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diff --git a/old/60095-0.txt b/old/60095-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index bb17d9f..0000000 --- a/old/60095-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5639 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Croatian Tales of Long Ago, by Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Croatian Tales of Long Ago - -Author: Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic - -Illustrator: Vladimir Kirin - -Translator: Fanny S. Copeland - -Release Date: August 12, 2019 [EBook #60095] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CROATIAN TALES OF LONG AGO *** - - - - -Produced by Peter Podgorsek, Barry Abrahamsen, and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This file was produced from images generously made -available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - CROATIAN TALES - OF LONG AGO - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - Croatian Tales of Long Ago - - BY - IVANA BRLIĆ-MAŽURANIĆ - -[Illustration] - - TRANSLATED BY - F. S. COPELAND - - - NEW YORK - FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY - PUBLISHERS - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - (_All rights reserved_) - - _Printed in Great Britain_ - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CONTENTS - - - Page - - How Quest Sought the Truth 9 - - Fisherman Plunk and His Wife 55 - - Reygoch 93 - - Bridesman Sun and Bride Bridekins 137 - - Stribor’s Forest 161 - - Little Brother Primrose and Sister 185 - Lavender - - Notes 255 - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - BY - VLADIMIR KIRIN - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - How Quest Sought the Truth - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - How Quest Sought the Truth - - - I - - -[Illustration] - -ONCE upon a time very long ago there lived an old man in a glade in the -midst of an ancient forest. His name was Witting, and he lived there -with his three grandsons. Now this old man was all alone in the world -save for these three grandsons, and he had been father and mother to -them from the time when they were quite little. But now they were -full-grown lads, so tall that they came up to their grandfather’s -shoulder, and even taller. Their names were Bluster, Careful and Quest. - -One spring morning old Witting got up early, before the sun had risen, -called his three grandsons and told them to go into the wood where they -had gathered honey last year; to see how the little bees had come -through the winter, and whether they had waked up yet from their winter -sleep. Careful, Bluster and Quest got up, dressed, and went out. - -It was a good way to the place where the bees lived. Now all three -brothers knew every pathway in the woods, and so they strode cheerily -and boldly along through the great forest. All the same it was somewhat -dark and eerie under the trees, for the sun was not yet up and neither -bird nor beast stirring. Presently the lads began to feel a little -scared in that great silence, because just at dawn, before sunrise, the -wicked Rampogusto, King of Forest Goblins, loves to range the forest, -gliding softly from tree to tree in the gloom. - -So the brothers started to ask one another about all the wonderful -things there might be in the world. But as not one of them had ever been -outside the forest, none could tell the others anything about the world; -and so they only became more and more depressed. At last, to keep up -their courage a bit, they began to sing and call upon All-Rosy to bring -out the Sun: - - Little lord All-Rosy bright. - Bring golden Sun to give us light; - Show thyself, All-Rosy bright, - Loora-la, Loora-la lay! - -Singing at the top of their voices, the lads walked through the woods -towards a spot from where they could see a second range of mountains. As -they neared the spot they saw a light above those mountains brighter -than they had ever seen before, and it fluttered like a golden banner. - -The lads were dumbfounded with amazement, when all of a sudden the light -vanished from off the mountain and reappeared above a great rock nearer -at hand, then still nearer, above an old limetree, and at last shone -like burnished gold right in front of them. And then they saw that it -was a lovely youth in glittering raiment, and that it was his golden -cloak which fluttered like a golden banner. They could not bear to look -upon the face of the youth, but covered their eyes with their hands for -very fear. - -“Why do you call me, if you are afraid of me, you silly fellows?” -laughed the golden youth—for he was All-Rosy. “You call on All-Rosy, and -then you are afraid of All-Rosy. You talk about the wide world, but you -do not know the wide world. Come along with me and I will show you the -world, both earth and heaven, and tell you what is in store for you.” - -Thus spoke All-Rosy, and twirled his golden cloak so that he caught up -Bluster, Careful and Quest, all three in its shimmering folds. Round -went All-Rosy and round went the cloak, and the brothers, clinging to -the hem of the cloak, spun round with it, round and round and round -again, and all the world passed before their eyes. First they saw all -the treasure and all the lands and all the possessions and the riches -that were then in the world. And they went on whirling round and round -and round again, and saw all the armies, and all spears and all arrows -and all the captains and all plunder which were then in the world. And -the cloak twirled yet more quickly, round and round and round again, and -all of a sudden they saw all the stars, great and small, and the moon -and the Seven Sisters and the winds and all the clouds. The brothers -were quite dazed with so many sights, and still the cloak went on -twirling and whirling with a rustling, rushing sound like a golden -banner. At last the golden hem fluttered down; and Bluster, Careful and -Quest stood once more on the turf. Before them stood the golden youth -All-Rosy as before, and said to them: - -“There, my lads, now you have seen all there is to see in the world. -Listen to what is in store for you and what you must do to be lucky.” - -At that the brothers became more scared than ever, yet they pricked up -their ears and paid good heed, so as to remember everything very -carefully. But All-Rosy went on at once: - -“There! this is what you must do. Stay in the glade, and don’t leave -your grandfather until he leaves you; and do not go into the world, -neither for good nor for evil, until you have repaid your grandfather -for all his love to you.” And as All-Rosy said this, he twirled his -cloak round and vanished, as though he had never been; and lo, it was -day in the forest. - -But Rampogusto, King of the Forest Goblins, had seen and heard -everything. Like a wraith of mist he had slipped from tree to tree and -kept himself hidden from the brothers among the branches of an old -beech-tree. - -Rampogusto had always hated old Witting. He hated him as a mean -scoundrel hates an upright man, and above all things he hated him -because the old man had brought the sacred fire to the glade so that it -might never go out, and the smoke of that fire made Rampogusto cough -most horribly. - -So Rampogusto wasn’t pleased with the idea that the brothers should obey -All-Rosy, and stay beside their grandfather and look after him; but he -bethought himself how he could harm old Witting, and somehow turn his -grandsons against him. - -[Illustration] - -Therefore, no sooner had Bluster, Careful and Quest recovered from their -amazement and turned to go home than Rampogusto slipped swiftly, like a -cloud before the wind, to a wooded glen where there was a big osier -clump, which was chock-full of goblins—tiny, ugly, humpy, grubby, -boss-eyed, and what not, all playing about like mad creatures. They -squeaked and they squawked, they jumped and they romped; they were a -pack of harum-scarum imps, no good to anybody and no harm either, so -long as a man did not take them into his company. But Rampogusto knew -how to manage that. - -So he picked out three of them, and told them to jump each on one of the -brothers, and see how they might harm old Witting through his grandsons. - -Now while Rampogusto was busy choosing his goblins, Bluster, Careful and -Quest went on their way; and so scared were they that they clean forgot -all they had seen during their flight and everything that All-Rosy had -told them. - -So they came back to the cabin, and sat down on a stone outside and told -their grandfather what had happened to them. - -“And what did you see as you were flying round, and what did All-Rosy -tell you?” Witting asked Careful, his eldest grandson. Now Careful was -in a real fix, because he had clean forgotten, neither could he remember -what All-Rosy had told him. But from under the stone where they were -sitting crept a wee hobgoblin—ugly and horned and grey as a mouse. - -The goblin tweaked Careful’s shirt from behind and whispered: “Say: I -have seen great riches, hundreds of beehives, a house of carved wood and -heaps of fine furs. And All-Rosy said to me: ‘Thou shalt be the richest -of all the three brothers.’” - -Careful never bothered to think whether this was the truth that the imp -was suggesting, but just turned and repeated it word for word to his -grandfather. No sooner had he spoken than the goblin hopped into his -pouch, curled himself up in a corner of the pouch—and there stopped! - -Then Witting asked Bluster, the second grandson, what he might have seen -in his flight, and what All-Rosy might have told him? And Bluster, too, -had noticed nothing and remembered nothing. But from under the stone -crept the second hobgoblin, quite small, ill-favoured, horned and smutty -as a polecat. The goblin plucked Bluster by the shirt and whispered: -“Say: I saw lots of armed men, many bows and arrows and slaves galore in -chains. And All-Rosy said to me: ‘Thou shalt be the mightiest of the -brothers.’” - -Bluster considered no more than Careful had done, but was very pleased, -and lied to his grandfather even as the goblin had prompted him. And the -goblin at once jumped on his neck and crawled down his shirt, hid in his -bosom, and stopped there. - -Now the grandfather asked the youngest grandson, Quest, but he, too, -could recall nothing. And from under the stone crept the third -hobgoblin, the youngest, the ugliest, horned with big horns, and black -as a mole. - -The hobgoblin tugged Quest by the shirt and whispered: “Say: I have seen -all the heavens and all the stars and all clouds. And All-Rosy said to -me: ‘Thou shalt be the wisest among men and know what the winds say and -the stars tell.’” - -But Quest loved the truth, and so he would not listen to the goblin nor -lie to his grandfather, but kicked the goblin and said to his -grandfather: - -“I don’t know, grandfather, what I saw or what I heard.” - -The goblin gave a squeal, bit Quest’s foot, and then scuttled away under -the stone like a lizard. But Quest gathered potent herbs and bound up -his foot with them, so that it might heal quickly. - - - II - -Now the goblin whom Quest had kicked first scooted away under the stone, -and then wriggled into the grass, and hopped off through the grass into -the woods, and through the woods into the osier clump. - -He went up to Rampogusto all shaking with fright and said: “Rampogusto, -dread sovereign, I wasn’t able to jump on that youth whom you gave into -my care.” - -Then Rampogusto fell into a frightful rage, because he knew those three -brothers well, and most of all he feared Quest, lest he should remember -the truth. For if Quest were to remember the truth, why, then Rampogusto -would never be able to get rid of old Witting nor the sacred fire. - -So he seized the little goblin by the horns, picked him up and dusted -him soundly with a big birchrod. - -“Go back!” he roared—“go back to the young man, and it will be a black -day for you if ever he remembers the truth!” - -With these words Rampogusto let the goblin go; and the goblin, scared -half out of his wits, squatted for three days in the osier clump and -considered and considered how he might fulfil his difficult task. “I -shall have as much trouble with Quest, for sure, as Quest with me,” -reflected the goblin. For he was a scatter-brained little silly, and did -not care at all for a tiresome job. - -But while he squatted in the osier clump those other two imps were -already at work, the one in Careful’s pouch and the other in Bluster’s -bosom. From that day forth Careful and Bluster began to rove over hill -and dale, and even slept but little at home—and all because of the -goblins! - -There was the goblin curled up in the bottom of Careful’s pouch, and -that goblin loved riches better than the horn over his right eye. - -So all day long he butted Careful in the ribs, teasing and goading him -on: “Hurry up, get on! We must seek, we must find! Let’s look for bees, -let’s gather honey, and then we will keep a tally with rows and rows of -scores!” - -So said the goblin, because in those days they reckoned up a man’s -possessions with tallies. - -Now a tally is only a long wooden stick with a notch cut in it for every -sum that is owing to a man! - -But Bluster’s goblin butted him in the breast, and that goblin wanted to -be the strongest of all and lord of all the earth. So he worried and -worried Bluster, and urged him to roam through the woods looking for -young ash plants and slender maple saplings to make a warrior’s outfit -and weapons. “Hurry up, get on!” teased the goblin. “You must seek, you -must find! Spears, bows and arrows to suit a hero’s mind, so that man -and beast may tremble before us.” - -And both Bluster and Careful listened to their goblins, and went off -after their own concerns as the goblins led them. - -But Quest stayed with his grandfather that day and yet other three days, -and all the time he puzzled and puzzled over whatever it was that -All-Rosy might have told him; because Quest wanted to tell his -grandfather the truth; but, alas! he could not remember it at all! - -So that day went by, and the next, and so three days; and on the third -day Quest said to his grandfather: - -“Good-bye, grandfather. I am going to the hills, and shall not come back -until I remember the truth, if it should take me ten years.” - -Now Witting’s hair was grey, and there was little he cared for in this -world except his grandson Quest, and him he loved and cherished as a -withered leaf cherishes a drop of dew. So the old man started sadly and -said: - -“What good will the truth be to me, my boy, when I may be dead and gone -long before you remember it?” - -This he said, and in his heart he grieved far more even than he showed -in his words; and he thought: “How could the boy leave me!” - -But Quest replied: - -“I must go, grandfather, because I have thought it out, and that seems -the right thing to me.” - -Witting was a wise old man, and considered: “Perhaps there is more -wisdom in a young head than in an old one; only if the poor lad is doing -wrong it’s a sad weird he will have to dree—because he is so gentle and -upright.” And as Witting thought of that he grew sadder than ever, but -said nothing more. He just kissed his grandson good-bye and bade him go -where he wished. - -But Quest’s heart sadly misgave him because of his grandfather, and he -very, very nearly changed his mind on the threshold and stayed beside -him. But he forced himself to do as he had made up his mind to, and went -out and away into the hills. - -Just as Quest parted from his grandfather his imp thought he might as -well get out of the osier clump and tackle that tiresome job; and he -reached the clearing just as Quest was hurrying away. - -So Quest went off to the hills, very downcast and sad; and when he came -to the first rock, lo and behold, there was the goblin, gibbering. - -“Why,” thought Quest, “it’s the very same one—quite small, misshapen, -black as a mole and with big horns.” - -The goblin stood right in Quest’s way, and would not let him pass. So -Quest got angry with the little monster for hindering him like this; he -picked up a stone, threw it at the goblin, and hit him squarely between -the horns. “Now I’ve killed him,” thought Quest. - -But when he looked again there was the goblin as spry as ever, and two -more horns had sprouted where the stone had hit him! - -“Well, evidently stones won’t drive him off,” said Quest. So he went -round the goblin and forward on his way. But the imp scuttled on in -front of him, to the right and to the left, and then straight in front, -for all the world like a rabbit. - -At last they came to a little level spot between cliffs—a very stony -place; and on one side of it there was a deep well-spring. “Here will I -stay,” said Quest; and he at once spread out his sheep-skin coat under a -crab-tree and sat down, so that he might reflect in peace and remember -what All-Rosy had verily and truly told him. - -But when the imp saw that, he squatted down straight in front of Quest -under the tree, played silly tricks on him, and worried him horribly. He -chased lizards under Quest’s feet, threw burrs at his shirt, and slipped -grasshoppers up his sleeves. - -“Oh dear, this is most annoying!” thought Quest, when it had gone on for -some little time. “I have left my wise old grandfather, my brothers and -my home, so that I might be in quiet and remember the truth—and here am -I wasting my time with this horned imp of mischief!” - -But as he had come out in a good cause, he nevertheless thought it the -right thing to stay where he was. - - - III - -So Quest and the goblin lived together on that lone ledge between the -cliffs, and each day was like the first. The goblin worried Quest so -that he couldn’t get on with his thinking. - -On a clear morning Quest would rise from sleep and feel happy. “How -still it is, how lovely! Surely to-day I shall remember the truth!” And -lo, from the branch overhead a handful of crabs would come tumbling -about his ears, so that his head buzzed and his thoughts all got mixed. -And there was the little monster mocking him from the crabtree and -laughing fit to burst. Or Quest would be lying in the shade, thinking -most beautifully, till he felt like saying: “There, there now, _now_ it -will come back to me, _now_ I shall puzzle out the truth!” And then the -goblin would squirt him all over with ice-cold water from the spring -through a hollow elder twig—and again Quest would clean forget what he -had already thought out. - -There was no silly trick nor idle joke that the goblin did not play on -Quest on the ledge there. And yet all might have been well, if Quest -hadn’t found it just a tiny bit amusing to watch these tomfooleries; and -though he was thinking hard about his task, yet his eyes _would_ wander -and look round to see what the imp might be doing next. - -Quest was angry with himself over this, because he was wearying more and -more for his grandfather, and he saw full well that he would never -remember the truth while the goblin was about. - -“I must get rid of him,” said Quest. - -Well, one fine morning the goblin invented a new game. He climbed up the -cliff where there was a steep water-course in the face of the rock, got -astride a smooth bit of wood as if it had been a hobby-horse, and then -scooted down the water-course like a streak of lightning! This prank -pleased the little wretch so mightily that he must needs have company to -enjoy it the better! So he whistled on a blade of grass till it rang -over hill and dale, and lo, from scrub and rock and osier clump the -goblins came scuttling along, all tiny like himself. He gave orders, and -every man-jack of them took a stick and shinned up the cliff with it. My -word! how they got astride their hobby-horses and hurtled down the -water-course! There were all sorts and sizes and kinds of goblins—red as -a robin’s breast, green as greenfinches, woolly as lambs, naked as -frogs, horned as snails, bald as mice. They careered down the -water-course like a crazy company on crazy horses. Down they flew, each -close at the other’s heels, never stopping till they came to the middle -of the ledge; and there was a great stone all overgrown with moss. There -they were brought up short, and what with the bump of stopping so -suddenly and sheer high spirits they tumbled and scrambled about all -atop of one another in the moss! - -Shrieking with glee, the silly crew had made the trip some two or three -times already, and poor Quest was hard put to it between two thoughts. -For one thing, he wanted to watch the imps and be amused by them, and -for another he was angry with them for making such a hullabaloo that he -could not remember the truth. So he shilly-shallied awhile, and at last -he said: “Well, this is past a joke. I must get rid of these -good-for-nothing loons, because while they are here I might as well have -stopped at home.” - -And as Quest considered the matter, he noticed that as they rushed down -the water-course they made straight for the spring, and that, but for -the big stone, they would all have toppled into it head foremost. So -Quest crouched behind the stone, and when the imps came dashing down -again guffawing and chuckling as before, he quickly rolled the stone -aside, and the whole mad party rushed straight on to the -well-spring—right on to it and then into it, head first, each on top of -the other—red as robin’s breasts, green as greenfinches, woolly as -lambs, naked as frogs, horned as snails, bald-headed as mice—and first -of all the one who had fastened himself on to Quest.... - -And then Quest tipped a big flat stone over the well, and all the -goblins were caught inside like flies in a pitcher. - -Quest was ever so pleased to have got rid of the goblins, sat down and -made sure he would now recollect the truth in good earnest. - -But he had no luck, because down in the well the goblins began to -wriggle and to ramp as never before. Through every gap and chink shot up -tiny flames which the goblins gave out in their fright and distress. The -flames danced and wavered round the spring till Quest’s head was all in -a whirl. He closed his eyes, so that their flashing should not make him -giddy. - -But then there arose from the pit such a noise, hubbub, knocking and -banging, barking and yowling, such yelling and shrieking for help, that -Quest’s ears were like to burst; and how could he even try to think -through it? He stopped his ears so as not to hear. - -Then a smell of brimstone and sulphur drifted over to him. Through every -crack and crevice oozed thick sooty smoke which the imps belched forth -in their extremity. Smoke and sulphur fumes writhed round Quest; they -choked and smothered him. - -So Quest saw there was no help for it. “Goblins shut up,” said he, “are -a hundred times worse than goblins at large. So I’ll just go and let -them out, since I can’t get rid of them anyhow. After all, I am better -off with their tomfooleries than with all that yammering.” - -So he went and lifted off the stone; and the terrified goblins scuttled -away in all directions like so many wild cats, and ran away into the -woods and never came back to the ledge any more. - -None stayed behind, but only the one black as a mole and with big horns, -because he did not dare to leave Quest for fear of Rampogusto. - -But even he sobered down a little from that day forward, and had more -respect for Quest than before. - -And so these two came to a sort of arrangement between them; they got -used to one another and lived side by side on the stony ledge. - -In that way close on to a year slipped by, and Quest was no nearer -remembering what All-Rosy had really truly told him. - -When the year was almost gone the goblin began to be most horribly -bored. - -“How much longer have I got to stick here?” thought he. So one evening, -just as Quest was about to fall asleep, the imp wriggled up to him and -said: - -“Well, my friend, here you’ve been sitting for close on a year and a -day, and what’s the good of it? Who knows but perhaps in the meantime -your old grand-dad has died all alone in his cabin.” - -[Illustration] - -A pang shot through Quest’s heart as if he had been struck with a knife, -but he said: “There, I have made up my mind not to budge from here until -I remember the truth, because truth comes before all things.” Thus said -Quest, because he was upright and of good parts. - -But all the same he was deeply troubled by what the goblin had said -about his grandfather. He never slept a wink all night, but racked his -brains and thought: “How is it with the old man, my dear grandfather?” - - - IV - -Now all this time the grandfather went on living with Careful and -Bluster in the glade—only life had taken a very sad turn for the old -man. His grandsons ceased to trouble about him, nor would they stay near -him. They bade him neither “Good-morning” nor “Good-night,” and only -went about their own affairs and listened to the goblins they harboured, -the one in his pouch and the other in his bosom. - -Every day Careful brought more bees from the forest, felled timber, -shaped rafters, and gradually built a new cabin. He carved himself ten -tallies, and every day he counted and reckoned over and over again when -these tallies would be filled up. - -As for Bluster, he went hunting and reiving, bringing home game and -furs, plunder and treasure; and one day he even brought along two slaves -whom he had taken, so that they might work for the brothers and wait -upon them. - -All this was very hard and disagreeable for the old man, and harder and -more disagreeable still were the looks he got from his grandsons. What -use had they for an old man who would not be served by the slaves, but -disgraced his grandsons by cutting wood and drawing water from the well -for himself? At last there wasn’t a thing about the old man that didn’t -annoy his grandsons, even this, that every day he would put a log on the -sacred fire. - -Old Witting saw very well whither all this would lead, and that very -soon they would be thinking of getting rid of him altogether. He did not -care so much about his life, because life was not much use to him, but -he was sorry to die before seeing Quest once more, the dear lad who was -the joy of his old age. - -One evening—and it was the very evening when Quest was so troubled in -his mind thinking of his grandfather—Careful said to Bluster: “Come -along, brother, let’s get rid of grandfather. You have weapons. Wait for -him by the well and kill him.” - -Now Careful said this because he specially wanted the old cabin at all -costs, so as to put up beehives on that spot. “I can’t,” replied -Bluster, whose heart had not grown so hard, amidst bloodshed and -robbery, as Careful’s among his riches and his tallies. - -But Careful would not give over, because the imp in his bag went on -whispering and nagging. The imp in his pouch knew very well that Careful -would be the first to put the old man away, and so gain him great credit -with Rampogusto. - -Careful tried hard to talk over Bluster, but Bluster could not bring -himself to kill his grandfather with his own hand. So at last they -agreed and arranged that they would that very night burn down the old -man’s hut—burn it down with the old man inside! - -When all was quiet in the glade, they sent out the slaves to watch the -traps in the woods that night. But the brothers crept up softly to -Witting’s cabin, shut the outer door tight with a thick wedge, so that -the old man might not escape from the flames, and then set fire to the -four corners of the house.... - -When all was done they went away and away into the hills so as not to -hear their poor old grandfather crying out for help. They made up their -minds to go over the whole of the mountain as far as they could, and not -to come back until next day, when all would be over, and their -grandfather and the cabin would be burnt up together. - -So they went, and the flames began to lick upwards slowly round the -corners. But the rafters were of seasoned walnut, hard as stone, and -though the fire licked and crept all round them it could not catch -properly, and so it was late at night before the flames took hold of the -roof. - -Old Witting awoke, opened his eyes and saw that the roof was ablaze over -his head. He got up and went to the door, and when he found that it was -fastened with a heavy wedge he knew at once whose doing it was. - -“Oh, my children! my poor darlings!” said the old man, “you have taken -from your hearts to add to your wretched tallies; and behold, your -tallies are not even full, and there are many notches still lacking; but -your hearts are empty to the bottom already, since you could burn your -own grandfather and the cabin where you were born.” - -That was all the thought that Father Witting gave to Careful and -Bluster. After that he thought neither good nor bad about them, nor did -he grieve over them further, but went and sat down quietly to wait for -death. - -He sat on the oak chest and meditated upon his long life; and whatever -there had been in it, there was nothing he was sorry for save only this, -that Quest was not with him in his last hour—Quest, his darling child, -for whom he had grieved so much. - -So he sat still, while the roof was already blazing away like a torch. - -The rafters burned and burned, the ceiling began to crack. It blazed, -cracked, then gave way on either side of the old man, and rafters and -ceiling crashed down amid the flames into the cabin. The flames