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diff --git a/701-h/701-h.htm b/701-h/701-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f537914 --- /dev/null +++ b/701-h/701-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1922 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The King of the Golden River, +by John Ruskin +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The King of the Golden River, by John Ruskin. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The King of the Golden River + A Short Fairy Tale + +Author: John Ruskin. + +Posting Date: July 23, 2008 [EBook #701] +Release Date: October, 1996 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER *** + + + + +Produced by HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +The King of the Golden River +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +John Ruskin +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PREFACE +</H3> + +<P> +"The King of the Golden River" is a delightful fairy tale told with all +Ruskin's charm of style, his appreciation of mountain scenery, and with +his usual insistence upon drawing a moral. None the less, it is quite +unlike his other writings. All his life long his pen was busy +interpreting nature and pictures and architecture, or persuading to +better views those whom he believed to be in error, or arousing, with +the white heat of a prophet's zeal, those whom he knew to be +unawakened. There is indeed a good deal of the prophet about John +Ruskin. Though essentially an interpreter with a singularly fine +appreciation of beauty, no man of the nineteenth century felt more +keenly that he had a mission, and none was more loyal to what he +believed that mission to be. +</P> + +<P> +While still in college, what seemed a chance incident gave occasion and +direction to this mission. A certain English reviewer had ridiculed the +work of the artist Turner. Now Ruskin held Turner to be the greatest +landscape painter the world had seen, and he immediately wrote a +notable article in his defense. Slowly this article grew into a +pamphlet, and the pamphlet into a book, the first volume of "Modern +Painters." The young man awoke to find himself famous. In the next +few years four more volumes were added to "Modern Painters," and the +other notable series upon art, "The Stones of Venice" and "The Seven +Lamps of Architecture," were sent forth. +</P> + +<P> +Then, in 1860, when Ruskin was about forty years old, there came a +great change. His heaven-born genius for making the appreciation of +beauty a common possession was deflected from its true field. He had +been asking himself what are the conditions that produce great art, and +the answer he found declared that art cannot be separated from life, +nor life from industry and industrial conditions. A civilization +founded upon unrestricted competition therefore seemed to him +necessarily feeble in appreciation of the beautiful, and unequal to its +creation. In this way loyalty to his mission bred apparent disloyalty. +Delightful discourses upon art gave way to fervid pleas for humanity. +For the rest of his life he became a very earnest, if not always very +wise, social reformer and a passionate pleader for what he believed to +be true economic ideals. +</P> + +<P> +There is nothing of all this in "The King of the Golden River." Unlike +his other works, it was written merely to entertain. Scarcely that, +since it was not written for publication at all, but to meet a +challenge set him by a young girl. +</P> + +<P> +The circumstance is interesting. After taking his degree at Oxford, +Ruskin was threatened with consumption and hurried away from the chill +and damp of England to the south of Europe. After two years of +fruitful travel and study he came back improved in health but not +strong, and often depressed in spirit. It was at this time that the +Guys, Scotch friends of his father and mother, came for a visit to his +home near London, and with them their little daughter Euphemia. The +coming of this beautiful, vivacious, light-hearted child opened a new +chapter in Ruskin's life. Though but twelve years old, she sought to +enliven the melancholy student, absorbed in art and geology, and bade +him leave these and write for her a fairy tale. He accepted, and after +but two sittings, presented her with this charming story. The incident +proved to have awakened in him a greater interest than at first +appeared, for a few years later "Effie" Grey became John Ruskin's wife. +Meantime she had given the manuscript to a friend. Nine years after it +was written, this friend, with John Ruskin's permission, gave the story +to the world. +</P> + +<P> +It was published in London in 1851, with illustrations by the +celebrated Richard Doyle, and at once became a favorite. Three +editions were printed the first year, and soon it had found its way +into German, Italian, and Welsh. Since then countless children have +had cause to be grateful for the young girl's challenge that won the +story of Gluck's golden mug and the highly satisfactory handling of the +Black Brothers by Southwest Wind, Esquire. +</P> + +<P> +For this edition new drawings have been prepared by Mr. Hiram P. +Barnes. They very successfully preserve the spirit of Doyle's +illustrations, which unfortunately are not technically suitable for +reproduction here. +</P> + +<P> +In the original manuscript there was an epilogue bearing the heading +"Charitie"—a morning hymn of Treasure Valley, whither Gluck had +returned to dwell, and where the inheritance lost by cruelty was +regained by love: +</P> + +<P> +The beams of morning are renewed The valley laughs their light to see +And earth is bright with gratitude And heaven with charitie. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +R.H. COE +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap01"> +HOW THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM OF THE BLACK BROTHERS WAS INTERFERED WITH +BY SOUTHWEST WIND, ESQUIRE +</A> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap02"> +OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE THREE BROTHERS AFTER THE VISIT OF SOUTHWEST +WIND, ESQUIRE; AND HOW LITTLE GLUCK HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF +GOLDEN RIVER +</A> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap03"> +HOW MR. HANS SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN RIVER, AND HOW HE +PROSPERED THEREIN +</A> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap04"> +HOW MR. SCHWARTZ SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN RIVER, AND HOW +HE PROSPERED THEREIN +</A> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#chap05"> +HOW LITTLE GLUCK SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN RIVER, AND HOW +HE PROSPERED THEREIN, WITH OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER +</H1> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HOW THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM OF THE BLACK BROTHERS WAS INTERFERED WITH +BY SOUTHWEST WIND, ESQUIRE +</H3> + +<P> +In a secluded and mountainous part of Stiria there was in old time a +valley of the most surprising and luxuriant fertility. It was +surrounded on all sides by steep and rocky mountains rising into peaks +which were always covered with snow and from which a number of torrents +descended in constant cataracts. One of these fell westward over the +face of a crag so high that when the sun had set to everything else, +and all below was darkness, his beams still shone full upon this +waterfall, so that it looked like a shower of gold. It was therefore +called by the people of the neighborhood the Golden