diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/dblst10.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/dblst10.txt | 4154 |
1 files changed, 4154 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/dblst10.txt b/old/dblst10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f748675 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dblst10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4154 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Double Story, by George MacDonald +#11 in our series by George MacDonald + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: A Double Story + +Author: George MacDonald + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5676] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 7, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DOUBLE STORY *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo + + + + + + +A DOUBLE STORY + +BY GEORGE MACDONALD. + +NEW YORK: + + + + + + +A DOUBLE STORY + +I. + + + + + +There was a certain country where things used to go rather oddly. +For instance, you could never tell whether it was going to rain or +hail, or whether or not the milk was going to turn sour. It was +impossible to say whether the next baby would be a boy, or a girl, +or even, after he was a week old, whether he would wake +sweet-tempered or cross. + +In strict accordance with the peculiar nature of this country of +uncertainties, it came to pass one day, that in the midst of a +shower of rain that might well be called golden, seeing the sun, +shining as it fell, turned all its drops into molten topazes, and +every drop was good for a grain of golden corn, or a yellow cowslip, +or a buttercup, or a dandelion at least;--while this splendid rain +was falling, I say, with a musical patter upon the great leaves of +the horse-chestnuts, which hung like Vandyke collars about the necks +of the creamy, red-spotted blossoms, and on the leaves of the +sycamores, looking as if they had blood in their veins, and on a +multitude of flowers, of which some stood up and boldly held out +their cups to catch their share, while others cowered down, +laughing, under the soft patting blows of the heavy warm drops;-- +while this lovely rain was washing all the air clean from the motes, +and the bad odors, and the poison-seeds that had escaped from their +prisons during the long drought;--while it fell, splashing and +sparkling, with a hum, and a rush, and a soft clashing--but stop! I +am stealing, I find, and not that only, but with clumsy hands +spoiling what I steal:-- + + "O Rain! with your dull twofold sound, + The clash hard by, and the murmur all round:" + +--there! take it, Mr. Coleridge;--while, as I was saying, the lovely +little rivers whose fountains are the clouds, and which cut their +own channels through the air, and make sweet noises rubbing against +their banks as they hurry down and down, until at length they are +pulled up on a sudden, with a musical plash, in the very heart of an +odorous flower, that first gasps and then sighs up a blissful scent, +or on the bald head of a stone that never says, Thank you;--while +the very sheep felt it blessing them, though it could never reach +their skins through the depth of their long wool, and the veriest +hedgehog--I mean the one with the longest spikes--came and spiked +himself out to impale as many of the drops as he could;--while the +rain was thus falling, and the leaves, and the flowers, and the +sheep, and the cattle, and the hedgehog, were all busily receiving +the golden rain, something happened. It was not a great battle, nor +an earthquake, nor a coronation, but something more important than +all those put together. A BABY-GIRL WAS BORN; and her father was a +king; and her mother was a queen; and her uncles and aunts were +princes and princesses; and her first-cousins were dukes and +duchesses; and not one of her second-cousins was less than a marquis +or marchioness, or of their third-cousins less than an earl or +countess: and below a countess they did not care to count. So the +little girl was Somebody; and yet for all that, strange to say, the +first thing she did was to cry. I told you it was a strange country. + +As she grew up, everybody about her did his best to convince her +that she was Somebody; and the girl herself was so easily persuaded +of it that she quite forgot that anybody had ever told her so, and +took it for a fundamental, innate, primary, first-born, self- +evident, necessary, and incontrovertible idea and principle that SHE +WAS SOMEBODY. And far be it from me to deny it. I will even go so +far as to assert that in this odd country there was a huge number of +Somebodies. Indeed, it was one of its oddities that every boy and +girl in it, was rather too ready to think he or she was Somebody; +and the worst of it was that the princess never thought of there +being more than one Somebody--and that was herself. + +Far away to the north in the same country, on the side of a bleak +hill, where a horse-chestnut or a sycamore was never seen, where +were no meadows rich with buttercups, only steep, rough, breezy +slopes, covered with dry prickly furze and its flowers of red gold, +or moister, softer broom with its flowers of yellow gold, and great +sweeps of purple heather, mixed with bilberries, and crowberries, +and cranberries--no, I am all wrong: there was nothing out yet but a +few furze-blossoms; the rest were all waiting behind their doors +till they were called; and no full, slow-gliding river with +meadow-sweet along its oozy banks, only a little brook here and +there, that dashed past without a moment to say, "How do you +do?"--there (would you believe it?) while the same cloud that was +dropping down golden rain all about the queen's new baby was dashing +huge fierce handfuls of hail upon the hills, with such force that +they flew spinning off the rocks and stones, went burrowing in the +sheep's wool, stung the cheeks and chin of the shepherd with their +sharp spiteful little blows, and made his dog wink and whine as they +bounded off his hard wise head, and long sagacious nose; only, when +they dropped plump down the chimney, and fell hissing in the little +fire, they caught it then, for the clever little fire soon sent them +up the chimney again, a good deal swollen, and harmless enough for a +while, there (what do you think?) among the hailstones, and the +heather, and the cold mountain air, another little girl was born, +whom the shepherd her father, and the shepherdess her mother, and a +good many of her kindred too, thought Somebody. She had not an uncle +or an aunt that was less than a shepherd or dairymaid, not a cousin, +that was less than a farm-laborer, not a second-cousin that was less +than a grocer, and they did not count farther. And yet (would you +believe it?) she too cried the very first thing. It WAS an odd +country! And, what is still more surprising, the shepherd and +shepherdess and the dairymaids and the laborers were not a bit wiser +than the king and the queen and the dukes and the marquises and the +earls; for they too, one and all, so constantly taught the little +woman that she was Somebody, that she also forgot that there were a +great many more Somebodies besides herself in the world. + +It was, indeed, a peculiar country, very different from ours--so +different, that my reader must not be too much surprised when I add +the amazing fact, that most of its inhabitants, instead of enjoying +the things they had, were always wanting the things they had not, +often even the things it was least likely they ever could have. The +grown men and women being like this, there is no reason to be +further astonished that the Princess Rosamond--the name her parents +gave her because it means Rose of the World--should grow up like +them, wanting every thing she could and every thing she couldn't +have. The things she could have were a great many too many, for her +foolish parents always gave her what they could; but still there +remained a few things they couldn't give her, for they were only a +common king and queen. They could and did give her a lighted candle +when she cried for it, and managed by much care that she should not +burn her fingers or set her frock on fire; but when she cried for +the moon, that they could not give her. They did the worst thing +possible, instead, however; for they pretended to do what they could +not. They got her a thin disc of brilliantly polished silver, as +near the size of the moon as they could agree upon; and, for a time +she was delighted. + +But, unfortunately, one evening she made the discovery that her moon +was a little peculiar, inasmuch as she could not shine in the dark. +Her nurse happened to snuff out the candles as she was playing with +it; and instantly came a shriek of rage, for her moon had vanished. +Presently, through the opening of the curtains, she caught sight of +the real moon, far away in the sky, and shining quite calmly, as if +she had been there all the time; and her rage increased to such a +degree that if it had not passed off in a fit, I do not know what +might have come of it. + +As she grew up it was still the same, with this difference, that not +only must she have every thing, but she got tired of every thing +almost as soon as she had it. There was an accumulation of things in +her nursery and schoolroom and bedroom that was perfectly appalling. +Her mother's wardrobes were almost useless to her, so packed were +they with things of which she never took any notice. When she was +five years old, they gave her a splendid gold repeater, so close set +with diamonds and rubies, that the back was just one crust of gems. +In one of her little tempers, as they called her hideously ugly +rages, she dashed it against the back of the chimney, after which it +never gave a single tick; and some of the diamonds went to the +ash-pit. As she grew older still, she became fond of animals, not in +a way that brought them much pleasure, or herself much satisfaction. +When angry, she would beat them, and try to pull them to pieces, and +as soon as she became a little used to them, would neglect them +altogether. Then, if they could, they would run away, and she was +furious. Some white mice, which she had ceased feeding altogether, +did so; and soon the palace was swarming with white mice. Their red +eyes might be seen glowing, and their white skins gleaming, in every +dark corner; but when it came to the king's finding a nest of them +in his second-best crown, he was angry and ordered them to be +drowned. The princess heard of it, however, and raised such a +clamor, that there they were left until they should run away of +themselves; and the poor king had to wear his best crown every day +till then. Nothing that was the princess's property, whether she +cared for it or not, was to be meddled with. + +Of course, as she grew, she grew worse; for she never tried to grow +better. She became more and more peevish and fretful every +day--dissatisfied not only with what she had, but with all that was +around her, and constantly wishing things in general to be +different. She found fault with every thing and everybody, and all +that happened, and grew more and more disagreeable to every one who +had to do with her. At last, when she had nearly killed her nurse, +and had all but succeeded in hanging herself, and was miserable from +morning to night, her parents thought it time to do something. + +A long way from the palace, in the heart of a deep wood of +pine-trees, lived a wise woman. In some countries she would have +been called a witch; but that would have been a mistake, for she +never did any thing wicked, and had more power than any witch could +have. As her fame was spread through all the country, the king heard +of her; and, thinking she might perhaps be able to suggest +something, sent for her. In the dead of the night, lest the princess +should know it, the king's messenger brought into the palace a tall +woman, muffled from head to foot in a cloak of black cloth. In the +presence of both their Majesties, the king, to do her honor, +requested her to sit; but she declined, and stood waiting to hear +what they had to say. Nor had she to wait long, for almost instantly +they began to tell her the dreadful trouble they were in with their +only child; first the king talking, then the queen interposing with +some yet more dreadful fact, and at times both letting out a torrent +of words together, so anxious were they to show the wise woman that +their perplexity was real, and their daughter a very terrible one. +For a long while there appeared no sign of approaching pause. But +the wise woman stood patiently folded in her black cloak, and +listened without word or motion. At length silence fell; for they +had talked themselves tired, and could not think of any thing more +to add to the list of their child's enormities. + +After a minute, the wise woman unfolded her arms; and her cloak +dropping open in front, disclosed a garment made of a strange stuff, +which an old poet who knew her well has thus described:-- + + "All lilly white, withoutten spot or pride, + That seemd like silke and silver woven neare; + But neither silke nor silver therein did appeare." + +"How very badly you have treated her!" said the wise woman. "Poor +child!" + +"Treated her badly?" gasped the king. + +"She is a very wicked child," said the queen; and both glared with +indignation. + +"Yes, indeed!" returned the wise woman. "She is very naughty indeed, +and that she must be made to feel; but it is half your fault too." + +"What!" stammered the king. "Haven't we given her every mortal thing +she wanted?" + +"Surely," said the wise woman: "what else could have all but killed +her? You should have given her a few things of the other sort. But +you are far too dull to understand me." + +"You are very polite," remarked the king, with royal sarcasm on his +thin, straight lips. + +The wise woman made no answer beyond a deep sigh; and the king and +queen sat silent also in their anger, glaring at the wise woman. The +silence lasted again for a minute, and then the wise woman folded +her cloak around her, and her shining garment vanished like the moon +when a great cloud comes over her. Yet another minute passed and the +silence endured, for the smouldering wrath of the king and queen +choked the channels of their speech. Then the wise woman turned her +back on them, and so stood. At this, the rage of the king broke +forth; and he cried to the queen, stammering in his fierceness,-- + +"How should such an old hag as that teach Rosamond good manners? She +knows nothing of them herself! Look how she stands!--actually with +her back to us." + +At the word the wise woman walked from the room. The great folding +doors fell to behind her; and the same moment the king and queen +were quarrelling like apes as to which of them was to blame for her +departure. Before their altercation was over, for it lasted till the +early morning, in rushed Rosamond, clutching in her hand a poor +little white rabbit, of which she was very fond, and from which, +only because it would not come to her when she called it, she was +pulling handfuls of fur in the attempt to tear the squealing, +pink-eared, red-eyed thing to pieces. + +"Rosa, RosaMOND!" cried the queen; whereupon Rosamond threw the +rabbit in her mother's face. The king started up in a fury, and ran +to seize her. She darted shrieking from the room. The king rushed +after her; but, to his amazement, she was nowhere to be seen: the +huge hall was empty.--No: just outside the door, close to the +threshold, with her back to it, sat the figure of the wise woman, +muffled in her dark cloak, with her head bowed over her knees. As +the king stood looking at her, she rose slowly, crossed the hall, +and walked away down the marble staircase. The king called to her; +but she never turned her head, or gave the least sign that she heard +him. So quietly did she pass down the wide marble stair, that the +king was all but persuaded he had seen only a shadow gliding across +the white steps. + +For the princess, she was nowhere to be found. The queen went into +hysterics; and the rabbit ran away. The king sent out messengers in +every direction, but in vain. + +In a short time the palace was quiet--as quiet as it used to be +before the princess was born. The king and queen cried a little now +and then, for the hearts of parents were in that country strangely +fashioned; and yet I am afraid the first movement of those very +hearts would have been a jump of terror if the ears above them had +heard the voice of Rosamond in one of the corridors. As for the rest +of the household, they could not have made up a single tear amongst +them. They thought, whatever it might be for the princess, it was, +for every one else, the best thing that could have happened; and as +to what had become of her, if their heads were puzzled, their hearts +took no interest in the question. The lord-chancellor alone had an +idea about it, but he was far too wise to utter it. + + + + + + +II. + + + + + +The fact, as is plain, was, that the princess had disappeared in the +folds of the wise woman's cloak. When she rushed from the room, the +wise woman caught her to her bosom and flung the black garment +around her. The princess struggled wildly, for she was in fierce +terror, and screamed as loud as choking fright would permit her; but +her father, standing in the door, and looking down upon the wise +woman, saw never a movement of the cloak, so tight was she held by +her captor. He was indeed aware of a most angry crying, which +reminded him of his daughter; but it sounded to him so far away, +that he took it for the passion of some child in the street, outside +the palace-gates. Hence, unchallenged, the wise woman carried the +princess down the marble stairs, out at the palace-door, down a +great flight of steps outside, across a paved court, through the +brazen gates, along half-roused streets where people were opening +their shops, through the huge gates of the city, and out into the +wide road, vanishing northwards; the princess struggling and +screaming all the time, and the wise woman holding her tight. When +at length she was too tired to struggle or scream any more, the wise +woman unfolded her cloak, and set her down; and the princess saw the +light and opened her swollen eyelids. There was nothing in sight +that she had ever seen before. City and palace had disappeared. They +were upon a wide road going straight on, with a ditch on each side +of it, that behind them widened into the great moat surrounding the +city. She cast up a terrified look into the wise woman's face, that +gazed down upon her gravely and kindly. Now the princess did not in +the least understand kindness. She always took it for a sign either +of partiality or fear. So when the wise woman looked kindly upon +her, she rushed at her, butting with her head like a ram: but the +folds of the cloak had closed around the wise woman; and, when the +princess ran against it, she found it hard as the cloak of a bronze +statue, and fell back upon the road with a great bruise on her head. +The wise woman lifted her again, and put her once more under the +cloak, where she fell asleep, and where she awoke again only to find +that she was still being carried on and on. + +When at length the wise woman again stopped and set her down, she +saw around her a bright moonlit night, on a wide heath, solitary and +houseless. Here she felt more frightened than before; nor was her +terror assuaged when, looking up, she saw a stern, immovable +countenance, with cold eyes fixedly regarding her. All she knew of +the world being derived from nursery-tales, she concluded that the +wise woman was an ogress, carrying her home to eat her. + +I have already said that the princess was, at this time of her life, +such a low-minded creature, that severity had greater influence over +her than kindness. She understood terror better far than tenderness. +When the wise woman looked at her thus, she fell on her knees, and +held up her hands to her, crying,-- + +"Oh, don't eat me! don't eat me!" + +Now this being the best SHE could do, it was a sign she was a low +creature. Think of it--to kick at kindness, and kneel from terror. +But the sternness on the face of the wise woman came from the same +heart and the same feeling as the kindness that had shone from it +before. The only thing that could save the princess from her +hatefulness, was that she should be made to mind somebody else than +her own miserable Somebody. + +Without saying a word, the wise woman reached down her hand, took +one of Rosamond's, and, lifting her to her feet, led her along +through the moonlight. Every now and then a gush of obstinacy would +well up in the heart of the princess, and she would give a great +ill-tempered tug, and pull her hand away; but then the wise woman +would gaze down upon her with such a look, that she instantly sought +again the hand she had rejected, in pure terror lest she should be +eaten upon the spot. And so they would walk on again; and when the +wind blew the folds of the cloak against the princess, she found +them soft as her mother's camel-hair shawl. + +After a little while the wise woman began to sing to her, and the +princess could not help listening; for the soft wind amongst the low +dry bushes of the heath, the rustle of their own steps, and the +trailing of the wise woman's cloak, were the only sounds beside. + +And this is the song she sang:-- + + Out in the cold, + With a thin-worn fold + Of withered gold + Around her rolled, + Hangs in the air the weary moon. + She is old, old, old; + And her bones all cold, + And her tales all told, + And her things all sold, + And she has no breath to croon. + + Like a castaway clout, + She is quite shut out! + She might call and shout, + But no one about + Would ever call back, "Who's there?" + There is never a hut, + Not a door to shut, + Not a footpath or rut, + Long road or short cut, + Leading to anywhere! + + She is all alone + Like a dog-picked bone, + The poor old crone! + She fain would groan, + But she cannot find the breath. + She once had a fire; + But she built it no higher, + And only sat nigher + Till she saw it expire; + And now she is cold as death. + + She never will smile + All the lonesome while. + Oh the mile after mile, + And never a stile! + And never a tree or a stone! + She has not a tear: + Afar and anear + It is all so drear, + But she does not care, + Her heart is as dry as a bone. + + None to come near her! + No one to cheer her! + No one to jeer her! + No one to hear her! + Not a thing to lift and hold! + She is always awake, + But her heart will not break: + She can only quake, + Shiver, and shake: + The old woman is very cold. + +As strange as the song, was the crooning wailing tune that the wise +woman sung. At the first note almost, you would have thought she +wanted to frighten the princess; and so indeed she did. For when +people WILL be naughty, they have to be frightened, and they are not +expected to like it. The princess grew angry, pulled her hand away, +and cried,-- + +"YOU are the ugly old woman. I hate you!" + +Therewith