{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_12067/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_12067","id":"gutenberg_12067","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12067","summary":null,"tags":["Category: American Literature","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Category: Short Stories","Fairy tales"],"text":"[Transcriber's note:  Italics and bold markup only occurred in the\nads for other books at the beginning and end, and using the standard\n_italics_ or *bold* just made it hard to read, so this markup has\nbeen removed in the plain-text version.]\n\n\n\n\nFRANK R. STOCKTON'S WRITINGS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNew Uniform Edition.\n\nTHE BEE-MAN OF ORN, and Other Fanciful Tales.\nTHE LADY OR THE TIGER? and Other Stories.\nTHE CHRISTMAS WRECK, and Other Stories.\nTHE LATE MRS NULL.\nRUDDER GRANGE.\n\nThe set, five vols., $6.25; each, $1.25.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nRUDDER GRANGE. New Illustrated Edition. With over 100 Illustrations\nby A.B. Frost. Square 12mo, $2.00.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE LADY OR THE TIGER? and Other Stories. 12mo, paper, 50 cents.\n\nTHE CHRISTMAS WRECK, and Other Stories. 12mo, paper, 50 cents.\n\nRUDDER GRANGE. 12mo, paper, 60 cents.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA JOLLY FRIENDSHIP. Illustrated, 12mo, $1.50.\n\nTHE STORY OF VITEAU. Illustrated, 12mo, $1.50.\n\nTHE TING-A-LING TALES. Illustrated, 12mo, $1.00.\n\nTHE FLOATING PRINCE, and Other Fairy Tales. Illustrated, 4to, cloth,\n$2.50; boards, $1.50.\n\nROUNDABOUT RAMBLERS IN LANDS OF FACT AND FANCY. Illustrated. 4to,\nboards, $1.50.\n\nTALES OUT OF SCHOOL. Illustrated. 4to, boards, $1.50.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BEE-MAN OF ORN\n\nAND\n\nOTHER FANCIFUL TALES\n\nBY\n\nFRANK R. STOCKTON\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York\n1887\nCharles Scribner's Sons.\n\nRand Avery Company,\nElectrotypers and Printers,\nBoston.\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n     I. THE BEE-MAN OF ORN\n\n    II. THE GRIFFIN AND THE MINOR CANON\n\n   III. OLD PIPES AND THE DRYAD\n\n    IV. THE QUEEN'S MUSEUM\n\n     V. CHRISTMAS BEFORE LAST; OR, THE FRUIT OF THE FRAGILE PALM\n\n    VI. PRINCE HASSAK'S MARCH\n\n   VII. THE BATTLE OF THE THIRD COUSINS\n\n  VIII. THE BANISHED KING\n\n    IX. THE PHILOPENA\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BEE-MAN OF ORN.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the ancient country of Orn, there lived an old man who was called\nthe Bee-man, because his whole time was spent in the company of bees.\nHe lived in a small hut, which was nothing more than an immense\nbee-hive, for these little creatures had built their honeycombs in\nevery corner of the one room it contained, on the shelves, under the\nlittle table, all about the rough bench on which the old man sat, and\neven about the head-board and along the sides of his low bed. All day\nthe air of the room was thick with buzzing insects, but this did not\ninterfere in any way with the old Bee-man, who walked in among them,\nate his meals, and went to sleep, without the slightest fear of being\nstung. He had lived with the bees so long, they had become so\naccustomed to him, and his skin was so tough and hard, that the bees\nno more thought of stinging him than they would of stinging a tree or\na stone. A swarm of bees had made their hive in a pocket of his old\nleathern doublet; and when he put on this coat to take one of his\nlong walks in the forest in search of wild bees' nests, he was very\nglad to have this hive with him, for, if he did not find any wild\nhoney, he would put his hand in his pocket and take out a piece of a\ncomb for a luncheon. The bees in his pocket worked very\nindustriously, and he was always certain of having something to eat\nwith him wherever he went. He lived principally upon honey; and when\nhe needed bread or meat, he carried some fine combs to a village not\nfar away and bartered them for other food. He was ugly, untidy,\nshrivelled, and brown. He was poor, and the bees seemed to be his\nonly friends. But, for all that, he was happy and contented; he had\nall the honey he wanted, and his bees, whom he considered the best\ncompany in the world, were as friendly and sociable as they could be,\nand seemed to increase in number every day.\n\nOne day, there stopped at the hut of the Bee-man a Junior Sorcerer.\nThis young person, who was a student of magic, necromancy, and the\nkindred arts, was much interested in the Bee-man, whom he had\nfrequently noticed in his wanderings, and he considered him an\nadmirable subject for study. He had got a great deal of useful\npractice by endeavoring to find out, by the various rules and laws of\nsorcery, exactly why the old Bee-man did not happen to be something\nthat he was not, and why he was what he happened to be. He had\nstudied a long time at this matter, and had found out something.\n\n\"Do you know,\" he said, when the Bee-man came out of his hut, \"that\nyou have been transformed?\"\n\n\"What do you mean by that?\" said the other, much surprised.\n\n\"You have surely heard of animals and human beings who have been\nmagically transformed into different kinds of creatures?\"\n\n\"Yes, I have heard of these things,\" said the Bee-man; \"but what have\nI been transformed from?\"\n\n\"That is more than I know,\" said the Junior Sorcerer. \"But one thing\nis certain--you ought to be changed back. If you will find out what\nyou have been transformed from, I will see that you are made all\nright again. Nothing would please me better than to attend to such a\ncase.\"\n\nAnd, having a great many things to study and investigate, the Junior\nSorcerer went his way.\n\nThis information greatly disturbed the mind of the Bee-man. If he had\nbeen changed from something else, he ought to be that other thing,\nwhatever it was. He ran after the young man, and overtook him.\n\n\"If you know, kind sir,\" he said, \"that I have been transformed, you\nsurely are able to tell me what it is that I was.\"\n\n\"No,\" said the Junior Sorcerer, \"my studies have not proceeded far\nenough for that. When I become a senior I can tell you all about it.\nBut, in the meantime, it will be well for you to try to discover for\nyourself your original form, and when you have done that, I will get\nsome of the learned masters of my art to restore you to it. It will\nbe easy enough to do that, but you could not expect them to take the\ntime and trouble to find out what it was.\"\n\nAnd, with these words, he hurried away, and was soon lost to view.\n\nGreatly disquieted, the Bee-man retraced his steps, and went to his\nhut. Never before had he heard any thing which had so troubled him.\n\n\"I wonder what I was transformed from?\" he thought, seating himself\non his rough bench. \"Could it have been a giant, or a powerful\nprince, or some gorgeous being whom the magicians or the fairies\nwished to punish? It may be that I was a dog or a horse, or perhaps a\nfiery dragon or a horrid snake. I hope it was not one of these. But,\nwhatever it was, every one has certainly a right to his original\nform, and I am resolved to find out mine. I will start early\nto-morrow morning, and I am sorry now that I have not more pockets to\nmy old doublet, so that I might carry more bees and more honey for my\njourney.\"\n\nHe spent the rest of the day in making a hive of twigs and straw,\nand, having transferred to this a number of honey-combs and a colony\nof bees which had just swarmed, he rose before sunrise the next day,\nand having put on his leathern doublet, and having bound his new hive\nto his back, he set forth on his quest; the bees who were to\naccompany him buzzing around him like a cloud.\n\nAs the Bee-man passed through the little village the people greatly\nwondered at his queer appearance, with the hive upon his back. \"The\nBee-man is going on a long expedition this time,\" they said; but no\none imagined the strange business on which he was bent. About noon he\nsat down under a tree, near a beautiful meadow covered with blossoms,\nand ate a little honey. Then he untied his hive and stretched himself\nout on the grass to rest. As he gazed upon his bees hovering about\nhim, some going out to the blossoms in the sunshine, and some\nreturning laden with the sweet pollen, he said to himself, \"They know\njust what they have to do, and they do it; but alas for me! I know\nnot what I may have to do. And yet, whatever it may be, I am\ndetermined to do it. In some way or other I will find out what was my\noriginal form, and then I will have myself changed back to it.\"\n\nAnd now the thought came to him that perhaps his original form might\nhave been something very disagreeable, or even horrid.\n\n\"But it does not matter,\" he said sturdily. \"Whatever I was that\nshall I be again. It is not right for any one to retain a form which\ndoes not properly belong to him. I have no doubt I shall discover my\noriginal form in the same way that I find the trees in which the wild\nbees hive. When I first catch sight of a bee-tree I am drawn towards\nit, I know not how. Something says to me: 'That is what you are\nlooking for.' In the same way I believe that I shall find my original\nform. When I see it, I shall be drawn towards it. Something will say\nto me: 'That is it.'\"\n\nWhen the Bee-man was rested he started off again, and in about an\nhour he entered a fair domain. Around him were beautiful lawns, grand\ntrees, and lovely gardens; while at a little distance stood the\nstately palace of the Lord of the Domain. Richly dressed people were\nwalking about or sitting in the shade of the trees and arbors;\nsplendidly caparisoned horses were waiting for their riders; and\neverywhere were seen signs of opulence and gayety.\n\n\"I think,\" said the Bee-man to himself, \"that I should like to stop\nhere for a time. If it should happen that I was originally like any\nof these happy creatures it would please me much.\"\n\nHe untied his hive, and hid it behind some bushes, and taking off his\nold doublet, laid that beside it. It would not do to have his bees\nflying about him if he wished to go among the inhabitants of this\nfair domain.\n\nFor two days the Bee-man wandered about the palace and its grounds,\navoiding notice as much as possible, but looking at every thing. He\nsaw handsome men and lovely ladies; the finest horses, dogs, and\ncattle that were ever known; beautiful birds in cages, and fishes in\ncrystal globes, and it seemed to him that the best of all living\nthings were here collected.\n\nAt the close of the second day, the Bee-man said to himself: \"There\nis one being here toward whom I feel very much drawn, and that is the\nLord of the Domain. I cannot feel certain that I was once like him,\nbut it would be a very fine thing if it were so; and it seems\nimpossible for me to be drawn toward any other being in the domain\nwhen I look upon him, so handsome, rich, and powerful. But I must\nobserve him more closely, and feel more sure of the matter, before\napplying to the sorcerers to change me back into a lord of a fair\ndomain.\"\n\nThe next morning, the Bee-man saw the Lord of the Domain walking in\nhis gardens. He slipped along the shady paths, and followed him so as\nto observe him closely, and find out if he were really drawn toward\nthis noble and handsome being. The Lord of the Domain walked on for\nsome time, not noticing that the Bee-man was behind him. But suddenly\nturning, he saw the little old man.\n\n\"What are you doing here, you vile beggar?\" he cried; and he gave him\na kick that sent him into some bushes that grew by the side of the\npath.\n\nThe Bee-man scrambled to his feet, and ran as fast as he could to the\nplace where he had hidden his hive and his old doublet.\n\n\"If I am certain of any thing,\" he thought, \"it is that I was never a\nperson who would kick a poor old man. I will leave this place. I was\ntransformed from nothing that I see here.\"\n\nHe now travelled for a day or two longer, and then he came to a great\nblack mountain, near the bottom of which was an opening like the\nmouth of a cave.\n\nThis mountain he had heard was filled with caverns and under-ground\npassages, which were the abodes of dragons, evil spirits, horrid\ncreatures of all kinds.\n\n\"Ah me!\" said the Bee-man with a sigh, \"I suppose I ought to visit\nthis place. If I am going to do this thing properly, I should look on\nall sides of the subject, and I may have been one of those horrid\ncreatures myself.\"\n\nThereupon he went to the mountain, and as he approached the opening\nof the passage which led into its inmost recesses he saw, sitting\nupon the ground, and leaning his back against a tree, a Languid\nYouth.\n\n\"Good-day,\" said this individual when he saw the Bee-man. \"Are you\ngoing inside?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Bee-man, \"that is what I intend to do.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said the Languid Youth, slowly rising to his feet, \"I think I\nwill go with you. I was told that if I went in there I should get my\nenergies toned up, and they need it very much; but I did not feel\nequal to entering by myself, and I thought I would wait until some\none came along. I am very glad to see you, and we will go in\ntogether.\"\n\nSo the two went into the cave, and they had proceeded but a short\ndistance when they met a very little creature, whom it was easy to\nrecognize as a Very Imp. He was about two feet high, and resembled in\ncolor a freshly polished pair of boots. He was extremely lively and\nactive, and came bounding toward them.\n\n\"What did you two people come here for?\" he asked.\n\n\"I came,\" said the Languid Youth, \"to have my energies toned up.\"\n\n\"You have come to the right place,\" said the Very Imp. \"We will tone\nyou up. And what does that old Bee-man want?\"\n\n\"He has been transformed from something, and wants to find out what\nit is. He thinks he may have been one of the things in here.\"\n\n\"I should not wonder if that were so,\" said the Very Imp, rolling his\nhead on one side, and eying the Bee-man with a critical gaze.\n\n\"All right,\" said the Very Imp; \"he can go around, and pick out his\nprevious existence. We have here all sorts of vile creepers,\ncrawlers, hissers, and snorters. I suppose he thinks any thing will\nbe better than a Bee-man.\"\n\n\"It is not because I want to be better than I am,\" said the Bee-man,\n\"that I started out on this search. I have simply an honest desire to\nbecome what I originally was.\"\n\n\"Oh! that is it, is it?\" said the other. \"There is an idiotic\nmoon-calf here with a clam head, which must be just like what you\nused to be.\"\n\n\"Nonsense,\" said the Bee-man. \"You have not the least idea what an\nhonest purpose is. I shall go about, and see for myself.\"\n\n\"Go ahead,\" said the Very Imp, \"and I will attend to this fellow who\nwants to be toned up.\" So saying he joined the Languid Youth.\n\n\"Look here,\" said that individual, regarding him with interest, \"do\nyou black and shine yourself every morning?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the other, \"it is water-proof varnish. You want to be\ninvigorated, don't you? Well, I will tell you a splendid way to\nbegin. You see that Bee-man has put down his hive and his coat with\nthe bees in it. Just wait till he gets out of sight, and then catch a\nlot of those bees, and squeeze them flat. If you spread them on a\nsticky rag, and make a plaster, and put it on the small of your back,\nit will invigorate you like every thing, especially if some of the\nbees are not quite dead.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Languid Youth, looking at him with his mild eyes,\n\"but if I had energy enough to catch a bee I would be satisfied.\nSuppose you catch a lot for me.\"\n\n\"The subject is changed,\" said the Very Imp. \"We are now about to\nvisit the spacious chamber of the King of the Snap-dragons.\"\n\n\"That is a flower,\" said the Languid Youth.\n\n\"You will find him a gay old blossom,\" said the other. \"When he has\nchased you round his room, and has blown sparks at you, and has\nsnorted and howled, and cracked his tail, and snapped his jaws like a\npair of anvils, your energies will be toned up higher than ever\nbefore in your life.\"\n\n\"No doubt of it,\" said the Languid Youth; \"but I think I will begin\nwith something a little milder.\"\n\n\"Well then,\" said other, \"there is a flat-tailed Demon of the Gorge\nin here. He is generally asleep, and, if you say so, you can slip\ninto the farthest corner of his cave, and I'll solder his tail to the\nopposite wall. Then he will rage and roar, but he can't get at you,\nfor he doesn't reach all the way across his cave; I have measured\nhim. It will tone you up wonderfully to sit there and watch him.\"\n\n\"Very likely,\" said the Languid Youth; \"but I would rather stay\noutside and let you go up in the corner. The performance in that way\nwill be more interesting to me.\"\n\n\"You are dreadfully hard to please,\" said the Very Imp. \"I have\noffered them to you loose, and I have offered them fastened to a\nwall, and now the best thing I can do is to give you a chance at one\nof them that can't move at all. It is the Ghastly Griffin and is\nenchanted. He can't stir so much as the tip of his whiskers for a\nthousand years. You can go to his cave and examine him just as if he\nwere stuffed, and then you can sit on his back and think how it would\nbe if you should live to be a thousand years old, and he should wake\nup while you are sitting there. It would be easy to imagine a lot of\nhorrible things he would do to you when you look at his open mouth\nwith its awful fangs, his dreadful claws, and his horrible wings all\ncovered with spikes.\"\n\n\"I think that might suit me,\" said the Languid Youth. \"I would much\nrather imagine the exercises of these monsters than to see them\nreally going on.\"\n\n\"Come on, then,\" said the Very Imp, and he led the way to the cave of\nthe Ghastly Griffin.\n\nThe Bee-man went by himself through a great part of the mountain, and\nlooked into many of its gloomy caves and recesses, recoiling in\nhorror from most of the dreadful monsters who met his eyes. While he\nwas wandering about, an awful roar was heard resounding through the\npassages of the mountain, and soon there came flapping along an\nenormous dragon, with body black as night, and wings and tail of\nfiery red. In his great fore-claws he bore a little baby.\n\n\"Horrible!\" exclaimed the Bee-man. \"He is taking that little creature\nto his cave to devour it.\"\n\nHe saw the dragon enter a cave not far away, and following looked in.