billowed -round Witting, the roof gaped above his head. Already he saw the dawn -pale in the sky before sunrise. Old Witting rose to his feet, raised his -hands to heaven, and so waited for the flames to carry him away from -this world, the old man and his old homestead together. - - - V - -Quest worried terribly that night, and when morning broke he went to the -spring to cool his burning face. - -The sun was just up in the sky when Quest reached the spring, and when -he came there he saw a light shining in the water. It shone, it rose, -and lo! beside the spring and before Quest stood a lovely youth in -golden raiment. It was All-Rosy. - -Quest started with joy, and said: - -“My little lord All-Rosy bright, how I have longed for you! Do tell me -what you told me then that I must do? Here I have been racking my brains -and tormenting myself and calling on all my wits for a year and a -day—and I cannot remember the truth!” - -As Quest said this, All-Rosy rather crossly shook his head and his -golden curls. - -“Eh, boy, boy! I told you to stay with your grandfather till you had -rendered him the love you owe him, and not to leave him till he left -you,” said All-Rosy. - -And then he went on: - -“I thought you were wiser than your brothers, and there you are the most -foolish of the three. Here you have been racking your brains and calling -on your wits to help you for a year and a day so that you might remember -the truth; and if you had listened to your heart when it told you on the -threshold of your cabin to turn back and not to leave your old -grandfather—why then, you silly boy, you would have had the truth, even -without wits!” - -Thus spoke All-Rosy. Once more he crossly shook his head with the golden -curls; then he took his golden cloak about him and vanished. - -Shamed and troubled, Quest remained alone beside the spring, and from -between the stones he heard the imp giggling—the hobgoblin, quite small, -misshapen, and horned with big horns. The little wretch was pleased -because All-Rosy had shamed Quest, who always gave himself such -righteous airs; but when Quest roused himself from his first amazement -he called out joyfully: - -“Now I’ll just wash quickly and then fly to my dear old grandfather.” -This he said and knelt by the spring to wash. Quest leaned down to reach -the water, leaned down too far, lost his balance, and fell into the -spring. - -Fell into the spring and was drowned.... - - - VI - -[Illustration] - -THE hobgoblin jumped up from among the stones, leaped to the edge of the -spring, and looked down to see with his own eyes whether it was really -true. - -Yes, Quest was really truly drowned. There he lay at the bottom of the -water, white as wax. - -“Yoho, yoho, yo hey!” yelled the goblin, who was only a poor silly. -“Yoho, yoho, yo hey! my friend, we’re off to-day!” - -The imp yelled so that all the rocks round the ledge rang with the -noise. Then he heaved up the stone that lay by the edge of the spring, -and the stone toppled over and covered the spring like a lid. Next the -imp flung Quest’s skin-coat on the top of the stone; last of all he went -and sat on the coat, and then he began to skip and to frolic. - -“Yoho, yoho! my job is done!” yelled the goblin. - -But it wasn’t for long that he skipped on the skin; it wasn’t for long -that he yelled. - -For when the goblin had tired himself out, he looked round the ledge, -and a queer feeling came over him. - -You see, the goblin had got used to Quest. Never before had he had such -an easy time as with that good youth. He had been allowed to fool about -as he chose, without anybody scolding him or telling him to stop; and -now that he came to think of it, he would have to go back to the osier -clump, to the mire, to his angry King Rampogusto, and go on repeating -the old goblin chatter among five hundred other goblins—all of them just -as he used to be himself. - -He had lost the habit of it. He began to think—to _think_ a very little. -He began to feel sad—just a little sad, then more and more miserable; -and at last he was wringing and beating his hands, and the silly, -thoughtless goblin, who a minute ago had been yelling with glee, was now -weeping and wailing with grief and rolling about on the coat all crazy -with distress. - -He wept and he howled till all his former yelling was clean nothing in -comparison. For a goblin is always a goblin. Once he starts wailing he -wails with a vengeance. And he pulled the fur out of the skin-coat in -handfuls, and rolled about on it as if he had taken leave of his senses. - -Now just at that moment Bluster and Careful came to the lone ledge. - -They had wandered all over the mountain, and were now on their way home -to the glade to see if their grandfather and the cabin were quite burnt -up. On the way back they came to a lone ledge where they had never been -before. - -Bluster and Careful heard something wailing, and caught sight of Quest’s -skin-coat; and they thought at once that Quest must have come to grief -somehow. - -Not that they felt sorry for their brother because they could not grieve -for anybody while the goblins were about them. - -But at that moment their goblins began to wriggle, because they could -hear that one of their own kind was in trouble. Now there is no sort -that sticks more closely together and none more faithful in trouble than -the hobgoblins were. In the osier clump they would fight and squabble -all day; but if there was trouble each would give the skin off his shins -for the other! - -So they wriggled and they worried; they pricked up their ears, and then -peered out, the one from the pouch and the other from the shirt. And as -they peered they at once saw a brother of theirs rolling about with -somebody or something—rolling and writhing, and nothing to be seen but -the fur flying. - -“A wild beast is worrying him!” cried the terrified goblins. They jumped -out, one out of Careful’s pouch and the other out of Bluster’s bosom, -and scuttled off to help their friend. - -But when they reached him, he would still do nothing but roll about on -the skin and howl: - -“The boy is dead!—the boy is dead!” The other two goblins tried to quiet -him, and thought: “Maybe a thorn has got into his paw, or a midge into -his ear”—because they had never lived with a righteous man, and did not -know what it means to lament for others. - -But the first goblin went on wailing so that you couldn’t hear yourself -speak, and he wouldn’t be comforted either. - -So the other goblins were in a fine taking as to what they were to do -with him? Nor could they leave him there in his sore trouble. At last -they had an idea. Each laid hold of the sheep-skin coat by one sleeve, -and so they dragged along the coat with their brother inside, scuttled -away into the woods, and out of the woods into the osier clump and home -to Rampogusto. - -So for the first time for a year and a day Bluster and Careful were quit -of their goblins. When the imps hopped away from them, the brothers felt -as though they had walked the world like blind men for a year and a day, -and were seeing it plainly again now for the first time there on the -rocky ledge. - -First they looked at each other in a maze, and then they knew at once -what a terrible wrong they had done their grandfather. - -“Brother! kinsman!” each cried to the other, “let us fly and save our -grandfather.” And they flew as if they had falcon’s wings, home to the -clearing. - -When they came to the glade the cabin was roofless. Flames were rising -like a column from the hut. Only the walls and the door were still -standing, and the door was still tightly wedged. - -The brothers hurried up, tore out the wedge, rushed into the cabin, and -carried out the old man in their arms from amid the flames, which were -just going to take hold on his feet. - -They carried him out and laid him on the cool green turf, and then they -stood beside him and neither dared speak a word. - -After a while old Witting opened his eyes, and as he saw them he asked -nothing about them. The only question he put was: - -“Did you find Quest anywhere in the mountain?” - -“No, grandfather,” answered the brothers. “Quest is dead. He was drowned -this morning in the well-spring. But, grandfather, forgive us, and we -will serve you and wait upon you like slaves.” - -As they were speaking thus, old Witting arose and stood upon his feet. - -“I see that you are already forgiven, my children,” said he, “since you -are standing here alive. But he who was the most upright of you three -had to pay with his life for his fault. Come, children, take me to the -place where he died.” - -Humbly penitent, Careful and Bluster supported their grandfather as they -led him to the ledge. - -But when they had walked a little while they saw that they had gone -astray, and had never been that way before. They told their grandfather; -but he just bade them keep on in that path. - -So they came to a steep slope, and the road led up the slope right to -the crest of the mountain. - -“Our grandfather will die,” whispered the brothers, “with him so feeble -and the hillside so steep.” - -But old Witting only said: “On, children, on—follow the path.” - -So they began to climb up the track, and the old man grew ever more grey -and pallid in the face. And on the mountain’s crest there was something -fair that rustled and crooned and sparkled and shone. - -And when they reached the crest, they stood silent and stone still for -very wonder and awe. - -For before them was neither hill nor dale, nor mountain nor plain, nor -anything at all, but only a great white cloud stretched out before them -like a great white sea—a white cloud, and on the white cloud a pink -cloud. Upon the pink cloud stood a glass mountain, and on the glass -mountain a golden castle with wide steps leading up to the gates. - -That was the Golden Castle of All-Rosy. A soft light streamed from the -Castle—some of it from the pink cloud, some from the glass mountain, and -some from the pure gold walls; but most of all from the windows of the -Castle itself. For there sit the guests of All-Rosy, drinking from -golden goblets health and welcome to each new-comer. - -[Illustration] - -But All-Rosy does not enjoy the company of such as harbour any guilt in -their souls, nor will he let them into his Castle. Wherefore it is a -noble and chosen company that is assembled in his courts, and from them -streams the light through the windows. - -Upon the ridge stood old Witting with his grandsons, all speechless as -they gazed at the marvel. They looked—and of a sudden they saw someone -sitting on the steps that led to the Castle. His face was hidden in his -hands and he wept. - -The old man looked and knew him—knew him for Quest. - -The old man’s soul was shaken within him. He roused himself and called -out across the cloud: - -“What ails you, my child?” - -“I am here, grandfather,” answered Quest. “A great light lifted me up -out of the well-spring and brought me here. So far have I come; but they -won’t let me into the Castle, because I have sinned against you.” - -Tears ran down the old man’s cheeks. His hands and heart went out to -caress his dear child, to comfort him, to help him, to set his darling -free. - -Careful and Bluster looked at their grandfather, but his face was -altogether changed. It was ashen, it was haggard, and not at all like -the face of a living man. - -“The old man will die of these terrors,” whispered the brothers to each -other. - -But the old man drew himself up to his full height, and already he was -moving away from them, when he looked back once more and said: - -“Go home, children, back to the glade, since you are forgiven. Live and -enjoy in all righteousness what shall fall to your part. But I go to -help him to whom has been given the best part at the greatest cost.” - -Old Witting’s voice was quite faint, but he stood before them upright as -a dart. - -Bluster and Careful looked at one another. Had their grandfather gone -crazy, that he thought of walking across the clouds when he had no -breath even for speech? - -But already the old man had left them. He left them, went on and stepped -out upon the cloud as though it were a meadow. And as he stepped out he -went forward. On he walked, the old man, and his feet carried him as -though he were a feather, and his cloak fluttered in the wind as if it -were a cloud upon that cloud. Thus he came to the pink cloud, and to the -glass mountain, and to the broad steps. He flew up the steps to his -grandson. Oh the joy of it, when the old man clasped his grandson! He -hugged him and he held him close as if he would never let him go. And -Careful and Bluster heard it all. Across the cloud they could hear the -old man and his grandchild weeping in each other’s arms for pure joy! - -Then the old man took Quest by the hand and led him up to the Castle -gates. With his left hand he led his grandson, and with his right he -knocked at the gate. - -And lo, a wonder! At once the great gates flew open, all the splendour -of the Castle was thrown open, and the company within, the noble guests, -welcomed grandfather Witting and grandson Quest upon the threshold. - -They welcomed them, held out their hands to them, and led them in. - -Careful and Bluster just saw them pass by the window, and saw where they -were placed at the table. The first place of all was given to old -Witting, and beside him sat Quest, where All-Rosy, the golden youth, -drinks welcome to his guests from a goblet of gold. - -A great fear fell upon Bluster and Careful when they were left alone -with these awesome sights. - -“Come away, brother, to our clearing,” whispered Careful; and they -turned and went. Bewildered by many marvels, they got back to their -clearing, and never again could they find either the path or the slope -that led to the mountain’s crest. - - - VII - -Thus it was and thus it befell. - -Careful and Bluster went on living in the glade. They lived long as -valiant men and true, and brought up goodly families, sons and -grandsons. All good parts went down from father to son, and, of course, -also the sacred fire, which was fed with a fresh log every day so that -it might never go out. - -So, you see, Rampogusto was right in being afraid of Quest, because if -Quest had not died in his search for truth those goblins would never -have left Careful and Bluster, and in the glade there would have been -neither righteous men nor sacred fire. - -But so everything fell out. To the great shame and discomfiture of -Rampogusto and all his crew. - -When those two goblins dragged Quest’s sheep-skin before Rampogusto, and -inside it the third goblin, who was still yammering and carrying on like -one demented, Rampogusto flew into a furious rage, for he knew that all -three youths had escaped him. In his great wrath he gave orders that all -three goblins should have their horns cropped close, and so run about -for everyone to make fun of! - -But the worst of Rampogusto’s discomfiture was this: Every day the -sacred smoke gets into his throat and makes him cough most horribly. -Moreover, he never dare venture out into the woods for fear of meeting -some one of the valiant people. - -So Rampogusto got nothing out of it but Quest’s cast-off sheep-skin; and -I’m sure he is welcome to that, for Quest doesn’t want a sheep-skin coat -anyhow in All-Rosy’s Golden Halls. - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Fisherman Plunk and his Wife - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Fisherman Plunk and His Wife - - - I - - -FISHERMAN PLUNK was sick and tired of his miserable life. He lived alone -by the desolate sea-shore, and every day he caught fish with a bone -hook, because they didn’t know about nets in those parts at that time. -And how much fish can you catch with a hook, anyhow? - -“What a dog’s life it is, to be sure!” cried Plunk to himself. “What I -catch in the morning I eat up at night, and there’s no joy for me in -this world at all, at all.” - -And then Plunk heard that there were also rich sheriffs in the land, and -men of great power and might, who lived in luxury and comfort, lapped in -gold and fed on truffles. Then Plunk fell a-thinking how he too might -come to look upon such riches and live in the midst of them. So he made -up his mind that for three whole days he would sit still in his boat on -the sea and not take any fish at all, but see if that spell would help -him. - -So Plunk sat for three days and nights in his boat on the face of the -sea—three days he sat there, three days he fasted, for three days he -caught no fish. When the third day began to dawn, lo and behold, a -silver boat arose from the sea—a silver boat with golden oars—and in the -boat, fair as a king’s daughter, stood the Pale Dawn-Maiden. - -“For three days you have spared my little fishes’ lives,” said the -Dawn-Maiden, “and now tell me what you would like me to do for you?” - -“Help me out of this miserable and dreary life. Here am I all day long -slaving away in this desolate place. What I catch during the day I eat -up at night, and there is no joy for me in the world at all, at all,” -said Plunk. - -“Go home,” said the Dawn-Maiden, “and you will find what you need.” And -as she spoke, she sank in the sea, silver boat and all. - -Plunk hurried back to the shore and then home. When he came to the -house, a poor orphan girl came out to meet him, all weary with the long -tramp across the hills. The girl said: “My mother is dead, and I am all -alone in the world. Take me for your wife, Plunk.” - -Plunk hardly knew what to do. “Is this the good fortune which the -Dawn-Maiden has sent me?” Plunk could see that the girl was just a poor -body like himself; on the other hand, he was afraid of making a mistake -and turning away his luck. So he consented, and took the poor girl to be -his wife; and she, being very tired, lay down and slept till the -morning. - -Plunk could scarcely await the next day for wondering how his good -fortune would show itself. But nothing happened that day except that -Plunk took his hook and went out fishing, and the Woman went up the hill -to gather wild spinach. Plunk came home at night, and so did the Woman, -and they supped upon fish and wild spinach. “Eh, if that is all the good -luck there is to it, I could just as well have done without,” thought -Plunk. - -As the evening wore on, the Woman sat down beside Plunk to tell him -stories, to wile away the time for him. She told him about nabobs and -kings’ castles, about dragons that watch treasure-hoards, and kings’ -daughters who sow their gardens with pearls and reap gems. Plunk -listened, and his heart within him began to sing for joy. Plunk forgot -that he was poor; he could have sat and listened to her for three years -together. But Plunk was still better pleased when he considered: “She is -a fairy wife. She can show me the way to the dragons’ hoards or the -kings’ gardens. I need only be patient and not make her angry.” - -So Plunk waited; and day after day went by, a year went by, two years -passed. A little son was born to them; they called him little Winpeace. -Yet all went on as usual. Plunk caught fish, and his wife gathered wild -spinach in the mountains. In the evening she cooked the supper, and -after supper she rocked the baby and told Plunk stories. Her stories -grew prettier and prettier, and Plunk found it harder and harder to -wait, till at last, one evening, he had had enough of it; and just as -his wife was telling him about the immense treasures of the Sea King, -Plunk jumped up in a rage, shook her by the arm and cried: - -“I tell you I’ll wait no longer. To-morrow in the morning you shall take -me down to the Sea King’s Castle!” - -The Woman was quite frightened when Plunk jumped up like that. She told -him that she did not know where the Sea King had his Castle; but Plunk -began to beat his poor wife most unmercifully, and threatened to kill -her unless she told him her fairy secret. - -Then the poor girl understood that Plunk had taken her for a fairy. She -burst into tears and cried: - -“Truly I am no fairy, but a poor orphan girl who knows no spells nor -magic. And for the tales I have told you, I had them from my own heart -to beguile your weariness.” - -Now this only put Plunk all the more in a rage, because he had lived in -a fool’s paradise for over two years; and he angrily bade the Woman go -away next morning ere dawn with the child, along the sea-shore to the -right-hand side, and he, Plunk, would go to the left, and she was not to -come back again till she had found the way to the Sea King’s Castle. - -When the dawn came, the Woman wept and begged Plunk not to send her -away. “Who knows where one of us may be destroyed on this desolate -sea-shore?” said she. But Plunk fell upon her again, so that she took up -her child and went away crying whither her husband had bidden her. And -Plunk went off in the opposite direction. - -So the Woman went on with her baby, little Winpeace. She went on for a -week; she went on for a fortnight, and nowhere did she find the way to -the Sea King. She grew so terribly tired that one day she fell asleep on -a stone beside the sea. When she woke up, her baby was gone—her little -Winpeace. - -Her grief was so great that the tears froze fast in her heart, and not a -word could she speak for sorrow, but became dumb from that hour. - -So the poor dumb creature wandered back along the sea-shore and home. -And next day Plunk came home, too. He had not found the way to the Sea -King, and he came back disappointed and cross. - -When he got home, there was no baby Winpeace, and his wife had gone -dumb. She could not tell him what had happened, but was all haggard with -the great trouble. - -And so it was with them from that day forward. The Woman neither wept -nor complained, but did her housework and waited upon Plunk in silence; -and the house was still and quiet as the grave. For some time Plunk -stood it, but in the end he got thoroughly weary. He had just felt -almost sure of the Sea King’s treasure, and lo! all this trouble and -worry had come upon him. - -So Plunk made up his mind to try his sea-spell once more. Again for -three whole days he sat in his boat on the sea, for three days he -fasted, for three days he caught no fish. At the third day, at daybreak, -the Dawn-Maiden arose before him. - -Plunk told her what had happened, and complained bitterly. - -“I’m worse off than ever before. The baby is gone, the wife is dumb, and -my house dreary as the grave, and I’m just about bursting with trouble.” - -To this the Dawn-Maiden said never a word, but just asked Plunk a -question: - -“What do you want? I will help you just this once more.” - -But Plunk was such a zany that he couldn’t think of anything else but -just this, that he was set on seeing and enjoying the Sea King’s -treasure; and so he didn’t wish for his child back again, or that his -wife should regain the power of speech, but he begged the Dawn-Maiden: - -“Fair Dawn-Maiden,” said he, “show me the way to the Sea King.” - -And again the Dawn-Maiden said nothing, but very kindly set Plunk on his -way: - -“When day dawns at the next New Moon, get into your boat, wait for the -wind, and then drift eastward with the wind. The wind will carry you to -the Isle Bountiful, to the stone Gold-a-Fire. And there I shall be -waiting for you to show you the way to the Sea King.” - -Plunk went joyfully home. - -When it was about the New Moon (but he never told his wife anything) he -went out at the streak of dawn, got into his boat, waited for the wind, -and let the wind carry him away toward the east. - -[Illustration] - -The wind caught the boat and carried it along to the Unknown Sea, to the -Isle Bountiful. Like a green garden the fruitful island floats upon the -sea. The grass grows rank, and the meadows lush, the vines are full of -grapes and the almondtrees pink with blossom. In the midst of the island -there is precious stone, the white blazing stone Gold-a-Fire. One half -of the stone sheds its glow upon the island, and the other half lights -up the sea under the island. And there on the Isle Bountiful, on the -stone Gold-a-Fire, sits the Dawn-Maiden. - -Very kindly did the Dawn-Maiden receive Plunk, very kindly she set him -on his way. She showed him a mill-wheel drifting on the sea towards the -island, and the mermaids dancing in a ring around the wheel. Then she -told him—always very kindly—how he must ask the mill-wheel politely to -take him down to the Sea King and not let the Dark Deeps of the Sea -swallow him. - -Last of all the Dawn-Maiden said: - -“Great store of gold and treasure will you enjoy in the Sea King’s -domain. But mark—to earth you cannot return, for three terrible watchers -bar the way. One troubles the waves, the second raises the storm, and -the third wields the lightning.” - -But Plunk was happy as a grig in his boat as he paddled towards the -mill-wheel, and thought to himself: - -“It’s easy to see, fair Dawn-Maiden, that you’ve never known want in -this world. I shan’t hanker back after this earth, where I’m leaving -nothing but ill-luck behind!” - -So he paddled up to the mill-wheel, where round the mill-wheel the -mermaids were playing their foolish games. They dived and chased each -other through the water; their long hair floated on the waves, their -silver fins glittered, and their red lips smiled. And they sat on the -mill-wheel and made the sea all foamy around it. - -The boat reached the mill-wheel, and Plunk did as the Dawn-Maiden had -told him. He held his paddle aloft so that the Dark Deeps should not -swallow him, and he politely asked the mill-wheel: - -“Round wheel giddy-go-round, please take me down, either to the Dead -Dark Deep or to the Sea King’s Palace.” - -As Plunk said this, the mermaids came swishing along like so many silver -fish, swarmed round the mill-wheel, seized the spokes in their snowy -hands, and began to turn the wheel—swiftly, giddily. - -An eddy formed in the sea—a fierce eddy, a terrible whirlpool. The -whirlpool caught Plunk; it swept him round like a twig, and sucked him -down to the Sea King’s fastness. - -Plunk’s ears were still ringing with the swirl of the sea and the -mermaids’ silly laughter when he suddenly found himself sitting on -beautiful sand—fine sand of pure gold. - -Plunk looked round and cried out: “Ho, there’s a wonder for you! A whole -field of golden sand.” - -Now what Plunk had taken to be a big field was only the great Hall of -the Sea King. Round the Hall stood the sea like a marble wall, and above -the Hall hung the sea, like a glass dome. Down from the stone -Gold-a-Fire streamed a bluish glare, livid and pale as moonlight. From -the ceiling hung festoons of pearls, and on the floor below stood tables -of coral. - -And at the end—the far end, where slender pipes were piping and tiny -bells tinkling—there lazed and lounged the Sea King himself; he -stretched his limbs on the golden sand, raising only his great bullock’s -head, beside him a coral table, and behind him a golden hedge. - -What with the quick, shrill music of the pipes, the tinkling of the -bells, and the sheen and glimmer all around him, Plunk wouldn’t have -believed there could be so much pleasure or wealth in the world! - -Plunk went clean mad for pure joy—joy went to his head like strong wine; -his heart sang; he clapped his hands; he skipped about the golden sand -like a frolicsome child; he turned head over heels once, twice, and -again—just like a jolly boy. - -Now this amused the Sea King vastly. For the Sea King’s feet are -heavy—far too heavy—and his great bullock’s head is heavier still. The -Sea King guffawed as he lounged on the golden sand; he laughed so -heartily that the golden sand blew up all round him. - -“You’re fine and light on your feet, my boy,” said the Sea King, and he -reached up and pulled down a branch of pearls and gave it to Plunk. And -then the Sea King ordered the Under Seas Fairies to bring choice viands -and honeyed drink in golden vessels. And Plunk had leave to sit beside -the Sea King at the coral table, and surely that was a great honour! - -When Plunk had dined, the Sea King asked him: - -“Is there anything else you would like, my man?” - -Now what should a poor man ask for, who had never known what it is to -have a good time? But Plunk was hungry from his long journey, and he had -made but a poor meal of it off the choice viands and the honeyed drinks. -So he said to the Sea King: - -“Just as you were saying that, O King of the Sea, I was wishing that I -had a good helping of boiled wild spinach.” - -The Sea King was rather surprised, but he recovered himself quickly, -laughed and said to Plunk: - -“Eh, brother of mine, wild spinach is very dear down here, dearer than -pearls and mother-o’-pearl, because it’s a long way from here to the -place where it grows. But since you have just asked for it, I will send -a Foam Fairy to bring you some from the land where the wild spinach -grows. But you must turn three more coach-wheels for me.” - -As Plunk was already in the best of humours he didn’t find that hard -either. Lightly he leapt to his feet, and quickly they all flocked round -him, the mermaids and the tiny folk in the Palace, and all for to see -that wonder! - -Plunk took a run over the golden sand, turned a beautiful coach-wheel, -then a second and a third, light as a squirrel, and the Sea King and all -the tiny folk rocked with laughter at such cunning. - -But heartiest of all laughed a little baby, and that was the little King -whom the mermaids themselves had crowned King for fun