she stood still, expecting the wise woman to stop also, +perhaps coax her to go on: if she did, she was determined not to +move a step. But the wise woman never even looked about: she kept +walking on steadily, the same space as before. Little Obstinate +thought for certain she would turn; for she regarded herself as much +too precious to be left behind. But on and on the wise woman went, +until she had vanished away in the dim moonlight. Then all at once +the princess perceived that she was left alone with the moon, +looking down on her from the height of her loneliness. She was +horribly frightened, and began to run after the wise woman, calling +aloud. But the song she had just heard came back to the sound of her +own running feet,-- + + All all alone, + Like a dog-picked bone! + +and again,-- + + She might call and shout, + And no one about + Would ever call back, "Who's there?" + +and she screamed as she ran. How she wished she knew the old woman's +name, that she might call it after her through the moonlight! + +But the wise woman had, in truth, heard the first sound of her +running feet, and stopped and turned, waiting. What with running and +crying, however, and a fall or two as she ran, the princess never +saw her until she fell right into her arms--and the same moment into +a fresh rage; for as soon as any trouble was over the princess was +always ready to begin another. The wise woman therefore pushed her +away, and walked on; while the princess ran scolding and storming +after her. She had to run till, from very fatigue, her rudeness +ceased. Her heart gave way; she burst into tears, and ran on +silently weeping. + +A minute more and the wise woman stooped, and lifting her in her +arms, folded her cloak around her. Instantly she fell asleep, and +slept as soft and as soundly as if she had been in her own bed. She +slept till the moon went down; she slept till the sun rose up; she +slept till he climbed the topmost sky; she slept till he went down +again, and the poor old moon came peaking and peering out once more: +and all that time the wise woman went walking on and on very fast. +And now they had reached a spot where a few fir-trees came to meet +them through the moonlight. + +At the same time the princess awaked, and popping her head out +between the folds of the wise woman's cloak--a very ugly little +owlet she looked--saw that they were entering the wood. Now there is +something awful about every wood, especially in the moonlight; and +perhaps a fir-wood is more awful than other woods. For one thing, it +lets a little more light through, rendering the darkness a little +more visible, as it were; and then the trees go stretching away up +towards the moon, and look as if they cared nothing about the +creatures below them--not like the broad trees with soft wide leaves +that, in the darkness even, look sheltering. So the princess is not +to be blamed that she was very much frightened. She is hardly to be +blamed either that, assured the wise woman was an ogress carrying +her to her castle to eat her up, she began again to kick and scream +violently, as those of my readers who are of the same sort as +herself will consider the right and natural thing to do. The wrong +in her was this--that she had led such a bad life, that she did not +know a good woman when she saw her; took her for one like herself, +even after she had slept in her arms. + +Immediately the wise woman set her down, and, walking on, within a +few paces vanished among the trees. Then the cries of the princess +rent the air, but the fir-trees never heeded her; not one of their +hard little needles gave a single shiver for all the noise she made. +But there were creatures in the forest who were soon quite as much +interested in her cries as the fir-trees were indifferent to them. +They began to hearken and howl and snuff about, and run hither and +thither, and grin with their white teeth, and light up the green +lamps in their eyes. In a minute or two a whole army of wolves and +hyenas were rushing from all quarters through the pillar like stems +of the fir-trees, to the place where she stood calling them, without +knowing it. The noise she made herself, however, prevented her from +hearing either their howls or the soft pattering of their many +trampling feet as they bounded over the fallen fir needles and +cones. + +One huge old wolf had outsped the rest--not that he could run +faster, but that from experience he could more exactly judge whence +the cries came, and as he shot through the wood, she caught sight at +last of his lamping eyes coming swiftly nearer and nearer. Terror +silenced her. She stood with her mouth open, as if she were going to +eat the wolf, but she had no breath to scream with, and her tongue +curled up in her mouth like a withered and frozen leaf. She could do +nothing but stare at the coming monster. And now he was taking a few +shorter bounds, measuring the distance for the one final leap that +should bring him upon her, when out stepped the wise woman from +behind the very tree by which she had set the princess down, caught +the wolf by the throat half-way in his last spring, shook him once, +and threw him from her dead. Then she turned towards the princess, +who flung herself into her arms, and was instantly lapped in the +folds of her cloak. + +But now the huge army of wolves and hyenas had rushed like a sea +around them, whose waves leaped with hoarse roar and hollow yell up +against the wise woman. But she, like a strong stately vessel, moved +unhurt through the midst of them. Ever as they leaped against her +cloak, they dropped and slunk away back through the crowd. Others +ever succeeded, and ever in their turn fell, and drew back +confounded. For some time she walked on attended and assailed on all +sides by the howling pack. Suddenly they turned and swept away, +vanishing in the depths of the forest. She neither slackened nor +hastened her step, but went walking on as before. + +In a little while she unfolded her cloak, and let the princess look +out. The firs had ceased; and they were on a lofty height of +moorland, stony and bare and dry, with tufts of heather and a few +small plants here and there. About the heath, on every side, lay the +forest, looking in the moonlight like a cloud; and above the forest, +like the shaven crown of a monk, rose the bare moor over which they +were walking. Presently, a little way in front of them, the princess +espied a whitewashed cottage, gleaming in the moon. As they came +nearer, she saw that the roof was covered with thatch, over which +the moss had grown green. It was a very simple, humble place, not in +the least terrible to look at, and yet, as soon as she saw it, her +fear again awoke, and always, as soon as her fear awoke, the trust +of the princess fell into a dead sleep. Foolish and useless as she +might by this time have known it, she once more began kicking and +screaming, whereupon, yet once more, the wise woman set her down on +the heath, a few yards from the back of the cottage, and saying +only, "No one ever gets into my house who does not knock at the +door, and ask to come in," disappeared round the corner of the +cottage, leaving the princess alone with the moon--two white faces +in the cone of the night. + + + + + + +III. + + + + + +The moon stared at the princess, and the princess stared at the +moon; but the moon had the best of it, and the princess began to +cry. And now the question was between the moon and the cottage. The +princess thought she knew the worst of the moon, and she knew +nothing at all about the cottage, therefore she would stay with the +moon. Strange, was it not, that she should have been so long with +the wise woman, and yet know NOTHING about that cottage? As for the +moon, she did not by any means know the worst of her, or even, that, +if she were to fall asleep where she could find her, the old witch +would certainly do her best to twist her face. + +But she had scarcely sat a moment longer before she was assailed by +all sorts of fresh fears. First of all, the soft wind blowing gently +through the dry stalks of the heather and its thousands of little +bells raised a sweet rustling, which the princess took for the +hissing of serpents, for you know she had been naughty for so long +that she could not in a great many things tell the good from the +bad. Then nobody could deny that there, all round about the heath, +like a ring of darkness, lay the gloomy fir-wood, and the princess +knew what it was full of, and every now and then she thought she +heard the howling of its wolves and hyenas. And who could tell but +some of them might break from their covert and sweep like a shadow +across the heath? Indeed, it was not once nor twice that for a +moment she was fully persuaded she saw a great beast coming leaping +and bounding through the moonlight to have her all to himself. She +did not know that not a single evil creature dared set foot on that +heath, or that, if one should do so, it would that instant wither up +and cease. If an army of them had rushed to invade it, it would have +melted away on the edge of it, and ceased like a dying wave.--She +even imagined that the moon was slowly coming nearer and nearer down +the sky to take her and freeze her to death in her arms. The wise +woman, too, she felt sure, although her cottage looked asleep, was +watching her at some little window. In this, however, she would have +been quite right, if she had only imagined enough--namely, that the +wise woman was watching OVER her from the little window. But after +all, somehow, the thought of the wise woman was less frightful than +that of any of her other terrors, and at length she began to wonder +whether it the moonlight to have her all to himself. She did not +know that not a single evil creature dared set foot on that heath, +or that, if one should do so, it would that instant wither up and +cease. If an army of them had rushed to invade it, it would have +melted away on the edge of it, and ceased like a dying wave.--She +even imagined that the moon was slowly coming nearer and nearer down +the sky to take her and freeze her to death in her arms. The wise +woman, too, she felt sure, although her cottage looked asleep, was +watching her at some little window. In this, however, she would have +been quite right, if she had only imagined enough--namely, that the +wise woman was watching OVER her from the little window. But after +all, somehow, the thought of the wise woman was less frightful than +that of any of her other terrors, and at length she began to wonder +whether it her sadly through her gay silken slippers. She threw +herself on the heath, which came up to the walls of the cottage on +every side, and roared and screamed with rage. Suddenly, however, +she remembered how her screaming had brought the horde of wolves and +hyenas about her in the forest, and, ceasing at once, lay still, +gazing yet again at the moon. And then came the thought of her +parents in the palace at home. In her mind's eye she saw her mother +sitting at her embroidery with the tears dropping upon it, and her +father staring into the fire as if he were looking for her in its +glowing caverns. It is true that if they had both been in tears by +her side because of her naughtiness, she would not have cared a +straw; but now her own forlorn condition somehow helped her to +understand their grief at having lost her, and not only a great +longing to be back in her comfortable home, but a feeble flutter of +genuine love for her parents awoke in her heart as well, and she +burst into real tears--soft, mournful tears--very different from +those of rage and disappointment to which she was so much used. And +another very remarkable thing was that the moment she began to love +her father and mother, she began to wish to see the wise woman +again. The idea of her being an ogress vanished utterly, and she +thought of her only as one to take her in from the moon, and the +loneliness, and the terrors of the forest-haunted heath, and hide +her in a cottage with not even a door for the horrid wolves to howl +against. + +But the old woman--as the princess called her, not knowing that her +real name was the Wise Woman--had told her that she must knock at +the door: how was she to do that when there was no door? But again +she bethought herself--that, if she could not do all she was told, +she could, at least, do a part of it: if she could not knock at the +door, she could at least knock--say on the wall, for there was +nothing else to knock upon--and perhaps the old woman would hear +her, and lift her in by some window. Thereupon, she rose at once to +her feet, and picking up a stone, began to knock on the wall with +it. A loud noise was the result, and she found she was knocking on +the very door itself. For a moment she feared the old woman would be +offended, but the next, there came a voice, saying, + +"Who is there?" + +The princess answered, + +"Please, old woman, I did not mean to knock so loud." + +To this there came no reply. + +Then the princess knocked again, this time with her knuckles, and +the voice came again, saying, + +"Who is there?" + +And the princess answered, + +"Rosamond." + +Then a second time there was silence. But the princess soon ventured +to knock a third time. + +"What do you want?" said the voice. + +"Oh, please, let me in!" said the princess. + +"The moon will keep staring at me; and I hear the wolves in the +wood." + +Then the door opened, and the princess entered. She looked all +around, but saw nothing of the wise woman. + +It was a single bare little room, with a white deal table, and a few +old wooden chairs, a fire of fir-wood on the hearth, the smoke of +which smelt sweet, and a patch of thick-growing heath in one +corner. Poor as it was, compared to the grand place Rosamond had +left, she felt no little satisfaction as she shut the door, and +looked around her. And what with the sufferings and terrors she had +left outside, the new kind of tears she had shed, the love she had +begun to feel for her parents, and the trust she had begun to place +in the wise woman, it seemed to her as if her soul had grown larger +of a sudden, and she had left the days of her childishness and +naughtiness far behind her. People are so ready to think themselves +changed when it is only their mood that is changed! Those who are +good-tempered because it is a fine day, will be ill-tempered when it +rains: their selves are just the same both days; only in the one +case, the fine weather has got into them, in the other the rainy. +Rosamond, as she sat warming herself by the glow of the peat-fire, +turning over in her mind all that had passed, and feeling how +pleasant the change in her feelings was, began by degrees to think +how very good she had grown, and how very good she was to have grown +good, and how extremely good she must always have been that she was +able to grow so very good as she now felt she had grown; and she +became so absorbed in her self-admiration as never to notice either +that the fire was dying, or that a heap of fir-cones lay in a corner +near it. Suddenly, a great wind came roaring down the chimney, and +scattered the ashes about the floor; a tremendous rain followed, and +fell hissing on the embers; the moon was swallowed up, and there was +darkness all about her. Then a flash of lightning, followed by a +peal of thunder, so terrified the princess, that she cried aloud for +the old woman, but there came no answer to her cry. + +Then in her terror the princess grew angry, and saying to herself, +"She must be somewhere in the place, else who was there to open the +door to me?" began to shout and yell, and call the wise woman all +the bad names she had been in the habit of throwing at her nurses. +But there came not a single sound in reply. + +Strange to say, the princess never thought of telling herself now +how naughty she was, though that would surely have been reasonable. +On the contrary, she thought she had a perfect right to be angry, +for was she not most desperately ill used--and a princess too? But +the wind howled on, and the rain kept pouring down the chimney, and +every now and then the lightning burst out, and the thunder rushed +after it, as if the great lumbering sound could ever think to catch +up with the swift light! + +At length the princess had again grown so angry, frightened, and +miserable, all together, that she jumped up and hurried about the +cottage with outstretched arms, trying to find the wise woman. But +being in a bad temper always makes people stupid, and presently she +struck her forehead such a blow against something--she thought +herself it felt like the old woman's cloak--that she fell back--not +on the floor, though, but on the patch of heather, which felt as +soft and pleasant as any bed in the palace. There, worn out with +weeping and rage, she soon fell fast asleep. + +She dreamed that she was the old cold woman up in the sky, with no +home and no friends, and no nothing at all, not even a pocket; +wandering, wandering forever, over a desert of blue sand, never to +get to anywhere, and never to lie down or die. It was no use +stopping to look about her, for what had she to do but forever look +about her as she went on and on and on--never seeing any thing, and +never expecting to see any thing! The only shadow of a hope she had +was, that she might by slow degrees grow thinner and thinner, until +at last she wore away to nothing at all; only alas! she could not +detect the least sign that she had yet begun to grow thinner. The +hopelessness grew at length so unendurable that she woke with a +start. Seeing the face of the wise woman bending over her, she threw +her arms around her neck and held up her mouth to be kissed. And the +kiss of the wise woman was like the rose-gardens of Damascus. + + + + + + +IV. + + + + + +The wise woman lifted her tenderly, and washed and dressed her far +more carefully than even her nurse. Then she set her down by the +fire, and prepared her breakfast. The princess was very hungry, and +the bread and milk as good as it could be, so that she thought she +had never in her life eaten any thing nicer. Nevertheless, as soon +as she began to have enough, she said to herself,-- + +"Ha! I see how it is! The old woman wants to fatten me! That is why +she gives me such nice creamy milk. She doesn't kill me now because +she's going to kill me then! She IS an ogress, after all!" + +Thereupon she laid down her spoon, and would not eat another +mouthful--only followed the basin with longing looks, as the wise +woman carried it away. + +When she stopped eating, her hostess knew exactly what she was +thinking; but it was one thing to understand the princess, and quite +another to make the princess understand her: that would require +time. For the present she took no notice, but went about the affairs +of the house, sweeping the floor, brushing down the cobwebs, +cleaning the hearth, dusting the table and chairs, and watering the +bed to keep it fresh and alive--for she never had more than one +guest at a time, and never would allow that guest to go to sleep +upon any thing that had no life in it All the time she was thus +busied, she spoke not a word to the princess, which, with the +princess, went to confirm her notion of her purposes. But whatever +she might have said would have been only perverted by the princess +into yet stronger proof of her evil designs, for a fancy in her own +head would outweigh any multitude of facts in another's. She kept +staring at the fire, and never looked round to see what the wise +woman might be doing. + +By and by she came close up to the back of her chair, and said, + +"Rosamond!" + +But the princess had fallen into one of her sulky moods, and shut +herself up with her own ugly Somebody; so she never looked round or +even answered the wise woman. + +"Rosamond," she repeated, "I am going out. If you are a good girl, +that is, if you do as I tell you, I will carry you back to your +father and mother the moment I return." + +The princess did not take the least notice. + +"Look at me, Rosamond," said the wise woman. + +But Rosamond never moved--never even shrugged her shoulders--perhaps +because they were already up to her ears, and could go no farther. + +"I want to help you to do what I tell you," said the wise woman. +"Look at me." + +Still Rosamond was motionless and silent, saying only to herself, + +"I know what she's after! She wants to show me her horrid teeth. But +I won't look. I'm not going to be frightened out of my senses to +please her." + +"You had better look, Rosamond. Have you forgotten how you kissed me +this morning?" + +But Rosamond now regarded that little throb of affection as a +momentary weakness into which the deceitful ogress had betrayed her, +and almost despised herself for it. She was one of those who the +more they are coaxed are the more disagreeable. For such, the wise +woman had an awful punishment, but she remembered that the princess +had been very ill brought up, and therefore wished to try her with +all gentleness first. + +She stood silent for a moment, to see what effect her words might +have. But Rosamond only said to herself,-- + +"She wants to fatten and eat me." + +And it was such a little while since she had looked into the wise +woman's loving eyes, thrown her arms round her neck, and kissed her! + +"Well," said the wise woman gently, after pausing as long as it +seemed possible she might bethink herself, "I must tell you then +without; only whoever listens with her back turned, listens but +half, and gets but half the help." + +"She wants to fatten me," said the princess. + +"You must keep the cottage tidy while I am out. When I come back, I +must see the fire bright, the hearth swept, and the kettle boiling; +no dust on the table or chairs, the windows clear, the floor clean, +and the heather in blossom--which last comes of sprinkling it with +water three times a day. When you are hungry, put your hand into +that hole in the wall, and you will find a meal." + +"She wants to fatten me," said the princess. + +"But on no account leave the house till I come back," continued the +wise woman, "or you will grievously repent it. Remember what you +have already gone through to reach it. Dangers lie all around this +cottage of mine; but inside, it is the safest place--in fact the +only quite safe place in all the country." + +"She means to eat me," said the princess, "and therefore wants to +frighten me from running away." + +She heard the voice no more. Then, suddenly startled at the thought +of being alone, she looked hastily over her shoulder. The cottage +was indeed empty of all visible life. It was soundless, too: there +was not even a ticking clock or a flapping flame. The fire burned +still and smouldering-wise; but it was all the company she had, and +she turned again to stare into it. + +Soon she began to grow weary of having nothing to do. Then she +remembered that the old woman, as she called her, had told her to +keep the house tidy. + +"The miserable little pig-sty!" she said. "Where's the use of +keeping such a hovel clean!" + +But in truth she would have been glad of the employment, only