vigour, and when he saw how tenderly Aslog loved her husband, what a
+faithful husband and father Orm was, and what a dutiful son to
+himself, he forgot all his disappointed hopes--even the royal diadem
+that Aslog had rejected. The love of his children and grandchildren
+made his last days his brightest, and thus the wish of that spring
+evening was fulfilled, his old age was calm and clear, and his life
+sank in brightness as the sun into the sea.
+
+
+Marcus Ward & Co., Royal Ulster Works, Belfast.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Illustrated & Educational Works
+
+PUBLISHED BY
+
+MARCUS WARD AND CO.,
+
+67, 68, Chandos Street, Strand,
+
+LONDON;
+
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+
+_=Miss Hitchcock's Wedding Dress.=_ By the Author of "A Very Young
+Couple," "Mrs. Jerningham's Journal," &c.
+
+     "One of those pleasant stories, in an attractive dress, which
+     are becoming almost a specialty of Marcus Ward &
+     Co."--_Morning Advertiser._
+
+_=Ralph Somerville; or, a Midshipman's Adventures in the= Pacific
+Ocean._ By CHARLES H. EDEN, Author of "The Twin Brothers of
+Elfvedale," "India, Historical and Descriptive," &c.
+
+     "There is always an air of reality about Mr. Eden's descriptive
+     passages which makes one feel that they are the result of
+     actual experience."--_Morning Post._
+
+_=Myrtle and Cypress: a Tale of Chequered Life.=_ By ANNETTE CALTHROP.
+
+     "The tale is altogether above the average, healthy in tone, and
+     worked out with no little ability."--_John Bull._
+
+
+BOOKS AT THREE-AND-SIXPENCE.
+
+TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE.
+
+_=India, Historical and Descriptive.=_ With an Account of the Sepoy
+Mutiny of 1857-58, by C. H. EDEN, Author of "Ralph Somervile," &c.
+Sixty-six Illustrations, Map, and Coloured Frontispiece. Crown octavo,
+cloth extra.
+
+_=Notes of Travel in Egypt and Nubia.=_ By J. L. STEPHENS. Revised and
+enlarged, with an account of the Suez Canal. Seventy-one
+Illustrations, Map, and Coloured Frontispiece. Crown octavo, cloth
+extra.
+
+_=Fairyland Tales of Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites, &c.=_ From the
+German of Villamaria. Twenty-five Illustrations and Coloured
+Frontispiece. Crown octavo, cloth extra.
+
+_=Robinson Crusoe.=_ By DANIEL DEFOE. A new and beautiful edition, with
+numerous Illustrations, Coloured Frontispiece and Title. Crown octavo,
+cloth extra.
+
+_=The Vicar of Wakefield.=_ By OLIVER GOLDSMITH. Numerous Illustrations,
+Coloured Frontispiece and Title. Crown octavo, cloth extra.
+
+With Full-page Original Illustrations, Coloured Frontispiece, and
+Illuminated Title-page. Post octavo, cloth, gold and black.
+
+_=The Ship of Ice: a Strange Story of the Polar Seas.=_ By S. WHITCHURCH
+SADLER, R.N., Author of "Perilous Seas," "Marshall Vavasour," &c.
+
+     "Not only a 'Strange Story,' but one full of exciting
+     interest.... The author writes in a vigorous, manly style, and
+     the book is one which most English boys, with their love of
+     daring and adventure, are likely heartily to relish."--_Pall
+     Mall Gazette._
+
+     "A capital book of adventure."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+_=Chronicles of Cosy Nook: a Book of Stories for Boys and= Girls._ By
+Mrs. S. C. HALL.
+
+     "Mrs. Hall never in her best days wrote a better story for
+     youngsters."--_Morning Advertiser._
+
+     "This gifted lady and her husband are known to be among the
+     finest writers of children's books in this
+     country."--_Edinburgh Courant._
+
+_=Country Maidens: a Story of the Present Day.=_ By M. BRAMSTON, Author
+of "The Panelled House," &c.
+
+     "A charming fresh little story, which must give pleasure to
+     both old and young ... deserves to be heartily
+     commended."--_Morning Post._
+
+     "As charming a tale of home life as we have often
+     met."--_Standard._
+
+_=A Very Young Couple.=_ By the Author of "Mrs. Jerningham's Journal,"
+"Miss Hitchcock's Wedding Dress," &c.
+
+     "A very lively and pleasant little tale."--_Spectator._
+
+
+BOOKS AT TWO-AND-SIXPENCE.
+
+With Coloured Frontispiece, Illuminated Title, and Full-page Original
+Illustrations.
+
+_=Mildred's Mistake.=_ A Still-Life Study. By F. LEVIEN, Author of
+"Little Ada's Jewels," "Maggie's Pictures," &c. Small octavo, cloth
+extra.
+
+_=Kaspar and the Seven Wonderful Pigeons of W�rzburg.=_ By JULIA
+GODDARD. Small octavo, cloth extra.
+
+_=Dobbie and Dobbie's Master: a Peep into the Life of a= Very Little
+Man._ By N. D'ANVERS, Author of "Little Minnie's Troubles," &c. Small
+octavo, cloth extra.
+
+_=Tom: the History of a very Little Boy.=_ By H. RUTHERFURD RUSSELL.
+Small octavo, cloth, gold and black. _New Edition._
+
+     "Almost as good, in its way, as Mr. Carroll's 'Alice in
+     Wonderland.' Parents and lovers of childhood will like it much,
+     as the childish reader is sure to do."--_Illustrated London
+     News._
+
+     "A very good story for boys."--_Globe._
+
+_=Tom Seven Years Old: a Sequel to "Tom."=_ By H. RUTHERFURD RUSSELL.
+Small octavo, cloth, gold and black.
+
+     "The truest and purest exhibition of a natural little boy's
+     mind that we have seen in any story of child
+     life."--_Illustrated London News._
+
+_=Minna's Holiday, and Other Tales.=_ By M. BETHAM-EDWARDS. Small
+octavo, cloth, gold and black.
+
+     "Simple, pleasantly-written stories."--_Daily News._
+
+_=Doda's Birthday: the Record of all that befell a Little Girl= on a
+Long, Eventful Day._ By EDWIN J. ELLIS. Small octavo, cloth, gold and
+black.
+
+     "As pleasant a book as could be given to any little
+     girl."--_Scotsman._
+
+     "A most suitable book for girls, and one that will delight the
+     little misses immensely."--_Edinburgh Courant._
+
+     "A charming book."--_Daily News._
+
+_=The Markhams of Ollerton: a Tale of the Civil War=, 1642-1647._ By E.
+GLAISTER. Small octavo, cloth, gold and black. _New Edition._
+
+     "Abounds with thrilling incidents of that eventful
+     period."--_Morning Post._
+
+     "A well-written story of the civil war, from 1642 to
+     1647."--_Scotsman._
+
+     "The story of Charles I. is one that never loses its charm, and
+     when so pleasantly and colloquially told, and embellished by
+     such pretty and characteristic pictures as we have here, it
+     will be sure to find a large and appreciative
+     audience."--_Daily News._
+
+_=Eldergowan; or, Twelve Months of my Life, and Other= Tales._ By ROSA
+MULHOLLAND, Author of "Puck and Blossom," "The Little Flower-Seekers,"
+&c. Small octavo, cloth, gold and black. _New Edition._
+
+     "One of the pleasantest little books we have met for some time;
+     charmingly illustrated."--_Illustrated Review._
+
+     "A perfect little gem in its way."--_Civil Service Gazette._
+
+     "A fine volume for girls."--_Edinburgh Courant._
+
+_=Christmas at Annesley; or, how the Grahams spent their= Holidays._ By
+M. E. SHIPLEY. Small octavo, cloth, gold and black. _New Edition._
+
+     "A delightful book for children."--_Sunday Times._
+
+     "Will be read with delight by young folks."--_Lloyd's Weekly
+     London News._
+
+_=Turnaside Cottage.=_ By MARY SENIOR CLARK, Author of "Lost Legends of
+the Nursery Rhymes." Small octavo, cloth, gold and black. _New
+Edition._
+
+     "An interesting story, well told."--_Birmingham Morning News._
+
+     "Charmingly written, impressing good and useful lessons."--_Art
+     Journal._
+
+_=The Fairy Spinner.=_ By MIRANDA HILL. Small octavo, cloth, gold and
+black. _New Edition._
+
+     "Really enchanting, and will enthral the young
+     reader."--_Edinburgh Courant._
+
+     "Well illustrated."--_Daily News._
+
+_=Pollie and Jack: a Small Story for Small People.=_ By ALICE HEPBURN,
+Author of "Two Little Cousins." Small octavo, cloth, gold and black.
+_New Edition._
+
+     "Capitally written down to the level of little
+     folks."--_Morning Advertiser._
+
+     "Will be much enjoyed by young folks."--_Figaro._
+
+
+NEW SERIES OF TWO-AND-SIXPENNY GIFT-BOOKS.
+
+_=Nanny's Treasure.=_ From the French of Madame DE STOLZ. Nineteen
+Full-page Illustrations and Coloured Frontispiece. Small octavo, cloth
+extra.
+
+_=The Little Head of the Family.=_ From the French of Mdlle. FLEURIOT.
+Fourteen Full-page Illustrations and Coloured Frontispiece. Small
+octavo, cloth extra.
+
+_=Where the Rail Runs Now: a Story of the Coaching Days.=_ By F.
+FRANKFORT MOORE. With Illustrations. Small octavo, cloth extra.
+
+_=Animals of the Farm: their Structure and Physiology.=_ A Handbook for
+Agricultural Students and Farmers. By JOHN F. HODGES, M.D., F.C.S.,
+&c. Second Edition, revised by the Author. Numerous Illustrations.
+Small octavo, cloth, 2/6.
+
+
+BOOKS AT TWO SHILLINGS.
+
+_=Two Little Cousins.=_ By ALICE HEPBURN, Author of "Pollie and Jack."
+Five Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "Adorned with bright chromographs, and printed in large, clear
+     type to suit beginners."--_Standard._
+
+_=Percy's First Friends.=_ By M. D. Five Coloured Illustrations, Cloth,
+Illuminated.
+
+     "An agreeable account of the early adventures of a motherless
+     boy."--_Lloyd's Weekly London News._
+
+=Five Little Farmers.= By ROSA MULHOLLAND, Author of "Puck and Blossom,"
+"The Little Flower-Seekers," "Eldergowan," &c. Five Coloured
+Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "Contains a number of cunningly worked-out chromo lithographs,
+     in which children and their domestic pets are grouped in a most
+     artistic and effective manner."--_Figaro._
+
+_=Maggie's Pictures; or, the Great Life told to a Child.=_ By FANNY
+LEVIEN, Author of "Mildred's Mistake, "Little Ada's Jewels." Five
+Coloured Illustrations, and Illuminated Title-page. Cloth,
+Illuminated.
+
+     "Will be welcome for the simplicity of its early
+     lessons."--_Lloyd's Newspaper._
+
+_=The Twin Brothers of Elfvedale: a Story of Norwegian= Peasant Life._
+By CHARLES H. EDEN, Author of "Ralph Somerville," "India, Historical
+and Descriptive," &c. Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated. _New
+Edition._
+
+     "Full of adventure.... Schoolboys will welcome the
+     book."--_Guardian._
+
+     "A tale of Norwegian peasant life fifty years ago, cleverly put
+     together, told in a bright, hearty view, and telling the young
+     reader a great deal about the rough, simple lives of Northern
+     folk, their customs, superstitions, and amusements."--_Times._
+
+_=Our Games: a Story for Children.=_ By MARY HAMILTON. Five Coloured
+Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated. _New Edition._
+
+     "A pleasant little book.... Attractive
+     illustrations."--_Standard._
+
+     "Adventures of children, drawn in a charmingly natural
+     manner."--_Guardian._
+
+_=Ella's Locket, and what it brought her.=_ By G. E. DARTNELL. Five
+Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated. _New Edition._
+
+     "Pleasantly conceived, and prettily told."--_Hour._
+
+
+BOOKS AT EIGHTEEN PENCE.
+
+_=My Dolly.=_ By H. RUTHERFURD RUSSELL, Author of "Tom Seven Years Old."
+Numerous Illustrations, small 8vo, Cloth extra.
+
+_=Wildflower Win: the Journal of a Little Girl.=_ By KATHLEEN KNOX.
+Numerous Illustrations, small 8vo, Cloth extra.
+
+_=Elsie's Victory.=_ By ELEANOR P. GEARY. Coloured Illustrations, Cloth,
+Illuminated.
+
+     "Sure to delight children."--_Guardian._
+
+_=Lily of the Valley: a Story for Little Boys and Girls.=_ By KATHLEEN
+KNOX. Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "A pretty little gift-book, the value of which will be
+     appreciated by the very youngest of readers."--_Leeds Mercury._
+
+_=Meadowleigh: a Holiday History.=_ By KATHLEEN KNOX. Coloured
+Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "Another of those irresistible little books for children in
+     which Messrs. Marcus Ward & Co. so cunningly combine frolicsome
+     narrative with some of the best executed and most satisfactory
+     coloured illustrations that have ever come under our
+     notice."--_Figaro._
+
+_=Katie Summers: a Little Tale for Little Readers.=_ By Mrs. C. HALL.
+Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "We hardly know whether most to praise binding, printing, or
+     literary merit."--_Morning Advertiser._
+
+     "Another tempting story of and for little people."--_Lloyd's
+     Weekly London News._
+
+_=Roses With and Without Thorns.=_ By ESTHER FAITHFULL FLEET. Coloured
+Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "Suited to children of the tenderest years, interesting and
+     edifying.... The pictures are a perfect treat."--_Edinburgh
+     Courant._
+
+     "Daintily decorated with delicate coloured
+     illustrations."--_Scotsman._
+
+_=Little Ada's Jewels.=_ By FANNY LEVIEN, Author of "Maggie's Pictures,"
+"Mildred's Mistake." Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "An exquisite little book for children.... No better little
+     book than this could be put into the hands of a good little boy
+     or girl."--_Scotsman._
+
+     "Nicely written, and beautifully illustrated."--_Morning
+     Advertiser._
+
+
+ELEGANT GIFT-BOOKS.
+
+_=The Garland of the Year; or, the Months, their Poetry= and Flowers._
+Giving an account of each Month, with Poetical Selections, descriptive
+of the Seasons and their Flowers; with red lines, and Floral Designs
+in Gold and Colours. Small octavo, cloth elegant, 2/6; gilt edges,
+3/-.
+
+     "Creditable to the compiler's taste, and comprises many
+     gems."--_Athen�um._
+
+_=Language and Poetry of Flowers.=_ A New Edition, carefully Revised and
+Amplified. With Six Illuminated Pages in Gold and Colours. Cloth,
+black and gold, 2/6; Gilt Edges, 3/-.
+
+LANGUAGE AND POETRY OF FLOWERS. Pocket Edition, Illustrated in Gold
+and Colours. Cloth extra, 1/-; gilt edges, 1/3.
+
+_=The Birthday Register.=_ With Sentiments from Shakspere (a New
+Selection of suitable Quotations), printed on writing paper. With
+Illuminated Title-page. Cloth extra, 2/-; gilt edges, 2/6; and in Limp
+French Morocco, Morocco and Russia, from 3/6 to 10/6.
+
+     "The association is a happy one, and in this form is neatly
+     carried out."--_Liverpool Weekly Albion._
+
+
+CHILDREN'S COLOURED PICTURE VOLUMES.
+
+_=Struwwelpeter.=_ Funny Picture Stories in the Struwwelpeter Manner,
+"In merry mood for children good; with moral sad for children bad."
+Twenty-four pages in Colours, enamelled boards. Price 2/-. _Also, in
+Two Books, Paper Covers, 1/- each._
+
+     "Much genuine humour, along with healthy, moral
+     lessons."--_Leeds Mercury._
+
+_=The Shaksperean Calendar.=_ A Novel Almanac and Daily Date Calendar,
+for the Library or Boudoir. Beautifully printed in Colours. Price 1/-.
+The Information comprises Sunrise and Sunset, Moon's Changes,
+Festivals, Holidays, &c., with an appropriate Quotation from Shakspere
+for each Day in the Year.
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S CONCISE DIARIES.
+
+_For the Pocket--Published Annually--Lightest, Cheapest, Handiest,
+Best._
+
+THE CONCISE DIARIES meet the universal objection to all other Pocket
+Diaries--their cumbrousness and unnecessary weight in the pocket. They
+are beautifully printed in Blue and Gold, on a light, hard, Metallic
+paper, and combine the following advantages:--
+
+    1. Maximum of Writing Space.
+    2. Minimum of Weight.
+    3. Useless Matter Omitted.
+    4. Equal Space for Sundays.
+    5. Daily Engagement Record.
+    6. The Writing is Indelible.
+
+THE CONCISE DIARIES are made both in "Upright" and "Oblong" form, and
+in Three sizes of each form.
+
+Only one part (Three Months) need be carried in the pocket at once.
+
+All so-called "Useful Information," which few ever read, is excluded.
+
+     "By a capital arrangement, the maximum amount of writing space
+     is secured with the minimum amount of weight."--_Daily
+     Telegraph._
+
+     "The Diary pages are furnished _separately_ in quarterly parts,
+      ... and are much smaller and handier than they otherwise would
+     be. It is a very good plan."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+_=Season's Calendar for 1877.=_ Size, 4 � 2-3/4 inches, containing four
+highly-finished pictures, representing "Spring," "Summer," "Autumn,"
+"Winter," and four pages consisting of Calendar and other Useful
+Information. Price 6d.
+
+_=Pocket-Book Calendar.=_ A Bijou Almanac, size, 1-3/4 � 1-1/4 inches,
+with gilt edges, suitable for purse, pocket book, or waistcoat pocket.
+Price 1d.
+
+
+POPULAR SERIES OF SUNDAY-SCHOOL CARDS.
+
+=SACRED SELECTIONS.= A set of Twelve Illuminated Cards, set in Floral
+Borders and Gold Grounds, with Sacred Texts and Poetry. Price 6d.
+
+=MEMORABLE WORDS= from Scripture. Twelve Medi�val Illuminated Cards.
+Price 6d.
+
+=PROVERBS AND PROMISES= from Holy Scripture. Three packets, each
+containing Twelve Floral, Decorated Cards, with Texts. Price 6d. each.
+
+    No. 1.--PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
+    No. 2.--PROMISES (Old Testament).
+    No. 3.--PROMISES (New Testament).
+
+=FLORAL REWARD CARDS.=--Two packets, each containing Twenty-four Cards,
+with Floral Borders in Gold and Colours. Price 6d. each.
+
+    Packet A.--Sacred Verses.
+    Packet B.--Texts of Scripture.
+
+=CHRIST THE FIRST FRUITS.= A set of Twelve Floral Cards, with Gold
+Backgrounds, Texts, and appropriate sacred poetry. Price 1/-.
+
+=WORDS OF COUNSEL=, from the Sacred Scriptures, Illuminated on Twelve
+Floral Cards. Price 1/-.
+
+=SAYINGS AND BLESSINGS OF OUR LORD.= Two Packets, each containing Twelve
+Floral Cards, printed in Colours on Black Backgrounds, with Verses
+from Holy Scripture. Price 1/-each.
+
+=SACRED TEXTS.= Two Packets, each containing a set of Twelve Cards, with
+Floral Illuminated Borders, printed in Gold and Colours. Price 1/-.
+
+    No. 1.--SACRED TEXTS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT.
+    No. 2.--SACRED TEXTS FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT.
+
+=FLOWERS OF THE MONTHS.= A set of Twelve Cards, printed in Gold and
+Colours, with appropriate Poetry and Descriptive Notes. In Wrapper.
+Price 1/-.
+
+=THE HISTORY OF OUR LORD.= Twelve Scenes from the Life of Our Lord,
+printed in Gold and Colours, with appropriate Selections from
+Scripture. Price 1/-.
+
+=BIBLE PICTURES.= Twelve Scenes from Old Testament History, printed in
+Colours, with appropriate Selections from Scripture. Price 1/-.
+
+=SACRED THOUGHTS=, in Verse. Twelve Floral Cards, with Black
+Backgrounds. In handsome Wrapper. Price 1/-.
+
+=A PACKET OF POESY.= Twelve Floral Cards, printed in Colours on Black
+Backgrounds. Price 1/-.
+
+=HYMNS FOR THE LAMBS OF CHRIST'S FLOCK.= Twelve Cards of Birds and
+Flowers for Children. In handsome Wrapper. Price 1/-.
+
+=THE APOSTLES' CREED.= A Packet of Twelve Highly-decorated Cards. In
+handsome Wrapper. Price 1/-.
+
+=THE LORD'S PRAYER.= A Packet of Twelve Highly-decorated Cards. In
+handsome Wrapper. Price 1/-.
+
+
+POPULAR SERIES OF TEMPERANCE CARDS.
+
+=THE WATER PACKET.= A set of Twelve Cards, with Borders of Water Plants,
+& c., and Original Verses by S. C. Hall, F.S.A. Price 1/-.
+
+=THE TEXT PACKET.= Twelve Selections from Scripture, chosen for their
+bearing on the subject. Beautifully Illuminated in Gold and Colours.
+Price 6d.
+
+
+=POPULAR SERIES OF WALL TEXTS=,
+
+Suitable for Decorating Schoolrooms, Bedrooms, &c.
+
+=GOLDEN PRECEPTS.= A Series of Nine Floral Illuminated Texts. Size,
+6-1/4 � 8 inches. In Three Packets, price 1/6 each; or in Mounts, Gilt
+Bevelled Edges, 3/-each Packet.
+
+=ECHOES FROM THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM.= A Series of Floral Illuminated
+Texts. Size, 8-1/4 � 6-1/2 inches. In One Packet, containing Three
+Texts, price 1/6; or in Mounts, Gilt Bevelled Edges, 3/-the set.
+
+=CHEERING WORDS FOR PILGRIMS TO THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM.= A Series of Six
+Floral Illuminated Texts. Size, 6-1/2 � 8-1/4 inches. In Two Packets,
+each containing Three Texts, price 1/6; and in Mounts, Gilt Bevelled
+Edges, 3/-.
+
+=LIGHTS FOR LIFE'S JOURNEY.= A Series of Texts, Designed in Colours.
+Size, 19 � 6 inches. Four in a Packet, price 2/-.
+
+
+MARCUS WARD & CO.'S
+
+=Newspaper Cuttings Scrap-Book.= A Ready Reference Receptacle for
+Scraps, from our daily sources of knowledge, the Newspapers; with an
+Alphabetical Index, and Spaces for Marginal Notes.
+
+    "When found, make a note of."--_Captain Cuttle._
+
+THE NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS SCRAP-BOOK has been introduced by MARCUS WARD &
+CO. to supply a want equally felt in household, office, or
+counting-house, as well as in the library of the literary man, or in
+the chambers of the lawyer.
+
+There are few readers of Newspapers who do not daily meet with
+paragraphs, notices, or advertisements, which they would gladly cut
+out and retain, but, not having any convenient means of preserving
+them, they are passed over and lost; or, even if cut out, are so
+carefully put away that they cannot be found when wanted for
+reference.
+
+By the use of the NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS SCRAP-BOOK all such
+inconveniences are prevented, as the cuttings can be readily fixed in
+order, and, by means of the Index, may be referred to in a moment;
+thus forming a volume of permanent interest and usefulness.
+
+LIST OF SIZES, BINDINGS, AND PRICES.
+
+    +-----+----------------------------------------------+------+
+    | No. |        DESCRIPTION. |Pages | Size, in Inches |Price |
+    |-----+---------------------+------+-----------------+------+
+    |6020 | Fancy Cloth,        |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Lettered on Side    |  72  | 7-3/4 by 9-1/2  | 1/6  |
+    |6021 |    Do. do. do.      | 100  | 7-3/4 by 9-1/2  | 2/-  |
+    |6031 |    Do. do. do.      | 100  | 9-3/4 by 11-1/2 | 3/-  |
+    |6043 | Do. Extra Gilt,     |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Lettered on Side    | 120  | 7-1/2 by 9-1/2  | 2/6  |
+    |6044 |    Do. do. do.      | 120  | 8-1/2 by 10-1/2 | 3/6  |
+    |6015 |    Do. do. do.      | 120  | 9-1/2 by 11-3/4 | 4/-  |
+    |6017 |    Do. do. do.      |      |                 |      |
+    |     |  and in Colors,     |      |                 |      |
+    |     |  Inlaid             | 150  | 9-1/2 by 11-3/4 | 4/6  |
+    |6011 | Half Roan,          |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Lettered on Back,   | 200  | 9-1/2 by 11-3/4 | 5/-  |
+    |6008 | Half French Morocco,|      |                 |      |
+    |     | Lettered on Back,   |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Superior Quality    |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Paper               | 150  | 9-1/2 by 11-3/4 | 7/-  |
+    |6013 | Half Roan,          |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Lettered on Back,   |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Superior Quality    |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Paper               | 200  | 10 by 15        | 9/-  |
+    |-----+---------------------+------+-----------------+------+
+
+
+EDUCATIONAL WORKS.
+
+ATLASES.
+
+_Adopted by the Board of National Education in Ireland._
+
+EDITED BY J. HARRIS STONE, B.A.
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S SIXPENNY ATLAS.
+
+LIST OF MAPS--Fully Coloured.
+
+    Eastern Hemisphere
+    Western Hemisphere
+    Europe
+    Asia
+    Africa and Arabia
+    United States & Canada
+    Canaan or Palestine
+    North America
+    South America
+    England and Wales
+    Scotland
+    Ireland
+    Australia & Tasmania
+    France
+    German Empire
+    Austrian Empire and Hungary
+    India or Hindustan
+    New Zealand
+
+_The largest Sixpenny Atlas ever offered._
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S SHILLING ATLAS.
+
+Twenty-four Maps, printed in Colours, in the best style.
+
+WITH GEOGRAPHICAL DEFINITIONS, DIAGRAMS OF THE GLOBES, &c.
+
+This Atlas contains extra Maps and information, suitable for more
+advanced pupils, is printed on strong paper, and bound in durable
+cloth cover.
+
+LIST OF MAPS.
+
+    Eastern Hemisphere
+    Western Hemisphere
+    Europe
+    England and Wales
+    Scotland
+    Ireland
+    France
+    German Empire
+    Austrian Empire and Hungary
+    Kingdom of Italy
+    Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
+    Switzerland
+    Spain and Portugal
+    Netherlands and Belgium
+    Russia in Europe
+    Turkey in Europe & Greece
+    Asia
+    India or Hindustan
+    Africa and Arabia
+    North America
+    South America
+    United States of America
+    Dominion of Canada
+    Australia and Tasmania
+    New Zealand
+    Canaan or Palestine
+
+_The largest Shilling Atlas ever offered to the Public._
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S HOME ATLAS.
+
+Thirty Maps, printed in Colours,
+
+From New Plates, specially engraved, with all the latest information
+from the best authorities, and Index to upwards of 4000 places. Crown
+4to, Cloth, 2/-; Cloth Extra, 2/6.
+
+LIST OF MAPS.
+
+    Explanatory Map
+    Eastern Hemisphere
+    Western Hemisphere
+    Europe
+    Asia
+    Africa
+    North America
+    South America
+    Oceania
+    The British Islands
+    England and Wales
+    Scotland
+    Ireland
+    France
+    German Empire
+    Austrian Empire and Kingdom of Hungary
+    Kingdom of Italy
+    The Netherlands & Belgium
+    Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
+    Turkey in Europe & Greece
+    Russia in Europe
+    Switzerland
+    Spain and Portugal
+    Turkey in Asia, Syria, Persia, Afghanistan, &c.
+    India or Hindustan
+    The Dominion of Canada
+    United States of America
+    Australia and Tasmania
+    Central America and West Indies
+    New Zealand
+    Canaan or Palestine
+    Bible Maps
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S PORTABLE ATLAS.
+
+Thirty Maps, printed in Colours, on one side only of Superfine Drawing
+Paper, with full Index.
+
+Demy Octavo, handsomely bound in Cloth--India Rubber binding, to open
+perfectly flat. 3/6.
+
+Advantages of this Atlas over others at similar or higher prices:--
+
+1. Pictorial Illustrations of Geographical Terms.
+
+2. Diagrams to illustrate the use of the Globes.
+
+3. In the Maps of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the Sizes of the
+Towns by their Populations are distinguished by varied letterings.
+
+4. The Countries where French is spoken are shewn in one Map.
+
+5. The Countries where German or kindred languages are spoken are
+shewn in one Map.
+
+6. The whole of the Russian Empire depicted on one Plate.
+
+7. The whole of the Turkish Empire depicted on one Plate.
+
+8. Map of Overland Route--Mediterranean to the Indus--Asiatic Russia
+--Khiva--Kokand--Syria--Euphrates Valley--Koweyt Republic--
+Persia--Afghanistan--Biluchistan, &c. Illustrating the advance of the
+Russian Empire towards India.
+
+9. The British Isles in one Map.
+
+10. Several enlarged Maps of British Colonies.
+
+11. Special Biblical Maps, for Sunday Lessons.
+
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS (MARCUS WARD'S ATLASES).
+
+"The Sixpenny and Shilling Atlases are _marvels of cheapness_, and the
+Home and Portable Atlases, each containing thirty maps, with indexes
+to upwards of 4,000 places, are _very complete for ordinary
+use_."--_Guardian, March 15th, 1876._
+
+"These Maps are cheap, well engraved, and apparently on a level with
+the most recent and accurate geographical information."--_Standard,
+March 22nd, 1876._
+
+"The series of Atlases issued by the Messrs Marcus Ward & Co., of
+London and Belfast, merit attention. The maps are beautifully printed
+and neatly coloured; the coast-lines, rivers, and mountains are
+clearly shown, and the names are not too crowded."--_Public Opinion,
+April 1st, 1876._
+
+" ... Marvels of cheapness, and at the same time of comparative
+excellence. They are all 'got up' with that artistic taste and
+neatness which generally characterise the publications of this
+firm."--_Manchester Courier, March 22nd, 1876._
+
+"Quite unique.... Admirably printed."--_Leeds Mercury._
+
+
+WORKS ON DRAWING AND DESIGN.
+
+_=Plants: their Natural Growth and Ornamental= Treatment_. By F. E.
+HULME, F.L.S., F.S.A., of Marlborough College, Author of "Plant Form."
+Containing 44 plates, printed in Colours from Drawings made by the
+Author, accompanied by a careful Treatise on the subject. Large
+imperial 4to, cloth extra, bevelled boards. Price 21/-.
+
+     "The object of this very excellent work is to show the close
+     relationship that exists between botanical science and
+     ornamental art."--_Morning Post._
+
+_=Hulme's Freehand Ornament.=_ Sixty Examples, for the use of Drawing
+Classes. By F. E. HULME, F.L.S., F.S.A., Marlborough College. Imperial
+8vo. Price 5/-, or mounted millboard, cloth-bound edges, 10/-.
+
+     "To the Student of Drawing this book is a mine of well-drawn
+     examples.... Cannot fail to be useful to the decorative
+     sculptor, the bookbinder, the manufacturer of textile fabrics
+     of every description...."--_Art Journal._
+
+     _Both these Works have been adopted by H. M. Department of
+     Science and Art, for Copies and Prizes._
+
+_=Illuminating: a Practical Treatise on the Art.=_ By MARCUS WARD,
+Illuminator to the Queen. With 26 examples of the styles prevailing at
+different periods, from the sixth century to the present time;
+Chromographed in facsimile and in outline. Foolscap 4to, cloth extra,
+bevelled boards, gilt edges, 5/-, or, in Morocco extra, 10/6.
+
+     "A very creditable and remarkably cheap little
+     book."--_Architect._
+
+Aunt Charlotte's Histories for Young Children.
+
+Profusely Illustrated, Square Octavo, Cloth Extra, Bevelled Boards,
+Gilt Edges. Price 6/-each.
+
+_=Stories of English History for the Little Ones.=_ By CHARLOTTE M.
+YONGE, Author of "The Heir of Redclyffe," &c. In Fifty easy Chapters,
+with a Frontispiece in Colours by H. S. Marks, A.R.A.; 50
+Illustrations, and an Illuminated Title-page. New Edition, with
+Questions.
+
+     "So simple that a child of the tenderest years will be
+     perfectly able to comprehend all that the writer wishes to
+     convey ... adorned with numerous illustrations ... the
+     title-page is a lovely piece of art in illuminated
+     printing."--_Edinburgh Courant._
+
+     "An excellent and useful little gift-book."--_Scotsman._
+
+     "Any boy or girl who fails to admire Miss Yonge's 'Stories of
+     English History' must, indeed, be hard to
+     please."--_Bookseller._
+
+_A Cheap Edition of MISS YONGE'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, for Schools, is
+now ready; with 41 Engravings, and Questions, neatly bound in cloth.
+Price 1/6._
+
+_=Stories of French History for the Little Ones.=_ In Forty-eight easy
+Chapters, with a Frontispiece in Colours by H. STACY MARKS, A.R.A.
+Twelve Full-page Illustrations, and an Illuminated Title-page. New
+Edition, with Questions.
+
+     "The stories are well and clearly written."--_Saturday Review._
+
+     "Charmingly bound, printed, and illustrated."--_Manchester
+     Guardian._
+
+_=Stories of Bible History for the Little Ones.=_ Three Readings and One
+Picture for each Sunday in the Year, with an Illuminated Title-page
+and Frontispiece in Colours.
+
+     "Illustrations numerous and well executed."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+     "Embraces the whole story from the creation to the ascension;
+     told as Miss Yonge knows so well how to tell it."--_Guardian._
+
+     "Nicely illustrated, and got up in an attractive
+     style."--_Birmingham Gazette._
+
+_A Cheap Edition of STORIES OF BIBLE HISTORY, price 2/-, just
+published._
+
+_=Stories of Greek History for the Little Ones.=_ In Forty-five easy
+Chapters, with Frontispiece in Colours by WALTER CRANE, Illuminated
+Title-page, and numerous Illustrations.
+
+_=Stories of Roman History for the Little Ones.=_ By CHARLOTTE M. YONGE.
+In Forty-six easy Chapters, with Frontispiece in Colours, Illuminated
+Title-page, and numerous Illustrations. _Just Published._
+
+_=Stories of German History for the Little Ones.=_ By C. M. YONGE. With
+Frontispiece in Colours, Illuminated Title-page, and numerous
+Illustrations. _In the Press._
+
+
+CLASS-BOOK FOR CLASSICAL AND ART SCHOOLS.
+
+=The Mythology of Greece and Rome, with special reference to its use in
+Art.= From the German of O. Seemann. Edited by G. H. BIANCHI, B.A.,
+late Scholar of S. Peter's College, Cambridge. 64 Illustrations, Crown
+Octavo, Cloth, 3/6.
+
+
+HANDBOOK FOR AGRICULTURAL STUDENTS AND FARMERS.
+
+=Animals of the Farm: their Structure and Physiology.= By JOHN F.
+HODGES, M.D., F.C.S., &c. Second Edition, revised by the Author.
+Numerous Illustrations. Small Octavo, Cloth, 2/6.
+
+
+VERE FOSTER'S DRAWING COPY-BOOKS.
+
+_With Instructions and Paper to Draw on._
+
+POPULAR EDITION, 1d. SUPERIOR EDITION, 3d.
+
+In a country where Mechanical, Architectural, and Decorative Skill is
+in so much demand, a knowledge of Drawing is essential alike to the
+Artizan, the Employer, and the Connoisseur. The success of Mr. VERE
+FOSTER'S _Writing_ Copy-Books suggested that a knowledge of Drawing
+might be spread among all classes by a series of _Drawing_ Copy-Books
+by the best masters. It is believed that these books have already
+called forth much latent talent, and the advantage of a development of
+Taste and practical Artistic Knowledge cannot be overrated.
+
+    A--ELEMENTARY.
+    B--SIMPLE OBJECTS.
+    C--FAMILIAR OBJECTS. Two Books.
+    D--SIMPLE FLOWERS. Two Books.
+    E, G--FLOWERS. Three Books.
+    I--ORNAMENT. Four Books.
+    J--TREES. Three Books.
+    K--LANDSCAPE. Four Books.
+    M--MARINE. Four Books.
+    O--ANIMALS. Ten Books.
+    Q--HUMAN FIGURE. Four Books.
+    R--GEOMETRY. Three Books.
+    T--MECHANICAL. Six Books.
+    Z--BLANK BOOK.
+
+
+VERE FOSTER'S WATER-COLOUR DRAWING BOOKS.
+
+_With full Instructions in Painting._
+
+
+ELEMENTARY BOOKS, 3d. ADVANCED BOOKS, 6d.
+
+The object of this Publication is to place a knowledge of the higher
+branches of Drawing, hitherto the accomplishment only of the few,
+within the reach of all. It comprises a series of Simple and Practical
+Examples, in the various departments of Painting, by eminent Artists,
+together with useful and practical hints for Sketching from Nature.
+
+The prices place them within the reach of every one, and they are
+adapted either for Self-instruction or for study with the aid of a
+Master.
+
+    SEPIA.--6 Nos., 3d. each.
+    LANDSCAPE.--6 Nos., 3d. each.
+    MARINE.--Advanced Lessons--4 Nos., 6d. each.
+    ANIMALS.--Advanced Lessons--4 Nos., 6d. each.
+    FLOWERS--1st Series.--6 Nos., 3d. each.
+    FLOWERS--2nd Series.--4 Nos., 6d. each.
+    ILLUMINATING.--4 Nos., 6d. each.
+
+
+VERE FOSTER'S WRITING COPY-BOOKS.
+
+POPULAR EDITION, 1d. SUPERIOR EDITION. 2d. (No. 10, 3d.)
+
+_Quarto Edition (Fine Glazed Paper) of Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, Sixpence
+each._
+
+The distinguishing characteristics of this Series are as follows:--
+
+1. Combination in the greatest possible degree of legibility with
+rapidity. The formation of the Letters, and notably of _a_, _d_, _g_,
+_q_, are adapted to this end. 2. The Tailed Letters are of moderate
+length. The up and down strokes are of nearly equal thickness, as
+contradistinguished from the Engraver's style. 3. The writing of each
+word is continuous from end to end. 4. Exclusion of Large Hand as
+unfit for small fingers. 5. Systematically progressive arrangement of
+Head Lines. 6. Two Lines of Copy on a page. 7. Careful selection of
+Proverbs and Aphorisms. 8. The same clear, simple style of Writing for
+both sexes, _there being no good reason why girls should be taught a
+cramped, illegible hand_.
+
+
+LIST OF VERE FOSTER'S WRITING COPY-BOOKS.
+
+1. STROKES, EASY LETTERS, SHORT WORDS.--Traced Lines under each Copy,
+to be written over by the Pupil. ROUND HAND.
+
+1-1/2. LONG LETTERS, SHORT WORDS, FIGURES.--Sanctioned by the
+Committee of Council as satisfying the requirements of the Second
+Standard, Revised Code, 1875. HALF TEXT.
+
+2. LONG LETTERS, SHORT WORDS, FIGURES,--Guide Lines to regulate the
+length of Tailed Letters. SMALL ROUND HAND.
+
+2-1/2. WORDS OF FOUR, FIVE, OR SIX LETTERS, for Practice in forming
+different difficult combinations. SMALL ROUND HAND.
+
+3. CAPITALS, SHORT WORDS, FIGURES.--Analysis of Capitals. Showing how
+the stiff Printed Capitals become transformed into Running Hand.
+MEDIUM HAND.
+
+3-1/2. SENTENCES OF SHORT WORDS, spaced by Perpendicular Lines. This
+is the first book in which Sentences are introduced. SMALL ROUND HAND.
+
+4. SENTENCES, mostly composed of Short Words. The Perpendicular
+Spacing Lines are omitted in this and all succeeding numbers. MEDIUM
+HAND.
+
+4-1/2. SELECT QUOTATIONS FROM SHAKSPERE.--Principally Long Sentences.
+Suitable for preparing Pupils to write from Dictation. MEDIUM HAND.
+
+5, 6. SENTENCES.--Maxims, Morals, and Precepts, in progressively Small
+Writing; each Line a complete Sentence. SMALL HAND.
+
+5-1/2. SENTENCES, in Writing of Three Sizes, continuation of preceding
+Books Nos. 3-1/2, 4-1/2, and 5. SMALL ROUND, MEDIUM, AND SMALL HANDS.
+
+6-1/2. SENTENCES, in Writing of Two Sizes, in continuation of Books
+Nos. 6 and 7. SMALL HAND.
+
+7. SENTENCES AND CHRISTIAN NAMES.--A collection of over 200 of the
+Christian Names in most common use, affording scope for a great
+variety of elegant Capitals. SMALL HAND.
+
+8. SENTENCES.--One Line on each Page. This Book is prepared for those
+who prefer at this stage to have only one line on each page. SMALL
+HAND.
+
+9. SENTENCES.--Two Lines on each Page. Smaller Writing than in any of
+the preceding books. Some prefer this as a Finishing Hand to Nos. 7
+and 8. SMALL HAND.
+
+10. PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL LETTERING.--Single Letters, Words, and
+Sentences. Alphabets in Thirty-three different Styles. The most
+perfect Collection yet published.
+
+11. EXERCISE BOOK.--Wide Ruling, with Margin, for Parsing, Dictation,
+Composition, or other Exercises.
+
+12. EXERCISE BOOK.--Narrow Ruling in Squares, for Arithmetic,
+Bookkeeping, Geometry, and proportionate enlargements or reductions.
+
+HOME EXERCISE BOOK.--Same Ruling as No. 12 (but Octavo Size). Price
+One Penny.
+
+COPY-BOOK PROTECTOR AND BLOTTER.--Price One Penny. Keeping the Books
+fresh, neat, and clean.
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S ROYAL ULSTER SERIES OF SELECTED STEEL PENS.
+
+These Celebrated Pens have rounded points, are specially manufactured
+in highest finish from the finest Silver Steel, and are suited for the
+various requirements of the Public in all Styles of Writing. Sold by
+all Stationers, at the uniform price of 1s. per box.
+
+42. MARCUS WARD'S "VERE FOSTER COPY-BOOK" PEN.--For Pupils using the
+earlier numbers of the VERE FOSTER Copy-Books--Nos. 1, 1-1/2, 2, 2-1/2,
+3, 3-1/2, 4, 4-1/2, or for ordinary free writing (_Round Hand and
+Medium Hand_). ONE HUNDRED PENS IN A BOX.
+
+41. MARCUS WARD'S "VERE FOSTER COPY-BOOK" PEN.--Adapted for the more
+advanced numbers of the VERE FOSTER Copy-Books--Nos. 5, 5-1/2, 6,
+6-1/2, 7, 8, and 9, and for ordinary neat writing (_Small Hand_). ONE
+HUNDRED PENS IN A BOX.
+
+51. MARCUS WARD'S "COLLEGE" PEN--_Fine Points_.--A strong, useful Pen
+for high-class School or College use, suited for the more rapid
+writing of Advanced Pupils and Students, and for ordinary
+Correspondence. SIX DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+52. MARCUS WARD'S "COLLEGE" PEN--_Medium Points_.-Similar to No. 51,
+but with broader Points. Suitable also for Professional or Official
+Correspondence, and for bold, rapid writing. SIX DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+64. MARCUS WARD'S "BLACK LETTER" PEN--_Extra Broad Points_.--A
+peculiar pen, specially made for VERE FOSTER'S No. 10 Copy-Book.
+Adapted for _down strokes_ of German Text, Old English, Black Letter,
+and Engrossing. Will also be found useful by the numerous class of
+persons who prefer to use a very broad-pointed pen in ordinary writing
+on rough paper. THREE DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+70. MARCUS WARD'S "ITALIAN" PEN--_Extra Fine Points_.--Specially made
+for the Ornamental Writing in VERE FOSTER'S No. 10 Copy-Book, or for
+the use of persons who prefer a _very fine-pointed_ pen in writing on
+highly-glazed paper. THREE DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+81. MARCUS WARD'S "ROYAL ULSTER" PEN--_Fine Points_.--A splendid pen
+for Mercantile use, either in Account Books, for Correspondence, or
+for other purposes. Made of thick but very Elastic Steel, with the
+highest finish. _Much recommended for Flexibility, Strength, and
+Durability._ THREE DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+91. MARCUS WARD'S "ROYAL PALACE" PEN--_Fine Points_.--Slightly
+turned-up points. Persons who prefer quill pens will find this the
+_Softest_ Steel Pen made. These pens are suitable for the modern style
+of large and bold writing, and are peculiarly adapted for writing on
+the Irish Linen Papers. THREE DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+92. MARCUS WARD'S "ROYAL PALACE" PEN--_Medium Points_.--Similar to No.
+91, with broader turned-up points, for very bold and rapid writing on
+the Royal Irish Linen or other rough-surfaced writing papers. THREE
+DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+Samples will be forwarded on receipt of Six Penny Stamps.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+
+Inconsistent and archaic spelling, punctuation, and syntax retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fairy Circles, by Unknown
+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fairy Circles, by Unknown
+
+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: Fairy Circles
+       Tales and Legends of Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites
+              and Hobgoblins
+
+Author: Unknown
+
+Editor: Villamaria
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2012 [EBook #39560]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAIRY CIRCLES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Matthew Wheaton and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_cover.jpg" width="400" height="574" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">Fairy Circlies<br />
+Tales and Legends</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter" id="frontispiece">
+<img src="images/i_002.jpg" width="400" height="610" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">HELGA IN THE FAIRY KING&#39;S PARADISE.<br />
+p. 154.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_003.jpg" width="400" height="642" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h1 class="booktitle">Fairy Circles</h1>
+
+<p class="h2 smcap">Tales and Legends</p>
+
+<p class="h4">OF</p>
+
+<p class="h3">Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites,
+and Hobgoblins<br />
+<br />
+FROM THE GERMAN OF VILLAMARIA<br />
+<br />
+WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS</p>
+
+<p class="h4">London:<br />
+MARCUS WARD &amp; CO., 67 &amp; 68, CHANDOS STREET<br />
+<span class="smcap">And ROYAL ULSTER WORKS, BELFAST</span><br />
+1877</p>
+
+<p class="spacer">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_005a.jpg" width="300" height="72" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents">
+<tr>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdrfirst">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Barbarossa's Youthful Dream.</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Barbarossas_Youthful_Dream">7</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">King Laurin.</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#KING_LAURIN">32</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Dwarf of Venice.</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Dwarf_of_Venice">54</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Rhine Gold:</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#RHINE_GOLD">100</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Friendship of the Dwarfs.</td>
+  <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><span class="in2">PART I. The Dying Dwarf-Queen</span></td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#PART_I">115</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><span class="in2">PART II. The Friends of the Rock</span></td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#PART_II">124</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Flower of Iceland.</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Flower_of_Iceland">142</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Sea-fairy.</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_SEA-FAIRY">172</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Faithful Goblin.</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Faithful_Goblin">201</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Fallen Bell.</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_FALLEN_BELL">223</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Last Home of the Giants.</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Last_Home_of_the_Giants">249</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_005b.jpg" width="200" height="49" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="spacer">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h2>Illustrations.</h2>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="List of Illustrations">
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdrfirst">PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Helga in the Fairy King's Paradise (p. 155)</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece.</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Frederick takes leave of Gela</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Barbarossa in the Holy Land</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Barbarossa and Gela in the Kyffh&auml;user</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Vreneli in King Laurin's Rose-Garden</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">King Laurin in Vreneli's Cottage</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Dwarf of Venice takes his Departure for his Native Land</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Hans sees King Laurin's Kingdom in the Magic Mirror</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Hans receives a hearty Welcome from an Old Friend</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Haco throws the Treasure of the Nibelungen into the Rhine</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Charlemagne meets with Kriemhild</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Countess Matilda restores the Dwarf-Queen to Health</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Eckbert's Wild Ride on Kuno's Horse</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Kuno listens to the Wise Man's Talk</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Helga at her Mother's Feet</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"In Helga's Heart Memory ceased to thrill"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Old Man beside the Corpse of Antonio</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Antonio in the Crystal Castle</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Antonio lays the dead Maiden in her last Resting-place</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">First Acquaintance with Puck</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">"Gero caught Puck suddenly and set him before him on his Saddle"</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Storm hurls the Bell into the Stream</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">The Water-elf and the little Soul on the Raft of Water-lilies</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Aslog returns to her Father</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_249">249</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc">Guru awakes the Rock to Life</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<div id="main">
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7">7</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a id="Barbarossas_Youthful_Dream">Barbarossa's Youthful Dream.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="i007">
+<div id="i007a"></div>
+<div id="i007b"></div>
+<div id="i007c"></div>
+<div id="i007d"></div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">M</span>ORE</b> than a thousand years have rolled away since a castle looked down
+cheerfully from a height amid the Franconian plains into the
+well-watered Kinzig Valley, with its pleasant villages and towns.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8">8</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It belonged to the powerful Swabian duke Frederick of Hohenstaufen,
+whose young and valiant son loved this the best of all his father's
+proud castles, and often left his uncle's splendid palace to hunt in
+its forests, or to look down from its lofty oriel window on the
+blooming plain below.</p>
+
+<p>His father and uncle indeed missed him sadly. His clear blue eye, and
+the cheerful expression of his noble countenance, seemed to the two
+grave and war-weary men so gladdening to look upon, that they were
+always unwilling to let him leave them.</p>
+
+</div><!--i007-->
+
+<p>But the young Frederick used to beg them so earnestly to grant him the
+freedom of the forest for just this once, that father and uncle
+smilingly granted him permission, though "this once" was often
+repeated.</p>
+
+<p>So it happened the autumn of that year when Bernard of Clairvaux
+passed through Germany, calling prince and people in words of burning
+eloquence to aid in the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre.</p>
+
+<p>"Just this once!" said young Frederick again; and King Conrad and Duke
+Frederick granted him permission.</p>
+
+<p>As he bent in courteous farewell to take his uncle's hand, the king
+whispered, "Be ready, my Frederick, to return as soon as my messenger
+calls thee. Great things are before us, and I can ill spare thy strong
+right arm!" And young Frederick smiled his own cheery smile, and
+answered, "I come when my king and lord calls!"</p>
+
+<p>Then he galloped away as if he were bound that day to ride round the
+world. His Barbary steed bore him<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9">9</a></span> as on wings through the dark
+forests of the Spessart, and as the latest sunbeams sank in the waters
+of the Kinzig, he mounted the steep path towards the castle, and rode
+over the lowered drawbridge into the court.</p>
+
+<p>Was it really the stags and boars in the vast forests, or the treasure
+of rare old manuscripts of the castle archives, which drew the young
+prince again and again to the small and lonely fortress?</p>
+
+<p>So his father and uncle thought, but they knew not of his deep
+unconquerable love for the beautiful Gela, the daughter of a humble
+retainer. He had seen her while resting from the chase in the forest
+of the Kinzig Valley, and so great had his love for her become that he
+was willing to renounce all dreams of future power and greatness to
+live in blissful retirement with the beloved one whom he could not
+raise to his own rank.</p>
+
+<p>But the lovers had to guard their secret carefully; they dared trust
+no confidant, lest their paradise should be laid waste before its
+gates had been fully opened to admit them. So they breathed their love
+to none but each other.</p>
+
+<p>The prince passed Gela with cold indifference if he met her in the
+castle court or at her work about the house, and Gela made lowly
+reverence, as if she were the meanest of his maids, to him who counted
+it his greatest honour to do her service.</p>
+
+<p>But at evening, when Frederick had roamed the forest since early
+morning, his bow on his shoulder and his faithful hounds by his side,
+the fair Gela might be seen walking along the high-road with a basket
+on her arm,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10">10</a></span> or with a stock of newly-spun yarn, as if she were going
+to seek purchasers in the nearest town. But in the forest she would
+leave the broad path, and make her way through briars and underwood to
+a height on which her young prince awaited her beneath the shelter of
+a giant oak.</p>
+
+<p>There they would talk happily and innocently till the last sunbeam was
+quenched in the Kinzig stream, and the convent bell resounded through
+the arches of the forest; then they would fold their hands in prayer
+before saying farewell, in hope of a meeting on the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>So had it been for many a year. Their love remained unbetrayed, their
+hope unquenched, their faith unshaken. In the splendid halls of the
+palace, amid the proud and lovely ladies who surrounded the young
+prince with flattering marks of favour, the longing after the lonely
+forest in the Kinzig Valley and the fair and gentle loved one never
+died from his heart.</p>
+
+<p>They had met thus one evening with the old, yet ever new tenderness.
+Frederick drew Gela's fair head to his breast, and spoke to her of the
+near and blissful future, which would be theirs in a few weeks, when
+he would be of age, and would be able to lead her openly as his wife
+to his castle in the fair land of Bavaria, to the inheritance of his
+dead mother. And the oak tree overhead rustled gently, scattering
+golden leaves on Gela's beautiful hair, for it was far on in autumn.</p>
+
+<p>When the vesper bell of the forest cloister began to sound, it was
+already dark; the moonlight gleamed on the path, and Gela walked with
+her lover as far as the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11">11</a></span> high-road, supported by his arm. But there
+the moon shone so brightly that they had to part, lest some prying eye
+should see them. "Meet me to-morrow, dearest!" said the young prince,
+once more kissing her blooming cheek; then Gela tripped lightly down
+the high-road towards the valley, while Frederick gazed after her till
+she vanished from his sight, when he called his dogs, and turned
+towards the castle.</p>
+
+<p>But there the usual stillness and loneliness had given place to bustle
+and confusion. The young prince's aged tutor, who was the
+father-confessor and confidential friend alike of his father and of
+his uncle, had arrived a few hours before, accompanied by a troop of
+horsemen. Inquiries after the young prince passed impatiently from
+mouth to mouth, for the message was one which called for haste. At
+last he came riding over the drawbridge, his handsome face glowing as
+in a transformation, for his vision of the forest still hovered before
+his mind.</p>
+
+<p>The old chaplain of the brothers of Hohenstaufen had been long and
+anxiously awaiting his pupil; now he hastened to meet him as quickly
+as his infirmities permitted, and greeted his dear one, who had left
+him but a few days before, as if he had not seen him for years.</p>
+
+<p>Then they went together to the room with the oriel window, for there
+the young prince liked best to sit, as it afforded a view of Gela's
+lattice. They sat long in confidential conversation, and the light
+that fell on the pavement for hours after all others in the castle
+were asleep told Gela, who stood at the window opposite, that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12">12</a></span>
+important and serious matters were being discussed by her dear one and
+his aged tutor.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning the people flocked out of the castle chapel, where the
+old priest who had arrived the evening before had spoken to them in
+eloquent words, and claimed the arm and heart of young and old for the
+approaching crusade to the Holy Land. And not in vain. Men and youths
+were ready to venture wealth and life, and the aged were with
+difficulty persuaded to remain at home to till the ground and protect
+the women and the little ones.</p>
+
+<p>All returned home to arrange their business hastily, and make needful
+preparations. One alone remained in the sacred place. It was Gela,
+who, when all had left the chapel, rose from her seat and threw
+herself prostrate before the altar, there to pour forth all the
+anguish of broken hopes, of parting, and of lonely sorrow that
+oppressed her heart.</p>
+
+<p>She lay thus, her hands clasped, and her face uplifted in an agony of
+grief. There were light footsteps behind her, but Gela, lost in sorrow
+and prayer, heeded them not. A hand was laid on her shoulder; she
+looked up and saw the face of him on whose account she suffered.</p>
+
+<p>"Gela," said the young prince tenderly and low, as if in reverence to
+the holy place&mdash;"Gela, we must part! We must wait a while for the
+fulfilment of yesterday's beautiful dream! I can scarcely bear it, and
+yet I cannot refuse, either as prince and knight, or as son and
+subject."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13">13</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No," said Gela calmly; "thou must obey, my Frederick, even though our
+hearts will bleed."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou wilt be true to me, Gela, and wait patiently till I come
+back, and not give thy heart to another?" asked the prince, and his
+voice was full of pain.</p>
+
+<p>"Frederick," said Gela, laying her hand on his shoulder, "bid me give
+my life; if it were necessary to thy happiness, I would give it
+gladly. Thine will I be through all the sorrow of separation; and if I
+die, my soul will leave heaven at thy call."</p>
+
+<p>Frederick drew her to his heart. "I go content, my Gela; danger and
+death cannot harm me, for I am sheltered by thy love! Farewell till we
+meet again in joy!"</p>
+
+<p>He hastened away to hide the tears that started to his eyes, and Gela
+sank again on the altar steps and bent her head in silent prayer.</p>
+
+<p>She did not perceive the footsteps that once more broke the stillness
+of the place, and she only looked up when a second time a hand was
+laid on her shoulder. It was not into Frederick's youthful face that
+she looked this time, but into the grave countenance of the aged
+priest who had come to call her darling and the people of the
+surrounding country to the Holy War.</p>
+
+<p>She shuddered as she thought that he had perhaps been a listener to
+their conversation, and had thus discovered the carefully guarded
+secret.</p>
+
+<p>"Be not afraid, my daughter," said the old man gently; "I have been an
+unwilling witness of your meeting, but your words have fallen into the
+ear and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14">14</a></span> heart of a man whose calling makes him the guardian of many a
+secret."</p>
+
+<p>Gela breathed more freely.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art of pure heart, my daughter," continued the old man mildly;
+"who could chide thee for giving thy love to a youth to whom God has
+given a power to charm that wins the affection of almost every heart?
+But, my daughter, if thou love him thou must renounce him."</p>
+
+<p>Gela looked up in terror at the priest.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, renounce him!" he repeated gravely, nodding his white head as he
+spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot, reverend father!" faltered the maiden with trembling lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Canst thou not?" asked the old man still more earnestly; "canst thou
+not give up thine own happiness for his sake, and yet thou art ready
+to give thy life if his happiness should demand it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, reverend father," Gela faltered, raising her hands to him
+entreatingly, "look not so stern! You know not what it is to renounce
+him, and with him all that I call happiness. But if his welfare
+demands it, my heart shall break without a murmur."</p>
+
+<p>A gentle radiance beamed from the old priest's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast well spoken, my daughter," he said gently. "Frederick loves
+thee now with the force of his unestranged affection, and is ready to
+sacrifice rank and worldly prospects for thy sake; but he is a man and
+a prince, and, above all, of the house of Hohenstaufen, in whose soul
+lies a longing after great and praiseworthy deeds, though these
+aspirations are lulled to slumber by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15">15</a></span> his love for thee. But when he
+comes to years of manhood, he will be unhappy that thou hast kept him
+from the tasks incumbent on one of his noble race. And then, my
+daughter, not he alone, but all Germany will blame thee, for every
+far-seeing eye recognises already in this heroic youth the future
+leader who is destined to bring this divided realm to unity and
+greatness. Canst thou think of the future of thy lover, and of us all,
+and yet act but for thine own happiness?"</p>
+
+<p>Gela raised herself as out of a dream.</p>
+
+<p>"No, my father," she said in a firm voice, though the light of her
+eyes seemed quenched as she gazed at the priest; "no, I renounce him.
+But if he should ever think with bitterness of Gela, I ask of you that
+you will tell him of this hour, and why I have renounced him; because
+I loved his happiness more than myself. May this sacrifice not be in
+vain!"</p>
+
+<p>The priest laid his hand, trembling with emotion, on her beautiful
+head. "Peace be with thee, my daughter!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>On a dewy May morning, two years after that farewell scene in the
+castle chapel, young Frederick rode over the drawbridge of the
+fortress on the height beside the Kinzig Valley.</p>
+
+<p>The sun of Syria had dyed his white skin with a deeper hue, the toils
+of war and grief at dispelled illusions had drawn a slight furrow in
+the smooth brow, but on his flowing beard and hair lay the same golden
+splendour, and his blue eyes beamed brightly as of yore.</p>
+
+<p>The castle servants flocked to greet their beloved<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16">16</a></span> young master, who
+had meantime, through his father's death, become Duke of Swabia and
+their feudal lord. His princely mouth spoke many a gracious word, and
+his winning smile hovered among them like a sunbeam. His eye passed
+quickly from line to line, till it rested inquiringly on the features
+of an old bent man. It was Gela's father. Then he sprang from his
+horse, and ascended the stair to his favourite room.</p>
+
+<p>The butler placed a goblet of the richest wine on the table, a drink
+of honour which he kept carefully in the driest corner of the cellar
+for the greatest occasions; and Dame Barbara, the housekeeper, brought
+in proudly the delicious pastry which she had prepared for this
+festive day; but the young duke gave no heed to these attentions. He
+stood in the oriel window, and looked down at a little lattice in the
+buildings that surrounded the castle court. There, in a green
+window-box, gillyflower and rosemary used to bloom, and behind them he
+often had watched a face bent over the spinning-wheel&mdash;a face that he
+had not found surpassed by any even among the Flowers of the East.</p>
+
+<p>But now all was changed. No blossom sent forth fragrance; the green
+box hung empty and half-broken; the clear lattice panes were blinded,
+and no dear face looked through to him in love.</p>
+
+<p>A pang of dread presentiment pierced his heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Who dwells in that room with the blinded window?" he asked as calmly
+as he could of Dame Barbara, who was rattling her keys to call her
+young lord's attention to herself and her masterpiece of culinary
+skill.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17">17</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The old woman drew near, and looked at the desolate window to which
+the duke's finger pointed.</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! my lord duke," said the loquacious old woman, "Gela used to
+live there, the good child; but she became a nun two years ago last
+autumn, and entered the convent of St. Clarissa, in the heart of the
+forest."</p>
+
+<p>Frederick stood for a moment motionless, then he beckoned silently to
+the door, for his first sound must have been a cry of pain.</p>
+
+<p>Barbara went, but her master sank into the window-seat, his gaze fixed
+on the deserted lattice.</p>
+
+<p>There was a gentle knocking at the door, but the duke heard it not for
+the painful beating of his heart. Then the door opened, and on the
+threshold stood the old man on whom the prince's inquiring glance had
+rested on his arrival. He approached the window with a low reverence,
+and waited patiently till his young master raised his head. When at
+last he looked up, the old man started to see the beloved face that
+used to beam like the sunlight now covered as with the shadow of
+death.</p>
+
+<p>"My lord duke," said the old man, when Frederick signed to him to
+speak, "I had an only child. I know not if your grace has ever noticed
+her. When the men went from the country round to the Holy War, she
+entered the forest cloister, because she thought she could there pray
+undisturbed for the safety and victory of our soldiers. Before she
+went she made me promise to give this letter into your hands as soon
+as you returned."</p>
+
+<p>Then he drew from his doublet a strip of parchment carefully sewed in
+purple silk, and handed it to the duke.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18">18</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And again Frederick spoke not, but silently took the missive, for his
+heart was full to overflowing.</p>
+
+<p>The old man withdrew in silence. When Frederick found himself alone,
+he cut the silken covering with his hunting-knife, and drew out a
+piece of parchment; and when it was unfolded, he saw the childish
+handwriting which he himself had taught Gela in their happy hours in
+the forest, and with which she now bade him the last farewell, for she
+could not break her promise to the aged monk.</p>
+
+<p>While Frederick, two years before, hastened to his uncle's palace, the
+holy man had gone on to other parts of the country to call on the
+people to join the Holy War, and from this errand death had called
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was already far past the meridian, but yet no sound had broken
+the stillness of the room where Frederick sat. The butler's drink of
+honour was untasted; Dame Barbara's masterpiece remained untouched.</p>
+
+<p>At last the young duke rose, left the room, and descended the winding
+stair into the court; but when his steed was brought, the attendant
+esquire thought that this could scarcely be the same young and joyous
+prince who, a few hours before, had ridden across the bridge. He
+sprang into the saddle, cast a last glance on the desolate window, and
+then turned without a word of farewell to take the road which, but a
+short time before, he had galloped over with hopeful heart. It was the
+same road which Gela had so often followed with him to the little hill
+in the forest, and when he came to the narrow path, he led his
+obedient horse to one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19">19</a></span> side, fastened the bridle round the trunk of a
+tree, and then walked slowly along the mossy path.</p>
+
+<p>Now he stood beneath the oak. Its leafy roof and the moss at its foot
+were green and fresh as ever. Once he was like it in his love and
+hope, but all was changed! He sat down at the foot of the tree, and
+its rustling brought back to his soul the dream of his now vanished
+youth.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly bells sounded from the forest depths. But he could not, as in
+days gone by, fold his hands in pious awe, and pour forth every grief
+in a believing prayer. No; at the sound of these bells which now
+called Gela, his Gela, to devotion, it seemed to him as if he must
+rush to the cloister gate, knock with his sword hilt, and cry, "Come
+back, Gela, come back; for thy sacrifice will be in vain!"</p>
+
+<p>He hastened down the hill to his horse, and sprang into the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>"Away, my faithful steed!" he cried aloud. "Show me the way, for love
+and grief have bewildered my clear brain. Bear me where knightly duty
+and princely honour claim my presence&mdash;for I know not where."</p>
+
+<p>And the good beast, as if it understood his master's words, rushed
+with him away farther and still farther south through the dim
+twilight, and beneath the bright beams of the full moon. Without
+weariness, though without rest, it bore him on, and when the morrow's
+sun stood in noonday splendour they had reached the goal, and the
+young duke stood before the gate of his own Staufenburg.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20">20</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Gela's sacrifice was not offered in vain. The words the old monk
+uttered that morning in the castle chapel were fulfilled. After his
+uncle's death, young Frederick of Swabia was raised to the throne of
+Germany, and all that the realm and people of Germany had hoped from
+him was more than fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>His strong hand gave unity, strength, and majesty to the divided land,
+such as no ruler after him was ever able to bestow; and when the
+imperial crown of Rome was also placed upon his head, the proud people
+of Italy bowed before Frederick Barbarossa, did him homage, and
+acknowledged his power.</p>
+
+<p>The laurels of many a victory rested on the Emperor's brow; his house
+was happy, his race flourished, his name lay like a word of blessing
+on every lip; and when Gela, still in the bloom of youth, closed her
+eyes in death, she knew that she had not in vain renounced Frederick
+and happiness.</p>
+
+<p>Beneath the shelter of his favourite castle the Emperor founded a
+town, and named it after the unforgotten loved one of his youth,
+"Gelashausen;" and when on his travels he came to the forest of the
+Kinzig Valley, he led his horse silently aside, fastened the bridle to
+a tree stem, and ascended the hill to the majestic oak. There leaning
+his head, amid whose gold full many a thread of silver gleamed,
+against the trunk, he closed his eyes, and dreamed once more the old
+delightful dream.</p>
+
+<p>And the people called that tree ever after "the Emperor's oak."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21">21</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sun of Asia Minor once more sent its glowing rays on the head of
+the heroic Emperor, though they gleamed back now with a silvery
+radiance.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_021.jpg" width="400" height="425" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">BARBAROSSA IN THE HOLY LAND.</p>
+
+<p>The cry of distress had risen once again from the Land of Promise, and
+drawn the aged monarch from his German home; he placed himself at the
+head of his army, and led it with prudence, courage, and military
+skill safely through the heat of the Eastern sun, in spite<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22">22</a></span> of the
+treachery and malice of the foe, in spite of the pangs of hunger and
+consuming thirst.</p>
+
+<p>On a warm summer evening the army reached the steep bank of a foaming
+mountain torrent. There on the farthest side lay the road that they
+must take.</p>
+
+<p>Barbarossa's son Frederick, that "Flower of Chivalry," sprang with a
+chosen band from the high rocky bank into the stream and reached the
+other side in safety.</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor now prepared to follow. Without heeding the advice of his
+attendants, the aged hero, who had never known what fear meant, put
+spurs to his steed and plunged with him into the waters of the Seleph.
+For a few seconds the golden armour gleamed amid the waves, once or
+twice the reverend, hoary head rose above the stream, then the deadly
+waters carried horse and rider into their raging depths, and the
+beloved hero vanished from the eyes of his sorrowing army. His most
+valiant knights indeed and chosen friends plunged after him into the
+flood to save their honoured prince or die with him, but the wild
+mountain torrent bore them all to death. With bitter lamentations the
+army wandered up and down the stream, if perchance they might at least
+win the precious corpse from the waters. But night came and threw its
+dark veil over the sorrow and mourning of the day.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>All around were wrapped in slumber, even deeper than was their wont.
+The moon stood high in heaven, and beneath its beams the waters of the
+Seleph flowed more gently like molten silver. Once more they roused
+their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23">23</a></span> angry strength, and from their midst a white head rose, golden
+armour gleamed above the waves, and Barbarossa and his faithful steed
+slowly emerged from the waters. With noiseless hoof they wandered up
+and down the stream, and out from the depths mounted the troops of
+faithful ones who had followed their Emperor to danger and death. The
+drops gleamed like diamonds as they fell from head and armour with a
+gentle splash into the shining stream.</p>
+
+<p>Silently the band of warriors rode along the waves; not a sound, not a
+footstep broke the stillness; thus they turned to the shore, and the
+horses clambered up the rocky bank.</p>
+
+<p>There Barbarossa and his silent warriors halted on the height. For a
+moment the Emperor's glance rested on the slumbering army, he held out
+his hand as if blessing them in a last farewell, then he shook the
+reins, and horse and rider, freed from the laws of earthly gravity,
+swept onwards to the beloved Fatherland.</p>
+
+<p>They passed over the Bosphorus. Far below them gleamed the towers of
+Constantinople with the golden cross on their summits, but Barbarossa
+heeded them not. His head was bent forward, so that his white locks
+fluttered in the night wind, and his eyes were directed solely to the
+land towards which the horses moved with the swiftness of the
+storm-wind on their cloudy path.</p>
+
+<p>Soon German forests rustled beneath them, and round the Emperor's lips
+played something like the reflection of the old sunny smile.</p>
+
+<p>To the south lay the Italian plains which had claimed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24">24</a></span> the best years
+of his life and his youthful energy, but the Emperor turned his head
+from these. Perhaps he saw already the destiny of his proud race,
+which must some day be fulfilled in those fragrant fields.</p>
+
+<p>Now their native air surrounds them. The fir trees of the Black Forest
+scent the air, the waves of the Neckar gleam below them, and, bathed
+in the full moon's silvery splendour, there lies at their feet the
+Staufenburg, the cradle of the lofty imperial race.</p>
+
+<p>Barbarossa raised his hand to bless its battlements and pinnacles, but
+still he held on his way northwards.</p>
+
+<p>The Spessart forests rustled beneath him in the darkness of the night,
+not a moonbeam pierced their thickly-leaved summits. But there gleamed
+the waters of the Kinzig, the walls of Gelashausen in its gently
+flowing stream, and over on the mountain's brow shone the aged
+Emperor's favourite castle, with the high oriel window, and Gela's
+deserted lattice.</p>
+
+<p>Barbarossa bent over his horse's neck, and cast a look of recognition
+on the scene of his early happiness.</p>
+
+<p>Soon they hovered above the high-road, and then over the familiar
+forest with its spreading "Emperor's oak." The old man's head was
+still bent forward, as if his eye would pierce the whispering
+tree-tops. A sound of clear bells greeted his ear. Below in the
+convent they called to midnight prayer, and these tones, which had
+once well-nigh broken his heart, acted now as a spell to bring back
+the old loved images. His breast heaved as of yore in mingled joy and
+grief, and "Gela, my Gela!" was the cry that started from his lips
+and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25">25</a></span> reached the convent in whose vaults the loved one slumbered.</p>
+
+<p>But still the steeds held on their unhalting course over Thuringia's
+golden plain to the Kyffh&auml;user Mountain, within which Frederick
+Barbarossa must hold council to-night with his faithful ones about the
+people of Germany and their future.</p>
+
+<p>The castle, which in bygone days had so often opened its hospitable
+gates to him and his court, within whose halls many a gladsome feast
+had been held, of whose magnificence and splendour old chronicles tell
+us&mdash;this castle still kept watch over the land with unbroken
+pinnacles, but Barbarossa knocked not at its gate.</p>
+
+<p>Gently the horses sank to the earth, and halted at a hidden door in
+the mountain side.</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor struck the stone with his sword, so that a loud echo
+answered from the hollow interior. Then the rocky door opened, and
+Barbarossa and his faithful warriors entered the spacious hall of the
+Kyffh&auml;user Mountain. The rock had not long closed behind them when a
+gentle tapping was heard, the magic gate swung open, and the lovely
+Gela entered, arrayed in bridal attire as she had been laid in the
+tomb.</p>
+
+<p>The hand of death had touched her heart, but had not quenched her
+love. When Frederick's cry reached her ear, she had opened her eyes as
+out of a deep sleep, and had left the vault to seek her beloved with
+the swiftness of a spirit's tread. Now she stands before him in
+unchanged grace and beauty.</p>
+
+<p>Barbarossa's youthful dream was fulfilled. Gela, his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26">26</a></span> first love, was
+now at his side to tend him and bless him for ever as she could never
+have done on earth. It was she, the faithful one, who ruled henceforth
+in the magic kingdom of the Kyffh&auml;user, and cared for the beloved hero
+and his trusty band. It was she who knew when Barbarossa's heart
+yearned over the memories of his glorious past. Then she would lead
+the knights&mdash;his faithful comrades in the Holy War&mdash;into his room.
+They would range themselves round the marble table at which Barbarossa
+sat, with his long white beard flowing round him like imperial ermine,
+and over the golden goblets, filled from the exhaustless stores of the
+mountain cellars, they talked with the hero about the glorious days
+that they had spent together, about "the golden age" of the Holy
+German Empire. And the minstrels, who had been wont to go with him to
+the Holy Land, and had entered with him the enchanted mountain of the
+"Golden Meadow," would strike their harps, and the song of the future,
+which still slumbered in their souls, rose to their lips and echoed
+loudly through the enchanted arches of the Kyffh&auml;user Mountain.</p>
+
+<p>When Barbarossa's heart longed for news of the fatherland, Gela would
+pass at midnight out through the door in the rock, down through the
+"Golden Meadow," and listen at many a door, and look through many a
+window. Then all that she heard there of sad lamentation or joyous
+hope she would faithfully pour into the Emperor's ear on her return.
+And what Gela failed to find out was seen by other eyes and heard by
+other ears. Just as once Odin's ravens flew down from the dwelling<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27">27</a></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28">28</a></span>of the gods to the home of men to tell the heavenly Ruler of all
+that happened on the earth, so did the ravens that built their nests
+in the clefts of Kyffh&auml;user hover through the plains to hear of joy
+and sorrow, and bear the tidings back in silence to their rocky home.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_027.jpg" width="400" height="591" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">BARBAROSSA AND GELA IN THE KYFFH&Auml;USER.<br />
+F. C., p. 26.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29">29</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But at the still hour of midnight, when the mountain opened, and the
+little dwarfs who dwelt secretly among Barbarossa's vaulted halls
+slipped out into the moonlight, then the wise birds opened their
+mouths, and the little friends&mdash;like Solomon, learned in the languages
+of birds&mdash;heard all that the ravens told. The dwarfs in their turn
+brought the news to the old Emperor, before whom they appeared from
+time to time to fill his treasury with newly-coined gold.</p>
+
+<p>With liberal hand Barbarossa gave of these hoards to pious and honest
+mortals, whom Gela led into the magic kingdom of the Kyffh&auml;user, that
+the beloved prince might be gladdened by the sight of the new
+generation, which, different though it was from that of his day, still
+held in loving remembrance the noble Barbarossa, and cherished a firm
+hope of his return to earth.</p>
+
+<p>The fortress on the mountain mouldered to decay. Herds grazed where
+once the tread of armed men was heard, but once every century the
+walls stood at midnight in their ancient splendour; the drawbridge
+rattled, the watchman's horn sounded shrill and clear, and over the
+castle court, through the gates with their carved coat of arms, on to
+the brightly illumined halls of revelry, passed a brilliant
+procession. It was Barbarossa leading by the hand the lovely Gela, and
+followed by his knights<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30">30</a></span> and vassals, all eager to breathe the air of
+the upper world.</p>
+
+<p>But while the knights were spending the few short hours with music and
+feasting amid the pleasures of the past, the Emperor and Gela mounted
+to the highest battlement of the castle, and looked down longingly on
+the plains of their beloved Germany.</p>
+
+<p>All around lay wrapped in slumber. Night and peace had conquered all
+the cares that gnaw in daylight at the heart of man, but they had also
+stilled its hopes.</p>
+
+<p>"They are all asleep and dreaming," said the old Emperor, "but the
+morrow will come, and my people will awake and find the strife that
+now divides their hearts laid at rest for ever. Brave men will draw
+the sword and wield it victoriously. Then the minstrels will seize
+their harps, and the fame of our great and united Germany shall sound
+from the North Sea to the fair gardens of Italy. Then will our watch
+be over, and we shall go to our eternal rest."</p>
+
+<p>So spake the aged monarch, as he leant across the battlement to
+stretch his hands in blessing over his former kingdom. But when the
+first streak of dawn showed faintly in the east, Barbarossa and his
+Gela descended, the revelry ceased, the knights grasped their swords,
+and the glittering throng passed over court and bridge back to the
+heart of the mountain, while behind them the magic castle melted into
+mist.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The great morning has dawned; the nation has awaked; their strife is
+stilled. The imperial jewels, "Unity and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31">31</a></span> Strength," lie no longer
+buried in the waves of the Seleph, the German people henceforth have
+them in their midst.</p>
+
+<p>Barbarossa may now cease his watch and enter on his rest, for from the
+North Sea to the plains of Italy is sounded the fame of the great
+united Fatherland.</p>
+
+<p>Thus has the aged Emperor's prophecy been fulfilled, though it was but
+the nation's youthful dream.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_031.jpg" width="250" height="348" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32">32</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a id="KING_LAURIN">KING LAURIN.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="i032">
+<div id="i032a"></div>
+<div id="i032b"></div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">I</span><span class="out">&nbsp;N&nbsp;</span></b>the Tyrol, that true home of the good little dwarf-folk, is a
+lovely valley where in olden days a substantial farm-house stood,
+whose owner had come from the other side of the mountain enticed by
+the beauty and fertility of this favoured spot.</p>
+
+<p>In those days it was still possible to find good servants capable of
+forming a faithful attachment to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33">33</a></span> their master and his household. But
+the farmer thought they were still better in his old home, and for
+this reason he generally brought his servants from the other side of
+the high mountain ridge.</p>
+
+<p>Spring had returned; the mountain pastures were green once more, and
+it was time for the herds to leave the valley; but the old herdswoman
+who for years had had the charge of the mountain farm, and in whose
+capability and conscientiousness the farmer had the fullest
+confidence, now took ill and died.</p>
+
+</div><!--i032-->
+
+<p>This was a matter of some anxiety to the farmer and his household, for
+everything was ready for the removal of the cattle.</p>
+
+<p>"Go over, Tony, to our native valley," said the old farmer to his only
+son and heir. "An aged cousin of mine lives there; they say her
+daughter is a fine girl; it might be a good thing if you could
+persuade her to come to us as herdswoman."</p>
+
+<p>Early next morning the young man set out on his errand.</p>
+
+<p>The shades of night still lurked among the rocks like giants in
+disguise, but the peaks of the glacier were already aglow with the
+light of morning. The youth, accustomed to the beauties of his native
+mountains, gave scarcely a glance to the splendour of the Alps, but
+hastened onwards with head and heart full of anxiety about his cattle.
+Soon he reached the narrow mountain ridge between the two lofty
+glaciers, from which the way led downwards to his native valley.</p>
+
+<p>At this spot stood a tall cross, with dark arms outstretched over both
+the glaciers, as if it would tell of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34">34</a></span> dangers which had threatened
+the traveller who, out of gratitude for his deliverance, had caused a
+cross to be erected on this lonely height.</p>
+
+<p>Tony knelt to pray, as was the custom in those times and in that
+country. His head was bent low, so that he did not see the grave face
+which looked down on him from one of the glaciers.</p>
+
+<p>Surely it must have been carried thither on eagles' wings, for there,
+to that glassy height which seemed almost nearer the sky than the
+earth, no human foot could ever climb. Yet that figure stood there
+calm, strong, and erect. Long silvery hair flowed over the shoulders;
+round the head flashed something like sunbeams, or like a mysterious
+diadem of carbuncles; and the dark eyes pierced the distance, and
+rested on the kneeling one with an earnestness that went deep down
+into his heart.</p>
+
+<p>The young man rose and descended the winding path to the valley. The
+apparition on the lofty glacier stood long looking after his receding
+figure, and then, with the sunbeams playing among his silvery locks,
+walked with sure footsteps that never slipped down over the gleaming
+field of ice.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon Tony sat once more at the foot of the cross,
+with a lovely maiden by his side. She had placed her little bundle on
+the ground at her feet, her hands lay folded on her lap, and with an
+expression of mingled grief and newly-awakened hope she looked into
+the face of her companion.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35">35</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Her mother had died a few days before, and poverty was even in those
+good old days a bitter thing, as the poor orphan learned to her cost.
+For the warden of the village told her bluntly that the cottage in
+which she had lived with her mother, being public property, was
+claimed now by another widow, and that Vreneli must make her own way
+in the world.</p>
+
+<p>Many a farmer's wife would have been glad to hire the good Vreneli as
+servant, but the rough words of the warden had so frightened her that
+she determined not to stay in this inhospitable valley; and just as
+she had tied up her little bundle, Tony came to offer her a home in
+his rich father's house.</p>
+
+<p>Joyfully she agreed, for the farmer was a relation, though a distant
+one, and she had a dread of going among strangers. So Tony and she set
+out together on the mountain path, and now they were resting under the
+old cross and chatting pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>Vreneli's beauty and innocence had taken Tony's heart by storm, and
+now he told her that he loved her, and that she, none but she, should
+be his wife. Vreneli clasped her hands and listened with her whole
+soul to these words so new to her. Ah! how sweet they sounded after
+the harsh tones that had made her so unhappy a few hours ago! Her
+heart went out in gratitude and love to the manly youth who had so
+generously offered his heart and his home to the poor desolate orphan.</p>
+
+<p>"But I am poor, Tony, and I have learned to-day how evil a thing
+poverty is," said she at last.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36">36</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What does that matter, Vreneli?" answered Tony, cheerfully; "I have
+enough for both. And I do not like the rich bride that my father has
+chosen for me, she is ugly and empty-headed. When they see you at
+home, Vreneli, they must love you, you are so good and beautiful! And
+when you have tended the herds on the mountain with faithful diligence
+for the summer months, and when you bring back the well cared-for
+cattle at the end of the season, you shall be my wife&mdash;I will soon
+bring my parents round to my mind."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, how delightful that will be!" said Vreneli, smiling. "How I will
+love you, and what good care I will take of your old parents! Are you
+sure you are not making fun of me, Tony?"</p>
+
+<p>The young man put his arm around her graceful form. "How can you talk
+so, Vreneli? Do I not love you better than any one in the whole world?
+and if it makes your mind easier, I will swear love and faithfulness
+to you under this cross&mdash;I will swear that none but you shall be my
+wife."</p>
+
+<p>He put his right hand in hers and took the oath. Perfect stillness
+reigned around them; the spirits of the mountain listened in silence;
+noiselessly the beams of the evening sun hovered above the cross, and
+then sank, as if in blessing, on Vreneli's braided hair; while far
+overhead at the summit of the glacier stood the dark figure that had
+watched Tony on his journey that morning. The poor orphan and her
+lover did not see the grave countenance that looked down on them from
+the lofty peak, but Tony's words of solemn promise floated upwards<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37">37</a></span> on
+the evening breeze to the lonely old man's ear.</p>
+
+<p>Again he cast a searching glance on the kneeling youth, but when his
+eyes rested on the sweet maiden that listened to those earnest words,
+the stern expression of his countenance melted, and the wrinkled
+features bore traces of some sad memories that seemed to be awakened
+by the sight of her beauty and grace. He leant gently forward, so that
+his shining locks flowed down like a silver stream, and his eyes
+followed the two young people with an expression almost of longing, as
+they walked cheerfully on. But soon the twilight laid its dim veil
+over hill and valley, and the receding figures faded altogether from
+his view.</p>
+
+<p>The rich farmer owned the pasture of a whole mountain, and Vreneli was
+to have the sole charge of the herds that grazed on it, while on
+another mountain the herds of the other villagers wandered, watched
+over by several herdsmen.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Vreneli," said the old farmer next morning, when the cows had
+been let out of the stalls, and were already climbing the well-known
+mountain path to the music of their jingling bells&mdash;"now, Vreneli, do
+your duty faithfully, and take good care of my herds, and if the
+produce of the mountain farm be richer than that yielded in the days
+of my former herdswomen, I will not be stingy about a reward."</p>
+
+<p>Vreneli blushed, and cast a stolen glance at Tony, who stood behind
+his father; she could not but think of the reward which he had
+promised her. She assured<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38">38</a></span> the farmer that she would do her duty,
+shook hands with the whole household, and then turned to follow the
+herds.</p>
+
+<p>Tony went with her; he wanted to show her everything in the senner's
+cottage, and to point out the richest pastures on which the herds were
+to graze, taking a different place each day, till at last they
+returned to the first, which by that time would be covered with a
+fresh growth of grass.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely spring morning. The distant glacier was radiant with
+sunlight, the bells tinkled softly on the necks of the cattle, and
+wild flowers bloomed at the edge of the torrent which rushed foaming
+over the moss-grown rocks. But what was all this external beauty in
+comparison with the blooming world in their own hearts?</p>
+
+<p>They exchanged looks, and words, and happy smiles. Not till the herds
+had been milked and led to rest on the night pasture did Tony say
+good-bye. Vreneli stood at the door of the cottage, her hands clasped,
+and her eyes brimming with happy tears, and watched him till a turn of
+the road hid him from her view.</p>
+
+<p>Inside, in the cosy cottage, it seemed to her, all the time that she
+was filling the milk vessels and putting everything in order, as if
+she still heard his caressing words, and as if his brown eyes looked
+out on her from every corner. Love and hope quickened her hands, so
+that her work seemed mere child's play. Then when everything was done,
+and the fire had died out on the hearth, she stepped out again to the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>Like a faithful senner she looked first at the night<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39">39</a></span> pasture where
+the herds were resting peacefully. Now and then one of the beautiful
+animals would lift its head, and the bell at its throat would tinkle
+softly; the night-wind moved gently among the lofty trees, making the
+long moss of their stems wave to and fro like dark soft veils. Then
+Vreneli's eyes sought the valley, and to the moonbeams which hastened,
+in their glittering robes, down the rocky path to the village she
+entrusted tender messages of love. And when she turned back into the
+cottage she knelt at her mossy couch beside the hearth, and mingled
+with her evening prayer words of joyful thanksgiving. Her last thought
+before she fell asleep was this, that she was the happiest herdswoman
+and her Tony the handsomest and truest fellow in the whole land of the
+Tyrol.</p>
+
+<p>Sunny days succeeded to nights filled with golden dreams. When the
+first sunbeams flashed from the summit of the glacier, the goat-bells
+sounded below in the valley, and the goat-herd led his flock to seek
+the juicy plants that grew on heights inaccessible to less sure-footed
+herds.</p>
+
+<p>Then Vreneli ran joyfully to meet him, for he always brought some
+message from Tony, or some other token of his love. With joy-quickened
+energy she went then about her daily toil. The cows left their nightly
+resting-place, and came to Vreneli to be milked, and then she led them
+to some new pasture.</p>
+
+<p>And while the cattle grazed there, she leant against a rock and
+carefully watched each step of the animals entrusted to her care, lest
+any one of them should go too<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40">40</a></span> near a precipice, or, enticed by the
+plants that grew most richly beside the torrent, be hurried away in
+its mad whirl. And when evening sank on the mountain, and clothed the
+ice-columns in a splendour of red and purple, the goat-herd led his
+flock back to the valley, and received every evening from Vreneli's
+hand a bunch of mountain violets for her beloved Tony.</p>
+
+<p>Then she drove the cows again to the milking-place, and repeated the
+task of the morning. But this did not end her day's work. She was busy
+for hours in the cottage, and moon and stars had long looked down on
+the slumbering mountain before Vreneli had finished arranging her milk
+vessels in the dairy, or placed the newly-made cheese to dry, or
+rolled out her golden butter-pats.</p>
+
+<p>Then after a simple prayer she lay down on her lowly couch, and when
+the distant thunder of avalanches broke the silence of the night, and
+the mountain torrent roared close behind her tiny cottage, Vreneli
+slept as sweetly as a child, and round her head dreams of love and
+home hovered on golden wing.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>So the weeks flew by, and the day arrived when the butter and cheese
+which the mountain farm had hitherto produced was to be taken home to
+the farm-house. The farmer and Tony were to come to bring it, as the
+goat-herd had told Vreneli yesterday, and her usually dexterous
+fingers trembled with glad excitement just when it was most needful to
+show the farmer that he had entrusted his property to capable hands.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41">41</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At last&mdash;how often she had looked impatiently along the path&mdash;at last
+the old farmer came toiling up, and behind him, not Tony, as she
+expected, but two servants with tall baskets on their backs.</p>
+
+<p>Vreneli was bitterly disappointed, but she controlled herself and
+walked out calmly to meet her master. In spite of the sunny morning
+dark clouds lay upon his brow, and it did not clear even when Vreneli
+took him into the faultless dairy and showed him the rows of large
+rich cheese and the golden butter. Silently they were laid in the
+basket, and the servants returned homewards with heavy burdens.</p>
+
+<p>Then Vreneli led the farmer to the meadow where the herds were
+grazing, and his keen eye told him that the beasts were well fed and
+cared for. It was a faithful hand to which he had entrusted his
+property&mdash;<i>that</i> he must acknowledge, however unwillingly. "You have
+done well, Vreneli; see that you go on as you have begun!" he said
+bluntly. How harsh the words sounded compared with those with which he
+had sent her to the mountain! Then when he turned to go home, and she
+politely begged him to taste the fritter that she had prepared for him
+according to the custom of the country, he refused it, looking all the
+time so gloomy that Vreneli did not dare to ask for Tony, though her
+heart throbbed in anxiety and longing. So he left her, and Vreneli
+stood watching him with a heart full of sadness and disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>It was evening, and the firelight fell as brightly as ever on
+Vreneli's lovely face, but it did not show the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42">42</a></span> joyous expression of
+other evenings. Her movements were languid, and now and then a tear
+stole down her cheek.</p>
+
+<p>Why did not Tony come, as he had said he would? Why was the old farmer
+so gloomy? Why did the goat-herd refuse to take the daily bunch of
+violets, in return for which she might have hoped for some message
+from Tony? These were questions on which her life's happiness
+depended, and yet there was no one there to answer them.</p>
+
+<p>She sighed deeply. There had been a gentle knocking at the door, which
+Vreneli, lost in her sad thoughts, had not noticed; but at her loud
+sigh the door opened, and a figure of mysterious aspect stood on the
+threshold. Long silvery hair flowed down over the shoulders, and from
+the serious yet kindly eyes spoke a majesty which diadem and purple
+robes would not have been enough to give. Vreneli let fall the milk
+bowl in her astonishment, and she bowed low as to a mighty prince;
+then she wiped the low bench before the fire, the only seat which the
+simple cottage offered, and asked her strange guest to be seated.</p>
+
+<p>The old man nodded pleasantly, and sat down at the fire, leant his
+head on both hands, so that his silvery locks flowed almost to the
+ground, and directed his earnest gaze so searchingly on Vreneli that
+it seemed to her as if he could see into her very soul.</p>
+
+<p>"Why art thou so sad to-day, Vreneli?" he said at last very gently.</p>
+
+<p>Vreneli started. How did this stranger, who seemed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43">43</a></span> to come from some
+distant land&mdash;how could he know her name? She looked at him, half in
+reverence and half in fear. "Come, Vreneli, wilt thou not tell me?"
+said the old man, and his eye rested almost with love upon her face.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_043.jpg" width="400" height="417" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">KING LAURIN IN VRENELI&#39;S COTTAGE.</p>
+
+<p>"I am an orphan," she faltered out at last, "and sometimes a painful
+feeling of loneliness comes over me."</p>
+
+<p>"And is that all, Vreneli?" asked the old man;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44">44</a></span> "canst thou not
+confide in one who means well towards thee, and who has both the power
+and the desire to help thee? Dost thou think thyself unknown to me?
+Did I not see thee on the mountain side beneath the cross? Did I not
+hear the young man's oath, and see how love and hope had driven sorrow
+from thy heart? From that hour I have been thy friend. Dost thou think
+that thy care and watchfulness could have kept the dangers of the
+mountains far from thy roof and from thy herds? When thou wast asleep
+on thy couch of moss, and fair dreams led thy soul to golden meadows,
+I kept watch up there upon the rock, and warned the elements to leave
+thee and thy charge unhurt; I directed the course of the avalanches,
+and the flight of the snow-storm, so that they turned aside, and only
+softest breezes and the gentle starlight ever touched thy brow. Dost
+thou still mistrust me, Vreneli?"</p>
+
+<p>Vreneli had clasped her hands and drawn nearer to her venerable
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you for your protection," said she, bowing once more in lowly
+reverence; "whoever you may be, to me you have been a benefactor, and
+such a one has a right to my confidence. But tell me how you read my
+heart and learned my love for Tony? For you know already what its
+burden is. I am troubled about what has happened to-day; I cannot
+understand it. Above all, I am disappointed at not having seen Tony,
+after I had looked forward so joyfully to meeting him."</p>
+
+<p>The old man cast a searching glance on her lovely face, as she stood
+there with the firelight falling brightly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45">45</a></span> on her, and her blue eyes
+turned towards him in sorrow and touching confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"And wouldst thou like to see him now?" he asked gravely.</p>
+
+<p>Vreneli's eyes shone with delight.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Vreneli, the fulfilment of our wishes often brings something
+quite different from our hopes; we go to seek faithfulness, and we
+find treachery."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said she, with the smile of unshaken trust, "that will not be
+the case with me. Tony is good and truer than gold, and did he not
+swear to me beneath the cross?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou dear child!" answered the old man, while painful memories
+troubled his grave features; "if every broken oath could make a step,
+we would soon be able to reach the moon."</p>
+
+<p>"Stranger," said Vreneli, confidently, "you may have met with
+faithlessness enough in your long life to make you lose your
+confidence in human nature, but you do not know my Tony!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come then, Vreneli, since thou wishest it," said the old man, rising,
+"though I would fain have spared thee this pain." And they stepped out
+together into the night.</p>
+
+<p>Led by the old man's hand, Vreneli climbed up to the point of rock
+from which he had kept nightly watch over her and her herds. They went
+forward to the edge of the precipice. Far below, veiled by the
+darkness, lay Tony's home. High walls of rock and wide pasture-lands
+separated them from the farm-house, so that no human eye could pierce
+the distance.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46">46</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But the old man pulled down a branch of the lofty pine above them, and
+told Vreneli to look through a tiny knot-hole. She did so; the laws of
+space yielded, and her anxious glance flew to the distant farm-house.
+She looked through the lighted windows into the well-furnished rooms.
+All the costly vessels and ornaments, which were usually carefully
+laid past in chests and cupboards, were to-day displayed on the
+festive board, round which the most distinguished residents of the
+village were chatting and laughing merrily. Next his parents sat Tony,
+and at his side a richly dressed maiden. His eyes shone, and his mouth
+smiled and whispered, just as on that evening when he had sworn love
+and faithfulness to Vreneli beneath the cross on the mountain. His
+father's threatening words and the wealth of the bride so long chosen
+for him had quickly shaken Tony's purpose, and while the gentle
+Vreneli was thinking anxiously about his non-appearance, the fickle
+youth broke his solemn oath, and betrothed himself to the unloved but
+wealthy bride.</p>
+
+<p>Vreneli looked at the scene in tearless silence, then, when she could
+no longer doubt her lover's faithlessness, she let go the branch and
+turned her eyes away, so that once more night and distance covered the
+scene that had ruined her hopes. Vreneli silently descended the rock,
+but she did not seek the shelter of her cottage. She hurried past it,
+and wandered on aimlessly over the wilds of the mountain. It seemed
+almost as if she wished to reach the icy glacier heights.</p>
+
+<p>"Vreneli," said the voice at her side; "Vreneli,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47">47</a></span> whither wilt thou
+go?" She turned her head as in a dream. Stony sorrow had fallen on her
+gentle features, and her once bright eyes were cold and fixed.