and idle sport. -The wee baby was sitting up in a golden cradle. His little shirt was of -silk, the cradle was hung with tiny bells of pearl, and in his hands the -child held a golden apple. - -While Plunk was turning coach-wheels and the little King laughed so -heartily, Plunk looked round at him. He looked at the little King, and -then—Plunk started. It was his own baby boy, little Winpeace. - -Well, Plunk was suddenly disgusted. He would never have guessed that he -would grow sick of it so soon. - -Plunk frowned; he was angry, and when he had got over his shock a bit he -thought: - -“Look at him, the urchin, how he’s got on, lording it here in idleness -and sport, and his mother at home gone dumb with grieving!” - -Plunk was vexed; he hated seeing himself or the child in this Palace; -yet he dared not say a word, lest they should part him from the boy. So -he made himself the servant of his son, of little Winpeace, and thought -to himself: “Perhaps I shall be left alone with him sometimes. Then I -will remind the boy of his Father and Mother; I will run away with him; -I will carry off the little brat and go back with him to his mother.” - -So thought Plunk, and one fine day, when he happened to be alone with -the little King, he whispered to the child: “Come along, my boy; let’s -run away with father.” - -But Winpeace was only a baby, and what with living so long under the -sea, he had quite forgotten his father. He laughed; the little King -laughed. He thought: “Plunk is making fun,” and he kicked Plunk with his -little foot. - -“You are not my father; you are the silly-billy who turns head over -heels before the Sea King.” - -That stung Plunk to the heart, so that he well-nigh died with the pain -of it. He went out and wept for sheer bitter sorrow. All the Sea King’s -attendants gathered round him and said one to the other: - -“Well, well, he must have been a great lord on earth, to weep amid such -splendours.” - -“Upon my soul,” cried Plunk wrathfully, “I was the same as your Sea King -here. I had a son who tugged my beard, a wife who showed me marvels, and -wild spinach, brothers, as much as you want—and no need to turn -coach-wheels before anybody either.” - -[Illustration] - -The sea-folk marvelled at such magnificence, and left Plunk to mourn his -lost greatness. But Plunk went on serving the little King. He did all he -could to please the boy, thinking: “I shall get him somehow to run away -with me.” But the little King grew sillier and more wayward every day; -the days passed, and every day the child only thought Plunk more than -ever a zany. - - - II - -Now all this time Plunk’s wife was at home, all alone and grieving. The -first evening she made up the fire and kept the supper hot for Plunk; -but when she gave up expecting Plunk, she let the fire go out, nor did -she kindle it again. - -So the poor dumb soul sat on her threshold. She neither worked, nor -tidied, nor wept, nor lamented, but just pined away with grief and -sorrow. She could not take counsel with anyone, because she was dumb; -nor could she cross the sea after Plunk, because she was all broken up -with grieving. - -Where could she go, poor soul! but back one day to the far hills, where -her mother lay buried. And as she stood by her mother’s grave a -beautiful Hind up came to her. - -And as the dumb animals speak, so the Hind spoke to the Woman: - -“You must not sit there and pine away, my daughter, for else your heart -will break and your house will perish. But every evening you must get -Plunk’s supper ready for him, and after supper you must unpick some fine -hemp. If Plunk does not come home, then you must take his supper in the -morning and the fine hemp as well, and also the slender twin pipes, and -go up into the rocky mountain. Play upon the twin pipes; the snakes and -their young will come and eat up the supper, and the sea-fowl will line -their nests with the hemp.” - -Full well the daughter understood all that her mother said, and as she -was bid so did she do. Every evening she cooked supper, and after supper -she unpicked hemp. Plunk did not come back; and so the Woman took her -little twin pipes in the morning, and carried both supper and hemp to -the rocky mountain. And as she played on her little pipes, played softly -on the right-hand pipe, lo, snakes and baby snakes came out of the -rocks. They ate up the supper and thanked the Woman in the dumb speech. -And when she played on the left-hand pipe, lo, gulls great and small -came flying, carried off the hemp to their nests, and thanked the Woman. - -For three months the Woman went on in this way; thrice the moon waxed -and waned, and still Plunk had not come home. - -Again grief overcame the poor dumb soul, so that she went again to her -mother’s grave. - -The Hind came up, and in dumb speech the Woman said to her: - -“Well, Mother, I have done all you told me, and Plunk has not come back. -I am weary of waiting. Shall I throw myself into the sea, or fling -myself down from the cliffs?” - -“Daughter of mine,” said the Hind, “you must not fail in your trust. -Your Plunk is in grievous trouble. Now listen and hear how you may help -him. In the Unknown Sea there is a Big Bass, and that Bass has a golden -fin, and on that fin grows a golden apple. If you catch that Bass by -moonlight you will deliver your dear Plunk from his trouble. But on the -road to the Unknown Sea you will have to pass three caverns of cloud. In -the first there is a monstrous Snake, the Mother of All Snakes—it is she -who troubles the sea and stirs up the waves; in the second there is a -monstrous Bird, the Mother of All Birds—it is she who raises the storm; -and in the third there is a Golden Bee—it is she who flashes and wields -the lightning. Go, daughter dear, to the Unknown Sea, and take nothing -with you but your bone hook and slender twin pipes, and if you should -find yourself in great trouble, rip open your right-hand sleeve, all -white and unhemmed.” - -The daughter gave good heed. Next day she took out the boat and put off -to sea, taking nothing with her but her hook and the slender twin pipes. - -She drifted and sailed on the face of the sea till the waters bore her -to a far-off place, and there on the sea, lo, three terrible caverns of -lowering cloud! - -From the entrance of the first cavern peered the head of a fearsome -Snake, the Mother of All Snakes. Her grisly head blocked up all the -entrance, her body lay coiled along the cave, and with her monstrous -tail she lashed the sea, troubling the waters and stirring up the waves. - -The Woman did not dare go near the terrible sight, but remembered her -little pipes, and began to play upon the right-hand pipe. And as she -played, there came from the far-off, rock-bound lands snakes and baby -snakes galore swimming over the sea. Great coloured snakes and tiny -little snakes all came hurrying up and scurrying up and begged the -fearsome Snake— - -“Let the Woman take her boat through your cavern, Mother dear! She has -done us a great good turn and fed us every day in the morning.” - -“Through my cavern I may not let her pass,” answered the fearsome Snake, -“for to-day I must stir up the waves of the sea. But if she did you such -a good turn, I will repay it with another. Would she rather have a bar -of gold or six strings of pearls?” - -But a true wife is not to be beguiled with gold or pearls, and so the -Woman answered in dumb speech: - -“’Tis only for a small matter I have come here—for the Bass that lives -in the Unknown Sea. If I have done you a good turn, let me pass through -your cavern, fearsome Snake.” - -“Let her pass, Mother dear,” said the snakes and baby snakes again. -“Here are many of us whom she has fed—full many to whom she gave meat. -You just lie down, Mother dear, and take a nap, and we’ll stir up the -waters for you.” - -Now the Snake couldn’t very well disoblige such a big family, and she -had been longing for sleep for a thousand years. So she let the Woman -through the cavern, and then curled up on the floor of the cavern and -fell into a fearsome sleep. But before she fell asleep she reminded the -snakes and baby snakes once more: - -“Now, stir me up the waters right properly, children dear, while I rest -a little.” - -So the Woman passed through the cavern, and the snakes and their young -stayed in the cavern; but instead of stirring up the sea they soothed it -and made it calm. - -The Woman sailed on, and came to the second cavern. And in the second -cavern there was a monstrous Bird, the Mother of All Birds. She craned -her frightful head through the opening, her iron beak gaped wide; she -spread her vast wings in the cavern and flapped them, and whenever she -flapped her wings she raised a storm. - -[Illustration] - -The Woman took up her twin pipes and sweetly played upon the left-hand -pipe. And from the far shore came flying gulls great and small, and -begged the monstrous bird to let the Woman pass with her boat through -her cavern, for that she had been a good friend to them and unpicked -hemp for them every day. - -“I can’t let her pass through my cavern, for to-day I must raise a -mighty storm. But if she was so kind to you, I will repay her with even -greater kindness. From my iron beak I will give her of the Water of -Life, so that the power of speech shall be restored to her.” - -Well, and wasn’t it a sore temptation for the poor dumb creature who -desired above all things that the power of speech should return to her? -But she remained steadfast, and this is what she answered the Bird: - -“’Tis not for my own good that I came, but for a small matter—for the -Bass that lives in the Unknown Sea. If I have done you a good turn, let -me pass through your cavern.” - -Then the grey gulls all entreated the Mother Bird and also advised her -to take a little nap, and they would meanwhile raise the storm for her. -The Mother Bird listened to her children’s entreaty, clung to the wall -of the cavern with her iron talons and went to sleep. - -But the gulls great and small, instead of raising the storm, calmed the -wild winds and soothed them. - -So the dumb Woman sailed through the second cavern and came to the -third. - -In the third cavern she found the Golden Bee. The Golden Bee buzzed in -the entrance; she wielded the fiery lightning and the rolling thunder. -Sea and cavern resounded; lightnings flashed from the clouds. - -Fear seized upon the Woman when she found herself all alone with these -terrors. But she remembered her right sleeve; she ripped it off, her -sleeve all white and unhemmed, flung it over the Golden Bee and caught -her in the sleeve! - -The thunder and lightning were stilled at once, and the Golden Bee began -to coax the Woman: - -“Set me free, O Woman! and in return I will show you something. Look out -over the wide waters, and it’s a joyful sight you will see.” - -The Woman looked out over the wide waters. The sun was just on the -horizon. The sky grew pink overhead; the sea grew crimson from the east, -and from the sea arose a silver boat. And in the boat sat the -Dawn-Maiden, pale and fair as a king’s daughter, and beside her a little -child in a silken shirt and with a golden apple in his hand. It was the -Dawn-Maiden taking the little King for his morning sail on the sea. - -The Woman recognised her lost baby. - -Now isn’t that a wonder of wonders, that the sea should be so wide that -a mother cannot encompass it, and the sun so high that a mother should -not be able to reach it? - -Her joy took hold of her like terror. She trembled like the slender -aspen. Should she stretch out her hand to the child? or call to him -tenderly? or should she just stand and look at him for ever and ever? - -The silver boat glided over the crimson sea. It faded away in the -distance; the boat sank under the waves, and the mother roused herself -with a start. - -“I will show you,” said the Golden Bee to the Woman, “how to get to the -little King, your son, and live with him in joy and happiness. But first -set me free, that I may wield the lightnings in the cavern—and through -my cavern I cannot let you pass!” - -A fierce pang overcame the poor mother, overwhelmed and shook her. She -had seen her darling; her eyes had beheld her heart’s desire; she had -seen and beheld him, but not hugged him, not kissed him! The pang shook -her from head to foot. Should she be true to Plunk or no? Should she let -the Bee go and win to her child, or pass through the cavern to the -Unknown Sea for the sake of the Big Bass? - -But even as the pang shot through the Woman, the tears gushed forth from -her heart; the power of speech returned to her, and ’twas in living -words that she answered the Golden Bee: - -“Don’t sting me, O Golden Bee! I shall not let you go, because I must -pass through your cavern. I have wept for my child and buried him in my -heart. I have not come here for my own happiness, but for a small -matter—for the Big Bass that lives in the Unknown Sea.” - -Thus said the Woman, and passed into the cavern. She rested in the -cavern; she took her ease in the boat, and there she waited for -nightfall and moonrise. - -Eh, my dearie, but the sea was quiet that day, with the winds at rest in -the sky, and the fearsome Snake asleep in the first cavern, and the -monstrous Bird asleep in the second, and the wearied Woman in the third! - -So the day went quietly by; evening came, and the moon rose. When the -moon rode high in the heavens, the Woman sailed out upon the Unknown Sea -at midnight, and in the midst of the Sea she let down her little bone -hook. - - - III - -That very evening the little King bade Plunk knit him a nice set of -silken reins. “First thing to-morrow morning I shall harness you to my -little carriage, and you shall give me a ride on the golden sands.” - -Dearie me, considered poor Plunk, and where was he to hide from the -Dawn-Maiden when she would go down into the sea in the morning and -behold him thus to-morrow harnessed to a cart by his own son? - -All the Sea King’s court slept. The Sea King slept. The wilful little -King slept—only Plunk was awake and knitting away at the reins. He -knitted fiercely, like one who is thinking hard. When it seemed to him -that the strings were strong enough, Plunk said to himself: - -“I never asked anyone’s counsel when I was making a fool of myself, nor -shall I do so now that I have come to my senses.” - -And as he said this he went softly up to the cradle where his son lay -fast asleep, wound the reins round and round the rockers of the cradle, -lashed the cradle to his own back, and started to run away with his son. - -Softly Plunk strode over the golden sand—strode through the mighty Hall, -spacious as a wide meadow; slipped through the golden hedge, parting the -branches of pearls; and when he came to where the sea stood up like a -wall, nothing daunted, Plunk dived into the water with his boy. - -But it is far—terribly far—from the Sea King’s fastness to the world of -day above! Plunk swam and swam; but how was a poor fisherman to swim -when he was weighed down by the little King—golden cradle, golden apple -and all—on his back? - -Plunk felt as if the sea was piling itself up above him, higher and -higher, and heavier and heavier! - -And just as Plunk was at the last gasp, he felt something scrape along -the golden cradle, something that caught in the rocker of the cradle; -and when it had caught fast, it began to haul them along apace! - -“Now it’s all up with me!” said poor Plunk to himself. “Here’s a -sea-monster carrying me away on his tusk.” - -But it wasn’t the tusk of a sea-monster; it was a bone fish-hook, the -very hook that Plunk’s wife had let down. - -When the Woman felt that her hook had caught, she joyfully summoned all -her strength, pulling and hauling with all her might, for fear of losing -the great Big Bass. - -As she began to haul in her catch the golden rocker began to show above -the water. The Woman could not distinguish it rightly by moonlight, but -thought: “It is the golden fin of the Bass.” - -Next came up the child with the golden apple. Again the Woman thought: -“It is the golden apple on the fish’s fin.” And when at last Plunk’s -head came up, the Woman cried out joyfully: “And here is the head of the -great Big Bass.” - -And as she cried out she hauled in her catch, and when she had hauled it -close alongside—why, dearie mine, how am I to tell you rightly how -overjoyed were those three when they met again in the boat, all in the -moonlight, in the middle of the Unknown Sea? - -But they dare not lose any time. They had to pass through the three -caverns ere the monstrous watchers should awaken. So they took out the -oars and rowed with all their might and main. - -But oh dear! the bad luck they had! When the little King awoke and saw -his mummy, he remembered her at once. He threw both his little arms -round his mummy’s neck—and the golden apple fell out of his hand. Down -fell the apple into the sea, down to the very bottom and into the Sea -King’s Castle, and hit the Sea King right on his shoulder! - -The Sea King woke up, and bellowed with rage. All the court jumped to -their feet. They saw at once that the little King and his servant were -missing! - -They gave chase. The mermaids swam out under the moonlight; the light -foam fairies flew out over the water; runners were sent out to rouse the -watchers in the caverns. - -But the boat had already passed through the caverns, and so they had to -pursue it farther on. Plunk and the Woman were rowing—rowing for dear -life, their pursuers close in their wake. The mermaids whipped up the -waters; the swift foam fairies darted after the boat; the angry waves -rose up in wrath behind them; the wind howled from the clouds. Nearer -and nearer came the pursuers. The finest ship afloat would not have had -a chance, and how could a tiny two-oared boat? For hours and hours the -boat flew on before the tempest, and just as the day began to break, lo, -terror gathered from all sides around the boat. - -For the hurricane beat upon the boat; the crested billows towered above -it; the mermaids joined in a ring around it. The ring heaved and swayed -around the boat; the mermaids raised their linked hands high to let the -mountainous waves pass through, but never let the little craft escape -the waves. Sea and storm whistled and roared. - -The fear of death was upon Plunk, and in his dire need he cried out: - -“Oh, fair Dawn-Maiden, help!” - -The Dawn-Maiden arose from the sea. She saw Plunk, but never looked at -him. She looked at the little King, but no gift had she for him; but to -the faithful Wife she swiftly gave her gift—a broidered kerchief and a -pin. - -Quickly they hoisted the kerchief, and it became a white sail, and the -pin turned into a rudder. The wind filled the sail, so that it bulged -like a ripe apple, and the Woman gripped the rudder with a strong hand. -The mermaids’ ring round the boat was broken; the boat rode upon the -azure sea like a star across the blue heavens! A wonder of wonders, it -flew over the sea before its terrible pursuers; the fiercer the pursuit, -the greater help it was to them; for the swifter the wind blew, the more -swiftly yet flew the boat before the wind, and the swifter the sea, the -more swiftly rode the boat upon the sea. - -Already the rock-bound shore loomed afar, and upon the shore Plunk’s -little cottage and the bar of white sand before it. - -As soon as the land hove in sight, the pursuit slackened. The foam -fairies fear the shore; the mermaids keep away from the coast. Wind and -waves stayed on the high seas, and only the boat flew straight ahead to -land like a child to its mother’s lap. - -The boat flew to land over the white sand bar, and struck on a rock. The -boat split on the rock. Down went sail and rudder; down went the golden -cradle; away flew the Golden-winged Bee; and Plunk and his wife and -child were left alone on the beach outside their cottage. - -When they sat down that night to their supper of wild spinach, they had -clean forgotten all that had happened. And but for those twin pipes, -there’s not a soul would remember it now. But whoever starts to play on -the pipes, the fat pipe at once begins to drone out about Plunk: - - Harum-scarum Plunk would go - Where the pearls and corals grow; - There he found but grief and woe. - -And then the little pipe reminds us of the Woman: - - Rise, O Dawn, in loveliness! - Here is new-born happiness; - Were it three times drown’d in ill. - Faith and Love would save it still! - -And that is the twin pipes’ message to the wide, wide world. - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Reygoch - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Reygoch - - - I - -ONCE upon a beautiful summer night the men were watching their horses in -the meadow. And as they watched, they fell asleep. And as they slept, -the fairies flew out of the clouds to have some sport with the horses, -as is the fairies’ way. Each fairy caught a horse, mounted it, and then -whipped it with her golden hair, urging it round and round the dewy -meadow. - -Among the fairies there was one quite young and tiny, called Curlylocks, -who had come down to earth from the clouds for the first time that -night. - -Curlylocks thought it lovely to ride through the night like a whirlwind. -And it so happened that she had got hold of the most spirited horse of -all—a Black—small, but fierce as fire. The Black galloped round and -round with the other horses, but he was the swiftest of all. Soon he was -all in a lather of foam. - -But Curlylocks wanted to ride faster still. She bent down and pinched -the Black’s right ear. The horse started, reared, and then bolted -straight ahead, leaving behind the rest of the horses, the meadow and -all, as he flew away like the wind with Curlylocks into the wide, wide -world. - -Curlylocks thoroughly enjoyed her lightning ride. The Black went like -the wind, by field and by river, by meadow and mountain, over dale and -hill. “Good gracious! what a lot of things there are in the world!” -thought Curlylocks, full of delight as she looked at all the pretty -sights. But what pleased her best was when they came through a country -where there were mountains all covered with glorious forests, and at the -foot of the mountains two golden fields like two great gold kerchiefs, -and in the midst of them two white villages, like two white doves, and a -little further on a great sheet of water. - -[Illustration] - -But the Black would not stop, neither there nor anywhere, but rushed on -and on as if he were possessed. - -So the Black carried Curlylocks far and far away till at last they came -to a great plain, with a cold wind blowing over it. The Black galloped -into the plain, and there was nothing there but yellow sand, neither -trees nor grass, and the further they went into that great waste, the -colder it grew. But how large that plain is, I cannot tell you, for the -good reason that the man does not live who could cross it. - -The Black ran on with Curlylocks for seven days and seven nights. The -seventh day, just before sunrise, they reached the centre of the plain, -and in the centre of the plain they found the ruinous walls of the -terribly great city of Frosten, and there it is always bitterly cold. - -As the Black raced up to the ancient gates of Frosten, Curlylocks threw -her magic veil on the wall, and so caught hold of the wall. The Black -galloped away from under her, and so continued his wild career up to his -old age to and fro between the huge walls of Frosten, till at last he -found the northern gate and galloped out again into the plain—God knows -whither! - -But Curlylocks came down from the wall and began to walk about the city, -and it was cold as cold! Her magic veil, without which she could not fly -among the clouds, she wound about her shoulders, for she took great care -of it. And so Curlylocks walked and walked about the city of Frosten, -and all the time she felt as if she must come upon something very -wonderful in this city, which was so marvellous and so great. However, -nothing did she see but only great crumbling walls, and nothing did she -hear but now and again a stone cracking with the cold. - -Suddenly, just as Curlylocks had turned the corner of the very biggest -wall, she saw, fast asleep at the foot of the wall, a huge man, bigger -than the biggest oak in the biggest forest. The man was dressed in a -huge cloak of coarse linen, and the strap he wore for a belt was five -fathoms long. His head was as big as the biggest barrel, and his beard -was like a shock of corn. He was so big, that man, you might have -thought there was a church tower fallen down beside the wall! - -This giant was called Reygoch, and he lived at Frosten. All he did was -to count the stones of the city of Frosten. He could never have finished -counting them but for that huge head of his, as big as a barrel. But he -counted and counted—he had counted for a thousand years, and had already -counted thirty walls and five gates of the city. - -When Curlylocks spied Reygoch, she clasped her hands and wondered. She -never thought there could be such an immense creature in the world. - -So Curlylocks sat down by Reygoch’s ear (and Reygoch’s ear was as big as -the whole of Curlylocks), and called down his ear: - -“Aren’t you cold, daddy?” - -Reygoch woke up, laughed, and looked at Curlylocks. - -“Cold? I should think I was cold,” answered Reygoch, and his voice was -as deep as distant thunder. Reygoch’s big nose was all red with the -cold, and his hair and beard were all thick with hoar-frost. - -“Dear me!” said Curlylocks, “you’re such a big man, and you aren’t going -to build yourself a roof to keep out the cold?” - -“Why should I?” said Reygoch, and laughed again. “The sun will be out -presently.” - -Reygoch heaved himself up so as to sit. He sat up. He clapped his left -shoulder with his right hand, and his right shoulder he clapped with the -left hand, so as to beat out the hoar-frost; and the hoar-frost came off -each shoulder as if it were snow slipping off a roof! - -“Look out! look out, daddy! you’ll smother me!” cried Curlylocks. But -Reygoch could scarcely hear her, because it was a long way from -Curlylocks to his ear, so big was he when he sat up. - -So Reygoch lifted Curlylocks on to his shoulder, told her his name and -his business, and she told him how she had come. - -“And here comes the sun,” said Reygoch, and pointed for Curlylocks to -see. - -Curlylocks looked, and there was the sun rising, but so pale and feeble, -as if there were no one for him to warm. - -“Well, you are a silly, Reygoch!” said Curlylocks—“you are really silly -to live here and spend your life counting these tiresome stones of -Frosten. Come along, Reygoch, and see how beautiful the world is, and -find something more sensible to do.” - -Now it had never occurred to Reygoch to want a finer home for himself -than Frosten city, nor had he ever thought that there might be better -work than his in the world. Reygoch always thought, “I was meant to -count the stones of Frosten,” and had never asked for anything better. - -Curlylocks, however, gave him no peace, but persuaded him to come out -and see the world with her. - -“I’ll take you to a lovely country,” said Curlylocks, “where there is an -ancient forest, and beside the forest two golden fields.” - -Curlylocks talked for a long time. And old Reygoch had never had anybody -to talk to, and so he couldn’t resist persuasion. - -“Well, let’s go!” said he. - -Curlylocks was mightily pleased with this. - -But now they had to contrive something, so that Reygoch could carry -Curlylocks, because Reygoch himself had nothing. - -So Curlylocks drew out from her bosom a little bag of pearls. It was her -mother who had given Curlylocks these pearls before allowing her to go -down to earth, and told her: “If you ever should need anything, just -throw down a pearl, and it will turn into whatever you want. Be very -careful of those pearls, because there are so many things in the world -that you will want more and more as you go on.” - -Curlylocks took out a tiny seed-pearl, threw it down, and lo, before -their eyes there grew a little basket, just as big as Curlylocks, and -the basket had a loop attached, just big enough to fit Reygoch’s ear. - -Curlylocks jumped into the basket; and Reygoch picked up the basket and -hung it on his ear like an ear-ring! - -Whenever Reygoch laughed, whenever he sneezed or shook his head, -Curlylocks rocked as if she were in a swing; and she thought it a -capital way of travelling. - -So Reygoch started to walk, and had already taken a ten-yard stride, -when Curlylocks stopped him, and begged: - -“Couldn’t we go underground, perhaps, Reygoch dear, so that I might see -what there is under the earth?” - -“Why not?” answered Reygoch; for he could break into the earth as easy -as fun, only it had never entered his head to look what might be -underground. - -But Curlylocks wanted to know everything about everything, and so they -agreed to travel underground until they should arrive under the forest -by the golden fields, and there they would come up. - -When they had settled that, Reygoch began to break up the earth. He -lifted up his great feet and stamped for the first time, and at that the -whole of the great city of Frosten shook and a great many walls tumbled -down. Reygoch raised his feet a second time and stamped again, and the -whole plain quaked. Reygoch raised his feet a third time and stamped, -and lo, half the world trembled, the solid earth gaped under Reygoch, -and Reygoch and Curlylocks