just +because she had been told to do it, she was unwilling; for there ARE +people--however unlikely it may seem--who object to doing a thing +for no other reason than that it is required of them. + +"I am a princess," she said, "and it is very improper to ask me to +do such a thing." + +She might have judged it quite as suitable for a princess to sweep +away the dust as to sit the centre of a world of dirt. But just +because she ought, she wouldn't. Perhaps she feared that if she gave +in to doing her duty once, she might have to do it always--which +was true enough--for that was the very thing for which she had been +specially born. + +Unable, however, to feel quite comfortable in the resolve to neglect +it, she said to herself, "I'm sure there's time enough for such a +nasty job as that!" and sat on, watching the fire as it burned away, +the glowing red casting off white flakes, and sinking lower and +lower on the hearth. + +By and by, merely for want of something to do, she would see what +the old woman had left for her in the hole of the wall. But when she +put in her hand she found nothing there, except the dust which she +ought by this time to have wiped away. Never reflecting that the +wise woman had told her she would find food there WHEN SHE WAS +HUNGRY, she flew into one of her furies, calling her a cheat, and a +thief, and a liar, and an ugly old witch, and an ogress, and I do +not know how many wicked names besides. She raged until she was +quite exhausted, and then fell fast asleep on her chair. When she +awoke the fire was out. + +By this time she was hungry; but without looking in the hole, she +began again to storm at the wise woman, in which labor she would no +doubt have once more exhausted herself, had not something white +caught her eye: it was the corner of a napkin hanging from the hole +in the wall. She bounded to it, and there was a dinner for her of +something strangely good--one of her favorite dishes, only better +than she had ever tasted it before. This might surely have at least +changed her mood towards the wise woman; but she only grumbled to +herself that it was as it ought to be, ate up the food, and lay down +on the bed, never thinking of fire, or dust, or water for the +heather. + +The wind began to moan about the cottage, and grew louder and +louder, till a great gust came down the chimney, and again scattered +the white ashes all over the place. But the princess was by this +time fast asleep, and never woke till the wind had sunk to silence. +One of the consequences, however, of sleeping when one ought to be +awake is waking when one ought to be asleep; and the princess awoke +in the black midnight, and found enough to keep her awake. For +although the wind had fallen, there was a far more terrible howling +than that of the wildest wind all about the cottage. Nor was the +howling all; the air was full of strange cries; and everywhere she +heard the noise of claws scratching against the house, which seemed +all doors and windows, so crowded were the sounds, and from so many +directions. All the night long she lay half swooning, yet listening +to the hideous noises. But with the first glimmer of morning they +ceased. + +Then she said to herself, "How fortunate it was that I woke! They +would have eaten me up if I had been asleep." The miserable little +wretch actually talked as if she had kept them out! If she had done +her work in the day, she would have slept through the terrors of the +darkness, and awaked fearless; whereas now, she had in the +storehouse of her heart a whole harvest of agonies, reaped from the +dun fields of the night! + +They were neither wolves nor hyenas which had caused her such +dismay, but creatures of the air, more frightful still, which, as +soon as the smoke of the burning fir-wood ceased to spread itself +abroad, and the sun was a sufficient distance down the sky, and the +lone cold woman was out, came flying and howling about the cottage, +trying to get in at every door and window. Down the chimney they +would have got, but that at the heart of the fire there always lay a +certain fir-cone, which looked like solid gold red-hot, and which, +although it might easily get covered up with ashes, so as to be +quite invisible, was continually in a glow fit to kindle all the +fir-cones in the world; this it was which had kept the horrible +birds--some say they have a claw at the tip of every +wing-feather--from tearing the poor naughty princess to pieces, and +gobbling her up. + +When she rose and looked about her, she was dismayed to see what a +state the cottage was in. The fire was out, and the windows were all +dim with the wings and claws of the dirty birds, while the bed from +which she had just risen was brown and withered, and half its purple +bells had fallen. But she consoled herself that she could set all to +rights in a few minutes--only she must breakfast first. And, sure +enough, there was a basin of the delicious bread and milk ready for +her in the hole of the wall! + +After she had eaten it, she felt comfortable, and sat for a long +time building castles in the air--till she was actually hungry +again, without having done an atom of work. She ate again, and was +idle again, and ate again. Then it grew dark, and she went trembling +to bed, for now she remembered the horrors of the last night. This +time she never slept at all, but spent the long hours in grievous +terror, for the noises were worse than before. She vowed she would +not pass another night in such a hateful haunted old shed for all +the ugly women, witches, and ogresses in the wide world. In the +morning, however, she fell asleep, and slept late. + +Breakfast was of course her first thought, after which she could not +avoid that of work. It made her very miserable, but she feared the +consequences of being found with it undone. A few minutes before +noon, she actually got up, took her pinafore for a duster, and +proceeded to dust the table. But the wood-ashes flew about so, that +it seemed useless to attempt getting rid of them, and she sat down +again to think what was to be done. But there is very little indeed +to be done when we will not do that which we have to do. + +Her first thought now was to run away at once while the sun was +high, and get through the forest before night came on. She fancied +she could easily go back the way she had come, and get home to her +father's palace. But not the most experienced traveller in the world +can ever go back the way the wise woman has brought him. + +She got up and went to the door. It was locked! What could the old +woman have meant by telling her not to leave the cottage? She was +indignant. + +The wise woman had meant to make it difficult, but not impossible. +Before the princess, however, could find the way out, she heard a +hand at the door, and darted in terror behind it. The wise woman +opened it, and, leaving it open, walked straight to the hearth. +Rosamond immediately slid out, ran a little way, and then laid +herself down in the long heather. + + + + + + +V. + + + + + +The wise woman walked straight up to the hearth, looked at the fire, +looked at the bed, glanced round the room, and went up to the table. +When she saw the one streak in the thick dust which the princess had +left there, a smile, half sad, half pleased, like the sun peeping +through a cloud on a rainy day in spring, gleamed over her face. She +went at once to the door, and called in a loud voice, + +"Rosamond, come to me." + +All the wolves and hyenas, fast asleep in the wood, heard her voice, +and shivered in their dreams. No wonder then that the princess +trembled, and found herself compelled, she could not understand how, +to obey the summons. She rose, like the guilty thing she felt, +forsook of herself the hiding-place she had chosen, and walked +slowly back to the cottage she had left full of the signs of her +shame. When she entered, she saw the wise woman on her knees, +building up the fire with fir-cones. Already the flame was climbing +through the heap in all directions, crackling gently, and sending a +sweet aromatic odor through the dusty cottage. + +"That is my part of the work," she said, rising. "Now you do yours. +But first let me remind you that if you had not put it off, you +would have found it not only far easier, but by and by quite +pleasant work, much more pleasant than you can imagine now; nor +would you have found the time go wearily: you would neither have +slept in the day and let the fire out, nor waked at night and heard +the howling of the beast-birds. More than all, you would have been +glad to see me when I came back; and would have leaped into my arms +instead of standing there, looking so ugly and foolish." + +As she spoke, suddenly she held up before the princess a tiny +mirror, so clear that nobody looking into it could tell what it was +made of, or even see it at all--only the thing reflected in it. +Rosamond saw a child with dirty fat cheeks, greedy mouth, cowardly +eyes--which, not daring to look forward, seemed trying to hide +behind an impertinent nose--stooping shoulders, tangled hair, +tattered clothes, and smears and stains everywhere. That was what +she had made herself. And to tell the truth, she was shocked at the +sight, and immediately began, in her dirty heart, to lay the blame +on the wise woman, because she had taken her away from her nurses +and her fine clothes; while all the time she knew well enough that, +close by the heather-bed, was the loveliest little well, just big +enough to wash in, the water of which was always springing fresh +from the ground, and running away through the wall. Beside it lay +the whitest of linen towels, with a comb made of mother-of-pearl, +and a brush of fir-needles, any one of which she had been far too +lazy to use. She dashed the glass out of the wise woman's hand, and +there it lay, broken into a thousand pieces! + +Without a word, the wise woman stooped, and gathered the +fragments--did not leave searching until she had gathered the last +atom, and she laid them all carefully, one by one, in the fire, now +blazing high on the hearth. Then she stood up and looked at the +princess, who had been watching her sulkily. + +"Rosamond," she said, with a countenance awful in its sternness, +"until you have cleansed this room--" + +"She calls it a room!" sneered the princess to herself. + +"You shall have no morsel to eat. You may drink of the well, but +nothing else you shall have. When the work I set you is done, you +will find food in the same place as before. I am going from home +again; and again I warn you not to leave the house." + +"She calls it a house!--It's a good thing she's going out of it +anyhow!" said the princess, turning her back for mere rudeness, for +she was one who, even if she liked a thing before, would dislike it +the moment any person in authority over her desired her to do it. + +When she looked again, the wise woman had vanished. + +Thereupon the princess ran at once to the door, and tried to open +it; but open it would not. She searched on all sides, but could +discover no way of getting out. The windows would not open--at least +she could not open them; and the only outlet seemed the chimney, +which she was afraid to try because of the fire, which looked angry, +she thought, and shot out green flames when she went near it. So she +sat down to consider. One may well wonder what room for +consideration there was--with all her work lying undone behind her. +She sat thus, however, considering, as she called it, until hunger +began to sting her, when she jumped up and put her hand as usual in +the hole of the wall: there was nothing there. She fell straight +into one of her stupid rages; but neither her hunger nor the hole in +the wall heeded her rage. Then, in a burst of self-pity, she fell +a-weeping, but neither the hunger nor the hole cared for her tears. +The darkness began to come on, and her hunger grew and grew, and the +terror of the wild noises of the last night invaded her. Then she +began to feel cold, and saw that the fire was dying. She darted to +the heap of cones, and fed it. It blazed up cheerily, and she was +comforted a little. Then she thought with herself it would surely be +better to give in so far, and do a little work, than die of hunger. +So catching up a duster, she began upon the table. The dust flew +about and nearly choked her. She ran to the well to drink, and was +refreshed and encouraged. Perceiving now that it was a tedious plan +to wipe the dust from the table on to the floor, whence it would +have all to be swept up again, she got a wooden platter, wiped the +dust into that, carried it to the fire, and threw it in. But all the +time she was getting more and more hungry and, although she tried +the hole again and again, it was only to become more and more +certain that work she must if she would eat. + +At length all the furniture was dusted, and she began to sweep the +floor, which happily, she thought of sprinkling with water, as from +the window she had seen them do to the marble court of the palace. +That swept, she rushed again to the hole--but still no food! She was +on the verge of another rage, when the thought came that she might +have forgotten something. To her dismay she found that table and +chairs and every thing was again covered with dust--not so badly as +before, however. Again she set to work, driven by hunger, and drawn +by the hope of eating, and yet again, after a second careful wiping, +sought the hole. But no! nothing was there for her! What could it +mean? + +Her asking this question was a sign of progress: it showed that she +expected the wise woman to keep her word. Then she bethought her +that she had forgotten the household utensils, and the dishes and +plates, some of which wanted to be washed as well as dusted. + +Faint with hunger, she set to work yet again. One thing made her +think of another, until at length she had cleaned every thing she +could think of. Now surely she must find some food in the hole! + +When this time also there was nothing, she began once more to abuse +the wise woman as false and treacherous;--but ah! there was the bed +unwatered! That was soon amended.--Still no supper! Ah! there was +the hearth unswept, and the fire wanted making up!--Still no +supper! What else could there be? She was at her wits' end, and in +very weariness, not laziness this time, sat down and gazed into the +fire. There, as she gazed, she spied something brilliant,--shining +even, in the midst of the fire: it was the little mirror all whole +again; but little she knew that the dust which she had thrown into +the fire had helped to heal it. She drew it out carefully, and, +looking into it, saw, not indeed the ugly creature she had seen +there before, but still a very dirty little animal; whereupon she +hurried to the well, took off her clothes, plunged into it, and +washed herself clean. Then she brushed and combed her hair, made her +clothes as tidy as might be, and ran to the hole in the wall: there +was a huge basin of bread and milk! + +Never had she eaten any thing with half the relish! Alas! however, +when she had finished, she did not wash the basin, but left it as it +was, revealing how entirely all the rest had been done only from +hunger. Then she threw herself on the heather, and was fast asleep +in a moment. Never an evil bird came near her all that night, nor +had she so much as one troubled dream. + +In the morning as she lay awake before getting up, she spied what +seemed a door behind the tall eight-day clock that stood silent in +the corner. + +"Ah!" she thought, "that must be the way out!" and got up instantly. +The first thing she did, however, was to go to the hole in the wall. +Nothing was there. + +"Well, I am hardly used!" she cried aloud. "All that cleaning for +the cross old woman yesterday, and this for my trouble,--nothing for +breakfast! Not even a crust of bread! Does Mistress Ogress fancy a +princess will bear that?" + +The poor foolish creature seemed to think that the work of one day +ought to serve for the next day too! But that is nowhere the way in +the whole universe. How could there be a universe in that case? And +even she never dreamed of applying the same rule to her breakfast. + +"How good I was all yesterday!" she said, "and how hungry and ill +used I am to-day!" + +But she would NOT be a slave, and do over again to-day what she had +done only last night! SHE didn't care about her breakfast! She might +have it no doubt if she dusted all the wretched place again, but she +was not going to do that--at least, without seeing first what lay +behind the clock! + +Off she darted, and putting her hand behind the clock found the +latch of a door. It lifted, and the door opened a little way. By +squeezing hard, she managed to get behind the clock, and so through +the door. But how she stared, when instead of the open heath, she +found herself on the marble floor of a large and stately room, +lighted only from above. Its walls were strengthened by pilasters, +and in every space between was a large picture, from cornice to +floor. She did not know what to make of it. Surely she had run all +round the cottage, and certainly had seen nothing of this size near +it! She forgot that she had also run round what she took for a +hay-mow, a peat-stack, and several other things which looked of no +consequence in the moonlight. + +"So, then," she cried, "the old woman IS a cheat! I believe she's an +ogress, after all, and lives in a palace--though she pretends it's +only a cottage, to keep people from suspecting that she eats good +little children like me!" + +Had the princess been tolerably tractable, she would, by this time, +have known a good deal about the wise woman's beautiful house, +whereas she had never till now got farther than the porch. Neither +was she at all in its innermost places now. + +But, king's daughter as she was, she was not a little daunted when, +stepping forward from the recess of the door, she saw what a great +lordly hall it was. She dared hardly look to the other end, it +seemed so far off: so she began to gaze at the things near her, and +the pictures first of all, for she had a great liking for pictures. +One in particular attracted her attention. She came back to it +several times, and at length stood absorbed in it. + +A blue summer sky, with white fleecy clouds floating beneath it, +hung over a hill green to the very top, and alive with streams +darting down its sides toward the valley below. On the face of the +hill strayed a flock of sheep feeding, attended by a shepherd and +two dogs. A little way apart, a girl stood with bare feet in a +brook, building across it a bridge of rough stones. The wind was +blowing her hair back from her rosy face. A lamb was feeding close +beside her; and a sheepdog was trying to reach her hand to lick it. + +"Oh, how I wish I were that little girl!" said the princess aloud. +"I wonder how it is that some people are made to be so much happier +than others! If I were that little girl, no one would ever call me +naughty." + +She gazed and gazed at the picture. At length she said to herself, + +"I do not believe it is a picture. It is the real country, with a +real hill, and a real little girl upon it. I shall soon see whether +this isn't another of the old witch's cheats!" + +She went close up to the picture, lifted her foot, and stepped over +the frame. + +"I am free, I am free!" she exclaimed; and she felt the wind upon +her cheek. + +The sound of a closing door struck on her ear. She turned--and there +was a blank wall, without door or window, behind her. The hill with +the sheep was before her, and she set out at once to reach it. + +Now, if I am asked how this could be, I can only answer, that it was +a result of the interaction of things outside and things inside, of +the wise woman's skill, and the silly child's folly. If this does +not satisfy my questioner, I can only add, that the wise woman was +able to do far more wonderful things than this. + + + + + + +VI. + + + + + +Meantime the wise woman was busy as she always was; and her business +now was with the child of the shepherd and shepherdess, away in the +north. Her name was Agnes. + +Her father and mother were poor, and could not give her many things. +Rosamond would have utterly despised the rude, simple playthings she +had. Yet in one respect they were of more value far than hers: the +king bought Rosamond's with his money; Agnes's father made hers with +his hands. + +And while Agnes had but few things--not seeing many things about +her, and not even knowing that there were many things anywhere, she +did not wish for many things, and was therefore neither covetous nor +avaricious. + +She played with the toys her father made her, and thought them the +most wonderful things in the world--windmills, and little crooks, +and water-wheels, and sometimes lambs made all of wool, and dolls +made out of the leg-bones of sheep, which her mother dressed for +her; and of such playthings she was never tired. Sometimes, however, +she preferred playing with stones, which were plentiful, and +flowers, which were few, or the brooks that ran down the hill, of +which, although they were many, she could only play with one at a +time, and that, indeed, troubled her a little--or live lambs that +were not all wool, or the sheep-dogs, which were very friendly with +her, and the best of playfellows, as she thought, for she had no +human ones to compare them with. Neither was she greedy after nice +things, but content, as well she might be, with the homely food +provided for her. Nor was she by nature particularly self-willed or +disobedient; she generally did what her father and mother wished, +and believed what they told her. But by degrees they had spoiled +her; and this was the way: they were so proud of her that they +always repeated every thing she said, and told every thing she did, +even when she was present; and so full of admiration of their child +were they, that they wondered and laughed at and praised things in +her which in another child would never have struck them as the least +remarkable, and some things even which would in another have +disgusted them altogether. Impertinent and rude things done by THEIR +child they thought SO clever! laughing at them as something quite +marvellous; her commonplace speeches were said over again as if they +had been the finest poetry; and the pretty ways which every +moderately good child has were extolled as if the result of her +excellent taste, and the choice of her judgment and will. They would +even say sometimes that she ought not to hear her own praises for +fear it should make her vain, and then whisper them behind their +hands, but so loud that she could not fail to hear every word. The +consequence was that she soon came to believe--so soon, that she +could not recall the time when she did not believe, as the most +absolute fact in the universe, that she was SOMEBODY; that is, she +became most immoderately conceited. + +Now as the least atom of conceit is a thing to be ashamed of, you +may fancy what she was like with such a quantity of it inside her! + +At first it did not show itself outside