+"Whither?" she said quietly, "whither? I would like to go to the
+grave, but, since that may not be, I will go at least away, away as
+far as my feet will bear me."</p>
+
+<p>"Wilt thou come with me, Vreneli?" said the old man. "My home shall be
+thine, and the love and faithfulness which thou hast lost here thou
+shalt find there a thousand-fold."</p>
+
+<p>Vreneli looked into his mild eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"And who art thou, kind old man?" she asked with faltering voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I am King Laurin, the ruler of the powerful nation of the dwarfs, who
+for centuries were bound to men in faithful love. The impress of
+divinity which we spirits recognised in you, and before which we
+humbly bow, attracted us to your race. But in every generation we
+traced it less easily, and at last, despised and deceived in return
+for our kindness and help, we retired to the recesses of our
+mountains. There in the heart of the rock whose brow is crowned by the
+shining glacier, there stands my palace, adorned by my people with all
+the splendour of the precious stones which, hidden to mortal eyes,
+shine deep down in the heart of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>"There I live, but I have led for centuries a lonely life, for my only
+daughter, the last flower of a blooming garland, died long, long ago.
+Her rose-garden, to tend which was her greatest delight, still blooms
+in unfading<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48">48</a></span> beauty, but as often as my eyes fall on its wondrous
+flowers, I think with grief of my long-lost child. Thou, Vreneli, art
+a pure-hearted maiden like her, and since I first saw thee and looked
+into thine eyes, it has seemed to me as if I had found my child. I
+have watched over thee with a father's care, and I am ready now to
+love thee as my daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor lonely king!" said Vreneli, in a tone of gentle pity, while the
+tears ran down her cheeks, "I will go with you to your mountain
+palace; I will love and honour you as your child once did, and I will
+tend the rose-garden that she loved; for I have no home and no heart
+to love me. But grant me one thing before I leave the sunlight."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast but to ask and it is granted!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, King Laurin!" said Vreneli, and her tears flowed faster, "I am
+still young, and this is the first disappointment that my heart has
+felt, and though it is almost broken, yet I have still a faint hope
+left. I cannot quite let go my faith in Tony."</p>
+
+<p>King Laurin looked even more gravely than before on the weeping
+maiden.</p>
+
+<p>"No, do not be angry!" she begged, raising her hands entreatingly to
+him; "call it not foolish weakness; remember that it needed hundreds
+of years before your noble heart would close against our deceitful
+race. I know that Tony has been persuaded by his friends to take this
+step; but he still loves me, and it would grieve him if I were to go
+without farewell. When he brings his bride up the mountain to-morrow,
+on their way to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49">49</a></span> the wedding in the next valley, let me go out to meet
+him as he is passing my cottage&mdash;let me say farewell and part from him
+in peace."</p>
+
+<p>"Do as thou wilt, my child," answered King Laurin with gentle sadness,
+"though thou wilt find but a new sorrow. And now, Vreneli, it is late.
+Go to thy cottage, and lie down on thy couch, there to forget thy
+griefs for a few short hours at least."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah no!" said Vreneli, entreatingly; "let me stay here with you
+beneath the stars, for I dread the loneliness of the cottage. Wherever
+I may be I cannot sleep, and the shadows of past happiness would there
+trouble my soul. No; let me stay here and share your watch."</p>
+
+<p>They climbed the rock, and sat down side by side beneath the lofty
+pines. Vreneli folded her hands and looked up to the stars, while her
+prayer for peace and comfort arose to Him who sits enthroned above the
+sky.</p>
+
+<p>Not a word was spoken. King Laurin gazed in silence on the moonlit
+glacier, while his mind wandered back to the memories of a thousand
+years, and on Vreneli's brow lay the deep shadow of her young grief.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually her eyelids closed, and her head sank gently to the old
+king's shoulder. He placed his arm tenderly round the slumbering girl,
+and stretched out his right hand towards the lofty glacier.</p>
+
+<p>Then the storm-song in its icy clefts grew suddenly still, but the
+moonbeams still played around its jagged peaks; like glistening
+serpents they moved across the glassy sea, and then flowed slowly in a
+broad shining stream down on the crystal road. The mountain torrent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50">50</a></span>
+meanwhile checked its thunder, and moved more gently on its rocky way.</p>
+
+<p>The night that hung above the mountain seemed but a pleasant twilight,
+and through the mild, soft air a bell tinkled gently now and then from
+the night pasture where the cattle lay at rest. All was peace. Nothing
+stirred save the summer breeze and the golden starlight, which
+ventured near to kiss the tear-stained cheek of the maiden who lay in
+sweet forgetfulness of sorrow on the old king's arm.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>And now it was once more morning, and Vreneli's cheek grew pale as she
+thought of the sorrowful parting with him whom she had once called her
+Tony. But she was determined to do her duty to the very last, so she
+led her herds to the pasture, by the side of which the road ran, that
+she might be at hand to tend them while waiting by the wayside for
+Tony and his bride.</p>
+
+<p>The sun rose higher and higher, and the minutes of painful waiting
+seemed hours to the poor girl. Suddenly voices and loud laughter
+sounded in her ear, and soon two figures appeared from round the rock.
+For the first time since the morning when she brought the herds up the
+mountain Tony stood face to face with the poor orphan whose life's
+happiness he had ruined, and he started as he looked into the face so
+beautiful, but deadly pale. For one moment he remembered his oath.
+Then the rich bride at his side cried mockingly&mdash;"I suppose this is
+the servant girl of whom your father spoke, who had the presumption to
+dream of becoming<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51">51</a></span> a rich farmer's wife? Fancy the little beggar
+entertaining such an idea!"</p>
+
+<p>The scornful words cut deep into Vreneli's crushed heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I should never have thought of it myself," she said, sadly; "it was
+Tony who wished it, because he loved me so that my poverty seemed no
+obstacle."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! indeed, Tony," said the bride, haughtily, "that is rather
+different from what you told me yesterday evening. Did you not tell me
+that you had never troubled your head about her, and that you had
+always wished to marry me? Tell this girl that she lies, or if you
+cannot do that, then you are free to choose this beggar still. I have
+plenty of suitors left!"</p>
+
+<p>Tony grew red with shame and vexation, but he did not vent his anger
+on the haughty bride, but on poor innocent Vreneli. "You lie, girl,"
+he cried; "I never made you any promise; I never loved you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Tony," answered Vreneli gently, "do not bring needless guilt on your
+head. Have you forgotten your oath beneath the lonely cross on the
+mountain? But I am not angry with you for forsaking me. Perhaps your
+parents persuaded you to do it; but I could not refrain from coming to
+say farewell, and to wish you happiness and prosperity."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep your farewell and your wishes to yourself!" cried Tony, white
+with anger and shame; "you were a fool, if you took my words in
+earnest. I and a beggar like you!"</p>
+
+<p>With a loud mocking laugh he turned away, gave<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52">52</a></span> his arm to his bride,
+and passed on without a word of farewell.</p>
+
+<p>Vreneli looked after him in speechless amazement. The wise king was
+right, then; she had met but a new blow, and this one more crushing
+than the first. She turned, and saw behind her King Laurin, who had
+been an unseen witness of Tony's shameful treachery. His eyes glowed,
+but he uttered not a word. Vreneli stooped again to raise his hands to
+her trembling lips. "I am ready to follow you!" she said in a low
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>Then the rock opened before them; Vreneli gave a farewell look at the
+midday sun, then, led by King Laurin's hand, she entered the magic
+kingdom of the dwarfs.</p>
+
+<p>That very moment an avalanche was set free from the snow-clad slopes
+of the glacier, rolled down with angry thunder, and at the cross where
+once Tony had sworn faithful love to Vreneli it overtook him and his
+heartless bride, and buried them so deep that their bodies were never
+found. Thus King Laurin avenged his adopted daughter.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Vreneli had found a home, and, instead of the one worthless heart that
+she had lost, a thousand hearts beat true to her in unchanging love.</p>
+
+<p>King Laurin loved her as he had once loved his own lost child, and she
+returned his affection with all the warmth of her young heart, while
+the little dwarfs obeyed her every wish with that cheerful eagerness
+with which they had once served their lost princess.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53">53</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She tended the rose-garden beside the king's crystal palace with such
+loving care that it bloomed once more as in the days in which the
+magic-mighty hand of the princess had moved among its fairy blossoms,
+and the sweet fragrance that the roses breathed into her very soul
+healed every wound of disappointed love.</p>
+
+<p>She did not miss the sunlight in this fairy kingdom, for the mild
+radiance of unseen stars lit it day and night; she never longed for
+earth, for here was unchanging spring; warm breezes kissed her brow,
+and the wild chamois, shy dwellers of the mountain solitudes, came up
+in friendly confidence, and let her stroke them with her snow-white
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>Many a time on starry nights she went by King Laurin's side out to the
+glacier peaks, to look around upon the slumbering land. Her eye, made
+keen by the light of the fairy world, pierced the distance and the
+darkness of night, and she gazed, even unaided by any "magic ring,"
+far beyond the boundaries which limit human vision. And what had once
+driven her from the region of sunlight she saw always and
+everywhere&mdash;sorrow, injustice, and untruth.</p>
+
+<p>And when she looked into many a joyless cottage and many a sorrowful
+heart, she would turn to the old king by her side, kiss his hand with
+loving reverence, and say, smiling&mdash;"Come, King Laurin, let us go back
+to our home, to our peaceful kingdom, where tears and guilt and
+fickleness are all unknown."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54">54</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a id="The_Dwarf_of_Venice">The Dwarf of Venice.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="i054">
+<div id="i054a"></div>
+<div id="i054b"></div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">E</span></b><span class="out"><b>VENING</b></span> was falling with the mild beauty of spring on the mountains
+and pasture-lands of the Tyrol. The latest sunbeams which streamed
+down from the lofty glacier bore the tones of the vesper bell through
+the quiet village street, and floated over the brook and in at the
+open windows of a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55">55</a></span> substantial farm-house which stood at the end of
+the little valley. A neatly carved balcony surrounded the house, the
+window-panes gleamed like mirrors, and the orderly arrangements of the
+farm-yard showed the owner to be a man of some wealth.</p>
+
+<p>At the table in the oak-panelled sitting-room sat the rich farmer
+himself, but in spite of his possessions he seemed discontented and
+unhappy, for between his brows was a deep frown, and his eyes were
+dark and lowering. Opposite him sat his beautiful young wife, whose
+soft eyes looked anxiously into her husband's face. On her lap she
+held her only child, a lovely little girl, with eyes as blue as the
+flax blossom, and hair that shone like gold: she folded her little
+hands, as her mother did, as long as the vesper bell continued to call
+to prayer; but her eyes looked longingly, now on the pancakes that lay
+piled on the bright pewter plate, now casting a friendly glance on the
+boy that sat at the furthest end of the table, with his hands folded
+in devout reverence.</p>
+
+</div><!--i054-->
+
+<p>It was Hans, the son of a poor relation, to whom the rich farmer, with
+unwonted generosity, had granted a place in his house and at his
+table, and who in return had to drive the goats every day up to the
+highest pastures on the mountain, to places inaccessible to other
+herds. He had just returned with his nimble charge, and had brought to
+little Anneli on her mother's knee a bunch of alproses, for he dearly
+loved the child.</p>
+
+<p>The bell had ceased ringing, the hands were unclasped, and the mother
+began to help the delicate pancakes. There was a gentle knocking at
+the door, and in walked<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56">56</a></span> a little man in a sombre and threadbare
+garment. His back was bent, either with the weight of years or by the
+wallet which hung from his shoulder; his hair was silver grey; but the
+dark shining eyes told that in this decrepit body lived a strong
+unconquered spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"Good evening, sir," said the little man humbly; "might I beg you for
+a bit of supper, for I am starving, and for a night's rest on your
+haystack, for I am tired to death."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed," said the farmer angrily; "do you take my house for a
+beggar's tavern? if so, I am sorry your sight is so bad. You may seek
+elsewhere, for you will not find what you want here!"</p>
+
+<p>The dwarf looked in astonishment on the master of the house, who,
+regardless of the hospitable customs of the country, could thus turn a
+poor man away from his door; but the farmer took no notice of his
+surprise, nor of his wife's looks of entreaty.</p>
+
+<p>"No, wife," he said harshly, "this time you shall not have your own
+way. I will not keep open house for all the beggars in the land. Did I
+not give in to you about that boy over there? You might be content
+with that."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Hans blushed crimson at this allusion to his poverty, but when
+the little man turned away with a sigh and left the inhospitable
+threshold, sympathy with the poor old man overcame his fear of his
+employer; he seized the plate with the pancakes, and the great piece
+of bread which the farmer's wife had just given him, and ran out of
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the boy after?" asked the farmer angrily.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57">57</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He is just doing what we ought to have done," answered the wife, with
+gentle reproach in her fair face; "he is sharing his meal with the
+poor man."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," growled the man, "birds of a feather flock together."</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the old man was creeping with weary steps across the yard,
+and had just reached the gate when Hans seized him by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, good little man," said he in mingled pity and fear&mdash;"here is my
+supper; come, sit down there on the well and eat."</p>
+
+<p>The old man's dark eyes rested with a pleased look on the boy. "And
+what hast thou for thyself, child, if thou givest away thine own
+share?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! that does not matter," said Hans unconcernedly, while he led the
+dwarf to the stone wall which surrounded the well. "I am not very
+hungry, and the farmer's good wife would give me more if I asked her."</p>
+
+<p>The old man sat down and began to eat, while Hans watched with delight
+how his aged friend enjoyed it. Soon the plate was empty, and the
+little man rose with thanks to set out on further wanderings, and to
+seek a night's shelter under a more hospitable roof.</p>
+
+<p>Hans went with him to the gate, and whispered hastily, "Do not think
+ill of the farmer for having refused you; he is not always so
+churlish, but to-day something has occurred to vex him&mdash;he was not
+re-elected as burgomaster of the village, but his bitterest foe was
+successful; that has soured him, and so every one who comes in his way
+must suffer for it. But listen, little<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58">58</a></span> man; to the right there, on
+the rock over which the path leads to the mountain, stands the
+hay-loft with its roof touching the stone. That's where I sleep, and
+if you climb a little way up the rock, and wait there till I go to
+bed, I will open the trap-door, and you can creep in to me among the
+hay."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a good boy," said the old man; "I will do as thou sayest,
+and wait for thee there upon the rock."</p>
+
+<p>It was night when Hans was at last allowed to seek his couch. More
+nimbly than usual he sprang up the slender ladder to the hay-loft, and
+then he quickly unfastened the trap-door which opened on the roof.</p>
+
+<p>The full moon stood large and bright above the mountain, and its pale
+beams played round the jagged brow of the glacier, and wove a veil of
+silver round the beech woods that adorned the mountain landscape.</p>
+
+<p>The old man was sitting silently on a ledge of rock; his hands lay
+folded on his lap, his head was bare, and the night wind moved lightly
+through his grey tresses. But the old man heeded it not. His eyes
+gazed fixedly on the night sky, as if they could, like the seers of
+olden time, decipher the records of the stars, and his features were
+ennobled by such a look of majesty that the boy gazed at him in
+astonishment, not daring to disturb him. At last he said softly, "Do
+not be angry, sir, at my troubling you, but the night is growing cold,
+and the dew is beginning to fall. Would you not be better in a warm
+bed?"</p>
+
+<p>The old man sighed, as if his thoughts returned unwillingly from their
+flight. Then he nodded pleasantly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59">59</a></span> to the boy, went up to the
+trap-door, and let himself down upon the floor of the loft. He lay
+down silently on the fragrant hay, and was just about to close his
+weary eyes when he felt the boy's warm hand passing over him.</p>
+
+<p>The little fellow had taken off his jacket, and was now carefully
+spreading it over the old man that the night wind might not hurt him.
+With a silent smile the dwarf accepted the service of love, and soon
+their deep breathing told that slumber had fallen on the eyes of both.
+Several hours had passed by, when something like a flash of lightning
+woke the boy. He rose quickly; the trap-door was open, and the old man
+was rummaging busily in his wallet; he had just taken out of it a very
+bright hand-mirror, and the light of the moon, reflected with a flash
+from the crystal, had awakened the boy.</p>
+
+<p>The dwarf now threw his sack over his shoulder, took the mirror in his
+hand, and began to go through the trap-door to the rock.</p>
+
+<p>Hans could bear it no longer. "Oh, sir," he begged, "take me with you
+into the mountains, for that you are bound thither the mirror in your
+hand tells me. My dear mother has often told me about the mountain
+mirror, by means of which one can see into the depths of the earth,
+and watch the metal gleaming and glittering in its veins. And although
+you have not said so, yet I know that you are one of the mysterious
+strangers who come from far-off lands to seek the gold of our
+mountains, which is hidden from our dim eyes. Oh, take me with you!"</p>
+
+<p>The old man turned his face to the boy. "That is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60">60</a></span> idle curiosity, my
+son," he said gravely, and his eyes shone almost as brightly as the
+mirror had a few minutes before; "stay at home and tend thy herds, as
+a good boy should."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, sir," begged Hans earnestly; "I have always longed to see the
+wonders of the mountains, and I will be quiet and silent as is
+befitting in presence of such marvels, and I will help you and serve
+you to the best of my power. Take me with you!"</p>
+
+<p>The old man thought a minute, glanced searchingly into the boy's eyes,
+who had come nearer to him in his earnestness, and then he
+said&mdash;"Come, then, and remember thy promise."</p>
+
+<p>They stepped out together, shut the trap-door behind them, and
+clambered up to the top of the rock, from which the broad footpath led
+up to the heights and abysses of the mountain. The moon poured its
+mystic radiance down from the deep blue sky of night, and the young
+foliage of the beech wood gleamed like silver as it fluttered in the
+breeze. Not a footstep was heard on the mossy ground, only their
+shadows glided in company with the lonely wanderers, who in silent
+haste pressed on deeper into the recesses of the mountains. The wood
+lay behind them, and the path led to a ravine, at the bottom of which
+a raging torrent rushed; they stood now at its edge.</p>
+
+<p>None save Tyrol's boldest mountain climbers know this path, and even
+they, though provided with ice-shoes and alpenstocks, tread its steep
+ascent with trembling hearts. But the little man seemed to heed no
+danger;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61">61</a></span> fearlessly he set his foot upon the highest point, and
+securely, as if on level ground, he went down the side of the
+precipice, where one false step would have been certain death. The boy
+followed him with beating heart. The moonlight broke through the
+overhanging bushes and the lofty rocks overhead, and made its way down
+into the ravine.</p>
+
+<p>The wanderers stood now at the edge of the raging torrent, and walked
+along it to the high rock over which the glacier stream fell into its
+rocky bed, and which seemed to them, as it stood veiled in night, like
+one of the giants of old who, the old legends tell us, were turned to
+stone. Even in the distance they had seen the moving cloud of vapour
+above its head, which hovered in the light of the full moon, like a
+giant eagle, above the rushing waters. The milk-white billows of the
+torrent that rushed down from this height rolled in the moonlight like
+silvery tresses down from the rock's giant head. The old man walked
+quietly through the noise and foam round the foot of the rock and into
+a narrow cleft, which was the opening into the heart of the mountain;
+here he laid down his wallet.</p>
+
+<p>Now, now the boy's heart beat even more loudly than it had done amid
+the dangers of the abyss, when the old man silently beckoned to him.
+He held the mountain mirror in his hand: Hans stepped timidly to his
+side, and looked into the magic glass. Mists impenetrable as the
+curtain which parts the present from the future rolled over its
+crystal surface, but they became lighter and lighter, and soon the
+interior of the mountain lay open<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62">62</a></span> before the eyes of the delighted
+child. Through the wide rocky gates his eye pierced into a land of
+wonders such as are never seen on earth. Through the blue air rose the
+pinnacles of a crystal palace; the golden roof and the windows of
+precious stone shone in the splendour of another sun; and in the lofty
+star-spangled hall sat King Laurin, the hoary king of the dwarfs, on
+his emerald throne. Round him stood his subjects, the wise and aged
+dwarfs, who had long since forsaken the wicked world to lead an active
+but peaceful life here in their magic kingdom, where the malice and
+inquisitiveness of mortals could not come to disturb them. They
+listened with heads bent in reverent attention to the words of their
+king, and then went in different directions to obey his commands; but
+Laurin descended from his throne, laid aside crown and sceptre, and
+went down the golden steps to the rose-garden, which his beloved
+daughter, the only one left to him of all his circle of blooming
+children, tended with skilful hand. The lovely maiden was walking
+among the garden paths, tying up the young roses and moistening their
+roots with water from the golden vessel in her hand, when she saw her
+royal father coming. She hastened to meet him, took his strong hand
+with respectful tenderness, and led him joyfully through the blooming
+beds. Meantime, the little dwarfs had set busily to work: some were
+leading their herds of chamois through a secret gate out to the
+mountains of the upper world, that they might there enjoy earthly air
+and light; others hastened to the clear silvery springs which watered
+this realm, to guide their waters of blessing up to the meadows<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63">63</a></span>
+and woods of the children of men, that they might yield a more
+abundant increase; others, again, took pickaxes, mallets, and dark
+lanterns, all made of precious metal, and went into the heart of the
+surrounding mountains to bring their hidden wealth to light, and to
+increase still more the royal treasure, countless though their king's
+hoards already were.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_063.jpg" width="400" height="610" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">HANS SEES KING LAURIN&#39;S KINGDOM IN THE MAGIC MIRROR.<br />
+F. C., p. 62.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65">65</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Glittering veins of gold streaked the stone, and out of the dark rock
+bubbled springs, whose clear waters flashed and sparkled, as if they
+bore onward with them grains of the precious and much longed-for
+metal. In a dark grotto lay something white and motionless like a
+slumbering eagle; but at the flash of the lanterns it roused itself,
+and the white serpent queen lifted her gem-crowned head. The drops
+that trickled down the walls of the grotto gleamed like jewels in the
+light of her diadem; but the serpent bent her head again, and coiled
+herself up for further sleep, for she knew well that the little
+dwarfs, unlike the robber sons of men, would never stretch forth their
+hands to seize the jewel on her brow. And there, at yonder spring,
+knelt a dark form busily engaged in gathering the gold sand from the
+bottom of the water, and putting it into the wallet beside him; but
+the figure could not be recognised in the shadow which lay deep at
+that spot. But when some of the industrious little men drew near with
+their flickering lanterns, the man at the spring turned his head and
+nodded to them a friendly greeting, which they returned as if he was
+an old and dear acquaintance.</p>
+
+<p>Then the boy recognised by his grey locks and his dark<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66">66</a></span> eyes full of
+gravity and wisdom the old man who had been showing him the mountain
+mirror. He raised his eyes in astonishment from the magic glass, and
+now for the first time he perceived that he held the mirror in his own
+hand, and that the old man was no longer by his side.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! how thoughtless I am; I promised to help him, and now the kind
+old man is tiring himself, unaided, with his heavy work," said Hans in
+self-reproach. Then he hid the magic mirror in his bosom and turned
+towards the hole which formed the entrance to the treasures of the
+mountains. But just as he was stooping to creep in, the old man
+himself came out, bearing on his shoulder the shabby wallet with its
+priceless contents. "Forgive me, sir," begged Hans in a tone of true
+sorrow, "for having kept my promise so ill, but my mind was
+spell-bound by the wonders I beheld."</p>
+
+<p>"It matters not, my son," replied the old man mildly; "I have always
+had to work alone and without help, and I will continue to do so. All
+I ask of thee is a night's rest on the hay and a bite of bread when
+thou canst spare it. But come now! Seest thou how the cloud above the
+waterfall is gleaming rosy red? It is the reflection of the dawn. I
+would not that thy herds should wait for thee, and thy harsh master
+find thee behindhand with thy work. So let us hasten!"</p>
+
+<p>And back they hurried on the dangerous path by which they had come;
+the beech leaves gleamed in the first light of the new day as they
+passed through the wood, and the thrushes were just beginning their
+morning song.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67">67</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Soon they stood on the ledge of rock, and a few minutes brought them
+to the trap-door. The old man slipped in to snatch a little slumber
+before he began another day's wanderings, but the boy could not think
+of lying in his dark loft after all the splendour he had left behind,
+so he went to let out his goats and take them to the mountain. But
+to-day he could not bear to stay as usual in the tiny cottage where he
+performed the light duties of the mountain herdsman, while the goats
+clambered alone up the steep walls of rock in search of juicy plants,
+and came back uncalled at the sound of the evening bell. To-day he
+climbed with them up to the highest peaks, for he hoped to find some
+opening through which he might see into the magic kingdom which the
+mountain mirror had held before his view.</p>
+
+<p>It was, indeed, a wondrous land which stretched far and wide before
+him in fresh and fragrant beauty. It was his native land shining in
+unimagined splendour. Crystal lakes gleamed in the distance, and the
+snow-crowned mountain peaks glowed in the morning sunlight like the
+roses in King Laurin's magic garden. But there was no palace here, no
+lovely maiden among her flowers, and no old and yet nimble dwarfs. But
+there, far away, scarcely visible even to the sharpest eye, a little
+black dot moved along the winding mountain path, and the flashes which
+now and then darted from it over to the rock where Hans was standing
+amid his goats told him that it was the old man with the magic mirror.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! how I wish it was evening," sighed the boy, looking longingly at
+the sun, which had scarcely run a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68">68</a></span> quarter of its appointed course. At
+last it was evening, and herd-boy and herds hastened homewards. The
+boy did not stay long in the house. With a great piece of bread and
+meat in his hand he climbed the steep ladder to the hay-loft, and
+found to his joy the old man there already, waiting to receive the
+food with humble thanks. Hans lost no time in going to sleep, that the
+longed-for hour of the night journey might come the more quickly; and
+when again a sudden light flashed across his eyes, he opened them in
+delight and rose. But it was not the brilliance of the magic mirror
+that had awakened him, but the beam of the morning sun. He looked
+round in astonishment; he had slept so soundly that he had lost his
+expected journey. It was now clear daylight, and the goats were loudly
+calling their young master to his duty. He gave a hasty glance at his
+companion, who still lay in deep slumber. Whether he had slept thus
+since yesterday evening, or whether he was resting after his nightly
+labours, Hans had no time to ask. Quickly he ran down the ladder into
+the farm-yard, where all was life; then he took his shepherd's bag,
+which hung behind the door, already filled with the daily portion of
+food, and hurried with his impatient flock up towards the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>Again he looked wistfully from his high rocky seat down on the
+blooming meadows, and recognised the little man with the magic mirror
+in the remote distance, and determined to keep his eyes open the whole
+night. But when evening came, and he sought his couch, scarcely had he
+lain down by the side of his aged friend,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69">69</a></span> when deep sleep fell on his
+eyelids, and left them only at the glance of the morning sun. Haste
+and timidity always prevented him from disturbing the old man in his
+sleep, and telling him once more the fervent wishes of his heart; and
+so every morning he bore his unfulfilled desires up with him to the
+mountain. Thus summer passed, and when one morning the first rough
+breath of autumn chilled the boy's brow, there was a rustling behind
+the rock on which he sat, and the old man, who had been his companion
+for so many months, stood before him. The wallet on his shoulder was
+full, and in his hand he held a staff as if he was ready to return to
+his distant home, for so indeed he was.</p>
+
+<p>"I come, my son," said the little man with his old grave kindliness,
+"to thank thee for shelter and food, and to ask thee if thou hast any
+wish which I can gratify."</p>
+
+<p>Hans shouted with joy; but the old man raised his finger gravely&mdash;he
+seemed to read into the boy's very soul.</p>
+
+<p>"Neglect not sacred duties for the sake of idle curiosity," said he in
+a tone of warning, and the boy blushed and was silent. Then Hans
+thought of his good mother down in the valley, whose cottage he passed
+every morning and evening, and found the poor woman always at the
+window waiting to whisper a loving word, a motherly blessing to her
+only child. But this morning her eyes had been dim with trouble, and
+when he asked what was wrong she had answered with a sigh&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, my good child, that thou canst alter; I am only thinking of
+the approach of winter, and how the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70">70</a></span> cold wind will whistle through my
+battered cottage, and how I have no warm clothing to protect me from
+the cold."</p>
+
+<p>All this flashed like lightning through the boy's mind; tremblingly he
+clasped his hands, and a prayer for help fell from his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"That is right, my son," said the old man kindly, handing the boy a
+little coin. "Despise this not for its mean appearance, and never use
+it foolishly; and when I return next year, let me find thy hand as
+open and thy heart as pure as I have found them now. Farewell."</p>
+
+<p>He nodded kindly to the boy, took the cloak from his shoulder, spread
+it on the rock, and placed himself on it, staff in hand, and with the
+burden on his shoulders. Immediately the mantle rose, and hovered
+before the boy's astonished eyes, bearing the little man up into the
+air. The old man waved farewell from his airy height; then he pointed
+southwards with his staff, and swift as an arrow flew the magic mantle
+towards his far-off home. The boy watched the wonderful journey with
+devoutly folded hands. Like the beat of eagle's wings was the motion
+of the dark garment through the white clouds, and the little man kept
+his balance perfectly, he guiding his flight with the staff in his
+left hand, while the magic mirror in his right gleamed in the beams of
+the morning sun like the diadem of carbuncles on the head of the
+serpent queen. The last flash died away at last, and the boy sat once
+more alone on his rocky seat, dreamily gazing on the gold coin in his
+hand. It had evidently passed through many a hand before, for it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71">71</a></span>
+needed a sharp eye to trace the impression on its surface; on one side
+the lion of San Marco stretched his royal limbs, and with raised head
+kept guard over Venice, the Queen of the Sea, whose foot the Adriatic
+kisses with its caressing waves, wedded to her anew each year by the
+Doge's ring. The other side bore the name of one of the rulers of that
+proud Republic. It was scarcely legible, and it had been long eclipsed
+by a younger glory.</p>
+
+<p>The boy, indeed, had no key to the understanding of the image and
+inscription, but he felt confident the gift out of such a hand must
+bring blessing in spite of its mean appearance, and so he kept the
+coin carefully in his pocket. To-day he started joyfully at the tone
+of the evening bell, said his prayer with more than usual fervour, and
+hastened with winged feet after his thriving flock.</p>
+
+<p>"Just look, dear mother, what I have brought you," he cried joyfully
+through the window of the cottage, showing the old man's gift. "Do not
+despise it," he begged earnestly, as he saw his mother's doubting
+smile; "he told me not to despise it, the kind, powerful man who gave
+it to me. Put it with your savings, and let us see what will happen."
+As he spoke, his eyes shone so brightly with joy and confidence that
+his good mother could not bear to vex him by her doubts; she promised
+to lay the gold piece in the drawer, and bade her boy good night with
+a loving smile.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Ten springs had passed over Tyrol's mountains and valleys, and there
+had been many changes in the time.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72">72</a></span> The young trees had grown tall and
+leafy; the children had become men and women. Hans was no longer a
+goat-herd, but a clever senner, as they call the mountain shepherds in
+the Tyrol, and now the farmer's herds had been entrusted to his sole
+care during the rest of their stay on the higher pastures, to which he
+had led them early in spring. The setting sun glowed on the lofty
+glacier before him, and its reflection flowed down to the night
+pasture, and hung like a golden veil over the pine trees, beneath
+whose wide branches the herds had lain down for their nightly rest.
+But Hans stood before his cottage, which he had entered to-day for the
+first time as senner, and gazed joyfully on his new charge.</p>
+
+<p>The valleys were already slumbering in the evening shadows, but the
+peaks of the glacier were aglow with purple, and reminded the young
+man of an image that he had long borne in his soul with secret
+longing; he thought now, as he had not done for months, of the
+rose-garden before the crystal palace, and of the little man who had
+been his yearly companion in the farmer's hay-loft, and who, every
+autumn, had climbed the mountain side to say farewell to him, and then
+with his wallet full of gold had returned on his magic mantle to his
+distant home. He had never asked the old man for a glance into the
+mountain mirror since he had received that grave warning about idle
+curiosity, and these memories of King Laurin's realm had gradually
+faded. But his reverence for the strange old man had remained
+unchanged, and every day he had shared his supper with him out of
+gratitude for the parting gift which Hans had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73">73</a></span> long ago taken home to
+his mother. He had not hoped or promised too much. With the little
+man's dim old coin blessing had come into the hut of poverty, and the
+money in the drawer had never grown less. There was always some left,
+even when they erected on the site of the tumble-down cottage a firmly
+built and comfortable house, and though after that they bought many a
+much needed piece of furniture and warm clothing for the winter. There
+was no need now to creep in secretly at even to receive the gifts of
+the kind-hearted farmer's wife without her miserly husband's
+knowledge. They were able first to keep one cow, and then two, and
+then&mdash;Hans looked joyfully round on the slumbering herds&mdash;four fine
+cows now rested there, his mother's property, which he had been
+allowed to lead up to the mountain pastures to graze with his master's
+cattle. The churlish farmer, indeed, had never granted him this
+favour, but his unkindly eyes had closed for the last sleep the autumn
+before, and the eyes which now shone in the farm-house were so mild
+and lovely that it was a pleasure to obey their glance. What were
+these eyes like? Hans tried to remember as he gazed at the glacier,
+whose purple had changed to a pale rosy hue. Yes, yes, now he knows.
+The eyes of Anneli, whom he had loved from childhood as his own dear
+little sister, were just like the eyes of that fair maiden who used to
+walk in the rose-garden by the dwarf king's side, and this brought him
+back to the beginning of his reverie.</p>
+
+<p>And now he began to wonder if the little man, if he returned, would
+rest at night in the farmer's hay-loft, or,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74">74</a></span> according to his old
+custom, climb up the mountain to seek him here. Then he heard, not far
+off, something like the sigh of a weary wanderer. The youth's sharp
+ear was directed attentively towards the path which led from the
+village to the senner's cottage, and which was now veiled in the
+double shadow of the trees and of the falling night. Yes, it was
+coming from that direction, and immediately Hans was ready to offer
+help. He took his lantern in his hand, seized his alpenstock, and ran
+down the path between the rocks and the dew-covered bushes. He had not
+far to seek, for there, on a stone by the wayside, sat a dwarf in a
+dark and shabby garment, and a well-remembered wallet hung from his
+bent shoulders. The young man cast a hasty glance at the figure, and
+then shouted aloud with delight. It was the old man of whom he had
+just been thinking, and it was with grateful emotion that he found
+that his old friend had not forgotten him, but that, in spite of the
+darkness and his increasing infirmities, he had toiled up the path to
+the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>"Good evening, sir," said he joyfully, bending as reverently to kiss
+the dwarf's withered hand as if he had been a lord of the land. "You
+must be tired; take my arm, and let me carry your sack; that's the
+way. And now, courage for a hundred steps or so, and we are at the end
+of our journey." And with such care and reverence as are shown rather
+to great princes than to such a poor little dwarf, Hans led the old
+man over the last difficulties of the mountain path, and over the
+threshold of his hut. Then he hastened to take the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75">75</a></span> covering off his
+couch of moss and spread it over the wooden bench before the hearth,
+that the old man might rest his tired limbs on a softer seat. Next he
+kindled a fire, and made a fritter which the senner who had preceded
+him had taught him how to make. He had no drink to offer but good,
+sweet, new milk; but Anneli's hand had provided richly for the wants
+of the new senner, and the little wooden cupboard in the corner was
+stocked with good things from the farm-house. The young man searched
+in it joyfully for something dainty for his guest, and felt proud and
+happy in his unwonted work. A white cloth was spread over the coarse
+oaken table, and on it was placed the delicate fritter, with a plate
+of eggs and bacon sending forth fragrance by its side. Proudly the
+young man brought his guest to the well-set table, and both enjoyed
+its good things in silent comfort. Then Hans led the old man, tenderly
+as a child his beloved father, to his own couch of moss, and when the
+little dwarf sank on it with a look of love and gratitude, the young
+man spread the covering over him as he used to spread his jacket years
+ago in the hay-loft. Then he sat down before the fire that the
+flickering flame might not disturb the old man, and when at last his
+deep breathing told that he was asleep, the youth rose and went out
+into the open air. The moss-couch in the senner's cottage was not
+broad, and Hans must not spoil the old man's comfort, so he went to
+the night pasture, where the herds lay sleeping, and sank to rest in
+the soft moss beneath the aged pines. They let their evergreen
+branches fall over him protectingly, and the long moss<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76">76</a></span> that hung from
+them served as covering to the youthful sleeper, while the glacier
+torrents in the distant ravines sang his lullaby.</p>
+
+<p>The days passed by in keener enjoyment than even his boyish dreams had
+pictured. The hours were bright with happy sunshine, in spite of the
+double burden of work which he, contrary to the custom of his
+predecessors, had undertaken in the consciousness of his own powers
+and fidelity. And when the day had flown by with its quick succession
+of pleasure and toil, the evening hour would come when the beloved
+guest sat at the fire and at the oaken table, and sometimes the
+hitherto so silent lips would let fall words of grave wisdom.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the hour of rest, calling the old man to the moss-bed under
+the senner's roof; but Hans slipped out when the fire was dead to the
+shelter of the old pine trees, and slept in their protection, lulled
+to slumber by the song of the glacier stream.</p>
+
+<p>One warm spring evening, when the jagged ice-crown of the glacier
+gleamed with a bluish light beneath the full moon's beams, he did not
+turn towards his soft couch beneath the trees, but hastened to the
+grove of pines which rose above him on a steep wall of rock. With a
+sharp axe on his shoulder, gleaming brightly in the moonlight, he
+stepped along the well-known path across the green meadows to the dark
+ravine which separated him from the wood on the rocky height. Was the
+dream of his childhood now really fulfilled&mdash;was he going to look
+through the magic mirror into the heart of the mountains? Oh no. The
+spirit world had lost its power over his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77">77</a></span> soul. His thoughts and
+desires belonged now more than ever to real life.</p>
+
+<p>A few days ago Anneli had come up with her mother to the senner's
+cottage to see about the produce of the mountain farm, as the farmers
+are in the habit of doing when the herds have been some time on the
+high pastures; and while the mother inspected the dairy, tried the
+cheese, and tasted the balls of butter, Anneli stood outside with Hans
+and the grazing herds, and chatted with him pleasantly as in days gone
+by.</p>
+
+<p>"And do you remember, good Hans, what day to-morrow is?" she asked
+with an arch look in her eyes, when Hans, after thinking in vain,
+shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you not know?" she said, laughing. "Why, Hans, to-morrow is the
+first of May, and I am curious to know if I shall have a May-pole
+raised for me."</p>
+
+<p>"You, Anneli!" cried Hans, looking in astonishment on her beautiful
+face&mdash;"you will have many a tree; they call you already 'the pearl of
+the valley,' and the rich farmers' sons will fight for the honour," he
+added in a low sorrowful tone.</p>
+
+<p>This tone thrilled Anneli's heart; she leant towards him with innocent
+confidence, and said with emotion&mdash;"Let them, Hans; but you know that
+I shall take pleasure in no May-pole but <i>one</i>."</p>
+
+<p>It was these words which were driving Hans now in the silence of night
+through the dangerous ravine and the foaming torrent, and up the steep
+precipice to the pine wood. Here he felled the chosen tree skilfully,
+tore the bark from the smooth stem, and bore the trunk<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78">78</a></span> carefully on
+his shoulder through shrubs and narrow mountain ways down into the
+valley. His path was dark and difficult, and jutting rocks often
+hemmed his footsteps; but his love for Anneli kept him from feeling
+weary, and the thought of her joy always gave him new strength. Thus,
+after hours of toil, he arrived at last in the village, and stood
+before Anneli's door. Then he took a packet carefully out of his
+shepherd's bag, and with the prettiest ribbons which his mother had
+been able to find in the nearest town he adorned the tree; and that
+Anneli's heart might make no mistake, he tied at the top a bunch of
+alproses, such as he used to bring every evening when he was the
+goat-herd and she a lovely little child. Then he planted the pole
+firmly in the ground right before Anneli's window, and with a glance
+at the bright ribbons fluttering gaily in the wind like the streamers
+from a ship, he turned joyfully towards the mountain and his
+slumbering herds.</p>
+
+<p>It was evening, and the farewell sunbeams shed their gold on the
+mountain meadows and the senner's dark flowing hair, as he went with
+pail and stool to milk the herds just returning from the pasture. Well
+he loved the mountain, the herds, and the evenings full of sunset
+splendour and of peace. But to-day he had no eye for the glory around
+him; he thought of the valley and of Anneli, who was to join to-day
+for the first time in the village dance, and who would be led by some
+richer hand. Hitherto, he had thought himself passing rich; to-day,
+for the first time, he sighed over his poverty. He sat down beside his
+favourite, Brownie, and began to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79">79</a></span> milk; but in the middle of his work
+his hands dropped on his lap, and he began to wonder who besides
+himself had set up trees for Anneli, and whether she had known his
+among them all. Surely she must have. The bunch of alproses at the top
+would tell her, and he smiled to himself, and began again to milk.</p>
+
+<p>Then a well-known voice called to him from the cottage, "Hallo, Hans!
+where are you hiding? I have been searching the whole place for you."</p>
+
+<p>Hans shouted back an answer, and there appeared above the hedge the
+face of Seppi, the only one of the farm-servants who did not grudge
+Hans his place in Anneli's favour, and who had always remained his
+firm and faithful friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Seppi, what good news do you bring?" asked Hans, with a feeling
+of presentiment. "What brings you so late to the mountain?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is Anneli, self-willed girl," answered Seppi, laughing. "She will
+not go to the dance without you. Quick, quick, put on your best
+clothes. The fiddlers are ready, and the maidens waiting to be
+fetched. I will stay here in your place to-night." Hans darted up like
+an arrow and flew into the cottage, while Seppi took his seat beside
+the cows, and went on with the unfinished work.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes Hans appeared in holiday clothes, and in his hat a
+garland and a ribbon like those on Anneli's May-pole. "Now, Seppi,
+take good care of the cattle," said he, coming back to the hedge. "You
+have known the beasts for years&mdash;ever since you were here for a while
+as under-senner. Good-bye." And he hurried off.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80">80</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But suddenly he remembered the little man, and that he had not told
+Seppi about the expected guest. Notwithstanding his eagerness about
+Anneli and the evening's merry-making, he ran back and commended the
+dwarf to the care of his astonished friend. But now nothing kept him
+back. Swift as the chamois before the hunter he flew down the steep
+path, and reached the gate of the farm just as the festal procession
+was moving along the village street to escort the "pearl of the
+valley" to the dance.</p>
+
+<p>She was waiting for him at the gate, and watching impatiently for his
+coming. "I am so glad you are here at last," she said, stretching out
+both her hands towards him. "You shall be my partner; I have chosen
+you out of all the lads who have set up May-poles for me. Just look
+how yours looks down on the other contemptible little things. Seppi,
+the good fellow, went up to bring me the bunch of alproses and the
+ribbon, that I might wear them for your sake."</p>
+
+<p>She pointed smilingly to her fair head, which was gay with a sky-blue
+ribbon, and to the bouquet at her breast. Hans looked at her in a
+rapture of delight, and grasped her dear hand more firmly, for the
+procession had now reached the farm-house, and the youths who had set
+up May-poles in Anneli's honour came out from the rest and stood
+before her, that she might choose one as her partner in the dance. But
+great were the astonishment and envy of them all when they saw that
+the former goat-herd had been preferred to them, and although they had
+to consent to this arrangement, yet poor Hans owned<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81">81</a></span> from this moment
+a number more of bitter foes. But he neither thought of this nor
+feared it; he led the "pearl" which had fallen to his lot out through
+the gate, and his face shone with happy excitement as he joined the
+procession, and led his fair partner to the linden-trees where the
+dance was to be.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_081.jpg" width="400" height="415" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">ANNELI SEES THE MAY-POLE ERECTED BY HANS.</p>
+
+<p>Hans had always counted himself a happy fellow, but as he now led the
+lovely Anneli in the merry dance beneath the green linden-trees, it
+seemed as if he had never known<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82">82</a></span> before what happiness meant, and his
+whole past life he counted now as nothing. But this life offers no
+lasting happiness, and the purer it is the shorter is its reign.
+Anneli looked up at him with unconscious tenderness, and whispered
+that she would not dance that night with any one but him. The maiden's
+softly spoken words reached the ear of Nazerl, the son of a rich
+neighbour; and anger and envy blazed forth in his soul.</p>
+
+<p>"Anneli, you must dance once with me," he said, stepping up to her;
+but his petition sounded more like an imperious command.</p>
+
+<p>"You know, Nazerl," answered the girl, "that Hans is my partner; you
+must ask his consent." Now Hans was just bringing a glass to offer
+Anneli some refreshment.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, goat-boy," said the rich farmer's son haughtily to the poor
+senner, "I will let you know that I mean to dance now with Anneli."
+And he seized her hand.</p>
+
+<p>Hans was of a peaceable disposition, and his new happiness had not
+made him proud, but this taunt was too much for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Let go her hand, Nazerl," he said quietly, though his voice trembled.
+"She may not dance with you."</p>
+
+<p>"May she not, indeed, you beggar?" cried Nazerl; "then take this," and
+he struck Hans in the face with clenched fist.</p>
+
+<p>Anneli screamed, and poor Hans lost all control over himself; without
+thinking, he hurled the glass in his tormentor's face, and with a loud
+groan Nazerl fell pale and bloody to the ground. Again a cry of terror
+escaped<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83">83</a></span> Anneli's lips, but it was not for the sake of the fallen
+Nazerl, but for Hans, whose thoughtless deed must bring him into
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>The music ceased, and all hastened to the motionless form that lay
+stretched on the grass to offer help, while Hans stood by in
+speechless astonishment at his own mad act.</p>
+
+<p>Then he felt his hand seized, and Anneli's gentle voice whispered in
+his ear, "Flee, oh flee, dear Hans, at once, for a minute's delay may
+make flight hopeless."</p>
+
+<p>But when Hans still hesitated, she caught his arm and, unnoticed by
+the others, drew him away till they stood at some distance from the
+lindens, and were hidden from their companions by the trees. Hans
+still looked stunned and paralysed.</p>
+
+<p>"Hans," she said more earnestly than before, laying her little hand
+upon his arm&mdash;"Hans, listen to me and follow me. Flee as quickly as
+you can, for all, all are against you, because I chose you in
+preference to them. Flee, and hide yourself somewhere till the noise
+of this is over and Nazerl is recovered."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Anneli," answered Hans shuddering, "he is dead! Did you not see
+how pale and motionless he lay?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then there is all the more need for you to flee," said the maiden
+decidedly; "listen, they are coming; go, go," she urged anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell, Anneli. Do not be angry with me, and never forget poor
+Hans," and he looked down at her with sorrowful eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Never, never, Hans," she said in a firm voice, for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84">84</a></span> experience of
+the last few minutes had ripened her self-knowledge and her will. "But
+you will come back some day, guiltless and happy; I know you will. But
+now go. They are coming to look for you."</p>
+
+<p>He stooped, and, overcome with the sorrow of the moment, pressed a
+kiss on her sweet lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell, farewell, my Anneli," he whispered once more, and then he
+turned and fled like a hunted chamois. It was dark on the path along
+which he hastened, but darker in his soul. The short-lived happiness
+to which he had so joyfully opened his heart was gone, perhaps never
+to return; even the thought of Anneli's love, which she had so frankly
+revealed to him, could not scatter the dark shadows.</p>
+
+<p>If Nazerl was dead, then he was a murderer, and must remain so all his
+life, no matter what might be his punishment and his repentance. He
+shuddered, and hastened trembling up the very path which his joyful
+footsteps had pressed a few hours before, when his heart was full of
+vague but sweetest hopes.</p>
+
+<p>How all, all had changed in so short a time!</p>
+
+<p>The moon, which before had beamed almost with the golden light of day,
+seemed now as pale as Nazerl's face; the night wind moaned through the
+trees like the sighs of a dying man, and the harp-like music of the
+glacier stream sounded like avenging thunder. Hans flew onwards,
+despair in his heart, great drops of anguish on the brow so lately
+crowned with calm content. There lay the night pasture. The moonbeams
+fell across it, and showed him the slumbering animals. He pressed his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85">85</a></span>
+lips closer at the thought that he must say farewell to the herd that
+had grown so dear to him.</p>
+
+<p>Soon he stood at the senner's cottage. He looked through the window.
+All was peaceful as usual. The bed was still unoccupied, and the old
+man was not at the table; but Seppi was merrily turning the fritters
+and whistling a cheerful tune.</p>
+
+<p>"Seppi, Seppi!" cried poor Hans outside, as he knocked with trembling
+finger against the panes.</p>
+
+<p>Seppi turned his head in surprise, and when he saw Hans standing out
+in the moonlight, he came to the window and drew back the bolt.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Hans? Is anything wrong?" he said hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! yes," sighed Hans, and he told his friend in hurried words the
+misfortune that had befallen him.</p>
+
+<p>"The impudent fellow," cried Seppi angrily. "You may be sure your
+reminder will not do him any harm; and as for his being dead, you
+know, Hans, 'weeds wont die.' So don't be vexing yourself beyond
+measure. And are you going away? Where will you go?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know, Seppi," answered Hans sadly&mdash;"as far as my feet will
+carry me; away from my beloved country, perhaps for ever;" and he
+wiped a tear from his cheek. "But you must do me one kindness, that I
+may go content. As soon as you can get down to the valley, go to my
+good old mother, and tell her not to grieve too much. Tell her that I
+will try to do right, though I must leave the mountains of the Tyrol;
+and beg Anneli never, never to forget me. And one thing more, Seppi.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86">86</a></span>
+Take good care of the little man, and let him want for nothing.
+Promise me this."</p>
+
+<p>Seppi nodded, and his good, honest face had a cheery smile on it as he
+gave his hand to his friend, who hurried away on his restless
+wandering. He gave a hasty glance at the night pastures, which he now
+reached; the long mossy veil of the old pine-trees, beneath which he
+had so often slept, fluttered in the wind like mourning banners. His
+favourite brown cow raised her head slowly, and the bell round her
+neck sounded like a sad farewell. Hot tears flowed from his eyes, but
+he had no time for long leave-taking, he must hurry on. Yonder rose
+the rugged brow of the glacier, with its furrows lighted by the weird
+moonbeams. He passed it by winding paths through the gloom of the
+fir-trees, now climbing steep ascents, now descending into a ravine
+with its foaming torrent&mdash;paths known to no eye and foot save those of
+the boldest mountaineer.</p>
+
+<p>At last he stood on the lofty ridge from which the road led downwards
+into an unknown valley and unfamiliar fields. He threw a last glance
+back towards his own loved mountain, then he hastened without further
+delay on his sorrowful journey.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The golden sunlight of evening lay once more on mountain and valley,
+and floated on the waves of the lovely river Inn, which flowed as
+peacefully as if it had never tried to foam and rage like its brothers
+in the mountains. A youth was descending the mountain with tottering
+footsteps. It was the last of the hills that had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87">87</a></span> lain between him and
+the great and populous town that stood in the valley below. His blue
+eyes looked dim and sunken, his long hair hung tangled round his head,
+and his once respectable clothing bore traces of hasty and toilsome
+journeying.</p>
+
+<p>The son of the quiet mountains looked down in amazement at the bustle
+in the town below, and a deep sigh escaped his lips. But he collected
+himself, and descended the last declivity to the bank of the stream,
+across which a bridge led to the town. At one end of this bridge stood
+a watch-house, for it was a needful thing in those unsettled times to
+keep a sharp look-out on friend and foe. Two soldiers sat at the oaken
+table before the door. The young man went up to the building, and
+stood timidly a few steps from the men. At last the elder of the two
+raised his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, Franzerl," said he, after a hasty glance at the young wanderer;
+"there comes a lad from your mountains, but he does not look so
+cheerful as you did when you came."</p>
+
+<p>Franzerl looked up, but scarcely had he met the wanderer's eye than he
+sprang up and with a cry of joy caught his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Hans, dear Hans, where have you come from?" he cried. "Do not you
+remember me? Do you not know Franzerl, with whom you and Anneli used
+so often to play, and with whom you so often shared your bread and
+cheese, when my poor mother had nothing to give to her hungry little
+Franzerl?"</p>
+
+<p>Hans&mdash;for it was he&mdash;looked with joyful surprise at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88">88</a></span> the cheerful
+young face, and recognised at once his old playfellow, who years ago
+had left his native valley to push his fortune in the great world, and
+whose friends had long believed him to be dead. He had become a
+soldier; but in spite of his stern employment his heart had remained
+as warm and true as ever. He drew his old friend to the table where
+the other man sat, and offered him some of the fiery drink in the
+glass before him.</p>
+
+<p>"Drink, my good fellow," he said pressingly, "drink&mdash;you seem to be in
+need of refreshment&mdash;and then tell me what brings you hither."</p>
+
+<p>The rough kindness touched the poor wanderer's heart, and acted like
+magic on his weary spirit. It was the first familiar face that he had
+seen for many days&mdash;the first pleasant reminder of days gone by, and
+he found it sweet to open his heart to this friend of his childhood,
+and tell him of the folly that had driven him from home, and how he
+had wandered since from mountain to mountain begging a bite of bread
+and a drink of milk from kind-hearted herdsmen; for he had not
+ventured to go down to the villages, where the news of what had
+happened might have arrived before him. "And now," he said, "I am
+going away&mdash;away to some far-off country, where they know nothing of
+Nazerl or of Hans, or even of the beautiful land of the Tyrol."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very foolish," laughed Franzerl. "Are you quite sure that
+Nazerl is dead? He had always a thick skull, as I know full well.
+Don't be a fool, but stay here and become a brave soldier like us.
+Believe me, it is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89">89</a></span> a merry life, and it is possible to be a good man
+even under this coat."</p>
+
+<p>Hans hesitated a moment; he had never thought of this, but Franzerl
+overwhelmed him with persuasive eloquence.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Hans; to-morrow or next day we are going to Italy, a
+country that, they say, is even more lovely than our own. Ours is a
+cheerful life, and when you come back in two or three years grass will
+have grown over the whole affair, and they will not dare to say a word
+to you after you have worn the Emperor's uniform."</p>
+
+<p>"But Anneli?" sighed Hans.</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot see Anneli for a time at any rate, and if she is really
+worthy of you, she will be true to you."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Franzerl was right, Hans saw that; so he agreed to his proposal,
+and went with his friend to the recruiting sergeant, who was glad to
+receive the fine fellow into his ranks.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>It was autumn. The morning wind swept over the Adriatic, rippling its
+deep blue waves, and played with the dark hair of a youth who leant in
+deep reverie against the archway of the Piazza di San Marco, gazing
+dreamily at the flow of the Grand Canal, which, after cutting Venice
+with its great curve, mingles its waters with the waves of the
+Adriatic.</p>
+
+<p>It was Hans. The mountains and valleys of his native land lay far
+away. It was long since he had left the last mountain-pass of the
+Tyrol far behind, but he could not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90">90</a></span> leave his love for home there at
+the boundary&mdash;it filled him with secret longings in this beautiful,
+but foreign land. What good did all the splendour of this strange
+country do him&mdash;all the lofty palaces and art-trophies of the queenly
+city&mdash;all the sweet melody of this unknown tongue? Could one of those
+musical sounds be compared with Anneli's voice when she said, "I am so
+glad you have come, dear Hans"? Could one of these marble towers
+attempt to rival the jagged glacier peaks when they shone with the
+purple of the evening sky? And when the horn sounded at sunset through
+the mountains, echoed a hundred-fold from clefts and deep ravines, and
+dying softly amid the shades of the valley, who would compare with
+that the tones of the music which day and night hovered on the waters
+through the streets of Venice?</p>
+
+<p>Hans raised his tearful eyes: the sky, at least, must be the same
+which spans the valleys of the Tyrol. Then he noticed a figure on a
+slender pillar&mdash;a figure which he must have seen long years before. A
+brazen lion with a proudly flowing mane raised its kingly head, as if
+keeping watch over the city below, and over the sea that kissed its
+feet. The young man dashed the rising tear from his eye, and looked
+thoughtfully up at the kingly beast. Yes, indeed, that was the same
+lion which was marked on the coin that the little man gave him long
+ago, and which in the secret drawer had kept watch and guard over his
+mother's treasure. A smile passed like a sunbeam over his troubled
+face as he thought of that sunny autumn morning when the old man said<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91">91</a></span>
+good-bye to him, and when he watched him from the rock as he sailed
+through the air on his magic mantle.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I wish I had such a ship," he said with a sigh. Then, in the
+familiar accents of his native tongue, the words sounded in his ear,
+"Good morning, Hans."</p>
+
+<p>Hans started&mdash;there was no one near. Had a dream mocked him? But no,
+there it was again&mdash;"Look up, Hans, up here." And Hans looked up.</p>
+
+<p>Above him, out of the high bow-window of one of those proud palaces,
+leant a familiar head with snowy locks and dark earnest eyes that
+smiled kindly down on poor Hans.</p>
+
+<p>He uttered a cry of joy, his first since he came to this foreign land,
+and quick as an arrow he darted into the archway, and entered the
+portal of the palace. His foot flew over marble steps and velvet
+carpets; but he had no eye for that. On he went, up to where, leaning
+over the golden banister of the landing-place, a noble and
+well-remembered face awaited him. Full of emotion, he stood before the
+old man, who gave him his hand in loving greeting. No longer a shabby
+coat, but a garment of black velvet covered his form, and his withered
+but wonder-working hand gleamed with costly diamonds. But the youth's
+affection broke the barriers of this marvellous change, and tenderly,
+as on that spring evening on the mountain when he had brought the old
+man into his cottage, he pressed his lips against the kind hand, and
+said from the fulness of his heart, "God bless you, sir. I bless Him
+for letting me find you here in this foreign land."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92">92</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_092.jpg" width="400" height="414" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">HANS RECEIVES A HEARTY WELCOME FROM AN OLD FRIEND.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a foreign land, Hans; I am in my own country," answered the noble
+Venetian, as he led the young man through the splendid halls, whose
+stately walls were adorned with the masterpieces of those immortal
+artists who called Italy their home. Then they sat down together in
+the wide bow-window, and Hans looked joyfully into the old man's
+venerable countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"So you did not forget the poor herdsman in your splendid home?" said
+he.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93">93</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Forget thee, Hans!" replied the noble Venetian&mdash;"forget thee, who
+didst think of me in the midst of love and pleasure, and even in thy
+flight, when thy heart was filled with deadly anguish! No, indeed. I
+long to reward those years of faithful love, and perhaps the
+opportunity has come at last."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir," cried Hans with shining eyes, "will you tell me how things
+go at home, where you have been more lately than I? Tell me if Nazerl
+recovered, if my mother has ceased to grieve about me, and if Anneli
+still remembers me."</p>
+
+<p>"Nazerl is dead&mdash;but through no fault of thine," said the old man
+soothingly, for Hans had looked terror-stricken at his opening words.
+"He soon recovered from the trifling wound caused by thy hand; but his
+own foolhardiness drove him up to the highest points of rock after a
+chamois, and a rash step hurled him into the ravine. It was not till
+long afterwards that they found his mangled corpse. As for thy mother
+and Anneli, thou mayest see for thyself."</p>
+
+<p>So saying he rose, stepped up to a richly carved cabinet, and took
+from a secret compartment a flashing jewel. The young man recognised
+it well; it was the wondrous mountain mirror; and now he held it once
+more in his hand, and looked searchingly on its shining surface. Light
+mists rolled over it; they grew gradually thinner and thinner, till at
+last there lay before him in the splendour of the morning sunlight his
+own beloved valley, and the substantial farm-house, Anneli's home. He
+gave no heed to the cheerful stir in barn and stable,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94">94</a></span> nor to the busy
+preparation for the returning herds. No, his eye pressed through the
+clear window-panes to a well-remembered room. It was quiet and cosy,
+as in days gone by. At the window sat Anneli, fair and lovable as
+ever, but her countenance bore traces of gentle melancholy. The
+snow-white thread rested in her hands, and her lips moved in earnest
+talk with the two women at the other window&mdash;the farmer's widow and
+the old mother that Hans was longing to comfort. It seemed to Hans
+that the conversation concerned him, and as if now and then his name
+fell from Anneli's rosy lips. And every time she raised her eyes
+towards the opposite wall, Hans followed the direction of her gaze,
+and saw, carefully preserved by glass and frame, a well-remembered
+blue ribbon and bunch of withered mountain flowers. At this sign of
+faithful memory tears started to the young man's eyes, and when he had
+dried them, and looked again on the magic mirror, the dear vision had
+vanished, and the glass flashed once more in the light of the Italian
+sun.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, my son; I will tell thee the wish that my heart cherishes for
+thee," said the old man, as he laid the magic mirror carefully back in
+the cabinet. "I am alone and lonely, the last representative of a name
+of ancient renown. When I was young and strong, I was filled with a
+desire after secret knowledge. I sought the gold of the mountains far
+and near&mdash;thou knowest this well&mdash;heaping treasures on treasures, and
+all the while I never noticed that I was growing old, and was still
+alone in life. Stay now with me. I will enrich<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95">95</a></span> thy mind with the
+treasures of my knowledge, and thy heart shall remain pure. Thou shalt
+be my son, the heir of my wealth; and thy name shall be inscribed
+among the noblest names in the golden book of Venice."</p>
+
+<p>The young man clasped his hands, and leant towards his aged friend.
+"Forgive me, noble sir," he begged humbly, "if I cannot gratify your
+wishes; but what can riches and honour do for a heart that is pining
+with longings after home? The scene which I have just witnessed&mdash;the
+vision of Anneli and my home&mdash;has shown me where alone my happiness
+must be sought. But if you wish to grant me a favour, then loose the
+fetters that bind me here, and let me go as quickly as possible back
+to my loved mountains."</p>
+
+<p>The old man sat a moment in silent thought. "I would fain have kept
+thee with me," he said at last, "for thy heart is true and pure; but
+my wishes must yield to thy happiness."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he rose and once more opened the cupboard which hid his
+magic hoards. From its most secret recess he brought a dark object,
+and when he unrolled it, it proved to be the magic mantle, the
+air-ship of which Hans had thought so longingly a short time before.
+The old man spread it on the balcony, embraced the astonished youth
+with the tenderness of a father, and led him towards the mantle.</p>
+
+<p>"Now stand on it," he said; "take this staff to guide thy flight; and
+think of me with love."</p>
+
+<p>Hans obeyed as in a dream. The old Venetian waved<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96">96</a></span> his hand, and the
+mantle rose and bore the young man up into the air.</p>
+
+<p>Not till his eyes met the full light of the open air, and the fresh
+wind played with the folds of the mantle, did Hans awake to the
+reality of his situation. He looked sorrowfully back at his noble
+friend, who still stood in the bow-window looking after him, with a
+smile on his aged features, and waving a farewell with his withered
+hand. Hans stretched out his arms towards him, and cried in a voice of
+deep emotion, "Farewell, farewell, noble sir," and the mantle bore him
+onwards with the swiftness of the storm-wind.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the Queen of the Sea gleamed far below, in the splendour
+of her towers and palaces; the sunlight flashed from the high windows
+of her churches, and the black gondolas glided noiselessly over the
+winding canals. But soon this scene grew faint in the distance, and
+nothing was left of it all but the sea stretching in a blue line along
+the horizon. Hans turned his face homewards, and directed his course
+towards the north. Swift as an arrow he flew onwards; the air rustled
+around him like the sound of eagles' wings; in the dim distance lay
+the mountain peaks of his native land, but they began to shine out
+more and more clearly from the blue mists. Soon he was floating above
+that rocky pass which long months before he had trodden with deadly
+sorrow in his heart; and now he breathes the air of his native land.</p>
+
+<p>With beaming eyes he looked down over the side of the magic eagle
+whose dark pinions were bearing him<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97">97</a></span> onwards to his home. Far below
+him lay the mountains with the grazing herds; from his cloudy height
+they seemed no larger than the lady-birds with which he used to play
+when a boy, and the senners' cottages like the round pebbles in the
+village brook. He almost felt as if he could touch the glacier peaks
+with his hand, so near did they seem in the splendour of the midday
+sun. He looked down into their icy clefts, and saw the glacier torrent
+rolling far below in milk-white waves; but the magic boat sped further
+and further, still bearing Hans swiftly onwards to his home.</p>
+
+<p>The young man now began to view the country more carefully, and soon
+he directed his course westwards. Then he uttered a cry of joy, for
+they were sailing towards a well-known mountain, and the mantle, as if
+it knew exactly its appointed task, sank gently downwards, till Hans
+found himself on a projecting rock. It was the same spot from which he
+had often, when a goat-herd, looked down longingly on the smiling
+meadows, searching for the entrance to the dwarf king's magic
+realm&mdash;the same spot where the old man bade him farewell that autumn
+morning long ago, before taking his airy journey to his distant home.
+Hans sprang joyously from his magic boat, laid the staff on it with
+whispered words of thanks, and immediately the mantle rose, and flew
+swift as an arrow up into the clouds. Hans stood watching it for a few
+moments, then he hurried down the old familiar path. A little below
+herds were grazing&mdash;his herds&mdash;and Seppi was leaning against a rock
+watching them, and singing the while in his own cheery way. Hans<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98">98</a></span>
+glanced joyfully at the distant scene, and hurried on. There was the
+night pasture, and now he arrived at the senner's cottage; he did not
+wait, however, even to peep in at the window, so eager was he to reach
+the village. With flying footsteps he hurried down the rocky path
+which he had climbed a few months before with deadly anguish in his
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>But to-day&mdash;to-day all was changed. With joy throbbing in every
+pulse-beat Hans felt the stony path softer than the grass of the
+pasture-lands, and the sound of the stream seemed sweeter than the
+melody of harps. At last he reached the valley, and just as he entered
+it the evening bell began to ring. At the sound he stopped, bared his
+head, and knelt by the wayside; but when the last tone died away he
+rose and hastened up the village street, then with a bound he crossed
+the brook and reached the farm-yard gate. There was no one to be seen,
+for the servants were at supper in the house. Quickly, but
+noiselessly, Hans slipped through the yard, and stood with beating
+heart at the door of the sitting-room. There was no sound of life
+within. Hans put his ear to the key-hole and listened. Then he heard
+Anneli's sweet voice saying, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and
+bless Thy gifts. Amen." And when the Amen was said, Hans opened the
+door and stepped over the threshold.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any of God's gifts to spare for a poor wanderer?" he said
+softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Hans, dear Hans!" was Anneli's glad cry, for in spite of the twilight
+and his unfamiliar dress she recognised<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99">99</a></span> him at a glance, and soon she
+lay weeping with joy in the tall soldier's arms.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Next May-day a stately May-pole stood, as before, at Anneli's window,
+richly adorned with fluttering blue ribbons and with the bunch of
+alproses at the top, and Anneli once more walked on the arm of her
+Hans to the dance beneath the lindens. But this time the rich farmers'
+sons could not say a word of protest, for Anneli was now a fair and
+happy bride.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, the brave Franzerl had tired of the merry soldier's life,
+for it had grown dull to him since the return home of his dear friend
+Hans. So he had laid aside the Emperor's uniform, and come back to his
+native valley.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_099.jpg" width="200" height="216" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100">100</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a id="RHINE_GOLD">RHINE GOLD:</a></h2>
+
+<div class="i100">
+<div id="i100a"></div>
+<div id="i100b"></div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">E</span><span class="out">VENING'S</span></b> dim shadows had ceased to hover in vague mystery around the
+walls of Worms. They had, hours before, gathered in dark masses in
+every nook of the royal city, hiding like traitors from the light of
+the clear full moon that flooded with silvery splendour the Rhine
+river and the Wonnegau on its banks, where, transformed by the soft
+touch of the moonbeams, stood the proud seat of Burgundy's mighty
+kings.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101">101</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Slumber and silence reigned in the palace which, but the morning
+before, had resounded with the clash of weapons and a cheerful
+bustling life; for King Gunther, accompanied by his brothers and his
+bravest men-at-arms, had that day set out on a warlike expedition,
+leaving the town and the castle and his fair queen Brunhild to the
+care of the truest of the true, bold Haco, in whose courage and wisdom
+he placed the fullest confidence.</p>
+
+</div><!--i100-->
+
+<p>With a loose velvet mantle half hiding his gold-gleaming armour, Haco
+paced the streets of the lonely city, and listened attentively for
+some sound to break the stillness of the night. A distant noise like
+the rumbling of many wheels reached his ear, and an eager look came
+into his eyes. He glanced over at the palace, in the safest room of
+which lay Brunhild, his honoured queen. Out of love to her he had
+murderously slain the noble Siegfried, the immortal hero of the
+Nibelungen; and the shame of the deed will last to the remotest ages,
+dimming with rust the splendid escutcheon of his fame.</p>
+
+<p>When he had convinced himself of the undisturbed repose of the royal
+household, he turned and walked towards the minster, in whose shadow
+lay another palace. There dwelt the beautiful Kriemhild, King
+Gunther's sister, and widow of the noble Siegfried, whose death she
+mourned with inconsolable grief. The stillness of repose hovered also
+round these walls. The windows were dark, the doors barred, and amidst
+her maids lay the royal widow in her first deep sleep.</p>
+
+<p>The moonbeams glided over the roof of the palace,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102">102</a></span> and glanced
+suspiciously at the dark figure of the man who stood gazing anxiously
+up at the windows. When he saw that there was no movement, he went
+towards the tower built of huge blocks which guarded the entrance to
+the castle, took a bunch of rusty keys from under his mantle, and
+opened the locks and bolts of the ironbound door which led into the
+vaults. The last bolt was loosed, the heavy gate opened, and the
+moonlight streamed in freely over the treasures which were here
+displayed in splendid piles. Crowns of gold richly adorned with
+diamonds, bracelets and chains gleaming with jewels, lay there in rich
+profusion. Wrought by the skilful hands of the dwarfs, they had been
+kept hid by the little folk in secret mountain recesses until
+Siegfried came, and Alberich, the dwarf-king, had been obliged,
+notwithstanding his magic power and cunning, to yield to the might of
+the hero's arm, and give him the precious hoards of jewels. And beside
+these, heaped up to the very roof, were bars upon bars of uncoined
+gold, only waiting the impress of the mint to change them into an
+exhaustless hoard. This was the treasure of the Nibelungen, the widow
+Kriemhild's rightful possession, which the heroes had brought her a
+few weeks before from the land of the Nibelungen. With full hands she
+had scattered gold among these heroes, and had also given rich gifts
+to the vassals of her brother, the king of Burgundy, for she had now
+come to live in his land that she might be near the corpse of her
+beloved husband. And what Kriemhild's beauty and misfortune had failed
+to do, her bounteous gifts accomplished. The hearts of the Burgundians
+were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103">103</a></span> turned towards her, so that Haco, the watchful hero, began to be
+anxious about his own influence and her probable revenge. So he
+determined to rob her of the Nibelungen treasure, that she might be
+deprived of the means of working his ruin.</p>
+
+<p>At a place not far from the royal city, where the Rhine flows in a
+still deeper channel, stood Haco a few hours later in a boat on the
+river, and watched the high-piled waggons, the first of which now
+passed over the shaking bridge, rolled on with threatening rumble, and
+stopped close to the low parapet. Haco stretched forth his stalwart
+arm and removed the back of the waggon, so that its precious burden
+slid into the depths below.</p>
+
+<p>The stream gleamed brightly in the radiance of gold and precious
+stones, the jewels whirled round and round in the rapid waters, then
+sank down flashing from wave to wave, till they had reached the still,
+deep bed of the river. Waggon after waggon was silently emptied by
+Haco's powerful hand, and each time the costly load made the Rhine
+river flash with borrowed splendour. So hour after hour went by in
+silent and restless haste. When the last gold bar had disappeared
+beneath the water, the drivers swore an oath of eternal secrecy,
+received rich rewards of gold, and led their waggons away in endless
+line. Haco stood alone in the boat, and watched them till the last man
+had vanished in the shades of night; then he stooped to gaze down into
+the stream.</p>
+
+<p>There far down lay the treasure of the Nibelungen, and the Rhine
+flowed on in silence over the golden secret<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104">104</a></span> that it hid. No tongue
+would ever tell the tale, no arm would ever reach the hoards. Why,
+then, did Haco still stand lost in thought?&mdash;why did he gaze down
+gloomily into the river depths? Was it that the shadows of the past,
+or visions of a bloody future, rose from the gleaming waves? Was he
+thinking of Kriemhild's beauty and the passionate love which his now
+hard heart had once felt for the beautiful princess, and which, when
+rejected, changed into anger and hatred that moved his arm to the
+murder of Siegfried and the robbery of the Nibelungen treasure? Or did
+he see with prophetic eye that time in which the now helpless one
+should take revenge on all who had injured her&mdash;a revenge which should
+exterminate the heroes of Burgundy to the last man.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Many hundred years had passed over the world since that night robbery;
+blood and tears had been shed, dried, and forgotten; new nations had
+arisen and the old ones fallen, so that there was scarcely a page of
+the world's chronicle to tell of their struggles, hopes, and tears.
+All things had changed. The new had taken the place of the old, only
+to yield in its turn to a newer order still. Nothing was the same but
+ever young, ever beautiful, ever innocent nature, and the human heart
+with its love and hate. The Rhine still flowed and the Wonnegau on its
+banks still bloomed as of old, but its name was changed; the Cathedral
+of Worms still pointed to the sky, but it was not the same building in
+the shadow of which Kriemhild's palace used to stand. The generation
+that now trod the same soil knew nothing of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105">105</a></span> the Nibelungen&mdash;the
+tradition of those heroes lived only in some half-forgotten songs. The
+sunken treasure had long since been thought a myth, and with an
+incredulous smile the wise men of those days pointed to the stream
+which was said to hide such a "golden secret."</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, it was no myth; the treasure still lay beneath the
+waters. Not a crown, not a bracelet was lost; not a diamond had fallen
+from the brilliant setting; for, as if held together by magic hand,
+the jewels had remained firmly united; but wave after wave had rolled
+on unceasingly, day and night, from year's end to year's end, and
+softly and gradually the treasure had been pressed on further into the
+bed of the river. The Wonnegau lay behind it; there the waves foamed,
+whirling over the hidden reefs beneath, and further on towards the sea
+they roared loudly against the walls of the Pfalzburg, then flowed
+caressingly past the blooming vines which wound their clustered
+garlands round the white cottages of the vine-dressers.</p>
+
+<p>The treasure of the Nibelungen had been carried in safety, though
+without any guiding hand, past all these different scenes, and the
+waves had borne it further and further into the shadow of the bank,
+bit by bit, until, after many years, it lay at the foot of a rock that
+rose high and bold above the waves. The moonbeams wove a silver
+garland round its granite brow, and for centuries tradition echoed
+round its jagged peak; but a row of crags surrounded the foot of the
+rock, and the foaming rage of the waves kept away even the boldest.
+There into that deep rocky bed the waves bore the treasure,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106">106</a></span> and now
+it rested safely hidden at the foot of the Loreley rock.</p>
+
+<p>But treasures which have once gleamed in the sunlight, and been
+grasped by human hands, can never rest in darkness; they strive to
+reach again the light of day and the warm living hand of man. Slowly
+they rise from year to year, till at last they glow in the light of
+the sun, and await a pure hand to set them free, to do good with their
+riches, and so to expiate the guilt which was attached to them. It was
+thus that the treasure of the Nibelungen pressed upwards. It rose
+slowly, slowly, for sighs and blood and tears hung more heavily on it
+than on other sunken hoards. But at last, about a thousand years after
+that night when Haco threw the treasure into the stream, it had made
+its way up through the water.</p>
+
+<p>It was just such a delightful spring night as that memorable one long
+ago; work had long since ended in the blooming vineyards, rest and
+peace lay all around. The night-wind came softly from the mountains
+and bore the fragrance of the vines across the Rhine; the moon stood
+high in heaven, its light glided trembling down on the ledges of the
+Loreley and kissed the feet of the rock, which until now had lain in
+deep shadow. There in magic radiance floated the jewels of the
+Nibelungen treasure, so that the Rhine shone brightly as its waves
+played round the golden hoard. The night-wind blew more strongly,
+bearing on its wings something like a spirit, which sank in a veil of
+mist round the point of the rock, and then stood in that majestic
+beauty which had in days long past touched Haco's proud heart and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107">107</a></span> won
+the love of the hero Siegfried. It was Kriemhild, once Siegfried's
+sorrowing widow, and afterwards King Etzel's queen in the distant land
+of the Huns. As Queen of Hungary, she invited the Burgundian heroes to
+her kingdom, that she might demand the stolen treasure from Haco, or
+take revenge on him for Siegfried's murder and the robbery of her
+gold. But the vengeance which should only have overtaken one fell upon
+all, even on her own little son. Kriemhild's proud heart was softened
+by the blow, and with a pang of keen repentance she thought of those
+other mothers whom her mad revenge had rendered childless. One way
+only was left her of giving happiness instead of sorrow. With a desire
+that rose to heaven like a prayer, she thought of her lost treasure.
+If she could but get it now, what troubled hearts would be soothed by
+her who had heretofore brought misery to happy ones! But the swift
+sword sent her to the grave with her longings unsatisfied. The same
+slaughter that had freed her from her enemies had robbed her of her
+child and of her life.</p>
+
+<p>Her spirit hovered often round the scenes of her youthful happiness,
+seeking the hidden treasure in the river-bed. That night, when it rose
+to the surface, and its golden radiance was seen bright and clear,
+Kriemhild came, thinking to set it free. Her eyes gazed longingly on
+the floating gold, and her arms, light and transparent as the
+moonbeams, were outstretched over the rock as if she would fain grasp
+the moving treasure. Then she glided with spirit tread down over the
+jagged moonlit rock by paths which no human foot could follow, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108">108</a></span>
+soon she stood on the narrow ledge over which the Rhine river flowed
+in gleaming ripples. Her white foot was covered by the water, but she
+heeded it not; her eye gazed fixedly on the treasure for which she had
+longed unceasingly in life, and which now hovered close to her feet in
+the dancing waves. Her lips moved softly, her hands were clasped as if
+in earnest desire, and she stooped to reach the golden crown which now
+knocked with a metallic sound against the rock and almost touched her
+foot; but when she stretched out her transparent hand, and thought she
+had touched the point of the diamond cross, the crown shrank from her
+fingers, sank into the stream, and was borne away out of her reach by
+the mighty waters. Kriemhild sank on her knees; the waves wet her long
+flowing locks, and the hem of her purple robe&mdash;but she felt them not.
+Only one thought, one feeling, lived in her heart&mdash;the longing to
+recover the treasure. She bent forward once more; her white hands
+clutched again and again at the jewels which shone around her in
+tempting nearness, and yet always shrank from her touch. Other
+treasures floated towards her, the bars of gold came close to her
+feet, then started back when the white hands grasped at them, and
+gradually all disappeared in the middle of the stream.</p>
+
+<p>Kriemhild's cold lips trembled, her transparent hands ceased their
+useless toil, and were clasped again in prayer. Then there was a
+louder rushing in the river, and a majestic shadow floated down the
+stream. Kriemhild's eye watched its onward movement; nearer and nearer
+it came, till it passed through the foaming gold stream,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109">109</a></span>
+and approached the rock where the Queen now stood erect and majestic.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_109.jpg" width="400" height="597" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">CHARLEMAGNE MEETS WITH KRIEMHILD.<br />
+F. C., p. 108.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111">111</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was Charlemagne, once Germany's beloved and mighty ruler, who every
+year leaves his tomb at Aachen, glides along the Rhine to bless the
+vineyards on its banks, and then lies down again in the golden coffin
+until the fragrance of a new spring awakes him to another beneficent
+progress. Now he stood before her on the river, clad in his purple
+mantle and his golden crown, with the sword which formerly decided the
+fate of nations in his cold right hand. His foot rested on the shield
+of Roland, his beloved nephew, which they had laid beside him in the
+tomb, and which now bore him like a trusty boat. The water rippled
+over the golden edge, and washed the grave-dust from the flashing
+emerald which the hero of Ronceval once won from the giant and
+fastened as an ornament on his shield.</p>
+
+<p>"Who art thou?" asked the dead Emperor, when his gaze had rested long
+on Kriemhild's face. "Thou art no mortal woman; I know that by the
+glance of thine eye, which speaks to me of bygone ages. It was thus
+that Fastrada's eyes shone; her golden hair was soft and silken as
+thine. I have not forgotten it, though I have slept for more than
+half-a-thousand years in the dark vault&mdash;yet thou art not Fastrada,
+the Emperor's beloved wife."</p>
+
+<p>"No, great Emperor," said the Queen; "I was once Kriemhild, the wife
+of Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungen, who ruled over the land
+which was also subject to thy sway. The present generation know almost
+nothing of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112">112</a></span> his glory, but in thy times, O Emperor, his renown was
+still bright."</p>
+
+<p>"I know him well, that model of all knightly virtues," said the
+Emperor thoughtfully, "and his fate and thine are familiar to me. It
+was but the old and yet ever new song that sounds through all
+time&mdash;the song of the victory of evil over good&mdash;which made my life
+also one of pain and trouble. But what brings thee hither, O Queen?"</p>
+
+<p>"If thou knowest my fate, noble Emperor," answered Kriemhild, "thou
+knowest also what I seek for here. Thou knowest the misery I caused in
+life. When repentance came it was at the last moment, and my time was
+gone for earthly works of love. But now, perhaps, my spirit may be
+permitted to grasp this treasure, cause of so much sin, and use it
+well and wisely, till as many tears are dried as have been shed, and
+as much sorrow healed as was once caused by me.</p>
+
+<p>"See yonder, noble Emperor! there gleams the Nibelungen hoard, the
+bequest left me by my husband, but of which Haco robbed me. It has
+risen, and awaits only the delivering hand; but no one comes. So I
+would fain grasp the treasures and seize the moving bars of gold. Then
+in the stillness of the night I would take them into the abodes of
+poverty and misfortune, so that when the inmates awake Kriemhild's
+treasure might dry the tears of need and despair. But it is not
+permitted me."</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor turned his face and gazed searchingly down at the jewels,
+which floated in bright clear radiance on the waters of the Rhine.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113">113</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Thou askest a thing impossible, O Queen," he said at length; "knowest
+thou not the limits which debar spirits from the deeds of mortals? It
+is only a guiltless, living, human hand which may change the sentence
+that hangs over them. But the Nibelungen treasure has long since been
+forgotten. Yet look! Thou no longer seest the jewels in the full size
+of olden days. Wave after wave has gnawed at them; the waters have
+worked unceasingly through long centuries at this tedious task. See
+how the ornaments on the bracelets and crowns have shrunk, and how
+slender the links of the chains have become. The Rhine has taken the
+gold of thy treasure, and with it fertilised the blooming meadows on
+its banks. Nightly the gold set free rises in light mists above the
+stream and sinks in blessing on mountain and valley, and when autumn
+comes thy gold gleams in every cluster, ripens in every ear of corn.
+Freer, stronger, more joyous are the people of these meadows&mdash;and that
+is the blessing of the Nibelungen treasure, which rests unseen in
+earth and air and water&mdash;thus will the guilt and tears be done away
+with which once lay heavy on this hoard. Then have patience, O Queen,
+for a few short years&mdash;then thou wilt search in vain for thy treasure.
+Meantime other ministries are thine."</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor bowed his head in courteous farewell, and sailed on his
+magic boat up the moonlit stream.</p>
+
+<p>Kriemhild gazed after him. The emerald in the point of the shield
+flashed brightly in the moonlight, and the wide purple mantle
+fluttered above the gleaming waves. The Emperor blessed the vineyards
+as he passed; and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114">114</a></span> when the last glimmer of his crown grew pale and
+the veil of night concealed him, the Queen once more looked at the
+gold hoard at her feet. The dead Emperor had spoken truly; her eyes
+now perceived it too; so she could wait in patience till the last
+crown, the last gold bar, had melted in the sparkling river.</p>
+
+<p>The treasure's time of freedom was passed; no delivering hand had
+come. The jewels slowly shrank together round the foot of the Loreley
+and fell into their watery bed. Their splendour was extinguished;
+still and dark the river flowed. Then Kriemhild turned and ascended
+the rock. She gave one long farewell look at the meadows of her former
+home, and then vanished like a mist in the distance.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Again centuries have passed. Kriemhild no longer hovers round the
+Loreley, for the Nibelungen treasure has melted in the waves; only its
+diamonds rest uninjured in the river bed, and any one gazing into its
+depths on starry nights may see them flash and sparkle far below. But
+the gold runs freely through the Rhine, so that its waters flow in
+bright, clear waves; and on summer nights the precious substance rises
+to the clouds, and then falls in fertilising dew on the meadows and
+vineyards all around. Gold shines in the ripening berries and gleams
+in the waving corn; with the clear ring of gold sound the songs of the
+Rhenish people; pure as gold is their honesty&mdash;that surest safeguard
+against every foe.</p>
+
+<p>That is the German Nibelungenhort&mdash;that is the Rhine gold.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115">115</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>The Friendship of the Dwarfs.</h2>
+
+<h2><a id="PART_I">PART I.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="i115">
+<div id="i115a"></div>
+<div id="i115b"></div>
+
+<p class="h4 smcap">The Dying Dwarf Queen</p>
+
+<p><b>
+ <span class="hide">A</span>
+ <span class="out">&nbsp;STATELY</span></b>
+and strongly-built fortress stood many hundred years ago on
+a high rock of the Thuringian Mountains. The lord of this castle was
+descended from one of the noblest families in the land, and had chosen
+this place from all his numerous estates as a home for himself, his
+wife, and his little son,
+ <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116">116</a></span>
+because its cheerful situation and mild
+climate were best suited to the Countess Matilda's delicate health.</p>
+
+<p>They had come home to it, after a long journey, on the evening which
+preceded the night on which my story begins, and the Countess, wearied
+with all the ceremonies of the reception, had just fallen into a
+gentle and refreshing sleep. Crimson curtains hung in heavy silken
+folds round the lady's couch; through them the lamps shed a softened
+light on the sleeper, lending to her cheeks a rosy glow which was,
+alas! but seldom seen there.</p>
+<p>It was midnight. Every one in the castle was asleep, resting from the
+exertions of the past day, when the lofty door was noiselessly opened,
+and a little tiny man with a long grey beard approached the couch of
+the slumbering Countess, and let the light of a lantern fall on her
+delicate features. He was scarcely three feet high, and his figure was
+of ungraceful build. But in the rather large head gleamed a pair of
+bright and intelligent eyes, and in the aged features shone an
+expression of benevolence and truth. The little man's clothes were of
+a plain dark colour; his little smock-frock was bound by a girdle with
+a silver buckle; under his arm he carried an invisible cap, a little
+black head-dress with a long point, and ornamented with silver bells.
+Very gently he drew near the couch, raised his lantern, and softly
+touched the arm of the Countess, which was carelessly thrown over the
+silken coverlet. The Countess awoke, looked in amazement on the queer
+little figure, and asked at length, "Who are you, little man?"</p>
+
+</div><!--i115-->
+
+<p>The dwarf bowed low and answered politely, "I am<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117">117</a></span> one of the race of
+dwarfs, gracious lady, who live in great numbers in the rock below
+your castle. Our Queen lies at the point of death; her only hope of
+recovery is in the touch of a human hand. The King, therefore, sent
+me, when he heard of your arrival, to beg you to show this kindness to
+our beloved Queen."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas!" answered the Countess sadly, "I am so ill myself, can I be of
+any use to another?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will be all right, gracious lady, and will cost you no fatigue,"
+answered the little man, "if you will only trust yourself to my care."</p>
+
+<p>The Countess turned to waken her husband, and to ask his advice, but
+the dwarf begged earnestly, "Let him sleep, noble Countess. Long
+before he wakes you will be back again. No evil will befall you. We
+have always honoured your race&mdash;have lived in peace and friendship
+with them through long centuries, and have secretly done them many a
+good turn."</p>
+
+<p>The Countess was of a kind and obliging disposition; so,
+notwithstanding her delicate health and present weariness, she agreed
+to follow the dwarf. She was also afraid of making the powerful little
+people angry by a refusal, and thus bringing evil on her family. She
+threw her cloak quickly about her, and prepared to go with the dwarf.
+With noiseless tread he led her through hall after hall, room after
+room, till they came to a little round bow-windowed chamber in the
+tower on the western side of the castle, whence they descended by a
+narrow winding stair into the castle garden.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely summer night. The little guide<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118">118</a></span> darkened his lantern,
+for moon and stars threw a clear light on their path, and thus they
+went on in silence along the foot of the castle rock, beneath
+overhanging trees, which showered down their fragrant blossoms on the
+lady's dark hair. At last they came to a rock which projected somewhat
+into the road, and the foot of which was thickly covered with ferns.
+The dwarf parted them asunder, and the Countess saw a narrow passage
+which led away into the heart of the mountain. They entered. The dwarf
+opened his lantern again, and its light showed the walls of a vaulted
+cave, which, at first low and narrow, became wider and higher as they
+went on, till at last they walked through a beautifully arched
+corridor. Soon they arrived at a door, and when it opened they entered
+a room with crystal walls, which shone as with the radiance of a
+thousand lights. Among the points of the crystal darted countless
+little lizards, whose bodies seemed made of transparent emerald; on
+their heads were little golden crowns set with rubies; and when the
+pretty little creatures with their shining diadems slipped so nimbly
+and lightly through the crystal points, the walls gleamed and flashed
+so strangely that the Countess was filled with astonishment. But the
+roof of this room seemed an ever-changing picture of living wonders.
+Great white and blue snakes with diamond eyes, and slender bodies
+transparent as the air of heaven, wound in endless circles the one
+through the other; and as they moved in gleaming coils, sweet music
+and refreshing fragrance filled the crystal hall. Here in this
+subterranean kingdom sin and enmity seemed unknown. Creatures which on
+earth<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119">119</a></span> fight and oppress one another lived here in friendly intimacy.
+So fair and lovable seemed these little animals to the Countess, and
+they looked down on her with such soft intelligent eyes, that she
+wished one of them would come near enough for her to stroke and caress
+it. Absorbed by these wonders, she had not noticed that her little
+guide was already at the further end of the room, and was holding the
+second door open and beckoning to her to enter. At last she saw him
+and followed.</p>
+
+<p>The walls of the second hall gleamed with brightly polished silver
+ore, out of which bloomed flowers of such beauty as are never found in
+earthly gardens. They were carved out of precious stones so skilfully
+as to deceive the eye and to tempt one to bend over their cups to
+breathe their fragrance. Bright silver ore formed the pavement, and
+the light that streamed from a huge diamond in the centre of the
+ceiling trembled in thousand-fold reflection on the silver walls and
+the jewel-flowers.</p>
+
+<p>In this hall were many of the dwarfs assembled. All were simply clad,
+like the dwarf that had acted as guide to the Countess; all had grave,
+wise countenances and beaming eyes, dimmed now with anxiety and grief.
+As the Countess entered they bowed low, holding in their hands the
+little caps with the silver bells, which, by making them invisible,
+enable them to play many tricks on the human race. Now they arrived at
+the third room, which was the Queen's bed-chamber. At the ceiling of
+this room hovered a golden eagle with its wings outspread,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120">120</a></span> and
+holding in its beak four diamond chains, on which the Queen's bed
+swung gently to and fro. The bed was a single gigantic ruby, skilfully
+cut, and on it rested on pillows of white satin the dying Queen of
+this enchanted realm.</p>
+
+<p>The stillness of death reigned in the place. Goldemar, the mighty
+dwarf-king, stood by the ruby couch, sunk in silent grief. His hair
+and beard, gleaming like silver, flowed down over his mantle of royal
+purple; he had taken the shining crown from his head and laid it at
+the feet of the dying Queen. His nobles stood in a wide circle round
+the King, and seemed to share his grief.</p>
+
+<p>The Countess went up to the couch. There, on pillows of white satin,
+rested the loveliest being that her eyes had ever beheld; she was
+smaller than her subjects, while her husband, on the contrary,
+exceeded them in stature; but her form was exquisitely symmetrical,
+and her tender limbs seemed formed of wax. Round her closed eyes and
+blanched lips the smile of youthfulness and kindliness still hovered,
+while her wondrous hair flowed round her whole form like liquid gold.
+The Countess bent silently over the dying Queen, listening for a
+breath, but in vain. Not a sound disturbed the solemn stillness. Only
+the golden eagle flapped his mighty wings, making a current of cool
+air through the lofty apartment, so that the rosy flames flickered in
+the crystal vessels, and threw a quivering reflection on the gilding
+of the walls and on the diamond crown at the dying Queen's feet.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121">121</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is too late!" thought the Countess; but she did as her little
+guide directed, laying one hand on the brow, the other on the breast
+of the dying Queen, and then awaited the result in anxious silence.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly and sorrowfully the moments passed by. The Countess was about
+to remove her hands, when she saw Goldemar's eye fixed on her in
+earnest entreaty, and she had not the courage to rob the sorrowing
+King of his last hope; so she let her warm hand remain a little longer
+on the rigid form. Suddenly, whether it was a reality or only her own
+fancy, a slight tremor seemed to move the delicate frame, then a
+second and a third time, and gently, very gently, the heart began to
+throb once more.</p>
+
+<p>The Countess bent again over the Queen, and listened to her breathing.
+Gentle and sweet like the fragrance of flowers the breath passed in
+and out over the beautiful, half-parted lips, and life once more
+tinged the sweet face with a faint bloom. It was not the gleam of the
+candles or the ruby lights that caused the rosy hue that now
+overspread her face; it was life, true life. At last she opened her
+eyes, raised herself, and looked round in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I still with thee?" she said to her husband, whose glance rested
+on her in delight, as she held out her soft white hand. "How did it
+happen? Tell me."</p>
+
+<p>Goldemar pointed to the Countess.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my deliverer!" she exclaimed, turning in surprise to the noble
+lady; "how shall I thank you?"</p>
+
+<p>The news of their beloved Queen's recovery soon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122">122</a></span> spread to the rest of
+the dwarfs, and they came flocking in, their grave faces lit with a
+serene content. They crowded round the royal pair with affectionate
+congratulations, and poured forth their thanks to the Countess. Then a
+band of servants drew near, carrying vessels of precious metal,
+wherein lay fruits and flowers carved in precious stones of
+incalculable value, and so cunningly and wonderfully wrought that the
+treasuries of earthly princes have not their like to show.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray, accept these," begged the King, on whose brow the crown once
+more shone.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray, accept them," said the Queen, her beautiful eyes fixed in
+entreaty on the face of the Countess.</p>
+
+<p>The Countess shook her head gently. "Let me have the pleasure of
+having served you without reward," said she. "I have wealth enough;
+and now take me home again."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou despisest our gifts," said the beautiful Queen in a tone of
+disappointment, "and our laws do not permit us to leave any benefit
+unreturned. Thou hast surely some wish; name it, then, that we may
+fulfil it."</p>
+
+<p>The Countess shook her head, then all at once she thought of her
+child. The celebrated physician, to consult whom she had undertaken
+the long journey from which she had returned the evening before, had
+not concealed the truth. The span of life that remained to her was
+very short, and soon her beloved child Kuno would be left motherless.