fell into the hole and down under the earth. - -When they got there, they found the earth all honeycombed with pillars -and passages on every side, and heaven alone knew where they all led to. -And they could hear waters rushing and the moaning of the winds. - -They followed one of the passages, and for awhile they had light from -the hole through which they had fallen. But as they went on it grew -darker and darker—black darkness, such as there is nowhere save in the -bowels of the earth. - -Reygoch tramped calmly on in the dark. With his great hands he felt his -way from pillar to pillar. - -But Curlylocks was frightened by the great darkness. - -She clung to Reygoch’s ear and cried: “It’s dark, Reygoch dear!” - -“Well, and why not?” returned Reygoch. “The dark didn’t come to us. It’s -we have come to it.” - -Then Curlylocks got cross, because Reygoch never minded anything and she -had expected great things from so huge a man. - -“I should be in a nice fix with you but for my pearls,” said Curlylocks -quite angrily. - -Then she threw down another pearl, and a tiny lantern grew in her hand, -bright as if it were lit with gold. The darkness crept back deeper into -the earth, and the light shone far through the underground passages. - -Curlylocks was delighted with her lantern, because it showed up all the -marvels which had been swallowed by the earth in days of old. In one -place she saw lordly castles, with doors and windows all fretted with -gold and framed in red marble. In another place were warriors’ weapons, -slender-barrelled muskets and heavy scimitars studded with gems and -precious stones. In a third place she saw long-buried treasures, golden -dishes and silver goblets full of gold ducats, and the Emperor’s very -crown of gold three times refined. All these treasures had been -swallowed up by God’s will, and it is God’s secret why so much treasure -should lie there undisturbed. - -[Illustration] - -But Curlylocks was quite dazzled with all these marvels; and instead of -going straight ahead by the way they had settled upon, she begged -Reygoch to put her down so that she might play about a little and admire -all the strange things and gaze upon the wonders of God’s secret. - -So Reygoch set Curlylocks down, and Curlylocks took her little lantern -and ran to the castles, and to the weapons, and to the treasure-hoards. -And lest she might lose her little bag of pearls while she was playing, -she laid it down beside a pillar. - -As for Reygoch, he sat down to rest not far off. - -Curlylocks began to play with the treasures; she looked at the beautiful -things and rummaged among them. With her tiny hands she scattered the -golden ducats, examined the goblets chased in silver, and put upon her -head the crown of gold three times refined. She played about, looked -round and admired, and at last caught sight of a very slender little -ivory staff propped up against a mighty pillar. - -But it was just that slender staff that kept the mighty pillar from -collapsing, because the pillar was already completely hollowed out by -the water. And therefore God had caused that little staff to fall down -there, and the staff held up the pillar under the earth. - -But Curlylocks wondered: - -“Why is that little staff just there?” And she went and picked up the -staff to look at it. - -But no sooner had Curlylocks taken the staff and moved it than the -subterranean passages re-echoed with a terrible rumbling noise. The -great pillar trembled, swayed and crashed down amid a whole mountain of -falling earth, closing and blocking up the path between Reygoch and -Curlylocks. They could neither see nor hear one another, nor could they -reach one another.... - -There was the poor little fairy Curlylocks caught in the bowels of the -earth! She was buried alive in that vast grave, and perhaps would never -again see those golden fields for which she had set out, and all because -she would not go straight on by the way they had intended, but would -loiter and turn aside to the right and to the left to pry into God’s -secrets! - -Curlylocks wept and cried, and tried to get to Reygoch. But she found -that there was no way through, and that her plight was hopeless; and as -for the bag of pearls, which might have helped her, it was buried under -the landslide. - -When Curlylocks realised this she stopped crying, for she was proud, and -she thought: “There is no help for it, and I must die. Reygoch won’t -come to my rescue, because his wits are too slow even to help himself, -let alone to make him remember to help me. So there is nothing for it, -and I must die.” - -So Curlylocks prepared for death. But in case folk should ever find her -in her grave she wanted them to know that she came of royal blood. So -she set the crown of gold three times refined upon her head, took the -ivory staff in her hand, and lay down to die. There was no one beside -Curlylocks except her little lantern, burning as if it were lit with -gold; and as Curlylocks began to grow cold and stiff, so the lantern -burned low and dim. - -Reygoch was really an old stupid. When the pillar crashed down and there -was the big landslide between him and Curlylocks he never moved, but sat -still in the dark. Thus he sat for quite a long time, before it occurred -to him to go and find out what had happened. - -He felt his way in the dark to the spot where Curlylocks had been, -groped about, and realised that the earth had subsided there and that -the passage was indeed blocked. - -“Eh, but that way is choked up now,” considered Reygoch. And nothing -else could he think of, but turned round, left the mound of fallen earth -and Curlylocks beyond it, and went back by the road they had travelled -from Frosten city. - - * * * * * - -Thus old Reygoch went his way, pillar by pillar. He had already gone a -goodish bit; but there was all the time something worrying him. Reygoch -himself couldn’t imagine what it was that worried him. - -He arranged the strap around his waist—perhaps it had been too tight; -and then he stretched his arm—perhaps his arm had gone to sleep. Yet it -was neither the one nor the other, but something else that worried. -Reygoch wondered what in the world it could be. He wondered, and as he -wondered he shook his head. - -And as Reygoch shook his head, the little basket swung at his ear. And -when Reygoch felt how light the basket was, and that there was no -Curlylocks inside, a bitter pang shot through his heart and breast, -and—simpleton though he was—he knew well enough that he was grieved -because he missed Curlylocks, and he realised also that he ought to save -her. - -It had taken Reygoch a lot of trouble to think out all that; but once he -had thought it out, he turned like the wind and flew back to the place -where the landslide was, to find Curlylocks behind the heap of earth. He -flew, and arrived just in time. Reygoch burrowed away with both hands, -and in a little while he had burrowed a big hole, so that he could see -Curlylocks lying there, the crown of fine gold on her head. She was -already growing cold and rigid, with her little lantern beside her, and -the flame of it as feeble as the tiniest little glow-worm. - -If Reygoch had cried out in his grief the earth would have rocked, and -the little lantern would have gone out altogether—even the little -glow-worm light by the side of Curlylocks would have died away. - -But Reygoch’s throat was all tight with pain, so that he could not cry -out. He put out his great big hand and gently picked up poor Curlylocks, -who was already quite cold, and warmed her between the hollowed palms of -his huge hands as you would warm a starved dicky-bird in winter. And lo! -in a little while Curlylocks moved her little head, and at once the -lantern burned a little brighter; and then Curlylocks moved her arm, and -the lantern burned brighter still. At last Curlylocks opened her eyes, -and the lantern burned as brightly as if its flame were pure gold! - -Then Curlylocks jumped to her feet, caught hold of Reygoch’s beard, and -they both of them cried for pure joy. Reygoch’s tears were as big as -pears and Curlylocks’ as tiny as millet-seed, but except for size they -were both the same sort; and from that moment these two were mightily -fond of one another. - -When they had finished their cry, Curlylocks found her pearls, and then -they went on. But they touched no more of the things they saw -underground, neither the sunken ships with their hoards of treasure, -which had worked their way down from the bottom of the sea, nor the red -coral, nor the yellow amber which twined round the underground pillars. -They touched nothing, but went straight along by the way that would take -them to the golden fields. - -When they had gone on thus for a long time, Curlylocks asked Reygoch to -hold her up; and when he did so, Curlylocks took a handful of earth from -above her head. - -She took the earth, looked at her hand, and there, among the soil, she -found leaves and fibres. - -“Here we are, daddy, under the forest beside the golden fields,” said -Curlylocks. “Let’s hurry up and get out.” - -So Reygoch stretched himself and began to break through the earth with -his head. - - - II - -And indeed they were under the forest, just underneath a wooded glen -between the two villages and the two counties. No one ever came to this -glen but the herd boys and girls from both villages and both counties. - -Now there was bitter strife between the two villages—strife over the -threshing-floors, and the pastures, and the mills, and the -timber-felling, and most of all over the staff of headmanship, which one -of the villages had long claimed as belonging to it by rights, and the -other would not give up. And so these two villages were at enmity with -one another. - -But the herd boys and girls of both villages were just simple young -folk, who understood nothing about the rights of their elders, and cared -less, but met every day on the boundary between the two villages and the -two counties. Their flocks mingled and fed together, while the boys -played games, and over their games would often be late in bringing the -sheep home of an evening. - -For this the poor boys and girls would be soundly rated and scolded in -both villages. But in one of the villages there was a great-grandfather -and a great-grandmother who could remember all that had ever happened in -either village, and they said: “Leave the children alone. A better -harvest will spring from their childish games than ever from your wheat -in the fields.” - -So the shepherds kept on coming, as before, with their sheep to the -glen, and in time the parents stopped bothering about what the children -did. - -And so it was on the day when Reygoch broke through the earth at that -very spot. The boys and girls happened to be all gathered together under -the biggest oak, getting ready to go home. One was tying up his shoes, -another fixing a thong to a stick, and the girls were collecting the -sheep. All of a sudden they heard a dreadful thumping in the earth right -underneath their feet! There was a thud, then a second, and at the third -thud the earth gaped, and up there came, right in the midst of the -shepherds, a fearsome large head as big as a barrel, with a beard like a -shock of corn, and the beard still bristling with hoar-frost from -Frosten city! - -The boys and girls all screamed with fright and fell down in a dead -faint—not so much because of the head as big as a barrel, but because of -the beard, that looked for all the world like a shock of corn! - -So the shepherds fainted away—all but young Lilio, who was the -handsomest and cleverest among the lads of both villages and both -counties. - -Lilio kept his feet, and went close up to see what sort of monster it -might be. - -“Don’t be afraid, children,” said Lilio to the shepherds. “The Lord -never created that monstrous giant for evil, else he would have killed -half the world by now.” - -So Lilio walked boldly up to Reygoch, and Reygoch lifted the basket with -Curlylocks down from his ear and set it on the ground. - -“Come—oh come quickly, boys!” cried Lilio. “There is a little girl with -him, little and lovely as a star!” - -The herd boys and girls got up and began to peep from behind each other -at Curlylocks; and those who had at first been the most frightened were -now the foremost in coming up to Curlylocks, because, you see, they were -always quickest in everything. - -No sooner had the herd boys and girls seen dear little Curlylocks than -they loved her. They helped her out of her basket, led her to where the -turf was softest, and fell to admiring her lovely robes, which were -light as gossamer and blue as the sky, and her hair, which was shining -and soft as the morning light; but most of all they admired her fairy -veil, for she would wave it just for a moment, and then rise from the -grass and float in the air. - -The herd boys and girls and Curlylocks danced in a ring together, and -played all kinds of games. Curlylocks’ little feet twinkled for pure -joy, her eyes laughed, and so did her lips, because she had found -companions who liked the same things as she did. - -Then Curlylocks brought out her little bag of pearls to give presents -and pleasure to her new friends. She threw down a pearl, and a little -tree grew up in their midst, all decked with coloured ribbons, silk -kerchiefs and red necklaces for the girls. She threw down a second -pearl, and from all parts of the forest came forth haughty peacocks; -they stalked and strutted, they flew up and away, shedding their -glorious feathers all over the turf, so that the grass fairly sparkled -with them. And the herd boys stuck the feathers in their caps and -doublets. Yet another pearl did Curlylocks throw out, and from a lofty -branch there dropped a golden swing with silken ropes; and when the boys -and girls got on the swing, it swooped and stooped as light as a -swallow, and as gently as the grand barge of the Duke of Venice. - -The children shouted for joy, and Curlylocks threw out all the pearls in -her bag one after another, never thinking that she ought to save them; -because Curlylocks liked nothing in the world better than lovely games -and pretty songs. And so she spent her pearls down to the last little -seed pearl, though heaven alone knew how badly she would need them soon, -both she and her new friends. - -“I shall never leave you any more,” cried Curlylocks merrily. And the -herd boys and girls clapped their hands and threw up their caps for joy -over her words. - -Only Lilio had not joined in their games, because he was rather sad and -worried that day. He stayed near Reygoch, and from there he watched -Curlylocks in all her loveliness, and all the pretty magic she made -there in the forest. - -Meantime Reygoch had come out of his hole. Out he came and stood up -among the trees of the forest, and as he stood there his head rose above -the hundred-year-old forest, so terribly big was Reygoch. - -Over the forest looked Reygoch, and out into the plain. - -The sun had already set, and the sky was all crimson. In the plain you -could see the two golden fields spread out like two gold kerchiefs, and -in the midst of the fields two villages like two white doves. A little -way beyond the two villages flowed the mighty River Banewater, and all -along the river rose great grass-grown dykes; and on the dykes you could -see herds and their keepers moving. - -“Well, well!” said Reygoch, “and to think that I have spent a thousand -years in Frosten city, in that desert, when there is so much beauty in -the world!” And Reygoch was so delighted with looking into the plain -that he just stood there with his great head as big as a barrel turning -from right to left, like a huge scarecrow nodding above the tree-tops. - -Presently Lilio called to him: - -“Sit down, daddy, for fear the elders of the villages should see you.” - -Reygoch sat down, and the two started talking, and Lilio told Reygoch -why he was so sad that day. - -“A very wicked thing is going to happen to-day,” said Lilio. “I -overheard the elders of our village talking last night, and this is what -they said: ‘Let us pierce the dyke along the River Banewater. The river -will widen the hole, the dyke will fall, and the water will flood the -enemy village; it will drown men and women, flood the graveyard and the -fields, till the water will be level above them, and nothing but a lake -to show where the enemy village has been. But our fields are higher, and -our village lies on a height, and so no harm will come to us.’ And then -they really went out with a great ram to pierce the dyke secretly and at -dead of night. But, daddy,” continued Lilio, “I know that our fields are -not so high, and I know that the water will overflow them too, and -before the night is over there will be a lake where our two villages -used to be. And that is why I am so sad.” - -They were still talking when a terrible noise and clamour arose from the -plain. - -“There!” cried Lilio, “the dreadful thing has happened!” - -Reygoch drew himself up, picked up Lilio, and the two looked out over -the plain. It was a sad sight to see! The dyke was crumbling, and the -mighty Black Banewater rolling in two arms across the beautiful fields. -One arm rolled towards the one village, and the second arm towards the -other village. Animals were drowning, the golden fields disappeared -below the flood. Above the graves the crosses were afloat, and both -villages rang with cries and shouting. For in both villages the elders -had gone out to the threshing-floors with cymbals, drums and fifes, and -there they were drumming and piping away each to spite the other -village, so crazed were they with malice, while over and above that din -the village dogs howled dismally, and the women and children wept and -wailed. - -“Daddy,” cried Lilio, “why have I not your hands to stop the water?” - -Terrified and bewildered by the dreadful clamour in the plain, the herd -boys and girls crowded round Reygoch and Lilio. - -When Curlylocks heard what was the matter she called out quick and -sprightly, as befits a little fairy: - -“Come on, Reygoch—come on and stop the water!” - -“Yes, yes, let’s go!” cried the herd boys of both villages and both -counties, as they wept and sobbed without stopping. “Come on, Reygoch, -and take us along too!” - -Reygoch stooped, gathered up Lilio and Curlylocks (who was still -carrying her lantern) in his right hand, and all the rest of the herd -boys and girls in his left, and then Reygoch raced with ten-fathom -strides through the forest clearing and down into the plain. Behind him -ran the sheep, bleating with terror. And so they reached the plain. - -Through fog and twilight ran Reygoch with the children in his arms and -the terrified flocks at his heels in frantic flight—all running towards -the dyke. And out to meet them flowed the Black Banewater, killing and -drowning as it flowed. It is terribly strong, is that water. Stronger -than Reygoch? Who knows? Will it sweep away Reygoch, too? Will it drown -those poor herd boys and girls also, and must the dear little Fairy -Curlylocks die—and she as lovely as a star? - -So Reygoch ran on across the meadow, which was still dry, and came all -breathless to the dyke, where there was a great breach, through which -the river was pouring with frightful force. - -“Stop it up, Reygoch—stop it up!” wailed the boys and girls. - -Not far from the dyke there was a little mound in the plain. - -“Put us on that mound,” cried Curlylocks briskly. - -Reygoch set down Lilio and Curlylocks and the herd boys and girls on the -hillock, and the sheep and lambs crowded round them. Already the hillock -was just an island in the middle of the water. - -But Reygoch took one mighty stride into the water and then lay down -facing the dyke, stopping up the breach with his enormous chest. For a -little while the water ceased to flow; but it was so terribly strong -that nothing on earth could stop it. The water pressed forward; it -eddied round Reygoch’s shoulders; it broke through under him, over him, -about him—everywhere—and rolled on again over the plain. Reygoch -stretched out both arms and piled up the earth in great handfuls; but as -fast as he piled it up, the water carried it away. - -And in the plain the water kept on rising higher and higher; fields, -villages, cattle, threshing-floors, not one of them could be seen any -more. Of both villages, the roofs and church steeples were all that -showed above the flood. - -Even around the hillock where the herd boys and girls were standing with -Lilio and Curlylocks the flood was rising higher and higher. The poor -young things were weeping and crying, some for their mothers, others for -their brothers and sisters, and some for their homes and gardens; -because they saw that both villages had perished, and not a soul -saved—and the water rising about them, too! - -So they crowded up higher and higher upon the hillock; they huddled -together around Lilio and Curlylocks, who were standing side by side in -the midst of their friends. - -Lilio stood still and white as marble; but Curlylocks’ eyes shone, and -she held up her lantern towards Reygoch to give him light for his work. -Curlylocks’ veil rose and fluttered in the night wind and hovered above -the water, as though the little fairy were about to fly away and vanish -from among all these terrors. - -“Curlylocks! Curlylocks! don’t go! Don’t leave us!” wailed the herd -boys, to whom it seemed as if there were an angel with them while they -could look upon Curlylocks. - -“I’m not going—I’m not going away!” cried Curlylocks. But her veil -fluttered, as if it would carry her away of its own accord, over the -water and up into the clouds. - -Suddenly they heard a scream. The water had risen and caught one of the -girls by the hem of her skirt and was washing her away. Lilio stooped -just in time, seized the girl, and pulled her back on to the hillock. - -“We must tie ourselves together,” cried the herd boys; “we must be tied -each to the other, or we shall perish.” - -“Here, children—here!” cried Curlylocks, who had a kind and pitiful -heart. - -Quickly she stripped her magic veil off her shoulders and gave it to the -herd girls. They tore the veil into strips, knotted the strips into long -ropes, and bound themselves together, each to other, round Lilio and -Curlylocks. And round the shepherds bleated the poor sheep in terror of -being drowned. - -But Curlylocks was now among these poor castaways, no better off than -the rest of them. Her pearls she had wasted on toys, and her magic veil -she had given away and torn up out of the goodness of her heart, and now -she could no longer fly, nor save herself out of this misery. - -But Lilio loved Curlylocks better than anything else in the world, and -when the water was already up to his feet he called: - -“Don’t be afraid, Curlylocks! I will save you and hold you up!” And he -held up Curlylocks in his arms. - -With one hand Curlylocks clung round Lilio’s neck, and with the other -she held up her little lantern aloft towards Reygoch. - -And Reygoch, lying on his chest in the water, was all the time steadily -fighting the flood. Right and left of Reygoch rose the ruins of the dyke -like two great horns. Reygoch’s beard was touzled, his shoulders were -bleeding. Yet he could not stop the Banewater, and the flood round the -hillock was rising and rising to drown the poor remnant there. And now -it was night—yea, midnight. - -All of a sudden a thought flashed through Curlylocks, and through all -the sobbing and crying she laughed aloud as she called to Reygoch: - -“Reygoch, you old simpleton! why don’t you _sit_ between these two horns -of the dyke? Why don’t you dam the flood with your shoulders?” - -The herd boys and girls stopped wailing at once. So dumbfounded were -they at the idea that not one of them had thought of that before! - -“Uhuhu!” was all you could hear, and that was Reygoch laughing. And when -Reygoch laughs, mind you, it’s no joke! All the water round him boiled -and bubbled as he shook with laughter over his own stupidity! - -Then Reygoch stood up, faced about, and—in a twinkling—he sat down -between those two horns! - -And then happened the most wonderful thing of all! For the Black -Banewater stood as though you had rolled a wall into the breach! It -stood, and could not rise above Reygoch’s shoulders, but followed its -usual course, as before, the whole current behind Reygoch’s back. And -surely that was a most marvellous rescue! - -The boys and girls were saved from the worst of the danger; and Reygoch, -sitting comfortably, took up earth in handfuls and all slow-and-surely -rebuilt the dyke under himself and on either hand. He began in the -middle of the night, and when the dawn broke, the job was finished. And -just as the sun rose, Reygoch got up from the dyke with his work done, -and started combing his beard, which was all caked with mud, twigs, and -little fishes. - -But the poor boys and girls were not yet done with their troubles; for -where were they to go, and how were they to get there? There they stood -on the top of the hillock. All around them was a waste of water. Nothing -was to be seen of the two villages but just a few roofs—and not a soul -alive in either. To be sure, the villagers might have saved themselves -if they had taken refuge in their attics. But in both villages everybody -had gone to the threshing-floor with cymbals and fifes to make merry, so -that each could watch the destruction of the other. And when the water -was up to their waists, they were still clanging their cymbals; and when -it was up to their necks, they still blew their fifes for gratified -spite. And so they were drowned, one and all, with their fifes and -cymbals—and serve them right for their malice and uncharitableness! - -So the poor children were left without a soul to cherish or protect -them, all houseless and homeless. - -“We’re not sparrows, to live on the housetops,” said the boys sadly, as -they saw only the roofs sticking out of the water, “and we’re not foxes, -to live in burrows in the hills. If someone could clear our villages of -the water, we might make shift to get along somehow, but as it is, we -might as well jump into the water with our flocks and be drowned like -the rest, for we have nowhere and no one to turn to.” - -That was a sad plight indeed, and Reygoch himself was dreadfully sorry -for them. But here was an evil he could in no wise remedy. He looked out -over the water and said: “There’s too much water here for me to bale out -or to drink up so as to clear your villages. Eh, children, what shall I -do for you?” - -But then up and spoke Lilio, that was the wisest lad in these parts: - -“Reygoch, daddy, if _you_ cannot drink so much water, _the Earth can_. -Break a hole in the ground, daddy, and drain off the water into the -earth.” - -Dearie me! and wasn’t that great wisdom in a lad no bigger than -Reygoch’s finger? - -Forthwith Reygoch stamped on the ground and broke a hole; and the Earth, -like a thirsty dragon, began to drink and to drink, and swallow, and -suck down into herself all that mighty water from off the whole plain. -Before long the Earth had gulped down all the water; villages, fields, -and meadows reappeared, ravaged and mud-covered, to be sure, but with -everything in its right place. - -The young castaways cheered up at the sight, but none was so glad as -Curlylocks. She clapped her hands and cried: - -“Oh, won’t it be lovely when the fields all grow golden again and the -meadows green!” - -But hereupon the herd boys and girls were all downcast once more, and -Lilio said: - -“Who will show us how to till the ground now that not one of our parents -is left alive?” - -And indeed, far and wide, there was not a soul alive older than that -company of helpless young things in the midst of the ravaged plain, and -none with them but Reygoch, who was so big and clumsy and simple that he -could not turn his head inside one of their houses, nor did he know -anything about ploughing or husbandry. - -So they were all in the dumps once more, and most of all Reygoch, who -was so fond of pretty Curlylocks, and now he could do nothing for her -nor her friends! - -And, worst of all, Reygoch was getting horribly homesick for his -desolate city of Frosten. This night he had swallowed mud enough to last -him a thousand years, and seen more than enough of trouble. And so he -was just dying to be back in his vast, empty city, where he had counted -the stones in peace for so many hundred years. - -So the herd boys were very crestfallen, and Lilio was crestfallen, and -Reygoch the most crestfallen of all. And really it was sad to look upon -all these poor boys and girls, doomed to perish without their parents -and wither like a flower cut off from its root. - -Only Curlylocks looked gaily about her, right and left, for nothing -could damp her good spirits. - -Suddenly Curlylocks cried out: - -“Look—oh look! What are those people? Oh dear, but they must have seen -sights and wonders!” - -All looked towards the village, and there, at one of the windows, -appeared the heads of an aged couple—an old man and an old woman. They -waved their kerchiefs, they called the young people by name, and laughed -till their wrinkled faces all shone with joy. They were -great-grandfather and great-grandmother, who had been the only sensible -people in the two villages, and had saved themselves by taking refuge in -the attic! - -Oh dear! If the children had seen the sun at his rising and the morning -star at that attic window, they would not have shouted so for joy. The -very heavens rang again as they called out: - -“Granny! Grandad!” - -They raced to the village like young whippets, Curlylocks in front, with -her golden hair streaming in the wind, and after them the ewes and -lambs. They never stopped till they reached the village, and there -grandfather and grandmother were waiting for them at the gate. They -welcomed them, hugged them, and none of them could find words to thank -God enough for His mercy in giving grandad and grandma so much wisdom as -to make them take refuge in the attic! And that was really a very good -thing, because these were only quite simple villages, where there were -no books nor written records; and who would have reminded the herd boys -and girls of the consequences of wickedness if grandad and grandma had -not been spared? - -When they had done hugging each other, they remembered Reygoch. They -looked round the plain, but there was no Reygoch. He was gone—gone all -of a sudden, the dear huge thing—gone like a mouse down its hole. - -And Reygoch had indeed gone like a mouse down its hole. For when grandpa -and grandma appeared at the attic window, Reygoch got a fright such as -he had never yet had in his life. He was terrified at the sight of their -furrowed, wrinkled, withered old faces. - -“Oh dear! oh dear! what a lot of trouble these old people must have been -through in these parts to have come to look like that!” thought Reygoch; -and in his terror he that very instant jumped down into the hole through -which the Black Banewater had sunk down, and so ran away back to his -desolate Frosten city. - - * * * * * - -All went well in the village. Grandad and Grandma taught the young folk, -and the young folk ploughed and sowed. Upon the grandparents’ advice -they built just one village, one threshing-floor, one church, and one -graveyard, so that there should be no more jealousy nor trouble. - -All went well; but the best of all was that in the heart of the village -stood a beautiful tower of mountain marble, and on the top of it they -had made a garden, where blossomed oranges and wild olive. There lived -Curlylocks, the lovely fairy, and looked down upon the land that had -been so dear to her from the moment when she first came to earth. - -And of an evening, when the field work was done, Lilio would lead the -herd boys and girls to the tower, and they would sing songs and dance in -a ring in the garden with Curlylocks, always lovely, gentle, and joyous. - -But under the earth Reygoch once more fell in with the Black Banewater -as it roared and burbled underneath, while he wrestled with it till he -forced it deeper and deeper into the earth, and right down to the bottom -of the Pit, so that it might never again serve the spite and envy of -man. And then Reygoch went on to Frosten city. There he is sitting to -this very day, counting the stones and praying the Lord never again to -tempt him away from that vast and desolate spot, which is the very place -for one so big and so simple. - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Bridesman Sun - and - Bride Bridekins - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Bridesman Sun - and - Bride Bridekins - - -ONCE upon a time there was a miller and his wife, and both were miserly -and hard of heart. When the Emperor’s servants brought corn to be -ground, the miller would grind the corn free of all charge and send the -Emperor a gift into the bargain, only to gain favour with the mighty -Emperor and his daughter, the proud princess. But when poor folk came to -have their corn ground, the miller would take one measure in payment for -every two that he ground, and without that he would not grind at all. - -One day, just about Yuletide and in the time of bitter frost, an old -wife came to the mill—an old wife all patches and tatters. The mill -stood in a little grove by the stream, and no one could say whence that -old wife had come. - -But this wasn’t just an old wife like other old wives; it was Mother -Muggish. Now Muggish could turn herself into any mortal thing, a bird or -a snake, or an old woman or a young girl. And besides that she could do -anything, both good and bad. But woe to him who got into her bad books, -for she was very spiteful. Muggish lived in the morass on the fringe of -the bog where the autumn sun dwelt. And with her the sun put up over the -long winter night; for Muggish knew potent herbs and powerful spells; -she would nurse and cherish the feeble old sun till he grew young again -at Yuletide and started on his way once more. - -“Good day to you,” Mother Muggish called out to the miller and his wife. -“Just grind this bag of corn for me.” - -The old wife stood the bag on the floor, and the miller agreed: - -“I’ll grind it for you; half the bag for you for your cake, and half for -me for my trouble.” - -“Not so, my son! I shall not have enough for my Yuletide cake, because I -have six sons, and for seventh my grandson, the Sun, who was born -to-day.” - -“Go away and don’t talk rubbish, you old fool!” burst out the miller. “A -likely one you are to be the Sun’s grandmother!” - -So they argued this way and that; but the miller wouldn’t consent to -grind for less than one-half the bag, and so the old wife picked up her -bag again and went away by the way she came. - -But the miller had a daughter, a beautiful girl, called Bride Bridekins. -When she was born, the fairies bathed her in the water that falls from -the wheel, so that all evils should turn from her, even as water runs -away from a mill. And, moreover, the fairies foretold that at her -wedding the Sun should be bridesman. Just fancy! she was the Sun’s -little bride! So they called her Bride Bridekins, and she was most -beautiful and smiling as a summer’s day. - -Bride Bridekins was sorry when the miller sent away the old wife so -unkindly. She went out and waited in the wood for the old wife, and -said: - -“Come again to-morrow, Mother, when I shall be alone. I will grind your -corn for you for nothing.” - -Next day the miller and his wife went into the wood to cut the Yule log, -and Bride Bridekins was left alone. - -Before long the old wife came up with her bag. - -“Good fortune be yours, young maiden,” said the wife. - -“And yours, too,” returned Bride Bridekins. “Wait a moment, Mother, till -we open the mill.” - -The mill was worked by a little wheel which caught the water with four -paddles set cross-wise, which turned like a spindle. Now the miller had -shut off the water, and Bride Bridekins had to wade up to her knees in -the icy stream to open the sluice. - -The mill clattered, round went the mill-stones, and Bride Bridekins -ground the old wife’s corn. She filled up the bag with flour and took -nothing for her pains. - -“Eh, thank you kindly, maiden,” said Mother Muggish, “and I’ll help you -whithersoever your feet may carry you, since your feet you did not save -from the ice-cold wave, nor grudge your hands to soil with unrequited -toil. And, moreover, I’ll tell my grandson, the Sun, to whom he owes his -Yuletide cake.” And the old wife took up her bag and went. - -From that day nothing would prosper in the mill without Bride Bridekins. -Unless her hand was on the mill, the paddles would not take the water; -unless she looked in the bin, there would be no flour in it. No matter -how much might fall into it from the grain-box, it was all lost on the -floor; the bin remained empty unless Bride Bridekins fed the mill. And -so it was with everything in and about the mill. - -This went on for many a day, on and on and never any change, till the -miller and his wife began to be jealous of their daughter and to hate -her. The harder the girl worked and the more she earned, the blacker -they looked at her, because it came to her as easy as a song, and to -them not even with toiling and moiling. - -It was upon a morning about Beltane time, when the Sun, strong and -flaming, travels across one-half of heaven like a ball of pure gold. The -Sun no longer slept in the morass, nor did Muggish foster him now; but -the Sun was lord of the world, and sky and earth obeyed him. Bride -Bridekins sat at Beltane time beside the mill and thought to herself: - -“If I could only get away, since I cannot please these cross-patches -anyhow!” - -And just as she thought this, there appeared before her the old wife, -who was really Muggish. - -“I will help you, but you must obey me in all things, and take care not -to offend me,” said the old wife. “This very morning the proud princess -walked in the meadow and lost the keys of her chest and her wardrobe, -and now she cannot get at her crown nor her robes either. So the -princess has caused it to be proclaimed that whoever finds the keys, if -it be a youth the princess will become his true love and bride-to-be, -and if it be a maiden, the princess will take her for her first -lady-in-waiting. So you come away with me, and I will show you where the -keys are lying among the love-lies-bleeding that grows in the meadow. -You will bring the princess her keys and become her first -lady-in-waiting. You will be dressed in silk and sit by the princess’s -knee.” - -[Illustration] - -Then Muggish at once turned herself into a quail, and Bride Bridekins -followed her. - -So they came to the meadow in front of the Emperor’s castle. Gallant -knights and noble dames walked about the meadow, and around the meadow -stood their esquires holding mettlesome steeds. One steed only was not -held by a squire, but by a barefoot boy. This horse belonged to Oleg the -Warden, and it was the most fiery steed of all. And Oleg the Warden -himself was the most excellent knight under the sun. You might know Oleg -the Warden amid ever so many earls and nobles, because his attire was -plain and without ornament, but his white plume, the prize of valour, -distinguished him above all the rest. - -So the knights and dames walked about the meadow, all trampling the -grass with their shoes in their anxiety to find the keys. Only Oleg the -Warden kept but a poor look-out for the keys, taking the matter as a -mere jest and idle pastime. But from her window the Emperor’s daughter -looked out and watched to see whom fortune would favour. Very careful -watch did she keep, the proud princess, and repeated spells for luck so -that Oleg the Warden should find the keys. - -When Bride Bridekins came with the quail running before her, not a soul -in the meadow noticed her but only Oleg the Warden. - -“Never yet have I seen so sweet a maiden,” thought Oleg the Warden, and -strode towards her. - -But just then the Emperor’s daughter also noticed Bride Bridekins from -her window, and so proud and heartless was she that she never stopped to -look how sweet the maiden was, but grew very angry, and said: “A fine -plight should I be in were that common wench there to find the keys and -become my lady-in-waiting!” Thus thinking, she at once sent out her -servants to drive away the girl. - -Bride Bridekins went over the meadow where-ever the quail led her. They -came to the middle of the meadow, where the love-lies-bleeding grew -tall. The quail parted two leaves at the foot of a tuft of -love-lies-bleeding, and under them lay the keys. - -Bride Bridekins bent down and picked up the keys; but when she looked up -to the Emperor’s castle and saw the proud princess, Bride Bridekins -became frightened, and thought: “How should I become the princess’s -lady-in-waiting?” - -As she thought this she looked up, and lo, beside her stood a glorious -knight, as he might have been sworn brother to the Sun. And that was -Oleg the Warden. - -Quickly Bride Bridekins made up her mind to disobey Muggish’s commands, -and she held out the keys to Oleg the Warden. - -“Take the keys, unknown knight, and let the Emperor’s daughter be your -true love and bride-to-be,” said Bride Bridekins, and could not take her -eyes off the glorious knight. - -But at that moment came the servants with whips, and roughly rated Bride -Bridekins so as to drive her away from the meadow, according to the -princess’s commands. When Oleg the Warden saw this, he was soon -resolved, and thus did he answer Bride Bridekins: - -“Thank you for the keys, sweet maiden; but I have made up my mind -otherwise. _You_ shall be my true love and bride-to-be, because you are -fairer than the morning star. Here is my good horse; he will carry us to -my Barren Marches.” - -Gladly did Bride Bridekins go with Oleg the Warden, and he lifted her -beside him on to his horse. As the good steed carried them swiftly past -the Emperor’s daughter sitting at her window. Oleg the Warden threw her -the keys so skilfully that they caught right on the window latch! - -“There are your keys, august Princess!” cried Oleg the Warden. “Wear -your crown and your robes in all happiness, for I have taken the maiden -for myself.” - -All that night Oleg the Warden rode on with Bride Bridekins, and at dawn -they arrived in the Barren Marches, at the oaken stronghold of Oleg the -Warden. Round the stockade there were three moats, and in the midst of -the stockade stood a smoke-blacked house. - -“Behold the Castle of Oleg the Warden!” said the knight to Bride -Bridekins, and he laughed himself because his castle was not more -splendid. But Bride Bridekins laughed still more heartily because she -was to be the lady of such a glorious knight. - -So they settled at once upon the wedding guests, so as to celebrate the -marriage. They invited twenty gallants and twenty orphan maids, because -that was all the people there were in the Barren Marches. And so that -they might be more and merrier, they also asked the Wild Wolf and his -Mate from the hills, and the Tawny Eagle, and the Grey Goshawk; and -Bride Bridekins asked two bridesmaids—the Turtle Dove and the Slender -Swallow. - -And Bride Bridekins even boasted to Oleg the Warden: - -“If the Sun were to recognise me, he too would come to the wedding. The -Sun would have been bridesman at the wedding, for so did the fairies -foretell.” - -And so the wedding guests assembled in the soot-blacked castle, to make -merry—and never knew of the ill fate in store for them. - - * * * * * - -Now it had stung the proud princess to the heart when Oleg the Warden -had flung her the keys, and before so many nobles, before earls and -knights, refused the august princess and preferred a nameless maiden. - -So the princess persuaded the Emperor, her father, and begged and -entreated him till he lent her his mighty army. Well mounted, the army -advanced upon the Barren Marches of Oleg the Warden with the wrathful -princess at its head. - -The guests were just at table when the army came in sight. It was so -great that it covered all the Barren Marches till you could not see so -much as a patch of earth for it. And in front of the army a herald cried -aloud for all the world to hear: - - Behold a gallant army - Has taken the field; - The Warden is a rebel, - We bid him to yield. - Alive shall he be taken - That freedom loved best; - But the heart shall be riven - From his lady’s breast. - -When Oleg the Warden heard this, he asked Bride Bridekins: - -“Are you afraid, lovely maiden?” - -“I am not afraid,” she smilingly made answer. “I put my trust in the -Grey Wolf and his Mate, in your twenty gallants and twenty orphans, and -most of all in the knight Oleg the Warden. And besides that I have two -brave bridesmaids—the Turtle Dove and the Slender Swallow.” - -Oleg the Warden smiled, and already the wedding guests had lightly -sprung to their feet. They seized their warriors’ weapons, both gallants -and orphans, and stood by the windows of the soot-blacked castle -stringing their good bows with silken cords as they waited for the -princess and her army. But that army was so mighty that neither Oleg the -Warden, nor his wedding guests, nor the soot-blacked house were able to -withstand it. - -The first to fall were the Grey Wolf and his Mate; for they jumped the -stockade and the moats and rushed straight at the Emperor’s army to tear -out the proud princess’s eyes in the midst of her army. But a hundred -maces rose in the air; the soldiers defended the proud princess, the -Eagle and the Grey Goshawk had their pinions broken, and then the heavy -horses trampled them into the black earth. - -The great host came nearer and nearer to the soot-blacked house. When it -was fairly on the threshold the wedding guests loosed their silken -bowstrings and greeted the soldiers with a shower of arrows. - -But the wrathful archers of the wrathful princess did not stop! - -Arrows flew hither and thither. There were archers past counting in the -army, so that their arrows flew in at the windows of the soot-blacked -house like a plague from heaven. Each gallant had his two or three -wounds to show, and each orphan some ten. - -But the most grievous wound of all was upon Oleg the Warden. His good -right hand hung powerless, so greatly was he overcome by his wound. - -[Illustration] - -Quickly Bride Bridekins stepped up to Oleg the Warden to wash his wound -in the courtyard of the soot-blacked house. While she was washing his -wound, Oleg the Warden said to her: “It’s a poor fortune we have -garnered, my Bride Bridekins. There are none left for you to put your -trust in, and here is the host at the gates of the soot-blacked house. -They will break down the oak stockade, batter down the ancient gates. We -are lost; this is the end of us—wolves and eagles, and gallants and -orphans, and Oleg the Warden and his Bride Bridekins!” - -But Bride Bridekins considered sadly, and then she said: - -“Do not fear, brave Warden. I will send the Turtle Dove to fetch Muggish -from her morass. There is nothing Muggish does not know and nothing she -cannot do, and she will help us.” - -So Bride Bridekins sent out the swift Turtle Dove. Away flew the grey -dove swifter than an arrow from the string, nor did the soldiers’ darts -overtake her. Off she flew and brought back Muggish from the bog. But -Muggish had turned herself into a raven and perched upon the gable of -the soot-blacked House. - -Already the soldiers were battering at the entrance. Heavy clubs -hammered on the doors and portals, banging and clanging till all the -courts and passages of the soot-blacked house rang again, as though a -host from the nethermost Pit were beating on the gates of Oleg the -Warden. - -“Fair greeting, dear Muggish!” the lovely Bride appealed to the black -raven—“fair greeting! Help us against the Princess’s malice, or else we -must all die untimely!” - -But Muggish had only bided her time spitefully for an opportunity to -give vent to her grievance. Flapping her black wings, the raven said: - -“Save yourself, my little dove! If you had listened to me, you would -have given the Princess her keys. You would have basked in royal grace, -beside the Princess had your place, in sumptuous silk fair to behold, -sipping wine from a cup of gold. But now you have gotten your heart’s -desire. Here you are in the soot-blacked house with none but -sore-wounded beggars within and a countless host outside. Seek help from -those whose counsel brought you to this!” - -When Oleg the Warden heard this, he sprang to his feet, all wounded as -he was, and wrathfully cried out: - -“Leave this unprofitable business, Bride Bridekins! When had a hero help -from a raven? And you,” he called to Muggish, “get off my roof, you -black bird of ill-omen, lest I waste a good swift arrow and shoot the -bird upon my gable!” With that Oleg the Warden embraced Bride Bridekins -and said: - -“When I perish in the midst of the Emperor’s host, go, my lovely little -Bride! submit yourself to the Princess, and you shall be lady-in-waiting -to the proud Princess, who should have been true love and lady of Oleg -the Warden.” For a moment Oleg the Warden flinched; but then he tore -himself away from his bride, and rushed through the courtyard and -passage to raise the oaken bars, to throw open the gates to the -countless host, to perish or cut his way through their numbers. - -Bride Bridekins was left alone in the castle, and above her on the roof -perched the black raven. She could hear the heavy oaken bars falling; -now the ancient gates must yield; another moment and the cruel soldiers -will burst in, take Oleg prisoner, and rive the heart out of the breast -of her, sweet child! Bride Bridekins’ thoughts chased through her brain: -What is to be done, and how? - -The lovely bride looked all around to see if there were any found to -pity her in her distress. She bent her beauteous eyes to earth, and -raised them heavenward. As she raised them heavenward the Sun travelled -across the zenith in a blaze of pure gold. And as she looked at the Sun, -the Sun marvelled at so much loveliness, and at once looked back at her. -The Sun and Bride Bridekins looked at one another, and as they looked, -they recognised one another, and at once the Sun remembered. “Why, that -is the little bride whose Bridesman the Sun was to be! In a lucky hour -she gave me my Yuletide bread, and in a yet luckier moment she sought me -overhead.” - -Just one moment before the Sun had heard Muggish mocking Bride Bridekins -and spitefully refusing to help her. So now the Sun thundered forth his -anger. All the land fell silent with fear; axes and clubs were dropped -in terror as the Sun thundered at Muggish: - -“Eh, foster-mother, heart of stone! were the world’s justice to be -carved by spite, what crooked justice would pervert the right! If thou -from slime hast reared me, yet content art thou to keep the slime thine -element! With me thou hast not strode across the sky, nor from the -heavens downward bent thine eye to learn how justice should be born of -light. Fie, foster-mother, heart of stone! What! should the Sun at -Beltane in his might forget who sent him gifts on Yule night, when he -was a feeble babe? Or shall Bridesman Sun take it ill of the bride that -she left the Emperor’s palace and the Princess’s court because she -preferred a hero in her heart? Down with you into the earth, -black-hearted nurse! so that you underground, and I from the skies, may -help yon worthy knight and his lovely lady.” - -Sky and earth obey the Sun, and how should the black raven—and that was -Muggish—withstand his commands? Upon the instant Muggish sank into the -earth to do the Sun’s bidding. - -And strong as the Sun had been before, he now made himself yet stronger. -The Sun smote from above; he scorched the Barren Marches; he seared -heaven and earth; he would have melted the Mountain of Brass! - -Upon the cruel soldiers’ heads their helmets dissolved; their heavy -armour melted; spears and axes grew red-hot. Heat overcame the wrathful -princess; heat overcame the multitude of archers as their brains grilled -inside their helmets, and their breasts laboured with the heat under -their armour. Who had not the shelter of a roof could not live. All the -host was struck down by the heat. They fell one atop of the other. A man -would call upon his sworn brother, and then the voice would cease as the -speaker perished. - -While the Sun was thus smiting the cruel soldiers, Muggish helped the -Sun from underground. She opened deep bogholes under their feet. -Whenever the Sun struck down a man, there a boghole would gape beneath -him. He slipped into the bog, and the bog closed above him; where a man -stood, there his grave yawned for him. - -So the soldiers vanished one by one, and the archers one by one, and the -weapons of war, and the clubs and the axes. It was terrible to behold -such a vast army stricken by the judgment of the Sun from the skies. The -Sun was executioner and the earth gravedigger. Yet a little while, an -hour or two, and the great host had vanished—not a soul was left alive -in the Barren Marches. Only those who were under the roof of the -soot-blacked house, they were left alive. - -Once more all was still in the Barren Marches; and now the lovely lady. -Bride Bridekins, peeped joyously from her window to watch her bridesman -grow mild, now that he had done with slaying spite upon the earth. - - * * * * * - -Soon the wounds healed upon the gallants, for they had good luck to help -them; and the orphans recovered still more quickly, because hardship is -a good school. As for Oleg Ban, he could not pine with such a true love -as Bride Bridekins beside him. Early in the morning the Slender Swallow -flew out with a greeting for the Sun. At nightfall the Swallow returned -with greetings from the Sun, bidding them prepare the wedding feast for -the morrow, for he would come to give away the bride. - -So they made ready, and it all fell out as they had planned. And such a -wedding as they had, and such songs as were sung that day in the Barren -Marches you’ll not find again in a hundred years, nor throughout nine -empires. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Stribor’s Forest - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Stribor’s Forest - - - I - - -ONE day a young man went into Stribor’s Forest and did not know that the -Forest was enchanted and that all manner of magic abode there. Some of -its magic was good and some was bad—to each one according to his -deserts. - -Now this Forest was to remain enchanted until it should be entered by -someone who preferred his sorrows to all the joys of this world. - -The young man set to and cut wood, and presently sat down on a stump to -rest, for it was a fine winter’s day. And out of the stump slipped a -snake, and began to fawn upon him. Now this wasn’t a real snake, but a -human being transformed into a snake for its sins, and it could only be -set free by one who was willing to wed it. The snake sparkled like -silver in the sun as it looked up into the young man’s eyes. - -“Dear me, what a pretty snake! I should rather like to take it home,” -said the young man in fun. - -“Here’s the silly fool who is going to help me out of my trouble,” -thought the sinful soul within the snake. So she made haste and turned -herself at once out of a snake into a most beautiful woman standing -there before the young man. Her sleeves were white and embroidered like -butterflies’ wings, and her feet were tiny like a countess’s. But -because her thoughts had been evil, the tongue in her mouth remained a -serpent’s tongue. - -“Here I am! Take me home and marry me!” said the snake-woman to the -youth. - -Now if this youth had only had presence of mind and remembered quickly -to brandish his hatchet at her and call out: “I certainly never thought -of wedding a piece of forest magic,” why, then the woman would at once -have turned again into a snake, wriggled back into the stump, and no -harm done to anybody. - -But he was one of your good-natured, timid and shy youths; moreover, he -was ashamed to say “No” to her, when she had transformed herself all on -his account. Besides, he liked her because she was pretty, and he -couldn’t know in his innocence what had remained inside her mouth. - -So he took the Woman by the hand and led her home. Now that youth lived -with his old Mother, and he cherished his Mother as though she were the -image of a saint. - -“This is your daughter-in-law,” said the youth, as he entered the house -with the Woman. - -“The Lord be thanked, my son,” replied his Mother, and looked at the -pretty girl. But the Mother was old and wise, and knew at once what was -inside her daughter-in-law’s mouth. - -The daughter-in-law went out to change her dress, and the Mother said to -her son: - -“You have chosen a very pretty bride, my boy; only beware, lest she be a -snake.” - -The youth was dumbfounded with astonishment. How could his Mother know -that the other had been a snake? And his heart grew angry within him as -he thought: “Surely my Mother is a witch.” And from that moment he hated -his Mother. - -So the three began to live together, but badly and discordantly. The -daughter-in-law was ill-tempered, spiteful, greedy and proud. - -Now there was a mountain peak there as high as the clouds, and one day -the daughter-in-law bade the old Mother go up and fetch her snow from -the summit for her to wash in. - -“There is no path up there,” said the Mother. - -“Take the goat and let her guide you. Where she can go up, there you can -tumble down,” said the daughter-in-law. - -The son was there at the time, but he only laughed at the words, simply -to please his wife. - -This so grieved the Mother that she set out at once for the peak to -fetch the snow, because she was tired of life. As she went her way she -thought to ask God to help her; but she changed her mind and said: “For -then God would know that my son is undutiful.” - -But God gave her help all the same, so that she safely brought the snow -back to her daughter-in-law from the cloud-capped peak. - -Next day the daughter-in-law gave her a fresh order: - -“Go out on to the frozen lake. In the middle of the lake there is a -hole. Catch me a carp there for dinner.” - -“The ice will give way under me, and I shall perish in the lake,” -replied the old Mother. - -“The carp will be pleased if you go down with him,” said the -daughter-in-law. - -And again the son laughed, and the Mother was so grieved that she went -out at once to the lake. The ice cracked under the old woman, and she -wept so that the tears froze on her face. But yet she would not pray to -God for help; she would keep it from God that her son was sinful. - -“It is better that I should perish,” thought the Mother as she walked -over the ice. - -But her time had not yet come. And therefore a gull flew over her head, -bearing a fish in its beak. The