in any very active form; but +the wise woman had been to the cottage, and had seen her sitting +alone, with such a smile of self-satisfaction upon her face as would +have been quite startling to her, if she had ever been startled at +any thing; for through that smile she could see lying at the root of +it the worm that made it. For some smiles are like the ruddiness of +certain apples, which is owing to a centipede, or other creeping +thing, coiled up at the heart of them. Only her worm had a face and +shape the very image of her own; and she looked so simpering, and +mawkish, and self-conscious, and silly, that she made the wise woman +feel rather sick. + +Not that the child was a fool. Had she been, the wise woman would +have only pitied and loved her, instead of feeling sick when she +looked at her. She had very fair abilities, and were she once but +made humble, would be capable not only of doing a good deal in time, +but of beginning at once to grow to no end. But, if she were not +made humble, her growing would be to a mass of distorted shapes all +huddled together; so that, although the body she now showed might +grow up straight and well-shaped and comely to behold, the new body +that was growing inside of it, and would come out of it when she +died, would be ugly, and crooked this way and that, like an aged +hawthorn that has lived hundreds of years exposed upon all sides to +salt sea-winds. + +As time went on, this disease of self-conceit went on too, gradually +devouring the good that was in her. For there is no fault that does +not bring its brothers and sisters and cousins to live with it. By +degrees, from thinking herself so clever, she came to fancy that +whatever seemed to her, must of course be the correct judgment, and +whatever she wished, the right thing; and grew so obstinate, that at +length her parents feared to thwart her in any thing, knowing well +that she would never give in. But there are victories far worse than +defeats; and to overcome an angel too gentle to put out all his +strength, and ride away in triumph on the back of a devil, is one of +the poorest. + +So long as she was left to take her own way and do as she would, she +gave her parents little trouble. She would play about by herself in +the little garden with its few hardy flowers, or amongst the heather +where the bees were busy; or she would wander away amongst the +hills, and be nobody knew where, sometimes from morning to night; +nor did her parents venture to find fault with her. + +She never went into rages like the princess, and would have thought +Rosamond--oh, so ugly and vile! if she had seen her in one of her +passions. But she was no better, for all that, and was quite as ugly +in the eyes of the wise woman, who could not only see but read her +face. What is there to choose between a face distorted to +hideousness by anger, and one distorted to silliness by +self-complacency? True, there is more hope of helping the angry +child out of her form of selfishness than the conceited child out of +hers; but on the other hand, the conceited child was not so terrible +or dangerous as the wrathful one. The conceited one, however, was +sometimes very angry, and then her anger was more spiteful than the +other's; and, again, the wrathful one was often very conceited too. +So that, on the whole, of two very unpleasant creatures, I would say +that the king's daughter would have been the worse, had not the +shepherd's been quite as bad. But, as I have said, the wise woman +had her eye upon her: she saw that something special must be done, +else she would be one of those who kneel to their own shadows till +feet grow on their knees; then go down on their hands till their +hands grow into feet; then lay their faces on the ground till they +grow into snouts; when at last they are a hideous sort of lizards, +each of which believes himself the best, wisest, and loveliest being +in the world, yea, the very centre of the universe. And so they run +about forever looking for their own shadows, that they may worship +them, and miserable because they cannot find them, being themselves +too near the ground to have any shadows; and what becomes of them at +last there is but one who knows. + +The wise woman, therefore, one day walked up to the door of the +shepherd's cottage, dressed like a poor woman, and asked for a drink +of water. The shepherd's wife looked at her, liked her, and brought +her a cup of milk. The wise woman took it, for she made it a rule to +accept every kindness that was offered her. + +Agnes was not by nature a greedy girl, as I have said; but +self-conceit will go far to generate every other vice under the sun. +Vanity, which is a form of self-conceit, has repeatedly shown itself +as the deepest feeling in the heart of a horrible murderess. + +That morning, at breakfast, her mother had stinted her in milk--just +a little--that she might have enough to make some milk-porridge for +their dinner. Agnes did not mind it at the time, but when she saw +the milk now given to a beggar, as she called the wise +woman--though, surely, one might ask a draught of water, and accept +a draught of milk, without being a beggar in any such sense as +Agnes's contemptuous use of the word implied--a cloud came upon her +forehead, and a double vertical wrinkle settled over her nose. The +wise woman saw it, for all her business was with Agnes though she +little knew it, and, rising, went and offered the cup to the child, +where she sat with her knitting in a corner. Agnes looked at it, did +not want it, was inclined to refuse it from a beggar, but thinking +it would show her consequence to assert her rights, took it and +drank it up. For whoever is possessed by a devil, judges with the +mind of that devil; and hence Agnes was guilty of such a meanness as +many who are themselves capable of something just as bad will +consider incredible. + +The wise woman waited till she had finished it--then, looking into +the empty cup, said: + +"You might have given me back as much as you had no claim upon!" + +Agnes turned away and made no answer--far less from shame than +indignation. + +The wise woman looked at the mother. + +"You should not have offered it to her if you did not mean her to +have it," said the mother, siding with the devil in her child +against the wise woman and her child too. Some foolish people think +they take another's part when they take the part he takes. + +The wise woman said nothing, but fixed her eyes upon her, and soon +the mother hid her face in her apron weeping. Then she turned again +to Agnes, who had never looked round but sat with her back to both, +and suddenly lapped her in the folds of her cloak. When the mother +again lifted her eyes, she had vanished. + +Never supposing she had carried away her child, but uncomfortable +because of what she had said to the poor woman, the mother went to +the door, and called after her as she toiled slowly up the hill. But +she never turned her head; and the mother went back into her +cottage. + +The wise woman walked close past the shepherd and his dogs, and +through the midst of his flock of sheep. The shepherd wondered where +she could be going--right up the hill. There was something strange +about her too, he thought; and he followed her with his eyes as she +went up and up. + +It was near sunset, and as the sun went down, a gray cloud settted +on the top of the mountain, which his last rays turned into a rosy +gold. Straight into this cloud the shepherd saw the woman hold her +pace, and in it she vanished. He little imagined that his child was +under her cloak. + +He went home as usual in the evening, but Agnes had not come in. +They were accustomed to such an absence now and then, and were not +at first frightened; but when it grew dark and she did not appear, +the husband set out with his dogs in one direction, and the wife in +another, to seek their child. Morning came and they had not found +her. Then the whole country-side arose to search for the missing +Agnes; but day after day and night after night passed, and nothing +was discovered of or concerning her, until at length all gave up the +search in despair except the mother, although she was nearly +convinced now that the poor woman had carried her off. + +One day she had wandered some distance from her cottage, thinking +she might come upon the remains of her daughter at the foot of some +cliff, when she came suddenly, instead, upon a disconsolate-looking +creature sitting on a stone by the side of a stream. + +Her hair hung in tangles from her head; her clothes were tattered, +and through the rents her skin showed in many places; her cheeks +were white, and worn thin with hunger; the hollows were dark under +her eyes, and they stood out scared and wild. When she caught sight +of the shepherdess, she jumped to her feet, and would have run away, +but fell down in a faint. + +At first sight the mother had taken her for her own child, but now +she saw, with a pang of disappointment, that she had mistaken. Full +of compassion, nevertheless, she said to herself: + +"If she is not my Agnes, she is as much in need of help as if she +were. If I cannot be good to my own, I will be as good as I can to +some other woman's; and though I should scorn to be consoled for the +loss of one by the presence of another, I yet may find some gladness +in rescuing one child from the death which has taken the other." + +Perhaps her words were not just like these, but her thoughts were. +She took up the child, and carried her home. And this is how +Rosamond came to occupy the place of the little girl whom she had +envied in the picture. + + + + + + +VII. + + + + + +Notwithstanding the differences between the two girls, which were, +indeed, so many that most people would have said they were not in +the least alike, they were the same in this, that each cared more +for her own fancies and desires than for any thing else in the +world. But I will tell you another difference: the princess was like +several children in one--such was the variety of her moods; and in +one mood she had no recollection or care about any thing whatever +belonging to a previous mood--not even if it had left her but a +moment before, and had been so violent as to make her ready to put +her hand in the fire to get what she wanted. Plainly she was the +mere puppet of her moods, and more than that, any cunning nurse who +knew her well enough could call or send away those moods almost as +she pleased, like a showman pulling strings behind a show. Agnes, on +the contrary, seldom changed her mood, but kept that of calm assured +self-satisfaction. Father nor mother had ever by wise punishment +helped her to gain a victory over herself, and do what she did not +like or choose; and their folly in reasoning with one unreasonable +had fixed her in her conceit. She would actually nod her head to +herself in complacent pride that she had stood out against them. +This, however, was not so difficult as to justify even the pride of +having conquered, seeing she loved them so little, and paid so +little attention to the arguments and persuasions they used. +Neither, when she found herself wrapped in the dark folds of the +wise woman's cloak, did she behave in the least like the princess, +for she was not afraid. "She'll soon set me down," she said, too +self-important to suppose that any one would dare do her an injury. + +Whether it be a good thing or a bad not to be afraid depends on what +the fearlessness is founded upon. Some have no fear, because they +have no knowledge of the danger: there is nothing fine in that. Some +are too stupid to be afraid: there is nothing fine in that. Some who +are not easily frightened would yet turn their backs and run, the +moment they were frightened: such never had more courage than fear. +But the man who will do his work in spite of his fear is a man of +true courage. The fearlessness of Agnes was only ignorance: she did +not know what it was to be hurt; she had never read a single story +of giant, or ogress or wolf; and her mother had never carried out +one of her threats of punishment. If the wise woman had but pinched +her, she would have shown herself an abject little coward, trembling +with fear at every change of motion so long as she carried her. + +Nothing such, however, was in the wise woman's plan for the curing +of her. On and on she carried her without a word. She knew that if +she set her down she would never run after her like the princess, at +least not before the evil thing was already upon her. On and on she +went, never halting, never letting the light look in, or Agnes look +out. She walked very fast, and got home to her cottage very soon +after the princess had gone from it. + +But she did not set Agnes down either in the cottage or in the great +hall. She had other places, none of them alike. The place she had +chosen for Agnes was a strange one--such a one as is to be found +nowhere else in the wide world. + +It was a great hollow sphere, made of a substance similar to that of +the mirror which Rosamond had broken, but differently compounded. +That substance no one could see by itself. It had neither door, nor +window, nor any opening to break its perfect roundness. + +The wise woman carried Agnes into a dark room, there undressed her, +took from her hand her knitting-needles, and put her, naked as she +was born, into the hollow sphere. + +What sort of a place it was she could not tell. She could see +nothing but a faint cold bluish light all about her. She could not +feel that any thing supported her, and yet she did not sink. She +stood for a while, perfectly calm, then sat down. Nothing bad could +happen to HER--she was so important! And, indeed, it was but this: +she had cared only for Somebody, and now she was going to have only +Somebody. Her own choice was going to be carried a good deal farther +for her than she would have knowingly carried it for herself. + +After sitting a while, she wished she had something to do, but +nothing came. A little longer, and it grew wearisome. She would see +whether she could not walk out of the strange luminous dusk that +surrounded her. + +Walk she found she could, well enough, but walk out she could not. +On and on she went, keeping as much in a straight line as she might, +but after walking until she was thoroughly tired, she found herself +no nearer out of her prison than before. She had not, indeed, +advanced a single step; for, in whatever direction she tried to go, +the sphere turned round and round, answering her feet accordingly. +Like a squirrel in his cage she but kept placing another spot of the +cunningly suspended sphere under her feet, and she would have been +still only at its lowest point after walking for ages. + +At length she cried aloud; but there was no answer. It grew dreary +and drearier--in her, that is: outside there was no change. Nothing +was overhead, nothing under foot, nothing on either hand, but the +same pale, faint, bluish glimmer. She wept at last, then grew very +angry, and then sullen; but nobody heeded whether she cried or +laughed. It was all the same to the cold unmoving twilight that +rounded her. On and on went the dreary hours--or did they go at +all?--"no change, no pause, no hope;"--on and on till she FELT she +was forgotten, and then she grew strangely still and fell asleep. + +The moment she was asleep, the wise woman came, lifted her out, and +laid her in her bosom; fed her with a wonderful milk, which she +received without knowing it; nursed her all the night long, and, +just ere she woke, laid her back in the blue sphere again. + +When first she came to herself, she thought the horrors of the +preceding day had been all a dream of the night. But they soon +asserted themselves as facts, for here they were!--nothing to see +but a cold blue light, and nothing to do but see it. Oh, how slowly +the hours went by! She lost all notion of time. If she had been told +that she had been there twenty years, she would have believed it--or +twenty minutes--it would have been all the same: except for +weariness, time was for her no more. + +Another night came, and another still, during both of which the wise +woman nursed and fed her. But she knew nothing of that, and the same +one dreary day seemed ever brooding over her. + +All at once, on the third day, she was aware that a naked child was +seated beside her. But there was something about the child that made +her shudder. She never looked at Agnes, but sat with her chin sunk +on her chest, and her eyes staring at her own toes. She was the +color of pale earth, with a pinched nose, and a mere slit in her +face for a mouth. + +"How ugly she is!" thought Agnes. "What business has she beside me!" + +But it was so lonely that she would have been glad to play with a +serpent, and put out her hand to touch her. She touched nothing. The +child, also, put out her hand--but in the direction away from Agnes. +And that was well, for if she had touched Agnes it would have killed +her. Then Agnes said, "Who are you?" And the little girl said, "Who +are you?" "I am Agnes," said Agnes; and the little girl said, "I am +Agnes." Then Agnes thought she was mocking her, and said, "You are +ugly;" and the little girl said, "You are ugly." + +Then Agnes lost her temper, and put out her hands to seize the +little girl; but lo! the little girl was gone, and she found herself +tugging at her own hair. She let go; and there was the little girl +again! Agnes was furious now, and flew at her to bite her. But she +found her teeth in her own arm, and the little girl was gone--only +to return again; and each time she came back she was tenfold uglier +than before. And now Agnes hated her with her whole heart. + +The moment she hated her, it flashed upon her with a sickening +disgust that the child was not another, but her Self, her Somebody, +and that she was now shut up with her for ever and ever--no more for +one moment ever to be alone. In her agony of despair, sleep +descended, and she slept. + +When she woke, there was the little girl, heedless, ugly, miserable, +staring at her own toes. All at once, the creature began to smile, +but with such an odious, self-satisfied expression, that Agnes felt +ashamed of seeing her. Then she began to pat her own cheeks, to +stroke her own body, and examine her finger-ends, nodding her head +with satisfaction. Agnes felt that there could not be such another +hateful, ape-like creature, and at the same time was perfectly aware +she was only doing outside of her what she herself had been doing, +as long as she could remember, inside of her. + +She turned sick at herself, and would gladly have been put out of +existence, but for three days the odious companionship went on. By +the third day, Agnes was not merely sick but ashamed of the life she +had hitherto led, was despicable in her own eyes, and astonished +that she had never seen the truth concerning herself before. + +The next morning she woke in the arms of the wise woman; the horror +had vanished from her sight, and two heavenly eyes were gazing upon +her. She wept and clung to her, and the more she clung, the more +tenderly did the great strong arms close around her. + +When she had lain thus for a while, the wise woman carried her into +her cottage, and washed her in the little well; then dressed her in +clean garments, and gave her bread and milk. When she had eaten it, +she called her to her, and said very solemnly,-- + +"Agnes, you must not imagine you are cured. That you are ashamed of +yourself now is no sign that the cause for such shame has ceased. In +new circumstances, especially after you have done well for a while, +you will be in danger of thinking just as much of yourself as +before. So beware of yourself. I am going from home, and leave you +in charge of the house. Do just as I tell you till my return." + +She then gave her the same directions she had formerly given +Rosamond--with this difference, that she told her to go into the +picture-hall when she pleased, showing her the entrance, against +which the clock no longer stood--and went away, closing the door +behind her. + + + + + + +VIII. + + + + + +As soon as she was left alone, Agnes set to work tidying and dusting +the cottage, made up the fire, watered the bed, and cleaned the +inside of the windows: the wise woman herself always kept the +outside of them clean. When she had done, she found her dinner--of +the same sort she was used to at home, but better--in the hole of +the wall. When she had eaten it, she went to look at the pictures. + +By this time her old disposition had begun to rouse again. She had +been doing her duty, and had in consequence begun again to think +herself Somebody. However strange it may well seem, to do one's duty +will make any one conceited who only does it sometimes. Those who do +it always would as soon think of being conceited of eating their +dinner as of doing their duty. What honest boy would pride himself +on not picking pockets? A thief who was trying to reform would. To +be conceited of doing one's duty is then a sign of how little one +does it, and how little one sees what a contemptible thing it is not +to do it. Could any but a low creature be conceited of not being +contemptible? Until our duty becomes to us common as breathing, we +are poor creatures. + +So Agnes began to stroke herself once more, forgetting her late +self-stroking companion, and never reflecting that she was now doing +what she had then abhorred. And in this mood she went into the +picture-gallery. + +The first picture she saw represented a square in a great city, one +side of which was occupied by a splendid marble palace, with great +flights of broad steps leading up to the door. Between it and the +square was a marble-paved court, with gates of brass, at which stood +sentries in gorgeous uniforms, and to which was affixed the +following proclamation in letters of gold, large enough for Agnes to +read:-- + +"By the will of the King, from this time until further notice, every +stray child found in the realm shall be brought without a moment's +delay to the palace. Whoever shall be found having done otherwise +shall straightway lose his head by the hand of the public +executioner." + +Agnes's heart beat loud, and her face flushed. + +"Can there be such a city in the world?" she said to herself. "If I +only knew where it was, I should set out for it at once. THERE would +be the place for a clever girl like me!" + +Her eyes fell on the picture which had so enticed Rosamond. It was +the very country where her father fed his flocks. Just round the +shoulder of the hill was the cottage where her parents lived, where +she was born and whence she had been carried by the beggar-woman. + +"Ah!" she said, "they didn't know me there. They little thought what +I could be, if I had the chance. If I were but in this good, kind, +loving, generous king's palace, I should soon be such a great lady +as they never saw! Then they would understand what a good little +girl I had always been! And I shouldn't forget my poor parents like +some I have read of. _I_ would be generous. _I_ should never be +selfish and proud like girls in story-books!" + +As she said this, she turned her back with disdain upon the picture +of her home, and setting herself before the picture of the palace, +stared at it with wide ambitious eyes, and a heart whose every beat +was a throb of arrogant self-esteem. + +The shepherd-child was now worse than ever the poor princess had +been. For the wise woman had given her a terrible lesson one of +which the princess was not capable, and she had known what it meant; +yet here she was as bad as ever, therefore worse than before. The +ugly creature whose presence had made her so miserable had indeed +crept out of sight and mind too--but where was she? Nestling in her +very heart, where most of all she had her company, and least of all +could see her. The wise woman had called her out, that Agnes might +see what sort of creature she was herself; but now she was snug in +her soul's bed again, and sue did not even suspect she was there. + +After gazing a while at the palace picture, during which her +ambitious pride rose and rose, she turned yet again in condescending +mood, and honored the home picture with one stare more. + +"What a poor, miserable spot it is compared with this lordly +palace!" she said. + +But presently she spied something in it she had not seen before, and +drew nearer. It was the form of a little girl, building a bridge of +stones over one of the hill-brooks. + +"Ah, there I am myself!" she said. "That is just how I used to +do.