+Perhaps he might some day need the help of the friendly dwarfs.</p>
+
+<p>"One petition, indeed, I have," she said with a faltering<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123">123</a></span> voice. "My
+child will soon perhaps be motherless, and if he should ever need
+protection, will you befriend him?"</p>
+
+<p>"From this moment," replied King Goldemar, "he is under our care, and
+we will hasten to his assistance as soon as he needs it."</p>
+
+<p>Then the dwarf who had acted as guide to the Countess before conducted
+her back through the castle garden; and soon she rested, tired, but
+with a peaceful and happy heart, once more on her couch.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_123.jpg" width="300" height="133" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124">124</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="PART_II">PART II.</h2>
+
+<div class="i124">
+<div id="i124a"></div>
+<div id="i124b"></div>
+
+<p class="h3 smcap">The Friends in the Rock</p>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">A</span><span class="out">&nbsp;SUNNY</span></b> terrace of the castle hill became the last resting-place of
+the Countess Matilda. It had been her favourite spot both in her days
+of health and of sickness. Here she had spent part of every day with
+her Kuno, and with him looked down<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125">125</a></span> on the fruitful plains of
+Thuringia; and here she had taken a sad farewell of the blooming life
+around. She did not wish to rest in the dark and gloomy vault, but
+here on the lonely height, with flowers around her and sunshine above
+her head.</p>
+
+<p>It was an autumn afternoon. There were no longer any flowers in field
+or garden, but around the grave of the Countess was a freshness and
+fragrance as of spring, and the sun in which she had so delighted let
+no day pass without looking kindly down on the lonely grave, if only
+for a few minutes.</p>
+
+</div><!--i124-->
+
+<p>The wind was shaking the lofty trees of the castle garden, and
+playfully driving the yellow leaves along the paths, when a little
+figure with a pale sad face came up the broad gravel walk, climbed the
+rock, and threw himself on the grave. It was Kuno, Countess Matilda's
+only child.</p>
+
+<p>How one year had changed everything!&mdash;his dear mother dead, his father
+gone to distant scenes of war along with many noble knights, and he
+left alone with heartless and ill-natured strangers! A distant
+relation, the Lady Von Allenstein, had been asked by the Earl to
+preside over his household, and to act the part of a mother to the
+little Kuno. She was a woman as heartless as she was clever, and so
+successfully did she ingratiate herself into the favour of the
+unsuspicious Earl, that before he left he gave her full control over
+his vassals and his estate. Her son Eckbert, a lad of about fifteen
+years of age, had the reputation of being well brought up, because in
+the presence of strangers he could assume fine<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126">126</a></span> courtly manners; but
+he had a mischievous and malicious disposition, and was both feared
+and hated by the castle servants.</p>
+
+<p>That Kuno, this child, this dreamer, who in Eckbert's opinion
+possessed no knightly qualities whatsoever, should be some day lord
+and possessor of so many noble castles and estates with their numerous
+dependants, while to his lot had fallen nothing but one small and
+half-ruined castle, to which not even a single village was
+attached&mdash;this vexed him, and in his heart burned envious hatred
+towards the orphan child. Hitherto Kuno had borne all Eckbert's malice
+with the gentleness which he had inherited from his mother; but when
+the news came that the Earl had been dangerously wounded, and when the
+messenger spoke of his master's death as probable, Eckbert counted
+himself freed from restraint, and tormented the little Earl with
+greater spitefulness than ever.</p>
+
+<p>To-day he had cut him to the heart. Kuno's little horse, which had
+borne him when he was scarcely more than a baby, and which had never
+felt either whip or spur, had been mounted to-day by the cruel
+Eckbert. For the first time Kuno ventured a decided protest, and
+Eckbert, seeing by this unusual courage how dear the animal was to its
+young master, struck the spurs with all his might into the horse's
+sides, so that it reared suddenly and then dashed with bleeding flanks
+out by the castle gate. When Kuno, after Eckbert's return, ran to the
+stable to see how his favourite had borne the dreadful ride, the horse
+did not turn his head as usual to greet him with a joyous neigh; he
+lay panting on the straw, covered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127">127</a></span> with foam and blood, his feet
+stretched out, his head drooping, and his breast heaving with a loud
+rattling sound. Kuno threw himself down beside him, put his arms round
+his neck, and called him by the tenderest names. Then the creature
+opened his eyes, fixed his last look on his young master, and with a
+feeble attempt at a neigh, that sounded like a death-sigh, he died.</p>
+
+<p>Kuno's tears were dried; he remained speechless before his dead
+favourite, and gazed with tearless eyes upon the body. Thus Margaret,
+the castellan's wife, Kuno's old nurse, found him. She had seen
+Eckbert mount the horse, and heard Kuno's words. When she saw the dead
+animal and the child's grief, her anger at Eckbert's malice knew no
+bounds. She went at once to Lady Von Allenstein, and said what she
+thought of Eckbert's shameful deed with vehemence such as the proud
+lady had never before witnessed in an inferior.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know," said the lady, with flashing eyes, "what you
+deserve?&mdash;a place in the dungeon among frogs and toads. But I will be
+merciful. In one hour you and your family leave this castle; that will
+serve as a warning to your fellow-servants, and will make Master Kuno
+more submissive to me and my son, as he will no longer have you to
+encourage him in his obstinacy."</p>
+
+<p>So they left. In one short hour the last true friends of the poor
+orphan left the castle, although he clung to Margaret and besought her
+with passionate weeping not to leave him quite alone. He watched them
+as long as he could, and then crept back through the garden to his
+mother's grave.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128">128</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Here dreams of bygone days passed before his mind. He thought of the
+happy hours which he had spent here on the solitary height with his
+beloved mother; when he had looked down with her over the blooming
+country, and listened to her tales of the wonders of foreign lands, of
+our lost Paradise, and of the heavenly home which she soon hoped to
+reach. Then when, at the thought of the coming parting, his little
+heart shrank, his mother would take him in her arms and try to comfort
+him by telling him about the friendly feelings that the good dwarfs
+cherish towards poor defenceless children, and about the splendour and
+beauty of the enchanted realm below the ground.</p>
+
+<p>And now? He knelt down beside the grave, laid his head on the grass,
+and sobbed, till at last, tired out with grief and weeping, he fell
+asleep. The sun set, but he did not know it; the stars rose, and the
+child slept on, with his head pillowed on his mother's grave. A gentle
+touch on his shoulder woke him. He started up in surprise. Before him
+stood a tiny little man of insignificant appearance, and with a
+lantern in his hand. It was the same dwarf that had once led the boy's
+mother to King Goldemar's dying Queen.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" asked the child in astonishment, as he rubbed his
+sleepy eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"One of your mother's friends," answered the little man kindly; "dost
+thou not remember what she told thee about us? Wilt thou come with
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>Kuno rose at once, took the dwarf's hand, and walked away by his side.
+They soon reached the clump of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129">129</a></span> ferns that covered the secret
+entrance, and stepped into the vaulted corridor. The first door
+opened, and the child found himself suddenly in the enchanted realm of
+his mother's stories. Yes, this was the crystal hall with the emerald
+lizards and the sky-blue snakes. The place still glimmered and shone
+as when the Countess trod its floor; the snakes looked down kindly on
+the boy with their diamond eyes, and the transparent lizards bowed
+their crowned heads in friendly greeting.</p>
+
+<p>"I know what the other hall is like," said Kuno in delight to his
+little guide. "Do not flowers made of precious stones gleam along the
+silver walls; and in the third hall is there not the Queen's ruby bed
+swinging from the golden ceiling, and the eagle flapping his golden
+wings?"</p>
+
+<p>The dwarf smiled. "See for yourself," he said. Then he led him through
+the halls. Yes, it was all as Kuno's mother had described it;
+everything was wonderful, and yet he knew it all so well. Last of all,
+he was led into the throne-room.</p>
+
+<p>The walls and ceiling were of blue crystal, so that it looked like the
+vault of heaven, and in the high dome shone stars cut out of rubies.
+There were no lamps in the hall, but from without a hidden artificial
+light streamed through the crimson stars, and filled the whole room
+with rosy radiance. At the far end of the room stood a throne made of
+large and costly pearls, which glowed in the light like rosebuds, and
+on it sat in her brilliant beauty the Queen of this enchanted palace,
+with her golden hair flowing to the pearl-built steps of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130">130</a></span> throne.
+Beside her sat King Goldemar in a purple mantle, his noble brow
+adorned once more with the diamond crown.</p>
+
+<p>With a low obeisance the dwarf introduced the boy to the royal pair.</p>
+
+<p>The lovely Queen was much smaller than Kuno, and yet she looked so
+dignified that the child knelt and reverently kissed the little hand
+which she graciously extended to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Thy noble mother was my friend," she said with a gentle voice, "and
+thou art dear to us as one of our own. Every night, if thou wilt, thou
+mayest come to us to forget thy little troubles in our hall. Look thou
+around; all are ready to love thee and give thee pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>As she spoke she raised her white hand and pointed to the lovely
+children at the foot of the throne, and to the troops of little dwarfs
+that were assembled in the hall. Then the royal children came up to
+greet him, and after them the little dwarfs with their grave wise
+countenances; they gave him their hands, and met his wondering gaze
+with friendly looks. And the poor friendless boy, who hitherto had
+felt himself alone and forsaken, felt happy, now that he found such
+unexpected kindness and love such as he had never felt since his
+mother's death. All his troubles vanished from his memory in this
+enchanted kingdom. Hour after hour flew by, and to the child they
+seemed but minutes. Then the dwarf who had brought him took his hand
+and drew him away. Kuno was sorry to go, but he followed his little
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not weep," said the latter kindly. "Thou mayest<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131">131</a></span> come back every
+night; but take care that thou tell no one of thy visits, or some
+great calamity may be the consequence."</p>
+
+<p>When they reached the garden the stars had already grown pale, and the
+first streaks of dawn were showing in the east.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us make haste," said the dwarf anxiously, "for we dwellers below
+ground can only live under the light of the stars&mdash;the sun's rays kill
+us."</p>
+
+<p>Soon they arrived at the winding staircase at the foot of the tower.
+The gate was locked, but the dwarf brought out a strangely-formed key,
+put it into the lock, and immediately the heavy iron-barred door
+turned noiselessly on its hinges. It was the same with all the other
+doors as soon as the wonderful key touched them, and softly the
+wanderers slipped through the rooms and passed the sleeping servants.
+Kuno reached unseen the room that he shared with Eckbert, and then the
+dwarf hastened home.</p>
+
+<p>Eckbert had tried to keep awake to receive Kuno with scolding and
+reproaches, for the child had been missed at supper and sought for, of
+course in vain. But he had fallen asleep over his generous plan.</p>
+
+<p>Kuno was still slumbering sweetly when Eckbert woke, sprang out of
+bed, and shook the boy roughly.</p>
+
+<p>"Where were you yesterday? Speak!" he shouted; but Kuno, mindful of
+the dwarf's warning, kept silence. But when Eckbert raised his arm to
+strike the child, an invisible hand gave him such a powerful blow on
+the ear that he staggered half unconscious against the wall. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132">132</a></span> felt
+uncomfortable at the thought of the unseen avenger, and he left Kuno
+in peace, but told the whole story to his mother, wickedly distorting
+it as he went on. At breakfast she ordered the boy to tell where he
+had been; but though his heart beat fast with terror, he closed his
+lips tightly and remained silent.</p>
+
+<p>"I will conquer your obstinacy," said the lady angrily; "you shall
+sleep in the room in the tower, and go earlier to bed."</p>
+
+<p>In the evening she took him herself to the lonely chamber, from which
+the winding stair led to the garden; for she thought that fear of the
+uninhabited and lonely room would force the boy to tell his secret.
+But when he went without a word, and lay down uncomplainingly on his
+bed, anger rose high in the proud lady's heart. "Eckbert is right,"
+she thought; "his obstinacy must be conquered."</p>
+
+<p>With a prayer to God, and a fervent wish that his little friends would
+not forget him, Kuno fell asleep. And they did not forget him. About
+midnight the little dwarf stood once more at his side, wakened him,
+and led him into the enchanted palace.</p>
+
+<p>The little folk greeted him joyfully, the royal pair reached him their
+hands, and amid splendour and pleasure the hours flew by. His friends
+showed him the rooms that he had not seen the day before&mdash;the crystal
+chambers full of golden ornaments, which every family possessed, and
+which far outshone the most splendid palaces of earthly kings. They
+showed him wonderful things which they knew how to make&mdash;birds made of
+precious<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133">133</a></span> stones, from whose transparent throats sweet songs poured
+forth; fruits and flowers, shaped out of jewels, whose beauty and
+fragrance was like that of the flowers of Eden. Kuno's astonishment
+and delight knew no bounds; the hours went by too quickly, and when
+the stars began to pale the dwarf led him back to his room in the
+tower. And every night at midnight the same dwarf brought him back to
+the enchanted kingdom. There he forgot all the trials of the day&mdash;all
+Eckbert's spiteful tricks, and Lady Von Allenstein's injustice. But it
+was not alone to please and amuse him that the little people brought
+the boy to visit them&mdash;they cared also for his mind and heart.</p>
+
+<p>In this magic kingdom lived an aged dwarf with long snow-white hair
+and beard; a supernatural light shone in his eyes. All the dwarfs,
+even the King and Queen, treated him with the greatest reverence, for
+he was the oldest man of their nation, and also the wisest. He could
+look back through thousands of years; he knew everything in the whole
+earth&mdash;all plants and stones; he knew about their origin, and had
+watched their growth. Often, when the King and Queen were sitting on
+the throne, the wise man would come into the hall and seat himself on
+the pearl steps; then the lovely royal children, Kuno in their midst,
+would gather round and listen as he told with beaming eyes about the
+wonders of creation, and the mysterious forces of nature. Words of
+kindness and wisdom flowed from his lips, and it seemed to the boy as
+if he were sitting in church or at the feet of his dead mother.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134">134</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_134.jpg" width="400" height="420" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">KUNO LISTENS TO THE WISE MAN&#39;S TALK.</p>
+
+<p>But even happier hours than these he spent playing with the children
+in the crystal hall, letting the beautiful lizards dart down on his
+outstretched hand, or the sky-blue snakes glide down and wind
+playfully round his feet. Once, when he was preparing to go home after
+one of his visits, King Goldemar held the hand that he had extended in
+farewell, and spoke to him in a low and confidential tone. Kuno nodded
+with a happy smile.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135">135</a></span> Next morning joy shone from his soft eyes and
+betrayed itself in his cheerful mood, which made so strange a contrast
+to the silent gravity of his usual demeanour. The change did not
+escape the quick eye of the Countess; but she took care not to ask the
+reason, for she thought she could guess it already.</p>
+
+<p>Earlier than usual Kuno said "Good night," and went to his room, but
+not to bed. He worked about, fastening wax candles, which he had got
+beforehand from the steward, on the walls, and trying to give the room
+a festive appearance; then he put on his best clothes, sat down on his
+bed, and waited.</p>
+
+<p>At last the castle clock struck twelve, and immediately soft music
+sounded in the distance; it came nearer and nearer, and soon floated
+up the winding stair. In a few moments the door opened of itself, and
+in came Kuno's dwarf friends, marching two and two, and all arrayed in
+festive garments. They held their invisible caps in their hands,
+swinging them in measured time, so that the silver bells that
+ornamented them rang in magic melody. Then followed, escorted by
+Goldemar and the Queen, a bridal pair, whose wedding feast was to be
+held in a human dwelling for the blessing and well-being of its
+occupant. Kuno advanced to meet his guests, and greeted them joyfully;
+then to the sound of wondrous music the dance began. This was led by
+the King and his lovely consort, their crowns flashing lightning at
+every quick graceful movement; then followed the bridal pair in
+garments gleaming with gold. Kuno had taken the hand of a pretty
+dwarf-maiden, and now mingled<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136">136</a></span> merrily in the splendid throng. All was
+mirth and gaiety.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the music stopped, the dancers stood still, and all eyes
+turned in indignation towards an opening in the ceiling where the face
+of Lady Von Allenstein was visible.</p>
+
+<p>Goldemar's eyes flashed angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Blow out the lights!" he cried to one of his train; and in a
+twinkling the little fellow had climbed up the wall, and before the
+lady had time to suspect that this command had anything to do with
+her, the dwarf reached the opening, and blew into her face.</p>
+
+<p>A fearful scream followed; then the King turned to Kuno and said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Accept our thanks, my dear child, for thy hospitality; it is not thy
+fault that we cannot stay longer. Farewell!"</p>
+
+<p>Then the little people turned quickly towards the door, and soon the
+boy was alone.</p>
+
+<p>Faint moans were now heard from above, and a sound as of suppressed
+weeping.</p>
+
+<p>Kuno also had seen the face of the lady, and knew that these doleful
+sounds were uttered by her. Deep compassion filled his heart; he
+forgot all the unhappiness that this woman had caused him, and, filled
+only with the thought of helping her, he took a candle in his hand and
+hastened to clamber up to her.</p>
+
+<p>He found her crouching on the ground, her hands pressed before her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What is wrong, gracious lady?" asked Kuno timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am blind! I am blind!" she groaned piteously. "The dwarf blew
+into my eyes, and my sight left me."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137">137</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Kuno, full of pity, seized her hand and led her tenderly step by step
+down the winding stair, and on to her own apartment.</p>
+
+<p>After calling a maid to her assistance, he returned to say good-night
+to the poor lady. What he had never done in her days of health he did
+now&mdash;he drew her hand to his lips and kissed it fervently. The lady
+felt a hot tear drop on her hand; silently, but with scarce-concealed
+emotion, she drew it away. This tear burned like unquenchable fire,
+not only on her hand, but on her soul.</p>
+
+<p>She spent a long and sleepless night; this unexpected calamity had
+crushed her hard heart. But though the light was taken from her eyes,
+a new day dawned within her. Her dislike of Kuno, her hardness and
+injustice towards the orphan child, all passed through her mind in
+fiery procession; and when she thought of Kuno's noble conduct, a
+flood of penitent tears streamed from her sightless eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Eckbert, on hearing of his mother's misfortune, showed himself as
+heartless as ever. He railed at the dwarf and at Kuno as the real
+cause of it. But he had not any idea of sitting through the long
+tedious hours with his poor blind mother&mdash;that was Kuno's business, he
+thought, for he had been the cause of it all. On the contrary, freed
+from all restraint, Eckbert amused himself more than ever with the
+chase and with drinking bouts, and tyrannised worse than before over
+all around him.</p>
+
+<p>Kuno behaved towards the unhappy lady like a loving son. He sat with
+her and cared for her wants as if she had been his own beloved mother.
+When the summer<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138">138</a></span> came he led her out every day into the garden or to
+the rock where his mother lay, and tried to amuse her with his
+childish talk.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Von Allenstein was often deeply moved when she felt Kuno's
+tenderness and thought of her own heartlessness. Once her emotion
+overcame her, and she drew Kuno to her side, and said with tears&mdash;"You
+are so good to me, who was so unkind to you; can you forgive me for
+all the wrong I have done you? Oh! if I could only get back my sight,
+I would take every opportunity of making up to you for my injustice."</p>
+
+<p>Kuno was still on the most friendly terms with the dwarf nation, and
+regarded the enchanted palace as his second home.</p>
+
+<p>Exactly a year had passed since that wedding in the tower-chamber,
+when King Goldemar again expressed a wish to hold a similar feast in
+the same room.</p>
+
+<p>Kuno's heart beat high with joy at these words; perhaps&mdash;but he would
+cherish no presumptuous hopes.</p>
+
+<p>Again the room was festively decorated; but no one in the castle got
+the least hint of what was to take place in the isolated room. The
+little guests appeared, and this time the merriment went on
+undisturbed.</p>
+
+<p>But dawn, the time of separation, was drawing near, and Goldemar held
+out his hand to his prot&eacute;g&eacute; to say good-bye. Then Kuno held it fast,
+and looked entreatingly into the good King's face.</p>
+
+<p>"What dost thou want, Kuno?" asked Goldemar.</p>
+
+<p>"I have one petition, the fulfilment of which will make me happy,"
+answered the boy.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139">139</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Name it," said the King graciously; "it is granted."</p>
+
+<p>Then Kuno led the King to the bed and drew back the curtains. There
+sat a pale lady in deep mourning, her dark sightless eyes fixed
+vacantly before her.</p>
+
+<p>"Give her back her sight," begged Kuno, pointing to Lady Von
+Allenstein.</p>
+
+<p>Goldemar's eyes shone as he looked approvingly on the boy; then he
+bent towards the lady and said, "I light the lamps again!" at the same
+time breathing into her eyes, so that the sight came back immediately.</p>
+
+<p>The newly-opened eyes shone with joy and gratitude, and in a burst of
+weeping she sank into Kuno's arms, while the royal pair and their
+train looked on in deep emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell then, Kuno," said King Goldemar. "Thou hast found what was
+needed to make thee happy&mdash;a mother's heart. We have kept our word.
+Shouldst thou ever in thy life again need our help, thou wilt find us
+ready."</p>
+
+<p>With a loving look the King held out his hand, and the Queen and the
+other dwarfs likewise took an affectionate leave of the boy before
+returning to their kingdom under ground. Just as they were going
+through the castle garden towards the entrance in the side of the
+rock, Eckbert returned from a drinking bout.</p>
+
+<p>"I have come upon these dull fellows unexpectedly," he said, grinding
+his teeth, when he noticed the procession of dwarfs. "Now they shall
+suffer for that box on the ear, and for my mother's blindness. I will
+cut off the last clown's head and throw it in at that stupid Kuno's
+window."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140">140</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He slipped softly behind the procession. When they reached the door in
+the rock, Eckbert waited till the last had put his foot on the
+threshold, then he sprang forward and raised his sword. The same
+instant the heavy rock door, which so artfully closed the opening,
+shut to and crushed Eckbert's head to atoms. Without uttering a sound
+he fell back, and his blood stained the snow.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning offered a sad spectacle to Lady Von Allenstein's
+newly-restored sight. It is true, Eckbert had been an undutiful son,
+but still it was her child, her own flesh and blood, that now lay
+before her a mangled corpse. The place where he had been found with
+his sword unsheathed made Kuno suspect whose hand had caused his
+death; but he was silent on this as on all that concerned his dwarf
+friends.</p>
+
+<p>Eckbert was buried with great pomp, but no eyes shed tears at the
+ceremony save those of his mother and of the good forgiving Kuno. From
+this time Lady Von Allenstein turned the whole affection of her
+ennobled heart towards Kuno, who repaid her love with the most
+heartfelt gratitude; and no one who did not know their relationship
+would have thought, to see them together, that they were anything but
+mother and son.</p>
+
+<p>Winter and spring were past, and the warm summer weather had come.</p>
+
+<p>On a bright summer evening the horn of the watchman on the tower
+announced a troop of horsemen, and as they drew near with the sound of
+trumpets Kuno's sharp eye recognised in their floating banner his
+father's colours.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141">141</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He had long since recovered, but instead of returning to his castle he
+had once more offered his strong arm and brave heart in service to his
+imperial lord. The war was now ended, and the Earl, whom they had long
+counted dead, had returned, covered with scars and with honours, to
+clasp his beloved son in his arms.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Von Allenstein still lived in the castle, and presided over it as
+before, but she was served now from love and not from fear. When she
+died in a good old age, Kuno knelt at her side; her cold hand rested
+on his head, and her dying lips spoke words of love and blessing over
+her adopted son.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_141.jpg" width="300" height="382" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142">142</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a id="The_Flower_of_Iceland">The Flower of Iceland.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="i142">
+<div id="i142a"></div>
+<div id="i142b"></div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">A</span><span class="out">&nbsp;SUBSTANTIAL</span></b> farm-house stood many, many years ago on the slope of a
+hill in bleak and frozen Iceland. The owner, who had spent his youth
+as a sailor in distant climes, had at last obeyed his dying father's
+summons, and exchanged the palms and orange groves of southern lands
+for the feeble sunlight and cold lava-fields of his native island. But
+as a living souvenir of those happy regions he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143">143</a></span> brought home a young
+and beautiful wife, whose dark and eloquent eyes still shone in the
+memory of all who had beheld them, long after they had been closed in
+the last sleep.</p>
+
+<p>"Marietta," her husband had said before the priest had joined their
+hands in marriage, "have you considered well what you are renouncing
+when you promise to follow me as my wife? Here in your country an
+eternal spring reigns, sweet with the fragrance of flowers and musical
+with the warbling of birds, while the Italian sky shines in
+never-fading blue. On my island you will find none of these things. A
+pale sun, a grey sky overhead, and all around barren heaths and
+ice&mdash;ice and snow wherever you look; none but the Icelander can think
+this island beautiful."</p>
+
+</div><!--i142-->
+
+<p>"But you will be there," answered Marietta; "and could I wish for any
+home but yours?"</p>
+
+<p>So she had gone with him to the far north.</p>
+
+<p>They had one child, a lovely little girl, who bore the name of Helga;
+she must be a true daughter of Iceland, and to this even her name must
+witness. But her foreign descent was not to be hid; true, she had the
+fair skin and beautiful flaxen hair of a northern girl, but her eyes
+were as dark and mysterious as her mother's.</p>
+
+<p>The Icelanders have no flowers; they know of their beauty only by the
+tales of their countrymen who have seen them on their travels; but
+every one who looked into little Helga's beautiful face thought that
+flowers must look like that, and thus she was called "the Flower of
+Iceland."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144">144</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Fair Helga loved her grave father, but she loved still more her
+beautiful and gentle mother, by whose side she spent most of her time.</p>
+
+<p>Every spring the father set out for the coast with a few servants to
+get fish for the year's household provisions; for though he dearly
+loved Marietta and his home, the sea still exercised the old spell on
+his heart. In summer and autumn he was accustomed to go to the distant
+trading places along the coast, there to exchange the wool of his
+large and well-conditioned flocks for the valuable products of foreign
+lands, with which he loved to please and adorn his dear ones.</p>
+
+<p>At such times Helga would sit at her mother's feet, listening as she
+told in the soft, sweet sounds of her native tongue about the blue sky
+and the warm golden sunlight of Italy, of the beautiful flowers and
+evergreen woods, and of the fine mild nights when the young girls
+would dance in the moonlight to the sound of the mandoline, and
+pleasure and melody reigned over land and sea.</p>
+
+<p>Ah! how beautiful that country must be; and here everything was so
+different. No dance, no song, either from human lips or from the
+throat of a bird. Helga had never even heard the sheep give a cheerful
+bleat; everything was stupid and grave; the silence of death was
+Nature's language here.</p>
+
+<p>Then Helga's dark eye would wander away over Iceland's wide and desert
+heaths, over the lava-fields that stretched for miles, and which had
+buried the freshness of nature under their stiff mantle of mourning.
+She gazed on those giant ice-mountains, untrod by human<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145">145</a></span> foot, which
+rise like monuments of death, with thick mist-veils about their brow.
+Even when a sunbeam happens to pierce the cloudy covering, the
+colossal piles of ice shine in the pale light like sarcophagi in a
+vault. Then Helga would shudder and think with ardent longing on her
+dear mother's native land.</p>
+
+<p>And she? Ah, her husband had been right. In spite of her love for him,
+she pined for the sunny valleys of her childhood, all the more as she
+never told her husband of the grief that gnawed at her heart, for he
+placed his Iceland before all the paradises of the world. Ten years
+had scarcely gone by till Marietta's warm heart lay still beneath the
+sod.</p>
+
+<p>Helga thought her heart would break when they carried her loved mother
+out towards the hill, whence she had so often looked longingly out
+over the sea, watching the blue waves as they hastened towards the
+beautiful but distant south.</p>
+
+<p>"When you bury me," said the dying woman to her husband, "lay me so
+that my face may look towards Italy." And they did as she wished.</p>
+
+<p>Helga often sat now on the grave, herself the only flower that
+brightened it; and along with her dear mother's image those distant
+countries came vividly before her mind, as she had heard them
+described as long as she could remember.</p>
+
+<p>A distant relation now came to take charge of the housekeeping. She
+had willingly left her home, bringing with her her only son, in
+compliance with her rich cousin's request. The stern old woman had no
+sympathy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146">146</a></span> with Helga's longings, and counted her descriptions of
+distant lands as fairy tales; nothing, she thought, could be more
+beautiful than Iceland. But Olaffson, her boy, who was only a few
+years older than the little orphan, became Helga's eager listener.
+With equal delight he looked on her beautiful face and listened to her
+stories; the grave blue eyes, which were usually as cold as the
+glaciers of his native island, would kindle as she went on, and when
+Helga stopped he would say, "I will be a sailor, and travel to those
+countries to see if they are really so beautiful!"</p>
+
+<p>"But you will take me with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, of course."</p>
+
+<p>Thus the years went by, and the time drew quickly on when the tree,
+the seed of which had been sown by Helga's hand, bore fruit. Olaffson
+was no longer a boy, and he decided on going to sea. The head of the
+house willingly gave his consent, and the time of parting came.</p>
+
+<p>Fair Helga's cheek was pale. Olaffson fancied that it was the
+separation that troubled her so deeply, and that thought sweetened the
+bitter hour to him. But ah! it was only her grief at having to stay at
+home on the cold and barren island, and at not being allowed to see
+the countries to which, as she thought, she had a much better right
+than Olaffson.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Another year had gone. Olaffson had come home and given an account of
+all that he had seen. The hour of parting again drew near. Early next
+morning he was to set out on a second and longer journey, and in
+spite<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147">147</a></span> of Helga's tears and entreaties to be allowed to go, her father
+and Olaffson had only shaken their heads and laughed at her
+childishness.</p>
+
+<p>It was evening. She went with Olaffson to the grave on the hill, there
+to hear once more about the wonders of foreign lands. Hour after hour
+flew by; she could not tire of the delightful theme.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Helga," Olaffson at last concluded, "it is indeed as beautiful
+in those countries as your mother used to tell you; almost more
+beautiful&mdash;yes, much more beautiful; still, it is not Iceland. There
+is no place so beautiful as our native land&mdash;no place."</p>
+
+<p>Helga looked at him incredulously.</p>
+
+<p>"You may believe me, Helga," he said. "Look; it is now midnight. In
+those countries there has been night, deep night for hours; the sun
+has long ago forsaken them, but it loves our island better, for it
+lingers longer with us. Just look over yonder. It has just sunk into
+the sea, and on the rosy western sky it paints in silvery outline the
+beautiful leafy forests which are denied to our soil. Only look how
+they nod their gleaming heads; does it not seem as if you could hear a
+mysterious rustling among their branches? And are not the white clouds
+above like eagles circling over their summits? And now look at the
+clear light around you! The nights there are as dark as the
+consciences of criminals; our nights are like the heart of a pious
+child&mdash;light, clear, and still."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is so cold here&mdash;so cold that my very heart freezes within
+me," said Helga complainingly.</p>
+
+<p>"But the cold is bracing," said Olaffson. "There, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148">148</a></span> found men weak,
+cowardly, and effeminate. I could tell you many a sad story to show
+this. Now look at your own land, Flower of Iceland, for you belong to
+us; we are honest, brave, and strong as our fathers were, and our sons
+will be after us, and that we owe to Iceland and its glaciers, its
+cold but strengthening climate. I tell you, fair Helga, there is but
+one Iceland, as there is but one flower in it."</p>
+
+<p>Early next morning Olaffson was to set out. Helga's father said he
+would go down to the coast also with his servants, for it was the time
+of the yearly fishing, so that they might as well travel together so
+far.</p>
+
+<p>The farewell was short and silent. Helga struggled to keep back her
+tears when she saw how merrily they all sprang into the saddle, and
+when she thought of Olaffson's words about Iceland's brave people; for
+she must show herself worthy of her race. But her dark eyes rested so
+longingly on her father's face that he knew what was passing in her
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Helga," said he, stooping down from his horse, "you may go with
+us as far as the hill where the lava-fields begin." Then he took her
+up before him on the saddle, and soon the horses were off at a canter.
+Soon they reached the hill at the foot of which the lava-fields began,
+whose dark lines stretched for miles along the horizon.</p>
+
+<p>Helga could no longer restrain her tears. She threw her arms sobbing
+round her father's neck and said, "Don't stay long away, dear father;
+it is so dreary at home when you are both away."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149">149</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I will come back in a few weeks, my Helga," said her father,
+soothingly; "meantime be a good girl, and help your cousin with the
+housekeeping."</p>
+
+<p>He kissed her snow-white brow silently, but tenderly, lifted her down
+from the horse, and after one more pressure of the hand the little
+band set out again.</p>
+
+<p>Helga watched them till a sinking of the road hid them from view; then
+she went back towards the hill, leant against the side of a rock, and
+looked into the distance, shading her eyes with her hand. Then they
+came into sight again, but so far away that Helga's farewell could not
+reach their ear. A fleeting sunbeam rested on them a moment, making
+horses and riders shine out clearly from the desert plain over which
+they were moving. Then a mist, such as only Iceland's mountains could
+send forth, fell around them, and Helga saw them no more.</p>
+
+<p>She leaned her head sobbing against the rock, closed her eyes, and
+wept hot tears of grief and loneliness. Then a voice of wondrous
+sweetness sounded suddenly in her ear, "Why does fair Helga weep?"</p>
+
+<p>Helga opened her eyes in astonishment. No one was there; she could see
+nothing but the mist in the distance and the bare lava-fields at her
+feet. She closed her eyes again.</p>
+
+<p>"Helga, fair Helga, why are you so sad?" said the voice again; it
+seemed as if it came from the sky.</p>
+
+<p>A slight shudder passed through Helga's frame; she did not venture to
+stir, but she timidly opened her eyes and looked up. But what did she
+see? Was the azure<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150">150</a></span> Italian sky, of which she had so often dreamt,
+coming here to meet her? Right before her, on the summit of the hill,
+stood a form of majestic beauty, which must surely belong to some
+happier clime. Eyes of deep and mysterious blue shone down on Helga
+from the kingly countenance, and hair lovelier than her own, golden as
+the stars of the summer night, flowed down over the robe of purple
+velvet in which the stranger was clad.</p>
+
+<p>"Why does fair Helga weep?" he asked tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>Helga tried to regain her composure. "How do you know me, O stranger?"
+she asked shyly.</p>
+
+<p>"Who does not know the Flower of Iceland?" answered he with a smile.
+"Shall I tell you some things about yourself that will prove to you
+how long I have known you, and how well I am acquainted with your
+history? Shall I tell you how often I have seen you sitting on your
+mother's grave, and what images there passed before your mind? Shall I
+say what longing a moment ago stirred your soul&mdash;how you wished to be
+permitted to travel with Olaffson, that you might see those rich and
+wondrously beautiful lands? But no such journey is necessary to the
+fulfilment of your wish. Your mother's paradise is here&mdash;here close
+beside you."</p>
+
+<p>Helga's eyes shone, half in doubt, half in delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, here?" she asked, incredulously. "How can that be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just come a few steps with me to the other side of the hill, and then
+you will see that I speak the truth."</p>
+
+<p>Helga took his proffered hand. The stranger who had known her so long
+and so well was no longer a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151">151</a></span> stranger to her, and he could not be an
+enemy who was about to fulfil her heart's dearest wish. So she went
+fearlessly with him to the other side of the hill.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger placed his hand against the rock, which immediately
+opened, and allowed Helga and her guide to enter. She stood
+spell-bound with astonishment. Then she passed her hand over her brow,
+and tried to think if this could be a dream. But no, it was reality.
+There lay before her a wondrous region, more beautiful than her
+mother's native land or than all her childish dreams.</p>
+
+<p>Through the crystal dome that stretched above this paradise the sun
+sent beams bright and warm such as the children of Iceland never see
+or feel. Their golden light trembled among the green foliage of the
+majestic trees, played with the flashing fountain jet, and flamed in
+the cups of the transparent flowers.</p>
+
+<p>In the distance the ocean rolled its deep blue waves round wooded
+islands, and amid the fragrance of the flowers and the brilliant
+colours of the lovely scene hovered sweet and magic music, which
+floated to the shore of the sea, whose waves bore it in soft echo to
+the happy isles.</p>
+
+<p>Helga looked round with delight such as she had never felt before. Had
+earth really such beauties, and was she permitted to gaze on them?</p>
+
+<p>She stooped to examine the wonderful flowers, gently stroked the
+velvet of their leaves with her white hand, and pressed her lips into
+their fragrant cups. Then her delighted eye watched the fountain, as
+its waters rose in a line of light almost to the crystal dome, then
+fell in a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152">152</a></span> graceful curve far beyond its basin, so that the shrubs and
+flowers bent beneath its shining dew.</p>
+
+<p>Then she turned towards the lofty trees, pressed her face gently
+against their smooth stems, and looked up at their shining foliage,
+which rustled softly in the breeze. Snow-white birds hopped from
+branch to branch, and threw friendly glances at Helga as at an old
+acquaintance. Was it these feathered songsters that made the sweet
+music which floated with the sunbeams and the soft spring air all
+through this lovely place? Or did the tall trees or the distant sea
+give forth the sweet sounds that soothed with soft caress Helga's
+heart and mind, bearing away on their melodious waves the past and its
+memories?</p>
+
+<p>Hours had flown by in this fairy kingdom, and to Helga they seemed but
+as one moment. At last she turned to the stranger, who had followed
+her every movement with loving eyes, and had noticed her delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how shall I thank you," she said, grasping his hand, "for
+bringing me here and satisfying the longing of years? But tell me
+where I am; for Iceland's cold hills hide no such paradise."</p>
+
+<p>"You are in my kingdom, fair Helga," answered the stranger in a gentle
+voice; "and I am the fairy king of Iceland."</p>
+
+<p>Helga looked at him in astonishment. No lips save her mother's had
+ever told her of such things, and <i>she</i> knew nothing of Iceland's
+spirit kingdom. Therefore Helga felt neither terror nor anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! if I could only stay here always," she cried earnestly.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153">153</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I wish for nothing better," said the king; "and why should you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! my dear, good father&mdash;he has no one but me," said Helga, thinking
+for a moment of her home.</p>
+
+<p>"But he is now far away," said the fairy king persuasively; "and you
+can stay at least till he comes back."</p>
+
+<p>"So I can," cried Helga in delight. So she stayed with the fairy king.</p>
+
+<p>One day in this paradise was just like the next, as it will perhaps be
+in heaven, where there is nothing to remind the blessed of the flight
+of time, where it is all one gloriously happy present, because they
+have no past to look back on with sad memory, and the future has
+nothing more beautiful to excite their longings.</p>
+
+<p>Helga moved with happy heart by the side of the fairy king through
+this paradise. The white birds flitted around her, now and then
+settling on her hand or shoulder. The sea with the blue waves gave a
+sound of pleasant greeting when Helga and the fairy king drew near its
+shores. Then when he seized her hand and they stepped together on one
+of the little waves, this fairy boat carried them gently and swiftly
+over to the happy islands.</p>
+
+<p>At midnight, when Iceland's sun spread its crimson mantle along the
+horizon, its reflection streamed through the crystal dome, glowed like
+roses in the fountain and on the birds' white feathers, while the sea
+rolled to the shore in violet waves.</p>
+
+<p>Then Helga knew that she must close her eyes, in order to strengthen
+herself for a new day of happiness.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154">154</a></span> She lay down on the soft moss,
+while the fairy king sat near her and took his harp. From its strings
+streamed forth magic music which banished memory from Helga's soul.
+The sweet sounds lulled her to sleep, and carefully guarded the gates
+of her heart, permitting no dream to knock there which could remind
+her of the past and its claims. But, once, the chord which nature has
+placed between the hearts of parent and child, and which never breaks
+even though seas lie between, sounded with a startling thrill.</p>
+
+<p>Helga's father had come home, and his grief and lamentation at the
+loss of his beloved child were so violent that Helga's slumbering
+heart awoke.</p>
+
+<p>"My father!" she said suddenly one day as she stood beside the sea,
+and drew back the foot which she was just on the point of placing on
+the wave that stood bowing its blue head before her. "My father! I
+think I hear you lamenting my loss. Is it not my duty to leave all
+these beautiful things here and return to him?"</p>
+
+<p>A shadow fell on the fairy king's face. He silently seized his harp
+and drew from it strains more beautiful, more heart-enthralling than
+Helga had ever heard before. They floated away over the sea till the
+waves sank into silence, unwilling to disturb the sweet melodies. And
+in Helga's heart memory ceased to thrill, and the visions of the past
+faded from her mind.</p>
+
+<p>Then the fairy king told her how he had chosen her years ago as the
+queen of this kingdom, and had watched over her since her childhood;
+that he had prepared all these beautiful things only for her, with the
+hope that she<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155">155</a></span>
+would some day be his wife, and thus gain for him
+that for which his soul had yearned during long centuries&mdash;an immortal
+soul, a boon which is denied to the poor fairies in every land.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_155.jpg" width="400" height="613" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">HELGA IN THE FAIRY KING&#39;S PALACE.<br />
+F. C., p. 154.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157">157</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Will you be my wife now, fair Helga?" he asked in conclusion. "I will
+love you with a faithful love such as you would seek in vain among
+your degenerate race. You shall never regret having given to the poor
+fairy king the desire of his heart."</p>
+
+<p>"I will, I will!" said she, seizing his hands with childish frankness.
+"I will always stay with you."</p>
+
+<p>The king's eyes shone with joy.</p>
+
+<p>"But, fair Helga, the laws of our kingdom are strict; we hold the vows
+of faithfulness more sacred than you do, although we look for no
+eternal reward. If you become my wife, and by uniting your soul to
+mine impart to me your immortality, then you belong henceforth to me,
+and to me alone. Your father and your home have no longer any claim on
+you, and if you ever return to them, then I must hold you guilty of
+robbing me of my soul, and our kingdom will demand your life as the
+penalty. Canst thou keep such faith as this with me, O Flower of
+Iceland?"</p>
+
+<p>Fair Helga leaned forward. "Look into my eyes," she said; "do you
+think me so ungrateful? I will be your wife, and you shall gain
+through me a never-dying soul. Do you think I could disappoint your
+hopes of immortality?"</p>
+
+<p>So fair Helga, the Flower of Iceland, was married to the fairy king.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158">158</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A year had gone by. The sun shone once more through the crystal dome,
+and fair Helga's fairy kingdom still bloomed in unfaded beauty; but
+the Flower of Iceland was pale and sorrowful, and a tear trembled on
+her lowered eyelashes.</p>
+
+<p>Was the fairy king's wife not happy? Oh yes, she was happy, almost too
+happy. Beauty and love surrounded her on every side; but undisturbed
+blessedness never lasts long on earth.</p>
+
+<p>Her husband was far away. The laws of the fairy kingdom compelled him
+to go every year across the sea to give account of his government to
+the supreme lord of the fairy race, whose throne stood in the rocky
+mountains of Norway. He had promised to return in a week, and now
+three weeks had gone by, and he had not come home. This thought gnawed
+at fair Helga's heart, and made her blind to all the beauty around
+her. In vain did the white birds flit around her head, stroking her
+cheeks with their soft wings. Helga's soul was sunk in sorrow, and the
+magic music with its soothing power lay asleep in the harp. At last
+she rose.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I must be disobedient, my husband; forgive me, forgive me! But
+anxiety will kill me, if I do not go out to look if I can see you in
+the distance."</p>
+
+<p>She sprang up and went to the door in the rock. The birds fluttered
+anxiously around her, but she frightened them away with her hand, and
+touched the wall through which she had entered a year ago. The rock,
+not daring to refuse obedience to its mistress, opened, and fair Helga
+stepped out on the barren soil of Iceland. But after<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159">159</a></span> being so long
+accustomed to the warm summer air, she shuddered as she felt the icy
+breath of her old home, and with hurried steps she went to the point
+of the rock. Here she stopped, turned her beautiful face, and looked
+over her left shoulder towards the south-east.</p>
+
+<p>Before the power of this magic glance the veil of the distance
+vanished. Her look pierced through Iceland's fogs, flew over the
+eastern mountains, and swam on the Atlantic waves to the steep
+rock-bound coast of Norway. She saw the mysterious inhabitants of the
+mountains, and the mighty fairy king seated on his diamond throne,
+over which thousands of years had passed, leaving it still unshaken.
+Around him stood his people in their unfading youth and beauty, bowing
+in lowly reverence. But her husband's noble form was not among them;
+she could not meet the glance of his deep blue eye, though she
+anxiously examined every countenance. At last she looked sadly away,
+and turned to go back to her lonely kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>But when she went round the corner of the rock she saw a tall, manly
+form standing in the very place whence she had once watched her father
+and Olaffson as they rode away over the lava-fields. With a cry of joy
+she ran to the spot. Could it be that her husband had been so near,
+while she believed him far away? But the man, hearing her light
+footstep, turned his head, and she looked not on her husband's
+youthful beauty, but on the careworn face of her long-forgotten
+father.</p>
+
+<p>"Helga, Helga!" The words fell on her ear with a strange thrill. "My
+child, you are still alive, you are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160">160</a></span> still on earth?" and he stretched
+out his arms towards her, and pressed her to his breast, while the hot
+tears fell on her brow.</p>
+
+<p>The long-silenced chords now sounded loudly in Helga's heart, memory
+awoke, and the fairy king's harp was not near to lull it to sleep
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, good father," she said, thinking now of none but him, "weep
+not. Your Helga lives and is happy; but how old you have grown, and
+how white your hair is!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Helga, I had lost you, my only child; but now that I have found
+you my youthful vigour will return. Come home quickly, my daughter.
+How glad Olaffson will be."</p>
+
+<p>At these words Helga's heart trembled. "My dear, dear father," she
+said, gently stroking the furrowed cheeks, "I cannot go with you; I
+belong now to another world." Then she told her astonished father all
+that had happened to her since the hour when she said good-bye to him
+at the edge of the lava-field.</p>
+
+<p>"I have given my word," she concluded, "and, hard as it seems not to
+go with you, I dare not, I dare not."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, my child, my poor unhappy child!" said the father sorrowfully;
+"into what hands have you fallen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Into the best and tenderest, my father," said Helga, soothingly.
+"Would that my husband were at home, that you might see him; but I
+will show you my kingdom, that your mind may be set at rest."</p>
+
+<p>She took her father's hand and led him towards the side of the rock
+which concealed the entrance into the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161">161</a></span> fairy land. She touched it, but
+the door remained closed; again and again she passed her hand over the
+hard stone, but there was no movement.</p>
+
+<p>Helga's heart throbbed as though it would break, and she sank down on
+the hard ground, begging with bitter tears for admission to her
+kingdom; but all was still, dead, and motionless.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Helga! Without knowing it, she had transgressed the laws of the
+fairies by speaking to a mortal of the mysteries of the spirit-world,
+and now its gates were barred against her. With bitter regret she now
+remembered her husband's parting command&mdash;not to return to the outer
+world, to which she had no longer any right. Soon, she thought, will
+the other awful threat be fulfilled, and she sank unconscious into her
+father's arms.</p>
+
+<p>He was rejoiced to see the fairy kingdom closed against his daughter,
+and with a lightened heart he bore the precious burden back to her
+childhood's home.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>After long hours and days of darkness, Helga's youthful strength
+triumphed, and she opened her eyes in full consciousness. Her first
+glance fell on her father, who sat at her bedside.</p>
+
+<p>"You here, my dear father? Then my meeting with you was not a dream?
+But now let me get up and go to my husband; he must have come home
+long before this, and he will believe me when I tell him that I did
+not intend to leave him."</p>
+
+<p>"My child, look round you," said the father, soothingly. "Let those
+feverish fancies die. See, you are where you<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162">162</a></span> have always been, at
+home with your old father. All through your long illness you have
+raved about a fairy king and his paradise, of your marriage and your
+promises. But these were only fancies, my Helga, such as fever often
+causes."</p>
+
+<p>Helga looked at him in trembling astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"That is impossible," she said at last in a faltering voice. "Bring
+out my clothes, and see whether Iceland has such splendid garments as
+those."</p>
+
+<p>"Splendid garments?" repeated her father as if in surprise. Then he
+rose and brought Helga's dress, a garment such as she had always been
+accustomed to wear.</p>
+
+<p>Helga examined it doubtfully, then she passed her hand over her brow,
+looked up at her father, and said in a low voice, "I cannot understand
+it. Can one then dream such things as those?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, my child; it is always so in fever. When I went to the
+coast a few weeks ago, taking you with me as far as the lava-field,
+you must have climbed the rock to watch us and fallen asleep there.
+Then the cold mountain mist crept round you, and almost prevented you
+from ever awaking. When your cousin thought you were staying too long,
+she set out with the servants to look for you; there they found you
+lying on the rock in a state of unconsciousness, and brought you home.
+A messenger was sent after us, and we returned as quickly as possible.
+I left my fishing, and Olaffson gave up thoughts of his voyage, that
+we might be near at hand to watch and care for you."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163">163</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Helga sighed. Her father had never told her an untruth, so she felt
+compelled to believe him, though her heart rebelled against his words
+with bitter grief.</p>
+
+<p>Ah! she little suspected that her father, in the hope of keeping his
+dear child beside him and hindering her return to fairyland, had
+invented this story, and carefully taught it to every one about the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>Helga's bodily strength increased day by day, but over her spirit
+rested a cloud of melancholy, and she pined in secret for the paradise
+of her "feverish dreams."</p>
+
+<p>She was at last almost convinced that such they had indeed been, for
+when she spoke to any of the servants about her lost fairy kingdom,
+they always smiled and said, "Those were mere fancies; we were about
+you all the time and heard you rave about them."</p>
+
+<p>As for the voyage round the world which Olaffson had completed since
+she went away, of that she heard nothing, nor was she aware that the
+world's history had advanced a year while she tarried in fairyland.
+The farm-houses in Iceland are separated from each other by long
+distances, so that it was but seldom that Helga came in contact with
+any of the neighbours; and if a chance stranger came to claim the
+rights of hospitality, the father or Olaffson took care to warn him
+beforehand not to disturb Helga's delusion.</p>
+
+<p>But the precaution was almost unnecessary; for the Flower of Iceland,
+once so cheerful and talkative, who used to greet the arrival of a
+stranger as a joyous event, and was never tired of asking questions
+about the wonders of foreign lands, the same Helga sat silent and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164">164</a></span>
+listless, and left the room as soon as the conversation turned on
+beautiful scenery. For the visions of her lost paradise came back to
+her mind, and it needed a conflict of hours to still her restless
+heart. "Ah! it was only a dream."</p>
+
+<p>Olaffson had given up his seafaring life, and now busied himself about
+the farm. Helga's father loved him as a son, and intended making him
+the heir of his valuable property. But he had hopes of giving him
+something better still. He was only waiting till Helga should be once
+more the joyous Helga, till the Flower of Iceland should raise its
+drooping head. But this time seemed far distant.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps she will be better when she is married," said the father to
+himself, as he looked anxiously at Helga. She was leaning against the
+grassy ditch that enclosed the farm, and gazing into the glow of the
+evening sky. He stepped softly up to her.</p>
+
+<p>"What is my Helga thinking of?" he asked tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"Of the evening rays that are now falling through the crystal dome, of
+the little waves crowned with the roses of the sunset sky, and of the
+sweet music of the harp," she answered dreamily.</p>
+
+<p>"Helga," said the old man reproachfully, "will you never shake off
+these delusions. You have heard from every tongue that they were fever
+fancies; but you want to vex my heart."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no, dear father. Do not think so ill of your Helga," she said
+quickly, as she turned and stroked his cheeks caressingly. "I know
+very well that they were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165">165</a></span> only dreams, but you cannot believe how
+deeply they are burnt into my heart. It seems like faithlessness to
+tear them away."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a remnant of the fever," said the old man. "Ah, Helga, how
+happy should I be if you were yourself again!"</p>
+
+<p>"And I too, dear father," said Helga, with a gentle sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"I know one way of curing you, and if you love me you will try it."</p>
+
+<p>"That I will, father."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you promise it, my Helga?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear father," she answered unhesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then listen: Olaffson is good and brave, is he not?" Helga nodded.
+"He loves you dearly, and my most cherished wish is that you should
+become his wife, and that you should live under my roof, brightening
+my old age with the sight of your happiness."</p>
+
+<p>Helga grew deadly pale.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, father, dear father, I cannot."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, Helga? Have you anything against him? Is he not young,
+handsome, and strong? Is he not brave and good? Could you find me a
+better son, or yourself a more loving husband? Tell me, are you
+influenced in this matter by those foolish dreams, the wild images of
+your brain? Tell the truth, Helga."</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him in trembling entreaty.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my father, forgive me."</p>
+
+<p>"If you want to make your old father happy, say Yes, and become
+Olaffson's wife; if you wish to poison my last days with sorrow, then
+leave my wish unfulfilled."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166">166</a></span></p>
+
+<p>With these words the old man turned away in anxious grief, and moved
+towards the house.</p>
+
+<p>Helga hastened after him.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be angry, my father," she begged; "I will fulfil your wish,
+come what will."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you, my good child; but what do you fear? What could come of
+it but a father's blessing, with its fruits of happiness and peace?"</p>
+
+<p>So Helga became Olaffson's wife.</p>
+
+<p>Did the Flower of Iceland now regain its freshness and bloom? Alas!
+no. In spite of her father's tenderness and her husband's love, she
+still remained sorrowful and pale; deeper, if anything, was the shadow
+that oppressed her soul. To longing was now added remorse, the
+bitterest feeling that can disturb a human heart, for it is the only
+one for which time has no balm.</p>
+
+<p>"How could I ever rob you of your claim to immortality?" she had once
+said to the poor fairy king; and even though the words had been only
+spoken in a dream, yet they burned into her soul, and when she
+consented to be Olaffson's wife, it seemed to her as if she had really
+shut out that poor spirit from the heavenly paradise.</p>
+
+<p>The short summer passed, and Helga shuddered more than ever under the
+icy breath of the northern winter; but it too went by, and spring came
+at last across the ocean to Iceland's snowy plains. The roads were
+once more passable, and the first sacrament of the year was to be
+solemnised in the church of the parish to which the farm held by
+Helga's father belonged. Olaffson asked his wife to partake with him
+of the sacred symbols, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167">167</a></span> she gladly consented. Perhaps she thought
+this feast of reconciliation might bring back her long-lost peace.</p>
+
+<p>She went about her work with more energy than she had shown for many
+months, so anxious was she to have everything in readiness for the
+morrow, for they would have to set out early in order to reach the
+distant church in time for the service. She was just laying the table
+for supper when she saw her husband passing the window, and by his
+side a stranger of tall and manly form.</p>
+
+<p>"See, Helga," said Olaffson as they entered, "I bring an honoured
+guest; set out your best provisions, for he has travelled far, and is
+in need of refreshment."</p>
+
+<p>Helga looked at the stranger. His face was handsome, but over his
+youthful features sorrow had passed with heavy hand. But when he
+raised his deep blue eyes to Helga, and asked in soft and melodious
+tones&mdash;"Will the Flower of Iceland permit a stranger to rest beneath
+her roof?" a shudder passed through her frame, and the old conflict
+began in her soul more wildly and perplexingly than ever.</p>
+
+<p>These eyes, this voice, could they have spoken to her only in a
+feverish dream? And if she had been deceived&mdash;what then? The thought
+threatened to rob her of reason; but Olaffson stepped up to her and
+said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Our guest must be tired and hungry, my Helga; will you not grant him
+the welcome which the stranger has always met beneath this roof?"</p>
+
+<p>Helga recovered herself by a great effort, and went out to prepare a
+room for the mysterious guest, while the latter sat down at table with
+the others. Then she<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168">168</a></span> slipped softly back, took a seat in a dark
+corner, and gazed with mingled anxiety and longing on the stranger's
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, sir," said Helga's father, pointing to the sky, "do you
+ever see anything like that in your native land? Do you not
+acknowledge Iceland to be the most beautiful country in the world?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the stranger, "your land is indeed beautiful; but your
+home and mine are not so very far distant from one another."</p>
+
+<p>He glanced at Helga&mdash;of whose presence the others were not aware&mdash;then
+he described the land in which he lived, the same land that Helga was
+said to have seen only in the delirium of fever.</p>
+
+<p>She listened with breathless attention. It seemed to her as if the
+splendour of fairyland once more surrounded her. She saw the blue
+waves rolling at her feet, and felt herself, as in days gone by,
+rocking on their gleaming crests. She ran merrily to the side of the
+fountain and caught at the water, that she might sprinkle it in sport
+on the birds; and she saw the transparent flowers bending their
+fragrant cups in friendly greeting. Every moment she expected to see
+the stranger throw aside his disguise, and, standing before her in
+royal purple, touch the long-disused strings of his golden harp.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! her father had then deceived her that he might keep her at home;
+her heart had told her the truth, and she, instead of listening to its
+entreaties, had weakly yielded to persuasion, and broken her sacred
+promise. And now? Too late, too late&mdash;all was over. Full of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169">169</a></span> grief and
+despair, she hastened out of the house to pour out her heart in bitter
+weeping amid the stillness of the night.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, when all was ready for the journey, when the horses were
+stamping impatiently before the door, the family all assembled to
+conform to an old Icelandic custom. In that island, before any family
+partake of the sacrament, each member asks forgiveness of all the rest
+for wrongs consciously or unconsciously committed. Helga took her
+father's hand and her husband's. "Forgive me for all the anxiety I
+have caused you," she begged in a low voice; then she added the
+mysterious words, "and also for the sorrow that I am about to bring
+upon you."</p>
+
+<p>"You must also ask forgiveness of our guest, Helga, in case you have
+offended him," said Olaffson. "You were not to be found yesterday when
+he wanted to bid you good-night."</p>
+
+<p>She shuddered, cast a farewell glance on her father's face, and moved
+towards the stranger's room.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was as she felt and knew. The dark garment of yesterday had
+disappeared; before her stood the fairy king in radiant beauty, with
+his golden hair flowing down over his purple robe.</p>
+
+<p>She clasped her hands in silent entreaty, and her beautiful eyes
+looked up with love and humility to the face of her beloved but
+deeply-wronged husband.</p>
+
+<p>"Helga, Helga," said he gravely, "is this how you have been faithful
+to your love and your promise?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do not be angry with me," begged Helga; "to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170">170</a></span> your spirit-eye
+nothing has been hidden; you know how it all came about&mdash;how my
+anxiety for you drove me to seek you&mdash;how my father found me, and how
+I was going to show him our kingdom in order to set his mind at rest.
+You know that the gates were closed against me, and that I was borne
+back unconscious to my old home&mdash;that they kept me there by
+cleverly-invented stories, and that at last my father's entreaties
+forced me to the last and hardest step. But you know also that I have
+loved only you, that my heart is yours alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Be judged by thine own words, O Flower of Iceland!" replied the fairy
+king quietly. "Why didst thou not listen to the voice of thy heart? We
+fairies know nothing of human weakness, therefore we cannot forgive
+it. Dost thou know the fate that now awaits thee, Helga?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know it well," answered Helga firmly, "and if my mouth has been
+unfaithful, my heart has been true. I welcome death, for it will
+reunite me to you!"</p>
+
+<p>Then a happy smile passed over the fairy king's noble countenance; he
+stretched out his arms, and pressed Helga dying to his heart.</p>
+
+<p>Finding that his wife did not come back, Olaffson hastened with his
+father-in-law to the stranger's room. They found fair Helga in the
+fairy king's arms. Both were cold and dead; in the same moment both
+hearts had broken. Olaffson tried to take Helga away from the
+stranger's arms, but in vain. What life had robbed him of, he held in
+death with a grasp that could not be loosed.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave them, my son," said the old grief-stricken father; "she is his
+by right. What has all our prudence<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171">171</a></span> done for us? Worse than nothing!
+The fairy king has reclaimed his own in spite of us."</p>
+
+<p>They laid them in the same coffin, and next morning the soil of
+Iceland was to receive them into its cold lap. But in the night that
+followed this eventful day, sleep fell more heavily than usual on the
+eyes of the mourners. They did not hear the whispering of gentle
+voices or the hasty tread of many feet. They did not see the multitude
+of fairies who had assembled from all parts of the island to show the
+last honour to their beloved king. Noiselessly the spirits lifted the
+coffin, carried it out of the house, and away to the rock where fair
+Helga had begged in vain for admission.</p>
+
+<p>To-day it was not denied her. The magic gates sprang open as the
+coffin approached. With drooping wings the white birds hovered round,
+and mourned the royal pair in notes of soft lamentation.</p>
+
+<p>At the shore of the beautiful blue sea the faithful spirits lowered
+their burden. There Helga and her fairy husband rest beneath the
+flowers of this paradise, and beside the gentle murmur of the waves.
+On the branches of the cypress that grows on their grave hangs the
+fairy king's harp. The hand is cold that once touched its chords; but
+when the morning breeze sweeps through them, they sound as of old in
+magic melody. The sweet notes float on the sunbeams through the
+evergreen paradise, pierce the hard rock, and hover as beautiful and
+undying legends over Iceland's heaths and snow-clad hills.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172">172</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a id="THE_SEA-FAIRY">THE SEA-FAIRY.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="i172">
+<div id="i172a"></div>
+<div id="i172b"></div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">T</span>HE</b> evening sun was sinking in a glow of colour on the waters of the
+North Atlantic and on the rocky coast of Norway as a youth wandered
+alone by the edge of one of its numerous fiords.</p>
+
+<p>He was alone in the world; father and mother, brothers and sisters,
+were all dead, and he strove to still the longings of his heart by the
+wonders of foreign lands.</p>
+
+<p>He had seen the midnight sun from the cliffs of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173">173</a></span> North Cape, and
+his eye now rested in astonished admiration on the firmament and the
+ocean, which shone in a splendour unknown to other zones. He stepped
+close up to the edge of the sea, and looked down at the waves, which
+here broke in gold-sparkling foam. But from yon rock but a few yards
+distant he would be better able to enjoy the ever-changing play of the
+waves; so he went up to it, and laid his hand on one of its jagged
+projections to aid him in climbing. Then he saw something white and
+golden gleaming at his feet, and when he leant forward to observe it
+more closely he saw that it was the form of a young woman who was
+sitting in solitude on this uninhabited strand. Over her garment,
+white as spring blossoms, down to the purple hem, fell hair golden as
+the waves at her feet, and her tender hands lay clasped upon her knee,
+while she, dreamy and motionless, looked out upon the sea.</p>
+
+</div><!--i172-->
+
+<p>The young man scarcely ventured to breathe lest he should frighten
+her; but a stone loosened beneath his hand and rolled rattling to the
+ground. She looked up and turned her head, and now his glance met a
+face of unimagined beauty.</p>
+
+<p>"Who art thou?" she asked, in gentle astonishment; "and what seekest
+thou here on this world-forsaken shore?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wished to see the beauties of Norway," he gathered courage to
+answer, "and I found them greater than I expected. But who art thou,
+wondrous being, who venturest to stay alone in this solitude, with
+none save the ocean and yon stern rocks to bear thee company?"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174">174</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am the sea-fairy," she answered gravely. "The golden evening
+sunshine, which streamed down into my castle, enticed me to the
+strand, as it has done many a time before. But thou art the first
+mortal that I have seen here for thousands of years."</p>
+
+<p>He did not answer, but gazed dreamily on her lovely form. In his soul
+the fairy tales of childhood shone dimly forth&mdash;tales of the crystal
+castle under the sea, and of the fascinating beauty of the sea-fairy;
+and now, could these have been no fables, but reality&mdash;sweet tangible
+reality?</p>
+
+<p>For a moment he covered his eyes with his hand, and looked again. No,
+she had not vanished. The rosy light of the evening sun lay now on her
+white garment, and her beautiful form seemed still more lovely in this
+radiance. She rose slowly, and apparently with the intention of going
+away to the waves, when such burning pain came in the young man's soul
+that he took his hand from the point of the rock and stepped
+respectfully, but with firm tread, up to the beautiful lady.</p>
+
+<p>"No, do not go," he begged, raising his hand in earnest entreaty; "do
+not go, thou vision of my childhood. But if thou canst not tarry
+longer here, then take me down into thy ocean kingdom. There is no one
+on earth to miss me; and now that I know that thou really dwellest
+beneath these waves, I shall feel an unappeasable longing after thee,
+as in the days of my childhood, when I lay for hours on the shore of
+my native land hoping to catch a glimpse of the pinnacles of thy
+castle."</p>
+
+<p>The fairy stood still, and her eye, blue and fathomless<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175">175</a></span> as the ocean
+at the horizon, looked in the young man's face as if to read his soul.</p>
+
+<p>"Knowest thou what thou askest?" she said earnestly. "If I grant thy
+petition and take thee with me, it is for no short amusement, which
+thou canst leave when tired, and wander further at thy will. No; if
+thou go with me it is to stay in my kingdom, and only with thy life
+wilt thou be permitted to release thyself from thy vow. Consider it
+well. In thy veins flows the blood of a faithless race; but we are of
+a different nature. Ingratitude and faithlessness we punish severely,
+and our heart knows no weak pity for those who incur our wrath."</p>
+
+<p>"Try me, lady," said the youth, with firm determination. "Take me with
+thee, and let me serve thee and surround thee with love and obedience;
+and if thou find me faithless, spare not thine anger."</p>
+
+<p>"Come then," said the sea-fairy, "and forget not that it is thine own
+choice." And Antonio, for that was the young man's name, walked
+joyfully beside the wondrous woman towards the waves. She loosed the
+star-set girdle from her dress, and gave it to the youth. "Put it on,"
+she said, "that those beneath the waves may recognise thee as one of
+mine;" and he did as she bade him. Then she gave him her hand, and
+stepped out upon the sea, which grew smooth beneath her foot as a path
+of crystal. Antonio followed joyfully; the magic girdle prevented him
+from sinking, and when the shore lay a few steps behind them, the
+glittering plain opened and disclosed a glassy stair that led down
+into the depths of the ocean kingdom. Did he step down on them, or
+did<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176">176</a></span> they, rising upwards, offer themselves to his foot? He could not
+make out how it was, for, now that he was led by the fairy's hand and
+girt with her girdle, earthly laws had no longer power over him. He
+only knew that they were descending into the water with marvellous
+swiftness, and that the waves of the Gulf Stream, which flows with the
+warmth of spring around these coasts, played softly round his head and
+shoulders, while he breathed among them as freely as on the air above.
+And when he looked upwards he saw the crystal steps break and form
+again into waves as soon as the foot left them, and above his head the
+sea heaved as was its wont, the great waves following one after the
+other with a glorious play of ever-changing colours.</p>
+
+<p>Soon he stood at the bottom of the sea; and here there was nothing
+dark or gloomy, as we are apt to think, but all around the reflection
+of the evening sky lit the clear depths with golden light.</p>
+
+<p>"Now thou art in my kingdom," said the sea-fairy; "forget not that it
+is the home of thine own choice."</p>
+
+<p>His eyes shone as he gave a joyful assent. "His home!" And he would
+never long for another; of that he was quite sure.</p>
+
+<p>They walked together over the soft, shining, golden sand. Not far off
+purple trees rose on their slender stems, and sent their wide branches
+out on every side.</p>
+
+<p>"That is my coral park," said the sea-fairy; "it stands in wide
+circles round the ocean castle, and keeps the wild waves far from this
+retreat."</p>
+
+<p>Soon they stood at the gate of the magic hedge, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177">177</a></span> the fairy laid
+her hand upon the rock. Suddenly an electric current seemed to stir
+the whole line of trees. Thousands of little slumbering creatures
+awoke, and stretched their tiny heads out of the openings between the
+branches to greet their lady. She, meantime, walked with Antonio
+through the intricate paths of the coral grove, till they reached the
+shining plain where the castle of the sea-fairy stood. Its lofty walls
+were crowned by a glittering roof, over which the waves glided to and
+fro with softest music.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio gazed in happy astonishment on the radiant edifice, which
+excelled in beauty all the childish dreams of which it reminded him.</p>
+
+<p>"And may I stay here? and shall I never be obliged to leave this
+splendour?" he asked in a gentle whisper; but before the fairy could
+answer there was a trembling in the waves around. Over the transparent
+roof, and out of the shadows of the coral grove, came myriads of
+little star-fishes of violet and rosy hues, and played round the head
+of Antonio and among the sea-fairy's locks like butterflies on a
+summer day. Then they fluttered away again, and lost themselves in the
+trembling dance of the waves.</p>
+
+<p>The beautiful lady, still carefully keeping hold of Antonio's hand,
+walked now over the watery meadow which surrounded the castle with its
+gentle waves; and when she reached the high-arched portal the
+transparent gates opened of themselves, and the empress of the ocean
+entered her enchanted palace.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio's eye was dazzled by the splendour all around.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178">178</a></span> Hall after
+hall followed in brilliant succession, and over all stretched the high
+arches of the crystal roof, through which the evening sky shed its
+undiminished splendour. Warm and soft as the breath of spring, the
+little waves glided through these enchanted rooms and fell back with
+gentle splashing from the crystal walls&mdash;now shining like a flood of
+crimson, now azure blue, and now like liquid amber; thus they mirrored
+the changing play of colours in the fleeting clouds overhead.</p>
+
+<p>The sea-fairy looked into Antonio's joyous face. "Thinkest thou that
+thou canst forget thine earthly home here in my kingdom?" she asked
+graciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Forget it?" he replied. "If home is the fairest spot on earth, then I
+have only found mine now. Henceforth all other places lie eternally
+forgotten. But what is that yonder?" he asked, pointing to tall green
+pillars whose tops reached nearly to the crystal roof.</p>
+
+<p>"See for thyself," said the sea-fairy, and he moved by her side
+towards the last hall in which the graceful columns stood. And now he
+glides between their slender shafts, and utters a joyous cry as he
+looks up at the transparent dome, beneath which leafy tree-crowns
+waved, while little star-fishes gleamed brightly as they glided among
+the leaves.</p>
+
+<p>"Palm trees!" cried Antonio, breathless with astonishment&mdash;"palm
+trees, such as I have heard rustling by the banks of the Ganges! This
+must be some delusion, some golden dream, out of which I must sooner
+or later wake. No, no, there are the tender lianas winding round the
+kingly stems, and there in the shadow lurks my lotos flower, the
+most beautiful of all the gorgeous blossoms of India!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_179.jpg" width="400" height="607" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">ANTONIO IN THE CRYSTAL CASTLE.<br />
+F. C., p. 178.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179">179</a></span>He dropped the fairy's hand, hastened forward, and looked into the
+shining cup, whose purple streamers trembled in the waves.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, it is the lotos, gleaming in snowy purity like its
+sisters in the holy stream, in whose cup the goddess slumbers. But oh!
+how camest thou hither, beloved flower? But what do I ask? The holy
+river of thy favoured home has caught thy falling seed and borne it
+onwards to the sea, and there on its protecting wave thou hast been
+rolled on and on, further and further, towards the south-west, till
+the warm Gulf Stream received thee. Carried northwards by this current
+of blessing which careful Nature sends to these icy realms, thou
+camest with broken palm branches and liana sprays into this northern
+fairyland, where the hand of the beauteous sea-fairy gave thee a
+second home&mdash;one beautiful enough to make thee forget even the sunny
+plains of India."</p>
+
+<p>Did the lotos flower think so? Its trembling cup gave no reply, but
+Antonio thought it did. Henceforth the kingdom of the sea-fairy should
+be his home, and she herself be dear to him as his father and mother
+used to be in the old half-forgotten days. His happiness seemed full
+as he moved by her side through the wide watery realm from one wonder
+to another, while her grave but beautiful mouth explained to him with
+easy eloquence the mysteries of the deep, problems in the solution of
+which curious men spend their lives in vain.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180">180</a></span> Round them played the
+gay star-fishes; beside them, on the gleaming sand, thorny ray-fishes
+rolled like silver balls; behind them followed, in many-coloured
+throng, the fishes large and small, their fins and scales sparkling in
+the sunlight like silver and precious stones. They glided fearlessly
+around Antonio, let him catch and stroke them, and looked up at him
+with intelligent eyes when he spoke to them in human words. They did
+not indeed comprehend what he said, but they all understood the star
+pattern on the girdle, which still surrounded his waist with its
+radiant circle, and made him known as the friend of their beloved
+mistress.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was pleasant to glide through the waves, with beauty, peace,
+and harmony all around; but Antonio thought it more delightful still
+to wander with the majestic fairy through the halls of the crystal
+castle, to be lifted by gentle waves up to the lofty dome, and to look
+up through its clear vault to the bright sky far overhead.</p>
+
+<p>But Antonio's happiest moments were spent in the hall of palms, as he
+rested in the shady corner where the lotos bloomed. The flower would
+bend its white cup over his dreamy eyes, and the waves moved the
+purple stamens over his brow as gently as his mother's hand. The water
+flowed about him soft and warm, high overhead the palm trees waved
+their leafy tufts, and the sea-fairy glided through the brilliant
+halls, singing to her golden harp songs sweeter and more enthralling
+than anything Antonio had ever heard on earth. Is it any wonder then
+that he forgot his bleak, unmusical home&mdash;that he never gave it one
+longing thought?</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181">181</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The summer sun had often sent its golden light, unbroken by night's
+darkness, into the sea-fairy's kingdom; the stars of the winter sky
+had often twinkled through the crystal roof of the ocean palace; but
+Antonio had taken no heed to the flight of time. The years passed over
+him in pleasant but monotonous repose; the little waves rippled and
+sang with unchanging cheerfulness; and Antonio hastened from pleasure
+to pleasure, without remembrance, without longing, feeling only the
+present delight.</p>
+
+<p>The sunlight of a new summer was making its way into the ocean realm
+when Antonio came out of the palace and walked through the gleaming
+water-meadows. The fairy had been called to a distance by some
+business in a remote part of her extensive kingdom, and Antonio had
+thus been left alone in the castle. But the splendid halls seemed to
+him only half as beautiful without their lovely queen, and he
+determined to seek the society of the merry fishes without. They came
+swimming to meet him, slipped through his fingers, splashed the water
+merrily with their fins and tails, and formed themselves into a wide
+and brilliant procession behind him as he walked.</p>
+
+<p>Soon the oddly-jagged branches of the coral grove arched above his
+head. He intended to-day to explore every corner of this lovely park,
+of which he had hitherto seen but one spot. He went further and
+further into the maze of trees, and the fishes followed him at every
+step and glided like silver stars through the deep red branches.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio looked back; the bright sunny plain and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182">182</a></span> gleaming palace
+had disappeared, hidden by the dense grove of coral; but to the side
+at the outer edge of the forest he heard a sullen, ceaseless roaring,
+for the ocean billows rolled high and dark beyond the magic circle.</p>
+
+<p>He went further; everything became strange and awful. There was not a
+glimpse of the bright familiar regions he knew so well. Purple
+twilight lay around him, and to the side the darkly rolling ocean; but
+there before him was a faint glimmering of light which became
+gradually brighter. Could it be the crystal castle which he thought he
+had left far behind?</p>
+
+<p>At last he reached the light, and looked down on the scene at his
+feet. Before him lay an open space, over which the sunlight streamed,
+unhindered, in golden radiance, and under this flood of sunshine
+rested rows of pale, silent sleepers, heart to heart and arm in arm,
+as the rage of the ocean or the anger of the sea-fairy had torn them
+away from their full, warm, joyous life. They had sailed fearlessly in
+their trusty ships over the sea, perhaps even rejoicing in their
+nearness to the haven, and in the prospect of happy meetings, when
+they were suddenly shattered by a hidden reef, or dragged downward by
+the treacherous whirlpool.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio walked with loudly-beating heart among the sleepers. Here lay
+an old man with long and silvery hair, and his withered hand rested
+tenderly on the head of a beautiful boy; beside him lay a man, whose
+youthful wife, even in the death-struggle, had not loosed her hold on
+her tender infant; there slept two stalwart youths, their hands
+clasped as in strong affection&mdash;they were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183">183</a></span> brothers, as the likeness
+of the features showed. And there&mdash;and there&mdash;and there, wherever
+Antonio's glance fell, lay forms once beautiful in their youthful
+strength, now cold and stiff in death. And yet they only seemed to be
+asleep, for, however long they might have rested there, time had made
+no ravages among them. Their features were unchanged, save for a
+deeper peace; and when the coral branches overhead rocked in the
+waves, sending their purple shadows over the lonely ocean graveyard,
+there fell on the faces of the dead something like the reflection of
+their former life.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio bent over them, as if to read the last sad thought of the pale
+lips&mdash;to learn the last unspoken wish, that he might take it with him
+as a solemn vow, and fulfil it as soon as he could reach the upper
+world. For the spell of the ocean kingdom was broken at the sight of
+these white faces, and he longed now for his home, bleak and unmusical
+though it was. With a deep sigh he took his eyes from this sad scene,
+and advanced to the outer edge of the coral grove, where the lofty
+branches bent and formed a low network, which divided the
+resting-place of the dead from the raging ocean. He leant with folded
+arms against the fence, and looked out on the billowy sea. The huge
+waves rose black as thunder-clouds, hurled their white froth toward
+heaven, and sank with sullen roar back into the deep. It was a scene
+of fascinating horror, and Antonio could not tear his eyes away.</p>
+
+<p>Then suddenly northwards through the surging waves came something
+strange, dreadful, horrible. Its long<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184">184</a></span> outstretched serpent neck was
+of changing green, and its wide gaping throat was full of sharp
+destructive teeth; its gigantic body wound dark through the flood&mdash;now
+drawn together, now stretched out in its immeasurable length, so that
+even the lifeless waves shrank back, and Antonio's heart almost ceased
+to beat with dread amazement. Thus the monster of the deep rose in
+slow but ceaseless movements, and its threatening head was raised
+above the foaming heaps of water beside the coral fence just as
+Antonio caught the first glimpse of its poisonous tail.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the sea serpent," he faltered at last, as soon as he recovered
+his power of speech&mdash;"the monster of which the fairy told me that
+death and destruction follow in its wake. The poor sailors up above on
+the surface of the water, who have perhaps laughed and mocked at it as
+an exploded fable, will now see and feel it in the last terror of the
+death-struggle." And he clasped his hands tightly as he gazed upwards
+in an agony of fear.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a wide shadow darkened the waters, covering with its gloomy
+wing the purple fence and the golden waves that flowed above the dead.
+Antonio sought for the cause of this phenomenon, and saw far above in
+the surging sea a low rock which he had not noticed before. Whether
+the wild waves had torn it from the coast and driven it hither, or
+whether the storm had forced it up from the bed of the ocean, he knew
+not; but there it stood, dark and immovable, with the waves dashing
+over it, and the sea serpent gliding round it in foaming coils.</p>
+
+<p>Now he knew for what end the ocean was preparing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185">185</a></span> all its horrors.
+There, from the south, came a ship with well-filled sails, of firm,
+substantial build, and guided by a skilful hand; it seemed to mock at
+the terrors of the deep, for the deadly rock and the lurking serpent
+were hidden beneath the water; the huge waves surged above both, and
+covered them with their foam.</p>
+
+<p>The captain of the stately vessel saw the heaving waves, but he knew
+the powers of his noble ship. With flashing eye he stood on the deck,
+calming the passengers with cheerful words, and shouting his orders to
+the nimble sailors. He steered his ship confidently right over the
+familiar track, in the midst of which the treacherous rock lay waiting
+his approach.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio watched the ship's advance. His terror-sharpened eye
+distinguished every mast, every plank. It seemed to him as if he saw
+smiling, happy, unsuspecting faces bending over the side and nodding
+friendly greetings to him in his calm, safe depths below. He wrung his
+hands in despair, and cried in his loudest voice, "Steer to the left;
+oh! steer to the left, for to the right lurks double death." But the
+next wave drowned the cry, and granted him not even the faintest echo.</p>
+
+<p>Now, now must the end come&mdash;unavoidable and dread. Antonio covered his
+eyes in trembling anguish. A sudden crash, one single piercing scream,
+which with awful clearness rose above the roar of the ocean and the
+hissing of the serpent, trembled through the waves, and thrilled
+through Antonio's loudly-beating heart. His hands fell from his
+blanched face, and he looked up through the sea.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186">186</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The waves still rolled, the rock still stood in dreadful gloom, the
+serpent still wound its frightful coils, but the scattered planks of
+the broken vessel were driven round and round by the mad whirlpool,
+and those who a moment before had smiled in the fulness of life and
+happiness now wrestled with the waves. Strong men among them, who
+would not part from life without a struggle, grasped after floating
+planks, raised themselves above the waves, and looked round for their
+dear ones. But the sea serpent came darting over the white-crested
+billows, struck with its tail the floating timbers, and sent their
+trembling burden down to the hungry depths.</p>
+
+<p>Happy were those who, already choked by the water, had sunk down
+unconscious to the bed of the ocean, there to slumber undisturbed. The
+survivors were the prey of the monster. With its tail curled in horrid
+rage, its green eyes flashing, and its vast jaws gaping wide, it
+darted on every man whose powerful arm and stout heart would not give
+up the struggle with the waves, and in a moment his death-cry was lost
+in the sea serpent's horrid throat. With insatiable rage it glided
+from one to another till all had perished, and not one was left to
+carry home the dreadful tale. None would ever know the fate of the
+goodly vessel and its precious freight.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio had sunk on his knees, and his eyes had followed every motion
+of the sea serpent till the dreadful work was done.</p>
+
+<p>When all was over, the sea serpent rocked itself in horrid
+satisfaction on the waves, and let them drive it at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187">187</a></span> their will. But
+the dark rock retained the power of motion, and sank slowly down into
+the deep, making the waves foam and toss as they parted right and left
+to let it pass. Then Antonio perceived that what at a distance he had
+taken for a rock was a gigantic kraken, one of those sea monsters
+which often lie quietly for years at the bottom of the ocean, then
+rise to the surface and lurk with deadly purpose in the path of
+unsuspecting men. He saw the supple, far-reaching polypus-arms, which,
+grasping at the masts, had cracked them like reeds, and torn the
+planks asunder with swifter and more complete destruction than the
+mere force of the waves could have accomplished. The snaky limbs were
+feeling aimlessly about the flood, groping down towards the soft
+sea-bed where the monster would now fasten itself for a long period of
+repose.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio involuntarily shrank back, although the ocean, with its
+billows and its still more dreadful monsters, could not break through
+the coral fence or disturb the sparkling waters of the Gulf Stream. He
+watched the kraken reach the bottom, settle down in its soft bed, and
+draw in its long arms as for sleep. Then all became peaceful as
+before.</p>
+
+<p>The wild waves sank to rest, and the ocean flowed still and clear; a
+deep blue sky arched overhead, the sun shot golden glances through the
+billows, piercing to the lowest depths, and dyeing with amber light
+the waves that flowed above the kraken, which lay like a long dark
+hill not far from the coral fence, and parted from it by a narrow
+current.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188">188</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Antonio stepped back hesitatingly to the fence, and looked through. On
+the sea-monster's back waved a forest of tall grass wrack, which had
+taken root there during its long years of inaction. Through the waving
+blades little fishes and sea-urchins glided fearlessly, and lazy
+turtles crept along in the shade. But in the midst, as in a nest of
+brown moss, lay something like a swan of dazzling whiteness, with
+lifeless outstretched wings. Antonio was gazing fixedly on this
+object, when a gleaming wave swept through the grass wrack, and raised
+the dead swan's limbs. The next loosed it from its dreadful
+resting-place, and bore it into the current which flowed towards the
+place of the dead.</p>
+
+<p>Nearer and nearer floated the bird, till it struck against the coral
+network, and Antonio stretched out his arms to grasp it. Then he saw
+that it was no swan, but a lovely maiden in a wide flowing garment,
+whom the waves had hurled down from the ship to the sea monster's
+back, and who had thus been borne to her grave. With a sorrowful heart
+he caught her in his arms, lifted her through the coral fence, and
+carried her to where the dead lay in their peaceful resting-place.
+There he laid her by the old man's side, knelt beside the dead maiden,
+and arranged the long fair hair, tossed by the waves, around the pale
+but lovely face, and folded her marble hands as if in prayer.</p>
+
+<p>The last duty was fulfilled, and he would now have been free to return
+to the crystal castle, there to revel in new joy and splendour, but he
+still knelt beside the maiden's corpse, looking dreamily into the
+still, white face<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189">189</a></span> as one looks into a dim, far distance. He knew that
+from her sleep there was no awaking; for in these deep waters no
+living thing could breathe save one that wore, like him, the
+sea-fairy's girdle; she was dead, and must slumber on till the
+resurrection morn. The eyes remained closed, and the mouth could never
+smile again, yet Antonio gazed at it as if it were about to tell him
+some dear familiar tale&mdash;perhaps the story of his own life. Antonio
+knew the sweet, innocent, tender face, but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190">190</a></span> the flood of fear and
+horror which had raged for hours in his soul had confused his
+memories, and he only felt that the eyes and mouth now so firmly
+closed in death had once smiled at him in love and friendship.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_191.jpg" width="400" height="412" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">ANTONIO LAYS THE DEAD MAIDEN IN HER LAST RESTING-PLACE.</p>
+
+<p>At last he rose, cast a last look on the lines of sleepers, stepped
+back into the coral grove, and made his way through the shadowy paths
+back to the sea-fairy's castle.</p>
+
+<p>His ocean vision had lost its charm, the paradise of his childish
+dreams was laid in ruins; the sunny waves, which so short a time
+before had played around him with the soft warmth of summer breezes,
+felt now so cold that he shuddered, and his breathing became laboured
+and painful.</p>
+
+<p>Again he rested in the hall of palms, and the stamens of the
+lotos-blossom floated caressingly over his temples, in which the blood
+now flowed more quickly, for the death-cry of the sinking crew still
+rang in his ears, and before his eyes hovered the pale, beautiful
+image of the dead maiden.</p>
+
+<p>Where, ah! where had he seen those features? He looked up into the
+waving summits of the palms. Could it have been on the banks of the
+Ganges that such a mouth had smiled at him, from the band of Hindu
+girls who passed him every evening with pitchers on their heads on
+their way to fetch water from the sacred stream? No, no, it was not
+there, nor in any of the favoured countries of the new world, that he
+had seen that face, for there the maidens' hair was of a darker hue.
+No; no foreign land had ever shown him those sweet features, and his
+thoughts turned to his old, half-forgotten home.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191">191</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The palm-trees beneath the crystal dome changed as he gazed into the
+old wide-spreading lime-tree in his father's garden, and the song of
+the waves in the fairy halls sounded in his ear like the tones of the
+little organ which his father played at evening when the day's work
+was done.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio closed his eyes. Was it to call up more easily the old
+long-forgotten scenes, or to hide the hot tears which started to his
+eyes? It seemed to him as if he lay once more on the round bench below
+the lime-tree, with his head on his tender mother's lap, and her soft
+hand upon his brow; above him rustled the lime leaves, and through the
+open windows floated the soft notes of his father's evening song.
+Antonio lay there listening in silence. His mother sat with a happy
+smile on her loved face, and by her side Antonio's old teacher, on
+whose lips he and his wild companions hung in rapt attention, as he
+told them of the strange lands which he had visited in his youth.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, what a flood of memories rushed over Antonio's heart!&mdash;music and
+fragrance, his mother's gentle hand, and the old man's wonderful
+descriptions; and in the midst of all a tender, fairy-like child, in a
+soft white dress and golden hair, who flitted like a sunbeam through
+the garden paths! When she had gathered enough flowers, she came
+softly up, sat down at her father's feet, and wove a garland; Antonio
+kept his eyes closed, not to sleep, but to listen undisturbed. The
+little one, thinking him asleep, rose softly and placed the garland on
+his brow. Then he caught her hands, and playfully held<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192">192</a></span> her fast; but
+she bent over him till her fair locks touched his cheeks and
+whispered, "Be quiet, Tony; thy father is telling a story, and does
+not like to be interrupted;" and she looked down at him and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>The riddle was solved at last. It was she. It was the sweet child to
+whom his wild boyish heart had gone out in tender love, and whose
+image had gone with him into distant lands till it faded before the
+brilliant, ever-changing scenes through which he passed. But now it
+stood before him in its old beauty, and he loved her as though they
+had parted yesterday&mdash;now, when she lay cold and stiff among the dead.</p>
+
+<p>He rose, clasped his hands in anguish, and looked up at the crystal
+roof, through which the evening sky sent all the bright hues of a
+northern sunset. But all that he had loved to look on here had no
+beauty for him now. Within was melody and song and unearthly
+splendour; without, death, horror, and unutterable grief. He sprang
+up, ran as if hunted through the glittering halls, and out to the
+plain before the castle; but the floods which were wont to send
+fragrance and song and radiance to hail his coming seemed to him now
+filled with deadly darkness, and the sound of their waves was like
+suppressed sobbing.</p>
+
+<p>He turned away shuddering, and, for the first time since he came to
+the fairy's kingdom, he directed his steps to the coral gate which
+parted the Gulf Stream from the darker billows of the ocean. He passed
+out, and walked in gloomy silence over the sand, which to-day seemed
+to have lost its golden glitter. Soon he stood at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193">193</a></span> the spot where the
+crystal steps ended, and he looked up longingly through the heaving
+flood.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh that I could return just once to the free fresh air," he
+sighed&mdash;"to my old forsaken home!" And his wish was fulfilled, for he
+still wore the starry girdle which made the elements obedient to his
+will. The waves parted like the petals of a lily, and formed
+themselves into glassy steps. With a shout of joy Antonio placed his
+foot on the lowest one, and he scarcely knew whether he moved himself
+or whether the water lifted him from step to step. He saw the blue
+waters become clearer and clearer, until he stood on the last step,
+his head rose above the waves, and he drew deep breaths of his native
+air.</p>
+
+<p>With flashing eye and heaving breast Antonio looked westwards, where
+the sun's radiant ball rested on a bed of purple clouds, while the
+reflection fell in roseate and amber shadows over the whole heaven,
+and the distant billows flowed like a mantle of royal purple.</p>
+
+<p>But the waves which bore Antonio to the strand dashed up golden spray
+just as on that summer evening when he descended to the fairy-land
+below the sea. There lay also the red rock at which he had first seen
+the fairy, and with a sigh he bent his steps in that direction. Was
+there not some one sitting there now? Antonio shaded his eyes with his
+hand, for he was still dazzled by the unaccustomed light. It was no
+illusion. There, where the fairy once sat, was to-day a bent and aged
+figure, and instead of the golden locks flowed silvery hair about the
+temples.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194">194</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A human being!" was Antonio's first ecstatic thought as he ran across
+the strand.</p>
+
+<p>"Good evening, sir," he cried joyfully.</p>
+
+<p>The old man raised his weary head, and his sad eyes rested with
+indifference upon the youth. But the last few hours had changed
+Antonio. The veil had fallen from his eyes and heart, and he saw now
+with the keen true eye of childhood. The hair on the old man's head
+had indeed grown whiter since he saw it last, and sorrow had graven
+its deep lines on the high forehead; but it was the same clear-cut
+mouth to whose words Antonio had once listened with burning eagerness,
+and in the dark eyes still flashed something of the old fire. It was
+his aged teacher, the father of the pale, beautiful maiden among the
+dead in the ocean depths.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you not know me, revered sir?" asked Antonio, with faltering
+voice, as he bowed in courteous greeting.</p>
+
+<p>The old man looked at him again.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he said slowly, "I did not notice you among the crew; but though
+you are a stranger, I am glad that you are saved. I thought I was the
+only survivor from the shipwreck."</p>
+
+<p>"Look at me once more, sir," said Antonio, trying to steady his
+faltering voice, "and turn back a few pages in your life's history.
+Think of a little garden, and of an old lime-tree beneath whose leafy
+roof you often sat, while the sweet tones of an organ thrilled through
+the summer air."</p>
+
+<p>The old man's eyes shone more brightly, and his lips trembled.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195">195</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Antonio!" he stammered out, "Antonio!" and his white head sank on the
+shoulder of his favourite pupil, who knelt before him with his arm
+wound in filial tenderness round the childless man.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Antonio! I have lost my child to-day, only to-day. She would not
+let me go alone to the distant north, to which some luckless impulse
+drove me in my old age, and so she came with me on my toilsome
+journey. Today we struck on a hidden reef, and the same wave which
+dashed her against the dark rock drove me, despite my struggling, on
+this barren strand, though I would fain lie with my darling child
+below the waves."</p>
+
+<p>The old man covered his face with his hands, and Antonio did not
+venture on any words of consolation.</p>
+
+<p>"If I could even find her corpse," said the poor old man at last, "I
+could bury her at home; but even the sad consolation of visiting her
+grave is denied me."</p>
+
+<p>"She has found a better resting-place than you could give her," said
+Antonio&mdash;"she sleeps on a golden bed; a coral grove surrounds the
+spot; corruption has no power over her fair features, and no worm can
+touch her. Amid noble companions she slumbers, while the sunbeams kiss
+her snowy eyelids, and the warm waters of the Gulf Stream flow gently
+over her."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know all this, Antonio?" asked the old man in
+astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>And Antonio told him about that evening when he met the beautiful
+sea-fairy at this very rock, and descended with her into her ocean
+kingdom, there to live in forgetfulness of home and friends, until,
+awakened by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196">196</a></span> what he had seen and felt to-day, the old memories
+acquired new power over him, and throbbed more strongly than ever in
+his soul.</p>
+
+<p>"What will you do now, my son?" asked the old man.</p>
+
+<p>"I will go home with you," Antonio answered promptly. "I will be to
+you a devoted and obedient son, if you will but let me."</p>
+
+<p>The old man gazed at him with beaming eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Then let us go," he said, rising, "for I long to leave this place of
+horror. In a few hours we shall reach the little harbour in which we
+cast anchor yesterday evening, and there we can embark in a
+homeward-bound ship."</p>
+
+<p>"Let it be as you will, my father," replied Antonio. "But one duty
+remains yet unfulfilled. If the sea-fairy had led me by deceit or
+violence into her kingdom, flight would be but right; but I went of my
+own free will, bound myself to obedience and unchanging fidelity, and
+enjoyed her kindness and hospitality. It seems to me cowardly and
+ungrateful to go away secretly, without a word of thanks or of
+farewell, and the thought of this would destroy my happiness at home.
+To-day she is to return. I will go to meet her, tell her what broke
+the spell of her kingdom, and beg her to let me go in peace, and with
+her blessing. Wait for me here. The air of this zone is soft, and its
+night skies clear. Before the bright night changes to the brighter
+day, I will come back to leave you no more."</p>
+
+<p>He kissed the old man's hand, and went towards the sea. Meantime the
+fairy had returned. The open coral gate and the empty halls of her
+palace told her that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197">197</a></span> Antonio was gone. Her soul was filled with grief
+and rage. He was one, indeed, of that faithless race whom she already
+knew and hated; but his eye and heart had still that divine image
+which she sought in vain among the cold, dumb creatures of the ocean,
+and in comparison with which the beauty and harmony of her fairy realm
+seemed poor and unsatisfying. He had become very dear to her. She had
+begun to believe in his fidelity only to find herself once more
+deceived. But, as she had told him, the weak pity of mortals found no
+room in her heart. She did not complain, and no word of anger escaped
+her firm-set lips. She would go up to punish the faithless one, if he
+was still within her reach, according to her former threatenings.</p>
+
+<p>She passed through the coral gate to the place where the heaving steps
+led to the world above. She beckoned, and the rocking staircase grew
+firm beneath her tread. Just as she set her foot on the first step,
+Antonio began to descend. They met half-way in the midst of the sea.
+Antonio trembled, as she stood before him in the full splendour of her
+magic beauty and her overwhelming majesty and might, and his soul
+shrank from her, and turned with ardent longing to his own loved home.</p>
+
+<p>"Whence comest thou?" she asked sternly, although her keen ear heard
+the story of the last few hours in the louder beating of his heart.
+"Whence comest thou?" Then he gathered courage to tell her all, and
+begged her to let him go in peace.</p>
+
+<p>"Rememberest thou not that summer evening when<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198">198</a></span> thou insistedst on
+coming with me, notwithstanding my warning?" she asked in the same
+severe tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Antonio faltered.</p>
+
+<p>"And dost thou not remember my threat, and thy demand that I should
+punish thee if thou shouldst break thy faith?"</p>
+
+<p>"I remember it all," Antonio said, with trembling lips.</p>
+
+<p>"And in the face of all this dread and certain future dost thou still
+dream of leaving me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot do otherwise," he cried passionately; "the ocean kingdom has
+lost its charm since I have seen the gulf of irreconcilable enmity
+which divides it from my race&mdash;since it has robbed me of what was once
+my heart's dearest treasure. No, proud lady, let me go; I should be
+henceforth but a dismal guest."</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes grew dark and fathomless as the deep sea beneath them.</p>
+
+<p>"Go," she said slowly, "but first loose thy girdle."</p>
+
+<p>He drew a deep breath of hope and delight, took the starry girdle from
+his waist, and gave it to the fairy. She took it, looked once more
+into his face, and glided down over the breaking steps.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio turned to seek the upper world, but the stair above him had
+vanished, the step on which his foot rested melted from beneath him,
+and he found himself floating through the dark, deep waters. But the
+waves flowed no longer soft and free as spring breezes over his head
+and breast. With his girdle he had given up his power over them, and
+now he was but a weak mortal struggling with the raging elements. The
+waves roared round him, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199">199</a></span> tossed him hither and thither like a
+ball, while he strove in vain to breathe. He looked up to measure the
+distance, then he struggled with all the strength of despair against
+the waves. His young strong arm bore him upwards; once more he raised
+his head above the flood and breathed the air of heaven. His eye
+sought the red rock on which his old teacher sat, with his arms
+stretched out helplessly towards his adopted son, whose desperate
+struggles he had no power to help.</p>
+
+<p>"I am coming, I am coming, my father," he cried confidently, but a
+giant billow swept over the youth and hurled him down into the boiling
+deep.</p>
+
+<p>The evening hues were fading from the ocean, and the old man still
+stood beside the rock, his hands clasped, and his eyes gazing fixedly
+on the now tranquil deep. A dark object came floating from the west,
+and the waves left it on the beach almost at the old man's feet. He
+raised his dark eyes and looked at the motionless form, then he rose
+and walked with tottering footsteps to the spot. There lay Antonio,
+pale, cold, and dead. He had kept his word; before the bright night
+had passed into the brighter morning he had come back, but not as he
+had dreamed and hoped. The old man's trembling hands dug his grave at
+the foot of the red rock where Antonio had first seen the fairy. Then
+he turned his footsteps towards his distant, lonely home.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as evening came again to visit earth and ocean, the sea-fairy
+rose through the waves, went up to the rock, and sat down beside the
+rock beneath which Antonio lay. There she sat, silent and motionless,
+her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200">200</a></span> white hands lying idly in her lap, and her dreamy eyes looking
+out on the heaving billows; but down her beautiful face ran great
+tears, that shone in the light of the setting sun, and told the pain
+that throbbed in her proud and lonely heart.</p>
+
+<p>Not till the hues of evening gave place to the rosy tints of dawn did
+the sea-fairy go back to her ocean kingdom, never to return to earth.</p>
+
+<p>No mortal eye has since beheld her, and the old saga of the sea-fairy
+is no longer heard along the coast of Norway.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio's resting-place is desolate, as of old. It is known only to
+the Norwegian sky, which looks down brightily and sunnily upon it, and
+the little waves sometimes dash over it, sparkling like the
+sea-fairy's tears.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_202.jpg" width="200" height="159" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201">201</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a id="The_Faithful_Goblin">The Faithful Goblin.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="i203">
+<div id="i203a"></div>
+<div id="i203b"></div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">A</span><span class="out">&nbsp;CASTLE</span></b> stood long years ago on a lofty hill in the old land of
+Hesse. Not a stone of its proud walls is now standing, and even its
+site is well-nigh forgotten by tradition; but in those days its high
+pinnacles were seen for miles over the country, and a haughty and
+noble race ruled in its halls.</p>
+
+<p>The beams of the setting sun were falling through the little
+lead-framed window-panes into a round turret chamber, and rested on
+the fair hair of a lovely little girl. She was kneeling on an
+arm-chair beside the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202">202</a></span> window, leaning her head on her little rounded
+arms, and weeping silent but bitter tears.</p>
+
+</div><!--i203-->
+
+<p>"Oh, Margaret, Margaret, why are you so long?" she cried at length,
+sobbing aloud, as she slipped down from her seat and ran to the door;
+but the massive door of the castle chamber was too high for the little
+hand to reach to open it, and the thick oaken panels kept any sound of
+her crying from reaching friendly ears.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody was far away&mdash;everybody, even Margaret her nurse, who,
+forgetful of her duty, had left the child alone while she was watching
+what was going on at the splendid banquet which was being given to
+celebrate the betrothal of the eldest daughter of the noble house.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Margaret, dear Margaret, come to your little Maude!" cried the
+child again, as she rose on tiptoe and tried to open the lofty door.