\nThe dragon was crouched upon the ground with the little baby lying\nbefore him. It did not seem to be hurt, but was frightened and\ncrying. The monster was looking upon it with delight, as if he\nintended to make a dainty meal of it as soon as his appetite should\nbe a little stronger.\n\n\"It is too bad!\" thought the Bee-man. \"Somebody ought to do\nsomething.\" And turning around, he ran away as fast as he could.\n\nHe ran through various passages until he came to the spot where he\nhad left his bee-hive. Picking it up, he hurried back, carrying the\nhive in his two hands before him. When he reached the cave of the\ndragon, he looked in and saw the monster still crouched over the\nweeping child. Without a moment's hesitation, the Bee-man rushed into\nthe cave and threw his hive straight into the face of the dragon. The\nbees, enraged by the shock, rushed out in an angry crowd and\nimmediately fell upon the head, mouth, eyes, and nose of the dragon.\nThe great monster, astounded by this sudden attack, and driven almost\nwild by the numberless stings of the bees, sprang back to the\nfarthest portion of his cave, still followed by his relentless\nenemies, at whom he flapped wildly with his great wings and struck\nwith his paws. While the dragon was thus engaged with the bees, the\nBee-man rushed forward, and, seizing the child, he hurried away. He\ndid not stop to pick up his doublet, but kept on until he reached the\nentrance of the caves. There he saw the Very Imp hopping along on one\nleg, and rubbing his back and shoulders with his hands, and stopped\nto inquire what was the matter, and what had become of the Languid\nYouth.\n\n\"He is no kind of a fellow,\" said the Very Imp. \"He disappointed me\ndreadfully. I took him up to the Ghastly Griffin, and told him the\nthing was enchanted, and that he might sit on its back and think\nabout what it could do if it was awake; and when he came near it the\nwretched creature opened its eyes, and raised its head, and then you\nought to have seen how mad that simpleton was. He made a dash at me\nand seized me by the ears; he kicked and beat me till I can scarcely\nmove.\"\n\n\"His energies must have been toned up a good deal,\" said the Bee-man.\n\n\"Toned up! I should say so!\" cried the other. \"I raised a howl, and a\nScissor-jawed Clipper came out of his hole, and got after him; but\nthat lazy fool ran so fast that he could not be caught.\"\n\nThe Bee-man now ran on and soon overtook the Languid Youth.\n\n\"You need not be in a hurry now,\" said the latter, \"for the rules of\nthis institution don't allow the creatures inside to come out of this\nopening, or to hang around it. If they did, they would frighten away\nvisitors. They go in and out of holes in the upper part of the\nmountain.\"\n\nThe two proceeded on their way.\n\n\"What are you going to do with that baby?\" said the Languid Youth.\n\n\"I shall carry it along with me,\" said the Bee-man, \"as I go on with\nmy search, and perhaps I may find its mother. If I do not, I shall\ngive it to somebody in that little village yonder. Any thing would be\nbetter than leaving it to be devoured by that horrid dragon.\"\n\n\"Let me carry it. I feel quite strong enough now to carry a baby.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" said the Bee-man, \"but I can take it myself. I like to\ncarry something, and I have now neither my hive nor my doublet.\"\n\n\"It is very well that you had to leave them behind,\" said the Youth,\n\"for the bees would have stung the baby.\"\n\n\"My bees never sting babies,\" said the other.\n\n\"They probably never had a chance,\" remarked his companion.\n\nThey soon entered the village, and after walking a short distance the\nyouth exclaimed: \"Do you see that woman over there sitting at the\ndoor of her house? She has beautiful hair and she is tearing it all\nto pieces. She should not be allowed to do that.\"\n\n\"No,\" said the Bee-man. \"Her friends should tie her hands.\"\n\n\"Perhaps she is the mother of this child,\" said the Youth, \"and if\nyou give it to her she will no longer think of tearing her hair.\"\n\n\"But,\" said the Bee-man, \"you don't really think this is her child?\"\n\n\"Suppose you go over and see,\" said the other.\n\nThe Bee-man hesitated a moment, and then he walked toward the woman.\nHearing him coming, she raised her head, and when she saw the child\nshe rushed towards it, snatched it into her arms, and screaming with\njoy she covered it with kisses. Then with happy tears she begged to\nknow the story of the rescue of her child, whom she never expected to\nsee again; and she loaded the Bee-man with thanks and blessings. The\nfriends and neighbors gathered around and there was great rejoicing.\nThe mother urged the Bee-man and the Youth to stay with her, and rest\nand refresh themselves, which they were glad to do as they were tired\nand hungry.\n\nThey remained at the cottage all night, and in the afternoon of the\nnext day the Bee-man said to the Youth: \"It may seem an odd thing to\nyou, but never in all my life have I felt myself drawn towards any\nliving being as I am drawn towards this baby. Therefore I believe\nthat I have been transformed from a baby.\"\n\n\"Good!\" cried the Youth. \"It is my opinion that you have hit the\ntruth. And now would you like to be changed back to your original\nform?\"\n\n\"Indeed I would!\" said the Bee-man, \"I have the strongest yearning to\nbe what I originally was.\"\n\nThe Youth, who had now lost every trace of languid feeling, took a\ngreat interest in the matter, and early the next morning started off\nto inform the Junior Sorcerer that the Bee-man had discovered what he\nhad been transformed from, and desired to be changed back to it.\n\nThe Junior Sorcerer and his learned Masters were filled with\nenthusiasm when they heard this report, and they at once set out for\nthe mother's cottage. And there by magic arts the Bee-man was changed\nback into a baby. The mother was so grateful for what the Bee-man had\ndone for her that she agreed to take charge of this baby, and to\nbring it up as her own.\n\n\"It will be a grand thing for him,\" said the Junior Sorcerer, \"and I\nam glad that I studied his case. He will now have a fresh start in\nlife, and will have a chance to become something better than a\nmiserable old man living in a wretched hut with no friends or\ncompanions but buzzing bees.\"\n\nThe Junior Sorcerer and his Masters then returned to their homes,\nhappy in the success of their great performance; and the Youth went\nback to his home anxious to begin a life of activity and energy.\n\nYears and years afterward, when the Junior Sorcerer had become a\nSenior and was very old indeed, he passed through the country of Orn,\nand noticed a small hut about which swarms of bees were flying. He\napproached it, and looking in at the door he saw an old man in a\nleathern doublet, sitting at a table, eating honey. By his magic art\nhe knew this was the baby which had been transformed from the\nBee-man.\n\n\"Upon my word!\" exclaimed the Sorcerer, \"He has grown into the same\nthing again!\"\n\n\n\n\n\n THE GRIFFIN AND THE MINOR CANON.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOver the great door of an old, old church which stood in a quiet town\nof a far-away land there was carved in stone the figure of a large\ngriffin. The old-time sculptor had done his work with great care, but\nthe image he had made was not a pleasant one to look at. It had a\nlarge head, with enormous open mouth and savage teeth; from its back\narose great wings, armed with sharp hooks and prongs; it had stout\nlegs in front, with projecting claws; but there were no legs\nbehind,--the body running out into a long and powerful tail, finished\noff at the end with a barbed point. This tail was coiled up under\nhim, the end sticking up just back of his wings.\n\nThe sculptor, or the people who had ordered this stone figure, had\nevidently been very much pleased with it, for little copies of it,\nalso in stone, had been placed here and there along the sides of the\nchurch, not very far from the ground, so that people could easily\nlook at them, and ponder on their curious forms. There were a great\nmany other sculptures on the outside of this church,--saints,\nmartyrs, grotesque heads of men, beasts, and birds, as well as those\nof other creatures which cannot be named, because nobody knows\nexactly what they were; but none were so curious and interesting as\nthe great griffin over the door, and the little griffins on the sides\nof the church.\n\nA long, long distance from the town, in the midst of dreadful wilds\nscarcely known to man, there dwelt the Griffin whose image had been\nput up over the church-door. In some way or other, the old-time\nsculptor had seen him, and afterward, to the best of his memory, had\ncopied his figure in stone. The Griffin had never known this, until,\nhundreds of years afterward, he heard from a bird, from a wild\nanimal, or in some manner which it is not now easy to find out, that\nthere was a likeness of him on the old church in the distant town.\nNow, this Griffin had no idea how he looked. He had never seen a\nmirror, and the streams where he lived were so turbulent and violent\nthat a quiet piece of water, which would reflect the image of any\nthing looking into it, could not be found. Being, as far as could be\nascertained, the very last of his race, he had never seen another\ngriffin. Therefore it was, that, when he heard of this stone image of\nhimself, he became very anxious to know what he looked like, and at\nlast he determined to go to the old church, and see for himself what\nmanner of being he was. So he started off from the dreadful wilds,\nand flew on and on until he came to the countries inhabited by men,\nwhere his appearance in the air created great consternation; but he\nalighted nowhere, keeping up a steady flight until he reached the\nsuburbs of the town which had his image on its church. Here, late in\nthe afternoon, he alighted in a green meadow by the side of a brook,\nand stretched himself on the grass to rest. His great wings were\ntired, for he had not made such a long flight in a century, or more.\n\nThe news of his coming spread quickly over the town, and the people,\nfrightened nearly out of their wits by the arrival of so\nextraordinary a visitor, fled into their houses, and shut themselves\nup. The Griffin called loudly for some one to come to him, but the\nmore he called, the more afraid the people were to show themselves.\nAt length he saw two laborers hurrying to their homes through the\nfields, and in a terrible voice he commanded them to stop. Not daring\nto disobey, the men stood, trembling.\n\n\"What is the matter with you all?\" cried the Griffin. \"Is there not a\nman in your town who is brave enough to speak to me?\"\n\n\"I think,\" said one of the laborers, his voice shaking so that his\nwords could hardly be understood, \"that--perhaps--the Minor\nCanon--would come.\"\n\n\"Go, call him, then!\" said the Griffin; \"I want to see him.\"\n\nThe Minor Canon, who filled a subordinate position in the old church,\nhad just finished the afternoon services, and was coming out of a\nside door, with three aged women who had formed the week-day\ncongregation. He was a young man of a kind disposition, and very\nanxious to do good to the people of the town. Apart from his duties\nin the church, where he conducted services every week-day, he visited\nthe sick and the poor, counselled and assisted persons who were in\ntrouble, and taught a school composed entirely of the bad children in\nthe town with whom nobody else would have any thing to do. Whenever\nthe people wanted something difficult done for them, they always went\nto the Minor Canon. Thus it was that the laborer thought of the young\npriest when he found that some one must come and speak to the\nGriffin.\n\nThe Minor Canon had not heard of the strange event, which was known\nto the whole town except himself and the three old women, and when he\nwas informed of it, and was told that the Griffin had asked to see\nhim, he was greatly amazed, and frightened.\n\n\"Me!\" he exclaimed. \"He has never heard of me! What should he want\nwith me?\"\n\n\"Oh! you must go instantly!\" cried the two men. \"He is very angry now\nbecause he has been kept waiting so long; and nobody knows what may\nhappen if you don't hurry to him.\"\n\nThe poor Minor Canon would rather have had his hand cut off than go\nout to meet an angry griffin; but he felt that it was his duty to go,\nfor it would be a woful thing if injury should come to the people of\nthe town because he was not brave enough to obey the summons of the\nGriffin. So, pale and frightened, he started off.\n\n\"Well,\" said the Griffin, as soon as the young man came near, \"I am\nglad to see that there is some one who has the courage to come to\nme.\"\n\nThe Minor Canon did not feel very courageous, but he bowed his head.\n\n\"Is this the town,\" said the Griffin, \"where there is a church with a\nlikeness of myself over one of the doors?\"\n\nThe Minor Canon looked at the frightful creature before him and saw\nthat it was, without doubt, exactly like the stone image on the\nchurch. \"Yes,\" he said, \"you are right.\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" said the Griffin, \"will you take me to it? I wish very\nmuch to see it.\"\n\nThe Minor Canon instantly thought that if the Griffin entered the\ntown without the people knowing what he came for, some of them would\nprobably be frightened to death, and so he sought to gain time to\nprepare their minds.\n\n\"It is growing dark, now,\" he said, very much afraid, as he spoke,\nthat his words might enrage the Griffin, \"and objects on the front of\nthe church can not be seen clearly. It will be better to wait until\nmorning, if you wish to get a good view of the stone image of\nyourself.\"\n\n\"That will suit me very well,\" said the Griffin. \"I see you are a man\nof good sense. I am tired, and I will take a nap here on this soft\ngrass, while I cool my tail in the little stream that runs near me.\nThe end of my tail gets red-hot when I am angry or excited, and it is\nquite warm now. So you may go, but be sure and come early to-morrow\nmorning, and show me the way to the church.\"\n\nThe Minor Canon was glad enough to take his leave, and hurried into\nthe town. In front of the church he found a great many people\nassembled to hear his report of his interview with the Griffin. When\nthey found that he had not come to spread ruin and devastation, but\nsimply to see his stony likeness on the church, they showed neither\nrelief nor gratification, but began to upbraid the Minor Canon for\nconsenting to conduct the creature into the town.\n\n\"What could I do?\" cried the young man. \"If I should not bring him he\nwould come himself and, perhaps, end by setting fire to the town with\nhis red-hot tail.\"\n\nStill the people were not satisfied, and a great many plans were\nproposed to prevent the Griffin from coming into the town. Some\nelderly persons urged that the young men should go out and kill him;\nbut the young men scoffed at such a ridiculous idea. Then some one\nsaid that it would be a good thing to destroy the stone image so that\nthe Griffin would have no excuse for entering the town; and this\nproposal was received with such favor that many of the people ran for\nhammers, chisels, and crowbars, with which to tear down and break up\nthe stone griffin. But the Minor Canon resisted this plan with all\nthe strength of his mind and body. He assured the people that this\naction would enrage the Griffin beyond measure, for it would be\nimpossible to conceal from him that his image had been destroyed\nduring the night. But the people were so determined to break up the\nstone griffin that the Minor Canon saw that there was nothing for him\nto do but to stay there and protect it. All night he walked up and\ndown in front of the church-door, keeping away the men who brought\nladders, by which they might mount to the great stone griffin, and\nknock it to pieces with their hammers and crowbars. After many hours\nthe people were obliged to give up their attempts, and went home to\nsleep; but the Minor Canon remained at his post till early morning,\nand then he hurried away to the field where he had left the Griffin.\n\nThe monster had just awakened, and rising to his fore-legs and\nshaking himself, he said that he was ready to go into the town. The\nMinor Canon, therefore, walked back, the Griffin flying slowly\nthrough the air, at a short distance above the head of his guide. Not\na person was to be seen in the streets, and they proceeded directly\nto the front of the church, where the Minor Canon pointed out the\nstone griffin.\n\nThe real Griffin settled down in the little square before the church\nand gazed earnestly at his sculptured likeness. For a long time he\nlooked at it. First he put his head on one side, and then he put it\non the other; then he shut his right eye and gazed with his left,\nafter which he shut his left eye and gazed with his right. Then he\nmoved a little to one side and looked at the image, then he moved the\nother way. After a while he said to the Minor Canon, who had been\nstanding by all this time:\n\n\"It is, it must be, an excellent likeness! That breadth between the\neyes, that expansive forehead, those massive jaws! I feel that it\nmust resemble me. If there is any fault to find with it, it is that\nthe neck seems a little stiff. But that is nothing. It is an\nadmirable likeness,--admirable!\"\n\nThe Griffin sat looking at his image all the morning and all the\nafternoon. The Minor Canon had been afraid to go away and leave him,\nand had hoped all through the day that he would soon be satisfied\nwith his inspection and fly away home. But by evening the poor young\nman was utterly exhausted, and felt that he must eat and sleep. He\nfrankly admitted this fact to the Griffin, and asked him if he would\nnot like something to eat. He said this because he felt obliged in\npoliteness to do so, but as soon as he had spoken the words, he was\nseized with dread lest the monster should demand half a dozen babies,\nor some tempting repast of that kind.\n\n\"Oh, no,\" said the Griffin, \"I never eat between the equinoxes. At\nthe vernal and at the autumnal equinox I take a good meal, and that\nlasts me for half a year. I am extremely regular in my habits, and do\nnot think it healthful to eat at odd times. But if you need food, go\nand get it, and I will return to the soft grass where I slept last\nnight and take another nap.\"\n\nThe next day the Griffin came again to the little square before the\nchurch, and remained there until evening, steadfastly regarding the\nstone griffin over the door. The Minor Canon came once or twice to\nlook at him, and the Griffin seemed very glad to see him; but the\nyoung clergyman could not stay as he had done before, for he had many\nduties to perform. Nobody went to the church, but the people came to\nthe Minor Canon's house, and anxiously asked him how long the Griffin\nwas going to stay.