--No," she resumed, "it is not me. That snub-nosed little fright +could never be meant for me! It was the frock that made me think so. +But it IS a picture of the place. I declare, I can see the smoke of +the cottage rising from behind the hill! What a dull, dirty, +insignificant spot it is! And what a life to lead there!" + +She turned once more to the city picture. And now a strange thing +took place. In proportion as the other, to the eyes of her mind, +receded into the background, this, to her present bodily eyes, +appeared to come forward and assume reality. At last, after it had +been in this way growing upon her for some time, she gave a cry of +conviction, and said aloud,-- + +"I do believe it is real! That frame is only a trick of the woman to +make me fancy it a picture lest I should go and make my fortune. She +is a witch, the ugly old creature! It would serve her right to tell +the king and have her punished for not taking me to the palace--one +of his poor lost children he is so fond of! I should like to see her +ugly old head cut off. Anyhow I will try my luck without asking her +leave. How she has ill used me!" + +But at that moment, she heard the voice of the wise woman calling, +"Agnes!" and, smoothing her face, she tried to look as good as she +could, and walked back into the cottage. There stood the wise woman, +looking all round the place, and examining her work. She fixed her +eyes upon Agnes in a way that confused her, and made her cast hers +down, for she felt as if she were reading her thoughts. The wise +woman, however, asked no questions, but began to talk about her +work, approving of some of it, which filled her with arrogance, and +showing how some of it might have been done better, which filled her +with resentment. But the wise woman seemed to take no care of what +she might be thinking, and went straight on with her lesson. By the +time it was over, the power of reading thoughts would not have been +necessary to a knowledge of what was in the mind of Agnes, for it +had all come to the surface--that is up into her face, which is the +surface of the mind. Ere it had time to sink down again, the wise +woman caught up the little mirror, and held it before her: Agnes saw +her Somebody--the very embodiment of miserable conceit and ugly +ill-temper. She gave such a scream of horror that the wise woman +pitied her, and laying aside the mirror, took her upon her knees, +and talked to her most kindly and solemnly; in particular about the +necessity of destroying the ugly things that come out of the +heart--so ugly that they make the very face over them ugly also. + +And what was Agnes doing all the time the wise woman was talking to +her? Would you believe it?--instead of thinking how to kill the ugly +things in her heart, she was with all her might resolving to be more +careful of her face, that is, to keep down the things in her heart +so that they should not show in her face, she was resolving to be a +hypocrite as well as a self-worshipper. Her heart was wormy, and the +worms were eating very fast at it now. + +Then the wise woman laid her gently down upon the heather-bed, and +she fell fast asleep, and had an awful dream about her Somebody. + +When she woke in the morning, instead of getting up to do the work +of the house, she lay thinking--to evil purpose. In place of taking +her dream as a warning, and thinking over what the wise woman had +said the night before, she communed with herself in this fashion:-- + +"If I stay here longer, I shall be miserable, It is nothing better +than slavery. The old witch shows me horrible things in the day to +set me dreaming horrible things in the night. If I don't run away, +that frightful blue prison and the disgusting girl will come back, +and I shall go out of my mind. How I do wish I could find the way to +the good king's palace! I shall go and look at the picture again--if +it be a picture--as soon as I've got my clothes on. The work can +wait. It's not my work. It's the old witch's; and she ought to do it +herself." + +She jumped out of bed, and hurried on her clothes. There was no wise +woman to be seen; and she hastened into the hall. There was the +picture, with the marble palace, and the proclamation shining in +letters of gold upon its gates of brass. She stood before it, and +gazed and gazed; and all the time it kept growing upon her in some +strange way, until at last she was fully persuaded that it was no +picture, but a real city, square, and marble palace, seen through a +framed opening in the wall. She ran up to the frame, stepped over +it, felt the wind blow upon her cheek, heard the sound of a closing +door behind her, and was free. FREE was she, with that creature +inside her? + +The same moment a terrible storm of thunder and lightning, wind and +rain, came on. The uproar was appalling. Agnes threw herself upon +the ground, hid her face in her hands, and there lay until it was +over. As soon as she felt the sun shining on her, she rose. There +was the city far away on the horizon. Without once turning to take a +farewell look of the place she was leaving, she set off, as fast as +her feet would carry her, in the direction of the city. So eager was +she, that again and again she fell, but only to get up, and run on +faster than before. + + + + + + +IX. + + + + + +The shepherdess carried Rosamond home, gave her a warm bath in the +tub in which she washed her linen, made her some bread-and-milk, and +after she had eaten it, put her to bed in Agnes's crib, where she +slept all the rest of that day and all the following night. + +When at last she opened her eyes, it was to see around her a far +poorer cottage than the one she had left--very bare and +uncomfortable indeed, she might well have thought; but she had come +through such troubles of late, in the way of hunger and weariness +and cold and fear, that she was not altogether in her ordinary mood +of fault-finding, and so was able to lie enjoying the thought that +at length she was safe, and going to be fed and kept warm. The idea +of doing any thing in return for shelter and food and clothes, did +not, however, even cross her mind. + +But the shepherdess was one of that plentiful number who can be +wiser concerning other women's children than concerning their own. +Such will often give you very tolerable hints as to how you ought to +manage your children, and will find fault neatly enough with the +system you are trying to carry out; but all their wisdom goes off in +talking, and there is none left for doing what they have themselves +said. There is one road talk never finds, and that is the way into +the talker's own hands and feet. And such never seem to know +themselves--not even when they are reading about themselves in +print. Still, not being specially blinded in any direction but their +own, they can sometimes even act with a little sense towards +children who are not theirs. They are affected with a sort of +blindness like that which renders some people incapable of seeing, +except sideways. + +She came up to the bed, looked at the princess, and saw that she was +better. But she did not like her much. There was no mark of a +princess about her, and never had been since she began to run alone. +True, hunger had brought down her fat cheeks, but it had not turned +down her impudent nose, or driven the sullenness and greed from her +mouth. Nothing but the wise woman could do that--and not even she, +without the aid of the princess herself. So the shepherdess thought +what a poor substitute she had got for her own lovely Agnes--who was +in fact equally repulsive, only in a way to which she had got used; +for the selfishness in her love had blinded her to the thin pinched +nose and the mean self-satisfied mouth. It was well for the +princess, though, sad as it is to say, that the shepherdess did not +take to her, for then she would most likely have only done her harm +instead of good. + +"Now, my girl," she said, "you must get up, and do something. We +can't keep idle folk here." + +"I'm not a folk," said Rosamond; "I'm a princess." + +"A pretty princess--with a nose like that! And all in rags too! If +you tell such stories, I shall soon let you know what I think of +you." + +Rosamond then understood that the mere calling herself a princess, +without having any thing to show for it, was of no use. She obeyed +and rose, for she was hungry; but she had to sweep the floor ere she +had any thing to eat. + +The shepherd came in to breakfast, and was kinder than his wife. He +took her up in his arms and would have kissed her; but she took it +as an insult from a man whose hands smelt of tar, and kicked and +screamed with rage. The poor man, finding he had made a mistake, set +her down at once. But to look at the two, one might well have judged +it condescension rather than rudeness in such a man to kiss such a +child. He was tall, and almost stately, with a thoughtful forehead, +bright eyes, eagle nose, and gentle mouth; while the princess was +such as I have described her. + +Not content with being set down and let alone, she continued to +storm and scold at the shepherd, crying she was a princess, and +would like to know what right he had to touch her! But he only +looked down upon her from the height of his tall person with a +benignant smile, regarding her as a spoiled little ape whose mother +had flattered her by calling her a princess. + +"Turn her out of doors, the ungrateful hussy!" cried his wife. "With +your bread and your milk inside her ugly body, this is what she +gives you for it! Troth, I'm paid for carrying home such an ill-bred +tramp in my arms! My own poor angel Agnes! As if that ill-tempered +toad were one hair like her!" + +These words drove the princess beside herself; for those who are +most given to abuse can least endure it. With fists and feet and +teeth, as was her wont, she rushed at the shepherdess, whose hand +was already raised to deal her a sound box on the ear, when a better +appointed minister of vengeance suddenly showed himself. Bounding in +at the cottage-door came one of the sheep-dogs, who was called +Prince, and whom I shall not refer to with a WHICH, because he was a +very superior animal indeed, even for a sheep-dog, which is the most +intelligent of dogs: he flew at the princess, knocked her down, and +commenced shaking her so violently as to tear her miserable clothes +to pieces. Used, however, to mouthing little lambs, he took care not +to hurt her much, though for her good he left her a blue nip or two +by way of letting her imagine what biting might be. His master, +knowing he would not injure her, thought it better not to call him +off, and in half a minute he left her of his own accord, and, +casting a glance of indignant rebuke behind him as he went, walked +slowly to the hearth, where he laid himself down with his tail +toward her. She rose, terrified almost to death, and would have +crept again into Agnes's crib for refuge; but the shepherdess +cried-- + +"Come, come, princess! I'll have no skulking to bed in the good +daylight. Go and clean your master's Sunday boots there." + +"I will not!" screamed the princess, and ran from the house. + +"Prince!" cried the shepherdess, and up jumped the dog, and looked +in her face, wagging his bushy tail. + +"Fetch her back," she said, pointing to the door. + +With two or three bounds Prince caught the princess, again threw her +down, and taking her by her clothes dragged her back into the +cottage, and dropped her at his mistress' feet, where she lay like a +bundle of rags. + +"Get up," said the shepherdess. + +Rosamond got up as pale as death. + +"Go and clean the boots." + +"I don't know how." + +"Go and try. There are the brushes, and yonder is the blacking-pot." + +Instructing her how to black boots, it came into the thought of the +shepherdess what a fine thing it would be if she could teach this +miserable little wretch, so forsaken and ill-bred, to be a good, +well-behaved, respectable child. She was hardly the woman to do it, +but every thing well meant is a help, and she had the wisdom to beg +her husband to place Prince under her orders for a while, and not +take him to the hill as usual, that he might help her in getting the +princess into order. + +When the husband was gone, and his boots, with the aid of her own +finishing touches, at last quite respectably brushed, the +shepherdess told the princess that she might go and play for a +while, only she must not go out of sight of the cottage-door. + +The princess went right gladly, with the firm intention, however, of +getting out of sight by slow degrees, and then at once taking to her +heels. But no sooner was she over the threshold than the shepherdess +said to the dog, "Watch her;" and out shot Prince. + +The moment she saw him, Rosamond threw herself on her face, +trembling from head to foot. But the dog had no quarrel with her, +and of the violence against which he always felt bound to protest in +dog fashion, there was no sign in the prostrate shape before him; so +he poked his nose under her, turned her over, and began licking her +face and hands. When she saw that he meant to be friendly, her love +for animals, which had had no indulgence for a long time now, came +wide awake, and in a little while they were romping and rushing +about, the best friends in the world. + +Having thus seen one enemy, as she thought, changed to a friend, she +began to resume her former plan, and crept cunningly farther and +farther. At length she came to a little hollow, and instantly rolled +down into it. Finding then that she was out of sight of the cottage, +she ran off at full speed. + +But she had not gone more than a dozen paces, when she heard a +growling rush behind her, and the next instant was on the ground, +with the dog standing over her, showing his teeth, and flaming at +her with his eyes. She threw her arms round his neck, and +immediately he licked her face, and let her get up. But the moment +she would have moved a step farther from the cottage, there he was +it front of her, growling, and showing his teeth. She saw it was of +no use, and went back with him. + +Thus was the princess provided with a dog for a private tutor--just +the right sort for her. + +Presently the shepherdess appeared at the door and called her. She +would have disregarded the summons, but Prince did his best to let +her know that, until she could obey herself, she must obey him. So +she went into the cottage, and there the shepherdess ordered her to +peel the potatoes for dinner. She sulked and refused. Here Prince +could do nothing to help his mistress, but she had not to go far to +find another ally. + +"Very well, Miss Princess!" she said; "we shall soon see how you +like to go without when dinner-time comes." + +Now the princess had very little foresight, and the idea of future +hunger would have moved her little; but happily, from her game of +romps with Prince, she had begun to be hungry already, and so the +threat had force. She took the knife and began to peel the potatoes. + +By slow degrees the princess improved a little. A few more outbreaks +of passion, and a few more savage attacks from Prince, and she had +learned to try to restrain herself when she felt the passion coming +on; while a few dinnerless afternoons entirely opened her eyes to +the necessity of working in order to eat. Prince was her first, and +Hunger her second dog-counsellor. + +But a still better thing was that she soon grew very fond of Prince. +Towards the gaining of her affections, he had three advantages: +first, his nature was inferior to hers; next, he was a beast; and +last, she was afraid of him; for so spoiled was she that she could +more easily love what was below than what was above her, and a +beast, than one of her own kind, and indeed could hardly have ever +come to love any thing much that she had not first learned to fear, +and the white teeth and flaming eyes of the angry Prince were more +terrible to her than any thing had yet been, except those of the +wolf, which she had now forgotten. Then again, he was such a +delightful playfellow, that so long as she neither lost her temper, +nor went against orders, she might do almost any thing she pleased +with him. In fact, such was his influence upon her, that she who had +scoffed at the wisest woman in the whole world, and derided the +wishes of her own father and mother, came at length to regard this +dog as a superior being, and to look up to him as well as love him. +And this was best of all. + +The improvement upon her, in the course of a month, was plain. She +had quite ceased to go into passions, and had actually begun to take +a little interest in her work and try to do it well. + +Still, the change was mostly an outside one. I do not mean that she +was pretending. Indeed she had never been given to pretence of any +sort. But the change was not in HER, only in her mood. A second +change of circumstances would have soon brought a second change of +behavior; and, so long as that was possible, she continued the same +sort of person she had always been. But if she had not gained much, +a trifle had been gained for her: a little quietness and order of +mind, and hence a somewhat greater possibility of the first idea of +right arising in it, whereupon she would begin to see what a +wretched creature she was, and must continue until she herself was +right. + +Meantime the wise woman had been watching her when she least fancied +it, and taking note of the change that was passing upon her. Out of +the large eyes of a gentle sheep she had been watching her--a sheep +that puzzled the shepherd; for every now and then she would appear +in his flock, and he would catch sight of her two or three times in +a day, sometimes for days together, yet he never saw her when he +looked for her, and never when he counted the flock into the fold at +night. He knew she was not one of his; but where could she come +from, and where could she go to? For there was no other flock within +many miles, and he never could get near enough to her to see whether +or not she was marked. Nor was Prince of the least use to him for +the unravelling of the mystery; for although, as often as he told +him to fetch the strange sheep, he went bounding to her at once, it +was only to lie down at her feet. + +At length, however, the wise woman had made up her mind, and after +that the strange sheep no longer troubled the shepherd. + +As Rosamond improved, the shepherdess grew kinder. She gave her all +Agnes's clothes, and began to treat her much more like a daughter. +Hence she had a great deal of liberty after the little work required +of her was over, and would often spend hours at a time with the +shepherd, watching the sheep and the dogs, and learning a little +from seeing how Prince, and the others as well, managed their +charge--how they never touched the sheep that did as they were told +and turned when they were bid, but jumped on a disobedient flock, +and ran along their backs, biting, and barking, and half choking +themselves with mouthfuls of their wool. + +Then also she would play with the brooks, and learn their songs, and +build bridges over them. And sometimes she would be seized with such +delight of heart that she would spread out her arms to the wind, and +go rushing up the hill till her breath left her, when she would +tumble down in the heather, and lie there till it came back again. + +A noticeable change had by this time passed also on her countenance. +Her coarse shapeless mouth had begun to show a glimmer of lines and +curves about it, and the fat had not returned with the roses to her +cheeks, so that her eyes looked larger than before; while, more +noteworthy still, the bridge of her nose had grown higher, so that +it was less of the impudent, insignificant thing inherited from a +certain great-great-great-grandmother, who had little else to leave +her. For a long time, it had fitted her very well, for it was just +like her; but now there was ground for alteration, and already the +granny who gave it her would not have recognized it. It was growing +a little liker Prince's; and Prince's was a long, perceptive, +sagacious nose,--one that was seldom mistaken. + +One day about noon, while the sheep were mostly lying down, and the +shepherd, having left them to the care of the dogs, was himself +stretched under the shade of a rock a little way apart, and the +princess sat knitting, with Prince at her feet, lying in wait for a +snap at a great fly, for even he had his follies--Rosamond saw a +poor woman come toiling up the hill, but took little notice of her +until she was passing, a few yards off, when she heard her utter the +dog's name in a low voice. + +Immediately on the summons, Prince started up and followed her--with +hanging head, but gently-wagging tail. At first the princess thought +he was merely taking observations, and consulting with his nose +whether she was respectable or not, but she soon saw that he was +following her in meek submission. Then she sprung to her feet and +cried, "Prince, Prince!" But Prince only turned his head and gave +her an odd look, as if he were trying to smile, and could not. Then +the princess grew angry, and ran after him, shouting, "Prince, come +here directly." Again Prince turned his head, but this time to growl +and show his teeth. + +The princess flew into one of her forgotten rages, and picking up a +stone, flung it at the woman. Prince turned and darted at her, with +fury in his eyes, and his white teeth gleaming. At the awful sight +the princess turned also, and would have fled, but he was upon her +in a moment, and threw her to the ground, and there she lay. + +It was evening when she came to herself. A cool twilight wind, that +somehow seemed to come all the way from the stars, was