+But her efforts were in vain, her entreaties all unheard; and at last
+she went back to the window, for it was beginning to grow gradually
+dusk in the high-ceiled turret chamber. She climbed up again to the
+arm-chair, leaned her arm against the window-sill, and looked with
+silent weeping into the glowing red of the evening sky, where little
+white clouds were swimming like swans in a sea of crimson.</p>
+
+<p>"Maude, Maude!" said a clear voice suddenly at the other side of the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>The child turned her head in astonishment; at the fireplace there
+stood a little boy, not any bigger than herself, and with just the
+same lovely golden hair and rosy face. His coat was of red velvet, and
+his feet were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203">203</a></span> encased in little buckskin boots, richly embroidered
+with costly pearls.</p>
+
+<p>Maude's tears forgot to flow. Half terrified, half delighted, she kept
+her eyes fixed on the form of the beautiful little stranger, and at
+last she asked shyly, "Who are you, little boy, and how did you get
+in? The door is still shut!"</p>
+
+<p>The little fellow laughed merrily, and came towards Maude's chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Maude! you have known me this long time. Just think now; doesn't
+Margaret always threaten to call me when you won't go to sleep at once
+at night?"</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean to say you are Puck, our castle goblin, who has played
+so many tricks on people that everybody is afraid of him?" asked the
+little girl quite fearlessly; "but they always speak of him as old and
+wrinkled."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am he," nodded the little boy; "but I only tease wicked people
+who tease me, and I am old and ugly only in their eyes. But I will not
+tease you, but serve you whenever I can, and play with you when
+Margaret leaves you alone, so that you need not be afraid of me. Would
+you like that, Maude?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I should," said the child, with beaming eyes, "I am so often
+alone, now that dear mother is dead. Father is always out hunting. I
+am too little for my sisters, and Margaret so often goes to gossip
+with the other servants, and shuts me up here. She has been so long
+away now that I am hungry, and it is getting dark, and she is not
+coming with candles and supper."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have both immediately, Maude; just wait<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204">204</a></span> a minute!" cried
+the little boy eagerly, as he hastened back to the fire, swung himself
+up by the iron bars, and climbed nimbly and easily up the chimney.</p>
+
+<p>Maude had got down from her chair, and was standing in astonishment
+looking up after him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! you will spoil your lovely coat, dear Puck!" she cried anxiously;
+but the only answer was a merry laugh from the goblin. Then all was
+still, and the little fellow had vanished.</p>
+
+<p>She stood with clasped hands, looking expectantly up the dark, strange
+road which little Puck had chosen. She felt that it was all so
+mysterious, and yet so delightful; it was just like waiting on
+Christmas Eve for the presents. Then there was a rustling and
+clattering away high up, and quick as a squirrel the little fellow
+clambered down the sooty wall, and in a twinkling he laid his burden
+down before the astonished child.</p>
+
+<p>"Just wait a minute," he cried merrily, "and you will see how light it
+will be!"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke he climbed up the wall, and in a moment the silver sconces
+were radiant with lighted wax candles.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl clapped her hands in delight.</p>
+
+<p>"That is not all," said the goblin with an air of importance; "just
+look here."</p>
+
+<p>He opened the basket which he had brought with him. With magic
+quickness, the table was covered and set with the daintiest dishes.</p>
+
+<p>Maude needed no pressing to taste them.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh you good Puck," she said gratefully, "how kind you are to me! Did
+Margaret give you all that?"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205">205</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Margaret, indeed!" answered the goblin, growling; "she has no time to
+think of you. She is too busy staring at what's going on, and tasting
+stolen bits."</p>
+
+<p>"But who gave you all this&mdash;this delicious cake and this splendid pie?
+This must surely be the dish that Margaret says cook is so proud of!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that it is!" said the little fellow, nodding; "and the guests
+made such faces when it suddenly vanished from before their eyes that
+I nearly died with laughing at them&mdash;ha, ha, ha!"</p>
+
+<p>"Vanished?" asked the child in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, vanished!" laughed Puck; "do you think they would have given it
+of their own accord; I put on my cap, so that they did not see me, and
+then I packed up everything that I thought you would like."</p>
+
+<p>Maude dropped the bit that she was just putting to her mouth, and
+gazed incredulously at her little friend.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" she asked anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>The little fellow laughed heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"Look," said he, as soon as he was able to control himself; "do you
+see this little red cap? I have had it under my arm all the time I
+have been talking to you; now I am going to put it on!"</p>
+
+<p>In a moment he had vanished from the child's sight&mdash;though she peered
+anxiously about the room, she could see nothing. Not a gleam of his
+red coat nor of his golden hair was to be seen at all, yet his clear
+laugh close beside her told her that he was there and as near as ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Puck, dear Puck, don't play such tricks, please," she begged; "I
+am afraid when you do that."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206">206</a></span></p>
+
+<p>That instant he stood again before her, handsome and merry, shaking
+his golden locks and smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not be frightened," he said soothingly; "I will always be
+visible for you, and my cap will only be used in your service. Now
+give me something to eat. No, not that cake! Break me some white bread
+into this dish, and pour some nice white milk over it; that's what I
+have been accustomed to for generations. In your great-grandfather's
+time the good maid used to leave me some every evening, and in return
+I used to help with all sorts of work about the house. Now, men are
+not so good-natured, and won't give me my dues, and so I don't care to
+be friendly with them."</p>
+
+<p>"My good Puck," said the little girl, handing him his bowl, "you shall
+want for nothing now! I get white bread and milk every evening for
+supper, and I will always go shares with you."</p>
+
+<p>Then the friends ate their supper with keen appetites, chatting all
+the while like old acquaintances. At last sleep overcame the tired
+child. Then Puck sat at the foot of her couch, and sang a strange,
+soft, sweet lullaby. As soon as Maude was asleep, the goblin busied
+himself in removing all the traces of their feast; and when Margaret
+returned late at night, with many misgivings about her neglected duty,
+she found the child in a quiet sleep, instead of being, as she feared,
+ready to receive her with bitter reproaches.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret breathed more freely, and resolved to be more mindful of her
+charge in future. For a few days she kept her resolution faithfully,
+but she soon began to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207">207</a></span> slip out in the twilight to chat with a friend,
+only for a few minutes, as she assured Maude. It was not long till the
+minutes became a half-hour, and in a week or two she had forgotten all
+her repentance and good resolutions, and poor little Maude would have
+had cause again for bitter tears if it had not been for her little
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the door closed after Margaret, when the goblin popped
+his fair head out of the chimney, and sprang into the room with a
+merry greeting. Then Maude would clap her hands with delight, for now
+began the pleasantest hour of the day. There was no end to the stories
+that Puck could tell for her entertainment. For hours together, while
+her nurse was away, the child sat motionless, with clasped hands,
+listening with bated breath to tales about days long gone by. For
+hundreds of years the little goblin had lived in the castle as an
+honoured member of the household, and his memory preserved more
+faithfully than the family chronicle the history of every individual
+of the long ancestral line. And before the astonished child the grave
+seemed opened, and the forefathers who had long since mingled with the
+dust all passed in the bloom of youth before her eyes. Then she would
+go to the ancestral hall, and standing before the pictures gaze at
+them, now in love, now in horror, for she knew the story connected
+with each one of the old portraits.</p>
+
+<p>No one in the whole castle knew of the child's friendship with Puck.
+She was afraid that the servants might tease him if they knew of his
+presence, or perhaps drive him away, so she kept her secret
+carefully.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208">208</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was winter. The snow lay deep, the storm howled at night and
+whistled in the wide chimney, and the windows were covered with thick
+frost.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Puck," said Maude one evening, as the goblin came down the
+chimney, his teeth chattering with cold, "I cannot allow you to stay
+any longer up there. See, your hair is white with frost and snow, and
+you are trembling all over."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," said the little fellow; "it is very cold."</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, then," said the child, going to her dolls' corner, and
+drawing aside the curtain; "I have turned out the dollies. You shall
+have the big four-post bed, and in the day-time you can stay here too.
+I have set a little table and chair for you, so that you may have
+something like a little room till the summer comes."</p>
+
+<p>So all winter long Puck crept at night into the warm, soft little bed,
+instead of springing back at Margaret's return up the cold dark
+chimney.</p>
+
+<p>Spring came with its primroses and fleecy clouds, and then followed
+summer with its splendour of flowers in field and grove.</p>
+
+<p>And now Maude and her nurse used to go out into the woods, to the
+child's intense delight. But one day Margaret found the sun too warm
+and the way too long for her lazy mood, and was easily persuaded to
+sit down and rest while Maude ran to gather wild strawberries.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely was she out of sight of her nurse when Puck, who had
+invisibly accompanied her, took off his cap, threw it into the air
+with a shout, and stood before his little friend laughing his own
+merry laugh. What<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209">209</a></span> delightful hours those were! What rich beds of
+strawberries Puck knew&mdash;what choice flowers he could find! Then, when
+the child was tired, she threw herself down on the moss, with Puck at
+her side, and they both gazed up into the green tree-tops.</p>
+
+<p>The goblin understood the language of Nature. He heard what the trees
+whispered to each other about the trees of Paradise, with the golden
+stems and the flowers of precious stones; he understood the song of
+the nightingale as he sang to his mate about the beauty of the bird
+Ph&oelig;nix and its undying youth; he saw the beetles gleaming in the
+grass, and heard even their soft sounds as they talked about their
+brothers in the distant Indies, whose wings gleam so like emeralds
+that the dark-eyed Hindoo women use them to deck their raven hair; and
+even the silent, lifeless stone had an intelligible language for
+Puck&mdash;it told him of the diamonds far away beyond the seas, which the
+poor slave seeks with eager eyes, trying to find one large enough to
+purchase his freedom. All this he understood, and told the child about
+it as she listened in silent rapture, and gazed up into the whispering
+trees.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, in pleasant alternation, the seasons rolled by, and Maude
+blossomed into maidenly grace and loveliness. She had become her
+father's darling. Many an hour that he had formerly spent at the chase
+or at the wine-cup he now passed with his daughter, amused with her
+astonishing tales out of the family history. But she never would tell
+him how she got all her knowledge, for she shrank from bringing
+trouble on the faithful goblin,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210">210</a></span> who still continued to be her friend,
+and the companion of her hours of solitude.</p>
+
+<p>Maude's only unmarried sister, Gertrude, was about to be united to a
+brave young knight, whom she had chosen in preference to a powerful
+but universally dreaded Earl, whose castle stood at no great distance.</p>
+
+<p>At the marriage, Maude appeared for the first time among the grown-up
+people, and, as befitted the occasion, she received as attendant page
+the son of a neighbouring nobleman, who, being an old friend of her
+father's, had allowed his son to come and learn knightly service in
+the household of Maude's father, preparatory to his filling an office
+in the Imperial Court. He was a handsome youth, a little older than
+his young mistress, with brown hair and dark, dreamy eyes, and Maude
+took an innocent pleasure in the beauty of her future attendant; but
+Puck looked not well pleased when she told him about her new page.</p>
+
+<p>"I will send him away if I don't like him," said he angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, dear, dear Puck, you must not do that!" said Maude coaxingly.
+"If you love me, be kind to him; he is motherless, as I am."</p>
+
+<p>But the little goblin was offended for the first time since the
+beginning of their friendship, and when Maude went to rest he refused
+the soft little doll's bed that had grown so dear to him, and sprang
+instead up the chimney to the top of the tower. There he sat looking
+gloomily up at the stars, and many were the sad thoughts that chased
+each other through his ancient breast.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211">211</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Next morning, when Gero came to the turret chamber with a bouquet of
+flowers for his young mistress, he found Puck seated beside her in the
+window-sill watching her at her spinning. The goblin had put on his
+invisible cap at Gero's entrance, but it was of no avail, for the page
+had been born during the ember weeks, and could see the little fellow
+in spite of the charm.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Lady Maude," he cried in angry astonishment, "who is this that
+you have in your company? It cannot surely be one of the goblins who
+do so much mischief."</p>
+
+<p>"Puck has been my friend and companion from my childhood up," said
+Maude, a little hotly; "and I have to thank him for many a pleasant
+hour."</p>
+
+<p>"That may be," answered Gero, "but he must not take my place with my
+mistress. And now your palfrey is ready, and I will escort you on your
+ride."</p>
+
+<p>Then the goblin's wrath broke loose. He called Gero a proud fool, and
+said he would not let him interfere with him. Then he followed Maude,
+who descended the winding turret stair, her mind full of distress at
+the discord between her companions. When she sprang to her saddle at
+the castle gate, Puck jumped up behind her, as was his wont, and went
+trotting merrily off with her down the mountain. But his pleasure was
+not to last long, for scarcely had they reached the broad, even road,
+when Gero rode up to the side of his lady's horse, caught little Puck
+suddenly, and set him before himself on his saddle.</p>
+
+<p>The goblin would have been able easily to free himself<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212">212</a></span> from the hand
+of the youth, if it had not been that Gero had wisely taken possession
+of the invisible cap, and all the little fellow's efforts to release
+himself only increased his tormentor's mockery. At last, when Gero set
+him down again at the castle gate, Puck clenched his little fist, and
+growled, "I will pay you back for this."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_214.jpg" width="400" height="291" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">&quot;GERO CAUGHT PUCK SUDDENLY AND SET HIM BEFORE HIM ON HIS SADDLE.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>From this time on the page had little peace. At night Puck would slip
+into his room, and disturb his sleep with all sorts of malicious
+tricks; and once he even lifted Gero from his bed, and laid him down
+close to the edge of the great well, hoping that, waking with a start,
+he might fall into the cold, deep water. Gero escaped the danger, but
+the adventure taught him to keep on terms of at least outward peace
+with his little foe.</p>
+
+<p>Maude did her part towards preserving this show of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213">213</a></span> harmony by
+allowing Gero alone to accompany her when she went to walk or ride,
+and by granting the little goblin the old cosy morning and twilight
+hours.</p>
+
+<p>Puck accepted this arrangement with some grumbling. When the hour came
+for the ride, he would mount to the top of the tower, and look after
+the riders, as they trotted along so cheerfully, with a sad look in
+his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"But he can't tell her stories like mine," he said exultingly; "no, he
+can't take my place there."</p>
+
+<p>No indeed; the young page had never listened to the language of
+Nature, but he had delightful things to tell about tournaments and
+noble deeds, and the soft voice of the forest trees began to die
+gradually from the girl's soul, overpowered by the noise and bustle of
+life.</p>
+
+<p>Very pleasantly the maiden's days went by. The morning hours in the
+turret chamber grew more and more dear to her; the rides in the green
+wood and the tales of the unknown world had every day new charms; and
+in the warm evenings her wise goblin friend used to tell her wonderful
+things about the stars, as the two stood on the top of the old tower
+watching the far-off lights peep out one by one.</p>
+
+<p>One night, as she lay dreaming sweet dreams, woven out of memories of
+the day's delights, she was awakened by Puck's sudden call.</p>
+
+<p>"Quick, quick! do you not hear anything?" cried the little fellow
+anxiously; "rise and flee for your freedom and your life."</p>
+
+<p>Maude started up in terror.</p>
+
+<p>"What is wrong?" she cried.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214">214</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The powerful Earl, whom your sister refused, has heard that your
+father is absent, and has come to take a mean revenge by robbing your
+father of his wealth and of his child."</p>
+
+<p>"What am I to do, good Puck?" cried Maude in bitter anguish, clasping
+her trembling hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Dress quickly, and let us go."</p>
+
+<p>"Through the midst of the enemy?" asked the maiden, trembling, for she
+heard the oaken stairs creaking with the tramp of many feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, right through the midst of the enemy," said Puck, "but not
+without my cap. Cover me with your cloak, and put this on your head.
+Now, no one can see us."</p>
+
+<p>So they passed unseen through the midst of the rough soldiers. Once
+Maude nearly betrayed herself when she saw Gero fighting single-handed
+against a multitude of foes. The winding stair that led to his lady's
+turret chamber was narrow enough to be defended by one, and with the
+courage of a lion he guarded the way to the place where he believed
+his precious charge to be.</p>
+
+<p>How hard it was for Maude to keep from telling him that his efforts
+were needless! But Puck laid his little hand against her lips, and
+forced her to silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Puck, dear Puck, can you not save him?" cried the maiden, in
+distress, when they were once outside the castle walls.</p>
+
+<p>"Not till your safety is beyond a doubt," said the little goblin
+resolutely; "not till you are away in the depth of the forest, where
+they will never be able to find you."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215">215</a></span></p>
+
+<p>With trembling haste Maude ran towards the wood, but the way was long,
+and her eager feet tottered under her. Turning to look towards the
+castle, she saw flames bursting from door and window. Still more
+anxiously she pressed on till the tall forest trees hid the castle
+from her sight. Even then Puck refused to leave her.</p>
+
+<p>"Would Gero, who has, I confess, done his duty by you&mdash;would he, since
+he seems to love you, wish me to go back to save him a little trouble,
+and leave you unsheltered?"</p>
+
+<p>Further and further they went through the very scenes where Puck had
+spent so many pleasant hours with his child-friend. But now, the trees
+that used to whisper so softly looked down like grim giants, and the
+night-wind in the branches howled "Flee!"</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a gleam of light broke on their path with a mild silvery
+radiance. A gentle murmur of water fell on the wanderer's ear, and in
+a few minutes they stood by the side of a valley, which here,
+forgotten by the world, lay like a home of peace in the heart of the
+forest.</p>
+
+<p>There, in the shelter of a mossy rock, stood the cosy cottage of the
+old forest-warden. The moonbeams flashed back from the single window,
+and trembled on the stone bench before the door. The cottage was
+uninhabited, for the good old man whose home it had once been had
+years since passed away, and his office had never been filled. Yet
+nothing bore traces of decay. There was even a bright fire on the
+hearth, and a boiling kettle hung upon the hook above it. For the old
+forest-warden<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216">216</a></span> had been a good friend to Puck, and the little fellow
+loved to keep the little cottage as neat and homelike as it used to
+be.</p>
+
+<p>Maude smiled gratefully as she looked around. "Thanks, dear Puck," she
+said; "now hasten back to Gero. I will lie down on this nice bed of
+fragrant moss, and I will not be afraid, I promise you."</p>
+
+<p>When Puck returned, he found that the maiden's weariness had overcome
+her anxiety, but he knew by the tears that trembled on her eyelashes
+that she was thinking, even in dreams, of her brave page, and he
+dreaded to tell her when she awoke that he had not been able to find
+any trace of the faithful Gero. A great portion of the turret stair
+had fallen in, and among the bodies that lay piled beneath its ruins
+it was impossible to distinguish any one.</p>
+
+<p>When the maiden woke, she almost for a moment fancied herself in her
+own turret chamber, for there, at the open window, stood the
+richly-carved arm-chair, the one carefully-preserved souvenir of her
+sainted mother, where Maude had so often sat and chatted with her
+little friend, and there in the corner stood her harp and the silver
+spindle, with its snowy thread.</p>
+
+<p>But alas! she soon remembered the terrors of the night, and when, in
+answer to her questioning look, Puck told her, with faltering voice,
+his fears for Gero, the maiden's grief found vent in bitter weeping.</p>
+
+<p>But Puck would not allow her to dwell on these sad thoughts. Drawing
+aside a curtain that hung against the wall, he disclosed to her
+astonished eyes the portraits<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217">217</a></span> of her dear parents, which had hung
+just so in her own room at home. And while she stood gazing on the
+beloved faces, her hands clasped in silent emotion, the flame was
+crackling on the hearth beneath the bubbling kettle, and Puck was
+rummaging in cupboards and chests, rattling with plates and cups, and
+preparing a meal for himself and his dear charge.</p>
+
+<p>Maude, with the happy buoyancy of youth, half forgot her trouble of
+the night, while her colour came back with the needed food, and her
+heart was cheered by Puck's pleasant chatter, so willing was she to
+believe his prophecies of better days.</p>
+
+<p>"You must stay here, Maude," he said, "until your father returns, and
+till he has punished the wicked Earl for his malice. For you would not
+be as safe, even in your father's protection, as here in this forest
+retreat. So be patient, and I will give you back in time to your
+friends, even to Gero, if he still lives, though that will be the
+hardest thing of all. But I know now that he was worthy of you, or he
+could not have fought as he did last night. It was nobly done!"</p>
+
+<p>And the little fellow rubbed his hands with delight, which he felt, in
+spite of himself, in thinking of that valiant defence.</p>
+
+<p>"You would have been friends yet if he had lived," said Maude
+tearfully. "Two such dear, good people could not have been enemies all
+their lives."</p>
+
+<p>Days and weeks passed by, and still Maude was kept in her place of
+concealment. From time to time Puck went out to see what was going on
+between the hostile<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218">218</a></span> noblemen. The report brought back was always the
+same&mdash;"The Earl is sending out spies&mdash;I see them lurking in all
+directions&mdash;to find out your retreat, for they seem to know that you
+escaped the fire, or to suspect it from not finding your body among
+the dead. He wants to take you now as a hostage against your father's
+vengeance." Then, when Maude's cheek would pale at the words, he would
+add, "But they cannot find you in the midst of this thicket."</p>
+
+<p>So the maiden still stayed in the forest cottage, and if her grief
+about Gero and her longing for her beloved father had not gnawed at
+her heart, she could have been nearly as happy in the lovely valley as
+she was once in her old home.</p>
+
+<p>Puck was at work every morning by break of day, as if he wanted to
+make up for a century of idleness, nor would he ever allow Maude to
+share his household toil. But she sat spinning on the stone bench at
+the door, while he bustled cheerily about the little cottage. Then,
+when all the work was done, they would go into the wood, and it seemed
+as if the old days had come back again. For they still lay on the soft
+moss gazing into the shady trees while Puck told his marvellous
+stories.</p>
+
+<p>Autumn and winter came, and the leisure hours were spent now by the
+cheery fire that burned on the clean-swept hearth. Never was there
+such a servant or such a merry companion as the little faithful
+goblin.</p>
+
+<p>At last spring came. And now Puck went away every day to see what was
+going on at the wicked Earl's castle, for Maude's father had laid
+siege to his enemy's stronghold,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219">219</a></span> hoping to force him to give up the
+dear one whom he believed to be imprisoned within those walls. Puck
+never let the sorrowing father know of his child's safety, for he did
+not wish her to be removed from his protection till her powerful enemy
+had been reduced by war, or even slain.</p>
+
+<p>As the wood grew greener, the hopes of the besiegers waxed daily
+brighter. The fall of the castle was sure, and its defence could last
+but a few days longer.</p>
+
+<p>This was the news which Puck brought home one day as he came to the
+noonday meal, and when he again went out to get further information,
+or, if possible, lend, unseen, a helping hand to the besiegers, Maude
+sat on the stone bench before the cottage, and tried to busy her
+trembling fingers with her spinning. But Puck was longer absent than
+usual, and she asked herself anxiously should she regard it as a good
+sign or the contrary.</p>
+
+<p>At last she could stand it no longer. She rose and went along the
+narrow path by which she had come to her place of refuge. She had
+never before ventured alone through those forest shades; but the birds
+sang sweetly as she passed along, and she thought their cheerful
+voices bid her hope.</p>
+
+<p>Soon she came to the scenes familiar to her from her childhood. Here
+was the place where Margaret used to sit and rest, and there&mdash;what
+memories filled her soul with sad emotion!&mdash;there was the old
+oak-stump on which she had sat by Gero's side, as he told her of the
+great world of which she knew so little. And now the eloquent mouth
+was silent, and her faithful page had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220">220</a></span> fallen in her defence, for
+Puck, in all his journeys to the castle, had never seen Gero among the
+besiegers.</p>
+
+<p>She leant her head against a tree-stem, and wept long and bitterly.
+Then she raised her head to take one more look at the sacred spot. But
+were her tear-filled eyes deceiving her? There sat, as if lost in
+painful memories, a tall, manly form in gleaming armour, with a
+well-remembered sash of silver and blue across his breast.</p>
+
+<p>Maude uttered a cry. The knight raised his head, and she looked into a
+familiar, but now pale and grief-marked face.</p>
+
+<p>"Gero, Gero!" she cried, forgetting every other feeling in her wild
+delight, and rushing with outstretched arms to where he stood.</p>
+
+<p>The young knight's brain swam. At first he thought the sweet
+apparition must be his dear one's spirit; but no, he clasped in his
+arms the trembling form of the lost maiden.</p>
+
+<p>For one moment she lay sobbing on his breast; then, recollecting
+herself, she tore herself blushing from his arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me, Gero, my surprise overcame me. So you are alive, and I
+had mourned for you as dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you mourn for me, lady?" asked the young knight. "Thanks for the
+sweet assurance. I too sorrowed&mdash;oh! how deeply&mdash;for your loss; and
+to-day I rose from what I thought would be my death-bed, and came to
+visit the spot where we had spent so many happy hours together, here
+to indulge my grief undisturbed. The wicked Earl who caused our
+trouble fell<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221">221</a></span> to-day in the storming of his own castle, but great was
+our disappointment not to find you anywhere within its walls. And now
+you are here, and I am not deceived by a blessed dream!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is no dream," said Maude joyfully; "but now let us hasten to
+relieve my father's grief."</p>
+
+<p>As they went together through the wood, Maude told the knight how Puck
+had saved her, and how he had cared for her in the lonely valley.</p>
+
+<p>"The brave little goblin!" cried Gero, as she finished. "Let bygones
+be bygones; we will be friends henceforth."</p>
+
+<p>They had now reached the blackened ruins of Maude's former home, but,
+in the joy of dispelling the grief from the dear face of her father,
+who stood gazing, in deep sadness, on the scene of desolation, the
+maiden forgot to mourn at the wreck before her.</p>
+
+<p>Ere the sun set, Gero and Maude were formally betrothed, and the work
+was at once begun of repairing the ruined castle. Meantime, Maude
+found a home with her future father-in-law, who was delighted to
+welcome as a daughter the child of his trusted friend; and Puck found
+no lack of employment among the busy builders, who wondered sometimes
+what made the work progress so quickly.</p>
+
+<p>Before another spring the castle stood in more than its old strength
+and greatness, and no part had received such careful attention as the
+turret where Puck had made the lonely child his friend.</p>
+
+<p>No guest at Gero's wedding received such marked deference and
+attention from the bridegroom as his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222">222</a></span> former enemy, and the servants
+of the new household, catching their tone from their master, treated
+little Puck with kindness such as he had experienced at the hands of
+former generations.</p>
+
+<p>The turret chamber was his home henceforth, and all through the long
+winter Maude's children loved to gather there at twilight, and coax
+the merry goblin to join them in their games, or tell them tales of
+the old days of the castle. But perhaps their mother's story was the
+one that they loved best&mdash;the story about the old enmity that changed
+to such firm friendship between the Lady Maude's page and her faithful
+goblin.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_224.jpg" width="300" height="228" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223">223</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a id="THE_FALLEN_BELL">THE FALLEN BELL.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="i225">
+<div id="i225a"></div>
+<div id="i225b"></div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">E</span><span class="out">&nbsp;RE</span></b> the light of the Gospel had shone on the benighted land of Saxony,
+there stood on the green banks of the Saale a stately temple, within
+whose walls a throng of ignorant worshippers presented the offering of
+praise and of sacrifice to the gods who had been honoured, as they
+believed, by their remotest ancestors. Then came Charlemagne, who cast
+out the heathen gods of Saxony,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224">224</a></span> threw down their altars, and
+introduced Christianity. Among the rest fell the temple on the banks
+of the Saale. The Christian priest with pious zeal seized the idol
+which had there been worshipped, and hurled it into the river. From
+that time on, the rejected god lived as a water-sprite down in the
+waters of the Saale, cherishing a deadly hatred against the new
+religion, which had robbed him of his old-established rights. On the
+site of his former shrine rose now a cloister, and the bell, whose
+deep rich voice reached even the dwelling of the water-elf, stirring
+up afresh his bitter wrath and jealousy, called the inhabitants of the
+surrounding district to the new God and His sanctuary.</p>
+
+</div><!--i225-->
+
+<p>But the old honoured faith did not so easily die out from the hearts
+of the Saxons, and though they were obliged to join in the
+newly-enforced worship, they clung long to their ancient divinities,
+and secretly brought them the usual sacrifices.</p>
+
+<p>At last the power of the Gospel triumphed, and the innocent child who
+had yearly been offered to the water-spirit on St. John's day was now
+withheld.</p>
+
+<p>Wild was the rage of the mortified elf. All day long he watched among
+the willows on the bank, whence he could look unseen far over the
+fields, to see if they had really forgotten him. No sacrifice was
+brought. He felt that the last vestige of his power was gone. In
+gloomy anger against the thankless race, he resolved to take by force
+the victim of which he had been cheated.</p>
+
+<p>A lovely child approached the bank, heedless of danger, holding in its
+tiny hand a bunch of forget-me-nots.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225">225</a></span> Close by the water's edge were
+more of the blue flowers, and he ran forward to pluck the tempting
+blossoms. Then the waters of the Saale suddenly rose, swept over the
+place where the child was standing, and carried him down in their cold
+embrace. From that time people were careful to avoid the river on St.
+John's day, fearing a similar fate.</p>
+
+<p>As Christianity became more powerful, the cloister, formerly a centre
+of holy influence, became the seat of arrogance and idle luxury, and
+the water-elf, who knew that the God whom he hated was a righteous
+judge, who would punish evil, often sat on moonlight nights among the
+willows gazing at the cloister, from whose lighted windows came the
+noise of clinking glasses and wild revelry. Then he murmured between
+his teeth&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I shall live to see you brought to shame! Your God cannot suffer such
+doings, and I shall have my revenge."</p>
+
+<p>And he did live to see it.</p>
+
+<p>One night, when, instead of pious hymns, drinking-songs were ascending
+from the cloister cells, a dark storm-cloud spread across the sky.
+Thunder growled and lightning flashed, making all nature tremble. Men
+fell on their knees; the monks alone heeded not the voice of the
+Almighty. At every peal of thunder they raised their voices in the
+vain attempt to drown with their wild chorus the tumult without.</p>
+
+<p>Then came an awful flash, which gleamed like a coronet of fire on the
+summit of the tower, and darted through the roof to the refectory,
+where in one moment its deadly shaft sent all the profane and godless
+scoffers<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226">226</a></span> before the throne of the eternal. The flame next seized the
+furniture of the hall, and it was not long till the fire burst from
+the shattered windows, for every hand was still that might have been
+raised to check its progress.</p>
+
+<p>The water-sprite sat on a stone at the river's edge, contentedly
+watching the awful spectacle.</p>
+
+<p>Every moment the flames gained greater force. Their fiery tooth gnawed
+beam and pillar till they burst asunder with a crash, and at last the
+devouring element rose from the ruined pile below to the belfry tower.
+Then the bell, swayed by the heat, began to stir. Faster and faster
+came the strokes, like a cry of anguish or a mournful knell sounding
+in wild and awful tones through the uproar of the storm. The beams
+from which it hung gave way, and with a great swing it fell into the
+Saale, making the water foam and hiss as it felt the glowing metal.
+The tower fell in, and the stately building was changed into a mass of
+smoking ruins.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually the rage of the elements was stilled, and nature sank again
+to peaceful repose. The clouds were parted, and from the once more
+azure sky the moon looked down on the heaps of rubbish with the same
+mild and gentle glance as it used formerly to cast on the proud
+cloister.</p>
+
+<p>And what of the water-fairy. The downfall of his foes almost
+reconciled him with his lot. The hated chimes no longer reached his
+ear, reminding him of what he so wished to forget, his lost dominion.
+The bell had found a resting-place on a beautiful green meadow which
+lay at the bottom of the Saale. The sprite planted water-lilies<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227">227</a></span> all
+round it, just as human beings adorn graves with the fairest of
+flowers. Then he built a crystal castle right in front of it, and
+brought home as his bride a beautiful water-fairy from the
+neighbouring river, Elbe.</p>
+
+<p>After a time children played in the shell-adorned halls of the crystal
+castle, two beautiful boys with bright eyes and little red caps, and
+their sister, a gentle little water-elf, as sweet and beautiful as her
+relations of the land, the fairies of mountains and trees.</p>
+
+<p>The sons were like their father; they hated the human race, of whom
+the old fairy had told them nothing but evil, and they helped him
+every St. John's day to entice some heedless mortal down into the
+stream.</p>
+
+<p>Their lovely little sister was of a very different stamp. A secret
+longing drew her heart towards the land and its inhabitants, and it
+was only by the sternest prohibition that her father could induce her
+to remain at home. But at night, when sleep reigned in the crystal
+castle, she would rise to the surface of the water, take her stand on
+the great white water-lilies, which willingly joined to do her
+service, and thus on this slender raft she would float up and down the
+stream. Her long fair hair flowed down till it touched the water; in
+her white arms she held a golden harp; and when she touched the
+strings and sang her sweet songs that told of her longing after the
+beautiful sunlight, after the blue sky and the unknown human race, the
+trees bowed their tall heads to the water's edge, the birds hushed
+their song, and even the night-wind held his breath while he listened
+to the music of the little water-sprite.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228">228</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was once more St. John's day, and the old water-elf was in one of
+his tempers.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was shining on the river, and its rays flashed back in rainbow
+hues from the crystal pillars of the water-castle. The meadows in the
+cool bed of the Saale showed their freshest green, and the long grass
+waved to and fro among the water, while fishes and water-beetles
+darted between its stalks like golden stars.</p>
+
+<p>The two boys sharpened their scythes and began to mow the grass, for
+it was haymaking time. Their sister stood among the lilies beside the
+great bell, holding one of the white flowers in her hand, and striking
+the metal with its slender stem, so that it answered her in strange
+and mellow tones. But she did it softly, very softly, for she knew how
+hateful the sound of the old bell was to her father, especially on
+this day. The sound was deep and musical, reminding the little fairy
+of the chimes which she sometimes heard on quiet nights, as she
+floated up and down the river on her raft of water-lilies.</p>
+
+<p>Pleased with the dear, familiar tones, she forgot that her father was
+near, and she struck the bell so loudly that the sound, borne on the
+waves, thrilled through the castle, where the old fairy was leaning,
+lost in thought, against a pillar, passing his fingers through his
+grey-green beard, and dreamily watching his sons at their work.</p>
+
+<p>When the hated sound struck on his ear, he started up with a cry of
+anger, and looked fiercely at his trembling daughter. But before he
+had time to give vent to his wrath a shadow fell over the palace and
+meadow, followed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229">229</a></span> by a crash, as if something had been broken in the
+castle.</p>
+
+<p>And such was indeed the case.</p>
+
+<p>A boat was passing slowly through the waves above; the steersman had
+happened to let the rudder fall, and its iron point struck with such
+force against one of the crystal panes of the water-sprite's palace
+that it fell, shattered into a thousand pieces.</p>
+
+<p>This was too much for the enraged fairy. He rose foaming through the
+water, and stood with flaming eyes before the boatman. "Insolent man,"
+he growled, "what hast thou done? Repair the injury at once. If the
+pane is not replaced within half-an-hour, thou shalt pay for it with
+thy life."</p>
+
+<p>The boatman laughed. "I don't understand glazier's work," said he,
+"and I shall hardly be able to find any one who could work down there
+in the water; so I cannot satisfy your demand. But as for your
+threats, my good fellow, the time of your authority is long gone by.
+There is not even a child now who fears you; and, besides, I have a
+cargo of steel bars, and you know, my dear waterman, that they would
+prevent you from coming into my boat to do me any harm."</p>
+
+<p>At the mention of steel, a metal very hurtful to water-elves, the
+fairy unwillingly retired. He cast one more look of anger on the bold
+boatman, and on the little girl, who, on seeing the wrathful
+apparition, had clung terrified to her father's arm; then he slowly
+sank into the water. He sat down in his crystal hall, leaned his head
+on his hand, and tried to devise some plan by which he could<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230">230</a></span> entice
+the little girl from the boat into his kingdom, and, by choosing her
+as the victim of the day, avenge himself on the boatman.</p>
+
+<p>"I have it!" he cried at length; "the trick with the green ribbon that
+I learned the other day from my cousin the water-prince in Bohemia
+will be of use to me now. To-day there is some great ceremony in the
+next village, and I am sure the father will send his child there to
+have her out of my way, and then I may find an opportunity of trying
+my skill."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he put on his hat of plaited rushes, drew on his green
+coat, and rose to the surface to place himself not far from the boat
+among the willows by the river's brink.</p>
+
+<p>He had guessed rightly. Though the boatman had seemed courageous when
+speaking to the water-sprite, a secret uneasiness rankled in his
+heart. It was not for himself he feared, but for his only child; for
+he had seen the wicked glance that the waterman had cast on the girl
+as he disappeared beneath the stream. He consulted his wife about what
+they ought to do for their child's safety; for they knew well the
+dangers of St. John's day, which the mischance with the rudder had
+unhappily doubled.</p>
+
+<p>In the next village lived a distant relation, and the fair gave an
+excellent excuse for paying her a visit. The little girl dressed
+herself in her best, said good-bye to her parents, and received
+injunctions to stay all night with her friends, and not return to the
+boat before morning. Joyfully she hastened along the high-road, which
+lay for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231">231</a></span> some distance by the river-side, till she came to the place
+where the water-sprite sat so quietly in his summer clothes, that no
+one would have recognised in him the angry and revengeful spirit of
+the morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going so briskly, fair maiden?" he asked pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"To the village, to the dance!" answered the little one merrily;
+"don't you hear the music?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child," said the water-sprite artfully, "the girls there are
+all so finely dressed that you in your plain clothes will look very
+shabby among them, and perhaps you will not even be able to get a
+partner. But look at this lovely ribbon, of which I have such a
+quantity. If you had that twined in among your golden hair, or wound
+as a sash round your slender waist, you would outshine all the girls
+at the fair."</p>
+
+<p>The little one, who had thought until the old man spoke to her that
+she would never get soon enough to the dance, now stopped, and looked
+with a critical eye, first on herself, and then on the bright green
+ribbon, which the water-sprite was pulling in endless lengths from the
+river which flowed on the other side of the willows.</p>
+
+<p>"Look how pretty it is!" said he, and she let him wind it, as if to
+try the effect, around her slender form.</p>
+
+<p>But immediately she was in the old fairy's power. With a mocking
+laugh, he said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my little one, thou art mine! We shall see whether thy father
+will say to-morrow that my authority is overthrown, and that I have no
+longer power to frighten a child. Come!"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232">232</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As he spoke he seized the ribbon, and walked towards the river.</p>
+
+<p>The terrified child began to scream, but father and mother were far
+away. She tried to escape, but the ribbon forced her to follow the
+water-sprite. Her feet would bear her in no other direction, no matter
+how she tried. Nearer and nearer to the rushing stream was she drawn
+by the dreadful ribbon. Soon the water touched her feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Father, mother, farewell!" she cried in a voice of anguish. Then the
+old water-elf caught her in his arms, and, with a horrid laugh,
+plunged with her into the stream. The waters did their deadly work on
+the poor child's body, but the water-sprite kept the soul of the
+drowned girl prisoner at the bottom of the Saale. She could not mount
+to heaven; she could not even rejoice in the sunlight which pressed in
+softened radiance through the water to the meadow on the river's bed,
+nor might she play like the little water-elf with the silvery fishes.
+Heedless of her entreaties, the water-man put her under the heavy bell
+among the lilies, and said, as he went back to his castle, "Here thou
+shalt stay in punishment for thy father's insolence; and my watchful
+eye and the weight of the bell will prevent any one from setting thee
+free."</p>
+
+<p>He went away, and left the soul of the poor little girl alone in her
+prison. Her sighs and lamentations could not pierce through the thick
+metal walls, but they were only sent back to her in dismal echo.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the little water-elf stood outside the bell in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233">233</a></span> sympathetic
+grief. She wound a garland of the fairest lilies round the little
+girl's corpse, carried it gently up through the water, and left it
+near the boat. The parents would never again see their dear child
+alive, but she had laid the little body in a soft bed of flowers, to
+make the sad sight less startling to their loving hearts.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, when the sun began to gild the waters of the Saale, the
+boatman left his cabin to make preparations for departure, while the
+mother, shading her eyes with her hand, stood looking along the
+high-road, where she expected every moment to see the child appear.</p>
+
+<p>"Look there, wife!" said the boatman, pointing to an object in the
+water, which slowly approached the boat. "Look there! What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman turned to see. The waters of the Saale were gently bringing
+a great garland of blooming lilies, and in their midst lay, with
+closed eyes and folded hands, their loved and only child.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The little girl's soul sat beneath the bell. She could not leave her
+prison. Not a chink was visible, and the heavy bell would not move one
+hairsbreadth, notwithstanding all her efforts.</p>
+
+<p>"What will my father and mother say if I do not come home?" sighed the
+child's soul. "Oh, my poor dear parents! Never to see the pleasant
+sunlight or the blue sky! To stay down here for ever in this narrow,
+dark coffin&mdash;oh, how dreadful!" And if a soul could have died with
+terror, grief, and longing, that would certainly have been the fate of
+the little girl's spirit<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234">234</a></span> The hours passed silently over her and her
+prison. The hours became days. How many had gone by? The little soul
+did not know. At last she sank into a kind of stupor, and almost
+ceased to feel.</p>
+
+<p>But one day something approached her prison, the edge of the bell was
+raised, and the water-sprite's rough voice said, "Come out."</p>
+
+<p>The opening through which the light was peeping was small, but souls,
+with their light transparent forms, do not need much space, and in a
+moment the little spirit slipped out, and now stood trembling before
+the wicked water-man.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou mayest play here for a little," he said; "but in an hour thou
+must return to the bell."</p>
+
+<p>The soul looked up. She had been so long in that dismal tomb, and now
+she found herself all at once in God's gloriously beautiful creation,
+though only for a short time, and as a prisoner! She forgot her past
+sorrow, and thought not of the future; she rejoiced in the delightful
+present, and looked up at the sun, which in noontide splendour stood
+in the blue canopy of heaven, sending its rays down on the green
+meadow, their brilliance softened by the crystal flood.</p>
+
+<p>Then she looked around. Before her stood the splendid palace, with its
+glittering walls and transparent pillars, and round her swam the
+prettiest little fishes as fearlessly as if the little soul had been
+an acquaintance for years.</p>
+
+<p>A lovely young girl came out of the shining building, and asked her to
+play with her.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235">235</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The old water-sprite frowned in displeasure at his daughter's
+friendliness, but the little elf did not look at him, and the child's
+soul thought, "I must go back to prison at any rate, and he cannot do
+anything worse to me!" So she took the friendly fairy's hand, and rose
+with her through the silvery flood, chasing the fishes and trying to
+grasp the sunbeams with her little transparent hand. Then she wound
+garlands of reeds, and let them rise to the top of the water, after
+she had pressed sweet kisses on them, and laden them with loving
+messages for her dear ones up above.</p>
+
+<p>As she stood watching them with tearful longing as they rose nearer
+and nearer to her home, she heard herself called once more. The
+water-sprite stood behind her, seized her hand, and led her back to
+the bell. She turned for a last look at the clear blue sky; the next
+moment she was back in her dark and narrow prison.</p>
+
+<p>Hours and days passed slowly by. The time seemed endless to the poor
+little soul. Her only amusement and her only pleasure was to go over
+again and again that one hour of freedom and happiness.</p>
+
+<p>One day, just as she was doing this, there was a noise outside the
+bell; the ray of light pierced her prison again, and before the old
+water-sprite had time to give her permission the little prisoner
+slipped through, spread out her delicate transparent arms towards the
+light of heaven, and with a cry of joy greeted the fair, free world.
+Her playfellow was standing waiting for her, and together they left
+the bell with joyous haste, slipped<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236">236</a></span> through the waving grass, and
+danced on the sunbeams with the dragon-flies and fishes.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said the little soul sadly, "why does this delightful hour come
+so seldom. Why may I not get out every day?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know," answered the water-fairy; "but it is only on
+Saturday, between twelve and one o'clock, that the spirits are allowed
+to leave their prison down here and play in the sunlight."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is so lonely and dark in the bell," said the child's soul
+dolefully.</p>
+
+<p>The little nymph looked at her compassionately. Both had lost all
+pleasure in their joyous play, and arm-in-arm they looked up through
+the water at the clouds which were slowly sailing past.</p>
+
+<p>"There comes your father to fetch me," said the little girl's soul,
+shuddering. "Oh! do come once, just once, every day to my prison;
+knock against the bell, and when the sound pierces through my metal
+walls I shall know that I am not quite alone in the world. Will you?"</p>
+
+<p>A thought struck the young water-sprite; she opened her mouth to tell
+it to her playmate, but just then her father came up, and she had to
+be silent. She could only nod kindly at the poor little prisoner, whom
+the old water-sprite led roughly away to the dismal prison, whose
+narrow walls soon shut her out from the cheerful daylight.</p>
+
+<p>It was night. Souls cannot sleep, but they may have waking dreams.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237">237</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Thus the child's spirit was led back in imagination to her home. She
+saw herself once more in the ship on which she had been born, and
+fancied herself sitting beside her mother, listening to pleasant
+stories told by the dear gentle voice, and as she dreamed she forgot
+the impassable gulf which separated her from the living ones above the
+stream.</p>
+
+<p>Then the sound of a bell fell gently on her ear. She had been so
+absorbed in her dreams that she started in alarm at the unexpected
+sound, and it was a moment or two before she could collect her
+thoughts to think. Then she remembered her request, of which this was
+evidently the fulfilment, so she struck softly against the inside of
+the bell as a sign that she had heard her friend's greeting.</p>
+
+<p>Then the edge of her prison was gently lifted, and with a cry of joy
+she slipped out into the water. There stood the little water-sprite.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you go up with me to the surface of the stream?" asked she.
+"Would you like to float up and down on my lily-raft?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I should," answered the little soul. "What do I want but
+freedom, air, and light? Oh yes, take me with you!"</p>
+
+<p>The lovely nymph took the child's hand, and a little shining wave bore
+them upwards as on the wings of a swan.</p>
+
+<p>Now they are standing on the surface of the water. The little
+water-sprite beckoned, and from far and near swam the water-lilies and
+anemones to make a boat of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238">238</a></span> flowers for their young mistress and her
+dear little pale companion.</p>
+
+<p>They glided down the stream. Oh, how beautiful it was!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_240.jpg" width="400" height="413" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">THE WATER-ELF AND THE LITTLE SOUL ON THE RAFT OF WATER-LILIES.</p>
+
+<p>On they moved past lofty mountains crowned by stately castles&mdash;past
+villages lying in peaceful slumber, whose churches mirrored their
+graceful spires in the clear flood below&mdash;past the willows on the
+banks, that nodded their drowsy heads as the night-wind played
+through<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239">239</a></span> their branches. And over all these lovely scenes the moon
+shed her magic light, and the waves sang softly their everlasting
+song.</p>
+
+<p>Then the little water-elf took her golden harp, and sent her clear
+voice floating through the stillness of the night. She sang of what
+was stirring her own heart and filling the child's soul with
+sorrow&mdash;of their longing for happiness on earth or in heaven, which
+was so far, so far from them both. The sweet sounds floated through
+the silent night, till the waves checked their song, and the
+slumbering trees awoke to listen to the enthralling strains.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said the child's soul at length, "why cannot I rise into the
+kingdom of light? why must I linger far away from my heavenly home,
+and pine down below in that dark dungeon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because," answered the lovely water-elf kindly, "my father has
+sentenced you to the bell, and this spell holds you bound, and always
+forces you to return to darkness and captivity."</p>
+
+<p>"Can this sentence, this spell never be broken?" asked the little
+soul.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if a human being descends and overthrows the bell the charm will
+be broken, and you may rise to heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! would that that time would come!" said the little one
+sorrowfully. "The only ones whose love would be strong enough to make
+them take the risk are far away." And she looked sadly into the
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>When the moonlight began to pale, and the stars were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240">240</a></span> dying out one by
+one, the friends left their lily-raft, plunged into the flood, and the
+little soul went back reluctantly to her dark prison.</p>
+
+<p>So the days went by. Alone, alone in the dark bell, and once a-week
+one short hour of freedom and sunlight&mdash;that was the lot of the little
+soul, with now and then a sail on the lily-raft by the side of the
+water-elf. Unspeakably delightful were these hours, but the longing
+for their return made the dark days seem all the longer to the poor
+little prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>And this pleasure was but rare. The little water-sprite had to be very
+prudent, for her cruel father might have made her pay for her nightly
+journeys with her life, so displeasing to him was her hankering after
+the human world, and her mild and friendly disposition.</p>
+
+<p>Many a night the old water-fairy rose himself to the surface, many a
+time did his sons sit among the willows; and often the water-man could
+not sleep, and went restlessly through the rooms of his palace to see
+that everything was right.</p>
+
+<p>It was only on nights when all in the crystal castle were fast asleep,
+and no discovery was to be feared, that the young nymph hastened to
+the little soul, opened her prison, by raising the edge of the bell,
+and rose with her for a sail in the lily-boat.</p>
+
+<p>Years passed by, and with them hope died out from the little girl's
+soul; nothing remained to her but memory and longing. In the world
+above the water, what she had last seen young and fresh had grown
+gradually old. The playmates of her childhood had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241">241</a></span> been married long
+ago, and some of them had entered on their eternal rest. Her father
+had never recovered the shock of that unhappy day, and the secret
+thought that he had excited the water-fairy's wrath by his defiant
+words, and had thus caused his dear child's death, gnawed at his life,
+and brought him to an untimely grave. Her mother alone was left. Her
+hair had grown white, not so much through age as through sorrow. Once,
+when in her solitude a deep longing seized her to see once more the
+place where her child had died, she entrusted the guidance of the boat
+to her brother's son, who was one day to fall heir to all her little
+possessions, and told him to take her to her darling's grave.</p>
+
+<p>The boat reached its destination the night before Easter. Here,
+opposite the clump of willows, which had grown even denser than when
+she saw them last, and above which the spire of the village church
+raised its graceful form, the boat had stopped on that unhappy day so
+many years ago. Here, therefore, was the anchor lowered, and the
+boatman went to rest. But the mother, when she found herself so near
+the fatal spot, could not sleep. The most dreadful hour of her life,
+when she stood watching for the coming of her merry child, and saw
+instead but her pale, cold corpse, came again before her soul, and she
+passed the night in bitter weeping.</p>
+
+<p>When the first gleam of daylight played on the stream, she rose and
+went on deck. All the stars had gone to rest except the morning star,
+and even its radiance grew gradually fainter; for the young day began
+to don his golden festive robe. The poor mother leaned over the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242">242</a></span> edge
+of the boat, and looked down into the water. The sky was one glow of
+purple, and on the stream lay the roses of the dawn. The Easter sun
+rose slowly above the horizon, and as its first beam struck the river
+a sound of solemn melancholy came upwards from its depths.</p>
+
+<p>"What was that?" said the woman, leaning forward to listen.</p>
+
+<p>A second chime broke the stillness of the morning, and soon the bell
+began to ring in tones of wondrous richness from the bed of the river.
+With the chimes, and borne on the sunbeams, which cheerfully plunged
+into the stream, and rose again radiant from the crystal flood, came a
+sweet, familiar voice to thrill the heart of the listening mother.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Jesus lives, and I in Him:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where is thy victory, O grave?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Jesus lives to set me free,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My captive soul His love will save;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Jesus will lead me to the light,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">This the sure hope that cheers my night."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So sang her child's clear voice in the words of the hymn which she
+herself had once taught her, and which the little one used to sing on
+Easter morning. The child's soul was still imprisoned, but now, on the
+day of Christ's resurrection, when the bell began to ring as the first
+sunbeam touched it, she felt a strange, sweet joy, that made her feel
+inclined to join her voice with its mellow chimes.</p>
+
+<p>On the great Christian festivals all bells that have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243">243</a></span> sunk in rivers
+or lakes awake to join in the hymn of all creation, and when, among
+the rest, the little girl's bell began to sound, her grief and longing
+generally awoke afresh. But to-day with the first note her sadness
+suddenly vanished, and a strange joy sprang up in her heart. She
+folded her delicate hands, and sang the verse of her childhood. But
+the metal did not send the sound back to her as on other days; it
+pierced through the walls, and floated through the waves up to the ear
+and heart of her sorrowing mother.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was her child's voice; every drop of blood, every pulse-beat
+of her trembling body told her that. She had indeed found her little
+daughter's corpse; but her soul must have remained in the power of the
+cruel water-sprite, and had been pining all these years down in the
+stream, shut out from light and liberty and love. All the stories that
+she had heard of the imprisonment of souls, and which she had always
+laughed at as childish tales, came into her mind, and filled her with
+unspeakable anguish. Her captivity must be somehow connected with the
+bells, or else the chimes would not have mingled as they did with the
+hymn. She leaned over the edge of the boat, and looked down into the
+water.</p>
+
+<p>There was a sudden splashing and foaming in the river, and the old
+water-sprite slowly rose, parted the waves, and stood before the
+terrified woman. It was the same powerful form, the erect carriage,
+the long grey-green beard, for the hand of time passes more gently
+over spirits than over men. The woman recognised him at the first
+glance, for she had seen him from her cabin<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244">244</a></span> window as he vented his
+wrath on her husband, though she herself was out of sight. She knew
+that the murderer of her child stood before her, but the water-sprite
+did not suspect that this was the mother of his little prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>"My wife is ill," he said gloomily. "The chimes in the water always
+make her ill, but there must have been some special power in them
+to-day, for she is writhing in agony, and she begged me to bring her a
+woman of the human race, to lay her warm hand on her aching head, and
+restore her to health. Come with me," he concluded sullenly; "it is
+not for nothing that I ask this."</p>
+
+<p>The woman could have shouted with joy. Her enemy himself was about to
+lead her to the place where all her affections were centered; it
+seemed to her a sign from heaven, and she went fearlessly to the edge
+of the boat, and prepared to plunge into the stream.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so," growled the water-sprite: "thou couldst not reach the bottom
+alive&mdash;a thing which would have pleased me well enough at any other
+time, but to-day it would not suit my purpose. Take this ring!"</p>
+
+<p>She placed the glittering circle on her finger, and followed the
+water-elf into the river. Thus protected, she could walk through the
+water as on dry land, and breathe in the river as freely as in the
+air.</p>
+
+<p>They came to the beautiful green meadow, passed the clump of
+water-lilies, in the midst of which the woman's quick eye had already
+noted the bell, and entered the crystal castle. There, in a spacious
+and glittering hall, lay, on a glass bed with shining pillows of
+fish-scales, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245">245</a></span> wife of the water-elf. She was tossing in restless
+pain, and as the woman entered she stretched out her hands
+entreatingly. The little nymph knelt sobbing by her sick mother's
+side, and even the rough sons looked on with grave faces.</p>
+
+<p>The boatman's widow went up to the bed, and laid her warm hand on the
+sick fairy's cold, white forehead. Almost instantaneously the pain
+vanished, and she fell into a gentle sleep.</p>
+
+<p>The little nymph grasped the woman's hand, and said, while her eyes
+shone with grateful tears, "Come, I will get you some of our beautiful
+lilies."</p>
+
+<p>The old water-sprite, in his anxiety about his wife, had quite
+forgotten the little prisoner below the bell, and, besides, he had no
+reason to suspect that this strange woman knew anything about the
+little soul. So, though he did not like to see his daughter so
+friendly with the human race, he did not try to hinder her from
+getting the flowers, but sat down quietly to watch his sick wife's
+slumber.</p>
+
+<p>How the mother's heart beat as she arrived at the lilies, pressed
+through their intertwining stems, and stood at last close to the bell.
+With trembling hand she knocked, and the sound thrilled through the
+child's spirit.</p>
+
+<p>The little water-elf stood in amazement as she watched her visitor
+making her way so eagerly among the lilies, and great was her alarm
+when she heard the bell sound, for she thought of her sick mother and
+her father's wrath. But before she had time to remonstrate, the
+little<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246">246</a></span> soul said, "Who knocks?" She knew it could not be her friend
+the young nymph, for she came only at night, and this was early in the
+morning. "Who knocks?" she asked again with trembling voice.</p>
+
+<p>The mother thought her heart would break with joy; her breath left
+her, and she could not answer just at once; yet the greatest haste was
+needful, for the old water-sprite might be beside her every moment.</p>
+
+<p>"It is your mother, my dear child," she said at last with trembling
+lips; "tell me, oh! tell me quickly how I can set you free."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, mother!" cried the little prisoner; "mother, is it you?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is indeed, my darling," said the mother anxiously; "but we must
+not lose any time, for the water-sprite may come any moment, and then
+I shall not be able to help you."</p>
+
+<p>The words brought the little soul back to reality.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, dear mother, throw the bell down, and your child's soul will
+thank you for ever in the heavenly world," begged the girlish voice.</p>
+
+<p>The mother put forth all her strength, but the bell, which the spirits
+moved so easily, would not yield an inch before the woman's efforts.</p>
+
+<p>When the old water-sprite heard it sound, he went to one of the
+high-arched windows, and saw the widow struggling to overturn her poor
+child's prison. He beckoned to his sons, and quickly but noiselessly
+the three left the palace. Once outside, they screamed with furious
+rage.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247">247</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The little captive heard the wild cry, and trembled. The mother heard
+it, and the thought that on one moment hung her own life and her dear
+child's future happiness gave her gigantic strength; one desperate
+effort, and the heavy bell gave way, and lay on its side.</p>
+
+<p>It was almost too late; for the angry water-sprites had reached the
+spot, and stretched out their hands to seize the woman.</p>
+
+<p>But the little soul had left her prison, snatched up her mother in her
+arms, and darted quick as lightning up through the waves. When they
+reached the land the mother felt her child's arms taken from around
+her, while a light, cold kiss was pressed upon her cheek. Then the
+slight, transparent form of her loved one soared like a cloud towards
+heaven, till it was lost to her sight. With mingled joy and grief she
+watched the vanishing soul.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! leave me not behind, my child; take me also up to heaven!" she
+cried, amid streaming tears.</p>
+
+<p>Night came once more, and with his starry mantle covered joy and
+sorrow, life and death. The poor mother lay on a narrow couch in the
+cabin of her boat. She was wearied out with the day's lamentations,
+and a gentle sleep had kindly blotted from her mind her bitter sorrow.
+It seemed to the sleeping one as if heavenly radiance filled the
+little room, and an angel with shining wings approached her bed. But
+when she looked on the face it was that of her dear child, whom she
+had yesterday freed from the power of the water-sprite.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, dear mother, come!" said the loved voice;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248">248</a></span> "I am sent to
+fetch thee, that thou mayest keep the Easter feast in heaven with
+father and me."</p>
+
+<p>And she took her mother in her arms, soared out into the night, high
+above land and sea, higher and higher, past the glittering stars, till
+they arrived at last in the glorious heavenly temple, and met the
+loved father and the beautiful angels.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, when the nephew found the woman was not rising, he went
+into the cabin and stepped up to the bed. There she lay, cold and
+dead, but her hands were folded in prayer, and round her mouth and her
+closed eyes was a smile of peace and happiness.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_250.jpg" width="250" height="310" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249">249</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a id="The_Last_Home_of_the_Giants">The Last Home of the Giants.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="i251">
+<div id="i251a"></div>
+<div id="i251b"></div>
+
+<p><b><span class="hide">V</span></b><span class="out"><b>&nbsp;ALE</b></span> and mountain alternated in beautiful succession beneath the blue
+sky of Norway thousands of years ago just as they do to-day, and the
+Gulf Stream flowed then as now past its rugged coasts; yet it was a
+far different land. In the thick forests no axe had yet been heard
+felling the strong timbers that the Norwegian rivers would bear down
+to the sea, to float hereafter as noble ships upon the breast of the
+ocean; in the sheltered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250">250</a></span> bays no cosy houses nestled with their
+neatly-kept surroundings of garden and field; no boat yet flew over
+the sea with nets and fishing tackle. Man had not yet sought out as a
+home this beautiful northern land.</p>
+
+<p>A race of giants, of tall and powerful build, dwelt there. Their
+lifetime was measured by centuries as ours by years. They tore rocks
+asunder with their hands, and left the great streams a free channel.
+They bore huge blocks on their shoulders to the shore, and built them
+into castles whose turrets towered into the clouds. Their voice
+drowned the roar of the ocean, and scared the eagle from its nest. But
+this powerful race, beneath whose tread the ground trembled, were of
+peaceful, harmless disposition. No quarrel divided, nor envy
+embittered, their hearts. They lived together like the children of one
+great family.</p>
+
+</div><!--i251-->
+
+<p>Their chief was Hrungnir. His companions voluntarily submitted to his
+control; for he excelled them all in years, wisdom, and strength, as a
+father his children.</p>
+
+<p>Hrungnir lived in a splendid castle by the sea. The mountains of
+Norway had had to yield their most precious metals to adorn the walls
+of his giant dwelling within and without. The chief's numerous flocks
+and herds roamed over miles of land, the bears of the thick forests
+were slain in hundreds by his hands that their skins might cover
+pillows for his guests, and the tables and drinking-horns gleamed with
+precious stones. But Hrungnir's most cherished possession was Guru,
+his only daughter. Her hair shone golden as the stars of the northern<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251">251</a></span>
+night, her eyes were blue as the sky of her native land, and her skin
+was of dazzling whiteness.</p>
+
+<p>The most powerful giants of the whole country were suitors for Guru's
+hand, and Hrungnir promised his daughter to him who should excel in
+swiftness in the race, or whose arm should be strongest to hurl huge
+boulders. Then the mighty men came down from their castles in the
+mountains, where the snowstorm sweeps round the hoary peaks, and from
+sea-side fortresses, till Hrungnir's roof could scarcely give shelter
+to the host of powerful suitors. The tables smoked with countless
+dishes, the horns of mead were filled and filled again, and from the
+windows the songs of the giants sounded forth so loudly that the waves
+fled back in terror towards the sea.</p>
+
+<p>After the feast, the giants went out to the strand, broke huge masses
+from the rocks, and hurled them out in the sea as children would throw
+pebbles. Far out into the ocean flew the masses of stones, but none so
+far as those thrown by the hand of Andfind, the valiant youth whose
+castle stood amid the rocks of the storm-swept Doverfjeld, whose
+wealth almost equalled Hrungnir's, whose beauty bore comparison with
+that of Guru herself. Then when the suitors arranged themselves on the
+strand for the race, and the shingle resounded with their golden
+sandals, Andfind left all his rivals far behind, and his long fair
+locks floated like golden pennons on the rock that was the goal of the
+race, while his fellow-suitors were still toiling along the course.</p>
+
+<p>Andfind was victor, and Guru's heart sang for joy, for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252">252</a></span> she had long
+loved him in secret, though she was prepared to submit to her father's
+wish, even if he had chosen some other for his son-in-law.</p>
+
+<p>Far from grudging envy, the giants loudly applauded the conqueror,
+bore him on their shoulders to Hrungnir's castle, where the chief bade
+him welcome, and called his daughter to meet her chosen bridegroom.</p>
+
+<p>The lovely Guru came dressed in a sky-blue robe with a
+silver-embroidered hem, which she and her maids had woven and wrought
+in the retirement of the women's room. Round her white neck and
+rounded arms lay gleaming jewels, and her locks were bound with a
+golden fillet. Thus she came to meet the guests. Hrungnir took his
+daughter's hand, laid it in Andfind's right, and then, as priest of
+the household, the chief united them in the indissoluble ties of
+marriage.</p>
+
+<p>Night fell round the Castle of Hrungnir. The chief and his guests lay
+wrapped in deep slumbers, preparing for the enjoyment of a new day.
+But destruction approached them, as they slept, with stealthy steps;
+for Odin, that crafty king, of whose origin no man could tell, came
+with his trusty warriors down from the mountains. They had heard of
+the beauty of Norway, and wished to win it for their home. They had
+heard that the bravest in the land were feasting in Hrungnir's castle,
+and they had waited till the hours of slumber that they might strike
+unawares the foes with whom they could not have dared to cope on equal
+terms.</p>
+
+<p>The moonlight glided through the open windows and fell on the forms of
+the defenceless sleepers: the deep<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253">253</a></span> breathing of the warriors and the
+murmur of the waves were the only sounds that the ear could
+distinguish. But dark shadows fell in the moonlit hall, tall forms
+climbed in at the windows, and noiselessly, holding their weapons
+carefully to prevent them from clashing, they stole into the rooms.
+With sure aim they bathed their swords in the heart's blood of the
+sleepers, so that, with one last groan, each warrior yielded up his
+brave spirit. The pavement swam in blood, but Odin's band passed from
+hall to hall and never slipped on their gory path.</p>
+
+<p>The death-groan, though short, reached Guru's ear. She rose and
+listened. No, it was no dream; there came that sound again with
+dreadful distinctness. She threw on her garments and sprang to the
+window, and when she drew aside the curtain she saw strange forms in
+the courtyard, bearing with difficulty a heavy burden. She looked more
+closely, and recognised in the clear moonlight the bloody corpse of
+her noble father. She stole up to Andfind's couch, and whispered,
+"Awake, awake, my husband, and let us fly, for treachery and death
+have entered our house!"</p>
+
+<p>The bloody work seemed finished in the other rooms, and now the
+dreaded footsteps were drawing near.</p>
+
+<p>Guru raised a stone from the pavement and disclosed a secret stair.
+She bade Andfind descend, and then quickly following him, she
+carefully closed the opening behind her.</p>
+
+<p>By a narrow passage which led beneath the castle and the rocks to the
+strand they reached the sea unseen. There a boat lay rocking, which
+Guru and her maids had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254">254</a></span> often used for pleasant sails. They stepped
+in. Andfind spread the sail and seized the helm, and the boat flew out
+into the open sea.</p>
+
+<p>Odin had conquered. The noblest of the land were killed in the
+inglorious victory of that night, and the weak remnant of the giant
+race were obliged to leave their old home and seek a refuge in unknown
+lands. Notwithstanding this ignoble beginning, Odin's reign was one of
+wisdom, power, and beneficence.</p>
+
+<p>Of Guru and her husband nothing more was ever heard. Whether the sea
+had swallowed the boat in its hungry depths, or whether the waves had
+borne them to happier coasts, none had ever brought back the tidings
+to their old home. But in the winter evenings, when the maidens sat
+around the blazing pine-log, and talked at their spinning about the
+days of the Norwegian giants, some aged dame would tell her shuddering
+listeners of that night of death, and of the mysterious fate of Guru
+and her noble bridegroom.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Odin's reign was long since ended. His wisdom and his crimes were both
+alike well-nigh forgotten. Olaf had many years ago brought in the
+knowledge of the Christian religion, and reared churches on the sites
+of the old altars; and to the ancient honesty and strength of the
+nation was added the mild spirit of the religion of the cross.</p>
+
+<p>On the spot where Hrungnir's castle once stood rose now a fortress as
+proud, and well-nigh as strong, as that of the giant chief; the flocks
+that grazed around<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255">255</a></span> it were as great as his; and the present
+possessor, S&auml;mund, like him, counted as his dearest treasure an only
+daughter.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed almost as if the days of Guru were come back again, for
+Aslog's golden hair and snowy skin, Aslog's blue eyes and graceful
+form, attracted the wealthiest and most powerful nobles of the land to
+woo her.</p>
+
+<p>As each noble suitor was rejected, the father's heart swelled high
+with pride and hope. "She will only take the best and greatest," he
+thought. But when the most powerful prince in the land came, and the
+fair one's lips said "No" to him also, S&auml;mund no longer praised his
+daughter's prudence. With bitter words he reproached her for her
+folly, and commanded her to choose before Christmas Eve some one on
+whom he might bestow her hand.</p>
+
+<p>Days came and went, and Aslog's cheek grew paler and her father's eye
+more gloomy, for her heart was given to Orm, the poor but beautiful
+youth whom her father had given her as page. Orm's strong arm had on
+lovely summer evenings rowed the boat out into the gold-flooded sea;
+Orm's hand had guided her over the vast snow-fields, as in snow-shoes,
+with points thin and supple as a beech-leaf, they glided swiftly
+through the bracing air; and in long winter evenings, while the guests
+were drinking and singing in her father's halls, Orm used to sit and
+tell her beautiful stories as she sat by the cheerful fire.</p>
+
+<p>S&auml;mund loved the brave youth, but had any one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256">256</a></span> spoken of him as his
+daughter's choice he would have challenged the informant to single
+combat.</p>
+
+<p>The lovers knew this, and it was with trembling that they awaited the
+decisive day.</p>
+
+<p>"If she has not chosen before the time I have named," said S&auml;mund to
+Orm, "I will choose her a bridegroom myself, and you shall have the
+honour of bearing her bridal train."</p>
+
+<p>Orm gave no answer, but with trembling hand he arranged the table for
+the guests, and pressed his lips close together to restrain the eager
+words that his love prompted.</p>
+
+<p>It was the night before Christmas Eve&mdash;starry and cold. A secret door
+opened in the side of the mountain, and two muffled figures slipped
+out. They were Orm and Aslog. They had brought nothing with them but a
+little bundle of necessary clothing, a warm skin rug, and a bow and
+arrows which Orm had slung across his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>On they hurried over the icy plain, swiftly and terror-stricken, like
+a pair of hunted doves. They reached the edge of the wide plain. Their
+snow-shoes were no longer of use, for their road led now towards the
+defiles and rocky heights of the highlands. It was bitterly cold, the
+wind whistled through the clefts of the mountain, and its icy breath
+made Aslog's frail form tremble. Long their path wound among the
+snow-clad mountains; then they reached a thick fir wood, in the midst
+of which stood a little hermit's cottage.</p>
+
+<p>"It is I, Father Jerome," said Orm to the old man who came to greet
+them at the door.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257">257</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Welcome, my son!" said the old man, as the youth stooped to press a
+reverent kiss on his withered hand; "and the maiden at thy side is
+welcome too to the poor hospitality of the hermit's cell."</p>
+
+<p>The offered rest and refreshment were eagerly accepted by the weary
+maiden. With pitying eyes the hermit gazed on her grief-marked
+features, and when Orm begged him to unite them in marriage, the old
+man, after short consideration, granted their request.</p>
+
+<p>How different was this hour from Aslog's dreams! Not that she gave
+many thoughts to the splendour and festivity that should have done
+honour to her bridal, but she felt bitterly the want of her father's
+blessing.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremony over, there could be no further delay. On the wanderers
+pressed on their weary way, till Aslog would have sunk exhausted but
+for Orm's supporting arm. Through the thick fir woods, over rough
+mountain paths, they hastened on till the first streak of dawn gleamed
+in the eastern sky. Then Orm pointed to a cluster of dark rocks that
+lay before them.</p>
+
+<p>"There," said he cheerfully&mdash;"there, my Aslog, is rest and safety."</p>
+
+<p>Aslog's courage rose; with renewed energy she pressed over the
+intervening ground, till they reached a tall jagged rock and entered a
+cleft in its side. They now found themselves in a cave, which, though
+narrow at the entrance, became higher and wider as they went on, till
+it formed a spacious chamber. Out of this gloomy abode Orm's care and
+thoughtfulness made a home for his loved<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258">258</a></span> one that was not wholly
+lacking in comfort or happiness, and here they lived in secure
+retirement as long as the winter blocked the mountain roads. But when
+spring came, and the ways became accessible, S&auml;mund's spies were able
+to explore more thoroughly, and Orm could no longer go out and in
+freely among the mountains. But when provisions ran short, he was
+obliged to tear himself from Aslog's weeping embrace, and sally forth
+with his bow and arrows. At last, when, after weeks of mild weather,
+no living soul had been seen near their retreat, their fears subsided,
+and Orm began to lay aside caution and to venture further from the
+cave. Perhaps Aslog's father had grown tired of the fruitless search,
+or perhaps he was even cherishing thoughts of forgiveness. Aslog's
+heart was quick to believe what she so ardently wished, and Orm began
+to believe it too. One night, while his wife was sleeping, he took the
+path towards the valley where the hermit's cell nestled amid the
+woods. His breast beat high with hope that the old man might be able
+to give him some good tidings to take back to his loved Aslog, who,
+although she bore her privations even cheerfully, was yet paler and
+feebler every day. He drew near a jutting rock, behind which lay the
+path to the hermit's cottage. In his glad excitement he had forgotten
+all fear. His bow hung with loose string behind him, and his hand
+grasped his staff but carelessly. Suddenly he heard a rustling in the
+thick bushes beside him, and two heavy hands were laid on his
+shoulder. With a strong effort he shook himself free, stepped back a
+few paces, and swung his stick menacingly.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259">259</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is he whom we seek," cried his assailants; "remember the reward."</p>
+
+<p>Then it seemed to Orm as if all the bushes and even the brown rock
+behind him became alive, so great a rustling was heard on every side.
+Quick as thought he brought his stick down on the heads of the two who
+had first attacked him, and before the others could leave their
+hiding-places he had turned and fled.</p>
+
+<p>At first there was wild shouting and a sound of eager feet behind, but
+he never stopped to look back, and he soon passed out of sight of his
+pursuers. The way was long and rough, but Orm was strong and fleet of
+foot, and before him lay his home and Aslog. At last he was at the
+cave.</p>
+
+<p>How different was this home-coming from his former hopes! Aslog lay in
+sweet sleep, with a happy smile on her lips, as if she dreamt of love
+and forgiveness; and Orm must soon waken her, and tell her that she
+must go forth once more a homeless wanderer.</p>
+
+<p>"Awake, awake, beloved one," he whispered, seizing her hand, "and let
+us flee, for your father's men are on our track, and we must be far
+from this before to-morrow dawns."</p>
+
+<p>Aslog opened her eyes, and gazed in speechless astonishment at her
+husband's lips, but when she could no longer doubt, she sprang quickly
+up and arranged her clothing and the soft skins which had formed her
+covering in a neat bundle. Without delay they crept out of the cave by
+its narrow entrance, and went forth, not, as they had hoped, to
+S&auml;mund's castle, but to a dark and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260">260</a></span> unknown future. Westward, where
+Aslog's home lay, danger and treachery threatened them, so they turned
+their steps northwards, on untried mountain paths. The air was mild,
+the moon shone brightly on their way, and the soft moss kept no trace
+of their footsteps that might betray them to their watchful enemies.
+Thus they wandered northwards for hours. The cave in the rock lay
+miles behind them, and they were far from the place where Orm had been
+seen by his father-in-law's men. Then at last he ventured to turn
+westwards, towards the sea. Their way led down towards the lowlands.
+The wintry mists were still hanging over the plain. Orm's keen eye
+could scarcely pierce their grey veil, and Aslog shuddered as she felt
+their cold embrace. They could no longer tell in what direction they
+were going, but they went on and on, hoping to come ere long to the
+friendly ocean. At last Aslog's pale face caught a flush of joy as she
+heard its distant murmur. Nearer and nearer sounded the familiar
+music, and soon the wanderers came to a narrow valley, at the further
+edge of which rose a cluster of dark rocks.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the coast!" said Aslog joyously, as she almost flew along the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>In a little bay at the foot of the rocks lay a fishing-boat. Orm bore
+his wife in his arms along the sand, for on this open strand the
+greatest haste was necessary, lest some hostile eye might see them. He
+placed Aslog gently in the boat, sprang in after her, and with
+trembling hands spread the sail.</p>
+
+<p>The wind seemed to wish the fugitives well. It swept<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261">261</a></span> down from the
+mountains and filled the white sail, so that the little boat shot out
+into the sea like a swan with spreading wings. The sun rose higher and
+higher, the cliffs of their native coast seemed now but a line of low
+hills; proud ships glided not far from them, and on the farthest
+horizon appeared a group of islands gleaming in the golden mist. As
+the sun sank slowly to the horizon, the great ships passed by without
+noticing the wanderers, and the little islands were still in the far
+distance. Aslog's face, that had before glowed with hope, grew pale
+and wan.</p>
+
+<p>"What is wrong, my darling?" asked Orm anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I am hungry," answered Aslog faintly.</p>
+
+<p>Orm sighed deeply. They had had to flee without waiting to get
+provisions, and now they had been twenty-four hours without food, and
+the islands lay far, far away. The sun sank into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>"Sleep, my Aslog, sleep!" begged Orm at length; "you will not feel
+your hunger while you are asleep, and by the time you awake, perhaps
+we shall have reached one of the little islands before us."</p>
+
+<p>And Aslog smiled submissively, and loosing the skins from the bundle,
+lay down beneath their protecting warmth at the bottom of the boat.
+The waves rocked the little vessel gently, the oar splashed in
+measured monotony, and at last Aslog's eyes closed, and she fell
+asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Orm now kept watch alone on the wide ocean. Night had come, but a warm
+breath of spring was still hovering over the sea. The moon rose slowly
+above the distant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262">262</a></span> mountains of Norway, and flooded the ocean with its
+silvery light. The waves danced sparkling round the boat, sails and
+masts shone brightly, and the hair of the slumbering fair one gleamed
+like waves of gold.</p>
+
+<p>Full of love and grief, Orm's eyes rested on Aslog's pale face.
+Allowing himself but short rest, and that at long intervals, he rowed
+on all night, and when morning dawned, a large island with blossoming
+trees lay before his eyes bathed in the purple light. His cry of joy
+woke Aslog, who rose and looked at this lovely haven of refuge, which
+seemed offered to the homeless wanderers. Like a guardian of their
+future safety a tall grey rock stood upon the shore, in form not
+unlike a gigantic human figure.</p>
+
+<p>Orm tried to steer between the small islands that lay round this
+tempting spot; but the waves, which had heretofore played so gently
+round the shores, now foamed and roared about the boat, and drove it
+back into the open sea. Nevertheless Orm undauntedly plied helm and
+oar, only to be driven back irresistibly again and again.</p>
+
+<p>Noon came, and the fruitless struggle still continued; and now the sun
+was inclining towards the west. Orm's strength and heroic perseverance
+began at length to fail. His hands bled, his arms trembled, hunger and
+exhaustion almost overpowered him; while Aslog, who had sunk from a
+state of the most eager hope into the deepest despondency, clung,
+well-nigh unconscious, to the mast. Orm thought her dying. Then
+despair gave him fresh strength. "Almighty God, pity us!" he cried
+aloud<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263">263</a></span> to heaven. Immediately the waves submitted to the holy name;
+the foaming billows glided gently beneath the boat; the vessel shot
+like an arrow through the midst of the islands, and drew near the
+haven where the giant rock with its dark countenance looked down on
+the little boat that glided past it to the smooth strand. Orm sprang
+out, took the exhausted Aslog in his arms, and carried her across to
+the dry, soft sand. He looked round for something to eat. Fruit-trees
+waved their blossoming crowns at no great distance, but the time for
+fruit was not come. Orm looked still more anxiously about the beach.
+Then he saw a mussel right at his feet, then another and another. He
+lifted them, and offered them to his half-fainting wife; and so much
+refreshed did she feel by the slight nourishment, that she was able to
+walk towards the centre of the island, supported by Orm's arm, in
+search of some place of shelter.</p>
+
+<p>The blossoming fruit-trees bore evidence of some careful hand, but no
+path, no footprint told of the cheering nearness of human beings. They
+went on further through the green island, over which the sun was
+shedding its last golden beams. There before them they saw a clear
+space amid the foliage, and with hearts beating with hope and fear
+they approached it. Soon they stood before a house of very ancient
+architecture. Its walls sank deep into the earth, and towered so high
+into the air that the firs could scarcely stretch their dark branches
+over the hide-covered roof. The windows were small, and their panes
+made of fishes' skins. The door<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264">264</a></span> was made of strong planks, and firmly
+bound with iron. The whole house looked as if it bade defiance to the
+storms, and had done so for centuries.</p>
+
+<p>But where were now its builders? Did they lie sleeping in the depths
+of the ocean? Did the tall grass of the little islands wave above
+their last resting-place, or did they still sit, spell-bound, behind
+the iron-bound door and the grey walls of the dreary dwelling?
+Checking the slight shudder that shook his frame at these thoughts,
+Orm knocked at the door of the mysterious house. No sound, no footstep
+told him that he had been heard within. He knocked again, then a third
+time, but there was still no movement. Then he laid his hand on the
+heavy latch; the door opened, and they entered a stone-paved hall.
+There was no one to bid them welcome or refuse them entrance. At one
+side of this hall was another door. Orm knocked, and when again there
+was no answer he opened it, and stepped with Aslog by his side into a
+large and lofty apartment. There was no one to be seen, yet everything
+bore traces of an orderly hand. A bright fire burned on the hearth,
+and above it hung a cauldron with fish, the smell of which greeted the
+hungry fugitives with pleasant invitation.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive us, noble master of this house!" said Orm in a loud voice,
+yet in a respectful tone; "it is necessity, not forwardness, which
+makes us intruders."</p>
+
+<p>They both listened breathlessly; but there was still no answer. Then
+Orm poured some of the contents of the cauldron into two plates, and
+placed them on the table. With trembling at first, but afterwards with
+growing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265">265</a></span> comfort and courage, the wanderers enjoyed the much-needed
+food.</p>
+
+<p>When their hunger was satisfied, and their spirits revived, they
+looked around them. At the farther side of the room stood two beds of
+gigantic size, and of an ancient, long-forgotten form. The fire below
+the cauldron was getting low, the evening light had ceased to fall
+through the windows, and the darkness was only broken by the faint
+glimmer of the dying embers.</p>
+
+<p>Nature at last claimed her rights. The wanderers' eyes were almost
+closing, and, laying aside all fear, they took possession of the
+couches where surely giant forms had once reposed.</p>
+
+<p>When they awoke the sun was shining brightly outside, but its beams
+could fall but dimly through the rude window-panes. The doors were
+firmly fastened, and there was no trace of human footsteps, yet the
+fire burned once more on the hearth, from the bubbling cauldron rose a
+tempting fragrance, and the table was laid as for a meal.</p>
+
+<p>"See, dear Orm," cried Aslog joyfully, pointing to the fire and the
+table, "this language is easy to understand, though it be a silent
+one. The unseen owners of this dwelling know our need, and bid us
+welcome to their hospitable roof."</p>
+
+<p>When they had again partaken of the contents of the boiling cauldron,
+Orm and Aslog went into the hall, and found there a stair which led up
+to a room just below the hide-covered roof. This and the room in which
+they had passed the night were the only apartments of the house,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266">266</a></span> but
+they contained all that was necessary for a life of retirement. There
+was no sign of any inhabitant, yet it seemed as if some one had lately
+been there, whose hand had lovingly arranged everything for the poor
+homeless ones. They understood the silent language, and they remained
+henceforth contentedly in the house, enjoying the sweet feeling that
+they had at last a home.</p>
+
+<p>Orm never cast his net into the sea without drawing out a rich supply
+of delicious fish; the snares he set in the morning for the birds were
+never empty at evening. The fruit-trees bore abundantly, and Aslog
+found plenty of employment in gathering and storing the rich harvest.</p>
+
+<p>Summer passed away, and the short autumn was drawing towards its
+close, when a lovely baby boy came to cheer the hearts of Orm and
+Aslog through the dreary winter. The child was called S&auml;mund, and
+seemed to his parents a pledge of future reconciliation.</p>
+
+<p>One day Orm was holding his little son in his arms, and watching with
+delight his baby smiles, and Aslog stood at the fire preparing the
+midday meal, when a tall shadow passed the window, the heavy house
+door swung open, and a loud knocking was heard at the door of the
+room. Aslog let the spoon fall in terror, and even brave Orm pressed
+his boy closer to his heart as the visitor entered.</p>
+
+<p>A gigantic woman stepped into the room. Her stature was greater than
+Orm and Aslog had ever seen among their own powerful nation. She wore
+a sky-blue robe with a silver-embroidered hem; a golden fillet<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267">267</a></span> bound
+her long snow-white hair, and on her once beautiful features centuries
+of joy and grief seemed to have left their traces.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be afraid," said the majestic visitor, with gentle gravity;
+"this is my island and my house, but I gladly gave them up to you when
+I knew of your distress. Only one thing I ask of you. Christmas Eve is
+drawing near. For that one night let me have the room for a few hours,
+while we hold our yearly festivity. But you must promise me two
+things&mdash;not to speak a word while our feast lasts, and not to make any
+attempt to see what is going on in the room below. If you grant this
+request you may live here undisturbed, and enjoy my protection until
+you wish to leave the island."</p>
+
+<p>With lightened hearts Orm and Aslog gave the promise, then the
+majestic lady bowed her silvery head in gracious farewell, and passed
+out through the door.</p>
+
+<p>It was Christmas Eve; Aslog had cleaned and tidied the room with even
+more than her ordinary care. The boards were snow-white, and Orm
+strewed them with finely-cloven fir-twigs. The fire burned brightly on
+the neatly-swept hearth, and above it hung the shining cauldron. Aslog
+rolled her baby in the softest of the skins that served to cover her
+bed, and went with Orm to the upper room, where they sat down beside
+the warm chimney of the apartment below, which passed of necessity
+through this second storey.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time all was silent. Suddenly a sweet, soft sound was
+heard; others followed, and soon the music swelled in waves of melody
+through the night air.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268">268</a></span> Aslog listened entranced, while Orm went to
+the gable end of the roof, and, since this was not forbidden, opened
+the shutter which in the daytime served to let in air and light.</p>
+
+<p>There was motion over the whole island. Little shrivelled forms, with
+grave and aged faces, were bustling about with blazing torches in
+their hands. They ran dry-shod over the waves, and made their way to
+the rock that guarded the entrance to the bay. When they reached it
+they placed themselves in a circle round it, and sat down on the
+ground in respectful humility. Then a tall form approached from the
+centre of the island. The dwarfs opened their circle to admit her, and
+Orm recognised by the flickering light the noble lady who had a few
+days before paid them so unlooked-for a visit. Her sky-blue robe and
+the gold in her hair gleamed with even more than their former
+brilliance. She stepped up to the rock, threw her arms round the cold
+stone, and remained so for a moment in a silent embrace. Suddenly the
+stone acquired life and motion. The gigantic limbs were freed from
+their petrifaction, the hair rolled down over the shoulders, the eyes
+began to glow once more with life. As if awaking from the sleep of
+death, the giant rose, seized the hand of the stately lady whose
+loving embrace had called him back to life, and they both turned
+towards the house, whither the dwarfs accompanied them with flaming
+torches and heart-enthralling melody. The ground seemed to tremble
+beneath the tread of the giants. Soon they reached the house-door.
+Then Orm shut the shutter,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269">269</a></span> and groped his way back to where his wife
+sat beside the chimney.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_271.jpg" width="400" height="426" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="caption">GURU AWAKES THE ROCK TO LIFE.</p>
+
+<p>Below there was rattling of dishes and the patter of many feet; the
+young couple heard every sound through the wide chimney. The strong
+voice of the rock giant sounded like thunder to human ears, and the
+voice of the lady, which Orm and Aslog had heard once before, was like
+the powerful notes of some musical instrument.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270">270</a></span> Tables and chairs were
+moved, drinking-horns were knocked together; the feast was beginning,
+and now was heard once more that music which had before so overwhelmed
+Aslog with delight. Then an irresistible longing seized her to see the
+wondrous company which Orm had described to her. She rose and groped
+for a crack in the floor through which it was possible to see into the
+room below. Orm in silence held out his hand to check her fatal
+rashness, but the movement woke the sleeping babe, who, terrified by
+the unwonted sounds below, raised a cry that went to the mother's
+heart. Forgetting everything now but her child's distress, she began,
+as was her wont, to soothe him with caressing words. Then suddenly an
+awful cry and a wild tumult arose below, the music ceased, and through
+the door rushed the dwarfs in wild commotion. Their torches went out,
+the noise of their flight sounded but a few moments, then night and
+silence reigned over the place which a minute before had resounded
+with festive merriment.</p>
+
+<p>In deadly terror Aslog had sunk back on her seat, tremblingly awaiting
+the fate that her rashness had called down on her dear ones. They were
+anxious hours that they spent now in the dark upper room, almost more
+anxious than those of their flight and of that hard struggle with the
+waves. At last the morning dawned. A clear sunbeam shot through a hole
+in the shutter and awoke the boy, who began to cry with cold and
+hunger. Then her love for her child overcame her fear, and Aslog
+persuaded her husband to go down with her and learn<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271">271</a></span> their fate. They
+descended the stairs, trembling at every step. Now they stood at the
+door of the room and listened. There was no sound&mdash;all was still as
+death. At last they lifted the latch; Aslog pressed her child to her
+heart and entered the room. A loud cry escaped her lips. At the far
+end of the room, at the seat of honour at the table, sat the mighty
+giant whose awakening Orm had witnessed; but life had again left his
+veins, and he sat there a cold, grey mass of rock. It seemed to Aslog
+that the stony hand which still grasped the drinking-horn might yet be
+raised to hurl destruction at her and her dear ones. She gazed in
+speechless terror at the rock-giant, her eyes passing slowly from the
+motionless head to the massive folds of the stone garment. Then she
+perceived another form, sunk motionless, as in deepest anguish, on the
+floor. The face was pressed against the cold stone, but the blue robe
+with the silver-embroidered hem and the flowing white hair told the
+terrified Aslog who it was.</p>
+
+<p>"Andfind, my Andfind!" moaned the giant lady, raising her face at
+last, "thou wilt never again smile on thy faithful Guru, and rejoice
+with her at thy short space of life and freedom."</p>
+
+<p>Aslog uttered a cry, but not, as before, of terror for her own fate,
+but of anguish and remorse. Her bitter sobbing caused even the
+grief-stricken giantess to raise her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not weep so," she said gently, "and do not be afraid; I could
+indeed easily kill you, and break this house, which I gave you as your
+home, like a child's toy.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272">272</a></span> It is true that your forgetfulness has
+caused untold anguish to me, but the revenge of the powerful must
+be&mdash;forgiveness! Then do not weep, for there is nothing to fear."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is not all!" sobbed Aslog. "The names which you named, noble
+lady, cut me to the heart. They remind me of a legend which I often
+heard when a child about Guru, the beautiful giant-maiden, who was
+obliged to flee from cruel Odin with her beloved Andfind. The story of
+their fate always touched me deeply, and I thought when I heard these
+names that you might perhaps be that Guru, and this thought added
+fresh bitterness to my remorse."</p>
+
+<p>The giantess appeared sunk in dreamy meditation.</p>
+
+<p>"And do they remember us still in the old Fatherland?" she said at
+length; "and are there yet any halls remaining of Hrungnir's castle?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, noble lady," answered Aslog, "they have all long since crumbled
+to dust, for many centuries have passed over Norway since those days.
+It is true a proud castle still looks down on the foaming waves, but
+it is owned by S&auml;mund, whose only child I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Our fate, O daughter of my former home, is wondrously alike," said
+Guru; "but your life will end more joyfully than mine. We lived here
+in undisturbed happiness for many centuries, for it was to this island
+that our trusty bark bore us after that night of death. This house,
+which my husband's strong arm built for our home, is small and poor
+compared with my father's halls, but we did not miss the lost
+splendour. The days went<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273">273</a></span> by in quiet happiness, and we felt no
+longings after the land which drove out us and our friends. The dwarfs
+also, who like us had turned their backs on an inhospitable country,
+settled round about on the little islands, and lived there in the
+heart of the earth in peace and contentment. Every Christmas Eve we
+met in this room, and held festival as our forefathers did even before
+your religion had spread to these northern lands. Centuries passed
+away, and one evening I was standing with Andfind at the shore of our
+island looking out over the sea. On the northern horizon appeared a
+stately ship, and Andfind, whose eye was sharper than the eagle's, and
+had power to see into the future, recognised in the man at the prow a
+powerful foe of the freedom of Norway and of our authority. It was
+Olaf, whom you call a saint, who, not long afterwards, overcame the
+princes of Norway in one night, and destroyed the last vestiges of the
+old customs. All this my husband's prudent foresight saw, and with a
+mighty effort he blew the waves to fury with his breath, so that they
+threatened to break Olaf's proud ship to pieces. But the invader spoke
+some prayer such as you uttered when you approached our shores, and
+the raging sea grew calm. Then Andfind put forth his hand to push back
+the vessel as it drew near the shore, but Olaf, raising his hands
+towards heaven, said, in a tone of stern reproof&mdash;'Stand thou there a
+stone henceforth!' Immediately the eyes in which I had been wont to
+read my husband's every wish were closed, the hand that had grasped
+mine lovingly grew cold and hard, the form so full of life and beauty<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274">274</a></span>
+turned to unfeeling stone, and my beloved Andfind stood a grey,
+lifeless rock upon the shore. The invaders sailed on towards the coast
+of Norway, and I remained in dreary desolation on the now lonely
+island. Only once a year, on Christmas Eve, petrified giants are
+allowed a few hours of life if one of their own race embraces them,
+and thus sacrifices centuries of his own lifetime. I loved my husband
+too dearly not to offer this sacrifice willingly, that he and I might
+enjoy yearly a few hours of intercourse. I never counted how many
+times he woke to life at my embrace, how many centuries of my life I
+yielded for his sake; I did not wish to know the day when I, as I
+embraced him, should likewise turn to stone, and stand henceforth on
+the shore one for ever with my Andfind. Now all is over," Guru
+concluded; "I may never more awake my beloved one, for a human eye, a
+human voice has disturbed the sacred festival of our spirit-race.
+Stone must my Andfind remain till that day when all the rocks and
+mountains of old Norway will perish in the ruin of the world."</p>
+
+<p>She threw her arms once more round the cold stone, lifted her golden
+harp from the floor, and then turned to Orm and Aslog, who had
+listened in silent grief.</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell!" she said; "I leave you my protection and my blessing.
+Yours are henceforth the costly vessels that adorned our festive
+board; I need them no more. Live still in peace and happiness in this
+house until you return to receive S&auml;mund's forgiveness, and live a
+life of gladness on the site of my old home."</p>
+
+<p>She passed out, and her sorrowing guests followed her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275">275</a></span> to the door.