River. It was +strange that none of these streams fell into the valley itself. They +all descended on the other side of the mountains and wound away through +broad plains and by populous cities. But the clouds were drawn so +constantly to the snowy hills, and rested so softly in the circular +hollow, that in time of drought and heat, when all the country round +was burned up, there was still rain in the little valley; and its crops +were so heavy, and its hay so high, and its apples so red, and its +grapes so blue, and its wine so rich, and its honey so sweet, that it +was a marvel to everyone who beheld it and was commonly called the +Treasure Valley. +</P> + +<P> +The whole of this little valley belonged to three brothers, called +Schwartz, Hans, and Gluck. Schwartz and Hans, the two elder brothers, +were very ugly men, with overhanging eyebrows and small, dull eyes +which were always half shut, so that you couldn't see into THEM and +always fancied they saw very far into YOU. They lived by farming the +Treasure Valley, and very good farmers they were. They killed +everything that did not pay for its eating. They shot the blackbirds +because they pecked the fruit, and killed the hedgehogs lest they +should suck the cows; they poisoned the crickets for eating the crumbs +in the kitchen, and smothered the cicadas which used to sing all summer +in the lime trees. They worked their servants without any wages till +they would not work any more, and then quarreled with them and turned +them out of doors without paying them. It would have been very odd if +with such a farm and such a system of farming they hadn't got very +rich; and very rich they DID get. They generally contrived to keep +their corn by them till it was very dear, and then sell it for twice +its value; they had heaps of gold lying about on their floors, yet it +was never known that they had given so much as a penny or a crust in +charity; they never went to Mass, grumbled perpetually at paying +tithes, and were, in a word, of so cruel and grinding a temper as to +receive from all those with whom they had any dealings the nickname of +the "Black Brothers." +</P> + +<P> +The youngest brother, Gluck, was as completely opposed, in both +appearance and character, to his seniors as could possibly be imagined +or desired. He was not above twelve years old, fair, blue-eyed, and +kind in temper to every living thing. He did not, of course, agree +particularly well with his brothers, or, rather, they did not agree +with HIM. He was usually appointed to the honorable office of +turnspit, when there was anything to roast, which was not often, for, +to do the brothers justice, they were hardly less sparing upon +themselves than upon other people. At other times he used to clean the +shoes, floors, and sometimes the plates, occasionally getting what was +left on them, by way of encouragement, and a wholesome quantity of dry +blows by way of education. +</P> + +<P> +Things went on in this manner for a long time. At last came a very wet +summer, and everything went wrong in the country round. The hay had +hardly been got in when the haystacks were floated bodily down to the +sea by an inundation; the vines were cut to pieces with the hail; the +corn was all killed by a black blight. Only in the Treasure Valley, as +usual, all was safe. As it had rain when there was rain nowhere else, +so it had sun when there was sun nowhere else. Everybody came to buy +corn at the farm and went away pouring maledictions on the Black +Brothers. They asked what they liked and got it, except from the poor +people, who could only beg, and several of whom were starved at their +very door without the slightest regard or notice. +</P> + +<P> +It was drawing towards winter, and very cold weather, when one day the +two elder brothers had gone out, with their usual warning to little +Gluck, who was left to mind the roast, that he was to let nobody in and +give nothing out. Gluck sat down quite close to the fire, for it was +raining very hard and the kitchen walls were by no means dry or +comfortable-looking. He turned and turned, and the roast got nice and +brown. "What a pity," thought Gluck, "my brothers never ask anybody to +dinner. I'm sure, when they've got such a nice piece of mutton as +this, and nobody else has got so much as a piece of dry bread, it would +do their hearts good to have somebody to eat it with them." +</P> + +<P> +Just as he spoke there came a double knock at the house door, yet heavy +and dull, as though the knocker had been tied up—more like a puff than +a knock. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be the wind," said Gluck; "nobody else would venture to knock +double knocks at our door." +</P> + +<P> +No, it wasn't the wind; there it came again very hard, and, what was +particularly astounding, the knocker seemed to be in a hurry and not to +be in the least afraid of the consequences. Gluck went to the window, +opened it, and put his head out to see who it was. +</P> + +<P> +It was the most extraordinary-looking little gentleman he had ever seen +in his life. He had a very large nose, slightly brass-colored; his +cheeks were very round and very red, and might have warranted a +supposition that he had been blowing a refractory fire for the last +eight-and-forty hours; his eyes twinkled merrily through long, silky +eyelashes; his mustaches curled twice round like a corkscrew on each +side of his mouth; and his hair, of a curious mixed pepper-and-salt +color, descended far over his shoulders. He was about four feet six in +height and wore a conical pointed cap of nearly the same altitude, +decorated with a black feather some three feet long. His doublet was +prolonged behind into something resembling a violent exaggeration of +what is now termed a "swallowtail," but was much obscured by the +swelling folds of an enormous black, glossy-looking cloak, which must +have been very much too long in calm weather, as the wind, whistling +round the old house, carried it clear out from the wearer's shoulders +to about four times his own length. +</P> + +<P> +Gluck was so perfectly paralyzed by the singular appearance of his +visitor that he remained fixed without uttering a word, until the old +gentleman, having performed another and a more energetic concerto on +the knocker, turned round to look after his flyaway cloak. In so doing +he caught sight of Gluck's little yellow head jammed in the window, +with its mouth and eyes very wide open indeed. +</P> + +<P> +"Hollo!" said the little gentleman; "that's not the way to answer the +door. I'm wet; let me in." +</P> + +<P> +To do the little gentleman justice, he WAS wet. His feather hung down +between his legs like a beaten puppy's tail, dripping like an umbrella, +and from the ends of his mustaches the water was running into his +waistcoat pockets and out again like a mill stream. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg pardon, sir," said Gluck, "I'm very sorry, but, I really can't." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't what?" said the old gentleman. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't let you in, sir—I can't, indeed; my brothers would beat me to +death, sir, if I thought of such a thing. What do you want, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"Want?" said the old gentleman petulantly. "I want fire and shelter, +and there's your great fire there blazing, crackling, and dancing on +the walls with nobody to feel it. Let me in, I say; I only want to +warm myself." +</P> + +<P> +Gluck had had his head, by this time, so long out of the window that he +began to feel it was really unpleasantly cold, and when he turned and +saw the beautiful fire rustling and roaring and throwing long, bright +tongues up the chimney, as if it were licking its chops at the savory +smell of the leg of mutton, his heart melted within him that it should +be burning away for nothing. "He does look very wet," said little +Gluck; "I'll just let him in for a quarter of an hour." Round he went +to the door and opened it; and as the little gentleman walked in, there +came a gust of wind through the house that made the old chimneys totter. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good boy," said the little gentleman. "Never mind your +brothers. I'll talk to them." +</P> + +<P> +"Pray, sir, don't do any such thing," said Gluck. "I can't let you +stay till they come; they'd be the death of me." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me," said the old gentleman, "I'm very sorry to hear that. How +long may I stay?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only till the mutton's done, sir," replied Gluck, "and it's very +brown." +</P> + +<P> +Then the old gentleman walked into the kitchen and sat himself down on +the hob, with the top of his cap accommodated up the chimney, for it +was a great deal too high for the roof. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll soon dry there, sir," said Gluck, and sat down again to turn +the mutton. But the old gentleman did NOT dry there, but went on drip, +drip, dripping among the cinders, and the fire fizzed and sputtered and +began to look very black and uncomfortable. Never was such a cloak; +every fold in it ran like a gutter. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg pardon, sir," said Gluck at length, after watching the water +spreading in long, quicksilver-like streams over the floor for a +quarter of an hour; "mayn't I take your cloak?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, thank you," said the old gentleman. +</P> + +<P> +"Your cap, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am all right, thank you," said the old gentleman rather gruffly. +</P> + +<P> +"But—sir—I'm very sorry," said Gluck hesitatingly, "but—really, +sir—you're—putting the fire out." +</P> + +<P> +"It'll take longer to do the mutton, then," replied his visitor dryly. +</P> + +<P> +Gluck was very much puzzled by the behavior of his guest; it was such a +strange mixture of coolness and humility. He turned away at the string +meditatively for another five minutes. +</P> + +<P> +"That mutton looks very nice," said the old gentleman at length. +"Can't you give me a little bit?" +</P> + +<P> +"Impossible, sir," said Gluck. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm very hungry," continued the old gentleman. "I've had nothing to +eat yesterday nor to-day. They surely couldn't miss a bit from the +knuckle!" +</P> + +<P> +He spoke in so very melancholy a tone that it quite melted Gluck's +heart. "They promised me one slice to-day, sir," said he; "I can give +you that, but not a bit more." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good boy," said the old gentleman again. +</P> + +<P> +Then Gluck warmed a plate and sharpened a knife. "I don't care if I do +get beaten for it," thought he. Just as he had cut a large slice out +of the mutton there came a tremendous rap at the door. The old +gentleman jumped off the hob as if it had suddenly become +inconveniently warm. Gluck fitted the slice into the mutton again, +with desperate efforts at exactitude, and ran to open the door. +</P> + +<P> +"What did you keep us waiting in the rain for?" said Schwartz, as he +walked in, throwing his umbrella in Gluck's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Aye! what for, indeed, you little vagabond?" said Hans, administering +an educational box on the ear as he followed his brother into the +kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my soul!" said Schwartz when he opened the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Amen," said the little gentleman, who had taken his cap off and was +standing in the middle of the kitchen, bowing with the utmost possible +velocity. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's that?" said Schwartz, catching up a rolling-pin and turning to +Gluck with a fierce frown. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, indeed, brother," said Gluck in great terror. +</P> + +<P> +"How did he get in?" roared Schwartz. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear brother," said Gluck deprecatingly, "he was so VERY wet!" +</P> + +<P> +The rolling-pin was descending on Gluck's head, but, at the instant, +the old gentleman interposed his conical cap, on which it crashed with +a shock that shook the water out of it all over the room. What was +very odd, the rolling-pin no sooner touched the cap than it flew out of +Schwartz's hand, spinning like a straw in a high wind, and fell into +the corner at the further end of the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you, sir?" demanded Schwartz, turning upon him. "What's your +business?" snarled Hans. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a poor old man, sir," the little gentleman began very modestly, +"and I saw your fire through the window and begged shelter for a +quarter of an hour." +</P> + +<P> +"Have the goodness to walk out again, then," said Schwartz. "We've +quite enough water in our kitchen without making it a drying house." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a cold day to turn an old man out in, sir; look at my gray +hairs." They hung down to his shoulders, as I told you before. +</P> + +<P> +"Aye!" said Hans; "there are enough of them to keep you warm. Walk!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm very, very hungry, sir; couldn't you spare me a bit of bread +before I go?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bread, indeed!" said Schwartz; "do you suppose we've nothing to do +with our bread but to give it to such red-nosed fellows as you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you sell your feather?" said Hans sneeringly. "Out with you!" +</P> + +<P> +"A little bit," said the old gentleman. +</P> + +<P> +"Be off!" said Schwartz. +</P> + +<P> +"Pray, gentlemen." +</P> + +<P> +"Off, and be hanged!" cried Hans, seizing him by the collar. But he +had no sooner touched the old gentleman's collar than away he went +after the rolling-pin, spinning round and round till he fell into the +corner on the top of it. Then Schwartz was very angry and ran at the +old gentleman to turn him out; but he also had hardly touched him when +away he went after Hans and the rolling-pin, and hit his head against +the wall as he tumbled into the corner. And so there they lay, all +three. +</P> + +<P> +Then the old gentleman spun himself round with velocity in the opposite +direction, continued to spin until his long cloak was all wound neatly +about him, clapped his cap on his head, very much on one side (for it +could not stand upright without going through the ceiling), gave an +additional twist to his corkscrew mustaches, and replied with perfect +coolness: "Gentlemen, I wish you a very good morning. At twelve +o'clock tonight I'll call again; after such a refusal of hospitality as +I have just experienced, you will not be surprised if that visit is the +last I ever pay you." +</P> + +<P> +"If ever I catch you here again," muttered Schwartz, coming, half +frightened, out of the corner—but before he could finish his sentence +the old gentleman had shut the house door behind him with a great bang, +and there drove past the window at the same instant a wreath of ragged +cloud that whirled and rolled away down the valley in all manner of +shapes, turning over and over in the air and melting away at last in a +gush of rain. +</P> + +<P> +"A very pretty business, indeed, Mr. Gluck!" said Schwartz. "Dish the +mutton, sir. If ever I catch you at such a trick again—bless me, why, +the mutton's been cut!" +</P> + +<P> +"You promised me one slice, brother, you know," said Gluck. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! and you were cutting it hot, I suppose, and going to catch all the +gravy. It'll be long before I promise you such a thing again. Leave +the room, sir; and have the kindness to wait in the coal cellar till I +call you." +</P> + +<P> +Gluck left the room melancholy enough. The brothers ate as much mutton +as they could, locked the rest in the cupboard, and proceeded to get +very drunk after dinner. +</P> + +<P> +Such a night as it was! Howling wind and rushing rain, without +intermission. The brothers had just sense enough left to put up all +the shutters and double-bar the door before they went to bed. They +usually slept in the same room. As the clock struck twelve they were +both awakened by a tremendous crash. Their door burst open with a +violence that shook the house from top to bottom. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" cried Schwartz, starting up in his bed. +</P> + +<P> +"Only I," said the little gentleman. +</P> + +<P> +The two brothers sat up on their bolster and stared into the darkness. +The room was full of water, and by a misty moonbeam, which found its +way through a hole in the shutter, they could see in the midst of it an +enormous foam globe, spinning round and bobbing up and down like a +cork, on which, as on a most luxurious cushion, reclined the little old +gentleman, cap and all. There was plenty of room for it now, for the +roof was off. +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry to incommode you," said their visitor ironically. "I'm afraid +your beds are dampish. Perhaps you had better go to your brother's +room; I've left the ceiling on there." +</P> + +<P> +They required no second admonition, but rushed into Gluck's room, wet +through and in an agony of terror. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll find my card on the kitchen table," the old gentleman called +after them. "Remember, the LAST visit." +</P> + +<P> +"Pray Heaven it may!" said Schwartz, shuddering. And the foam globe +disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +Dawn came at last, and the two brothers looked out of Gluck's little +window in the morning. The Treasure Valley was one mass of ruin and +desolation. The inundation had swept away trees, crops, and cattle, +and left in their stead a waste of red sand and gray mud. The two +brothers crept shivering and horror-struck into the kitchen. The water +had gutted the whole first floor; corn, money, almost every movable +thing, had been swept away, and there was left only a small white card +on the kitchen table. On it, in large, breezy, long-legged letters, +were engraved the words: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SOUTH WEST WIND, ESQUIRE +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE THREE BROTHERS AFTER THE VISIT OF SOUTHWEST +WIND, ESQUIRE; AND HOW LITTLE GLUCK HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF +THE GOLDEN RIVER +</H3> + +<P> +Southwest Wind, Esquire, was as good as his word. After the momentous +visit above related, he entered the Treasure Valley no more; and, what +was worse, he had so much influence with his relations, the West Winds +in general, and used it so effectually, that they all adopted a similar +line of conduct. So no rain fell in the valley from one year's end to +another. Though everything remained green and flourishing in the +plains below, the inheritance of the three brothers was a desert. What +had once been the richest soil in the kingdom became a shifting heap of +red sand, and the brothers, unable longer to contend with the adverse +skies, abandoned their valueless patrimony in despair, to seek some +means of gaining a livelihood among the cities and people of the +plains. All their money was gone, and they had nothing left but some +curious old-fashioned pieces of gold plate, the last remnants of their +ill-gotten wealth. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose we turn goldsmiths," said Schwartz to Hans as they entered the +large city. "It is a good knave's trade; we can put a great deal of +copper into the gold without anyone's finding it out." +</P> + +<P> +The thought was agreed to be a very good one; they hired a furnace and +turned goldsmiths. But two slight circumstances affected their trade: +the first, that people did not approve of the coppered gold; the +second, that the two elder brothers, whenever they had sold anything, +used to leave little Gluck to mind the furnace, and go and drink out +the money in the alehouse next door. So they melted all their gold +without making money enough to buy more, and were at last reduced to +one large drinking mug, which an uncle of his had given to little +Gluck, and which he was very fond of and would not have parted with for +the world, though he never drank anything out of it but milk and water. +The mug was a very odd mug to look at. The handle was formed of two +wreaths of flowing golden hair, so finely spun that it looked more like +silk than metal, and these wreaths descended into and mixed with a +beard and whiskers of the same exquisite workmanship, which surrounded +and decorated a very fierce little face, of the reddest gold +imaginable, right in the front of the mug, with a pair of eyes in it +which seemed to command its whole circumference. It was impossible to +drink out of the mug without being subjected to an intense gaze out of +the side of these eyes, and Schwartz positively averred that once, +after emptying it, full of Rhenish, seventeen times, he had seen them +wink! When it came to the mug's turn to be made into spoons, it half +broke poor little Gluck's heart; but the brothers only laughed at him, +tossed the mug into the melting pot, and staggered out to the alehouse, +leaving him, as usual, to pour the gold into bars when it was all ready. +</P> + +<P> +When they were gone, Gluck took a farewell look at his old friend in +the melting pot. The flowing hair was all gone; nothing remained but +the red nose and the sparkling eyes, which looked more malicious than +ever. "And no wonder," thought Gluck, "after being treated in that +way." He sauntered disconsolately to the window and sat himself down +to catch the fresh evening air and escape the hot breath of the +furnace. Now this window commanded a direct view of the range of +mountains which, as I told you before, overhung the Treasure Valley, +and more especially of the peak from which fell the Golden River. It +was just at the close of the day, and when Gluck sat down at the +window, he saw the rocks of the mountain tops, all crimson and purple +with the sunset; and there were bright tongues of fiery cloud burning +and quivering about them; and the river, brighter than all, fell, in a +waving column of pure gold, from precipice to precipice, with the +double arch of a broad purple rainbow stretched across it, flushing and +fading alternately in the wreaths of spray. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said Gluck aloud, after he had looked at it for a little while, +"if that river were really all gold, what a nice thing it would be." +</P> + +<P> +"No, it wouldn't, Gluck," said a clear, metallic voice close at his ear. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless me, what's that?" exclaimed Gluck, jumping up. There was nobody +there. He looked round the room and under the table and a great many +times behind him, but there was certainly nobody there, and he sat down +again at the window. This time he didn't speak, but he couldn't help +thinking again that it would be very convenient if the river were +really all gold. +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all, my boy," said the same voice, louder than before. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless me!" said Gluck again, "what is that?" He looked again into all +the corners and cupboards, and then began turning round and round as +fast as he could, in the middle of the room, thinking there was +somebody behind him, when the same voice struck again on his ear. It +was singing now, very merrily, "Lala-lira-la"—no words, only a soft, +running, effervescent melody, something like that of a kettle on the +boil. Gluck looked out of the window; no, it was certainly in the +house. Upstairs and downstairs; no, it was certainly in that very +room, coming in quicker time and clearer notes every moment: +"Lala-lira-la." All at once it struck Gluck that it sounded louder +near the furnace. He ran to the opening and looked in. Yes, he saw +right; it seemed to be coming not only out of the furnace but out of +the pot. He uncovered it, and ran back in a great fright, for the pot +was certainly singing! He stood in the farthest corner of the room, +with his hands up and his mouth open, for a minute or two, when the +singing stopped and the voice became clear and pronunciative. +</P> + +<P> +"Hollo!" said the voice. +</P> + +<P> +Gluck made no answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Hollo! Gluck, my boy," said the pot again. +</P> + +<P> +Gluck summoned all his energies, walked straight up to the crucible, +drew it out of the furnace, and looked in. The gold was all melted and +its surface as smooth and polished as a river, but instead of +reflecting little Gluck's head, as he looked in he saw, meeting his +glance from beneath the gold, the red nose and sharp eyes of his old +friend of the mug, a thousand times redder and sharper than ever he had +seen them in his life. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Gluck, my boy," said the voice out of the pot again, "I'm all +right; pour me out." +</P> + +<P> +But Gluck was too much astonished to do anything of the kind. +</P> + +<P> +"Pour me out, I say," said the voice rather gruffly. +</P> + +<P> +Still Gluck couldn't move. +</P> + +<P> +"WILL you pour me out?" said the voice passionately. "I'm too hot." +</P> + +<P> +By a violent effort Gluck recovered the use of his limbs, took hold of +the crucible, and sloped it, so as to pour out the gold. But instead +of a liquid stream there came out, first a pair of pretty little yellow +legs, then some coat tails, then a pair of arms stuck akimbo, and +finally the well-known head of his friend the mug—all which articles, +uniting as they rolled out, stood up energetically on the floor in the +shape of a little golden dwarf about a foot and a half high. +</P> + +<P> +"That's right!" said the dwarf, stretching out first his legs and then +his arms, and then shaking his head up and down and as far round as it +would go, for five minutes without stopping, apparently with the view +of ascertaining if he were quite correctly put together, while Gluck +stood contemplating him in speechless amazement. He was dressed in a +slashed doublet of spun gold, so fine in its texture that the prismatic +colors gleamed over it as if on a surface of mother-of-pearl; and over +this brilliant doublet his hair and beard fell full halfway to the +ground in waving curls, so exquisitely delicate that Gluck could hardly +tell where they ended; they seemed to melt into air. The features of +the face, however, were by no means finished with the same delicacy; +they were rather coarse, slightly inclining to coppery in complexion, +and indicative, in expression, of a very pertinacious and intractable +disposition in their small proprietor. When the dwarf had finished his +self-examination, he turned his small, sharp eyes full on Gluck and +stared at him deliberately for a minute or two. "No, it wouldn't, +Gluck, my boy," said the little man. +</P> + +<P> +This was certainly rather an abrupt and unconnected mode of commencing +conversation. It might indeed be supposed to refer to the course of +Gluck's thoughts, which had first produced the dwarf's observations out +of the pot; but whatever it referred to, Gluck had no inclination to +dispute the dictum. +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't it, sir?" said Gluck very mildly and submissively indeed. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the dwarf, conclusively, "no, it wouldn't." And with that +the dwarf pulled his cap hard over his brows and took two turns, of +three feet long, up and down the room, lifting his legs up very high +and setting them down very hard. This pause gave time for Gluck to +collect his thoughts a little, and, seeing no great reason to view his +diminutive visitor with dread, and feeling his curiosity overcome his +amazement, he ventured on a question of peculiar delicacy. +</P> + +<P> +"Pray, sir," said Gluck, rather hesitatingly, "were you my mug?" +</P> + +<P> +On which the little man turned sharp round, walked straight up to +Gluck, and drew himself up to his full height. "I," said the little +man, "am the King of the Golden River." Whereupon he turned about +again and took two more turns, some six feet long, in order to allow +time for the consternation which this announcement produced in his +auditor to evaporate. After which he again walked up to Gluck and +stood still, as if expecting some comment on his communication. +</P> + +<P> +Gluck determined to say something at all events. "I hope your Majesty +is very well," said Gluck. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen!" said the little man, deigning no reply to this polite +inquiry. "I am the king of what you mortals call the Golden River. +The shape you saw me in was owing to the malice of a stronger king, +from whose enchantments you have this instant freed me. What I have +seen of you and your conduct to your wicked brothers renders me willing +to serve you; therefore, attend to what I tell you. Whoever shall +climb to the top of that mountain from which you see the Golden River +issue, and shall cast into the stream at its source three drops of holy +water, for him and for him only the river shall turn to gold. But no +one failing in his first can succeed in a second attempt, and if anyone +shall cast unholy water into the river, it will overwhelm him and he +will become a black stone." So saying, the King of the Golden River +turned away and deliberately walked into the center of the hottest +flame of the furnace. His figure became red, white, transparent, +dazzling,—a blaze of intense light,—rose, trembled, and disappeared. +The King of the Golden River had evaporated. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" cried poor Gluck, running to look up the chimney after him, "O +dear, dear, dear me! My mug! my mug! my mug!