fish wriggled out of the gull’s beak and -fell right at the feet of the old woman. The Mother picked up the fish -and brought it safely to her daughter-in-law. - -On the third day the Mother sat by the fire, and took up her son’s shirt -to mend it. When her daughter-in-law saw that, she flew at her, snatched -the shirt out of her hands, and screamed: - -“Stop that, you blind old fool! That is none of your business.” - -And she would not let the Mother mend her son’s shirt. - -Then the old woman’s heart was altogether saddened, so that she went -outside, sat in that bitter cold on the bench before the house, and -cried to God: - -“Oh God, help me!” - -At that moment she saw a poor girl coming towards her. The girl’s bodice -was all torn and her shoulder blue with the cold, because the sleeve had -given way. But still the girl smiled, for she was bright and -sweet-tempered. Under her arm she carried a bundle of kindling-wood. - -“Will you buy wood for kindling, Mother?” asked the girl. - -“I have no money, my dear; but if you like I will mend your sleeve,” -sadly returned the old Mother, who was still holding the needle and -thread with which she had wanted to mend her son’s shirt. - -So the old Mother mended the girl’s sleeve, and the girl gave her a -bundle of kindling-wood, thanked her kindly, and went on happy because -her shoulder was no longer cold. - - - II - -That evening the daughter-in-law said to the Mother: - -“We are going out to supper with godmother. Mind you have hot water for -me when I come back.” - -The daughter-in-law was greedy and always on the look-out to get invited -for a meal. - -So the others went out, and the old woman was left alone. She took out -the kindling-wood which the poor girl had given her, lit the fire on the -hearth, and went into the shed for wood. - -As she was in the shed fetching the wood, she suddenly heard something -in the kitchen a-bustling and a-rustling—“hist, hist!” - -“Whoever is that?” called the old Mother from the shed. - -“Brownies! Brownies!” came the answer from the kitchen in voices so -tiny, for all the world like sparrows chirping under the roof. - -The old woman wondered what on earth was going on there in the dark, and -went into the kitchen. And when she got there the kindling-chips just -flared up on the hearth, and round the flame there were Brownies dancing -in a ring—all tiny little men no bigger than half an ell. They wore -little fur coats; their caps and shoes were red as flames; their beards -were grey as ashes, and their eyes sparkled like live coal. - -More and more of them danced out of the flames, one for each chip. And -as they appeared they laughed and chirped, turned somersaults on the -hearth, twittered with glee, and then took hands and danced in a ring. - -[Illustration] - -And how they danced! Round the hearth, in the ashes, under the cupboard, -on the table, in the jug, on the chair! Round and round! Faster and -faster! They chirped and they chattered, chased and romped all over the -place. They scattered the salt; they spilt the barm; they upset the -flour—all for sheer fun. The fire on the hearth blazed and shone, -crackled and glowed; and the old woman gazed and gazed. She never -regretted the salt nor the barm, but was glad of the jolly little folk -whom God had sent to comfort her. - -It seemed to the old woman as though she were growing young again. She -laughed like a dove; she tripped like a girl; she took hands with the -Brownies and danced. But all the time there was the load on her heart, -and that was so heavy that the dance stopped at once. - -“Little brothers,” said the Mother to the Brownies, “can you not help me -to get a sight of my daughter-in-law’s tongue, so that when I can show -my son what I have seen with my own eyes he will perhaps come to his -senses?” - -And the old woman told the Brownies all that had happened. The Brownies -sat round the edge of the hearth, their little feet thrust under the -grate, each wee mannikin beside his neighbour, and listened to the old -woman, all wagging their heads in wonder. And as they wagged their -heads, their red caps caught the glow of the fire, and you’d have -thought there was nothing there but the fire burning on the hearth. - -When the old woman had finished her story, one of the Brownies called -out, and his name was Wee Tintilinkie: - -“I will help you! I will go to the sunshiny land and bring you magpies’ -eggs. We will put them under the sitting hen, and when the magpies are -hatched your daughter-in-law will betray herself. She will crave for -little magpies like any ordinary forest snake, and so put out her -tongue.” - -All the Brownies twittered with joy because Wee Tintilinkie had thought -of something so clever. They were still at the height of their glee when -in came the daughter-in-law from supper with a cake for herself. - -She flew to the door in a rage to see who was chattering in the kitchen. -But just as she opened the door, the door went bang! the flame leapt, up -jumped the Brownies, gave one stamp all round the hearth with their tiny -feet, rose up above the flames, flew up to the roof,—the boards in the -roof creaked a bit, and the Brownies were gone! - -Only Wee Tintilinkie did not run away, but hid among the ashes. - -When the flame leapt so unexpectedly and the door banged to, the -daughter-in-law got a start, so that for sheer fright she plumped on the -floor like a sack. The cake broke in her hand; her hair came down, combs -and all; her eyes goggled, and she called out angrily: - -“What was that, you old wretch?” - -“The wind blew up the flame when the door opened,” said the Mother, and -kept her wits about her. - -“And what is that among the ashes?” said the daughter-in-law again. For -from the ashes peeped the red heel of Wee Tintilinkie’s shoe. - -“That is a live ember,” said the Mother. - -However, the daughter-in-law would not believe her, but, all dishevelled -as she was, she got up and went over to see close to what was on the -hearth. As she bent down with her face over the ashes Wee Tintilinkie -quickly let out with his foot, so that his heel caught the -daughter-in-law on the nose. The Woman screamed as if she were drowning -in the sea; her face was all over soot, and her tumbled hair all -smothered with ashes. - -“What was that, you miserable old woman?” hissed the daughter-in-law. - -“A chestnut bursting in the fire,” answered the Mother; and Wee -Tintilinkie in the ashes almost split with laughter. - -While the daughter-in-law went out to wash, the Mother showed Wee -Tintilinkie where the daughter-in-law had set the hen, so as to have -little chickens for Christmas. That very night Wee Tintilinkie fetched -magpies’ eggs and put them under the hen instead of hens’ eggs. - - - III - -The daughter-in-law bade the Mother take good care of the hen and to -tell her at once whenever the chickens were hatched. Because the -daughter-in-law intended to invite the whole village to come and see -that she had chickens at Christmas, when nobody else had any. - -In due time the magpies were hatched. The Mother told her -daughter-in-law that the chickens had come out, and the daughter-in-law -invited the village. Gossips and neighbours came along, both great and -small, and the old woman’s son was there too. The Wife told her -mother-in-law to fetch the nest and bring it into the passage. - -The Mother brought in the nest, lifted off the hen, and behold, there -was something chirping in the nest. The naked magpies scrambled out, and -hop, hop, hopped all over the passage. - -When the Snake-Woman so unexpectedly caught sight of _magpies_, she -betrayed herself. Her serpent’s nature craved its prey; she darted down -the passage after the little magpies and shot out her thin quivering -tongue at them as she used to do in the Forest. - -Gossips and neighbours screamed and crossed themselves, and took their -children home, because they realised that the woman was indeed a snake -from the Forest. - -But the Mother went up to her son full of joy. - -[Illustration] - -“Take her back to where you brought her from, my son. Now you have seen -with your own eyes what it is you are cherishing in your house;” and the -Mother tried to embrace her son. - -But the son was utterly infatuated, so that he only hardened himself the -more against the village, and against his Mother, and against the -evidence of his own eyes. He would not turn away the Snake-Woman, but -cried out upon his Mother: - -“Where did you get young magpies at this time of year, you old witch? Be -off with you out of my house!” - -Eh, but the poor Mother saw that there was no help for it. She wept and -cried, and only begged her son not to turn her out of the house in broad -daylight for all the village to see what manner of son she had reared. - -So the son allowed his Mother to stay in the house until nightfall. - -When evening came, the old Mother put some bread into her bag, and a few -of those kindling-chips which the poor girl had given her, and then she -went weeping and sobbing out of her son’s house. - -But as the Mother crossed the threshold, the fire went out on the -hearth, and the crucifix fell from the wall. Son and daughter-in-law -were left alone in the darkened cottage. And now the son felt that he -had sinned greatly against his Mother, and he repented bitterly. But he -did not dare to speak of it to his wife, because he was afraid. So he -just said: - -“Let’s follow Mother and see her die of cold.” - -Up jumped the wicked daughter-in-law, overjoyed, and fetched their fur -coats, and they dressed and followed the old woman from afar. - -The poor Mother went sadly over the snow, by night, over the fields. She -came to a wide stubble-field, and there she was so overcome by the cold -that she could go no farther. So she took the kindling-wood out of her -bag, scraped the snow aside, and fit a fire to warm herself by. - -But lo! no sooner had the chips caught fire than the Brownies came out -of them, just the same as on the household hearth! - -They skipped out of the fire and all round in the snow, and the sparks -flew about them in all directions into the night. - -The poor old woman was so glad she could almost have cried for joy -because they had not forsaken her on her way. And the Brownies crowded -round her, laughed and whistled. - -“Oh, dear Brownies,” said the Mother, “I don’t want to be amused just -now; help me in my sore distress!” - -Then she told the Brownies how her silly son had grown still more bitter -against her since even he and all the village had come to know that his -wife truly had a serpent’s tongue: - -“He has turned me away; help me if you can.” - -For a while the Brownies were silent, for a while their little shoes -tapped the snow, and they did not know what to advise. - -At last Wee Tintilinkie said: - -“Let’s go to Stribor, our master. He always knows what to do.” - -And at once Wee Tintilinkie shinned up a hawthorn-tree; he whistled on -his fingers, and out of the dark and over the stubble-field there came -trotting towards them a stag and twelve squirrels! - -They set the old Mother on the stag, and the Brownies got on the twelve -squirrels, and off they went to Stribor’s Forest. - -Away and into the night they rode. The stag had mighty antlers with many -points, and at the end of each point there burned a little star. The -stag gave light on the way, and at his heels sped the twelve squirrels, -each squirrel with eyes that shone like two diamonds. They sped and they -fled, and far behind them toiled the daughter-in-law and her husband, -quite out of breath. - -So they came to Stribor’s Forest, and the stag carried the old woman -through the forest. - -Even in the dark the daughter-in-law knew that this was Stribor’s -Forest, where she had once before been enchanted for her sins. But she -was so full of spite that she could not think of her new sins nor feel -fear because of them, but triumphed all the more to herself and said: -“Surely the simple old woman will perish in this Forest amid all the -magic!” and she ran still faster after the stag. - -[Illustration] - -But the stag carried the Mother before Stribor. Now Stribor was lord of -that Forest. He dwelt in the heart of the Forest, in an oak so huge that -there was room in it for seven golden castles, and a village all fenced -about with silver. In front of the finest of the castles sat Stribor -himself on a throne, arrayed in a cloak of scarlet. - -“Help this old woman, who is being destroyed by her serpent -daughter-in-law,” said the Brownies to Stribor, after both they and the -Mother had bowed low before him. And they told him the whole story. But -the son and daughter-in-law crept up to the oak, and looked and listened -through a wormhole to see what would happen. - -When the Brownies had finished, Stribor said to the old woman: - -“Fear nothing, Mother! Leave your daughter-in-law. Let her continue in -her wickedness until it shall bring her again to the state from which -she freed herself too soon. As for yourself, I can easily help you. Look -at yonder village, fenced about with silver.” - -The Mother looked, and lo! it was her own native village, where she had -lived when she was young, and in the village there was holiday and -merry-making. Bells were ringing, fiddles playing, flags waving, and -songs resounding. - -“Cross the fence, clap your hands, and you will at once regain your -youth. You will remain in your village to be young and blithe once more -as you were fifty years ago,” said Stribor. - -At that the old woman was glad as never before in her life. She ran to -the fence; already her hand was on the silver gate, when she suddenly -bethought herself of something, and asked Stribor: - -“And what will become of my son?” - -“Don’t talk foolishness, old woman!” replied Stribor. “How would you -know about your son? He will remain in this present time, and you will -go back to your youth. You will know nothing about any son!” - -When the old woman heard that, she considered sadly. And then she turned -slowly away from the gate, went back to Stribor, bowed low before him, -and said: - -“I thank you, kind lord, for all the favour you would show me. But I -would rather abide in my misery and know that I have a son than that you -should give me all the riches and happiness in the world and I forget my -son.” - -As the Mother said this, the whole Forest rang again. There was an end -to the magic in Stribor’s Forest, because the Mother preferred her -sorrows to all the joys of this world. - -The entire Forest quaked, the earth fell in, and the huge oak, with its -castles and its silver-fenced village, sank underground. Stribor and the -Brownies vanished, the daughter-in-law gave a shriek, turned into a -snake, wriggled away down a hole, and Mother and Son were left alone -side by side in the middle of the Forest. - -The son fell on his knees before his mother, kissed the hem of her -garment and her sleeve, and then he lifted her up in his arms and -carried her back to their home, which they happily reached by daybreak. - -The son prayed God and his Mother to forgive him. God forgave him, and -his Mother had never been angry with him. - -Later on the young man married that poor but sweet girl who had brought -the Brownies to their house. They are all three living happily together -to this day, and Wee Tintilinkie loves to visit their hearth of a -winter’s evening. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Little Brother Primrose and Sister Lavender - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -[Illustration] - - - - - Little Brother Primrose and Sister Lavender - - - I - -THE stronghold of a wise and noble princess was attacked by her enemies. -The princess could not gather together her large and faithful army -quickly enough to defend her castle, but had to fly by night with her -little prince in her arms. - -So she fled all through the night, and at daybreak they reached the foot -of grisly Mount Kitesh, which was on the border of the principality. - -At that time there were no more dragons anywhere in the world, nor -fairies, nor witches, nor any monsters. The Holy Cross and human reason -had driven them forth. But in the fastnesses of Mount Kitesh the last of -the Fiery Dragons had found a refuge, and seven Votaress Fairies -attended upon him. That is why Mount Kitesh was so grisly. But at the -foot of the mountain lay a quiet valley. There dwelt the shepherdess -Miloika in her little willow cabin, and tended her flock. - -To that very valley came the princess at dawn with her baby, and when -she saw Miloika sitting outside her cabin she went up to her and begged: -“Hide me and the little prince in your cabin through the day. At -nightfall I will continue my flight with the prince.” Miloika made the -fugitives welcome, gave them ewes’ milk to drink, and hid them in her -cabin. - -As evening approached, the kind and noble princess said: “I must go on -now with the prince. But will you take my Golden Girdle and the prince’s -little Gold Cross on a red ribbon? If our enemies should chance to find -us they would know us by the Girdle and the Cross. Put these two things -by and take good care of them in your little cabin. When my faithful -captains have gathered together an army and driven out the enemy, I -shall return to my castle and there you shall be my dear friend and -companion.” - -“Your companion I cannot be, noble princess,” said Miloika, “for I am -not your equal either by birth or understanding. But I will take care of -your Girdle and your Cross, because in time of real sorrow and trouble -even the heart of a beggar can be companion to the heart of a king.” - -As she said this, Miloika received the Girdle and the Cross from the -princess for safe keeping, and the princess took up the little prince -and went out and away with him into the night, which was so dark that -you could not tell grass from stone, nor field from sea. - - - II - -Many years passed, but the princess did not return to her lands nor to -her castle. - -Her great army and her illustrious captains were so disloyal that they -all immediately went over to her enemies. And so the enemy conquered the -lands of the good and noble princess, and settled down in her castle. - -No one knew or could discover what had become of the princess and the -little prince. Most probably her escape on that dark night had ended by -her falling into the sea, or over a precipice, or perishing in some -other way with her baby. - -But Miloika the shepherdess faithfully kept the Golden Girdle of the -princess and the prince’s little Gold Cross. - -The smartest and wealthiest swains of the village came to ask Miloika to -marry them, because the Golden Girdle and the little Gold Cross on the -red ribbon were worth as much as ten villages. But Miloika would have -none of them for her husband, saying: “You come because of the Golden -Girdle and the little Cross; but they are not mine, and I must take -better care of them than of my sheep or my cabin.” - -So said Miloika, and chose a penniless and gentle youth to be her -husband, who cared nothing about the Girdle and Cross of Gold. - -They lived in great poverty, and at times there was neither bread nor -meal in the house, but they never thought of selling either Girdle or -Cross. - -Within a few years Miloika’s husband fell ill and died; and not long -afterwards a sore sickness came upon Miloika, and she knew that she too -must die. So she called her two children, her little daughter Lavender -and her still smaller son Primrose, and gave them each a keepsake. Round -Lavender’s waist she bound the Golden Girdle, and round Primrose’s neck -she hung the Gold Cross on the red ribbon. And Miloika said: - -“Farewell, my children! You will be left alone in this world, and I have -taught you but little craft or skill; but with God’s help, what I have -taught you will just suffice for your childish needs. Cleave to one -another, and guard as a sacred trust what your mother gave into your -keeping, and then I shall always remain with you.” Thus spoke the -mother, and died. - -Lavender and Primrose were so little that they did not know how their -mother had come by the Girdle and Cross, and still less did they -understand the meaning of their mother’s words. But they just sat side -by side by their dead mother like two poor little orphans and waited to -see what would become of them. - -Presently the good folk of the village came along and said that Miloika -would have to be buried next day. - - - III - -But that was not the only thing that happened next day. For when the -people came back from the funeral, they all went into the house to -gossip, and only Lavender and Primrose remained outside, because they -still fancied that their mother would yet somehow come back to them. - -Suddenly a huge Eagle pounced down upon them from the sky, knocked -Lavender down, caught her by the Girdle with his talons, and carried her -off into the clouds. - -The Eagle flew away with Lavender to his eyrie, high up on Mount Kitesh. - -It did not hurt Lavender at all to fly along like that, hanging by her -Gold Girdle. She was only sorry at being parted from her only brother, -and kept on thinking: “Why didn’t the Eagle take Primrose too!” - -So they flew over Mount Kitesh, and there, all of a sudden, Lavender saw -what neither she nor anyone else of the inhabitants of the valley had -ever seen; for everyone avoided the grisly mountains, and of those who -had happened to stray into them not one had ever returned. What Lavender -saw was this: all the seven Votaress Fairies who waited upon the Fiery -Dragon assembled together upon a rock. They called themselves -_Votaresses_ because they had vowed, as the last of the fairy kin, to -take vengeance upon the human race. - -The Fairies looked up, and there was the eagle carrying a little girl. -Now the Fairies and the Eagles had made a bargain between them that each -should bring his prey to that rock, and there hold a prizecourt upon the -rock to settle what was to be done with the prey and who was to have it. -And for that reason the rock was called _Share-spoil_. - -So the Fairies called out to the Eagle: - -“Ho, brother Klickoon! come and alight on Share-spoil!” - -But luckily the bargain was no sounder than the parties to it. - -The Eagle Klickoon had taken a fancy to Lavender, so he did not keep to -the bargain, nor would he alight on Share-spoil, but carried Lavender on -to his eyrie for his eaglets to play with. - -But he had to fly right across the summit of the Mountain, because his -eyrie was on the far side. - -Now, on the top of the Mountain there was a lake, and in the lake there -was an island, and on the island there was a little old chapel. Around -the lake was a tiny meadow, and all round the meadow ran a furrow -ploughed in days of old. Across this furrow neither the Dragon, nor the -Fairies, nor any monster of the Mountain could pass. About the lake -bloomed flowers, and spread their perfume; there doves took refuge, and -nightingales, and all gentle creatures from the mountains. - -[Illustration] - -Neither clouds nor mist hung over the holy furrow-surrounded Lake; but -evermore the sun and moon in turn shed their light upon it. - -As Klickoon flew over the Lake with Lavender, she caught sight of the -chapel. And as she caught sight of the chapel, she remembered her -mother; and as she remembered her mother, she pressed her hand to her -heart; and as she pressed her hand to her heart, her mother’s trust, the -Golden Girdle, came undone upon Lavender. - -The Girdle came undone; Lavender dropped from the Eagle’s talons -straight into the Lake, and the Girdle after her. Lavender caught hold -of the Golden Girdle and stepped over the reeds, and the water-lilies, -and the water-weeds, and the rushes to the island. There she sat down on -a stone outside the chapel. But Klickoon flew on like a whirlwind in a -rage, because he could not come near the Holy Lake. - -Lavender was safe enough now, for nothing evil could reach her across -the furrow. But what was the good of that, when the poor little child -was all alone on the top of the grisly Mount Kitesh, and none could come -to her, and she could not get away? - - - IV - -Meantime the people who had buried Miloika noticed that the Eagle had -carried off Lavender. At first they all burst out lamenting, but then -one of them said: - -“Good people, it is really as well that the Eagle carried off Lavender. -It would have been hard to find someone in the village who could take -charge of the _two_ children. But for Primrose alone we shall easily -find someone who will look after him.” - -“Yes, yes,” the others all immediately agreed, “it is better so. We can -easily look after Primrose.” - -They stood yet awhile outside the cabin gazing in the direction towards -which the Eagle had disappeared with Lavender into the skies, and then -they went back indoors to drink and to talk, repeating all the time: - -“There’s not one of us but will be glad to take Primrose.” - -So they said. But not one of them troubled so much about Primrose as to -offer him a drink of water, although it was very hot. Now Primrose was -thirsty and went in to ask for water. But he was so tiny that not one of -those people could understand what he said. Primrose wanted someone to -get him his little wooden mug; but not one of those people knew that -Primrose’s little wooden mug was behind the beam. - -When Primrose saw all this, he looked round the room for a moment, and -then the child thought: “This is no good to me. I am left all alone in -the world.” So he leaned over the pitcher that stood on the floor, drank -as much water as he could, and then set out to see if he could find his -little sister Lavender. - -He went out of the house and set off towards the sun—the direction in -which he had seen the Eagle fly away with Lavender. - - - V - -The sun was setting beyond Mount Kitesh, and so Primrose, always looking -at the sun, presently came to Mount Kitesh, too. There was no one beside -Primrose to say to him: “Don’t go up the Mountain, child! The Mountain -is full of terrors.” And so he went on, poor, foolish baby, and began to -climb up the Mountain. - -But Primrose did not know what fear was. His mother had kept him safe -like a flower before the altar, so that no harm, not even the smallest, -had ever befallen him; he had never been pricked by a thorn, nor scared -by a harsh word. - -And so no fear could enter Primrose’s heart, no matter what his eyes -beheld or his ears heard. - -Meantime, Primrose had got well up into the Mountain and already reached -the first rocks and crags. - -And there, below Share-spoil, the Votaress Fairies were all assembled -and still discussing how Klickoon had cheated them. Suddenly they saw a -child coming towards them, climbing up the Mountain. The Votaresses were -delighted; it would be easy to deal with such a little child! - -As Primrose came nearer, the Votaresses went down to meet him. In less -than no time they had surrounded him. Primrose only wondered when he -suddenly saw so many ladies coming towards him, each with a great pair -of wings! One of the Votaresses went close up to the child to take him -by the hand. - -Now Primrose was wearing the little Cross round his neck. When the Fairy -saw the Cross, she screamed and started away from Primrose, for she -could not touch him because of the Cross. - -But the Fairies had no intention of letting the child off so easily. -They hovered about him in a wide circle and conferred softly about what -was to be done with him. - -Little Primrose’s heart was untroubled within him. The Fairies -conferred, and their thoughts were so black that they came out in a -cloud of black forest wasps buzzing round their heads. But Primrose just -looked at them, and as he could see no harm in them, how was he to be -frightened? On the contrary, the wings of one of the Votaresses took his -fancy, flapping like that, and so he toddled up to her to see what she -was really like. - -“That will do nicely,” thought the Votaress. “I cannot touch him, but I -will entice him into the Wolf’s Pit.” - -For near by there was a pit all covered over with boughs, so that you -could not see it; and the bottom of the pit was full of horrible stakes -and spikes. Whoever stepped on the boughs was bound to fall through and -kill himself on the spikes. - -So the Votaress Fairy enticed Primrose to the Wolf’s Pit, always -slipping away from him, and he always following to see what her wings -really were. And so they came to the Pit. The Fairy flew over the Pit; -but poor little misguided Primrose stepped on the boughs and fell down -the hole. - -The Votaresses shrieked for joy, and hurried up to see the child perish -on the spikes. - -But what do Fairies know about a baby! - -Primrose was light as a chicken. Some of the boughs and branches fell -down with him, the branches covered the spikes, and Primrose was so -small and light that he came to rest upon the leaves as if they had been -a bed. - -When Primrose found himself lying down upon something soft, he thought: -“I suppose I had better go to sleep!” So he tucked his little hand under -his head and went sound asleep, never thinking that he was caught in a -deep hole and could not get out. - -Round him there were still many bare spikes, and the wicked Fairies were -bending over the Pit. But Primrose slept peacefully and quietly, as -though he were bedded on sweet basil. Primrose never moved. His mother -had taught him: “When you are in your bed, darling, shut your little -eyes