+Without once looking back, she glided away through the leafless trees;
+her blue robe gleamed far away over the snow-covered plain. Orm and
+Aslog watched her crossing the waves to the little islands; then they
+saw her no more.</p>
+
+<p>Had she descended to the music of her golden harp into the cold
+billows? or did she go to rule as queen in the kingdom of dwarfs? Orm
+and Aslog never knew her fate, but her prophecies of good were richly
+fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>Sickness and misfortune kept far aloof from their island home. They
+were happy in their mutual love, strong in body, cheerful in spirit,
+contented even in their isolation. Their boy grew daily in beauty,
+strength, and obedience; the trees bore double fruit, the sea yielded
+its tribute more freely than ever, and the bird-snares were never
+empty. Sunshine and the fragrance of flowers filled the air, and they
+drank in life and happiness at every breath. And when winter came, the
+storm raged round the house, and the thick snowflakes whirled through
+the cracking fir branches against the window, then the little family
+sat cosily in their sheltered home; the dry wood blazed brightly on
+the hearth, and at the cheerful fireside sat Aslog making nets, while
+Orm carved away at a new oar, and the child listened eagerly to the
+tales of Old Norway.</p>
+
+<p>Year after year rolled away, and left no traces of care on the faces
+of the lonely exiles, save that when Aslog thought of her father a
+shadow crossed her white brow, and the old longing awoke for his love
+and forgiveness.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276">276</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was the beginning of spring. The fruit-trees wore their wreaths of
+blossoms, and the sunbeams played through the dark fir branches on the
+roof of the lonely house. The door opened, and Orm, accompanied by
+Aslog and the boy, stepped out, bearing one of the precious vessels
+which Guru had left as a parting gift to her guests. The utensils
+which her motherly hand had provided had become worn out in the course
+of years, and Orm was going to the coast of Norway to sell the golden
+goblet, and buy the needed utensils with its price. He had long
+postponed this step, for he still feared the sharp eye of treachery
+and revenge; but their need was pressing, and there could be no longer
+delay.</p>
+
+<p>The parting was a bitter one. Aslog embraced him again and again, and
+even Guru's prophetic words had lost their power to comfort. But Orm,
+although his heart was far from light, soothed her with a promise of a
+quick return; then he tore himself away, sprang into a boat, and
+pushed from the shore.</p>
+
+<p>The boat flew like a sea-mew over the waves, through the circle of
+little islands, and out into the open sea. A wind as fresh as that
+which had favoured their flight came now from the north to swell the
+white sail. Orm drew in the oars and watched how his boat darted over
+the gleaming waves. He directed his course towards the south-east. As
+it was drawing towards noon the coasts of his native land appeared
+above the horizon; and long before the set of sun the boat sailed up
+the narrow waters of the Trondheim Fiord, and landed at the quay of
+the old royal city. Orm passed the streets with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277">277</a></span> hurried steps, and
+with the precious vessel under his arm he entered the shop of a
+goldsmith.</p>
+
+<p>The man seemed amazed at the rich metal and the rare and elaborate
+workmanship, paid without demur the price asked, and Orm hastened
+gladly to another building to choose his purchases. There was a great
+crowd of buyers, and fearing lest some old acquaintance should be
+among them, he turned aside, and examined the wares in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome, friend! What's the news in your mountains?" said the
+merchant to a countryman who had just entered.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, sir, not much good," replied the newcomer.</p>
+
+<p>"What is wrong?" asked the merchant. "Is your master, rich S&auml;mund, not
+well? Has he not yet submitted to his fate?"</p>
+
+<p>Orm listened eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"It will soon be all over with him," replied the countryman; "his
+grief about his daughter is breaking his heart. He is ill, lonely, and
+sad. He has had it proclaimed through the whole land that he will
+forgive the fugitives everything if they will only return; and he has
+promised a great reward to any one who will bring him the smallest
+tidings of them. But they seem to have vanished from the earth, and it
+is most likely the old man will die without one of his kin to close
+his eyes in the last sleep."</p>
+
+<p>Orm thought no more about his purchases; he thought only of Aslog and
+her dying father. Without being noticed in the crowd he left the shop.
+Scarcely had he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278">278</a></span> turned the first corner when he ran at full speed to
+the quay, sprang down the steps, loosed his boat, and by the last rays
+of the setting sun he steered skilfully along the narrow fiord among
+all the larger vessels, and rowed towards the ocean. His heart beat
+with eager longing and delight. Had not a reconciliation with the
+father of his loved Aslog long been the most cherished wish of his
+heart as well as of hers, though he had been silent on the subject for
+Aslog's sake?</p>
+
+<p>It was night when his boat glided out of the fiord and sailed out to
+sea. The wind, which had blown towards land all day, had turned, and,
+sweeping now from the Norwegian mountains, drove Orm's boat with the
+swiftness of an arrow over the waters. The moon rose clear and full
+above his native land, and the waves dashed their silver spray against
+the keel. Orm could not but think of that night when Aslog lay hungry
+and exhausted at his feet&mdash;behind him terror and treachery&mdash;before, an
+unknown future. The moon's clear radiance and the sparkling waves were
+the same then as now, but in all else how blessed was the change!</p>
+
+<p>Thus the night passed, and when the east began to glow with red his
+boat glided between the little islands, and when the first full beam
+fell on the fir-tree tops he landed on the shore of his island home.</p>
+
+<p>He scarcely took time to fasten the boat. Then he hastened under the
+blossoming fruit-trees&mdash;with empty hand, indeed, yet with a richer
+gift than Aslog would have dared to hope for.</p>
+
+<p>And now he stood beside her couch. "Awake, awake,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279">279</a></span> beloved one!" he
+whispered as he bent over her; "I bring news of your father, the best
+news that your heart could wish for&mdash;love and forgiveness!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Aslog awoke, and her beaming eyes, the silent tears that fell
+over her clasped hands, told of even deeper joy than Orm had pictured
+to himself as he hastened home.</p>
+
+<p>Soon all was bustle in the quiet room. Once more Aslog lit the fire,
+once more the breakfast bubbled in the cauldron, while she adorned
+herself and her boy in festive garments, and Orm carried Guru's gifts
+of gold and precious stones down to the boat. Once more they sat
+together at the table enjoying the provisions of Guru's hospitable
+home. They gazed at the lofty walls which had afforded them shelter,
+and sadly looked on the stony form of Andfind, who had for years been
+a silent member of the little household. Then Orm seized his wife's
+hand; and they left the house, carefully closing the door behind them,
+and followed the boy, who had run on before in his eagerness, towards
+the strand.</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell, thou lovely island!" cried Orm, as he loosed the rope; "and
+if ever again hunted fugitives land on thy shore, be to them as sweet
+a home as thou hast been to us."</p>
+
+<p>The child was already seated in the boat, playing with the beautiful
+vessels of gold and precious stones, and Aslog sat down beside him to
+tell him about his new home and his dear grandfather, while Orm dipped
+the oars, and the boat left the strand of the "Last Home of the
+Giants."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_280">280</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sun was just about to sink into the sea; its rays cast a parting
+glance on the windows of the lonely castle, on the rock which had once
+resounded with mirth and revelry. And now the splendid halls were
+desolate. The servants, serving not out of love but out of fear,
+obeyed in sullen silence the commands of their gloomy master. The
+daughter, the only one whom his cold heart had ever loved, was lost to
+him. His old age was lonely and desolate. Then his pride yielded.
+"What if she has disgraced my house by choosing the servant instead of
+the prince?&mdash;still she is my child, my only one, and dear and loving
+she has always been to me! Oh, bring back my daughter, my Aslog, that
+I may look upon her face before I die!"</p>
+
+<p>Rich were the rewards offered by the sorrowing father for the least
+tidings of his child, but he waited days and weeks in vain. She seemed
+lost to him for ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Take me out, that I may see the sun as long as I have sight!" said he
+to his servants as the evening sun looked in at the castle windows.</p>
+
+<p>The servants supported his tottering steps to the edge of the rock.
+Then he beckoned to them to go, and leave him with his sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>The sun sank like a ball of fire into the ocean, and the sea rolled in
+purple waves from the farthest horizon, and broke them into golden
+spray at the foot of the castle rock.</p>
+
+<p>"Would that my old age could be calm and clear, like this sweet
+evening, and would that my life might sink in brightness as the sun
+into the sea!"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281">281</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then he heard in the distance the splashing of oars, and his eye, keen
+as of old, looked eagerly towards the horizon. A boat, gently urged on
+by the wind, was sailing from the north-west. Nearer and nearer it
+came, and seemed to be directing its course to the rock where the old
+man sat. At the helm sat a manly form, and at the prow stood a
+graceful woman with a boy pressed closely to her side. Her hair
+gleamed golden, as his daughter's used to do; and now she raised her
+hand, and fluttered a white kerchief as in eager greeting. S&auml;mund's
+heart beat with glad presentiment, he felt his weakness no longer, but
+raised himself, unaided, from the stone breastwork, and fixed his gaze
+on the approaching boat. Now the little vessel came up to the very
+foot of the rock, he heard the chain rattling round the post, and the
+sound of familiar voices was borne up to him on the evening air. It
+was no dream. There were light footsteps beside him, and when he
+turned to look, Aslog, his lost Aslog, knelt before him, her eyes full
+of humble penitence, and by her side knelt a fair-haired boy, who
+stretched out his hands to the old man, and echoed his mother's words
+in childish accents&mdash;"Oh, grandfather, forgive and love us!"</p>
+
+<p>The old man opened his arms, and pressed the welcome suppliants to his
+heart, and as he kissed his lovely grandson, he said in a voice more
+mild and soft than was his wont&mdash;"Thank God, I shall not die in my
+loneliness after all!"</p>
+
+<p>And he did not die. From day to day he felt more and more of his old
+vigour, and when he saw how<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282">282</a></span> tenderly Aslog loved her husband, what a
+faithful husband and father Orm was, and what a dutiful son to
+himself, he forgot all his disappointed hopes&mdash;even the royal diadem
+that Aslog had rejected. The love of his children and grandchildren
+made his last days his brightest, and thus the wish of that spring
+evening was fulfilled, his old age was calm and clear, and his life
+sank in brightness as the sun into the sea.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i_284.jpg" width="250" height="373" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="h3">Marcus Ward &amp; Co., Royal Ulster Works, Belfast.</p>
+
+</div><!--main-->
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_285.jpg" width="400" height="604" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_286.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_287.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_288.jpg" width="400" height="648" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_289.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_290.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_291.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_292.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_293.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_294.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_295.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_296.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_297.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_298.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_299.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_300.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_301.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_302.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_303.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_304.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_305.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_306.jpg" width="400" height="648" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_307.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="border2" src="images/i_308.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="trnote">
+<p class="h4">Transcriber's Note:</p>
+<p>Inconsistent and archaic spelling, punctuation, and syntax retained.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fairy Circles, by Unknown
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,9033 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fairy Circles, by Unknown
+
+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: Fairy Circles
+       Tales and Legends of Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites
+       and Hobgoblins
+
+Author: Unknown
+
+Editor: Villamaria
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2012 [EBook #39560]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAIRY CIRCLES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Matthew Wheaton and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HELGA IN THE FAIRY KING'S PARADISE. p. 154.]
+
+
+
+
+    Fairy Circles
+
+    TALES AND LEGENDS
+    OF
+    Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites, and Hobgoblins
+
+
+    FROM THE GERMAN OF VILLAMARIA
+
+    WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+    London:
+    MARCUS WARD & CO., 67 & 68, CHANDOS STREET
+    AND ROYAL ULSTER WORKS, BELFAST
+    1877
+
+
+
+
+    CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                             PAGE
+    BARBAROSSA'S YOUTHFUL DREAM                 7
+    KING LAURIN                                32
+    THE DWARF OF VENICE                        54
+    RHINE GOLD                                100
+    THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE DWARFS--
+         PART I. THE DYING DWARF-QUEEN        115
+        PART II. THE FRIENDS IN THE ROCK      124
+    THE FLOWER OF ICELAND                     142
+    THE SEA-FAIRY                             172
+    THE FAITHFUL GOBLIN                       201
+    THE FALLEN BELL                           223
+    THE LAST HOME OF THE GIANTS               249
+
+
+
+
+    Illustrations.
+
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+    HELGA IN THE FAIRY KING'S PARADISE (p. 155)          _Frontispiece._
+    FREDERICK TAKES LEAVE OF GELA                                      7
+    BARBAROSSA IN THE HOLY LAND                                       21
+    BARBAROSSA AND GELA IN THE KYFFHAeUSER                             27
+    VRENELI IN KING LAURIN'S ROSE-GARDEN                              32
+    KING LAURIN IN VRENELI'S COTTAGE                                  43
+    THE DWARF OF VENICE TAKES HIS DEPARTURE FOR HIS NATIVE LAND       54
+    HANS SEES KING LAURIN'S KINGDOM IN THE MAGIC MIRROR               63
+    HANS RECEIVES A HEARTY WELCOME FROM AN OLD FRIEND                 92
+    HACO THROWS THE TREASURE OF THE NIBELUNGEN INTO THE RHINE        100
+    CHARLEMAGNE MEETS WITH KRIEMHILD                                 109
+    THE COUNTESS MATILDA RESTORES THE DWARF-QUEEN TO HEALTH          115
+    ECKBERT'S WILD RIDE ON KUNO'S HORSE                              124
+    KUNO LISTENS TO THE WISE MAN'S TALK                              134
+    HELGA AT HER MOTHER'S FEET                                       142
+    "IN HELGA'S HEART MEMORY CEASED TO THRILL"                       155
+    THE OLD MAN BESIDE THE CORPSE OF ANTONIO                         172
+    ANTONIO IN THE CRYSTAL CASTLE                                    178
+    ANTONIO LAYS THE DEAD MAIDEN IN HER LAST RESTING-PLACE           189
+    FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH PUCK                                     201
+    "GERO CAUGHT PUCK SUDDENLY AND SET HIM BEFORE HIM ON HIS
+      SADDLE"                                                        212
+    THE STORM HURLS THE BELL INTO THE STREAM                         223
+    THE WATER-ELF AND THE LITTLE SOUL ON THE RAFT OF WATER-LILIES    238
+    ASLOG RETURNS TO HER FATHER                                      249
+    GURU AWAKES THE ROCK TO LIFE                                     269
+
+
+
+
+FAIRY CIRCLES.
+
+
+
+
+Barbarossa's Youthful Dream.
+
+[Illustration: FREDERICK TAKES LEAVE OF GELA.]
+
+
+More than a thousand years have rolled away since a castle looked down
+cheerfully from a height amid the Franconian plains into the
+well-watered Kinzig Valley, with its pleasant villages and towns.
+
+It belonged to the powerful Swabian duke Frederick of Hohenstaufen,
+whose young and valiant son loved this the best of all his father's
+proud castles, and often left his uncle's splendid palace to hunt in
+its forests, or to look down from its lofty oriel window on the
+blooming plain below.
+
+His father and uncle indeed missed him sadly. His clear blue eye, and
+the cheerful expression of his noble countenance, seemed to the two
+grave and war-weary men so gladdening to look upon, that they were
+always unwilling to let him leave them.
+
+But the young Frederick used to beg them so earnestly to grant him the
+freedom of the forest for just this once, that father and uncle
+smilingly granted him permission, though "this once" was often
+repeated.
+
+So it happened the autumn of that year when Bernard of Clairvaux
+passed through Germany, calling prince and people in words of burning
+eloquence to aid in the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+"Just this once!" said young Frederick again; and King Conrad and Duke
+Frederick granted him permission.
+
+As he bent in courteous farewell to take his uncle's hand, the king
+whispered, "Be ready, my Frederick, to return as soon as my messenger
+calls thee. Great things are before us, and I can ill spare thy strong
+right arm!" And young Frederick smiled his own cheery smile, and
+answered, "I come when my king and lord calls!"
+
+Then he galloped away as if he were bound that day to ride round the
+world. His Barbary steed bore him as on wings through the dark
+forests of the Spessart, and as the latest sunbeams sank in the waters
+of the Kinzig, he mounted the steep path towards the castle, and rode
+over the lowered drawbridge into the court.
+
+Was it really the stags and boars in the vast forests, or the treasure
+of rare old manuscripts of the castle archives, which drew the young
+prince again and again to the small and lonely fortress?
+
+So his father and uncle thought, but they knew not of his deep
+unconquerable love for the beautiful Gela, the daughter of a humble
+retainer. He had seen her while resting from the chase in the forest
+of the Kinzig Valley, and so great had his love for her become that he
+was willing to renounce all dreams of future power and greatness to
+live in blissful retirement with the beloved one whom he could not
+raise to his own rank.
+
+But the lovers had to guard their secret carefully; they dared trust
+no confidant, lest their paradise should be laid waste before its
+gates had been fully opened to admit them. So they breathed their love
+to none but each other.
+
+The prince passed Gela with cold indifference if he met her in the
+castle court or at her work about the house, and Gela made lowly
+reverence, as if she were the meanest of his maids, to him who counted
+it his greatest honour to do her service.
+
+But at evening, when Frederick had roamed the forest since early
+morning, his bow on his shoulder and his faithful hounds by his side,
+the fair Gela might be seen walking along the high-road with a basket
+on her arm, or with a stock of newly-spun yarn, as if she were going
+to seek purchasers in the nearest town. But in the forest she would
+leave the broad path, and make her way through briars and underwood to
+a height on which her young prince awaited her beneath the shelter of
+a giant oak.
+
+There they would talk happily and innocently till the last sunbeam was
+quenched in the Kinzig stream, and the convent bell resounded through
+the arches of the forest; then they would fold their hands in prayer
+before saying farewell, in hope of a meeting on the morrow.
+
+So had it been for many a year. Their love remained unbetrayed, their
+hope unquenched, their faith unshaken. In the splendid halls of the
+palace, amid the proud and lovely ladies who surrounded the young
+prince with flattering marks of favour, the longing after the lonely
+forest in the Kinzig Valley and the fair and gentle loved one never
+died from his heart.
+
+They had met thus one evening with the old, yet ever new tenderness.
+Frederick drew Gela's fair head to his breast, and spoke to her of the
+near and blissful future, which would be theirs in a few weeks, when
+he would be of age, and would be able to lead her openly as his wife
+to his castle in the fair land of Bavaria, to the inheritance of his
+dead mother. And the oak tree overhead rustled gently, scattering
+golden leaves on Gela's beautiful hair, for it was far on in autumn.
+
+When the vesper bell of the forest cloister began to sound, it was
+already dark; the moonlight gleamed on the path, and Gela walked with
+her lover as far as the high-road, supported by his arm. But there
+the moon shone so brightly that they had to part, lest some prying eye
+should see them. "Meet me to-morrow, dearest!" said the young prince,
+once more kissing her blooming cheek; then Gela tripped lightly down
+the high-road towards the valley, while Frederick gazed after her till
+she vanished from his sight, when he called his dogs, and turned
+towards the castle.
+
+But there the usual stillness and loneliness had given place to bustle
+and confusion. The young prince's aged tutor, who was the
+father-confessor and confidential friend alike of his father and of
+his uncle, had arrived a few hours before, accompanied by a troop of
+horsemen. Inquiries after the young prince passed impatiently from
+mouth to mouth, for the message was one which called for haste. At
+last he came riding over the drawbridge, his handsome face glowing as
+in a transformation, for his vision of the forest still hovered before
+his mind.
+
+The old chaplain of the brothers of Hohenstaufen had been long and
+anxiously awaiting his pupil; now he hastened to meet him as quickly
+as his infirmities permitted, and greeted his dear one, who had left
+him but a few days before, as if he had not seen him for years.
+
+Then they went together to the room with the oriel window, for there
+the young prince liked best to sit, as it afforded a view of Gela's
+lattice. They sat long in confidential conversation, and the light
+that fell on the pavement for hours after all others in the castle
+were asleep told Gela, who stood at the window opposite, that
+important and serious matters were being discussed by her dear one and
+his aged tutor.
+
+Next morning the people flocked out of the castle chapel, where the
+old priest who had arrived the evening before had spoken to them in
+eloquent words, and claimed the arm and heart of young and old for the
+approaching crusade to the Holy Land. And not in vain. Men and youths
+were ready to venture wealth and life, and the aged were with
+difficulty persuaded to remain at home to till the ground and protect
+the women and the little ones.
+
+All returned home to arrange their business hastily, and make needful
+preparations. One alone remained in the sacred place. It was Gela,
+who, when all had left the chapel, rose from her seat and threw
+herself prostrate before the altar, there to pour forth all the
+anguish of broken hopes, of parting, and of lonely sorrow that
+oppressed her heart.
+
+She lay thus, her hands clasped, and her face uplifted in an agony of
+grief. There were light footsteps behind her, but Gela, lost in sorrow
+and prayer, heeded them not. A hand was laid on her shoulder; she
+looked up and saw the face of him on whose account she suffered.
+
+"Gela," said the young prince tenderly and low, as if in reverence to
+the holy place--"Gela, we must part! We must wait a while for the
+fulfilment of yesterday's beautiful dream! I can scarcely bear it, and
+yet I cannot refuse, either as prince and knight, or as son and
+subject."
+
+"No," said Gela calmly; "thou must obey, my Frederick, even though our
+hearts will bleed."
+
+"And thou wilt be true to me, Gela, and wait patiently till I come
+back, and not give thy heart to another?" asked the prince, and his
+voice was full of pain.
+
+"Frederick," said Gela, laying her hand on his shoulder, "bid me give
+my life; if it were necessary to thy happiness, I would give it
+gladly. Thine will I be through all the sorrow of separation; and if I
+die, my soul will leave heaven at thy call."
+
+Frederick drew her to his heart. "I go content, my Gela; danger and
+death cannot harm me, for I am sheltered by thy love! Farewell till we
+meet again in joy!"
+
+He hastened away to hide the tears that started to his eyes, and Gela
+sank again on the altar steps and bent her head in silent prayer.
+
+She did not perceive the footsteps that once more broke the stillness
+of the place, and she only looked up when a second time a hand was
+laid on her shoulder. It was not into Frederick's youthful face that
+she looked this time, but into the grave countenance of the aged
+priest who had come to call her darling and the people of the
+surrounding country to the Holy War.
+
+She shuddered as she thought that he had perhaps been a listener to
+their conversation, and had thus discovered the carefully guarded
+secret.
+
+"Be not afraid, my daughter," said the old man gently; "I have been an
+unwilling witness of your meeting, but your words have fallen into the
+ear and heart of a man whose calling makes him the guardian of many a
+secret."
+
+Gela breathed more freely.
+
+"Thou art of pure heart, my daughter," continued the old man mildly;
+"who could chide thee for giving thy love to a youth to whom God has
+given a power to charm that wins the affection of almost every heart?
+But, my daughter, if thou love him thou must renounce him."
+
+Gela looked up in terror at the priest.
+
+"Yes, renounce him!" he repeated gravely, nodding his white head as he
+spoke.
+
+"I cannot, reverend father!" faltered the maiden with trembling lips.
+
+"Canst thou not?" asked the old man still more earnestly; "canst thou
+not give up thine own happiness for his sake, and yet thou art ready
+to give thy life if his happiness should demand it?"
+
+"Oh, reverend father," Gela faltered, raising her hands to him
+entreatingly, "look not so stern! You know not what it is to renounce
+him, and with him all that I call happiness. But if his welfare
+demands it, my heart shall break without a murmur."
+
+A gentle radiance beamed from the old priest's eyes.
+
+"Thou hast well spoken, my daughter," he said gently. "Frederick loves
+thee now with the force of his unestranged affection, and is ready to
+sacrifice rank and worldly prospects for thy sake; but he is a man and
+a prince, and, above all, of the house of Hohenstaufen, in whose soul
+lies a longing after great and praiseworthy deeds, though these
+aspirations are lulled to slumber by his love for thee. But when he
+comes to years of manhood, he will be unhappy that thou hast kept him
+from the tasks incumbent on one of his noble race. And then, my
+daughter, not he alone, but all Germany will blame thee, for every
+far-seeing eye recognises already in this heroic youth the future
+leader who is destined to bring this divided realm to unity and
+greatness. Canst thou think of the future of thy lover, and of us all,
+and yet act but for thine own happiness?"
+
+Gela raised herself as out of a dream.
+
+"No, my father," she said in a firm voice, though the light of her
+eyes seemed quenched as she gazed at the priest; "no, I renounce him.
+But if he should ever think with bitterness of Gela, I ask of you that
+you will tell him of this hour, and why I have renounced him; because
+I loved his happiness more than myself. May this sacrifice not be in
+vain!"
+
+The priest laid his hand, trembling with emotion, on her beautiful
+head. "Peace be with thee, my daughter!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On a dewy May morning, two years after that farewell scene in the
+castle chapel, young Frederick rode over the drawbridge of the
+fortress on the height beside the Kinzig Valley.
+
+The sun of Syria had dyed his white skin with a deeper hue, the toils
+of war and grief at dispelled illusions had drawn a slight furrow in
+the smooth brow, but on his flowing beard and hair lay the same golden
+splendour, and his blue eyes beamed brightly as of yore.
+
+The castle servants flocked to greet their beloved young master, who
+had meantime, through his father's death, become Duke of Swabia and
+their feudal lord. His princely mouth spoke many a gracious word, and
+his winning smile hovered among them like a sunbeam. His eye passed
+quickly from line to line, till it rested inquiringly on the features
+of an old bent man. It was Gela's father. Then he sprang from his
+horse, and ascended the stair to his favourite room.
+
+The butler placed a goblet of the richest wine on the table, a drink
+of honour which he kept carefully in the driest corner of the cellar
+for the greatest occasions; and Dame Barbara, the housekeeper, brought
+in proudly the delicious pastry which she had prepared for this
+festive day; but the young duke gave no heed to these attentions. He
+stood in the oriel window, and looked down at a little lattice in the
+buildings that surrounded the castle court. There, in a green
+window-box, gillyflower and rosemary used to bloom, and behind them he
+often had watched a face bent over the spinning-wheel--a face that he
+had not found surpassed by any even among the Flowers of the East.
+
+But now all was changed. No blossom sent forth fragrance; the green
+box hung empty and half-broken; the clear lattice panes were blinded,
+and no dear face looked through to him in love.
+
+A pang of dread presentiment pierced his heart.
+
+"Who dwells in that room with the blinded window?" he asked as calmly
+as he could of Dame Barbara, who was rattling her keys to call her
+young lord's attention to herself and her masterpiece of culinary
+skill.
+
+The old woman drew near, and looked at the desolate window to which
+the duke's finger pointed.
+
+"Alas! my lord duke," said the loquacious old woman, "Gela used to
+live there, the good child; but she became a nun two years ago last
+autumn, and entered the convent of St. Clarissa, in the heart of the
+forest."
+
+Frederick stood for a moment motionless, then he beckoned silently to
+the door, for his first sound must have been a cry of pain.
+
+Barbara went, but her master sank into the window-seat, his gaze fixed
+on the deserted lattice.
+
+There was a gentle knocking at the door, but the duke heard it not for
+the painful beating of his heart. Then the door opened, and on the
+threshold stood the old man on whom the prince's inquiring glance had
+rested on his arrival. He approached the window with a low reverence,
+and waited patiently till his young master raised his head. When at
+last he looked up, the old man started to see the beloved face that
+used to beam like the sunlight now covered as with the shadow of
+death.
+
+"My lord duke," said the old man, when Frederick signed to him to
+speak, "I had an only child. I know not if your grace has ever noticed
+her. When the men went from the country round to the Holy War, she
+entered the forest cloister, because she thought she could there pray
+undisturbed for the safety and victory of our soldiers. Before she
+went she made me promise to give this letter into your hands as soon
+as you returned."
+
+Then he drew from his doublet a strip of parchment carefully sewed in
+purple silk, and handed it to the duke.
+
+And again Frederick spoke not, but silently took the missive, for his
+heart was full to overflowing.
+
+The old man withdrew in silence. When Frederick found himself alone,
+he cut the silken covering with his hunting-knife, and drew out a
+piece of parchment; and when it was unfolded, he saw the childish
+handwriting which he himself had taught Gela in their happy hours in
+the forest, and with which she now bade him the last farewell, for she
+could not break her promise to the aged monk.
+
+While Frederick, two years before, hastened to his uncle's palace, the
+holy man had gone on to other parts of the country to call on the
+people to join the Holy War, and from this errand death had called
+him.
+
+The sun was already far past the meridian, but yet no sound had broken
+the stillness of the room where Frederick sat. The butler's drink of
+honour was untasted; Dame Barbara's masterpiece remained untouched.
+
+At last the young duke rose, left the room, and descended the winding
+stair into the court; but when his steed was brought, the attendant
+esquire thought that this could scarcely be the same young and joyous
+prince who, a few hours before, had ridden across the bridge. He
+sprang into the saddle, cast a last glance on the desolate window, and
+then turned without a word of farewell to take the road which, but a
+short time before, he had galloped over with hopeful heart. It was the
+same road which Gela had so often followed with him to the little hill
+in the forest, and when he came to the narrow path, he led his
+obedient horse to one side, fastened the bridle round the trunk of a
+tree, and then walked slowly along the mossy path.
+
+Now he stood beneath the oak. Its leafy roof and the moss at its foot
+were green and fresh as ever. Once he was like it in his love and
+hope, but all was changed! He sat down at the foot of the tree, and
+its rustling brought back to his soul the dream of his now vanished
+youth.
+
+Suddenly bells sounded from the forest depths. But he could not, as in
+days gone by, fold his hands in pious awe, and pour forth every grief
+in a believing prayer. No; at the sound of these bells which now
+called Gela, his Gela, to devotion, it seemed to him as if he must
+rush to the cloister gate, knock with his sword hilt, and cry, "Come
+back, Gela, come back; for thy sacrifice will be in vain!"
+
+He hastened down the hill to his horse, and sprang into the saddle.
+
+"Away, my faithful steed!" he cried aloud. "Show me the way, for love
+and grief have bewildered my clear brain. Bear me where knightly duty
+and princely honour claim my presence--for I know not where."
+
+And the good beast, as if it understood his master's words, rushed
+with him away farther and still farther south through the dim
+twilight, and beneath the bright beams of the full moon. Without
+weariness, though without rest, it bore him on, and when the morrow's
+sun stood in noonday splendour they had reached the goal, and the
+young duke stood before the gate of his own Staufenburg.
+
+Gela's sacrifice was not offered in vain. The words the old monk
+uttered that morning in the castle chapel were fulfilled. After his
+uncle's death, young Frederick of Swabia was raised to the throne of
+Germany, and all that the realm and people of Germany had hoped from
+him was more than fulfilled.
+
+His strong hand gave unity, strength, and majesty to the divided land,
+such as no ruler after him was ever able to bestow; and when the
+imperial crown of Rome was also placed upon his head, the proud people
+of Italy bowed before Frederick Barbarossa, did him homage, and
+acknowledged his power.
+
+The laurels of many a victory rested on the Emperor's brow; his house
+was happy, his race flourished, his name lay like a word of blessing
+on every lip; and when Gela, still in the bloom of youth, closed her
+eyes in death, she knew that she had not in vain renounced Frederick
+and happiness.
+
+Beneath the shelter of his favourite castle the Emperor founded a
+town, and named it after the unforgotten loved one of his youth,
+"Gelashausen;" and when on his travels he came to the forest of the
+Kinzig Valley, he led his horse silently aside, fastened the bridle to
+a tree stem, and ascended the hill to the majestic oak. There leaning
+his head, amid whose gold full many a thread of silver gleamed,
+against the trunk, he closed his eyes, and dreamed once more the old
+delightful dream.
+
+And the people called that tree ever after "the Emperor's oak."
+
+The sun of Asia Minor once more sent its glowing rays on the head of
+the heroic Emperor, though they gleamed back now with a silvery
+radiance.
+
+[Illustration: BARBAROSSA IN THE HOLY LAND.]
+
+The cry of distress had risen once again from the Land of Promise, and
+drawn the aged monarch from his German home; he placed himself at the
+head of his army, and led it with prudence, courage, and military
+skill safely through the heat of the Eastern sun, in spite of the
+treachery and malice of the foe, in spite of the pangs of hunger and
+consuming thirst.
+
+On a warm summer evening the army reached the steep bank of a foaming
+mountain torrent. There on the farthest side lay the road that they
+must take.
+
+Barbarossa's son Frederick, that "Flower of Chivalry," sprang with a
+chosen band from the high rocky bank into the stream and reached the
+other side in safety.
+
+The Emperor now prepared to follow. Without heeding the advice of his
+attendants, the aged hero, who had never known what fear meant, put
+spurs to his steed and plunged with him into the waters of the Seleph.
+For a few seconds the golden armour gleamed amid the waves, once or
+twice the reverend, hoary head rose above the stream, then the deadly
+waters carried horse and rider into their raging depths, and the
+beloved hero vanished from the eyes of his sorrowing army. His most
+valiant knights indeed and chosen friends plunged after him into the
+flood to save their honoured prince or die with him, but the wild
+mountain torrent bore them all to death. With bitter lamentations the
+army wandered up and down the stream, if perchance they might at least
+win the precious corpse from the waters. But night came and threw its
+dark veil over the sorrow and mourning of the day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+All around were wrapped in slumber, even deeper than was their wont.
+The moon stood high in heaven, and beneath its beams the waters of the
+Seleph flowed more gently like molten silver. Once more they roused
+their angry strength, and from their midst a white head rose, golden
+armour gleamed above the waves, and Barbarossa and his faithful steed
+slowly emerged from the waters. With noiseless hoof they wandered up
+and down the stream, and out from the depths mounted the troops of
+faithful ones who had followed their Emperor to danger and death. The
+drops gleamed like diamonds as they fell from head and armour with a
+gentle splash into the shining stream.
+
+Silently the band of warriors rode along the waves; not a sound, not a
+footstep broke the stillness; thus they turned to the shore, and the
+horses clambered up the rocky bank.
+
+There Barbarossa and his silent warriors halted on the height. For a
+moment the Emperor's glance rested on the slumbering army, he held out
+his hand as if blessing them in a last farewell, then he shook the
+reins, and horse and rider, freed from the laws of earthly gravity,
+swept onwards to the beloved Fatherland.
+
+They passed over the Bosphorus. Far below them gleamed the towers of
+Constantinople with the golden cross on their summits, but Barbarossa
+heeded them not. His head was bent forward, so that his white locks
+fluttered in the night wind, and his eyes were directed solely to the
+land towards which the horses moved with the swiftness of the
+storm-wind on their cloudy path.
+
+Soon German forests rustled beneath them, and round the Emperor's lips
+played something like the reflection of the old sunny smile.
+
+To the south lay the Italian plains which had claimed the best years
+of his life and his youthful energy, but the Emperor turned his head
+from these. Perhaps he saw already the destiny of his proud race,
+which must some day be fulfilled in those fragrant fields.
+
+Now their native air surrounds them. The fir trees of the Black Forest
+scent the air, the waves of the Neckar gleam below them, and, bathed
+in the full moon's silvery splendour, there lies at their feet the
+Staufenburg, the cradle of the lofty imperial race.
+
+Barbarossa raised his hand to bless its battlements and pinnacles, but
+still he held on his way northwards.
+
+The Spessart forests rustled beneath him in the darkness of the night,
+not a moonbeam pierced their thickly-leaved summits. But there gleamed
+the waters of the Kinzig, the walls of Gelashausen in its gently
+flowing stream, and over on the mountain's brow shone the aged
+Emperor's favourite castle, with the high oriel window, and Gela's
+deserted lattice.
+
+Barbarossa bent over his horse's neck, and cast a look of recognition
+on the scene of his early happiness.
+
+Soon they hovered above the high-road, and then over the familiar
+forest with its spreading "Emperor's oak." The old man's head was
+still bent forward, as if his eye would pierce the whispering
+tree-tops. A sound of clear bells greeted his ear. Below in the
+convent they called to midnight prayer, and these tones, which had
+once well-nigh broken his heart, acted now as a spell to bring back
+the old loved images. His breast heaved as of yore in mingled joy and
+grief, and "Gela, my Gela!" was the cry that started from his lips
+and reached the convent in whose vaults the loved one slumbered.
+
+But still the steeds held on their unhalting course over Thuringia's
+golden plain to the Kyffhaeuser Mountain, within which Frederick
+Barbarossa must hold council to-night with his faithful ones about the
+people of Germany and their future.
+
+The castle, which in bygone days had so often opened its hospitable
+gates to him and his court, within whose halls many a gladsome feast
+had been held, of whose magnificence and splendour old chronicles tell
+us--this castle still kept watch over the land with unbroken
+pinnacles, but Barbarossa knocked not at its gate.
+
+Gently the horses sank to the earth, and halted at a hidden door in
+the mountain side.
+
+The Emperor struck the stone with his sword, so that a loud echo
+answered from the hollow interior. Then the rocky door opened, and
+Barbarossa and his faithful warriors entered the spacious hall of the
+Kyffhaeuser Mountain. The rock had not long closed behind them when a
+gentle tapping was heard, the magic gate swung open, and the lovely
+Gela entered, arrayed in bridal attire as she had been laid in the
+tomb.
+
+The hand of death had touched her heart, but had not quenched her
+love. When Frederick's cry reached her ear, she had opened her eyes as
+out of a deep sleep, and had left the vault to seek her beloved with
+the swiftness of a spirit's tread. Now she stands before him in
+unchanged grace and beauty.
+
+Barbarossa's youthful dream was fulfilled. Gela, his first love, was
+now at his side to tend him and bless him for ever as she could never
+have done on earth. It was she, the faithful one, who ruled henceforth
+in the magic kingdom of the Kyffhaeuser, and cared for the beloved hero
+and his trusty band. It was she who knew when Barbarossa's heart
+yearned over the memories of his glorious past. Then she would lead
+the knights--his faithful comrades in the Holy War--into his room.
+They would range themselves round the marble table at which Barbarossa
+sat, with his long white beard flowing round him like imperial ermine,
+and over the golden goblets, filled from the exhaustless stores of the
+mountain cellars, they talked with the hero about the glorious days
+that they had spent together, about "the golden age" of the Holy
+German Empire. And the minstrels, who had been wont to go with him to
+the Holy Land, and had entered with him the enchanted mountain of the
+"Golden Meadow," would strike their harps, and the song of the future,
+which still slumbered in their souls, rose to their lips and echoed
+loudly through the enchanted arches of the Kyffhaeuser Mountain.
+
+When Barbarossa's heart longed for news of the fatherland, Gela would
+pass at midnight out through the door in the rock, down through the
+"Golden Meadow," and listen at many a door, and look through many a
+window. Then all that she heard there of sad lamentation or joyous
+hope she would faithfully pour into the Emperor's ear on her return.
+And what Gela failed to find out was seen by other eyes and heard by
+other ears. Just as once Odin's ravens flew down from the dwelling
+of the gods to the home of men to tell the heavenly Ruler of all
+that happened on the earth, so did the ravens that built their nests
+in the clefts of Kyffhaeuser hover through the plains to hear of joy
+and sorrow, and bear the tidings back in silence to their rocky home.
+
+[Illustration: BARBAROSSA AND GELA IN THE KYFFHAeUSER. F. C., p. 26.]
+
+But at the still hour of midnight, when the mountain opened, and the
+little dwarfs who dwelt secretly among Barbarossa's vaulted halls
+slipped out into the moonlight, then the wise birds opened their
+mouths, and the little friends--like Solomon, learned in the languages
+of birds--heard all that the ravens told. The dwarfs in their turn
+brought the news to the old Emperor, before whom they appeared from
+time to time to fill his treasury with newly-coined gold.
+
+With liberal hand Barbarossa gave of these hoards to pious and honest
+mortals, whom Gela led into the magic kingdom of the Kyffhaeuser, that
+the beloved prince might be gladdened by the sight of the new
+generation, which, different though it was from that of his day, still
+held in loving remembrance the noble Barbarossa, and cherished a firm
+hope of his return to earth.
+
+The fortress on the mountain mouldered to decay. Herds grazed where
+once the tread of armed men was heard, but once every century the
+walls stood at midnight in their ancient splendour; the drawbridge
+rattled, the watchman's horn sounded shrill and clear, and over the
+castle court, through the gates with their carved coat of arms, on to
+the brightly illumined halls of revelry, passed a brilliant
+procession. It was Barbarossa leading by the hand the lovely Gela, and
+followed by his knights and vassals, all eager to breathe the air of
+the upper world.
+
+But while the knights were spending the few short hours with music and
+feasting amid the pleasures of the past, the Emperor and Gela mounted
+to the highest battlement of the castle, and looked down longingly on
+the plains of their beloved Germany.
+
+All around lay wrapped in slumber. Night and peace had conquered all
+the cares that gnaw in daylight at the heart of man, but they had also
+stilled its hopes.
+
+"They are all asleep and dreaming," said the old Emperor, "but the
+morrow will come, and my people will awake and find the strife that
+now divides their hearts laid at rest for ever. Brave men will draw
+the sword and wield it victoriously. Then the minstrels will seize
+their harps, and the fame of our great and united Germany shall sound
+from the North Sea to the fair gardens of Italy. Then will our watch
+be over, and we shall go to our eternal rest."
+
+So spake the aged monarch, as he leant across the battlement to
+stretch his hands in blessing over his former kingdom. But when the
+first streak of dawn showed faintly in the east, Barbarossa and his
+Gela descended, the revelry ceased, the knights grasped their swords,
+and the glittering throng passed over court and bridge back to the
+heart of the mountain, while behind them the magic castle melted into
+mist.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The great morning has dawned; the nation has awaked; their strife is
+stilled. The imperial jewels, "Unity and Strength," lie no longer
+buried in the waves of the Seleph, the German people henceforth have
+them in their midst.
+
+Barbarossa may now cease his watch and enter on his rest, for from the
+North Sea to the plains of Italy is sounded the fame of the great
+united Fatherland.
+
+Thus has the aged Emperor's prophecy been fulfilled, though it was but
+the nation's youthful dream.
+
+
+
+
+KING LAURIN.
+
+[Illustration: VRENELI IN KING LAURIN'S ROSE-GARDEN]
+
+
+In the Tyrol, that true home of the good little dwarf-folk, is a
+lovely valley where in olden days a substantial farm-house stood,
+whose owner had come from the other side of the mountain enticed by
+the beauty and fertility of this favoured spot.
+
+In those days it was still possible to find good servants capable of
+forming a faithful attachment to their master and his household. But
+the farmer thought they were still better in his old home, and for
+this reason he generally brought his servants from the other side of
+the high mountain ridge.
+
+Spring had returned; the mountain pastures were green once more, and
+it was time for the herds to leave the valley; but the old herdswoman
+who for years had had the charge of the mountain farm, and in whose
+capability and conscientiousness the farmer had the fullest
+confidence, now took ill and died.
+
+This was a matter of some anxiety to the farmer and his household, for
+everything was ready for the removal of the cattle.
+
+"Go over, Tony, to our native valley," said the old farmer to his only
+son and heir. "An aged cousin of mine lives there; they say her
+daughter is a fine girl; it might be a good thing if you could
+persuade her to come to us as herdswoman."
+
+Early next morning the young man set out on his errand.
+
+The shades of night still lurked among the rocks like giants in
+disguise, but the peaks of the glacier were already aglow with the
+light of morning. The youth, accustomed to the beauties of his native
+mountains, gave scarcely a glance to the splendour of the Alps, but
+hastened onwards with head and heart full of anxiety about his cattle.
+Soon he reached the narrow mountain ridge between the two lofty
+glaciers, from which the way led downwards to his native valley.
+
+At this spot stood a tall cross, with dark arms outstretched over both
+the glaciers, as if it would tell of the dangers which had threatened
+the traveller who, out of gratitude for his deliverance, had caused a
+cross to be erected on this lonely height.
+
+Tony knelt to pray, as was the custom in those times and in that
+country. His head was bent low, so that he did not see the grave face
+which looked down on him from one of the glaciers.
+
+Surely it must have been carried thither on eagles' wings, for there,
+to that glassy height which seemed almost nearer the sky than the
+earth, no human foot could ever climb. Yet that figure stood there
+calm, strong, and erect. Long silvery hair flowed over the shoulders;
+round the head flashed something like sunbeams, or like a mysterious
+diadem of carbuncles; and the dark eyes pierced the distance, and
+rested on the kneeling one with an earnestness that went deep down
+into his heart.
+
+The young man rose and descended the winding path to the valley. The
+apparition on the lofty glacier stood long looking after his receding
+figure, and then, with the sunbeams playing among his silvery locks,
+walked with sure footsteps that never slipped down over the gleaming
+field of ice.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Late in the afternoon Tony sat once more at the foot of the cross,
+with a lovely maiden by his side. She had placed her little bundle on
+the ground at her feet, her hands lay folded on her lap, and with an
+expression of mingled grief and newly-awakened hope she looked into
+the face of her companion.
+
+Her mother had died a few days before, and poverty was even in those
+good old days a bitter thing, as the poor orphan learned to her cost.
+For the warden of the village told her bluntly that the cottage in
+which she had lived with her mother, being public property, was
+claimed now by another widow, and that Vreneli must make her own way
+in the world.
+
+Many a farmer's wife would have been glad to hire the good Vreneli as
+servant, but the rough words of the warden had so frightened her that
+she determined not to stay in this inhospitable valley; and just as
+she had tied up her little bundle, Tony came to offer her a home in
+his rich father's house.
+
+Joyfully she agreed, for the farmer was a relation, though a distant
+one, and she had a dread of going among strangers. So Tony and she set
+out together on the mountain path, and now they were resting under the
+old cross and chatting pleasantly.
+
+Vreneli's beauty and innocence had taken Tony's heart by storm, and
+now he told her that he loved her, and that she, none but she, should
+be his wife. Vreneli clasped her hands and listened with her whole
+soul to these words so new to her. Ah! how sweet they sounded after
+the harsh tones that had made her so unhappy a few hours ago! Her
+heart went out in gratitude and love to the manly youth who had so
+generously offered his heart and his home to the poor desolate orphan.
+
+"But I am poor, Tony, and I have learned to-day how evil a thing
+poverty is," said she at last.
+
+"What does that matter, Vreneli?" answered Tony, cheerfully; "I have
+enough for both. And I do not like the rich bride that my father has
+chosen for me, she is ugly and empty-headed. When they see you at
+home, Vreneli, they must love you, you are so good and beautiful! And
+when you have tended the herds on the mountain with faithful diligence
+for the summer months, and when you bring back the well cared-for
+cattle at the end of the season, you shall be my wife--I will soon
+bring my parents round to my mind."
+
+"Ah, how delightful that will be!" said Vreneli, smiling. "How I will
+love you, and what good care I will take of your old parents! Are you
+sure you are not making fun of me, Tony?"
+
+The young man put his arm around her graceful form. "How can you talk
+so, Vreneli? Do I not love you better than any one in the whole world?
+and if it makes your mind easier, I will swear love and faithfulness
+to you under this cross--I will swear that none but you shall be my
+wife."
+
+He put his right hand in hers and took the oath. Perfect stillness
+reigned around them; the spirits of the mountain listened in silence;
+noiselessly the beams of the evening sun hovered above the cross, and
+then sank, as if in blessing, on Vreneli's braided hair; while far
+overhead at the summit of the glacier stood the dark figure that had
+watched Tony on his journey that morning. The poor orphan and her
+lover did not see the grave countenance that looked down on them from
+the lofty peak, but Tony's words of solemn promise floated upwards on
+the evening breeze to the lonely old man's ear.
+
+Again he cast a searching glance on the kneeling youth, but when his
+eyes rested on the sweet maiden that listened to those earnest words,
+the stern expression of his countenance melted, and the wrinkled
+features bore traces of some sad memories that seemed to be awakened
+by the sight of her beauty and grace. He leant gently forward, so that
+his shining locks flowed down like a silver stream, and his eyes
+followed the two young people with an expression almost of longing, as
+they walked cheerfully on. But soon the twilight laid its dim veil
+over hill and valley, and the receding figures faded altogether from
+his view.
+
+The rich farmer owned the pasture of a whole mountain, and Vreneli was
+to have the sole charge of the herds that grazed on it, while on
+another mountain the herds of the other villagers wandered, watched
+over by several herdsmen.
+
+"Now, Vreneli," said the old farmer next morning, when the cows had
+been let out of the stalls, and were already climbing the well-known
+mountain path to the music of their jingling bells--"now, Vreneli, do
+your duty faithfully, and take good care of my herds, and if the
+produce of the mountain farm be richer than that yielded in the days
+of my former herdswomen, I will not be stingy about a reward."
+
+Vreneli blushed, and cast a stolen glance at Tony, who stood behind
+his father; she could not but think of the reward which he had
+promised her. She assured the farmer that she would do her duty,
+shook hands with the whole household, and then turned to follow the
+herds.
+
+Tony went with her; he wanted to show her everything in the senner's
+cottage, and to point out the richest pastures on which the herds were
+to graze, taking a different place each day, till at last they
+returned to the first, which by that time would be covered with a
+fresh growth of grass.
+
+It was a lovely spring morning. The distant glacier was radiant with
+sunlight, the bells tinkled softly on the necks of the cattle, and
+wild flowers bloomed at the edge of the torrent which rushed foaming
+over the moss-grown rocks. But what was all this external beauty in
+comparison with the blooming world in their own hearts?
+
+They exchanged looks, and words, and happy smiles. Not till the herds
+had been milked and led to rest on the night pasture did Tony say
+good-bye. Vreneli stood at the door of the cottage, her hands clasped,
+and her eyes brimming with happy tears, and watched him till a turn of
+the road hid him from her view.
+
+Inside, in the cosy cottage, it seemed to her, all the time that she
+was filling the milk vessels and putting everything in order, as if
+she still heard his caressing words, and as if his brown eyes looked
+out on her from every corner. Love and hope quickened her hands, so
+that her work seemed mere child's play. Then when everything was done,
+and the fire had died out on the hearth, she stepped out again to the
+door.
+
+Like a faithful senner she looked first at the night pasture where
+the herds were resting peacefully. Now and then one of the beautiful
+animals would lift its head, and the bell at its throat would tinkle
+softly; the night-wind moved gently among the lofty trees, making the
+long moss of their stems wave to and fro like dark soft veils. Then
+Vreneli's eyes sought the valley, and to the moonbeams which hastened,
+in their glittering robes, down the rocky path to the village she
+entrusted tender messages of love. And when she turned back into the
+cottage she knelt at her mossy couch beside the hearth, and mingled
+with her evening prayer words of joyful thanksgiving. Her last thought
+before she fell asleep was this, that she was the happiest herdswoman
+and her Tony the handsomest and truest fellow in the whole land of the
+Tyrol.
+
+Sunny days succeeded to nights filled with golden dreams. When the
+first sunbeams flashed from the summit of the glacier, the goat-bells
+sounded below in the valley, and the goat-herd led his flock to seek
+the juicy plants that grew on heights inaccessible to less sure-footed
+herds.
+
+Then Vreneli ran joyfully to meet him, for he always brought some
+message from Tony, or some other token of his love. With joy-quickened
+energy she went then about her daily toil. The cows left their nightly
+resting-place, and came to Vreneli to be milked, and then she led them
+to some new pasture.
+
+And while the cattle grazed there, she leant against a rock and
+carefully watched each step of the animals entrusted to her care, lest
+any one of them should go too near a precipice, or, enticed by the
+plants that grew most richly beside the torrent, be hurried away in
+its mad whirl. And when evening sank on the mountain, and clothed the
+ice-columns in a splendour of red and purple, the goat-herd led his
+flock back to the valley, and received every evening from Vreneli's
+hand a bunch of mountain violets for her beloved Tony.
+
+Then she drove the cows again to the milking-place, and repeated the
+task of the morning. But this did not end her day's work. She was busy
+for hours in the cottage, and moon and stars had long looked down on
+the slumbering mountain before Vreneli had finished arranging her milk
+vessels in the dairy, or placed the newly-made cheese to dry, or
+rolled out her golden butter-pats.
+
+Then after a simple prayer she lay down on her lowly couch, and when
+the distant thunder of avalanches broke the silence of the night, and
+the mountain torrent roared close behind her tiny cottage, Vreneli
+slept as sweetly as a child, and round her head dreams of love and
+home hovered on golden wing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So the weeks flew by, and the day arrived when the butter and cheese
+which the mountain farm had hitherto produced was to be taken home to
+the farm-house. The farmer and Tony were to come to bring it, as the
+goat-herd had told Vreneli yesterday, and her usually dexterous
+fingers trembled with glad excitement just when it was most needful to
+show the farmer that he had entrusted his property to capable hands.
+
+At last--how often she had looked impatiently along the path--at last
+the old farmer came toiling up, and behind him, not Tony, as she
+expected, but two servants with tall baskets on their backs.
+
+Vreneli was bitterly disappointed, but she controlled herself and
+walked out calmly to meet her master. In spite of the sunny morning
+dark clouds lay upon his brow, and it did not clear even when Vreneli
+took him into the faultless dairy and showed him the rows of large
+rich cheese and the golden butter. Silently they were laid in the
+basket, and the servants returned homewards with heavy burdens.
+
+Then Vreneli led the farmer to the meadow where the herds were
+grazing, and his keen eye told him that the beasts were well fed and
+cared for. It was a faithful hand to which he had entrusted his
+property--_that_ he must acknowledge, however unwillingly. "You have
+done well, Vreneli; see that you go on as you have begun!" he said
+bluntly. How harsh the words sounded compared with those with which he
+had sent her to the mountain! Then when he turned to go home, and she
+politely begged him to taste the fritter that she had prepared for him
+according to the custom of the country, he refused it, looking all the
+time so gloomy that Vreneli did not dare to ask for Tony, though her
+heart throbbed in anxiety and longing. So he left her, and Vreneli
+stood watching him with a heart full of sadness and disappointment.
+
+It was evening, and the firelight fell as brightly as ever on
+Vreneli's lovely face, but it did not show the joyous expression of
+other evenings. Her movements were languid, and now and then a tear
+stole down her cheek.
+
+Why did not Tony come, as he had said he would? Why was the old farmer
+so gloomy? Why did the goat-herd refuse to take the daily bunch of
+violets, in return for which she might have hoped for some message
+from Tony? These were questions on which her life's happiness
+depended, and yet there was no one there to answer them.
+
+She sighed deeply. There had been a gentle knocking at the door, which
+Vreneli, lost in her sad thoughts, had not noticed; but at her loud
+sigh the door opened, and a figure of mysterious aspect stood on the
+threshold. Long silvery hair flowed down over the shoulders, and from
+the serious yet kindly eyes spoke a majesty which diadem and purple
+robes would not have been enough to give. Vreneli let fall the milk
+bowl in her astonishment, and she bowed low as to a mighty prince;
+then she wiped the low bench before the fire, the only seat which the
+simple cottage offered, and asked her strange guest to be seated.
+
+The old man nodded pleasantly, and sat down at the fire, leant his
+head on both hands, so that his silvery locks flowed almost to the
+ground, and directed his earnest gaze so searchingly on Vreneli that
+it seemed to her as if he could see into her very soul.
+
+"Why art thou so sad to-day, Vreneli?" he said at last very gently.
+
+Vreneli started. How did this stranger, who seemed to come from some
+distant land--how could he know her name? She looked at him, half in
+reverence and half in fear. "Come, Vreneli, wilt thou not tell me?"
+said the old man, and his eye rested almost with love upon her face.
+
+[Illustration: KING LAURIN IN VRENELI'S COTTAGE.]
+
+"I am an orphan," she faltered out at last, "and sometimes a painful
+feeling of loneliness comes over me."
+
+"And is that all, Vreneli?" asked the old man; "canst thou not
+confide in one who means well towards thee, and who has both the power
+and the desire to help thee? Dost thou think thyself unknown to me?
+Did I not see thee on the mountain side beneath the cross? Did I not
+hear the young man's oath, and see how love and hope had driven sorrow
+from thy heart? From that hour I have been thy friend. Dost thou think
+that thy care and watchfulness could have kept the dangers of the
+mountains far from thy roof and from thy herds? When thou wast asleep
+on thy couch of moss, and fair dreams led thy soul to golden meadows,
+I kept watch up there upon the rock, and warned the elements to leave
+thee and thy charge unhurt; I directed the course of the avalanches,
+and the flight of the snow-storm, so that they turned aside, and only
+softest breezes and the gentle starlight ever touched thy brow. Dost
+thou still mistrust me, Vreneli?"
+
+Vreneli had clasped her hands and drawn nearer to her venerable
+friend.
+
+"I thank you for your protection," said she, bowing once more in lowly
+reverence; "whoever you may be, to me you have been a benefactor, and
+such a one has a right to my confidence. But tell me how you read my
+heart and learned my love for Tony? For you know already what its
+burden is. I am troubled about what has happened to-day; I cannot
+understand it. Above all, I am disappointed at not having seen Tony,
+after I had looked forward so joyfully to meeting him."
+
+The old man cast a searching glance on her lovely face, as she stood
+there with the firelight falling brightly on her, and her blue eyes
+turned towards him in sorrow and touching confidence.
+
+"And wouldst thou like to see him now?" he asked gravely.
+
+Vreneli's eyes shone with delight.
+
+"But, Vreneli, the fulfilment of our wishes often brings something
+quite different from our hopes; we go to seek faithfulness, and we
+find treachery."
+
+"Ah!" said she, with the smile of unshaken trust, "that will not be
+the case with me. Tony is good and truer than gold, and did he not
+swear to me beneath the cross?"
+
+"Thou dear child!" answered the old man, while painful memories
+troubled his grave features; "if every broken oath could make a step,
+we would soon be able to reach the moon."
+
+"Stranger," said Vreneli, confidently, "you may have met with
+faithlessness enough in your long life to make you lose your
+confidence in human nature, but you do not know my Tony!"
+
+"Come then, Vreneli, since thou wishest it," said the old man, rising,
+"though I would fain have spared thee this pain." And they stepped out
+together into the night.
+
+Led by the old man's hand, Vreneli climbed up to the point of rock
+from which he had kept nightly watch over her and her herds. They went
+forward to the edge of the precipice. Far below, veiled by the
+darkness, lay Tony's home. High walls of rock and wide pasture-lands
+separated them from the farm-house, so that no human eye could pierce
+the distance.
+
+But the old man pulled down a branch of the lofty pine above them, and
+told Vreneli to look through a tiny knot-hole. She did so; the laws of
+space yielded, and her anxious glance flew to the distant farm-house.
+She looked through the lighted windows into the well-furnished rooms.
+All the costly vessels and ornaments, which were usually carefully
+laid past in chests and cupboards, were to-day displayed on the
+festive board, round which the most distinguished residents of the
+village were chatting and laughing merrily. Next his parents sat Tony,
+and at his side a richly dressed maiden. His eyes shone, and his mouth
+smiled and whispered, just as on that evening when he had sworn love
+and faithfulness to Vreneli beneath the cross on the mountain. His
+father's threatening words and the wealth of the bride so long chosen
+for him had quickly shaken Tony's purpose, and while the gentle
+Vreneli was thinking anxiously about his non-appearance, the fickle
+youth broke his solemn oath, and betrothed himself to the unloved but
+wealthy bride.
+
+Vreneli looked at the scene in tearless silence, then, when she could
+no longer doubt her lover's faithlessness, she let go the branch and
+turned her eyes away, so that once more night and distance covered the
+scene that had ruined her hopes. Vreneli silently descended the rock,
+but she did not seek the shelter of her cottage. She hurried past it,
+and wandered on aimlessly over the wilds of the mountain. It seemed
+almost as if she wished to reach the icy glacier heights.
+
+"Vreneli," said the voice at her side; "Vreneli, whither wilt thou
+go?" She turned her head as in a dream. Stony sorrow had fallen on her
+gentle features, and her once bright eyes were cold and fixed.
+"Whither?" she said quietly, "whither? I would like to go to the
+grave, but, since that may not be, I will go at least away, away as
+far as my feet will bear me."
+
+"Wilt thou come with me, Vreneli?" said the old man. "My home shall be
+thine, and the love and faithfulness which thou hast lost here thou
+shalt find there a thousand-fold."
+
+Vreneli looked into his mild eyes.
+
+"And who art thou, kind old man?" she asked with faltering voice.
+
+"I am King Laurin, the ruler of the powerful nation of the dwarfs, who
+for centuries were bound to men in faithful love. The impress of
+divinity which we spirits recognised in you, and before which we
+humbly bow, attracted us to your race. But in every generation we
+traced it less easily, and at last, despised and deceived in return
+for our kindness and help, we retired to the recesses of our
+mountains. There in the heart of the rock whose brow is crowned by the
+shining glacier, there stands my palace, adorned by my people with all
+the splendour of the precious stones which, hidden to mortal eyes,
+shine deep down in the heart of the earth.
+
+"There I live, but I have led for centuries a lonely life, for my only
+daughter, the last flower of a blooming garland, died long, long ago.
+Her rose-garden, to tend which was her greatest delight, still blooms
+in unfading beauty, but as often as my eyes fall on its wondrous
+flowers, I think with grief of my long-lost child. Thou, Vreneli, art
+a pure-hearted maiden like her, and since I first saw thee and looked
+into thine eyes, it has seemed to me as if I had found my child. I
+have watched over thee with a father's care, and I am ready now to
+love thee as my daughter."
+
+"Poor lonely king!" said Vreneli, in a tone of gentle pity, while the
+tears ran down her cheeks, "I will go with you to your mountain
+palace; I will love and honour you as your child once did, and I will
+tend the rose-garden that she loved; for I have no home and no heart
+to love me. But grant me one thing before I leave the sunlight."
+
+"Thou hast but to ask and it is granted!"
+
+"Ah, King Laurin!" said Vreneli, and her tears flowed faster, "I am
+still young, and this is the first disappointment that my heart has
+felt, and though it is almost broken, yet I have still a faint hope
+left. I cannot quite let go my faith in Tony."
+
+King Laurin looked even more gravely than before on the weeping
+maiden.
+
+"No, do not be angry!" she begged, raising her hands entreatingly to
+him; "call it not foolish weakness; remember that it needed hundreds
+of years before your noble heart would close against our deceitful
+race. I know that Tony has been persuaded by his friends to take this
+step; but he still loves me, and it would grieve him if I were to go
+without farewell. When he brings his bride up the mountain to-morrow,
+on their way to the wedding in the next valley, let me go out to meet
+him as he is passing my cottage--let me say farewell and part from him
+in peace."
+
+"Do as thou wilt, my child," answered King Laurin with gentle sadness,
+"though thou wilt find but a new sorrow. And now, Vreneli, it is late.
+Go to thy cottage, and lie down on thy couch, there to forget thy
+griefs for a few short hours at least."
+
+"Ah no!" said Vreneli, entreatingly; "let me stay here with you
+beneath the stars, for I dread the loneliness of the cottage. Wherever
+I may be I cannot sleep, and the shadows of past happiness would there
+trouble my soul. No; let me stay here and share your watch."
+
+They climbed the rock, and sat down side by side beneath the lofty
+pines. Vreneli folded her hands and looked up to the stars, while her
+prayer for peace and comfort arose to Him who sits enthroned above the
+sky.
+
+Not a word was spoken. King Laurin gazed in silence on the moonlit
+glacier, while his mind wandered back to the memories of a thousand
+years, and on Vreneli's brow lay the deep shadow of her young grief.
+
+Gradually her eyelids closed, and her head sank gently to the old
+king's shoulder. He placed his arm tenderly round the slumbering girl,
+and stretched out his right hand towards the lofty glacier.
+
+Then the storm-song in its icy clefts grew suddenly still, but the
+moonbeams still played around its jagged peaks; like glistening
+serpents they moved across the glassy sea, and then flowed slowly in a
+broad shining stream down on the crystal road. The mountain torrent
+meanwhile checked its thunder, and moved more gently on its rocky way.
+
+The night that hung above the mountain seemed but a pleasant twilight,
+and through the mild, soft air a bell tinkled gently now and then from
+the night pasture where the cattle lay at rest. All was peace. Nothing
+stirred save the summer breeze and the golden starlight, which
+ventured near to kiss the tear-stained cheek of the maiden who lay in
+sweet forgetfulness of sorrow on the old king's arm.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And now it was once more morning, and Vreneli's cheek grew pale as she
+thought of the sorrowful parting with him whom she had once called her
+Tony. But she was determined to do her duty to the very last, so she
+led her herds to the pasture, by the side of which the road ran, that
+she might be at hand to tend them while waiting by the wayside for
+Tony and his bride.
+
+The sun rose higher and higher, and the minutes of painful waiting
+seemed hours to the poor girl. Suddenly voices and loud laughter
+sounded in her ear, and soon two figures appeared from round the rock.
+For the first time since the morning when she brought the herds up the
+mountain Tony stood face to face with the poor orphan whose life's
+happiness he had ruined, and he started as he looked into the face so
+beautiful, but deadly pale. For one moment he remembered his oath.
+Then the rich bride at his side cried mockingly--"I suppose this is
+the servant girl of whom your father spoke, who had the presumption to
+dream of becoming a rich farmer's wife? Fancy the little beggar
+entertaining such an idea!"
+
+The scornful words cut deep into Vreneli's crushed heart.
+
+"I should never have thought of it myself," she said, sadly; "it was
+Tony who wished it, because he loved me so that my poverty seemed no
+obstacle."
+
+"Oh! indeed, Tony," said the bride, haughtily, "that is rather
+different from what you told me yesterday evening. Did you not tell me
+that you had never troubled your head about her, and that you had
+always wished to marry me? Tell this girl that she lies, or if you
+cannot do that, then you are free to choose this beggar still. I have
+plenty of suitors left!"
+
+Tony grew red with shame and vexation, but he did not vent his anger
+on the haughty bride, but on poor innocent Vreneli. "You lie, girl,"
+he cried; "I never made you any promise; I never loved you!"
+
+"Tony," answered Vreneli gently, "do not bring needless guilt on your
+head. Have you forgotten your oath beneath the lonely cross on the
+mountain? But I am not angry with you for forsaking me. Perhaps your
+parents persuaded you to do it; but I could not refrain from coming to
+say farewell, and to wish you happiness and prosperity."
+
+"Keep your farewell and your wishes to yourself!" cried Tony, white
+with anger and shame; "you were a fool, if you took my words in
+earnest. I and a beggar like you!"
+
+With a loud mocking laugh he turned away, gave his arm to his bride,
+and passed on without a word of farewell.
+
+Vreneli looked after him in speechless amazement. The wise king was
+right, then; she had met but a new blow, and this one more crushing
+than the first. She turned, and saw behind her King Laurin, who had
+been an unseen witness of Tony's shameful treachery. His eyes glowed,
+but he uttered not a word. Vreneli stooped again to raise his hands to
+her trembling lips. "I am ready to follow you!" she said in a low
+voice.
+
+Then the rock opened before them; Vreneli gave a farewell look at the
+midday sun, then, led by King Laurin's hand, she entered the magic
+kingdom of the dwarfs.
+
+That very moment an avalanche was set free from the snow-clad slopes
+of the glacier, rolled down with angry thunder, and at the cross where
+once Tony had sworn faithful love to Vreneli it overtook him and his
+heartless bride, and buried them so deep that their bodies were never
+found. Thus King Laurin avenged his adopted daughter.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Vreneli had found a home, and, instead of the one worthless heart that
+she had lost, a thousand hearts beat true to her in unchanging love.
+
+King Laurin loved her as he had once loved his own lost child, and she
+returned his affection with all the warmth of her young heart, while
+the little dwarfs obeyed her every wish with that cheerful eagerness
+with which they had once served their lost princess.
+
+She tended the rose-garden beside the king's crystal palace with such
+loving care that it bloomed once more as in the days in which the
+magic-mighty hand of the princess had moved among its fairy blossoms,
+and the sweet fragrance that the roses breathed into her very soul
+healed every wound of disappointed love.
+
+She did not miss the sunlight in this fairy kingdom, for the mild
+radiance of unseen stars lit it day and night; she never longed for
+earth, for here was unchanging spring; warm breezes kissed her brow,
+and the wild chamois, shy dwellers of the mountain solitudes, came up
+in friendly confidence, and let her stroke them with her snow-white
+hand.
+
+Many a time on starry nights she went by King Laurin's side out to the
+glacier peaks, to look around upon the slumbering land. Her eye, made
+keen by the light of the fairy world, pierced the distance and the
+darkness of night, and she gazed, even unaided by any "magic ring,"
+far beyond the boundaries which limit human vision. And what had once
+driven her from the region of sunlight she saw always and
+everywhere--sorrow, injustice, and untruth.
+
+And when she looked into many a joyless cottage and many a sorrowful
+heart, she would turn to the old king by her side, kiss his hand with
+loving reverence, and say, smiling--"Come, King Laurin, let us go back
+to our home, to our peaceful kingdom, where tears and guilt and
+fickleness are all unknown."
+
+
+
+
+The Dwarf of Venice.
+
+[Illustration: The Dwarf of Venice takes his Departure for his Native
+Land.]
+
+
+Evening was falling with the mild beauty of spring on the mountains
+and pasture-lands of the Tyrol. The latest sunbeams which streamed
+down from the lofty glacier bore the tones of the vesper bell through
+the quiet village street, and floated over the brook and in at the
+open windows of a substantial farm-house which stood at the end of
+the little valley. A neatly carved balcony surrounded the house, the
+window-panes gleamed like mirrors, and the orderly arrangements of the
+farm-yard showed the owner to be a man of some wealth.
+
+At the table in the oak-panelled sitting-room sat the rich farmer
+himself, but in spite of his possessions he seemed discontented and
+unhappy, for between his brows was a deep frown, and his eyes were
+dark and lowering. Opposite him sat his beautiful young wife, whose
+soft eyes looked anxiously into her husband's face. On her lap she
+held her only child, a lovely little girl, with eyes as blue as the
+flax blossom, and hair that shone like gold: she folded her little
+hands, as her mother did, as long as the vesper bell continued to call
+to prayer; but her eyes looked longingly, now on the pancakes that lay
+piled on the bright pewter plate, now casting a friendly glance on the
+boy that sat at the furthest end of the table, with his hands folded
+in devout reverence.
+
+It was Hans, the son of a poor relation, to whom the rich farmer, with
+unwonted generosity, had granted a place in his house and at his
+table, and who in return had to drive the goats every day up to the
+highest pastures on the mountain, to places inaccessible to other
+herds. He had just returned with his nimble charge, and had brought to
+little Anneli on her mother's knee a bunch of alproses, for he dearly
+loved the child.
+
+The bell had ceased ringing, the hands were unclasped, and the mother
+began to help the delicate pancakes. There was a gentle knocking at
+the door, and in walked a little man in a sombre and threadbare
+garment. His back was bent, either with the weight of years or by the
+wallet which hung from his shoulder; his hair was silver grey; but the
+dark shining eyes told that in this decrepit body lived a strong
+unconquered spirit.
+
+"Good evening, sir," said the little man humbly; "might I beg you for
+a bit of supper, for I am starving, and for a night's rest on your
+haystack, for I am tired to death."
+
+"Indeed," said the farmer angrily; "do you take my house for a
+beggar's tavern? if so, I am sorry your sight is so bad. You may seek
+elsewhere, for you will not find what you want here!"
+
+The dwarf looked in astonishment on the master of the house, who,
+regardless of the hospitable customs of the country, could thus turn a
+poor man away from his door; but the farmer took no notice of his
+surprise, nor of his wife's looks of entreaty.
+
+"No, wife," he said harshly, "this time you shall not have your own
+way. I will not keep open house for all the beggars in the land. Did I
+not give in to you about that boy over there? You might be content
+with that."
+
+Poor Hans blushed crimson at this allusion to his poverty, but when
+the little man turned away with a sigh and left the inhospitable
+threshold, sympathy with the poor old man overcame his fear of his
+employer; he seized the plate with the pancakes, and the great piece
+of bread which the farmer's wife had just given him, and ran out of
+the room.
+
+"What's the boy after?" asked the farmer angrily.
+
+"He is just doing what we ought to have done," answered the wife, with
+gentle reproach in her fair face; "he is sharing his meal with the
+poor man."
+
+"Yes, yes," growled the man, "birds of a feather flock together."
+
+Meantime the old man was creeping with weary steps across the yard,
+and had just reached the gate when Hans seized him by the arm.
+
+"Here, good little man," said he in mingled pity and fear--"here is my
+supper; come, sit down there on the well and eat."
+
+The old man's dark eyes rested with a pleased look on the boy. "And
+what hast thou for thyself, child, if thou givest away thine own
+share?"
+
+"Oh! that does not matter," said Hans unconcernedly, while he led the
+dwarf to the stone wall which surrounded the well. "I am not very
+hungry, and the farmer's good wife would give me more if I asked her."
+
+The old man sat down and began to eat, while Hans watched with delight
+how his aged friend enjoyed it. Soon the plate was empty, and the
+little man rose with thanks to set out on further wanderings, and to
+seek a night's shelter under a more hospitable roof.
+
+Hans went with him to the gate, and whispered hastily, "Do not think
+ill of the farmer for having refused you; he is not always so
+churlish, but to-day something has occurred to vex him--he was not
+re-elected as burgomaster of the village, but his bitterest foe was
+successful; that has soured him, and so every one who comes in his way
+must suffer for it. But listen, little man; to the right there, on
+the rock over which the path leads to the mountain, stands the
+hay-loft with its roof touching the stone. That's where I sleep, and
+if you climb a little way up the rock, and wait there till I go to
+bed, I will open the trap-door, and you can creep in to me among the
+hay."
+
+"Thou art a good boy," said the old man; "I will do as thou sayest,
+and wait for thee there upon the rock."
+
+It was night when Hans was at last allowed to seek his couch. More
+nimbly than usual he sprang up the slender ladder to the hay-loft, and
+then he quickly unfastened the trap-door which opened on the roof.
+
+The full moon stood large and bright above the mountain, and its pale
+beams played round the jagged brow of the glacier, and wove a veil of
+silver round the beech woods that adorned the mountain landscape.
+
+The old man was sitting silently on a ledge of rock; his hands lay
+folded on his lap, his head was bare, and the night wind moved lightly
+through his grey tresses. But the old man heeded it not. His eyes
+gazed fixedly on the night sky, as if they could, like the seers of
+olden time, decipher the records of the stars, and his features were
+ennobled by such a look of majesty that the boy gazed at him in
+astonishment, not daring to disturb him. At last he said softly, "Do
+not be angry, sir, at my troubling you, but the night is growing cold,
+and the dew is beginning to fall. Would you not be better in a warm
+bed?"
+
+The old man sighed, as if his thoughts returned unwillingly from their
+flight. Then he nodded pleasantly to the boy, went up to the
+trap-door, and let himself down upon the floor of the loft. He lay
+down silently on the fragrant hay, and was just about to close his
+weary eyes when he felt the boy's warm hand passing over him.
+
+The little fellow had taken off his jacket, and was now carefully
+spreading it over the old man that the night wind might not hurt him.
+With a silent smile the dwarf accepted the service of love, and soon
+their deep breathing told that slumber had fallen on the eyes of both.
+Several hours had passed by, when something like a flash of lightning
+woke the boy. He rose quickly; the trap-door was open, and the old man
+was rummaging busily in his wallet; he had just taken out of it a very
+bright hand-mirror, and the light of the moon, reflected with a flash
+from the crystal, had awakened the boy.
+
+The dwarf now threw his sack over his shoulder, took the mirror in his
+hand, and began to go through the trap-door to the rock.
+
+Hans could bear it no longer. "Oh, sir," he begged, "take me with you
+into the mountains, for that you are bound thither the mirror in your
+hand tells me. My dear mother has often told me about the mountain
+mirror, by means of which one can see into the depths of the earth,
+and watch the metal gleaming and glittering in its veins. And although
+you have not said so, yet I know that you are one of the mysterious
+strangers who come from far-off lands to seek the gold of our
+mountains, which is hidden from our dim eyes. Oh, take me with you!"
+
+The old man turned his face to the boy. "That is idle curiosity, my
+son," he said gravely, and his eyes shone almost as brightly as the
+mirror had a few minutes before; "stay at home and tend thy herds, as
+a good boy should."
+
+"Oh no, sir," begged Hans earnestly; "I have always longed to see the
+wonders of the mountains, and I will be quiet and silent as is
+befitting in presence of such marvels, and I will help you and serve
+you to the best of my power. Take me with you!"
+
+The old man thought a minute, glanced searchingly into the boy's eyes,
+who had come nearer to him in his earnestness, and then he
+said--"Come, then, and remember thy promise."
+
+They stepped out together, shut the trap-door behind them, and
+clambered up to the top of the rock, from which the broad footpath led
+up to the heights and abysses of the mountain. The moon poured its
+mystic radiance down from the deep blue sky of night, and the young
+foliage of the beech wood gleamed like silver as it fluttered in the
+breeze. Not a footstep was heard on the mossy ground, only their
+shadows glided in company with the lonely wanderers, who in silent
+haste pressed on deeper into the recesses of the mountains. The wood
+lay behind them, and the path led to a ravine, at the bottom of which
+a raging torrent rushed; they stood now at its edge.
+
+None save Tyrol's boldest mountain climbers know this path, and even
+they, though provided with ice-shoes and alpenstocks, tread its steep
+ascent with trembling hearts. But the little man seemed to heed no
+danger; fearlessly he set his foot upon the highest point, and
+securely, as if on level ground, he went down the side of the
+precipice, where one false step would have been certain death. The boy
+followed him with beating heart. The moonlight broke through the
+overhanging bushes and the lofty rocks overhead, and made its way down
+into the ravine.
+
+The wanderers stood now at the edge of the raging torrent, and walked
+along it to the high rock over which the glacier stream fell into its
+rocky bed, and which seemed to them, as it stood veiled in night, like
+one of the giants of old who, the old legends tell us, were turned to
+stone. Even in the distance they had seen the moving cloud of vapour
+above its head, which hovered in the light of the full moon, like a
+giant eagle, above the rushing waters. The milk-white billows of the
+torrent that rushed down from this height rolled in the moonlight like
+silvery tresses down from the rock's giant head. The old man walked
+quietly through the noise and foam round the foot of the rock and into
+a narrow cleft, which was the opening into the heart of the mountain;
+here he laid down his wallet.
+
+Now, now the boy's heart beat even more loudly than it had done amid
+the dangers of the abyss, when the old man silently beckoned to him.
+He held the mountain mirror in his hand: Hans stepped timidly to his
+side, and looked into the magic glass. Mists impenetrable as the
+curtain which parts the present from the future rolled over its
+crystal surface, but they became lighter and lighter, and soon the
+interior of the mountain lay open before the eyes of the delighted
+child. Through the wide rocky gates his eye pierced into a land of
+wonders such as are never seen on earth. Through the blue air rose the
+pinnacles of a crystal palace; the golden roof and the windows of
+precious stone shone in the splendour of another sun; and in the lofty
+star-spangled hall sat King Laurin, the hoary king of the dwarfs, on
+his emerald throne. Round him stood his subjects, the wise and aged
+dwarfs, who had long since forsaken the wicked world to lead an active
+but peaceful life here in their magic kingdom, where the malice and
+inquisitiveness of mortals could not come to disturb them. They
+listened with heads bent in reverent attention to the words of their
+king, and then went in different directions to obey his commands; but
+Laurin descended from his throne, laid aside crown and sceptre, and
+went down the golden steps to the rose-garden, which his beloved
+daughter, the only one left to him of all his circle of blooming
+children, tended with skilful hand. The lovely maiden was walking
+among the garden paths, tying up the young roses and moistening their
+roots with water from the golden vessel in her hand, when she saw her
+royal father coming. She hastened to meet him, took his strong hand
+with respectful tenderness, and led him joyfully through the blooming
+beds. Meantime, the little dwarfs had set busily to work: some were
+leading their herds of chamois through a secret gate out to the
+mountains of the upper world, that they might there enjoy earthly air
+and light; others hastened to the clear silvery springs which watered
+this realm, to guide their waters of blessing up to the meadows
+and woods of the children of men, that they might yield a more
+abundant increase; others, again, took pickaxes, mallets, and dark
+lanterns, all made of precious metal, and went into the heart of the
+surrounding mountains to bring their hidden wealth to light, and to
+increase still more the royal treasure, countless though their king's
+hoards already were.
+
+[Illustration: HANS SEES KING LAURIN'S KINGDOM IN THE MAGIC MIRROR. F.
+C., p. 62.]
+
+Glittering veins of gold streaked the stone, and out of the dark rock
+bubbled springs, whose clear waters flashed and sparkled, as if they
+bore onward with them grains of the precious and much longed-for
+metal. In a dark grotto lay something white and motionless like a
+slumbering eagle; but at the flash of the lanterns it roused itself,
+and the white serpent queen lifted her gem-crowned head. The drops
+that trickled down the walls of the grotto gleamed like jewels in the
+light of her diadem; but the serpent bent her head again, and coiled
+herself up for further sleep, for she knew well that the little
+dwarfs, unlike the robber sons of men, would never stretch forth their
+hands to seize the jewel on her brow. And there, at yonder spring,
+knelt a dark form busily engaged in gathering the gold sand from the
+bottom of the water, and putting it into the wallet beside him; but
+the figure could not be recognised in the shadow which lay deep at
+that spot. But when some of the industrious little men drew near with
+their flickering lanterns, the man at the spring turned his head and
+nodded to them a friendly greeting, which they returned as if he was
+an old and dear acquaintance.
+
+Then the boy recognised by his grey locks and his dark eyes full of
+gravity and wisdom the old man who had been showing him the mountain
+mirror. He raised his eyes in astonishment from the magic glass, and
+now for the first time he perceived that he held the mirror in his own
+hand, and that the old man was no longer by his side.
+
+"Ah! how thoughtless I am; I promised to help him, and now the kind
+old man is tiring himself, unaided, with his heavy work," said Hans in
+self-reproach. Then he hid the magic mirror in his bosom and turned
+towards the hole which formed the entrance to the treasures of the
+mountains. But just as he was stooping to creep in, the old man
+himself came out, bearing on his shoulder the shabby wallet with its
+priceless contents. "Forgive me, sir," begged Hans in a tone of true
+sorrow, "for having kept my promise so ill, but my mind was
+spell-bound by the wonders I beheld."
+
+"It matters not, my son," replied the old man mildly; "I have always
+had to work alone and without help, and I will continue to do so. All
+I ask of thee is a night's rest on the hay and a bite of bread when
+thou canst spare it. But come now! Seest thou how the cloud above the
+waterfall is gleaming rosy red? It is the reflection of the dawn. I
+would not that thy herds should wait for thee, and thy harsh master
+find thee behindhand with thy work. So let us hasten!"
+
+And back they hurried on the dangerous path by which they had come;
+the beech leaves gleamed in the first light of the new day as they
+passed through the wood, and the thrushes were just beginning their
+morning song.
+
+Soon they stood on the ledge of rock, and a few minutes brought them
+to the trap-door. The old man slipped in to snatch a little slumber
+before he began another day's wanderings, but the boy could not think
+of lying in his dark loft after all the splendour he had left behind,
+so he went to let out his goats and take them to the mountain. But
+to-day he could not bear to stay as usual in the tiny cottage where he
+performed the light duties of the mountain herdsman, while the goats
+clambered alone up the steep walls of rock in search of juicy plants,
+and came back uncalled at the sound of the evening bell. To-day he
+climbed with them up to the highest peaks, for he hoped to find some
+opening through which he might see into the magic kingdom which the
+mountain mirror had held before his view.
+
+It was, indeed, a wondrous land which stretched far and wide before
+him in fresh and fragrant beauty. It was his native land shining in
+unimagined splendour. Crystal lakes gleamed in the distance, and the
+snow-crowned mountain peaks glowed in the morning sunlight like the
+roses in King Laurin's magic garden. But there was no palace here, no
+lovely maiden among her flowers, and no old and yet nimble dwarfs. But
+there, far away, scarcely visible even to the sharpest eye, a little
+black dot moved along the winding mountain path, and the flashes which
+now and then darted from it over to the rock where Hans was standing
+amid his goats told him that it was the old man with the magic mirror.
+
+"Oh! how I wish it was evening," sighed the boy, looking longingly at
+the sun, which had scarcely run a quarter of its appointed course. At
+last it was evening, and herd-boy and herds hastened homewards. The
+boy did not stay long in the house. With a great piece of bread and
+meat in his hand he climbed the steep ladder to the hay-loft, and
+found to his joy the old man there already, waiting to receive the
+food with humble thanks. Hans lost no time in going to sleep, that the
+longed-for hour of the night journey might come the more quickly; and
+when again a sudden light flashed across his eyes, he opened them in
+delight and rose. But it was not the brilliance of the magic mirror
+that had awakened him, but the beam of the morning sun. He looked
+round in astonishment; he had slept so soundly that he had lost his
+expected journey. It was now clear daylight, and the goats were loudly
+calling their young master to his duty. He gave a hasty glance at his
+companion, who still lay in deep slumber. Whether he had slept thus
+since yesterday evening, or whether he was resting after his nightly
+labours, Hans had no time to ask. Quickly he ran down the ladder into
+the farm-yard, where all was life; then he took his shepherd's bag,
+which hung behind the door, already filled with the daily portion of
+food, and hurried with his impatient flock up towards the mountain.
+
+Again he looked wistfully from his high rocky seat down on the
+blooming meadows, and recognised the little man with the magic mirror
+in the remote distance, and determined to keep his eyes open the whole
+night. But when evening came, and he sought his couch, scarcely had he
+lain down by the side of his aged friend, when deep sleep fell on his
+eyelids, and left them only at the glance of the morning sun. Haste
+and timidity always prevented him from disturbing the old man in his
+sleep, and telling him once more the fervent wishes of his heart; and
+so every morning he bore his unfulfilled desires up with him to the
+mountain. Thus summer passed, and when one morning the first rough
+breath of autumn chilled the boy's brow, there was a rustling behind
+the rock on which he sat, and the old man, who had been his companion
+for so many months, stood before him. The wallet on his shoulder was
+full, and in his hand he held a staff as if he was ready to return to
+his distant home, for so indeed he was.
+
+"I come, my son," said the little man with his old grave kindliness,
+"to thank thee for shelter and food, and to ask thee if thou hast any
+wish which I can gratify."
+
+Hans shouted with joy; but the old man raised his finger gravely--he
+seemed to read into the boy's very soul.
+
+"Neglect not sacred duties for the sake of idle curiosity," said he in
+a tone of warning, and the boy blushed and was silent. Then Hans
+thought of his good mother down in the valley, whose cottage he passed
+every morning and evening, and found the poor woman always at the
+window waiting to whisper a loving word, a motherly blessing to her
+only child. But this morning her eyes had been dim with trouble, and
+when he asked what was wrong she had answered with a sigh--
+
+"Nothing, my good child, that thou canst alter; I am only thinking of
+the approach of winter, and how the cold wind will whistle through my
+battered cottage, and how I have no warm clothing to protect me from
+the cold."
+
+All this flashed like lightning through the boy's mind; tremblingly he
+clasped his hands, and a prayer for help fell from his lips.
+
+"That is right, my son," said the old man kindly, handing the boy a
+little coin. "Despise this not for its mean appearance, and never use
+it foolishly; and when I return next year, let me find thy hand as
+open and thy heart as pure as I have found them now. Farewell."
+
+He nodded kindly to the boy, took the cloak from his shoulder, spread
+it on the rock, and placed himself on it, staff in hand, and with the
+burden on his shoulders. Immediately the mantle rose, and hovered
+before the boy's astonished eyes, bearing the little man up into the
+air. The old man waved farewell from his airy height; then he pointed
+southwards with his staff, and swift as an arrow flew the magic mantle
+towards his far-off home. The boy watched the wonderful journey with
+devoutly folded hands. Like the beat of eagle's wings was the motion
+of the dark garment through the white clouds, and the little man kept
+his balance perfectly, he guiding his flight with the staff in his
+left hand, while the magic mirror in his right gleamed in the beams of
+the morning sun like the diadem of carbuncles on the head of the
+serpent queen. The last flash died away at last, and the boy sat once
+more alone on his rocky seat, dreamily gazing on the gold coin in his
+hand. It had evidently passed through many a hand before, for it
+needed a sharp eye to trace the impression on its surface; on one side
+the lion of San Marco stretched his royal limbs, and with raised head
+kept guard over Venice, the Queen of the Sea, whose foot the Adriatic
+kisses with its caressing waves, wedded to her anew each year by the
+Doge's ring. The other side bore the name of one of the rulers of that
+proud Republic. It was scarcely legible, and it had been long eclipsed
+by a younger glory.
+
+The boy, indeed, had no key to the understanding of the image and
+inscription, but he felt confident the gift out of such a hand must
+bring blessing in spite of its mean appearance, and so he kept the
+coin carefully in his pocket. To-day he started joyfully at the tone
+of the evening bell, said his prayer with more than usual fervour, and
+hastened with winged feet after his thriving flock.
+
+"Just look, dear mother, what I have brought you," he cried joyfully
+through the window of the cottage, showing the old man's gift. "Do not
+despise it," he begged earnestly, as he saw his mother's doubting
+smile; "he told me not to despise it, the kind, powerful man who gave
+it to me. Put it with your savings, and let us see what will happen."
+As he spoke, his eyes shone so brightly with joy and confidence that
+his good mother could not bear to vex him by her doubts; she promised
+to lay the gold piece in the drawer, and bade her boy good night with
+a loving smile.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ten springs had passed over Tyrol's mountains and valleys, and there
+had been many changes in the time. The young trees had grown tall and
+leafy; the children had become men and women. Hans was no longer a
+goat-herd, but a clever senner, as they call the mountain shepherds in
+the Tyrol, and now the farmer's herds had been entrusted to his sole
+care during the rest of their stay on the higher pastures, to which he
+had led them early in spring. The setting sun glowed on the lofty
+glacier before him, and its reflection flowed down to the night
+pasture, and hung like a golden veil over the pine trees, beneath
+whose wide branches the herds had lain down for their nightly rest.
+But Hans stood before his cottage, which he had entered to-day for the
+first time as senner, and gazed joyfully on his new charge.
+
+The valleys were already slumbering in the evening shadows, but the
+peaks of the glacier were aglow with purple, and reminded the young
+man of an image that he had long borne in his soul with secret
+longing; he thought now, as he had not done for months, of the
+rose-garden before the crystal palace, and of the little man who had
+been his yearly companion in the farmer's hay-loft, and who, every
+autumn, had climbed the mountain side to say farewell to him, and then
+with his wallet full of gold had returned on his magic mantle to his
+distant home. He had never asked the old man for a glance into the
+mountain mirror since he had received that grave warning about idle
+curiosity, and these memories of King Laurin's realm had gradually
+faded. But his reverence for the strange old man had remained
+unchanged, and every day he had shared his supper with him out of
+gratitude for the parting gift which Hans had long ago taken home to
+his mother. He had not hoped or promised too much. With the little
+man's dim old coin blessing had come into the hut of poverty, and the
+money in the drawer had never grown less. There was always some left,
+even when they erected on the site of the tumble-down cottage a firmly
+built and comfortable house, and though after that they bought many a
+much needed piece of furniture and warm clothing for the winter. There
+was no need now to creep in secretly at even to receive the gifts of
+the kind-hearted farmer's wife without her miserly husband's
+knowledge. They were able first to keep one cow, and then two, and
+then--Hans looked joyfully round on the slumbering herds--four fine
+cows now rested there, his mother's property, which he had been
+allowed to lead up to the mountain pastures to graze with his master's
+cattle. The churlish farmer, indeed, had never granted him this
+favour, but his unkindly eyes had closed for the last sleep the autumn
+before, and the eyes which now shone in the farm-house were so mild
+and lovely that it was a pleasure to obey their glance. What were
+these eyes like? Hans tried to remember as he gazed at the glacier,
+whose purple had changed to a pale rosy hue. Yes, yes, now he knows.
+The eyes of Anneli, whom he had loved from childhood as his own dear
+little sister, were just like the eyes of that fair maiden who used to
+walk in the rose-garden by the dwarf king's side, and this brought him
+back to the beginning of his reverie.
+
+And now he began to wonder if the little man, if he returned, would
+rest at night in the farmer's hay-loft, or, according to his old
+custom, climb up the mountain to seek him here. Then he heard, not far
+off, something like the sigh of a weary wanderer. The youth's sharp
+ear was directed attentively towards the path which led from the
+village to the senner's cottage, and which was now veiled in the
+double shadow of the trees and of the falling night. Yes, it was
+coming from that direction, and immediately Hans was ready to offer
+help. He took his lantern in his hand, seized his alpenstock, and ran
+down the path between the rocks and the dew-covered bushes. He had not
+far to seek, for there, on a stone by the wayside, sat a dwarf in a
+dark and shabby garment, and a well-remembered wallet hung from his
+bent shoulders. The young man cast a hasty glance at the figure, and
+then shouted aloud with delight. It was the old man of whom he had
+just been thinking, and it was with grateful emotion that he found
+that his old friend had not forgotten him, but that, in spite of the
+darkness and his increasing infirmities, he had toiled up the path to
+the mountains.
+
+"Good evening, sir," said he joyfully, bending as reverently to kiss
+the dwarf's withered hand as if he had been a lord of the land. "You
+must be tired; take my arm, and let me carry your sack; that's the
+way. And now, courage for a hundred steps or so, and we are at the end
+of our journey." And with such care and reverence as are shown rather
+to great princes than to such a poor little dwarf, Hans led the old
+man over the last difficulties of the mountain path, and over the
+threshold of his hut. Then he hastened to take the covering off his
+couch of moss and spread it over the wooden bench before the hearth,
+that the old man might rest his tired limbs on a softer seat. Next he
+kindled a fire, and made a fritter which the senner who had preceded
+him had taught him how to make. He had no drink to offer but good,
+sweet, new milk; but Anneli's hand had provided richly for the wants
+of the new senner, and the little wooden cupboard in the corner was
+stocked with good things from the farm-house. The young man searched
+in it joyfully for something dainty for his guest, and felt proud and
+happy in his unwonted work. A white cloth was spread over the coarse
+oaken table, and on it was placed the delicate fritter, with a plate
+of eggs and bacon sending forth fragrance by its side. Proudly the
+young man brought his guest to the well-set table, and both enjoyed
+its good things in silent comfort. Then Hans led the old man, tenderly
+as a child his beloved father, to his own couch of moss, and when the
+little dwarf sank on it with a look of love and gratitude, the young
+man spread the covering over him as he used to spread his jacket years
+ago in the hay-loft. Then he sat down before the fire that the
+flickering flame might not disturb the old man, and when at last his
+deep breathing told that he was asleep, the youth rose and went out
+into the open air. The moss-couch in the senner's cottage was not
+broad, and Hans must not spoil the old man's comfort, so he went to
+the night pasture, where the herds lay sleeping, and sank to rest in
+the soft moss beneath the aged pines. They let their evergreen
+branches fall over him protectingly, and the long moss that hung from
+them served as covering to the youthful sleeper, while the glacier
+torrents in the distant ravines sang his lullaby.
+
+The days passed by in keener enjoyment than even his boyish dreams had
+pictured. The hours were bright with happy sunshine, in spite of the
+double burden of work which he, contrary to the custom of his
+predecessors, had undertaken in the consciousness of his own powers
+and fidelity. And when the day had flown by with its quick succession
+of pleasure and toil, the evening hour would come when the beloved
+guest sat at the fire and at the oaken table, and sometimes the
+hitherto so silent lips would let fall words of grave wisdom.
+
+Then came the hour of rest, calling the old man to the moss-bed under
+the senner's roof; but Hans slipped out when the fire was dead to the
+shelter of the old pine trees, and slept in their protection, lulled
+to slumber by the song of the glacier stream.
+
+One warm spring evening, when the jagged ice-crown of the glacier
+gleamed with a bluish light beneath the full moon's beams, he did not
+turn towards his soft couch beneath the trees, but hastened to the
+grove of pines which rose above him on a steep wall of rock. With a
+sharp axe on his shoulder, gleaming brightly in the moonlight, he
+stepped along the well-known path across the green meadows to the dark
+ravine which separated him from the wood on the rocky height. Was the
+dream of his childhood now really fulfilled--was he going to look
+through the magic mirror into the heart of the mountains? Oh no. The
+spirit world had lost its power over his soul. His thoughts and
+desires belonged now more than ever to real life.
+
+A few days ago Anneli had come up with her mother to the senner's
+cottage to see about the produce of the mountain farm, as the farmers
+are in the habit of doing when the herds have been some time on the
+high pastures; and while the mother inspected the dairy, tried the
+cheese, and tasted the balls of butter, Anneli stood outside with Hans
+and the grazing herds, and chatted with him pleasantly as in days gone
+by.
+
+"And do you remember, good Hans, what day to-morrow is?" she asked
+with an arch look in her eyes, when Hans, after thinking in vain,
+shook his head.
+
+"Do you not know?" she said, laughing. "Why, Hans, to-morrow is the
+first of May, and I am curious to know if I shall have a May-pole
+raised for me."
+
+"You, Anneli!" cried Hans, looking in astonishment on her beautiful
+face--"you will have many a tree; they call you already 'the pearl of
+the valley,' and the rich farmers' sons will fight for the honour," he
+added in a low sorrowful tone.
+
+This tone thrilled Anneli's heart; she leant towards him with innocent
+confidence, and said with emotion--"Let them, Hans; but you know that
+I shall take pleasure in no May-pole but _one_."
+
+It was these words which were driving Hans now in the silence of night
+through the dangerous ravine and the foaming torrent, and up the steep
+precipice to the pine wood. Here he felled the chosen tree skilfully,
+tore the bark from the smooth stem, and bore the trunk carefully on
+his shoulder through shrubs and narrow mountain ways down into the
+valley. His path was dark and difficult, and jutting rocks often
+hemmed his footsteps; but his love for Anneli kept him from feeling
+weary, and the thought of her joy always gave him new strength. Thus,
+after hours of toil, he arrived at last in the village, and stood
+before Anneli's door. Then he took a packet carefully out of his
+shepherd's bag, and with the prettiest ribbons which his mother had
+been able to find in the nearest town he adorned the tree; and that
+Anneli's heart might make no mistake, he tied at the top a bunch of
+alproses, such as he used to bring every evening when he was the
+goat-herd and she a lovely little child. Then he planted the pole
+firmly in the ground right before Anneli's window, and with a glance
+at the bright ribbons fluttering gaily in the wind like the streamers
+from a ship, he turned joyfully towards the mountain and his
+slumbering herds.
+
+It was evening, and the farewell sunbeams shed their gold on the
+mountain meadows and the senner's dark flowing hair, as he went with
+pail and stool to milk the herds just returning from the pasture. Well
+he loved the mountain, the herds, and the evenings full of sunset
+splendour and of peace. But to-day he had no eye for the glory around
+him; he thought of the valley and of Anneli, who was to join to-day
+for the first time in the village dance, and who would be led by some
+richer hand. Hitherto, he had thought himself passing rich; to-day,
+for the first time, he sighed over his poverty. He sat down beside his
+favourite, Brownie, and began to milk; but in the middle of his work
+his hands dropped on his lap, and he began to wonder who besides
+himself had set up trees for Anneli, and whether she had known his
+among them all. Surely she must have. The bunch of alproses at the top
+would tell her, and he smiled to himself, and began again to milk.
+
+Then a well-known voice called to him from the cottage, "Hallo, Hans!
+where are you hiding? I have been searching the whole place for you."
+
+Hans shouted back an answer, and there appeared above the hedge the
+face of Seppi, the only one of the farm-servants who did not grudge
+Hans his place in Anneli's favour, and who had always remained his
+firm and faithful friend.
+
+"Well, Seppi, what good news do you bring?" asked Hans, with a feeling
+of presentiment. "What brings you so late to the mountain?"
+
+"It is Anneli, self-willed girl," answered Seppi, laughing. "She will
+not go to the dance without you. Quick, quick, put on your best
+clothes. The fiddlers are ready, and the maidens waiting to be
+fetched. I will stay here in your place to-night." Hans darted up like
+an arrow and flew into the cottage, while Seppi took his seat beside
+the cows, and went on with the unfinished work.
+
+In a few minutes Hans appeared in holiday clothes, and in his hat a
+garland and a ribbon like those on Anneli's May-pole. "Now, Seppi,
+take good care of the cattle," said he, coming back to the hedge. "You
+have known the beasts for years--ever since you were here for a while
+as under-senner. Good-bye." And he hurried off.
+
+But suddenly he remembered the little man, and that he had not told
+Seppi about the expected guest. Notwithstanding his eagerness about
+Anneli and the evening's merry-making, he ran back and commended the
+dwarf to the care of his astonished friend. But now nothing kept him
+back. Swift as the chamois before the hunter he flew down the steep
+path, and reached the gate of the farm just as the festal procession
+was moving along the village street to escort the "pearl of the
+valley" to the dance.
+
+She was waiting for him at the gate, and watching impatiently for his
+coming. "I am so glad you are here at last," she said, stretching out
+both her hands towards him. "You shall be my partner; I have chosen
+you out of all the lads who have set up May-poles for me. Just look
+how yours looks down on the other contemptible little things. Seppi,
+the good fellow, went up to bring me the bunch of alproses and the
+ribbon, that I might wear them for your sake."
+
+She pointed smilingly to her fair head, which was gay with a sky-blue
+ribbon, and to the bouquet at her breast. Hans looked at her in a
+rapture of delight, and grasped her dear hand more firmly, for the
+procession had now reached the farm-house, and the youths who had set
+up May-poles in Anneli's honour came out from the rest and stood
+before her, that she might choose one as her partner in the dance. But
+great were the astonishment and envy of them all when they saw that
+the former goat-herd had been preferred to them, and although they had
+to consent to this arrangement, yet poor Hans owned from this moment
+a number more of bitter foes. But he neither thought of this nor
+feared it; he led the "pearl" which had fallen to his lot out through
+the gate, and his face shone with happy excitement as he joined the
+procession, and led his fair partner to the linden-trees where the
+dance was to be.
+
+[Illustration: ANNELI SEES THE MAY-POLE ERECTED BY HANS.]
+
+Hans had always counted himself a happy fellow, but as he now led the
+lovely Anneli in the merry dance beneath the green linden-trees, it
+seemed as if he had never known before what happiness meant, and his
+whole past life he counted now as nothing. But this life offers no
+lasting happiness, and the purer it is the shorter is its reign.
+Anneli looked up at him with unconscious tenderness, and whispered
+that she would not dance that night with any one but him. The maiden's
+softly spoken words reached the ear of Nazerl, the son of a rich
+neighbour; and anger and envy blazed forth in his soul.
+
+"Anneli, you must dance once with me," he said, stepping up to her;
+but his petition sounded more like an imperious command.
+
+"You know, Nazerl," answered the girl, "that Hans is my partner; you
+must ask his consent." Now Hans was just bringing a glass to offer
+Anneli some refreshment.
+
+"Listen, goat-boy," said the rich farmer's son haughtily to the poor
+senner, "I will let you know that I mean to dance now with Anneli."
+And he seized her hand.
+
+Hans was of a peaceable disposition, and his new happiness had not
+made him proud, but this taunt was too much for him.
+
+"Let go her hand, Nazerl," he said quietly, though his voice trembled.
+"She may not dance with you."
+
+"May she not, indeed, you beggar?" cried Nazerl; "then take this," and
+he struck Hans in the face with clenched fist.
+
+Anneli screamed, and poor Hans lost all control over himself; without
+thinking, he hurled the glass in his tormentor's face, and with a loud
+groan Nazerl fell pale and bloody to the ground. Again a cry of terror
+escaped Anneli's lips, but it was not for the sake of the fallen
+Nazerl, but for Hans, whose thoughtless deed must bring him into
+trouble.
+
+The music ceased, and all hastened to the motionless form that lay
+stretched on the grass to offer help, while Hans stood by in
+speechless astonishment at his own mad act.
+
+Then he felt his hand seized, and Anneli's gentle voice whispered in
+his ear, "Flee, oh flee, dear Hans, at once, for a minute's delay may
+make flight hopeless."
+
+But when Hans still hesitated, she caught his arm and, unnoticed by
+the others, drew him away till they stood at some distance from the
+lindens, and were hidden from their companions by the trees. Hans
+still looked stunned and paralysed.
+
+"Hans," she said more earnestly than before, laying her little hand
+upon his arm--"Hans, listen to me and follow me. Flee as quickly as
+you can, for all, all are against you, because I chose you in
+preference to them. Flee, and hide yourself somewhere till the noise
+of this is over and Nazerl is recovered."
+
+"Ah, Anneli," answered Hans shuddering, "he is dead! Did you not see
+how pale and motionless he lay?"
+
+"Then there is all the more need for you to flee," said the maiden
+decidedly; "listen, they are coming; go, go," she urged anxiously.
+
+"Farewell, Anneli. Do not be angry with me, and never forget poor
+Hans," and he looked down at her with sorrowful eyes.
+
+"Never, never, Hans," she said in a firm voice, for the experience of
+the last few minutes had ripened her self-knowledge and her will. "But
+you will come back some day, guiltless and happy; I know you will. But
+now go. They are coming to look for you."
+
+He stooped, and, overcome with the sorrow of the moment, pressed a
+kiss on her sweet lips.
+
+"Farewell, farewell, my Anneli," he whispered once more, and then he
+turned and fled like a hunted chamois. It was dark on the path along
+which he hastened, but darker in his soul. The short-lived happiness
+to which he had so joyfully opened his heart was gone, perhaps never
+to return; even the thought of Anneli's love, which she had so frankly
+revealed to him, could not scatter the dark shadows.
+
+If Nazerl was dead, then he was a murderer, and must remain so all his
+life, no matter what might be his punishment and his repentance. He
+shuddered, and hastened trembling up the very path which his joyful
+footsteps had pressed a few hours before, when his heart was full of
+vague but sweetest hopes.
+
+How all, all had changed in so short a time!
+
+The moon, which before had beamed almost with the golden light of day,
+seemed now as pale as Nazerl's face; the night wind moaned through the
+trees like the sighs of a dying man, and the harp-like music of the
+glacier stream sounded like avenging thunder. Hans flew onwards,
+despair in his heart, great drops of anguish on the brow so lately
+crowned with calm content. There lay the night pasture. The moonbeams
+fell across it, and showed him the slumbering animals. He pressed his
+lips closer at the thought that he must say farewell to the herd that
+had grown so dear to him.
+
+Soon he stood at the senner's cottage. He looked through the window.
+All was peaceful as usual. The bed was still unoccupied, and the old
+man was not at the table; but Seppi was merrily turning the fritters
+and whistling a cheerful tune.
+
+"Seppi, Seppi!" cried poor Hans outside, as he knocked with trembling
+finger against the panes.
+
+Seppi turned his head in surprise, and when he saw Hans standing out
+in the moonlight, he came to the window and drew back the bolt.
+
+"What's the matter, Hans? Is anything wrong?" he said hastily.
+
+"Alas! yes," sighed Hans, and he told his friend in hurried words the
+misfortune that had befallen him.
+
+"The impudent fellow," cried Seppi angrily. "You may be sure your
+reminder will not do him any harm; and as for his being dead, you
+know, Hans, 'weeds wont die.' So don't be vexing yourself beyond
+measure. And are you going away? Where will you go?"
+
+"I do not know, Seppi," answered Hans sadly--"as far as my feet will
+carry me; away from my beloved country, perhaps for ever;" and he
+wiped a tear from his cheek. "But you must do me one kindness, that I
+may go content. As soon as you can get down to the valley, go to my
+good old mother, and tell her not to grieve too much. Tell her that I
+will try to do right, though I must leave the mountains of the Tyrol;
+and beg Anneli never, never to forget me. And one thing more, Seppi.
+Take good care of the little man, and let him want for nothing.
+Promise me this."
+
+Seppi nodded, and his good, honest face had a cheery smile on it as he
+gave his hand to his friend, who hurried away on his restless
+wandering. He gave a hasty glance at the night pastures, which he now
+reached; the long mossy veil of the old pine-trees, beneath which he
+had so often slept, fluttered in the wind like mourning banners. His
+favourite brown cow raised her head slowly, and the bell round her
+neck sounded like a sad farewell. Hot tears flowed from his eyes, but
+he had no time for long leave-taking, he must hurry on. Yonder rose
+the rugged brow of the glacier, with its furrows lighted by the weird
+moonbeams. He passed it by winding paths through the gloom of the
+fir-trees, now climbing steep ascents, now descending into a ravine
+with its foaming torrent--paths known to no eye and foot save those of
+the boldest mountaineer.
+
+At last he stood on the lofty ridge from which the road led downwards
+into an unknown valley and unfamiliar fields. He threw a last glance
+back towards his own loved mountain, then he hastened without further
+delay on his sorrowful journey.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The golden sunlight of evening lay once more on mountain and valley,
+and floated on the waves of the lovely river Inn, which flowed as
+peacefully as if it had never tried to foam and rage like its brothers
+in the mountains. A youth was descending the mountain with tottering
+footsteps. It was the last of the hills that had lain between him and
+the great and populous town that stood in the valley below. His blue
+eyes looked dim and sunken, his long hair hung tangled round his head,
+and his once respectable clothing bore traces of hasty and toilsome
+journeying.
+
+The son of the quiet mountains looked down in amazement at the bustle
+in the town below, and a deep sigh escaped his lips. But he collected
+himself, and descended the last declivity to the bank of the stream,
+across which a bridge led to the town. At one end of this bridge stood
+a watch-house, for it was a needful thing in those unsettled times to
+keep a sharp look-out on friend and foe. Two soldiers sat at the oaken
+table before the door. The young man went up to the building, and
+stood timidly a few steps from the men. At last the elder of the two
+raised his head.
+
+"Look, Franzerl," said he, after a hasty glance at the young wanderer;
+"there comes a lad from your mountains, but he does not look so
+cheerful as you did when you came."
+
+Franzerl looked up, but scarcely had he met the wanderer's eye than he
+sprang up and with a cry of joy caught his arm.
+
+"Hans, dear Hans, where have you come from?" he cried. "Do not you
+remember me? Do you not know Franzerl, with whom you and Anneli used
+so often to play, and with whom you so often shared your bread and
+cheese, when my poor mother had nothing to give to her hungry little
+Franzerl?"
+
+Hans--for it was he--looked with joyful surprise at the cheerful
+young face, and recognised at once his old playfellow, who years ago
+had left his native valley to push his fortune in the great world, and
+whose friends had long believed him to be dead. He had become a
+soldier; but in spite of his stern employment his heart had remained
+as warm and true as ever. He drew his old friend to the table where
+the other man sat, and offered him some of the fiery drink in the
+glass before him.
+
+"Drink, my good fellow," he said pressingly, "drink--you seem to be in
+need of refreshment--and then tell me what brings you hither."
+
+The rough kindness touched the poor wanderer's heart, and acted like
+magic on his weary spirit. It was the first familiar face that he had
+seen for many days--the first pleasant reminder of days gone by, and
+he found it sweet to open his heart to this friend of his childhood,
+and tell him of the folly that had driven him from home, and how he
+had wandered since from mountain to mountain begging a bite of bread
+and a drink of milk from kind-hearted herdsmen; for he had not
+ventured to go down to the villages, where the news of what had
+happened might have arrived before him. "And now," he said, "I am
+going away--away to some far-off country, where they know nothing of
+Nazerl or of Hans, or even of the beautiful land of the Tyrol."
+
+"You are very foolish," laughed Franzerl. "Are you quite sure that
+Nazerl is dead? He had always a thick skull, as I know full well.
+Don't be a fool, but stay here and become a brave soldier like us.
+Believe me, it is a merry life, and it is possible to be a good man
+even under this coat."
+
+Hans hesitated a moment; he had never thought of this, but Franzerl
+overwhelmed him with persuasive eloquence.
+
+"Look here, Hans; to-morrow or next day we are going to Italy, a
+country that, they say, is even more lovely than our own. Ours is a
+cheerful life, and when you come back in two or three years grass will
+have grown over the whole affair, and they will not dare to say a word
+to you after you have worn the Emperor's uniform."
+
+"But Anneli?" sighed Hans.
+
+"You cannot see Anneli for a time at any rate, and if she is really
+worthy of you, she will be true to you."
+
+Yes, Franzerl was right, Hans saw that; so he agreed to his proposal,
+and went with his friend to the recruiting sergeant, who was glad to
+receive the fine fellow into his ranks.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was autumn. The morning wind swept over the Adriatic, rippling its
+deep blue waves, and played with the dark hair of a youth who leant in
+deep reverie against the archway of the Piazza di San Marco, gazing
+dreamily at the flow of the Grand Canal, which, after cutting Venice
+with its great curve, mingles its waters with the waves of the
+Adriatic.
+
+It was Hans. The mountains and valleys of his native land lay far
+away. It was long since he had left the last mountain-pass of the
+Tyrol far behind, but he could not leave his love for home there at
+the boundary--it filled him with secret longings in this beautiful,
+but foreign land. What good did all the splendour of this strange
+country do him--all the lofty palaces and art-trophies of the queenly
+city--all the sweet melody of this unknown tongue? Could one of those
+musical sounds be compared with Anneli's voice when she said, "I am so
+glad you have come, dear Hans"? Could one of these marble towers
+attempt to rival the jagged glacier peaks when they shone with the
+purple of the evening sky? And when the horn sounded at sunset through
+the mountains, echoed a hundred-fold from clefts and deep ravines, and
+dying softly amid the shades of the valley, who would compare with
+that the tones of the music which day and night hovered on the waters
+through the streets of Venice?
+
+Hans raised his tearful eyes: the sky, at least, must be the same
+which spans the valleys of the Tyrol. Then he noticed a figure on a
+slender pillar--a figure which he must have seen long years before. A
+brazen lion with a proudly flowing mane raised its kingly head, as if
+keeping watch over the city below, and over the sea that kissed its
+feet. The young man dashed the rising tear from his eye, and looked
+thoughtfully up at the kingly beast. Yes, indeed, that was the same
+lion which was marked on the coin that the little man gave him long
+ago, and which in the secret drawer had kept watch and guard over his
+mother's treasure. A smile passed like a sunbeam over his troubled
+face as he thought of that sunny autumn morning when the old man said
+good-bye to him, and when he watched him from the rock as he sailed
+through the air on his magic mantle.
+
+"Oh! I wish I had such a ship," he said with a sigh. Then, in the
+familiar accents of his native tongue, the words sounded in his ear,
+"Good morning, Hans."
+
+Hans started--there was no one near. Had a dream mocked him? But no,
+there it was again--"Look up, Hans, up here." And Hans looked up.
+
+Above him, out of the high bow-window of one of those proud palaces,
+leant a familiar head with snowy locks and dark earnest eyes that
+smiled kindly down on poor Hans.
+
+He uttered a cry of joy, his first since he came to this foreign land,
+and quick as an arrow he darted into the archway, and entered the
+portal of the palace. His foot flew over marble steps and velvet
+carpets; but he had no eye for that. On he went, up to where, leaning
+over the golden banister of the landing-place, a noble and
+well-remembered face awaited him. Full of emotion, he stood before the
+old man, who gave him his hand in loving greeting. No longer a shabby
+coat, but a garment of black velvet covered his form, and his withered
+but wonder-working hand gleamed with costly diamonds. But the youth's
+affection broke the barriers of this marvellous change, and tenderly,
+as on that spring evening on the mountain when he had brought the old
+man into his cottage, he pressed his lips against the kind hand, and
+said from the fulness of his heart, "God bless you, sir. I bless Him
+for letting me find you here in this foreign land."
+
+[Illustration: HANS RECEIVES A HEARTY WELCOME FROM AN OLD FRIEND.]
+
+"Not a foreign land, Hans; I am in my own country," answered the noble
+Venetian, as he led the young man through the splendid halls, whose
+stately walls were adorned with the masterpieces of those immortal
+artists who called Italy their home. Then they sat down together in
+the wide bow-window, and Hans looked joyfully into the old man's
+venerable countenance.
+
+"So you did not forget the poor herdsman in your splendid home?" said
+he.
+
+"Forget thee, Hans!" replied the noble Venetian--"forget thee, who
+didst think of me in the midst of love and pleasure, and even in thy
+flight, when thy heart was filled with deadly anguish! No, indeed. I
+long to reward those years of faithful love, and perhaps the
+opportunity has come at last."
+
+"Oh, sir," cried Hans with shining eyes, "will you tell me how things
+go at home, where you have been more lately than I? Tell me if Nazerl
+recovered, if my mother has ceased to grieve about me, and if Anneli
+still remembers me."
+
+"Nazerl is dead--but through no fault of thine," said the old man
+soothingly, for Hans had looked terror-stricken at his opening words.
+"He soon recovered from the trifling wound caused by thy hand; but his
+own foolhardiness drove him up to the highest points of rock after a
+chamois, and a rash step hurled him into the ravine. It was not till
+long afterwards that they found his mangled corpse. As for thy mother
+and Anneli, thou mayest see for thyself."
+
+So saying he rose, stepped up to a richly carved cabinet, and took
+from a secret compartment a flashing jewel. The young man recognised
+it well; it was the wondrous mountain mirror; and now he held it once
+more in his hand, and looked searchingly on its shining surface. Light
+mists rolled over it; they grew gradually thinner and thinner, till at
+last there lay before him in the splendour of the morning sunlight his
+own beloved valley, and the substantial farm-house, Anneli's home. He
+gave no heed to the cheerful stir in barn and stable, nor to the busy
+preparation for the returning herds. No, his eye pressed through the
+clear window-panes to a well-remembered room. It was quiet and cosy,
+as in days gone by. At the window sat Anneli, fair and lovable as
+ever, but her countenance bore traces of gentle melancholy. The
+snow-white thread rested in her hands, and her lips moved in earnest
+talk with the two women at the other window--the farmer's widow and
+the old mother that Hans was longing to comfort. It seemed to Hans
+that the conversation concerned him, and as if now and then his name
+fell from Anneli's rosy lips. And every time she raised her eyes
+towards the opposite wall, Hans followed the direction of her gaze,
+and saw, carefully preserved by glass and frame, a well-remembered
+blue ribbon and bunch of withered mountain flowers. At this sign of
+faithful memory tears started to the young man's eyes, and when he had
+dried them, and looked again on the magic mirror, the dear vision had
+vanished, and the glass flashed once more in the light of the Italian
+sun.
+
+"Listen, my son; I will tell thee the wish that my heart cherishes for
+thee," said the old man, as he laid the magic mirror carefully back in
+the cabinet. "I am alone and lonely, the last representative of a name
+of ancient renown. When I was young and strong, I was filled with a
+desire after secret knowledge. I sought the gold of the mountains far
+and near--thou knowest this well--heaping treasures on treasures, and
+all the while I never noticed that I was growing old, and was still
+alone in life. Stay now with me. I will enrich thy mind with the
+treasures of my knowledge, and thy heart shall remain pure. Thou shalt
+be my son, the heir of my wealth; and thy name shall be inscribed
+among the noblest names in the golden book of Venice."
+
+The young man clasped his hands, and leant towards his aged friend.
+"Forgive me, noble sir," he begged humbly, "if I cannot gratify your
+wishes; but what can riches and honour do for a heart that is pining
+with longings after home? The scene which I have just witnessed--the
+vision of Anneli and my home--has shown me where alone my happiness
+must be sought. But if you wish to grant me a favour, then loose the
+fetters that bind me here, and let me go as quickly as possible back
+to my loved mountains."
+
+The old man sat a moment in silent thought. "I would fain have kept
+thee with me," he said at last, "for thy heart is true and pure; but
+my wishes must yield to thy happiness."
+
+So saying, he rose and once more opened the cupboard which hid his
+magic hoards. From its most secret recess he brought a dark object,
+and when he unrolled it, it proved to be the magic mantle, the
+air-ship of which Hans had thought so longingly a short time before.
+The old man spread it on the balcony, embraced the astonished youth
+with the tenderness of a father, and led him towards the mantle.
+
+"Now stand on it," he said; "take this staff to guide thy flight; and
+think of me with love."
+
+Hans obeyed as in a dream. The old Venetian waved his hand, and the
+mantle rose and bore the young man up into the air.
+
+Not till his eyes met the full light of the open air, and the fresh
+wind played with the folds of the mantle, did Hans awake to the
+reality of his situation. He looked sorrowfully back at his noble
+friend, who still stood in the bow-window looking after him, with a
+smile on his aged features, and waving a farewell with his withered
+hand. Hans stretched out his arms towards him, and cried in a voice of
+deep emotion, "Farewell, farewell, noble sir," and the mantle bore him
+onwards with the swiftness of the storm-wind.
+
+For a moment the Queen of the Sea gleamed far below, in the splendour
+of her towers and palaces; the sunlight flashed from the high windows
+of her churches, and the black gondolas glided noiselessly over the
+winding canals. But soon this scene grew faint in the distance, and
+nothing was left of it all but the sea stretching in a blue line along
+the horizon. Hans turned his face homewards, and directed his course
+towards the north. Swift as an arrow he flew onwards; the air rustled
+around him like the sound of eagles' wings; in the dim distance lay
+the mountain peaks of his native land, but they began to shine out
+more and more clearly from the blue mists. Soon he was floating above
+that rocky pass which long months before he had trodden with deadly
+sorrow in his heart; and now he breathes the air of his native land.
+
+With beaming eyes he looked down over the side of the magic eagle
+whose dark pinions were bearing him onwards to his home. Far below
+him lay the mountains with the grazing herds; from his cloudy height
+they seemed no larger than the lady-birds with which he used to play
+when a boy, and the senners' cottages like the round pebbles in the
+village brook. He almost felt as if he could touch the glacier peaks
+with his hand, so near did they seem in the splendour of the midday
+sun. He looked down into their icy clefts, and saw the glacier torrent
+rolling far below in milk-white waves; but the magic boat sped further
+and further, still bearing Hans swiftly onwards to his home.
+
+The young man now began to view the country more carefully, and soon
+he directed his course westwards. Then he uttered a cry of joy, for
+they were sailing towards a well-known mountain, and the mantle, as if
+it knew exactly its appointed task, sank gently downwards, till Hans
+found himself on a projecting rock. It was the same spot from which he
+had often, when a goat-herd, looked down longingly on the smiling
+meadows, searching for the entrance to the dwarf king's magic
+realm--the same spot where the old man bade him farewell that autumn
+morning long ago, before taking his airy journey to his distant home.
+Hans sprang joyously from his magic boat, laid the staff on it with
+whispered words of thanks, and immediately the mantle rose, and flew
+swift as an arrow up into the clouds. Hans stood watching it for a few
+moments, then he hurried down the old familiar path. A little below
+herds were grazing--his herds--and Seppi was leaning against a rock
+watching them, and singing the while in his own cheery way. Hans
+glanced joyfully at the distant scene, and hurried on. There was the
+night pasture, and now he arrived at the senner's cottage; he did not
+wait, however, even to peep in at the window, so eager was he to reach
+the village. With flying footsteps he hurried down the rocky path
+which he had climbed a few months before with deadly anguish in his
+heart.
+
+But to-day--to-day all was changed. With joy throbbing in every
+pulse-beat Hans felt the stony path softer than the grass of the
+pasture-lands, and the sound of the stream seemed sweeter than the
+melody of harps. At last he reached the valley, and just as he entered
+it the evening bell began to ring. At the sound he stopped, bared his
+head, and knelt by the wayside; but when the last tone died away he
+rose and hastened up the village street, then with a bound he crossed
+the brook and reached the farm-yard gate. There was no one to be seen,
+for the servants were at supper in the house. Quickly, but
+noiselessly, Hans slipped through the yard, and stood with beating
+heart at the door of the sitting-room. There was no sound of life
+within. Hans put his ear to the key-hole and listened. Then he heard
+Anneli's sweet voice saying, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and
+bless Thy gifts. Amen." And when the Amen was said, Hans opened the
+door and stepped over the threshold.
+
+"Have you any of God's gifts to spare for a poor wanderer?" he said
+softly.
+
+"Hans, dear Hans!" was Anneli's glad cry, for in spite of the twilight
+and his unfamiliar dress she recognised him at a glance, and soon she
+lay weeping with joy in the tall soldier's arms.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Next May-day a stately May-pole stood, as before, at Anneli's window,
+richly adorned with fluttering blue ribbons and with the bunch of
+alproses at the top, and Anneli once more walked on the arm of her
+Hans to the dance beneath the lindens. But this time the rich farmers'
+sons could not say a word of protest, for Anneli was now a fair and
+happy bride.
+
+Meantime, the brave Franzerl had tired of the merry soldier's life,
+for it had grown dull to him since the return home of his dear friend
+Hans. So he had laid aside the Emperor's uniform, and come back to his
+native valley.
+
+
+
+
+RHINE GOLD: A Tale of the Nibelungen
+
+[Illustration: HACO THROWS THE TREASURE OF THE NIBELUNGEN INTO THE
+RHINE.]
+
+
+Evening's dim shadows had ceased to hover in vague mystery around the
+walls of Worms. They had, hours before, gathered in dark masses in
+every nook of the royal city, hiding like traitors from the light of
+the clear full moon that flooded with silvery splendour the Rhine
+river and the Wonnegau on its banks, where, transformed by the soft
+touch of the moonbeams, stood the proud seat of Burgundy's mighty
+kings.
+
+Slumber and silence reigned in the palace which, but the morning
+before, had resounded with the clash of weapons and a cheerful
+bustling life; for King Gunther, accompanied by his brothers and his
+bravest men-at-arms, had that day set out on a warlike expedition,
+leaving the town and the castle and his fair queen Brunhild to the
+care of the truest of the true, bold Haco, in whose courage and wisdom
+he placed the fullest confidence.
+
+With a loose velvet mantle half hiding his gold-gleaming armour, Haco
+paced the streets of the lonely city, and listened attentively for
+some sound to break the stillness of the night. A distant noise like
+the rumbling of many wheels reached his ear, and an eager look came
+into his eyes. He glanced over at the palace, in the safest room of
+which lay Brunhild, his honoured queen. Out of love to her he had
+murderously slain the noble Siegfried, the immortal hero of the
+Nibelungen; and the shame of the deed will last to the remotest ages,
+dimming with rust the splendid escutcheon of his fame.
+
+When he had convinced himself of the undisturbed repose of the royal
+household, he turned and walked towards the minster, in whose shadow
+lay another palace. There dwelt the beautiful Kriemhild, King
+Gunther's sister, and widow of the noble Siegfried, whose death she
+mourned with inconsolable grief. The stillness of repose hovered also
+round these walls. The windows were dark, the doors barred, and amidst
+her maids lay the royal widow in her first deep sleep.
+
+The moonbeams glided over the roof of the palace, and glanced
+suspiciously at the dark figure of the man who stood gazing anxiously
+up at the windows. When he saw that there was no movement, he went
+towards the tower built of huge blocks which guarded the entrance to
+the castle, took a bunch of rusty keys from under his mantle, and
+opened the locks and bolts of the ironbound door which led into the
+vaults. The last bolt was loosed, the heavy gate opened, and the
+moonlight streamed in freely over the treasures which were here
+displayed in splendid piles. Crowns of gold richly adorned with
+diamonds, bracelets and chains gleaming with jewels, lay there in rich
+profusion. Wrought by the skilful hands of the dwarfs, they had been
+kept hid by the little folk in secret mountain recesses until
+Siegfried came, and Alberich, the dwarf-king, had been obliged,
+notwithstanding his magic power and cunning, to yield to the might of
+the hero's arm, and give him the precious hoards of jewels. And beside
+these, heaped up to the very roof, were bars upon bars of uncoined
+gold, only waiting the impress of the mint to change them into an
+exhaustless hoard. This was the treasure of the Nibelungen, the widow
+Kriemhild's rightful possession, which the heroes had brought her a
+few weeks before from the land of the Nibelungen. With full hands she
+had scattered gold among these heroes, and had also given rich gifts
+to the vassals of her brother, the king of Burgundy, for she had now
+come to live in his land that she might be near the corpse of her
+beloved husband. And what Kriemhild's beauty and misfortune had failed
+to do, her bounteous gifts accomplished. The hearts of the Burgundians
+were turned towards her, so that Haco, the watchful hero, began to be
+anxious about his own influence and her probable revenge. So he
+determined to rob her of the Nibelungen treasure, that she might be
+deprived of the means of working his ruin.
+
+At a place not far from the royal city, where the Rhine flows in a
+still deeper channel, stood Haco a few hours later in a boat on the
+river, and watched the high-piled waggons, the first of which now
+passed over the shaking bridge, rolled on with threatening rumble, and
+stopped close to the low parapet. Haco stretched forth his stalwart
+arm and removed the back of the waggon, so that its precious burden
+slid into the depths below.
+
+The stream gleamed brightly in the radiance of gold and precious
+stones, the jewels whirled round and round in the rapid waters, then
+sank down flashing from wave to wave, till they had reached the still,
+deep bed of the river. Waggon after waggon was silently emptied by
+Haco's powerful hand, and each time the costly load made the Rhine
+river flash with borrowed splendour. So hour after hour went by in
+silent and restless haste. When the last gold bar had disappeared
+beneath the water, the drivers swore an oath of eternal secrecy,
+received rich rewards of gold, and led their waggons away in endless
+line. Haco stood alone in the boat, and watched them till the last man
+had vanished in the shades of night; then he stooped to gaze down into
+the stream.
+
+There far down lay the treasure of the Nibelungen, and the Rhine
+flowed on in silence over the golden secret that it hid. No tongue
+would ever tell the tale, no arm would ever reach the hoards. Why,
+then, did Haco still stand lost in thought?--why did he gaze down
+gloomily into the river depths? Was it that the shadows of the past,
+or visions of a bloody future, rose from the gleaming waves? Was he
+thinking of Kriemhild's beauty and the passionate love which his now
+hard heart had once felt for the beautiful princess, and which, when
+rejected, changed into anger and hatred that moved his arm to the
+murder of Siegfried and the robbery of the Nibelungen treasure? Or did
+he see with prophetic eye that time in which the now helpless one
+should take revenge on all who had injured her--a revenge which should
+exterminate the heroes of Burgundy to the last man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Many hundred years had passed over the world since that night robbery;
+blood and tears had been shed, dried, and forgotten; new nations had
+arisen and the old ones fallen, so that there was scarcely a page of
+the world's chronicle to tell of their struggles, hopes, and tears.
+All things had changed. The new had taken the place of the old, only
+to yield in its turn to a newer order still. Nothing was the same but
+ever young, ever beautiful, ever innocent nature, and the human heart
+with its love and hate. The Rhine still flowed and the Wonnegau on its
+banks still bloomed as of old, but its name was changed; the Cathedral
+of Worms still pointed to the sky, but it was not the same building in
+the shadow of which Kriemhild's palace used to stand. The generation
+that now trod the same soil knew nothing of the Nibelungen--the
+tradition of those heroes lived only in some half-forgotten songs. The
+sunken treasure had long since been thought a myth, and with an
+incredulous smile the wise men of those days pointed to the stream
+which was said to hide such a "golden secret."
+
+Nevertheless, it was no myth; the treasure still lay beneath the
+waters. Not a crown, not a bracelet was lost; not a diamond had fallen
+from the brilliant setting; for, as if held together by magic hand,
+the jewels had remained firmly united; but wave after wave had rolled
+on unceasingly, day and night, from year's end to year's end, and
+softly and gradually the treasure had been pressed on further into the
+bed of the river. The Wonnegau lay behind it; there the waves foamed,
+whirling over the hidden reefs beneath, and further on towards the sea
+they roared loudly against the walls of the Pfalzburg, then flowed
+caressingly past the blooming vines which wound their clustered
+garlands round the white cottages of the vine-dressers.
+
+The treasure of the Nibelungen had been carried in safety, though
+without any guiding hand, past all these different scenes, and the
+waves had borne it further and further into the shadow of the bank,
+bit by bit, until, after many years, it lay at the foot of a rock that
+rose high and bold above the waves. The moonbeams wove a silver
+garland round its granite brow, and for centuries tradition echoed
+round its jagged peak; but a row of crags surrounded the foot of the
+rock, and the foaming rage of the waves kept away even the boldest.
+There into that deep rocky bed the waves bore the treasure, and now
+it rested safely hidden at the foot of the Loreley rock.
+
+But treasures which have once gleamed in the sunlight, and been
+grasped by human hands, can never rest in darkness; they strive to
+reach again the light of day and the warm living hand of man. Slowly
+they rise from year to year, till at last they glow in the light of
+the sun, and await a pure hand to set them free, to do good with their
+riches, and so to expiate the guilt which was attached to them. It was
+thus that the treasure of the Nibelungen pressed upwards. It rose
+slowly, slowly, for sighs and blood and tears hung more heavily on it
+than on other sunken hoards. But at last, about a thousand years after
+that night when Haco threw the treasure into the stream, it had made
+its way up through the water.
+
+It was just such a delightful spring night as that memorable one long
+ago; work had long since ended in the blooming vineyards, rest and
+peace lay all around. The night-wind came softly from the mountains
+and bore the fragrance of the vines across the Rhine; the moon stood
+high in heaven, its light glided trembling down on the ledges of the
+Loreley and kissed the feet of the rock, which until now had lain in
+deep shadow. There in magic radiance floated the jewels of the
+Nibelungen treasure, so that the Rhine shone brightly as its waves
+played round the golden hoard. The night-wind blew more strongly,
+bearing on its wings something like a spirit, which sank in a veil of
+mist round the point of the rock, and then stood in that majestic
+beauty which had in days long past touched Haco's proud heart and won
+the love of the hero Siegfried. It was Kriemhild, once Siegfried's
+sorrowing widow, and afterwards King Etzel's queen in the distant land
+of the Huns. As Queen of Hungary, she invited the Burgundian heroes to
+her kingdom, that she might demand the stolen treasure from Haco, or
+take revenge on him for Siegfried's murder and the robbery of her
+gold. But the vengeance which should only have overtaken one fell upon
+all, even on her own little son. Kriemhild's proud heart was softened
+by the blow, and with a pang of keen repentance she thought of those
+other mothers whom her mad revenge had rendered childless. One way
+only was left her of giving happiness instead of sorrow. With a desire
+that rose to heaven like a prayer, she thought of her lost treasure.
+If she could but get it now, what troubled hearts would be soothed by
+her who had heretofore brought misery to happy ones! But the swift
+sword sent her to the grave with her longings unsatisfied. The same
+slaughter that had freed her from her enemies had robbed her of her
+child and of her life.
+
+Her spirit hovered often round the scenes of her youthful happiness,
+seeking the hidden treasure in the river-bed. That night, when it rose
+to the surface, and its golden radiance was seen bright and clear,
+Kriemhild came, thinking to set it free. Her eyes gazed longingly on
+the floating gold, and her arms, light and transparent as the
+moonbeams, were outstretched over the rock as if she would fain grasp
+the moving treasure. Then she glided with spirit tread down over the
+jagged moonlit rock by paths which no human foot could follow, and
+soon she stood on the narrow ledge over which the Rhine river flowed
+in gleaming ripples. Her white foot was covered by the water, but she
+heeded it not; her eye gazed fixedly on the treasure for which she had
+longed unceasingly in life, and which now hovered close to her feet in
+the dancing waves. Her lips moved softly, her hands were clasped as if
+in earnest desire, and she stooped to reach the golden crown which now
+knocked with a metallic sound against the rock and almost touched her
+foot; but when she stretched out her transparent hand, and thought she
+had touched the point of the diamond cross, the crown shrank from her
+fingers, sank into the stream, and was borne away out of her reach by
+the mighty waters. Kriemhild sank on her knees; the waves wet her long
+flowing locks, and the hem of her purple robe--but she felt them not.
+Only one thought, one feeling, lived in her heart--the longing to
+recover the treasure. She bent forward once more; her white hands
+clutched again and again at the jewels which shone around her in
+tempting nearness, and yet always shrank from her touch. Other
+treasures floated towards her, the bars of gold came close to her
+feet, then started back when the white hands grasped at them, and
+gradually all disappeared in the middle of the stream.
+
+Kriemhild's cold lips trembled, her transparent hands ceased their
+useless toil, and were clasped again in prayer. Then there was a
+louder rushing in the river, and a majestic shadow floated down the
+stream. Kriemhild's eye watched its onward movement; nearer and nearer
+it came, till it passed through the foaming gold stream, and
+approached the rock where the Queen now stood erect and majestic.
+
+[Illustration: CHARLEMAGNE MEETS WITH KRIEMHILD. F. C., p. 108.]
+
+It was Charlemagne, once Germany's beloved and mighty ruler, who every
+year leaves his tomb at Aachen, glides along the Rhine to bless the
+vineyards on its banks, and then lies down again in the golden coffin
+until the fragrance of a new spring awakes him to another beneficent
+progress. Now he stood before her on the river, clad in his purple
+mantle and his golden crown, with the sword which formerly decided the
+fate of nations in his cold right hand. His foot rested on the shield
+of Roland, his beloved nephew, which they had laid beside him in the
+tomb, and which now bore him like a trusty boat. The water rippled
+over the golden edge, and washed the grave-dust from the flashing
+emerald which the hero of Ronceval once won from the giant and
+fastened as an ornament on his shield.
+
+"Who art thou?" asked the dead Emperor, when his gaze had rested long
+on Kriemhild's face. "Thou art no mortal woman; I know that by the
+glance of thine eye, which speaks to me of bygone ages. It was thus
+that Fastrada's eyes shone; her golden hair was soft and silken as
+thine. I have not forgotten it, though I have slept for more than
+half-a-thousand years in the dark vault--yet thou art not Fastrada,
+the Emperor's beloved wife."
+
+"No, great Emperor," said the Queen; "I was once Kriemhild, the wife
+of Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungen, who ruled over the land
+which was also subject to thy sway. The present generation know almost
+nothing of his glory, but in thy times, O Emperor, his renown was
+still bright."
+
+"I know him well, that model of all knightly virtues," said the
+Emperor thoughtfully, "and his fate and thine are familiar to me. It
+was but the old and yet ever new song that sounds through all
+time--the song of the victory of evil over good--which made my life
+also one of pain and trouble. But what brings thee hither, O Queen?"
+
+"If thou knowest my fate, noble Emperor," answered Kriemhild, "thou
+knowest also what I seek for here. Thou knowest the misery I caused in
+life. When repentance came it was at the last moment, and my time was
+gone for earthly works of love. But now, perhaps, my spirit may be
+permitted to grasp this treasure, cause of so much sin, and use it
+well and wisely, till as many tears are dried as have been shed, and
+as much sorrow healed as was once caused by me.
+
+"See yonder, noble Emperor! there gleams the Nibelungen hoard, the
+bequest left me by my husband, but of which Haco robbed me. It has
+risen, and awaits only the delivering hand; but no one comes. So I
+would fain grasp the treasures and seize the moving bars of gold. Then
+in the stillness of the night I would take them into the abodes of
+poverty and misfortune, so that when the inmates awake Kriemhild's
+treasure might dry the tears of need and despair. But it is not
+permitted me."
+
+The Emperor turned his face and gazed searchingly down at the jewels,
+which floated in bright clear radiance on the waters of the Rhine.
+
+"Thou askest a thing impossible, O Queen," he said at length; "knowest
+thou not the limits which debar spirits from the deeds of mortals? It
+is only a guiltless, living, human hand which may change the sentence
+that hangs over them. But the Nibelungen treasure has long since been
+forgotten. Yet look! Thou no longer seest the jewels in the full size
+of olden days. Wave after wave has gnawed at them; the waters have
+worked unceasingly through long centuries at this tedious task. See
+how the ornaments on the bracelets and crowns have shrunk, and how
+slender the links of the chains have become. The Rhine has taken the
+gold of thy treasure, and with it fertilised the blooming meadows on
+its banks. Nightly the gold set free rises in light mists above the
+stream and sinks in blessing on mountain and valley, and when autumn
+comes thy gold gleams in every cluster, ripens in every ear of corn.
+Freer, stronger, more joyous are the people of these meadows--and that
+is the blessing of the Nibelungen treasure, which rests unseen in
+earth and air and water--thus will the guilt and tears be done away
+with which once lay heavy on this hoard. Then have patience, O Queen,
+for a few short years--then thou wilt search in vain for thy treasure.
+Meantime other ministries are thine."
+
+The Emperor bowed his head in courteous farewell, and sailed on his
+magic boat up the moonlit stream.
+
+Kriemhild gazed after him. The emerald in the point of the shield
+flashed brightly in the moonlight, and the wide purple mantle
+fluttered above the gleaming waves. The Emperor blessed the vineyards
+as he passed; and when the last glimmer of his crown grew pale and
+the veil of night concealed him, the Queen once more looked at the
+gold hoard at her feet. The dead Emperor had spoken truly; her eyes
+now perceived it too; so she could wait in patience till the last
+crown, the last gold bar, had melted in the sparkling river.
+
+The treasure's time of freedom was passed; no delivering hand had
+come. The jewels slowly shrank together round the foot of the Loreley
+and fell into their watery bed. Their splendour was extinguished;
+still and dark the river flowed. Then Kriemhild turned and ascended
+the rock. She gave one long farewell look at the meadows of her former
+home, and then vanished like a mist in the distance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Again centuries have passed. Kriemhild no longer hovers round the
+Loreley, for the Nibelungen treasure has melted in the waves; only its
+diamonds rest uninjured in the river bed, and any one gazing into its
+depths on starry nights may see them flash and sparkle far below. But
+the gold runs freely through the Rhine, so that its waters flow in
+bright, clear waves; and on summer nights the precious substance rises
+to the clouds, and then falls in fertilising dew on the meadows and
+vineyards all around. Gold shines in the ripening berries and gleams
+in the waving corn; with the clear ring of gold sound the songs of the
+Rhenish people; pure as gold is their honesty--that surest safeguard
+against every foe.
+
+That is the German Nibelungenhort--that is the Rhine gold.
+
+
+
+
+The Friendship of the Dwarfs.
+
+[Illustration: THE COUNTESS MATILDA RESTORES THE DWARF-QUEEN TO
+HEALTH.]
+
+
+
+
+PART I.
+
+The DYING DWARF-QUEEN.
+
+
+A stately and strongly-built fortress stood many hundred years ago on
+a high rock of the Thuringian Mountains. The lord of this castle was
+descended from one of the noblest families in the land, and had chosen
+this place from all his numerous estates as a home for himself, his
+wife, and his little son, because its cheerful situation and mild
+climate were best suited to the Countess Matilda's delicate health.
+
+They had come home to it, after a long journey, on the evening which
+preceded the night on which my story begins, and the Countess, wearied
+with all the ceremonies of the reception, had just fallen into a
+gentle and refreshing sleep. Crimson curtains hung in heavy silken
+folds round the lady's couch; through them the lamps shed a softened
+light on the sleeper, lending to her cheeks a rosy glow which was,
+alas! but seldom seen there.
+
+It was midnight. Every one in the castle was asleep, resting from the
+exertions of the past day, when the lofty door was noiselessly opened,
+and a little tiny man with a long grey beard approached the couch of
+the slumbering Countess, and let the light of a lantern fall on her
+delicate features. He was scarcely three feet high, and his figure was
+of ungraceful build. But in the rather large head gleamed a pair of
+bright and intelligent eyes, and in the aged features shone an
+expression of benevolence and truth. The little man's clothes were of
+a plain dark colour; his little smock-frock was bound by a girdle with
+a silver buckle; under his arm he carried an invisible cap, a little
+black head-dress with a long point, and ornamented with silver bells.
+Very gently he drew near the couch, raised his lantern, and softly
+touched the arm of the Countess, which was carelessly thrown over the
+silken coverlet. The Countess awoke, looked in amazement on the queer
+little figure, and asked at length, "Who are you, little man?"
+
+The dwarf bowed low and answered politely, "I am one of the race of
+dwarfs, gracious lady, who live in great numbers in the rock below
+your castle. Our Queen lies at the point of death; her only hope of
+recovery is in the touch of a human hand. The King, therefore, sent
+me, when he heard of your arrival, to beg you to show this kindness to
+our beloved Queen."
+
+"Alas!" answered the Countess sadly, "I am so ill myself, can I be of
+any use to another?"
+
+"It will be all right, gracious lady, and will cost you no fatigue,"
+answered the little man, "if you will only trust yourself to my care."
+
+The Countess turned to waken her husband, and to ask his advice, but
+the dwarf begged earnestly, "Let him sleep, noble Countess. Long
+before he wakes you will be back again. No evil will befall you. We
+have always honoured your race--have lived in peace and friendship
+with them through long centuries, and have secretly done them many a
+good turn."
+
+The Countess was of a kind and obliging disposition; so,
+notwithstanding her delicate health and present weariness, she agreed
+to follow the dwarf. She was also afraid of making the powerful little
+people angry by a refusal, and thus bringing evil on her family. She
+threw her cloak quickly about her, and prepared to go with the dwarf.
+With noiseless tread he led her through hall after hall, room after
+room, till they came to a little round bow-windowed chamber in the
+tower on the western side of the castle, whence they descended by a
+narrow winding stair into the castle garden.
+
+It was a lovely summer night. The little guide darkened his lantern,
+for moon and stars threw a clear light on their path, and thus they
+went on in silence along the foot of the castle rock, beneath
+overhanging trees, which showered down their fragrant blossoms on the
+lady's dark hair. At last they came to a rock which projected somewhat
+into the road, and the foot of which was thickly covered with ferns.
+The dwarf parted them asunder, and the Countess saw a narrow passage
+which led away into the heart of the mountain. They entered. The dwarf
+opened his lantern again, and its light showed the walls of a vaulted
+cave, which, at first low and narrow, became wider and higher as they
+went on, till at last they walked through a beautifully arched
+corridor. Soon they arrived at a door, and when it opened they entered
+a room with crystal walls, which shone as with the radiance of a
+thousand lights. Among the points of the crystal darted countless
+little lizards, whose bodies seemed made of transparent emerald; on
+their heads were little golden crowns set with rubies; and when the
+pretty little creatures with their shining diadems slipped so nimbly
+and lightly through the crystal points, the walls gleamed and flashed
+so strangely that the Countess was filled with astonishment. But the
+roof of this room seemed an ever-changing picture of living wonders.
+Great white and blue snakes with diamond eyes, and slender bodies
+transparent as the air of heaven, wound in endless circles the one
+through the other; and as they moved in gleaming coils, sweet music
+and refreshing fragrance filled the crystal hall. Here in this
+subterranean kingdom sin and enmity seemed unknown. Creatures which on
+earth fight and oppress one another lived here in friendly intimacy.
+So fair and lovable seemed these little animals to the Countess, and
+they looked down on her with such soft intelligent eyes, that she
+wished one of them would come near enough for her to stroke and caress
+it. Absorbed by these wonders, she had not noticed that her little
+guide was already at the further end of the room, and was holding the
+second door open and beckoning to her to enter. At last she saw him
+and followed.
+
+The walls of the second hall gleamed with brightly polished silver
+ore, out of which bloomed flowers of such beauty as are never found in
+earthly gardens. They were carved out of precious stones so skilfully
+as to deceive the eye and to tempt one to bend over their cups to
+breathe their fragrance. Bright silver ore formed the pavement, and
+the light that streamed from a huge diamond in the centre of the
+ceiling trembled in thousand-fold reflection on the silver walls and
+the jewel-flowers.
+
+In this hall were many of the dwarfs assembled. All were simply clad,
+like the dwarf that had acted as guide to the Countess; all had grave,
+wise countenances and beaming eyes, dimmed now with anxiety and grief.
+As the Countess entered they bowed low, holding in their hands the
+little caps with the silver bells, which, by making them invisible,
+enable them to play many tricks on the human race. Now they arrived at
+the third room, which was the Queen's bed-chamber. At the ceiling of
+this room hovered a golden eagle with its wings outspread, and
+holding in its beak four diamond chains, on which the Queen's bed
+swung gently to and fro. The bed was a single gigantic ruby, skilfully
+cut, and on it rested on pillows of white satin the dying Queen of
+this enchanted realm.
+
+The stillness of death reigned in the place. Goldemar, the mighty
+dwarf-king, stood by the ruby couch, sunk in silent grief. His hair
+and beard, gleaming like silver, flowed down over his mantle of royal
+purple; he had taken the shining crown from his head and laid it at
+the feet of the dying Queen. His nobles stood in a wide circle round
+the King, and seemed to share his grief.
+
+The Countess went up to the couch. There, on pillows of white satin,
+rested the loveliest being that her eyes had ever beheld; she was
+smaller than her subjects, while her husband, on the contrary,
+exceeded them in stature; but her form was exquisitely symmetrical,
+and her tender limbs seemed formed of wax. Round her closed eyes and
+blanched lips the smile of youthfulness and kindliness still hovered,
+while her wondrous hair flowed round her whole form like liquid gold.
+The Countess bent silently over the dying Queen, listening for a
+breath, but in vain. Not a sound disturbed the solemn stillness. Only
+the golden eagle flapped his mighty wings, making a current of cool
+air through the lofty apartment, so that the rosy flames flickered in
+the crystal vessels, and threw a quivering reflection on the gilding
+of the walls and on the diamond crown at the dying Queen's feet.
+
+"It is too late!" thought the Countess; but she did as her little
+guide directed, laying one hand on the brow, the other on the breast
+of the dying Queen, and then awaited the result in anxious silence.
+
+Slowly and sorrowfully the moments passed by. The Countess was about
+to remove her hands, when she saw Goldemar's eye fixed on her in
+earnest entreaty, and she had not the courage to rob the sorrowing
+King of his last hope; so she let her warm hand remain a little longer
+on the rigid form. Suddenly, whether it was a reality or only her own
+fancy, a slight tremor seemed to move the delicate frame, then a
+second and a third time, and gently, very gently, the heart began to
+throb once more.
+
+The Countess bent again over the Queen, and listened to her breathing.
+Gentle and sweet like the fragrance of flowers the breath passed in
+and out over the beautiful, half-parted lips, and life once more
+tinged the sweet face with a faint bloom. It was not the gleam of the
+candles or the ruby lights that caused the rosy hue that now
+overspread her face; it was life, true life. At last she opened her
+eyes, raised herself, and looked round in astonishment.
+
+"Am I still with thee?" she said to her husband, whose glance rested
+on her in delight, as she held out her soft white hand. "How did it
+happen? Tell me."
+
+Goldemar pointed to the Countess.
+
+"Oh, my deliverer!" she exclaimed, turning in surprise to the noble
+lady; "how shall I thank you?"
+
+The news of their beloved Queen's recovery soon spread to the rest of
+the dwarfs, and they came flocking in, their grave faces lit with a
+serene content. They crowded round the royal pair with affectionate
+congratulations, and poured forth their thanks to the Countess. Then a
+band of servants drew near, carrying vessels of precious metal,
+wherein lay fruits and flowers carved in precious stones of
+incalculable value, and so cunningly and wonderfully wrought that the
+treasuries of earthly princes have not their like to show.
+
+"Pray, accept these," begged the King, on whose brow the crown once
+more shone.
+
+"Pray, accept them," said the Queen, her beautiful eyes fixed in
+entreaty on the face of the Countess.
+
+The Countess shook her head gently. "Let me have the pleasure of
+having served you without reward," said she. "I have wealth enough;
+and now take me home again."
+
+"Thou despisest our gifts," said the beautiful Queen in a tone of
+disappointment, "and our laws do not permit us to leave any benefit
+unreturned. Thou hast surely some wish; name it, then, that we may
+fulfil it."
+
+The Countess shook her head, then all at once she thought of her
+child. The celebrated physician, to consult whom she had undertaken
+the long journey from which she had returned the evening before, had
+not concealed the truth. The span of life that remained to her was
+very short, and soon her beloved child Kuno would be left motherless.
+Perhaps he might some day need the help of the friendly dwarfs.
+
+"One petition, indeed, I have," she said with a faltering voice. "My
+child will soon perhaps be motherless, and if he should ever need
+protection, will you befriend him?"
+
+"From this moment," replied King Goldemar, "he is under our care, and
+we will hasten to his assistance as soon as he needs it."
+
+Then the dwarf who had acted as guide to the Countess before conducted
+her back through the castle garden; and soon she rested, tired, but
+with a peaceful and happy heart, once more on her couch.
+
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+THE FRIENDS IN THE ROCK.
+
+[Illustration: ECKBERT'S WILD RIDE ON KUNO'S HORSE.]
+
+
+A sunny terrace of the castle hill became the last resting-place of
+the Countess Matilda. It had been her favourite spot both in her days
+of health and of sickness. Here she had spent part of every day with
+her Kuno, and with him looked down on the fruitful plains of
+Thuringia; and here she had taken a sad farewell of the blooming life
+around. She did not wish to rest in the dark and gloomy vault, but
+here on the lonely height, with flowers around her and sunshine above
+her head.
+
+It was an autumn afternoon. There were no longer any flowers in field
+or garden, but around the grave of the Countess was a freshness and
+fragrance as of spring, and the sun in which she had so delighted let
+no day pass without looking kindly down on the lonely grave, if only
+for a few minutes.
+
+The wind was shaking the lofty trees of the castle garden, and
+playfully driving the yellow leaves along the paths, when a little
+figure with a pale sad face came up the broad gravel walk, climbed the
+rock, and threw himself on the grave. It was Kuno, Countess Matilda's
+only child.
+
+How one year had changed everything!--his dear mother dead, his father
+gone to distant scenes of war along with many noble knights, and he
+left alone with heartless and ill-natured strangers! A distant
+relation, the Lady Von Allenstein, had been asked by the Earl to
+preside over his household, and to act the part of a mother to the
+little Kuno. She was a woman as heartless as she was clever, and so
+successfully did she ingratiate herself into the favour of the
+unsuspicious Earl, that before he left he gave her full control over
+his vassals and his estate. Her son Eckbert, a lad of about fifteen
+years of age, had the reputation of being well brought up, because in
+the presence of strangers he could assume fine courtly manners; but
+he had a mischievous and malicious disposition, and was both feared
+and hated by the castle servants.
+
+That Kuno, this child, this dreamer, who in Eckbert's opinion
+possessed no knightly qualities whatsoever, should be some day lord
+and possessor of so many noble castles and estates with their numerous
+dependants, while to his lot had fallen nothing but one small and
+half-ruined castle, to which not even a single village was
+attached--this vexed him, and in his heart burned envious hatred
+towards the orphan child. Hitherto Kuno had borne all Eckbert's malice
+with the gentleness which he had inherited from his mother; but when
+the news came that the Earl had been dangerously wounded, and when the
+messenger spoke of his master's death as probable, Eckbert counted
+himself freed from restraint, and tormented the little Earl with
+greater spitefulness than ever.
+
+To-day he had cut him to the heart. Kuno's little horse, which had
+borne him when he was scarcely more than a baby, and which had never
+felt either whip or spur, had been mounted to-day by the cruel
+Eckbert. For the first time Kuno ventured a decided protest, and
+Eckbert, seeing by this unusual courage how dear the animal was to its
+young master, struck the spurs with all his might into the horse's
+sides, so that it reared suddenly and then dashed with bleeding flanks
+out by the castle gate. When Kuno, after Eckbert's return, ran to the
+stable to see how his favourite had borne the dreadful ride, the horse
+did not turn his head as usual to greet him with a joyous neigh; he
+lay panting on the straw, covered with foam and blood, his feet
+stretched out, his head drooping, and his breast heaving with a loud
+rattling sound. Kuno threw himself down beside him, put his arms round
+his neck, and called him by the tenderest names. Then the creature
+opened his eyes, fixed his last look on his young master, and with a
+feeble attempt at a neigh, that sounded like a death-sigh, he died.
+
+Kuno's tears were dried; he remained speechless before his dead
+favourite, and gazed with tearless eyes upon the body. Thus Margaret,
+the castellan's wife, Kuno's old nurse, found him. She had seen
+Eckbert mount the horse, and heard Kuno's words. When she saw the dead
+animal and the child's grief, her anger at Eckbert's malice knew no
+bounds. She went at once to Lady Von Allenstein, and said what she
+thought of Eckbert's shameful deed with vehemence such as the proud
+lady had never before witnessed in an inferior.
+
+"Do you know," said the lady, with flashing eyes, "what you
+deserve?--a place in the dungeon among frogs and toads. But I will be
+merciful. In one hour you and your family leave this castle; that will
+serve as a warning to your fellow-servants, and will make Master Kuno
+more submissive to me and my son, as he will no longer have you to
+encourage him in his obstinacy."
+
+So they left. In one short hour the last true friends of the poor
+orphan left the castle, although he clung to Margaret and besought her
+with passionate weeping not to leave him quite alone. He watched them
+as long as he could, and then crept back through the garden to his
+mother's grave.
+
+Here dreams of bygone days passed before his mind. He thought of the
+happy hours which he had spent here on the solitary height with his
+beloved mother; when he had looked down with her over the blooming
+country, and listened to her tales of the wonders of foreign lands, of
+our lost Paradise, and of the heavenly home which she soon hoped to
+reach. Then when, at the thought of the coming parting, his little
+heart shrank, his mother would take him in her arms and try to comfort
+him by telling him about the friendly feelings that the good dwarfs
+cherish towards poor defenceless children, and about the splendour and
+beauty of the enchanted realm below the ground.
+
+And now? He knelt down beside the grave, laid his head on the grass,
+and sobbed, till at last, tired out with grief and weeping, he fell
+asleep. The sun set, but he did not know it; the stars rose, and the
+child slept on, with his head pillowed on his mother's grave. A gentle
+touch on his shoulder woke him. He started up in surprise. Before him
+stood a tiny little man of insignificant appearance, and with a
+lantern in his hand. It was the same dwarf that had once led the boy's
+mother to King Goldemar's dying Queen.
+
+"Who are you?" asked the child in astonishment, as he rubbed his
+sleepy eyes.
+
+"One of your mother's friends," answered the little man kindly; "dost
+thou not remember what she told thee about us? Wilt thou come with
+me?"
+
+Kuno rose at once, took the dwarf's hand, and walked away by his side.
+They soon reached the clump of ferns that covered the secret
+entrance, and stepped into the vaulted corridor. The first door
+opened, and the child found himself suddenly in the enchanted realm of
+his mother's stories. Yes, this was the crystal hall with the emerald
+lizards and the sky-blue snakes. The place still glimmered and shone
+as when the Countess trod its floor; the snakes looked down kindly on
+the boy with their diamond eyes, and the transparent lizards bowed
+their crowned heads in friendly greeting.
+
+"I know what the other hall is like," said Kuno in delight to his
+little guide. "Do not flowers made of precious stones gleam along the
+silver walls; and in the third hall is there not the Queen's ruby bed
+swinging from the golden ceiling, and the eagle flapping his golden
+wings?"
+
+The dwarf smiled. "See for yourself," he said. Then he led him through
+the halls. Yes, it was all as Kuno's mother had described it;
+everything was wonderful, and yet he knew it all so well. Last of all,
+he was led into the throne-room.
+
+The walls and ceiling were of blue crystal, so that it looked like the
+vault of heaven, and in the high dome shone stars cut out of rubies.
+There were no lamps in the hall, but from without a hidden artificial
+light streamed through the crimson stars, and filled the whole room
+with rosy radiance. At the far end of the room stood a throne made of
+large and costly pearls, which glowed in the light like rosebuds, and
+on it sat in her brilliant beauty the Queen of this enchanted palace,
+with her golden hair flowing to the pearl-built steps of the throne.
+Beside her sat King Goldemar in a purple mantle, his noble brow
+adorned once more with the diamond crown.
+
+With a low obeisance the dwarf introduced the boy to the royal pair.
+
+The lovely Queen was much smaller than Kuno, and yet she looked so
+dignified that the child knelt and reverently kissed the little hand
+which she graciously extended to him.
+
+"Thy noble mother was my friend," she said with a gentle voice, "and
+thou art dear to us as one of our own. Every night, if thou wilt, thou
+mayest come to us to forget thy little troubles in our hall. Look thou
+around; all are ready to love thee and give thee pleasure."
+
+As she spoke she raised her white hand and pointed to the lovely
+children at the foot of the throne, and to the troops of little dwarfs
+that were assembled in the hall. Then the royal children came up to
+greet him, and after them the little dwarfs with their grave wise
+countenances; they gave him their hands, and met his wondering gaze
+with friendly looks. And the poor friendless boy, who hitherto had
+felt himself alone and forsaken, felt happy, now that he found such
+unexpected kindness and love such as he had never felt since his
+mother's death. All his troubles vanished from his memory in this
+enchanted kingdom. Hour after hour flew by, and to the child they
+seemed but minutes. Then the dwarf who had brought him took his hand
+and drew him away. Kuno was sorry to go, but he followed his little
+guide.
+
+"Do not weep," said the latter kindly. "Thou mayest come back every
+night; but take care that thou tell no one of thy visits, or some
+great calamity may be the consequence."
+
+When they reached the garden the stars had already grown pale, and the
+first streaks of dawn were showing in the east.
+
+"Let us make haste," said the dwarf anxiously, "for we dwellers below
+ground can only live under the light of the stars--the sun's rays kill
+us."
+
+Soon they arrived at the winding staircase at the foot of the tower.
+The gate was locked, but the dwarf brought out a strangely-formed key,
+put it into the lock, and immediately the heavy iron-barred door
+turned noiselessly on its hinges. It was the same with all the other
+doors as soon as the wonderful key touched them, and softly the
+wanderers slipped through the rooms and passed the sleeping servants.
+Kuno reached unseen the room that he shared with Eckbert, and then the
+dwarf hastened home.
+
+Eckbert had tried to keep awake to receive Kuno with scolding and
+reproaches, for the child had been missed at supper and sought for, of
+course in vain. But he had fallen asleep over his generous plan.
+
+Kuno was still slumbering sweetly when Eckbert woke, sprang out of
+bed, and shook the boy roughly.
+
+"Where were you yesterday? Speak!" he shouted; but Kuno, mindful of
+the dwarf's warning, kept silence. But when Eckbert raised his arm to
+strike the child, an invisible hand gave him such a powerful blow on
+the ear that he staggered half unconscious against the wall. He felt
+uncomfortable at the thought of the unseen avenger, and he left Kuno
+in peace, but told the whole story to his mother, wickedly distorting
+it as he went on. At breakfast she ordered the boy to tell where he
+had been; but though his heart beat fast with terror, he closed his
+lips tightly and remained silent.
+
+"I will conquer your obstinacy," said the lady angrily; "you shall
+sleep in the room in the tower, and go earlier to bed."
+
+In the evening she took him herself to the lonely chamber, from which
+the winding stair led to the garden; for she thought that fear of the
+uninhabited and lonely room would force the boy to tell his secret.
+But when he went without a word, and lay down uncomplainingly on his
+bed, anger rose high in the proud lady's heart. "Eckbert is right,"
+she thought; "his obstinacy must be conquered."
+
+With a prayer to God, and a fervent wish that his little friends would
+not forget him, Kuno fell asleep. And they did not forget him. About
+midnight the little dwarf stood once more at his side, wakened him,
+and led him into the enchanted palace.
+
+The little folk greeted him joyfully, the royal pair reached him their
+hands, and amid splendour and pleasure the hours flew by. His friends
+showed him the rooms that he had not seen the day before--the crystal
+chambers full of golden ornaments, which every family possessed, and
+which far outshone the most splendid palaces of earthly kings. They
+showed him wonderful things which they knew how to make--birds made of
+precious stones, from whose transparent throats sweet songs poured
+forth; fruits and flowers, shaped out of jewels, whose beauty and
+fragrance was like that of the flowers of Eden. Kuno's astonishment
+and delight knew no bounds; the hours went by too quickly, and when
+the stars began to pale the dwarf led him back to his room in the
+tower. And every night at midnight the same dwarf brought him back to
+the enchanted kingdom. There he forgot all the trials of the day--all
+Eckbert's spiteful tricks, and Lady Von Allenstein's injustice. But it
+was not alone to please and amuse him that the little people brought
+the boy to visit them--they cared also for his mind and heart.
+
+In this magic kingdom lived an aged dwarf with long snow-white hair
+and beard; a supernatural light shone in his eyes. All the dwarfs,
+even the King and Queen, treated him with the greatest reverence, for
+he was the oldest man of their nation, and also the wisest. He could
+look back through thousands of years; he knew everything in the whole
+earth--all plants and stones; he knew about their origin, and had
+watched their growth. Often, when the King and Queen were sitting on
+the throne, the wise man would come into the hall and seat himself on
+the pearl steps; then the lovely royal children, Kuno in their midst,
+would gather round and listen as he told with beaming eyes about the
+wonders of creation, and the mysterious forces of nature. Words of
+kindness and wisdom flowed from his lips, and it seemed to the boy as
+if he were sitting in church or at the feet of his dead mother.
+
+[Illustration: KUNO LISTENS TO THE WISE MAN'S TALK.]
+
+But even happier hours than these he spent playing with the children
+in the crystal hall, letting the beautiful lizards dart down on his
+outstretched hand, or the sky-blue snakes glide down and wind
+playfully round his feet. Once, when he was preparing to go home after
+one of his visits, King Goldemar held the hand that he had extended in
+farewell, and spoke to him in a low and confidential tone. Kuno nodded
+with a happy smile. Next morning joy shone from his soft eyes and
+betrayed itself in his cheerful mood, which made so strange a contrast
+to the silent gravity of his usual demeanour. The change did not
+escape the quick eye of the Countess; but she took care not to ask the
+reason, for she thought she could guess it already.
+
+Earlier than usual Kuno said "Good night," and went to his room, but
+not to bed. He worked about, fastening wax candles, which he had got
+beforehand from the steward, on the walls, and trying to give the room
+a festive appearance; then he put on his best clothes, sat down on his
+bed, and waited.
+
+At last the castle clock struck twelve, and immediately soft music
+sounded in the distance; it came nearer and nearer, and soon floated
+up the winding stair. In a few moments the door opened of itself, and
+in came Kuno's dwarf friends, marching two and two, and all arrayed in
+festive garments. They held their invisible caps in their hands,
+swinging them in measured time, so that the silver bells that
+ornamented them rang in magic melody. Then followed, escorted by
+Goldemar and the Queen, a bridal pair, whose wedding feast was to be
+held in a human dwelling for the blessing and well-being of its
+occupant. Kuno advanced to meet his guests, and greeted them joyfully;
+then to the sound of wondrous music the dance began. This was led by
+the King and his lovely consort, their crowns flashing lightning at
+every quick graceful movement; then followed the bridal pair in
+garments gleaming with gold. Kuno had taken the hand of a pretty
+dwarf-maiden, and now mingled merrily in the splendid throng. All was
+mirth and gaiety.
+
+Suddenly the music stopped, the dancers stood still, and all eyes
+turned in indignation towards an opening in the ceiling where the face
+of Lady Von Allenstein was visible.
+
+Goldemar's eyes flashed angrily.
+
+"Blow out the lights!" he cried to one of his train; and in a
+twinkling the little fellow had climbed up the wall, and before the
+lady had time to suspect that this command had anything to do with
+her, the dwarf reached the opening, and blew into her face.
+
+A fearful scream followed; then the King turned to Kuno and said--
+
+"Accept our thanks, my dear child, for thy hospitality; it is not thy
+fault that we cannot stay longer. Farewell!"
+
+Then the little people turned quickly towards the door, and soon the
+boy was alone.
+
+Faint moans were now heard from above, and a sound as of suppressed
+weeping.
+
+Kuno also had seen the face of the lady, and knew that these doleful
+sounds were uttered by her. Deep compassion filled his heart; he
+forgot all the unhappiness that this woman had caused him, and, filled
+only with the thought of helping her, he took a candle in his hand and
+hastened to clamber up to her.
+
+He found her crouching on the ground, her hands pressed before her
+eyes.
+
+"What is wrong, gracious lady?" asked Kuno timidly.
+
+"Oh, I am blind! I am blind!" she groaned piteously. "The dwarf blew
+into my eyes, and my sight left me."
+
+Kuno, full of pity, seized her hand and led her tenderly step by step
+down the winding stair, and on to her own apartment.
+
+After calling a maid to her assistance, he returned to say good-night
+to the poor lady. What he had never done in her days of health he did
+now--he drew her hand to his lips and kissed it fervently. The lady
+felt a hot tear drop on her hand; silently, but with scarce-concealed
+emotion, she drew it away. This tear burned like unquenchable fire,
+not only on her hand, but on her soul.
+
+She spent a long and sleepless night; this unexpected calamity had
+crushed her hard heart. But though the light was taken from her eyes,
+a new day dawned within her. Her dislike of Kuno, her hardness and
+injustice towards the orphan child, all passed through her mind in
+fiery procession; and when she thought of Kuno's noble conduct, a
+flood of penitent tears streamed from her sightless eyes.
+
+Eckbert, on hearing of his mother's misfortune, showed himself as
+heartless as ever. He railed at the dwarf and at Kuno as the real
+cause of it. But he had not any idea of sitting through the long
+tedious hours with his poor blind mother--that was Kuno's business, he
+thought, for he had been the cause of it all. On the contrary, freed
+from all restraint, Eckbert amused himself more than ever with the
+chase and with drinking bouts, and tyrannised worse than before over
+all around him.
+
+Kuno behaved towards the unhappy lady like a loving son. He sat with
+her and cared for her wants as if she had been his own beloved mother.
+When the summer came he led her out every day into the garden or to
+the rock where his mother lay, and tried to amuse her with his
+childish talk.
+
+Lady Von Allenstein was often deeply moved when she felt Kuno's
+tenderness and thought of her own heartlessness. Once her emotion
+overcame her, and she drew Kuno to her side, and said with tears--"You
+are so good to me, who was so unkind to you; can you forgive me for
+all the wrong I have done you? Oh! if I could only get back my sight,
+I would take every opportunity of making up to you for my injustice."
+
+Kuno was still on the most friendly terms with the dwarf nation, and
+regarded the enchanted palace as his second home.
+
+Exactly a year had passed since that wedding in the tower-chamber,
+when King Goldemar again expressed a wish to hold a similar feast in
+the same room.
+
+Kuno's heart beat high with joy at these words; perhaps--but he would
+cherish no presumptuous hopes.
+
+Again the room was festively decorated; but no one in the castle got
+the least hint of what was to take place in the isolated room. The
+little guests appeared, and this time the merriment went on
+undisturbed.
+
+But dawn, the time of separation, was drawing near, and Goldemar held
+out his hand to his protege to say good-bye. Then Kuno held it fast,
+and looked entreatingly into the good King's face.
+
+"What dost thou want, Kuno?" asked Goldemar.
+
+"I have one petition, the fulfilment of which will make me happy,"
+answered the boy.
+
+"Name it," said the King graciously; "it is granted."
+
+Then Kuno led the King to the bed and drew back the curtains. There
+sat a pale lady in deep mourning, her dark sightless eyes fixed
+vacantly before her.
+
+"Give her back her sight," begged Kuno, pointing to Lady Von
+Allenstein.
+
+Goldemar's eyes shone as he looked approvingly on the boy; then he
+bent towards the lady and said, "I light the lamps again!" at the same
+time breathing into her eyes, so that the sight came back immediately.
+
+The newly-opened eyes shone with joy and gratitude, and in a burst of
+weeping she sank into Kuno's arms, while the royal pair and their
+train looked on in deep emotion.
+
+"Farewell then, Kuno," said King Goldemar. "Thou hast found what was
+needed to make thee happy--a mother's heart. We have kept our word.
+Shouldst thou ever in thy life again need our help, thou wilt find us
+ready."
+
+With a loving look the King held out his hand, and the Queen and the
+other dwarfs likewise took an affectionate leave of the boy before
+returning to their kingdom under ground. Just as they were going
+through the castle garden towards the entrance in the side of the
+rock, Eckbert returned from a drinking bout.
+
+"I have come upon these dull fellows unexpectedly," he said, grinding
+his teeth, when he noticed the procession of dwarfs. "Now they shall
+suffer for that box on the ear, and for my mother's blindness. I will
+cut off the last clown's head and throw it in at that stupid Kuno's
+window."
+
+He slipped softly behind the procession. When they reached the door in
+the rock, Eckbert waited till the last had put his foot on the
+threshold, then he sprang forward and raised his sword. The same
+instant the heavy rock door, which so artfully closed the opening,
+shut to and crushed Eckbert's head to atoms. Without uttering a sound
+he fell back, and his blood stained the snow.
+
+The next morning offered a sad spectacle to Lady Von Allenstein's
+newly-restored sight. It is true, Eckbert had been an undutiful son,
+but still it was her child, her own flesh and blood, that now lay
+before her a mangled corpse. The place where he had been found with
+his sword unsheathed made Kuno suspect whose hand had caused his
+death; but he was silent on this as on all that concerned his dwarf
+friends.
+
+Eckbert was buried with great pomp, but no eyes shed tears at the
+ceremony save those of his mother and of the good forgiving Kuno. From
+this time Lady Von Allenstein turned the whole affection of her
+ennobled heart towards Kuno, who repaid her love with the most
+heartfelt gratitude; and no one who did not know their relationship
+would have thought, to see them together, that they were anything but
+mother and son.
+
+Winter and spring were past, and the warm summer weather had come.
+
+On a bright summer evening the horn of the watchman on the tower
+announced a troop of horsemen, and as they drew near with the sound of
+trumpets Kuno's sharp eye recognised in their floating banner his
+father's colours.
+
+He had long since recovered, but instead of returning to his castle he
+had once more offered his strong arm and brave heart in service to his
+imperial lord. The war was now ended, and the Earl, whom they had long
+counted dead, had returned, covered with scars and with honours, to
+clasp his beloved son in his arms.
+
+Lady Von Allenstein still lived in the castle, and presided over it as
+before, but she was served now from love and not from fear. When she
+died in a good old age, Kuno knelt at her side; her cold hand rested
+on his head, and her dying lips spoke words of love and blessing over
+her adopted son.
+
+
+
+
+The Flower of Iceland.
+
+[Illustration: HELGA AT HER MOTHER'S FEET.]
+
+
+A substantial farm-house stood many, many years ago on the slope of a
+hill in bleak and frozen Iceland. The owner, who had spent his youth
+as a sailor in distant climes, had at last obeyed his dying father's
+summons, and exchanged the palms and orange groves of southern lands
+for the feeble sunlight and cold lava-fields of his native island. But
+as a living souvenir of those happy regions he brought home a young
+and beautiful wife, whose dark and eloquent eyes still shone in the
+memory of all who had beheld them, long after they had been closed in
+the last sleep.
+
+"Marietta," her husband had said before the priest had joined their
+hands in marriage, "have you considered well what you are renouncing
+when you promise to follow me as my wife? Here in your country an
+eternal spring reigns, sweet with the fragrance of flowers and musical
+with the warbling of birds, while the Italian sky shines in
+never-fading blue. On my island you will find none of these things. A
+pale sun, a grey sky overhead, and all around barren heaths and
+ice--ice and snow wherever you look; none but the Icelander can think
+this island beautiful."
+
+"But you will be there," answered Marietta; "and could I wish for any
+home but yours?"
+
+So she had gone with him to the far north.
+
+They had one child, a lovely little girl, who bore the name of Helga;
+she must be a true daughter of Iceland, and to this even her name must
+witness. But her foreign descent was not to be hid; true, she had the
+fair skin and beautiful flaxen hair of a northern girl, but her eyes
+were as dark and mysterious as her mother's.
+
+The Icelanders have no flowers; they know of their beauty only by the
+tales of their countrymen who have seen them on their travels; but
+every one who looked into little Helga's beautiful face thought that
+flowers must look like that, and thus she was called "the Flower of
+Iceland."
+
+Fair Helga loved her grave father, but she loved still more her
+beautiful and gentle mother, by whose side she spent most of her time.
+
+Every spring the father set out for the coast with a few servants to
+get fish for the year's household provisions; for though he dearly
+loved Marietta and his home, the sea still exercised the old spell on
+his heart. In summer and autumn he was accustomed to go to the distant
+trading places along the coast, there to exchange the wool of his
+large and well-conditioned flocks for the valuable products of foreign
+lands, with which he loved to please and adorn his dear ones.
+
+At such times Helga would sit at her mother's feet, listening as she
+told in the soft, sweet sounds of her native tongue about the blue sky
+and the warm golden sunlight of Italy, of the beautiful flowers and
+evergreen woods, and of the fine mild nights when the young girls
+would dance in the moonlight to the sound of the mandoline, and
+pleasure and melody reigned over land and sea.
+
+Ah! how beautiful that country must be; and here everything was so
+different. No dance, no song, either from human lips or from the
+throat of a bird. Helga had never even heard the sheep give a cheerful
+bleat; everything was stupid and grave; the silence of death was
+Nature's language here.
+
+Then Helga's dark eye would wander away over Iceland's wide and desert
+heaths, over the lava-fields that stretched for miles, and which had
+buried the freshness of nature under their stiff mantle of mourning.
+She gazed on those giant ice-mountains, untrod by human foot, which
+rise like monuments of death, with thick mist-veils about their brow.
+Even when a sunbeam happens to pierce the cloudy covering, the
+colossal piles of ice shine in the pale light like sarcophagi in a
+vault. Then Helga would shudder and think with ardent longing on her
+dear mother's native land.
+
+And she? Ah, her husband had been right. In spite of her love for him,
+she pined for the sunny valleys of her childhood, all the more as she
+never told her husband of the grief that gnawed at her heart, for he
+placed his Iceland before all the paradises of the world. Ten years
+had scarcely gone by till Marietta's warm heart lay still beneath the
+sod.
+
+Helga thought her heart would break when they carried her loved mother
+out towards the hill, whence she had so often looked longingly out
+over the sea, watching the blue waves as they hastened towards the
+beautiful but distant south.
+
+"When you bury me," said the dying woman to her husband, "lay me so
+that my face may look towards Italy." And they did as she wished.
+
+Helga often sat now on the grave, herself the only flower that
+brightened it; and along with her dear mother's image those distant
+countries came vividly before her mind, as she had heard them
+described as long as she could remember.
+
+A distant relation now came to take charge of the housekeeping. She
+had willingly left her home, bringing with her her only son, in
+compliance with her rich cousin's request. The stern old woman had no
+sympathy with Helga's longings, and counted her descriptions of
+distant lands as fairy tales; nothing, she thought, could be more
+beautiful than Iceland. But Olaffson, her boy, who was only a few
+years older than the little orphan, became Helga's eager listener.
+With equal delight he looked on her beautiful face and listened to her
+stories; the grave blue eyes, which were usually as cold as the
+glaciers of his native island, would kindle as she went on, and when
+Helga stopped he would say, "I will be a sailor, and travel to those
+countries to see if they are really so beautiful!"
+
+"But you will take me with you?"
+
+"Oh yes, of course."
+
+Thus the years went by, and the time drew quickly on when the tree,
+the seed of which had been sown by Helga's hand, bore fruit. Olaffson
+was no longer a boy, and he decided on going to sea. The head of the
+house willingly gave his consent, and the time of parting came.
+
+Fair Helga's cheek was pale. Olaffson fancied that it was the
+separation that troubled her so deeply, and that thought sweetened the
+bitter hour to him. But ah! it was only her grief at having to stay at
+home on the cold and barren island, and at not being allowed to see
+the countries to which, as she thought, she had a much better right
+than Olaffson.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another year had gone. Olaffson had come home and given an account of
+all that he had seen. The hour of parting again drew near. Early next
+morning he was to set out on a second and longer journey, and in
+spite of Helga's tears and entreaties to be allowed to go, her father
+and Olaffson had only shaken their heads and laughed at her
+childishness.
+
+It was evening. She went with Olaffson to the grave on the hill, there
+to hear once more about the wonders of foreign lands. Hour after hour
+flew by; she could not tire of the delightful theme.
+
+"Well, Helga," Olaffson at last concluded, "it is indeed as beautiful
+in those countries as your mother used to tell you; almost more
+beautiful--yes, much more beautiful; still, it is not Iceland. There
+is no place so beautiful as our native land--no place."
+
+Helga looked at him incredulously.
+
+"You may believe me, Helga," he said. "Look; it is now midnight. In
+those countries there has been night, deep night for hours; the sun
+has long ago forsaken them, but it loves our island better, for it
+lingers longer with us. Just look over yonder. It has just sunk into
+the sea, and on the rosy western sky it paints in silvery outline the
+beautiful leafy forests which are denied to our soil. Only look how
+they nod their gleaming heads; does it not seem as if you could hear a
+mysterious rustling among their branches? And are not the white clouds
+above like eagles circling over their summits? And now look at the
+clear light around you! The nights there are as dark as the
+consciences of criminals; our nights are like the heart of a pious
+child--light, clear, and still."
+
+"But it is so cold here--so cold that my very heart freezes within
+me," said Helga complainingly.
+
+"But the cold is bracing," said Olaffson. "There, I found men weak,
+cowardly, and effeminate. I could tell you many a sad story to show
+this. Now look at your own land, Flower of Iceland, for you belong to
+us; we are honest, brave, and strong as our fathers were, and our sons
+will be after us, and that we owe to Iceland and its glaciers, its
+cold but strengthening climate. I tell you, fair Helga, there is but
+one Iceland, as there is but one flower in it."
+
+Early next morning Olaffson was to set out. Helga's father said he
+would go down to the coast also with his servants, for it was the time
+of the yearly fishing, so that they might as well travel together so
+far.
+
+The farewell was short and silent. Helga struggled to keep back her
+tears when she saw how merrily they all sprang into the saddle, and
+when she thought of Olaffson's words about Iceland's brave people; for
+she must show herself worthy of her race. But her dark eyes rested so
+longingly on her father's face that he knew what was passing in her
+heart.
+
+"Come, Helga," said he, stooping down from his horse, "you may go with
+us as far as the hill where the lava-fields begin." Then he took her
+up before him on the saddle, and soon the horses were off at a canter.
+Soon they reached the hill at the foot of which the lava-fields began,
+whose dark lines stretched for miles along the horizon.
+
+Helga could no longer restrain her tears. She threw her arms sobbing
+round her father's neck and said, "Don't stay long away, dear father;
+it is so dreary at home when you are both away."
+
+"I will come back in a few weeks, my Helga," said her father,
+soothingly; "meantime be a good girl, and help your cousin with the
+housekeeping."
+
+He kissed her snow-white brow silently, but tenderly, lifted her down
+from the horse, and after one more pressure of the hand the little
+band set out again.
+
+Helga watched them till a sinking of the road hid them from view; then
+she went back towards the hill, leant against the side of a rock, and
+looked into the distance, shading her eyes with her hand. Then they
+came into sight again, but so far away that Helga's farewell could not
+reach their ear. A fleeting sunbeam rested on them a moment, making
+horses and riders shine out clearly from the desert plain over which
+they were moving. Then a mist, such as only Iceland's mountains could
+send forth, fell around them, and Helga saw them no more.
+
+She leaned her head sobbing against the rock, closed her eyes, and
+wept hot tears of grief and loneliness. Then a voice of wondrous
+sweetness sounded suddenly in her ear, "Why does fair Helga weep?"
+
+Helga opened her eyes in astonishment. No one was there; she could see
+nothing but the mist in the distance and the bare lava-fields at her
+feet. She closed her eyes again.
+
+"Helga, fair Helga, why are you so sad?" said the voice again; it
+seemed as if it came from the sky.
+
+A slight shudder passed through Helga's frame; she did not venture to
+stir, but she timidly opened her eyes and looked up. But what did she
+see? Was the azure Italian sky, of which she had so often dreamt,
+coming here to meet her? Right before her, on the summit of the hill,
+stood a form of majestic beauty, which must surely belong to some
+happier clime. Eyes of deep and mysterious blue shone down on Helga
+from the kingly countenance, and hair lovelier than her own, golden as
+the stars of the summer night, flowed down over the robe of purple
+velvet in which the stranger was clad.
+
+"Why does fair Helga weep?" he asked tenderly.
+
+Helga tried to regain her composure. "How do you know me, O stranger?"
+she asked shyly.
+
+"Who does not know the Flower of Iceland?" answered he with a smile.
+"Shall I tell you some things about yourself that will prove to you
+how long I have known you, and how well I am acquainted with your
+history? Shall I tell you how often I have seen you sitting on your
+mother's grave, and what images there passed before your mind? Shall I
+say what longing a moment ago stirred your soul--how you wished to be
+permitted to travel with Olaffson, that you might see those rich and
+wondrously beautiful lands? But no such journey is necessary to the
+fulfilment of your wish. Your mother's paradise is here--here close
+beside you."
+
+Helga's eyes shone, half in doubt, half in delight.
+
+"Here, here?" she asked, incredulously. "How can that be?"
+
+"Just come a few steps with me to the other side of the hill, and then
+you will see that I speak the truth."
+
+Helga took his proffered hand. The stranger who had known her so long
+and so well was no longer a stranger to her, and he could not be an
+enemy who was about to fulfil her heart's dearest wish. So she went
+fearlessly with him to the other side of the hill.
+
+The stranger placed his hand against the rock, which immediately
+opened, and allowed Helga and her guide to enter. She stood
+spell-bound with astonishment. Then she passed her hand over her brow,
+and tried to think if this could be a dream. But no, it was reality.
+There lay before her a wondrous region, more beautiful than her
+mother's native land or than all her childish dreams.
+
+Through the crystal dome that stretched above this paradise the sun
+sent beams bright and warm such as the children of Iceland never see
+or feel. Their golden light trembled among the green foliage of the
+majestic trees, played with the flashing fountain jet, and flamed in
+the cups of the transparent flowers.
+
+In the distance the ocean rolled its deep blue waves round wooded
+islands, and amid the fragrance of the flowers and the brilliant
+colours of the lovely scene hovered sweet and magic music, which
+floated to the shore of the sea, whose waves bore it in soft echo to
+the happy isles.
+
+Helga looked round with delight such as she had never felt before. Had
+earth really such beauties, and was she permitted to gaze on them?
+
+She stooped to examine the wonderful flowers, gently stroked the
+velvet of their leaves with her white hand, and pressed her lips into
+their fragrant cups. Then her delighted eye watched the fountain, as
+its waters rose in a line of light almost to the crystal dome, then
+fell in a graceful curve far beyond its basin, so that the shrubs and
+flowers bent beneath its shining dew.
+
+Then she turned towards the lofty trees, pressed her face gently
+against their smooth stems, and looked up at their shining foliage,
+which rustled softly in the breeze. Snow-white birds hopped from
+branch to branch, and threw friendly glances at Helga as at an old
+acquaintance. Was it these feathered songsters that made the sweet
+music which floated with the sunbeams and the soft spring air all
+through this lovely place? Or did the tall trees or the distant sea
+give forth the sweet sounds that soothed with soft caress Helga's
+heart and mind, bearing away on their melodious waves the past and its
+memories?
+
+Hours had flown by in this fairy kingdom, and to Helga they seemed but
+as one moment. At last she turned to the stranger, who had followed
+her every movement with loving eyes, and had noticed her delight.
+
+"Oh, how shall I thank you," she said, grasping his hand, "for
+bringing me here and satisfying the longing of years? But tell me
+where I am; for Iceland's cold hills hide no such paradise."
+
+"You are in my kingdom, fair Helga," answered the stranger in a gentle
+voice; "and I am the fairy king of Iceland."
+
+Helga looked at him in astonishment. No lips save her mother's had
+ever told her of such things, and _she_ knew nothing of Iceland's
+spirit kingdom. Therefore Helga felt neither terror nor anxiety.
+
+"Ah! if I could only stay here always," she cried earnestly.
+
+"I wish for nothing better," said the king; "and why should you not?"
+
+"Ah! my dear, good father--he has no one but me," said Helga, thinking
+for a moment of her home.
+
+"But he is now far away," said the fairy king persuasively; "and you
+can stay at least till he comes back."
+
+"So I can," cried Helga in delight. So she stayed with the fairy king.
+
+One day in this paradise was just like the next, as it will perhaps be
+in heaven, where there is nothing to remind the blessed of the flight
+of time, where it is all one gloriously happy present, because they
+have no past to look back on with sad memory, and the future has
+nothing more beautiful to excite their longings.
+
+Helga moved with happy heart by the side of the fairy king through
+this paradise. The white birds flitted around her, now and then
+settling on her hand or shoulder. The sea with the blue waves gave a
+sound of pleasant greeting when Helga and the fairy king drew near its
+shores. Then when he seized her hand and they stepped together on one
+of the little waves, this fairy boat carried them gently and swiftly
+over to the happy islands.
+
+At midnight, when Iceland's sun spread its crimson mantle along the
+horizon, its reflection streamed through the crystal dome, glowed like
+roses in the fountain and on the birds' white feathers, while the sea
+rolled to the shore in violet waves.
+
+Then Helga knew that she must close her eyes, in order to strengthen
+herself for a new day of happiness. She lay down on the soft moss,
+while the fairy king sat near her and took his harp. From its strings
+streamed forth magic music which banished memory from Helga's soul.
+The sweet sounds lulled her to sleep, and carefully guarded the gates
+of her heart, permitting no dream to knock there which could remind
+her of the past and its claims. But, once, the chord which nature has
+placed between the hearts of parent and child, and which never breaks
+even though seas lie between, sounded with a startling thrill.
+
+Helga's father had come home, and his grief and lamentation at the
+loss of his beloved child were so violent that Helga's slumbering
+heart awoke.
+
+"My father!" she said suddenly one day as she stood beside the sea,
+and drew back the foot which she was just on the point of placing on
+the wave that stood bowing its blue head before her. "My father! I
+think I hear you lamenting my loss. Is it not my duty to leave all
+these beautiful things here and return to him?"
+
+A shadow fell on the fairy king's face. He silently seized his harp
+and drew from it strains more beautiful, more heart-enthralling than
+Helga had ever heard before. They floated away over the sea till the
+waves sank into silence, unwilling to disturb the sweet melodies. And
+in Helga's heart memory ceased to thrill, and the visions of the past
+faded from her mind.
+
+Then the fairy king told her how he had chosen her years ago as the
+queen of this kingdom, and had watched over her since her childhood;
+that he had prepared all these beautiful things only for her, with the
+hope that she would some day be his wife, and thus gain for him
+that for which his soul had yearned during long centuries--an immortal
+soul, a boon which is denied to the poor fairies in every land.
+
+[Illustration: HELGA IN THE FAIRY KING'S PALACE. F. C., p. 154.]
+
+"Will you be my wife now, fair Helga?" he asked in conclusion. "I will
+love you with a faithful love such as you would seek in vain among
+your degenerate race. You shall never regret having given to the poor
+fairy king the desire of his heart."
+
+"I will, I will!" said she, seizing his hands with childish frankness.
+"I will always stay with you."
+
+The king's eyes shone with joy.
+
+"But, fair Helga, the laws of our kingdom are strict; we hold the vows
+of faithfulness more sacred than you do, although we look for no
+eternal reward. If you become my wife, and by uniting your soul to
+mine impart to me your immortality, then you belong henceforth to me,
+and to me alone. Your father and your home have no longer any claim on
+you, and if you ever return to them, then I must hold you guilty of
+robbing me of my soul, and our kingdom will demand your life as the
+penalty. Canst thou keep such faith as this with me, O Flower of
+Iceland?"
+
+Fair Helga leaned forward. "Look into my eyes," she said; "do you
+think me so ungrateful? I will be your wife, and you shall gain
+through me a never-dying soul. Do you think I could disappoint your
+hopes of immortality?"
+
+So fair Helga, the Flower of Iceland, was married to the fairy king.
+
+A year had gone by. The sun shone once more through the crystal dome,
+and fair Helga's fairy kingdom still bloomed in unfaded beauty; but
+the Flower of Iceland was pale and sorrowful, and a tear trembled on
+her lowered eyelashes.
+
+Was the fairy king's wife not happy? Oh yes, she was happy, almost too
+happy. Beauty and love surrounded her on every side; but undisturbed
+blessedness never lasts long on earth.
+
+Her husband was far away. The laws of the fairy kingdom compelled him
+to go every year across the sea to give account of his government to
+the supreme lord of the fairy race, whose throne stood in the rocky
+mountains of Norway. He had promised to return in a week, and now
+three weeks had gone by, and he had not come home. This thought gnawed
+at fair Helga's heart, and made her blind to all the beauty around
+her. In vain did the white birds flit around her head, stroking her
+cheeks with their soft wings. Helga's soul was sunk in sorrow, and the
+magic music with its soothing power lay asleep in the harp. At last
+she rose.
+
+"Ah! I must be disobedient, my husband; forgive me, forgive me! But
+anxiety will kill me, if I do not go out to look if I can see you in
+the distance."
+
+She sprang up and went to the door in the rock. The birds fluttered
+anxiously around her, but she frightened them away with her hand, and
+touched the wall through which she had entered a year ago. The rock,
+not daring to refuse obedience to its mistress, opened, and fair Helga
+stepped out on the barren soil of Iceland. But after being so long
+accustomed to the warm summer air, she shuddered as she felt the icy
+breath of her old home, and with hurried steps she went to the point
+of the rock. Here she stopped, turned her beautiful face, and looked
+over her left shoulder towards the south-east.
+
+Before the power of this magic glance the veil of the distance
+vanished. Her look pierced through Iceland's fogs, flew over the
+eastern mountains, and swam on the Atlantic waves to the steep
+rock-bound coast of Norway. She saw the mysterious inhabitants of the
+mountains, and the mighty fairy king seated on his diamond throne,
+over which thousands of years had passed, leaving it still unshaken.
+Around him stood his people in their unfading youth and beauty, bowing
+in lowly reverence. But her husband's noble form was not among them;
+she could not meet the glance of his deep blue eye, though she
+anxiously examined every countenance. At last she looked sadly away,
+and turned to go back to her lonely kingdom.
+
+But when she went round the corner of the rock she saw a tall, manly
+form standing in the very place whence she had once watched her father
+and Olaffson as they rode away over the lava-fields. With a cry of joy
+she ran to the spot. Could it be that her husband had been so near,
+while she believed him far away? But the man, hearing her light
+footstep, turned his head, and she looked not on her husband's
+youthful beauty, but on the careworn face of her long-forgotten
+father.
+
+"Helga, Helga!" The words fell on her ear with a strange thrill. "My
+child, you are still alive, you are still on earth?" and he stretched
+out his arms towards her, and pressed her to his breast, while the hot
+tears fell on her brow.
+
+The long-silenced chords now sounded loudly in Helga's heart, memory
+awoke, and the fairy king's harp was not near to lull it to sleep
+again.
+
+"My dear, good father," she said, thinking now of none but him, "weep
+not. Your Helga lives and is happy; but how old you have grown, and
+how white your hair is!"
+
+"Yes, Helga, I had lost you, my only child; but now that I have found
+you my youthful vigour will return. Come home quickly, my daughter.
+How glad Olaffson will be."
+
+At these words Helga's heart trembled. "My dear, dear father," she
+said, gently stroking the furrowed cheeks, "I cannot go with you; I
+belong now to another world." Then she told her astonished father all
+that had happened to her since the hour when she said good-bye to him
+at the edge of the lava-field.
+
+"I have given my word," she concluded, "and, hard as it seems not to
+go with you, I dare not, I dare not."
+
+"Alas, my child, my poor unhappy child!" said the father sorrowfully;
+"into what hands have you fallen?"
+
+"Into the best and tenderest, my father," said Helga, soothingly.
+"Would that my husband were at home, that you might see him; but I
+will show you my kingdom, that your mind may be set at rest."
+
+She took her father's hand and led him towards the side of the rock
+which concealed the entrance into the fairy land. She touched it, but
+the door remained closed; again and again she passed her hand over the
+hard stone, but there was no movement.
+
+Helga's heart throbbed as though it would break, and she sank down on
+the hard ground, begging with bitter tears for admission to her
+kingdom; but all was still, dead, and motionless.
+
+Poor Helga! Without knowing it, she had transgressed the laws of the
+fairies by speaking to a mortal of the mysteries of the spirit-world,
+and now its gates were barred against her. With bitter regret she now
+remembered her husband's parting command--not to return to the outer
+world, to which she had no longer any right. Soon, she thought, will
+the other awful threat be fulfilled, and she sank unconscious into her
+father's arms.
+
+He was rejoiced to see the fairy kingdom closed against his daughter,
+and with a lightened heart he bore the precious burden back to her
+childhood's home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After long hours and days of darkness, Helga's youthful strength
+triumphed, and she opened her eyes in full consciousness. Her first
+glance fell on her father, who sat at her bedside.
+
+"You here, my dear father? Then my meeting with you was not a dream?
+But now let me get up and go to my husband; he must have come home
+long before this, and he will believe me when I tell him that I did
+not intend to leave him."
+
+"My child, look round you," said the father, soothingly. "Let those
+feverish fancies die. See, you are where you have always been, at
+home with your old father. All through your long illness you have
+raved about a fairy king and his paradise, of your marriage and your
+promises. But these were only fancies, my Helga, such as fever often
+causes."
+
+Helga looked at him in trembling astonishment.
+
+"That is impossible," she said at last in a faltering voice. "Bring
+out my clothes, and see whether Iceland has such splendid garments as
+those."
+
+"Splendid garments?" repeated her father as if in surprise. Then he
+rose and brought Helga's dress, a garment such as she had always been
+accustomed to wear.
+
+Helga examined it doubtfully, then she passed her hand over her brow,
+looked up at her father, and said in a low voice, "I cannot understand
+it. Can one then dream such things as those?"
+
+"Certainly, my child; it is always so in fever. When I went to the
+coast a few weeks ago, taking you with me as far as the lava-field,
+you must have climbed the rock to watch us and fallen asleep there.
+Then the cold mountain mist crept round you, and almost prevented you
+from ever awaking. When your cousin thought you were staying too long,
+she set out with the servants to look for you; there they found you
+lying on the rock in a state of unconsciousness, and brought you home.
+A messenger was sent after us, and we returned as quickly as possible.
+I left my fishing, and Olaffson gave up thoughts of his voyage, that
+we might be near at hand to watch and care for you."
+
+Helga sighed. Her father had never told her an untruth, so she felt
+compelled to believe him, though her heart rebelled against his words
+with bitter grief.
+
+Ah! she little suspected that her father, in the hope of keeping his
+dear child beside him and hindering her return to fairyland, had
+invented this story, and carefully taught it to every one about the
+house.
+
+Helga's bodily strength increased day by day, but over her spirit
+rested a cloud of melancholy, and she pined in secret for the paradise
+of her "feverish dreams."
+
+She was at last almost convinced that such they had indeed been, for
+when she spoke to any of the servants about her lost fairy kingdom,
+they always smiled and said, "Those were mere fancies; we were about
+you all the time and heard you rave about them."
+
+As for the voyage round the world which Olaffson had completed since
+she went away, of that she heard nothing, nor was she aware that the
+world's history had advanced a year while she tarried in fairyland.
+The farm-houses in Iceland are separated from each other by long
+distances, so that it was but seldom that Helga came in contact with
+any of the neighbours; and if a chance stranger came to claim the
+rights of hospitality, the father or Olaffson took care to warn him
+beforehand not to disturb Helga's delusion.
+
+But the precaution was almost unnecessary; for the Flower of Iceland,
+once so cheerful and talkative, who used to greet the arrival of a
+stranger as a joyous event, and was never tired of asking questions
+about the wonders of foreign lands, the same Helga sat silent and
+listless, and left the room as soon as the conversation turned on
+beautiful scenery. For the visions of her lost paradise came back to
+her mind, and it needed a conflict of hours to still her restless
+heart. "Ah! it was only a dream."
+
+Olaffson had given up his seafaring life, and now busied himself about
+the farm. Helga's father loved him as a son, and intended making him
+the heir of his valuable property. But he had hopes of giving him
+something better still. He was only waiting till Helga should be once
+more the joyous Helga, till the Flower of Iceland should raise its
+drooping head. But this time seemed far distant.
+
+"Perhaps she will be better when she is married," said the father to
+himself, as he looked anxiously at Helga. She was leaning against the
+grassy ditch that enclosed the farm, and gazing into the glow of the
+evening sky. He stepped softly up to her.
+
+"What is my Helga thinking of?" he asked tenderly.
+
+"Of the evening rays that are now falling through the crystal dome, of
+the little waves crowned with the roses of the sunset sky, and of the
+sweet music of the harp," she answered dreamily.
+
+"Helga," said the old man reproachfully, "will you never shake off
+these delusions. You have heard from every tongue that they were fever
+fancies; but you want to vex my heart."
+
+"Oh, no, no, dear father. Do not think so ill of your Helga," she said
+quickly, as she turned and stroked his cheeks caressingly. "I know
+very well that they were only dreams, but you cannot believe how
+deeply they are burnt into my heart. It seems like faithlessness to
+tear them away."
+
+"That is a remnant of the fever," said the old man. "Ah, Helga, how
+happy should I be if you were yourself again!"
+
+"And I too, dear father," said Helga, with a gentle sigh.
+
+"I know one way of curing you, and if you love me you will try it."
+
+"That I will, father."
+
+"Do you promise it, my Helga?"
+
+"Yes, dear father," she answered unhesitatingly.
+
+"Then listen: Olaffson is good and brave, is he not?" Helga nodded.
+"He loves you dearly, and my most cherished wish is that you should
+become his wife, and that you should live under my roof, brightening
+my old age with the sight of your happiness."
+
+Helga grew deadly pale.
+
+"Ah, father, dear father, I cannot."
+
+"Why not, Helga? Have you anything against him? Is he not young,
+handsome, and strong? Is he not brave and good? Could you find me a
+better son, or yourself a more loving husband? Tell me, are you
+influenced in this matter by those foolish dreams, the wild images of
+your brain? Tell the truth, Helga."
+
+She looked at him in trembling entreaty.
+
+"Ah, my father, forgive me."
+
+"If you want to make your old father happy, say Yes, and become
+Olaffson's wife; if you wish to poison my last days with sorrow, then
+leave my wish unfulfilled."
+
+With these words the old man turned away in anxious grief, and moved
+towards the house.
+
+Helga hastened after him.
+
+"Do not be angry, my father," she begged; "I will fulfil your wish,
+come what will."
+
+"I thank you, my good child; but what do you fear? What could come of
+it but a father's blessing, with its fruits of happiness and peace?"
+
+So Helga became Olaffson's wife.
+
+Did the Flower of Iceland now regain its freshness and bloom? Alas!
+no. In spite of her father's tenderness and her husband's love, she
+still remained sorrowful and pale; deeper, if anything, was the shadow
+that oppressed her soul. To longing was now added remorse, the
+bitterest feeling that can disturb a human heart, for it is the only
+one for which time has no balm.
+
+"How could I ever rob you of your claim to immortality?" she had once
+said to the poor fairy king; and even though the words had been only
+spoken in a dream, yet they burned into her soul, and when she
+consented to be Olaffson's wife, it seemed to her as if she had really
+shut out that poor spirit from the heavenly paradise.
+
+The short summer passed, and Helga shuddered more than ever under the
+icy breath of the northern winter; but it too went by, and spring came
+at last across the ocean to Iceland's snowy plains. The roads were
+once more passable, and the first sacrament of the year was to be
+solemnised in the church of the parish to which the farm held by
+Helga's father belonged. Olaffson asked his wife to partake with him
+of the sacred symbols, and she gladly consented. Perhaps she thought
+this feast of reconciliation might bring back her long-lost peace.
+
+She went about her work with more energy than she had shown for many
+months, so anxious was she to have everything in readiness for the
+morrow, for they would have to set out early in order to reach the
+distant church in time for the service. She was just laying the table
+for supper when she saw her husband passing the window, and by his
+side a stranger of tall and manly form.
+
+"See, Helga," said Olaffson as they entered, "I bring an honoured
+guest; set out your best provisions, for he has travelled far, and is
+in need of refreshment."
+
+Helga looked at the stranger. His face was handsome, but over his
+youthful features sorrow had passed with heavy hand. But when he
+raised his deep blue eyes to Helga, and asked in soft and melodious
+tones--"Will the Flower of Iceland permit a stranger to rest beneath
+her roof?" a shudder passed through her frame, and the old conflict
+began in her soul more wildly and perplexingly than ever.
+
+These eyes, this voice, could they have spoken to her only in a
+feverish dream? And if she had been deceived--what then? The thought
+threatened to rob her of reason; but Olaffson stepped up to her and
+said--
+
+"Our guest must be tired and hungry, my Helga; will you not grant him
+the welcome which the stranger has always met beneath this roof?"
+
+Helga recovered herself by a great effort, and went out to prepare a
+room for the mysterious guest, while the latter sat down at table with
+the others. Then she slipped softly back, took a seat in a dark
+corner, and gazed with mingled anxiety and longing on the stranger's
+face.
+
+"Look here, sir," said Helga's father, pointing to the sky, "do you
+ever see anything like that in your native land? Do you not
+acknowledge Iceland to be the most beautiful country in the world?"
+
+"Yes," said the stranger, "your land is indeed beautiful; but your
+home and mine are not so very far distant from one another."
+
+He glanced at Helga--of whose presence the others were not aware--then
+he described the land in which he lived, the same land that Helga was
+said to have seen only in the delirium of fever.
+
+She listened with breathless attention. It seemed to her as if the
+splendour of fairyland once more surrounded her. She saw the blue
+waves rolling at her feet, and felt herself, as in days gone by,
+rocking on their gleaming crests. She ran merrily to the side of the
+fountain and caught at the water, that she might sprinkle it in sport
+on the birds; and she saw the transparent flowers bending their
+fragrant cups in friendly greeting. Every moment she expected to see
+the stranger throw aside his disguise, and, standing before her in
+royal purple, touch the long-disused strings of his golden harp.
+
+Alas! her father had then deceived her that he might keep her at home;
+her heart had told her the truth, and she, instead of listening to its
+entreaties, had weakly yielded to persuasion, and broken her sacred
+promise. And now? Too late, too late--all was over. Full of grief and
+despair, she hastened out of the house to pour out her heart in bitter
+weeping amid the stillness of the night.
+
+Next morning, when all was ready for the journey, when the horses were
+stamping impatiently before the door, the family all assembled to
+conform to an old Icelandic custom. In that island, before any family
+partake of the sacrament, each member asks forgiveness of all the rest
+for wrongs consciously or unconsciously committed. Helga took her
+father's hand and her husband's. "Forgive me for all the anxiety I
+have caused you," she begged in a low voice; then she added the
+mysterious words, "and also for the sorrow that I am about to bring
+upon you."
+
+"You must also ask forgiveness of our guest, Helga, in case you have
+offended him," said Olaffson. "You were not to be found yesterday when
+he wanted to bid you good-night."
+
+She shuddered, cast a farewell glance on her father's face, and moved
+towards the stranger's room.
+
+Yes, it was as she felt and knew. The dark garment of yesterday had
+disappeared; before her stood the fairy king in radiant beauty, with
+his golden hair flowing down over his purple robe.
+
+She clasped her hands in silent entreaty, and her beautiful eyes
+looked up with love and humility to the face of her beloved but
+deeply-wronged husband.
+
+"Helga, Helga," said he gravely, "is this how you have been faithful
+to your love and your promise?"
+
+"Oh, do not be angry with me," begged Helga; "to your spirit-eye
+nothing has been hidden; you know how it all came about--how my
+anxiety for you drove me to seek you--how my father found me, and how
+I was going to show him our kingdom in order to set his mind at rest.
+You know that the gates were closed against me, and that I was borne
+back unconscious to my old home--that they kept me there by
+cleverly-invented stories, and that at last my father's entreaties
+forced me to the last and hardest step. But you know also that I have
+loved only you, that my heart is yours alone."
+
+"Be judged by thine own words, O Flower of Iceland!" replied the fairy
+king quietly. "Why didst thou not listen to the voice of thy heart? We
+fairies know nothing of human weakness, therefore we cannot forgive
+it. Dost thou know the fate that now awaits thee, Helga?"
+
+"I know it well," answered Helga firmly, "and if my mouth has been
+unfaithful, my heart has been true. I welcome death, for it will
+reunite me to you!"
+
+Then a happy smile passed over the fairy king's noble countenance; he
+stretched out his arms, and pressed Helga dying to his heart.
+
+Finding that his wife did not come back, Olaffson hastened with his
+father-in-law to the stranger's room. They found fair Helga in the
+fairy king's arms. Both were cold and dead; in the same moment both
+hearts had broken. Olaffson tried to take Helga away from the
+stranger's arms, but in vain. What life had robbed him of, he held in
+death with a grasp that could not be loosed.
+
+"Leave them, my son," said the old grief-stricken father; "she is his
+by right. What has all our prudence done for us? Worse than nothing!
+The fairy king has reclaimed his own in spite of us."
+
+They laid them in the same coffin, and next morning the soil of
+Iceland was to receive them into its cold lap. But in the night that
+followed this eventful day, sleep fell more heavily than usual on the
+eyes of the mourners. They did not hear the whispering of gentle
+voices or the hasty tread of many feet. They did not see the multitude
+of fairies who had assembled from all parts of the island to show the
+last honour to their beloved king. Noiselessly the spirits lifted the
+coffin, carried it out of the house, and away to the rock where fair
+Helga had begged in vain for admission.
+
+To-day it was not denied her. The magic gates sprang open as the
+coffin approached. With drooping wings the white birds hovered round,
+and mourned the royal pair in notes of soft lamentation.
+
+At the shore of the beautiful blue sea the faithful spirits lowered
+their burden. There Helga and her fairy husband rest beneath the
+flowers of this paradise, and beside the gentle murmur of the waves.
+On the branches of the cypress that grows on their grave hangs the
+fairy king's harp. The hand is cold that once touched its chords; but
+when the morning breeze sweeps through them, they sound as of old in
+magic melody. The sweet notes float on the sunbeams through the
+evergreen paradise, pierce the hard rock, and hover as beautiful and
+undying legends over Iceland's heaths and snow-clad hills.
+
+
+
+
+THE SEA-FAIRY.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD MAN BESIDE THE CORPSE OF ANTONIO.]
+
+
+The evening sun was sinking in a glow of colour on the waters of the
+North Atlantic and on the rocky coast of Norway as a youth wandered
+alone by the edge of one of its numerous fiords.
+
+He was alone in the world; father and mother, brothers and sisters,
+were all dead, and he strove to still the longings of his heart by the
+wonders of foreign lands.
+
+He had seen the midnight sun from the cliffs of the North Cape, and
+his eye now rested in astonished admiration on the firmament and the
+ocean, which shone in a splendour unknown to other zones. He stepped
+close up to the edge of the sea, and looked down at the waves, which
+here broke in gold-sparkling foam. But from yon rock but a few yards
+distant he would be better able to enjoy the ever-changing play of the
+waves; so he went up to it, and laid his hand on one of its jagged
+projections to aid him in climbing. Then he saw something white and
+golden gleaming at his feet, and when he leant forward to observe it
+more closely he saw that it was the form of a young woman who was
+sitting in solitude on this uninhabited strand. Over her garment,
+white as spring blossoms, down to the purple hem, fell hair golden as
+the waves at her feet, and her tender hands lay clasped upon her knee,
+while she, dreamy and motionless, looked out upon the sea.
+
+The young man scarcely ventured to breathe lest he should frighten
+her; but a stone loosened beneath his hand and rolled rattling to the
+ground. She looked up and turned her head, and now his glance met a
+face of unimagined beauty.
+
+"Who art thou?" she asked, in gentle astonishment; "and what seekest
+thou here on this world-forsaken shore?"
+
+"I wished to see the beauties of Norway," he gathered courage to
+answer, "and I found them greater than I expected. But who art thou,
+wondrous being, who venturest to stay alone in this solitude, with
+none save the ocean and yon stern rocks to bear thee company?"
+
+"I am the sea-fairy," she answered gravely. "The golden evening
+sunshine, which streamed down into my castle, enticed me to the
+strand, as it has done many a time before. But thou art the first
+mortal that I have seen here for thousands of years."
+
+He did not answer, but gazed dreamily on her lovely form. In his soul
+the fairy tales of childhood shone dimly forth--tales of the crystal
+castle under the sea, and of the fascinating beauty of the sea-fairy;
+and now, could these have been no fables, but reality--sweet tangible
+reality?
+
+For a moment he covered his eyes with his hand, and looked again. No,
+she had not vanished. The rosy light of the evening sun lay now on her
+white garment, and her beautiful form seemed still more lovely in this
+radiance. She rose slowly, and apparently with the intention of going
+away to the waves, when such burning pain came in the young man's soul
+that he took his hand from the point of the rock and stepped
+respectfully, but with firm tread, up to the beautiful lady.
+
+"No, do not go," he begged, raising his hand in earnest entreaty; "do
+not go, thou vision of my childhood. But if thou canst not tarry
+longer here, then take me down into thy ocean kingdom. There is no one
+on earth to miss me; and now that I know that thou really dwellest
+beneath these waves, I shall feel an unappeasable longing after thee,
+as in the days of my childhood, when I lay for hours on the shore of
+my native land hoping to catch a glimpse of the pinnacles of thy
+castle."
+
+The fairy stood still, and her eye, blue and fathomless as the ocean
+at the horizon, looked in the young man's face as if to read his soul.
+
+"Knowest thou what thou askest?" she said earnestly. "If I grant thy
+petition and take thee with me, it is for no short amusement, which
+thou canst leave when tired, and wander further at thy will. No; if
+thou go with me it is to stay in my kingdom, and only with thy life
+wilt thou be permitted to release thyself from thy vow. Consider it
+well. In thy veins flows the blood of a faithless race; but we are of
+a different nature. Ingratitude and faithlessness we punish severely,
+and our heart knows no weak pity for those who incur our wrath."
+
+"Try me, lady," said the youth, with firm determination. "Take me with
+thee, and let me serve thee and surround thee with love and obedience;
+and if thou find me faithless, spare not thine anger."
+
+"Come then," said the sea-fairy, "and forget not that it is thine own
+choice." And Antonio, for that was the young man's name, walked
+joyfully beside the wondrous woman towards the waves. She loosed the
+star-set girdle from her dress, and gave it to the youth. "Put it on,"
+she said, "that those beneath the waves may recognise thee as one of
+mine;" and he did as she bade him. Then she gave him her hand, and
+stepped out upon the sea, which grew smooth beneath her foot as a path
+of crystal. Antonio followed joyfully; the magic girdle prevented him
+from sinking, and when the shore lay a few steps behind them, the
+glittering plain opened and disclosed a glassy stair that led down
+into the depths of the ocean kingdom. Did he step down on them, or
+did they, rising upwards, offer themselves to his foot? He could not
+make out how it was, for, now that he was led by the fairy's hand and
+girt with her girdle, earthly laws had no longer power over him. He
+only knew that they were descending into the water with marvellous
+swiftness, and that the waves of the Gulf Stream, which flows with the
+warmth of spring around these coasts, played softly round his head and
+shoulders, while he breathed among them as freely as on the air above.
+And when he looked upwards he saw the crystal steps break and form
+again into waves as soon as the foot left them, and above his head the
+sea heaved as was its wont, the great waves following one after the
+other with a glorious play of ever-changing colours.
+
+Soon he stood at the bottom of the sea; and here there was nothing
+dark or gloomy, as we are apt to think, but all around the reflection
+of the evening sky lit the clear depths with golden light.
+
+"Now thou art in my kingdom," said the sea-fairy; "forget not that it
+is the home of thine own choice."
+
+His eyes shone as he gave a joyful assent. "His home!" And he would
+never long for another; of that he was quite sure.
+
+They walked together over the soft, shining, golden sand. Not far off
+purple trees rose on their slender stems, and sent their wide branches
+out on every side.
+
+"That is my coral park," said the sea-fairy; "it stands in wide
+circles round the ocean castle, and keeps the wild waves far from this
+retreat."
+
+Soon they stood at the gate of the magic hedge, and the fairy laid
+her hand upon the rock. Suddenly an electric current seemed to stir
+the whole line of trees. Thousands of little slumbering creatures
+awoke, and stretched their tiny heads out of the openings between the
+branches to greet their lady. She, meantime, walked with Antonio
+through the intricate paths of the coral grove, till they reached the
+shining plain where the castle of the sea-fairy stood. Its lofty walls
+were crowned by a glittering roof, over which the waves glided to and
+fro with softest music.
+
+Antonio gazed in happy astonishment on the radiant edifice, which
+excelled in beauty all the childish dreams of which it reminded him.
+
+"And may I stay here? and shall I never be obliged to leave this
+splendour?" he asked in a gentle whisper; but before the fairy could
+answer there was a trembling in the waves around. Over the transparent
+roof, and out of the shadows of the coral grove, came myriads of
+little star-fishes of violet and rosy hues, and played round the head
+of Antonio and among the sea-fairy's locks like butterflies on a
+summer day. Then they fluttered away again, and lost themselves in the
+trembling dance of the waves.
+
+The beautiful lady, still carefully keeping hold of Antonio's hand,
+walked now over the watery meadow which surrounded the castle with its
+gentle waves; and when she reached the high-arched portal the
+transparent gates opened of themselves, and the empress of the ocean
+entered her enchanted palace.
+
+Antonio's eye was dazzled by the splendour all around. Hall after
+hall followed in brilliant succession, and over all stretched the high
+arches of the crystal roof, through which the evening sky shed its
+undiminished splendour. Warm and soft as the breath of spring, the
+little waves glided through these enchanted rooms and fell back with
+gentle splashing from the crystal walls--now shining like a flood of
+crimson, now azure blue, and now like liquid amber; thus they mirrored
+the changing play of colours in the fleeting clouds overhead.
+
+The sea-fairy looked into Antonio's joyous face. "Thinkest thou that
+thou canst forget thine earthly home here in my kingdom?" she asked
+graciously.
+
+"Forget it?" he replied. "If home is the fairest spot on earth, then I
+have only found mine now. Henceforth all other places lie eternally
+forgotten. But what is that yonder?" he asked, pointing to tall green
+pillars whose tops reached nearly to the crystal roof.
+
+"See for thyself," said the sea-fairy, and he moved by her side
+towards the last hall in which the graceful columns stood. And now he
+glides between their slender shafts, and utters a joyous cry as he
+looks up at the transparent dome, beneath which leafy tree-crowns
+waved, while little star-fishes gleamed brightly as they glided among
+the leaves.
+
+"Palm trees!" cried Antonio, breathless with astonishment--"palm
+trees, such as I have heard rustling by the banks of the Ganges! This
+must be some delusion, some golden dream, out of which I must sooner
+or later wake. No, no, there are the tender lianas winding round the
+kingly stems, and there in the shadow lurks my lotos flower, the
+most beautiful of all the gorgeous blossoms of India!"
+
+[Illustration: ANTONIO IN THE CRYSTAL CASTLE. F. C., p. 178.]
+
+He dropped the fairy's hand, hastened forward, and looked into the
+shining cup, whose purple streamers trembled in the waves.
+
+"Yes, indeed, it is the lotos, gleaming in snowy purity like its
+sisters in the holy stream, in whose cup the goddess slumbers. But oh!
+how camest thou hither, beloved flower? But what do I ask? The holy
+river of thy favoured home has caught thy falling seed and borne it
+onwards to the sea, and there on its protecting wave thou hast been
+rolled on and on, further and further, towards the south-west, till
+the warm Gulf Stream received thee. Carried northwards by this current
+of blessing which careful Nature sends to these icy realms, thou
+camest with broken palm branches and liana sprays into this northern
+fairyland, where the hand of the beauteous sea-fairy gave thee a
+second home--one beautiful enough to make thee forget even the sunny
+plains of India."
+
+Did the lotos flower think so? Its trembling cup gave no reply, but
+Antonio thought it did. Henceforth the kingdom of the sea-fairy should
+be his home, and she herself be dear to him as his father and mother
+used to be in the old half-forgotten days. His happiness seemed full
+as he moved by her side through the wide watery realm from one wonder
+to another, while her grave but beautiful mouth explained to him with
+easy eloquence the mysteries of the deep, problems in the solution of
+which curious men spend their lives in vain. Round them played the
+gay star-fishes; beside them, on the gleaming sand, thorny ray-fishes
+rolled like silver balls; behind them followed, in many-coloured
+throng, the fishes large and small, their fins and scales sparkling in
+the sunlight like silver and precious stones. They glided fearlessly
+around Antonio, let him catch and stroke them, and looked up at him
+with intelligent eyes when he spoke to them in human words. They did
+not indeed comprehend what he said, but they all understood the star
+pattern on the girdle, which still surrounded his waist with its
+radiant circle, and made him known as the friend of their beloved
+mistress.
+
+Yes, it was pleasant to glide through the waves, with beauty, peace,
+and harmony all around; but Antonio thought it more delightful still
+to wander with the majestic fairy through the halls of the crystal
+castle, to be lifted by gentle waves up to the lofty dome, and to look
+up through its clear vault to the bright sky far overhead.
+
+But Antonio's happiest moments were spent in the hall of palms, as he
+rested in the shady corner where the lotos bloomed. The flower would
+bend its white cup over his dreamy eyes, and the waves moved the
+purple stamens over his brow as gently as his mother's hand. The water
+flowed about him soft and warm, high overhead the palm trees waved
+their leafy tufts, and the sea-fairy glided through the brilliant
+halls, singing to her golden harp songs sweeter and more enthralling
+than anything Antonio had ever heard on earth. Is it any wonder then
+that he forgot his bleak, unmusical home--that he never gave it one
+longing thought?
+
+The summer sun had often sent its golden light, unbroken by night's
+darkness, into the sea-fairy's kingdom; the stars of the winter sky
+had often twinkled through the crystal roof of the ocean palace; but
+Antonio had taken no heed to the flight of time. The years passed over
+him in pleasant but monotonous repose; the little waves rippled and
+sang with unchanging cheerfulness; and Antonio hastened from pleasure
+to pleasure, without remembrance, without longing, feeling only the
+present delight.
+
+The sunlight of a new summer was making its way into the ocean realm
+when Antonio came out of the palace and walked through the gleaming
+water-meadows. The fairy had been called to a distance by some
+business in a remote part of her extensive kingdom, and Antonio had
+thus been left alone in the castle. But the splendid halls seemed to
+him only half as beautiful without their lovely queen, and he
+determined to seek the society of the merry fishes without. They came
+swimming to meet him, slipped through his fingers, splashed the water
+merrily with their fins and tails, and formed themselves into a wide
+and brilliant procession behind him as he walked.
+
+Soon the oddly-jagged branches of the coral grove arched above his
+head. He intended to-day to explore every corner of this lovely park,
+of which he had hitherto seen but one spot. He went further and
+further into the maze of trees, and the fishes followed him at every
+step and glided like silver stars through the deep red branches.
+
+Antonio looked back; the bright sunny plain and the gleaming palace
+had disappeared, hidden by the dense grove of coral; but to the side
+at the outer edge of the forest he heard a sullen, ceaseless roaring,
+for the ocean billows rolled high and dark beyond the magic circle.
+
+He went further; everything became strange and awful. There was not a
+glimpse of the bright familiar regions he knew so well. Purple
+twilight lay around him, and to the side the darkly rolling ocean; but
+there before him was a faint glimmering of light which became
+gradually brighter. Could it be the crystal castle which he thought he
+had left far behind?
+
+At last he reached the light, and looked down on the scene at his
+feet. Before him lay an open space, over which the sunlight streamed,
+unhindered, in golden radiance, and under this flood of sunshine
+rested rows of pale, silent sleepers, heart to heart and arm in arm,
+as the rage of the ocean or the anger of the sea-fairy had torn them
+away from their full, warm, joyous life. They had sailed fearlessly in
+their trusty ships over the sea, perhaps even rejoicing in their
+nearness to the haven, and in the prospect of happy meetings, when
+they were suddenly shattered by a hidden reef, or dragged downward by
+the treacherous whirlpool.
+
+Antonio walked with loudly-beating heart among the sleepers. Here lay
+an old man with long and silvery hair, and his withered hand rested
+tenderly on the head of a beautiful boy; beside him lay a man, whose
+youthful wife, even in the death-struggle, had not loosed her hold on
+her tender infant; there slept two stalwart youths, their hands
+clasped as in strong affection--they were brothers, as the likeness
+of the features showed. And there--and there--and there, wherever
+Antonio's glance fell, lay forms once beautiful in their youthful
+strength, now cold and stiff in death. And yet they only seemed to be
+asleep, for, however long they might have rested there, time had made
+no ravages among them. Their features were unchanged, save for a
+deeper peace; and when the coral branches overhead rocked in the
+waves, sending their purple shadows over the lonely ocean graveyard,
+there fell on the faces of the dead something like the reflection of
+their former life.
+
+Antonio bent over them, as if to read the last sad thought of the pale
+lips--to learn the last unspoken wish, that he might take it with him
+as a solemn vow, and fulfil it as soon as he could reach the upper
+world. For the spell of the ocean kingdom was broken at the sight of
+these white faces, and he longed now for his home, bleak and unmusical
+though it was. With a deep sigh he took his eyes from this sad scene,
+and advanced to the outer edge of the coral grove, where the lofty
+branches bent and formed a low network, which divided the
+resting-place of the dead from the raging ocean. He leant with folded
+arms against the fence, and looked out on the billowy sea. The huge
+waves rose black as thunder-clouds, hurled their white froth toward
+heaven, and sank with sullen roar back into the deep. It was a scene
+of fascinating horror, and Antonio could not tear his eyes away.
+
+Then suddenly northwards through the surging waves came something
+strange, dreadful, horrible. Its long outstretched serpent neck was
+of changing green, and its wide gaping throat was full of sharp
+destructive teeth; its gigantic body wound dark through the flood--now
+drawn together, now stretched out in its immeasurable length, so that
+even the lifeless waves shrank back, and Antonio's heart almost ceased
+to beat with dread amazement. Thus the monster of the deep rose in
+slow but ceaseless movements, and its threatening head was raised
+above the foaming heaps of water beside the coral fence just as
+Antonio caught the first glimpse of its poisonous tail.
+
+"It is the sea serpent," he faltered at last, as soon as he recovered
+his power of speech--"the monster of which the fairy told me that
+death and destruction follow in its wake. The poor sailors up above on
+the surface of the water, who have perhaps laughed and mocked at it as
+an exploded fable, will now see and feel it in the last terror of the
+death-struggle." And he clasped his hands tightly as he gazed upwards
+in an agony of fear.
+
+Suddenly a wide shadow darkened the waters, covering with its gloomy
+wing the purple fence and the golden waves that flowed above the dead.
+Antonio sought for the cause of this phenomenon, and saw far above in
+the surging sea a low rock which he had not noticed before. Whether
+the wild waves had torn it from the coast and driven it hither, or
+whether the storm had forced it up from the bed of the ocean, he knew
+not; but there it stood, dark and immovable, with the waves dashing
+over it, and the sea serpent gliding round it in foaming coils.
+
+Now he knew for what end the ocean was preparing all its horrors.
+There, from the south, came a ship with well-filled sails, of firm,
+substantial build, and guided by a skilful hand; it seemed to mock at
+the terrors of the deep, for the deadly rock and the lurking serpent
+were hidden beneath the water; the huge waves surged above both, and
+covered them with their foam.
+
+The captain of the stately vessel saw the heaving waves, but he knew
+the powers of his noble ship. With flashing eye he stood on the deck,
+calming the passengers with cheerful words, and shouting his orders to
+the nimble sailors. He steered his ship confidently right over the
+familiar track, in the midst of which the treacherous rock lay waiting
+his approach.
+
+Antonio watched the ship's advance. His terror-sharpened eye
+distinguished every mast, every plank. It seemed to him as if he saw
+smiling, happy, unsuspecting faces bending over the side and nodding
+friendly greetings to him in his calm, safe depths below. He wrung his
+hands in despair, and cried in his loudest voice, "Steer to the left;
+oh! steer to the left, for to the right lurks double death." But the
+next wave drowned the cry, and granted him not even the faintest echo.
+
+Now, now must the end come--unavoidable and dread. Antonio covered his
+eyes in trembling anguish. A sudden crash, one single piercing scream,
+which with awful clearness rose above the roar of the ocean and the
+hissing of the serpent, trembled through the waves, and thrilled
+through Antonio's loudly-beating heart. His hands fell from his
+blanched face, and he looked up through the sea.
+
+The waves still rolled, the rock still stood in dreadful gloom, the
+serpent still wound its frightful coils, but the scattered planks of
+the broken vessel were driven round and round by the mad whirlpool,
+and those who a moment before had smiled in the fulness of life and
+happiness now wrestled with the waves. Strong men among them, who
+would not part from life without a struggle, grasped after floating
+planks, raised themselves above the waves, and looked round for their
+dear ones. But the sea serpent came darting over the white-crested
+billows, struck with its tail the floating timbers, and sent their
+trembling burden down to the hungry depths.
+
+Happy were those who, already choked by the water, had sunk down
+unconscious to the bed of the ocean, there to slumber undisturbed. The
+survivors were the prey of the monster. With its tail curled in horrid
+rage, its green eyes flashing, and its vast jaws gaping wide, it
+darted on every man whose powerful arm and stout heart would not give
+up the struggle with the waves, and in a moment his death-cry was lost
+in the sea serpent's horrid throat. With insatiable rage it glided
+from one to another till all had perished, and not one was left to
+carry home the dreadful tale. None would ever know the fate of the
+goodly vessel and its precious freight.
+
+Antonio had sunk on his knees, and his eyes had followed every motion
+of the sea serpent till the dreadful work was done.
+
+When all was over, the sea serpent rocked itself in horrid
+satisfaction on the waves, and let them drive it at their will. But
+the dark rock retained the power of motion, and sank slowly down into
+the deep, making the waves foam and toss as they parted right and left
+to let it pass. Then Antonio perceived that what at a distance he had
+taken for a rock was a gigantic kraken, one of those sea monsters
+which often lie quietly for years at the bottom of the ocean, then
+rise to the surface and lurk with deadly purpose in the path of
+unsuspecting men. He saw the supple, far-reaching polypus-arms, which,
+grasping at the masts, had cracked them like reeds, and torn the
+planks asunder with swifter and more complete destruction than the
+mere force of the waves could have accomplished. The snaky limbs were
+feeling aimlessly about the flood, groping down towards the soft
+sea-bed where the monster would now fasten itself for a long period of
+repose.
+
+Antonio involuntarily shrank back, although the ocean, with its
+billows and its still more dreadful monsters, could not break through
+the coral fence or disturb the sparkling waters of the Gulf Stream. He
+watched the kraken reach the bottom, settle down in its soft bed, and
+draw in its long arms as for sleep. Then all became peaceful as
+before.
+
+The wild waves sank to rest, and the ocean flowed still and clear; a
+deep blue sky arched overhead, the sun shot golden glances through the
+billows, piercing to the lowest depths, and dyeing with amber light
+the waves that flowed above the kraken, which lay like a long dark
+hill not far from the coral fence, and parted from it by a narrow
+current.
+
+Antonio stepped back hesitatingly to the fence, and looked through. On
+the sea-monster's back waved a forest of tall grass wrack, which had
+taken root there during its long years of inaction. Through the waving
+blades little fishes and sea-urchins glided fearlessly, and lazy
+turtles crept along in the shade. But in the midst, as in a nest of
+brown moss, lay something like a swan of dazzling whiteness, with
+lifeless outstretched wings. Antonio was gazing fixedly on this
+object, when a gleaming wave swept through the grass wrack, and raised
+the dead swan's limbs. The next loosed it from its dreadful
+resting-place, and bore it into the current which flowed towards the
+place of the dead.
+
+Nearer and nearer floated the bird, till it struck against the coral
+network, and Antonio stretched out his arms to grasp it. Then he saw
+that it was no swan, but a lovely maiden in a wide flowing garment,
+whom the waves had hurled down from the ship to the sea monster's
+back, and who had thus been borne to her grave. With a sorrowful heart
+he caught her in his arms, lifted her through the coral fence, and
+carried her to where the dead lay in their peaceful resting-place.
+There he laid her by the old man's side, knelt beside the dead maiden,
+and arranged the long fair hair, tossed by the waves, around the pale
+but lovely face, and folded her marble hands as if in prayer.
+
+The last duty was fulfilled, and he would now have been free to return
+to the crystal castle, there to revel in new joy and splendour, but he
+still knelt beside the maiden's corpse, looking dreamily into the
+still, white face as one looks into a dim, far distance. He knew that
+from her sleep there was no awaking; for in these deep waters no
+living thing could breathe save one that wore, like him, the
+sea-fairy's girdle; she was dead, and must slumber on till the
+resurrection morn. The eyes remained closed, and the mouth could never
+smile again, yet Antonio gazed at it as if it were about to tell him
+some dear familiar tale--perhaps the story of his own life. Antonio
+knew the sweet, innocent, tender face, but the flood of fear and
+horror which had raged for hours in his soul had confused his
+memories, and he only felt that the eyes and mouth now so firmly
+closed in death had once smiled at him in love and friendship.
+
+[Illustration: ANTONIO LAYS THE DEAD MAIDEN IN HER LAST
+RESTING-PLACE.]
+
+At last he rose, cast a last look on the lines of sleepers, stepped
+back into the coral grove, and made his way through the shadowy paths
+back to the sea-fairy's castle.
+
+His ocean vision had lost its charm, the paradise of his childish
+dreams was laid in ruins; the sunny waves, which so short a time
+before had played around him with the soft warmth of summer breezes,
+felt now so cold that he shuddered, and his breathing became laboured
+and painful.
+
+Again he rested in the hall of palms, and the stamens of the
+lotos-blossom floated caressingly over his temples, in which the blood
+now flowed more quickly, for the death-cry of the sinking crew still
+rang in his ears, and before his eyes hovered the pale, beautiful
+image of the dead maiden.
+
+Where, ah! where had he seen those features? He looked up into the
+waving summits of the palms. Could it have been on the banks of the
+Ganges that such a mouth had smiled at him, from the band of Hindu
+girls who passed him every evening with pitchers on their heads on
+their way to fetch water from the sacred stream? No, no, it was not
+there, nor in any of the favoured countries of the new world, that he
+had seen that face, for there the maidens' hair was of a darker hue.
+No; no foreign land had ever shown him those sweet features, and his
+thoughts turned to his old, half-forgotten home.
+
+The palm-trees beneath the crystal dome changed as he gazed into the
+old wide-spreading lime-tree in his father's garden, and the song of
+the waves in the fairy halls sounded in his ear like the tones of the
+little organ which his father played at evening when the day's work
+was done.
+
+Antonio closed his eyes. Was it to call up more easily the old
+long-forgotten scenes, or to hide the hot tears which started to his
+eyes? It seemed to him as if he lay once more on the round bench below
+the lime-tree, with his head on his tender mother's lap, and her soft
+hand upon his brow; above him rustled the lime leaves, and through the
+open windows floated the soft notes of his father's evening song.
+Antonio lay there listening in silence. His mother sat with a happy
+smile on her loved face, and by her side Antonio's old teacher, on
+whose lips he and his wild companions hung in rapt attention, as he
+told them of the strange lands which he had visited in his youth.
+
+Oh, what a flood of memories rushed over Antonio's heart!--music and
+fragrance, his mother's gentle hand, and the old man's wonderful
+descriptions; and in the midst of all a tender, fairy-like child, in a
+soft white dress and golden hair, who flitted like a sunbeam through
+the garden paths! When she had gathered enough flowers, she came
+softly up, sat down at her father's feet, and wove a garland; Antonio
+kept his eyes closed, not to sleep, but to listen undisturbed. The
+little one, thinking him asleep, rose softly and placed the garland on
+his brow. Then he caught her hands, and playfully held her fast; but
+she bent over him till her fair locks touched his cheeks and
+whispered, "Be quiet, Tony; thy father is telling a story, and does
+not like to be interrupted;" and she looked down at him and smiled.
+
+The riddle was solved at last. It was she. It was the sweet child to
+whom his wild boyish heart had gone out in tender love, and whose
+image had gone with him into distant lands till it faded before the
+brilliant, ever-changing scenes through which he passed. But now it
+stood before him in its old beauty, and he loved her as though they
+had parted yesterday--now, when she lay cold and stiff among the dead.
+
+He rose, clasped his hands in anguish, and looked up at the crystal
+roof, through which the evening sky sent all the bright hues of a
+northern sunset. But all that he had loved to look on here had no
+beauty for him now. Within was melody and song and unearthly
+splendour; without, death, horror, and unutterable grief. He sprang
+up, ran as if hunted through the glittering halls, and out to the
+plain before the castle; but the floods which were wont to send
+fragrance and song and radiance to hail his coming seemed to him now
+filled with deadly darkness, and the sound of their waves was like
+suppressed sobbing.
+
+He turned away shuddering, and, for the first time since he came to
+the fairy's kingdom, he directed his steps to the coral gate which
+parted the Gulf Stream from the darker billows of the ocean. He passed
+out, and walked in gloomy silence over the sand, which to-day seemed
+to have lost its golden glitter. Soon he stood at the spot where the
+crystal steps ended, and he looked up longingly through the heaving
+flood.
+
+"Oh that I could return just once to the free fresh air," he
+sighed--"to my old forsaken home!" And his wish was fulfilled, for he
+still wore the starry girdle which made the elements obedient to his
+will. The waves parted like the petals of a lily, and formed
+themselves into glassy steps. With a shout of joy Antonio placed his
+foot on the lowest one, and he scarcely knew whether he moved himself
+or whether the water lifted him from step to step. He saw the blue
+waters become clearer and clearer, until he stood on the last step,
+his head rose above the waves, and he drew deep breaths of his native
+air.
+
+With flashing eye and heaving breast Antonio looked westwards, where
+the sun's radiant ball rested on a bed of purple clouds, while the
+reflection fell in roseate and amber shadows over the whole heaven,
+and the distant billows flowed like a mantle of royal purple.
+
+But the waves which bore Antonio to the strand dashed up golden spray
+just as on that summer evening when he descended to the fairy-land
+below the sea. There lay also the red rock at which he had first seen
+the fairy, and with a sigh he bent his steps in that direction. Was
+there not some one sitting there now? Antonio shaded his eyes with his
+hand, for he was still dazzled by the unaccustomed light. It was no
+illusion. There, where the fairy once sat, was to-day a bent and aged
+figure, and instead of the golden locks flowed silvery hair about the
+temples.
+
+"A human being!" was Antonio's first ecstatic thought as he ran across
+the strand.
+
+"Good evening, sir," he cried joyfully.
+
+The old man raised his weary head, and his sad eyes rested with
+indifference upon the youth. But the last few hours had changed
+Antonio. The veil had fallen from his eyes and heart, and he saw now
+with the keen true eye of childhood. The hair on the old man's head
+had indeed grown whiter since he saw it last, and sorrow had graven
+its deep lines on the high forehead; but it was the same clear-cut
+mouth to whose words Antonio had once listened with burning eagerness,
+and in the dark eyes still flashed something of the old fire. It was
+his aged teacher, the father of the pale, beautiful maiden among the
+dead in the ocean depths.
+
+"Do you not know me, revered sir?" asked Antonio, with faltering
+voice, as he bowed in courteous greeting.
+
+The old man looked at him again.
+
+"No," he said slowly, "I did not notice you among the crew; but though
+you are a stranger, I am glad that you are saved. I thought I was the
+only survivor from the shipwreck."
+
+"Look at me once more, sir," said Antonio, trying to steady his
+faltering voice, "and turn back a few pages in your life's history.
+Think of a little garden, and of an old lime-tree beneath whose leafy
+roof you often sat, while the sweet tones of an organ thrilled through
+the summer air."
+
+The old man's eyes shone more brightly, and his lips trembled.
+
+"Antonio!" he stammered out, "Antonio!" and his white head sank on the
+shoulder of his favourite pupil, who knelt before him with his arm
+wound in filial tenderness round the childless man.
+
+"Oh, Antonio! I have lost my child to-day, only to-day. She would not
+let me go alone to the distant north, to which some luckless impulse
+drove me in my old age, and so she came with me on my toilsome
+journey. Today we struck on a hidden reef, and the same wave which
+dashed her against the dark rock drove me, despite my struggling, on
+this barren strand, though I would fain lie with my darling child
+below the waves."
+
+The old man covered his face with his hands, and Antonio did not
+venture on any words of consolation.
+
+"If I could even find her corpse," said the poor old man at last, "I
+could bury her at home; but even the sad consolation of visiting her
+grave is denied me."
+
+"She has found a better resting-place than you could give her," said
+Antonio--"she sleeps on a golden bed; a coral grove surrounds the
+spot; corruption has no power over her fair features, and no worm can
+touch her. Amid noble companions she slumbers, while the sunbeams kiss
+her snowy eyelids, and the warm waters of the Gulf Stream flow gently
+over her."
+
+"How do you know all this, Antonio?" asked the old man in
+astonishment.
+
+And Antonio told him about that evening when he met the beautiful
+sea-fairy at this very rock, and descended with her into her ocean
+kingdom, there to live in forgetfulness of home and friends, until,
+awakened by what he had seen and felt to-day, the old memories
+acquired new power over him, and throbbed more strongly than ever in
+his soul.
+
+"What will you do now, my son?" asked the old man.
+
+"I will go home with you," Antonio answered promptly. "I will be to
+you a devoted and obedient son, if you will but let me."
+
+The old man gazed at him with beaming eyes.
+
+"Then let us go," he said, rising, "for I long to leave this place of
+horror. In a few hours we shall reach the little harbour in which we
+cast anchor yesterday evening, and there we can embark in a
+homeward-bound ship."
+
+"Let it be as you will, my father," replied Antonio. "But one duty
+remains yet unfulfilled. If the sea-fairy had led me by deceit or
+violence into her kingdom, flight would be but right; but I went of my
+own free will, bound myself to obedience and unchanging fidelity, and
+enjoyed her kindness and hospitality. It seems to me cowardly and
+ungrateful to go away secretly, without a word of thanks or of
+farewell, and the thought of this would destroy my happiness at home.
+To-day she is to return. I will go to meet her, tell her what broke
+the spell of her kingdom, and beg her to let me go in peace, and with
+her blessing. Wait for me here. The air of this zone is soft, and its
+night skies clear. Before the bright night changes to the brighter
+day, I will come back to leave you no more."
+
+He kissed the old man's hand, and went towards the sea. Meantime the
+fairy had returned. The open coral gate and the empty halls of her
+palace told her that Antonio was gone. Her soul was filled with grief
+and rage. He was one, indeed, of that faithless race whom she already
+knew and hated; but his eye and heart had still that divine image
+which she sought in vain among the cold, dumb creatures of the ocean,
+and in comparison with which the beauty and harmony of her fairy realm
+seemed poor and unsatisfying. He had become very dear to her. She had
+begun to believe in his fidelity only to find herself once more
+deceived. But, as she had told him, the weak pity of mortals found no
+room in her heart. She did not complain, and no word of anger escaped
+her firm-set lips. She would go up to punish the faithless one, if he
+was still within her reach, according to her former threatenings.
+
+She passed through the coral gate to the place where the heaving steps
+led to the world above. She beckoned, and the rocking staircase grew
+firm beneath her tread. Just as she set her foot on the first step,
+Antonio began to descend. They met half-way in the midst of the sea.
+Antonio trembled, as she stood before him in the full splendour of her
+magic beauty and her overwhelming majesty and might, and his soul
+shrank from her, and turned with ardent longing to his own loved home.
+
+"Whence comest thou?" she asked sternly, although her keen ear heard
+the story of the last few hours in the louder beating of his heart.
+"Whence comest thou?" Then he gathered courage to tell her all, and
+begged her to let him go in peace.
+
+"Rememberest thou not that summer evening when thou insistedst on
+coming with me, notwithstanding my warning?" she asked in the same
+severe tone.
+
+"Yes," Antonio faltered.
+
+"And dost thou not remember my threat, and thy demand that I should
+punish thee if thou shouldst break thy faith?"
+
+"I remember it all," Antonio said, with trembling lips.
+
+"And in the face of all this dread and certain future dost thou still
+dream of leaving me?"
+
+"I cannot do otherwise," he cried passionately; "the ocean kingdom has
+lost its charm since I have seen the gulf of irreconcilable enmity
+which divides it from my race--since it has robbed me of what was once
+my heart's dearest treasure. No, proud lady, let me go; I should be
+henceforth but a dismal guest."
+
+Her eyes grew dark and fathomless as the deep sea beneath them.
+
+"Go," she said slowly, "but first loose thy girdle."
+
+He drew a deep breath of hope and delight, took the starry girdle from
+his waist, and gave it to the fairy. She took it, looked once more
+into his face, and glided down over the breaking steps.
+
+Antonio turned to seek the upper world, but the stair above him had
+vanished, the step on which his foot rested melted from beneath him,
+and he found himself floating through the dark, deep waters. But the
+waves flowed no longer soft and free as spring breezes over his head
+and breast. With his girdle he had given up his power over them, and
+now he was but a weak mortal struggling with the raging elements. The
+waves roared round him, and tossed him hither and thither like a
+ball, while he strove in vain to breathe. He looked up to measure the
+distance, then he struggled with all the strength of despair against
+the waves. His young strong arm bore him upwards; once more he raised
+his head above the flood and breathed the air of heaven. His eye
+sought the red rock on which his old teacher sat, with his arms
+stretched out helplessly towards his adopted son, whose desperate
+struggles he had no power to help.
+
+"I am coming, I am coming, my father," he cried confidently, but a
+giant billow swept over the youth and hurled him down into the boiling
+deep.
+
+The evening hues were fading from the ocean, and the old man still
+stood beside the rock, his hands clasped, and his eyes gazing fixedly
+on the now tranquil deep. A dark object came floating from the west,
+and the waves left it on the beach almost at the old man's feet. He
+raised his dark eyes and looked at the motionless form, then he rose
+and walked with tottering footsteps to the spot. There lay Antonio,
+pale, cold, and dead. He had kept his word; before the bright night
+had passed into the brighter morning he had come back, but not as he
+had dreamed and hoped. The old man's trembling hands dug his grave at
+the foot of the red rock where Antonio had first seen the fairy. Then
+he turned his footsteps towards his distant, lonely home.
+
+As soon as evening came again to visit earth and ocean, the sea-fairy
+rose through the waves, went up to the rock, and sat down beside the
+rock beneath which Antonio lay. There she sat, silent and motionless,
+her white hands lying idly in her lap, and her dreamy eyes looking
+out on the heaving billows; but down her beautiful face ran great
+tears, that shone in the light of the setting sun, and told the pain
+that throbbed in her proud and lonely heart.
+
+Not till the hues of evening gave place to the rosy tints of dawn did
+the sea-fairy go back to her ocean kingdom, never to return to earth.
+
+No mortal eye has since beheld her, and the old saga of the sea-fairy
+is no longer heard along the coast of Norway.
+
+Antonio's resting-place is desolate, as of old. It is known only to
+the Norwegian sky, which looks down brightily and sunnily upon it, and
+the little waves sometimes dash over it, sparkling like the
+sea-fairy's tears.
+
+
+
+
+The Faithful Goblin.
+
+[Illustration: FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH PUCK.]
+
+
+A Castle stood long years ago on a lofty hill in the old land of
+Hesse. Not a stone of its proud walls is now standing, and even its
+site is well-nigh forgotten by tradition; but in those days its high
+pinnacles were seen for miles over the country, and a haughty and
+noble race ruled in its halls.
+
+The beams of the setting sun were falling through the little
+lead-framed window-panes into a round turret chamber, and rested on
+the fair hair of a lovely little girl. She was kneeling on an
+arm-chair beside the window, leaning her head on her little rounded
+arms, and weeping silent but bitter tears.
+
+"Oh, Margaret, Margaret, why are you so long?" she cried at length,
+sobbing aloud, as she slipped down from her seat and ran to the door;
+but the massive door of the castle chamber was too high for the little
+hand to reach to open it, and the thick oaken panels kept any sound of
+her crying from reaching friendly ears.
+
+Everybody was far away--everybody, even Margaret her nurse, who,
+forgetful of her duty, had left the child alone while she was watching
+what was going on at the splendid banquet which was being given to
+celebrate the betrothal of the eldest daughter of the noble house.
+
+"Oh, Margaret, dear Margaret, come to your little Maude!" cried the
+child again, as she rose on tiptoe and tried to open the lofty door.
+But her efforts were in vain, her entreaties all unheard; and at last
+she went back to the window, for it was beginning to grow gradually
+dusk in the high-ceiled turret chamber. She climbed up again to the
+arm-chair, leaned her arm against the window-sill, and looked with
+silent weeping into the glowing red of the evening sky, where little
+white clouds were swimming like swans in a sea of crimson.
+
+"Maude, Maude!" said a clear voice suddenly at the other side of the
+room.
+
+The child turned her head in astonishment; at the fireplace there
+stood a little boy, not any bigger than herself, and with just the
+same lovely golden hair and rosy face. His coat was of red velvet, and
+his feet were encased in little buckskin boots, richly embroidered
+with costly pearls.
+
+Maude's tears forgot to flow. Half terrified, half delighted, she kept
+her eyes fixed on the form of the beautiful little stranger, and at
+last she asked shyly, "Who are you, little boy, and how did you get
+in? The door is still shut!"
+
+The little fellow laughed merrily, and came towards Maude's chair.
+
+"Ah, Maude! you have known me this long time. Just think now; doesn't
+Margaret always threaten to call me when you won't go to sleep at once
+at night?"
+
+"You don't mean to say you are Puck, our castle goblin, who has played
+so many tricks on people that everybody is afraid of him?" asked the
+little girl quite fearlessly; "but they always speak of him as old and
+wrinkled."
+
+"Yes, I am he," nodded the little boy; "but I only tease wicked people
+who tease me, and I am old and ugly only in their eyes. But I will not
+tease you, but serve you whenever I can, and play with you when
+Margaret leaves you alone, so that you need not be afraid of me. Would
+you like that, Maude?"
+
+"Indeed I should," said the child, with beaming eyes, "I am so often
+alone, now that dear mother is dead. Father is always out hunting. I
+am too little for my sisters, and Margaret so often goes to gossip
+with the other servants, and shuts me up here. She has been so long
+away now that I am hungry, and it is getting dark, and she is not
+coming with candles and supper."
+
+"You shall have both immediately, Maude; just wait a minute!" cried
+the little boy eagerly, as he hastened back to the fire, swung himself
+up by the iron bars, and climbed nimbly and easily up the chimney.
+
+Maude had got down from her chair, and was standing in astonishment
+looking up after him.
+
+"Oh! you will spoil your lovely coat, dear Puck!" she cried anxiously;
+but the only answer was a merry laugh from the goblin. Then all was
+still, and the little fellow had vanished.
+
+She stood with clasped hands, looking expectantly up the dark, strange
+road which little Puck had chosen. She felt that it was all so
+mysterious, and yet so delightful; it was just like waiting on
+Christmas Eve for the presents. Then there was a rustling and
+clattering away high up, and quick as a squirrel the little fellow
+clambered down the sooty wall, and in a twinkling he laid his burden
+down before the astonished child.
+
+"Just wait a minute," he cried merrily, "and you will see how light it
+will be!"
+
+As he spoke he climbed up the wall, and in a moment the silver sconces
+were radiant with lighted wax candles.
+
+The little girl clapped her hands in delight.
+
+"That is not all," said the goblin with an air of importance; "just
+look here."
+
+He opened the basket which he had brought with him. With magic
+quickness, the table was covered and set with the daintiest dishes.
+
+Maude needed no pressing to taste them.
+
+"Oh you good Puck," she said gratefully, "how kind you are to me! Did
+Margaret give you all that?"
+
+"Margaret, indeed!" answered the goblin, growling; "she has no time to
+think of you. She is too busy staring at what's going on, and tasting
+stolen bits."
+
+"But who gave you all this--this delicious cake and this splendid pie?
+This must surely be the dish that Margaret says cook is so proud of!"
+
+"Yes, that it is!" said the little fellow, nodding; "and the guests
+made such faces when it suddenly vanished from before their eyes that
+I nearly died with laughing at them--ha, ha, ha!"
+
+"Vanished?" asked the child in astonishment.
+
+"Yes, vanished!" laughed Puck; "do you think they would have given it
+of their own accord; I put on my cap, so that they did not see me, and
+then I packed up everything that I thought you would like."
+
+Maude dropped the bit that she was just putting to her mouth, and
+gazed incredulously at her little friend.
+
+"What do you mean?" she asked anxiously.
+
+The little fellow laughed heartily.
+
+"Look," said he, as soon as he was able to control himself; "do you
+see this little red cap? I have had it under my arm all the time I
+have been talking to you; now I am going to put it on!"
+
+In a moment he had vanished from the child's sight--though she peered
+anxiously about the room, she could see nothing. Not a gleam of his
+red coat nor of his golden hair was to be seen at all, yet his clear
+laugh close beside her told her that he was there and as near as ever.
+
+"Oh, Puck, dear Puck, don't play such tricks, please," she begged; "I
+am afraid when you do that."
+
+That instant he stood again before her, handsome and merry, shaking
+his golden locks and smiling.
+
+"You must not be frightened," he said soothingly; "I will always be
+visible for you, and my cap will only be used in your service. Now
+give me something to eat. No, not that cake! Break me some white bread
+into this dish, and pour some nice white milk over it; that's what I
+have been accustomed to for generations. In your great-grandfather's
+time the good maid used to leave me some every evening, and in return
+I used to help with all sorts of work about the house. Now, men are
+not so good-natured, and won't give me my dues, and so I don't care to
+be friendly with them."
+
+"My good Puck," said the little girl, handing him his bowl, "you shall
+want for nothing now! I get white bread and milk every evening for
+supper, and I will always go shares with you."
+
+Then the friends ate their supper with keen appetites, chatting all
+the while like old acquaintances. At last sleep overcame the tired
+child. Then Puck sat at the foot of her couch, and sang a strange,
+soft, sweet lullaby. As soon as Maude was asleep, the goblin busied
+himself in removing all the traces of their feast; and when Margaret
+returned late at night, with many misgivings about her neglected duty,
+she found the child in a quiet sleep, instead of being, as she feared,
+ready to receive her with bitter reproaches.
+
+Margaret breathed more freely, and resolved to be more mindful of her
+charge in future. For a few days she kept her resolution faithfully,
+but she soon began to slip out in the twilight to chat with a friend,
+only for a few minutes, as she assured Maude. It was not long till the
+minutes became a half-hour, and in a week or two she had forgotten all
+her repentance and good resolutions, and poor little Maude would have
+had cause again for bitter tears if it had not been for her little
+friend.
+
+Scarcely had the door closed after Margaret, when the goblin popped
+his fair head out of the chimney, and sprang into the room with a
+merry greeting. Then Maude would clap her hands with delight, for now
+began the pleasantest hour of the day. There was no end to the stories
+that Puck could tell for her entertainment. For hours together, while
+her nurse was away, the child sat motionless, with clasped hands,
+listening with bated breath to tales about days long gone by. For
+hundreds of years the little goblin had lived in the castle as an
+honoured member of the household, and his memory preserved more
+faithfully than the family chronicle the history of every individual
+of the long ancestral line. And before the astonished child the grave
+seemed opened, and the forefathers who had long since mingled with the
+dust all passed in the bloom of youth before her eyes. Then she would
+go to the ancestral hall, and standing before the pictures gaze at
+them, now in love, now in horror, for she knew the story connected
+with each one of the old portraits.
+
+No one in the whole castle knew of the child's friendship with Puck.
+She was afraid that the servants might tease him if they knew of his
+presence, or perhaps drive him away, so she kept her secret
+carefully.
+
+It was winter. The snow lay deep, the storm howled at night and
+whistled in the wide chimney, and the windows were covered with thick
+frost.
+
+"Poor Puck," said Maude one evening, as the goblin came down the
+chimney, his teeth chattering with cold, "I cannot allow you to stay
+any longer up there. See, your hair is white with frost and snow, and
+you are trembling all over."
+
+"Yes, yes," said the little fellow; "it is very cold."
+
+"Look here, then," said the child, going to her dolls' corner, and
+drawing aside the curtain; "I have turned out the dollies. You shall
+have the big four-post bed, and in the day-time you can stay here too.
+I have set a little table and chair for you, so that you may have
+something like a little room till the summer comes."
+
+So all winter long Puck crept at night into the warm, soft little bed,
+instead of springing back at Margaret's return up the cold dark
+chimney.
+
+Spring came with its primroses and fleecy clouds, and then followed
+summer with its splendour of flowers in field and grove.
+
+And now Maude and her nurse used to go out into the woods, to the
+child's intense delight. But one day Margaret found the sun too warm
+and the way too long for her lazy mood, and was easily persuaded to
+sit down and rest while Maude ran to gather wild strawberries.
+
+Scarcely was she out of sight of her nurse when Puck, who had
+invisibly accompanied her, took off his cap, threw it into the air
+with a shout, and stood before his little friend laughing his own
+merry laugh. What delightful hours those were! What rich beds of
+strawberries Puck knew--what choice flowers he could find! Then, when
+the child was tired, she threw herself down on the moss, with Puck at
+her side, and they both gazed up into the green tree-tops.
+
+The goblin understood the language of Nature. He heard what the trees
+whispered to each other about the trees of Paradise, with the golden
+stems and the flowers of precious stones; he understood the song of
+the nightingale as he sang to his mate about the beauty of the bird
+Phoenix and its undying youth; he saw the beetles gleaming in the
+grass, and heard even their soft sounds as they talked about their
+brothers in the distant Indies, whose wings gleam so like emeralds
+that the dark-eyed Hindoo women use them to deck their raven hair; and
+even the silent, lifeless stone had an intelligible language for
+Puck--it told him of the diamonds far away beyond the seas, which the
+poor slave seeks with eager eyes, trying to find one large enough to
+purchase his freedom. All this he understood, and told the child about
+it as she listened in silent rapture, and gazed up into the whispering
+trees.
+
+Thus, in pleasant alternation, the seasons rolled by, and Maude
+blossomed into maidenly grace and loveliness. She had become her
+father's darling. Many an hour that he had formerly spent at the chase
+or at the wine-cup he now passed with his daughter, amused with her
+astonishing tales out of the family history. But she never would tell
+him how she got all her knowledge, for she shrank from bringing
+trouble on the faithful goblin, who still continued to be her friend,
+and the companion of her hours of solitude.
+
+Maude's only unmarried sister, Gertrude, was about to be united to a
+brave young knight, whom she had chosen in preference to a powerful
+but universally dreaded Earl, whose castle stood at no great distance.
+
+At the marriage, Maude appeared for the first time among the grown-up
+people, and, as befitted the occasion, she received as attendant page
+the son of a neighbouring nobleman, who, being an old friend of her
+father's, had allowed his son to come and learn knightly service in
+the household of Maude's father, preparatory to his filling an office
+in the Imperial Court. He was a handsome youth, a little older than
+his young mistress, with brown hair and dark, dreamy eyes, and Maude
+took an innocent pleasure in the beauty of her future attendant; but
+Puck looked not well pleased when she told him about her new page.
+
+"I will send him away if I don't like him," said he angrily.
+
+"Oh no, dear, dear Puck, you must not do that!" said Maude coaxingly.
+"If you love me, be kind to him; he is motherless, as I am."
+
+But the little goblin was offended for the first time since the
+beginning of their friendship, and when Maude went to rest he refused
+the soft little doll's bed that had grown so dear to him, and sprang
+instead up the chimney to the top of the tower. There he sat looking
+gloomily up at the stars, and many were the sad thoughts that chased
+each other through his ancient breast.
+
+Next morning, when Gero came to the turret chamber with a bouquet of
+flowers for his young mistress, he found Puck seated beside her in the
+window-sill watching her at her spinning. The goblin had put on his
+invisible cap at Gero's entrance, but it was of no avail, for the page
+had been born during the ember weeks, and could see the little fellow
+in spite of the charm.
+
+"Why, Lady Maude," he cried in angry astonishment, "who is this that
+you have in your company? It cannot surely be one of the goblins who
+do so much mischief."
+
+"Puck has been my friend and companion from my childhood up," said
+Maude, a little hotly; "and I have to thank him for many a pleasant
+hour."
+
+"That may be," answered Gero, "but he must not take my place with my
+mistress. And now your palfrey is ready, and I will escort you on your
+ride."
+
+Then the goblin's wrath broke loose. He called Gero a proud fool, and
+said he would not let him interfere with him. Then he followed Maude,
+who descended the winding turret stair, her mind full of distress at
+the discord between her companions. When she sprang to her saddle at
+the castle gate, Puck jumped up behind her, as was his wont, and went
+trotting merrily off with her down the mountain. But his pleasure was
+not to last long, for scarcely had they reached the broad, even road,
+when Gero rode up to the side of his lady's horse, caught little Puck
+suddenly, and set him before himself on his saddle.
+
+The goblin would have been able easily to free himself from the hand
+of the youth, if it had not been that Gero had wisely taken possession
+of the invisible cap, and all the little fellow's efforts to release
+himself only increased his tormentor's mockery. At last, when Gero set
+him down again at the castle gate, Puck clenched his little fist, and
+growled, "I will pay you back for this."
+
+[Illustration: "GERO CAUGHT PUCK SUDDENLY AND SET HIM BEFORE HIM ON
+HIS SADDLE."]
+
+From this time on the page had little peace. At night Puck would slip
+into his room, and disturb his sleep with all sorts of malicious
+tricks; and once he even lifted Gero from his bed, and laid him down
+close to the edge of the great well, hoping that, waking with a start,
+he might fall into the cold, deep water. Gero escaped the danger, but
+the adventure taught him to keep on terms of at least outward peace
+with his little foe.
+
+Maude did her part towards preserving this show of harmony by
+allowing Gero alone to accompany her when she went to walk or ride,
+and by granting the little goblin the old cosy morning and twilight
+hours.
+
+Puck accepted this arrangement with some grumbling. When the hour came
+for the ride, he would mount to the top of the tower, and look after
+the riders, as they trotted along so cheerfully, with a sad look in
+his eyes.
+
+"But he can't tell her stories like mine," he said exultingly; "no, he
+can't take my place there."
+
+No indeed; the young page had never listened to the language of
+Nature, but he had delightful things to tell about tournaments and
+noble deeds, and the soft voice of the forest trees began to die
+gradually from the girl's soul, overpowered by the noise and bustle of
+life.
+
+Very pleasantly the maiden's days went by. The morning hours in the
+turret chamber grew more and more dear to her; the rides in the green
+wood and the tales of the unknown world had every day new charms; and
+in the warm evenings her wise goblin friend used to tell her wonderful
+things about the stars, as the two stood on the top of the old tower
+watching the far-off lights peep out one by one.
+
+One night, as she lay dreaming sweet dreams, woven out of memories of
+the day's delights, she was awakened by Puck's sudden call.
+
+"Quick, quick! do you not hear anything?" cried the little fellow
+anxiously; "rise and flee for your freedom and your life."
+
+Maude started up in terror.
+
+"What is wrong?" she cried.
+
+"The powerful Earl, whom your sister refused, has heard that your
+father is absent, and has come to take a mean revenge by robbing your
+father of his wealth and of his child."
+
+"What am I to do, good Puck?" cried Maude in bitter anguish, clasping
+her trembling hands.
+
+"Dress quickly, and let us go."
+
+"Through the midst of the enemy?" asked the maiden, trembling, for she
+heard the oaken stairs creaking with the tramp of many feet.
+
+"Yes, right through the midst of the enemy," said Puck, "but not
+without my cap. Cover me with your cloak, and put this on your head.
+Now, no one can see us."
+
+So they passed unseen through the midst of the rough soldiers. Once
+Maude nearly betrayed herself when she saw Gero fighting single-handed
+against a multitude of foes. The winding stair that led to his lady's
+turret chamber was narrow enough to be defended by one, and with the
+courage of a lion he guarded the way to the place where he believed
+his precious charge to be.
+
+How hard it was for Maude to keep from telling him that his efforts
+were needless! But Puck laid his little hand against her lips, and
+forced her to silence.
+
+"Puck, dear Puck, can you not save him?" cried the maiden, in
+distress, when they were once outside the castle walls.
+
+"Not till your safety is beyond a doubt," said the little goblin
+resolutely; "not till you are away in the depth of the forest, where
+they will never be able to find you."
+
+With trembling haste Maude ran towards the wood, but the way was long,
+and her eager feet tottered under her. Turning to look towards the
+castle, she saw flames bursting from door and window. Still more
+anxiously she pressed on till the tall forest trees hid the castle
+from her sight. Even then Puck refused to leave her.
+
+"Would Gero, who has, I confess, done his duty by you--would he, since
+he seems to love you, wish me to go back to save him a little trouble,
+and leave you unsheltered?"
+
+Further and further they went through the very scenes where Puck had
+spent so many pleasant hours with his child-friend. But now, the trees
+that used to whisper so softly looked down like grim giants, and the
+night-wind in the branches howled "Flee!"
+
+Suddenly a gleam of light broke on their path with a mild silvery
+radiance. A gentle murmur of water fell on the wanderer's ear, and in
+a few minutes they stood by the side of a valley, which here,
+forgotten by the world, lay like a home of peace in the heart of the
+forest.
+
+There, in the shelter of a mossy rock, stood the cosy cottage of the
+old forest-warden. The moonbeams flashed back from the single window,
+and trembled on the stone bench before the door. The cottage was
+uninhabited, for the good old man whose home it had once been had
+years since passed away, and his office had never been filled. Yet
+nothing bore traces of decay. There was even a bright fire on the
+hearth, and a boiling kettle hung upon the hook above it. For the old
+forest-warden had been a good friend to Puck, and the little fellow
+loved to keep the little cottage as neat and homelike as it used to
+be.
+
+Maude smiled gratefully as she looked around. "Thanks, dear Puck," she
+said; "now hasten back to Gero. I will lie down on this nice bed of
+fragrant moss, and I will not be afraid, I promise you."
+
+When Puck returned, he found that the maiden's weariness had overcome
+her anxiety, but he knew by the tears that trembled on her eyelashes
+that she was thinking, even in dreams, of her brave page, and he
+dreaded to tell her when she awoke that he had not been able to find
+any trace of the faithful Gero. A great portion of the turret stair
+had fallen in, and among the bodies that lay piled beneath its ruins
+it was impossible to distinguish any one.
+
+When the maiden woke, she almost for a moment fancied herself in her
+own turret chamber, for there, at the open window, stood the
+richly-carved arm-chair, the one carefully-preserved souvenir of her
+sainted mother, where Maude had so often sat and chatted with her
+little friend, and there in the corner stood her harp and the silver
+spindle, with its snowy thread.
+
+But alas! she soon remembered the terrors of the night, and when, in
+answer to her questioning look, Puck told her, with faltering voice,
+his fears for Gero, the maiden's grief found vent in bitter weeping.
+
+But Puck would not allow her to dwell on these sad thoughts. Drawing
+aside a curtain that hung against the wall, he disclosed to her
+astonished eyes the portraits of her dear parents, which had hung
+just so in her own room at home. And while she stood gazing on the
+beloved faces, her hands clasped in silent emotion, the flame was
+crackling on the hearth beneath the bubbling kettle, and Puck was
+rummaging in cupboards and chests, rattling with plates and cups, and
+preparing a meal for himself and his dear charge.
+
+Maude, with the happy buoyancy of youth, half forgot her trouble of
+the night, while her colour came back with the needed food, and her
+heart was cheered by Puck's pleasant chatter, so willing was she to
+believe his prophecies of better days.
+
+"You must stay here, Maude," he said, "until your father returns, and
+till he has punished the wicked Earl for his malice. For you would not
+be as safe, even in your father's protection, as here in this forest
+retreat. So be patient, and I will give you back in time to your
+friends, even to Gero, if he still lives, though that will be the
+hardest thing of all. But I know now that he was worthy of you, or he
+could not have fought as he did last night. It was nobly done!"
+
+And the little fellow rubbed his hands with delight, which he felt, in
+spite of himself, in thinking of that valiant defence.
+
+"You would have been friends yet if he had lived," said Maude
+tearfully. "Two such dear, good people could not have been enemies all
+their lives."
+
+Days and weeks passed by, and still Maude was kept in her place of
+concealment. From time to time Puck went out to see what was going on
+between the hostile noblemen. The report brought back was always the
+same--"The Earl is sending out spies--I see them lurking in all
+directions--to find out your retreat, for they seem to know that you
+escaped the fire, or to suspect it from not finding your body among
+the dead. He wants to take you now as a hostage against your father's
+vengeance." Then, when Maude's cheek would pale at the words, he would
+add, "But they cannot find you in the midst of this thicket."
+
+So the maiden still stayed in the forest cottage, and if her grief
+about Gero and her longing for her beloved father had not gnawed at
+her heart, she could have been nearly as happy in the lovely valley as
+she was once in her old home.
+
+Puck was at work every morning by break of day, as if he wanted to
+make up for a century of idleness, nor would he ever allow Maude to
+share his household toil. But she sat spinning on the stone bench at
+the door, while he bustled cheerily about the little cottage. Then,
+when all the work was done, they would go into the wood, and it seemed
+as if the old days had come back again. For they still lay on the soft
+moss gazing into the shady trees while Puck told his marvellous
+stories.
+
+Autumn and winter came, and the leisure hours were spent now by the
+cheery fire that burned on the clean-swept hearth. Never was there
+such a servant or such a merry companion as the little faithful
+goblin.
+
+At last spring came. And now Puck went away every day to see what was
+going on at the wicked Earl's castle, for Maude's father had laid
+siege to his enemy's stronghold, hoping to force him to give up the
+dear one whom he believed to be imprisoned within those walls. Puck
+never let the sorrowing father know of his child's safety, for he did
+not wish her to be removed from his protection till her powerful enemy
+had been reduced by war, or even slain.
+
+As the wood grew greener, the hopes of the besiegers waxed daily
+brighter. The fall of the castle was sure, and its defence could last
+but a few days longer.
+
+This was the news which Puck brought home one day as he came to the
+noonday meal, and when he again went out to get further information,
+or, if possible, lend, unseen, a helping hand to the besiegers, Maude
+sat on the stone bench before the cottage, and tried to busy her
+trembling fingers with her spinning. But Puck was longer absent than
+usual, and she asked herself anxiously should she regard it as a good
+sign or the contrary.
+
+At last she could stand it no longer. She rose and went along the
+narrow path by which she had come to her place of refuge. She had
+never before ventured alone through those forest shades; but the birds
+sang sweetly as she passed along, and she thought their cheerful
+voices bid her hope.
+
+Soon she came to the scenes familiar to her from her childhood. Here
+was the place where Margaret used to sit and rest, and there--what
+memories filled her soul with sad emotion!--there was the old
+oak-stump on which she had sat by Gero's side, as he told her of the
+great world of which she knew so little. And now the eloquent mouth
+was silent, and her faithful page had fallen in her defence, for
+Puck, in all his journeys to the castle, had never seen Gero among the
+besiegers.
+
+She leant her head against a tree-stem, and wept long and bitterly.
+Then she raised her head to take one more look at the sacred spot. But
+were her tear-filled eyes deceiving her? There sat, as if lost in
+painful memories, a tall, manly form in gleaming armour, with a
+well-remembered sash of silver and blue across his breast.
+
+Maude uttered a cry. The knight raised his head, and she looked into a
+familiar, but now pale and grief-marked face.
+
+"Gero, Gero!" she cried, forgetting every other feeling in her wild
+delight, and rushing with outstretched arms to where he stood.
+
+The young knight's brain swam. At first he thought the sweet
+apparition must be his dear one's spirit; but no, he clasped in his
+arms the trembling form of the lost maiden.
+
+For one moment she lay sobbing on his breast; then, recollecting
+herself, she tore herself blushing from his arms.
+
+"Forgive me, Gero, my surprise overcame me. So you are alive, and I
+had mourned for you as dead."
+
+"Did you mourn for me, lady?" asked the young knight. "Thanks for the
+sweet assurance. I too sorrowed--oh! how deeply--for your loss; and
+to-day I rose from what I thought would be my death-bed, and came to
+visit the spot where we had spent so many happy hours together, here
+to indulge my grief undisturbed. The wicked Earl who caused our
+trouble fell to-day in the storming of his own castle, but great was
+our disappointment not to find you anywhere within its walls. And now
+you are here, and I am not deceived by a blessed dream!"
+
+"No, it is no dream," said Maude joyfully; "but now let us hasten to
+relieve my father's grief."
+
+As they went together through the wood, Maude told the knight how Puck
+had saved her, and how he had cared for her in the lonely valley.
+
+"The brave little goblin!" cried Gero, as she finished. "Let bygones
+be bygones; we will be friends henceforth."
+
+They had now reached the blackened ruins of Maude's former home, but,
+in the joy of dispelling the grief from the dear face of her father,
+who stood gazing, in deep sadness, on the scene of desolation, the
+maiden forgot to mourn at the wreck before her.
+
+Ere the sun set, Gero and Maude were formally betrothed, and the work
+was at once begun of repairing the ruined castle. Meantime, Maude
+found a home with her future father-in-law, who was delighted to
+welcome as a daughter the child of his trusted friend; and Puck found
+no lack of employment among the busy builders, who wondered sometimes
+what made the work progress so quickly.
+
+Before another spring the castle stood in more than its old strength
+and greatness, and no part had received such careful attention as the
+turret where Puck had made the lonely child his friend.
+
+No guest at Gero's wedding received such marked deference and
+attention from the bridegroom as his former enemy, and the servants
+of the new household, catching their tone from their master, treated
+little Puck with kindness such as he had experienced at the hands of
+former generations.
+
+The turret chamber was his home henceforth, and all through the long
+winter Maude's children loved to gather there at twilight, and coax
+the merry goblin to join them in their games, or tell them tales of
+the old days of the castle. But perhaps their mother's story was the
+one that they loved best--the story about the old enmity that changed
+to such firm friendship between the Lady Maude's page and her faithful
+goblin.
+
+
+
+
+THE FALLEN BELL.
+
+[Illustration: THE STORM HURLS THE BELL INTO THE STREAM.]
+
+
+Ere the light of the Gospel had shone on the benighted land of Saxony,
+there stood on the green banks of the Saale a stately temple, within
+whose walls a throng of ignorant worshippers presented the offering of
+praise and of sacrifice to the gods who had been honoured, as they
+believed, by their remotest ancestors. Then came Charlemagne, who cast
+out the heathen gods of Saxony, threw down their altars, and
+introduced Christianity. Among the rest fell the temple on the banks
+of the Saale. The Christian priest with pious zeal seized the idol
+which had there been worshipped, and hurled it into the river. From
+that time on, the rejected god lived as a water-sprite down in the
+waters of the Saale, cherishing a deadly hatred against the new
+religion, which had robbed him of his old-established rights. On the
+site of his former shrine rose now a cloister, and the bell, whose
+deep rich voice reached even the dwelling of the water-elf, stirring
+up afresh his bitter wrath and jealousy, called the inhabitants of the
+surrounding district to the new God and His sanctuary.
+
+But the old honoured faith did not so easily die out from the hearts
+of the Saxons, and though they were obliged to join in the
+newly-enforced worship, they clung long to their ancient divinities,
+and secretly brought them the usual sacrifices.
+
+At last the power of the Gospel triumphed, and the innocent child who
+had yearly been offered to the water-spirit on St. John's day was now
+withheld.
+
+Wild was the rage of the mortified elf. All day long he watched among
+the willows on the bank, whence he could look unseen far over the
+fields, to see if they had really forgotten him. No sacrifice was
+brought. He felt that the last vestige of his power was gone. In
+gloomy anger against the thankless race, he resolved to take by force
+the victim of which he had been cheated.
+
+A lovely child approached the bank, heedless of danger, holding in its
+tiny hand a bunch of forget-me-nots. Close by the water's edge were
+more of the blue flowers, and he ran forward to pluck the tempting
+blossoms. Then the waters of the Saale suddenly rose, swept over the
+place where the child was standing, and carried him down in their cold
+embrace. From that time people were careful to avoid the river on St.
+John's day, fearing a similar fate.
+
+As Christianity became more powerful, the cloister, formerly a centre
+of holy influence, became the seat of arrogance and idle luxury, and
+the water-elf, who knew that the God whom he hated was a righteous
+judge, who would punish evil, often sat on moonlight nights among the
+willows gazing at the cloister, from whose lighted windows came the
+noise of clinking glasses and wild revelry. Then he murmured between
+his teeth--
+
+"I shall live to see you brought to shame! Your God cannot suffer such
+doings, and I shall have my revenge."
+
+And he did live to see it.
+
+One night, when, instead of pious hymns, drinking-songs were ascending
+from the cloister cells, a dark storm-cloud spread across the sky.
+Thunder growled and lightning flashed, making all nature tremble. Men
+fell on their knees; the monks alone heeded not the voice of the
+Almighty. At every peal of thunder they raised their voices in the
+vain attempt to drown with their wild chorus the tumult without.
+
+Then came an awful flash, which gleamed like a coronet of fire on the
+summit of the tower, and darted through the roof to the refectory,
+where in one moment its deadly shaft sent all the profane and godless
+scoffers before the throne of the eternal. The flame next seized the
+furniture of the hall, and it was not long till the fire burst from
+the shattered windows, for every hand was still that might have been
+raised to check its progress.
+
+The water-sprite sat on a stone at the river's edge, contentedly
+watching the awful spectacle.
+
+Every moment the flames gained greater force. Their fiery tooth gnawed
+beam and pillar till they burst asunder with a crash, and at last the
+devouring element rose from the ruined pile below to the belfry tower.
+Then the bell, swayed by the heat, began to stir. Faster and faster
+came the strokes, like a cry of anguish or a mournful knell sounding
+in wild and awful tones through the uproar of the storm. The beams
+from which it hung gave way, and with a great swing it fell into the
+Saale, making the water foam and hiss as it felt the glowing metal.
+The tower fell in, and the stately building was changed into a mass of
+smoking ruins.
+
+Gradually the rage of the elements was stilled, and nature sank again
+to peaceful repose. The clouds were parted, and from the once more
+azure sky the moon looked down on the heaps of rubbish with the same
+mild and gentle glance as it used formerly to cast on the proud
+cloister.
+
+And what of the water-fairy. The downfall of his foes almost
+reconciled him with his lot. The hated chimes no longer reached his
+ear, reminding him of what he so wished to forget, his lost dominion.
+The bell had found a resting-place on a beautiful green meadow which
+lay at the bottom of the Saale. The sprite planted water-lilies all
+round it, just as human beings adorn graves with the fairest of
+flowers. Then he built a crystal castle right in front of it, and
+brought home as his bride a beautiful water-fairy from the
+neighbouring river, Elbe.
+
+After a time children played in the shell-adorned halls of the crystal
+castle, two beautiful boys with bright eyes and little red caps, and
+their sister, a gentle little water-elf, as sweet and beautiful as her
+relations of the land, the fairies of mountains and trees.
+
+The sons were like their father; they hated the human race, of whom
+the old fairy had told them nothing but evil, and they helped him
+every St. John's day to entice some heedless mortal down into the
+stream.
+
+Their lovely little sister was of a very different stamp. A secret
+longing drew her heart towards the land and its inhabitants, and it
+was only by the sternest prohibition that her father could induce her
+to remain at home. But at night, when sleep reigned in the crystal
+castle, she would rise to the surface of the water, take her stand on
+the great white water-lilies, which willingly joined to do her
+service, and thus on this slender raft she would float up and down the
+stream. Her long fair hair flowed down till it touched the water; in
+her white arms she held a golden harp; and when she touched the
+strings and sang her sweet songs that told of her longing after the
+beautiful sunlight, after the blue sky and the unknown human race, the
+trees bowed their tall heads to the water's edge, the birds hushed
+their song, and even the night-wind held his breath while he listened
+to the music of the little water-sprite.
+
+It was once more St. John's day, and the old water-elf was in one of
+his tempers.
+
+The sun was shining on the river, and its rays flashed back in rainbow
+hues from the crystal pillars of the water-castle. The meadows in the
+cool bed of the Saale showed their freshest green, and the long grass
+waved to and fro among the water, while fishes and water-beetles
+darted between its stalks like golden stars.
+
+The two boys sharpened their scythes and began to mow the grass, for
+it was haymaking time. Their sister stood among the lilies beside the
+great bell, holding one of the white flowers in her hand, and striking
+the metal with its slender stem, so that it answered her in strange
+and mellow tones. But she did it softly, very softly, for she knew how
+hateful the sound of the old bell was to her father, especially on
+this day. The sound was deep and musical, reminding the little fairy
+of the chimes which she sometimes heard on quiet nights, as she
+floated up and down the river on her raft of water-lilies.
+
+Pleased with the dear, familiar tones, she forgot that her father was
+near, and she struck the bell so loudly that the sound, borne on the
+waves, thrilled through the castle, where the old fairy was leaning,
+lost in thought, against a pillar, passing his fingers through his
+grey-green beard, and dreamily watching his sons at their work.
+
+When the hated sound struck on his ear, he started up with a cry of
+anger, and looked fiercely at his trembling daughter. But before he
+had time to give vent to his wrath a shadow fell over the palace and
+meadow, followed by a crash, as if something had been broken in the
+castle.
+
+And such was indeed the case.
+
+A boat was passing slowly through the waves above; the steersman had
+happened to let the rudder fall, and its iron point struck with such
+force against one of the crystal panes of the water-sprite's palace
+that it fell, shattered into a thousand pieces.
+
+This was too much for the enraged fairy. He rose foaming through the
+water, and stood with flaming eyes before the boatman. "Insolent man,"
+he growled, "what hast thou done? Repair the injury at once. If the
+pane is not replaced within half-an-hour, thou shalt pay for it with
+thy life."
+
+The boatman laughed. "I don't understand glazier's work," said he,
+"and I shall hardly be able to find any one who could work down there
+in the water; so I cannot satisfy your demand. But as for your
+threats, my good fellow, the time of your authority is long gone by.
+There is not even a child now who fears you; and, besides, I have a
+cargo of steel bars, and you know, my dear waterman, that they would
+prevent you from coming into my boat to do me any harm."
+
+At the mention of steel, a metal very hurtful to water-elves, the
+fairy unwillingly retired. He cast one more look of anger on the bold
+boatman, and on the little girl, who, on seeing the wrathful
+apparition, had clung terrified to her father's arm; then he slowly
+sank into the water. He sat down in his crystal hall, leaned his head
+on his hand, and tried to devise some plan by which he could entice
+the little girl from the boat into his kingdom, and, by choosing her
+as the victim of the day, avenge himself on the boatman.
+
+"I have it!" he cried at length; "the trick with the green ribbon that
+I learned the other day from my cousin the water-prince in Bohemia
+will be of use to me now. To-day there is some great ceremony in the
+next village, and I am sure the father will send his child there to
+have her out of my way, and then I may find an opportunity of trying
+my skill."
+
+So saying, he put on his hat of plaited rushes, drew on his green
+coat, and rose to the surface to place himself not far from the boat
+among the willows by the river's brink.
+
+He had guessed rightly. Though the boatman had seemed courageous when
+speaking to the water-sprite, a secret uneasiness rankled in his
+heart. It was not for himself he feared, but for his only child; for
+he had seen the wicked glance that the waterman had cast on the girl
+as he disappeared beneath the stream. He consulted his wife about what
+they ought to do for their child's safety; for they knew well the
+dangers of St. John's day, which the mischance with the rudder had
+unhappily doubled.
+
+In the next village lived a distant relation, and the fair gave an
+excellent excuse for paying her a visit. The little girl dressed
+herself in her best, said good-bye to her parents, and received
+injunctions to stay all night with her friends, and not return to the
+boat before morning. Joyfully she hastened along the high-road, which
+lay for some distance by the river-side, till she came to the place
+where the water-sprite sat so quietly in his summer clothes, that no
+one would have recognised in him the angry and revengeful spirit of
+the morning.
+
+"Where are you going so briskly, fair maiden?" he asked pleasantly.
+
+"To the village, to the dance!" answered the little one merrily;
+"don't you hear the music?"
+
+"My dear child," said the water-sprite artfully, "the girls there are
+all so finely dressed that you in your plain clothes will look very
+shabby among them, and perhaps you will not even be able to get a
+partner. But look at this lovely ribbon, of which I have such a
+quantity. If you had that twined in among your golden hair, or wound
+as a sash round your slender waist, you would outshine all the girls
+at the fair."
+
+The little one, who had thought until the old man spoke to her that
+she would never get soon enough to the dance, now stopped, and looked
+with a critical eye, first on herself, and then on the bright green
+ribbon, which the water-sprite was pulling in endless lengths from the
+river which flowed on the other side of the willows.
+
+"Look how pretty it is!" said he, and she let him wind it, as if to
+try the effect, around her slender form.
+
+But immediately she was in the old fairy's power. With a mocking
+laugh, he said--
+
+"Now, my little one, thou art mine! We shall see whether thy father
+will say to-morrow that my authority is overthrown, and that I have no
+longer power to frighten a child. Come!"
+
+As he spoke he seized the ribbon, and walked towards the river.
+
+The terrified child began to scream, but father and mother were far
+away. She tried to escape, but the ribbon forced her to follow the
+water-sprite. Her feet would bear her in no other direction, no matter
+how she tried. Nearer and nearer to the rushing stream was she drawn
+by the dreadful ribbon. Soon the water touched her feet.
+
+"Father, mother, farewell!" she cried in a voice of anguish. Then the
+old water-elf caught her in his arms, and, with a horrid laugh,
+plunged with her into the stream. The waters did their deadly work on
+the poor child's body, but the water-sprite kept the soul of the
+drowned girl prisoner at the bottom of the Saale. She could not mount
+to heaven; she could not even rejoice in the sunlight which pressed in
+softened radiance through the water to the meadow on the river's bed,
+nor might she play like the little water-elf with the silvery fishes.
+Heedless of her entreaties, the water-man put her under the heavy bell
+among the lilies, and said, as he went back to his castle, "Here thou
+shalt stay in punishment for thy father's insolence; and my watchful
+eye and the weight of the bell will prevent any one from setting thee
+free."
+
+He went away, and left the soul of the poor little girl alone in her
+prison. Her sighs and lamentations could not pierce through the thick
+metal walls, but they were only sent back to her in dismal echo.
+
+Meantime the little water-elf stood outside the bell in sympathetic
+grief. She wound a garland of the fairest lilies round the little
+girl's corpse, carried it gently up through the water, and left it
+near the boat. The parents would never again see their dear child
+alive, but she had laid the little body in a soft bed of flowers, to
+make the sad sight less startling to their loving hearts.
+
+Next morning, when the sun began to gild the waters of the Saale, the
+boatman left his cabin to make preparations for departure, while the
+mother, shading her eyes with her hand, stood looking along the
+high-road, where she expected every moment to see the child appear.
+
+"Look there, wife!" said the boatman, pointing to an object in the
+water, which slowly approached the boat. "Look there! What is that?"
+
+The woman turned to see. The waters of the Saale were gently bringing
+a great garland of blooming lilies, and in their midst lay, with
+closed eyes and folded hands, their loved and only child.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The little girl's soul sat beneath the bell. She could not leave her
+prison. Not a chink was visible, and the heavy bell would not move one
+hairsbreadth, notwithstanding all her efforts.
+
+"What will my father and mother say if I do not come home?" sighed the
+child's soul. "Oh, my poor dear parents! Never to see the pleasant
+sunlight or the blue sky! To stay down here for ever in this narrow,
+dark coffin--oh, how dreadful!" And if a soul could have died with
+terror, grief, and longing, that would certainly have been the fate of
+the little girl's spirit The hours passed silently over her and her
+prison. The hours became days. How many had gone by? The little soul
+did not know. At last she sank into a kind of stupor, and almost
+ceased to feel.
+
+But one day something approached her prison, the edge of the bell was
+raised, and the water-sprite's rough voice said, "Come out."
+
+The opening through which the light was peeping was small, but souls,
+with their light transparent forms, do not need much space, and in a
+moment the little spirit slipped out, and now stood trembling before
+the wicked water-man.
+
+"Thou mayest play here for a little," he said; "but in an hour thou
+must return to the bell."
+
+The soul looked up. She had been so long in that dismal tomb, and now
+she found herself all at once in God's gloriously beautiful creation,
+though only for a short time, and as a prisoner! She forgot her past
+sorrow, and thought not of the future; she rejoiced in the delightful
+present, and looked up at the sun, which in noontide splendour stood
+in the blue canopy of heaven, sending its rays down on the green
+meadow, their brilliance softened by the crystal flood.
+
+Then she looked around. Before her stood the splendid palace, with its
+glittering walls and transparent pillars, and round her swam the
+prettiest little fishes as fearlessly as if the little soul had been
+an acquaintance for years.
+
+A lovely young girl came out of the shining building, and asked her to
+play with her.
+
+The old water-sprite frowned in displeasure at his daughter's
+friendliness, but the little elf did not look at him, and the child's
+soul thought, "I must go back to prison at any rate, and he cannot do
+anything worse to me!" So she took the friendly fairy's hand, and rose
+with her through the silvery flood, chasing the fishes and trying to
+grasp the sunbeams with her little transparent hand. Then she wound
+garlands of reeds, and let them rise to the top of the water, after
+she had pressed sweet kisses on them, and laden them with loving
+messages for her dear ones up above.
+
+As she stood watching them with tearful longing as they rose nearer
+and nearer to her home, she heard herself called once more. The
+water-sprite stood behind her, seized her hand, and led her back to
+the bell. She turned for a last look at the clear blue sky; the next
+moment she was back in her dark and narrow prison.
+
+Hours and days passed slowly by. The time seemed endless to the poor
+little soul. Her only amusement and her only pleasure was to go over
+again and again that one hour of freedom and happiness.
+
+One day, just as she was doing this, there was a noise outside the
+bell; the ray of light pierced her prison again, and before the old
+water-sprite had time to give her permission the little prisoner
+slipped through, spread out her delicate transparent arms towards the
+light of heaven, and with a cry of joy greeted the fair, free world.
+Her playfellow was standing waiting for her, and together they left
+the bell with joyous haste, slipped through the waving grass, and
+danced on the sunbeams with the dragon-flies and fishes.
+
+"Oh!" said the little soul sadly, "why does this delightful hour come
+so seldom. Why may I not get out every day?"
+
+"I do not know," answered the water-fairy; "but it is only on
+Saturday, between twelve and one o'clock, that the spirits are allowed
+to leave their prison down here and play in the sunlight."
+
+"But it is so lonely and dark in the bell," said the child's soul
+dolefully.
+
+The little nymph looked at her compassionately. Both had lost all
+pleasure in their joyous play, and arm-in-arm they looked up through
+the water at the clouds which were slowly sailing past.
+
+"There comes your father to fetch me," said the little girl's soul,
+shuddering. "Oh! do come once, just once, every day to my prison;
+knock against the bell, and when the sound pierces through my metal
+walls I shall know that I am not quite alone in the world. Will you?"