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HOW MR. HANS SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN RIVER, AND HOW HE +PROSPERED THEREIN +</H3> + +<P> +The King of the Golden River had hardly made the extraordinary exit +related in the last chapter, before Hans and Schwartz came roaring into +the house very savagely drunk. The discovery of the total loss of +their last piece of plate had the effect of sobering them just enough +to enable them to stand over Gluck, beating him very steadily for a +quarter of an hour; at the expiration of which period they dropped into +a couple of chairs and requested to know what he had got to say for +himself. Gluck told them his story, of which, of course, they did not +believe a word. They beat him again, till their arms were tired, and +staggered to bed. In the morning, however, the steadiness with which +he adhered to his story obtained him some degree of credence; the +immediate consequence of which was that the two brothers, after +wrangling a long time on the knotty question, which of them should try +his fortune first, drew their swords and began fighting. The noise of +the fray alarmed the neighbors, who, finding they could not pacify the +combatants, sent for the constable. +</P> + +<P> +Hans, on hearing this, contrived to escape, and hid himself; but +Schwartz was taken before the magistrate, fined for breaking the peace, +and, having drunk out his last penny the evening before, was thrown +into prison till he should pay. +</P> + +<P> +When Hans heard this, he was much delighted, and determined to set out +immediately for the Golden River. How to get the holy water was the +question. He went to the priest, but the priest could not give any +holy water to so abandoned a character. So Hans went to vespers in the +evening for the first time in his life and, under pretense of crossing +himself, stole a cupful and returned home in triumph. +</P> + +<P> +Next morning he got up before the sun rose, put the holy water into a +strong flask, and two bottles of wine and some meat in a basket, slung +them over his back, took his alpine staff in his hand, and set off for +the mountains. +</P> + +<P> +On his way out of the town he had to pass the prison, and as he looked +in at the windows, whom should he see but Schwartz himself peeping out +of the bars and looking very disconsolate. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning, brother," said Hans; "have you any message for the King +of the Golden River?" +</P> + +<P> +Schwartz gnashed his teeth with rage and shook the bars with all his +strength, but Hans only laughed at him and, advising him to make +himself comfortable till he came back again, shouldered his basket, +shook the bottle of holy water in Schwartz's face till it frothed +again, and marched off in the highest spirits in the world. +</P> + +<P> +It was indeed a morning that might have made anyone happy, even with no +Golden River to seek for. Level lines of dewy mist lay stretched along +the valley, out of which rose the massy mountains, their lower cliffs +in pale gray shadow, hardly distinguishable from the floating vapor but +gradually ascending till they caught the sunlight, which ran in sharp +touches of ruddy color along the angular crags, and pierced, in long, +level rays, through their fringes of spearlike pine. Far above shot up +red, splintered masses of castellated rock, jagged and shivered into +myriads of fantastic forms, with here and there a streak of sunlit snow +traced down their chasms like a line of forked lightning; and far +beyond and far above all these, fainter than the morning cloud but +purer and changeless, slept, in the blue sky, the utmost peaks of the +eternal snow. +</P> + +<P> +The Golden River, which sprang from one of the lower and snowless +elevations, was now nearly in shadow—all but the uppermost jets of +spray, which rose like slow smoke above the undulating line of the +cataract and floated away in feeble wreaths upon the morning wind. +</P> + +<P> +On this object, and on this alone, Hans's eyes and thoughts were fixed. +Forgetting the distance he had to traverse, he set off at an imprudent +rate of walking, which greatly exhausted him before he had scaled the +first range of the green and low hills. He was, moreover, surprised, +on surmounting them, to find that a large glacier, of whose existence, +notwithstanding his previous knowledge of the mountains, he had been +absolutely ignorant, lay between him and the source of the Golden +River. He entered on it with the boldness of a practiced mountaineer, +yet he thought he had never traversed so strange or so dangerous a +glacier in his life. The ice was excessively slippery, and out of all +its chasms came wild sounds of gushing water—not monotonous or low, +but changeful and loud, rising occasionally into drifting passages of +wild melody, then breaking off into short, melancholy tones or sudden +shrieks resembling those of human voices in distress or pain. The ice +was broken into thousands of confused shapes, but none, Hans thought, +like the ordinary forms of splintered ice. There seemed a curious +EXPRESSION about all their outlines—a perpetual resemblance to living +features, distorted and scornful. Myriads of deceitful shadows and +lurid lights played and floated about and through the pale blue +pinnacles, dazzling and confusing the sight of the traveler, while his +ears grew dull and his head giddy with the constant gush and roar of +the concealed waters. These painful circumstances increased upon him +as he advanced; the ice crashed and yawned into fresh chasms at his +feet, tottering spires nodded around him and fell thundering across his +path; and though he had repeatedly faced these dangers on the most +terrific glaciers and in the wildest weather, it was with a new and +oppressive feeling of panic terror that he leaped the last chasm and +flung himself, exhausted and shuddering, on the firm turf of the +mountain. +</P> + +<P> +He had been compelled to abandon his basket of food, which became a +perilous incumbrance on the glacier, and had now no means of refreshing +himself but by breaking off and eating some of the pieces of ice. +This, however, relieved his thirst; an hour's repose recruited his +hardy frame, and with the indomitable spirit of avarice he resumed his +laborious journey. +</P> + +<P> +His way now lay straight up a ridge of bare red rocks, without a blade +of grass to ease the foot or a projecting angle to afford an inch of +shade from the south sun. It was past noon and the rays beat intensely +upon the steep path, while the whole atmosphere was motionless and +penetrated with heat. Intense thirst was soon added to the bodily +fatigue with which Hans was now afflicted; glance after glance he cast +on the flask of water which hung at his belt. "Three drops are enough," +at last thought he; "I may, at least, cool my lips with it." +</P> + +<P> +He opened the flask and was raising it to his lips, when his eye fell +on an object lying on the rock beside him; he thought it moved. It was +a small dog, apparently in the last agony of death from thirst. Its +tongue was out, its jaws dry, its limbs extended lifelessly, and a +swarm of black ants were crawling about its lips and throat. Its eye +moved to the bottle which Hans held in his hand. He raised it, drank, +spurned the animal with his foot, and passed on. And he did not know +how it was, but he thought that a strange shadow had suddenly come +across the blue sky. +</P> + +<P> +The path became steeper and more rugged every moment, and the high hill +air, instead of refreshing him, seemed to throw his blood into a fever. +The noise of the hill cataracts sounded like mockery in his ears; they +were all distant, and his thirst increased every moment. Another hour +passed, and he again looked down to the flask at his side; it was half +empty, but there was much more than three drops in it. He stopped to +open it, and again, as he did so, something moved in the path above +him. It was a fair child, stretched nearly lifeless on the rock, its +breast heaving with thirst, its