blowing upon +her. The poor woman and Prince, the shepherd and his sheep, were all +gone, and she was left alone with the wind upon the heather. + +She felt sad, weak, and, perhaps, for the first time in her life, a +little ashamed. The violence of which she had been guilty had +vanished from her spirit, and now lay in her memory with the calm +morning behind it, while in front the quiet dusky night was now +closing in the loud shame betwixt a double peace. Between the two +her passion looked ugly. It pained her to remember. She felt it was +hateful, and HERS. + +But, alas, Prince was gone! That horrid woman had taken him away! +The fury rose again in her heart, and raged--until it came to her +mind how her dear Prince would have flown at her throat if he had +seen her in such a passion. The memory calmed her, and she rose and +went home. There, perhaps, she would find Prince, for surely he +could never have been such a silly dog as go away altogether with a +strange woman! + +She opened the door and went in. Dogs were asleep all about the +cottage, it seemed to her, but nowhere was Prince. She crept away to +her little bed, and cried herself asleep. + +In the morning the shepherd and shepherdess were indeed glad to find +she had come home, for they thought she had run away. + +"Where is Prince?" she cried, the moment she waked. + +"His mistress has taken him," answered the shepherd. + +"Was that woman his mistress?" + +"I fancy so. He followed her as if he had known her all his life. I +am very sorry to lose him, though." + +The poor woman had gone close past the rock where the shepherd lay. +He saw her coming, and thought of the strange sheep which had been +feeding beside him when he lay down. "Who can she be?" he said to +himself; but when he noted how Prince followed her, without even +looking up at him as he passed, he remembered how Prince had come to +him. And this was how: as he lay in bed one fierce winter morning, +just about to rise, he heard the voice of a woman call to him +through the storm, "Shepherd, I have brought you a dog. Be good to +him. I will come again and fetch him away." He dressed as quickly as +he could, and went to the door. It was half snowed up, but on the +top of the white mound before it stood Prince. And now he had gone +as mysteriously as he had come, and he felt sad. + +Rosamond was very sorry too, and hence when she saw the looks of the +shepherd and shepherdess, she was able to understand them. And she +tried for a while to behave better to them because of their sorrow. +So the loss of the dog brought them all nearer to each other. + + + + + + +X. + + + + + +After the thunder-storm, Agnes did not meet with a single +obstruction or misadventure. Everybody was strangely polite, gave +her whatever she desired, and answered her questions, but asked none +in return, and looked all the time as if her departure would be a +relief. They were afraid, in fact, from her appearance, lest she +should tell them that she was lost, when they would be bound, on +pain of public execution, to take her to the palace. + +But no sooner had she entered the city than she saw it would hardly +do to present herself as a lost child at the palace-gates; for how +were they to know that she was not an impostor, especially since she +really was one, having run away from the wise woman? So she wandered +about looking at every thing until she was tired, and bewildered by +the noise and confusion all around her. The wearier she got, the +more was she pushed in every direction. Having been used to a whole +hill to wander upon, she was very awkward in the crowded streets, +and often on the point of being run over by the horses, which seemed +to her to be going every way like a frightened flock. She spoke to +several persons, but no one stopped to answer her; and at length, +her courage giving way, she felt lost indeed, and began to cry. A +soldier saw her, and asked what was the matter. + +"I've nowhere to go to," she sobbed. + +"Where's your mother?" asked the soldier. + +"I don't know," answered Agnes. "I was carried off by an old woman, +who then went away and left me. I don't know where she is, or where +I am myself." + +"Come," said the soldier, "this is a case for his Majesty." + +So saying, he took her by the hand, led her to the palace, and +begged an audience of the king and queen. The porter glanced at +Agnes, immediately admitted them, and showed them into a great +splendid room, where the king and queen sat every day to review lost +children, in the hope of one day thus finding their Rosamond. But +they were by this time beginning to get tired of it. The moment they +cast their eyes upon Agnes, the queen threw back her head, threw up +her hands, and cried, "What a miserable, conceited, white-faced +little ape!" and the king turned upon the soldier in wrath, and +cried, forgetting his own decree, "What do you mean by bringing such +a dirty, vulgar-looking, pert creature into my palace? The dullest +soldier in my army could never for a moment imagine a child like +THAT, one hair's-breadth like the lovely angel we lost!" + +"I humbly beg your Majesty's pardon," said the soldier, "but what +was I to do? There stands your Majesty's proclamation in gold +letters on the brazen gates of the palace." + +"I shall have it taken down," said the king. "Remove the child." + +"Please your Majesty, what am I to do with her?" + +"Take her home with you." + +"I have six already, sire, and do not want her." + +"Then drop her where you picked her up." + +"If I do, sire, some one else will find her and bring her back to +your Majesties." + +"That will never do," said the king. "I cannot bear to look at her." + +"For all her ugliness," said the queen, "she is plainly lost, and so +is our Rosamond." + +"It may be only a pretence, to get into the palace," said the king. + +"Take her to the head scullion, soldier," said the queen, "and tell +her to make her useful. If she should find out she has been +pretending to be lost, she must let me know." + +The soldier was so anxious to get rid of her, that he caught her up +in his arms, hurried her from the room, found his way to the +scullery, and gave her, trembling with fear, in charge to the head +maid, with the queen's message. + +As it was evident that the queen had no favor for her, the servants +did as they pleased with her, and often treated her harshly. Not one +amongst them liked her, nor was it any wonder, seeing that, with +every step she took from the wise woman's house, she had grown more +contemptible, for she had grown more conceited. Every civil answer +given her, she attributed to the impression she made, not to the +desire to get rid of her; and every kindness, to approbation of her +looks and speech, instead of friendliness to a lonely child. Hence +by this time she was twice as odious as before; for whoever has had +such severe treatment as the wise woman gave her, and is not the +better for it, always grows worse than before. They drove her about, +boxed her ears on the smallest provocation, laid every thing to her +charge, called her all manner of contemptuous names, jeered and +scoffed at her awkwardnesses, and made her life so miserable that +she was in a fair way to forget every thing she had learned, and +know nothing but how to clean saucepans and kettles. + +They would not have been so hard upon her, however, but for her +irritating behavior. She dared not refuse to do as she was told, but +she obeyed now with a pursed-up mouth, and now with a contemptuous +smile. The only thing that sustained her was her constant contriving +how to get out of the painful position in which she found herself. +There is but one true way, however, of getting out of any position +we may be in, and that is, to do the work of it so well that we grow +fit for a better: I need not say this was not the plan upon which +Agnes was cunning enough to fix. + +She had soon learned from the talk around her the reason of the +proclamation which had brought her hither. + +"Was the lost princess so very beautiful?" she said one day to the +youngest of her fellow-servants. + +"Beautiful!" screamed the maid; "she was just the ugliest little +toad you ever set eyes upon." + +"What was she like?" asked Agnes. + +"She was about your size, and quite as ugly, only not in the same +way; for she had red cheeks, and a cocked little nose, and the +biggest, ugliest mouth you ever saw." + +Agnes fell a-thinking. + +"Is there a picture of her anywhere in the palace?" she asked. + +"How should I know? You can ask a housemaid." + +Agnes soon learned that there was one, and contrived to get a peep +of it. Then she was certain of what she had suspected from the +description given of her, namely, that she was the same she had seen +in the picture at the wise woman's house. The conclusion followed, +that the lost princess must be staying with her father and mother, +for assuredly in the picture she wore one of her frocks. + +She went to the head scullion, and with humble manner, but proud +heart, begged her to procure for her the favor of a word with the +queen. + +"A likely thing indeed!" was the answer, accompanied by a resounding +box on the ear. + +She tried the head cook next, but with no better success, and so was +driven to her meditations again, the result of which was that she +began to drop hints that she knew something about the princess. This +came at length to the queen's ears, and she sent for her. + +Absorbed in her own selfish ambitions, Agnes never thought of the +risk to which she was about to expose her parents, but told the +queen that in her wanderings she had caught sight of just such a +lovely creature as she described the princess, only dressed like a +peasant--saying, that, if the king would permit her to go and look +for her, she had little doubt of bringing her back safe and sound +within a few weeks. + +But although she spoke the truth, she had such a look of cunning on +her pinched face, that the queen could not possibly trust her, but +believed that she made the proposal merely to get away, and have +money given her for her journey. Still there was a chance, and she +would not say any thing until she had consulted the king. + +Then they had Agnes up before the lord chancellor, who, after much +questioning of her, arrived at last, he thought, at some notion of +the part of the country described by her--that was, if she spoke +the truth, which, from her looks and behavior, he also considered +entirely doubtful. Thereupon she was ordered back to the kitchen, +and a band of soldiers, under a clever lawyer, sent out to search +every foot of the supposed region. They were commanded not to return +until they brought with them, bound hand and foot, such a shepherd +pair as that of which they received a full description. + +And now Agnes was worse off than before. For to her other miseries +was added the fear of what would befall her when it was discovered +that the persons of whom they were in quest, and whom she was +certain they must find, were her own father and mother. + +By this time the king and queen were so tired of seeing lost +children, genuine or pretended--for they cared for no child any +longer than there seemed a chance of its turning out their +child--that with this new hope, which, however poor and vague at +first, soon began to grow upon such imaginations as they had, they +commanded the proclamation to be taken down from the palace gates, +and directed the various sentries to admit no child whatever, lost +or found, be the reason or pretence what it might, until further +orders. + +"I'm sick of children!" said the king to his secretary, as he +finished dictating the direction. + + + + + + +XI. + + + + + +After Prince was gone, the princess, by degrees, fell back into some +of her bad old ways, from which only the presence of the dog, not +her own betterment, had kept her. She never grew nearly so selfish +again, but she began to let her angry old self lift up its head once +more, until by and by she grew so bad that the shepherdess declared +she should not stop in the house a day longer, for she was quite +unendurable. + +"It is all very well for you, husband," she said, "for you haven't +her all day about you, and only see the best of her. But if you had +her in work instead of play hours, you would like her no better than +I do. And then it's not her ugly passions only, but when she's in +one of her tantrums, it's impossible to get any work out of her. At +such times she's just as obstinate as--as--as"-- + +She was going to say "as Agnes," but the feelings of a mother +overcame her, and she could not utter the words. + +"In fact," she said instead, "she makes my life miserable." + +The shepherd felt he had no right to tell his wife she must submit +to have her life made miserable, and therefore, although he was +really much attached to Rosamond, he would not interfere; and the +shepherdess told her she must look out for another place. + +The princess was, however, this much better than before, even in +respect of her passions, that they were not quite so bad, and after +one was over, she was really ashamed of it. But not once, ever since +the departure of Prince had she tried to check the rush of the evil +temper when it came upon her. She hated it when she was out of it, +and that was something; but while she was in it, she went full swing +with it wherever the prince of the power of it pleased to carry her. +Nor was this all: although she might by this time have known well +enough that as soon as she was out of it she was certain to be +ashamed of it, she would yet justify it to herself with twenty +different arguments that looked very good at the time, but would +have looked very poor indeed afterwards, if then she had ever +remembered them. + +She was not sorry to leave the shepherd's cottage, for she felt +certain of soon finding her way back to her father and mother; and +she would, indeed, have set out long before, but that her foot had +somehow got hurt when Prince gave her his last admonition, and she +had never since been able for long walks, which she sometimes blamed +as the cause of her temper growing worse. But if people are +good-tempered only when they are comfortable, what thanks have +they?--Her foot was now much better; and as soon as the shepherdess +had thus spoken, she resolved to set out at once, and work or beg +her way home. At the moment she was quite unmindful of what she owed +the good people, and, indeed, was as yet incapable of understanding +a tenth part of her obligation to them. So she bade them good by +without a tear, and limped her way down the hill, leaving the +shepherdess weeping, and the shepherd looking very grave. + +When she reached the valley she followed the course of the stream, +knowing only that it would lead her away from the hill where the +sheep fed, into richer lands where were farms and cattle. Rounding +one of the roots of the hill she saw before her a poor woman walking +slowly along the road with a burden of heather upon her back, and +presently passed her, but had gone only a few paces farther when she +heard her calling after her in a kind old voice-- + +"Your shoe-tie is loose, my child." + +But Rosamond was growing tired, for her foot had become painful, and +so she was cross, and neither returned answer, nor paid heed to the +warning. For when we are cross, all our other faults grow busy, and +poke up their ugly heads like maggots, and the princess's old +dislike to doing any thing that came to her with the least air of +advice about it returned in full force. + +"My child," said the woman again, "if you don't fasten your +shoe-tie, it will make you fall." + +"Mind your own business," said Rosamond, without even turning her +head, and had not gone more than three steps when she fell flat on +her face on the path. She tried to get up, but the effort forced +from her a scream, for she had sprained the ankle of the foot that +was already lame. + +The old woman was by her side instantly. + +"Where are you hurt, child?" she asked, throwing down her burden and +kneeling beside her. + +"Go away," screamed Rosamond. "YOU made me fall, you bad woman!" + +The woman made no reply, but began to feel her joints, and soon +discovered the sprain. Then, in spite of Rosamond's abuse, and the +violent pushes and even kicks she gave her, she took the hurt ankle +in her hands, and stroked and pressed it, gently kneading it, as it +were, with her thumbs, as if coaxing every particle of the muscles +into its right place. Nor had she done so long before Rosamond lay +still. At length she ceased, and said:-- + +"Now, my child, you may get up." + +"I can't get up, and I'm not your child," cried Rosamond. "Go away." + +Without another word the woman left her, took up her burden, and +continued her journey. + +In a little while Rosamond tried to get up, and not only succeeded, +but found she could walk, and, indeed, presently discovered that her +ankle and foot also were now perfectly well. + +"I wasn't much hurt after all," she said to herself, nor sent a +single grateful thought after the poor woman, whom she speedily +passed once more upon the road without even a greeting. + +Late in the afternoon she came to a spot where the path divided into +two, and was taking the one she liked the look of better, when she +started at the sound of the poor woman's voice, whom she thought she +had left far behind, again calling her. She looked round, and there +she was, toiling under her load of heather as before. + +"You are taking the wrong turn, child." she cried. + +"How can you tell that?" said Rosamond. "You know nothing about +where I want to go." + +"I know that road will take you where you won't want to go," said +the woman. + +"I shall know when I get there, then," returned Rosamond, "and no +thanks to you." + +She set off running. The woman took the other path, and was soon out +of sight. + +By and by, Rosamond found herself in the midst of a peat-moss--a +flat, lonely, dismal, black country. She thought, however, that the +road would soon lead her across to the other side of it among the +farms, and went on without anxiety. But the stream, which had +hitherto been her guide, had now vanished; and when it began to grow +dark, Rosamond found that she could no longer distinguish the track. +She turned, therefore, but only to find that the same darkness +covered it behind as well as before. Still she made the attempt to +go back by keeping as direct a line as she could, for the path was +straight as an arrow. But she could not see enough even to start her +in a line, and she had not gone far before she found herself hemmed +in, apparently on every side, by ditches and pools of black, dismal, +slimy water. And now it was so dark that she could see nothing more +than the gleam of a bit of clear sky now and then in the water. +Again and again she stepped knee-deep in black mud, and once tumbled +down in the shallow edge of a terrible pool; after which she gave up +the attempt to escape the meshes of the watery net, stood still, and +began to cry bitterly, despairingly. She saw now that her +unreasonable anger had made her foolish as well as rude, and felt +that she was justly punished for her wickedness to the poor woman +who had been so friendly to her. What would Prince think of her, if +he knew? She cast herself on the ground, hungry, and cold, and +weary. + +Presently, she thought she saw long creatures come heaving out of +the black pools. A toad jumped upon her, and she shrieked, and +sprang to her feet, and would have run away headlong, when she spied +in the distance a faint glimmer. She thought it was a Will-o'- +the-wisp. What could he be after? Was he looking for her? She dared +not run, lest he should see and pounce upon her. The light came +nearer, and grew brighter and larger. Plainly, the little fiend was +looking for her--he would torment her. After many twistings and +turnings among the pools, it came straight towards her, and she +would have shrieked, but that terror made her dumb. + +It came nearer and nearer, and lo! it was borne by a dark figure, +with a burden on its back: it was the poor woman, and no demon, that +was looking for her! She gave a scream of joy, fell down weeping at +her feet, and clasped her knees. Then the poor woman threw away her +burden, laid down her lantern, took the princess up in her arms, +folded her cloak around her, and having taken up her lantern again, +carried her slowly and carefully through the midst of the black +pools, winding hither and thither. All night long she carried her +thus, slowly and wearily, until at length the darkness grew a little +thinner, an uncertain hint of light came from the east, and the poor +woman, stopping on the brow of a little hill, opened her cloak, and +set the princess down. + +"I can carry you no farther," she said. "Sit there on the grass till +the light comes. I will stand here by you." + +Rosamond had been asleep. Now she rubbed her eyes and looked, but it +was too dark to see any thing more than that there was a sky over +her head. Slowly the light grew, until she could see the form of the +poor woman standing in front of her; and as it went on growing, she +began to think she had seen her somewhere before, till all at once +she thought of the wise woman, and saw it must be she. Then she was +so ashamed that she bent down her head, and could look at her no +longer. But the poor woman spoke, and the voice was that of the wise +woman, and every word went deep into the heart of the princess. + +"Rosamond," she said, "all this time, ever since I carried you from +your father's palace, I have been doing what I could to make you a +lovely creature: ask yourself how far I have succeeded." + +All her past story, since she found herself first under the wise +woman's cloak, arose, and glided past the inner eyes of the +princess, and she saw, and in a measure understood, it all. But she +sat with her eyes on the ground, and made no sign. + +Then said the wise woman:-- + +"Below there is the forest which surrounds my house. I am going +home. If you pleage to come there to me, I will help you, in a way I +could not do now, to be good and lovely. I will wait you there all +day, but if you start at once, you may be there long before noon. I +shall have your breakfast waiting for you. One thing more: the +beasts have not yet all gone home to their holes; but I give you my +word, not one will touch you so long as you keep coming nearer to my +house." + +She ceased. Rosamond sat waiting to hear something more; but nothing +came. She looked up; she was alone. + +Alone once more! Always being left alone, because she would not +yield to what was right! Oh, how safe she had felt under the wise +woman's cloak! She had indeed been good to her, and she had in +return behaved like one of the hyenas of the awful wood! What a +wonderful house it was she lived in! And again all her own story +came up into her brain from her repentant heart. + +"Why didn't she take me with her?" she said. "I would have gone +gladly." And she wept. But her own conscience told her that, in the +very middle of her shame and desire to be good, she had returned no +answer to the words