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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The King of the Golden River
+by John Ruskin
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+Title: The King of the Golden River
+
+Author: John Ruskin
+
+Release Date: October, 1996  [Etext #701]
+[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule]
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+Edition: 11
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+Language: English
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The King of the Golden River
+by John Ruskin
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+
+
+
+The King of the Golden River
+
+by John Ruskin
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+"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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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:
+
+The beams of morning are renewed The valley laughs their light to
+see And earth is bright with gratitude And heaven with charitie.
+
+
+R.H. COE
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER I HOW THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM OF THE BLACK BROTHERS WAS
+INTERFERED WITH BY SOUTHWEST WIND, ESQUIRE
+
+CHAPTER II 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
+
+CHAPTER III HOW MR. HANS SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN
+RIVER, AND HOW HE PROSPERED THEREIN
+
+CHAPTER IV HOW MR. SCHWARTZ SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN
+RIVER, AND HOW HE PROSPERED THEREIN
+
+CHAPTER V HOW LITTLE GLUCK SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN
+RIVER, AND HOW HE PROSPERED THEREIN, WITH OTHER MATTERS OF
+INTEREST
+
+
+
+
+
+THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+HOW THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM OF THE BLACK BROTHERS WAS INTERFERED
+WITH BY SOUTHWEST WIND, ESQUIRE
+
+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.
+
+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."
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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."
+
+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.
+
+"It must be the wind," said Gluck; "nobody else would venture to
+knock double knocks at our door."
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+"Hollo!" said the little gentleman; "that's not the way to answer
+the door.  I'm wet; let me in."
+
+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.
+
+"I beg pardon, sir," said Gluck, "I'm very sorry, but, I really
+can't."
+
+"Can't what?" said the old gentleman.
+
+"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?"
+
+"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."
+
+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.
+
+"That's a good boy," said the little gentleman.  "Never mind your
+brothers.  I'll talk to them."
+
+"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."
+
+"Dear me," said the old gentleman, "I'm very sorry to hear that.
+How long may I stay?"
+
+"Only till the mutton's done, sir," replied Gluck, "and it's very
+brown."
+
+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.
+
+"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.
+
+"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?"
+
+"No, thank you," said the old gentleman.
+
+"Your cap, sir?"
+
+"I am all right, thank you," said the old gentleman rather
+gruffly.
+
+"But--sir--I'm very sorry," said Gluck hesitatingly, "but--
+really, sir--you're--putting the fire out."
+
+"It'll take longer to do the mutton, then," replied his visitor
+dryly.
+
+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.
+
+"That mutton looks very nice," said the old gentleman at length.
+"Can't you give me a little bit?"
+
+"Impossible, sir," said Gluck.
+
+"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!"
+
+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."
+
+"That's a good boy," said the old gentleman again.
+
+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.
+
+"What did you keep us waiting in the rain for?" said Schwartz, as
+he walked in, throwing his umbrella in Gluck's face.
+
+"Aye! what for, indeed, you little vagabond?" said Hans,
+administering an educational box on the ear as he followed his
+brother into the kitchen.
+
+"Bless my soul!" said Schwartz when he opened the door.
+
+"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.
+
+"Who's that?" said Schwartz, catching up a rolling-pin and
+turning to Gluck with a fierce frown.
+
+"I don't know, indeed, brother," said Gluck in great terror.
+
+"How did he get in?" roared Schwartz.
+
+"My dear brother," said Gluck deprecatingly, "he was so VERY
+wet!"
+
+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.
+
+"Who are you, sir?" demanded Schwartz, turning upon him. "What's
+your business?" snarled Hans.
+
+"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."
+
+"Have the goodness to walk out again, then," said Schwartz.
+"We've quite enough water in our kitchen without making it a
+drying house."
+
+"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.
+
+"Aye!" said Hans; "there are enough of them to keep you warm.
+Walk!"
+
+"I'm very, very hungry, sir; couldn't you spare me a bit of bread
+before I go?"
+
+"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?"
+
+"Why don't you sell your feather?" said Hans sneeringly. "Out
+with you!"
+
+"A little bit," said the old gentleman.
+
+"Be off!" said Schwartz.
+
+"Pray, gentlemen."
+
+"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.
+
+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."
+
+"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.
+
+"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!"
+
+"You promised me one slice, brother, you know," said Gluck.
+
+"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."
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+"What's that?" cried Schwartz, starting up in his bed.
+
+"Only I," said the little gentleman.
+
+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.
+
+"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."
+
+They required no second admonition, but rushed into Gluck's room,
+wet through and in an agony of terror.
+
+"You'll find my card on the kitchen table," the old gentleman
+called after them.  "Remember, the LAST visit."
+
+"Pray Heaven it may!" said Schwartz, shuddering.  And the foam
+globe disappeared.
+
+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:
+
+SOUTH WEST WIND, ESQUIRE
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+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
+
+
+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.
+
+"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."
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+"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."
+
+"No, it wouldn't, Gluck," said a clear, metallic voice close at
+his ear.
+
+"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.
+
+"Not at all, my boy," said the same voice, louder than before.
+
+"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.
+
+"Hollo!" said the voice.
+
+Gluck made no answer.
+
+"Hollo! Gluck, my boy," said the pot again.
+
+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.
+
+"Come, Gluck, my boy," said the voice out of the pot again, "I'm
+all right; pour me out."
+
+But Gluck was too much astonished to do anything of the kind.
+
+"Pour me out, I say," said the voice rather gruffly.
+
+Still Gluck couldn't move.
+
+"WILL you pour me out?" said the voice passionately.  "I'm too
+hot."
+
+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.
+
+"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.
+
+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.
+
+"Wouldn't it, sir?" said Gluck very mildly and submissively
+indeed.
+
+"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.
+
+"Pray, sir," said Gluck, rather hesitatingly, "were you my mug?"
+
+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.
+
+Gluck determined to say something at all events.  "I hope your
+Majesty is very well," said Gluck.
+
+"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.
+
+"Oh!" cried poor Gluck, running to look up the chimney after him,
+"O dear, dear, dear me! My mug! my mug! my mug!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+HOW MR. HANS SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN RIVER, AND
+HOW HE PROSPERED THEREIN
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+"Good morning, brother," said Hans; "have you any message for the
+King of the Golden River?"
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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."
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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."
+
+"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
+
+THE BLACK STONE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+HOW MR. SCHWARTZ SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN RIVER,
+AND HOW HE PROSPERED THEREIN
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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
+
+TWO BLACK STONES
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HOW LITTLE GLUCK SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN RIVER,
+AND HOW HE PROSPERED THEREIN, WITH OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+"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."
+
+"O dear me!" said Gluck, "have you really been so cruel?"
+
+"Cruel!" said the dwarf; "they poured unholy water into my
+stream.  Do you suppose I'm going to allow that?"
+
+"Why," said Gluck, "I am sure, sir,--your Majesty, I mean,--they
+got the water out of the church font."
+
+"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."
+
+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."
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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
+
+THE BLACK BROTHERS
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The King of the Golden River
+by John Ruskin
+