eyes closed, and its lips parched and +burning. Hans eyed it deliberately, drank, and passed on. And a dark +gray cloud came over the sun, and long, snakelike shadows crept up +along the mountain sides. Hans struggled on. The sun was sinking, but +its descent seemed to bring no coolness; the leaden height of the dead +air pressed upon his brow and heart, but the goal was near. He saw the +cataract of the Golden River springing from the hillside scarcely five +hundred feet above him. He paused for a moment to breathe, and sprang +on to complete his task. +</P> + +<P> +At this instant a faint cry fell on his ear. He turned, and saw a +gray-haired old man extended on the rocks. His eyes were sunk, his +features deadly pale and gathered into an expression of despair. +"Water!" he stretched his arms to Hans, and cried feebly, "Water! I am +dying." +</P> + +<P> +"I have none," replied Hans; "thou hast had thy share of life." He +strode over the prostrate body and darted on. And a flash of blue +lightning rose out of the East, shaped like a sword; it shook thrice +over the whole heaven and left it dark with one heavy, impenetrable +shade. The sun was setting; it plunged towards the horizon like a +redhot ball. The roar of the Golden River rose on Hans's ear. He stood +at the brink of the chasm through which it ran. Its waves were filled +with the red glory of the sunset; they shook their crests like tongues +of fire, and flashes of bloody light gleamed along their foam. Their +sound came mightier and mightier on his senses; his brain grew giddy +with the prolonged thunder. Shuddering he drew the flask from his +girdle and hurled it into the center of the torrent. As he did so, an +icy chill shot through his limbs; he staggered, shrieked, and fell. +The waters closed over his cry, and the moaning of the river rose +wildly into the night as it gushed over +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE BLACK STONE +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HOW MR. SCHWARTZ SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN RIVER, AND HOW +HE PROSPERED THEREIN +</H3> + +<P> +Poor little Gluck waited very anxiously, alone in the house, for Hans's +return. Finding he did not come back, he was terribly frightened and +went and told Schwartz in the prison all that had happened. Then +Schwartz was very much pleased and said that Hans must certainly have +been turned into a black stone and he should have all the gold to +himself. But Gluck was very sorry and cried all night. When he got up +in the morning there was no bread in the house, nor any money; so Gluck +went and hired himself to another goldsmith, and he worked so hard and +so neatly and so long every day that he soon got money enough together +to pay his brother's fine, and he went and gave it all to Schwartz, and +Schwartz got out of prison. Then Schwartz was quite pleased and said +he should have some of the gold of the river. But Gluck only begged he +would go and see what had become of Hans. +</P> + +<P> +Now when Schwartz had heard that Hans had stolen the holy water, he +thought to himself that such a proceeding might not be considered +altogether correct by the King of the Golden River, and determined to +manage matters better. So he took some more of Gluck's money and went +to a bad priest, who gave him some holy water very readily for it. +Then Schwartz was sure it was all quite right. So Schwartz got up early +in the morning before the sun rose, and took some bread and wine in a +basket, and put his holy water in a flask, and set off for the +mountains. Like his brother he was much surprised at the sight of the +glacier and had great difficulty in crossing it, even after leaving his +basket behind him. The day was cloudless but not bright; there was a +heavy purple haze hanging over the sky, and the hills looked lowering +and gloomy. And as Schwartz climbed the steep rock path the thirst +came upon him, as it had upon his brother, until he lifted his flask to +his lips to drink. Then he saw the fair child lying near him on the +rocks, and it cried to him and moaned for water. "Water, indeed," said +Schwartz; "I haven't half enough for myself," and passed on. And as he +went he thought the sunbeams grew more dim, and he saw a low bank of +black cloud rising out of the west; and when he had climbed for another +hour, the thirst overcame him again and he would have drunk. Then he +saw the old man lying before him on the path, and heard him cry out for +water. "Water, indeed," said Schwartz; "I haven't half enough for +myself," and on he went. Then again the light seemed to fade from +before his eyes, and he looked up, and, behold, a mist, of the color of +blood, had come over the sun; and the bank of black cloud had risen +very high, and its edges were tossing and tumbling like the waves of +the angry sea and they cast long shadows which flickered over +Schwartz's path. +</P> + +<P> +Then Schwartz climbed for another hour, and again his thirst returned; +and as he lifted his flask to his lips he thought he saw his brother +Hans lying exhausted on the path before him, and as he gazed the figure +stretched its arms to him and cried for water. "Ha, ha!" laughed +Schwartz, "are you there? Remember the prison bars, my boy. Water, +indeed! do you suppose I carried it all the way up here for you?" And +he strode over the figure; yet, as he passed, he thought he saw a +strange expression of mockery about its lips. And when he had gone a +few yards farther, he looked back; but the figure was not there. +</P> + +<P> +And a sudden horror came over Schwartz, he knew not why; but the thirst +for gold prevailed over his fear, and he rushed on. And the bank of +black cloud rose to the zenith, and out of it came bursts of spiry +lightning, and waves of darkness seemed to heave and float, between +their flashes, over the whole heavens. And the sky where the sun was +setting was all level and like a lake of blood; and a strong wind came +out of that sky, tearing its crimson clouds into fragments and +scattering them far into the darkness. And when Schwartz stood by the +brink of the Golden River, its waves were black like thunder clouds, +but their foam was like fire; and the roar of the waters below and the +thunder above met as he cast the flask into the stream. And as he did +so the lightning glared in his eyes, and the earth gave way beneath +him, and the waters closed over his cry. And the moaning of the river +rose wildly into the night as it gushed over the +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TWO BLACK STONES +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HOW LITTLE GLUCK SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN RIVER, AND HOW +HE PROSPERED THEREIN, WITH OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST +</H3> + +<P> +When Gluck found that Schwartz did not come back, he was very sorry and +did not know what to do. He had no money and was obliged to go and +hire himself again to the goldsmith, who worked him very hard and gave +him very little money. So, after a month or two, Gluck grew tired and +made up his mind to go and try his fortune with the Golden River. "The +little king looked very kind," thought he. "I don't think he will turn +me into a black stone." So he went to the priest, and the priest gave +him some holy water as soon as he asked for it. Then Gluck took some +bread in his basket, and the bottle of water, and set off very early +for the mountains. +</P> + +<P> +If the glacier had occasioned a great deal of fatigue in his brothers, +it was twenty times worse for him, who was neither so strong nor so +practiced on the mountains. He had several very bad falls, lost his +basket and bread, and was very much frightened at the strange noises +under the ice. He lay a long time to rest on the grass, after he had +got over, and began to climb the hill just in the hottest part of the +day. When he had climbed for an hour, he got dreadfully thirsty and +was going to drink like his brothers, when he saw an old man coming +down the path above him, looking very feeble and leaning on a staff. +"Why son," said the old man, "I am faint with thirst; give me some of +that water." Then Gluck looked at him, and when he saw that he was +pale and weary, he gave him the water. "Only pray don't drink it all," +said Gluck. But the old man drank a great deal and gave him back the +bottle two thirds empty. Then he bade him good speed, and Gluck went +on again merrily. And the path became easier to his feet, and two or +three blades of grass appeared upon it, and some grasshoppers began +singing on the bank beside it, and Gluck thought he had never heard +such merry singing. +</P> + +<P> +Then he went on for another hour, and the thirst increased on him so +that he thought he should be forced to drink. But as he raised the +flask he saw a little child lying panting by the roadside, and it cried +out piteously for water. Then Gluck struggled with himself and +determined to bear the thirst a little longer; and he put the bottle to +the child's lips, and it drank it all but a few drops. Then it smiled +on him and got up and ran down the hill; and Gluck looked after it till +it became as small as a little star, and then turned and began climbing +again. And then there were all kinds of sweet flowers growing on the +rocks—bright green moss with pale pink, starry flowers, and soft +belled gentians, more blue than the sky at its deepest, and pure white +transparent lilies. And crimson and purple butterflies darted hither +and thither, and the sky sent down such pure light that Gluck had never +felt so happy in his life. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, when he had climbed for another hour, his thirst became +intolerable again; and when he looked at his bottle, he saw that there +were only five or six drops left in it, and he could not venture to +drink. And as he was hanging the flask to his belt again, he saw a +little dog lying on the rocks, gasping for breath—just as Hans had +seen it on the day of his ascent. And Gluck stopped and looked at it, +and then at the Golden River, not five hundred yards above him; and he +thought of the dwarf's words, that no one could succeed except in his +first attempt; and he tried to pass the dog, but it whined piteously +and Gluck stopped again. "Poor beastie," said Gluck, "it'll be dead +when I come down again, if I don't help it." Then he looked closer and +closer at it, and its eye turned on him so mournfully that he could not +stand it. "Confound the king and his gold too," said Gluck, and he +opened the flask and poured all the water into the dog's mouth. +</P> + +<P> +The dog sprang up and stood on its hind legs. Its tail disappeared; +its ears became long, longer, silky, golden; its nose became very red; +its eyes became very twinkling; in three seconds the dog was gone, and +before Gluck stood his old acquaintance, the King of the Golden River. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," said the monarch. "But don't be frightened; it's all +right"—for Gluck showed manifest symptoms of consternation at this +unlooked-for reply to his last observation. "Why didn't you come +before," continued the dwarf, "instead of sending me those rascally +brothers of yours, for me to have the trouble of turning into stones? +Very hard stones they make, too." +</P> + +<P> +"O dear me!" said Gluck, "have you really been so cruel?" +</P> + +<P> +"Cruel!" said the dwarf; "they poured unholy water into my stream. Do +you suppose I'm going to allow that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why," said Gluck, "I am sure, sir,—your Majesty, I mean,—they got +the water out of the church font." +</P> + +<P> +"Very probably," replied the dwarf, "but" (and his countenance grew +stern as he spoke) "the water which has been refused to the cry of the +weary and dying is unholy, though it had been blessed by every saint in +heaven; and the water which is found in the vessel of mercy is holy, +though it had been defiled with corpses." +</P> + +<P> +So saying, the dwarf stooped and plucked a lily that grew at his feet. +On its white leaves there hung three drops of clear dew. And the dwarf +shook them into the flask which Gluck held in his hand. "Cast these +into the river," he said, "and descend on the other side of the +mountains into the Treasure Valley. And so good speed." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke the figure of the dwarf became indistinct. The playing +colors of his robe formed themselves into a prismatic mist of dewy +light; he stood for an instant veiled with them as with the belt of a +broad rainbow. The colors grew faint; the mist rose into the air; the +monarch had evaporated. +</P> + +<P> +And Gluck climbed to the brink of the Golden River, and its waves were +as clear as crystal and as brilliant as the sun. And when he cast the +three drops of dew into the stream, there opened where they fell a +small, circular whirlpool, into which the waters descended with a +musical noise. +</P> + +<P> +Gluck stood watching it for some time, very much disappointed, because +not only the river was not turned into gold, but its waters seemed much +diminished in quantity. Yet he obeyed his friend the dwarf and +descended the other side of the mountains towards the Treasure Valley; +and as he went he thought he heard the noise of water working its way +under the ground. And when he came in sight of the Treasure Valley, +behold, a river, like the Golden River, was springing from a new cleft +of the rocks above it and was flowing in innumerable streams among the +dry heaps of red sand. +</P> + +<P> +And as Gluck gazed, fresh grass sprang beside the new streams, and +creeping plants grew and climbed among the moistening soil. Young +flowers opened suddenly along the riversides, as stars leap out when +twilight is deepening, and thickets of myrtle and tendrils of vine cast +lengthening shadows over the valley as they grew. And thus the +Treasure Valley became a garden again, and the inheritance which had +been lost by cruelty was regained by love. +</P> + +<P> +And Gluck went and dwelt in the valley, and the poor were never driven +from his door, so that his barns became full of corn and his house of +treasure. And for him the river had, according to the dwarf's promise, +become a river of gold. +</P> + +<P> +And to this day the inhabitants of the valley point out the place where +the three drops of holy dew were cast into the stream, and trace the +course of the Golden River under the ground until it emerges in the +Treasure Valley. And at the top of the cataract of the Golden River +are still to be seen two black stones, round which the waters howl +mournfully every day at sunset; and these stones are still called by +the people of the valley +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE BLACK BROTHERS +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The King of the Golden River, by John Ruskin. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER *** + +***** This file should be named 701-h.htm or 701-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/7/0/701/ + +Produced by HTML version by Al Haines. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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