of the wise woman; she had sat like a +tree-stump, and done nothing. She tried to say there was nothing to +be done; but she knew at once that she could have told the wise +woman she had been very wicked, and asked her to take her with her. +Now there was nothing to be done. + +"Nothing to be done!" said her conscience. "Cannot you rise, and +walk down the hill, and through the wood?" + +"But the wild beasts!" + +"There it is! You don't believe the wise woman yet! Did she not tell +you the beasts would not touch you?" + +"But they are so horrid!" + +"Yes, they are; but it would be far better to be eaten up alive by +them than live on--such a worthless creature as you are. Why, +you're not fit to be thought about by any but bad ugly creatures." + +This was how herself talked to her. + + + + + + +XII. + + + + + +All at once she jumped to her feet, and ran at full speed down the +hill and into the wood. She heard howlings and yellings on all sides +of her, but she ran straight on, as near as she could judge. Her +spirits rose as she ran. Suddenly she saw before her, in the dusk of +the thick wood, a group of some dozen wolves and hyenas, standing +all together right in her way, with their green eyes fixed upon her +staring. She faltered one step, then bethought her of what the wise +woman had promised, and keeping straight on, dashed right into the +middle of them. They fled howling, as if she had struck them with +fire. She was no more afraid after that, and ere the sun was up she +was out of the wood and upon the heath, which no bad thing could +step upon and live. With the first peep of the sun above the +horizon, she saw the little cottage before her, and ran as fast as +she could run towards it, When she came near it, she saw that the +door was open, and ran straight into the outstretched arms of the +wise woman. + +The wise woman kissed her and stroked her hair, set her down by the +fire, and gave her a bowl of bread and milk. + +When she had eaten it she drew her before her where she sat, and +spoke to her thus:-- + +"Rosamond, if you would be a blessed creature instead of a mere +wretch, you must submit to be tried." + +"Is that something terrible?" asked the princess, turning white. + +"No, my child; but it is something very difficult to come well out +of. Nobody who has not been tried knows how difficult it is; but +whoever has come well out of it, and those who do not overcome never +do come out of it, always looks back with horror, not on what she +has come through, but on the very idea of the possibility of having +failed, and being still the same miserable creature as before." + +"You will tell me what it is before it begins?" said the princess. + +"I will not tell you exactly. But I will tell you some things to +help you. One great danger is that perhaps you will think you are in +it before it has really begun, and say to yourself, 'Oh! this is +really nothing to me. It may be a trial to some, but for me I am +sure it is not worth mentioning.' And then, before you know, it will +be upon you, and you will fail utterly and shamefully." + +"I will be very, very careful," said the princess. "Only don't let +me be frightened." + +"You shall not be frightened, except it be your own doing. You are +already a brave girl, and there is no occasion to try you more that +way. I saw how you rushed into the middle of the ugly creatures; and +as they ran from you, so will all kinds of evil things, as long as +you keep them outside of you, and do not open the cottage of your +heart to let them in. I will tell you something more about what you +will have to go through. + +"Nobody can be a real princess--do not imagine you have yet been any +thing more than a mock one--until she is a princess over herself, +that is, until, when she finds herself unwilling to do the thing +that is right, she makes herself do it. So long as any mood she is +in makes her do the thing she will be sorry for when that mood is +over, she is a slave, and no princess. A princess is able to do what +is right even should she unhappily be in a mood that would make +another unable to do it. For instance, if you should be cross and +angry, you are not a whit the less bound to be just, yes, kind +even--a thing most difficult in such a mood--though ease itself in a +good mood, loving and sweet. Whoever does what she is bound to do, +be she the dirtiest little girl in the street, is a princess, +worshipful, honorable. Nay, more; her might goes farther than she +could send it, for if she act so, the evil mood will wither and die, +and leave her loving and clean.--Do you understand me, dear +Rosamond?" + +As she spoke, the wise woman laid her hand on her head and +looked--oh, so lovingly!--into her eyes. + +"I am not sure," said the princess, humbly. + +"Perhaps you will understand me better if I say it just comes to +this, that you must NOT DO what is wrong, however much you are +inclined to do it, and you must DO what is right, however much you +are disinclined to do it." + +"I understand that," said the princess. + +"I am going, then, to put you in one of the mood-chambers of which I +have many in the house. Its mood will come upon you, and you will +have to deal with it." + +She rose and took her by the hand. The princess trembled a little, +but never thought of resisting. + +The wise woman led her into the great hall with the pictures, and +through a door at the farther end, opening upon another large hall, +which was circular, and had doors close to each other all round it. +Of these she opened one, pushed the princess gently in, and closed +it behind her. + +The princess found herself in her old nursery. Her little white +rabbit came to meet her in a lumping canter as if his back were +going to tumble over his head. Her nurse, in her rocking-chair by +the chimney corner, sat just as she had used. The fire burned +brightly, and on the table were many of her wonderful toys, on +which, however, she now looked with some contempt. Her nurse did not +seem at all surprised to see her, any more than if the princess had +but just gone from the room and returned again. + +"Oh! how different I am from what I used to be!" thought the +princess to herself, looking from her toys to her nurse. "The wise +woman has done me so much good already! I will go and see mamma at +once, and tell her I am very glad to be at home again, and very +sorry I was so naughty." + +She went towards the door. + +"Your queen-mamma, princess, cannot see you now," said her nurse. + +"I have yet to learn that it is my part to take orders from a +servant," said the princess with temper and dignity. + +"I beg your pardon, princess, returned her nurse, politely; "but it +is my duty to tell you that your queen-mamma is at this moment +engaged. She is alone with her most intimate friend, the Princess of +the Frozen Regions." + +"I shall see for myself," returned the princess, bridling, and +walked to the door. + +Now little bunny, leap-frogging near the door, happened that moment +to get about her feet, just as she was going to open it, so that she +tripped and fell against it, striking her forehead a good blow. She +caught up the rabbit in a rage, and, crying, "It is all your fault, +you ugly old wretch!" threw it with violence in her nurse's face. + +Her nurse caught the rabbit, and held it to her face, as if seeking +to sooth its fright. But the rabbit looked very limp and odd, and, +to her amazement, Rosamond presently saw that the thing was no +rabbit, but a pocket-handkerchief. The next moment she removed it +from her face, and Rosamond beheld--not her nurse, but the wise +woman--standing on her own hearth, while she herself stood by the +door leading from the cottage into the hall. + +"First trial a failure," said the wise woman quietly. + +Overcome with shame, Rosamond ran to her, fell down on her knees, +and hid her face in her dress. + +"Need I say any thing?" said the wise woman, stroking her hair. + +"No, no," cried the princess. "I am horrid." + +"You know now the kind of thing you have to meet: are you ready to +try again?" + +"MAY I try again?" cried the princess, jumping up. "I'm ready. I do +not think I shall fail this time." + +"The trial will be harder." + +Rosamond drew in her breath, and set her teeth. The wise woman +looked at her pitifully, but took her by the hand, led her to the +round hall, opened the same door, and closed it after her. + +The princess expected to find herself again in the nursery, but in +the wise woman's house no one ever has the same trial twice. She was +in a beautiful garden, full of blossoming trees and the loveliest +roses and lilies. A lake was in the middle of it, with a tiny boat. +So delightful was it that Rosamond forgot all about how or why she +had come there, and lost herself in the joy of the flowers and the +trees and the water. Presently came the shout of a child, merry and +glad, and from a clump of tulip trees rushed a lovely little boy, +with his arms stretched out to her. She was charmed at the sight, +ran to meet him, caught him up in her arms, kissed him, and could +hardly let him go again. But the moment she set him down he ran from +her towards the lake, looking back as he ran, and crying "Come, +come." + +She followed. He made straight for the boat, clambered into it, and +held out his hand to help her in. Then he caught up the little +boat-hook, and pushed away from the shore: there was a great white +flower floating a few yards off, and that was the little fellow's +goal. But, alas! no sooner had Rosamond caught sight of it, huge and +glowing as a harvest moon, than she felt a great desire to have it +herself. The boy, however, was in the bows of the boat, and caught +it first. It had a long stem, reaching down to the bottom of the +water, and for a moment he tugged at it in vain, but at last it gave +way so suddenly, that he tumbled back with the flower into the +bottom of the boat. Then Rosamond, almost wild at the danger it was +in as he struggled to rise, hurried to save it, but somehow between +them it came in pieces, and all its petals of fretted silver were +scattered about the boat. When the boy got up, and saw the ruin his +companion had occasioned, he burst into tears, and having the long +stalk of the flower still in his hand, struck her with it across the +face. It did not hurt her much, for he was a very little fellow, but +it was wet and slimy. She tumbled rather than rushed at him, seized +him in her arms, tore him from his frightened grasp, and flung him +into the water. His head struck on the boat as he fell, and he sank +at once to the bottom, where he lay looking up at her with white +face and open eyes. + +The moment she saw the consequences of her deed she was filled with +horrible dismay. She tried hard to reach down to him through the +water, but it was far deeper than it looked, and she could not. +Neither could she get her eyes to leave the white face: its eyes +fascinated and fixed hers; and there she lay leaning over the boat +and staring at the death she had made. But a voice crying, "Ally! +Ally!" shot to her heart, and springing to her feet she saw a lovely +lady come running down the grass to the brink of the water with her +hair flying about her head. + +"Where is my Ally?" she shrieked. + +But Rosamond could not answer, and only stared at the lady, as she +had before stared at her drowned boy. + +Then the lady caught sight of the dead thing at the bottom of the +water, and rushed in, and, plunging down, struggled and groped until +she reached it. Then she rose and stood up with the dead body of her +little son in her arms, his head hanging back, and the water +streaming from him. + +"See what you have made of him, Rosamond!" she said, holding the +body out to her; "and this is your second trial, and also a +failure." + +The dead child melted away from her arms, and there she stood, the +wise woman, on her own hearth, while Rosamond found herself beside +the little well on the floor of the cottage, with one arm wet up to +the shoulder. She threw herself on the heather-bed and wept from +relief and vexation both. + +The wise woman walked out of the cottage, shut the door, and left +her alone. Rosamond was sobbing, so that she did not hear her go. +When at length she looked up, and saw that the wise woman was gone, +her misery returned afresh and tenfold, and she wept and wailed. The +hours passed, the shadows of evening began to fall, and the wise +woman entered. + + + + + + +XIII. + + + + + +She went straight to the bed, and taking Rosamond in her arms, sat +down with her by the fire. + +"My poor child!" she said. "Two terrible failures! And the more the +harder! They get stronger and stronger. What is to be done?" + +"Couldn't you help me?" said Rosamond piteously. + +"Perhaps I could, now you ask me," answered the wise woman. "When +you are ready to try again, we shall see." + +"I am very tired of myself," said the princess. "But I can't rest +till I try again." + +"That is the only way to get rid of your weary, shadowy self, and +find your strong, true self. Come, my child; I will help you all I +can, for now I CAN help you." + +Yet again she led her to the same door, and seemed to the princess +to send her yet again alone into the room. She was in a forest, a +place half wild, half tended. The trees were grand, and full of the +loveliest birds, of all glowing gleaming and radiant colors, which, +unlike the brilliant birds we know in our world, sang deliciously, +every one according to his color. The trees were not at all crowded, +but their leaves were so thick, and their boughs spread so far, that +it was only here and there a sunbeam could get straight through. All +the gentle creatures of a forest were there, but no creatures that +killed, not even a weasel to kill the rabbits, or a beetle to eat +the snails out of their striped shells. As to the butterflies, words +would but wrong them if they tried to tell how gorgeous they were. +The princess's delight was so great that she neither laughed nor +ran, but walked about with a solemn countenance and stately step. + +"But where are the flowers?" she said to herself at length. + +They were nowhere. Neither on the high trees, nor on the few shrubs +that grew here and there amongst them, were there any blossoms; and +in the grass that grew everywhere there was not a single flower to +be seen. + +"Ah, well!" said Rosamond again to herself, "where all the birds and +butterflies are living flowers, we can do without the other sort." + +Still she could not help feeling that flowers were wanted to make +the beauty of the forest complete. + +Suddenly she came out on a little open glade; and there, on the root +of a great oak, sat the loveliest little girl, with her lap full of +flowers of all colors, but of such kinds as Rosamond had never +before seen. She was playing with them--burying her hands in them, +tumbling them about, and every now and then picking one from the +rest, and throwing it away. All the time she never smiled, except +with her eyes, which were as full as they could hold of the laughter +of the spirit--a laughter which in this world is never heard, only +sets the eyes alight with a liquid shining. Rosamond drew nearer, +for the wonderful creature would have drawn a tiger to her side, and +tamed him on the way, A few yards from her, she came upon one of her +cast-away flowers and stooped to pick it up, as well she might where +none grew save in her own longing. But to her amazement she found, +instead of a flower thrown away to wither, one fast rooted and quite +at home. She left it, and went to another; but it also was fast in +the soil, and growing comfortably in the warm grass. What could it +mean? One after another she tried, until at length she was satisfied +that it was the same with every flower the little girl threw from +her lap. + +She watched then until she saw her throw one, and instantly bounded +to the spot. But the flower had been quicker than she: there it +grew, fast fixed in the earth, and, she thought, looked at her +roguishly. Something evil moved in her, and she plucked it. + +"Don't! don't!" cried the child. "My flowers cannot live in your +hands." + +Rosamond looked at the flower. It was withered already. She threw it +from her, offended. The child rose, with difficulty keeping her +lapful together, picked it up, carried it back, sat down again, +spoke to it, kissed it, sang to it--oh! such a sweet, childish +little song!--the princess never could recall a word of it--and +threw it away. Up rose its little head, and there it was, busy +growing again! + +Rosamond's bad temper soon gave way: the beauty and sweetness of the +child had overcome it; and, anxious to make friends with her, she +drew near, and said: + +"Won't you give me a little flower, please, you beautiful child?" + +"There they are; they are all for you," answered the child, pointing +with her outstretched arm and forefinger all round. + +"But you told me, a minute ago, not to touch them." + +"Yes, indeed, I did." + +"They can't be mine, if I'm not to touch them." + +"If, to call them yours, you must kill them, then they are not +yours, and never, never can be yours. They are nobody's when they +are dead." + +"But you don't kill them." + +"I don't pull them; I throw them away. I live them." + +"How is it that you make them grow?" + +"I say, 'You darling!' and throw it away and there it is." + +"Where do you get them?" + +"In my lap." + +"I wish you would let me throw one away." + +"Have you got any in your lap? Let me see." + +"No; I have none." + +"Then you can't throw one away, if you haven't got one." + +"You are mocking me!" cried the princess. + +"I am not mocking you," said the child, looking her full in the +face, with reproach in her large blue eyes. + +"Oh, that's where the flowers come from!" said the princess to +herself, the moment she saw them, hardly knowing what she meant. + +Then the child rose as if hurt, and quickly threw away all the +flowers she had in her lap, but one by one, and without any sign of +anger. When they were all gone, she stood a moment, and then, in a +kind of chanting cry, called, two or three times, "Peggy! Peggy! +Peggy!" + +A low, glad cry, like the whinny of a horse, answered, and, +presently, out of the wood on the opposite side of the glade, came +gently trotting the loveliest little snow-white pony, with great +shining blue wings, half-lifted from his shoulders. Straight towards +the little girl, neither hurrying nor lingering, he trotted with +light elastic tread. + +Rosamond's love for animals broke into a perfect passion of delight +at the vision. She rushed to meet the pony with such haste, that, +although clearly the best trained animal under the sun, he started +back, plunged, reared, and struck out with his fore-feet ere he had +time to observe what sort of a creature it was that had so startled +him. When he perceived it was a little girl, he dropped instantly +upon all fours, and content with avoiding her, resumed his quiet +trot in the direction of his mistress. Rosamond stood gazing after +him in miserable disappointment. + +When he reached the child, he laid his head on her shoulder, and she +put her arm up round his neck; and after she had talked to him a +little, he turned and came trotting back to the princess. + +Almost beside herself with joy, she began caressing him in the rough +way which, not-withstanding her love for them, she was in the habit +of using with animals; and she was not gentle enough, in herself +even, to see that be did not like it, and was only putting up with +it for the sake of his mistress. But when, that she might jump upon +his back, she laid hold of one of his wings, and ruffled some of the +blue feathers, he wheeled suddenly about, gave his long tail a sharp +whisk which threw her flat on the grass, and, trotting back to his +mistress, bent down his head before her as if asking excuse for +ridding himself of the unbearable. + +The princess was furious. She had forgotten all her past life up to +the time when she first saw the child: her beauty had made her +forget, and yet she was now on the very borders of hating her. What +she might have done, or rather tried to do, had not Peggy's tail +struck her down with such force that for a moment she could not +rise, I cannot tell. + +But while she lay half-stunned, her eyes fell on a little flower +just under them. It stared up in her face like the living thing it +was, and she could not take her eyes off its face. It was like a +primrose trying to express doubt instead of confidence. It seemed to +put her half in mind of something, and she felt as if shame were +coming. She put out her hand to pluck it; but the moment her fingers +touched it, the flower withered up, and hung as dead on its stalks +as if a flame of fire had passed over it. + +Then a shudder thrilled through the heart of the princess, and she +thought with herself, saying--"What sort of a creature am I that the +flowers wither when I touch them, and the ponies despise me with +their tails? What a wretched, coarse, ill-bred creature I must be! +There is that lovely child giving life instead of death to the +flowers, and a moment ago I was hating her! I am made horrid, and I +shall be horrid, and I hate myself, and yet I can't help being +myself!" + +She heard the sound of galloping feet, and there was the pony, with +the child seated betwixt his wings, coming straight on at full speed +for where she lay. + +"I don't care," she said. "They may trample me under their feet if +they like. I am tired and sick of myself--a creature at whose touch +the flowers wither!" + +On came the winged pony. But while yet some distance off, he gave a +great bound, spread out his living sails of blue, rose yards and +yards above her in the air, and alighted as gently as a bird, just a +few feet on the other side of her. The child slipped down and came +and kneeled over her. + +"Did my pony hurt you?" she said. "I am so sorry!" + +"Yes, he hurt me," answered the princess, "but not more than I +deserved, for I took liberties with him, and he did not like it." + +"Oh, you dear!" said the little girl. "I love you for talking so of +my Peggy. He is a good pony, though a little playful sometimes. +Would you like a ride upon him?" + +"You darling beauty!" cried Rosamond, sobbing. "I do love you so, +you are so good. How did you become so sweet?" + +"Would you like to ride my pony?" repeated the child, with a +heavenly smile in her eyes. + +"No, no; he is fit only for you. My clumsy body would hurt him," +said Rosamond. + +"You don't mind me having such a pony?" said the child. + +"What! mind it?" cried Rosamond, almost indignantly. Then +remembering certain thoughts that had but a few moments before +passed through her mind, she looked on the ground and was silent. + +"You don't mind it, then?" repeated the child. + +"I am very glad there is such a you and such a pony, and that such a +you has got such a pony," said Rosamond, still looking on the +ground. "But I do wish the flowers would not die when I touch them. +I was cross to see you make them grow, but now I should be content +if only I did not make them wither." + +As she spoke, she stroked the little girl's bare feet, which were by +her, half buried in the soft moss, and as she ended she laid her +cheek on them and kissed them. + +"Dear princess!" said the little girl, "the flowers will not always +wither at your touch. Try now--only do not pluck it. Flowers ought +never to be plucked except to give away. Touch it gently." + +A silvery flower, something like a snow-drop, grew just within her +reach. Timidly she stretched out her hand and touched it. The flower +trembled, but neither shrank nor withered. + +"Touch it again," said the child. + +It changed color a little, and Rosamond fancied it grew larger. + +"Touch it again," said the child. + +It opened and grew until it was as large as a narcissus, and changed +and deepened in color till it was a red glowing gold. + +Rosamond gazed motionless. When the transfiguration of the flower +was perfected, she sprang to her feet with clasped hands, but for +very ecstasy of joy stood speechless, gazing at the child. + +"Did you never see me before, Rosamond?" she asked. + +"No, never," answered the princess. "I never saw any thing half so +lovely." + +"Look at me," said the child. + +And as Rosamond looked, the child began, like the flower, to grow +larger. Quickly through every gradation of growth she passed, until +she stood before her a woman perfectly beautiful, neither old nor +young; for hers was the old age of everlasting youth. + +Rosamond was utterly enchanted, and stood gazing without word or +movement until she could endure no more delight. Then her mind +collapsed to the thought--had the pony grown too? She glanced round. +There was no pony, no grass, no flowers, no bright-birded +forest--but the cottage of the wise woman--and before her, on the +hearth of it, the goddess-child, the only thing unchanged. + +She gasped with astonishment. + +"You must set out for your father's palace immediately," said the +lady. + +"But where is the wise woman?" asked Rosamond, looking all about. + +"Here," said the lady. + +And Rosamond, looking again, saw the wise woman, folded as usual in +her long dark cloak. + +"And it was you all the time?" she cried in delight, and kneeled +before her, burying her face in her garments. + +"It always is me, all the time," said the wise woman, smiling. + +"But which is the real you?" asked Rosamond; "this or that?" + +"Or a thousand others?" returned the wise woman. "But the one you +have just seen is the likest to the real me that you are able to see +just yet--but--. And that me you could not have seen a little while +ago.