and lie quite still, so as not to frighten your guardian angel.” - -So the Fairies stood round the Pit, and saw the baby falling asleep like -a little duke in his golden crib. “That child is not so easy to deal -with, after all,” said the Votaresses. So they flew off to Share-spoil, -and took counsel as to how they might kill him, since they could not -touch him because of the little Cross. - -They argued and argued, and at last one of the Votaresses had an idea. -“We will raise a storm,” said she; “we will cause a terrific rain. A -torrent will pour down the Mountain, and the child will be drowned in -the Pit.” - -“Whoo-ee, whoo-ee!” howled the Votaresses. They flapped their wings for -joy, and at once rose up into the air and above the Mountain to roll up -the clouds and raise a storm. - - - VI - -Little Lavender was sitting on the top of the Mountain on her island in -the Holy Lake. Round her fluttered lovely butterflies, even settling on -her shoulders; and the grey dove guided her young to her lap to let her -feed them with seeds. A wild raspberry-cane bent over Lavender, and -Lavender ate the crimson fruit, and wanted for nothing. - -But she was all alone, poor child! and sad at heart, because she -believed she was parted for ever from Primrose, her only brother; and, -moreover, she thought: “Did anyone, I wonder, remember to give him a -drink or to put him to bed?” - -In the midst of these sad thoughts Lavender looked up at the sky and saw -a mist, black as night, rolling up round the Mountain. Over Lavender and -over the holy furrow-surrounded Lake the sun shone brightly; but all -around the mist was gathering and rising, inky clouds drifted and -whirled, rose and fell like a pall of smoke, and every now and again -fiery flashes darted from the gloom. - -It was the Votaresses, flapping their great wings, who had piled up -those black clouds upon the Mountain, and it was from their eyes that -the fiery flashes shot across the darkness. And then suddenly it began -to thunder most terribly within the clouds; heavy rain beat down all -around upon the Mountain, and the Votaresses howled and darted to an fro -through the thunder and the rain. - -When Lavender saw that, she considered: “Over my head there is sunshine, -and no harm can come to me. But perhaps there is someone abroad on the -Mountain in need of help in this storm.” - -And although Lavender thought there was never a Christian soul on the -Mountain, yet she did as her mother had taught her to do in a storm: she -crossed herself and prayed. And as there was still a bell in the ruined -chapel, Lavender took hold of the rope and began to toll the bell -against the storm. Lavender did not know for whom she was praying or for -whom she was tolling, but she tolled for a help to anyone who might be -in distress. - -When the bell on the island began to ring so unexpectedly, after having -been silent for a hundred years, the Votaresses took fright up there in -the clouds; they got worried and confused; they left off making a storm; -they fled in terror in all directions, and hid under the rocks, under -the crags, in hollow trees, or in the fern. - -In a little while the Mountain was clear, and the sun shone on the -Mountain, where there had been no sunshine for a hundred years. - -The sun shone; the rain stopped suddenly. But for poor little Primrose -the danger was not yet over. - -That first great downpour had formed a big torrent in the Mountain, and -the wild water was rushing fast towards the very Pit where Primrose was -sleeping. - -Primrose had heard neither the storm nor the thunder, and now he did not -hear the torrent either as it came rushing and roaring with frightful -swiftness towards him to drown him. - -The water poured into the Pit, poured in, and in a moment it had -overwhelmed the child. - -It covered him, overwhelmed him in a moment. There was not a thing to be -seen, neither Pit, nor spikes, nor Primrose, nothing but the wild water -foaming down the Mountain. - -But as the flood rushed into the pit, it eddied at the bottom, surged -round and up and back upon itself, and then suddenly the water lifted up -the boughs and branches, and little Primrose, too, upon the boughs. It -lifted him up, clean out of the Pit, and carried him downhill on a -bough. - -The torrent was so strong that it carried away great stones and ancient -oaks, rolling them along, and nothing could stop them, because they were -heavy and stout, and the torrent very fierce. - -But tiny Primrose on his bough floated lightly down the flood, as -lightly as a white rose-bud, so that any bush could stop him. - -And indeed, there was a bush in the way, and the bough with Primrose -caught in its branches. Primrose woke up with a start, caught hold of -the branch with his little hands, climbed up into the bush, and there he -sat on the top of the bush, just like a little bird. - -Above Primrose the sun shone clear and sweet; below Primrose foamed the -dreadful water; and he sat in the bush in his little white shirt, and -rubbed his eyes in wonder, because he could not make out what had -happened and what had waked him up so suddenly. - -By the time he had finished rubbing his eyes the water had all run away -downhill; the torrent was gone. Primrose watched the mud squelching and -writhing round the bush, and then Primrose climbed down, because he -thought: - -“I suppose I ought to go on now, since they have waked me up.” - -And so he went on up the hill. And he had slept so sweetly that he felt -quite happy, and thought: “Now I shall find Lavender.” - - - VII - -No sooner had the bell stopped ringing than the Votaresses recovered -their strength. They took courage and crept out of their hidie-holes. -When they got out, lo! the sun was shining on the Mountain, and there is -nothing in the world the wicked Fairies fear more than the sunlight. And -as they could not wrap the whole Mountain in mist all in a hurry, each -one quickly rolled herself up in a bit of fog, and off they flew to the -Pit to make sure that Primrose was drowned. - -But when they got there and looked into the Pit, the Pit was empty; -Primrose was gone! - -The Fairies cried aloud with vexation, and looked all over the Mountain -to see whether the water had not dashed him against a stone. But as the -Votaresses looked, why, this is what they saw: Primrose going blithely -on his way; the sun was drying his little shirt for him on his back, and -he was crooning away to himself as little children will. - -“That child will escape us at this rate,” sobbed one of the Votaresses. -“The child is stronger than we are. Hadn’t we better ask the Fiery -Dragon to help us?” - -“Don’t disgrace yourselves, my sisters,” said another Votaress. “Surely -we can get the better of a feeble infant by ourselves.” - -So said the Fairy, but she did not know that Primrose in his simplicity -was stronger than all the evil and all the cunning in Mount Kitesh. - -“We will send the She-bear to kill the child for us,” suggested a -Votaress. “Dumb animals do not fear the Cross.” And she flew off at once -to the bears’ den. - -There lay the She-bear, a-playing with her cub. - -“Run along, Bruineen, down that path. There is a child coming up the -path. Wait for him and kill him, Bruineen dear,” said the Votaress. - -“I can’t leave my cub,” answered Bruineen. - -“I’ll amuse him for you,” said the Votaress, and straightway began to -play with the little bear. - -Bruineen went away down the path, and there was Primrose already in -sight. - -The great She-bear rose up on her hind-legs, stretched out her front -paws, and so went forwards towards Primrose to kill him. - -The She-bear was terrible to see, but Primrose saw nothing terrible in -her, and could only think: - -“Here’s somebody coming and offering me his hand, so I must give him -mine.” - -So Primrose raised both his little hands and held them out to the -She-bear, and went straight up to her, as though his mother had called -him to her arms. - -Well, another moment, and the dreadful She-bear would seize him. She had -come up to him, and would have caught and killed him at once had he -offered to run. But she saw that she had time to consider how she had -best take hold of him. So she drew herself right up, looked at Primrose -from the right and from the left, and now she was going to pounce. - -But at that very moment the little bear cub in the den began to squeal. -One of the black wasps that always buzzed round the Votaress’s head had -stung him. The cub howled lustily, because, although the Bruins are a -spiteful folk themselves, they won’t stand spite from anybody else. So -the cub squealed at the top of his voice, and when Bruineen heard her -baby crying she forgot about Primrose and the Mountain! Bruineen dropped -on all-fours and trundled away like fury to her den. - -The angry She-bear caught the Votaress by the hair with her great paw. -They fought, they rolled, they tore at each other, and left Primrose in -peace. - -Primrose followed the She-bear and looked on for a bit while they fought -and scuffled; he looked, and then he laughed aloud, silly baby! and went -on up the Mountain, and never knew what a narrow escape he had had! - - - VIII - -Once more the Votaresses assembled on Share-spoil to discuss what was to -be done about Primrose. They saw that they were weaker than he. - -Moreover, they were getting tired of flying to Share-spoil and back and -conferring about Primrose, and so they were very angry. - -“Well, we will poison the child. Neither spells nor cunning shall help -him now,” they resolved. And straightaway one of them took a wooden -platter and hurried off to a certain meadow in the Mountain to gather -poison berries. - -But Primrose, never dreaming that anybody should be talking about him or -worrying their brains about him, walked gaily over the Mountain, cooing -softly to himself like a little dove. - -Presently he came to the poison meadow. The path led through the middle -of it. On one side of the path the meadow was covered with red berries -and on the other side with black. Both were poisonous, and whoever ate -of either the one or the other was sure to die. - -But how was Primrose to know that there was such a thing as poison in -the world, when he had never known any food but what his mother gave -him? - -Primrose was hungry, and he liked the look of the red berries in the -meadow. But he saw someone over there in front of him on the red side -picking berries and seemingly in a great hurry, for she never raised her -head. It was the Votaress, and she was gathering red berries to poison -Primrose. - -“That is her side,” thought Primrose, and went over to the black -berries, because he had never been taught to take what belonged to -another. So he sat down among the black berries and began to eat; and -the Fairy wandered far away among the red berries and never noticed that -Primrose had already come up and was eating black ones. - -When Primrose had eaten enough he got up to go on. But, oh dear! a mist -rose before his eyes; his head began to ache most dreadfully, and the -earth seemed to rock beneath his feet. - -That was because of the black poison. - -Poor little Primrose! indeed you know neither spells nor cunning, and -how are you going to save yourself from this new danger? - -But Primrose struggled on all the same, because he thought it was -nothing that a mist should rise before his eyes and the ground rock -beneath his feet! - -And so he came up with the Fairy where she was picking berries. The -Votaress caught sight of Primrose, and at once she ran on to the path in -front of him with her plateful of red berries. She laid down the platter -before him and invited him by signs to eat. - -The Votaress did not know that Primrose had already eaten of the black -berries; and if she had known, she would never have offered him red -ones, but would have let him die of the black poison. - -Primrose did not care for any more berries, because his head ached -cruelly; but his mother used to say to him: “Eat, darling, when I offer -you something, and don’t grieve your mother.” - -Now this was neither spell nor cunning what Primrose had been taught by -his mother. But it was in a good hour that Primrose did as his mother -had taught him. - -He took the plate and ate of the red berries; and as he ate, the mist -cleared before his eyes, his head and his heart stopped aching, and the -ground no longer rocked beneath his feet. - -The red poison killed the black in Primrose’s veins. He merrily clapped -his hands and went on his way as sound as a bell and as happy as a grig. - -And now he could see the top of the Mountain ahead of him, and Primrose -thought: - -“This is the end of the world. There is nothing beyond the top. There I -shall find Lavender.” - - - IX - -The Votaress would not believe her eyes; she stared after Primrose, and -there was he toddling along and the dreadful poison doing him no harm! - -She looked and she looked—and then she shrieked with rage. She could not -imagine by what miracle Primrose had escaped. All she could see was that -the child would slip through her hands and reach the Lake, for he was -getting near the top. - -The Votaress had no time to fly to Share-spoil and confer with her -sisters. In time of real trouble people don’t hold conferences. But she -flew straight to her brother, the thunder-voiced bird Belleroo. - -Belleroo’s nest was in a little bog on the Mountain, close to the furrow -which ran round the Holy Lake. As he was an ill-tempered bird, he too -could not cross the furrow, but the evil Things of the Mountain had -appointed his place here on the boundary, so that he might trouble the -peace of the Lake with his booming. - -“Kinsman, brother, Belleroo,” the Votaress cried out to Belleroo, “there -is a child coming up the path. Delay him here at the furrow with your -booming, so that he may not escape me across the farrow to the Lake. I -am going for the Fiery Dragon.” - -No sooner had the Votaress said this than she flew like an arrow down -the Mountain to fetch the Fiery Dragon, who was lying asleep in a deep -gully. - -As for Belleroo, he was always all impatience to be told to boom, -because he was horribly proud of his loud voice. - -Dusk was beginning to fall. It was evening. Nearer and nearer to the -furrow came Primrose. Beyond the furrow he could see the Lake, and the -chapel looming white on the Lake. - -“Here I am at the end of the world; I have only to cross that furrow,” -thought Primrose. - -Suddenly the Mountain rang with the most awful noise, so that the -branches swayed and the leaves trembled on the trees, and the rocks and -cliffs re-echoed down to the deepest cavern. It was Belleroo roaring. - -His boom was terrible. It would have scared the great Skanderbeg -himself, for it would have reminded Skanderbeg of the boom of the -Turkish guns. - -But it did not in the least frighten the little innocent Primrose, who -had never yet been shouted at in grief or anger. - -Primrose heard something making such a noise that the very Mountain -shook, and so he went up to see what great thing it might be. When he -got there, lo! it was a bird no bigger than a hen! - -The bird dipped its beak in a pool, then threw up its head and puffed -out its throat like a pair of bellows, and boomed—heavens, it boomed so -that Primrose’s sleeves fluttered on him! This new wonder took -Primrose’s fancy so much that he sat down so as to see from near by how -Belleroo boomed. - -Primrose sat down just below the holy furrow beside Belleroo, and peered -under his throat—because by now it was dark—the better to see how -Belleroo puffed out his throat. - -Had Primrose been wiser he would not have lingered there on the Mountain -just below the furrow, where every evil Thing could hurt him, but he -would have taken that one step across the furrow so as to be safe where -the evil Things could not come. - -But Primrose was just a little simpleton, and might easily have come to -grief just there, within sight of safety. - -Primrose was much amused by Belleroo. - -He was amused; he was beguiled. - -And while he was amusing himself in this fashion, the Fairy went and -roused the Fiery Dragon where he slept in a deep gully. - -She roused him and led him up the Mountain. On came the fearsome Fiery -Dragon, spouting flame out of both nostrils and crushing firs and -pine-trees as he went. There wasn’t room enough for him, you see, in the -forest and the Mountain. - -Why don’t you run, little Primrose? One jump across the furrow, and you -will be safe and happy! - -But Primrose did not think of running away. He went on sitting quite -calmly below the furrow, and when he saw the flames from the Dragon -flaring up in the darkness, he thought to himself: “What is making that -pretty light on the Mountain?” - -It was a cruel fire coming along to devour Primrose, and he, foolish -baby! sat looking at it, all pleased and wondering: “What is making that -pretty light on the Mountain?” - -The Votaress caught sight of Primrose, and said to the Fiery Dragon: - -“There is the child. Fiery Dragon! Get your best fire ready!” - -But the Dragon was panting with the stiff climb. - -“Wait a moment, sister, while I get my breath,” answered the Dragon. - -So the Dragon took a deep breath, once, twice, three times! - -But that is just where the Dragon made a mistake. - -Because his mighty breath caused an equally great wind on the Mountain. -The wind blew, and bowled Primrose over the furrow and right up to the -Holy Lake! - -The Votaress gave one shriek, threw herself down on the ground, rolled -herself up in her black wings, and sobbed and cried like mad. - -The angry Dragon snorted and puffed; he belched fire as from ten red-hot -furnaces. But the flames could not cross the furrow; when they reached -the furrow they just rose straight upwards as if they had come up -against a marble wall. - -Sparks and flame crackled and spurted and returned upon Mount Kitesh. -Half the Mountain did the Dragon set on fire, but he lost little -Primrose! - -When the wind bowled Primrose over like that, Primrose only laughed at -being carried away so fast. He laughed once; he laughed twice.... - - - X - -On the island in the Lake, beside the little chapel, sat Lavender. - -It was evening, but Lavender could not go to sleep because of the -hurly-burly in the Mountain. Lavender heard the Votaresses howling and -shrieking and Bruineen growling. She heard the Dragon come snorting up -from his lair, and saw him spout fire all over the Mountain. - -And now she saw the blazing flames shooting upwards to the skies. - -But then she heard something—good gracious! what was it she heard? A -laugh, like a little silver bell. Lavender’s heart throbbed within her. - -The tiny voice laughed again. - -Then Lavender could bear it no longer, but called from the Island: - -“Who is that laughing in the Mountain?” asked Lavender gently, and all -a-tremble at the thought of _who_ might answer. - -“Who is that calling me from the Island?” answered little Primrose. - -And Lavender recognised Primrose’s baby-talk. - -“Primrose! my own only Brother!” cried Lavender, and stood up white in -the moonlight. - -“Lavender, little sister!” cried Primrose; and, light as a moth, he -stepped over the reeds and the rushes and the water-weeds to the Island. -They hugged and they kissed; they sat down side by side in the moonlight -by the little chapel. A little did they talk, but they were not clever -at making a long story. They clasped each other’s little hands and went -to sleep. - - - XI - -That was how they began to live day after day on the Holy Lake. Primrose -was quite happy and desired nothing better. - -There was clear water in the Lake, and there were sweet raspberries. -There were plenty of flowers and butterflies in the meadow, and -fireflies and dew by night. Nightingales and doves nested in the trees. - -Every evening Lavender would make Primrose a bed of leaves, and in the -morning she bathed him in the Lake and tied up his little shoes. And -Primrose thought: “What do we want with a wider world than this within -the furrow?” - -Primrose was well off; he was only a baby! - -And Lavender was happy, but she was troubled about Primrose, how she -should look after him and get him food. Because God has so ordered it -that the young folk can never get food without the old folk having to -think about it. - -That is so all the world over, and couldn’t be otherwise even on the -Holy Lake. - -So Lavender was worried. “To-morrow will be St. Peter’s Day. Will the -raspberries be over when St. Peter’s is past? Will the water grow cold -and the sun fail when autumn comes? How shall we get through the winter -all alone? Will our cottage in the valley go to rack and ruin?” - -So Lavender worried, and wherever there is worry, there temptation comes -most easily. - -One day she sat and mused: “Oh dear! what luck it would be if only we -could get back to our cottage!” Just then she heard somebody calling -from the Mountain. Lavender looked, and there in the wood on the far -side of the furrow stood the youngest of the Votaresses. - -She was prettier than the other Votaresses, and loved finery. She had -noticed the Golden Girdle on Lavender, and now she wanted that Golden -Girdle above anything else in the world. - -“Little girl, sister, throw me your Girdle,” called the fairy across the -furrow. - -“I can’t do that, Fairy; I had that Girdle from my mother,” answered -Lavender. - -“Little girl, sister, it wasn’t your mother’s Girdle; it belonged to the -princess, and the princess has been dead long ago. Throw me the Girdle,” -said the Fairy, who remembered the princess. - -“I can’t, Fairy; the Girdle is from my mother,” repeated Lavender. - -“Little girl, sister, I will carry you and your brother down to the -valley, and no harm shall come to you; throw me the Girdle,” cried the -Fairy once more. - -This was a sad temptation for Lavender, who so longed to get away from -the Mountain! But all the same she would not sacrifice her mother’s -keepsake to the greedy fairy, but answered: - -“I cannot, Fairy; I had the Girdle from my mother.” - -The Fairy went away quite sadly, but next day she came back and began -again: - -“Throw me the Girdle, and I will take you down the Mountain.” - -“I cannot, Fairy; I had the Girdle from my mother,” Lavender answered -once more, but with a very heavy heart. - -For seven days did the Fairy come, and for seven days she tempted -Lavender. Temptation is worse than the sharpest care, and poor little -Lavender pined away, so great was her wish to get down to the valley. -Yet all the same she would not give up the Girdle. - -For seven days did the Fairy call, and for seven days did Lavender -answer her: - -“I cannot, Fairy; the Girdle is from my mother.” - -And when she answered thus on the seventh day, the Fairy saw that there -was no help for it. - -The Fairy went down the Mountain; she sat down on the last, lowest -stone, shook down her hair and cried bitterly, so great was her desire -for the Golden Girdle of the princess. - - - XII - -Meantime the good and noble princess was not dead, but had lived for -many a year in a far country with her son, the prince. - -The princess never told anybody how high-born a lady she was, and her -son was too young at the time of their flight for him to remember. - -And so in that country not a soul knew—not even the prince—that they -came of royal blood. But how could anybody tell that she was a princess, -when she had neither crown nor Golden Girdle? And though she was good, -gentle, and noble, that did not prove that she was a princess. - -The princess lived in the house of a worthy peasant, and there she span -and wove for his household. - -In this way she earned enough to keep herself and her son. - -The boy had grown up into a tall and handsome youth of unusual strength -and power, and the princess taught him nothing that was not good and -right. - -But one thing was bad. The prince had a very hasty and fierce temper. So -the people called him _Rowfoot Relya_, because he was so rough and -strong—and so poor withal. - -One day Rowfoot Relya was mowing his master’s meadow, and lay down at -noon in the shade to rest. And a young squire came riding by, and called -to Relya: - -“Hi, young man! jump up and run back along the road and find me my -silver spur; it fell off somewhere on the way.” - -When Relya heard that, his princely blood, his hot and hasty blood, was -roused to evil within him because the other had disturbed him in his -rest and would send him out to find his spur. - -“Won’t I, by heaven!” cried Relya, “and you can lie here and rest -instead of me!” And with that he sprang at the young squire, pulled him -off his horse, and flung him down in the shade, so that he lay there for -dead. - -But Rowfoot Relya, still furious, rushed home to his mother, and cried -out upon her: - -“Wretched mother! why was I born a rowfoot churl, for others to send me -out to find their spurs for them in the dust?” - -Relya’s face was quite distorted with rage as he said this. - -The mother looked at her son, and her heart grieved sorely. She saw that -there would be no more peace for her and her son, because she would have -to tell him what she had so far kept secret. - -“You are not a rowfoot churl, my son,” replied the princess, “but an -unfortunate prince.” And she told Relya all about herself and him. - -Relya listened; his eyes blazed with a strange fire, and he clenched his -hands in bitter anger. Then he asked: - -“Is there nothing left, then, mother, of our lands?” - -“Nothing, my son, save a little Cross on a red ribbon and a Golden -Girdle,” answered his mother. - -When Relya heard that, he cried: - -“I am going, mother, and I shall bring back that Cross and Girdle, -wherever they may be! Threefold will the sight of them increase my -princely strength!” - -And then he asked: - -“And where did you leave the Cross and the Girdle, mother? Did you leave -them with the chief of your captains for him and your great army to -guard?” - -“No, my son,” replied the princess, “and it is a good thing that I did -not, for my captains and my great army went over to the enemy, and are -now feasting and drinking with the enemy and wasting my lands.” - -“Did you perhaps leave them in the lowest room of your castle, in the -seventh vault, under seven locks?” - -“No, my son, and it is a good thing that I did not, because the enemy -got into my castle, broke open and ransacked its secret chambers, -searched its nine vaults, and fed his horses upon pearls out of my -treasure hoards,” replied the princess. - -“But where did you leave the Golden Girdle and the Cross on the red -ribbon?” asked Relya, with flashing eyes. - -“I left them with a young shepherdess in a willow cabin, where there are -neither locks nor strong boxes. Go, my son, perchance you will find them -there still.” - -Relya would not believe that the Girdle and Cross might be safe in a -willow cabin when the noble princess’s pearls had not been safe even in -the ninth vault under her castle. - -But his princely blood, so proud and masterful, was roused yet more to -evil in Relya’s veins, and he roughly said to his mother: - -“Farewell, then, mother! I shall find the Cross and Girdle wherever they -may be, and it shall be no jesting matter for those who would refuse to -let me have them! I shall bring you back your Girdle and Cross, by the -princely blood in my veins.” - -As Prince Relya said this, he took the blade of the scythe, fitted it -with a mighty hilt at the forge, and then hurried out into the world to -find his heritage. The earth rang beneath his feet; his hair streamed in -the wind, so swiftly did he stride; and his murderous blade shone in the -sun as though it were plated with flame. - - - XIII - -So Relya went on without stopping. He strode on by day, and by night he -did not rest; both great and small got out of his way. - -It is far to Mount Kitesh, but Relya had no difficulty in finding out -the way, because Mount Kitesh was known throughout seven kingdoms for -its terrors. - -On St. John’s Day Relya bade farewell to his mother, and on St. Peter’s -Day he reached the foot of the Mountain. - -When he reached the foot of the Mountain, he inquired after the willow -cabin, the shepherdess Miloika, and the Golden Girdle and Cross. - -“There is the cabin in the valley. Miloika we buried the first Sunday -after Easter, and her children have the Girdle and Cross. As for the -children, the Fairies have carried them off to Mount Kitesh,” replied -the villagers. - -Very wroth was Relya when he heard that the Girdle and Cross had been -carried off to Mount Kitesh. He was so angry that he could not make up -his mind which to do first—hasten up the Mountain or find out about the -castle, since that was uppermost in his desires. - -“And where is the princess’s castle?” shouted Relya. - -“Over there, a day’s journey from here,” answered the villagers. - -“And how stands it with the castle?” asked Relya, and his hand played -with his sword. “Tell me all you know about it!” - -“None of us has been in the castle, because the lords of it are hard of -heart. Round the castle they have placed mutes for guards and savage -bloodhounds. We cannot force our way past the bloodhounds, and we do not -know how to persuade the guards,” answered the villagers. “And within -the castle are fine lords, drinking red wine in the halls, playing upon -silver lutes, and tossing golden balls to each other over a silken -carpet. In the outer hall are two hundred workmen cutting hearts out of -mother-o’-pearl for targets for the lords. And when the lords make a -great feast, they load their guns with precious stones and shoot at the -hearts of mother-o’-pearl.” - -When the villagers told him this, a mist swam before Relya’s eyes, so -furious was he when he heard how wantonly the treasure in his mother’s -vaults was being squandered. - -[Illustration] - -For a while Relya hesitated, and then he cried: - -“I am going up the Mountain to win the Cross and Girdle, and then I -shall return to thee, O my castle.” - -Thus cried Relya; he made the sword sing through the air above his head, -and then strode swiftly up into Mount Kitesh. There he found the great -Dragon asleep in the deep gully. You see, the Dragon had tired himself -out with belching so much fire at Primrose, and now he had gone fast -asleep to gather fresh strength. - -But Relya was all impatience to fight someone so as to cool his anger -and to prove his strength. He was tired of seeing everybody, both great -and small, get out of his way all the time, so now he rushed up to the -Fiery Dragon to rouse and dare him to mortal combat. - -Relya was a Doughty Hero, and the Fiery Dragon was a Terrible Monster, -and so their combat must be sung in verse, beginning where Relya rushed -up to the Dragon: - - Childe Relya smote the Dragon on the side - With the flat blade, to rouse him from his sleep. - The Beast looked up, raising his grisly head, - Beheld the hero Relya standing by. - Up leapt the Dragon, with a rending blow - O’erturns the cliff and widens out the gap - To make a fitting space wherein to fight! - Anon unto the clouds he rears him up; - Anon on Relya pounces from the clouds, - And so with Relya joins in mortal fray. - Now groans the earth and splits the solid rock. - With tooth and flame the Dragon turns to bay, - And thrusts at Relya with his fiery head. - But Relya waits him with a ready sword, - And meets the onslaught with a ready sword; - And with his weapon beating down the flame - Seeks for the sword an undefended spot, - Where he may smite the Dragon on the head. - Deep bites the brand—so mighty was the shock - That brand and bone no more will come apart. - From dawn till noontide did the battle rage, - And weaker grew the Dragon all the while, - With brooding on the shame that galled his heart, - Because the babe, young Primrose, had escaped. - And stronger grew Childe Relya all the while, - For he did battle for his heritage. - When at high noon the sun burned overhead, - Childe Relya swung his gleaming brand aloft - Towards the sun, and called on Heaven for aid. - Down fell the sword betwixt the Dragon’s eyes— - Full swiftly fell, yet lightly struck the blade, - Yet with such force, it cleft the Beast in twain. - Into the hollow falls the Dragon, slain, - And as stretched him in his dying spasm, - The monstrous limbs block up the ancient chasm. - -Thus did the doughty Relya overcome the Fiery Dragon. But his brave arms -and shoulders ached terribly. So Relya said to himself: “I shall never -get over the Mountain at this rate. I must consider what I had better -do.” And Relya went back to the foot of the Mountain, and there the hero -sat down on a stone and considered how he was to get across the -Mountain, and how he was to overcome the monsters, and where he might -find Miloika’s children and with them the Golden Girdle and Cross. - -Relya was deep in thought, but all of a sudden he heard somebody weeping -and sobbing near him. Relya turned, and there was a Fairy sitting on a -stone, her hair all unbound, and crying her heart out. - -“What ails you, pretty maiden? Why do you weep?” asked Relya. - -“I weep, O hero, because I cannot get the Golden Girdle from the child -on the Lake,” answered the Fairy. - -When Relya heard that he was overjoyed. - -“Tell me, maiden, how can I get to that Lake?” asked Relya. - -“And who may you be, unknown hero?” returned the Fairy. - -“I am Prince Relya, and I seek a Golden Girdle and a Cross on a red -ribbon,” replied Relya. - -When the Fairy heard that, she thought within her evil heart: “How lucky -for me! Let Relya get the Girdle away from the Lake and on to the -Mountain, and I will soon destroy Relya and keep the Girdle for myself.” - -So the cunning Fairy spoke these honeyed words to Relya: - -“Let us go, noble Prince! I will guide you across the Mountain. No harm -will come to you, and I will show you where the children are. Why should -you not have what is yours by inheritance?” - -Thus sweetly did the Fairy speak, but in her heart she thought -otherwise. Relya, however, was mightily pleased, and at once agreed to -go with the Fairy. - -So they went across the Mountain. Neither Fairies nor monsters touched -Relya, because he was being guided by the young Votaress Fairy. - -On the way the Fairy advised Relya and tried to fill his heart with -anger. - -“You should but see, noble Prince, how insolent these children are! Not -even to you will they give the Girdle. But you are a hero above all -heroes, Relya, so do not let them put you to shame.” - -Relya laughed at the idea that two children should withstand him—_him_ -who had cleft in twain the Fiery Dragon! - -The Fairy then went on to tell him how the children had come up into the -Mountain, and how they did not know how to get away from it again. - -In her joy at the prospect of getting the Girdle, the Fairy talked so -much that her cunning deserted her, and she chattered to Relya and -boasted to him of her knowledge. - -“They are silly children, without any cunning. Yet if they knew what -_we_ know they would have escaped us already. There is a taper in the -chapel and a censer. If they would start the fire that is not lit with -hands, and then light the taper and censer, they could go with taper and -censer across the whole Mountain as if it were a church. Paths would -open before them and trees bow down as they passed. But for us this -would be the worst thing possible, because all we Fairies and Goblins in -Mount Kitesh would perish wherever the smoke from the taper and censer -spread. But what do these silly, insolent children know?” - -If the Votaress had not been so overjoyed, she would surely never have -told Relya about the taper and censer, but would have kept the secret of -the Votaresses. - -So they came to the furrow, and there was the Holy Lake before them. - - - XIV - -The Prince peered cautiously from behind a tree, and the Fairy pointed -out the children to him. Relya saw the little chapel on the island. -Before the chapel sat a little girl, pale as a white rose. She neither -sang nor crooned, but sat still with her hands clasped in her lap and -her eyes raised to heaven. - -On the sand beside the chapel played a little boy, baby Primrose, and -round his neck hung a little Gold Cross. - -He played on the sand, built castles and pulled them down again with his -tiny hands, and then laughed at his handiwork. - -Relya watched, and as he watched he began to think. But the Votaress had -no time to wait while the Prince finished thinking things out, so she -softly prompted Relya. - -“I will call to the little girl, noble Prince, and you shall see that -she will not give up the Girdle; then do you draw your burnished sword, -go up and take what is yours, and then come back to me to the Mountain, -and I will guide you back down the Mountain so that my sisters shall not -hurt you.” - -As the Fairy said this, she secretly rejoiced, thinking how easily she -would kill Relya and get the Girdle for herself, so long as Relya would -bring it from the Lake. But Relya only listened with half an ear to what -the Votaress was saying, for he was lost in looking at the girl. - -The Fairy called to Lavender: - -“Little girl, sister, throw me the Girdle, and I will take you and your -brother down the Mountain.” - -When Lavender heard this, her face grew yet paler, and she clasped her -little hands yet more tightly. She was so sad that she could scarcely -speak. She would so gladly have left the Mountain; her little heart was -bursting with longing. - -But all the same she would not part with her mother’s Girdle. - -Tears flowed down Lavender’s face; she wept softly, but through her -tears she answered: - -“Go away, Fairy, and do not come back again, because you will not get -the Girdle.” - -When Relya saw and heard this, his princely blood, his noble blood, was -roused within him, but to a good purpose. - -He was filled with pity for these two poor orphans in the midst of the -grisly Mount Kitesh, defending themselves all alone against monsters and -temptations, death and destruction. “Great Heavens!” thought he, “the -princess trusted in her armed warriors and her strongholds to defend her -lands, and the lands were lost; but these babes are left alone in the -world, they have fallen among Fairies and Dragons, yet neither Fairies -nor Dragons can rob them of what their mother gave them.” All Relya’s -face changed as his heart went out with pity to the children. Thus -changed, he turned towards the Votaress. - -The Votaress looked at Relya. Why did he raise his sword? Was it to cut -down those insolent children? No; Relya raised the sword aloft and -threatened the wicked Fairy with it. - -“Fairy, avaunt! as if you had never been! If you had not been my guide -across the Mountain, I would strike your fair head from off your -shoulders. I was not born a prince, nor did I forge this mighty sword -that I might roam the world a spoiler of the fatherless!” - -The poor Votaress was quite frightened. She started, and then fled to -the hills. And Relya shouted after her: - -“Go, Fairy! call your fairies and monsters! Prince Relya does not fear -them!” - -When the Fairy had run off to the hills, Relya crossed the furrow and -went towards the children on the island. - -How happy was Lavender when she saw a human being coming towards them -and looking at them kindly! She sprang to her feet and stretched out -both her arms, as a captive bird spreads its wings when you open your -hand and let it go free. - -Lavender was quite certain that Relya had come up only to bring them -safe back from the Mountain. She ran to Primrose, took him by the hand, -and both crossed over to Relya by the little bridge which they had -fashioned with their own tiny hands across the reeds. - - - XV - -A doughty hero was Relya, and he felt strange talking to children. But -the children did not feel in the least strange talking to a hero, -because they thought kindly of everybody, and there was no guile in -their hearts. - -Primrose took hold of Relya’s hand and looked at his great sword. The -sword was twice as big as Primrose! Primrose reached up with his little -hand; he stood on tip-toe, and yet he could scarcely touch the hilt of -it. Relya looked, and never had he seen such tiny hands beside his own. -Relya was now in a sad quandary; he forgot all about the Girdle and -Cross as he thought: “What shall I say to these poor orphan babes? They -are little and foolish, and they do not understand.” - -Just then Lavender asked Relya: - -“And how shall we get out of the mountains, my lord?” - -“Well, that is quite a sensible little girl,” considered Relya. “Here am -I, marvelling how small and foolish they are, and never thinking that, -after all, we have to get out of the mountains.” - -Then Relya remembered what the Votaress had told him about the taper and -censer. - -“Listen to me, little girl! The Votaress has gone to call her sisters to -help her, and I am going on to the Mountain to meet them. Please God, I -shall overcome the Votaress Fairies, return to you by the Holy Lake, and -lead you away from the Mountain. But if the fairies should overcome me, -if I perish on the Mountain, then do you start the fire that is not lit -with hands, light the taper and censer, and you will pass over the -Mountain as though it were a church.” - -When Lavender heard this, she was sadly grieved, and said to Prince -Relya: - -“You must not do that, my lord! What shall we poor orphans do if you -perish on the Mountain? You have only just come to be our protector, and -if you were to leave us straightway and get killed what should we do? -Let us rather set to at once and start the fire, so as to light taper -and censer, and do you, my lord, go forth with us over the Mountain.” - -But at that Relya became very angry, and said: - -“Don’t talk foolishness, you silly child! I was not born a hero for -taper and censer to lead me while yet I wear sword by my side.” - -“Not taper and censer will lead you, but God’s will and commandment,” -replied Lavender. - -“Don’t talk foolishness, you silly child! My sword would rust were I to -be led by taper and censer.” - -“Your sword will not rust when you go a-mowing in field and meadow.” - -Relya was troubled. It was not so much Lavender’s words as the sweet, -serious look in the little girl’s eyes that troubled him. He knew well -enough that he would scarcely overcome the fairies and monsters, and -that he would most probably perish if he were to go out to fight on the -Mountain. - -Little Primrose flung his arms round Relya’s knees and looked at him -coaxingly. And Relya’s princely heart beat quick in his bosom, so that -he forgot about Cross and Girdle and fight and castle, and all he could -think was: “Well, I have to protect and save these faithful little -orphans.” - -So he said: - -“I will not throw away my life out of sheer wilfulness. Come, children, -start the fire, light taper and censer; your little hands shall lead -me.” - - - XVI - -A few moments later, and there was a wondrous marvel to be seen on Mount -Kitesh. - -A wide path opened all the way down the Mountain, and on the path grew -turf as soft as silk. On the right-hand side walked little Primrose, -still in his little white shirt, and in his hand he held an ancient wax -taper, burning serenely and crackling softly, as though it were talking -with the sun. On the left walked Lavender, wearing the Golden Girdle and -swinging a silver censer, from which rose a cloud of white smoke. -Between the two children strode Relya, tall and strong. It seemed -strange to him, in his strength and valour, that taper and censer should -thus guide him and not his own good sword. But he smiled gently at the -children. His great sword hung over his shoulder, and as he strode on he -said to the sword: - -“Do not fear, my faithful friend. We shall go a-mowing in field and -meadow; we shall clear scrub and forest; we shall hew rafters and build -steadings. The sun will gild thee a thousand times while thou art -winning bread for these two orphan babes.” - -So they went across the Mountain as though it were a church. A thin -wraith of smoke rose from the taper, and sacred odours spread from the -censer. - -But woe and alas for the Votaresses on Mount Kitesh! wherever the smoke -and the odour of incense spread upon the Mountain, there the Votaresses -perished and died. They made an end, each one as it seemed most -beautiful and fitting to her. - -One turned herself into a grey stone, and then hurled herself down the -rocks into a chasm, where the stone broke into a thousand splinters. - -The second changed into a crimson flame, and then at once went out, -puff! into the air. - -The third dissolved into fine coloured dust, scattering herself over -rock and fern. And so each of them chose what seemed to her the most -beautiful way to die. - -But it really didn’t matter in the least. One way or another, they all -had to leave this world, and even the most beautiful ways of dying could -not make up for that! - -In this way all the seven Votaress Fairies perished, and that is why -there are no fairies, nor dragons, nor monsters now on Mount Kitesh or -anywhere else in the world. - -But Relya and the children reached the valley in safety, and Lavender -took them to their cottage. And only then did Relya remember why he had -gone up Mount Kitesh. - - - XVII - -They went into the cottage and rested a little. Lavender, who knew where -was her mother’s modest store cupboard, brought out a little dry cheese, -and they refreshed themselves. - -But now Relya was puzzled what to do about those two orphans. Ever since -they had come down into the valley, Relya’s mind had begun to run once -more upon the castle and upon his promise to his mother that he would -bring her back the Cross and Girdle. - -Therefore Relya said to Lavender: - -“Listen to me, little girl: you will have to give me the Golden Girdle -and Cross now, you and your brother, because they belong to me.” - -“But we belong to you too, my lord,” said Lavender, and looked at Relya -quite astonished, because he had not grasped that before. - -Relya laughed, and then he said: - -“But I must take the Girdle and Cross to my mother.” - -When Lavender heard that, she cried out overjoyed: - -“Oh, sir, if you have a mother, do go and bring her here to us, because -we have no mother now.” - -A stone would have wept to hear little Lavender speak of her mother in -that poor and bare little cottage! A stone would have wept at the -thought that so lovely a child should be left all alone in the world, -when she turned to Prince Relya and begged him to bring them a mother -because their mother was dead. - -Again Relya was filled with pity, so that he almost wept. Therefore he -bade the children good-bye and went away to fetch his mother. - - - XVIII - -It took Relya seven days to return to his mother. She was waiting for -him by the window, and when she saw him coming, lo, there was Relya -coming home without sword, Cross, or Girdle. Relya never gave her time -to ask questions, but called to her in a gentle voice: - -“Make ready, mother, and come with me, that we may guard what is ours.” - -So they set out together. And on the way the Princess asked Relya -whether he had found the Cross and the Girdle, whether he had raised an -army and had reconquered their castle and lands? - -“I found the Girdle and Cross, mother; but I raised no army, neither -have I reconquered our lands. We shall do better without an army, -mother, for you shall see what is left to us of our heritage,” said -Relya. - -After seven days’ travel they reached the cabin where Lavender and -Primrose were waiting for them. - -Oh, my dear! but there is great joy when kind hearts foregather! The -princess hugged Lavender and Primrose; she kissed their cheeks, eyes, -hands, and lips, and would scarcely let them go, so dear were they to -her, those orphan children from her lost lands! - - - XIX - -And so they lived together in the valley, although the little cabin was -rather too small for them. But Relya had strong hands, and he built them -a little house of stone. Their lives were uneventful, but there was a -blessing upon them. Primrose tended the ewes and lambs, Lavender looked -after the house and garden, the princess span and sewed, and Relya -worked in the fields. - -The people of the village got to know the wisdom of the princess and -Relya’s strength. Presently they remarked how well the Golden Girdle -became the princess, and, although none of them had ever seen the -princess before, they said: - -“She must be our noble princess.” And so they gave Relya and the -princess a great piece of land in the valley, and begged Relya to be -their leader in all things and the princess to be their counsellor. - -God’s blessing was with Relya’s strength and the princess’s wisdom. -Their fields and meadows increased; other villages joined them; gardens -and cottages sprang up in the villages. - -Meantime the fine lords in the castle went on drinking and feasting as -before. Now this had gone on far too long, and although the vaults and -cellars of the castle had been the richest in seven kingdoms, yet after -so many years of waste there began to be a lack of precious stones. - -First of all the gems gave out in the treasure vaults, and then the -mother-o’-pearl in the passages. Yet a little while, and there was no -more bread for the servants, who had grown lazy. At last there was not -even meat for the bloodhounds and guards. The faithless servants -rebelled, the hounds ran away, and the guards left their posts. - -But all this did not trouble the fine lords, because they had dulled -their wits with drinking and feasting. But one fine day the wine gave -out. _Then_ they decided to hold a council! They met in the great hall -and debated upon where they should get wine, because round about the -castle all was desolate: the inhabitants had left, and the vines had run -wild in the vineyards. - -So the fine lords debated. But their vengeful and rebellious servants -had cut through the rafters of the great hall, and when the lords were -in the midst of their conference the roof fell in upon them. They were -buried under the ruins of the great tower of the castle and all of them -killed. - -When the servants heard the tower crashing and falling, they too -deserted the castle. - -And so the castle was left without hounds, servants, or fine lords, -ruinous and deserted, and dead. - -Soon the news of this spread through the land, but not a soul troubled -to go and see what had happened in the dead castle. From all sides they -flocked together and went to the foot of Mount Kitesh to beg Relya to be -their prince, because they had heard of his strength and courage and of -the wisdom of the noble princess. Wherefore the people promised with -their own hands to build them a new castle, all fair and stately. - -Relya accepted the people’s offer, because he rightly judged that God -had given him such great strength and courage, and had delivered him -from his hot and cruel temper, so that he might be of use to his -country. - -So Relya became a prince; and the princess, who was getting old by now, -yet lived to see great happiness in her old age. And when the princess -and Relya, with Lavender and Primrose, entered their new and stately -castle for the first time, the village children scattered evergreens and -sweet basil on their path, men and woman pressed round the princess, -seized the hem of her robe and kissed it. - -But the princess, radiant with joy, remembered that but for the loyalty -of Lavender and Primrose none of this would ever have come to pass. She -clasped the children to her breast and said: - -“Happy the land whose treasure is not guarded by mighty armies or strong -cities, but by the mothers and children in shepherds’ cots. Such a land -will never perish!” - - * * * * * - -Later on Prince Relya married Lavender, and never in the world was there -a princess sweeter and more lovely than Princess Lavender. - -Primrose grew up into a brave and handsome youth. He rode a fiery dapple -grey, and he would often ride over Mount Kitesh, upon whose summit men -were building a new chapel by the Holy Lake. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Notes - - Interpretation of Names, Etc. - -THE original names in these Fairy Tales are either taken from Slav -folk-lore or chosen or composed so as to convey a suitable meaning. In -the English text the translator has therefore tried to render the -significance of the original names in English in preference to -reproducing the Slav names in English spelling. - - - HOW QUEST SOUGHT THE TRUTH. - -1. _Bjesomar_ (Rampogusto). The name given by the old Slavs in some -regions to the ruler of evil and malignant forces. Analysed, the name -might be translated as Cherish-goblin, one who cares for hobgoblindom. - -2. _Svarožić_ (All-Rosy). The ancient Slavs pictured the sunshine in the -form of a beautiful youth named _Svarožić_, All-rose. - -The names of the grandfather and his three grandsons—Witting, Bluster, -Careful and Quest—are as near as possible equivalents of the original -names _Vjest_, _Ljutiša_, _Marun_ and _Potjeh_. - - - FISHERMAN PLUNK AND HIS WIFE. - -1. _Zora-djevojka_ (the Dawn-Maiden). To this day many old folk-tales of -the Slavs tell of the Dawn-Maiden who sails the sea in the early morning -in her boat of gold with a silver paddle and dwells in the Island of -_Bujan_. - -2. _The Sea King._ Slovenes and Slovaks alike tell of a mighty and -wealthy Sea King who reigns in the depths of the sea. - -3. _The Island of Bujan_ (the Isle Bountiful). This is a wonderful -island, so named for its abundance and fruitfulness and luxuriant -vegetation. It was the ancient Slav’s conception of Paradise. To this -day the Russians mention it in refrains and spells against sickness, for -a plentiful harvest, etc. - -4. _The Stone Alatir_ (Gold-a-Fire). Is mentioned in ancient Slav tales -as “the white burning stone on Bujan,” and may perhaps be taken to stand -for the sun. - -5. _Sea Maidens_ (Mermaids). In Slovene and Croatian folk-tales, as with -us, this term is applied to fabulous sea creatures, which are beautiful -women to the waist, and from the waist downward shaped like a forked -fish tail. - -6. _The dumb speech._ The Jugoslavs popularly believe that animals -converse with each other in a special “language,” and that certain human -beings can “speak” and understand this “language.” - -7. _The Monstrous Snake_, the _Bird with the Iron Beak_, the _Golden -Bee_. Three monsters which, according to folk-tales, stir up the waves, -raise tempests, and provoke thunderstorms round the Isle of Bujan, -whence the storms spread throughout the world. - -_Palunko_ (Plunk) has no special significance, but the sound suggests a -doleful, feckless sort of person. - -_Winpeace_ is a translation of Vlatko. - - - REYGOCH. - -1. _Legen_ (_Ledjan_) (Frosten city). An ancient marvellous city which -is mentioned in Croatian folk-songs and tradition. _Leden_ means -_frozen_, _icy_. - -2. _Regoč_, _Regoc_ (Reygoch). A huge simple giant of fairy kin. He is -mentioned by the poet _Gjorgjić_, of Dubrovnik (Ragusa), in his -_Marunko_. - -The name _Kosjenka_ is derived from _kose_ (hair), and indicates the -little fairy’s flowing tresses. - -Apart from being a simple fairy-tale, this story contains an allegorical -element. _Reygoch_, the benevolent, simple-minded giant, is a character -from _Marunko_, by the poet Gjorgjić, of Dubrovnik. The city of _Legen_, -or _Ledjan_ (which, to all intents and purposes, means “frozen”), is to -be found in Croatian folk-tales and ballads. - - - BRIDESMAN SUN AND BRIDE BRIDEKINS. - -1. _Mokoš_ (Muggish). A mighty force which, according to the beliefs of -the ancient Slavs, ruled the earth, and especially in marshlands. She is -mentioned in connection with the heavenly thunder god. _Perun_. - -2. _Kolede_ (translated by _Yuletide_) A winter festival celebrated at -the end of December in honour of the sun, whose power once more begins -to increase in those days. - -3. _Krijes_ (translated by _Beltane_). A festival in honour of the -summer sun at the time of his greatest strength. - -4. _Omaja_, _omaha_. Water which is flung from the mill-wheel. To this -day peasants bathe children in this water so that evil may be turned -away from them. - -A _Ban_ is a Warden of the Marches. - -_Neva_ means _bride_. _Nevičica_ is the diminutive of _Neva_. - - - STRIBOR’S FOREST. - -1. _Domaći_ (“home sprites,” from _dom_, house, home), Brownies. In all -Slav nations this is the name given to the little domestic sprites which -haunt the hearth. They are sometimes harmful and sometimes beneficent. - -2. _Malik Tintilinić_ (Wee Tintilinkie). Old popular name for one of the -most lively of these _domaći_. - - - LITTLE BROTHER PRIMROSE AND SISTER LAVENDER. - -1. _Kitež_ (Mount Kitesh). The Russian author Merežkovski mentions the -mysterious Kitež region, an uninhabited forest, and the Lake Svetlojar -(which latter name might very well be transliterated by the _Holy -Lake_), which used to be inhabited by all sorts of monsters. - -2. _Vile Zatočnice_ (Votaress Fairies). The term _Votaress snakes_ -(_zmije zatočnice_) is popularly applied to snakes which are supposed to -have taken a vow in the autumn not to go to sleep for the winter without -having killed somebody. - -3 _Relya_ (_Hrelja_). A Croatian ballad makes mention of a certain -Hrelja as a better and stronger hero than even Kraljević Mark. - -The names _Rutvica_ and _Jaglenac_ have simply been translated into -_Lavender_ and _Primrose_. - -_Bukač_ is derived from _buka_, noise. Hence _Belleroo_. - -_Medunkda_, from _medved_, a bear (Bruineen). - -The term _božjak_ (applied to Relya), which suggests a powerful, -poverty-stricken churl, the translator has sought to render by _rowfoot_ -(a rough fellow). - - - PRINTED BY UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED LONDON AND WOKING GREAT BRITAIN - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD. - LONDON: 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C.1 - CAPE TOWN: 73 ST. GEORGE’S STREET - SYDNEY, N.S.W.: 218–222 CLARENCE STREET - WELLINGTON, N.Z.: 110–112 LAMBTON QUAY - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - ● Transcriber’s Notes: - ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. - ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. - ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only - when a predominant form was found in this book. - ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Croatian Tales of Long Ago, by -Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CROATIAN TALES OF LONG AGO *** - -***** This file should be named 60095-0.txt or 60095-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/0/9/60095/ - -Produced by Peter Podgorsek, Barry Abrahamsen, and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This file was produced from images generously made -available by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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