+
+A thought struck the young water-sprite; she opened her mouth to tell
+it to her playmate, but just then her father came up, and she had to
+be silent. She could only nod kindly at the poor little prisoner, whom
+the old water-sprite led roughly away to the dismal prison, whose
+narrow walls soon shut her out from the cheerful daylight.
+
+It was night. Souls cannot sleep, but they may have waking dreams.
+
+Thus the child's spirit was led back in imagination to her home. She
+saw herself once more in the ship on which she had been born, and
+fancied herself sitting beside her mother, listening to pleasant
+stories told by the dear gentle voice, and as she dreamed she forgot
+the impassable gulf which separated her from the living ones above the
+stream.
+
+Then the sound of a bell fell gently on her ear. She had been so
+absorbed in her dreams that she started in alarm at the unexpected
+sound, and it was a moment or two before she could collect her
+thoughts to think. Then she remembered her request, of which this was
+evidently the fulfilment, so she struck softly against the inside of
+the bell as a sign that she had heard her friend's greeting.
+
+Then the edge of her prison was gently lifted, and with a cry of joy
+she slipped out into the water. There stood the little water-sprite.
+
+"Will you go up with me to the surface of the stream?" asked she.
+"Would you like to float up and down on my lily-raft?"
+
+"Indeed I should," answered the little soul. "What do I want but
+freedom, air, and light? Oh yes, take me with you!"
+
+The lovely nymph took the child's hand, and a little shining wave bore
+them upwards as on the wings of a swan.
+
+Now they are standing on the surface of the water. The little
+water-sprite beckoned, and from far and near swam the water-lilies and
+anemones to make a boat of flowers for their young mistress and her
+dear little pale companion.
+
+They glided down the stream. Oh, how beautiful it was!
+
+[Illustration: THE WATER-ELF AND THE LITTLE SOUL ON THE RAFT OF
+WATER-LILIES.]
+
+On they moved past lofty mountains crowned by stately castles--past
+villages lying in peaceful slumber, whose churches mirrored their
+graceful spires in the clear flood below--past the willows on the
+banks, that nodded their drowsy heads as the night-wind played
+through their branches. And over all these lovely scenes the moon
+shed her magic light, and the waves sang softly their everlasting
+song.
+
+Then the little water-elf took her golden harp, and sent her clear
+voice floating through the stillness of the night. She sang of what
+was stirring her own heart and filling the child's soul with
+sorrow--of their longing for happiness on earth or in heaven, which
+was so far, so far from them both. The sweet sounds floated through
+the silent night, till the waves checked their song, and the
+slumbering trees awoke to listen to the enthralling strains.
+
+"Oh!" said the child's soul at length, "why cannot I rise into the
+kingdom of light? why must I linger far away from my heavenly home,
+and pine down below in that dark dungeon?"
+
+"Because," answered the lovely water-elf kindly, "my father has
+sentenced you to the bell, and this spell holds you bound, and always
+forces you to return to darkness and captivity."
+
+"Can this sentence, this spell never be broken?" asked the little
+soul.
+
+"Yes, if a human being descends and overthrows the bell the charm will
+be broken, and you may rise to heaven."
+
+"Ah! would that that time would come!" said the little one
+sorrowfully. "The only ones whose love would be strong enough to make
+them take the risk are far away." And she looked sadly into the
+distance.
+
+When the moonlight began to pale, and the stars were dying out one by
+one, the friends left their lily-raft, plunged into the flood, and the
+little soul went back reluctantly to her dark prison.
+
+So the days went by. Alone, alone in the dark bell, and once a-week
+one short hour of freedom and sunlight--that was the lot of the little
+soul, with now and then a sail on the lily-raft by the side of the
+water-elf. Unspeakably delightful were these hours, but the longing
+for their return made the dark days seem all the longer to the poor
+little prisoner.
+
+And this pleasure was but rare. The little water-sprite had to be very
+prudent, for her cruel father might have made her pay for her nightly
+journeys with her life, so displeasing to him was her hankering after
+the human world, and her mild and friendly disposition.
+
+Many a night the old water-fairy rose himself to the surface, many a
+time did his sons sit among the willows; and often the water-man could
+not sleep, and went restlessly through the rooms of his palace to see
+that everything was right.
+
+It was only on nights when all in the crystal castle were fast asleep,
+and no discovery was to be feared, that the young nymph hastened to
+the little soul, opened her prison, by raising the edge of the bell,
+and rose with her for a sail in the lily-boat.
+
+Years passed by, and with them hope died out from the little girl's
+soul; nothing remained to her but memory and longing. In the world
+above the water, what she had last seen young and fresh had grown
+gradually old. The playmates of her childhood had been married long
+ago, and some of them had entered on their eternal rest. Her father
+had never recovered the shock of that unhappy day, and the secret
+thought that he had excited the water-fairy's wrath by his defiant
+words, and had thus caused his dear child's death, gnawed at his life,
+and brought him to an untimely grave. Her mother alone was left. Her
+hair had grown white, not so much through age as through sorrow. Once,
+when in her solitude a deep longing seized her to see once more the
+place where her child had died, she entrusted the guidance of the boat
+to her brother's son, who was one day to fall heir to all her little
+possessions, and told him to take her to her darling's grave.
+
+The boat reached its destination the night before Easter. Here,
+opposite the clump of willows, which had grown even denser than when
+she saw them last, and above which the spire of the village church
+raised its graceful form, the boat had stopped on that unhappy day so
+many years ago. Here, therefore, was the anchor lowered, and the
+boatman went to rest. But the mother, when she found herself so near
+the fatal spot, could not sleep. The most dreadful hour of her life,
+when she stood watching for the coming of her merry child, and saw
+instead but her pale, cold corpse, came again before her soul, and she
+passed the night in bitter weeping.
+
+When the first gleam of daylight played on the stream, she rose and
+went on deck. All the stars had gone to rest except the morning star,
+and even its radiance grew gradually fainter; for the young day began
+to don his golden festive robe. The poor mother leaned over the edge
+of the boat, and looked down into the water. The sky was one glow of
+purple, and on the stream lay the roses of the dawn. The Easter sun
+rose slowly above the horizon, and as its first beam struck the river
+a sound of solemn melancholy came upwards from its depths.
+
+"What was that?" said the woman, leaning forward to listen.
+
+A second chime broke the stillness of the morning, and soon the bell
+began to ring in tones of wondrous richness from the bed of the river.
+With the chimes, and borne on the sunbeams, which cheerfully plunged
+into the stream, and rose again radiant from the crystal flood, came a
+sweet, familiar voice to thrill the heart of the listening mother.
+
+    "Jesus lives, and I in Him:
+    Where is thy victory, O grave?
+    Jesus lives to set me free,
+    My captive soul His love will save;
+    Jesus will lead me to the light,
+    This the sure hope that cheers my night."
+
+So sang her child's clear voice in the words of the hymn which she
+herself had once taught her, and which the little one used to sing on
+Easter morning. The child's soul was still imprisoned, but now, on the
+day of Christ's resurrection, when the bell began to ring as the first
+sunbeam touched it, she felt a strange, sweet joy, that made her feel
+inclined to join her voice with its mellow chimes.
+
+On the great Christian festivals all bells that have sunk in rivers
+or lakes awake to join in the hymn of all creation, and when, among
+the rest, the little girl's bell began to sound, her grief and longing
+generally awoke afresh. But to-day with the first note her sadness
+suddenly vanished, and a strange joy sprang up in her heart. She
+folded her delicate hands, and sang the verse of her childhood. But
+the metal did not send the sound back to her as on other days; it
+pierced through the walls, and floated through the waves up to the ear
+and heart of her sorrowing mother.
+
+Yes, it was her child's voice; every drop of blood, every pulse-beat
+of her trembling body told her that. She had indeed found her little
+daughter's corpse; but her soul must have remained in the power of the
+cruel water-sprite, and had been pining all these years down in the
+stream, shut out from light and liberty and love. All the stories that
+she had heard of the imprisonment of souls, and which she had always
+laughed at as childish tales, came into her mind, and filled her with
+unspeakable anguish. Her captivity must be somehow connected with the
+bells, or else the chimes would not have mingled as they did with the
+hymn. She leaned over the edge of the boat, and looked down into the
+water.
+
+There was a sudden splashing and foaming in the river, and the old
+water-sprite slowly rose, parted the waves, and stood before the
+terrified woman. It was the same powerful form, the erect carriage,
+the long grey-green beard, for the hand of time passes more gently
+over spirits than over men. The woman recognised him at the first
+glance, for she had seen him from her cabin window as he vented his
+wrath on her husband, though she herself was out of sight. She knew
+that the murderer of her child stood before her, but the water-sprite
+did not suspect that this was the mother of his little prisoner.
+
+"My wife is ill," he said gloomily. "The chimes in the water always
+make her ill, but there must have been some special power in them
+to-day, for she is writhing in agony, and she begged me to bring her a
+woman of the human race, to lay her warm hand on her aching head, and
+restore her to health. Come with me," he concluded sullenly; "it is
+not for nothing that I ask this."
+
+The woman could have shouted with joy. Her enemy himself was about to
+lead her to the place where all her affections were centered; it
+seemed to her a sign from heaven, and she went fearlessly to the edge
+of the boat, and prepared to plunge into the stream.
+
+"Not so," growled the water-sprite: "thou couldst not reach the bottom
+alive--a thing which would have pleased me well enough at any other
+time, but to-day it would not suit my purpose. Take this ring!"
+
+She placed the glittering circle on her finger, and followed the
+water-elf into the river. Thus protected, she could walk through the
+water as on dry land, and breathe in the river as freely as in the
+air.
+
+They came to the beautiful green meadow, passed the clump of
+water-lilies, in the midst of which the woman's quick eye had already
+noted the bell, and entered the crystal castle. There, in a spacious
+and glittering hall, lay, on a glass bed with shining pillows of
+fish-scales, the wife of the water-elf. She was tossing in restless
+pain, and as the woman entered she stretched out her hands
+entreatingly. The little nymph knelt sobbing by her sick mother's
+side, and even the rough sons looked on with grave faces.
+
+The boatman's widow went up to the bed, and laid her warm hand on the
+sick fairy's cold, white forehead. Almost instantaneously the pain
+vanished, and she fell into a gentle sleep.
+
+The little nymph grasped the woman's hand, and said, while her eyes
+shone with grateful tears, "Come, I will get you some of our beautiful
+lilies."
+
+The old water-sprite, in his anxiety about his wife, had quite
+forgotten the little prisoner below the bell, and, besides, he had no
+reason to suspect that this strange woman knew anything about the
+little soul. So, though he did not like to see his daughter so
+friendly with the human race, he did not try to hinder her from
+getting the flowers, but sat down quietly to watch his sick wife's
+slumber.
+
+How the mother's heart beat as she arrived at the lilies, pressed
+through their intertwining stems, and stood at last close to the bell.
+With trembling hand she knocked, and the sound thrilled through the
+child's spirit.
+
+The little water-elf stood in amazement as she watched her visitor
+making her way so eagerly among the lilies, and great was her alarm
+when she heard the bell sound, for she thought of her sick mother and
+her father's wrath. But before she had time to remonstrate, the
+little soul said, "Who knocks?" She knew it could not be her friend
+the young nymph, for she came only at night, and this was early in the
+morning. "Who knocks?" she asked again with trembling voice.
+
+The mother thought her heart would break with joy; her breath left
+her, and she could not answer just at once; yet the greatest haste was
+needful, for the old water-sprite might be beside her every moment.
+
+"It is your mother, my dear child," she said at last with trembling
+lips; "tell me, oh! tell me quickly how I can set you free."
+
+"Mother, mother!" cried the little prisoner; "mother, is it you?"
+
+"It is indeed, my darling," said the mother anxiously; "but we must
+not lose any time, for the water-sprite may come any moment, and then
+I shall not be able to help you."
+
+The words brought the little soul back to reality.
+
+"Mother, dear mother, throw the bell down, and your child's soul will
+thank you for ever in the heavenly world," begged the girlish voice.
+
+The mother put forth all her strength, but the bell, which the spirits
+moved so easily, would not yield an inch before the woman's efforts.
+
+When the old water-sprite heard it sound, he went to one of the
+high-arched windows, and saw the widow struggling to overturn her poor
+child's prison. He beckoned to his sons, and quickly but noiselessly
+the three left the palace. Once outside, they screamed with furious
+rage.
+
+The little captive heard the wild cry, and trembled. The mother heard
+it, and the thought that on one moment hung her own life and her dear
+child's future happiness gave her gigantic strength; one desperate
+effort, and the heavy bell gave way, and lay on its side.
+
+It was almost too late; for the angry water-sprites had reached the
+spot, and stretched out their hands to seize the woman.
+
+But the little soul had left her prison, snatched up her mother in her
+arms, and darted quick as lightning up through the waves. When they
+reached the land the mother felt her child's arms taken from around
+her, while a light, cold kiss was pressed upon her cheek. Then the
+slight, transparent form of her loved one soared like a cloud towards
+heaven, till it was lost to her sight. With mingled joy and grief she
+watched the vanishing soul.
+
+"Oh! leave me not behind, my child; take me also up to heaven!" she
+cried, amid streaming tears.
+
+Night came once more, and with his starry mantle covered joy and
+sorrow, life and death. The poor mother lay on a narrow couch in the
+cabin of her boat. She was wearied out with the day's lamentations,
+and a gentle sleep had kindly blotted from her mind her bitter sorrow.
+It seemed to the sleeping one as if heavenly radiance filled the
+little room, and an angel with shining wings approached her bed. But
+when she looked on the face it was that of her dear child, whom she
+had yesterday freed from the power of the water-sprite.
+
+"Mother, dear mother, come!" said the loved voice; "I am sent to
+fetch thee, that thou mayest keep the Easter feast in heaven with
+father and me."
+
+And she took her mother in her arms, soared out into the night, high
+above land and sea, higher and higher, past the glittering stars, till
+they arrived at last in the glorious heavenly temple, and met the
+loved father and the beautiful angels.
+
+Next morning, when the nephew found the woman was not rising, he went
+into the cabin and stepped up to the bed. There she lay, cold and
+dead, but her hands were folded in prayer, and round her mouth and her
+closed eyes was a smile of peace and happiness.
+
+
+
+
+The Last Home of the Giants.
+
+[Illustration: ASLOG RETURNS TO HER FATHER.]
+
+
+Vale and mountain alternated in beautiful succession beneath the blue
+sky of Norway thousands of years ago just as they do to-day, and the
+Gulf Stream flowed then as now past its rugged coasts; yet it was a
+far different land. In the thick forests no axe had yet been heard
+felling the strong timbers that the Norwegian rivers would bear down
+to the sea, to float hereafter as noble ships upon the breast of the
+ocean; in the sheltered bays no cosy houses nestled with their
+neatly-kept surroundings of garden and field; no boat yet flew over
+the sea with nets and fishing tackle. Man had not yet sought out as a
+home this beautiful northern land.
+
+A race of giants, of tall and powerful build, dwelt there. Their
+lifetime was measured by centuries as ours by years. They tore rocks
+asunder with their hands, and left the great streams a free channel.
+They bore huge blocks on their shoulders to the shore, and built them
+into castles whose turrets towered into the clouds. Their voice
+drowned the roar of the ocean, and scared the eagle from its nest. But
+this powerful race, beneath whose tread the ground trembled, were of
+peaceful, harmless disposition. No quarrel divided, nor envy
+embittered, their hearts. They lived together like the children of one
+great family.
+
+Their chief was Hrungnir. His companions voluntarily submitted to his
+control; for he excelled them all in years, wisdom, and strength, as a
+father his children.
+
+Hrungnir lived in a splendid castle by the sea. The mountains of
+Norway had had to yield their most precious metals to adorn the walls
+of his giant dwelling within and without. The chief's numerous flocks
+and herds roamed over miles of land, the bears of the thick forests
+were slain in hundreds by his hands that their skins might cover
+pillows for his guests, and the tables and drinking-horns gleamed with
+precious stones. But Hrungnir's most cherished possession was Guru,
+his only daughter. Her hair shone golden as the stars of the northern
+night, her eyes were blue as the sky of her native land, and her skin
+was of dazzling whiteness.
+
+The most powerful giants of the whole country were suitors for Guru's
+hand, and Hrungnir promised his daughter to him who should excel in
+swiftness in the race, or whose arm should be strongest to hurl huge
+boulders. Then the mighty men came down from their castles in the
+mountains, where the snowstorm sweeps round the hoary peaks, and from
+sea-side fortresses, till Hrungnir's roof could scarcely give shelter
+to the host of powerful suitors. The tables smoked with countless
+dishes, the horns of mead were filled and filled again, and from the
+windows the songs of the giants sounded forth so loudly that the waves
+fled back in terror towards the sea.
+
+After the feast, the giants went out to the strand, broke huge masses
+from the rocks, and hurled them out in the sea as children would throw
+pebbles. Far out into the ocean flew the masses of stones, but none so
+far as those thrown by the hand of Andfind, the valiant youth whose
+castle stood amid the rocks of the storm-swept Doverfjeld, whose
+wealth almost equalled Hrungnir's, whose beauty bore comparison with
+that of Guru herself. Then when the suitors arranged themselves on the
+strand for the race, and the shingle resounded with their golden
+sandals, Andfind left all his rivals far behind, and his long fair
+locks floated like golden pennons on the rock that was the goal of the
+race, while his fellow-suitors were still toiling along the course.
+
+Andfind was victor, and Guru's heart sang for joy, for she had long
+loved him in secret, though she was prepared to submit to her father's
+wish, even if he had chosen some other for his son-in-law.
+
+Far from grudging envy, the giants loudly applauded the conqueror,
+bore him on their shoulders to Hrungnir's castle, where the chief bade
+him welcome, and called his daughter to meet her chosen bridegroom.
+
+The lovely Guru came dressed in a sky-blue robe with a
+silver-embroidered hem, which she and her maids had woven and wrought
+in the retirement of the women's room. Round her white neck and
+rounded arms lay gleaming jewels, and her locks were bound with a
+golden fillet. Thus she came to meet the guests. Hrungnir took his
+daughter's hand, laid it in Andfind's right, and then, as priest of
+the household, the chief united them in the indissoluble ties of
+marriage.
+
+Night fell round the Castle of Hrungnir. The chief and his guests lay
+wrapped in deep slumbers, preparing for the enjoyment of a new day.
+But destruction approached them, as they slept, with stealthy steps;
+for Odin, that crafty king, of whose origin no man could tell, came
+with his trusty warriors down from the mountains. They had heard of
+the beauty of Norway, and wished to win it for their home. They had
+heard that the bravest in the land were feasting in Hrungnir's castle,
+and they had waited till the hours of slumber that they might strike
+unawares the foes with whom they could not have dared to cope on equal
+terms.
+
+The moonlight glided through the open windows and fell on the forms of
+the defenceless sleepers: the deep breathing of the warriors and the
+murmur of the waves were the only sounds that the ear could
+distinguish. But dark shadows fell in the moonlit hall, tall forms
+climbed in at the windows, and noiselessly, holding their weapons
+carefully to prevent them from clashing, they stole into the rooms.
+With sure aim they bathed their swords in the heart's blood of the
+sleepers, so that, with one last groan, each warrior yielded up his
+brave spirit. The pavement swam in blood, but Odin's band passed from
+hall to hall and never slipped on their gory path.
+
+The death-groan, though short, reached Guru's ear. She rose and
+listened. No, it was no dream; there came that sound again with
+dreadful distinctness. She threw on her garments and sprang to the
+window, and when she drew aside the curtain she saw strange forms in
+the courtyard, bearing with difficulty a heavy burden. She looked more
+closely, and recognised in the clear moonlight the bloody corpse of
+her noble father. She stole up to Andfind's couch, and whispered,
+"Awake, awake, my husband, and let us fly, for treachery and death
+have entered our house!"
+
+The bloody work seemed finished in the other rooms, and now the
+dreaded footsteps were drawing near.
+
+Guru raised a stone from the pavement and disclosed a secret stair.
+She bade Andfind descend, and then quickly following him, she
+carefully closed the opening behind her.
+
+By a narrow passage which led beneath the castle and the rocks to the
+strand they reached the sea unseen. There a boat lay rocking, which
+Guru and her maids had often used for pleasant sails. They stepped
+in. Andfind spread the sail and seized the helm, and the boat flew out
+into the open sea.
+
+Odin had conquered. The noblest of the land were killed in the
+inglorious victory of that night, and the weak remnant of the giant
+race were obliged to leave their old home and seek a refuge in unknown
+lands. Notwithstanding this ignoble beginning, Odin's reign was one of
+wisdom, power, and beneficence.
+
+Of Guru and her husband nothing more was ever heard. Whether the sea
+had swallowed the boat in its hungry depths, or whether the waves had
+borne them to happier coasts, none had ever brought back the tidings
+to their old home. But in the winter evenings, when the maidens sat
+around the blazing pine-log, and talked at their spinning about the
+days of the Norwegian giants, some aged dame would tell her shuddering
+listeners of that night of death, and of the mysterious fate of Guru
+and her noble bridegroom.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Odin's reign was long since ended. His wisdom and his crimes were both
+alike well-nigh forgotten. Olaf had many years ago brought in the
+knowledge of the Christian religion, and reared churches on the sites
+of the old altars; and to the ancient honesty and strength of the
+nation was added the mild spirit of the religion of the cross.
+
+On the spot where Hrungnir's castle once stood rose now a fortress as
+proud, and well-nigh as strong, as that of the giant chief; the flocks
+that grazed around it were as great as his; and the present
+possessor, Saemund, like him, counted as his dearest treasure an only
+daughter.
+
+It seemed almost as if the days of Guru were come back again, for
+Aslog's golden hair and snowy skin, Aslog's blue eyes and graceful
+form, attracted the wealthiest and most powerful nobles of the land to
+woo her.
+
+As each noble suitor was rejected, the father's heart swelled high
+with pride and hope. "She will only take the best and greatest," he
+thought. But when the most powerful prince in the land came, and the
+fair one's lips said "No" to him also, Saemund no longer praised his
+daughter's prudence. With bitter words he reproached her for her
+folly, and commanded her to choose before Christmas Eve some one on
+whom he might bestow her hand.
+
+Days came and went, and Aslog's cheek grew paler and her father's eye
+more gloomy, for her heart was given to Orm, the poor but beautiful
+youth whom her father had given her as page. Orm's strong arm had on
+lovely summer evenings rowed the boat out into the gold-flooded sea;
+Orm's hand had guided her over the vast snow-fields, as in snow-shoes,
+with points thin and supple as a beech-leaf, they glided swiftly
+through the bracing air; and in long winter evenings, while the guests
+were drinking and singing in her father's halls, Orm used to sit and
+tell her beautiful stories as she sat by the cheerful fire.
+
+Saemund loved the brave youth, but had any one spoken of him as his
+daughter's choice he would have challenged the informant to single
+combat.
+
+The lovers knew this, and it was with trembling that they awaited the
+decisive day.
+
+"If she has not chosen before the time I have named," said Saemund to
+Orm, "I will choose her a bridegroom myself, and you shall have the
+honour of bearing her bridal train."
+
+Orm gave no answer, but with trembling hand he arranged the table for
+the guests, and pressed his lips close together to restrain the eager
+words that his love prompted.
+
+It was the night before Christmas Eve--starry and cold. A secret door
+opened in the side of the mountain, and two muffled figures slipped
+out. They were Orm and Aslog. They had brought nothing with them but a
+little bundle of necessary clothing, a warm skin rug, and a bow and
+arrows which Orm had slung across his shoulder.
+
+On they hurried over the icy plain, swiftly and terror-stricken, like
+a pair of hunted doves. They reached the edge of the wide plain. Their
+snow-shoes were no longer of use, for their road led now towards the
+defiles and rocky heights of the highlands. It was bitterly cold, the
+wind whistled through the clefts of the mountain, and its icy breath
+made Aslog's frail form tremble. Long their path wound among the
+snow-clad mountains; then they reached a thick fir wood, in the midst
+of which stood a little hermit's cottage.
+
+"It is I, Father Jerome," said Orm to the old man who came to greet
+them at the door.
+
+"Welcome, my son!" said the old man, as the youth stooped to press a
+reverent kiss on his withered hand; "and the maiden at thy side is
+welcome too to the poor hospitality of the hermit's cell."
+
+The offered rest and refreshment were eagerly accepted by the weary
+maiden. With pitying eyes the hermit gazed on her grief-marked
+features, and when Orm begged him to unite them in marriage, the old
+man, after short consideration, granted their request.
+
+How different was this hour from Aslog's dreams! Not that she gave
+many thoughts to the splendour and festivity that should have done
+honour to her bridal, but she felt bitterly the want of her father's
+blessing.
+
+The ceremony over, there could be no further delay. On the wanderers
+pressed on their weary way, till Aslog would have sunk exhausted but
+for Orm's supporting arm. Through the thick fir woods, over rough
+mountain paths, they hastened on till the first streak of dawn gleamed
+in the eastern sky. Then Orm pointed to a cluster of dark rocks that
+lay before them.
+
+"There," said he cheerfully--"there, my Aslog, is rest and safety."
+
+Aslog's courage rose; with renewed energy she pressed over the
+intervening ground, till they reached a tall jagged rock and entered a
+cleft in its side. They now found themselves in a cave, which, though
+narrow at the entrance, became higher and wider as they went on, till
+it formed a spacious chamber. Out of this gloomy abode Orm's care and
+thoughtfulness made a home for his loved one that was not wholly
+lacking in comfort or happiness, and here they lived in secure
+retirement as long as the winter blocked the mountain roads. But when
+spring came, and the ways became accessible, Saemund's spies were able
+to explore more thoroughly, and Orm could no longer go out and in
+freely among the mountains. But when provisions ran short, he was
+obliged to tear himself from Aslog's weeping embrace, and sally forth
+with his bow and arrows. At last, when, after weeks of mild weather,
+no living soul had been seen near their retreat, their fears subsided,
+and Orm began to lay aside caution and to venture further from the
+cave. Perhaps Aslog's father had grown tired of the fruitless search,
+or perhaps he was even cherishing thoughts of forgiveness. Aslog's
+heart was quick to believe what she so ardently wished, and Orm began
+to believe it too. One night, while his wife was sleeping, he took the
+path towards the valley where the hermit's cell nestled amid the
+woods. His breast beat high with hope that the old man might be able
+to give him some good tidings to take back to his loved Aslog, who,
+although she bore her privations even cheerfully, was yet paler and
+feebler every day. He drew near a jutting rock, behind which lay the
+path to the hermit's cottage. In his glad excitement he had forgotten
+all fear. His bow hung with loose string behind him, and his hand
+grasped his staff but carelessly. Suddenly he heard a rustling in the
+thick bushes beside him, and two heavy hands were laid on his
+shoulder. With a strong effort he shook himself free, stepped back a
+few paces, and swung his stick menacingly.
+
+"It is he whom we seek," cried his assailants; "remember the reward."
+
+Then it seemed to Orm as if all the bushes and even the brown rock
+behind him became alive, so great a rustling was heard on every side.
+Quick as thought he brought his stick down on the heads of the two who
+had first attacked him, and before the others could leave their
+hiding-places he had turned and fled.
+
+At first there was wild shouting and a sound of eager feet behind, but
+he never stopped to look back, and he soon passed out of sight of his
+pursuers. The way was long and rough, but Orm was strong and fleet of
+foot, and before him lay his home and Aslog. At last he was at the
+cave.
+
+How different was this home-coming from his former hopes! Aslog lay in
+sweet sleep, with a happy smile on her lips, as if she dreamt of love
+and forgiveness; and Orm must soon waken her, and tell her that she
+must go forth once more a homeless wanderer.
+
+"Awake, awake, beloved one," he whispered, seizing her hand, "and let
+us flee, for your father's men are on our track, and we must be far
+from this before to-morrow dawns."
+
+Aslog opened her eyes, and gazed in speechless astonishment at her
+husband's lips, but when she could no longer doubt, she sprang quickly
+up and arranged her clothing and the soft skins which had formed her
+covering in a neat bundle. Without delay they crept out of the cave by
+its narrow entrance, and went forth, not, as they had hoped, to
+Saemund's castle, but to a dark and unknown future. Westward, where
+Aslog's home lay, danger and treachery threatened them, so they turned
+their steps northwards, on untried mountain paths. The air was mild,
+the moon shone brightly on their way, and the soft moss kept no trace
+of their footsteps that might betray them to their watchful enemies.
+Thus they wandered northwards for hours. The cave in the rock lay
+miles behind them, and they were far from the place where Orm had been
+seen by his father-in-law's men. Then at last he ventured to turn
+westwards, towards the sea. Their way led down towards the lowlands.
+The wintry mists were still hanging over the plain. Orm's keen eye
+could scarcely pierce their grey veil, and Aslog shuddered as she felt
+their cold embrace. They could no longer tell in what direction they
+were going, but they went on and on, hoping to come ere long to the
+friendly ocean. At last Aslog's pale face caught a flush of joy as she
+heard its distant murmur. Nearer and nearer sounded the familiar
+music, and soon the wanderers came to a narrow valley, at the further
+edge of which rose a cluster of dark rocks.
+
+"It is the coast!" said Aslog joyously, as she almost flew along the
+ground.
+
+In a little bay at the foot of the rocks lay a fishing-boat. Orm bore
+his wife in his arms along the sand, for on this open strand the
+greatest haste was necessary, lest some hostile eye might see them. He
+placed Aslog gently in the boat, sprang in after her, and with
+trembling hands spread the sail.
+
+The wind seemed to wish the fugitives well. It swept down from the
+mountains and filled the white sail, so that the little boat shot out
+into the sea like a swan with spreading wings. The sun rose higher and
+higher, the cliffs of their native coast seemed now but a line of low
+hills; proud ships glided not far from them, and on the farthest
+horizon appeared a group of islands gleaming in the golden mist. As
+the sun sank slowly to the horizon, the great ships passed by without
+noticing the wanderers, and the little islands were still in the far
+distance. Aslog's face, that had before glowed with hope, grew pale
+and wan.
+
+"What is wrong, my darling?" asked Orm anxiously.
+
+"I am hungry," answered Aslog faintly.
+
+Orm sighed deeply. They had had to flee without waiting to get
+provisions, and now they had been twenty-four hours without food, and
+the islands lay far, far away. The sun sank into the sea.
+
+"Sleep, my Aslog, sleep!" begged Orm at length; "you will not feel
+your hunger while you are asleep, and by the time you awake, perhaps
+we shall have reached one of the little islands before us."
+
+And Aslog smiled submissively, and loosing the skins from the bundle,
+lay down beneath their protecting warmth at the bottom of the boat.
+The waves rocked the little vessel gently, the oar splashed in
+measured monotony, and at last Aslog's eyes closed, and she fell
+asleep.
+
+Orm now kept watch alone on the wide ocean. Night had come, but a warm
+breath of spring was still hovering over the sea. The moon rose slowly
+above the distant mountains of Norway, and flooded the ocean with its
+silvery light. The waves danced sparkling round the boat, sails and
+masts shone brightly, and the hair of the slumbering fair one gleamed
+like waves of gold.
+
+Full of love and grief, Orm's eyes rested on Aslog's pale face.
+Allowing himself but short rest, and that at long intervals, he rowed
+on all night, and when morning dawned, a large island with blossoming
+trees lay before his eyes bathed in the purple light. His cry of joy
+woke Aslog, who rose and looked at this lovely haven of refuge, which
+seemed offered to the homeless wanderers. Like a guardian of their
+future safety a tall grey rock stood upon the shore, in form not
+unlike a gigantic human figure.
+
+Orm tried to steer between the small islands that lay round this
+tempting spot; but the waves, which had heretofore played so gently
+round the shores, now foamed and roared about the boat, and drove it
+back into the open sea. Nevertheless Orm undauntedly plied helm and
+oar, only to be driven back irresistibly again and again.
+
+Noon came, and the fruitless struggle still continued; and now the sun
+was inclining towards the west. Orm's strength and heroic perseverance
+began at length to fail. His hands bled, his arms trembled, hunger and
+exhaustion almost overpowered him; while Aslog, who had sunk from a
+state of the most eager hope into the deepest despondency, clung,
+well-nigh unconscious, to the mast. Orm thought her dying. Then
+despair gave him fresh strength. "Almighty God, pity us!" he cried
+aloud to heaven. Immediately the waves submitted to the holy name;
+the foaming billows glided gently beneath the boat; the vessel shot
+like an arrow through the midst of the islands, and drew near the
+haven where the giant rock with its dark countenance looked down on
+the little boat that glided past it to the smooth strand. Orm sprang
+out, took the exhausted Aslog in his arms, and carried her across to
+the dry, soft sand. He looked round for something to eat. Fruit-trees
+waved their blossoming crowns at no great distance, but the time for
+fruit was not come. Orm looked still more anxiously about the beach.
+Then he saw a mussel right at his feet, then another and another. He
+lifted them, and offered them to his half-fainting wife; and so much
+refreshed did she feel by the slight nourishment, that she was able to
+walk towards the centre of the island, supported by Orm's arm, in
+search of some place of shelter.
+
+The blossoming fruit-trees bore evidence of some careful hand, but no
+path, no footprint told of the cheering nearness of human beings. They
+went on further through the green island, over which the sun was
+shedding its last golden beams. There before them they saw a clear
+space amid the foliage, and with hearts beating with hope and fear
+they approached it. Soon they stood before a house of very ancient
+architecture. Its walls sank deep into the earth, and towered so high
+into the air that the firs could scarcely stretch their dark branches
+over the hide-covered roof. The windows were small, and their panes
+made of fishes' skins. The door was made of strong planks, and firmly
+bound with iron. The whole house looked as if it bade defiance to the
+storms, and had done so for centuries.
+
+But where were now its builders? Did they lie sleeping in the depths
+of the ocean? Did the tall grass of the little islands wave above
+their last resting-place, or did they still sit, spell-bound, behind
+the iron-bound door and the grey walls of the dreary dwelling?
+Checking the slight shudder that shook his frame at these thoughts,
+Orm knocked at the door of the mysterious house. No sound, no footstep
+told him that he had been heard within. He knocked again, then a third
+time, but there was still no movement. Then he laid his hand on the
+heavy latch; the door opened, and they entered a stone-paved hall.
+There was no one to bid them welcome or refuse them entrance. At one
+side of this hall was another door. Orm knocked, and when again there
+was no answer he opened it, and stepped with Aslog by his side into a
+large and lofty apartment. There was no one to be seen, yet everything
+bore traces of an orderly hand. A bright fire burned on the hearth,
+and above it hung a cauldron with fish, the smell of which greeted the
+hungry fugitives with pleasant invitation.
+
+"Forgive us, noble master of this house!" said Orm in a loud voice,
+yet in a respectful tone; "it is necessity, not forwardness, which
+makes us intruders."
+
+They both listened breathlessly; but there was still no answer. Then
+Orm poured some of the contents of the cauldron into two plates, and
+placed them on the table. With trembling at first, but afterwards with
+growing comfort and courage, the wanderers enjoyed the much-needed
+food.
+
+When their hunger was satisfied, and their spirits revived, they
+looked around them. At the farther side of the room stood two beds of
+gigantic size, and of an ancient, long-forgotten form. The fire below
+the cauldron was getting low, the evening light had ceased to fall
+through the windows, and the darkness was only broken by the faint
+glimmer of the dying embers.
+
+Nature at last claimed her rights. The wanderers' eyes were almost
+closing, and, laying aside all fear, they took possession of the
+couches where surely giant forms had once reposed.
+
+When they awoke the sun was shining brightly outside, but its beams
+could fall but dimly through the rude window-panes. The doors were
+firmly fastened, and there was no trace of human footsteps, yet the
+fire burned once more on the hearth, from the bubbling cauldron rose a
+tempting fragrance, and the table was laid as for a meal.
+
+"See, dear Orm," cried Aslog joyfully, pointing to the fire and the
+table, "this language is easy to understand, though it be a silent
+one. The unseen owners of this dwelling know our need, and bid us
+welcome to their hospitable roof."
+
+When they had again partaken of the contents of the boiling cauldron,
+Orm and Aslog went into the hall, and found there a stair which led up
+to a room just below the hide-covered roof. This and the room in which
+they had passed the night were the only apartments of the house, but
+they contained all that was necessary for a life of retirement. There
+was no sign of any inhabitant, yet it seemed as if some one had lately
+been there, whose hand had lovingly arranged everything for the poor
+homeless ones. They understood the silent language, and they remained
+henceforth contentedly in the house, enjoying the sweet feeling that
+they had at last a home.
+
+Orm never cast his net into the sea without drawing out a rich supply
+of delicious fish; the snares he set in the morning for the birds were
+never empty at evening. The fruit-trees bore abundantly, and Aslog
+found plenty of employment in gathering and storing the rich harvest.
+
+Summer passed away, and the short autumn was drawing towards its
+close, when a lovely baby boy came to cheer the hearts of Orm and
+Aslog through the dreary winter. The child was called Saemund, and
+seemed to his parents a pledge of future reconciliation.
+
+One day Orm was holding his little son in his arms, and watching with
+delight his baby smiles, and Aslog stood at the fire preparing the
+midday meal, when a tall shadow passed the window, the heavy house
+door swung open, and a loud knocking was heard at the door of the
+room. Aslog let the spoon fall in terror, and even brave Orm pressed
+his boy closer to his heart as the visitor entered.
+
+A gigantic woman stepped into the room. Her stature was greater than
+Orm and Aslog had ever seen among their own powerful nation. She wore
+a sky-blue robe with a silver-embroidered hem; a golden fillet bound
+her long snow-white hair, and on her once beautiful features centuries
+of joy and grief seemed to have left their traces.
+
+"Do not be afraid," said the majestic visitor, with gentle gravity;
+"this is my island and my house, but I gladly gave them up to you when
+I knew of your distress. Only one thing I ask of you. Christmas Eve is
+drawing near. For that one night let me have the room for a few hours,
+while we hold our yearly festivity. But you must promise me two
+things--not to speak a word while our feast lasts, and not to make any
+attempt to see what is going on in the room below. If you grant this
+request you may live here undisturbed, and enjoy my protection until
+you wish to leave the island."
+
+With lightened hearts Orm and Aslog gave the promise, then the
+majestic lady bowed her silvery head in gracious farewell, and passed
+out through the door.
+
+It was Christmas Eve; Aslog had cleaned and tidied the room with even
+more than her ordinary care. The boards were snow-white, and Orm
+strewed them with finely-cloven fir-twigs. The fire burned brightly on
+the neatly-swept hearth, and above it hung the shining cauldron. Aslog
+rolled her baby in the softest of the skins that served to cover her
+bed, and went with Orm to the upper room, where they sat down beside
+the warm chimney of the apartment below, which passed of necessity
+through this second storey.
+
+For a long time all was silent. Suddenly a sweet, soft sound was
+heard; others followed, and soon the music swelled in waves of melody
+through the night air. Aslog listened entranced, while Orm went to
+the gable end of the roof, and, since this was not forbidden, opened
+the shutter which in the daytime served to let in air and light.
+
+There was motion over the whole island. Little shrivelled forms, with
+grave and aged faces, were bustling about with blazing torches in
+their hands. They ran dry-shod over the waves, and made their way to
+the rock that guarded the entrance to the bay. When they reached it
+they placed themselves in a circle round it, and sat down on the
+ground in respectful humility. Then a tall form approached from the
+centre of the island. The dwarfs opened their circle to admit her, and
+Orm recognised by the flickering light the noble lady who had a few
+days before paid them so unlooked-for a visit. Her sky-blue robe and
+the gold in her hair gleamed with even more than their former
+brilliance. She stepped up to the rock, threw her arms round the cold
+stone, and remained so for a moment in a silent embrace. Suddenly the
+stone acquired life and motion. The gigantic limbs were freed from
+their petrifaction, the hair rolled down over the shoulders, the eyes
+began to glow once more with life. As if awaking from the sleep of
+death, the giant rose, seized the hand of the stately lady whose
+loving embrace had called him back to life, and they both turned
+towards the house, whither the dwarfs accompanied them with flaming
+torches and heart-enthralling melody. The ground seemed to tremble
+beneath the tread of the giants. Soon they reached the house-door.
+Then Orm shut the shutter, and groped his way back to where his wife
+sat beside the chimney.
+
+[Illustration: GURU AWAKES THE ROCK TO LIFE.]
+
+Below there was rattling of dishes and the patter of many feet; the
+young couple heard every sound through the wide chimney. The strong
+voice of the rock giant sounded like thunder to human ears, and the
+voice of the lady, which Orm and Aslog had heard once before, was like
+the powerful notes of some musical instrument. Tables and chairs were
+moved, drinking-horns were knocked together; the feast was beginning,
+and now was heard once more that music which had before so overwhelmed
+Aslog with delight. Then an irresistible longing seized her to see the
+wondrous company which Orm had described to her. She rose and groped
+for a crack in the floor through which it was possible to see into the
+room below. Orm in silence held out his hand to check her fatal
+rashness, but the movement woke the sleeping babe, who, terrified by
+the unwonted sounds below, raised a cry that went to the mother's
+heart. Forgetting everything now but her child's distress, she began,
+as was her wont, to soothe him with caressing words. Then suddenly an
+awful cry and a wild tumult arose below, the music ceased, and through
+the door rushed the dwarfs in wild commotion. Their torches went out,
+the noise of their flight sounded but a few moments, then night and
+silence reigned over the place which a minute before had resounded
+with festive merriment.
+
+In deadly terror Aslog had sunk back on her seat, tremblingly awaiting
+the fate that her rashness had called down on her dear ones. They were
+anxious hours that they spent now in the dark upper room, almost more
+anxious than those of their flight and of that hard struggle with the
+waves. At last the morning dawned. A clear sunbeam shot through a hole
+in the shutter and awoke the boy, who began to cry with cold and
+hunger. Then her love for her child overcame her fear, and Aslog
+persuaded her husband to go down with her and learn their fate. They
+descended the stairs, trembling at every step. Now they stood at the
+door of the room and listened. There was no sound--all was still as
+death. At last they lifted the latch; Aslog pressed her child to her
+heart and entered the room. A loud cry escaped her lips. At the far
+end of the room, at the seat of honour at the table, sat the mighty
+giant whose awakening Orm had witnessed; but life had again left his
+veins, and he sat there a cold, grey mass of rock. It seemed to Aslog
+that the stony hand which still grasped the drinking-horn might yet be
+raised to hurl destruction at her and her dear ones. She gazed in
+speechless terror at the rock-giant, her eyes passing slowly from the
+motionless head to the massive folds of the stone garment. Then she
+perceived another form, sunk motionless, as in deepest anguish, on the
+floor. The face was pressed against the cold stone, but the blue robe
+with the silver-embroidered hem and the flowing white hair told the
+terrified Aslog who it was.
+
+"Andfind, my Andfind!" moaned the giant lady, raising her face at
+last, "thou wilt never again smile on thy faithful Guru, and rejoice
+with her at thy short space of life and freedom."
+
+Aslog uttered a cry, but not, as before, of terror for her own fate,
+but of anguish and remorse. Her bitter sobbing caused even the
+grief-stricken giantess to raise her head.
+
+"Do not weep so," she said gently, "and do not be afraid; I could
+indeed easily kill you, and break this house, which I gave you as your
+home, like a child's toy. It is true that your forgetfulness has
+caused untold anguish to me, but the revenge of the powerful must
+be--forgiveness! Then do not weep, for there is nothing to fear."
+
+"Oh, that is not all!" sobbed Aslog. "The names which you named, noble
+lady, cut me to the heart. They remind me of a legend which I often
+heard when a child about Guru, the beautiful giant-maiden, who was
+obliged to flee from cruel Odin with her beloved Andfind. The story of
+their fate always touched me deeply, and I thought when I heard these
+names that you might perhaps be that Guru, and this thought added
+fresh bitterness to my remorse."
+
+The giantess appeared sunk in dreamy meditation.
+
+"And do they remember us still in the old Fatherland?" she said at
+length; "and are there yet any halls remaining of Hrungnir's castle?"
+
+"No, noble lady," answered Aslog, "they have all long since crumbled
+to dust, for many centuries have passed over Norway since those days.
+It is true a proud castle still looks down on the foaming waves, but
+it is owned by Saemund, whose only child I am."
+
+"Our fate, O daughter of my former home, is wondrously alike," said
+Guru; "but your life will end more joyfully than mine. We lived here
+in undisturbed happiness for many centuries, for it was to this island
+that our trusty bark bore us after that night of death. This house,
+which my husband's strong arm built for our home, is small and poor
+compared with my father's halls, but we did not miss the lost
+splendour. The days went by in quiet happiness, and we felt no
+longings after the land which drove out us and our friends. The dwarfs
+also, who like us had turned their backs on an inhospitable country,
+settled round about on the little islands, and lived there in the
+heart of the earth in peace and contentment. Every Christmas Eve we
+met in this room, and held festival as our forefathers did even before
+your religion had spread to these northern lands. Centuries passed
+away, and one evening I was standing with Andfind at the shore of our
+island looking out over the sea. On the northern horizon appeared a
+stately ship, and Andfind, whose eye was sharper than the eagle's, and
+had power to see into the future, recognised in the man at the prow a
+powerful foe of the freedom of Norway and of our authority. It was
+Olaf, whom you call a saint, who, not long afterwards, overcame the
+princes of Norway in one night, and destroyed the last vestiges of the
+old customs. All this my husband's prudent foresight saw, and with a
+mighty effort he blew the waves to fury with his breath, so that they
+threatened to break Olaf's proud ship to pieces. But the invader spoke
+some prayer such as you uttered when you approached our shores, and
+the raging sea grew calm. Then Andfind put forth his hand to push back
+the vessel as it drew near the shore, but Olaf, raising his hands
+towards heaven, said, in a tone of stern reproof--'Stand thou there a
+stone henceforth!' Immediately the eyes in which I had been wont to
+read my husband's every wish were closed, the hand that had grasped
+mine lovingly grew cold and hard, the form so full of life and beauty
+turned to unfeeling stone, and my beloved Andfind stood a grey,
+lifeless rock upon the shore. The invaders sailed on towards the coast
+of Norway, and I remained in dreary desolation on the now lonely
+island. Only once a year, on Christmas Eve, petrified giants are
+allowed a few hours of life if one of their own race embraces them,
+and thus sacrifices centuries of his own lifetime. I loved my husband
+too dearly not to offer this sacrifice willingly, that he and I might
+enjoy yearly a few hours of intercourse. I never counted how many
+times he woke to life at my embrace, how many centuries of my life I
+yielded for his sake; I did not wish to know the day when I, as I
+embraced him, should likewise turn to stone, and stand henceforth on
+the shore one for ever with my Andfind. Now all is over," Guru
+concluded; "I may never more awake my beloved one, for a human eye, a
+human voice has disturbed the sacred festival of our spirit-race.
+Stone must my Andfind remain till that day when all the rocks and
+mountains of old Norway will perish in the ruin of the world."
+
+She threw her arms once more round the cold stone, lifted her golden
+harp from the floor, and then turned to Orm and Aslog, who had
+listened in silent grief.
+
+"Farewell!" she said; "I leave you my protection and my blessing.
+Yours are henceforth the costly vessels that adorned our festive
+board; I need them no more. Live still in peace and happiness in this
+house until you return to receive Saemund's forgiveness, and live a
+life of gladness on the site of my old home."
+
+She passed out, and her sorrowing guests followed her to the door.
+Without once looking back, she glided away through the leafless trees;
+her blue robe gleamed far away over the snow-covered plain. Orm and
+Aslog watched her crossing the waves to the little islands; then they
+saw her no more.
+
+Had she descended to the music of her golden harp into the cold
+billows? or did she go to rule as queen in the kingdom of dwarfs? Orm
+and Aslog never knew her fate, but her prophecies of good were richly
+fulfilled.
+
+Sickness and misfortune kept far aloof from their island home. They
+were happy in their mutual love, strong in body, cheerful in spirit,
+contented even in their isolation. Their boy grew daily in beauty,
+strength, and obedience; the trees bore double fruit, the sea yielded
+its tribute more freely than ever, and the bird-snares were never
+empty. Sunshine and the fragrance of flowers filled the air, and they
+drank in life and happiness at every breath. And when winter came, the
+storm raged round the house, and the thick snowflakes whirled through
+the cracking fir branches against the window, then the little family
+sat cosily in their sheltered home; the dry wood blazed brightly on
+the hearth, and at the cheerful fireside sat Aslog making nets, while
+Orm carved away at a new oar, and the child listened eagerly to the
+tales of Old Norway.
+
+Year after year rolled away, and left no traces of care on the faces
+of the lonely exiles, save that when Aslog thought of her father a
+shadow crossed her white brow, and the old longing awoke for his love
+and forgiveness.
+
+It was the beginning of spring. The fruit-trees wore their wreaths of
+blossoms, and the sunbeams played through the dark fir branches on the
+roof of the lonely house. The door opened, and Orm, accompanied by
+Aslog and the boy, stepped out, bearing one of the precious vessels
+which Guru had left as a parting gift to her guests. The utensils
+which her motherly hand had provided had become worn out in the course
+of years, and Orm was going to the coast of Norway to sell the golden
+goblet, and buy the needed utensils with its price. He had long
+postponed this step, for he still feared the sharp eye of treachery
+and revenge; but their need was pressing, and there could be no longer
+delay.
+
+The parting was a bitter one. Aslog embraced him again and again, and
+even Guru's prophetic words had lost their power to comfort. But Orm,
+although his heart was far from light, soothed her with a promise of a
+quick return; then he tore himself away, sprang into a boat, and
+pushed from the shore.
+
+The boat flew like a sea-mew over the waves, through the circle of
+little islands, and out into the open sea. A wind as fresh as that
+which had favoured their flight came now from the north to swell the
+white sail. Orm drew in the oars and watched how his boat darted over
+the gleaming waves. He directed his course towards the south-east. As
+it was drawing towards noon the coasts of his native land appeared
+above the horizon; and long before the set of sun the boat sailed up
+the narrow waters of the Trondheim Fiord, and landed at the quay of
+the old royal city. Orm passed the streets with hurried steps, and
+with the precious vessel under his arm he entered the shop of a
+goldsmith.
+
+The man seemed amazed at the rich metal and the rare and elaborate
+workmanship, paid without demur the price asked, and Orm hastened
+gladly to another building to choose his purchases. There was a great
+crowd of buyers, and fearing lest some old acquaintance should be
+among them, he turned aside, and examined the wares in silence.
+
+"Welcome, friend! What's the news in your mountains?" said the
+merchant to a countryman who had just entered.
+
+"Thanks, sir, not much good," replied the newcomer.
+
+"What is wrong?" asked the merchant. "Is your master, rich Saemund, not
+well? Has he not yet submitted to his fate?"
+
+Orm listened eagerly.
+
+"It will soon be all over with him," replied the countryman; "his
+grief about his daughter is breaking his heart. He is ill, lonely, and
+sad. He has had it proclaimed through the whole land that he will
+forgive the fugitives everything if they will only return; and he has
+promised a great reward to any one who will bring him the smallest
+tidings of them. But they seem to have vanished from the earth, and it
+is most likely the old man will die without one of his kin to close
+his eyes in the last sleep."
+
+Orm thought no more about his purchases; he thought only of Aslog and
+her dying father. Without being noticed in the crowd he left the shop.
+Scarcely had he turned the first corner when he ran at full speed to
+the quay, sprang down the steps, loosed his boat, and by the last rays
+of the setting sun he steered skilfully along the narrow fiord among
+all the larger vessels, and rowed towards the ocean. His heart beat
+with eager longing and delight. Had not a reconciliation with the
+father of his loved Aslog long been the most cherished wish of his
+heart as well as of hers, though he had been silent on the subject for
+Aslog's sake?
+
+It was night when his boat glided out of the fiord and sailed out to
+sea. The wind, which had blown towards land all day, had turned, and,
+sweeping now from the Norwegian mountains, drove Orm's boat with the
+swiftness of an arrow over the waters. The moon rose clear and full
+above his native land, and the waves dashed their silver spray against
+the keel. Orm could not but think of that night when Aslog lay hungry
+and exhausted at his feet--behind him terror and treachery--before, an
+unknown future. The moon's clear radiance and the sparkling waves were
+the same then as now, but in all else how blessed was the change!
+
+Thus the night passed, and when the east began to glow with red his
+boat glided between the little islands, and when the first full beam
+fell on the fir-tree tops he landed on the shore of his island home.
+
+He scarcely took time to fasten the boat. Then he hastened under the
+blossoming fruit-trees--with empty hand, indeed, yet with a richer
+gift than Aslog would have dared to hope for.
+
+And now he stood beside her couch. "Awake, awake, beloved one!" he
+whispered as he bent over her; "I bring news of your father, the best
+news that your heart could wish for--love and forgiveness!"
+
+Then Aslog awoke, and her beaming eyes, the silent tears that fell
+over her clasped hands, told of even deeper joy than Orm had pictured
+to himself as he hastened home.
+
+Soon all was bustle in the quiet room. Once more Aslog lit the fire,
+once more the breakfast bubbled in the cauldron, while she adorned
+herself and her boy in festive garments, and Orm carried Guru's gifts
+of gold and precious stones down to the boat. Once more they sat
+together at the table enjoying the provisions of Guru's hospitable
+home. They gazed at the lofty walls which had afforded them shelter,
+and sadly looked on the stony form of Andfind, who had for years been
+a silent member of the little household. Then Orm seized his wife's
+hand; and they left the house, carefully closing the door behind them,
+and followed the boy, who had run on before in his eagerness, towards
+the strand.
+
+"Farewell, thou lovely island!" cried Orm, as he loosed the rope; "and
+if ever again hunted fugitives land on thy shore, be to them as sweet
+a home as thou hast been to us."
+
+The child was already seated in the boat, playing with the beautiful
+vessels of gold and precious stones, and Aslog sat down beside him to
+tell him about his new home and his dear grandfather, while Orm dipped
+the oars, and the boat left the strand of the "Last Home of the
+Giants."
+
+The sun was just about to sink into the sea; its rays cast a parting
+glance on the windows of the lonely castle, on the rock which had once
+resounded with mirth and revelry. And now the splendid halls were
+desolate. The servants, serving not out of love but out of fear,
+obeyed in sullen silence the commands of their gloomy master. The
+daughter, the only one whom his cold heart had ever loved, was lost to
+him. His old age was lonely and desolate. Then his pride yielded.
+"What if she has disgraced my house by choosing the servant instead of
+the prince?--still she is my child, my only one, and dear and loving
+she has always been to me! Oh, bring back my daughter, my Aslog, that
+I may look upon her face before I die!"
+
+Rich were the rewards offered by the sorrowing father for the least
+tidings of his child, but he waited days and weeks in vain. She seemed
+lost to him for ever.
+
+"Take me out, that I may see the sun as long as I have sight!" said he
+to his servants as the evening sun looked in at the castle windows.
+
+The servants supported his tottering steps to the edge of the rock.
+Then he beckoned to them to go, and leave him with his sorrow.
+
+The sun sank like a ball of fire into the ocean, and the sea rolled in
+purple waves from the farthest horizon, and broke them into golden
+spray at the foot of the castle rock.
+
+"Would that my old age could be calm and clear, like this sweet
+evening, and would that my life might sink in brightness as the sun
+into the sea!"
+
+Then he heard in the distance the splashing of oars, and his eye, keen
+as of old, looked eagerly towards the horizon. A boat, gently urged on
+by the wind, was sailing from the north-west. Nearer and nearer it
+came, and seemed to be directing its course to the rock where the old
+man sat. At the helm sat a manly form, and at the prow stood a
+graceful woman with a boy pressed closely to her side. Her hair
+gleamed golden, as his daughter's used to do; and now she raised her
+hand, and fluttered a white kerchief as in eager greeting. Saemund's
+heart beat with glad presentiment, he felt his weakness no longer, but
+raised himself, unaided, from the stone breastwork, and fixed his gaze
+on the approaching boat. Now the little vessel came up to the very
+foot of the rock, he heard the chain rattling round the post, and the
+sound of familiar voices was borne up to him on the evening air. It
+was no dream. There were light footsteps beside him, and when he
+turned to look, Aslog, his lost Aslog, knelt before him, her eyes full
+of humble penitence, and by her side knelt a fair-haired boy, who
+stretched out his hands to the old man, and echoed his mother's words
+in childish accents--"Oh, grandfather, forgive and love us!"
+
+The old man opened his arms, and pressed the welcome suppliants to his
+heart, and as he kissed his lovely grandson, he said in a voice more
+mild and soft than was his wont--"Thank God, I shall not die in my
+loneliness after all!"
+
+And he did not die. From day to day he felt more and more of his old
+vigour, and when he saw how tenderly Aslog loved her husband, what a
+faithful husband and father Orm was, and what a dutiful son to
+himself, he forgot all his disappointed hopes--even the royal diadem
+that Aslog had rejected. The love of his children and grandchildren
+made his last days his brightest, and thus the wish of that spring
+evening was fulfilled, his old age was calm and clear, and his life
+sank in brightness as the sun into the sea.
+
+
+Marcus Ward & Co., Royal Ulster Works, Belfast.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Illustrated & Educational Works
+
+PUBLISHED BY
+
+MARCUS WARD AND CO.,
+
+67, 68, Chandos Street, Strand,
+
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+Illustrations by R. BATEMAN, after the manner of the best period of
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+
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+
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+
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+     life."--_Illustrated London News._
+
+_=Minna's Holiday, and Other Tales.=_ By M. BETHAM-EDWARDS. Small
+octavo, cloth, gold and black.
+
+     "Simple, pleasantly-written stories."--_Daily News._
+
+_=Doda's Birthday: the Record of all that befell a Little Girl= on a
+Long, Eventful Day._ By EDWIN J. ELLIS. Small octavo, cloth, gold and
+black.
+
+     "As pleasant a book as could be given to any little
+     girl."--_Scotsman._
+
+     "A most suitable book for girls, and one that will delight the
+     little misses immensely."--_Edinburgh Courant._
+
+     "A charming book."--_Daily News._
+
+_=The Markhams of Ollerton: a Tale of the Civil War=, 1642-1647._ By E.
+GLAISTER. Small octavo, cloth, gold and black. _New Edition._
+
+     "Abounds with thrilling incidents of that eventful
+     period."--_Morning Post._
+
+     "A well-written story of the civil war, from 1642 to
+     1647."--_Scotsman._
+
+     "The story of Charles I. is one that never loses its charm, and
+     when so pleasantly and colloquially told, and embellished by
+     such pretty and characteristic pictures as we have here, it
+     will be sure to find a large and appreciative
+     audience."--_Daily News._
+
+_=Eldergowan; or, Twelve Months of my Life, and Other= Tales._ By ROSA
+MULHOLLAND, Author of "Puck and Blossom," "The Little Flower-Seekers,"
+&c. Small octavo, cloth, gold and black. _New Edition._
+
+     "One of the pleasantest little books we have met for some time;
+     charmingly illustrated."--_Illustrated Review._
+
+     "A perfect little gem in its way."--_Civil Service Gazette._
+
+     "A fine volume for girls."--_Edinburgh Courant._
+
+_=Christmas at Annesley; or, how the Grahams spent their= Holidays._ By
+M. E. SHIPLEY. Small octavo, cloth, gold and black. _New Edition._
+
+     "A delightful book for children."--_Sunday Times._
+
+     "Will be read with delight by young folks."--_Lloyd's Weekly
+     London News._
+
+_=Turnaside Cottage.=_ By MARY SENIOR CLARK, Author of "Lost Legends of
+the Nursery Rhymes." Small octavo, cloth, gold and black. _New
+Edition._
+
+     "An interesting story, well told."--_Birmingham Morning News._
+
+     "Charmingly written, impressing good and useful lessons."--_Art
+     Journal._
+
+_=The Fairy Spinner.=_ By MIRANDA HILL. Small octavo, cloth, gold and
+black. _New Edition._
+
+     "Really enchanting, and will enthral the young
+     reader."--_Edinburgh Courant._
+
+     "Well illustrated."--_Daily News._
+
+_=Pollie and Jack: a Small Story for Small People.=_ By ALICE HEPBURN,
+Author of "Two Little Cousins." Small octavo, cloth, gold and black.
+_New Edition._
+
+     "Capitally written down to the level of little
+     folks."--_Morning Advertiser._
+
+     "Will be much enjoyed by young folks."--_Figaro._
+
+
+NEW SERIES OF TWO-AND-SIXPENNY GIFT-BOOKS.
+
+_=Nanny's Treasure.=_ From the French of Madame DE STOLZ. Nineteen
+Full-page Illustrations and Coloured Frontispiece. Small octavo, cloth
+extra.
+
+_=The Little Head of the Family.=_ From the French of Mdlle. FLEURIOT.
+Fourteen Full-page Illustrations and Coloured Frontispiece. Small
+octavo, cloth extra.
+
+_=Where the Rail Runs Now: a Story of the Coaching Days.=_ By F.
+FRANKFORT MOORE. With Illustrations. Small octavo, cloth extra.
+
+_=Animals of the Farm: their Structure and Physiology.=_ A Handbook for
+Agricultural Students and Farmers. By JOHN F. HODGES, M.D., F.C.S.,
+&c. Second Edition, revised by the Author. Numerous Illustrations.
+Small octavo, cloth, 2/6.
+
+
+BOOKS AT TWO SHILLINGS.
+
+_=Two Little Cousins.=_ By ALICE HEPBURN, Author of "Pollie and Jack."
+Five Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "Adorned with bright chromographs, and printed in large, clear
+     type to suit beginners."--_Standard._
+
+_=Percy's First Friends.=_ By M. D. Five Coloured Illustrations, Cloth,
+Illuminated.
+
+     "An agreeable account of the early adventures of a motherless
+     boy."--_Lloyd's Weekly London News._
+
+=Five Little Farmers.= By ROSA MULHOLLAND, Author of "Puck and Blossom,"
+"The Little Flower-Seekers," "Eldergowan," &c. Five Coloured
+Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "Contains a number of cunningly worked-out chromo lithographs,
+     in which children and their domestic pets are grouped in a most
+     artistic and effective manner."--_Figaro._
+
+_=Maggie's Pictures; or, the Great Life told to a Child.=_ By FANNY
+LEVIEN, Author of "Mildred's Mistake, "Little Ada's Jewels." Five
+Coloured Illustrations, and Illuminated Title-page. Cloth,
+Illuminated.
+
+     "Will be welcome for the simplicity of its early
+     lessons."--_Lloyd's Newspaper._
+
+_=The Twin Brothers of Elfvedale: a Story of Norwegian= Peasant Life._
+By CHARLES H. EDEN, Author of "Ralph Somerville," "India, Historical
+and Descriptive," &c. Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated. _New
+Edition._
+
+     "Full of adventure.... Schoolboys will welcome the
+     book."--_Guardian._
+
+     "A tale of Norwegian peasant life fifty years ago, cleverly put
+     together, told in a bright, hearty view, and telling the young
+     reader a great deal about the rough, simple lives of Northern
+     folk, their customs, superstitions, and amusements."--_Times._
+
+_=Our Games: a Story for Children.=_ By MARY HAMILTON. Five Coloured
+Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated. _New Edition._
+
+     "A pleasant little book.... Attractive
+     illustrations."--_Standard._
+
+     "Adventures of children, drawn in a charmingly natural
+     manner."--_Guardian._
+
+_=Ella's Locket, and what it brought her.=_ By G. E. DARTNELL. Five
+Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated. _New Edition._
+
+     "Pleasantly conceived, and prettily told."--_Hour._
+
+
+BOOKS AT EIGHTEEN PENCE.
+
+_=My Dolly.=_ By H. RUTHERFURD RUSSELL, Author of "Tom Seven Years Old."
+Numerous Illustrations, small 8vo, Cloth extra.
+
+_=Wildflower Win: the Journal of a Little Girl.=_ By KATHLEEN KNOX.
+Numerous Illustrations, small 8vo, Cloth extra.
+
+_=Elsie's Victory.=_ By ELEANOR P. GEARY. Coloured Illustrations, Cloth,
+Illuminated.
+
+     "Sure to delight children."--_Guardian._
+
+_=Lily of the Valley: a Story for Little Boys and Girls.=_ By KATHLEEN
+KNOX. Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "A pretty little gift-book, the value of which will be
+     appreciated by the very youngest of readers."--_Leeds Mercury._
+
+_=Meadowleigh: a Holiday History.=_ By KATHLEEN KNOX. Coloured
+Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "Another of those irresistible little books for children in
+     which Messrs. Marcus Ward & Co. so cunningly combine frolicsome
+     narrative with some of the best executed and most satisfactory
+     coloured illustrations that have ever come under our
+     notice."--_Figaro._
+
+_=Katie Summers: a Little Tale for Little Readers.=_ By Mrs. C. HALL.
+Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "We hardly know whether most to praise binding, printing, or
+     literary merit."--_Morning Advertiser._
+
+     "Another tempting story of and for little people."--_Lloyd's
+     Weekly London News._
+
+_=Roses With and Without Thorns.=_ By ESTHER FAITHFULL FLEET. Coloured
+Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "Suited to children of the tenderest years, interesting and
+     edifying.... The pictures are a perfect treat."--_Edinburgh
+     Courant._
+
+     "Daintily decorated with delicate coloured
+     illustrations."--_Scotsman._
+
+_=Little Ada's Jewels.=_ By FANNY LEVIEN, Author of "Maggie's Pictures,"
+"Mildred's Mistake." Coloured Illustrations, Cloth, Illuminated.
+
+     "An exquisite little book for children.... No better little
+     book than this could be put into the hands of a good little boy
+     or girl."--_Scotsman._
+
+     "Nicely written, and beautifully illustrated."--_Morning
+     Advertiser._
+
+
+ELEGANT GIFT-BOOKS.
+
+_=The Garland of the Year; or, the Months, their Poetry= and Flowers._
+Giving an account of each Month, with Poetical Selections, descriptive
+of the Seasons and their Flowers; with red lines, and Floral Designs
+in Gold and Colours. Small octavo, cloth elegant, 2/6; gilt edges,
+3/-.
+
+     "Creditable to the compiler's taste, and comprises many
+     gems."--_Athenaeum._
+
+_=Language and Poetry of Flowers.=_ A New Edition, carefully Revised and
+Amplified. With Six Illuminated Pages in Gold and Colours. Cloth,
+black and gold, 2/6; Gilt Edges, 3/-.
+
+LANGUAGE AND POETRY OF FLOWERS. Pocket Edition, Illustrated in Gold
+and Colours. Cloth extra, 1/-; gilt edges, 1/3.
+
+_=The Birthday Register.=_ With Sentiments from Shakspere (a New
+Selection of suitable Quotations), printed on writing paper. With
+Illuminated Title-page. Cloth extra, 2/-; gilt edges, 2/6; and in Limp
+French Morocco, Morocco and Russia, from 3/6 to 10/6.
+
+     "The association is a happy one, and in this form is neatly
+     carried out."--_Liverpool Weekly Albion._
+
+
+CHILDREN'S COLOURED PICTURE VOLUMES.
+
+_=Struwwelpeter.=_ Funny Picture Stories in the Struwwelpeter Manner,
+"In merry mood for children good; with moral sad for children bad."
+Twenty-four pages in Colours, enamelled boards. Price 2/-. _Also, in
+Two Books, Paper Covers, 1/- each._
+
+     "Much genuine humour, along with healthy, moral
+     lessons."--_Leeds Mercury._
+
+_=The Shaksperean Calendar.=_ A Novel Almanac and Daily Date Calendar,
+for the Library or Boudoir. Beautifully printed in Colours. Price 1/-.
+The Information comprises Sunrise and Sunset, Moon's Changes,
+Festivals, Holidays, &c., with an appropriate Quotation from Shakspere
+for each Day in the Year.
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S CONCISE DIARIES.
+
+_For the Pocket--Published Annually--Lightest, Cheapest, Handiest,
+Best._
+
+THE CONCISE DIARIES meet the universal objection to all other Pocket
+Diaries--their cumbrousness and unnecessary weight in the pocket. They
+are beautifully printed in Blue and Gold, on a light, hard, Metallic
+paper, and combine the following advantages:--
+
+    1. Maximum of Writing Space.
+    2. Minimum of Weight.
+    3. Useless Matter Omitted.
+    4. Equal Space for Sundays.
+    5. Daily Engagement Record.
+    6. The Writing is Indelible.
+
+THE CONCISE DIARIES are made both in "Upright" and "Oblong" form, and
+in Three sizes of each form.
+
+Only one part (Three Months) need be carried in the pocket at once.
+
+All so-called "Useful Information," which few ever read, is excluded.
+
+     "By a capital arrangement, the maximum amount of writing space
+     is secured with the minimum amount of weight."--_Daily
+     Telegraph._
+
+     "The Diary pages are furnished _separately_ in quarterly parts,
+      ... and are much smaller and handier than they otherwise would
+     be. It is a very good plan."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+_=Season's Calendar for 1877.=_ Size, 4 x 2-3/4 inches, containing four
+highly-finished pictures, representing "Spring," "Summer," "Autumn,"
+"Winter," and four pages consisting of Calendar and other Useful
+Information. Price 6d.
+
+_=Pocket-Book Calendar.=_ A Bijou Almanac, size, 1-3/4 x 1-1/4 inches,
+with gilt edges, suitable for purse, pocket book, or waistcoat pocket.
+Price 1d.
+
+
+POPULAR SERIES OF SUNDAY-SCHOOL CARDS.
+
+=SACRED SELECTIONS.= A set of Twelve Illuminated Cards, set in Floral
+Borders and Gold Grounds, with Sacred Texts and Poetry. Price 6d.
+
+=MEMORABLE WORDS= from Scripture. Twelve Mediaeval Illuminated Cards.
+Price 6d.
+
+=PROVERBS AND PROMISES= from Holy Scripture. Three packets, each
+containing Twelve Floral, Decorated Cards, with Texts. Price 6d. each.
+
+    No. 1.--PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
+    No. 2.--PROMISES (Old Testament).
+    No. 3.--PROMISES (New Testament).
+
+=FLORAL REWARD CARDS.=--Two packets, each containing Twenty-four Cards,
+with Floral Borders in Gold and Colours. Price 6d. each.
+
+    Packet A.--Sacred Verses.
+    Packet B.--Texts of Scripture.
+
+=CHRIST THE FIRST FRUITS.= A set of Twelve Floral Cards, with Gold
+Backgrounds, Texts, and appropriate sacred poetry. Price 1/-.
+
+=WORDS OF COUNSEL=, from the Sacred Scriptures, Illuminated on Twelve
+Floral Cards. Price 1/-.
+
+=SAYINGS AND BLESSINGS OF OUR LORD.= Two Packets, each containing Twelve
+Floral Cards, printed in Colours on Black Backgrounds, with Verses
+from Holy Scripture. Price 1/-each.
+
+=SACRED TEXTS.= Two Packets, each containing a set of Twelve Cards, with
+Floral Illuminated Borders, printed in Gold and Colours. Price 1/-.
+
+    No. 1.--SACRED TEXTS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT.
+    No. 2.--SACRED TEXTS FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT.
+
+=FLOWERS OF THE MONTHS.= A set of Twelve Cards, printed in Gold and
+Colours, with appropriate Poetry and Descriptive Notes. In Wrapper.
+Price 1/-.
+
+=THE HISTORY OF OUR LORD.= Twelve Scenes from the Life of Our Lord,
+printed in Gold and Colours, with appropriate Selections from
+Scripture. Price 1/-.
+
+=BIBLE PICTURES.= Twelve Scenes from Old Testament History, printed in
+Colours, with appropriate Selections from Scripture. Price 1/-.
+
+=SACRED THOUGHTS=, in Verse. Twelve Floral Cards, with Black
+Backgrounds. In handsome Wrapper. Price 1/-.
+
+=A PACKET OF POESY.= Twelve Floral Cards, printed in Colours on Black
+Backgrounds. Price 1/-.
+
+=HYMNS FOR THE LAMBS OF CHRIST'S FLOCK.= Twelve Cards of Birds and
+Flowers for Children. In handsome Wrapper. Price 1/-.
+
+=THE APOSTLES' CREED.= A Packet of Twelve Highly-decorated Cards. In
+handsome Wrapper. Price 1/-.
+
+=THE LORD'S PRAYER.= A Packet of Twelve Highly-decorated Cards. In
+handsome Wrapper. Price 1/-.
+
+
+POPULAR SERIES OF TEMPERANCE CARDS.
+
+=THE WATER PACKET.= A set of Twelve Cards, with Borders of Water Plants,
+& c., and Original Verses by S. C. Hall, F.S.A. Price 1/-.
+
+=THE TEXT PACKET.= Twelve Selections from Scripture, chosen for their
+bearing on the subject. Beautifully Illuminated in Gold and Colours.
+Price 6d.
+
+
+=POPULAR SERIES OF WALL TEXTS=,
+
+Suitable for Decorating Schoolrooms, Bedrooms, &c.
+
+=GOLDEN PRECEPTS.= A Series of Nine Floral Illuminated Texts. Size,
+6-1/4 x 8 inches. In Three Packets, price 1/6 each; or in Mounts, Gilt
+Bevelled Edges, 3/-each Packet.
+
+=ECHOES FROM THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM.= A Series of Floral Illuminated
+Texts. Size, 8-1/4 x 6-1/2 inches. In One Packet, containing Three
+Texts, price 1/6; or in Mounts, Gilt Bevelled Edges, 3/-the set.
+
+=CHEERING WORDS FOR PILGRIMS TO THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM.= A Series of Six
+Floral Illuminated Texts. Size, 6-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches. In Two Packets,
+each containing Three Texts, price 1/6; and in Mounts, Gilt Bevelled
+Edges, 3/-.
+
+=LIGHTS FOR LIFE'S JOURNEY.= A Series of Texts, Designed in Colours.
+Size, 19 x 6 inches. Four in a Packet, price 2/-.
+
+
+MARCUS WARD & CO.'S
+
+=Newspaper Cuttings Scrap-Book.= A Ready Reference Receptacle for
+Scraps, from our daily sources of knowledge, the Newspapers; with an
+Alphabetical Index, and Spaces for Marginal Notes.
+
+    "When found, make a note of."--_Captain Cuttle._
+
+THE NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS SCRAP-BOOK has been introduced by MARCUS WARD &
+CO. to supply a want equally felt in household, office, or
+counting-house, as well as in the library of the literary man, or in
+the chambers of the lawyer.
+
+There are few readers of Newspapers who do not daily meet with
+paragraphs, notices, or advertisements, which they would gladly cut
+out and retain, but, not having any convenient means of preserving
+them, they are passed over and lost; or, even if cut out, are so
+carefully put away that they cannot be found when wanted for
+reference.
+
+By the use of the NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS SCRAP-BOOK all such
+inconveniences are prevented, as the cuttings can be readily fixed in
+order, and, by means of the Index, may be referred to in a moment;
+thus forming a volume of permanent interest and usefulness.
+
+LIST OF SIZES, BINDINGS, AND PRICES.
+
+    +-----+----------------------------------------------+------+
+    | No. |        DESCRIPTION. |Pages | Size, in Inches |Price |
+    |-----+---------------------+------+-----------------+------+
+    |6020 | Fancy Cloth,        |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Lettered on Side    |  72  | 7-3/4 by 9-1/2  | 1/6  |
+    |6021 |    Do. do. do.      | 100  | 7-3/4 by 9-1/2  | 2/-  |
+    |6031 |    Do. do. do.      | 100  | 9-3/4 by 11-1/2 | 3/-  |
+    |6043 | Do. Extra Gilt,     |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Lettered on Side    | 120  | 7-1/2 by 9-1/2  | 2/6  |
+    |6044 |    Do. do. do.      | 120  | 8-1/2 by 10-1/2 | 3/6  |
+    |6015 |    Do. do. do.      | 120  | 9-1/2 by 11-3/4 | 4/-  |
+    |6017 |    Do. do. do.      |      |                 |      |
+    |     |  and in Colors,     |      |                 |      |
+    |     |  Inlaid             | 150  | 9-1/2 by 11-3/4 | 4/6  |
+    |6011 | Half Roan,          |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Lettered on Back,   | 200  | 9-1/2 by 11-3/4 | 5/-  |
+    |6008 | Half French Morocco,|      |                 |      |
+    |     | Lettered on Back,   |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Superior Quality    |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Paper               | 150  | 9-1/2 by 11-3/4 | 7/-  |
+    |6013 | Half Roan,          |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Lettered on Back,   |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Superior Quality    |      |                 |      |
+    |     | Paper               | 200  | 10 by 15        | 9/-  |
+    |-----+---------------------+------+-----------------+------+
+
+
+EDUCATIONAL WORKS.
+
+ATLASES.
+
+_Adopted by the Board of National Education in Ireland._
+
+EDITED BY J. HARRIS STONE, B.A.
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S SIXPENNY ATLAS.
+
+LIST OF MAPS--Fully Coloured.
+
+    Eastern Hemisphere
+    Western Hemisphere
+    Europe
+    Asia
+    Africa and Arabia
+    United States & Canada
+    Canaan or Palestine
+    North America
+    South America
+    England and Wales
+    Scotland
+    Ireland
+    Australia & Tasmania
+    France
+    German Empire
+    Austrian Empire and Hungary
+    India or Hindustan
+    New Zealand
+
+_The largest Sixpenny Atlas ever offered._
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S SHILLING ATLAS.
+
+Twenty-four Maps, printed in Colours, in the best style.
+
+WITH GEOGRAPHICAL DEFINITIONS, DIAGRAMS OF THE GLOBES, &c.
+
+This Atlas contains extra Maps and information, suitable for more
+advanced pupils, is printed on strong paper, and bound in durable
+cloth cover.
+
+LIST OF MAPS.
+
+    Eastern Hemisphere
+    Western Hemisphere
+    Europe
+    England and Wales
+    Scotland
+    Ireland
+    France
+    German Empire
+    Austrian Empire and Hungary
+    Kingdom of Italy
+    Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
+    Switzerland
+    Spain and Portugal
+    Netherlands and Belgium
+    Russia in Europe
+    Turkey in Europe & Greece
+    Asia
+    India or Hindustan
+    Africa and Arabia
+    North America
+    South America
+    United States of America
+    Dominion of Canada
+    Australia and Tasmania
+    New Zealand
+    Canaan or Palestine
+
+_The largest Shilling Atlas ever offered to the Public._
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S HOME ATLAS.
+
+Thirty Maps, printed in Colours,
+
+From New Plates, specially engraved, with all the latest information
+from the best authorities, and Index to upwards of 4000 places. Crown
+4to, Cloth, 2/-; Cloth Extra, 2/6.
+
+LIST OF MAPS.
+
+    Explanatory Map
+    Eastern Hemisphere
+    Western Hemisphere
+    Europe
+    Asia
+    Africa
+    North America
+    South America
+    Oceania
+    The British Islands
+    England and Wales
+    Scotland
+    Ireland
+    France
+    German Empire
+    Austrian Empire and Kingdom of Hungary
+    Kingdom of Italy
+    The Netherlands & Belgium
+    Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
+    Turkey in Europe & Greece
+    Russia in Europe
+    Switzerland
+    Spain and Portugal
+    Turkey in Asia, Syria, Persia, Afghanistan, &c.
+    India or Hindustan
+    The Dominion of Canada
+    United States of America
+    Australia and Tasmania
+    Central America and West Indies
+    New Zealand
+    Canaan or Palestine
+    Bible Maps
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S PORTABLE ATLAS.
+
+Thirty Maps, printed in Colours, on one side only of Superfine Drawing
+Paper, with full Index.
+
+Demy Octavo, handsomely bound in Cloth--India Rubber binding, to open
+perfectly flat. 3/6.
+
+Advantages of this Atlas over others at similar or higher prices:--
+
+1. Pictorial Illustrations of Geographical Terms.
+
+2. Diagrams to illustrate the use of the Globes.
+
+3. In the Maps of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the Sizes of the
+Towns by their Populations are distinguished by varied letterings.
+
+4. The Countries where French is spoken are shewn in one Map.
+
+5. The Countries where German or kindred languages are spoken are
+shewn in one Map.
+
+6. The whole of the Russian Empire depicted on one Plate.
+
+7. The whole of the Turkish Empire depicted on one Plate.
+
+8. Map of Overland Route--Mediterranean to the Indus--Asiatic Russia
+--Khiva--Kokand--Syria--Euphrates Valley--Koweyt Republic--
+Persia--Afghanistan--Biluchistan, &c. Illustrating the advance of the
+Russian Empire towards India.
+
+9. The British Isles in one Map.
+
+10. Several enlarged Maps of British Colonies.
+
+11. Special Biblical Maps, for Sunday Lessons.
+
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS (MARCUS WARD'S ATLASES).
+
+"The Sixpenny and Shilling Atlases are _marvels of cheapness_, and the
+Home and Portable Atlases, each containing thirty maps, with indexes
+to upwards of 4,000 places, are _very complete for ordinary
+use_."--_Guardian, March 15th, 1876._
+
+"These Maps are cheap, well engraved, and apparently on a level with
+the most recent and accurate geographical information."--_Standard,
+March 22nd, 1876._
+
+"The series of Atlases issued by the Messrs Marcus Ward & Co., of
+London and Belfast, merit attention. The maps are beautifully printed
+and neatly coloured; the coast-lines, rivers, and mountains are
+clearly shown, and the names are not too crowded."--_Public Opinion,
+April 1st, 1876._
+
+" ... Marvels of cheapness, and at the same time of comparative
+excellence. They are all 'got up' with that artistic taste and
+neatness which generally characterise the publications of this
+firm."--_Manchester Courier, March 22nd, 1876._
+
+"Quite unique.... Admirably printed."--_Leeds Mercury._
+
+
+WORKS ON DRAWING AND DESIGN.
+
+_=Plants: their Natural Growth and Ornamental= Treatment_. By F. E.
+HULME, F.L.S., F.S.A., of Marlborough College, Author of "Plant Form."
+Containing 44 plates, printed in Colours from Drawings made by the
+Author, accompanied by a careful Treatise on the subject. Large
+imperial 4to, cloth extra, bevelled boards. Price 21/-.
+
+     "The object of this very excellent work is to show the close
+     relationship that exists between botanical science and
+     ornamental art."--_Morning Post._
+
+_=Hulme's Freehand Ornament.=_ Sixty Examples, for the use of Drawing
+Classes. By F. E. HULME, F.L.S., F.S.A., Marlborough College. Imperial
+8vo. Price 5/-, or mounted millboard, cloth-bound edges, 10/-.
+
+     "To the Student of Drawing this book is a mine of well-drawn
+     examples.... Cannot fail to be useful to the decorative
+     sculptor, the bookbinder, the manufacturer of textile fabrics
+     of every description...."--_Art Journal._
+
+     _Both these Works have been adopted by H. M. Department of
+     Science and Art, for Copies and Prizes._
+
+_=Illuminating: a Practical Treatise on the Art.=_ By MARCUS WARD,
+Illuminator to the Queen. With 26 examples of the styles prevailing at
+different periods, from the sixth century to the present time;
+Chromographed in facsimile and in outline. Foolscap 4to, cloth extra,
+bevelled boards, gilt edges, 5/-, or, in Morocco extra, 10/6.
+
+     "A very creditable and remarkably cheap little
+     book."--_Architect._
+
+Aunt Charlotte's Histories for Young Children.
+
+Profusely Illustrated, Square Octavo, Cloth Extra, Bevelled Boards,
+Gilt Edges. Price 6/-each.
+
+_=Stories of English History for the Little Ones.=_ By CHARLOTTE M.
+YONGE, Author of "The Heir of Redclyffe," &c. In Fifty easy Chapters,
+with a Frontispiece in Colours by H. S. Marks, A.R.A.; 50
+Illustrations, and an Illuminated Title-page. New Edition, with
+Questions.
+
+     "So simple that a child of the tenderest years will be
+     perfectly able to comprehend all that the writer wishes to
+     convey ... adorned with numerous illustrations ... the
+     title-page is a lovely piece of art in illuminated
+     printing."--_Edinburgh Courant._
+
+     "An excellent and useful little gift-book."--_Scotsman._
+
+     "Any boy or girl who fails to admire Miss Yonge's 'Stories of
+     English History' must, indeed, be hard to
+     please."--_Bookseller._
+
+_A Cheap Edition of MISS YONGE'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, for Schools, is
+now ready; with 41 Engravings, and Questions, neatly bound in cloth.
+Price 1/6._
+
+_=Stories of French History for the Little Ones.=_ In Forty-eight easy
+Chapters, with a Frontispiece in Colours by H. STACY MARKS, A.R.A.
+Twelve Full-page Illustrations, and an Illuminated Title-page. New
+Edition, with Questions.
+
+     "The stories are well and clearly written."--_Saturday Review._
+
+     "Charmingly bound, printed, and illustrated."--_Manchester
+     Guardian._
+
+_=Stories of Bible History for the Little Ones.=_ Three Readings and One
+Picture for each Sunday in the Year, with an Illuminated Title-page
+and Frontispiece in Colours.
+
+     "Illustrations numerous and well executed."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+     "Embraces the whole story from the creation to the ascension;
+     told as Miss Yonge knows so well how to tell it."--_Guardian._
+
+     "Nicely illustrated, and got up in an attractive
+     style."--_Birmingham Gazette._
+
+_A Cheap Edition of STORIES OF BIBLE HISTORY, price 2/-, just
+published._
+
+_=Stories of Greek History for the Little Ones.=_ In Forty-five easy
+Chapters, with Frontispiece in Colours by WALTER CRANE, Illuminated
+Title-page, and numerous Illustrations.
+
+_=Stories of Roman History for the Little Ones.=_ By CHARLOTTE M. YONGE.
+In Forty-six easy Chapters, with Frontispiece in Colours, Illuminated
+Title-page, and numerous Illustrations. _Just Published._
+
+_=Stories of German History for the Little Ones.=_ By C. M. YONGE. With
+Frontispiece in Colours, Illuminated Title-page, and numerous
+Illustrations. _In the Press._
+
+
+CLASS-BOOK FOR CLASSICAL AND ART SCHOOLS.
+
+=The Mythology of Greece and Rome, with special reference to its use in
+Art.= From the German of O. Seemann. Edited by G. H. BIANCHI, B.A.,
+late Scholar of S. Peter's College, Cambridge. 64 Illustrations, Crown
+Octavo, Cloth, 3/6.
+
+
+HANDBOOK FOR AGRICULTURAL STUDENTS AND FARMERS.
+
+=Animals of the Farm: their Structure and Physiology.= By JOHN F.
+HODGES, M.D., F.C.S., &c. Second Edition, revised by the Author.
+Numerous Illustrations. Small Octavo, Cloth, 2/6.
+
+
+VERE FOSTER'S DRAWING COPY-BOOKS.
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+_With Instructions and Paper to Draw on._
+
+POPULAR EDITION, 1d. SUPERIOR EDITION, 3d.
+
+In a country where Mechanical, Architectural, and Decorative Skill is
+in so much demand, a knowledge of Drawing is essential alike to the
+Artizan, the Employer, and the Connoisseur. The success of Mr. VERE
+FOSTER'S _Writing_ Copy-Books suggested that a knowledge of Drawing
+might be spread among all classes by a series of _Drawing_ Copy-Books
+by the best masters. It is believed that these books have already
+called forth much latent talent, and the advantage of a development of
+Taste and practical Artistic Knowledge cannot be overrated.
+
+    A--ELEMENTARY.
+    B--SIMPLE OBJECTS.
+    C--FAMILIAR OBJECTS. Two Books.
+    D--SIMPLE FLOWERS. Two Books.
+    E, G--FLOWERS. Three Books.
+    I--ORNAMENT. Four Books.
+    J--TREES. Three Books.
+    K--LANDSCAPE. Four Books.
+    M--MARINE. Four Books.
+    O--ANIMALS. Ten Books.
+    Q--HUMAN FIGURE. Four Books.
+    R--GEOMETRY. Three Books.
+    T--MECHANICAL. Six Books.
+    Z--BLANK BOOK.
+
+
+VERE FOSTER'S WATER-COLOUR DRAWING BOOKS.
+
+_With full Instructions in Painting._
+
+
+ELEMENTARY BOOKS, 3d. ADVANCED BOOKS, 6d.
+
+The object of this Publication is to place a knowledge of the higher
+branches of Drawing, hitherto the accomplishment only of the few,
+within the reach of all. It comprises a series of Simple and Practical
+Examples, in the various departments of Painting, by eminent Artists,
+together with useful and practical hints for Sketching from Nature.
+
+The prices place them within the reach of every one, and they are
+adapted either for Self-instruction or for study with the aid of a
+Master.
+
+    SEPIA.--6 Nos., 3d. each.
+    LANDSCAPE.--6 Nos., 3d. each.
+    MARINE.--Advanced Lessons--4 Nos., 6d. each.
+    ANIMALS.--Advanced Lessons--4 Nos., 6d. each.
+    FLOWERS--1st Series.--6 Nos., 3d. each.
+    FLOWERS--2nd Series.--4 Nos., 6d. each.
+    ILLUMINATING.--4 Nos., 6d. each.
+
+
+VERE FOSTER'S WRITING COPY-BOOKS.
+
+POPULAR EDITION, 1d. SUPERIOR EDITION. 2d. (No. 10, 3d.)
+
+_Quarto Edition (Fine Glazed Paper) of Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, Sixpence
+each._
+
+The distinguishing characteristics of this Series are as follows:--
+
+1. Combination in the greatest possible degree of legibility with
+rapidity. The formation of the Letters, and notably of _a_, _d_, _g_,
+_q_, are adapted to this end. 2. The Tailed Letters are of moderate
+length. The up and down strokes are of nearly equal thickness, as
+contradistinguished from the Engraver's style. 3. The writing of each
+word is continuous from end to end. 4. Exclusion of Large Hand as
+unfit for small fingers. 5. Systematically progressive arrangement of
+Head Lines. 6. Two Lines of Copy on a page. 7. Careful selection of
+Proverbs and Aphorisms. 8. The same clear, simple style of Writing for
+both sexes, _there being no good reason why girls should be taught a
+cramped, illegible hand_.
+
+
+LIST OF VERE FOSTER'S WRITING COPY-BOOKS.
+
+1. STROKES, EASY LETTERS, SHORT WORDS.--Traced Lines under each Copy,
+to be written over by the Pupil. ROUND HAND.
+
+1-1/2. LONG LETTERS, SHORT WORDS, FIGURES.--Sanctioned by the
+Committee of Council as satisfying the requirements of the Second
+Standard, Revised Code, 1875. HALF TEXT.
+
+2. LONG LETTERS, SHORT WORDS, FIGURES,--Guide Lines to regulate the
+length of Tailed Letters. SMALL ROUND HAND.
+
+2-1/2. WORDS OF FOUR, FIVE, OR SIX LETTERS, for Practice in forming
+different difficult combinations. SMALL ROUND HAND.
+
+3. CAPITALS, SHORT WORDS, FIGURES.--Analysis of Capitals. Showing how
+the stiff Printed Capitals become transformed into Running Hand.
+MEDIUM HAND.
+
+3-1/2. SENTENCES OF SHORT WORDS, spaced by Perpendicular Lines. This
+is the first book in which Sentences are introduced. SMALL ROUND HAND.
+
+4. SENTENCES, mostly composed of Short Words. The Perpendicular
+Spacing Lines are omitted in this and all succeeding numbers. MEDIUM
+HAND.
+
+4-1/2. SELECT QUOTATIONS FROM SHAKSPERE.--Principally Long Sentences.
+Suitable for preparing Pupils to write from Dictation. MEDIUM HAND.
+
+5, 6. SENTENCES.--Maxims, Morals, and Precepts, in progressively Small
+Writing; each Line a complete Sentence. SMALL HAND.
+
+5-1/2. SENTENCES, in Writing of Three Sizes, continuation of preceding
+Books Nos. 3-1/2, 4-1/2, and 5. SMALL ROUND, MEDIUM, AND SMALL HANDS.
+
+6-1/2. SENTENCES, in Writing of Two Sizes, in continuation of Books
+Nos. 6 and 7. SMALL HAND.
+
+7. SENTENCES AND CHRISTIAN NAMES.--A collection of over 200 of the
+Christian Names in most common use, affording scope for a great
+variety of elegant Capitals. SMALL HAND.
+
+8. SENTENCES.--One Line on each Page. This Book is prepared for those
+who prefer at this stage to have only one line on each page. SMALL
+HAND.
+
+9. SENTENCES.--Two Lines on each Page. Smaller Writing than in any of
+the preceding books. Some prefer this as a Finishing Hand to Nos. 7
+and 8. SMALL HAND.
+
+10. PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL LETTERING.--Single Letters, Words, and
+Sentences. Alphabets in Thirty-three different Styles. The most
+perfect Collection yet published.
+
+11. EXERCISE BOOK.--Wide Ruling, with Margin, for Parsing, Dictation,
+Composition, or other Exercises.
+
+12. EXERCISE BOOK.--Narrow Ruling in Squares, for Arithmetic,
+Bookkeeping, Geometry, and proportionate enlargements or reductions.
+
+HOME EXERCISE BOOK.--Same Ruling as No. 12 (but Octavo Size). Price
+One Penny.
+
+COPY-BOOK PROTECTOR AND BLOTTER.--Price One Penny. Keeping the Books
+fresh, neat, and clean.
+
+
+MARCUS WARD'S ROYAL ULSTER SERIES OF SELECTED STEEL PENS.
+
+These Celebrated Pens have rounded points, are specially manufactured
+in highest finish from the finest Silver Steel, and are suited for the
+various requirements of the Public in all Styles of Writing. Sold by
+all Stationers, at the uniform price of 1s. per box.
+
+42. MARCUS WARD'S "VERE FOSTER COPY-BOOK" PEN.--For Pupils using the
+earlier numbers of the VERE FOSTER Copy-Books--Nos. 1, 1-1/2, 2, 2-1/2,
+3, 3-1/2, 4, 4-1/2, or for ordinary free writing (_Round Hand and
+Medium Hand_). ONE HUNDRED PENS IN A BOX.
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+41. MARCUS WARD'S "VERE FOSTER COPY-BOOK" PEN.--Adapted for the more
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+6-1/2, 7, 8, and 9, and for ordinary neat writing (_Small Hand_). ONE
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+51. MARCUS WARD'S "COLLEGE" PEN--_Fine Points_.--A strong, useful Pen
+for high-class School or College use, suited for the more rapid
+writing of Advanced Pupils and Students, and for ordinary
+Correspondence. SIX DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+52. MARCUS WARD'S "COLLEGE" PEN--_Medium Points_.-Similar to No. 51,
+but with broader Points. Suitable also for Professional or Official
+Correspondence, and for bold, rapid writing. SIX DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+64. MARCUS WARD'S "BLACK LETTER" PEN--_Extra Broad Points_.--A
+peculiar pen, specially made for VERE FOSTER'S No. 10 Copy-Book.
+Adapted for _down strokes_ of German Text, Old English, Black Letter,
+and Engrossing. Will also be found useful by the numerous class of
+persons who prefer to use a very broad-pointed pen in ordinary writing
+on rough paper. THREE DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+70. MARCUS WARD'S "ITALIAN" PEN--_Extra Fine Points_.--Specially made
+for the Ornamental Writing in VERE FOSTER'S No. 10 Copy-Book, or for
+the use of persons who prefer a _very fine-pointed_ pen in writing on
+highly-glazed paper. THREE DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+81. MARCUS WARD'S "ROYAL ULSTER" PEN--_Fine Points_.--A splendid pen
+for Mercantile use, either in Account Books, for Correspondence, or
+for other purposes. Made of thick but very Elastic Steel, with the
+highest finish. _Much recommended for Flexibility, Strength, and
+Durability._ THREE DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+91. MARCUS WARD'S "ROYAL PALACE" PEN--_Fine Points_.--Slightly
+turned-up points. Persons who prefer quill pens will find this the
+_Softest_ Steel Pen made. These pens are suitable for the modern style
+of large and bold writing, and are peculiarly adapted for writing on
+the Irish Linen Papers. THREE DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+92. MARCUS WARD'S "ROYAL PALACE" PEN--_Medium Points_.--Similar to No.
+91, with broader turned-up points, for very bold and rapid writing on
+the Royal Irish Linen or other rough-surfaced writing papers. THREE
+DOZEN PENS IN A BOX.
+
+Samples will be forwarded on receipt of Six Penny Stamps.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+
+Inconsistent and archaic spelling, punctuation, and syntax retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fairy Circles, by Unknown
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