--But, my darling child," she went on, lifting her up and +clasping her to her bosom, "you must not think, because you have +seen me once, that therefore you are capable of seeing me at all +times. No; there are many things in you yet that must be changed +before that can be. Now, however, you will seek me. Every time you +feel you want me, that is a sign I am wanting you. There are yet +many rooms in my house you may have to go through; but when you need +no more of them, then you will be able to throw flowers like the +little girl you saw in the forest." + +The princess gave a sigh. + +"Do not think," the wise woman went on, "that the things you have +seen in my house are mere empty shows. You do not know, you cannot +yet think, how living and true they are.--Now you must go." + +She led her once more into the great hall, and there showed her the +picture of her father's capital, and his palace with the brazen +gates. + +"There is your home," she said. "Go to it." + +The princess understood, and a flush of shame rose to her forehead. +She turned to the wise woman and said: + +"Will you forgive ALL my naughtiness, and ALL the trouble I have +given you?" + +"If I had not forgiven you, I would never have taken the trouble to +punish you. If I had not loved you, do you think I would have +carried you away in my cloak?" + +"How could you love such an ugly, ill-tempered, rude, hateful +little wretch?" + +"I saw, through it all, what you were going to be," said the wise +woman, kissing her. "But remember you have yet only BEGUN to be what +I saw." + +"I will try to remember," said the princess, holding her cloak, and +looking up in her face. + +"Go, then," said the wise woman. + +Rosamond turned away on the instant, ran to the picture, stepped +over the frame of it, heard a door close gently, gave one glance +back, saw behind her the loveliest palace-front of alabaster, +gleaming in the pale-yellow light of an early summer-morning, looked +again to the eastward, saw the faint outline of her father's city +against the sky, and ran off to reach it. + +It looked much further off now than when it seemed a picture, but +the sun was not yet up, and she had the whole of a summer day before +her. + + + + + + +XIV. + + + + + +The soldiers sent out by the king, had no great difficulty in +finding Agnes's father and mother, of whom they demanded if they +knew any thing of such a young princess as they described. The +honest pair told them the truth in every point--that, having lost +their own child and found another, they had taken her home, and +treated her as their own; that she had indeed called herself a +princess, but they had not believed her, because she did not look +like one; that, even if they had, they did not know how they could +have done differently, seeing they were poor people, who could not +afford to keep any idle person about the place; that they had done +their best to teach her good ways, and had not parted with her until +her bad temper rendered it impossible to put up with her any longer; +that, as to the king's proclamation, they heard little of the +world's news on their lonely hill, and it had never reached them; +that if it had, they did not know how either of them could have gone +such a distance from home, and left their sheep or their cottage, +one or the other, uncared for. + +"You must learn, then, how both of you can go, and your sheep must +take care of your cottage," said the lawyer, and commanded the +soldiers to bind them hand and foot. + +Heedless of their entreaties to be spared such an indignity, the +soldiers obeyed, bore them to a cart, and set out for the king's +palace, leaving the cottage door open, the fire burning, the pot of +potatoes boiling upon it, the sheep scattered over the hill, and the +dogs not knowing what to do. + +Hardly were they gone, however, before the wise woman walked up, +with Prince behind her, peeped into the cottage, locked the door, +put the key in her pocket, and then walked away up the hill. In a +few minutes there arose a great battle between Prince and the dog +which filled his former place--a well-meaning but dull fellow, who +could fight better than feed. Prince was not long in showing him +that he was meant for his master, and then, by his efforts, and +directions to the other dogs, the sheep were soon gathered again, +and out of danger from foxes and bad dogs. As soon as this was done, +the wise woman left them in charge of Prince, while she went to the +next farm to arrange for the folding of the sheep and the feeding of +the dogs. + +When the soldiers reached the palace, they were ordered to carry +their prisoners at once into the presence of the king and queen, in +the throne room. Their two thrones stood upon a high dais at one +end, and on the floor at the foot of the dais, the soldiers laid +their helpless prisoners. The queen commanded that they should be +unbound, and ordered them to stand up. They obeyed with the dignity +of insulted innocence, and their bearing offended their foolish +majesties. + +Meantime the princess, after a long day's journey, arrived at the +palace, and walked up to the sentry at the gate. + +"Stand back," said the sentry. + +"I wish to go in, if you please," said the princess gently. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the sentry, for he was one of those dull +people who form their judgment from a person's clothes, without even +looking in his eyes; and as the princess happened to be in rags, her +request was amusing, and the booby thought himself quite clever for +laughing at her so thoroughly. + +"I am the princess," Rosamond said quietly. + +"WHAT princess?" bellowed the man. + +"The princess Rosamond. Is there another?" she answered and asked. + +But the man was so tickled at the wondrous idea of a princess in +rags, that he scarcely heard what she said for laughing. As soon as +he recovered a little, he proceeded to chuck the princess under the +chin, saying-- + +"You're a pretty girl, my dear, though you ain't no princess." + +Rosamond drew back with dignity. + +"You have spoken three untruths at once," she said. "I am NOT +pretty, and I AM a princess, and if I were dear to you, as I ought +to be, you would not laugh at me because I am badly dressed, but +stand aside, and let me go to my father and mother." + +The tone of her speech, and the rebuke she gave him, made the man +look at her; and looking at her, he began to tremble inside his +foolish body, and wonder whether he might not have made a mistake. +He raised his hand in salute, and said-- + +"I beg your pardon, miss, but I have express orders to admit no +child whatever within the palace gates. They tell me his majesty the +king says he is sick of children." + +"He may well be sick of me!" thought the princess; "but it can't +mean that he does not want me home again.--I don't think you can +very well call me a child," she said, looking the sentry full in the +face. + +"You ain't very big, miss," answered the soldier, "but so be you say +you ain't a child, I'll take the risk. The king can only kill me, +and a man must die once." + +He opened the gate, stepped aside, and allowed her to pass. Had she +lost her temper, as every one but the wise woman would have expected +of her, he certainly would not have done so. + +She ran into the palace, the door of which had been left open by the +porter when he followed the soldiers and prisoners to the +throne-room, and bounded up the stairs to look for her father and +mother. As she passed the door of the throne-room she heard an +unusual noise in it, and running to the king's private entrance, +over which hung a heavy curtain, she peeped past the edge of it, and +saw, to her amazement, the shepherd and shepherdess standing like +culprits before the king and queen, and the same moment heard the +king say-- + +"Peasants, where is the princess Rosamond?" + +"Truly, sire, we do not know," answered the shepherd. + +"You ought to know," said the king. + +"Sire, we could keep her no longer." + +"You confess, then," said the king, suppressing the outbreak of the +wrath that boiled up in him, "that you turned her out of your +house." + +For the king had been informed by a swift messenger of all that had +passed long before the arrival of the prisoners. + +"We did, sire; but not only could we keep her no longer, but we knew +not that she was the princess." + +"You ought to have known, the moment you cast your eyes upon her," +said the king. "Any one who does not know a princess the moment he +sees her, ought to have his eyes put out." + +"Indeed he ought," said the queen. + +To this they returned no answer, for they had none ready. + +"Why did you not bring her at once to the palace," pursued the king, +"whether you knew her to be a princess or not? My proclamation left +nothing to your judgment. It said EVERY CHILD." + +"We heard nothing of the proclamation, sire." + +"You ought to have heard," said the king. "It is enough that I make +proclamations; it is for you to read them. Are they not written in +letters of gold upon the brazen gates of this palace?" + +"A poor shepherd, your majesty--how often must he leave his flock, +and go hundreds of miles to look whetner there may not be something +in letters of gold upon the brazen gates? We did not know that your +majesty had made a proclamation, or even that the princess was +lost." + +"You ought to have known," said the king. + +The shepherd held his peace. + +"But," said the queen, taking up the word, "all that is as nothing, +when I think how you misused the darling." + +The only ground the queen had for saying thus, was what Agnes had +told her as to how the princess was dressed; and her condition +seemed to the queen so miserable, that she had imagined all sorts of +oppression and cruelty. + +But this was more than the shepherdess, who had not yet spoken, +could bear. + +"She would have been dead, and NOT buried, long ago, madam, if I had +not carried her home in my two arms." + +"Why does she say her TWO arms?" said the king to himself. "Has she +more than two? Is there treason in that?" + +"You dressed her in cast-off clothes," said the queen. + +"I dressed her in my own sweet child's Sunday clothes. And this is +what I get for it!" cried the shepherdess, bursting into tears. + +"And what did you do with the clothes you took off her? Sell them?" + +"Put them in the fire, madam. They were not fit for the poorest +child in the mountains. They were so ragged that you could see her +skin through them in twenty different places." + +"You cruel woman, to torture a mother's feelings so!" cried the +queen, and in her turn burst into tears. + +"And I'm sure," sobbed the shepherdess, "I took every pains to teach +her what it was right for her to know. I taught her to tidy the +house and"-- + +"Tidy the house!" moaned the queen. "My poor wretched offspring!" + +"And peel the potatoes, and"-- + +"Peel the potatoes!" cried the queen. "Oh, horror!" + +"And black her master's boots," said the shepherdess. + +"Black her master's boots!" shrieked the queen. "Oh, my white-handed +princess! Oh, my ruined baby!" + +"What I want to know," said the king, paying no heed to this +maternal duel, but patting the top of his sceptre as if it had been +the hilt of a sword which he was about to draw, "is, where the +princess is now." + +The shepherd made no answer, for he had nothing to say more than he +had said already. + +"You have murdered her!" shouted the king. "You shall be tortured +till you confess the truth; and then you shall be tortured to death, +for you are the most abominable wretches in the whole wide world." + +"Who accuses me of crime?" cried the shepherd, indignant. + +"I accuse you," said the king; "but you shall see, face to face, the +chief witness to your villany. Officer, bring the girl." + +Silence filled the hall while they waited. The king's face was +swollen with anger. The queen hid hers behind her handkerchief. The +shepherd and shepherdess bent their eyes on the ground, wondering. +It was with difficulty Rosamond could keep her place, but so wise +had she already become that she saw it would be far better to let +every thing come out before she interfered. + +At length the door opened, and in came the officer, followed by +Agnes, looking white as death and mean as sin. + +The shepherdess gave a shriek, and darted towards her with arms +spread wide; the shepherd followed, but not so eagerly. + +"My child! my lost darling! my Agnes!" cried the shepherdess. + +"Hold them asunder," shouted the king. "Here is more villany! What! +have I a scullery-maid in my house born of such parents? The parents +of such a child must be capable of any thing. Take all three of them +to the rack. Stretch them till their joints are torn asunder, and +give them no water. Away with them!" + +The soldiers approached to lay hands on them. But, behold! a girl +all in rags, with such a radiant countenance that it was right +lovely to see, darted between, and careless of the royal presence, +flung herself upon the shepherdess, crying,-- + +"Do not touch her. She is my good, kind mistress." + +But the shepherdess could hear or see no one but her Agnes, and +pushed her away. Then the princess turned, with the tears in her +eyes, to the shepherd, and threw her arms about his neck and pulled +down his head and kissed him. And the tall shepherd lifted her to +his bosom and kept her there, but his eyes were fixed on his Agnes. + +"What is the meaning of this?" cried the king, starting up from his +throne. "How did that ragged girl get in here? Take her away with +the rest. She is one of them, too." + +But the princess made the shepherd set her down, and before any one +could interfere she had run up the steps of the dais and then the +steps of the king's throne like a squirrel, flung herself upon the +king, and begun to smother him with kisses. + +All stood astonished, except the three peasants, who did not even +see what took place. The shepherdess kept calling to her Agnes, but +she was so ashamed that she did not dare even lift her eyes to meet +her mother's, and the shepherd kept gazing on her in silence. As for +the king, he was so breathless and aghast with astonishment, that he +was too feeble to fling the ragged child from him, as he tried to +do. But she left him, and running down the steps of the one throne +and up those of the other, began kissing the queen next. But the +queen cried out,-- + +"Get away, you great rude child!--Will nobody take her to the rack?" + +Then the princess, hardly knowing what she did for joy that she had +come in time, ran down the steps of the throne and the dais, and +placing herself between the shepherd and shepherdess, took a hand of +each, and stood looking at the king and queen. + +Their faces began to change. At last they began to know her. But she +was so altered--so lovelily altered, that it was no wonder they +should not have known her at the first glance; but it was the fault +of the pride and anger and injustice with which their hearts were +filled, that they did not know her at the second. + +The king gazed and the queen gazed, both half risen from their +thrones, and looking as if about to tumble down upon her, if only +they could be right sure that the ragged girl was their own child. A +mistake would be such a dreadful thing! + +"My darling!" at last shrieked the mother, a little doubtfully. + +"My pet of pets?" cried the father, with an interrogative twist of +tone. + +Another moment, and they were half way down the steps of the dais. + +"Stop!" said a voice of command from somewhere in the hall, and, +king and queen as they were, they stopped at once half way, then +drew themselves up, stared, and began to grow angry again, but durst +not go farther. + +The wise woman was coming slowly up through the crowd that filled +the hall. Every one made way for her. She came straight on until she +stood in front of the king and queen. + +"Miserable man and woman!" she said, in words they alone could hear, +"I took your daughter away when she was worthy of such parents; I +bring her back, and they are unworthy of her. That you did not know +her when she came to you is a small wonder, for you have been blind +in soul all your lives: now be blind in body until your better eyes +are unsealed." + +She threw her cloak open. It fell to the ground, and the radiance +that flashed from her robe of snowy whiteness, from her face of +awful beauty, and from her eyes that shone like pools of sunlight, +smote them blind. + +Rosamond saw them give a great start, shudder, waver to and fro, +then sit down on the steps of the dais; and she knew they were +punished, but knew not how. She rushed up to them, and catching a +hand of each said-- + +"Father, dear father! mother dear! I will ask the wise woman to +forgive you." + +"Oh, I am blind! I am blind!" they cried together. "Dark as night! +Stone blind!" + +Rosamond left them, sprang down the steps, and kneeling at her feet, +cried, "Oh, my lovely wise woman! do let them see. Do open their +eyes, dear, good, wise woman." + +The wise woman bent down to her, and said, so that none else could +hear, "I will one day. Meanwhile you must be their servant, as I +have been yours. Bring them to me, and I will make them welcome." + +Rosamond rose, went up the steps again to her father and mother, +where they sat like statues with closed eyes, half-way from the top +of the dais where stood their empty thrones, seated herself between +them, took a hand of each, and was still. + +All this time very few in the room saw the wise woman. The moment +she threw off her cloak she vanished from the sight of almost all +who were present. The woman who swept and dusted the hall and +brushed the thrones, saw her, and the shepherd had a glimmering +vision of her; but no one else that I know of caught a glimpse of +her. The shepherdess did not see her. Nor did Agnes, but she felt +her presence upon her like the beat of a furnace seven times heated. + +As soon as Rosamond had taken her place between her father and +mother, the wise woman lifted her cloak from the floor, and threw it +again around her. Then everybody saw her, and Agnes felt as if a +soft dewy cloud had come between her and the torrid rays of a +vertical sun. The wise woman turned to the shepherd and shepherdess. + +"For you," she said, "you are sufficiently punished by the work of +your own hands. Instead of making your daughter obey you, you left +her to be a slave to herself; you coaxed when you ought to have +compelled; you praised when you ought to have been silent; you +fondled when you ought to have punished; you threatened when you +ought to have inflicted--and there she stands, the full-grown result +of your foolishness! She is your crime and your punishment. Take her +home with you, and live hour after hour with the pale-hearted +disgrace you call your daughter. What she is, the worm at her heart +has begun to teach her. When life is no longer endurable, come to +me. + +"Madam," said the shepherd, "may I not go with you now?" + +"You shall," said the wise woman. + +"Husband! husband!" cried the shepherdess, "how are we two to get +home without you?" + +"I will see to that," said the wise woman. "But little of home you +will find it until you have come to me. The king carried you hither, +and he shall carry you back. But your husband shall not go with you. +He cannot now if he would." + +The shepherdess looked and saw that the shepherd stood in a deep +sleep. She went to him and sought to rouse him, but neither tongue +nor hands were of the slightest avail. + +The wise woman turned to Rosamond. + +"My child," she said, "I shall never be far from you. Come to me +when you will. Bring them to me." + +Rosamond smiled and kissed her hand, but kept her place by her +parents. They also were now in a deep sleep like the shepherd. + +The wise woman took the shepherd by the hand, and led him away. + +And that is all my double story. How double it is, if you care to +know, you must find out. If you think it is not finished--I never +knew a story that was. I could tell you a great deal more concerning +them all, but I have already told more than is good for those who +read but with their foreheads, and enough for those whom it has made +look a little solemn, and sigh as they close the book. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Double Story, by George MacDonald + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DOUBLE STORY *** + +This file should be named dblst10.txt or dblst10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, dblst11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, dblst10a.txt + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + |