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diff --git a/old/60162-0.txt b/old/60162-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e1c0a41..0000000 --- a/old/60162-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8014 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Solario the Tailor, by William Bowen - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: Solario the Tailor - His Tales of the Magic Doublet - -Author: William Bowen - -Release Date: August 24, 2019 [EBook #60162] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOLARIO THE TAILOR *** - - - - -Produced by Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - -SOLARIO THE TAILOR - -[Illustration: Mortimer the Executioner] - - -[Illustration: “Then I will begin,” said Solario, the Tailor, “the -story of----”] - - - - - SOLARIO THE TAILOR - - _HIS TALES OF THE MAGIC DOUBLET_ - - - BY - WILLIAM BOWEN - - - [Illustration] - - - New York - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - 1922 - - _All rights reserved_ - - - - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - [Illustration] - - - COPYRIGHT, 1922, - BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. - - Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1922. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CONTENTS - - - THE FIRST NIGHT - - STORY OF THE OLD MAN IN THE SPANGLED COAT - - PAGE - - _The doublet with the missing button--The dark mansion in the - walled park--The tailor meets the tall black man and his fair - daughter--The Black Prince tells his story--Eight tailors who - could not sew on a single button--The tailor is visited by a - hideous old woman--The jolly mule driver and his - sing-song--Adventures in search of Alb the Unicorn--Solario - encounters Alb the Unicorn--The button is sewed on with the - unicorn’s hair--The Prince receives the tailor’s terms--The - magic doublet is suddenly produced_ 1 - - - THE SECOND NIGHT - - ALB THE UNICORN - - _Alb the Fortunate and the Princess Hyla--A tattered old beggar - comes to the goldsmith’s shop--The old man proposes a strange - bargain--The three black hairs in the yellow head--Alb wins the - promise of the Princess’s hand--A trifling incident disturbs - Alb’s mother--Unreasonable conduct of the goldsmith’s widow--The - merrymakers are suddenly sobered by the goldsmith’s son--The - Princess behaves in an amusing fashion--The Princess finds her - husband bewitched--Alb and the Princess visit the One-Armed - Sorcerer--The Old Man of Ice, The Laughing Nymph, and - the Great Horned Owl--The burning glass, the brass pin, and the - loop of thread--He hears thunder in a clear sky--He goes - down into the cave in Thunder Mountain--He pursues the - Man of Ice with the burning glass--He commences to make his - escape from the cave--He sails across the Great Sea--He finds a - child in a pool of the rock--The Laughing Nymph in the Three-Spire - Rock--He remembers the brass pin in time--The second - black hair is gone--The Great Horned Owl stands ready for the - loop of thread--The wrong hand and a desperate fall--Alb sees - in the river the reflection of a unicorn_ 31 - - - THE THIRD NIGHT - - THE SON OF THE TAILOR OF OOGH - - _The Prince receives the magic doublet--The Prince and his - daughter set forth for Oogh--A strange encounter at the wayside - well--The three blind ballad singers--The blind ballad singer - displays the Shears of Sharpness--The strange conduct of the people - of Oogh--The mansion in the ruined park--The solitary figure behind - the spider’s web--The Prince watches the people’s behavior - toward the boy--The man with the ball in the underground alley--The - Prince sets out for his encounter with Babadag the Tailor--Babadag - the Tailor, Goolk the Spider, and the eight tailors--The - three blind ballad singers once more--The magic doublet - protects the Prince against the Knitters of Eyebrows and against - Goolk the Spider--The Prince’s daughter has beguiled the Shears - of Sharpness from the ballad singers--A light flickers in the dark - shop--The Prince’s daughter is gone, and the Prince makes a dash - for liberty--Babadag the Tailor is conquered by his little son--The - governor, being released, beholds the Prince’s daughter--The - shearing of the Eyebrow--The skin of the Prince is black--The - doom of the city of Oogh--The tailor’s son follows him into the - burning city--The boy is found on the sill of his ruined home, - alive--The eight tailors stand before them in a row--They meet - the three blind ballad singers for the last time_ 73 - - - THE FOURTH NIGHT - - THE RAGPICKER AND THE PRINCESS - - _The Princess hears a voice from the waves beneath her window--The - Princess sees the shadow of an old woman--A midnight visit from - a one-armed old man--Alb, seeking the Princess, sits down by the - seashore--An interview with a talking seal--A sea journey on the - back of a seal--The village of storks--The feeding of the - storks--The Ragpicker frightens the men away with her bag--He - follows the Ragpicker down into the dark--She stirs a steaming - mixture with her long, hooked forefinger--The shadows of the - children--He loses his way in the dark--He hears the voice of the - seal again--He peeps into the sorcerer’s workshop--He lies in wait - with a bow and arrow--The Ragpicker releases the shadows in - the street--A singular commotion on the housetops--The Princess - is herself again, but--The King beholds his child and is - grieved--The seal introduces his liniment, guaranteed to cure in - all cases_ 126 - - - THE FIFTH NIGHT - - THE CITY OF DEAD LEAVES - - _The misfortunes of Tush the Apothecary--They find themselves - on an unknown shore--The startling effect of making a ring of - grass--They start upon a journey through the air--The orange tree - and the panther--They come upon the King’s brother in rags--A - dwarf clad in motley stands up to speak--Buffo the Fool leads - them to the palace--They find the King in a terrible state--The - Perfection Cream is rubbed into the itching palm--Tush the - Apothecary takes the people in hand--Paravaine has made her - choice--He finds himself rubbing his palms together--He cannot - find the ingredients for making the salve--Tush and his sister - are seized by the angry crowd--The genie in the whirlwind--The - pulling off of the genie’s ring_ 169 - - - THE SIXTH NIGHT - - THE ENCHANTED HIGHWAYMAN - - _A voice from nowhere bids the Prince stop--The Prince listens - to a curious discourse--The Prince, alone in the forest, hears - the bark of a dog--The prisoner inside the wasp’s nest--The dog - leaps upon him to devour him--The Prince, sitting on the ground, - looks up at a genie--The One-Armed Sorcerer appears from within - the wasp’s nest--The Highwayman and nine of his daughters appear - in proper person--He sees the Highwayman’s tenth daughter--The - genie breathes fire upon the witch’s hut--The One-Armed - Sorcerer performs upon a button--The genie flies away with the - witch--The Prince leads his beloved home--The magic doublet is - presented at the wedding_ 206 - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - 1. “Then I will begin,” said Solario the Tailor, “the - story of----” _Frontispiece_ - - FACING PAGE - - 2. Solario was sitting on his worktable busily plying the needle 4 - - 3. The Unicorn stamped and gave a piercing neigh 20 - - 4. “There is something here,” said the old beggar, “which I wish - to buy” 36 - - 5. Mortimer the Executioner was being measured by Solario for - a suit 74 - - 6. “You are welcome, master peddler,” said Babadag 98 - - 7. “Beauty in tatters!” said Babadag the Tailor 110 - - 8. The shadow of a Ragpicker oozed in through the door 134 - - 9. The one-armed sorcerer plucked a feather from the stork 156 - - 10. The genie flew away with Tush and his sister 178 - - 11. The genie swung him back and forth and tossed him out to sea 204 - - 12. “I held my trusty blade on high and took from him his money” 212 - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -TO BE READ FIRST - - -In the book called “The Enchanted Forest” it is related-- But I hope -that you have read that book, or at least that you sincerely intend to -do so as soon as you have time, but no matter; it is all about a Forest -Kingdom, and a Great Forest that was enchanted by a witch, an irritable -sort of person who-- Not that she was to be blamed altogether, in my -judgment, for she had been provoked to it by a page boy belonging to -the King of the Forest, and I am personally not surprised that this -young rogue was in consequence spirited away in the middle of the -night, no one knew whither. - -Another boy (quite a different sort) named Bilbo, son of one Bodad a -woodchopper, managed to disenchant the forest and destroy the witch, -and for this he was given, when he was old enough, the hand of the -King’s daughter, the Princess Dorobel; and in course of time there came -to them a little son, by name Bojohn. - -This Bojohn, with his friend Bodkin, a fisherman’s boy, afterward -discovered the lost page boy in a chamber beneath a forest pool, where -the witch had placed him for his punishment; and in this chamber, with -the page boy, was a company of enchanted men, also placed there by the -witch, at various times, each for some offense against her, and each -sitting there upright in a kind of cupboard in the wall, unable to -speak or move. These men, and the page boy too, Prince Bojohn and his -friend Bodkin set free, by means of a magical silver lamp. - -In the audience room of the King’s dwelling, a noble castle in the -midst of the forest, the entire court assembled to welcome the rescued -men on the night of their arrival; and the King, after making a speech -(which no power on earth could have prevented his doing), created the -rescued men, without bothering to ask whether they wanted it or no, an -order of knighthood, to be known as the Order of the Silver Lamp. This -done, he addressed the new knights,--but here I may as well turn back -to the book itself, which thus relates what then occurred: - -“We are all anxious,” said the King, “to hear your stories; they are, -I am sure, of the greatest interest. You, sir,” he said, addressing the -oldest of the Knights of the Silver Lamp, who wore a faded spangled -coat, of a period no one present could remember, “I beseech you to -recount to us the story of your life, and in particular the adventure -which brought you to so strange a pass.” - -“Willingly, sire,” said the ancient man, so readily that it was -apparent he had been waiting for this opportunity; and thereupon, with -a considerable rustling and a good deal of whispering and nodding of -heads, the assemblage composed itself to hear the story of the Old Man -in the Spangled Coat. - - - - -[Illustration: Bojohn and Bodkin] - - - - -_The Teller of Tales_ - -SOLARIO THE TAILOR - - -_His Audience_ - - PRINCE BOJOHN, _a boy, the King’s grandson_ - - BODKIN, _a fisherman’s boy, his friend_ - - THE PRINCESS DOROBEL, _Bojohn’s mother_ - - PRINCE BILBO, _her husband, Bojohn’s father_ - - THE KING and QUEEN _of the Great Forest, Bojohn’s - grandfather and grandmother, and the Princess Dorobel’s parents_ - - MORTIMER the EXECUTIONER - - THE ENCOURAGER of the INTERRUPTER - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -THE FIRST NIGHT - -STORY OF THE OLD MAN IN THE SPANGLED COAT - - -You must know (began the old man) that I am a tailor, by name Solario. -In the reign of the good King Fortmain the Ninth-- - -_“Ah!” interrupted the King. “That was my great-grandfather. Bless my -soul, master tailor, you must have been imprisoned under the forest -pool nearly a hundred years ago. Hum! I dare say you know what you’re -talking about, but--”_ - -_“My dear,” said the Queen, “I’m quite sure that the ninth Fortmain -was your great-great-grandfather, and not your great-grandfather, -though of course I may be mistaken; but it seems to me that it was the -tenth Fortmain who was your great-grandfather, because the ninth had -an oldest son who married into the Stiffish family, if I recollect the -name correctly, or perhaps it was Standish, and at any rate he died -without any children while his father was alive, and the younger son -came into the--”_ - -_“Never mind, never mind,” said the King. “You mustn’t interrupt. Let -the man go on with his story.”_ - -You must know (began the old man again) that in the reign of the good -King Fortmain the Ninth, I practised my art as a tailor in the city of -Vernicroft, a thriving and busy city, located in a corner of the Great -Forest remote from-- - -_“Vernicroft!” said the King. “I don’t understand it. There’s no such -busy city now. There’s nothing but a little ruined hamlet away over at -the other side of the--”_ - -_“Well,” said the Queen, “perhaps at that time--”_ - -_“Don’t interrupt,” said the King. “Let the man go on.”_ - -You must know (began the old man again) that I had risen to a -considerable eminence in my profession. I do not pretend to say that -I was the very best tailor in the kingdom, for I am far too modest to -speak of my own merit; but the--er--the spangled coat in which you now -see me was a creation of my own brain, and at the time it was thought -to be--er--however, it speaks for itself. - -_“I think it’s a perfect sight,” whispered Bojohn to Bodkin._ - -It is true I was growing old, but I was very well satisfied; there -was no one dependent on me, my clients were numerous and rich, and I -enjoyed the respect due an artist and man of substance. I had saved a -good deal of money, for I had never squandered any in foolish gifts, -nor wasted any in ridiculous pleasures, nor--but I do not wish to boast. - -_“That’s a wonderful thing to brag about,” whispered Bodkin to Bojohn._ - -One morning, a balmy morning in spring, I was sitting cross-legged on -my worktable at the rear of my shop, busily plying the needle, when a -stranger, richly dressed, entered my open door from the street, and -approached me, bowing courteously. He was a handsome man, wearing a -short beard; and I remarked with surprise, by contrast with his beard, -that he was utterly without eyebrows. - -“Sir,” said he, “have I the pleasure of addressing the renowned -Solario, whose genius has caused our city to be envied wherever art is -prized?” - -I confessed that I was the person. - -“My master,” he went on, “is a nobleman, to whose ears the rumor of -your skill and taste has penetrated, although he lives in retirement -and hears not much of the outer world. I trust that you are at liberty -to undertake a piece of work for him?” - -I assured him that I was. - -“My master,” he proceeded, “is, I must warn you, unable to satisfy -himself, in the matter now in hand, with less than absolute perfection. -Already he has been disappointed in some eight other tailors, and he -has learned of your superlative excellence with much hope; and in order -that he may assure himself how well his report of you is justified, he -has commanded me to entrust to you a small commission; to wit, to sew -on this button.” - -I was greatly mortified at this lame conclusion of so promising a -speech; I suspected that the stranger was making game of me; but his -manner was so respectful that I held my peace, and watched him without -a word while he took from under his short blue velvet cloak a package, -and depositing it before me on my table proceeded to undo it. - -_“This old fellow talks like he was writing a composition,” whispered -Bodkin to Bojohn._ - -_“Oh, he’s a conceited pumpkin,” whispered Bojohn. “He loves to hear -himself talk, and I bet you he’s thinking we’re thinking we never heard -such fine language in our lives. That’s him, all over.”_ - - -_The Doublet with the Missing Button_ - -The package contained a doublet, of a material I had never seen before, -very thin and glossy, of a texture like that of wasp’s nest but very -tough. The doublet contained ten buttonholes, but only nine buttons; -one button, and one only, was missing. - -“I have here,” said my visitor coolly, “the missing button; and my -master will be obliged if you will sew it on.” - -[Illustration: Solario was sitting on his worktable busily plying the -needle] - -He produced the button, a large ivory one, which, with the garment, he -held up before me in his left hand. - -“Please to hold out your left hand,” said he. - -I did so, and with his own left hand he placed the garment and the -button in mine. - -“This doublet,” said he, “must not pass from one to another but by -the left hand. Please to remember that. And now, adieu. I will return -to-morrow. Meantime--” - -He laid on my table a small purse, and bowing with sober courtesy he -left the shop. - -I turned up the purse, and a number of gold coins fell out, enough to -pay for sewing on five hundred buttons. “Ah!” thought I. “At this rate -I can well afford to gratify my new client’s whimsies.” - -The next day the courteous stranger returned for the doublet. I -delivered it with my left hand into his own left hand, the button -being attached firmly in place. He thanked me, and departed; but on -the morning after, he reappeared, to my surprise, and as he came in he -smiled at me and shook his head at me waggishly. - -“Fie! master Solario!” said he. “How could you have treated me so? And -a mere button, too! Really, my good Solario!” - -He produced the doublet, and showed me that it lacked a button in the -same place as before. He held up in one hand the ivory button and in -the other a length of thread. I was perplexed. The thread had not -been cut, of that I was sure. It was the identical thread, and of the -identical length. - -“You will not blame my master,” said the stranger, “if he finds himself -a little aggrieved. He had scarcely put on the doublet yesterday when -the button came off in his hand. I was commanded to leave it with you -once more, together with this trifling honorarium.” - -So saying, he dropped a little purse on my table as before, and after -putting the garment and its button into my left hand with his own left -hand, bowed himself out. I turned up the purse in haste, and poured out -a number of gold coins, as before, but this time twice as many. I put -away the gold into my coffer, and sewed on the button once more, with -special care. - -I whipped the thread around itself under the button, sewed it through -the goods, doubled it back through the button, wound it and knotted -it and doubled it back, and altogether made such a job of it (however -painful to me as an artist) as was perfect for security. - -_“I don’t see,” interrupted the King, “what all this business about a -button has got to do with--”_ - -_“If your majesty will pardon me,” said the old tailor, “I have not yet -reached the end of my story.”_ - -_“I’m well aware of it,” said the King. “But still I don’t see--”_ - -_“My dear!” said the Queen, sweetly, and the old man went on with his -story._ - -Next morning the stranger returned for the doublet. I delivered it into -his left hand with my left, and he turned to go. At the door he looked -back at me smiling, and was about to bow himself out when he paused to -try the button with his fingers. A slight frown came over his face; he -pulled the button gently, and behold, there before my eyes,--I assure -you I saw it with these very eyes,--the button came off into his hand! - -He sighed, looked at me gravely, and held out the button in one hand -and the doublet in the other. - -“Alas, good master Solario!” said he. “You have not treated me very -well. The hopes I entertained for your profit are at an end. It remains -only for me to apologize for my intrusion, and for you to return to me -the money which I left with you.” - -This was too much. The idea of returning money which had once been -locked safely in my coffer was more than I could bear. I sprang down -from my table. “One moment!” I cried. “I beg of you! That I should not -be able to sew on a miserable button--it is too ridiculous! Let me see -your master myself, and prove to him what I can do! Take me to him at -once! Let him assign me any task whatever, and I swear to you--” - -“You wish to see my master?” said the stranger. - -“At once!” I cried. “Do not carry back to him a report of me so unjust! -I must see him myself!” - -“Be careful what you say,” said the stranger. “You may be sorry.” - -“Impossible!” said I. “Take me to him at once!” - -The stranger looked at me thoughtfully. “If I take you,” said he, -“swear that you will never blame me for what may happen.” - -“I swear it!” I cried. - -“You will remember that I warned you?” - -“On my own head be it! Let us go at once!” - -“Very well, then. The decision is yours, not mine; remember that. I -will return for you to-night, and you will then, if you are still of -the same mind, be ready to accompany me to my master.” - -He tucked the doublet with its button under his cloak, and in another -moment he was gone. - -That night, after dark, as I was putting up my shutters, a splendid -coach and pair, driven by a black man in a rich but somber livery, -stopped at my door, and the smiling stranger descended. I ran into the -shop and put on my best attire. Some time before, I had designed and -executed the coat in which you now see me; it had been much admired; I -put it on, and hastened out to the stranger, who bowed me politely into -the carriage. - -During our journey, my companion exerted himself to be agreeable; and -I, on my part, fairly unloosed the rein of conversation,--an art in -which, I confess, I had always taken the greatest pleasure. On this -occasion I surpassed myself; I drew upon the mysteries of our noble -craft for his entertainment; I was by turns humorous and grave; I was -at my best; it would not be too much to say that I sparkled; and in -short, when the carriage stopped, I realized that I had taken no note -of our route. - -We drew up in a street which was unfamiliar to me. As we alighted, I -observed before me a high wall, extending in either direction as far as -I could see; and immediately at hand a little door in the wall, toward -which my companion led me. He pulled a bell-rope, and we were at once -admitted by a second black man, in the livery I had already seen. I was -aware, in spite of the darkness, that we were in a garden, or rather -park, of immense dimensions. - - -_The Dark Mansion in the Walled Park_ - -I could see the dark outline of what appeared to be a great mansion. -There were no lights anywhere. The air was heavy with the perfume -of flowers, a cloying perfume, oppressively sweet. We came, after a -considerable walk, to the house. At my companion’s knock, a door was -opened by a servant, black like the other two. - -We entered a narrow hall, and at the end of this hall we reached a -door, which was opened by a fourth man-servant, black like the others; -and after ascending a flight of stairs, and traversing several spacious -apartments, we came to a pause in a small but elegant room, where my -companion left me. - -In a moment he returned, and beckoned me to come with him. He opened -a door, gently pushed me through, closed the door behind me, and left -me, as he advanced, blinking under the light of a hundred candles in -a room more superb than any I had ever seen. The colored tiles of the -floor, the thick rugs, the curious vases, the pictured tapestries on -the walls,--I took them all in at a glance; and I was aware at the -same time of an aroma like that of the flowers in the garden, but very -faint. - - -_The Tailor Meets the Tall Black Man and His Fair Daughter_ - -At one end of the apartment was a table, loaded with fruit and flowers -and wine. At the other end, on a divan, sat a tall and majestic man, -dressed in the most exquisite taste. His skin was ebony black. He -wore drooping black mustaches, and his hair was long and black; but -I observed that he was, like the Courteous Stranger, totally without -eyebrows. - -At his feet, on a cushion, sat a lady, young and beautiful, a lady -divinely beautiful, more beautiful than any I had ever seen or dreamed -of. Her complexion! it was all cream and roses. Her eyes! they were -blue of the blueness of violets, and they were merry and soft together. -Her hair!--I swear I can see her at this moment. Her hair was of the-- -But I must not allow myself to think of her. The black man and the -wonderful lady rose, and my companion presented me. - -“You are welcome, Solario,” said the tall black man, smiling -graciously. “You have wished to see me, as I hear, and to give me proof -of your skill. But we can converse better while we refresh ourselves. -You observe that the table is set for four. My daughter has, as you -see, already counted upon your company. I hope you will consent to -accept our poor hospitality.” - -We seated ourselves at the table. My host clapped his hands four times, -and four serving men entered, bearing the first course. They were -black, like the four I had already seen. They were without eyebrows, -and I seemed to remember the same defect in the other four. Eight men -servants, all black, and all without eyebrows! I was puzzled; and when -I looked from the fair face of the lady opposite me to the black face -of her father, I was completely mystified. As for my stranger, he -scarcely took his eyes from the damsel; and from the manner in which -she now and then returned his gaze, I could see that they were on a -footing of tenderness. - -When we were at the end of our repast, and were trifling with our -grapes and wine, my black host addressed himself directly to me. I -was in a mellow mood; I felt that I could scarcely have denied him -anything; and as for his daughter, if she had bade me run for her sake -to the ends of the-- Well, the wine was excellent; I sniffed in it the -same aroma I had noticed twice before; and I was in consequence of it -in that state of peace which in other circumstances would have preceded -slumber. My host leaned toward me in the friendliest attitude. - - -_The Black Prince Tells His Story_ - -“My dear Solario,” said he, “you are asking yourself, all this while, -who I am. I am a Prince, heir to the throne of the distant kingdom of -Wen. My skin was formerly white, like my daughter’s. It was changed, -as you see it now, by the power of an enemy, and I am awaiting here, -in exile, with my daughter and my friend, the release which day and -night I dream of. If you are not too weary, I will relate to you the -adventure which brought me here and changed my skin.” - -“With all my heart,” said I; whereupon, without further preamble, he -commenced - - -THE STORY OF THE BLACK PRINCE - -“Know, most excellent Solario,” he began, “that my father the King of -Wen called me to him one day, and sitting down with me addressed me as -follows. ‘My son,’ said he--” - -_“Is it a long story?” asked the King, yawning behind his hand._ - -_“It is very interesting,” said the old tailor._ - -_“Not what I asked,” said the King. “Is it long?”_ - -_“Well,--well--” said the old man._ - -_“Then we will hear it another time,” said the King. “Pray let us hear -what happened to you.”_ - -_The old man bowed, quite crestfallen, and proceeded with his story._ - -_“Oh, shucks,” said Bojohn to Bodkin._ - -When the Black Prince had concluded his own tale, he paused, and then -said to me: - -“Now, Solario, as to those circumstances of my misfortune which precede -the tale I have just told you, I will, if you consent, call on my good -friend here, who was personally concerned in them, to relate them to -you.” - -Whereupon he nodded to my companion, who at once commenced - -THE STORY OF THE COURTEOUS STRANGER - -“You must know,” he began, “that soon after my arrival at the city of--” - -_“What has this got to do with your being enchanted by the witch?” said -the King._ - -_“Well,” said Solario, “its bearing on what afterward happened to me is -perhaps a little indirect, but I assure your majesty that--”_ - -_“No, no,” said the King. “I never sit up late, and it’s getting on -toward my bedtime.”_ - -_The old man sighed._ - -When the Courteous Stranger had finished his story, the Black Prince -gazed at me for a moment. - -“Solario,” said he, “I will tell you the conclusion of the whole matter -in a word. To him who shall deliver me from this spell, I will give -five hundred thousand pieces of gold, of the money of your country. -And, Solario,” he said, bending toward me and pointing at me with his -finger, “I believe you are the man.” - -Visions of Solario the tailor as the richest man in Vernicroft flashed -before my eyes, and left me dizzy. - -“It is a matter of sewing on a button,” said the Prince. “I am allowed -nine tailors for the trial, on the principle that nine tailors are the -equivalent of one--ahem! I beg your pardon. Eight tailors have already -essayed it, and failed. You are the ninth.” - -“And what has become of the other eight?” I asked, with some misgiving. - -The Black Prince smiled. “You have already seen them,” said he. - -“I?” I exclaimed in amazement. - - -_Eight Tailors Who Could not Sew on a Single Button_ - -“Four of them served our table here to-night, and the other four you -have met between your shop and this room.” - -“The eight black servants?” I cried. - -“Precisely,” said the Prince. “I must tell you, that he who fails comes -himself under the spell, his skin changes to black, and he remains -here with me in my retirement. If you deliver me, you deliver also -these other eight. If you fail, you condemn yourself and all of us to -everlasting misery. You are our final hope. What do you say?” - -I was becoming almost lightheaded with the prospect of my reward. -Perhaps the wine had something to do with it; perhaps it was the -Prince’s daughter, who smiled upon me bewitchingly. - -“You have already seen my doublet,” said the Prince. “So long as -it remained intact, no harm could touch me. But my enemy, as I have -related to you, succeeded in detaching from it a single button, and -taking away the thread. Instantly all its virtue was gone; I was -helpless. To this mischance I owe all my misery; my happiness hangs on -a button. Take the doublet, Solario, and find the thread which will -withstand sorcery. Three months are allowed you. Here are the doublet -and the button; guard them as you would your life; and may you return -to receive my thanks and the fortune which awaits you.” - -With his left hand he placed the doublet and the button in my left -hand. The perfume of the wine seemed to grow heavier; I was very -drowsy; I tried to speak; I could not arouse myself; I was conscious of -the eager smile of the Prince’s daughter, and I knew no more. - -When I came to myself, I was in my bed behind the shop, and it was -morning. My first thought was that I had had an unusual dream, but -there on the pillow beside me lay the identical doublet and button, -and I found myself wearing the spangled coat of the evening before. I -jumped up and prepared my breakfast, but I could not eat. A desperate -case I had gotten myself into, indeed! Where on earth should I obtain a -thread which would withstand sorcery? And if I should fail--! I pushed -aside my food and buried my face in my hands. - -I heard the bell over my shop door tinkle, as if some customer were -coming in. I paid no attention. Why had I allowed this hopeless -enterprise to be thrust upon me? I was lost. - - -_The Tailor Is Visited by a Hideous Old Woman_ - -I heard a cackle of unpleasant laughter. I looked up quickly and saw, -sitting at the opposite side of my table, a little old woman, extremely -hideous of face, hook-nosed, toothless, and wrinkled, munching her gums -and watching me with little, malicious eyes. - -The ancient hag did not leave me long in doubt about her business. - -“Master tailor,” said she, “the fortune is yours if you will have it.” - -Her voice was like nothing so much as the crackling of dry wood in a -brisk fire. - -“Never mind what I know nor how I know it,” she went on, answering my -thought before I spoke. “What would you give to know where and how to -obtain the thread which will hold the button?” - -“Anything!” I cried. “That is, almost anything.” - -“Would you marry?” - -I thought of the adorable young lady whom I had seen the night before. - -“Willingly!” I said. “That is,--yes, I think--” - -“Then I will tell you the condition on which you may have the thread. -You must marry me.” - -I looked at the frightful old creature; then I laughed and laughed; I -could not help it. She arose in a great fury, grasped the crooked stick -which she bore with her, and hobbled toward the door. - -“You shall never find it!” she said. “No, never! You shall be a black -and penniless outcast! You shall wish you had never been born! You are -lost, lost, lost!” - -That terrible prospect sobered me. If this woman could by any chance -save me from such a fate, what price would be too great? - -“Come back,” I said, “I will think it over.” - -“Speak!” said she. “Will you, or will you not?” - -I looked at her. She was very old. She could not live long, at best. -She might not live until the wedding day. And if she should, a man of -my wealth and power could afterward find the means of mitigating the -horrors of such a marriage. - -“How do I know you can perform your promise?” I asked. - -“You need not perform yours until I have performed mine. Come, master -tailor, will you or will you not?” - -“I will,” said I. “On the day when I receive my fortune from the -Prince, I will marry you. Merciful powers!” - -“Good,” said she. “Now listen to me. The thread which will hold the -button is the single black hair in the tail of the white unicorn, Alb, -who feeds in the half-moon pasture of Korbi, by the river Tarn. Listen -carefully while I tell you what you must do.” - -She then gave me the most minute directions; and when she had finished, -she arose and hobbled to the door. - -“Stop!” I said. “Tell me who you are, and where you live, and when I -shall see you again.” - -She answered never a word; she was gone. - - -_The Jolly Mule Driver and His Sing-Song_ - -I wrote down all I could remember of her instructions, and went out -into the street to cool my burning head. As I stood before the door, I -heard a jingling of little bells, and a voice singing and shouting, and -saw, coming toward me down the street, a train of five or six mules, -driven by a short fellow in a leather jerkin, on foot, who was singing -raucously and shouting lustily to his animals. His face was gay and -humorous, and he cracked his whip merrily. - -“Good mules for hire!” he sang. “Good mules for hire! We’ll bring you -to your heart’s desire! We laugh at rain and snow and mire! We never -lag and never tire! We _thread_ our way through ice and fire! Good -mules for hire! Good mules for hire!” - -“Thread!” What did he mean by that word? I stared at him, and as he was -passing me he looked at me long and hard, and gave me a slow wink. - -A little while later, as I was ironing a piece of goods within doors, -the mule driver himself appeared in the shop. - -“At your service, master Solario!” he cried, gayly. “For a long journey -or a short one! If you’re thinking of going a journey, I’m your man! -Come, master Solario, the sun is shining, lock up the shop!” - -It seemed a curious piece of good fortune that this fellow should have -appeared almost on the heels of the old woman herself, and the long and -short of it was that I hired him for my journey, at so much per week. -He agreed to provide the necessary outfit, and we would depart that -night. - -My preparations were soon made. The notes I had made of the old -woman’s directions I sewed inside my vest. I placed in my strong box -the doublet and the button, and bestowed the box where it could not -be found during my absence. At midnight, my driver appeared. It was a -starry night. I locked the shop, and we mounted our mules. Preceded by -four other animals, packed with our outfit, we quietly moved down the -street, past the last houses, and into the forest. My search for the -white unicorn had begun. - - -_Adventures in Search of Alb the Unicorn_ - -From that night until we came in sight of the river Tarn, far beyond -the confines of the Forest Kingdom, the adventures we encountered were -numerous and fearful. We spent weeks on this perilous journey. In the -second week we came to a dark castle on the side of a mountain. We -crossed the drawbridge, which strangely happened to be down, though -it was late at night, and blew the horn which hung by the gate. But -perhaps it will be unnecessary to detail these adventures? - -_“Totally unnecessary,” said the King. “I can scarcely restrain my -impatience to know how the story ends.”_ - -There are several, however, of extraordinary interest, which you might -perhaps be pleased to hear: the adventure of the Roving Griffin, the -adventure of the Blind Giant, the adventure of Montesango’s Cave-- - -_“Yes, yes,” said Bojohn and Bodkin, in a loud whisper._ - -_“No,” said the King. “I must beg you to reserve these pleasures for -another occasion. I can’t sit up all night.”_ - -We reached at last, on a sunshiny morning, the top of a little hill, -from which we looked down on a narrow and shallow river, curved at this -point outward in a crescent, and beyond it we saw a meadow of some -two miles in depth, bounded at the rear by a high cliff, curved also -outward like a crescent, and reaching the river at the right hand and -the left of the meadow. The meadow thus enclosed resembled in shape a -half-moon. - -“Ah!” I cried. “The river Tarn and the half-moon pasture of Korbi!” - -I left my mule driver, and descended alone to the river. I found a -ford, and though the water reached my shoulders, I had no difficulty in -wading to the other side. I came there upon the pasture I had seen from -the hill. It was green with tall grass, and sprinkled with flowers. -I looked about fearfully, but the unicorn was not in sight. Creeping -cautiously, I made toward the high cliff at the further side of the -meadow. Just before I reached it, I stopped to consult my notes: - -“A circle of white stones on the side of the cliff, higher than a man’s -reach. In the center of the circle, a blood-red flower growing on a -long stem.” - - -_Solario Encounters Alb the Unicorn_ - -I walked along at the foot of the cliff, and after some ten minutes -descried above me the circle of white stones. The wall was perfectly -upright, but its surface was rugged enough to give promise of a -foothold. I turned my head, and at that instant saw, a short distance -away, farther down the line of the cliff, standing knee-deep in the -grass and flowers, a small horse, pure white, with a pure white mane -and tail, and a sharp-pointed horn in the middle of his forehead. - -[Illustration: The unicorn stamped and gave a piercing neigh] - -As he saw me, he stamped his hoof and threw his head high. I started -for the cliff; he made for the same point, as if to intercept me. I -knew that against that sharp horn I should be helpless; it was now a -matter of life and death. I ran with all my might; the unicorn came on -at a gallop; we approached the foot of the cliff together; his head was -down, and I could already in imagination feel his horn in my side; I -doubled my exertions; I reached the cliff, and leaped up on the rocks -just out of his reach, as he swept by me; I was safe. - -I clung to my perch panting, and then painfully climbed to the circle -of white stones. There, in its center, was the blood-red flower. The -unicorn was standing below, watching me. When he saw me bend toward the -flower, he stamped, shook his mane, and gave a long piercing neigh, -as a horse will when he is in pain. I plucked the flower at the root. -The unicorn’s excitement was extraordinary. He pranced and bounded, -shrieking in a manner almost human. I shivered at the thought of going -down to him, but it had to be done. I descended carefully, holding the -flower out in the unicorn’s view. His shrieks subsided into a moaning -cry. He shook his head up and down, as if under some strong command. I -reached the ground. - -I paused there for a moment, for I confess I was desperately afraid. -Little by little I advanced to him, holding out the flower. He pranced -and whined. I came within arm’s length of his head, and held the flower -before his mouth. With a quiver which shook his whole body, he seized -it in his teeth. I quickly ran to his tail, and searched there for the -single black hair, keeping well away from his heels. Covered by the -brush of white hair I found it. I seized it and gave it a mighty jerk. -Out it came into my hand. - -The unicorn trembled and tottered; and there in his place before my -eyes stood a handsome young man, clad in a suit of soft and exquisite -white leather. He fell on his knees before me and kissed my hand. - -“Thanks, brave deliverer!” he cried. “The enchantment is broken! I am -myself again! How glorious to be free!” - -I raised him from the ground, and led him to a convenient place, where -we sat down and conversed. I placed the precious black hair securely -in the lining of my vest. If I on my part was overjoyed, the young man -was positively beside himself. He laughed and cried by turns. I was of -course intensely curious as to the circumstances of his enchantment. -He willingly consented to relate them to me, and as soon as he had -composed himself a little he began - -THE STORY OF THE WHITE UNICORN - -“I was born,” said the young man, “in the Island Kingdom, far out in -the Great Sea, the only son of a rich--” - -_“Never mind, never mind,” interrupted the King; “not now, some other -time. It’s my bedtime. Get on with your own story. We’ve no time now to -listen to--”_ - -_“My dear,” said the Queen, sweetly, “perhaps if you’d--”_ - -_“Some other time,” said the King. “Not now, not now.”_ - -_“Oh, botheration,” said Bojohn to Bodkin. “He won’t let us hear -anything.”_ - -_“I think it’s too bad,” said Bodkin to Bojohn._ - -_The old man in the spangled coat sighed profoundly._ - -When the young man had finished his tale, the day was far advanced. I -wished to take him back with me to Vernicroft, but he was anxious to -return to the Island Kingdom without losing a moment; we crossed the -river together, and parted. I have never seen him since. - -We made good speed homeward; all our difficulties seemed to have -vanished. At first, I was saddened by the thought of my approaching -marriage to the hideous and hateful old hag; but a new thought began -to take possession of me, and grew stronger as we rode along from day -to day, and my heart soon became lighter. Master as I was of such a -key to power as lay secure within my vest, I could marry whom I chose. -Why should I marry the ugliest creature I had ever seen, when the most -beautiful might be mine for the asking? The more I thought of it, the -more indignant I became at the manner in which my easy good nature had -been imposed on at every hand; I had been grossly overreached; the -bargain was beyond measure unconscionable; the exquisite face of the -Prince’s daughter haunted me day and night-- And in short, when we -arrived at Vernicroft, my mind was made up; I would _not_ marry the old -woman, and I would exact from the Prince a reward far more suitable -than the one he had promised. - -It was just on the stroke of midnight when we reached my shop. I left -my driver on the sill, and procuring the necessary gold within, paid -him off and dismissed him. He was a merry fellow, and had served me -well, though I must say that I had never learned to like his way of -cooking beans. He bade me a gay farewell, and as I turned back into the -shop I looked over my shoulder, expecting to see him with his mules -on his way down the street. To my astonishment, there was positively -nothing in sight; the street was empty; in that moment the driver and -his animals had vanished. - -I entered the shop. The journey had cost me all the savings of my -lifetime. But what did it matter? I was about to become rich beyond all -my dreams. I lit my lamp and looked about me. There, beside my tailor’s -bench, sat the old woman herself. Her hands rested on the head of her -crooked stick, and her toothless jaws were working. - -“Well,” she said, “you have it?” - -“Yes,” said I, “I have it.” - -“Good,” said she. “The Prince’s friend has been here many times. He -will come to-morrow. I will return to claim you afterward. Good.” - -She rose, leaned on her stick, and nodding her head and grinning to -herself hobbled out of the shop. My resolution to save myself from this -outrageous creature became absolutely fixed. - - -_The Button Is Sewed on with the Unicorn’s Hair_ - -I drew out the black hair of the unicorn’s tail, and gave myself up to -the pleasant task of sewing on the button. It was soon done, and it was -well done. Nothing could be more secure. I placed the doublet under my -pillow and went to bed. - -In the morning I arose with a light heart. In order that the doublet -might be near me, I put it on; and during the day three accidents -proved its quality. First, a hot iron with which I was pressing my -spangled coat slipped from my right hand and came down squarely on my -left, and I felt no pain whatever. Next, a needle pricked my finger, -and I was aware of no inconvenience. And last, as I was standing in the -doorway, some wicked boys, with whom I was never a favorite, hurled a -stone at me, striking me violently on the temple; but its effect was no -more than that of a soft cushion. Undoubtedly the unicorn’s hair was -the authentic thread. - -At nightfall, after I had put up my shutters, I stored the doublet -secretly away, and was making ready to go to bed, when a knock sounded -at the door, and I admitted the Prince’s friend, smiling and gracious -as before. He looked inquiringly at me. I bowed and smiled. - -“Yes,” I said, “the work is done.” - -“The thread?” he cried. - -“I have it, never fear! The work is done.” - -He was in a state of great excitement. - -“Come!” he cried. “The carriage is at the door. Bring it with you. -Hurry!” - -In a moment I was in his carriage, with a bundle under my arm. We -stopped at the same place as before, and reached by the same route the -room where I had first seen the Prince and his daughter. They arose in -agitation as I came in, and at a joyful signal from my companion came -forward and grasped my hands. Truly the lady was more beautiful than I -had dreamed. - -“You have succeeded?” said the Prince. - -“I have!” said I. “Your deliverance is assured!” And I described the -accidents from which the doublet had protected me that day. - -“Let us sit down,” said the Prince; and when we were all seated, with -fruit and wine before us, he begged me to tell my story. - -I told as much as I thought fit, omitting any mention of the old woman. -The Prince desired to see the doublet. With my left hand I placed in -his left the package I had brought with me. He opened it and held up -the contents. Alas, it was not the doublet at all, but some indifferent -garment intended for another client! - -He looked at me in amazement. I was covered with confusion, and begged -him to overlook my carelessness. He listened coldly. - -“You will bring the doublet here to-morrow,” he said sternly. - -“That is understood,” I said. “Meanwhile,” I went on, fortifying -myself with another glass of the perfumed wine, “we may as well discuss -the question of my reward.” - -“That,” said the Prince, “is already settled.” - -“The case is altered,” I said. “If I had known what lay before me, -I could have made more fitting terms; but I was in the dark; the -dangers and exertions of my existence since then have changed the case -completely. I am sure that you do not wish to deal with me unjustly. -Think what my service means to you! In your place, I should think -nothing too precious for my deliverer.” - -A dark frown came over the Prince’s face. - -“What is it you demand?” said he. - - -_The Prince Receives the Tailor’s Terms_ - -“I demand nothing,” said I. “But if you wish to have the doublet and -be restored to yourself, your country, and your people, I shall ask -only three things: one million pieces of gold, this house, and your -daughter’s hand in marriage.” - -All three jumped to their feet. I sat calmly. At a look from the -Prince, his daughter and the Courteous Stranger sat down again. They -were both very pale. - -“These are your terms?” said the Prince. “You are resolved on this?” - -“Inflexibly,” I said. - -“Then we must consider,” said he. “When you bring the doublet to-morrow -you shall have my answer. For the present, let us dismiss the subject.” - -His command of himself was superb. He began to talk lightly on -indifferent subjects, and as he talked his voice became gradually more -distant, and I grew drowsy; I knew I was falling asleep. I remember -nothing more until I awoke the next morning in my own bed. - -To my surprise, the old woman did not appear at all on that day. On -the whole, the time passed pleasantly. I had no doubt the Prince would -accept my terms. I reveled in the happiness which was so soon to be -mine. - -At night, dressed in my spangled coat, and with a bundle under my arm, -I sat in the shop waiting for my stranger. I was too wise to take -with me the true doublet, and you may be sure the bundle contained a -substitute. It would be time enough to deliver the magic garment at the -wedding. It reposed meanwhile under lock and key, concealed beyond the -possibility of discovery. - -It was late when the stranger appeared. He conducted me to the Prince -and his daughter in chilly silence. The Prince was standing, and his -daughter sat on the divan, her chin in her hand. - -“You have brought the doublet?” said the Prince. - -“First,” I said, “do you accept the terms?” - -“I must see the doublet,” he said. - -With my left hand I placed the bundle in his left hand. He opened it. -When he saw its contents, he turned on me with a face like a thunder -cloud. - -“What!” said I. “Another accident? Well, it’s of no consequence. The -doublet is safe, perfectly safe. It will be placed in your hands--_at -the wedding_. Do you consent?” - - -_The Magic Doublet Is Suddenly Produced_ - -He clapped his hands. A door opened behind the divan, and--I could -scarcely believe my eyes--in hobbled, with her crooked stick, the -old woman whom I had pledged myself to marry. I was speechless with -astonishment. The Prince clapped his hands again. From other doors -entered the eight black tailors whom I had seen before. The ancient hag -approached the Prince, and drew forth from her dress the doublet which -I had left securely locked and hidden at home! I saw it closely; it -could be no other. With her left hand she laid it in the left hand of -the Prince. - -In an instant he had put it on. When he had buttoned the last button, a -startling change came over him and the eight black tailors. All their -faces grew a mottled blue, then red, and then the natural color of -healthy white skin. - -At the same time the room began to contract. The ceiling came slowly -down and stopped just above my head. The walls came slowly together, -and as they reached the Prince, his daughter, the Courteous Stranger, -and the eight tailors, gave way to them, so that all these persons -passed from view on the outer side, and I was left alone with the -hideous old woman, with the walls coming in upon us by degrees until I -thought we should be crushed. - -I became dizzy; I sank in terror upon the chair which stood beside me. -The walls came on from all four sides until the place wherein I sat was -no bigger than a cupboard, and there they stopped. I breathed a sigh of -relief, and attempted to rise. To my horror, I could not move. - -The old woman pointed a skinny finger at me and gave a loud and -angry laugh which sent a chill up and down my spine. She moved her -finger about in strange figures. She mumbled to herself a torrent of -meaningless words; and passing through the door which remained before -me in one wall of my cabinet, she left me, and closed the door behind -her. The closet began to rock; it seemed to rise, and in a moment I -knew that it was flying with me through space.... - -Thus, your majesty (said the old man in the spangled coat), I came to -be imprisoned in my cell beneath the Forest Pool. There I sat, unable -to move or speak, for nearly a hundred years, until the happy day when -I was delivered by the excellent Prince, your grandson; and for the -refuge which has been accorded me in your majesty’s castle I now tender -to your majesty my grateful thanks, and-- - -_“Eh? What? Did you say something?” exclaimed the King, waking up -from a sound slumber, and rubbing his eyes. “Oh, yes. I see. Very -interesting. Very interesting. Something about a button, wasn’t it? -Bless my soul, I’d no idea it was so late. It’s long past my bedtime. -I’m always late for breakfast when I stay up past my-- Mortimer, will -you see to it that the castle windows are locked for the night? My -dear, I think we will have bacon and eggs in the morning; and if it’s -at all possible, I’d like to have a piece of toast that isn’t burnt. -The audience is now over.”_ - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -THE SECOND NIGHT - -ALB THE UNICORN - - -_Solario the Tailor was sitting at the open window of his room in the -northeast tower of the castle, looking out at the stars which glittered -in a clear sky over the Great Forest. He sighed, and rising wearily lit -the candles on his table; and at that moment there came a knock on his -door, and Bojohn and Bodkin entered, rather timidly._ - -_“If you please, sir--” said Bojohn._ - -_“Pray be seated,” said Solario, and they all sat down. “It’s a warm -evening,” said he._ - -_“We thought,” said Bojohn, “that you might perhaps be willing to tell -us one of the stories that you--”_ - -_“It’s very warm this evening, indeed,” said Solario. “Quite -oppressive.”_ - -_“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” said Bodkin, “we’d like you to -tell us about--”_ - -_“I don’t know when I’ve felt the heat so much,” said the old tailor. -“But then it’s the idleness. If there were only something to do, there -wouldn’t be so much time to think about the weather.”_ - -_“Last night, sir,” said Bojohn, “you were obliged to leave out some -parts of your story, and we thought--”_ - -_“If I only had a few good ells of cloth on my table, and a man -like--well, say like Mortimer the Executioner,--to exercise my art on, -I’d be the happiest man alive; but as it is, sitting here with nothing -to do--”_ - -_“There was one tale you mentioned,” said Bojohn, “about a--”_ - -_“It’s a very fine thing to be a Knight of the Silver Lamp,” said -Solario, “but there doesn’t seem to be much connected with it in the -nature of work. If I could only be employed in making a suit of clothes -for Mortimer the Executioner!_ There’s _a subject! The biggest man -I’ve ever seen in my life, and the hardest to fit! That would be an -undertaking worthy of my genius. Dear, dear!”_ - -_“I’ll speak to grandfather about it,” said Bojohn. “I’m sure he’ll let -you make a suit for Mortimer. But what we would like to know is--”_ - -_“We’d like to hear one of the stories,” began Bodkin again, “that the -King made you leave out last night when--”_ - -_“It made no difference to me, I assure you,” said Solario, stiffly. -“None whatever.”_ - -_“But if you would only tell us--” said Bodkin._ - -_“I do not wish to annoy any one with my dull tales,” said Solario. -“Far from it; far from it indeed, I assure you.”_ - -_“But there was one” said Bojohn, “about a griffin; what kind of a -griffin did you say it was?”_ - -_“I believe, if I remember correctly, it was a Roving Griffin; but his -majesty your grandfather--”_ - -_“Oh, never mind grandfather,” said Bojohn. “Tell us about the--”_ - -_“I’d rather hear the one about the giant,” said Bodkin._ - -_“You probably have reference to the Blind Giant,” said Solario. -“But--”_ - -_“Then there was one,” said Bojohn, “about some cave or other.”_ - -_“The Cave of Montesango,” said Solario. “I remember it only too well. -But I couldn’t tell you that; it would be too terrible. You wouldn’t be -able to sleep in your beds to-night.”_ - -_“Then tell us that one!” cried the two boys, together._ - -_“No,” said Solario. “The King would never approve if I--”_ - -_“Grandfather isn’t here now,” said Bojohn. “Please--”_ - -_“Perhaps,” said Solario, “I might tell you the story concerning the-- -But I fear it would bore you.”_ - -_“No! no!” cried the boys._ - -_“Then I might perhaps tell you the story of Alb the Unicorn, only--”_ - -_“Yes! yes! Tell us about the unicorn!”_ - -_“You are sure it will not weary you?”_ - -_“Not a bit!” said Bojohn._ - -_“Would you mind, sir,” said Bodkin, “leaving out the big words?”_ - -_“I shall willingly endeavor to gratify your reasonable predilection -for lucidity,” said Solario._ - -_“Sir?” said Bodkin._ - -_“Never mind,” said Bojohn. “Let him go on.”_ - -_“Ahem!” said the old man, clearing his throat. “I will give you as -much of it as I can remember, as it was told me by the young man -in the white leather suit while we were sitting in the half-moon -pasture of Korbi by the river Tarn, after I had delivered him from his -enchantment. You are sure it will not weary you?”_ - -_“Go on! Go on!”_ - -_“Then I will begin,” said Solario, settling himself back at his ease, -and folding his hands across his stomach,_ - - -“THE STORY OF ALB THE UNICORN.” - -You must know (said the young man to me) that I am called Alb the -Fortunate. I was born in the Island Kingdom, far out in the Great Sea, -the only son of a rich goldsmith. I lived with my parents, by whom I -was tenderly loved, in the principal city of that kingdom, in which -city, on a height overlooking the island, stood the castle of the King. - - -_Alb the Fortunate and the Princess Hyla_ - -My father, whose skill in his art had caused him to be valued highly -by the King, was a familiar figure at the castle, and I had there, -in company with my mother, become acquainted with the young Princess -Hyla, the King’s only child, a beautiful and amiable girl some two -years younger than myself. We were even permitted to play together in -the gardens of the castle, for the King was in no wise proud, but on -the contrary made a point of treating his subjects with a friendliness -which endeared him to them all. I need hardly tell you that from the -earliest moment I knew that I loved the little Princess. - -I grew thus in time to be twelve years old. Although my parents had -done for me all that love could devise and money could effect, I had -caused them much uneasiness. My disposition was unnaturally gloomy; I -scarcely ever smiled; my mind was filled with terrors, I knew not why; -I would sit for hours in moody silence; the games of other boys did not -amuse me; and I would find myself at times weeping bitterly, for no -reason whatever. - -All that my parents could do to divert me availed nothing; I continued -to be a misery to myself and to them. They feared for my health; -their wealth no longer gave them any pleasure; and an atmosphere of -gloom settled down upon their house. Sometimes my mother would look -mournfully into my eyes while she smoothed back the yellow hair from my -forehead; and I knew that she would willingly have given all that she -had to make me happy. - -On my twelfth birthday it chanced that I was in my father’s shop, -alone. My mother had gone into the back room, and my father was absent, -for the day, at the residence of a distant client. I had been trying -all that morning to find some occupation to amuse me, but without -success; I had finally given myself up to a restless and discontented -idleness; and at the moment I was examining in my hand, without -much interest, a long chain, of extremely fine gold and delicate -workmanship, which I had picked up from one of the cabinets in the -shop. I was in the act of placing it back in its case, wondering what I -should do next, when a strange figure entered the door from the street, -and approached me. - - -_A Tattered Old Beggar Comes to the Goldsmith’s Shop_ - -It was an old man, evidently a beggar, a huge man, fat and heavy, his -face covered by a gray beard which hung to his waist, and his eyes, -which were very bright, almost hidden by shaggy eyebrows,--the longest -eyebrows I had ever seen on any human being. A ragged tunic of brown, -belted around the middle, hung scantily to his knees; a battered felt -hat flapped over his forehead; and in his hand he carried, for a staff, -what seemed to be a yardstick, such as tailors use. From his belt hung -a pair of large shears, also of the sort used by tailors. A queer -tailor! thought I. - -“Good morning, master Melancholy,” said he, “have you a mind for trade -this morning?” - -The idea of this poor creature’s pretending to be a customer at such a -shop as ours was too absurd. I could not restrain a little toss of the -head. - -[Illustration: “There is something here,” said the old beggar, “which I -wish to buy”] - -“So?” said the old man. “Is that what you think? Nevertheless, there is -something here which I wish to buy.” He looked around the shop. “I wish -to buy a chain, a gold one; and I see none that pleases me so much as -the one you are holding behind your back. Will you sell it?” - -I was astonished that he should have discovered the chain, which I -could have sworn was hidden from his eyes. I drew it forth and held it -up. - -“Be so good as to let me see it,” said the old man; and at the same -time he took it from me, before I could snatch it away. - -“What may the price be, my young merchant?” said he. - -I was trembling with anxiety, but I thought it best to end the whole -matter by naming the price, which I found on the card which remained in -the cabinet. - -While I hesitated, the horrid creature gazed at me with his glittering -eyes through his tangled eyebrows, and ran his fingers down his beard -like a comb. - -“The price,” I said, “is four thousand gold florins. Now please give me -back the chain.” - -“The price is high,” said the old man, “but I will take it.” - -“Then give me the money,” said I. - -“Money?” said he, with an air of great surprise. “Money? But I have no -money.” - -“Then how are you going to buy the chain?” said I. “Give it back to me.” - -“I will buy it, nevertheless,” said he. “I will give you what is better -than money.” - -“What is that?” said I, suspiciously. - -“I will give you,” said he, “whatever you would like best in the world.” - -“Then give me back the chain.” - -“Think!” said he. “What would you like best in all the world, for your -very self?” - -“Nothing,” I said, ready to cry. “I want the chain back. If you don’t -give it to me,” I said, angrily, “I will call my mother.” - -“With all the pleasure in the world,” said the impudent old rascal. - -I was now ready to cry in good earnest. - - -_The Old Man Proposes a Strange Bargain_ - -“But I advise you to listen to me, my young friend,” went on the -dreadful creature. “You may make a wish, if you will; and if you don’t, -I will. If I keep the chain, you shall make the wish; if you keep the -chain, I will make it; but I warn you, if I make the wish, I shall wish -you harm! Such harm that you would rather be dead than alive! Come now, -will you sell me the chain for a wish?” - -“I can’t,” I said, “I can’t.” And I began to cry. - -“Then you would like to be crippled all your life? To find vipers in -your bed every night? To see the Princess run away from the sight of -you? To suffer a sharp pain in your ears, to have all your drink turn -to--” - -“No, no!” I cried. “Please don’t, please don’t!” - -“Then you had better sell me the chain. What would you like best in the -world?” - -“Oh, I want to be happy! I want to be happy! I’m so miserable!” - -“You really wish to be happy?” - -“Oh, yes! If I could only be happy, always happy!” - -“Think well. I can grant you that wish, if you really wish it.” - -“I wish I could be happy, always happy!” - -“The wish is granted. You shall be happy; after this day you shall be -nothing but happy, always. It is done. The chain is mine.” - -“Oh, please! If you will only wait one moment! Just one! I must call my -mother!” - -I ran to the door of the back room, and called my mother. She came at -once, alarmed by my outcry. Together we turned back into the shop, -toward the spot where I had left the old man. He was gone. - -I dragged my mother to the shop door, and we looked up and down the -street. There was no sign of him. I ran from one corner to the other. -He was nowhere in sight. I returned to my mother and threw myself on -her breast and wept. - -“The chain!” I sobbed. “It is gone!” - -While she tried to comfort me I told her the story. She wrung her -hands. “What will your father say?” - -That evening, when my father heard what had happened, he was very -angry. He was a kind man, but he scolded me so severely that I crept up -to bed weeping, without any supper. I had never been so miserable. I -cried myself to sleep. - -When I awoke in the morning, sunshine was streaming in through the -window. I sprang out of bed. A fat sparrow was hopping on the window -sill, and when he saw me he cocked his head at me in the jolliest -manner possible. I whistled to him, and laughed after him as he flew -away. - -While I was dressing, and humming a tune the while, I suddenly -remembered that I had gone to bed in tears for the loss of my father’s -golden chain; but I laughed as I thought of it, for the loss seemed -pitifully small, and my father’s anger over it was quite ridiculous. I -went on with my tune, and stood before the mirror with a hairbrush in -my hand. I began to brush my hair; and I cannot deny that as I looked -at its yellow and somewhat curly abundance I thought of the Princess -with complacency. - -Now it happened that the most serious work of my life, on which I had -then been engaged for more than six months, had been the training of my -hair to lie in a flat sweep backward from my forehead. I had devoted -much patient labor to this work; it required that I should wear on my -head all day a tight skullcap, and I even suffered to the extent of -wearing it in bed at night, when I could do so without my mother’s -knowledge. I now shook my hair from my forehead with a quick backward -toss of the head, in a manner which always made my father look at me in -alarm, and proceeded to brush it straight back with vigorous strokes of -the brush. - - -_The Three Black Hairs in the Yellow Head_ - -I was in the act of applying a small quantity of dry soap, when I -looked at my yellow head in the mirror a trifle more attentively. My -gaze became fixed; and as I held my head close to the glass I was -astonished to see there, among the yellow strands, three coarse black -hairs, very distinct, one in the middle and one on either side. - -They did not suit me very well, and I accordingly, with some trouble, -plucked each of them out by the root. - -Before leaving the room, I gave a final glance of satisfaction at -myself in the mirror, and a final touch of the brush to my hair. I -stopped suddenly, fixed with astonishment; the three long, coarse black -hairs, which I had but a few moments before plucked away, lay there as -before, one in the middle of my head and one on either side. - -I could not understand it in the least, but after all, what did it -matter? I could not allow myself to be bothered by such a trifle. I ran -downstairs singing merrily. - -At breakfast, I found myself prattling of a thousand things, and I -was surprised to remark the confusion with which my parents received -my sallies. In the midst of my talk, my mother whispered with sudden -excitement into my father’s ear; I did not hear what she said, but I -saw his eyebrows rise and heard him blow out his lips in a long-drawn -“O-oh!” as if a light had dawned on him. And after that they responded -gayly to my chatter, and we had altogether the merriest meal we had -ever had in our lives. - -After breakfast I accompanied my father to the castle, where I -sought out the Princess Hyla, and found her weeping beside one of the -fountains in the garden, because her ball had fallen into the water -which filled the wide marble basin. I laughed at her, for she did seem -comical enough. She stamped her foot angrily at me, but this only -made me laugh the more. I jumped into the pool and brought back the -ball. She looked at me as if in bewilderment, and cried, “What are you -laughing at? Are you crazy?” Far from being offended, I laughed more -merrily than before. - -The King was much pleased with my little service to the Princess, and -after our departure my father assured me that I had advanced markedly -in the King’s regard. Everything, in short, was going well. - -From that day, my unfailing spirits rejoiced my parents more and -more as time went by; their house rang with my merriment; my mother -became more youthful in appearance; and as I grew older I became known -throughout our city for the brightness of my face and the liveliness of -my talk, and I was everywhere in demand. It is true that the three long -black hairs continued in their places on my head, and my mother looked -at them at times, as it seemed to me, with uneasiness; but I laughed at -her; and although I sometimes plucked these hairs from my head, I did -so only for the amusement of seeing them reappear in their places as -before. - - -_Alb Wins the Promise of the Princess’s Hand_ - -When I was sixteen years of age, a circumstance befell which I was able -to turn to good account. The Princess Hyla one night unaccountably -disappeared. The King was strangely disturbed by this incident, -and though I could not quite understand the reason for so much -perturbation, I resolved to rescue the Princess and restore her to her -father’s arms, if I could. This I was able to do, in the course of a -very singular adventure, and in reward the King promised me her hand in -marriage. I will now relate to you, if you wish it, the adventure by -which I rescued the Princess from the strange fate which involved her; -it is the adventure, as I may call it, of - - -THE RAGPICKER AND THE PRINCESS - -It happened (said Alb the Fortunate) that the King, with his daughter, -sojourned for a time at his castle of Ventamere, beside the Great Sea; -and my father and myself, being lodged in the town hard by,-- - -_“On second thoughts,” said Solario, interrupting himself, “I will not -relate this tale just now. It is too long. It will be better to go on -with--”_ - -_“But we’d like to hear it now,” said Bojohn._ - -_“No,” said Solario, firmly, “it will be much better to tell it some -other time.”_ - -Thus (said Alb, when he had finished the story of his adventure), I -restored the Princess, with the assistance of the One-Armed Sorcerer -whom I have mentioned, and in gratitude the King took the One-Armed -Sorcerer to dwell with him in his castle in our own city, and promised -to me the hand of the Princess in marriage when I should come of age. -Truly things were going well with me. - - -_A Trifling Incident Disturbs Alb’s Mother_ - -Some two years later, when I was just past my eighteenth birthday, -an incident occurred in our household which caused my mother much -disturbance. My father died. He had left the house on horseback in -the morning, for a journey to the country on a matter pertaining to -his business. In the evening, after the shop was closed, a loud knock -brought my mother and myself to the door in haste. A crowd was gathered -at the entrance, and on a litter carried by two men lay my father’s -body; and in this manner he was borne into the shop. His horse had -thrown him and his neck was broken. - -My mother threw herself upon him and wailed. She tried to arouse him; -she talked to him as if he were alive; she even went so far as to try -to call him back to life. I was at first greatly astonished at her -behavior, and then it struck me as being excessively ridiculous. To -think of trying to call back the dead to life! It was highly amusing. I -felt a tide of merriment rising within me. I laughed. - -I have never seen on any human being’s face the look of horror which my -mother turned on me when she heard my laugh. She crouched away from me -in fear. Her sobbing ceased, and her eyes remained fixed on me; they -grew wider and wider; I began to wonder how long they could stare so -without winking. I glanced at the others in the room, and was surprised -to see that no one else even so much as smiled. It was useless to -remain longer in a company so dead to the brighter things of life. -I controlled my good humor and composed my features, and patted my -mother affectionately on the shoulder; but she recoiled from my touch; -and without appearing to take her inconsiderate behavior in ill part in -the least, I left the room. - - -_Unreasonable Conduct of the Goldsmith’s Widow_ - -It astonished me afterward to observe that my mother met my customary -gayety with coldness, for she had always seemed to take great pleasure -in it. She grew very gloomy indeed. I could not discover any reason for -it, but I did what I could to cheer her by my own liveliness. For some -reason or other, my father’s death appeared to have a depressing effect -on her. I made my jokes and sang my songs as usual, but she reached -such a state in a few months that she would scarcely speak to me, but -on the contrary spent most of her time in her room, alone. - -I noticed, in the course of time, a slight change in the manner of my -customers and friends. The former transacted their business briefly, -without an unnecessary word; and the latter appeared to avoid me, as if -they scarcely wished to know me any longer. It was very amusing. - -In less than a year after my father’s death, my mother died. It was -thought by some that my father’s death had something to do with her -decline, but how that could be I never could understand. - - -_The Merrymakers Are Suddenly Sobered_ - -The night of the day on which she died was the night fixed for a feast -at the house of one of my friends. After looking for a moment into the -room where she lay, I dressed myself carefully for the occasion, and -found myself thrilled with pleasant anticipation. - -A large and merry company met at table at my friend’s house; I talked -in my best manner; and whatever coldness I might have observed before -was dispelled in the general gayety. Toward the close of the banquet, -I chanced to remark across the table that my mother had that day died. -The effect of this remark was astonishing. As it passed from one to -another, silence fell upon the company. - -I wondered if I had made some blunder. I endeavored in vain to relieve -the awkwardness of the moment by changing the subject and commencing -a story with which I had never failed to provoke a laugh; but in this -case it provoked not so much as a smile; I was absolutely perplexed. -The party soon broke up in what appeared to be confusion, and I went -home to enjoy in my own room the recollection of those lugubrious faces. - -When I was twenty-one, I was married to the Princess, and thenceforth -the castle was my home. I sold the business which my father had left -me, and settled down to a life of unbounded bliss with my dear Hyla, -whom as a wife I found even more adorable than I had dreamed. - -I became the life of the castle. The faces of my new acquaintances -always brightened in my company; I was the only one in that glittering -society who never knew a dull or uneasy moment; my presence was like a -ray of sunshine in the court. - -I noticed after a while that the Princess, my wife, began to respond -to my constant gayety more carelessly; at times she would sit and look -at me wonderingly, I knew not why. - -One day she asked me to accompany her on a little excursion in the -city. She did not tell me where she meant to go, but I asked nothing; -it was enough to be with her. I could not conceal my surprise, however, -when she stopped our carriage at the entrance to the city’s poorest -quarter; but I had no doubt she had planned some pleasant diversion, -and I followed her, talking in my liveliest manner all the while. She -herself was quite silent. - -She led me from one hovel to another, for more than an hour. In one -we saw a sick child lying on a pallet of straw on a dirt floor, and -around him his mother and sisters and brothers, all weeping absurdly; I -rallied the mother on it in the pleasantest way possible, but she did -not take it in very good part. In another we found an old man, blind -and alone, without food and without wife or child, talking to himself -in a gibberish which was truly laughable; I tried, for sport, to talk -to him in the same sort of gibberish, but though it was excellent -sport, I saw that for some reason or other it did not amuse my wife, -so I led her away. In another place we saw a man who was evidently -overcome by wine, and who appeared to be in terror of certain vipers -and spiders which, as I ascertained, existed nowhere but in his own -imagination. This man was the prize of the whole collection; I amused -myself with him for a long time; and I was altogether so greatly -diverted that the Princess had some difficulty in dragging me away. - -On the way home, I commented on what we had seen with a drollery which -I had thought sufficient to draw a smile from a stone; but the Princess -was unmoved; she sat in stony silence, and when we reached the castle -she went at once to her room, and I saw her no more that day. - -Not long afterward, a beautiful boy was born to us; and in course of -time he grew to be the finest child of his age in the Island Kingdom; -there were many who said so, even to his mother. - -He was two years of age, when on a certain day in summer his mother -sent him into the gardens with a nurse, while she remained with me in -conversation in her room. Some half hour later, I was telling her an -amusing story, which I had recently heard, when the door burst open, -and a man-servant rushed into the room carrying our boy, dripping -wet, in his arms, and laid him in his mother’s lap. The child was -dead. The nurse had left him beside the same fountain pool from which -years before I had rescued his mother’s ball, and in her absence he -had fallen into the water. The Princess turned pale and screamed; she -clasped the child to her breast and rocked him back and forth; she -spoke to him as if he were still alive, and even tried to call him back -to life. - -I smiled at her delusion. I put my hand on her shoulder and shook her -gently. She looked up at me with streaming eyes, and saw the bright and -smiling look on my own face. - -“Come, my dear,” I said kindly, laughing quietly as I spoke, “there -is no use talking to him like that, you know. You must be reasonable. -The dear little fellow is dead, that is all. Surely there is nothing in -that to disturb you? Look at me. I’m not disturbed. I can’t understand -what you find in this to bother you. Come, let the good man take him -away to another room, and I will go on with the story I was telling -when we were interrupted.” - -She rose slowly, never taking her eyes from me, and hugging the child -closer backed away from me, and suddenly turned and fled from the room. -I smiled to myself at the whimsical nature of women. - -It was a long time before she would speak to me; and although I did -not permit this to ruffle me, I waited with some impatience for her -explanation. I was of course reluctant to blame her too much without -giving her an opportunity of explaining her conduct. I was accordingly -pleased when she took me aside one day and asked to speak with me in -private. She sat down before me in her room and looked me steadily in -the eyes. - - -_The Princess Finds Her Husband Bewitched_ - -“Alb,” said she, “this can go on no longer. You are bewitched.” - -I smiled indulgently. “I am not aware of it,” I said. - -“Tell me,” she said, earnestly, “what are those three black hairs in -your head?” - -“Oh, those! They are nothing. I found them there after the old beggar -had pretended to grant me a wish, long ago.” - -“What old beggar? Now I am learning something! Tell me about the old -beggar and the wish!” - -“What does it matter? He was a ragged old fellow, with shaggy eyebrows, -carrying a yardstick and tailor’s shears, and I sold him a fine gold -chain for a wish, and right angry my father was, too. But I was only -twelve years old, you know.” - -“Why have you never told me this before? What was the wish?” - -“The wish? Oh, I wished--I wished I might be perfectly happy, -always;--always happy;--a pretty good wish, I think.” - -“A terrible wish! A frightful wish! Tell me--tell me--have you ever -wept since you were twelve years old?” - -“Of course not. How absurd. There has never been anything for me to -weep about.” - -“That’s it! That’s it! That’s the curse! You can’t weep! You’ve got to -be cured of happiness! Cured of happiness!” - -This idea was so preposterous that I laughed loud and long; but while -I was still laughing she took me by the hand and led me into a distant -part of the castle, where I had never been before, until we came to the -foot of a narrow, winding stair in a tall tower. - -We climbed the stairs, and stopped at last, panting, on a little -landing before a door. The Princess knocked, and without waiting for -an answer opened the door and drew me in after her. We were in a -small, circular room, evidently at the very top of the tower, from the -windows of which I could see far across the city and beyond the distant -mountains to the Great Sea. - - -_Alb and the Princess Visit the One-Armed Sorcerer_ - -In the center of this room was a spinning wheel, and before this -spinning wheel was the One-Armed Sorcerer whom I had met in the -adventure which had gained me the Princess for my wife; a spare old -man, with bright blue eyes in a rosy face and long white hair and -beard, and clothed in a blue gown spangled with silver stars. He rose, -smiling at us kindly, and motioning us with his only hand (his left) to -sit down; and when we were seated, the Princess told him the story of -the old vagabond who had granted me a wish. - -He nodded understandingly, and the Princess said: “We have come to you -for help. Will you help him get rid of his curse?” - -I laughed merrily. “I’m pretty well satisfied as I am,” I said. “I -don’t wish to be cured of anything.” - -“And yet,” said the One-Armed Sorcerer, “you ought to want to be -cured. Your trouble is, that you can’t weep. Let me tell you something. -When people can weep, it’s because there’s some good in them. When they -can’t weep, it’s because all the good in them is frozen up hard. Nobody -can weep all the time, any more than anybody can be happy all the time, -unless it’s a bewitched creature like yourself. I’m not sure which -would be worse, to weep all the time or to be happy all the time; but -one thing I’m sure of, and that is that it’s best for us all to have a -little weeping and a little happiness, sometimes the one and sometimes -the other, woven together in all shades of light and dark; and if you -want to come out in a beautiful pattern at last, there’s no other way -to do it. Laugh and weep; weep and laugh; that’s the whole story, and a -fine story it is too, and well worth having a part in.” - -“Oh!” cried the Princess, who was now weeping softly, “will you help -him to have a part in it like the rest of us?” - -“I’m very comfortable as I am,” said I, smiling. - -“Do you know,” said the Princess, “how to cure him?” - -“I can tell him how to cure himself,” said the sorcerer. - -“Then please tell us at once!” said the Princess. - -“There is danger in it,” said the sorcerer. - -“Danger doesn’t bother me,” said I, beginning to take an interest. - -“Good,” said the sorcerer. “Then I will tell you. Have you ever heard -of the half-moon pasture of Korbi, by the river Tarn?” - -Neither of us had ever heard of it. - -“It lies far beyond the Great Sea. Would you like to make a journey -there?” - -“That would be jolly!” I cried. - -“The half-moon pasture of Korbi is the end of your journey, where you -will get rid of the third black hair, and be cured.” - -“What?” I cried in astonishment. - -“Yes, the third of the three black hairs in your head.” - -I had forgotten all about them. Certainly this was a knowing old -sorcerer. - - -_The Old Man of Ice, the Laughing Nymph, and the Great Horned Owl_ - -“I will tell you,” he went on, “what those three black hairs are. The -one on the left side of your head is the Old Man of Ice, who lives in -the Great Cave near the top of Thunder Mountain, in this very island. -The one on the right side of your head is the Laughing Nymph who lives -in the Three-Spire Rock on the farther shore of the Great Sea. The one -in the middle of your head is the Great Horned Owl, whose feathers are -scales so hard that no spear can pierce them, and who lives at the top -of the cliff at the far side of the half-moon pasture of Korbi. You -must not touch the Old Man of Ice. You must not laugh with the Laughing -Nymph. And you must not speak when you see the Great Horned Owl.” - -“I don’t like this very much,” said the Princess. - -“Nonsense, my dear,” said I. “It sounds very exciting.” - -“Do you know what a burning glass is?” went on the sorcerer. - -“Yes,” said I. - -He went to a chest beside the wall, and took from it a small, round, -thick piece of glass, and placed it in my left hand. - -“There is only one thing that can destroy the Old Man of Ice, and that -is a hot beam from the sun. Before you go into his cave, hold this -burning glass with your left hand up to the sun. The rays it catches -will remain in it for seven minutes, and no longer; and if you can then -within those seven minutes, holding the glass in your left hand, fix -those rays on the Old Man of Ice, he will be destroyed, and you will -get rid of the black hair on the left side of your head.” - -He went to his chest again, and returning put into my left hand a sharp -brass pin, some three inches in length. - -“With this pin,” he said, “you must make the Laughing Nymph weep. You -must plunge it, with your left hand, deep into her left arm, and while -she is weeping you must flee away; and thus you will get rid of the -black hair on the right side of your head. But if you laugh with her, -or remain until she stops weeping, you will never return.” - -He took from his spinning wheel a thread some yard and a half long, -and holding it in his teeth made fast a large loop at one end. He then -placed the thread in my left hand. - -“This loop,” he said, “you must throw over the head of the Great Horned -Owl with your left hand. When you have done so, he will follow you; you -must lead him into the river Tarn, and hold him there until he drowns; -and thus you will get rid of the black hair in the middle of your head, -and be cured forever. But the owl, though he is blind by day, has very -sharp ears. You must not let him hear your voice.” - - -_The Burning Glass, the Brass Pin, and the Loop of Thread_ - -He then gave me the most minute directions how to reach the Great -Cave, the Three-Spire Rock, and the half-moon pasture of Korbi; and -I thereupon placed in my pocket the burning glass, the pin, and the -thread, and drew the Princess after me to the door and down to my room, -where I immediately began my preparations for departure. - -That night I left. The Princess wept on my shoulder, but I laughed -gayly, and ridiculed her fears. - -“Don’t you feel sorry,” she said, “to leave me?” - -“Come, dearest,” I said, “you mustn’t begrudge me a little adventure. -Don’t be selfish.” - -She straightened herself up. “Yes,” she said, “I think you had better -go.” - -I did not understand this sudden change, but I kissed her and said: - -“Did you pack my white leather suit?” - -“Yes, it is in the saddlebag, and extra shoes. Be sure to change if you -get your feet wet.” - -I kissed my hand to her from the saddle and gave my horse the rein. I -was off upon my adventure. - -At the end of two days I came to the village which lies at the foot -of Thunder Mountain. It was a bright day, and the sun was hot. As I -trotted briskly through the village street, a child of three or four -years ran from the door of a house directly to the front of my horse -and under its feet; and in an instant the horse had knocked him down -and trampled over his body. I looked round, and heard the child cry out -in pain; but I was intent on what lay before me, and too happy in my -new career to be bothered with trifles, and I sped on rapidly, and was -soon well up the mountainside. - -I came to a place among the rocks and bushes where there was no longer -any trail, and there I tied my horse and left him. I kept in view, as I -climbed higher and higher, a great, gray rock, shaped like a dome and -as big as a house, which projected from the very top of the mountain. -Under this rock, as I knew, lay the cave of the Man of Ice. - -The higher I climbed, the steeper grew the ascent; trees became -fewer and at length there were none; I looked abroad and saw, beyond -the intervening mountains, the Great Sea afar off, wrinkling in the -sunshine. I came at last to a point so high that I was quite dizzy when -I looked down. Around me were only bowlders; there were not even any -bushes, nor birds nor squirrels; nothing but rocks and sunshine. - - -_He Hears Thunder in a Clear Sky_ - -I stopped suddenly and listened. A distant rumble of thunder came from -the top of the mountain. I was, as I may say, thunderstruck; for there -was not a cloud in the sky. As I mounted higher, the rolling of thunder -became louder and louder; and when I reached, as I did at last after -hours of toil, the dome-shaped rock at the top, thunder crashed all -about me with a deafening roar, although the sky remained as clear as -before. - -I halted at the foot of the great rock, and commenced the task of -finding the entrance to the cave. The surface of the rock seemed quite -unbroken; but I found at length, near the ground, a single crack, about -an inch in width. I inserted my fingers, but I could not budge it; and -remembering the directions given me by the sorcerer, I cried out, “In -the name of the sun! I command you, open!” - -The rock beneath the crack began to move, and before my astonished eyes -it fell slowly inward, leaving a gaping hole, just wide enough to admit -my body. - -I did not delay. I took the burning glass from my pocket and held it -up in my left hand to the sun, and when I thought it well filled with -the sun’s rays I crawled in through the hole. When I was inside, the -opening closed behind me, and I was in utter darkness. It was very -cold, and the noise of thunder was louder than before. I was surprised -to see at a little distance a single spot of light, which flickered -here and there as I crept on; but I soon observed that it came from the -burning glass which I was still holding in my left hand. - - -_He Goes Down into the Cave in Thunder Mountain_ - -I was aware that I was going downward. The farther I went, the louder -became the thunder. I must have descended thus for a minute or two, -when a gust of cold air swept my face, and, finding the floor level, I -stood up. The sound of thunder was now deafening, beyond anything I had -yet heard. - -As I stood there, a great mass of what appeared to be ice, larger than -my body, rolled past me and disappeared in the darkness. I jumped -aside, and walked on. In another moment a mass of ice like the first -fell at my side and rolled away; a rush of the bitterest cold air -accompanied it; and as it struck the ground a crash of thunder shook -the place, and its sound, as it rolled away into the dark, was the -sound of thunder rumbling afar off among the mountains. - -I now understood the origin of the thunder I had heard in the clear -sunlight outside. I pointed my burning glass upward, and I was able to -make out dimly, in the ceiling, great numbers of these bodies of ice, -hanging there like stalactites, but rounded at the bottom and very -slender at the top, so that they appeared to hang by little more than -a thread. As I stumbled on, one after another of these fell to the -ground with a crash and rolled away with a decreasing rumble. There -was no telling when one of them might fall on me, and I could only -trust to luck. There was nothing to do but to get forward as quickly as -possible; time was flying, and even if I should escape these thunder -stones, I had only three or four minutes of my seven left. I darted -blindly on, and the ice came crashing about me faster and faster, until -I thought my head would split with the noise. Once or twice I was -nearly struck. How I escaped I do not know, for it became certain that -the thunder stones were dropping closer and closer around me, as if -they were trying to halt me. And all the time the cold was becoming so -bitter that my feet and legs were already numb. - -I suddenly found myself walking on a slippery film of ice, and at that -moment I knew that I had cleared the chamber of thunder, and had left -that danger behind me; the noise abated to a distant rumbling. - -The ice on which I walked was very thin, and at every step it crackled -under me; and I could just make out the sound of the rushing beneath -it of a torrent of water. I stepped lightly and quickly, seeing -nothing but the blackness of night before me. I ran. The ice swayed -and crackled and ripped; and just as it gave way under me and my foot -plunged in the freezing water, I found myself again on the solid floor -of the cavern, and ran with all my might. I could see nothing of walls -or ceiling. I was lost in the dark. - -In another moment I was aware of a kind of vague paleness afar off -before me, and I ran in that direction. As I did so, the paleness, -whatever it was, moved swiftly to the right, and I changed my course -accordingly. It then moved to the left, and as fast as I changed my -course it moved also; evidently it was trying to avoid me. I gained -on it, and it seemed then to try to pass me on one side and get in my -rear; but I was too quick for it, and came up with it before it had -quite passed me. I came within ten feet of it, and saw what it was. - - -_He Pursues the Man of Ice with the Burning Glass_ - -It was the Man of Ice. He was running about like a cornered rat: a -perfectly formed old man, his face and head hairless, and his whole -body of solid ice. He ran jerkily; I could hear his joints crackle -as he ran; and he was almost transparent, and of a pale, greenish -brightness. His fingers were stiff and pointed, like icicles; and his -eyes were like little white marbles. - -When he found that he could not pass me, he ran back into the cave; but -we were evidently near its rear wall, and in a moment he was darting -back and forth against this wall, for all the world like a cornered -rat. I kept after him, and flashing the burning glass constantly in his -direction forced him at last into a corner. He turned upon me there, -and stretched out his long stiff fingers and made as if to spring upon -me. I knew that if he should touch me I should be lost; it must be now -or never; I turned the burning glass full upon him, and before he could -spring its little spot of light flickered upon the center of his breast. - -The change which came over him nearly caused me to drop the glass. -The top of his head melted away before my eyes and dripped down over -his ears; his eyes, his nose, his cheeks, his chin, turned one after -another to water and flowed down over his shoulders, and as I moved the -beam of sunlight lower and lower he slowly melted away from shoulder to -foot, and was no more than a wet spot on the floor. - - -_He Commences to Make His Escape from the Cave_ - -I turned swiftly to make my way out of the cave. As I did so the light -from my burning glass went out, and the cave was suddenly flooded with -pure sunlight, from what source I could not make out. I was in a vast, -vaulted chamber, which I did not remain to examine. I sped to a wide -opening which I saw before me, and passing through it came to the side -of a little brook bordered with golden-yellow flowers. I waded across -the brook; its water was as warm as milk. On the other side I entered -the thunder chamber, now well lit with sunshine, and there I paused in -amazement. It was in perfect silence. The air was mild and balmy. In -place of the terrible stones of ice, thick green vines clung to the -ceiling. I gave a shout of joy, and ran to a little opening which I -saw on the farther side. Through this I crawled, and on my hands and -knees ascended the passage down which I had first come, and arrived at -the entrance to the cave, now closed. “Open!” I shouted. “In the name -of the sun, I command you, open!” The rock fell outward, and I crawled -through into the light of day. - -I had gone quite a mile down the mountainside before I realized that -there was no sound of thunder; I looked up at the top of the mountain -and paused to listen; all was silent, sunny, and peaceful. I had -accomplished my first adventure with complete success. - -When I reached the village at the foot of the mountain, my first -thought was of the child whom my horse had injured earlier in the day. -I dismounted, and after a few moments’ inquiry found where he lived. I -was admitted to the house by his mother, who led me to an inner room, -where I beheld on a chair by a window an unusually charming little -fellow, with his left arm in a splint. I sat down before him and took -him on my lap and held him carefully in my arms. He took to me at once; -and I was pleased to feel, as his warm little body pressed close to me, -a decided warmth creep slowly and gently into my own heart. I forced -the mother, who was poor, to accept from me the only amends I could -make: a purse of gold from my belt, bestowed with a warm shake of the -hand. As I said good-by, I glanced at the mirror which hung upon the -wall. I went up to it, and looked more intently. The black hair which -had been on the left side of my head was gone. - -I pressed on the same night, and arrived in due time at the town of -Ventamere, on the shore of the Great Sea. I bought a boat, not too -large to be handled by a single man, and rigged with a single sail of a -charming orange color, somewhat patched with blue. - -Like all the islanders, I knew well how to manage a boat, and I could -see that my little bark was entirely sea-worthy. I provisioned her for -a long voyage, being mindful, of course, of the return. With a light -and favorable wind above and an ebbing tide, I set sail. - - -_He Sails Across the Great Sea_ - -As I cleared the bay and encountered the long, smooth roll of the -Great Sea, I thought, sitting with my hand on the tiller, of the dear -Princess whom I had left behind me. I remembered that I had charged her -with selfishness, and I began to doubt whether I had been altogether -just. For the first time within my memory, I felt a little uneasy on -the subject of my own conduct. However, this shadow lasted only a -moment. I sang as I sailed. - -The weather was superb, and the sea, under moderate winds, never rose -above a long and quiet swell. During the entire voyage there was -nothing more exciting than an occasional gull on easy wing circling -about the peak of my mast, and the flying fish now and then skimming -low across the surface of the sea. - -As I neared the far shore of the Great Sea, the green of the water -became a deep indigo, and I could not but rejoice in the lovely effect -amidst that expanse of rich color of the orange of my sail. I had held -the course prescribed by the sorcerer, and I knew that I should pick up -the Three-Spire Rock on sighting land. - -It came to pass as I expected. My faithful boat slipped, early of a -luminous evening, into the placid waters of a little bay. On either -hand a promontory of noble height jutted out into the sea, and from the -shallow water near the shore, against the inmost curve of the beach, -rose in three pinnacles a great, black rock, washed by a gentle and -surfless tide, and towering above as tall as the masts of a ship: the -Three-Spire Rock, beyond a doubt. - -I ran my boat almost up to the beach, the tide being at flood, and -anchored there. I put on my fine white leather suit, as being suitable -for the visit I had now to make, and waded ashore with a line which for -further security I made fast to a log partly imbedded in the sand. I -then climbed upon the shoreward side of the Three-Spire Rock, and began -my search for the Laughing Nymph. - -I examined every inch of that side of the rock as far as I could climb, -without finding any sign of an opening. I made my way slowly around -the rock to the seaward side, examining it carefully as I went, still -without success. I reached the outer side of the rock in despair. - -The light of day was fast waning, and I would soon be forced to give -up my search for the night. The water, which swelled and receded -noiselessly about the rock, became black and unfriendly. It was very -lonesome. Not a gull nor curlew nor sandpiper could be seen anywhere. -The place was too silent altogether. I pressed along the seaward face -of the rock. - -Before me, at a little distance, the tide had filled to the brim a sort -of bowl in the rock, open toward the bay, in which the water stood some -five or six feet deep. I came to this bowl and paused to select the -best way for clambering round it. I looked down into the still water -which filled it, and saw there a sight which almost made my heart stop -beating. - - -_He Finds a Child in a Pool of the Rock_ - -Floating there was the body of a drowned child. I gave a cry of pity -and stooped down to look at him. It was a naked boy of some two years, -exceedingly beautiful. I stooped lower and gazed into his upturned -face. It was the face of my own child. - -It could not be; I had myself seen him, with my own eyes, far from -here, in his mother’s arms, many months ago,--and yet, the longer I -gazed upon him, the more certainly I knew that it was my own child. I -could not be deceived. I leaned down closer and put my arms under him -and drew him up and folded him to my breast. He was cold and wet, but -beautiful beyond anything I had ever dreamed of him. I stood up, and -held his cheek against my own. It seemed to me I had never known until -this moment how dear he had been to me. I leaned, almost fainting, -against the face of the rock, and rested his fair round body in my arm -for a moment against a smooth shelf in the wall. His little shoulder -lightly touched the rock; and where it touched, a slight depression -seemed to appear, as if the rock had been a cushion. As I looked, the -depression grew deeper and wider; it deepened and widened until it -became a hollow vault, in which I could see nothing but darkness. - -Holding the fair boy close to my breast, I stepped into the dark vault, -and walked carefully forward toward the interior of the rock. In a -moment the passage made a turn to the right, and I found myself in a -brightly lighted room with a peaked ceiling, very lofty, whose floor -and walls were all of mother-of-pearl. In sconces on the walls were -hundreds of burning candles, and divans and chairs covered with the -richest silks were ranged beneath them. A door in the opposite wall -stood open, and I entered through this another room of the same kind, -with peaked ceiling, candles, mother-of-pearl, and all. As I stood in -this room I heard the tinkling of a musical instrument and the singing -of a voice. A door stood open opposite me as before, and through -this I entered a third room, precisely like the others, and stopped -in amazement. There, on a divan against the wall, under a blaze of -candles, sat my wife. - - -_The Laughing Nymph in the Three-Spired Rock_ - -She was singing gayly and accompanying her song upon a lute. When -she saw me she laughed merrily and bade me sit down beside her. I -remained standing where I was, doubting whether I had lost my senses, -and hugging the beautiful child to my breast. There was no mistake. -It was my wife indeed. I forgot for the moment the strangeness of the -encounter, and went to her and held out the child. - -“See!” I cried. “Have done with laughing! Your child! He is drowned! I -have brought him to you! See!” - -She looked at me with such merriment in her face as I had never seen -there before. She laughed again and again. I thought she would never -have done laughing. I was petrified with horror. - -“Stop!” I cried. “I must make you understand me! It is your child! Do -you understand? Can you look at him and laugh? For shame, for shame!” - -She calmed her laughter somewhat. - -“Why, what is there in that,” she said, “to make me weep? If you only -knew how ridiculous you look! Oh, dear!” And she went off into a peal -of laughter gayer than before. - -“Take him!” I said. “Look down at that little face, and smile again if -you dare!” And I laid him in her lap. - -She took him up carelessly and placed him out of her way on the divan. - -“Really,” she said, “you mustn’t expect to disturb me with these -things. I was singing a lovely new song when you came in. Listen!” And -she took the lute in her hands and began to sing a stave of her song. - -I felt a wave of anger rise within me. I rushed upon her blindly and -tore the lute from her hands and dashed it on the floor. I seized her -shoulders and shook her violently; and the more violently I shook her -the more she laughed. I bethought me of the pin which lay in my pocket, -and at the same time there flashed into my mind what the sorcerer had -said about the Laughing Nymph; I had quite forgotten them both. I -snatched the pin forth from my pocket with my left hand, and closing my -eyes plunged it deep into the left arm of the Laughing Nymph. - -She did not scream with pain, but her laughter instantly ceased. She -looked at me with surprise, as if she were now seeing me for the first -time. An expression of reproachful sorrow came over her face; tears -started into her eyes and rolled down her cheeks; and suddenly she -buried her face in her hands and wept bitterly. She arose, and threw -herself on her knees beside the child and called to him wildly, sobbing -as if her heart would break. - -I looked on for a moment with my brain in a whirl. A strong impulse of -love and pity moved me to put my arm around her and comfort her; but I -restrained myself, and in that moment I saw what it all meant; I left -the Laughing Nymph still weeping beside the child, and fled. - - -_The Second Black Hair Is Gone_ - -Outside, on the beach, under the stars, I collected my disordered wits. -I went to the little cabin in my boat, and gazed at myself in the -mirror which hung upon its wall. My eyes were unnaturally large and -hollow; my cheeks were pale; and the black hair which had been on the -right side of my head was gone. - -I gathered together such provisions as I could carry, and seeing that -the boat was well secured, I departed upon my third and last adventure. - -Many days I traveled. The sorcerer had given me my course with much -particularity, and there was no question of losing my way. My thoughts -were sad company, and yet I felt a kind of elation. I began to look -back on myself with horror, and to remember the sweetness of my -Princess with admiration and love. - -One morning I ascended a long wooded hill and stood upon its top. Below -me, at no great distance, lay a river, curved at this point outward -like a crescent. On its farther side stretched a field some two miles -deep, grown high with grass and flowers, and bounded at its rear by a -high cliff whose walls at either end met the river, enclosing the field -so that its shape, between them and the river, was roughly that of a -half-moon. It was, without a doubt, the pasture of Korbi, beside the -river Tarn. The time for my last adventure had arrived. - -I descended rapidly to the river, first leaving my pack in a safe -place, and waded across the stream; it came to my shoulders, but I had -no difficulty in reaching the other side. I pressed forward through the -tall grass to the foot of the cliff. I walked along its base until I -found above me on its face, somewhat higher than my reach, a circle of -white stones; and by this I knew that it was at this point that I must -climb. - -The ascent was excessively difficult. I mounted, with great pain, to -a point so high that I no longer dared look below; I fixed my eyes on -each crevice and cranny as they appeared above me, and tried to think -of nothing but my next step upward. I was nearing the top. I looked up, -and saw directly overhead a great bowlder which projected from the face -of the cliff, evidently at its very summit. This was the bowlder of -which the sorcerer had spoken as the abode of the Great Horned Owl. A -dozen more painful steps brought me to the under side of the bowlder. I -clung to the cliff with both hands, and without a sound crept along its -face until I was out from under the bowlder on its left side, and then -climbed noiselessly upward until I stood beside the bowlder so as to -look across its top. There I saw, at my right, the object of my search. - - -_The Great Horned Owl Stands Ready for the Loop of Thread_ - -The Great Horned Owl was standing motionless, his wide eyes staring -across the valley of the Tarn. I was thankful that in that bright light -of the sun he was blind. He did not turn his head in my direction, and -he was evidently unaware of my presence. His feathers, as I could see, -were flakes or scales of some shining metal. He looked harmless enough, -and I felt myself full of confidence. - -The hand which was nearest him was my right. Holding on to the cliff -with my left, I took from my pocket, with my right, the thread which -the sorcerer had given me, and cleared the loop so that I could drop it -over the creature’s head without tangling. I leaned across the bowlder -toward him, keeping very quiet, and brought my right hand with the loop -so close to him that I could have touched him. With that hand I held -the loop above his head and began to lower it. It came down closer and -closer; it reached the top of his head; I held my breath; my eyes were -fixed on his; I lowered the loop another inch or two, until it came -to his curved beak, without touching him; and I was about to drop it -over his neck,--when suddenly he flapped his wings and fluttered his -feathers all together; and all the little metal plates on his body -striking one another gave off a rattling discharge of sharp reports, so -violent that I thought the cliff was being blown to pieces. I jumped -with fright, and scarcely refrained from uttering a cry; but I held my -tongue, and dropped the loop around his neck. - -Instantly the metal feathers were still and the noise ceased, and the -owl turned his head slowly toward me and stared straight into my face; -and as he gazed at me, all at once it came to me that I had dropped -the noose with my right hand instead of my left. I was aghast at my -mistake. I tugged at the thread frantically, but the owl did not -budge. I began to grow dizzy. My arm tingled and grew numb. Everything -turned black before my eyes. I could not remember where I was. I -swayed and lost my balance; I felt myself falling; I clutched wildly -for support, but touched nothing; I felt myself falling through space, -falling, falling, as a person falls in a dream, for hours as it seemed, -sick and dizzy. Only once did I touch anything, and then I felt in my -knee a sharp pain, and was conscious that I was bleeding from a cut; -and then I knew no more. - -When I came to myself, I was standing at the foot of the cliff, where I -had commenced my ascent. I looked upward, and wondered that I was alive -after such a fall. As my eye traveled downward and rested on the circle -of white stones above me I noticed in their center a little splotch of -blood, evidently from my knee where it had been cut in my fall; and as -I continued to look, the splotch grew into a blood-red flower, waving -on a long stem. I felt a strange desire to take the flower in my teeth -and tear it. - - -_Alb Sees in the River the Reflection of a Unicorn_ - -I wondered whether anything had happened to the hair in the middle of -my head. I went to the river, and looked down at myself in a clear -pool near the bank. I was surprised to see there the reflection of a -small white horse’s head. I turned round, to see the animal which must -have been looking over my shoulder. No animal was there. I could not -understand it. I looked again at the surface of the water; the same -head met my gaze; a small white horse’s head, and in the center of it a -sharp, white horn. I looked behind me again, and again into the river. -I stood in the water, and saw there the full image of the little white -horse. It was myself. - -Thus (said the young man, sitting in the half-moon pasture of Korbi, by -the river Tarn), you know my story. I have kept count of the days since -my enchantment, and they now amount to two years; the age of my little -son when he was drowned. You have taken from me the third black hair, -and I shall now fly back to my beloved Princess, cured of the curse -of perpetual happiness, to spend with her the remainder of my days in -blessed light and shadow, peace and storm, laughter and tears. - - * * * * * - -_“I wonder,” said Bojohn thoughtfully, after a moment’s silence, “who -the old man was who gave him the curse in the first place.”_ - -_“Did Alb tell you,” said Bodkin, “who the old man was?”_ - -_“No,” said Solario; “I don’t believe he ever knew. But I happen to -know, myself, because it was revealed to me in the course of the story -which was told me by--”_ - -_“Tell us! Tell us!” cried the two boys._ - -_“No,” said Solario, “it is much too late, and I must now, if you will -permit me, bid you good night.”_ - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -THE THIRD NIGHT - -THE SON OF THE TAILOR OF OOGH - - -_The King was engaged with the Master of the Wardrobe in a game -of chess in the throne room, and the Princess Dorobel (the King’s -daughter) and her husband Prince Bilbo were looking on._ - -_In the next room the Queen was at dominoes with the Second Lady in -Waiting, and Prince Bojohn (her grandson) and his friend Bodkin came -and stood behind their chairs._ - -_“Grandmother,” said Bojohn, “wouldn’t you like to hear a story?”_ - -_“Not now, my dear,” said the Queen, and she put down a double five, -smiling at the Lady in Waiting._ - -_“Come along, then,” said Bojohn to Bodkin. They went into the throne -room, and stood behind the King’s chair._ - -_“Grandfather,” said Bojohn, “wouldn’t you like to hear a story?”_ - -_“You made a fatal mistake in moving your knight,” said The King. “I -will now move my bishop and put you in check. So!”_ - -_“Grandfather!” said Bojohn. “Wouldn’t you like to--”_ - -_“Take your time, take your time,” said the King. “If you move out of -check, I’ll have you in three moves. See if I don’t!”_ - -_“Grandfather!” said Bojohn._ - -_“Ah!” said the King. “That’s different. Hum. Ha. I didn’t think you’d -do that. Plague take it, now I’ve got to think up something else.”_ - -_The Princess Dorobel placed her arm around the shoulder of Bojohn her -son. She was radiant in a white evening gown, and she wore pearls in -her hair._ - -_“Never mind, my dear,” said she,_ “I’d _like to hear a story.”_ - -_“And father too!” said Bojohn. “Come along, both of you!”_ - -_The Princess Dorobel put her arm in her husband’s, and hurried him -away after the two boys, who were already going out at the door._ - -_They followed the boys through dark halls and up a staircase into the -northeast tower, and stopped, all four, before the door of Solario’s -room. Prince Bojohn knocked, and a voice from within bade them enter._ - -[Illustration: Mortimer the Executioner was being measured by Solario -for a suit] - -_Mortimer the Executioner, seven feet tall and vast as a hogshead -around the middle, was standing in his shirt sleeves beside the table, -and before him stood Solario on a chair, measuring him with a tape. On -the table lay a pile of cloth, with shears, chalk, needles, thread, and -wax._ - -_Solario jumped down from his chair and bowed. He was plainly in high -good humor._ - -_“Be seated, be seated, I pray you,” he cried, bringing up chairs in a -hurry. “This is a great honor; a very great honor indeed. You see me -in the midst of my-- Pray be seated. Will you excuse me while I note -down the shoulder measurement?” He bent over the table, and jotted down -some figures in a book. “Mortimer,” said he, “you may go now. We will -continue our labors in the morning.”_ - -_Mortimer, in confusion, hastily put on his coat, which caused a couple -of white mice to jump from his pockets and run up his sleeves._ - -_“Don’t go,” said the Princess Dorobel. “We are about to ask our good -friend Solario for a story, and I am sure you would like to hear it.”_ - -_“Yes,” said Prince Bilbo, “we have come to hear another story, if you -will be good enough to--”_ - -_“The story of Montesango’s Cave!” cried both boys, together._ - -_“Or the Roving Griffin!” cried Bojohn._ - -_“Or the Blind Giant!” cried Bodkin._ - -_“If you will pardon me,” said Solario, “I think that it would please -Prince Bilbo and the Princess better, perhaps, to hear the story told -me by the Black Prince on the memorable night when--”_ - -_“Don’t forget,” said Bodkin, “we want to hear about the old man with -the shaggy eyebrows, who got the golden chain away from the goldsmith’s -son.”_ - -_“I will tell you,” said Solario, “about the old man and about the -Black Prince at the same time.”_ - -_“We know nothing,” said Prince Bilbo, “about any old man with shaggy -eyebrows.”_ - -_“I’ll tell you, father!” said Bojohn; and he told what he knew. “Now -then!” he said to Solario. “Please go on!”_ - -_Solario the tailor seated himself cross-legged on his table, and the -others drew up their chairs before him in a row._ - -_“Has the old man with the shaggy eyebrows,” said Prince Bilbo, -“something to do with the Black Prince?”_ - -_“Precisely, sir,” said Solario. “If you are ready, I will relate to -you the story which the Black Prince told me on the memorable night -when-- However. Are you ready?”_ - -_“Dear me!” said the Princess Dorobel. “This is very cozy, indeed.”_ - -_“Go on!” cried Bojohn; and Solario, picking up his shears and gazing -at them thoughtfully for a moment, began, in the following words,_ - - -THE STORY OF THE BLACK PRINCE - -You must know, most excellent Solario (said the Black Prince) that my -father, the King of Wen, called me to him one morning, and taking me -into his private cabinet, spoke to me as follows. - -“My son,” said he, “you are aware what anxiety I have suffered, -throughout my reign, regarding my city of Oogh, by reason of its -remoteness from my castle. I have, as you know, been unable to visit it -since my early youth. It is now some four years since I sent to that -city, to govern it in my stead, our friend Urban, so well-beloved among -us for his unfailing courtesy.” - - * * * * * - -_“Oh!” said Bojohn. “That must be the Courteous Stranger.” Solario -said, “Precisely.”_ - -“For many months,” continued my father, the King of Wen, “I have had -no word from him, and I fear that some misfortune has befallen him. I -design therefore, my son, to send you to the city of Oogh, to find out -what is wrong, and if necessary to lend him aid. It will be best for -you to enter the city without making yourself known. Your mission may -be dangerous, and I accordingly wish you to wear this doublet, which -will protect you against all harm so long as it remains intact. I know -of no power which can remove it from your person, or detach from it -even a single button; but I warn you to be careful, for any injury to -it will deprive it of all virtue, and the consequences to you in that -case might be serious. Take the doublet from me with your left hand, -and I will tell you how I came into possession of it.” - -Thereupon my father with his left hand placed the doublet in my left -hand, and commenced - - -THE STORY OF THE MAGIC DOUBLET - -“When I was a young man,” said my father,-- - -_“Please excuse me, Solario,” said Prince Bilbo; “don’t you think it -might be better to go on with the main story, without stopping to--”_ - -_“Really, I think it would,” said the Princess Dorobel._ - -_“Oh, mother!” said Bojohn._ - -_“If it is your pleasure,” said Solario, “I will omit the story of the -magic doublet for the present.”_ - -_“I really think it would be better,” said the Princess Dorobel._ - -_“Oh, shucks,” said Bojohn to Bodkin, in a whisper._ - -“This is the doublet,” said my father when he had finished his story, -“which, as I have told you, was made by the One-Armed Sorcerer with -his left hand. Prepare now for your journey, my son, and good fortune -attend you.” - -All that day I spent in preparation, and early on the next morning I -set forth for the city of Oogh. My daughter, the Princess Amadore, -implored me to take her with me. She was ever of an ardent and -adventurous spirit, and she would not listen to my objections on the -score of danger. She usually had her way with me, and I knew from the -first that there was no use in resisting her entreaties; and the upshot -of it was that I yielded, though much against my judgment. - - -_The Prince and His Daughter Set Forth for Oogh_ - -In due time we made our way to the city of Fadz on the seacoast, where -we took ship for Oogh; and for some two weeks we sailed the Great Sea -with favorable winds. At the end of that time we were blown out of our -course by storms, and took shelter in the Island Kingdom, at a port -called Ventamere, whence we visited the kingdom’s capital city, and -arrived there in time to witness, as the King’s guests, the marriage of -his daughter the Princess Hyla to one Alb, a goldsmith’s son, a youth -of exceedingly cheerful and engaging manners. This ceremony over, we -returned to Ventamere, and there took ship once more for Oogh. - -No further accident delayed us, and after a week we sighted that part -of the mainland which my father had described to me. At my direction we -were put ashore, my daughter and myself, at a point where, as I knew, I -should find the road to Oogh. - -Leaving orders for the ship to ride at a safe distance from shore -against our return, we turned our faces inland; but before going -further, I darkened my face, neck, and hands with walnut juice, -and dressed myself in patched and threadbare clothing. I put on my -magic doublet, but concealed it beneath a rude blue smock. I tried -to persuade my daughter to darken her face also, but she positively -refused to ruin her complexion, as she expressed it, and I now -regretted bitterly that I had brought her with me. I was able to -persuade her, however, to put on a coarse and tattered gown, but she -did it very unwillingly. I had provided myself with some trinkets of -silver, odds and ends of lace and silk, and children’s toys, and these -I now slung on my back in a pack. Thus, in the character of a peddler -and his daughter, we set forth upon the road to Oogh. - - -_A Strange Encounter at a Wayside Well_ - -Late in the afternoon we saw before us the roofs of the city, and -at the end of the road a gate in the city wall. At the same time we -perceived, in a clump of trees, a wayside well, and we were hastening -toward it, being tired and thirsty, when we heard a voice in that -direction, which was exclaiming angrily: - -“There! Take that! I hate you, I hate you! Oh, if I could never see you -again!” - -Hearing no reply to this outburst, and wondering who it was that could -take such language in silence, we hurried forward, and saw, standing -beside the well, under the trees, a boy and no one else; a boy of some -twelve years of age, dressed in a gorgeous robe of pale yellow silk; -a singularly beautiful boy, with great dark eyes and curly dark hair, -but a face extremely pallid and stained with tears; a face, in fact, -the saddest I had ever seen in a child. He was picking up from the wet -ground beside the well handfuls of mud, and spattering his silk robe -with it; and as we arrived he tore from his head a cap of spotless -white velvet and stamped it into the mud, crying out, “I won’t wear you -any more, I won’t! I hate you!” And then he burst into tears and flung -himself full length on his face in the mud, beating the ground with his -hands and muttering brokenly to himself. - -We paused in astonishment, but my daughter, recovering herself quickly, -ran to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He sat up, startled. He -rose to his feet timidly, and gazed at us with big round eyes, trying -to choke back his sobs. He was mud from head to foot, and his gorgeous -robe was ruined. - -My daughter coaxed him to tell her what was the matter, but he made no -answer; instead, he pulled off the ruined robe and flung it in the mud, -and standing in his shirt and breeches stamped upon it and burst into -tears again, and cried, “I won’t wear it! I want to be poor! I want to -be like the others! Oh, the wicked Eyebrow! Why can’t he be good like -the others? Oh, if I could only cut off the Eyebrow and make him poor -and good like the others!” - -My daughter took his hand and begged him to tell her his trouble, but -all he would say was, “He’s wicked, and I want him to be good like the -others! And to-night he’s going to give the Blind Bowler to Goolk the -Spider, and I can’t stop him, I can’t stop him!” And he broke into a -fresh storm of sobbing. - -My daughter shook her head at me pityingly. - -“We are very sorry, my lad,” said I, “and I ask you to trust us. We are -going into the city, and perhaps when you know us better you will tell -us all about it. We should like to help you. Will you come with us?” - -“What can a peddler do against the Eyebrow?” said the boy,--but he -dried his tears, and allowed my daughter to lead him forth by the hand -into the road. - -We could make nothing of the boy’s wild talk, but we went onward -without questioning him further, and drew near to the city in silence. -Beside the city gate, under the wall, a crowd of idle people were -gathered, and from the center of the group we could hear voices -singing together hoarsely. In a few minutes we were in the midst of the -crowd, and saw what it was the idlers were looking at. - - -_The Three Blind Ballad Singers_ - -Three blind men were singing a comic ballad in loud voices, and -prancing up and down in time, with such antics that the crowd -roared with delight. Each of the three held in his hand a sheaf of -papers,--ballads, undoubtedly, intended for sale to the onlookers. -Suddenly they stopped, each with a hand at his ear, and looked up at -the sky as if listening. - -“Is there a stranger here?” cried one of them. - -“A peddler and a maid!” shouted one of the crowd. “All tattered and -torn!” - -“With eyebrows?” cried the ballad singer. - -“Yes! yes!” said several of the crowd together. - -I did not like this sort of attention very well, and I was about to -draw my daughter away, when the ballad singers faced with one accord in -my direction and began to cry, “Buy our ballads! Ho, master Eyebrows! -Buy our ballads! Welcome to Oogh, master Eyebrows!” - -The faces and heads of these three fellows were covered with black -hair; but I now noticed that not one of them had the vestige of an -eyebrow; and I observed further that there was not an eyebrow amongst -all the crowd, with the exception only of the boy at my side; and as to -him, the people, when they saw him, suddenly fell silent, and backed -away from him with something like fear in their eyes. The boy observed -it, as I could see, and looked as if he were going to cry again. - -“What do we say, brothers,” shouted one of the ballad singers, “what do -we say to the damsel in the tattered gown? Shall one of us marry the -tattered damsel? Oh, yes, oh, yes! Tra la, tra la,--” - -He paused, as if waiting for a laugh; but the crowd did not laugh any -more, and my daughter was herself in fact the only one who seemed to be -amused. As for myself, I was beginning to be angry. - -“We’ll marry the Lady Tatters!” cried the blind man. “O-o-oh!” And -he burst into a loud song, in which the other two joined, all three -prancing up and down meanwhile in a ridiculous dance. So far as I can -recollect it, their song went something like this: - - “O Lady Tatters! O Lady Tatters! - We scorn the fellow who basely flatters, - But we can’t help saying that nobody matters - But you, fair lady, but you, but you! - Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la, - We know that it’s generally customary - In cases like these to be shy and wary, - For often enough in matrimony - There’s plenty of gall mixed in with the honey, - How true that is! how true! how true! - Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la, - But under existing circumstances - Every fellow must take some chances, - Refusing to bother concerning expenses - And other deplorable consequences, - Cheerfully scorning each friendly warning,-- - How few regard it! how few! how few! - Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la, - O Lady Tatters! O Lady Tatters! - We’ve duly considered these difficult matters, - And now, without any reservation, - We’re ready to enter the marriage relation! - You’ve only to view our reliable faces - And gaze on our truly superlative graces, - To note that the suitors by whom you’re attended - Come really remarkably well recommended,-- - Buy it’s all in the point of view! How true! - It’s all in the point of view! - Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la,--” - -“Silence, rogues!” I cried, out of all patience at their impudence, but -my daughter burst out laughing. It was ever her way to be amused rather -than annoyed. - -“Master Eyebrows!” shouted the first ballad singer. “Choose one of us -for the tattered damsel! What will you take for her? Speak.” - -“You shall have the Shears!” shouted the second ballad singer. - -“The Shears of Sharpness!” shouted the third. - -“See, Eyebrows!” cried the first. “The Shears of Sharpness!” - - -_The Blind Ballad Singer Displays the Shears of Sharpness_ - -He drew from under his gown a pair of tailor’s shears, and as he did so -the crowd fell back as if in alarm. He stepped toward the city wall, -and placed his hand on a flat iron bar, some two or three inches in -width, supporting an awning over a booth; and applying his shears to -it, he cut it through and through as if it had been paper. I gasped in -amazement; never had I seen a pair of shears like those. - -“The Shears for the lady!” cried the blind man. “Come, Eyebrows, -choose!” - -“Impudent rascal,” said I, “the lady is my daughter, and I foresee that -a good scourging is awaiting you. Come, Amadore!” - -“But buy our ballads!” cried the second ballad singer. “Buy our -ballads!” cried the others, and each of the three thrust toward me one -of his papers. - -I took them, and paying over a few coppers, moved on toward the city -gate. “Father!” said Amadore in my ear. “The boy is gone!” - -It was true. The boy had slipped away, and was gone. The idlers began -to laugh again, and I drew my daughter after me into the city. - -In a moment we were standing in a street of shops, and my daughter, -laughing again, begged me to read my ballads. I glanced at the sheets, -still angry, and was about to toss them away, when I observed that they -were blank, or nearly so, and I looked at them more closely. - -On the first were written these words, and nothing more: “Hurry. Hurry.” - -On the second I found these words only: “The Cobweb Room in the -Governor’s Palace.” - -On the third were these words only: “The Eyebrows of Babadag the -Tailor.” - -I stared at my daughter in perplexity; but she urged that these could -be no other than messages on behalf of our friend Urban, and that we -must find him without a moment’s delay. We walked on briskly, intending -to inquire our way to the governor’s palace. - - -_The Strange Conduct of the People of Oogh_ - -As we went on, we became aware of a general and oppressive stillness. -A few people were in the street, and some could be seen inside the -shops; but they conversed in low tones, and they seemed to be idle, -indifferent, and listless. Here and there a shopkeeper sat in a chair -before his shop, gazing blankly at the opposite wall. - -Of the first of these shopkeepers I inquired the direction of the -governor’s palace. The man started from his reverie, as if frightened, -rose from his chair, stared at me curiously, and without a word went -into his shop and closed the door. “Did you see?” said my daughter. “He -had no eyebrows.” - -At the next corner we came to an open market of stalls, and there -I repeated my inquiry. Instead of the usual bustle and clamor of a -market, there was the same silence, though the place was thronged -with people. I nudged my daughter in surprise, for among all these -people there was not an eyebrow. The venders were making no effort, -apparently, to sell their wares, and the customers were buying with an -air of indifference, as if the business bored them. I began to feel -depressed, and even my daughter was sober. - -The market man of whom I asked my direction looked anxiously about him -before answering, and then whispered hurriedly, “I’ve nothing to do -with it. Nothing. How do you come to be wearing eyebrows here?” - -Without answering him, I applied at two or three other stalls, but the -only result was a shaking of heads and a curious, wide gaze, as of -mild alarm. There was nothing to do but to search out unaided the most -pretentious house in the city; for such a house, undoubtedly, would be -the governor’s residence. - -We walked the streets for more than an hour; and everywhere was -the same silence, the same listlessness, the same apathy. “I don’t -believe,” said my daughter, “that these people have any wills of their -own at all.” - -“Certainly,” said I, “they have no eyebrows of their own, at least. -Except for the boy who ran away from us, I haven’t seen an eyebrow in -the city. It seems strange.” - - -_The Mansion in the Ruined Park_ - -We ascended a hill, and came to a park gate, at a point from which we -could see the entire city below us. Through the gate, across the park, -we saw a residence more imposing than any we had yet seen. The gate -hung wide open on broken hinges, and the park within was in a state of -ruin. - -“This must be it,” said my daughter. - -“It seems unlikely,” said I, “but we will soon know.” - -We made our way across the park, through tall weeds and tangled -brambles, and stood before a splendid but gloomy mansion. The door was -swinging open, and we entered. - -All was silent within. A sense of calamity seemed to pervade the place; -plainly it was deserted. We walked on through spacious apartments, and -everywhere was furniture of the richest description, but covered with -dust and hung with cobwebs. We stopped finally, far within, before a -door which appeared to lead outside. - -“It is no use,” said I. “Our friend is gone, if he was ever here, and -we must seek him elsewhere.” - -“No, no,” said my daughter. “We must find the Cobweb Room.” - -She led the way out into an open court green with moss and weeds, -in the center of which was a fountain with a dry and littered basin -beneath it. I stopped suddenly, and listened. “Hark!” said I. From a -distance came, or seemed to come, the voices of the three blind ballad -singers, shouting out some ribald ballad. My daughter smiled, and I -called out, “Urban!” The singing ceased, and there was no response to -my cry. “Come,” said my daughter, and led me around the dry fountain to -an alley of cypress trees which opened toward a section of the mansion -beyond the court. - -An open door at the end of this alley admitted us to a circular -chamber, very lofty, evidently an audience room, deserted like the -rest, on one side of which, on a daïs, stood a marble seat with arms, -covered with cobwebs. - -“Ah! Look!” said my daughter, and pointed to an open doorway on the -opposite side of the room. - - -_The Solitary Figure Behind the Spider’s Web_ - -The doorway was barred from top to bottom and from side to side with a -single monstrous spider’s web. We stood before it and looked through. -Seated beside a table in a little room with a high window barred -likewise with a cobweb was the figure of our friend, the governor of -Oogh. - -His head was resting mournfully on his hand, and he was staring -vacantly at the floor. His hair was long and powdered with dust; his -beard had grown to a great length; but he had no eyebrows. His hands -and clothing were white with dust, and there was around his neck, -in striking contrast, a gold chain, of very fine gold and delicate -workmanship. - -“Urban!” I cried. “We are here!” - -He did not move. I called his name again, but he seemed not to hear. -He did not move nor speak. I pushed briskly against the cobweb, but it -held like wire; I could not break through, though I dashed against it -with all my strength. I tried to cut it with a sharp knife which I wore -under my smock, but it was no use; the cobweb held, and the blade was -broken. - -We remained for a moment, peering in at our friend, uncertain what to -do. Who could have been the author of this witchery? I remembered the -name which had occurred on one of the ballad singers’ sheets. I gave -a last look at the silent and motionless figure within, and led my -daughter back to the court of the dry fountain. There she sat down on -the rim of the empty basin, and looked up at the sky as if listening. -A faint sound, as of singing at a distance, seemed to float down to us. - -“Just as I thought,” said my daughter. “It will be best for me to -remain here. I think some information will come to me here, if I wait. -Do you go down into the city, father, and seek what you may find there. -I will wait here until you return. Don’t be uneasy, father; I shall not -be lonesome.” And she laughed, as if at some joke. - -I did not understand her purpose, and I refused to leave her; but she -insisted, and I gave in at last. She always had her way. - -I left her, and set forth alone to obtain such information as I could. -I was passing out through the ruinous gateway into the street, when I -heard, or fancied I heard, from the direction of the house, the voices -of the three blind ballad singers, in one of their songs; but when I -stopped to listen I could hear them no longer, and I concluded that I -had been mistaken. - -I reached the market place, and stood for a moment behind an awning, -debating whether I might put a question regarding Babadag the Tailor. -I was still uncertain what to do, when a slight commotion among the -people attracted my notice. I looked out from my concealment, and saw, -approaching from the next corner, the boy whom I had found beside the -wayside well. - - -_The Prince Watches the People’s Behavior Toward the Boy_ - -His face was dark with a sort of settled gloom. He walked slowly, and -as he came on the people made way for him and stood whispering in -groups and glancing at him furtively over their shoulders. He paused -at one of the stalls and picking up some dates looked at the vender, -timidly and appealingly, as if about to speak; but the vender sidled -away from him toward the nearest group, and the boy put down the fruit, -sighed, and went on. - -He passed the place of my concealment, and by this time tears were -beginning to trickle down his cheeks. But he held his head proudly, and -looking neither to right nor to left passed out of sight around the -next corner. - -I followed him, hoping for some light upon the general mystery. I -followed him across the city, through many streets, wondering why -it was that a boy so gentle and so beautiful should seem to inspire -everywhere a kind of mild and listless aversion. At one place a child -ran up to him and tugged at his garments, and the boy’s face lighted -up with pleasure; but the child’s mother pulled her infant away in a -hurry, and the boy went on, more sadly than before. - -He came to a street in which, for the space of a single block, the -shops and houses were evidently deserted; and in the middle of this -block, before a shop with broken windows, deserted apparently like the -rest, the boy stopped, and pushing open the front door, went in. - -I came up quickly, and peeping in at the same door saw a vacant room -within, in which remnants of old merchandise were lying about in -disorder, and dirt and refuse lay everywhere on the floor. I went in -quietly and crossed the room to a door at the rear, and opening it on -a crack saw the boy stooping down in a paved yard. I heard the boy -speak, without hearing what he said, and saw him descend by some means -into the ground and disappear. - -I ran to the spot and knelt down beside an iron grating, some three -feet square, which I found there in the pavement. I heard from below a -rumble, succeeded by a clatter, and then there was silence. Laying down -my pack on the ground I pulled at the grating, and found that it rose -on hinges, like a trapdoor. I opened it, and saw beneath it a ladder. I -stepped on the top rung, and went down. - - -_The Man with the Ball in the Underground Alley_ - -At the bottom I found myself at one end of a dimly lighted room, very -long and very narrow, like an enclosed alley; and near by was the boy, -and beside him a grown man, both intent on something at the other end -of the room. The man was swinging in his right hand a large wooden -ball, and as I watched him he cried out, laughing cheerily: - -“Never mind, Figli! This time I’ll make a strike! Only forty-seven more -to make! Now watch!” - -He hurled the ball from him along the floor, and it rolled swiftly to -the far end of the room, where it crashed in among ten large wooden -bottles, standing upright on the floor. He was playing tenpins. - -“Oh!” cried the boy called Figli. “Only seven!” - -“Never mind, never mind,” said the Bowler, cheerfully, and ran up the -alley and set up the pins, and then ran back with the ball, in great -haste. As he came back, he appeared to look directly at me, but gave no -sign of having seen me. I scanned his face closely. He was blind. His -hair and beard were black, and he had no eyebrows. - -The boy flung out his hands as if in despair, and cried: - -“It’s no use! You can’t do it! Forty-seven strikes to make by midnight! -Oh, he’ll give you to Goolk the Spider! What shall I do? What shall I -do?” - -“Perhaps I can help you,” said I, coming forward. - -The boy sprang up, and the Blind Bowler wheeled round toward me. - -“Oh! it’s you,” said the boy named Figli. “What can a peddler do -against the Eyebrow?” - -“Who is it?” said the Blind Bowler. - -“It’s a stranger with eyebrows,” said Figli, “who was kind to me -to-day.” - -The Blind Bowler sent a ball spinning up the alley, and all the ten -pins fell down with a clatter. - -“A strike!” cried Figli, joyfully. - -“We’ll do it yet!” said the Bowler. “Only forty-six more! Never give -up! Keep everlastingly at it, that’s my motto!” And he ran after the -ball, set up the pins, and ran back, ready to throw again. - -“If he has eyebrows,” said he, panting and wiping his forehead, “he -must have a will of his own; and it must be a good will, or else he -wouldn’t have been kind to you.” - -He rolled the ball again, knocking down only six. - -“Better luck next time!” he cried, and darted up the alley. “Never say -die, and keep everlastingly at it, that’s the motto!” - -“My boy,” said I, “I beg you to trust me, and to tell me who you are, -and why--” - -“A strike!” cried the Blind Bowler. “Only forty-five to make by -midnight! Trust him, Figli! His voice is honest. I think he is the one -we have been waiting for. Trust him!” - -“It’s hard for me to tell you,” said the boy, “it’s too--” - -“I’ll tell you!” cried the Blind Bowler, running down the alley. “His -name is Figli Babadag. Does that tell you everything?” - -“No, nothing,” said I. - -“Eight down that time!” cried the Bowler. “Never say die! He’s the son -of Babadag the Tailor. Now do you know?” - -“No,” said I. - -“Then I must tell you,” said the Blind Bowler. “It is Babadag who rules -the city; don’t you know that? Master of black secrets is Babadag, and -lord of the Eyebrow; and his anger is terrible. He has put the golden -chain about the Governor’s neck and shut him up in the Cobweb Room. -He has drawn the wills from out of the brains of all our people, by -plucking out their eyebrows, so that in all the city there are but two -wills only, one bad and one good: the will of Babadag and the will of -his little son. Nine down that time! Never give up!” - -“Oh!” cried Figli. “I want my father to be good! I want him to be poor -and good like the others! If I could only make him good!” - -“Only one way to do that!” said the Blind Bowler, halfway down the -alley. “He is lord of the Eyebrow, and in the Eyebrow lies his power. -But the hairs of his eyebrows are no ordinary hairs; they are of the -family of gray snakes that live in the lake Siskratoum, and there is no -one to cut them, even if there were a blade sharp enough; and they must -be cut by the hand of love, and there is no one here that loves him, -but his son. There is not one but trembles at his name, and even at the -name of Figli his son;--there is scarcely one who dares brush against -the boy in the street, for fear of what power may lie in the eyebrows -of the boy, and for fear of his father’s malice.” - -“They won’t speak to me!” cried Figli. “They’re afraid of me! And I’ve -done them no harm! I only want to be friends with them!” - -“You see he’s all alone. He hates his riches; he wants to be poor and -simple, like the others.” - -“And what about yourself?” said I. - -“Ah!” cried the Blind Bowler. “Only six down that time! Not so easy, -when you’ve no eyes to see with! But keep everlastingly at it, that’s -the word! What did you say?” - -“What about yourself?” said I. - -“Oh, me! I helped the governor fight this Babadag, and we lost; and -for that the powerful one put out my eyes, and the eyes of my three -brothers as well, for nothing but because they were my brothers; three -ballad singers--” - -“Yes!” said I. “I have seen them.” - -“Ridiculous fellows, but no harm in them! And because it was my -pleasure in former times to play at bowling, old Babadag placed me -here, under my shop, to bowl a thousand strikes, if I could, by -midnight of this very day; and if not, to take my place in the web with -Goolk the Spider. Those ballad singers, my brothers, they would like -to help me if they could, and perhaps they will yet, who knows? Aha! -Another strike! I’ll do it yet!” - -“It’s no use,” said Figli. “The time’s too short. And I can’t save him. -Oh, if you could help us, peddler! But you mustn’t do my father any -harm!” - -“My boy,” said I, “I am a friend of the enchanted governor, and I will -do my best to help you. And perhaps the three blind ballad singers mean -to help too. I think they do. Will you take me to your father?” - -The boy started in alarm. “You are very brave, peddler,” said he. “What -do you say?” he asked of the Blind Bowler. - -“I say yes!” cried the Bowler. “There is hope in this stranger. I think -he’s the one we’ve been waiting for. My brothers have been on the -lookout for him. They’ll help too. Trust him!” - -“Do you know any stories?” said the boy. - -I smiled. “A few, I dare say,” said I. - -“My father is a lover of tales. It’s his one weakness. It will be safer -for you if you can amuse him with tales, and the longer they are the -better.” - -“The wine, if he offers you any,” said the Blind Bowler, “will be -drugged; that much is sure. Take care. And do not let yourself be -touched by Goolk the Spider.” - -“Come,” said I. “There is not a moment to be lost.” - - -_The Prince Sets Out for His Encounter with Babadag the Tailor_ - -I hastened to the ladder, followed by the boy, and we began to go up. -The tenpins fell down with a clatter, and as I reached the grating -overhead I heard the voice of the Blind Bowler from below, crying out -cheerily, “Four down! Never mind! Keep everlastingly at it!” - -In the paved yard I slung my pack on my back again, and followed the -boy into the street. It was beginning to grow dark, and I thought -anxiously of my daughter; but I could not go back to her yet. During -our walk the boy spoke only once, and then he said: - -“You must not do my father any harm. I love my father. I want him to be -good, like the others, but I should die--I should die!--if he came to -any harm.” - -I did not reply, but followed for half an hour through streets which -were now almost empty of people. We entered at last a street narrower -than the others, paved with cobblestones and without a sidewalk, -and stopped before a shop over whose door, by way of a sign, hung a -yardstick and a pair of shears. It seemed a mean enough abode for the -ruler of the city, but Figli, without hesitating, opened the door and -went in. The room inside was dark, but I could see a tailor’s bench and -implements, and a disorderly array of half-finished garments, covered -with dust. The boy opened a door at the rear, and I followed him along -a dark passage to another door, which Figli threw open to a flood of -light. - - -_Babadag the Tailor, Goolk the Spider, and the Eight Tailors_ - -We were standing in a magnificent apartment, paved with colored marble, -hung and spread with soft rugs, and lit with hundreds of tapers. At -the left, near the wall, was sitting an old man, and behind his chair, -from ceiling to floor, was a gigantic spider’s web, which glistened -like silver in the candlelight. In the center of this web was a great -green spider, with five or six small black spiders about him. Against -the opposite wall, on a tailor’s bench, eight men, totally without -eyebrows, were sitting cross-legged, each bending over a bowl held on -his knees, filled with what looked like shreds of hair, and engaged in -some kind of work with tiny knitting needles. - -The old man’s gross and heavy body was clothed in a gorgeous robe of -pale yellow silk, like that which the boy had thrown in the mud, but -embroidered with spider’s webs of spun gold, and studded with rubies -and amethysts. His face, a rather jovial face, was covered with gray -hair, which hung over his breast, and his eyes shone like sparks behind -a pair of the shaggiest eyebrows I had ever seen. He gazed at me -calmly, and held out a hand to his son. - -The boy went to him, and Babadag the Tailor put an arm about him and -said, with very obvious tenderness: - -“My boy, you are late. And your robe and hat! Where are they?” - -The boy threw himself on his knees beside his father, and cried, -“Oh, father! I couldn’t wear them any longer. I couldn’t! They’re -hateful! I don’t want to be dressed in silk! I want to be poor like the -others! I can’t wear them any longer, I can’t, I can’t!” - -[Illustration: “You are welcome, master peddler,” said Babadag] - -The old man smiled kindly. “Never mind, my son, never mind. I’ll not -scold you. We’ll think no more about it. Who is the visitor you have -brought with you?” - -“It’s a peddler,” said Figli, standing up. “I don’t know his name; a -peddler I met by chance, and I’d like you to buy me something from his -pack.” - -I stepped forward, made my bow, and dropped my pack to the floor. - -“You are welcome, master peddler,” said Babadag. - -The green spider gave a sharp twitch, which set the whole web quivering. - -“Quiet, Goolk!” said Babadag. - -The eight men on the tailor’s bench stopped their work, and said: -“Welcome, master peddler!” - -“Knit your brows!” said Babadag, angrily, and the eight men hurriedly -resumed their knitting. - -I opened my pack and began to take out some toys. - -“Presently, presently, peddler,” said Babadag, stopping me. “Your face -is dark, stranger. A little more, and it would have been black.” - -“Yes, very dark,” said the eight men, stopping their work again. - -“Knit your brows!” thundered Babadag. “Accursed dogs, be silent!--A -dark stranger, who wears eyebrows in the city of Oogh! A thing of -interest! I would gladly know who you are and what brings you here.” - -I was prepared with my story, and I answered promptly. - -“Magnificence,” said I, “I am a peddler, and my name is Nobbud -Bald-er-Dash. If the ear of graciousness will incline to me, I will -tell an amusing tale concerning myself, and at some length.” - -“A tale!” cried Babadag. “You must know, honest Bald-er-Dash, that I am -a lover of tales. A weakness! I confess it. Come! We will make a night -of it. Goolk,” said he, rising, “come hither!” - -The green spider sped down the web to the floor, and ran up the old -man’s yellow silk robe, and came to a stop on his breast, beside his -beard. - -“It is the hour of the evening repast,” continued Babadag, stroking the -spider with his finger, “and I invite you to sit down with me. A guest -who has a tale to tell! It is good fortune, no less! Come, Figli, my -son, we will listen to the excellent Bald-er-Dash while we dine.” - - -_The Prince Dines with Babadag the Tailor_ - -He pulled aside a curtain in the wall, and leaving the eight men at -their work, we passed, all three, into an open court, hung about with -lanterns of colored glass, and odorous with flowers. Under an awning -was a small table, set for two. It was now dark, and the lanterns shed -a soft glow on the silver and glass of the table. Servants appeared and -laid a place for myself, and the meal commenced. - -“You are wondering, Bald-er-Dash,” said Babadag, “who the eight men -are whom we have just left. They are tailors, known among us as the -Knitters of Eyebrows. They are knitting for me, out of the eyebrows -which my good people have been so kind as to give me, a garment known -as the Cloak of Wills, which will, when finished, complete the mastery -of the fortunate person who wears it. Try a little of this wine, my -good Bald-er-Dash; you will find it excellent.” - -I pretended to drink the wine, but I was able, while Babadag’s -attention was fixed on his plate, to spill a good deal of it on the -floor. - -“I am anxious to hear your story,” said the old man. “The singers who -sometimes entertain me at my meals are late to-day, and we will not -wait for them. Bald-er-Dash, my good fellow, let me hear your tale.” - -At this moment voices were heard from the shadows, and three men came -running toward the table, crying out boisterously. - -“Good news!” they were shouting. “We’re going to marry! She’s promised! -She’ll marry the one you choose, tra la! She’ll marry the one you -choose!” - - -_The Three Blind Ballad Singers Once More_ - -They began to sing, at the top of their voices. I started in surprise. -It was the three blind ballad singers. “O-o-oh!” they sang: - - “She wanted to marry us all, she said, - But that wouldn’t do, no never, - No never, no never, no, no! - From suitors a dozen, - Not counting a cousin - And two or three uncles or so, - She’d freely and frankly, firmly and fairly, - Flatly and finally fled! - For never a one could sing, not one, - Not a line, not a note, not a thing, not one, - And she, she said, if she must be wed, - A singer she’d have, or she’d have none, - For really she’d almost rather be dead - If she couldn’t be uninterruptedly fed - On an endless tonic - Of scales harmonic - In every possible key, - An infinite series, never finished, - Of chords with all the sevenths diminished, - And all the intervals less than minor,-- - Surely nothing could be diviner, - Nothing! nothing at all, said she: - And after breakfast a quaver hemi, - And after dinner a quaver demi, - And after supper a quaver semi, - And in between, for ever and ever, - Every possible kind of shake! - The fact of the matter is, you see, - She’d made up her mind, beyond mistake, - To offer her hand to one of we! - But which should it be? - Which one of the three? - And what of the two who would have to go? - What about them? she said; that’s it! - She didn’t approve the idea a bit. - Those other two she could never forget,-- - Just think of them out in the cold and wet! - Just think of their terrible, terrible woe! - She wanted to marry, and yet, and yet, - She’d never be happy, no never, - No never, no never, no, no!” - -“Silence, fools,” said Babadag, laughing. “We are about to listen to -a tale,--a tale from Bald-er-Dash the peddler. Will you proceed now, -excellent peddler?” - -“Willingly,” said I. - -At the sound of my voice, the three blind men cried out “Aha!” and -broke into a fresh song: - - “The peddler and the peddler’s maid, oh fair as milk was she, - And she promised on her honor she would marry one of three,--” - -“Silence, rascals!” said Babadag. - -I was becoming, all this while, more and more restless, for I had no -doubt that all this talk of marriage had reference to my own daughter. -I wondered bitterly what mischief she had been up to during my absence. - -“These rascals,” said Babadag, still laughing, “sometimes I am minded -to put them to death. I don’t know really why I let them live. Now -then, excellent one, let us hear the tale.” - -I bowed, and while the repast proceeded, and the three ballad singers -remained standing behind our chairs, I related to Babadag, as follows, - - -THE STORY OF NOBBUD BALD-ER-DASH THE PEDDLER - -“In the course of my wanderings,” I began, “I arrived one day at a -spring in the wilderness, beside which were encamped a company of--” - -_“I think,” said Solario, interrupting himself, “that I cannot -conscientiously repeat this story, because--”_ - -_“Oh, please!” said Bojohn. “We’d like to hear it.”_ - -_“No,” said. Solario, “I couldn’t, conscientiously, because there is -not a word of truth in the story, and I do not wish to tell anything -which is not strictly true.”_ - -During my tale (said the Prince) I pretended now and then to take a -sip of wine, and to grow drowsy, so that toward the end I seemed to -have difficulty in keeping awake. When I had concluded, Babadag laughed -and said, “I thank you, peddler. Never in my life have I heard such a -tissue of--er--amusing facts. Some more wine, peddler.” - -I pretended to sip the wine again, and let my head fall forward on my -breast, and roused myself as if with a great effort. - -“I am something,” said Babadag, appearing to take no notice of my -drowsiness, “of a teller of tales myself. I will tell you in return a -story, and when I have finished you shall tell me another, if you know -any, as you undoubtedly do.” - -Thereupon he commenced a long and detailed story; and I could see that -as he proceeded he was watching me from the corner of his eye. He had -not spun out his tale very far when my eyes closed and my head nodded; -and after an apparent effort to arouse myself I let my head fall -forward on the table and lie there motionless. - -Babadag instantly stopped, raised my head gently, and laying it back -against my chair shook me roughly, but with no effect. - -“Send in the accursed dogs,” said he in a fierce whisper. - -I was aware, in a moment, that the eight tailors were standing around -me. - -“The eyebrows!” said Babadag, and the tailors bent over me and began to -pluck at my eyebrows with instruments of some sort. - -“Oh, father, father,” said Figli, “please don’t!” - -“Be still, my son,” said Babadag. - - -_The Magic Doublet Protects the Prince Against the Knitters of Eyebrows -and Against Goolk the Spider_ - -I laughed inwardly, for I was sure that, under the protection of my -doublet, my eyebrows would reappear as fast as they could be plucked -out. And indeed, from the snort of rage given by Babadag, I soon knew -that my eyebrows were safe. I could hear the eight tailors whispering -together, as if in dismay. - -“Goolk!” said Babadag, in the same angry whisper, “sting me this false -peddler!” - -“No, no, father,” said Figli. “Not that, oh, please!” - -I shivered a little, for I confess that the thought of the spider was -horrifying to me. I waited anxiously, not daring to open my eyelids -even a trifle. I assure you it was all I could do to remain still. -There was silence, and in the midst of it I felt a tickling on my left -cheek, and then a kind of pin-prick there, and I knew that the spider -had stung me. - -“Back, Goolk!” said Babadag. “Now, false peddler that you are, be -no longer either a prince or a peddler, but a spider,--a black -spider!--and take your place with Goolk in the web! Change!” - -I felt no change, and I heard another snort of rage from Babadag. “Some -charm!” he muttered. “Some charm protects him! Let us see what charm -this lying stranger carries upon him.” - -I felt that my smock was being lifted from my breast, and I heard a -kind of gasp from Babadag. “The doublet!” he said. “It is plain! Off -with the doublet!” And immediately fingers were at my breast, trying to -unbutton the doublet. - -But they could not unbutton it. Not a button would come through its -hole. - -“Fetch me a pair of shears, rascals,” said Babadag, and in a moment I -knew that shears were snapping away at my doublet. But it was no use; -the blade would not cut, neither the thread of the buttons nor the -cloth; they held like iron at every point. I heard the shears drop to -the floor. - -“The Shears of Sharpness! Bring me the Shears of Sharpness!” said -Babadag. “Nothing else will cut this doublet.” - -I heard a chuckle, and the voice of one of the ballad singers said, -“The Shears of Sharpness, brothers!” And there was another chuckle. - -“What!” said Babadag. “You laugh, rascals? You dare to laugh?” - -“The Shears of Sharpness!” said the voice of one of the ballad singers. -“Where are the Shears of Sharpness, brothers?” And at this there was a -very considerable tittering. - -“Ask the fair lady, brother,” said the voice of another of the ballad -singers. - -“She knows! The wonderful lady!” said the voice of the third. - -“Ineffable scoundrels!” said Babadag. “Have you stolen my Shears?” - -“No, no! Only borrowed them! What harm in that?” said the ballad -singers. - -“Return them to me at once!” said Babadag. - -I could hear the ballad singers chuckling together again. “We would, we -would,” said one of them, “we meant to, but--” - -“But what, beast?” - -“She has them,” said one of the three. - -“The most wonderful of women,” said another. - -“She who swore she would marry one of us,” said the third. - - -_The Prince’s Daughter Has Beguiled the Shears of Sharpness from the -Ballad Singers_ - -My daughter! My own daughter! She had beguiled the Shears from these -foolish vagabonds! Or had they let her have the Shears for some purpose -of their own--to help their brother, say? I was quite bewildered. - -“Oh, that I should let such scoundrels live!” said Babadag, fiercely. -“Where is this woman?” - -“But she wouldn’t marry us unless we gave her the Shears,” said one of -the ballad singers. “No harm in that!” - -“No harm in that, surely!” said the other two. - -“Where is this woman?” said Babadag again. - -“We left her,” said one of the others, “by the dry fountain at the -governor’s palace.” - -“Accursed,” said Babadag, evidently addressing the eight tailors, “pick -up this peddler and follow me. We must find the Shears. You, imbeciles -that you are, I will deal with you afterward. Goolk, back to your web!” - -I could not see what became of Goolk, but I knew that the eight tailors -were lifting me from my chair, and I felt myself being borne away. - -“Oh, father!” cried Figli. “You mustn’t! Please let the poor man go, oh -please!” - -“My son,” said Babadag, in the voice of tenderness with which he always -addressed his son, “he is my enemy. I must have him in my power. -Accursed doublet!” - - -_A Light Flickers in the Dark Shop_ - -In a moment I was aware that we were in the street, and I opened my -eyelids a trifle. The moon was shining. I saw Babadag starting on -before, with the three ballad singers at his back. Behind, the eight -tailors were holding me in a sitting posture between them. I could -see the shop door, without moving my head, and as we started I beheld -Figli, coming from the door, in the act of stowing away something, I -could not see what, in the bosom of his shirt. The shop was dark, but -as Figli closed the door behind him I noticed, flickering from within, -a tiny flame of light which had not been there before. I remarked that -the boy’s face was very pale in the moonlight. - -We came, after a long journey through deserted streets, to the little -hill which led up to the governor’s palace. We entered the ruined park, -and crossed it to the mansion. Babadag opened the door, and the company -paused inside, listening. All was silent. I had an impulse to shout, -in order to warn my daughter; but I knew that that would be fatal, and -I continued to lie inert and speechless in the arms of the tailors. I -risked opening my eyes from time to time, and I saw that Babadag was -leading the way from room to room, all dark except for moonlight here -and there upon the floors, and that he came at last, followed by all -the others, into the court of the dry fountain; and there the eight -tailors laid me down on the ground. My heart almost stopped beating, -for fear that my daughter should be there. - -“Vile rascals,” said Babadag, “you have deceived me! There is no woman -here.” - -“Astonishing!” said one of the ballad singers. “Not here! Who would -have thought it?” - -“I doubt that she was ever here,” said Babadag. “Wait!” - -I saw him go off down the alley of cypress trees toward the Cobweb -Room, no doubt to assure himself that his prisoner was safe, or else -to seek the woman there. As soon as he was gone, I felt a hand on my -arm, and the voice of Figli whispered in my ear, “Are you awake?” and I -pressed his hand in answer. - - -_The Prince’s Daughter Is Gone, and the Prince Makes a Dash for Liberty_ - -The eight tailors were sitting on the rim of the fountain’s basin, -mopping their foreheads and panting, and the blind men were standing -near them. I measured with my eye the distance to the door from which -I had come, and gave a sudden spring toward it which carried me nearly -there; and I was off and away, before the eight tailors realized what -had happened. - -I scoured swiftly and silently through the dark rooms in all -directions, listening now and then for sounds of pursuit. But I heard -nothing, and I began to whisper my daughter’s name from time to time. -In a room far distant from the court, to which I presently came, I -found the door at the opposite side closed, which in that house of open -doors struck me as being odd. A broad band of moonlight lay across the -floor, and in the dim light I could see the furnishings of a kitchen. -I approached the opposite door and opened it cautiously, thinking to -go through; but I looked into a cupboard, hung with pots and pans, and -there on the floor of the cupboard was sitting my daughter, calmly -eating a fig. - -She looked up at me with a merry laugh, and sprang to her feet. - -“There are very good fig trees in the park,” said she. “Will you have -one of these? No? You’ve been gone a long time. I heard some people -going through the house, and I thought I had better wait in here. I’m -going to be married!” - -“Come,” said I, “we’ve no time for jesting.” - -“But it’s the best joke!” said my daughter. “When I think how I -played on those half-wits! I’ve never had such sport in my life! I -promised to marry one of them, if they’d choose which--do you remember -the three ballad singers?” - -[Illustration: “Beauty in tatters!” said Babadag the Tailor] - -“And you have the Shears of Sharpness,” said I. - -“How do you know that?” said she. “They’re simply mad! And I wouldn’t -promise them anything unless they gave me the Shears. And they did! -And I promised! And now you’ve got to get me out of it. Here are the -Shears. Take them.” - -“I suspect, my dear,” said I, taking the Shears from her, “that these -three imbeciles meant that you should have the Shears all the time, and -they’ve been making a bit of a fool of you. But there’s no time for -talking. Hurry!” - -I stepped quickly toward the door, and as I reached it it was blocked -by a huge dark figure. It was Babadag. - -“Not so fast, peddler,” said he; and then he saw my daughter, who was -standing in the band of moonlight, most fairylike and beautiful. He -brushed past me and stopped before her, gazing at her in astonishment -and admiration. - -“Beauty in tatters!” he said. “No wonder that even blind men are -conquered. You make me forget the Shears. Surely there is no woman in -Oogh so beautiful. Will you look on me kindly? I am powerful, and I -offer you a share of my power. It is Babadag who speaks.” - -He held out his hand to her, and she shrank away in horror. “No, no!” -she screamed. “Father!” - -Babadag turned swiftly, and at that moment I sprang upon him; but the -old man snatched forth a knife, and as I caught and held the arm which -was lifted to strike, a small dark figure darted in from the doorway -and flung something over the old man’s neck from behind. - - -_Babadag the Tailor Is Conquered by His Little Son_ - -The knife dropped from Babadag’s hand. He swayed, tottered, collapsed, -and fell full length on the floor, and lay motionless on his back in -the strip of moonlight. The little dark figure knelt beside him. It was -Figli. - -“Oh, father! Oh, father!” he cried. “I’m sorry, sorry! I had to do it! -I couldn’t let you kill him! It can’t go on any longer! The eyebrows -must be cut, father! It’s only to make you like the others! We’ll both -be happier, oh, indeed we will! It’s only because I love you, father!” - -“I didn’t think you would have done this, Figli, my son,” said the old -man, gently. “You have put me in the power of my enemy. Ah, Figli, my -son, my son!” - -“I know it, I know it,” sobbed the boy, “but the lady will give the -Shears to me, and I will cut the eyebrows myself, with my own hand. The -peddler will do you no harm. You’ll be glad, father, afterward, indeed -you will.” - -“Ah, my son, my son! I wouldn’t have thought it of you,” said the old -man, still gently. - -I knelt beside him, and found around his neck a noose of the slenderest -thread, extremely tough; and the end of this thread the boy was holding -in his hand. I took it from him and looked at him inquiringly. - -“Yes,” said the boy, “it was spun by Goolk the Spider, and there is no -will can stand against it, not even my father’s. It’s the thing that -made him first able to pluck out the eyebrows of the people. I stole it -as we left the shop to-night. You won’t do him any harm, will you?” - -I stood up, keeping the end of the thread in my hand. A patter of -running feet sounded from the next room, and the eight tailors crowded -in at the doorway. They rushed to their master, and wailed and wrung -their hands. One of them drew a pair of shears, and began to snip -away at the thread, but it was plain that no ordinary blade would cut -it, and the tailor gave it up, and the other seven wailed louder than -before. - -“Lift up this knave,” I said, “and follow me.” - -The eight tailors obeyed instantly, and our party started back to the -court of the dry fountain. I walked beside the body of Babadag, keeping -close hold of the thread. When we reached the court, the three ballad -singers were sitting calmly on the rim of the basin, singing softly to -themselves. My daughter, ever incorrigible, greeted them with an amused -laugh, and they crowded around her, each trying to elbow the others out -of the way. At my command, the eight tailors laid Babadag down on his -back in the dry basin. I then gave the end of the thread into the hand -of my daughter, and left them. - -I ran down the cypress alley to the deserted audience chamber. I looked -through the cobweb at Urban, and by the dim light of the high window -saw him sitting there motionless as stone, in the same attitude as -before. - -“I am here!” I cried, but he neither moved nor spoke. I applied the -Shears, and in a moment the cobweb was hanging in shreds, and I was -standing beside my friend. I tried to pull him up, but I could not -budge him. I lifted the golden chain from around his neck, and dropped -it to the floor. Immediately he raised his head, stretched his arms, -looked up at me as if awaking from a dream, and sprang to his feet. - -“Prince!” he cried, and threw his arms about me in a transport of joy. - -I calmed him, and when he had recovered himself he said, “What of -Babadag?” - -“He is in the court at this moment,” said I, “bound fast.” - -“Good news indeed!” he cried. “Let us go!” - - -_The Governor, Being Released, Beholds the Prince’s Daughter_ - -We sped back to the court, and when Urban beheld my daughter he -scattered the blind men right and left and clasped her hand in his. I -took from her the end of the thread and knelt in the basin beside the -huge body of Babadag, and gazed down into his eyes, glittering up at me -in the moonlight through their tangle of hair. I drew the Shears. - -“No, no!” cried the boy. “You must not! Give me the Shears! I must do -it, for you do not love him, and I do! Only the hand of love! Give me -the Shears!” - -“No time for talking!” I cried. “This is no child’s play. Work for -a man! And I trust no one but myself! Now for the shearing of the -Eyebrow!” - -The boy shrieked, as if in despair, and with a mighty snap of the -Shears I cut in among the hairs of Babadag’s left eyebrow. - - -_The Shearing of the Eyebrow_ - -A spout of yellow smoke shot upward from his eyebrow, and whirled and -spread outward in a cloud, thick, sickening, blinding, pierced with -wriggling pencils of light, as if tiny snakes had been set riotously -free. It covered us both, so that he was suddenly hidden from my sight. -I gasped and choked. My eyes smarted with pain. I snapped blindly away -at him through the smoke with my Shears, resolved not to be foiled. -There was a sharp crack, as of the snapping of a whip; the Shears had -cut,--alas, alas!--not the Eyebrow, but the thread around Babadag’s -neck! Instantly the Shears were wrenched from my hand, I did not know -how; and I felt them ripping through my smock, and I knew that some -injury had been done to my doublet. A terrible voice bellowed, “Hither, -accursed dogs, and bind me this peddler!” And the next moment I was -lying on my back, with the thread fastened securely about my neck; and -my strength was suddenly gone, and the smoke began to clear away. - -I saw the old man put his arm tenderly about his son, and heard him -say, “It’s all right now, my boy. I am not angry. You have put your -father in great danger, but not from malice; I know it well. Don’t be -grieved; we’ll laugh about it together, hereafter. All’s well again. -Come, Figli, my son. Rascals, follow me!” - -He stalked away with his son down the cypress alley, and the eight -tailors lifted me and bore me after, followed by my daughter and my -friend. I looked for the three blind ballad singers, but they were -gone. I was in terrible danger, and I bitterly regretted my haste in -refusing the Shears to the boy. - - -_The Prince before the Seat of Judgment_ - -In the circular audience chamber they laid me down upon the floor. -Babadag, grotesque and somber in the darkness, seated himself in the -marble armchair on the daïs; and at the same time I heard, or fancied -I heard, the voices of the ballad singers, afar off somewhere in the -palace, singing away at one of their songs. - -“Pluck out the hairs!” said Babadag. - -“No, no!” said Figli, lying on the step of the daïs at his father’s -feet. - -“Quick, scoundrels!” said Babadag; and the eight tailors, kneeling -around me, plucked out with tiny instruments all the hairs of my -eyebrows, by the roots. Then, at a sign from their master, they stood -me on my feet and removed the spider’s thread from around my neck. My -strength returned, and I found myself able to stand alone. - -“Gone is your power, maker of fables!” said Babadag. “The doublet is -worthless. See!” And he held up what appeared to be the thread of a -button. My smock was in strips, and the doublet was exposed to view. -One button was missing. What had become of it? Babadag exhibited only -the thread. - -“Dog of a peddler,” said he, “it is your due that I give you to Goolk -the Spider for his web.” - -“Spare him! Spare him!” said Figli, in a kind of moan, rocking himself -back and forth on the step of the daïs. - -“But Babadag is merciful,” went on the old man, “and loves a tale; -and never have I heard so amusing a tissue of lies as that tale of -Bald-er-Dash the Peddler. For that, and for the pleasure I shall have -in repeating that tale hereafter, I spare you. You are harmless. Go! -and as you have chosen to darken your skin with juices, let it be -darker still. Go! and be you henceforth as black as night. I will lead -you to the palace gate, and speed you, with your daughter and your -friend, on your journey away from Oogh. Return no more, peddler, for -the web awaits you, and Goolk the Spider longs for a brother.” - -He stepped down from his seat, and we others followed him in silence. -I was conscious of no will to resist him further. We came to the court -of the dry fountain, and there my daughter looked into my face in the -moonlight. She screamed. - -We followed mournfully through the dark rooms, and came out on the -steps before the palace; and there we saw a sight both terrible and -beautiful. - - -_The Doom of the City of Oogh_ - -The city was in flames. From every roof, as far as we could see, rose -sheets of fire, and sparks showered upward into a pall of black smoke; -and as we watched, new tongues of flame blazed up from quarters dark -before. The city was doomed. - -“Ah!” said Babadag with a groan. “My city, my city!” - -“What have I done? What have I done?” cried Figli, wringing his hands -in anguish. - -“You, my son? What have you to do with this?” said his father, never -taking his eyes from the burning city. - -“It’s my work!” cried the boy. “But I never dreamed of this! I set fire -to the shop, our shop, before I left,--to burn up all the black secrets -in my father’s house, and to kill Goolk the Spider, to kill him, kill -him, so that he would never get the Blind Bowler, nor any one else! So -that all the old riches and wickedness might be burned up forever! And -now, and now, I haven’t destroyed the Eyebrow, and I’ve burned up the -city! Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do?” - -“My son, my son,” said Babadag, quietly, never taking his eyes from the -burning city. - -I recalled now the spark of fire I had seen through the window as we -had left the tailor’s shop that night. - -The flames of the furnace below us shot higher and higher, and spread -wider and wider in every direction. - -“The Book of the Shavian Magic,” said Babadag, as if to himself. “That -must be saved.” - -He ran down the steps and started across the park. - -“Father! father! where are you going?” cried Figli, but his father paid -no attention. The boy sped after him, and we others followed. - - -_The Tailor’s Son Follows Him into the Burning City_ - -Out at the park gate and down the hill ran Babadag, and straight into -the blazing ruin which was once his city. Nothing could stop him. -Flames roared on both sides of him; sparks showered around him; walls -toppled behind him; smoke swallowed him; but he kept on. We paused in -terror; only his little boy continued to follow him, calling to him to -come back. - -A wall of flame shot out behind the running boy, and a house fell -crashing behind him into the street; and father and boy were no longer -to be seen. - -I turned away, and leaving the eight tailors wailing, I made my way -with my daughter and my friend back to the palace; and there, on the -palace steps, we sat all night long, watching the great fire burn -itself out. - -The sun rose on a city of smoking ruins; and with its first rays there -came plodding in through the park gate a blind man, who called aloud as -he reached the steps. It was the Blind Bowler. - -“I am here,” said I, “Figli’s friend; and my daughter too, and the -governor whom once you tried to help. What news?” - -“Ten strikes still lacking!” said the Blind Bowler. “But it makes no -difference now. Figli has saved me, and all the rest of us too. Come -with me.” - -He led us out into the street and down into the city, where the -homeless people were standing as if bewildered. We came into the street -where once had been the shop of Babadag the Tailor. It was there no -longer; but by some chance there yet remained the wall which held the -doorway, and above it the yardstick and the shears; and across the sill -lay Figli, on his face. - - -_The Boy Is Found on the Sill of His Ruined Home, Alive_ - -My daughter ran to him and put her arm about him. He was alive, and he -shook his head and moaned, “I want my father. I want my father.” - -“Yes,” said she, “your father. Is he--?” - -“In there,” he whispered. - -“Ah! He is--” - -“Under the wall. I saw it fall on him. He is in there.” - -“Oh, my poor boy!” - -“I killed him. And all I wanted was to make him good.” - -She put her arm under him and raised him, and he stood up. - -“Come with me, dear boy,” said she. - -“I can’t go away. I can’t leave him in there. Can’t you help me to see -him?” - -“Not now, but later, perhaps. Come with me now, and we will talk of him -together.” - -“He loved me, too. He did, didn’t he? And I killed him.” - -“Yes, he did, he did. But you mustn’t say that you--” - -“It wasn’t because I meant to harm him, was it? I wouldn’t have harmed -him, would I?” - -“No, no. It was just because you loved him, that was all.” - -“Yes, that was it. That was all it was.” - -He suffered her to lead him away, and he said nothing more, but -repeated to himself, once or twice, “That was all it was.” - -On my part, I spoke at length to the Blind Bowler, and gave him many -directions; and he, having received at my hands a purse of gold, for -use as I had instructed him, went his way; and we others then walked -slowly back to the palace, where we rested on the steps, waiting, and -Figli fell asleep with his head on my daughter’s shoulder. - -When the sun was high in the east, people began to come in at the park -gate, and the Blind Bowler, his first duty done, joined us on the -palace steps. More people came, and the park began to be filled with -them; they came before long in a steady stream, and at length the park -was crowded with a great multitude, from the steps to the gate. - -At a signal from myself, my party on the steps arose, and I addressed -the people of Oogh. I told them who I was, and how my skin had come to -be black; I told them that I was going away, and that their governor -was resolved to go with me; that I meant to leave a governor who would -help them rebuild their city, and lead them in the ways of goodness and -mercy; that the person whom I had selected for that office was the boy -known as Figli Babadag, whose soundness of heart was worth to them more -than the wisdom of years; and that such wisdom as was necessary would -be supplied by him who was called the Blind Bowler, a man who had known -how to be cheerful under affliction. And I asked them to say whether -they would have the boy Figli for their governor, and the Blind Bowler -for his aide. - -A shout of approval went up from the multitude. - -“And will you,” said I, turning to Figli, “lead these people in the -ways of goodness and mercy, and help them to forget?” - -“If you think I can,” said Figli, standing up very straight, “I will -try.” - -“And will you,” said I to the Blind Bowler, “keep faithfully at his -right hand, and never fail him?” - -“That I will!” said the Blind Bowler. “Keep everlastingly at it, that’s -the motto!” - -“The great King, my father,” said I, turning again to the people, -“will build your city ten times fairer than it was. I have given -directions for your help already, and food and shelter will soon be at -hand. Farewell! I leave you in the care of a blind man and a child! A -sound heart and a cheerful mind, my friends, are better than an army. -Farewell!” - -The multitude shouted back farewell, and my friend Urban and myself -each kissed Figli on the cheek; but my daughter kissed him on both -cheeks and hugged him to her heart; and then we went down the steps, -leaving the pale and beautiful boy and the blind man alone, and passed -out across the park through a lane opened in the crowd, down into the -city toward the city gate. - - -_The Eight Tailors Stand Before Them in a Row_ - -As we came to the last street corner before reaching the city wall, my -daughter pulled forth a handful of figs from her pocket and divided -them laughingly with Urban and myself; and at that moment a party of -eight men filed solemnly from around the corner, and came to a stop -before us in a row. It was the eight tailors. They bowed gravely, and -the first one of them said: - -“Excellency, we implore you to take pity upon us. Our master is gone, -our occupation is gone, we are friendless and alone; we can live no -longer in the city of Oogh.” - -“What do you wish me to do?” said I. - -“We beseech you to take us with you, to be your servants, your slaves, -anything. We can sew, we can knit, we can--” - -“But I am going into exile,” said I. “I am going to hide my hideous -face from the eyes of the world.” - -“Listen, most merciful one! It is known to us that the missing button -needs only to be sewn on the doublet by a tailor, with the proper -thread, in order that your skin may be white again. Nine tailors are -allowed for the trial, and here are eight!” - -“But I have neither the button nor the thread.” - -“No matter! We will search until we find them, or else turn black -ourselves in the trial. Have pity upon us, Prince!” - -“Oh, father,” said my daughter, “do let the poor things come along with -us.” - -“Very well,” said I, whereupon we walked on, and the eight tailors gave -a faint cheer and fell into line behind us. - - -_They Meet the Three Blind Ballad Singers for the Last Time_ - -As we passed through the city gate, a loud singing struck up just -outside the wall, and we beheld the three blind ballad singers, in -the midst of a dozen idlers, prancing up and down in their ridiculous -dance. They were shouting out one of their ballads, as follows: - - “The peddler came, the peddler went, the peddler lost his pack, - He came in honest walnut brown, he went away in black, - And ‘Oh!’ said the peddler, ‘I cannot come again, - For out of buttons ten, oh! only nine remain, - Only nine remain,’--” - -My daughter laughed aloud, and at the sound of her voice one of the -ballad singers cried out, “Ho! master blackface! Ballads or buttons, -what will you buy?” - -The idlers laughed, and the other two vagabonds sang out: - -“Ballads or buttons! Buy, master blackface! Ballads or buttons!” - -“What will you give for a button?” shouted the first, and he held up in -my view a large ivory button, the identical one, beyond a doubt, which -was missing from the doublet. - -“A fig for a button!” I said, and held out one of the figs in my hand. - -“A button for a fig! A bargain!” cried the first ballad singer, and -taking the fig from me placed the button in my hand. - -The idlers laughed at this nonsense, and we turned to go. - -“Farewell, farewell!” cried the first ballad singer. “What do we say to -the breaker of hearts who forgets her promise to marry?” The other two -laughed, and began to sing. - -We moved on down the road, followed by the tailors marching by fours, -and as we departed we heard behind us the voices of the blind ballad -singers for the last time, shouting out a song in this wise: - - “She said that she wanted to marry all three, - Fiddle-de-dee! Fiddle-de-dee! - And it broke her heart that it could not be, - But ‘Oh!’ said she, ‘you must all agree - On one who shall be the fortunate he, - For only one can I marry!’ - But oh! she would not wait to see, - And oh! she would not tarry, - For all that she said to the artless three - Was nothing but fiddle-de-dee, - Ah me! - Was nothing but fiddle-de-dee!” - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -THE FOURTH NIGHT - -THE RAGPICKER AND THE PRINCESS - - -_The Queen said, “Domino!” very sweetly, and smiled at the Second Lady -in Waiting, who was much chagrined._ - -_“I don’t see how I could have been so stupid,” said the Second Lady in -Waiting._ - -_“Indeed, my dear,” said the Queen, kindly, “I don’t think you were -nearly so stupid as usual.”_ - -_At this moment the Princess Dorobel, with Prince Bilbo and their son -Bojohn, and the latter’s friend Bodkin, came in from the throne room, -and the Princess Dorobel, standing behind the Queen’s chair, said:_ - -_“Mother, we are going to hear a story, and Bojohn insists that you--”_ - -_“Yes, grandmother!” said Bojohn. “We are going to ask Solario for -another story, and you must come along too.”_ - -_“Dear me,” said the Queen. “I must put away the dominoes first.”_ - -_She stacked them neatly in the box, one by one, and when this was done -she rose, and Bojohn took her arm and led her through the throne room -where the King was engaged at chess with the Lord Chamberlain._ - -_“My dear,” said the Queen to the King, “you had better come with us. -We are going to--”_ - -_“It makes no difference to me,” said the King. “You can have the -bishop if you want him. But I’ve got your queen! How do you like that? -It’s your move! Go on, why don’t you move?”_ - -_“It’s no use, grandmother,” said Bojohn. “Come along.”_ - -_They left the King at his game, and proceeded to the room of Solario -the Tailor in the tower. They were admitted by Solario himself._ - -_In the center of the room stood Mortimer the Executioner. He was -wearing an unfinished garment without any sleeves, fastened together -with pins, and basted with white thread along the seams. He looked -extremely foolish._ - -_“Oh!” said Solario, covered with confusion. “Pray come in, come in! -Her majesty herself! This is indeed an honor! I will find more chairs -in the next room. I am overpowered by this honor. Pray be seated, your -majesty. Mortimer, the fitting is postponed. Pray be seated, your -majesty. I do not know when I have received the honor of such a visit. -Pray be seated. Mortimer, bring in some chairs. I beg your majesty to -take the other chair; it is far more comfortable. Mortimer, divest -yourself; divest yourself.”_ - -_Mortimer, red with embarrassment, took off the unfinished garment and -put on his old one. Solario ran from chair to chair, assisting each of -the party to a seat._ - -_“We have come for a story,” said Prince Bilbo, “and I hope that you -will be so good as to--”_ - -_“We want to hear about Montesango’s Cave!” cried Bojohn._ - -_“Or the Blind Giant!” said Bodkin._ - -_“I beg your pardon,” said Solario, “perhaps her majesty would deign -to--”_ - -_“Ask him for Montesango’s Cave, grandmother!” cried Bojohn._ - -_“Dear me,” said the Queen, “I hardly know what to-- It’s a very -pleasant room you have here, Solario; do you ever play dominoes here? -Dear me!”_ - -_“I’ll tell you what I should like,” said the Princess Dorobel. “I -should like to hear how the goldsmith’s son won the Princess. Bojohn -has been telling us about Alb and the Princess Hyla, and I understand -there is a story, a love story--you know I dearly like love stories.”_ - -_“It isn’t precisely a love story,” said Solario, “but if her majesty -will permit me, I will--”_ - -_“Dear me, yes,” said the Queen. “A very comfortable room it is, to be -sure.”_ - -_Solario, after receiving the Queen’s permission to be seated, sat -himself cross-legged on his table, and all of the others, Mortimer the -Executioner, Bodkin, Prince Bilbo, Bojohn, the Princess Dorobel, and -the Queen, drew up their chairs before him in a row._ - -_“I will relate to you, seeing that you wish it,” said Solario, “the -story told me by Alb, the goldsmith’s son, regarding the winning of the -Princess Hyla. Shall I proceed?”_ - -_“I wish I had brought my knitting,” said the Queen, “but never mind.”_ - -_Solario picked up his shears, and gazing at them thoughtfully for a -moment, cleared his throat._ - -_“This, then,” said he, “is the story told me by Alb, regarding_ - - -“THE RAGPICKER AND THE PRINCESS.” - -When I was sixteen years old (said Alb the Fortunate) and my dear -Princess Hyla fourteen, the King, her father, sojourned for a time at -his castle of Ventamere, beside the sea; and you may be sure that the -Princess was with him there, for he could never bear to be parted from -her for a single day. - -My father followed in the King’s train, and I, on my part, was not to -be left behind; and we lodged together, my father and myself, in the -town hard by the castle, where I saw the Princess every day, and daily -grew in favor with her father. - -The windows of the King’s castle looked out across the Great Sea, and -beneath the windows of the Princess’s room the tide washed up and down -against the wall. - -One evening, as it was growing dusk, and the moon was beginning to -tinge a wave here and there with silver, the Princess was leaning out -from her window and looking across the sea-- But what I am now to tell -you I did not know at the time, as you will understand, but only later. - -Night fell, and still the Princess leaned upon her hand and gazed -out across the sea. I do not know whether she was thinking of me, -but--However. In the town of Ventamere near by, where the shore curved -inward in a bay, lights began to glimmer, but the castle was dark, for -the King, intending to commence at daybreak his journey back to his -capital, was already a-bed. - - -_The Princess Hears a Voice from the Waves Beneath Her Window_ - -The Princess, beginning to be drowsy, reached out her hand to close -the casement of her window; and as she did so she heard a voice, a -melancholy voice, not loud, as of a young man singing to himself, -directly beneath her window. She started in astonishment and looked -down, but she could see no one. The moonlight glittered on the sea -to the very base of her wall; there was no foothold anywhere for a -human foot; but the voice rose nevertheless from just below her in the -restless waters, and it was singing a kind of lament, pausing once to -put in a few spoken words, in this wise: - - “O quivering seas that sever, - O quivering severing sea! - And I would I could sing forever - The sorrows that sleep in me,-- - The soundless sundering sorrows, - The shuddering secret sorrows, - The sorrows secret and soundless, - That sleep in the soul of me. - And O! the vain endeavor! - The silence and the pain! - The silence that now shall never - Sink into the sea again! - (That’s a very good line, though, - about silence sinking into the sea. - It sounds a good deal like real - poetry. Anyway--) - Of such would I sing forever, - And sighing forever sing, - But alas, I never was clever - At all that sort of thing, - And though I would chant forever - By quivering seas that sever - And severing seas that quiver - A ceaseless sorrowing song, - I cannot sing forever, - For that would be too long.” - -The Princess waited, and the voice began again. It seemed farther out -on the water now, as if the singer were moving out to sea. The words -appeared to her to be so strange that she never forgot them, and I am -able to repeat them to you precisely as she gave them to me afterward. - - “O weary the sea’s commotion, - And weary the sea tides’ fret, - The fretful tides of the ocean - How weary and how wet! - The humid hateful ocean - The hideous heedless ocean, - The ocean huge and humid, - That always will be wet! - (If I could only once get thoroughly - dry, just for a single day! It makes - me weary, the way they go on about a - life on the ocean wave. I only wish - _they_ had to live in it all the time.) - And O! for a seat on the settle - Beside the ingle nook! - And O! for the steaming kettle! - And O! for a human cook! - I hear, on the soft breeze sighing, - The sorrowful soft breeze dying, - I hear, as it sighs and rustles, - The music of bacon frying, - And O, I long to be free! - (If I could only get ashore on two - feet, for just one hour, I know where - I’d go. I know a good warm tavern - where--) - O dear! could I only be free! - For a diet of fish and mussels, - Of cold raw fish and mussels, - Did never agree with me.” - -The voice moved off across the sea, and died away in the distance. - -_“Dear me!” said the Queen. “What an extraordinary song! And so sad, -too.”_ - -_“Never mind, grandmother,” said Bojohn. “Please let him go on with his -story.”_ - -_“Yes, yes, of course,” said the Queen, “let the poor man go on with -his story. I wonder how he remembers all those words. I’m sure I never -could have remembered them. I’ve a very poor memory for songs, myself. -It’s different with the King; I declare he never forgets anything. I -remember there was a minstrel came to the castle once, and after he was -gone the King repeated word for word--_” - -_“Please, grandmother,” said Bojohn._ - -_“What is it, my dear?”_ - -_“Solario is waiting to go on with his story.”_ - -_“So he is,” said the Queen. “I think it’s a very pretty story indeed. -I wonder how it ends!”_ - -_“Go on!” cried Bojohn, and Solario proceeded._ - -The Princess lingered, hoping to hear the voice again, but it came no -more. She turned back into her room and lit the lamp which hung from -the center of the ceiling. She stood before her mirror, with the lamp -at her back, and as she raised her hand to unfasten the pearl necklace -which she wore, she glanced at the wall beside the mirror. Her shadow, -thrown by the lamp, stood upright against the wall. And at that moment -she saw something which caused her to stiffen with terror. - - -_The Princess Sees the Shadow of an Old Woman_ - -Through the crack of her closed door at the right of her shadow, -another shadow was oozing in and spreading itself out across the wall -toward her own. It took shape, and paused for a moment; it was the -shadow of a bent old woman, stooping under a heavy bag, and holding out -in one hand a kind of poker with a hook at the end. - -The Princess held her breath. The stooping shadow stole slowly along -the wall, and touched the Princess’s shadow with its poker. Instantly -the Princess’s shadow began to move toward the other, and the other -began to back away. The strange shadow reached the door and slipped -into the crack; the Princess’s shadow followed, and slipped into the -crack after it. They were gone, and only the blank surface of the wall -remained. - -The Princess tried to move, but she could not stir; she tried to cry -out, but she could not speak. She stood there in the lamplight before -her mirror, with one hand upraised as if to unfasten her necklace; the -minutes passed, and she did not move. She heard the splashing of the -tide outside; a clock struck the hour; there was no other sound. Hours -passed, and still she stood with hand raised to her neck, before the -mirror. She heard the clock strike twelve; and on the twelfth stroke -her door swung slowly open. - - -_A Midnight Visit from a One-Armed Old Man_ - -In the doorway stood an old man; a spare old man, with long white hair -and beard, and bright blue eyes in a rosy face. His blue gown, -spangled with silver stars, lacked one sleeve, the right; he had only -one arm, and that the left. The Princess felt somehow that she was glad -he had come. - -[Illustration: The shadow of a Ragpicker oozed in through the door] - -He stepped quickly to her side and smiling kindly took down her hand -from her neck. She felt a pleasant warmth at his touch, and she sighed -with relief. He kept her hand in his, and drew her toward the door. -She had no wish to resist him. She followed quietly, and together they -passed out of the room into the dark hall.... - -At daybreak, when the King was ready to depart, there was a great -to-do. The Princess was nowhere to be found. Her lamp was still -burning, and her bed had not been slept in. The King was beside -himself, and the castle was in a turmoil. Searchers were sent in every -direction, all the bells in the town were set to ringing, and cryers -went about the streets proclaiming a reward. - -My father and myself hastened to the castle, and I knelt before the -King and begged his special leave to seek the Princess on my own -account. I knew nothing, save that she had vanished in the night, but I -resolved that I would find her, and I did not doubt of my success. - -“Go,” said the King, “and good fortune attend you. If you bring her -back, no reward will I refuse you, even to the hand of my dear child -herself. Make haste, and do not return alone.” - - -_Alb, Seeking the Princess, Sits Down by the Seashore_ - -All that morning I ran about the town, seeking her in every quarter; -but nowhere was any trace of her to be found. I came back in the -afternoon to the seashore near the castle, there to ponder what I had -best do next. Trudging along a strip of sand under a bluff beside the -sea, I came to a large rock which rose up out of the water at the -beach’s edge, and climbing up on it I seated myself on a narrow shelf -and bared my head to the breeze. - -I had sat thus only a moment when I heard a voice from the other side -of the rock, a melancholy voice, not loud, as of a young man singing to -himself; and it was singing a mournful song, pausing now and then to -speak in ordinary tones. I remember the words very well, and they were -these. - - “I dream in my deep-sea cavern - Of many a bosky copse, - I dream of a cosy tavern - And a couple of mutton chops,-- - For even the storks have gruel, - And even the sheep have corn, - But me!--it is too, too cruel! - Alas, that I ever was born. - (It’s too cruel, that’s what it is. It isn’t - right. There’s no justice in it, and I’m - sick of it, that’s what I am.) - O sorrow too deep to utter! - O midnight hour of the soul! - If there only were bread and butter, - Or something warm in a bowl,-- - (I don’t care what. I’m so sick of raw - fish, I believe I could even stand stewed - rhubarb.) - O sea, so ceaselessly sloshing, - O emblem of peace and hope!-- - But it’s utterly useless for washing, - And O! how I yearn for soap. - I seek, in my cavern’s enclosure, - To talk with the fishes, but they, - Maintaining the strictest composure, - Have simply nothing to say. - Proud heart, you are left unheeded - Alone with your grief and your ache, - When all that is really needed - Is just a mere trifle of cake. - (Not fish cake. Not that. Chocolate - cake, three layers, with walnuts on top - and in between.) - Sing on, proud heart, though breaking - With every harmonious strain, - And physic be not worth the taking - For your description of pain, - Sing on, though it be not forever, - Forever and a day,-- - (Not that there’s any sense in adding - on a day to forever. It’s long enough, - in all conscience, without that. However--) - I wish I could sing forever - To pass the dull time away; - And could I be endlessly clever - And make me an endless song, - I would sing of my sorrow forever, - I would,--were it not so long.” - -The voice gave a great sigh, and the singing ceased. - -_“I used to make up little rhymes when I was a girl,” said the -Queen, “and very pretty little rhymes they were, too, or at least -your grandmother, Dorobel, used to say so. But dear me; I never could -remember verses, no matter how hard I tried; never.”_ - -_“Yes, yes, grandmother,” said Bojohn. “Go on, Solario.”_ - -_“Now the King was different; he could remember them, but he couldn’t -make them up; and I could make them up, but I couldn’t remember them! -Tee-hee-hee! Dear, dear! When I think of it!”_ - -_“Grandmother,” said Bojohn, “Solario is waiting to go on.”_ - -_“So he is,” said the Queen. “I never liked sad stories when I was a -girl, for they_ always _made me cry. But this one may turn out -better than I expect. I really think you’re doing very nicely, Solario. -I always say, that no matter how poorly one makes out, he ought to be -praised if he is doing his best.”_ - -_“Go on!” cried Bojohn; and Solario proceeded._ - -When the singing ceased (said Alb) I climbed noiselessly around the -rock to the other side, and looked down. - - -_An Interview with a Talking Seal_ - -A fat seal was lying below me on a ledge of the rock, just out of the -water. The creature raised his head, and gazed up at me with his big -soft eyes. - -“I could have sworn the voice was here,” said I, half aloud. - -“Are you speaking to me?” said the seal. - -I assure you I jumped in amazement. “What!” said I. “Was it you?” - -“Well,” said the seal, “there’s nobody else here, is there?” - -“Of all things!” said I. “A talking seal! I never heard of such a--” - -“I suppose I haven’t any right to talk. Just because I haven’t any -legs, and have to live in a horrible sealskin, I suppose I’m not even -to utter a word. Is that it? Oh, yes, I dare say; I suppose so.” - -“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend--” - -“I suppose not. Anyway, you’d better not stand there quarreling with me -all day if you ever expect to find the Princess.” - -“Oh! Do you know anything about her? Tell me, quick!” - -“Yes, I do. I know a little about her. I know where she is. The -Ragpicker’s shadow came last night and fetched away the Princess’s -shadow, because the Ragpicker needed the Princess’s shadow to protect -her against the people. Everybody is afraid of shadows,--I suppose you -know that. And then the One-Armed Sorcerer took away the Princess, and -what he’s going to do with her I don’t know. But you’d better find out. -Are you ready to go?” - -“Yes, yes! I’m ready! I’ll go anywhere! Tell me where!” - -“You talk brave enough. The question is, do you act as brave as you -talk? Do you mind getting half-drowned?” - -“No, no! I mind nothing! Tell me what I must do!” - -“Sounds very brave, indeed. Are you afraid of shadows?” - -“Of course not!” - -“Then you’re the only person in these parts who isn’t. Where you’re -going, they’re all afraid of shadows, and that’s how the Ragpicker -protects herself against the people; with shadows. And so you’re not -afraid of them. Well, well!” - -“I’m not afraid of anything! Tell me what to do!” - -“So! Pretty brave! All right, I’ll take you there myself. Take off your -coat and shoes.” - -I took off my shoes, stockings, and coat. - -The seal hunched himself down into the water, and lay there with his -head resting on the rock. - -“Now,” said he, “come down here and lie on my back, and hold on tight; -and don’t get in the way of my flippers.” - -I hesitated for a moment at the idea of lying down in the water on the -back of a seal, but I came down the rock and stretched myself out on -his back and clung to him with my arms and legs as well as I could. - - -_A Sea Journey on the Back of a Seal_ - -“Hold on tight,” said the seal, and darted off across the sea so -suddenly that I lost my grip and fell off into the water; but he swam -under me, and I was soon on his back once more, none the worse. - -“What’s the matter?” said the seal. “Haven’t you any strength? I -suppose I’ll have to go slower.” - -He glided slowly and smoothly over the long swells, and as soon as I -got used to it I found that it was really wonderful sport. We followed -the shore line quite around the island to its opposite side, and then -the seal made straight for the open sea. The shore faded away behind -us, and at last it was gone. - -Hours passed, and I grew stiff and cold. I slipped off the seal’s -back now and then, for the exercise of swimming. It was excessively -difficult to hold on to his slippery skin, and I ached so painfully -with the strain that I feared at last that I should have to let go for -good; and I was about to give up, when I saw afar off on the horizon -what looked like land. The seal swam faster. I took new courage, and -clung to him tighter. - -It was indeed land,--evidently an island; and as we came close to it I -could make out in its side a deep cove, backed with dark, woody hills -and flanked on either side by rocky cliffs. Fishing boats of all sizes -were moored in the cove, and a large village straggled up the hillside -behind. - -The seal glided into the smooth water between the cliffs, and slid up -against the sand of the beach at the foot of the village. It was just -twilight. - -I jumped to my feet and stretched my numb and aching limbs, gazing with -curiosity at the near-by houses. I turned round at the sound of the -seal’s voice. - -“Can you get me a custard pie?” said the seal. - -“What?” said I, in astonishment. - -“There’s a pastry cook in the village. I’ll wait for you here. Mince -pie’ll do, if they’re out of custard.” - -I hastened away into the village, without saying anything more. - - -_The Village of Storks_ - -It was a large village, and there were a good many streets; and -before I found the pastry cook’s shop I paused to look at the strange -collection of birds which adorned the housetops. On nearly every -chimney or ridgepole stood a stork, and on some were two or three, and -even more; young storks all of them, judging by their size. - -I noticed, as I passed the villagers in the street, that their faces -were very sad; and I thought it singular that although I saw many grown -people, I met no children, and heard no children’s voices. - -The pastry cook, when I found him, proved to have the saddest face of -all, and his wife looked as if she had been weeping; and there were -on the pastry cook’s housetop no less than five small storks. When -I mentioned that I wanted a custard pie for a seal, the pastry cook -handed over the pie to me without any appearance of surprise, and -without accepting any payment. - -I hurried back to the beach, and sat down before the seal and held the -custard pie while the hungry creature ate it. - -“Did you ever eat raw fish?” said he. - -“I should say not,” said I. - -“It’s awful,” said the seal. “It’s positively petrifying. You know I -wasn’t always a seal. Custard pie always used to do me more good than -anything else.” - -“Tell me who you are,” said I, “and who the Ragpicker is.” - -“There’s no time now,” said the seal. “You’d better be going. The -people here would like to kill the Ragpicker if they could, but they’re -afraid of the shadows; she’s afraid of the people, and the people are -afraid of the shadows; and she’s more afraid of the One-Armed Sorcerer -than anybody else, though between you and me I think she’s wrong about -it, because he seems to be a pretty decent sort of old chap, and I -rather believe he’d like to help her if she wasn’t afraid of him; but -of course you can’t help a person who’s afraid of you. All mixed up, -isn’t it?” - -“I don’t understand a word of it,” said I. - -“Brave people are always stupid,” said the seal, and with this he -wriggled himself off into the water, and I saw his head going back and -forth slowly from side to side across the cove. - -I turned and went into the village. It was now nearly dark. - -As I came toward the pastry cook’s shop again, the village cryer came -walking down the street, ringing a bell, and calling out, over and over -again, “Seven o’clock, and time for supper! Seven o’clock, and time for -supper!” - -As the cryer passed by, the storks flapped their wings and flew down -from the housetops, and took their stand in a row before their houses, -along the curbs; and wherever a stork stood before a house a woman came -out with a bowl in her hand. When I reached the pastry cook’s shop, the -pastry cook’s wife was kneeling on the sidewalk before the five little -storks, feeding them gruel out of a bowl with a long spoon. I observed -that all along the street women were feeding the storks in the same -way; but again I noticed that there were no children. - -I walked on, watching in every street the feeding of the storks, and -looking out for some sign of the Princess. I observed at last a gilded -wooden arm and hand holding a lantern, projecting from the front wall -of a house a little in advance; and before this house, at the curb, a -single stork was standing, and an old man, one-armed, wearing white -hair and beard and dressed in a blue gown with silver stars, was -sitting before the stork, feeding it with a long spoon from a bowl in -his lap. Around the stork’s neck hung a pearl necklace. - -Wondering whether I had ever seen that necklace before, I passed behind -the old man, and as I did so the stork fixed its eye on me and ruffled -its feathers in agitation. I had no sooner gone by than there was a -great fluttering among all the storks, and I observed, coming toward -me down the street, a bent old woman, stooping under a bulging bag and -holding out what appeared to be a poker with a hook at the end. She was -ragged and decrepit, and there was a gleam in her eye which seemed to -me to be more of terror than anything. - -She gazed intently at the stork with the necklace, and then passed on -down the street. All the storks, at sight of her, suddenly flew up on -to the housetops, and all the people, or nearly all, went hurriedly -indoors. As I turned to follow her with my eyes, I saw that the stork -with the necklace was perched up on the ridgepole, and that the old -one-armed man was gone. - - -_The Ragpicker Frightens the Men Away with Her Bag_ - -The Ragpicker had reached the next corner, and was about to turn into -the street at her right, when a dozen men came hurrying toward her in -a group, and she stopped and faced them. They were burly men, and they -were plainly angry; they carried cudgels, and one of them carried a -rope; they meant to do her harm, without a doubt. They advanced on her, -muttering dangerously together, and she stood stock still, waiting. -One of the men gave a shout, and they rushed upon her in a body; but -quick as a wink the old woman whisked her bag from her shoulder to the -ground, and began to open it; and at this the men fell back against -each other as if afraid; and as the old woman made again as if to open -the bag, the men hesitated, turned about, and actually took to their -heels and fled. - -The Ragpicker slung her bag upon her back again, turned the corner, and -disappeared. - -What could be in that bag, I wondered, to make those burly men afraid? - -I hurried to the corner, and saw the old woman plodding away toward -the end of the street. She did not look around, and I followed her -cautiously. She passed beyond the village houses and began to climb a -path which wound up the hillside among the rocks. - -Keeping carefully out of sight behind her, I saw her stop at last -beside a hut which leaned against the side of the hill, and go in at -its door. I stole up quietly. There were no windows in the hut, but I -thought I might be able to see inside through the roof, which was only -a thatch of straw. I could easily reach it from the side of the hill. -In a moment I was lying on the roof, and digging away the straw with my -fingers. - -I worked slowly and noiselessly, and after a time made a hole through -which I could look down into the hut. It was dark below, but I could -see the old woman stooping down over an opening in the floor, from -which she was just raising a trapdoor. She stepped down into the -opening and closed the door over her head. - -I lost no time in making a hole in the thatch big enough to admit -my body; and when I had done so I dropped to the floor, and stood -beside the trapdoor. I raised it cautiously and peered down. All was -dark below, but I could make out a flight of stone steps. I went down -without a sound. - - -_He Follows the Ragpicker Down Into the Dark_ - -At the bottom I got down on my hands and knees and crawled along, -touching the side of a wall at my right. The wall ended abruptly, and -feeling the ground before me I found that I was on the edge of open -space, and I could hear the rushing of water far below. My hand touched -the top of a ladder, and I went down it carefully; but after a moment -my foot dangled in space, and I nearly fell off; the ladder stopped -short, and I clung on desperately. I then climbed to the top again -and crawled along toward my left, feeling the edge with my hand until -I shortly touched the top of another ladder; and down this ladder, -fastened securely against the wall, I went more cautiously than before. - -The ladder was long, but I finally found myself on solid ground. -Following the wall to the left, I passed around a corner, and as I did -so I saw a light. - -It was a square patch of light, like the light of a small window, -afar off in the darkness. I went down on my hands and knees again -and crawled toward it. The ground was unbroken here, and I could now -scarcely hear the sound of water. I stopped at last directly beneath -the light, and touched a wall. I felt with my left hand what seemed to -be a closed door, and I got up slowly on my feet. I was looking into a -lighted room through a small square window, without glass, and crossed -with iron bars. - -A lamp was burning brightly in a bracket on a wall of the room. On the -earthen floor, near the center, the old Ragpicker was kneeling before a -brazier containing a brisk fire, over which hung an iron pot. Her bag -lay on the floor beside her, flat and limp; it was evidently empty. - - -_She Stirs a Steaming Mixture with Her Long Hooked Forefinger_ - -As I watched her, she arose from her knees and went to a door at the -rear, and made sure that it was closed tight. She then went to a great -heap of rubbish which was piled in one corner, and scratching with her -poker amongst the rags, bones, and old iron there, picked out carefully -a handful of bones, examining each one minutely. She then took from a -shelf a large bottle of some dark liquid, and with this and the bones -she returned to the fire. She poured the liquid into the iron pot and -dropped in the bones, one by one; and as she did so I observed a thing -which I had not discerned before, that what I had thought was a poker -held in her hand was in fact a long, black, stiff forefinger, hooked at -the end. There was no doubt about it; it was the first finger of her -right hand, as stiff as an iron rod, and about a foot and a half long. -She stuck it into the steaming pot and stirred the mixture with it, -muttering to herself words which I could not understand. - -Presently she stopped stirring, and sniffing the contents of the pot -nodded her head as if satisfied. She picked up from the ground an iron -ladle and a pewter bowl, and ladling the steaming liquid from the pot -into the bowl, drank it down, every drop. - -She put down the ladle and the bowl, and stood motionless, as if -waiting. A change began to come over her. Her back straightened; she -grew taller; the wrinkles left her face; her skin became fairer, her -eyes larger, her hair longer; and there before my eyes stood a young -and beautiful damsel, tall and erect, with dark eyes in a pale face, -and two thick braids of brown hair hanging to her waist. - -She held up her right hand and looked at it. The long black stiff -finger with the hook was still there. She screamed, and burying her -face on her left arm shook with sobs. In a moment she raised her head -and put away her hideous right hand behind her where she could not see -it. Her left hand she placed over her eyes, with a gesture of despair, -and as she remained standing in that attitude the hand over her eyes -grew old and withered; she began to shrink and stoop, and she moaned -to herself. It was plain that the effect of what she had drunk was -beginning to wear off. She shuddered, and gave a mournful cry; and in -another instant she was the old, bent Ragpicker again. - -I drew a long breath. I stood back, for fear that I might be seen, and -when I looked again the old woman was standing with her back toward -me, facing the closed door at the rear. I noticed now, what I had not -noticed before, that she cast no shadow in the lamplight on the floor. - -“Skag!” she cried. “Come hither!” - -A shadow oozed into the room through the crack of the door, and moved -upright across the floor toward the Ragpicker. It was the shadow of -a bent old woman, stooping under a bulky bag, and holding out what -appeared to be a poker, hooked at the end; the shadow of the old -Ragpicker herself. It stood still, not far from the door. - -“It’s no use, Skag,” said the old woman to her shadow. “I haven’t found -the right bone; but I _will_ find it, yet! I’ll find it yet! Bring in -the Princess’s shadow.” - -Her own shadow disappeared through the crack in the door, and returned -immediately, followed by another. I started, and almost cried out. It -was the shadow of a young girl, undoubtedly the Princess, and it stood -upright on the floor beside the other. - -“Ah!” said the old woman. “Now my shadows are complete. This one is -the best and most fearsome of all. Ah, how they fear the shadows! Lucky -for me, lucky for me! They’re not afraid of me, but they’re afraid of -shadows! This day they would have killed me, but for my bag of shadows. -We mustn’t lose them, Skag, we mustn’t lose them.” - -She paced about, growing more and more excited, and went on talking as -she walked. - -“We’re in danger, Skag, we’re in danger. The One-Armed Sorcerer is -working against us. He has brought the Princess herself here, to help -him against me. What can he mean to do? He means to take away my -shadows from me, Skag, it must be that. And he has brought the Princess -to help him. And what then? Death, Skag, death; a quick death, for -what will the people be afraid of then? We must stop it, Skag, we must -stop the sorcerer, and there is only one way. The Princess must be -destroyed! To-morrow morning, when the sun shines and the shadows can -be seen, I will seek her out and destroy her; and the shadows shall go -with me and protect me. Bring in the shadows, Skag.” - - -_The Shadows of the Children_ - -The old woman’s shadow disappeared through the crack again, and -immediately returned; and behind it came a shadow, and another, and -another; many shadows, all of children, and they moved upright across -the floor and stood before the Ragpicker. They were flat as paper and -black as ink; and the lamplight did not shine through them. They kept -on coming, and the room was soon full of them; hundreds, as it seemed, -hundreds of shadows of little children, some so small that they were -just beginning to walk. And the shadow of the Princess was the tallest -of all. - -The Ragpicker pointed at the Princess’s shadow with her long, black rod -of a finger, and said, “Into the bag!” - -She stooped to her bag and held it open at the floor, and the shadow of -the Princess moved to it, crouched, and went in. - -“In, all of you!” cried the old woman. - -All the shadows crowded around the mouth of the bag, and one after -another stooped and went in. There was none left but the shadow of the -old woman herself. She closed the bag, now bulging, and flinging it -over her shoulder she said to her own shadow, “Hither, Skag, and lie -down!” - -Her shadow moved close to her, and spread itself out on the ground with -its feet to hers, growing longer as it did so, so that it became no -more than an ordinary shadow cast by the lamplight on the floor. - -The old woman went to the lamp and blew out the light, and the room was -in darkness, except for the glimmer of the dying fire. - -I flattened myself on the ground as the door opened and the old woman -came forth with her bag on her back. I could scarcely see her, and in -an instant she had disappeared in the darkness. - - -_He Loses His Way in the Dark_ - -I waited a moment or two, and then crawled cautiously in the direction -I thought she had taken; but there was nothing but the blackness of -deep night all round me, and I could not be sure of my direction. I -looked behind me, and I could not see any longer the window I had just -left. I had come from the ladder easily enough, but it was plainly a -different matter to get back. I crawled on uncertainly, and stopped now -and then; I had gone by this time farther than I had come at first, but -I found no wall. I must have lost my way. I went on, and found myself -going down a slope. I knew that this could not be right, and I changed -my course a little; but I was still going down the slope, and I was -afraid that I would be utterly lost if I turned back. - -The sound of rushing water came to my ears now. The slope grew steeper, -and I crawled more cautiously. The sound of water became more distinct. -The ground was suddenly slimy, and before I knew it I was slipping down -a steep descent, unable to stop myself. I slid and slid, faster and -faster, clutching the slimy ground and rolling over and over; and as I -was fainting with dizziness I shot off into space, and came down with a -splash into a torrent of deep water. - -The stream hurled me away. I struggled against it, but it was too -swift. It was impossible to swim. I could do no more than keep my head -above water, and let the current fling me along into the darkness. -Tossed like a leaf, hurled against the walls of the stream, scratched -by the edges of rocks, bruised, bleeding, and half-drowned, I almost -lost consciousness, and scarcely knew anything more until I felt myself -lying on soft sand in shallow water. I looked up, and saw above me a -clear sky; the open sea was rolling toward me on a beach, and the moon -was glittering on the waves. - -I tottered to my feet. I was so weak and sore that I could hardly -stand. When I was able to move, I walked forward toward the ocean. The -stream which had brought me spread out and lost itself in the sand. -At my feet the breakers came rushing up, and a strip of beach lay at -my right hand and my left, enclosed at the back and sides by a high -cliff. There was no way out except by climbing the cliff. I shouted, -hoping that the seal might be out there in the water, but there was no -response. I made up my mind that I would have to climb the cliff. - -It was a cruel task, for the cliff was steep, and there was scarcely -any foothold but an occasional rock and bush; but I never once thought -of discouragement, and I stuck to it with all my might. My bare feet -and my hands were torn by the rocks, but I kept on, up and up, and in -time I stood on the top. I hastened away along the edge of the cliff, -and came after a long walk to a place where the cliff turned back -shoreward; and there I looked down, and saw the roofs of the village -straggling up its hillside behind the cove. - - -_He Hears the Voice of the Seal Again_ - -I lay down and put my head out over the edge of the cliff, and at that -moment there came to me from the still water of the cove a faint, sad -voice, singing: - - “O wonderful pancake batter! - O table and fork and plate! - I wonder whatever’s the matter, - That he keeps me waiting so late? - He said he was willing to serve us - Regardless of danger or pelf, - But I’m getting so dreadfully nervous - I really am scarcely myself. - O why does he loiter and linger - While I wait so sorry and sick? - Let him sever the Ragpicker’s finger - And do it almightily quick. - For then I shall sit at a table, - My napkin over my knees, - And tipple as long as I’m able, - And gobble as long as I please, - With plenty of good hot curry, - And plenty of custard pie,-- - If he only would hurry, hurry! - O why does he linger, why?” - -The voice stopped, and I rose to my feet and made off across the -moonlit fields. - -_“There used to be a baker at the castle,” said the Queen, “shortly -after I was married, who made up a great many very pretty songs. The -King used to say that he sang better than he baked. For my part, I was -very sorry to lose him. His niece was going to be married in one of our -villages, I forget which,--no, I believe it was a cousin; I am almost -sure it was his cousin, and I think it was the niece who was looking -after his mother while he was here, and she had to go and keep house -for the cousin after she was married, and that left his mother all -alone; so that he had to go back to his mother, and I always thought he -was such a good son to give up his place here at the castle in order -to take care of his poor old mother, and I’m sure very few would have -done it in his place; but I must say that the next baker was very much -better at gingerbread, though he never made up any songs, and I think -the King himself missed the first one a good deal afterward, though he -never would say so.”_ - -_“Go on!” cried Bojohn; and Solario proceeded._ - -I rose to my feet (said Alb) and made off across the fields. I found -a path which wound down to the village, and I was presently standing -in the street. All the storks were gone, probably within doors for the -night. - -I set forth briskly to find the house of the One-Armed Sorcerer. I -realized that the stork with the necklace was the Princess herself, -and I knew that if she was to be saved from the Ragpicker I must act -quickly. - -I remembered the gilded wooden arm and hand, holding a lantern, which -stood out from the one-armed man’s house, and it was only a matter of -time to find it. I found it sooner than I expected. A light was burning -dimly in the lantern, but the house was dark. There was no stork -upon the housetop. I tried the handle of the door quietly, and to my -surprise the door gave before me, and I pushed it open. - - -_He Peeps into the Sorcerer’s Workshop_ - -I found myself in a dark room, which I crossed quickly to a door at -the other side. This door I opened on a crack, and through the crack -I looked into a lighted room; a small room, evidently a workshop, -cluttered about with glass vessels of strange shapes, metal machines of -various sorts, wooden hoops curiously interlaced, charts of the skies, -and great, brass-bound books; and at one side of the room was a forge -and in the center a table. - -Before this table was standing the one-armed man whom I had already -seen. On the table, the stork with the necklace was lying on its side, -perfectly still, and as I looked the old man plucked a feather from -the stork’s wing and examined it carefully. He then cast it aside and -plucked another, this time from the back. This also he tossed away, -after examining it, and he then plucked a feather from the shoulder, -and holding it up to the light gave a cry of pleasure, and without -turning said, “Come in, Alb, I have been expecting you.” - -I stepped into the room, and the old man greeted me with a friendly -smile, and held up the feather. - -“Do you see this?” said he. - -I looked at it closely. At the point of the quill hung a single drop of -blood. - -The stork on the table stirred uneasily. The sorcerer stroked it gently -and said, “Sleep!” and the stork lay perfectly still again. - -“Wait a minute,” said the old man. “We must keep this drop from falling -off, and we must harden the point of the quill.” - -He produced from a closet a metal box, and out of this he took a small -glass tube, covered with frost. He held the drop of blood for a moment -inside the tube, and then put the tube away in its box. - -“Now,” said he, “the drop will not fall off.” - -He went to the forge, and blowing up the coals with a pair of bellows, -he held the point of the quill for a moment in the fire. - -“Now,” said he, “it is as hard as a pin.” - -[Illustration: The One-Armed Sorcerer plucked a feather from the -stork] - -“Sir,” said I, “will you tell me what this is for?” - -“To save the Ragpicker from herself,” said the sorcerer. - -“But it’s the Princess I have come to save,” said I. - -“It is the same thing,” said the old man. “If the Ragpicker is saved -from herself, everybody else is saved too. And this drop of blood from -the Princess’s heart will do it, and nothing else.” - -“I have seen the Ragpicker to-night, sir,” said I, “and I will tell you -about it.” - -“Sit down, my son,” said the old man, and when we were seated I told -him all that I had seen and heard in the Ragpicker’s cavern. - -The sorcerer shook his head and smiled. “And so she thinks I wish to -take away her shadows and let the people kill her! Well, well, it’s the -way of wickedness to see nothing but evil. Why should I wish her harm? -What I seek to do is to save her, not to destroy her; but she’ll never -believe that, because she can’t think straight. Anyway, in trying to do -evil she has provided me with the means of making her good.” - -“How has she done that?” said I. - -“If she hadn’t stolen the Princess’s shadow, I shouldn’t have brought -the Princess here; and if I hadn’t brought the Princess here, she -wouldn’t now be a stork; and if she hadn’t been turned to a stork I -couldn’t have gotten the drop of blood from her heart.” - -“Is it true,” said I, “that the Ragpicker protects herself with -shadows?” - -“Of course! What could protect her better? What else is there to fear, -but shadows? I confess I’m more than half afraid of them myself. We -all know we shouldn’t be, but we are, just the same. They’re perfectly -harmless, but they’re terrible. There’s nothing so real as shadows.” - -“But tell me,” said I, “how we are to save the Princess.” - -“All in good time,” said the sorcerer; “in the meantime, you must get a -little rest, for you have an important task to do in the morning.” - -I was tired out, in fact. The sorcerer left me, and I sat beside the -sleeping stork, watching it in silence for a long while, and then I -surrendered myself to drowsiness, and fell asleep. - -When I awoke, it was morning. The stork was gone, and the sorcerer’s -hand was on my shoulder. - -“Come,” said he, and placed in my hand a tiny bow of thin metal, with a -string of fine hair, and showed me how to use the stork’s feather as an -arrow to the bow. He then instructed me in what I had to do, and led me -out into the street. - -The stork which had been a Princess was standing on the curb before the -door, and all the other storks were in their places on the housetops. -The street was already busy; shops and houses were being opened for the -day and many people were outdoors. - - -_He Lies in Wait with a Bow and Arrow_ - -Carrying the stork’s feather and the bow, I went to the next corner, -round which on the evening before I had seen the Ragpicker turn up -toward her home. I passed this corner, and concealed myself in a -doorway just beyond. - -I had not long to wait. I had drawn my head back into the doorway for -a moment, and when I looked again the Ragpicker was standing at the -street crossing with her back toward me, gazing in the direction of -the stork which stood before the sorcerer’s door. On her back was her -bag, and in her left hand she carried a knife. The people in the street -stopped to watch her, muttering together. - -“Skag!” said she, “come in!” And she turned sidewise to her shadow, -which lay at a great length on the ground before her. It began to -shorten toward her, and kept shortening until it was no longer than -herself. “Stand up!” said she, and the shadow stood upright beside her, -a black, flat image of herself in outline, looking as if it had been -cut from stiff, black paper. - -The Ragpicker let down the bag from her shoulder and opened it on the -ground and said “Come out!” And at this all the people gave a cry of -terror and fled into their houses and shut the doors, and all the -storks on the housetops fluttered their feathers and flapped their -wings. - - -_The Ragpicker Releases the Shadows in the Street_ - -Out of the bag poured shadows; hundreds of them; all the shadows of -little children which I had seen go into the bag the night before; and -as they poured out, they ran about in the street as if bewildered. - -“Skag!” said the Ragpicker. “To the fore!” - -The old woman’s shadow hastened to the front of all the others and -raised its long poker finger, beckoning them to follow. They crowded -behind, and moved noiselessly up the street toward the stork at the -sorcerer’s door. The Ragpicker followed close behind, holding her knife -up in her left hand. The stork which was the Princess stood motionless -on the curb before the door. The sorcerer was not to be seen. - -Now was my time for action. I crept silently after the old woman, and -came up just behind her. I fitted the feather with its drop of blood to -the little bow, and as I approached the old woman so close that I might -have touched her, I aimed quickly at her back and let the arrow fly. -Straight into her back it darted, and stuck there fast. - -“Skag!” she screamed, but she said no more. - -Quick as a wink I plucked the feather from her back, and as I did so -she turned upon me with her knife uplifted. But she stood suddenly -still, her hand relaxed, and the knife fell to the ground. A change -came slowly over her. Her back straightened; she grew taller; the -wrinkles left her face; her skin became fairer, her eyes larger, her -hair longer; and there was standing before me in her place a beautiful -young damsel, tall and erect, with dark eyes in a pale face, and two -thick braids of brown hair hanging to her waist. - -She held up her right hand and looked at it, and gave a cry of joy. The -long, black, hooked finger was gone. Her two hands were the shapely -white hands of a young woman, without blemish. - -“Free!” she cried. “The enchantment is over! I am myself at last! Oh, -thanks, young man!” And she threw her arms around me and kissed me -soundly on the cheek. - -I released myself, awkwardly enough, and as I did so I saw all the -shadows up the street fall flat to the ground, as if they had been -knocked over by a ball; and they began to slip swiftly away in every -direction across the pavement. In an instant Skag, the old Ragpicker’s -shadow, lay at the young woman’s feet. She screamed and shrank away, -but in another instant the shadow’s shape was changed, and in its place -on the ground was the shadow of the young woman herself. She clapped -her hands with joy. - - -_A Singular Commotion on the Housetops_ - -The shadows of the children were climbing the walls of the houses; -and all of a sudden I heard a great clamor from the housetops, as of -hundreds of children crying out together. - -“We can’t get down! Oh, I’m falling! Help! I can’t hold on! Oh, Mother! -We can’t get down! I’m slipping! I’m going to fall! Hurry! Mother! Come -quick!” - -I looked up, and there on the housetops, where the storks had been, -children were clinging to the chimney pots, straddling the ridgepoles, -hanging on to the gables, big children and little children, boys and -girls, shrieking out at the top of their voices, and struggling to keep -from toppling off into the street. One tiny boy suddenly disappeared -down a chimney; a big girl lost her hold and rolled down the roof into -a wide leaden gutter, where she hung, half on and half off. Dozens of -boys and girls sat astride the ridgepoles, as if riding cockhorses. -The big boys began to shout with glee, but the little ones were crying -with fright; and at the hubbub all the doors flew open and all the -fathers and mothers ran out, and when they saw what it was, a mighty -shout went up, and it wasn’t a minute before a ladder stood against -every wall, and not more than two minutes before all the children were -safe on the ground, hugged up in their mothers’ and fathers’ arms, with -such laughing and weeping and cheering as never were, I am sure, in -this world before. - -“Oh, isn’t it wonderful!” cried the beautiful young woman. “I’m so -glad, so glad!” - -“The Princess!” I cried. “Look at the Princess!” - - -_The Princess Is Herself Again, but--_ - -She was her own lovely self again, and she was standing at the same -place on the curb before the sorcerer’s house, and the sorcerer himself -was standing beside her. The young woman and myself ran swiftly to her, -and I shouted a joyous greeting as I approached; but to my surprise, -she did not reply. - -She was standing perfectly motionless, with her eyes wide open, and one -hand raised to her neck as if about to unfasten her necklace. On her -shoulder, shown by the open neck of her dress, was a tiny spot of blood. - -The young woman kissed the sorcerer’s hand and thanked him. - -“But the Princess!” I cried. “What is the matter with the Princess?” - -The sorcerer shook his head sadly. “Somebody always has to pay for -these benefits,” said he, “and I’m afraid that when we plucked the -feather we took away something we cannot replace. She cannot move nor -speak. But I will set to work, and in time I will--” - -“Come!” said the young woman. “I will help her! We must take her home! -Come at once!” - -The sorcerer and myself lifted the Princess between us and carried her -down the street toward the cove. The village people and their children -followed us, and stood in a throng on the beach as we got into a boat -and hoisted a sail. - -“Good-bye!” shouted the people, and the sorcerer and myself waved our -hands, none too cheerfully; and at that moment we heard a kind of bark -from the water beside the boat, and a voice cried, “Sister!” It was the -seal. The young woman leaned down toward him and cried, “Brother!” - -“Is everything all right now?” said the seal. “What are you going to do -about me?” - -His sister raised the Princess and showed him the red mark on the -Princess’s shoulder, and told him about the plucking of the stork’s -feather. Then the seal’s sister said: - -“For once you have done a good deed, brother; and if you’ll do -another--you know the promise!--two good deeds!--you will be free too. -Go! and do not return until you have brought that which will cure the -Princess. The milk of the White Walrus who lives in the Far-Alone -Grotto on the Twelfth Ice Floe! Do you understand?” - -“It’s a pretty good trip,” said the seal, “and I’ll probably have to -fight the walruses. But if you say so, why I suppose-- When do you -think I’d better start?” - -“This instant!” cried his sister. “Off with you! And return to us at -the King’s castle at Ventamere.” - -“Oh, very well,” said the seal, and dived. He came up again at the -mouth of the cove, making off at a great rate for the open sea.... - -We reached the King’s castle at Ventamere in the evening, and pressed -straightway into the Grand Refectory, where the King was at supper with -his court. As we entered, the whole company sprang up, and my father -ran toward me. - - -_The King Beholds His Child and Is Grieved_ - -The sorcerer and myself, carrying the Princess, stood her on her feet -and supported her thus between us, and the seal’s sister stood beside -us. - -“My daughter!” cried the King, and rushing toward the Princess with -outstretched arms, stopped in amazement as she remained between us as -speechless and motionless as a statue. - -I whispered rapidly into my father’s ear, and the sorcerer, kneeling -before the King, began to explain. - -The King paid no attention to him, but placed a hand upon his -daughter’s arm and wept. - -“My poor child!” he said. “What shall we do now?” - -There was a movement at the door. A crowd of the castle people poured -into the room, and parting, opened a lane for a young man, a stranger, -who advanced rapidly from the door; a very fat young man, with a round, -pink face and round, blue eyes, who wore hanging from his shoulders -the skin and head of a seal. - -“Brother!” cried the seal’s sister. - -“Yes,” said the fat young man, “it’s me; and a pretty little time I’ve -had among the walruses, I can tell you;” and he bowed low at the same -time to the King. - -“Have you some business with us, young sir?” said the King. - -“Venison steak and hasty pudding,” said the fat young man, with his eye -on the supper table. “Oh; I beg your pardon. I am the milk man.” - -“Milk? We want no milk here,” said the King. - -“It’s for the Princess,” said the fat young man. “To be taken -externally. Good for lumbago, rheumatism, sprains, chilblains, -strawberry rash--” - -“What is this fellow talking about?” said the King, in exasperation. - -“Brother!” said the young woman, his sister, fixing him sternly with -her eye. - -“Rub a little on her shoulder,” said her brother. “Direct from the -White Walrus on the Twelfth Ice Floe, and the walruses nearly ate me -alive before I got it; but here it is. Excellent for all sorts of skin -and blood diseases, as well as--” - -“Brother!” said the young woman, sternly. - -“I beg your pardon,” said the fat young man; and with a very grand -manner he took out of his pocket an oyster shell, and pried it open -with a knife from the table. On the lower half of the shell was a -spoonful of white liquid. - - -_The Seal Introduces His Liniment, Guaranteed to Cure in All Cases_ - -“Very convenient milk bottle,” said he; and waving the King aside he -stepped up to the Princess and went on pompously, as if he were making -a speech: - -“I will now,” said he, “in the presence of the entire company, and -openly before you all, so that you may see that no deception is -practised upon you, apply a modicum of my liniment to the shoulder of -the young lady, at the point where I perceive a stain of red, rubbing -the same in gently thus, with a downward motion of the first two -fingers of the right hand, thus, and thus, and thus.” - -He poured the white liquid from the shell on to the red spot on the -Princess’s shoulder, and rubbed it in gently, talking all the while. - -“Now, ladies and gentlemen,” he went on, “I call your attention to the -effects of this lotion when properly applied. It is warranted to be -very efficacious in all cases of-- But see; she lowers her hand; she -moves her foot; she speaks; she--” - -“Father!” cried the Princess, and threw herself into her father’s arms. - -“Hurrah!” I shouted, and all the company cheered, until the rafters -rang again. - -“Let the castle people retire,” said the King, and he led the Princess -to the table, where he seated her at his right hand, wiping his eyes -and blowing his nose. When we were all at table, the sorcerer told -his tale, and not until he had heard it to the end would the King -permit the meal to proceed. I observed that the son of the assistant -carol singer was very attentive to the seal’s sister; and as for the -fat young man her brother,--during the repast, which lasted a full two -hours, he spoke not a word. - -At the end the King begged him to relate the story of his enchantment -and his sister’s, and he readily consented; whereupon he commenced, -without being asked a second time, - - -THE STORY OF THE TALKING SEAL AND HIS SISTER - -“You must know,” he began-- - -_“I am very sorry,” said the Princess Dorobel, interrupting, “but it is -Bojohn’s bedtime, and I fear we shall have to hear this story another -time.”_ - -_“Oh, mother!” said Bojohn. “I couldn’t go to sleep if I tried. Please -don’t--”_ - -_“No, my dear,” said the Princess Dorobel, “not to-night. Pray go on -with Alb’s story, Solario.”_ - -When the seal’s story was finished (said Alb), the King begged the -One-Armed Sorcerer to remain with him as his friend and adviser; and -this the sorcerer consented to do. - -“And now,” said the King, turning to me, “what reward shall be yours? I -will deny you nothing.” - -I knelt before him, and made my request boldly. I knew that my whole -future hung upon that moment. - -“The hand of my lady Princess,” said I, “if she is willing.” - -“What do you say, my dear?” said the King. - -The Princess said nothing, but turned red as a rose, and buried her -head on her father’s shoulder. She was mine! I took her hand in mine -and kissed it. - -“_That’s_ settled,” said the King. “And you, sir,” said he to the fat -young man, “what gift shall I bestow upon you?” - -“A little more of the custard pie, if you please,” said the fat young -man. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -THE FIFTH NIGHT - -THE CITY OF DEAD LEAVES - - -_Solario was sitting cross-legged on his worktable, and before him, in -a row, sat the Executioner, Bodkin, Bojohn, Prince Bilbo, the Princess -Dorobel, and the Queen._ - -_“This _time,” said Bojohn, “we want to hear the story of -Montesango’s Cave.”_ - -_Solario shook his head. “The story is too dreadful altogether,” said -he. “I fear you would lie awake all night if--”_ - -_“Then tell us about the Roving Griffin,” said Bodkin._ - -_“Or the Blind Giant,” said Bojohn._ - -_“I am very curious myself,” said the Princess Dorobel, “to hear the -story of the seal and his sister. What do you say, mother?”_ - -_“I remember very well,” said the Queen, dropping her knitting in her -lap, “I saw a seal once when I was a young girl, and a very curious -creature it was, too, I’m sure. I’ve never forgotten it, because I -was on my way to be married to your father,--of course he wasn’t -your father then, you know,--and I think the day I saw the seal was -the day your father was expected to meet us, or the day before, I -can’t be quite certain now, it’s so long ago; and we were waiting for -him by the seashore,--but no, we weren’t expecting him on that day, -because he had sent a messenger to say that he couldn’t start until -all the horses were shod, and the blacksmith was just getting over the -measles. I remember that messenger very well; a small, dark man with a -beard, by the name of--what was his name? Something like Manniko, or -Finnikin,--no, it was Tallboy. That was it. Tallboy. He didn’t stay -with the King very long after we were married, because his sister’s -youngest boy was taken down with the--”_ - -_“Grandmother!” said Bojohn. “Solario is waiting to go on.”_ - -_“Dear me,” said the Queen, “so he is. I’m glad I brought my knitting -with me to-night.”_ - -_“I am sure,” said Prince Bilbo, “we would all be glad to hear about -the seal and his sister.”_ - -_“Your will is my pleasure,” said Solario, very prettily, “and I will -therefore now commence the story of--”_ - -_Here there was a sharp cry from outside the room door._ - -_“Let me in!” piped up a voice, loud and sharp as a whistle._ - -_Mortimer the Executioner opened the door, and at first glance -there appeared to be no one there. But Bojohn cried out, “It’s the -Encourager!” And there, on the sill, was in fact the tiny figure of -the Encourager, no taller than a sparrow, carrying his umbrella folded -under his arm. He opened the umbrella, and leaping into the air floated -up with it to the Executioner’s shoulder, where, folding the umbrella -again, he stood bowing to the company._ - -_“Dear me,” said the Queen, “I believe it’s the Encourager of the -Interrupter.”_ - -_“If there’s anything going on,” piped up the Encourager, in his shrill -voice, “I don’t want to be left out!”_ - -_“Then sit down, Mortimer,” said Prince Bilbo, “and let the Encourager -hear the story too.”_ - -_The Executioner seated himself, and the Encourager sat down on the -Executioner’s shoulder and gazed solemnly at Solario with his beady -black eyes._ - -_“Ahem!” said Solario, clearing his throat and picking up his shears. -“I will now, with your majesty’s gracious permission, proceed with the -story as it was related to the assembled company at Ventamere by the -seal, and by Alb the Fortunate to myself. This, then, is_ - - -“THE STORY OF TUSH THE APOTHECARY, AND OF PARAVAINE HIS SISTER.” - -I must tell you (said the fat young man), that I am an apothecary, and -my name is Tush. - -_“We had a Lord Treasurer once,” interrupted the Queen, “whose name was -Filch. It seemed so odd.”_ - -My name is Tush; and this damsel, my sister, who was lately a -Ragpicker, is known as Paravaine. So much for that. I now proceed to -the catastrophe which begins my tale, and I hope you will pardon me if -I pause at times to wipe away a tear. - -We were left alone at an early age, my sister and myself, without kith -or kin, and we dwelt together in the city of our birth, the city of -Fadz--you have heard of Fadz? A seaport of the Kingdom of Wen, a city -of ships and conversation; and in that city we dwelt quietly together, -and there I kept my shop. - -My sister, as you may see by looking at her, was beautiful in the -highest degree; and I am bound to admit to you that she was not a -little vain of her beauty, and prized admiration above all things in -the world. Regarding myself, I may say that I was considered to be -quite handsome, though a trifle fat. - -In the art of inventing remedies I greatly excelled; and I would beyond -a doubt have succeeded in my profession, but that I was much given -to the making of songs and the tasting of rare dishes, and these two -occupations consumed the greater part of my days. My sister, on her -part, applied herself so diligently to the adornment of her lovely -person before the mirror, that she had scarcely time for anything else. -In consequence, my business and my house fell into neglect; and another -apothecary, a tuneless fellow in a neighboring street, who knew not -beef from mutton, took away all my trade. But such is the fate of your -true artist, the world over. - -I forgot, in the application necessary for the composition of songs, -the foolish moneys which I chanced to owe here and there, and at -length (so dead to the finer things of life is the coarse mind of -trade), I could find no one who was willing to trust us any longer, -even for the meanest knuckle of the least respectable portion of a pig. -I burn with indignation when I think of it,--but I proceed. - - -_The Misfortunes of Tush the Apothecary_ - -I soon found out what monsters in the shape of men--However. Certain -churls, men of no character, no elevation, no refinement,--forgive me; -I am not quite myself; these men, if I may call them men, to whom I -owed, I believe, some trifling sums of no account, came to my shop one -morning in a body, fifteen or so; and if you can believe a thing so -monstrous, they seized, they tore away, they loaded into oxcarts in the -street, in the broad light of day, all the goods of my shop and all the -furnishings of my house. I wept, I threatened, I raved; but all to no -purpose. They answered never so much as a word; they departed, and left -my sister and myself without so much as a chair to sit on, or one coin -to jingle against another. - -_“Now that,” said the Queen, “was going entirely too far. However did -they expect the poor man to sit down?”_ - -One thing I entreated them to spare me, my Perfection Cream, a salve -or ointment of my own invention, warranted to relieve in all cases of -affliction of the skin; a remedy which I had compounded many years -before, and had tried once or twice on myself with good results. -Of this, having never sold any, I had on hand, in little jars, a -quite considerable quantity. They left me this, with contempt; and -my sister, observing it, begged them to spare to her of her own -possessions one thing only, her mirror, a handglass backed with blue -enamel, with a long handle of the same; and this also they granted, not -without a jeer. - -We sat for a long time upon the barren floor; and then we rose, and -shaking the dust of the place from our feet, we departed, never to -return. In a pouch at my side I carried my Perfection Cream, and in her -hand my sister carried her blue mirror; and thus we went forth, to try -our fortunes in the world. - -We sought the wharves, designing to take ship for some distant clime; -and we found, in fact, a vessel loading for a voyage. The ship’s master -was sitting on a bale, directing the porters, and I addressed him -politely, explaining our case. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his -head; but he happened to turn around and catch sight of my sister, and -his manner changed. He jumped to his feet, bowed, and begged us to come -aboard. - -In effect, we sailed away. My heart was light again. The city faded -behind us, the sunlight sparkled on the waves; and I was none the less -happy because I had not the least idea where we were going. I composed -a song regarding life on the ocean wave, and sang it with ecstasy, -until my sister begged me to stop. - -The master of the ship treated us with distinguished courtesy; I could -not help contrasting his conduct with that of the cold-blooded men who -had-- But I resolved to think of them no more. I gave myself up to the -pleasures of the voyage. - - -_They Find Themselves on an Unknown Shore_ - -On the third day, when we were sailing offshore in a light breeze, my -sister came to me in tears. The master of the ship had demanded that -she marry him, as the price of our passage. I went to him at once, -and remonstrated with him patiently. It was no use. He was set upon -marrying my sister. We left the matter to Paravaine herself, and she -rejected the proposal with scorn. “You see!” said I, throwing up my -hands in despair. “Yes, I see,” said the mariner. “You wish to go -ashore. I will not detain you any longer.” The ship was brought in -closer to the shore, a boat was lowered, and my sister and myself (I -assure you the black-hearted scoundrel bowed to us politely to the -last)--my sister and myself were landed on a sandy beach, and the ship -sailed away. - -_“Now isn’t that a perfect shame,” said the Queen. “And such a nice -young man, too.”_ - -We stood for a time in silence, petrified with despair. A vast, -treeless plain stretched away beyond the beach, far as the eye could -see; there was no human habitation anywhere. Not an ounce of food nor -a copper coin did we have between us,--nothing but my Perfection Cream -and my sister’s blue mirror. We were at our wits’ end. - -“Let us sit down and think what we had better do,” said I, and I led -my sister to a brown rock embedded in the sand at no great distance. -It was a large rock, round and smooth, and we sat down with our backs -against it, gazing mournfully at the Great Sea, where it sparkled in -the sunlight. It was a beautiful sight, and I began to think up a new -song. - -_“I always used to say,” said the Queen, “that the sea was a very -pretty thing, but the King never could abide it. He used to get_ so -_sick! And he finally declared he would never put his foot on a boat as -long as he-- Dear me! I remember a sailor on one of our trips who had -a parrot that used to talk--Oh, dear! Such things as he did say! Oh, -dear! Oh, dear! When I think of them!”_ - -_“All right, grandmother,” said Bojohn. “Go on, Solario.”_ - -As we sat there (said the fat young man) with our backs against the -brown rock, I amused myself by plucking away idly certain blades of -long brown grass which fringed the lower portion of the rock near my -hand; and these blades I twined, scarce thinking what I did, into a -ring of a size to fit a finger. Instead of putting it on my own finger, -I took my sister’s hand and placed the ring, jestingly, on the first -finger of her right hand. - - -_The Startling Effect of Making a Ring of Grass_ - -No sooner was this done than a kind of groan came from the rock. The -sand on which we sat heaved and shuddered. It rose beneath us, and we -were lifted slowly into the air; and when we were higher than a man’s -height above the ground we were thrown off on to the beach, and we were -looking up at a monstrous creature in the shape of a man, who had risen -up under us from beneath the sand. He was chocolate brown in color, -and he towered above us full seven yards or more. The rock against -which we had been sitting was, as we now perceived, his head; he had -been lying, no doubt asleep, on his stomach under the sand, completely -covered except for his head. We had been sitting above his buried -shoulders, and leaning against the back of his head; and from this -head, all bald but for a fringe of hair at the bottom, I had plucked -the hairs which I had thought were grass. - -“A genie!” I cried, and pulled my sister to her feet in fright. - -The genie opened his mouth in a great yawn, and stretched his mighty -arms; and as he breathed out again, jets of flame shot from his -nostrils. He was bare, except for a wide cloth twisted around his -middle from waist to thigh, and in the waistband he wore a long, curved -scimitar, which flashed in the sun. He spread his hands out before him -and bowed low. - -“Were you asleep in the sand?” said my sister, recovering her wits -first. - -He bowed again. - -“What do you want with us?” said my sister, becoming bolder. - -“I await your commands,” said the genie, in a voice like the roaring of -a waterfall. - -“Oh!” said my sister. “Is it the ring of hair on my finger? Is that it?” - -He bowed again, extending his hands. - -“Then please! please! take us away from here!” cried my sister. - -“What is it you seek?” said the genie. - -“We seek the best thing in the world!” cried my sister. “Take us where -we may find it!” - -“What do you mean by the best thing in the world?” said I to my sister. - -“I don’t know,” said she; “but the genie ought to know, and he’ll take -us where we may find it. Won’t you?” said she, looking up at him. - -“Hearing is obedience!” said the genie, and little jets of fire spurted -from his nostrils. - -“Where will you take us?” said I. - -“I will take you where you may find the best thing in the world,” said -the genie. “And if you find it, it will be the best thing in the world -for me too, because it will release me from the power of the One-Armed -Sorcerer, who dwells in an island far out in the Great Sea. If you -don’t find it, it will be your own fault, and in that case,--beware!” - -“This sounds pretty doubtful,” said I. - -“No matter!” cried my sister. “We will find it. Take us there at once!” - - -_They Start Upon a Journey Through the Air_ - -The genie stooped down over us, and under his right arm he gathered me -up, and under his left arm he gathered up my sister. He stamped upon -the earth so that it shook, and leaped into the air; and in an instant -we were soaring over the treeless plain, and I was sick with dizziness. -Higher and higher we mounted, with the speed of an arrow; we seemed to -be flying straight into the face of the sun; I could no longer tell -which was sea and which was plain below. I closed my eyes. - -[Illustration: The genie flew away with Tush and his sister] - -It was a long time before I opened them again. We were lower, and I -could see the plain, flat and grassy, without a tree. The sun declined, -and still we kept our course; I thought we should soon be at the end of -the world; and still there were no trees anywhere on the plain below us. - -I ached in every limb; I cried out, but the genie did not hear me; and -when I was ready to faint with exhaustion his speed suddenly relaxed, -and I saw, at the edge of the horizon before me, what was, or seemed to -be, a city. And still there were no trees. - -Scarcely a moment passed before the city rose in plain view; and with -a swoop the genie descended upon the earth, and we were standing, -all three of us, before a gate in the city wall, and my sister was -arranging her hair before her mirror. - -A tall and muscular man stood beside the gate, as if on guard. He was -chocolate brown in color, and he was bare except for a wide cloth -twisted about his middle from waist to thigh, and in his right hand he -carried a scimitar, which flashed in the sunlight. I looked around for -the genie, but he was gone. - -“What city is this?” said I to the Guardian of the Gate. - -“It is the City of Dead Leaves,” said the man. “What do you seek in the -city?” - -“We are seeking,” said my sister, “the best thing in the world. We were -told that we would find it here.” - -“Ah!” said the Guardian, looking at my sister. “You are she who has -come to save the King’s brother. Come with me.” - -He led the way through the gate, and we found ourselves in an alley -of high walls, along which we followed him for some distance, coming -out upon an open plot of grass, surrounded by the same high walls in -a circle. As we approached it, I smelled a familiar fragrance, the -fragrance of orange blossoms; and I thought with some regret of the -groves upon our slopes at home. - - -_The Orange Tree and the Panther_ - -In the center of this plot was an orange tree. It was green with -foliage and white with blossoms; the odor was delicious. Under the -tree, prowling stealthily around it, was a panther. I drew back in -alarm. “Do not go too close,” said our guide. “It is death to touch the -tree.” - -I had no desire to approach that terrible beast, and we gave him a wide -berth as we proceeded around the rim of the grassplot to an opening in -the opposite wall. We passed through that opening into a city street; -a street of glass, as it seemed, for the front wall of every house was -made of glass; and within, in every case, was a kind of storeroom, -piled up with something which looked like dead leaves. In the greater -houses these rooms were piled quite full; in the meaner there were only -little mounds; but much or little, they appeared to be on exhibition, -as if in pride. - -“The treasures of our people,” said the Guardian of the Gate. “Dead -orange leaves. Our most precious possession. The wealth and station of -each citizen are gauged by his store of dead leaves. It is of course -only proper to put them where they may be seen. But come; the King’s -brother awaits us.” - -I nudged my sister. “The King’s brother!” I whispered. “Here is a -chance for you!” She smiled, and glanced into her mirror. - -We wound through many streets of glass, and I observed that besides -glass the houses contained no material but stone and metal; the absence -of wood was very noticeable. We turned down a mean street toward the -city wall, and came out upon a common, strewn with refuse of all kinds, -and bounded on the further side by the wall. A shelter of canvas leaned -against the wall, and beneath this shelter, on a pallet of straw, lay a -man in rags. He raised himself on his elbow and looked up at us. - -“The King’s brother,” said our guide, and I started back in surprise. - - -_They Come Upon the King’s Brother in Rags_ - -He was a young man, and very ugly, but not unpleasant to look at; -indeed, his ugliness had something honest and winning in it; and if he -had not been so ragged, he might have made a passable appearance. As it -was, I laughed to myself at the thought of such a fellow in connection -with my beautiful sister. - -The ugly young man stood up and bowed politely. - -“Is it the first stranger?” said he to the Guardian of the Gate. - -“It is,” said the Guardian. - -“I am content,” said the young man, casting on my sister a look of -admiration. - -“Fair lady,” he went on, dropping on one knee and taking her hand, “if -you are not pledged elsewhere, I beseech you to accept me as a suitor -for your hand. Stay; do not repulse me at my first word, but hear me -further, and take time to consider. I am the King’s younger brother; -and because I would not marry a lady of his choosing, he has cast me -out, swearing that I shall remain in this misery unless I shall marry -the first stranger who shall come to our gates. Oh, fortunate hour that -brought you here the first of all! I am poor; I do not possess a single -leaf; but I will devote myself to you loyally, and I do not think you -will regret it. I know, having seen you, that I cannot live without -you. Do not refuse me now, but at the end of a week give me your -answer.” - -He kissed her hand fervently, and arose. I confess that I liked this -young man, but of course I could not think of marrying my sister to one -so utterly forlorn. I answered for her. - -“In a week I will let you know,” said I, and drew my sister away. - -“Before you go,” said he, “let me give you a warning. Look at my hands.” - -He held out his palms, and I saw that they were covered with a rash, -red and angry-looking. He rubbed his palms together, as if to soothe an -irritation. - -“The itching palms!” said he. “I have handled the dead leaves all my -life; and because I have handled them my palms itch, itch, all day and -night, without ever a moment’s peace. I warn you not to touch the dead -leaves. The dead leaves of the orange tree; do not touch them.” - -“Very well,” said I, and with these words we left him. - -The Guardian of the Gate, leading us back into the city streets, turned -and said: - -“You have just had your first chance to gain the best thing in the -world. I will now give you your second. Be careful how you choose.” - -We entered a street of shops; and I now noticed that the people -were, each of them, rubbing their palms together, as if to soothe an -intolerable itching. - -I paused to look into one of the shops as we passed. The customers -within were handing over to the dealer, in return for his goods, -leaves, dead leaves, of the sort we had seen in the glass showrooms; -and whenever these dead leaves passed from hand to hand, I remarked -that the itching of the palm they touched became more exasperating, so -that the people were quite beside themselves, and could not keep quiet -on their feet; but the dealer nevertheless received the dead leaves -eagerly, and the others gave them up with reluctance. - -“These people are mad,” said I. - -We joined a great rout of people, all rubbing their hands, who were -pouring down a street in the direction of an open square; and when we -reached it, we saw in the center, on a platform above the heads of the -crowd, a man in a robe, who was evidently about to read from a paper -held in his hand. - -“Your second chance,” said the Guardian of the Gate. “I will leave you -to your choice. Be careful how you choose.” - -He turned away, and disappeared in the crowd. - -“Hear ye! Hear ye!” cried the man on the platform. “A message from -the King! Whereas the affliction of the itching palm has now become -so grievous that it can no longer be endured, the King now offers, to -such person as shall cure him, one-half of all the dead leaves in his -treasury! And to him also he promises one-half of all the dead leaves -belonging to each person whom he shall cure! The offer is open to all! -Be diligent! Thus saith the King!” - -The messenger got down, and immediately there arose near the platform a -commotion, with much laughter, and those in that neighborhood began to -cry out: - -“Way for the Lord Buffo! Make way for the wise Lord Buffo!” - - -_A Dwarf Clad in Motley Stands up to Speak_ - -A singular figure now mounted the platform, facing in our direction. -He was a dwarf, hunchbacked and thickset, with a very large head set -deep in his shoulders, and arms which hung to his knees. His clothing -was of squares of yellow and blue and green and orange, and on his head -he wore a paper crown, rimmed around at the top with little bells. -With his right hand he pulled up by a cord a small monkey, dressed in -all respects like himself; and in his other hand he held the long tail -feather of a cock. - -“The King’s Fool,” said one of the bystanders in my ear. - -The Fool waved the feather, and the crowd settled itself to listen. - -“Hear ye! Hear ye!” he cried, in a loud, harsh voice. - -At this the people shouted, “Go on, go on!” - -The monkey leaped up on to the dwarf’s shoulder, and the dwarf -proceeded, with the greatest gravity. - -“I, Buffo, chief counselor to his most gracious majesty, King Fatchaps, -do call upon you to hearken to the voice of Wisdom!” - -“Wisdom! That’s good!” laughed the crowd,--never ceasing to rub their -palms and dance up and down the while. - -“First I must tell you, my loyal subjects, that you are all mad. Do you -believe it?” - -“Yes! yes! Of course!” shouted the crowd, still laughing. - -“Give ear, and I will prove it to you! Thus! Answer me! Isn’t there -enough in our city for all, to feed you and clothe you and shelter you -and amuse you? Answer!” - -“True!” cried many persons in the throng. - -“Then why are there some among you who starve, and others who cast out -of their abundance to the dogs? Tell me that!” - -No one replied. - -“Because you are mad! With the itching palm! Look at you! You can’t -stand still on your feet! Rub, rub! Want in the midst of plenty! -Scratch, scratch! Some with too little and some with too much! Rub, -rub! And enough for everybody in reason! Scratch, scratch! All mad, all -mad! Rub, rub! Look at me--have I itching palms?” He held up his hands, -palms outward. - -“No!” exclaimed several in the crowd. - -“Tell me why! Tell me why! Because I touch not the dead leaves! Isn’t -it so?” - -No one answered. - -“Give ear, madmen, and I will reveal to you how to cure the itching -palm! Bring the dead orange leaves here to the square! Pile them up! -Burn them, burn them, burn them, every one! That’s it! Will you give up -the dead leaves?” - -“No!” roared the people as if with one voice. - -“Then farewell, madmen!” cried the Fool, and he jerked the monkey from -his shoulder and descended from the platform. - -The people, still rubbing their hands together and dancing, but -laughing withal, rapidly left the square, and my sister and myself -started to go; and as we started, the dwarf appeared before us with his -monkey, and cocked his eye up at us waggishly. - -“What, ho!” said the Fool. “Strangers, by the ears of a donkey! -Greeting, strangers, what do you among my mad subjects?” - -“To tell you the truth, my lord,” said I, making up my mind on the spur -of the moment, “I have come here with my sister from a distant land, to -cure the people and their King of the itching palm.” - -“How so?” said the hunchback, sharply. - -“With a little remedy of my own,” said I, tapping my pouch. - -“Bah!” said the Fool, jerking the monkey’s cord. “Go home, madman, you -are wasting your time.” - -“One moment!” I said. “Conduct me to the King, I beg you. You shall see -me prove my boast.” - -He looked up at me sidewise. “Pouf!” said he, snapping his fingers. -“Old Fatchaps is as big a fool as you are. Here; I’ll give you a -chance; there’s nobody here to help me. I ask you, will you help me? I -have a plan to gather the leaves together and burn them. With your help -I can do it, and we will save the people together. Will you help?” - -“Not I,” said I, laughing again. “The people would tear us both to -pieces.” - -“What does that matter?” said the Fool. - -“It matters to me,” said I. - -“Is that your choice?” said the Fool. “You have made your choice? Done, -then. Come with me. I will take you to the King; and you will wish that -I hadn’t. Oh, these fools! The time is coming when I must take the case -in hand myself, all alone; for I will tell you a secret; lend me your -ear.” He pulled my head down, and whispered fiercely in my ear. “I love -this people, and I will save them; whether they will or no. D’ye hear? -They are my people, and they must be saved! Whether they will or no! -And then what a bonfire! What a bonfire!” - -He jerked the monkey’s cord again, and made off swiftly. We followed -him, and my sister said to me, in a low voice, “Do you think he is mad?” - -“That,” said I, “is precisely what I do not know.” - - -_Buffo the Fool Leads Them to the Palace_ - -In a few moments we entered and crossed the grounds of an immense -palace, and Buffo the Fool opened the palace door without ceremony and -preceded us into a great hall, where he stopped and said: - -“I must have a good look at you first. Buffino, my mirror!” - -The monkey darted off down the hall and up the staircase. While he was -gone the Fool said to me: - -“You have seen the orange tree and the panther?” - -“Yes,” said I. - -“Do they worship the orange tree in your country?” - -“No, no,” said I. “Orange trees are the commonest of our possessions. -We have them by thousands. Their leaves are of no account.” - -“So?” said he, with a look which said that he did not believe it. “We -have no tree in all this city, nor anywhere in all this land, but a -single orange tree. No one knows how the seed came here. We worship -that tree; nothing else.” - -“A very pretty sentiment,” said I. “Nothing could be prettier.” - -“Hideous!” said he. “The leaves that drop from that tree and die are -the cause of all our evil. We fight over them, we steal them, we waste -our lives in getting them, and we suffer the agony of the itching palm -when they are ours. Will you help me destroy the panther that guards -the tree?” - -“Certainly not,” said I with a shiver. - -“You have made your choice,” said the Fool. “Buffino, give me the -mirror.” - -The monkey, who had now returned, handed to the dwarf a large mirror, -and the Fool held it up before my sister. - -Instead of the beautiful person of my sister appeared in the glass the -face and figure of an old woman, bent, ugly, and wrinkled. My sister -started back in dismay, and the dwarf held up the mirror before myself. -It showed me a gross, puffy face with three chins and pig’s eyes, -horribly repulsive. I shuddered. - -“Just as I thought,” said the Fool. “Tell me now, have you seen the -King’s brother?” - -“Yes,” said I. - -“Will you marry him?” said he to my sister. - -“Oh!” said she. “How could I? I can’t say. I’m--” - -“Just as I thought,” said the dwarf. “And you won’t help me cure my -people. What is it you came here to seek?” - -“We are seeking the best thing in the world,” said I. - -“And what is that?” - -“I don’t know; but we’ll certainly recognize it when we find it.” - -“Not you,” said the dwarf; “not until my mirror shows you fair and -comely; _then_ you’ll know it.” - -“How are we to get it to show us fair and comely?” said I. - -“One of you by saving a miserable outcast, and the other by saving a -whole people; then you’ll be fair and comely, inside and out, but not -until then.” - -“You talk in riddles, master Buffo,” said I. “Let us go to the King.” - -“Madman!” said the dwarf, and gave the mirror back to the monkey, who -scampered off with it and disappeared. - -We followed the Fool up the great staircase and into a distant wing -of the palace, and stopped at a door, on which the hunchback knocked. -Receiving no answer, he opened the door and led us in. “Your majesty!” -he cried. - - -_They Find the King in a Terrible State_ - -The King was pacing the floor, grinding and scratching his palms -together, and muttering angrily to himself. He was an enormous man with -a puffy, red face, a snub nose, and three chins, and he wheezed as he -walked. His hair stood up on end all over his head as if it was trying -to fly off. His fat legs went back and forth in a kind of tripping run, -and his fat hands rubbed and scratched and slapped each other in a -perfect frenzy. - -“What, what!” he cried, never halting for an instant. “What’s the -matter, what’s the matter?” - -“Stop a minute, King Fatchaps!” said the Fool. “Here’s a madman come to -cure your itching palms! Ha, ha!” - -“What do you say? What do you say?” said the King, dancing along, back -and forth. - -“It is true, your majesty,” said I. - -“You can cure me? What do you say? You’re an impostor! They’re all -impostors! Can you cure me? Why don’t you do it then?” - -“I understand,” said I, “that a reward is offered--” - -“Well, well? What of it?” said the King, wheezing and puffing. “Half of -my dead leaves! What of it?” - -“The fact is,” said I, “we should prefer gold or silver.” - -“Impudence!” cried the King. “Gold? Silver? What do you mean? I never -heard of them.” - -“He’ll take the leaves, never fear,” said the dwarf. “Oh, yes.” - -“Take ’em!” cried the King. “Who is the beautiful lady? Take ’em? Dead -leaves or nothing! Take ’em or leave ’em!” - -It was plain that a fortune of dead leaves was as good as any other, -if you only thought it so, and if these people thought it so, as they -evidently did, I might as well take it. - -“I am satisfied, your majesty,” said I, “and if you will hold out your -palm, I will work the cure.” - - -_The Perfection Cream Is Rubbed into the Itching Palm_ - -The King held out his left hand as he passed, and I trotted along -beside him, and drawing from my pouch one of my little jars, I applied -to the King’s palm, with my fingers, a small portion of my salve, -rubbing it in as well as I could; and then I ran around to his other -side, and did the same for his other hand. It was rather difficult, -considering that I had to trot along beside him as he tripped back and -forth across the carpet. - -“What, what, what! Bless my soul!” cried the King, stopping suddenly. -“It feels better!” - -I bowed and smiled, and Buffo the Fool said, “Mad, old Fatchaps! Both -of you mad!” - -“Speak when you’re spoken to!” said the King. “Who asked your opinion? -Pfoo! pfoo! I haven’t any breath left! Not another word out of you, -sir! I know when I’m cured! I’m no fool, I’m no fool!” - -“Oh, no, not at all!” said the Fool. - -“Here, you!” said the King. “Take this young man and his wife and feed -’em, and let ’em sleep in the palace. I’ll settle with ’em in the -morning, if the itching’s gone. I’m no fool.” - -“Not my wife,--my sister,” said I, bowing. - -“What do you say?” cried the King. “Oh, that’s different!” - -He bowed before my sister, and kissed her hand very respectfully. - -“Bless my soul! Beautiful as a moonbeam! What do you say? Where do you -come from, eh? The itching’s gone. But I’ll wait till morning. I’m no -fool. Be off with you, clown, and let ’em eat and sleep in the palace. -What do you say? He shall cure the whole city, and I’ll make ’em -give up half of all their dead leaves to him! In the morning, in the -morning! What do you say? Be off with you!” - -We hastily left him, and as we passed down the hall we saw him poke his -head out of the door and heard him call: - -“Ho! I’m cured! Where’s that confounded chamberlain? Send me the -chamberlain! What do you say? I’m cured!” And he banged the door shut -again. - -That night we dined sumptuously and slept in gorgeous apartments in the -palace. In the morning, being once more conducted by Buffo to the King, -we found him in a transport of happiness. The cure was perfect. He -kissed my sister’s hand, and threw his arms about me, and cried: - -“It’s yours! Half of my dead leaves, and I’ll make a Prince out of you! -Not a word! What do you say? Never woke up once last night! Get to work -and cure all my people. Where’s that confounded chamberlain? Get to -work, get to work!” - - -_Tush the Apothecary Takes the People in Hand_ - -The arrangements were soon made. I took my stand on the palace steps, -and all day long the people filed before me, and into each palm I -rubbed a little of my salve. It was a work of days, and all business -stopped until my task was done. At the end, the city was cured; never -were there in this world a people so beside themselves with joy. - -In the square where I had first met the King’s Fool the King caused -to be thrown up, with five hundred pairs of willing hands, a vat of -hardened mud in blocks, and into this vat his servants poured for me -a good full half of all the dead orange leaves in his treasury, and -on top of these, from each of those whom I had cured, one-half of his -store of leaves; so that when all was done the vat was just half full. -I was rich; richer than the King himself; and my Perfection Cream was -all gone. - -I hinted to the King that some kind of covering should be provided for -the vat, to protect my riches from the weather. - -“What, what?” said he, his face growing a trifle purple. “There’s no -rain at this time of year! What do you say? All in good time! I can’t -do everything in a minute!” - -Now it came to pass, as you may guess, that the King grew daily more -smitten with my sister’s beauty. Scarcely a day passed on which he did -not visit us in the splendid apartments in his palace which he had -given us for our own. His favors became more lavish as time went on; -they could have only one meaning. “You shall be Queen!” said I to my -sister, and she smiled knowingly. - -We were expecting, one evening, a visit from the King, when the Fool -entered our apartment, and behind him came, instead of the King, the -King’s ugly brother. I was startled, for I had forgotten him completely. - -He knelt beside my sister, and took her hand tenderly in his. - -“Dear lady,” he said, “I do not blame you that you have neglected -your promise. I have stolen here at great risk to lay myself again at -your feet. Surely a loyal heart must weigh with you more than rank or -riches. Ah, dear lady, say that you will be mine!” - -I confess that there was something about this young man which made me -like him better than before; but of course a match such as he proposed -was out of the question. - -My sister shook her head and drew away her hand. “I cannot, I cannot,” -she said. - -“Tell me,” he said, “do you think well of me--do you care for me a -little--do you think you can say you love me, ever so little?” - -“I do! I do!” cried my sister, to my amazement, hiding her face in her -hands. “I loved you on the first day I saw you! I can’t help it! I do!” - -“Ah, then,” said the young man, rising, while I on my part remained -speechless with astonishment, “what’s to hinder? You are mine!” - -“No, no,” said my sister, weeping, “it can never be.” - -“Is it because I am poor and friendless?” - -My sister said never a word. - -“Is it because you prize rank and wealth more than love?” - -Still my sister said nothing. - -The young man hesitated, and stooping to kiss her hand, he said, “I -have received my answer;” and with these words he strode mournfully to -the door. But she did not look up at him, and with a sigh of deep grief -he left us. - - -_Paravaine Has Made Her Choice_ - -“The wrong choice once more,” said the Fool, and he, too, went his way. - -My sister had hardly dried her eyes when there came a knock upon the -door behind her, and the King entered. She did not turn round, and the -King tripped in silently on his toes, putting a finger roguishly to -his lips and shaking all over with mirth; and coming up behind her he -placed his two fat hands over her eyes, wagging his eyebrows up and -down at me. - -“Guess who it is!” he cried, wheezing. “What do you say? It’s somebody -come a-wooing! Never mind who! Ha, ha, ha! Guess who it is, and -to-morrow you’ll be Queen! What do you say? Pouf! Pah! I’m all out of -breath. It’s somebody that wants you to be his Queen. Guess! The most -beautiful Queen in the whole--” - -He stopped suddenly. The King’s Fool and his monkey had slipped into -the room behind him and were standing before my sister, and the dwarf -was holding up his mirror before my sister’s face. - -“What, what, what!” cried the King in a rage, taking away his hands -from my sister’s eyes. “What do you mean? Out of my sight, Fool! Away! -Begone!” - -The dwarf held the mirror higher, shaking with laughter the while, and -my sister gazed into it. I saw her shudder and turn pale, and then she -screamed and buried her face in her hands. - -The King, staring likewise into the mirror, turned purple and remained -as if frozen with horror. He shook himself, and gave a choking gasp. - -“What’s this?” he cried. “It’s the--what a-- Take it away. She’s an old -woman! She’s a witch! What a-- I’m no fool, it’s a trick, I knew it -all the time! Take her away! She’s an old woman. You can’t play tricks -on me, I won’t have it, I won’t stand it. She’s a witch! I’m going. I -won’t stay. It’s a trick. I’m no fool!” - -With these words, puffing and wheezing, he trotted on his fat legs out -of the room. - -“No marriage yet,” said the Fool, looking at me queerly, and he ran -after the King, pulling his monkey along with him. - - -_He Finds Himself Rubbing His Palms Together_ - -That night, as I stood before my mirror, undressing, and comforting -myself with the thought of all the magnificence I had acquired and -would acquire with my dead orange leaves, I found myself rubbing the -palm of my right hand with the fingers of my left. I was aware of a -slight itching in the palm. - -At breakfast in the morning, I noticed that my sister, who was very -sober, would now and then scratch the palm of her right hand; but I -said nothing, and in the afternoon, without questioning her on the -subject of her love for the King’s brother, I prepared to visit the -King, to try if I could not bring him back to reason. I was ready to -leave, when my sister broke into my room, crying out frantically: - -“I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it! The itching in my palms! It won’t -stop for a moment! I can’t sit still! It’s growing worse and worse! Oh, -brother, cure it, cure it, or I shall go mad!” - -She walked up and down the room in a frenzy, rubbing her palms -together. I tried in vain to pacify her, and at length I left her and -betook myself to the King. - -On my way the itching of the night before returned, and this time I -felt it in both my hands. I knew that my sister and myself, in common -with the King and all his subjects, had been handling the dead leaves -freely since I had worked the cure, and I began to be uneasy. - -When I knocked at the King’s door the voice of the Fool said “Come in,” -and I found the King running with his tripping step up and down the -room, rubbing his hands, and beside him trotted the Fool and the monkey. - -“Imbecile!” cried the King, without stopping for an instant. “You -shall die the death! A trick, a trick! And half of my dead leaves gone -for nothing! A death in boiling oil! What do you say? Don’t answer me! -My hands, my hands! Worse than before! You shall suffer, you shall -suffer! A slow death! Why don’t you speak? What are you going to do?” - -“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed the Fool. “He’s been handling the dead leaves -again, and so have you all. It’ll be my turn soon! My turn soon!” - -“Patience, your majesty,” said I, rubbing my hands. “I will go to work -at once and prepare more of my salve. Have no fear. I will cure you -instantly. I am off to my work.” - - -_He Cannot Find the Ingredients for Making the Salve_ - -“Pouf! Pah!” said the King, angrily, and I ran from the room, to find -the ingredients necessary for my salve. But alas, they were not to be -found. I sent everywhere; the city was scoured; but it was no use; I -was in despair. Such simples as could be found I gathered together, and -of these I made a new remedy,--far different from my old, but it was -the best I could do. I tried it on myself, and felt an almost instant -relief. I shouted with joy. - -I returned to the King, and as I passed an open window in the great -hall I heard the muttering of many voices outside, and I saw a great -concourse of people in the palace grounds, all talking angrily, and all -rubbing their hands and dancing on their toes in anguish. They began -to shout my name, and I knew that if I should fall among them in their -present temper I should be lost. - -The King was trotting up and down as before, and the dwarf and the -monkey were running along beside him. - -“What, what?” he cried. “What now? No tricks! I’m no fool. What’s the -matter?” - -“If I cure you,” said I, holding up my box of ointment, “I must have -the rest of your leaves; and from every one I cure I must have the rest -of his; it is only just.” - -“Anything!” cried the King. “You can’t do it! It’s another trick! I’ll -give all the dead leaves in the city to anyone who can save me and my -people! It’s a trick! You can’t do it. What are you waiting for? Try -it! Oh, these hands! It’s no use! Hurry up!” - -I seized his hand, and running beside him I rubbed into his palm a -little of my new ointment; and running around to his other side I did -the same for his other hand. - -“See the madmen!” cried the Fool, clapping his hands in glee. - -“By the beard of my uncle!” cried the King. “I feel better! It’s going! -It’s gone! It’s all over! I’m cured! Oh, wonderful young man, come to -my arms! What do you say? I knew you could do it all the time. I’m -cured!” - -He grasped my arm and pulled me from the room, and down the stairway to -the front door. A great throng filled the grounds, from the door to the -gate; and commanding silence, the King announced in a loud voice that I -was ready with my cure, and that whoever wished to be cured should give -up the remainder of his dead leaves. - -There was a moment’s hesitation, but the anguish of their affliction -was too great; the people whispered together, doubtless remarking that -they would soon get back their leaves in trade; and at any rate they -began to file before me, and my healing work commenced; but not before -I had applied my salve, in sight of all, to my sister’s palms, and -given her immediate relief. - -All that day and the next and for several days the work continued, and -in each case the itching vanished at once; the city was cured again, -and my vat in the public square was filled to the brim, with all the -dead orange leaves that the people owned. The glory of my future was -beyond calculation; my sister, I resolved, should yet be Queen; and I -planned for myself such offices in the state as should give me power -even greater than the King’s. - -When I awoke in my bed on the following morning, I found that I was -rubbing my hands. - -I dressed hurriedly, and my sister came to me in tears. She was rubbing -her hands. - -We hurried to the King. He was running up and down, rubbing his hands. - -We fled from him and ran out upon the palace steps, not knowing where -next to go; and as we stood there, hesitating, the King’s brother -appeared before us, and spoke with excitement. - -“Beloved!” he cried. “We love each other--what more is needed? Quick, -it is not yet too late! Say that you love me--let me hear it again!” - -“Ah, yes, I do,” said my sister, and he threw his arm about her and -clasped her to his breast. - -“Come! I will save you!” he cried. “There is time, if we hurry. Will -you come with me now?” - -My sister drew back a little, still struggling within herself; and -while she hesitated, a commotion arose at the gate, and the young man -cried out, in a voice full of despair: - -“It is too late, too late!” - - -_Tush and His Sister are Seized by the Angry Crowd_ - -At the gate a throng of people were pressing in with angry shouts. They -made toward us, dancing and rubbing their hands. They surrounded us; -they crowded upon us to suffocation; the young man and myself tried -in vain to shield my sister; angry hands were laid upon her and upon -myself, and we were hustled away toward the gate. - -“Give us back our leaves! Kill them both! To the square!” shouted the -mob; and thrusting the King’s brother aside they pulled and pushed us -to the public square, and halted us beneath the vat which contained all -my wealth. - -A sudden outcry, followed by silence, drew my attention upward. There -above us, on the rim of the vat, stood the King’s Fool. He held a -lighted torch aloft in his hand. - -“Madmen!” he cried. “I am ready to cure you! All alone! Speak! Shall I -destroy the leaves?” - -“No, no!” shouted the crowd. “Stop him! Stop him!” - -“If you fire the leaves, we will kill these two!” shouted one of our -captors. - -“Oh!” said my sister at my side, pale with terror. “What shall we do? -Stop him! If the genie would only come and help us! I wish the genie -were here to help us!” - -“The time has come!” cried the Fool. “I must save you! Why will you all -be mad? I must save you from your madness! In with the torch!” - -He faced about toward the center of the vat, and swung his torch as -if about to toss it in; but at that instant a great wind swept across -the square with a roar, such a blast as I had never in my life known -before, and the King’s Fool tottered in it for a moment, and his torch -went out; and then, clutching at the air, he was blown headlong to the -ground in a heap. - -“The whirlwind! The whirlwind!” shouted the crowd in terror. “Fly! Fly -for your lives!” - -Far off across the housetops appeared a yellow cloud, and a saffron -gloom overspread the city. From the cloud to the ground revolved a -yellow funnel, as of dust-laden wind; and it was coming toward us with -the speed of lightning. - -The crowd dispersed madly, trampling one another, shrieking and -cursing, and in a twinkling they were gone. I seized my sister and -dragged her to the street corner, where I opened one half of a cellar -door and plunged down with her, closing the door over us, but peeping -out through a crack. We were just in time. - - -_The Genie in the Whirlwind_ - -The whirling funnel of wind and dust swept over the square; and in the -forefront of it, at a great height, flew the genie, his great mouth -open, and darts of fire flickering around his face. - -The square was empty, save for the crumpled body of the King’s Fool, -lying motionless beside the vat of dead leaves; and as I gazed at him -where he lay, I saw, moving toward him across the bare pavement, the -humped figure of his little monkey. - -The genie, far above, kept just ahead of the whirlwind; the yellow -funnel whirled after him directly across the vat and covered it and -passed; and as it passed, all the dead leaves surged up into it in a -furious gale, so that it was darkened with them; and the next moment -the whirlwind was gone, and the square lay quiet in the sunshine. - -“Come, Paravaine!” said I, and pulled my sister forth across the square. - -We came to the base of the vat, and on the ground beside it, left -there untouched by the storm, lay the King’s Fool on his side, graver -than he had ever been in his life; and huddled against his breast sat -his monkey, shivering, and looking up at us with eyes that seemed to -reproach us. - -We hurried toward the city gate. Many houses were in ruins, and the -streets were strewn with rubbish. People were running busily about, -gazing intently at the ground, and now and then one would stoop and -pick up something. I saw what it was they were doing; they were -searching for dead leaves, scattered by the whirlwind. - -“I can’t go!” said my sister, weeping. “I must see him first! Oh, my -love, my love!” - -“Too late now!” I cried. “Too late, too late!” - -I pulled her onward, knowing that death awaited us in that city; and -we came to the plot of grass where we had seen the sacred tree. It was -gone, and in the place where it had been was only a gaping hole. The -whirlwind had passed that way. On the ground beside the hole lay the -panther, its head on its paws. It watched us with sleepy eyes as we -fled by. - -In a moment we had reached the city gate and passed out. The Guardian -was standing there, his face clouded with a frown, and his scimitar -raised. - -“Why do you flee?” said he. - -“From the wrath of the people!” I cried. “Let us pass!” - -“You cannot pass,” said he. His scimitar glittered in the sun. - -“But we repent! We repent!” cried my sister. - -“Too late, too late!” said the Guardian. “See!” - -He pointed upward, and afar off in the sky appeared a black speck, -speeding toward us. - -“The genie!” I cried; and I had no sooner said it, than the earth -trembled, and before us on the ground towered the genie, breathing fire. - -“Save us from him!” I cried, turning to the Guardian, but he was gone. -We were alone with the genie. - - -_The Pulling Off of the Genie’s Ring_ - -“Off with the ring! That will send him away!” I cried to my sister, -and she tugged at the ring on her forefinger, to pull it off; but it -came unwillingly; and as she pulled, her finger lengthened; she tugged -harder, and as the ring came her finger stretched out longer and -longer; and when the ring was off and dropped on the ground, the first -finger of her right hand was more than a foot long,--a black, stiff -rod, hooked at the end like a poker. - -[Illustration: The genie swung him back and forth and tossed him out to -sea] - -The genie stooped, and gathered me under his right arm and my sister -under his left; and giving a stamp upon the ground which shook the -earth he mounted into the air.... - -Far out over the Great Sea, as the sun was setting, the genie drew -downward toward an island; and on a bluff of this island, overlooking -a cove in which fishing boats lay moored, he alighted and set us on -our feet. Over my sister’s head and back he passed his hand, speaking -strange words in his throat. She shriveled before my eyes; her face -became old and wrinkled and her body bent; and before I could speak -she was the hideous creature I had seen in the Fool’s glass, with a -forefinger like the poker of a ragpicker. - -“Paravaine!” I cried; but the genie turned her away toward a village -which showed itself at the back of the cove, and sent her off in that -direction; and when she had gone, he picked me up in his mighty hands, -and carrying me to the further edge of the bluff where it looked down -on the rolling surf, he swung me back and forth three or four times and -tossed me out to sea. - -I sank into the depths; I rose to the surface; and as my head came up -I looked for the genie. Far up in the evening sky flew what seemed a -tiny, black arrow. I cried aloud; and instead of a shriek there came -from my throat a bark. It was the bark of a seal. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -THE SIXTH NIGHT - -THE ENCHANTED HIGHWAYMAN - - -_Mortimer the Executioner, very grand and uncomfortable in his new -suit, placed a chair for the Queen before Solario’s worktable, and the -old tailor having seated himself cross-legged on the table, the entire -company sat down in a row, facing him._ - -_There were first the Executioner, with the tiny Encourager on his -shoulder; then Bodkin; then Bojohn; then his mother, the Princess -Dorobel, and his father, Prince Bilbo; and last, his grandmother, the -Queen._ - -_“Now then,” said Bojohn, “I hope we’re going to hear the story of -Montesango’s Cave at last.”_ - -_“If it please your majesty,” began Solario, addressing the -Queen,--but at this moment there came a loud knock at the door._ - -_Mortimer the Executioner hastened to open it, and there in the doorway -stood the King himself. Solario sprang down from his table, and all the -others rose._ - -_“Ah! your majesty!” cried Solario, bowing profoundly. “This is indeed -an honor!”_ - -_“I was told I would find you here,” said the King. “It seems that my -entire family deserts me in the evening, and I am obliged to climb the -worst stairs in the castle to-- But of course if you find my society -too--”_ - -_“My dear!” said the Queen. “We have been listening to Solario’s -stories, and you were so taken up with your chess that we thought you -wouldn’t care to--”_ - -_“Why not?” said the King. “But of course if you don’t want me to hear -the stories, I’ll--”_ - -_“Sit down, grandfather!” cried Bojohn. “He’s just going to begin.”_ - -_“Do sit down, my dear,” said the Queen. “Don’t you remember the story -he told us the first night?”_ - -_“Hum! Ha! I’m all out of breath with those plaguey stairs. Something -about a button, wasn’t it?”_ - -_“Perhaps,” said Prince Bilbo, “he’ll tell us to-night how the magic -doublet came to be--”_ - -_“Well,” said the King, “if it isn’t a long story-- Is it a long -story?”_ - -_“No, no, your majesty,” said Solario, bowing again, “it is quite -short.”_ - -_“Hum!” said the King. “If you’re sure it’s not a long story--Why -don’t you begin?” and he sat down in the Executioner’s chair._ - -_Solario took his place cross-legged on the table again, and the others -resumed their seats before him,--all except the Executioner, who stood, -with the Encourager on his shoulder, behind the King._ - -_“My dear,” said the Queen, “did you give the orders for locking the -castle for the night?”_ - -_“I believe I usually attend to that,” said the King. “Solario, -proceed.”_ - -_“If it is your pleasure,” said Solario, fingering his shears, “I will -now relate to you the story concerning the magic doublet, as it was -told to the Black Prince by his father the King of Wen, and by the -Black Prince to me. The King of Wen, having directed his son regarding -his mission to the City of Oogh, placed the doublet in his son’s left -hand, and thus commenced what I may call_ - - -“THE STORY OF THE ENCHANTED HIGHWAYMAN.” - -_“I thought,” interrupted Bojohn, “you were going to tell us the story -of the magic doublet.”_ - -_“I am about to do so,” said Solario. “As I was saying, the King of -Wen, placing the magic doublet in his son’s left hand, thus commenced_ - - -“THE STORY OF THE ENCHANTED HIGHWAYMAN.” - -When I was a young man (said the King of Wen), I left my father’s -castle one morning for a day’s hunting in the forest. Late in the -afternoon it chanced that I had wandered away from my attendants, and -being warm and weary I threw myself down upon the moss to rest. I had -lain there but a moment when I saw, not far off among the trees, a fine -buck, the only game I had come upon that day. I crept cautiously in his -direction, and soon came within easy bowshot of him; but just as I was -fitting my arrow to the string he tossed his head and trotted off into -the forest and disappeared. - -I made off after him as fast as I could, marking his trail by a -broken branch here and there and an occasional hoof-print in the damp -earth, and presently I found myself deep in a considerable thicket of -underwood, and from this thicket I came out, to my surprise, upon a -forest road. - - -_A Voice from Nowhere Bids the Prince Stop_ - -I stood for a moment looking up and down curiously. The deer was -nowhere to be seen. The road was arched in a charming manner by the -branches of the trees, and at no great distance lost itself in the -shadowy forest. I wondered that I had never heard of this road before, -and after pondering this for a moment I began to cross the road, -looking carefully for the deer’s tracks in the dust. I saw no trace of -him, and I was about to push into the forest on the other side, when -suddenly a voice, a low but clear voice, said distinctly in my ear, -“Stop!” - -I looked about me, but I could see no one. There was positively no -living creature near me,--unless I except a wasp which at the moment -was flying about my head, and which I struck away with my hand. - -I walked down the road some twenty paces, peering about for the person -who had spoken, and becoming more and more perplexed; and as I was -about to enter the forest the same voice, still low but quite distinct, -spoke again close into my ear: “Stop!” - -I stopped in bewilderment. The forest was silent as the sky; no -living creature, not even a bird, could I see anywhere; there was -nothing;--nothing, indeed, except the wasp which was still flying about -my head and which now began to annoy me exceedingly. - -I went on again, striking out at the wasp, and in a moment (I assure -you I began to doubt my senses), the same voice spoke again, this time -close into my left ear. - -“Stop! Just a moment!” it said. “Look, if you please! On your left -shoulder!” - -I craned my neck about, and there was nothing on my left shoulder -except the wasp. The wasp was there, indeed, and I made as if to brush -him off; but the voice said, “Don’t, if you please!” and I stayed my -hand. - -You may imagine that I was more astonished than ever. I gazed at the -wasp intently, and as I did so the voice began to murmur, in a kind of -rapid, buzzing drone, into my left ear. - -“Mercy on us!” I cried. “It’s the wasp that’s talking!” - -It was true, beyond a doubt. “Yes!” said the voice. “Please listen! If -you’d only be so good--I really wish you would!” - - -_The Prince Listens to a Curious Discourse_ - -I stood perfectly still in the roadway, and I know that my mouth hung -open as I listened. The wasp buzzed into my ear a kind of rapid, -droning song, so low that I had to strain my attention a little to -catch it all, and these were the words I heard: - - “I know it’s rude to speak to you, it’s something I but seldom do, - to speak before I’m spoken to, - Or buttonhole a stranger; - Excuse me if I do not pause to think just now of social laws, I can - not spare the time, because - I’m in the gravest danger; - In gravest danger, yes, it’s true, I’m sure I don’t know what I’ll - do, I’ll positively die if you - Refuse me your assistance; - Come, follow me without delay, I pray you do not say me nay, - it’s life or death,--and anyway - It’s scarcely any distance. - - “My lot is sad in the extreme, I really am not what I seem, - I once was held in high esteem - By every friend and neighbor: - A man entirely free of guile, who lived but in his children’s smile, - and kept them all in modest style - By hard and patient labor, - A man of pleasing manners who, whatever other men might do, - spoke seldom unless spoken to, - A practice much commended; - My trade in such a way I plied upon the highway far and wide - (I say it with a modest pride) - I scarcely once offended. - - “It used to be my pleasant way (it always made my work seem - play) to take the air from day to day,-- - Unless, of course,’twas raining,-- - Upon the road to watch and wait from early morn to rather late, - but always coming home by eight - (Such was my early training), - I used to watch and wait, I say, and when a trav’ler came my - way, which happened every other day - Unless too cold or sunny, - I never spoke a word, not I, I merely breathed a patient sigh, - and held my trusty blade on high - And took from him his money. - - “’Twas thus I kept my children ten, a decent, worthy citizen, - the happiest of mortal men - My humble sphere adorning, - The father of ten daughters fair who needed tons of clothes to - wear, and that was why I took the air - Upon the road each morning, - But oh, alas for them and me, it’s over now, as you may see, - and you are incontestably - Our only hope remaining; - And all our truly dreadful plight is just because one rainy night - I simply for a moment quite - Forgot my early training. - - “’Twas rainy and ’twas after eight, I knew that I was out too - late, but when your trade’s in such a state - You hardly know what cash is, - You cannot stop because you get your feet all muddy, cold and wet, - I knew I should be ill, and yet,-- - My children needed sashes. - I shivered with the wet and cold, I counted twenty times all told - I’d meant to have my shoes half-soled - And still they’d not been cobbled, - ‘I’ll certainly,’ I thought, ‘be sick,’--and then from out the darkness - thick an ancient woman with a stick - In fearsome silence hobbled. - -[Illustration: - - “I held my trusty blade on high - And took from him his money”] - - - “She was an ancient, crooked crone, an ugly thing of skin and - bone, she passed me silent as a stone - (I thought it rather funny), - But I could hear my children cry, ‘Oh, buy us ribbons, father, buy,’ - and stopping her, my blade on high, - I shouted, ‘Stand! Your money!’ - Ah, that was just where I did make a most unfortunate mistake, - for she with mirth began to shake - (It made my blood run colder), - And up she raised her crooked staff, she gave a most unearthly - laugh, a thing I did not like by half, - And touched me on the shoulder. - - “She stood, she looked me through and through, she said not even - ‘How d’ye do,’ she merely gave a laugh or two, - And munched her gums together: - A witch, a sorceress of the wood! I nearly fainted where I stood, - I really truly think you could - Have felled me with a feather. - A witch, as sure, as sure could be! You see what she has done to - me! And all because I carelessly - Forgot my early training. - From which you learn this lesson true, that it will never, never - do to speak before you’re spoken to - Or stay out when it’s raining.” - - -The voice stopped, and the wasp flew off, directly before my nose, as -if leading me away. - -_“Why, dear me!” interrupted the Queen. “I believe this wasp was -nothing more nor less than a Highwayman.”_ - -_“What I don’t understand is,” said the King, “how a Highwayman could -have learned to make up verses.”_ - -_“In the Forest of Wen, your majesty,” said Solario, “the Highwaymen -always talked in that fashion. It was their regular custom. I am told -that no Highwayman could get his certificate until he had passed an -examination in arithmetic, swordplay, and composition; and of course -composition included verse making.”_ - -_“Well,” said the King, “I don’t see what that had to do with making a -good Highwayman of him; but then I don’t pretend to understand these -notions about education. As far as I’m concerned, if I had to pass an -examination in arithmetic in order to be a King, I’d simply have to -look about for something else to do. I never could see the sense in -teaching a King arithmetic, and I don’t see the sense in teaching a -Highwayman how to make verses. I know it’s done in some places; it’s -gotten to be quite the thing, I understand that perfectly well; but I -don’t see any sense in it.”_ - -_“My dear,” said the Queen, “you mustn’t forget that a Highwayman has -to know a great deal more than a King. It’s so very much harder to be a -good Highwayman. But I don’t think I should like to be married to one.”_ - -_“This one was a widower, evidently,” said the King. “I know I -shouldn’t like to be a widower with ten daughters on my hands. I don’t -see how any human being could keep ten daughters in ribbons and--”_ - -_“When Dorobel was little,” said the Queen, “I always had the most -terrible time to make her remember that she mustn’t speak until she -was spoken to. I don’t wonder the poor man forgot it, when he was so -worried about sashes for his dear children,--and out so late at night, -and in the rain, too!”_ - -_“Why don’t you let the man go on with his story?” said the King. -“We’ll_ never _get to bed at this rate. Solario, be kind enough to -proceed.”_ - -The wasp flew off (said the King of Wen), directly before my nose, as -if leading me away; and I followed him down the road. - -We had gone about a mile, when the wasp turned off into the forest. I -hesitated a moment, but I was curious to know what this unfortunate -Highwayman intended, and I pushed on after him into a portion of -the forest which was wilder and gloomier than any I had yet seen. -The branches of the trees hung low, and the ground was thick with -underbrush; I had to part the bushes and branches with my hands in -order to get through. - -The wasp flew within a foot of my nose, and I kept on after him thus -for more than half an hour. He seemed to know the way, but for my part -I began to wonder whether I should ever be able to find my way back. -Suddenly he flew off, and I saw him no more. - - -_The Prince, Alone in the Forest, Hears the Bark of a Dog_ - -I was at this moment in an uncommonly thick part of the forest. The -trees were perhaps less close, but the underbrush was taller; so tall -that I could not see through. I stopped for a moment, and listened. All -was still. Not a bird twittered among the leaves overhead. I was vexed -that I had allowed myself to be drawn upon such a wild-goose chase, and -I decided that I had better begin to make my way back to the road; and -as I was considering this, I heard the bark of a dog. - -It was a single, sharp bark, and it stopped abruptly, as if a hand -had been clapped over the animal’s mouth. I listened again, but it -came no more. “What should a dog be doing here?” I thought; and full -of curiosity I pushed on through the underbrush in the direction of -the sound. In a moment I had broken through the tanglewood, and I was -standing at the edge of a clearing, in the midst of which was a little -house. - -It was a very tiny house indeed,--not much more, in fact, than a hut. -Its door was closed, and the window beside the door was barred with -shutters. I listened intently, thinking to hear again the bark of a -dog, but I heard nothing. Evidently the place was deserted. - -I crossed the open space before the door, and as I did so I noticed, -clinging to the trunk and lower branches of a tree at the side of the -clearing, what appeared to be a wasp’s nest; but an enormous wasp’s -nest, big enough, in all conscience, to contain a man if need be; a -wasp’s nest greater than I should have thought could exist in the -world. I looked at it curiously, and coming nearer I saw, crawling over -it, a number of wasps. I counted them, and there were eleven. - -They arose with one accord and flew in great agitation about my head; -and at the same time I heard a voice from inside the wasp’s nest,--the -voice of a human being, but not the one I had already heard; a voice -much stronger and louder. I put my ear against the wasp’s nest, and -from within came these words: - -“Don’t speak before you’re spoken to!” - -“Who is it?” I said. “Where are you?” - -“Beware the dog!” said the voice again. - -“But who--what--?” I began. - - -_The Prisoner Inside the Wasp’s Nest_ - -“I can’t get out! I’m imprisoned inside the wasp’s nest! Do as you’re -bid, and don’t speak before you’re spoken to. Beware the dog!” - -At this moment I heard the click of a latch, and I turned round in time -to see the door of the hut open. - -In the doorway was standing an old woman, and by her side a dog. She -was a hideous old crone, wrinkled and bent, with little, beady eyes -and a hooked nose and no teeth. She stood there munching her gums and -blinking her eyes at me, and I noticed that she wore about her neck a -string of what looked like ivory buttons, ten of them, white and flat. - -With her left hand she leaned on a crooked stick, and with her right -hand she held, by a leather thong, the biggest and fiercest-looking dog -I had ever seen in my life. His head came nearly to the old woman’s -shoulder. He was chocolate brown in color, and his skin was entirely -naked of hair, except for a patch of long wiry hair which fringed -his neck. He bared his sharp, white teeth at me and growled. I felt -decidedly uneasy. - -The eleven wasps were flying about my head in violent agitation. The -old woman said nothing, but continued to blink at me and munch her -gums. Suddenly the dog barked, and without a word the old woman flung -the thong from her hand. The dog gave a bound toward me and crouched -for a spring, growling and bristling. In another instant I knew that I -would be torn to pieces. I started back and cried out in alarm. - -“Call him off!” I shouted. “Stop him! Call him off!” - -At these words, a groan came from inside the wasps’ nest. At the same -time one of the eleven wasps, which were flying directly before my -face, dropped to the ground at my feet as if dead. I realized that I -had spoken before being spoken to, and one of the wasps--one of the -Highwayman’s daughters, in fact,--had suffered for my error. But the -worst consequence was now to come. - -The old woman shook her stick and danced up and down in hideous glee. - -“He’s spoken!” she cried. “Ha! ha! Spoken before he was spoken to! -He’s done for himself now! At him, dog, he’s helpless! Seize him, dog, -destroy him!” - - -_The Dog Leaps Upon Him to Devour Him_ - -Before I could turn, the dog was upon me. No man on earth could have -stood up under such an attack. With one leap he was upon my breast, -and bore me to the ground; and as I fell his sharp teeth sank into my -shoulder, and I nearly fainted with pain and terror. - -“A hair of the dog that bit you!” It was the voice from within the -wasp’s nest, and it was crying: “A hair of the dog that bit you!” - -My senses were slipping away, and I hardly knew what I did; but somehow -or other I put my hand on the beast’s neck, and plucked from it a long -hair; and as I did so the dog bounded away from me and stood cowering -and quivering, as if in fear. - -“At him!” screamed the witch--for it was a witch, beyond a doubt; and -she rushed upon the dog and began to beat him violently with her stick. -“At him again!” she screamed, but to my amazement the dog turned upon -her, snarling; and at that moment the voice came again from the wasp’s -nest, and it cried: - -“A ring of the hair! Make a ring of the hair for your finger!” - -I sat up and quickly wound about my finger, in a ring, the hair which I -had plucked from the dog’s neck. The effect of this was startling. The -witch shrieked, plainly in terror, and sprang away from the dog; and -the brute came to me and cringed before me on the ground and whined; -and behold, all the pain was gone from my shoulder. - -“Command him to be himself again!” cried the voice from the wasp’s nest. - -“Be yourself again!” I cried, not knowing what I said. - - -_The Prince, Sitting on the Ground, Looks Up at a Genie_ - -Instantly, in the flash of an eye, the dog was gone; and in his place -stood, towering above me full seven yards or more, a monstrous creature -in the shape of a man, chocolate brown in color, baldheaded except for -a fringe of long hair at the base of his skull, and bare except for a -cloth twisted about his middle, in which hung a gleaming scimitar. It -was a genie. He was panting with anger or some other strong emotion, -and as he panted jets of fire shot forth from his nostrils. His mighty -chest heaved, and I shrank back in alarm; but he spread out his hands -and bowed low before me. I remembered the ring of hair on my finger, -and grew bolder. - -The witch was creeping quietly away, stick in hand, toward the door of -her hut; but as she reached it the genie stooped and caught her in his -hand and held her fast. I sprang to my feet. - -“Set free your victims!” I cried to her. “The wasps and the prisoner -inside the nest! Release them! or by the power of the genie’s hair, I -will command him to destroy you!” - -She kicked and squirmed and shrieked, but all in vain. There was no -escaping from that terrible grasp. She grew quiet, and began to mutter -to herself. “I will count ten,” I cried, “and if at the tenth--” But -she did not wait for me to count. With one look up at the genie’s face -she waved her crooked stick in the air and began to pour out strange -words, and then, giving a despairing cry, she let the stick fall to -the ground; and as it touched the ground, there came from the wasp’s -nest--I assure you it was an extraordinary sight--I scarcely know how -to tell you, it all happened so quickly-- - - -_The One-Armed Sorcerer Appears from Within the Wasp’s Nest_ - -Well, the wasp’s nest opened from top to bottom, and inside it was -sitting a young man, who leaped down with a laugh and stood before me, -bowing. I noticed that he had but one arm, the left; his eyes were -blue, and his skin was fair and rosy; and he wore a long blue gown -spangled with silver stars. - -_The Highwayman and Nine of His Daughters Appear in Proper Person_ - -Almost at the same instant there were standing before me nine young -maidens, all of extraordinary beauty; and in their midst an elderly -man with a gray beard and a long thin face, and spindly legs. The -nine maidens were gazing at an object on the ground, and the elderly -man looked down at it also, and they all began to wring their hands -together and moan. - -“Oh!” said the elderly man, sniffling,-- - - “Just see what he has gone and done, he can’t deny it, he’s the - one, he ought to hide his head where none - Could ever look upon it, - He knew, he did, he surely knew, I told him it would never do - to speak before you’re spoken to, - And now he’s gone and done it.” - -“I warned him,” said the one-armed young man, “but he was frightened, -and he forgot.” - -“Oh, yes,” said the elderly man, wiping his tears away with the back of -his hand,-- - - “Oh, yes, it’s well enough to say it slipped his mind a bit to-day - and in an absent sort of way - He slew my darling daughter; - But that will hardly, hardly do, I really can’t agree with you, it’s - simply from my point of view - A case of plain manslaughter.” - -“Oh, sister! sister!” cried the nine maidens. “Isn’t it terrible? It’s -too terrible! It is terrible, isn’t it?” - -“Let me go!” screamed the witch, struggling in the hand of the genie. - - -_He Sees the Highwayman’s Tenth Daughter_ - -I pushed into the group around the elderly Highwayman, and there at -his feet I saw what made my heart stand still with grief and remorse. -On the ground was lying a maiden, far lovelier than any of the others; -and she was dead. Her eyes were closed, her face was pale, she did not -breathe; and her hair lay about her like a shower of gold. Alas, that -my carelessness had brought her to this sorrowful end! If she had only -lived! How I should have rejoiced to be her friend, and in the course -of time, perhaps, persuade her to smile upon me--Alas! alas! At that -moment, if she could but have cast one look upon me, I would have laid -at her feet all that I-- - -I knelt beside her and took her cold hand in mine. I stooped over her, -and in an excess of pity, and of more, far more than pity, I kissed her -softly on the lips. - -Oh, wonderful! Her eyelids quivered. A faint flush came into her -cheeks. Her eyes opened, and she looked straight into my own. She -smiled, and it was like the evening sky after rain. I put my arm -beneath her shoulder, and helped her to stand up. She rubbed her eyes -and swayed a little, and I kept my arm about her. We gazed at each -other, smiling. - -“Is it--?” said she. - -“It is, beloved!” I cried, and folded her, unresisting, to my heart. - -“Oh, isn’t it just too perfectly sweet?” cried her nine sisters, -clapping their hands and laughing merrily, all together. “It is sweet, -isn’t it? It’s love at first sight! It’s just the sweetest thing ever! -_Isn’t_ it just too sweet for _anything_, though?” - -But while they were still running on in this fashion, and the elderly -Highwayman was cheering faintly and the one-armed young man was -cheering lustily, a loud roar came from the genie, and we saw that the -witch had slipped from his grasp and was even now dashing in at the -door of the hut. She shut it behind her with a bang, and the one-armed -youth pounded against it in vain. - -“The stolen hair!” he cried. “The genie’s hair which she stole from me! -I must get it back! Don’t let her get away!” - - -_The Genie Breathes Fire Upon the Witch’s Hut_ - -The genie opened his great mouth and roared with anger; then he stooped -down over the hut, and I saw that he was breathing fire upon the roof -from his nostrils; and as the sparks caught in the dry thatch, he began -to walk around the hut, bending and breathing fire upon its roof from -place to place. In a few moments it was ablaze from end to end; the -walls caught; and as I held my fair lady trembling close beside me, -the house arose in flames, crackling and roaring, and showering sparks -upward into the twilight sky. - -“Oh!” said my fair one, clinging to my arm. “The poor witch! Save her! -She will be burned to death!” But the genie’s thunderous laugh was her -only answer. - -We watched until the fire was out, and there remained only a heap of -smoking ashes; and the witch was gone. - -“Oh, the poor thing!” said my beautiful lady. - -“Isn’t it terrible?” said her nine sisters, among themselves. “It’s -just too terrible for anything! It _is_ terrible, isn’t it? It’s simply -terrible, it is, isn’t it?” - -The one-armed youth stepped up to the ruin and appeared to be looking -among the ashes near what was once the door. He looked for a long time, -and then he suddenly straightened up and cried, “Ah!” - -He came toward us, and he was holding up in his hand what seemed to be -a necklace. - -“See!” he said, and I saw that it was a string of buttons, of large -flat buttons, eleven of them, threaded on what seemed to be a hair; the -same I had seen about the witch’s neck. - -“It is the genie’s hair,” said the young man, “the same that she stole -from me; and it was this hair which gave her power to turn my genie to -a dog and imprison me in the wasp’s nest. Now let me see these buttons; -I must look at them with care.” - -He examined each one minutely; and when he had examined them all, he -placed his finger on his lips and smiled knowingly; and while I held -the hair he broke it and slipped off the eleventh button, inviting -me to look at it closely. I looked and saw upon it, near the rim, a -crooked black line, much like the imprint of a tiny, crooked stick. - - -_The One-Armed Sorcerer Performs Upon a Button_ - -He threw the button upon the ground, laughing, and took from within -his gown a leather pouch, from which he sprinkled upon the button a -black powder; and then he began to speak, in a loud voice, words which -I could not understand, in the midst of which he picked up the button, -now crusted with black; and still repeating his strange words, he swung -his arm, and with a loud cry flung the button into the branches of the -nearest tree; and there, hanging on to a branch of the tree, trying -desperately to keep from toppling off, was the old witch herself. - -Instantly the young man took the threaded buttons from me and slipped -them off the hair; he wound the hair about his finger and cried,-- - -“Off with her! Off with her to the Forest Kingdom, far from here, -and see that she never comes back again! Off with her, I say, to the -Kingdom of the Great Forest!” - -At these words the genie strode over to the witch and-- - -_“Well, bless my soul,” interposed the King, “what business did he -have to send that witch here, I’d like to know? So_ that’s _how -she came to live in my Forest! A fine piece of work, I must say! A -pretty how-d’ye-do, to send their cast-off witches over here! What -business had he to--”_ - -_“Never mind, grandfather” said Bojohn, “do let him go on with his -story.”_ - -_“A fine piece of work!” said the King. “Of all the high-handed, -brazen-faced--”_ - -_“My dear!” said the Queen._ - -The genie strode over to the witch in three steps and plucked her down -with one hand. He then tucked her under his arm like a sack of corn, -and stood before the one-armed youth. - -“Stoop down!” said the young man. - -The genie bowed low, and the young man, to my surprise, reached up and -pulled from the back of his head, at the neck, ten long hairs, one by -one. - -“Away!” cried the one-armed youth. - - -_The Genie Flies Away With the Witch_ - -The genie stood up, and opening his great mouth in a silent laugh, -stamped upon the earth so that it shook, and leaped straight up. He -rose in the air in a wide curve; and before we could blink again he was -gone like an arrow over the treetops, with the witch under his arm, and -was no more than a speck in the evening sky. - -The young man tucked the ten hairs away inside his gown. - -“Now,” said he, “_she’s_ gone. And good riddance, too, I should say.” - -“Sir,” said I to him, “will you tell us who you are, and what brings -you here?” - -“I am a sorcerer,” said he, “and I dwell in an island far out in the -Great Sea. I am known there as the One-Armed Sorcerer. I came here, -with the genie whom I command by virtue of a ring of his hair, in order -to prove my skill against the witch. I undertook to release our good -friend the Highwayman and his ten fair daughters, but I am bound to say -that I managed it badly; so badly that the witch got the genie’s hair -away from me, and by means of that hair turned him into a dog and shut -me up inside the wasp’s nest. And all because I didn’t know the rule, -that you mustn’t speak before you’re spoken to.” - -“A pretty good rule,” said I, “but if everybody observed it, who would -ever talk?” - -“Well, anyway,” said the One-Armed Sorcerer, “here I have ten buttons, -and here I have ten threads from the genie’s head. I propose to make -you a doublet, sir; a magic doublet; and for the cloth, the wasp’s -nest will be the very thing. It will be a doublet worth having; and -to you, sir, who have so nobly preserved us all, I will present it -on--er--ahem!--on your wedding day.” - -“Hurrah!” piped up the elderly Highwayman, and the lady on my arm -blushed. - -“Oh, isn’t that sweet of him?” cried her nine sisters. “Isn’t it just -too sweet for anything? It’s really the sweetest thing, now isn’t it? -Too perfectly sweet for words, it is, really!” - -The One-Armed Sorcerer, stepping over to the wasp’s nest, pulled it -down from the tree without breaking it, and slung it on his back. - -“Come with me!” I cried. “You shall all return with me to my father’s -castle. Will you consent to that?” - -“Well,” said the elderly Highwayman,-- - - “Though anxious to accommodate, I fear it’s growing rather late, - I seldom stay out after eight--” - -“Oh, father!” cried his daughters, nine of them, together, “it would be -perfectly jolly!” - -“It would suit me to perfection,” said the One-Armed Sorcerer. - -“Oh, _won’t_ it be jolly? It _will_ be jolly, won’t it? Wouldn’t it be -perfectly jolly?” cried the nine young damsels, clapping their hands. - -“Will you come home with me?” I whispered to the fairest of the ten, -who had said nothing. - -“If you wish it,” she whispered, blushing again. - -“Oh, aren’t they just the dearest things?” cried her nine sisters. -“It’s love at first sight--oh, the dear things! Aren’t they just simply -too dear for anything? They _are_ perfectly dear, now, aren’t they? -Really now, aren’t they just too perfectly _dear_?” - - -_The Prince Leads His Beloved Home_ - -Well, the long and the short of it is, we reached my father’s castle -late that night, under a starry sky. The attendants whom I had left in -the forest had returned without me, and the castle was a-twitter with -anxiety. But when I led my fair lady into the great hall and presented -her to my father, the King, and her nine sisters and the elderly -Highwayman and the One-Armed Sorcerer stood bowing behind us, there was -joy, I can tell you, and the rafters rang again. - -My father, after a long look at the beautiful damsel at my side, and -then at me, gave a long, slow whistle, without making a sound, and -stooped and kissed her on both cheeks, nudging me with his elbow at the -same time. - -A cheer went up again, and my father took me aside and whispered in my -ear. - -“You rascal,” said he, “I never thought you had it in you to-- Really! -You don’t say so! You astonish me! A Highwayman’s daughter! Well, well, -think of that! Very original of you, my son; I’m sure I never would -have thought of such a thing at your age. She’s got a fine eye, my boy; -there’s a look in it I’ve seen in your mother’s eye; a will of her own, -you can’t fool me about that look,--yes, yes, very beautiful,--but a -will of her own, remember I told you. A Highwayman’s daughter! That’s -good. Highly original. Well, well, it might have been the Hangman’s -daughter--but remember what I told you about that look in the eye, I’ve -seen it before,--your mother used to--but she’s certainly beautiful all -the same--when does the wedding come off?” - - -_The Magic Doublet Is Presented at the Wedding_ - -We were married on the morning of the third day. Such feasting, such -dancing, such merriment,--and gifts innumerable; but the best gift of -all was a doublet, made with his left hand by the One-Armed Sorcerer -from the skin of the witch’s wasp’s nest, fastened by the witch’s ten -buttons sewed on with the genie’s hair; a doublet to preserve the -wearer from all harm. And this, as the wedding dinner was nearing its -end, the One-Armed Sorcerer, rising in his place, presented to me with -a pretty speech, for which I thanked him. - -“Sir,” said my father, addressing the One-Armed Sorcerer, “I invite -you to remain with me at my court, to instruct my son in the mystery -of handling a wife. Nobody but a sorcerer should undertake such a job. -Will you try it?” - -“Alas, your majesty,” said the One-Armed Sorcerer, “it is far beyond -my powers. And besides, I must return to my island home, on pressing -business.” - -“Very well, then,” said my father. He took my bride’s hand in his and -patted it, while she looked down in confusion. “My dear,” said he to -her, “you must persuade your sisters to remain here with us. And as for -your father, I design to appoint him Lord Treasurer of my kingdom. I -think a Highwayman ought to be a good man to take charge of my money. -Will you persuade him to accept that office?” - -“Oh!” cried the nine sisters, without giving my bride a chance to -speak. “That _would_ be jolly! Oh, _wouldn’t_ it be jolly? It _will_ -be just too perfectly jolly for anything, won’t it? But really, though, -_won’t_ it be jolly? Just too simply, perfectly, adorably _jolly_!” - -“Your majesty,” said my father-in-law the Highwayman, rising up on his -elderly legs,-- - - “Although I am not confident that I’m entirely competent, I thank - you for the compliment, - I thank you most sincerely; - I fear I am not very quick in matters of arithmetic, but often when - the answers stick - I get them,--very nearly; - And if at first I don’t succeed I try again, although indeed I - cannot say I always heed - Each wretched little fraction; - And anyway you must agree if one but knows his Rule of Three - there’s hardly any need to be - Acquainted with subtraction. - - “I do not wish to seem to boast, of all things I detest it most, - and yet I think I’d fill the post - Not very ill, not very: - From early youth I did betray, I’ve often heard my mother say, - a really rather taking way - In matters monetary; - A simple little rule or two I always try to keep in view, to do - what I am told to do, - And always speak politely, - And never make a saucy joke behind the backs of other folk, a rule - which I have seldom broke, - If I remember rightly. - - “My motto is a simple one, that happiness depends upon the consciousness - of duty done - (Unless it’s too unpleasant), - I value virtue more than wit, and as for riches, I admit I do not - value them a bit - (At least, not just at present), - I think, however, I should state, that though I don’t mind working - late, I like to be at home by eight, - When supper’s on the table; - And thus, in words of simple art, I thank you, Sir, with all my - heart, and promise I will do my part - (At least, as far as able).” - -[Illustration] - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Solario the Tailor, by William Bowen - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOLARIO THE TAILOR *** - -***** This file should be named 60162-0.txt or 60162-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/1/6/60162/ - -Produced by Tim Lindell, David E. 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