\n\n\"I do not know,\" he answered, \"but I think he will soon be satisfied\nwith regarding his stone likeness, and then he will go away.\"\n\nBut the Griffin did not go away. Morning after morning he came to the\nchurch, but after a time he did not stay there all day. He seemed to\nhave taken a great fancy to the Minor Canon, and followed him about\nas he pursued his various avocations. He would wait for him at the\nside door of the church, for the Minor Canon held services every day,\nmorning and evening, though nobody came now. \"If any one should\ncome,\" he said to himself, \"I must be found at my post.\" When the\nyoung man came out, the Griffin would accompany him in his visits to\nthe sick and the poor, and would often look into the windows of the\nschool-house where the Minor Canon was teaching his unruly scholars.\nAll the other schools were closed, but the parents of the Minor\nCanon's scholars forced them to go to school, because they were so\nbad they could not endure them all day at home,--griffin or no\ngriffin. But it must be said they generally behaved very well when\nthat great monster sat up on his tail and looked in at the\nschool-room window.\n\nWhen it was perceived that the Griffin showed no sign of going away,\nall the people who were able to do so left the town. The canons and\nthe higher officers of the church had fled away during the first day\nof the Griffin's visit, leaving behind only the Minor Canon and some\nof the men who opened the doors and swept the church. All the\ncitizens who could afford it shut up their houses and travelled to\ndistant parts, and only the working people and the poor were left\nbehind. After some days these ventured to go about and attend to\ntheir business, for if they did not work they would starve. They were\ngetting a little used to seeing the Griffin, and having been told\nthat he did not eat between equinoxes, they did not feel so much\nafraid of him as before.\n\nDay by day the Griffin became more and more attached to the Minor\nCanon. He kept near him a great part of the time, and often spent the\nnight in front of the little house where the young clergyman lived\nalone. This strange companionship was often burdensome to the Minor\nCanon; but, on the other hand, he could not deny that he derived a\ngreat deal of benefit and instruction from it. The Griffin had lived\nfor hundreds of years, and had seen much; and he told the Minor Canon\nmany wonderful things.\n\n\"It is like reading an old book,\" said the young clergyman to\nhimself; \"but how many books I would have had to read before I would\nhave found out what the Griffin has told me about the earth, the air,\nthe water, about minerals, and metals, and growing things, and all\nthe wonders of the world!\"\n\nThus the summer went on, and drew toward its close. And now the\npeople of the town began to be very much troubled again.\n\n\"It will not be long,\" they said, \"before the autumnal equinox is\nhere, and then that monster will want to eat. He will be dreadfully\nhungry, for he has taken so much exercise since his last meal. He\nwill devour our children. Without doubt, he will eat them all. What\nis to be done?\"\n\nTo this question no one could give an answer, but all agreed that the\nGriffin must not be allowed to remain until the approaching equinox.\nAfter talking over the matter a great deal, a crowd of the people\nwent to the Minor Canon, at a time when the Griffin was not with him.\n\n\"It is all your fault,\" they said, \"that that monster is among us.\nYou brought him here, and you ought to see that he goes away. It is\nonly on your account that he stays here at all, for, although he\nvisits his image every day, he is with you the greater part of the\ntime. If you were not here, he would not stay. It is your duty to go\naway and then he will follow you, and we shall be free from the\ndreadful danger which hangs over us.\"\n\n\"Go away!\" cried the Minor Canon, greatly grieved at being spoken to\nin such a way. \"Where shall I go? If I go to some other town, shall I\nnot take this trouble there? Have I a right to do that?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the people, \"you must not go to any other town. There is\nno town far enough away. You must go to the dreadful wilds where the\nGriffin lives; and then he will follow you and stay there.\"\n\nThey did not say whether or not they expected the Minor Canon to stay\nthere also, and he did not ask them any thing about it. He bowed his\nhead, and went into his house, to think. The more he thought, the\nmore clear it became to his mind that it was his duty to go away, and\nthus free the town from the presence of the Griffin.\n\nThat evening he packed a leathern bag full of bread and meat, and\nearly the next morning he set out on his journey to the dreadful\nwilds. It was a long, weary, and doleful journey, especially after he\nhad gone beyond the habitations of men, but the Minor Canon kept on\nbravely, and never faltered. The way was longer than he had expected,\nand his provisions soon grew so scanty that he was obliged to eat but\na little every day, but he kept up his courage, and pressed on, and,\nafter many days of toilsome travel, he reached the dreadful wilds.\n\nWhen the Griffin found that the Minor Canon had left the town he\nseemed sorry, but showed no disposition to go and look for him. After\na few days had passed, he became much annoyed, and asked some of the\npeople where the Minor Canon had gone. But, although the citizens had\nbeen so anxious that the young clergyman should go to the dreadful\nwilds, thinking that the Griffin would immediately follow him, they\nwere now afraid to mention the Minor Canon's destination, for the\nmonster seemed angry already, and, if he should suspect their trick\nhe would, doubtless, become very much enraged. So every one said he\ndid not know, and the Griffin wandered about disconsolate. One\nmorning he looked into the Minor Canon's school-house, which was\nalways empty now, and thought that it was a shame that every thing\nshould suffer on account of the young man's absence.\n\n\"It does not matter so much about the church,\" he said, \"for nobody\nwent there; but it is a pity about the school. I think I will teach\nit myself until he returns.\"\n\nIt was the hour for opening the school, and the Griffin went inside\nand pulled the rope which rang the school-bell. Some of the children\nwho heard the bell ran in to see what was the matter, supposing it to\nbe a joke of one of their companions; but when they saw the Griffin\nthey stood astonished, and scared.\n\n\"Go tell the other scholars,\" said the monster, \"that school is about\nto open, and that if they are not all here in ten minutes, I shall\ncome after them.\"\n\nIn seven minutes every scholar was in place.\n\nNever was seen such an orderly school. Not a boy or girl moved, or\nuttered a whisper. The Griffin climbed into the master's seat, his\nwide wings spread on each side of him, because he could not lean back\nin his chair while they stuck out behind, and his great tail coiled\naround, in front of the desk, the barbed end sticking up, ready to\ntap any boy or girl who might misbehave. The Griffin now addressed\nthe scholars, telling them that he intended to teach them while their\nmaster was away. In speaking he endeavored to imitate, as far as\npossible, the mild and gentle tones of the Minor Canon, but it must\nbe admitted that in this he was not very successful. He had paid a\ngood deal of attention to the studies of the school, and he\ndetermined not to attempt to teach them any thing new, but to review\nthem in what they had been studying; so he called up the various\nclasses, and questioned them upon their previous lessons. The\nchildren racked their brains to remember what they had learned. They\nwere so afraid of the Griffin's displeasure that they recited as they\nhad never recited before. One of the boys, far down in his class,\nanswered so well that the Griffin was astonished.\n\n\"I should think you would be at the head,\" said he. \"I am sure you\nhave never been in the habit of reciting so well. Why is this?\"\n\n\"Because I did not choose to take the trouble,\" said the boy,\ntrembling in his boots. He felt obliged to speak the truth, for all\nthe children thought that the great eyes of the Griffin could see\nright through them, and that he would know when they told a\nfalsehood.\n\n\"You ought to be ashamed of yourself,\" said the Griffin. \"Go down to\nthe very tail of the class, and if you are not at the head in two\ndays, I shall know the reason why.\"\n\nThe next afternoon this boy was number one.\n\nIt was astonishing how much these children now learned of what they\nhad been studying. It was as if they had been educated over again.\nThe Griffin used no severity toward them, but there was a look about\nhim which made them unwilling to go to bed until they were sure they\nknew their lessons for the next day.\n\nThe Griffin now thought that he ought to visit the sick and the poor;\nand he began to go about the town for this purpose. The effect upon\nthe sick was miraculous. All, except those who were very ill indeed,\njumped from their beds when they heard he was coming, and declared\nthemselves quite well. To those who could not get up, he gave herbs\nand roots, which none of them had ever before thought of as\nmedicines, but which the Griffin had seen used in various parts of\nthe world; and most of them recovered. But, for all that, they\nafterward said that no matter what happened to them, they hoped that\nthey should never again have such a doctor coming to their bed-sides,\nfeeling their pulses and looking at their tongues.\n\nAs for the poor, they seemed to have utterly disappeared. All those\nwho had depended upon charity for their daily bread were now at work\nin some way or other; many of them offering to do odd jobs for their\nneighbors just for the sake of their meals,--a thing which before had\nbeen seldom heard of in the town. The Griffin could find no one who\nneeded his assistance.\n\nThe summer had now passed, and the autumnal equinox was rapidly\napproaching. The citizens were in a state of great alarm and anxiety.\nThe Griffin showed no signs of going away, but seemed to have settled\nhimself permanently among them. In a short time, the day for his\nsemi-annual meal would arrive, and then what would happen? The\nmonster would certainly be very hungry, and would devour all their\nchildren.\n\nNow they greatly regretted and lamented that they had sent away the\nMinor Canon; he was the only one on whom they could have depended in\nthis trouble, for he could talk freely with the Griffin, and so find\nout what could be done. But it would not do to be inactive. Some step\nmust be taken immediately. A meeting of the citizens was called, and\ntwo old men were appointed to go and talk to the Griffin. They were\ninstructed to offer to prepare a splendid dinner for him on equinox\nday,--one which would entirely satisfy his hunger. They would offer\nhim the fattest mutton, the most tender beef, fish, and game of\nvarious sorts, and any thing of the kind that he might fancy. If none\nof these suited, they were to mention that there was an orphan asylum\nin the next town.\n\n\"Anything would be better,\" said the citizens, \"than to have our dear\nchildren devoured.\"\n\nThe old men went to the Griffin, but their propositions were not\nreceived with favor.\n\n\"From what I have seen of the people of this town,\" said the monster,\n\"I do not think I could relish any thing which was prepared by them.\nThey appear to be all cowards, and, therefore, mean and selfish. As\nfor eating one of them, old or young, I could not think of it for a\nmoment. In fact, there was only one creature in the whole place for\nwhom I could have had any appetite, and that is the Minor Canon, who\nhas gone away. He was brave, and good, and honest, and I think I\nshould have relished him.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" said one of the old men very politely, \"in that case I wish we\nhad not sent him to the dreadful wilds!\"\n\n\"What!\" cried the Griffin. \"What do you mean? Explain instantly what\nyou are talking about!\"\n\nThe old man, terribly frightened at what he had said, was obliged to\ntell how the Minor Canon had been sent away by the people, in the\nhope that the Griffin might be induced to follow him.\n\nWhen the monster heard this, he became furiously angry. He dashed\naway from the old men and, spreading his wings, flew backward and\nforward over the town. He was so much excited that his tail became\nred-hot, and glowed like a meteor against the evening sky. When at\nlast he settled down in the little field where he usually rested, and\nthrust his tail into the brook, the steam arose like a cloud, and the\nwater of the stream ran hot through the town. The citizens were\ngreatly frightened, and bitterly blamed the old man for telling about\nthe Minor Canon.\n\n\"It is plain,\" they said, \"that the Griffin intended at last to go\nand look for him, and we should have been saved. Now who can tell\nwhat misery you have brought upon us.\"\n\nThe Griffin did not remain long in the little field. As soon as his\ntail was cool he flew to the town-hall and rang the bell. The\ncitizens knew that they were expected to come there, and although\nthey were afraid to go, they were still more afraid to stay away; and\nthey crowded into the hall. The Griffin was on the platform at one\nend, flapping his wings and walking up and down, and the end of his\ntail was still so warm that it slightly scorched the boards as he\ndragged it after him.\n\nWhen everybody who was able to come was there, the Griffin stood\nstill and addressed the meeting.\n\n\"I have had a contemptible opinion of you,\" he said, \"ever since I\ndiscovered what cowards you are, but I had no idea that you were so\nungrateful, selfish, and cruel, as I now find you to be. Here was\nyour Minor Canon, who labored day and night for your good, and\nthought of nothing else but how he might benefit you and make you\nhappy; and as soon as you imagine yourselves threatened with a\ndanger,--for well I know you are dreadfully afraid of me,--you send\nhim off, caring not whether he returns or perishes, hoping thereby to\nsave yourselves. Now, I had conceived a great liking for that young\nman, and had intended, in a day or two, to go and look him up. But I\nhave changed my mind about him. I shall go and find him, but I shall\nsend him back here to live among you, and I intend that he shall\nenjoy the reward of his labor and his sacrifices. Go, some of you, to\nthe officers of the church, who so cowardly ran away when I first\ncame here, and tell them never to return to this town under penalty\nof death. And if, when your Minor Canon comes back to you, you do not\nbow yourselves before him, put him in the highest place among you,\nand serve and honor him all his life, beware of my terrible\nvengeance! There were only two good things in this town: the Minor\nCanon and the stone image of myself over your church-door. One of\nthese you have sent away, and the other I shall carry away myself.\"\n\nWith these words he dismissed the meeting, and it was time, for the\nend of his tail had become so hot that there was danger of its\nsetting fire to the building.\n\nThe next morning, the Griffin came to the church, and tearing the\nstone image of himself from its fastenings over the great door, he\ngrasped it with his powerful fore-legs and flew up into the air.\nThen, after hovering over the town for a moment, he gave his tail an\nangry shake and took up his flight to the dreadful wilds. When he\nreached this desolate region, he set the stone Griffin upon a ledge\nof a rock which rose in front of the dismal cave he called his home.\nThere the image occupied a position somewhat similar to that it had\nhad over the church-door; and the Griffin, panting with the exertion\nof carrying such an enormous load to so great a distance, lay down\nupon the ground, and regarded it with much satisfaction. When he felt\nsomewhat rested he went to look for the Minor Canon. He found the\nyoung man, weak and half starved, lying under the shadow of a rock.\nAfter picking him up and carrying him to his cave, the Griffin flew\naway to a distant marsh, where he procured some roots and herbs which\nhe well knew were strengthening and beneficial to man, though he had\nnever tasted them himself. After eating these the Minor Canon was\ngreatly revived, and sat up and listened while the Griffin told him\nwhat had happened in the town.\n\n\"Do you know,\" said the monster, when he had finished, \"that I have\nhad, and still have, a great liking for you?\"\n\n\"I am very glad to hear it,\" said the Minor Canon, with his usual\npoliteness.\n\n\"I am not at all sure that you would be,\" said the Griffin, \"if you\nthoroughly understood the state of the case, but we will not consider\nthat now. If some things were different, other things would be\notherwise. I have been so enraged by discovering the manner in which\nyou have been treated that I have determined that you shall at last\nenjoy the rewards and honors to which you are entitled. Lie down and\nhave a good sleep, and then I will take you back to the town.\"\n\nAs he heard these words, a look of trouble came over the young man's\nface.\n\n\"You need not give yourself any anxiety,\" said the Griffin, \"about my\nreturn to the town. I shall not remain there. Now that I have that\nadmirable likeness of myself in front of my cave, where I can sit at\nmy leisure, and gaze upon its noble features and magnificent\nproportions, I have no wish to see that abode of cowardly and selfish\npeople.\"\n\nThe Minor Canon, relieved from his fears, lay back, and dropped into\na doze; and when he was sound asleep the Griffin took him up, and\ncarried him back to the town. He arrived just before daybreak, and\nputting the young man gently on the grass in the little field where\nhe himself used to rest, the monster, without having been seen by any\nof the people, flew back to his home.\n\nWhen the Minor Canon made his appearance in the morning among the\ncitizens, the enthusiasm and cordiality with which he was received\nwere truly wonderful. He was taken to a house which had been occupied\nby one of the banished high officers of the place, and every one was\nanxious to do all that could be done for his health and comfort. The\npeople crowded into the church when he held services, so that the\nthree old women who used to be his week-day congregation could not\nget to the best seats, which they had always been in the habit of\ntaking; and the parents of the bad children determined to reform them\nat home, in order that he might be spared the trouble of keeping up\nhis former school. The Minor Canon was appointed to the highest\noffice of the old church, and before he died, he became a bishop.\n\nDuring the first years after his return from the dreadful wilds, the\npeople of the town looked up to him as a man to whom they were bound\nto do honor and reverence; but they often, also, looked up to the sky\nto see if there were any signs of the Griffin coming back. However,\nin the course of time, they learned to honor and reverence their\nformer Minor Canon without the fear of being punished if they did not\ndo so.\n\nBut they need never have been afraid of the Griffin. The autumnal\nequinox day came round, and the monster ate nothing. If he could not\nhave the Minor Canon, he did not care for any thing. So, lying down,\nwith his eyes fixed upon the great stone griffin, he gradually\ndeclined, and died. It was a good thing for some of the people of the\ntown that they did not know this.\n\nIf you should ever visit the old town, you would still see the little\ngriffins on the sides of the church; but the great stone griffin that\nwas over the door is gone.\n\n\n\n\n\n OLD PIPES AND THE DRYAD.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA mountain brook ran through a little village. Over the brook there\nwas a narrow bridge, and from the bridge a foot-path led out from the\nvillage and up the hill-side, to the cottage of Old Pipes and his\nmother. For many, many years, Old Pipes had been employed by the\nvillagers to pipe the cattle down from the hills. Every afternoon, an\nhour before sunset, he would sit on a rock in front of his cottage\nand play on his pipes. Then all the flocks and herds that were\ngrazing on the mountains would hear him, wherever they might happen\nto be, and would come down to the village--the cows by the easiest\npaths, the sheep by those not quite so easy, and the goats by the\nsteep and rocky ways that were hardest of all.\n\nBut now, for a year or more, Old Pipes had not piped the cattle home.\nIt is true that every afternoon he sat upon the rock and played upon\nhis familiar instrument; but the cattle did not hear him. He had\ngrown old, and his breath was feeble. The echoes of his cheerful\nnotes, which used to come from the rocky hill on the other side of\nthe valley, were heard no more; and twenty yards from Old Pipes one\ncould scarcely tell what tune he was playing. He had become somewhat\ndeaf, and did not know that the sound of his pipes was so thin and\nweak, and that the cattle did not hear him. The cows, the sheep, and\nthe goats came down every afternoon as before, but this was because\ntwo boys and a girl were sent up after them. The villagers did not\nwish the good old man to know that his piping was no longer of any\nuse, so they paid him his little salary every month, and said nothing\nabout the two boys and the girl.\n\nOld Pipes's mother was, of course, a great deal older then he was,\nand was as deaf as a gate,--posts, latch, hinges, and all,--and she\nnever knew that the sound of her son's pipe did not spread over all\nthe mountainside, and echo back strong and clear from the opposite\nhills. She was very fond of Old Pipes, and proud of his piping; and\nas he was so much younger than she was, she never thought of him as\nbeing very old. She cooked for him, and made his bed, and mended his\nclothes; and they lived very comfortably on his little salary.\n\nOne afternoon, at the end of the month, when Old Pipes had finished\nhis piping, he took his stout staff and went down the hill to the\nvillage to receive the money for his month's work. The path seemed a\ngreat deal steeper and more difficult than it used to be; and Old\nPipes thought that it must have been washed by the rains and greatly\ndamaged. He remembered it as a path that was quite easy to traverse\neither up or down. But Old Pipes had been a very active man, and as\nhis mother was so much older than he was, he never thought of himself\nas aged and infirm.\n\nWhen the Chief Villager had paid him, and he had talked a little with\nsome of his friends, Old Pipes started to go home. But when he had\ncrossed the bridge over the brook, and gone a short distance up the\nhill-side, he became very tired, and sat down upon a stone. He had\nnot been sitting there half a minute, when along came two boys and a\ngirl.\n\n\"Children,\" said Old Pipes, \"I'm very tired tonight, and I don't\nbelieve I can climb up this steep path to my home. I think I shall\nhave to ask you to help me.\"\n\n\"We will do that,\" said the boys and the girl, quite cheerfully; and\none boy took him by the right hand, and the other by the left, while\nthe girl pushed him in the back. In this way he went up the hill\nquite easily, and soon reached his cottage door. Old Pipes gave each\nof the three children a copper coin, and then they sat down for a few\nminutes' rest before starting back to the village.\n\n\"I'm sorry that I tired you so much,\" said Old Pipes.\n\n\"Oh, that would not have tired us,\" said one of the boys, \"if we had\nnot been so far to-day after the cows, the sheep, and the goats. They\nrambled high up on the mountain, and we never before had such a time\nin finding them.\"\n\n\"Had to go after the cows, the sheep, and the goats!\" exclaimed Old\nPipes. \"What do you mean by that?\"\n\nThe girl, who stood behind the old man, shook her head, put her hand\non her mouth, and made all sorts of signs to the boy to stop talking\non this subject; but he did not notice her, and promptly answered Old\nPipes.\n\n\"Why, you see, good sir,\" said he, \"that as the cattle can't hear\nyour pipes now, somebody has to go after them every evening to drive\nthem down from the mountain, and the Chief Villager has hired us\nthree to do it. Generally it is not very hard work, but to-night the\ncattle had wandered far.\"\n\n\"How long have you been doing this?\" asked the old man.\n\nThe girl shook her head and clapped her hand on her mouth more\nvigorously than before, but the boy went on.\n\n\"I think it is about a year now,\" he said, \"since the people first\nfelt sure that the cattle could not hear your pipes; and from that\ntime we've been driving them down. But we are rested now, and will go\nhome. Good-night, sir.\"\n\nThe three children then went down the hill, the girl scolding the boy\nall the way home. Old Pipes stood silent a few moments, and then he\nwent into his cottage.\n\n\"Mother,\" he shouted; \"did you hear what those children said?\"\n\n\"Children!\" exclaimed the old woman; \"I did not hear them. I did not\nknow there were any children here.\"\n\nThen Old Pipes told his mother, shouting very loudly to make her\nhear, how the two boys and the girl had helped him up the hill, and\nwhat he had heard about his piping and the cattle.\n\n\"They can't hear you?\" cried his mother. \"Why, what's the matter with\nthe cattle?\"\n\n\"Ah, me!\" said Old Pipes; \"I don't believe there's any thing the\nmatter with the cattle. It must be with me and my pipes that there is\nsomething the matter. But one thing is certain, if I do not earn the\nwages the Chief Villager pays me, I shall not take them. I shall go\nstraight down to the village and give back the money I received\nto-day.\"\n\n\"Nonsense!\" cried his mother. \"I'm sure you've piped as well as you\ncould, and no more can be expected. And what are we to do without the\nmoney?\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" said Old Pipes; \"but I'm going down to the village to\npay it back.\"\n\nThe sun had now set; but the moon was shining very brightly on the\nhill-side, and Old Pipes could see his way very well. He did not take\nthe same path by which he had gone before, but followed another,\nwhich led among the trees upon the hill-side, and, though longer, was\nnot so steep.\n\nWhen he had gone about half-way, the old man sat down to rest,\nleaning his back against a great oak-tree. As he did so, he heard a\nsound like knocking inside the tree, and then a voice distinctly\nsaid:\n\n\"Let me out! let me out!\"\n\nOld Pipes instantly forgot that he was tired, and sprang to his feet.\n\"This must be a Dryad-tree!\" he exclaimed. \"If it is, I'll let her\nout.\"\n\nOld Pipes had never, to his knowledge, seen a Dryad-tree, but he knew\nthere were such trees on the hill-sides and the mountains, and that\nDryads lived in them. He knew, too, that in the summer-time, on those\ndays when the moon rose before the sun went down, a Dryad could come\nout of her tree if any one could find the key which locked her in,\nand turn it. Old Pipes closely examined the trunk of the tree, which\nstood in the full moonlight. \"If I see that key,\" he said, \"I shall\nsurely turn it.\" Before long he perceived a piece of bark standing\nout from the tree, which appeared to him very much like the handle of\na key. He took hold of it, and found he could turn it quite around.\nAs he did so, a large part of the side of the tree was pushed open,\nand a beautiful Dryad stepped quickly out.\n\nFor a moment she stood motionless, gazing on the scene before\nher,--the tranquil valley, the hills, the forest, and the\nmountain-side, all lying in the soft clear light of the moon. \"Oh,\nlovely! lovely!\" she exclaimed. \"How long it is since I have seen any\nthing like this!\" And then, turning to Old Pipes, she said: \"How good\nof you to let me out! I am so happy and so thankful, that I must kiss\nyou, you dear old man!\" And she threw her arms around the neck of Old\nPipes, and kissed him on both cheeks. \"You don't know,\" she then went\non to say, \"how doleful it is to be shut up so long in a tree. I\ndon't mind it in the winter, for then I am glad to be sheltered, but\nin summer it is a rueful thing not to be able to see all the beauties\nof the world. And it's ever so long since I've been let out. People\nso seldom come this way; and when they do come at the right time they\neither don't hear me, or they are frightened, and run away. But you,\nyou dear old man, you were not frightened, and you looked and looked\nfor the key, and you let me out, and now I shall not have to go back\ntill winter has come, and the air grows cold. Oh, it is glorious!\nWhat can I do for you, to show you how grateful I am?\"\n\n\"I am very glad,\" said Old Pipes, \"that I let you out, since I see\nthat it makes you so happy; but I must admit that I tried to find the\nkey because I had a great desire to see a Dryad. But if you wish to\ndo something for me, you can, if you happen to be going down toward\nthe village.\"\n\n\"To the village!\" exclaimed the Dryad. \"I will go anywhere for you,\nmy kind old benefactor.\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" said Old Pipes, \"I wish you would take this little bag\nof money to the Chief Villager and tell him that Old Pipes cannot\nreceive pay for the services which he does not perform. It is now\nmore than a year that I have not been able to make the cattle hear\nme, when I piped to call them home. I did not know this until\nto-night; but now that I know it, I cannot keep the money, and so I\nsend it back.\" And, handing the little bag to the Dryad, he bade her\ngood-night, and turned toward his cottage.\n\n\"Good-night,\" said the Dryad. \"And I thank you over, and over, and\nover again, you good old man!\"\n\nOld Pipes walked toward his home, very glad to be saved the fatigue\nof going all the way down to the village and back again. \"To be\nsure,\" he said to himself, \"this path does not seem at all steep, and\nI can walk along it very easily; but it would have tired me\ndreadfully to come up all the way from the village, especially as I\ncould not have expected those children to help me again.\" When he\nreached home, his mother was surprised to see him returning so soon.\n\n\"What!\" she exclaimed; \"have you already come back? What did the\nChief Villager say? Did he take the money?\"\n\nOld Pipes was just about to tell her that he had sent the money to\nthe village by a Dryad, when he suddenly reflected that his mother\nwould be sure to disapprove such a proceeding, and so he merely said\nhe had sent it by a person whom he had met.\n\n\"And how do you know that the person will ever take it to the Chief\nVillager?\" cried his mother. \"You will lose it, and the villagers\nwill never get it. Oh, Pipes! Pipes! when will you be old enough to\nhave ordinary common sense?\"\n\nOld Pipes considered that as he was already seventy years of age he\ncould scarcely expect to grow any wiser, but he made no remark on\nthis subject; and, saying that he doubted not that the money would go\nsafely to its destination, he sat down to his supper. His mother\nscolded him roundly, but he did not mind it; and after supper he went\nout and sat on a rustic chair in front of the cottage to look at the\nmoonlit village, and to wonder whether or not the Chief Villager\nreally received the money. While he was doing these two things, he\nwent fast asleep.\n\nWhen Old Pipes left the Dryad, she did not go down to the village\nwith the little bag of money. She held it in her hand, and thought\nabout what she had heard. \"This is a good and honest old man,\" she\nsaid; \"and it is a shame that he should lose this money. He looked as\nif he needed it, and I don't believe the people in the village will\ntake it from one who has served them so long. Often, when in my tree,\nhave I heard the sweet notes of his pipes. I am going to take the\nmoney back to him.\" She did not start immediately, because there were\nso many beautiful things to look at; but after a while she went up to\nthe cottage, and, finding Old Pipes asleep in his chair, she slipped\nthe little bag into his coat-pocket, and silently sped away.\n\nThe next day, Old Pipes told his mother that he would go up the\nmountain and cut some wood. He had a right to get wood from the\nmountain, but for a long time he had been content to pick up the dead\nbranches which lay about his cottage. To-day, however, he felt so\nstrong and vigorous that he thought he would go and cut some fuel\nthat would be better than this. He worked all the morning, and when\nhe came back he did not feel at all tired, and he had a very good\nappetite for his dinner.\n\nNow, Old Pipes knew a good deal about Dryads, but there was one thing\nwhich, although he had heard, he had forgotten. This was, that a kiss\nfrom a Dryad made a person ten years younger. The people of the\nvillage knew this, and they were very careful not to let any child of\nten years or younger, go into the woods where the Dryads were\nsupposed to be; for, if they should chance to be kissed by one of\nthese tree-nymphs, they would be set back so far that they would\ncease to exist. A story was told in the village that a very bad boy\nof eleven once ran away into the woods, and had an adventure of this\nkind; and when his mother found him he was a little baby of one year\nold. Taking advantage of her opportunity, she brought him up more\ncarefully than she had done before; and he grew to be a very good boy\nindeed.\n\nNow, Old Pipes had been kissed twice by the Dryad, once on each\ncheek, and he therefore felt as vigorous and active as when he was a\nhale man of fifty. His mother noticed how much work he was doing, and\ntold him that he need not try in that way to make up for the loss of\nhis piping wages; for he would only tire himself out, and get sick.\nBut her son answered that he had not felt so well for years, and that\nhe was quite able to work. In the course of the afternoon, Old Pipes,\nfor the first time that day, put his hand in his coat-pocket, and\nthere, to his amazement, he found the little bag of money. \"Well,\nwell!\" he exclaimed, \"I am stupid, indeed! I really thought that I\nhad seen a Dryad; but when I sat down by that big oak-tree I must\nhave gone to sleep and dreamed it all; and then I came home thinking\nI had given the money to a Dryad, when it was in my pocket all the\ntime. But the Chief Villager shall have the money. I shall not take\nit to him to-day, but to-morrow I wish to go to the village to see\nsome of my old friends; and then I shall give up the money.\"\n\nToward the close of the afternoon, Old Pipes, as had been his custom\nfor so many years, took his pipes from the shelf on which they lay,\nand went out to the rock in front of the cottage.\n\n\"What are you going to do?\" cried his mother. \"If you will not\nconsent to be paid, why do you pipe?\"\n\n\"I am going to pipe for my own pleasure,\" said her son. \"I am used to\nit, and I do not wish to give it up. It does not matter now whether\nthe cattle hear me or not, and I am sure that my piping will injure\nno one.\"\n\nWhen the good man began to play upon his favorite instrument he was\nastonished at the sound that came from it. The beautiful notes of the\npipes sounded clear and strong down into the valley, and spread over\nthe hills, and up the sides of the mountain beyond, while, after a\nlittle interval, an echo came back from the rocky hill on the other\nside of the valley.\n\n\"Ha! ha!\" he cried, \"what has happened to my pipes? They must have\nbeen stopped up of late, but now they are as clear and good as ever.\"\n\nAgain the merry notes went sounding far and wide. The cattle on the\nmountain heard them, and those that were old enough remembered how\nthese notes had called them from their pastures every evening, and so\nthey started down the mountain-side, the others following.\n\nThe merry notes were heard in the village below, and the people were\nmuch astonished thereby. \"Why, who can be blowing the pipes of Old\nPipes?\" they said. But, as they were all very busy, no one went up to\nsee. One thing, however, was plain enough: the cattle were coming\ndown the mountain. And so the two boys and the girl did not have to\ngo after them, and had an hour for play, for which they were very\nglad.\n\nThe next morning Old Pipes started down to the village with his\nmoney, and on the way he met the Dryad. \"Oh, ho!\" he cried, \"is that\nyou? Why, I thought my letting you out of the tree was nothing but a\ndream.\"\n\n\"A dream!\" cried the Dryad; \"if you only knew how happy you have made\nme, you would not think it merely a dream. And has it not benefited\nyou? Do you not feel happier? Yesterday I heard you playing\nbeautifully on your pipes.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" cried he. \"I did not understand it before, but I see it\nall now. I have really grown younger. I thank you, I thank you, good\nDryad, from the bottom of my heart. It was the finding of the money\nin my pocket that made me think it was a dream.\"\n\n\"Oh, I put it in when you were asleep,\" she said, laughing, \"because\nI thought you ought to keep it. Good-by, kind, honest man. May you\nlive long, and be as happy as I am now.\"\n\nOld Pipes was greatly delighted when he understood that he was really\na younger man; but that made no difference about the money, and he\nkept on his way to the village. As soon as he reached it, he was\neagerly questioned as to who had been playing his pipes the evening\nbefore, and when the people heard that it was himself, they were very\nmuch surprised. Thereupon, Old Pipes told what had happened to him,\nand then there was greater wonder, with hearty congratulations and\nhand-shakes; for Old Pipes was liked by every one. The Chief Villager\nrefused to take his money, and, although Old Pipes said that he had\nnot earned it, every one present insisted that, as he would now play\non his pipes as before, he should lose nothing, because, for a time,\nhe was unable to perform his duty.\n\nSo Old Pipes was obliged to keep his money, and after an hour or two\nspent in conversation with his friends, he returned to his cottage.\n\nThere was one individual, however, who was not at all pleased with\nwhat had happened to Old Pipes. This was an Echo-dwarf, who lived on\nthe hills on the other side of the valley, and whose duty it was to\necho back the notes of the pipes whenever they could be heard. There\nwere a great many other Echo-dwarfs on these hills, some of whom\nechoed back the songs of maidens, some the shouts of children, and\nothers the music that was often heard in the village. But there was\nonly one who could send back the strong notes of the pipes of Old\nPipes, and this had been his sole duty for many years. But when the\nold man grew feeble, and the notes of his pipes could not be heard on\nthe opposite hills, this Echo-dwarf had nothing to do, and he spent\nhis time in delightful idleness; and he slept so much and grew so fat\nthat it made his companions laugh to see him walk.\n\nOn the afternoon on which, after so long an interval, the sound of\nthe pipes was heard on the echo hills, this dwarf was fast asleep\nbehind a rock. As soon as the first notes reached them, some of his\ncompanions ran to wake him. Rolling to his feet, he echoed back the\nmerry tune of Old Pipes. Naturally, he was very much annoyed and\nindignant at being thus obliged to give up his life of comfortable\nleisure, and he hoped very much that this pipe-playing would not\noccur again. The next afternoon he was awake and listening, and, sure\nenough, at the usual hour, along came the notes of the pipes as clear\nand strong as they ever had been; and he was obliged to work as long\nas Old Pipes played. The Echo-dwarf was very angry. He had supposed,\nof course, that the pipe-playing had ceased forever, and he felt that\nhe had a right to be indignant at being thus deceived. He was so much\ndisturbed that he made up his mind to go and try to find out whether\nthis was to be a temporary matter or not. He had plenty of time, as\nthe pipes were played but once a day, and he set off early in the\nmorning for the hill on which Old Pipes lived. It was hard work for\nthe fat little fellow, and when he had crossed the valley and had\ngone some distance into the woods on the hill-side, he stopped to\nrest, and, in a few minutes, the Dryad came tripping along.\n\n\"Ho, ho!\" exclaimed the dwarf; \"what are you doing here? and how did\nyou get out of your tree?\"\n\n\"Doing!\" cried the Dryad; \"I am being happy; that's what I am doing.\nAnd I was let out of my tree by the good old man who plays the pipes\nto call the cattle down from the mountain. And it makes me happier to\nthink that I have been of service to him. I gave him two kisses of\ngratitude, and now he is young enough to play his pipes as well as\never.\"\n\nThe Echo-dwarf stepped forward, his face pale with passion. \"Am I to\nbelieve,\" he said, \"that you are the cause of this great evil that\nhas come upon me? and that you are the wicked creature who has again\nstarted this old man upon his career of pipe-playing? What have I\never done to you that you should have condemned me for years and\nyears to echo back the notes of those wretched pipes?\"\n\nAt this the Dryad laughed loudly.\n\n\"What a funny little fellow you are!\" she said. \"Any one would think\nyou had been condemned to toil from morning till night; while what\nyou really have to do is merely to imitate for half an hour every day\nthe merry notes of Old Pipes's piping. Fie upon you, Echo-dwarf! You\nare lazy and selfish; and that is what is the matter with you.\nInstead of grumbling at being obliged to do a little wholesome work,\nwhich is less, I am sure, than that of any other echo-dwarf upon the\nrocky hill-side, you should rejoice at the good fortune of the old\nman who has regained so much of his strength and vigor. Go home and\nlearn to be just and generous; and then, perhaps, you may be happy.\nGood-by.\"\n\n\"Insolent creature!\" shouted the dwarf, as he shook his fat little\nfist at her. \"I'll make you suffer for this. You shall find out what\nit is to heap injury and insult upon one like me, and to snatch from\nhim the repose that he has earned by long years of toil.\" And,\nshaking his head savagely, he hurried back to the rocky hill-side.\n\nEvery afternoon the merry notes of the pipes of Old Pipes sounded\ndown into the valley and over the hills and up the mountain-side; and\nevery afternoon when he had echoed them back, the little dwarf grew\nmore and more angry with the Dryad. Each day, from early morning till\nit was time for him to go back to his duties upon the rocky\nhill-side, he searched the woods for her. He intended, if he met her,\nto pretend to be very sorry for what he had said, and he thought he\nmight be able to play a trick upon her which would avenge him well.\nOne day, while thus wandering among the trees, he met Old Pipes. The\nEcho-dwarf did not generally care to see or speak to ordinary people;\nbut now he was so anxious to find the object of his search, that he\nstopped and asked Old Pipes if he had seen the Dryad. The piper had\nnot noticed the little fellow, and he looked down on him with some\nsurprise.\n\n\"No,\" he said; \"I have not seen her, and I have been looking\neverywhere for her.\"\n\n\"You!\" cried the dwarf, \"what do you wish with her?\"\n\nOld Pipes then sat down on a stone, so that he should be nearer the\near of his small companion, and he told what the Dryad had done for\nhim.\n\nWhen the Echo-dwarf heard that this was the man whose pipes he was\nobliged to echo back every day, he would have slain him on the spot\nhad he been able; but, as he was not able, he merely ground his teeth\nand listened to the rest of the story.\n\n\"I am looking for the Dryad now,\" Old Pipes continued, \"on account of\nmy aged mother. When I was old myself, I did not notice how very old\nmy mother was; but now it shocks me to see how feeble and decrepit\nher years have caused her to become; and I am looking for the Dryad\nto ask her to make my mother younger, as she made me.\"\n\nThe eyes of the Echo-dwarf glistened. Here was a man who might help\nhim in his plans.\n\n\"Your idea is a good one,\" he said to Old Pipes, \"and it does you\nhonor. But you should know that a Dryad can make no person younger\nbut one who lets her out of her tree. However, you can manage the\naffair very easily. All you need do is to find the Dryad, tell her\nwhat you want, and request her to step into her tree and be shut up\nfor a short time. Then you will go and bring your mother to the tree;\nshe will open it, and every thing will be as you wish. Is not this a\ngood plan?\"\n\n\"Excellent!\" cried Old Pipes; \"and I will go instantly and search\nmore diligently for the Dryad.\"\n\n\"Take me with you,\" said the Echo-dwarf. \"You can easily carry me on\nyour strong shoulders; and I shall be glad to help you in any way\nthat I can.\"\n\n\"Now, then,\" said the little fellow to himself, as Old Pipes carried\nhim rapidly along, \"if he persuades the Dryad to get into a\ntree,--and she is quite foolish enough to do it,--and then goes away\nto bring his mother, I shall take a stone or a club and I will break\noff the key of that tree, so that nobody can ever turn it again. Then\nMistress Dryad will see what she has brought upon herself by her\nbehavior to me.\"\n\nBefore long they came to the great oak-tree in which the Dryad had\nlived, and, at a distance, they saw that beautiful creature herself\ncoming toward them.\n\n\"How excellently well every thing happens!\" said the dwarf. \"Put me\ndown, and I will go. Your business with the Dryad is more important\nthan mine; and you need not say any thing about my having suggested\nyour plan to you. I am willing that you should have all the credit of\nit yourself.\"\n\nOld Pipes put the Echo-dwarf upon the ground, but the little rogue\ndid not go away. He concealed himself between some low, mossy rocks,\nand he was so much of their color that you would not have noticed him\nif you had been looking straight at him.\n\nWhen the Dryad came up, Old Pipes lost no time in telling her about\nhis mother, and what he wished her to do. At first, the Dryad\nanswered nothing, but stood looking very sadly at Old Pipes.\n\n\"Do you really wish me to go into my tree again?\" she said. \"I should\ndreadfully dislike to do it, for I don't know what might happen. It\nis not at all necessary, for I could make your mother younger at any\ntime if she would give me the opportunity. I had already thought of\nmaking you still happier in this way, and several times I have waited\nabout your cottage, hoping to meet your aged mother, but she never\ncomes outside, and you know a Dryad cannot enter a house. I cannot\nimagine what put this idea into your head. Did you think of it\nyourself?\"\n\n\"No, I cannot say that I did,\" answered Old Pipes. \"A little dwarf\nwhom I met in the woods proposed it to me.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" cried the Dryad; \"now I see through it all. It is the scheme of\nthat vile Echo-dwarf--your enemy and mine. Where is he? I should like\nto see him.\"\n\n\"I think he has gone away,\" said Old Pipes.\n\n\"No he has not,\" said the Dryad, whose quick eyes perceived the\nEcho-dwarf among the rocks. \"There he is. Seize him and drag him out,\nI beg of you.\"\n\nOld Pipes perceived the dwarf as soon as he was pointed out to him,\nand, running to the rocks, he caught the little fellow by the arm and\npulled him out.\n\n\"Now, then,\" cried the Dryad, who had opened the door of the great\noak, \"just stick him in there, and we will shut him up. Then I shall\nbe safe from his mischief for the rest of the time I am free.\"\n\nOld Pipes thrust the Echo-dwarf into the tree; the Dryad pushed the\ndoor shut; there was a clicking sound of bark and wood, and no one\nwould have noticed that the big oak had ever had an opening in it.\n\n\"There,\" said the Dryad; \"now we need not be afraid of him. And I\nassure you, my good piper, that I shall be very glad to make your\nmother younger as soon as I can. Will you not ask her to come out and\nmeet me?\"\n\n\"Of course I will,\" cried Old Pipes; \"and I will do it without\ndelay.\"\n\nAnd then, the Dryad by his side, he hurried to his cottage. But when\nhe mentioned the matter to his mother, the old woman became very\nangry indeed. She did not believe in Dryads; and, if they really did\nexist, she knew they must be witches and sorceresses, and she would\nhave nothing to do with them. If her son had ever allowed himself to\nbe kissed by one of them, he ought to be ashamed of himself. As to\nits doing him the least bit of good, she did not believe a word of\nit. He felt better than he used to feel, but that was very common.\nShe had sometimes felt that way herself, and she forbade him ever to\nmention a Dryad to her again.\n\nThat afternoon, Old Pipes, feeling very sad that his plan in regard\nto his mother had failed, sat down upon the rock and played upon his\npipes. The pleasant sounds went down the valley and up the hills and\nmountain, but, to the great surprise of some persons who happened to\nnotice the fact, the notes were not echoed back from the rocky\nhill-side, but from the woods on the side of the valley on which Old\nPipes lived. The next day many of the villagers stopped in their work\nto listen to the echo of the pipes coming from the woods. The sound\nwas not as clear and strong as it used to be when it was sent back\nfrom the rocky hill-side, but it certainly came from among the trees.\nSuch a thing as an echo changing its place in this way had never been\nheard of before, and nobody was able to explain how it could have\nhappened. Old Pipes, however, knew very well that the sound came from\nthe Echo-dwarf shut up in the great oak-tree. The sides of the tree\nwere thin, and the sound of the pipes could be heard through them,\nand the dwarf was obliged by the laws of his being to echo back those\nnotes whenever they came to him. But Old Pipes thought he might get\nthe Dryad in trouble if he let any one know that the Echo-dwarf was\nshut up in the tree, and so he wisely said nothing about it.\n\nOne day the two boys and the girl who had helped Old Pipes up the\nhill were playing in the woods. Stopping near the great oak-tree,\nthey heard a sound of knocking within it, and then a voice plainly\nsaid:\n\n\"Let me out! let me out!\"\n\nFor a moment the children stood still in astonishment, and then one\nof the boys exclaimed:\n\n\"Oh, it is a Dryad, like the one Old Pipes found! Let's let her out!\"\n\n\"What are you thinking of?\" cried the girl. \"I am the oldest of all,\nand I am only thirteen. Do you wish to be turned into crawling\nbabies? Run! run! run!\"\n\nAnd the two boys and the girl dashed down into the valley as fast as\ntheir legs could carry them. There was no desire in their youthful\nhearts to be made younger than they were. And for fear that their\nparents might think it well that they should commence their careers\nanew, they never said a word about finding the Dryad-tree.\n\nAs the summer days went on, Old Pipes's mother grew feebler and\nfeebler. One day when her son was away, for he now frequently went\ninto the woods to hunt or fish, or down into the valley to work, she\narose from her knitting to prepare the simple dinner. But she felt so\nweak and tired that she was not able to do the work to which she had\nbeen so long accustomed. \"Alas! alas!\" she said, \"the time has come\nwhen I am too old to work. My son will have to hire some one to come\nhere and cook his meals, make his bed, and mend his clothes. Alas!\nalas! I had hoped that as long as I lived I should be able to do\nthese things. But it is not so. I have grown utterly worthless, and\nsome one else must prepare the dinner for my son. I wonder where he\nis.\" And tottering to the door, she went outside to look for him. She\ndid not feel able to stand, and reaching the rustic chair, she sank\ninto it, quite exhausted, and soon fell asleep.\n\nThe Dryad, who had often come to the cottage to see if she could find\nan opportunity of carrying out old Pipes's affectionate design, now\nhappened by; and seeing that the much-desired occasion had come, she\nstepped up quietly behind the old woman and gently kissed her on each\ncheek, and then as quietly disappeared.\n\nIn a few minutes the mother of old Pipes awoke, and looking up at the\nsun, she exclaimed: \"Why, it is almost dinner-time! My son will be\nhere directly, and I am not ready for him.\" And rising to her feet,\nshe hurried into the house, made the fire, set the meat and\nvegetables to cook, laid the cloth, and by the time her son arrived\nthe meal was on the table.\n\n\"How a little sleep does refresh one,\" she said to herself, as she\nwas bustling about. She was a woman of very vigorous constitution,\nand at seventy had been a great deal stronger and more active than\nher son was at that age. The moment Old Pipes saw his mother, he knew\nthat the Dryad had been there; but, while he felt as happy as a king,\nhe was too wise to say any thing about her.\n\n\"It is astonishing how well I feel to-day,\" said his mother; \"and\neither my hearing has improved or you speak much more plainly than\nyou have done of late.\"\n\nThe summer days went on and passed away, the leaves were falling from\nthe trees, and the air was becoming cold.\n\n\"Nature has ceased to be lovely,\" said the Dryad, \"and the\nnight-winds chill me. It is time for me to go back into my\ncomfortable quarters in the great oak. But first I must pay another\nvisit to the cottage of Old Pipes.\"\n\nShe found the piper and his mother sitting side by side on the rock\nin front of the door. The cattle were not to go to the mountain any\nmore that season, and he was piping them down for the last time. Loud\nand merrily sounded the pipes of Old Pipes, and down the\nmountain-side came the cattle, the cows by the easiest paths, the\nsheep by those not quite so easy, and the goats by the most difficult\nones among the rocks; while from the great oak-tree were heard the\nechoes of the cheerful music.\n\n\"How happy they look, sitting there together,\" said the Dryad; \"and I\ndon't believe it will do them a bit of harm to be still younger.\" And\nmoving quietly up behind them, she first kissed Old Pipes on his\ncheek and then his mother.\n\nOld Pipes, who had stopped playing, knew what it was, but he did not\nmove, and said nothing. His mother, thinking that her son had kissed\nher, turned to him with a smile and kissed him in return. And then\nshe arose and went into the cottage, a vigorous woman of sixty,\nfollowed by her son, erect and happy, and twenty years younger than\nherself.\n\nThe Dryad sped away to the woods, shrugging her shoulders as she felt\nthe cool evening wind.\n\nWhen she reached the great oak, she turned the key and opened the\ndoor. \"Come out,\" she said to the Echo-dwarf, who sat blinking\nwithin. \"Winter is coming on, and I want the comfortable shelter of\nmy tree for myself. The cattle have come down from the mountain for\nthe last time this year, the pipes will no longer sound, and you can\ngo to your rocks and have a holiday until next spring.\"\n\nUpon hearing these words the dwarf skipped quickly out, and the Dryad\nentered the tree and pulled the door shut after her. \"Now, then,\" she\nsaid to herself, \"he can break off the key if he likes. It does not\nmatter to me. Another will grow out next spring. And although the\ngood piper made me no promise, I know that when the warm days arrive\nnext year, he will come and let me out again.\"\n\nThe Echo-dwarf did not stop to break the key of the tree. He was too\nhappy to be released to think of any thing else, and he hastened as\nfast as he could to his home on the rocky hill-side.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Dryad was not mistaken when she trusted in the piper. When the\nwarm days came again he went to the oak-tree to let her out. But, to\nhis sorrow and surprise, he found the great tree lying upon the\nground. A winter storm had blown it down, and it lay with its trunk\nshattered and split. And what became of the Dryad, no one ever knew.\n\n\n\n\n\n THE QUEEN'S MUSEUM.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere was once a Queen who founded, in her capital city, a grand\nmuseum. This institution was the pride of her heart, and she devoted\nnearly all her time to overseeing the collection of objects for it,\nand their arrangement in the spacious halls. This museum was intended\nto elevate the intelligence of her people, but the result was quite\ndisappointing to the Queen. For some reason, and what it was she\ncould not imagine, the people were not interested in her museum. She\nconsidered it the most delightful place in the world, and spent hours\nevery day in examining and studying the thousands of objects it\ncontained; but although here and there in the city there was a person\nwho cared to visit the collection, the great body of the people found\nit impossible to feel the slightest interest in it. At first this\ngrieved the Queen, and she tried to make her museum better; but as\nthis did no good, she became very angry, and she issued a decree that\nall persons of mature age who were not interested in her museum\nshould be sent to prison.\n\nThis decree produced a great sensation in the city. The people\ncrowded to the building, and did their very best to be interested;\nbut, in the majority of cases, the attempt was an utter failure. They\ncould not feel any interest whatever. The consequence was that\nhundreds and thousands of the people were sent to prison, and as\nthere was not room enough for them in the ordinary jails, large\ntemporary prisons were erected in various parts of the city. Those\npersons who were actually needed for work or service which no one\nelse could do were allowed to come out in the day-time on parole; but\nat night they had to return to their prisons.\n\nIt was during this deplorable state of affairs that a stranger\nentered the city one day. He was surprised at seeing so many prisons,\nand approaching the window in one of them, behind the bars of which\nhe saw a very respectable-looking citizen, he asked what all this\nmeant. The citizen informed him how matters stood, and then, with\ntears mounting to his eyes, he added:\n\n\"Oh, sir, I have tried my best to be interested in that museum; but\nit is impossible; I cannot make myself care for it in the slightest\ndegree! And, what is more, I know I shall never be able to do so; and\nI shall languish here for the rest of my days.\"\n\nPassing on, the Stranger met a mother coming out of her house. Her\nface was pale, and she was weeping bitterly. Filled with pity, he\nstopped and asked her what was the matter. \"Oh, sir,\" she said, \"for\na week I have been trying, for the sake of my dear children, to take\nan interest in that museum. For a time I thought I might do it, but\nthe hopes proved false. It is impossible. I must leave my little\nones, and go to prison.\"\n\nThe Stranger was deeply affected by these cases and many others of a\nsimilar character, which he soon met with. \"It is too bad! too bad!\"\nhe said to himself. \"I never saw a city in so much trouble. There is\nscarcely a family, I am told, in which there is not some uninterested\nperson--I must see the Queen and talk to her about it,\" and with this\nhe wended his way to the palace.\n\nHe met the Queen just starting out on her morning visit to the\nmuseum. When he made it known that he was a stranger, and desired a\nshort audience, she stopped and spoke to him.\n\n\"Have you visited my museum yet?\" she said. \"There is nothing in the\ncity so well worth your attention as that. You should go there before\nseeing any thing else. You have a high forehead, and an intelligent\nexpression, and I have no doubt that it will interest you greatly. I\nam going there myself, and I shall be glad to see what effect that\nfine collection has upon a stranger.\"\n\nThis did not suit the Stranger at all. From what he had heard he felt\nquite sure that if he went to the museum, he would soon be in jail;\nand so he hurried to propose a plan which had occurred to him while\non his way to the palace.\n\n\"I came to see your Majesty on the subject of the museum,\" he said,\n\"and to crave permission to contribute to the collection some objects\nwhich shall be interesting to every one. I understand that it is\nhighly desirable that every one should be interested.\"\n\n\"Of course it is,\" said the Queen, \"and although I think that there\nis not the slightest reason why every one should not feel the keenest\ninterest in what the museum already contains, I am willing to add to\nit whatever may make it of greater value.\"\n\n\"In that case,\" said the Stranger, \"no time should be lost in\nsecuring what I wish to present.\"\n\n\"Go at once,\" said the Queen. \"But how soon can you return?\"\n\n\"It will take some days, at least,\" said the Stranger.\n\n\"Give me your parole to return in a week,\" said the Queen, \"and start\nimmediately.\"\n\nThe Stranger gave his parole and left the palace. Having filled a\nleathern bag with provisions from a cook's shop, he went out of the\ncity gates. As he walked into the open country, he said to himself:\n\n\"I have certainly undertaken a very difficult enterprise. Where I am\nto find any thing that will interest all the people in that city, I\nam sure I do not know; but my heart is so filled with pity for the\ngreat number of unfortunate persons who are torn from their homes and\nshut up in prison, that I am determined to do something for them, if\nI possibly can. There must be some objects to be found in this vast\ncountry that will interest every one.\"\n\nAbout noon he came to a great mountain-side covered with a forest.\nThinking that he was as likely to find what he sought in one place as\nanother, and preferring the shade to the sun, he entered the forest,\nand walked for some distance along a path which gradually led up the\nmountain. Having crossed a brook with its edges lined with\nwater-cresses, he soon perceived a large cave, at the entrance of\nwhich sat an aged hermit. \"Ah,\" said the Stranger to himself, \"this\nis indeed fortunate! This good and venerable man, who passes his life\namid the secrets of nature, can surely tell me what I wish to know.\"\nSaluting the Hermit, he sat down and told the old man the object of\nhis quest.\n\n\"I am afraid you are looking for what you will not find,\" said the\nHermit. \"Most people are too silly to be truly interested in any\nthing. They herd together like cattle, and do not know what is good\nfor them. There are now on this mountain-side many commodious and\ncomfortable caves, all of which would be tenanted if people only knew\nhow improving and interesting it is to live apart from their\nfellow-men. But, so far as it can be done, I will help you in your\nquest, which I think is a worthy one. I can do nothing for you\nmyself, but I have a pupil who is very much given to wandering about,\nand looking for curious things. He may tell you where you will be\nable to find something that will interest everybody, though I doubt\nit. You may go and see him, if you like, and I will excuse him from\nhis studies for a time, so that he may aid you in your search.\"\n\nThe Hermit then wrote an excuse upon a piece of parchment, and,\ngiving it to the Stranger, he directed him to the cave of his pupil.\n\nThis was situated at some distance, and higher up the mountain, and\nwhen the Stranger reached it, he found the Pupil fast asleep upon the\nground. This individual was a long-legged youth, with long arms, long\nhair, a long nose, and a long face. When the Stranger awakened him,\ntold him why he had come, and gave him the hermit's excuse, the\nsleepy eyes of the Pupil brightened, and his face grew less long.\n\n\"That's delightful!\" he said, \"to be let off on a Monday; for I\ngenerally have to be satisfied with a half-holiday, Wednesdays and\nSaturdays.\"\n\n\"Is the Hermit very strict with you?\" asked the Stranger.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Pupil, \"I have to stick closely to the cave; though I\nhave been known to go fishing on days when there was no holiday. I\nhave never seen the old man but once, and that was when he first took\nme. You know it wouldn't do for us to be too sociable. That wouldn't\nbe hermit-like. He comes up here on the afternoons I am out, and\nwrites down what I am to do for the next half-week.\"\n\n\"And do you always do it?\" asked the Stranger.\n\n\"Oh, I get some of it done,\" said the Pupil; \"but there have been\ntimes when I have wondered whether it wouldn't have been better for\nme to have been something else. But I have chosen my profession, and\nI suppose I must be faithful to it. We will start immediately on our\nsearch; but first I must put the cave in order, for the old man will\nbe sure to come up while I am gone.\"\n\nSo saying, the Pupil opened an old parchment book at a marked page,\nand laid it on a flat stone, which served as a table, and then placed\na skull and a couple of bones in a proper position near by.\n\nThe two now started off, the Pupil first putting a line and hook in\nhis pocket, and pulling out a fishing-rod from under some bushes.\n\n\"What do you want with that?\" asked the Stranger, \"we are not going\nto fish!\"\n\n\"Why not?\" said the Pupil; \"if we come to a good place, we might\ncatch something that would be a real curiosity.\"\n\nBefore long they came to a mountain brook, and here the Pupil\ninsisted on trying his luck. The Stranger was a little tired and\nhungry, and so was quite willing to sit down for a time and eat\nsomething from his bag. The Pupil ran off to find some bait, and he\nstaid away so long that the Stranger had quite finished his meal\nbefore he returned. He came back at last, however, in a state of\ngreat excitement.\n\n\"Come with me! come with me!\" he cried. \"I have found something that\nis truly astonishing! Come quickly!\"\n\nThe Stranger arose and hurried after the Pupil, whose long legs\ncarried him rapidly over the mountain-side. Reaching a large hole at\nthe bottom of a precipitous rock, the Pupil stopped, and exclaiming:\n\"Come in here and I will show you something that will amaze you!\" he\nimmediately entered the hole.\n\nThe Stranger, who was very anxious to see what curiosity he had\nfound, followed him some distance along a narrow and winding\nunder-ground passage. The two suddenly emerged into a high and\nspacious cavern, which was lighted by openings in the roof; on the\nfloor, in various places, were strongly fastened boxes, and packages\nof many sorts, bales and bundles of silks and rich cloths, with\nhandsome caskets, and many other articles of value.\n\n\"What kind of a place is this?\" exclaimed the Stranger, in great\nsurprise.\n\n\"Don't you know?\" cried the Pupil, his eyes fairly sparkling with\ndelight. \"It is a robber's den! Isn't it a great thing to find a\nplace like this?\"\n\n\"A robber's den!\" exclaimed the Stranger in alarm; \"let us get out of\nit as quickly as we can, or the robbers will return, and we shall be\ncut to pieces.\"\n\n\"I don't believe they are coming back very soon,\" said the Pupil,\n\"and we ought to stop and take a look at some of these things.\"\n\n\"Fly, you foolish youth!\" cried the Stranger; \"you do not know what\ndanger you are in.\" And, so saying, he turned to hasten away from the\nplace.\n\nBut he was too late. At that moment the robber captain and his band\nentered the cave. When these men perceived the Stranger and the\nHermit's Pupil, they drew their swords and were about to rush upon\nthem, when the Pupil sprang forward and, throwing up his long arms,\nexclaimed:\n\n\"Stop! it is a mistake!\"\n\nAt these words, the robber captain lowered his sword, and motioned to\nhis men to halt. \"A mistake!\" he said; \"what do you mean by that?\"\n\n\"I mean,\" said the Pupil, \"that I was out looking for curiosities,\nand wandered into this place by accident. We haven't taken a thing.\nYou may count your goods, and you will find nothing missing. We have\nnot even opened a box, although I very much wanted to see what was in\nsome of them.\"\n\n\"Are his statements correct?\" said the Captain, turning to the\nStranger.\n\n\"Entirely so,\" was the answer.\n\n\"You have truthful features, and an honest expression,\" said the\nCaptain, \"and I do not believe you would be so dishonorable as to\ncreep in here during our absence and steal our possessions. Your\nlives shall be spared, but you will be obliged to remain with us; for\nwe cannot allow any one who knows our secret to leave us. You shall\nbe treated well, and shall accompany us in our expeditions; and if\nyour conduct merits it, you shall in time be made full members.\"\n\nBitterly the Stranger now regretted his unfortunate position. He\nstrode up and down one side of the cave, vowing inwardly that never\nagain would he allow himself to be led by a Hermit's Pupil. That\nindividual, however, was in a state of high delight. He ran about\nfrom box to bale, looking at the rare treasures which some of the\nrobbers showed him.\n\nThe two captives were fed and lodged very well; and the next day the\nCaptain called them and the band together, and addressed them.\n\n\"We are now twenty-nine in number,\" he said; \"twenty-seven full\nmembers, and two on probation. To-night we are about to undertake a\nvery important expedition, in which we shall all join. We shall\nfasten up the door of the cave, and at the proper time I shall tell\nyou to what place we are going.\"\n\nAn hour or two before midnight the band set out, accompanied by the\nStranger and the Hermit's Pupil; and when they had gone some miles\nthe Captain halted them to inform them of the object of the\nexpedition. \"We are going,\" he said, \"to rob the Queen's museum. It\nis the most important business we have ever undertaken.\"\n\nAt these words the Stranger stepped forward and made a protest. \"I\nleft the city yesterday,\" he said, \"commissioned by the Queen to\nobtain one or more objects of interest for her museum; and to return\nnow to rob an institution which I have promised to enrich will be\nsimply impossible.\"\n\n\"You are right,\" said the Captain, after a moment's reflection, \"such\nan action would be highly dishonorable on your part. If you will give\nme your word of honor that you will remain by this stone until our\nreturn, the expedition will proceed without you.\"\n\nThe Stranger gave his word, and having been left sitting upon the\nstone, soon dropped asleep, and so remained until he was awakened by\nthe return of the band, a little before daylight. They came slowly\ntoiling along, each man carrying an enormous bundle upon his back.\nNear the end of the line was the Hermit's Pupil, bearing a load as\nheavy as any of the others. The Stranger offered to relieve him for a\ntime of his burden, but the Pupil would not allow it.\n\n\"I don't wish these men to think I can't do as much as they can,\" he\nsaid. \"You ought to have been along. We had a fine time! We swept\nthat museum clean, I tell you! We didn't leave a thing on a shelf or\nin a case.\"\n\n\"What sort of things are they,\" asked the Stranger.\n\n\"I don't know,\" replied the Pupil, \"we didn't have any light for fear\npeople would notice it, but the moon shone in bright enough for us to\nsee all the shelves and the cases; and our orders were not to try and\nexamine any thing, but to take all that was there. The cases had\ngreat cloth covers on them, and we spread these on the floor and made\nbundles of the curiosities. We are going to examine them carefully as\nsoon as we get to the den.\"\n\nIt was broad daylight when the robbers reached their cave. The\nbundles were laid in a great circle on the floor, and, at a given\nsignal, they were opened. For a moment each robber gazed blankly at\nthe contents of his bundle, and then they all began to fumble and\nsearch among the piles of articles upon the cloths; but after a few\nminutes, they arose, looking blanker and more disappointed than\nbefore.\n\n\"So far as I can see,\" said the Captain, \"there is nothing in the\nwhole collection that I care for. I do not like a thing here!\"\n\n\"Nor I!\" \"Nor I!\" \"Nor I!\" cried each one of his band.\n\n\"I suppose,\" said the Captain, after musing for a moment, \"that as\nthese things are of no use to us, we are bound in honor to take them\nback.\"\n\n\"Hold!\" said the Stranger, stepping forward; \"do not be in too great\na hurry to do that.\" He then told the Captain of the state of affairs\nin the city, and explained in full the nature of the expedition he\nhad undertaken for the Queen. \"I think it would be better,\" he said,\n\"if these things were not taken back for the present. If you have a\nsafe place where you can put them, I will in due time tell the Queen\nwhere they are, and if she chooses she can send for them.\"\n\n\"Good!\" said the Captain, \"it is but right that she should bear part\nof the labor of transportation. There is a disused cave, a mile or so\naway, and we will tie up these bundles and carry them there; and then\nwe shall leave the matter to you. We take no further interest in it.\nAnd if you have given your parole to the Queen to return in a week,\"\nthe Captain further continued, \"of course you'll have to keep it. Did\nyou give your parole also?\" he asked, turning to the Pupil.\n\n\"Oh, no!\" cried that youth; \"there was no time fixed for my return.\nAnd I am sure that I like a robber's life much better than that of a\nhermit. There is ever so much more spice and dash in it.\"\n\n\"The Stranger was then told that if he would promise not to betray\nthe robbers he might depart. He gave the promise; but added sadly\nthat he had lost so much time that he was afraid he would not now be\nable to attain the object of his search and return within the week.\n\n\"If that is the case,\" said the Captain, \"we will gladly assist you.\"\n\"Comrades!\" he cried, addressing his band, \"after stowing this\nuseless booty in the disused cave, and taking some rest and\nrefreshment, we will set out again, and the object of our expedition\nshall be to obtain something for the Queen's museum which will\ninterest every one.\"\n\nShortly after midnight the robbers set out, accompanied by the\nStranger and the Pupil. When they had walked about an hour, the\nCaptain, as was his custom, brought them to a halt that he might tell\nthem where they were going. \"I have concluded,\" said he, \"that no\nplace is so likely to contain what we are looking for as the castle\nof the great magician, Alfrarmedj. We will, therefore, proceed\nthither, and sack the castle.\"\n\n\"Will there not be great danger in attacking the castle of a\nmagician?\" asked the Stranger in somewhat anxious tones.\n\n\"Of course there will be,\" said the Captain, \"but we are not such\ncowards as to hesitate on account of danger. Forward, my men!\" And on\nthey all marched.\n\nWhen they reached the magician's castle, the order was given to scale\nthe outer wall. This the robbers did with great agility, and the\nHermit's Pupil was among the first to surmount it. But the Stranger\nwas not used to climbing, and he had to be assisted over the wall.\nInside the great court-yard they perceived numbers of Weirds--strange\nshadowy creatures who gathered silently around them; but not in the\nleast appalled, the robbers formed into a body, and marched into the\ncastle, the door of which stood open. They now entered a great hall,\nhaving at one end a doorway before which hung a curtain. Following\ntheir Captain, the robbers approached this curtain, and pushing it\naside, entered the room beyond. There, behind a large table, sat the\ngreat magician, Alfrarmedj, busy over his mystic studies, which he\ngenerally pursued in the dead hours of the night. Drawing their\nswords, the robbers rushed upon him.\n\n\"Surrender!\" cried the Captain, \"and deliver to us the treasures of\nyour castle.\"\n\nThe old magician raised his head from his book, and, pushing up his\nspectacles from his forehead, looked at them mildly, and said:\n\n\"Freeze!\"\n\nInstantly, they all froze as hard as ice, each man remaining in the\nposition in which he was when the magical word was uttered. With\nuplifted swords and glaring eyes they stood, rigid and stiff, before\nthe magician. After calmly surveying the group, the old man said:\n\n\"I see among you one who has an intelligent brow and truthful\nexpression. His head may thaw sufficiently for him to tell me what\nmeans this untimely intrusion upon my studies.\"\n\nThe Stranger now felt his head begin to thaw, and in a few moments he\nwas able to speak. He then told the magician about the Queen's\nmuseum, and how it had happened that he had come there with the\nrobbers.\n\n\"Your motive is a good one,\" said the magician, \"though your actions\nare somewhat erratic; and I do not mind helping you to find what you\nwish. In what class of objects do the people of the city take the\nmost interest?\"\n\n\"Truly I do not know,\" said the Stranger.\n\n\"This is indeed surprising!\" exclaimed Alfrarmedj. \"How can you\nexpect to obtain that which will interest every one, when you do not\nknow what it is in which every one takes an interest? Go, find out\nthis, and then return to me, and I will see what can be done.\"\n\nThe magician then summoned his Weirds and ordered them to carry the\nfrozen visitors outside the castle walls. Each one of the rigid\nfigures was taken up by two Weirds, who carried him out and stood him\nup in the road outside the castle. When all had been properly set up,\nwith the captain at their head, the gates were shut, and the magician\nstill sitting at his table, uttered the word, \"Thaw!\"\n\nInstantly, the whole band thawed and marched away. At daybreak they\nhalted, and considered how they should find out what all the people\nin the city took an interest in.\n\n\"One thing is certain,\" cried the Hermit's Pupil, \"whatever it is, it\nisn't the same thing.\"\n\n\"Your remark is not well put together,\" said the Stranger, \"but I see\nthe force of it. It is true that different people like different\nthings. But how shall we find out what the different people like?\"\n\n\"By asking them,\" said the Pupil.\n\n\"Good!\" cried the Captain, who preferred action to words. \"This night\nwe will ask them.\" He then drew upon the sand a plan of the\ncity,--(with which he was quite familiar, having carefully robbed it\nfor many years,)--and divided it into twenty-eight sections, each one\nof which was assigned to a man. \"I omit you,\" the Captain said to the\nStranger, \"because I find that you are not expert at climbing.\" He\nthen announced that at night the band would visit the city, and that\neach man should enter the houses in his district, and ask the people\nwhat it was in which they took the greatest interest.\n\nThey then proceeded to the cave for rest and refreshment; and a\nlittle before midnight they entered the city, and each member of the\nband, including the Hermit's Pupil, proceeded to attend to the\nbusiness assigned to him. It was ordered that no one should disturb\nthe Queen, for they knew that what she took most interest in was the\nmuseum. During the night nearly every person in the town was aroused\nby a black-bearded robber, who had climbed into one of the windows of\nthe house, and who, instead of demanding money and jewels, simply\nasked what it was in which that person took the greatest interest.\nUpon receiving an answer, the robber repeated it until he had learned\nit by heart, and then went to the next house. As so many of the\ncitizens were confined in prisons, which the robbers easily entered,\nthey transacted the business in much less time than they would\notherwise have required.\n\nThe Hermit's Pupil was very active, climbing into and out of houses\nwith great agility. He obtained his answers quite as easily as did\nthe others, but whenever he left a house there was a shade of\ndisappointment upon his features. Among the last places that he\nvisited was a room in which two boys were sleeping. He awoke them and\nasked the usual question. While they were trembling in their bed, not\nknowing what to answer, the Pupil drew his sword and exclaimed:\n\"Come, now, no prevarication; you know it's fishing-tackle. Speak\nout!\" Each of the boys then promptly declared it was fishing-tackle,\nand the pupil left, greatly gratified. \"I was very much afraid,\" he\nsaid to himself, \"that not a person in my district would say\nfishing-tackle; and I am glad to think that there were two boys who\nhad sense enough to like something that is really interesting.\"\n\nIt was nearly daylight when the work was finished; and then the band\ngathered together in an appointed place on the outside of the city,\nwhere the Stranger awaited them. Each of the men had an excellent\nmemory, which was necessary in their profession, and they repeated to\nthe Stranger all the objects and subjects that had been mentioned to\nthem, and he wrote them down upon tablets.\n\nThe next night, accompanied by the band, he proceeded to the castle\nof the magician, the great gate of which was silently opened for them\nby the Weirds. When they were ushered into the magician's room,\nAlfrarmedj took the tablets from the Stranger and examined them\ncarefully.\n\n\"All these things should make a very complete collection,\" he said,\n\"and I think I have specimens of the various objects in my\ninterminable vaults.\" He then called his Weirds and, giving one of\nthem the tablets, told him to go with his companions into the vaults\nand gather enough of the things therein mentioned to fill a large\nmuseum. In half an hour the Weirds returned and announced that the\narticles were ready in the great court-yard.\n\n\"Go, then,\" said the magician, \"and assist these men to carry them to\nthe Queen's museum.\"\n\nThe Stranger then heartily thanked Alfrarmedj for the assistance he\nhad given; and the band, accompanied by a number of Weirds, proceeded\nto carry the objects of interest to the Queen's museum. It was a\nstrange procession. Half a dozen Weirds carried a stuffed mammoth,\nfollowed by others bearing the skeleton of a whale, while the robbers\nand the rest of their queer helpers were loaded with every thing\nrelating to history, science, and art which ought to be in a really\ngood museum. When the whole collection had been put in place upon the\nfloors, the shelves, and in the cases, it was nearly morning. The\nrobbers, with the Hermit's Pupil, retired to the cave; the Weirds\ndisappeared; while the Stranger betook himself to the Queen's palace,\nwhere, as soon as the proper hour arrived, he requested an audience.\n\nWhen he saw the Queen, he perceived that she was very pale and that\nher cheeks bore traces of recent tears. \"You are back in good time,\"\nshe said to him, \"but it makes very little difference whether you\nhave succeeded in your mission or not. There is no longer any museum.\nThere has been a great robbery, and the thieves have carried off the\nwhole of the vast and valuable collection which I have been so long\nin making.\"\n\n\"I know of that affair,\" said the Stranger, \"and I have already\nplaced in your museum-building the collection which I have obtained.\nIf your Majesty pleases, I shall be glad to have you look at it. It\nmay, in some degree, compensate for that which has been stolen.\"\n\n\"Compensate!\" cried the Queen. \"Nothing can compensate for it; I do\nnot even wish to see what you have brought.\"\n\n\"Be that as your Majesty pleases,\" said the Stranger; \"but I will be\nso bold as to say that I have great hopes that the collection which I\nhave obtained will interest the people. Will your Majesty graciously\nallow them to see it?\"\n\n\"I have no objection to that,\" said the Queen; \"and indeed I shall be\nvery glad if they can be made to be interested in the museum. I will\ngive orders that the prisons be opened, so that everybody can go to\nsee what you have brought; and those who shall be interested in it\nmay return to their homes. I did not release my obstinate subjects\nwhen the museum was robbed, because their fault then was just as\ngreat as it was before; and it would not be right that they should\nprofit by my loss.\"\n\nThe Queen's proclamation was made, and for several days the museum\nwas crowded with people moving from morning till night through the\nvast collection of stuffed animals, birds, and fishes; rare and\nbrilliant insects; mineral and vegetable curiosities; beautiful works\nof art; and all the strange, valuable, and instructive objects which\nhad been brought from the interminable vaults of the magician\nAlfrarmedj. The Queen's officers, who had been sent to observe\nwhether or not the people were interested, were in no doubt upon this\npoint. Every eye sparkled with delight, for every one found something\nwhich was the very thing he wished to see; and in the throng was the\nHermit's Pupil, standing in rapt ecstasy before a large case\ncontaining all sorts of fishing-tackle, from the smallest hooks for\nlittle minnows to the great irons and spears used in capturing\nwhales.\n\nNo one went back to prison, and the city was full of re-united\nhouseholds and happy homes. On the morning of the fourth day, a grand\nprocession of citizens came to the palace to express to the Queen\ntheir delight and appreciation of her museum. The great happiness of\nher subjects could but please the Queen. She called the Stranger to\nher, and said to him:\n\n\"Tell me how you came to know what it was that would interest my\npeople.\"\n\n\"I asked them,\" said the Stranger. \"That is to say, I arranged that\nthey should be asked.\"\n\n\"That was well done,\" said the Queen; \"but it is a great pity that my\nlong labors in their behalf should have been lost. For many years I\nhave been a collector of button-holes; and there was nothing valuable\nor rare in the line of my studies of which I had not an original\nspecimen or a facsimile. My agents brought me from foreign lands,\neven from the most distant islands of the sea, button-holes of every\nkind; in silk, in wool, in cloth of gold, in every imaginable\nmaterial, and of those which could not be obtained careful copies\nwere made. There was not a duplicate specimen in the whole\ncollection; only one of each kind; nothing repeated. Never before was\nthere such a museum. With all my power I strove to educate my people\nup to an appreciation of button-holes; but, with the exception of a\nfew tailors and seamstresses, nobody took the slightest interest in\nwhat I had provided for their benefit. I am glad that my people are\nhappy, but I cannot restrain a sigh for the failure of my efforts.\"\n\n\"The longer your Majesty lives,\" said the Stranger, \"the better you\nwill understand that we cannot make other people like a thing simply\nbecause we like it ourselves.\"\n\n\"Stranger,\" said the Queen, gazing upon him with admiration, \"are you\na king in disguise?\"\n\n\"I am,\" he replied.\n\n\"I thought I perceived it,\" said the Queen, \"and I wish to add that I\nbelieve you are far better able to govern this kingdom than I am. If\nyou choose I will resign it to you.\"\n\n\"Not so, your majesty,\" said the other; \"I would not deprive you of\nyour royal position, but I should be happy to share it with you.\"\n\n\"That will answer very well,\" said the Queen. And turning to an\nattendant, she gave orders that preparations should be made for their\nmarriage on the following day.\n\nAfter the royal wedding, which was celebrated with great pomp and\ngrandeur, the Queen paid a visit to the museum, and, much to her\nsurprise, was greatly delighted and interested. The King then\ninformed her that he happened to know where the robbers had stored\nher collection, which they could not sell or make use of, and if she\nwished, he would regain the collection and erect a building for its\nreception.\n\n\"We will not do that at present,\" said the Queen. \"When I shall have\nthoroughly examined and studied all these objects, most of which are\nentirely new to me, we will decide about the button-holes.\"\n\nThe Hermit's Pupil did not return to his cave. He was greatly\ndelighted with the spice and dash of a robber's life, so different\nfrom that of a hermit; and he determined, if possible, to change his\nbusiness and enter the band. He had a conversation with the Captain\non the subject, and that individual encouraged him in his purpose.\n\n\"I am tired,\" the Captain said, \"of a robber's life. I have stolen so\nmuch, that I cannot use what I have. I take no further interest in\naccumulating spoils. The quiet of a hermit's life attracts me; and,\nif you like we will change places. I will become the pupil of your\nold master, and you shall be the captain of my band.\"\n\nThe change was made. The Captain retired to the cave of the Hermit's\nPupil, while the latter, with the hearty consent of all the men, took\ncommand of the band of robbers.\n\nWhen the King heard of this change, he was not at all pleased, and he\nsent for the ex-pupil.\n\n\"I am willing to reward you,\" he said, \"for assisting me in my recent\nundertaking; but I cannot allow you to lead a band of robbers in my\ndominions.\"\n\nA dark shade of disappointment passed over the ex-pupil's features,\nand his face lengthened visibly.\n\n\"It is too bad,\" he said, \"to be thus cut short at the very outset of\na brilliant career. I'll tell you what I'll do,\" he added suddenly,\nhis face brightening, \"if you'll let me keep on in my new profession,\nI'll promise to do nothing but rob robbers.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the King, \"if you will confine yourself to that,\nyou may retain your position.\"\n\nThe members of the band were perfectly willing to rob in the new way,\nfor it seemed quite novel and exciting to them. The first place they\nrobbed was their own cave, and as they all had excellent memories,\nthey knew from whom the various goods had been stolen, and every\nthing was returned to its proper owner. The ex-pupil then led his\nband against the other dens of robbers in the kingdom, and his\nmovements were conducted with such dash and vigor that the various\nhordes scattered in every direction, while the treasures in their\ndens were returned to the owners, or, if these could not be found,\nwere given to the poor. In a short time every robber, except those\nled by the ex-pupil, had gone into some other business; and the\nvictorious youth led his band into other kingdoms to continue the\ngreat work of robbing robbers.\n\nThe Queen never sent for the collection of curiosities which the\nrobbers had stolen from her. She was so much interested in the new\nmuseum that she continually postponed the re-establishment of her old\none; and, as far as can be known, the button-holes are still in the\ncave where the robbers shut them up.\n\n\n\n\n\n CHRISTMAS BEFORE LAST;\n\nOR, THE FRUIT OF THE FRAGILE PALM.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe \"Horn o' Plenty\" was a fine, big, old-fashioned ship, very high\nin the bow, very high in the stern, with a quarter-deck always\ncarpeted in fine weather, because her captain could not see why one\nshould not make himself comfortable at sea as well as on land.\nCovajos Maroots was her captain, and a fine, jolly, old-fashioned,\nelderly sailor he was. The \"Horn o' Plenty\" always sailed upon one\nsea, and always between two ports, one on the west side of the sea,\nand one on the east. The port on the west was quite a large city, in\nwhich Captain Covajos had a married son, and the port on the east was\nanother city in which he had a married daughter. In each family he\nhad several grandchildren; and, consequently, it was a great joy to\nthe jolly old sailor to arrive at either port. The Captain was very\nparticular about his cargo, and the \"Horn o' Plenty\" was generally\nladen with good things to eat, or sweet things to smell, or fine\nthings to wear, or beautiful things to look at. Once a merchant\nbrought to him some boxes of bitter aloes, and mustard plasters, but\nCaptain Covajos refused to take them into his ship.\n\n\"I know,\" said he, \"that such things are very useful and necessary at\ntimes, but you would better send them over in some other vessel. The\n'Horn o' Plenty' has never carried any thing that to look at, to\ntaste, or to smell, did not delight the souls of old and young. I am\nsure you cannot say that of these commodities. If I were to put such\nthings on board my ship, it would break the spell which more than\nfifty savory voyages have thrown around it.\"\n\nThere were sailors who sailed upon that sea who used to say that\nsometimes, when the weather was hazy and they could not see far, they\nwould know they were about to meet the \"Horn o' Plenty\" before she\ncame in sight; her planks and timbers, and even her sails and masts,\nhad gradually become so filled with the odor of good things that the\nwinds that blew over her were filled with an agreeable fragrance.\n\nThere was another thing about which Captain Covajos was very\nparticular; he always liked to arrive at one of his ports a few days\nbefore Christmas. Never, in the course of his long life, had the old\nsailor spent a Christmas at sea; and now that he had his fine\ngrandchildren to help make the holidays merry, it would have grieved\nhim very much if he had been unable to reach one or the other of his\nports in good season. His jolly old vessel was generally heavily\nladen, and very slow, and there were many days of calms on that sea\nwhen she did not sail at all, so that her voyages were usually very,\nvery long. But the Captain fixed the days of sailing so as to give\nhimself plenty of time to get to the other end of his course before\nChristmas came around.\n\nOne spring, however, he started too late, and when he was about the\nmiddle of his voyage, he called to him Baragat Bean, his old\nboatswain. This venerable sailor had been with the Captain ever since\nhe had commanded the \"Horn o' Plenty,\" and on important occasions he\nwas always consulted in preference to the other officers, none of\nwhom had served under Captain Covajos more then fifteen or twenty\nyears.\n\n\"Baragat,\" said the Captain, \"we have just passed the Isle of\nGuinea-Hens. You can see its one mountain standing up against the sky\nto the north.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, sir,\" said old Baragat; \"there she stands, the same as\nusual.\"\n\n\"That makes it plain,\" said the Captain, \"that we are not yet\nhalf-way across, and I am very much afraid that I shall not be able\nto reach my dear daughter's house before Christmas.\"\n\n\"That would be doleful, indeed,\" said Baragat; \"but I've feared\nsomething of the kind, for we've had calms nearly every other day,\nand sometimes, when the wind did blow, it came from the wrong\ndirection, and it's my belief that the ship sailed backward.\"\n\n\"That was very bad management,\" said the Captain. \"The chief mate\nshould have seen to it that the sails were turned in such a manner\nthat the ship could not go backward. If that sort of thing happened\noften, it would become quite a serious affair.\"\n\n\"But what is done can't be helped,\" said the boatswain, \"and I don't\nsee how you are going to get into port before Christmas.\"\n\n\"Nor do I,\" said the Captain, gazing out over the sea.\n\n\"It would give me a sad turn, sir,\" said Baragat, \"to see you spend\nChristmas at sea; a thing you never did before, nor ever shall do, if\nI can help it. If you'll take my advice, sir, you'll turn around, and\ngo back. It's a shorter distance to the port we started from than to\nthe one we are going to, and if we turn back now, I am sure we all\nshall be on shore before the holidays.\"\n\n\"Go back to my son's house!\" exclaimed Captain Covajos, \"where I was\nlast winter! Why, that would be like spending last Christmas over\nagain!\"\n\n\"But that would be better than having none at all, sir,\" said the\nboatswain, \"and a Christmas at sea would be about equal to none.\"\n\n\"Good!\" exclaimed the Captain. \"I will give up the coming Christmas\nwith my daughter and her children, and go back and spend last\nChristmas over again with my son and his dear boys and girls. Have\nthe ship turned around immediately, Baragat, and tell the chief mate\nI do not wish to sail backward if it can possibly be avoided.\"\n\nFor a week or more the \"Horn o' Plenty\" sailed back upon her track\ntowards the city where dwelt the Captain's son. The weather was fine,\nthe carpet was never taken up from the quarter-deck, and every thing\nwas going on very well, when a man, who happened to have an errand at\none of the topmasts, came down, and reported that, far away to the\nnorth, he had seen a little open boat with some people in it.\n\n\"Ah me!\" said Captain Covajos, \"it must be some poor fellows who are\nshipwrecked. It will take us out of our course, but we must not leave\nthem to their fate. Have the ship turned about, so that it will sail\nnorthward.\"\n\nIt was not very long before they came up with the boat; and, much to\nthe Captain's surprise, he saw that it was filled with boys.\n\n\"Who are you?\" he cried as soon as he was near enough. \"And where do\nyou come from?\"\n\n\"We are the First Class in Long Division,\" said the oldest boy, \"and\nwe are cast away. Have you any thing to eat that you can spare us? We\nare almost famished.\"\n\n\"We have plenty of every thing,\" said the Captain. \"Come on board\ninstantly, and all your wants shall be supplied.\"\n\n\"How long have you been without food?\" he asked, when the boys were\non the deck of the vessel.\n\n\"We have had nothing to eat since breakfast,\" said one of them; \"and\nit is now late in the afternoon. Some of us are nearly dead from\nstarvation.\"\n\n\"It is very hard for boys to go so long without eating,\" said the\ngood Captain. And leading them below, he soon set them to work upon a\nbountiful meal.\n\nNot until their hunger was fully satisfied did he ask them how they\ncame to be cast away.\n\n\"You see, sir,\" said the oldest boy, \"that we and the Multiplication\nClass had a holiday to-day, and each class took a boat and determined\nto have a race, so as to settle, once for all, which was the highest\nbranch of arithmetic, multiplication or long division. Our class\nrowed so hard that we entirely lost sight of the Multiplicationers,\nand found indeed that we were out of sight of every thing; so that,\nat last, we did not know which was the way back, and thus we became\ncastaways.\"\n\n\"Where is your school?\" asked the Captain.\n\n\"It is on Apple Island,\" said the boy; \"and, although it is a long\nway off for a small boat with only four oars for nine boys, it can't\nbe very far for a ship.\"\n\n\"That is quite likely,\" said the Captain, \"and we shall take you\nhome. Baragat, tell the chief mate to have the vessel turned toward\nApple Island, that we may restore these boys to their parents and\nguardians.\"\n\nNow, the chief mate had not the least idea in the world where Apple\nIsland was, but he did not like to ask, because that would be\nconfessing his ignorance; so he steered his vessel toward a point\nwhere he believed he had once seen an island, which, probably, was\nthe one in question. The \"Horn o' Plenty\" sailed in this direction\nall night, and when day broke, and there was no island in sight, she\ntook another course; and so sailed this way and that for six or seven\ndays, without ever seeing a sign of land. All this time, the First\nClass in Long Division was as happy as it could be, for it was having\na perfect holiday; fishing off the sides of the vessel, climbing up\nthe ladders and ropes, and helping the sailors whistle for wind. But\nthe Captain now began to grow a little impatient, for he felt he was\nlosing time; so he sent for the chief mate, and said to him mildly\nbut firmly:\n\n\"I know it is out of the line of your duty to search for island\nschools, but, if you really think that you do not know where Apple\nIsland lies, I wish you to say so, frankly and openly.\"\n\n\"Frankly and openly,\" answered the mate, \"I don't think I do.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the Captain. \"Now, that is a basis to work upon,\nand we know where we stand. You can take a little rest, and let the\nsecond mate find the island. But I can only give him three days in\nwhich to do it. We really have no time to spare.\"\n\nThe second mate was very proud of the responsibility placed upon him,\nand immediately ordered the vessel to be steered due south.\n\n\"One is just as likely,\" he said, \"to find a totally unknown place by\ngoing straight ahead in a certain direction, as by sailing here,\nthere, and everywhere. In this way, you really get over more water,\nand there is less wear and tear of the ship and rigging.\"\n\nSo he sailed due south for two days, and at the end of that time they\ncame in sight of land. This was quite a large island, and when they\napproached near enough, they saw upon its shores a very handsome\ncity.\n\n\"Is this Apple Island?\" said Captain Covajos to the oldest boy.\n\n\"Well, sir,\" answered the youth, \"I am not sure I can say with\ncertainty that I truly believe that it is; but, I think, if we were\nto go on shore, the people there would be able to tell us how to go\nto Apple Island.\"\n\n\"Very likely,\" said the good Captain; \"and we will go on shore and\nmake inquiries.--And it has struck me, Baragat,\" he said, \"that\nperhaps the merchants in the city where my son lives may be somewhat\nannoyed when the 'Horn o' Plenty' comes back with all their goods on\nboard, and not disposed of. Not understanding my motives, they may be\ndisposed to think ill of me. Consequently the idea has come into my\nhead, that it might be a good thing to stop here for a time, and try\nto dispose of some of our merchandise. The city seems to be quite\nprosperous, and I have no doubt there are a number of merchants\nhere.\"\n\nSo the \"Horn o' Plenty\" was soon anchored in the harbor, and as many\nof the officers and crew as could be spared went on shore to make\ninquiries. Of course the First Class in Long Division was not left\nbehind; and, indeed, they were ashore as soon as anybody. The Captain\nand his companions were cordially welcomed by some of the dignitaries\nof the city who had come down to the harbor to see the strange\nvessel; but no one could give any information in regard to Apple\nIsland, the name of which had never been heard on those shores. The\nCaptain was naturally desirous of knowing at what place he had\nlanded, and was informed that this was the Island of the Fragile\nPalm.\n\n\"That is rather an odd name,\" said the old Captain. \"Why is it so\ncalled?\"\n\n\"The reason is this,\" said his informant. \"Near the centre of the\nisland stands a tall and very slender palm-tree, which has been\ngrowing there for hundreds of years. It bears large and handsome\nfruit which is something like the cocoanut; and, in its perfection,\nis said to be a transcendently delicious fruit.\"\n\n\"Said to be!\" exclaimed the Captain; \"are you not positive about it?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the other; \"no one living has ever tasted the fruit in its\nperfection. When it becomes overripe, it drops to the ground, and,\neven then, it is considered royal property, and is taken to the\npalace for the King's table. But on f\u0102\u0218te-days and grand occasions\nsmall bits of it are distributed to the populace.\"\n\n\"Why don't you pick the fruit,\" asked Captain Covajos, \"when it is in\nits best condition to eat?\"\n\n\"It would be impossible,\" said the citizen, \"for any one to climb up\nthat tree, the trunk of which is so extremely delicate and fragile\nthat the weight of a man would probably snap it; and, of course, a\nladder placed against it would produce the same result. Many attempts\nhave been made to secure this fruit at the proper season, but all of\nthem have failed. Another palm-tree of a more robust sort was once\nplanted near this one in the hope that when it grew high enough, men\ncould climb up the stronger tree and get the fruit from the other.\nBut, although we waited many years the second tree never attained\nsufficient height, and it was cut down.\"\n\n\"It is a great pity,\" said the Captain; \"but I suppose it cannot be\nhelped.\" And then he began to make inquiries about the merchants in\nthe place, and what probability there was of his doing a little trade\nhere. The Captain soon discovered that the cargo of his ship was made\nup of goods which were greatly desired by the citizens of this place;\nand for several days he was very busy in selling the good things to\neat, the sweet things to smell, the fine things to wear, and the\nbeautiful things to look at, with which the hold of the \"Horn o'\nPlenty\" was crowded.\n\nDuring this time the First Class in Long Division roamed, in delight,\nover the city. The busy streets, the shops, the handsome buildings,\nand the queer sights which they occasionally met, interested and\namused them greatly. But still the boys were not satisfied. They had\nheard of the Fragile Palm, and they made up their minds to go and\nhave a look at it. Therefore, taking a guide, they tramped out into\nthe country, and in about an hour they came in sight of the beautiful\ntree standing in the centre of the plain. The trunk was, indeed,\nexceedingly slender, and, as the guide informed them, the wood was of\nso very brittle a nature that if the tree had not been protected from\nthe winds by the high hills which encircled it, it would have been\nsnapped off ages ago. Under the broad tuft of leaves that formed its\ntop, the boys saw hanging large clusters of the precious fruit; great\nnuts as big as their heads.\n\n\"At what time of the year,\" asked the oldest boy, \"is that fruit just\nripe enough to eat?\"\n\n\"Now,\" answered the guide. \"This is the season when it is in the most\nperfect condition. In about a month it will become entirely too ripe\nand soft, and will drop. But, even then, the King and all the rest of\nus are glad enough to get a taste of it.\"\n\n\"I should think the King would be exceedingly eager to get some of\nit, just as it is,\" said the boy.\n\n\"Indeed he is!\" replied the guide. \"He and his father, and I don't\nknow how many grandfathers back, have offered large rewards to any\none who would procure them this fruit in its best condition. But\nnobody has ever been able to get any yet.\"\n\n\"The reward still holds good, I suppose,\" said the head boy.\n\n\"Oh, yes,\" answered the guide; \"there never was a King who so much\ndesired to taste the fruit as our present monarch.\"\n\nThe oldest boy looked up at the top of the tree, shut one eye, and\ngave his head a little wag. Whereupon every boy in the class looked\nup, shut one eye, and slightly wagged his head. After which the\noldest boy said that he thought it was about time for them to go back\nto the ship.\n\nAs soon as they reached the vessel, and could talk together freely,\nthe boys had an animated discussion. It was unanimously agreed that\nthey would make an attempt to get some of the precious fruit from the\nFragile Palm, and the only difference of opinion among them was as to\nhow it should be done. Most of them were in favor of some method of\nclimbing the tree and trusting to its not breaking. But this the\noldest boy would not listen to; the trunk might snap, and then\nsomebody would be hurt, and he felt, in a measure, responsible for\nthe rest of the class. At length a good plan was proposed by a boy\nwho had studied mechanics.\n\n\"What we ought to do with that tree,\" said he, \"is to put a hinge\ninto her. Then we could let her down gently, pick off the fruit, and\nset her up again.\n\n\"But how are you going to do it?\" asked the others.\n\n\"This is the way,\" said the boy who had studied mechanics. \"You take\na saw, and then, about two feet from the ground, you begin and saw\ndown diagonally, for a foot and a half, to the centre of the trunk.\nThen you go on the other side, and saw down in the same way, the two\nouts meeting each other. Now you have the upper part of the trunk\nending in a wedge, which fits into a cleft in the lower part of the\ntrunk. Then, about nine inches below the place where you first began\nto saw, you bore a hole straight through both sides of the cleft and\nthe wedge between them. Then you put an iron bolt through this hole,\nand you have your tree on a hinge, only she wont be apt to move\nbecause she fits in so snug and tight. Then you get a long rope, and\nput one end in a slipknot loosely around the trunk. Then you get a\nlot of poles, and tie them end to end, and push this slip-knot up\nuntil it is somewhere near the top, when you pull it tight. Then you\ntake another rope with a slip-knot, and push this a little more than\nhalf-way up the trunk. By having two ropes, that way, you prevent too\nmuch strain coming on any one part of the trunk. Then, after that,\nyou take a mallet and chisel and round off the lower corners of the\nwedge, so that it will turn easily in the cleft. Then we take hold of\nthe ropes, let her down gently, pick off the fruit, and haul her up\nagain. That will all be easy enough.\"\n\nThis plan delighted the boys, and they all pronounced in its favor;\nbut the oldest one suggested that it would be better to fasten the\nropes to the trunk before they began to saw upon it, and another boy\nasked how they were going to keep the tree standing when they hauled\nher up again.\n\n\"Oh, that is easy,\" said the one who had studied mechanics; \"you just\nbore another hole about six inches above the first one, and put in\nanother bolt. Then, of course, she can't move.\"\n\nThis settled all the difficulties, and it was agreed to start out\nearly the next morning, gather the fruit, and claim the reward the\nKing had offered. They accordingly went to the Captain and asked him\nfor a sharp saw, a mallet and chisel, an auger, two iron bolts, and\ntwo very long ropes. These, having been cheerfully given to them,\nwere put away in readiness for the work to be attempted.\n\nVery early on the next morning, the First Class in Long Division set\nout for the Fragile Palm, carrying their tools and ropes. Few people\nwere awake as they passed through the city, and, without being\nobserved, they reached the little plain on which the tree stood. The\nropes were attached at the proper places, the tree was sawn,\ndiagonally, according to the plan; the bolt was put in, and the\ncorners of the wedge were rounded off. Then the eldest boy produced a\npound of butter, whereupon his comrades, who had seized the ropes,\npaused in surprise and asked him why he had brought the butter.\n\n\"I thought it well,\" was the reply, \"to bring along some butter,\nbecause, when the tree is down, we can grease the hinge, and then it\nwill not be so hard to pull it up again.\"\n\nWhen all was ready, eight of the boys took hold of the long ropes,\nwhile another one with a pole pushed against the trunk of the Fragile\nPalm. When it began to lean over a little, he dropped his pole and\nran to help the others with the ropes. Slowly the tree moved on its\nhinge, descending at first very gradually; but it soon began to move\nwith greater rapidity, although the boys held it back with all their\nstrength; and, in spite of their most desperate efforts, the top came\nto the ground at last with a great thump. And then they all dropped\ntheir ropes, and ran for the fruit. Fortunately the great nuts\nincased in their strong husks were not in the least injured, and the\nboys soon pulled them off, about forty in all. Some of the boys were\nin favor of cracking open a few of the nuts and eating them, but this\nthe eldest boy positively forbade.\n\n\"This fruit,\" he said, \"is looked upon as almost sacred, and if we\nwere to eat any of it, it is probable that we should be put to death,\nwhich would be extremely awkward for fellows who have gone to all the\ntrouble we have had. We must set up the tree and carry the fruit to\nthe King.\"\n\nAccording to this advice, they thoroughly greased the hinge in the\ntree with the butter, and then set themselves to work to haul up the\ntrunk. This, however, was much more difficult than letting it down;\nand they had to lift up the head of it, and prop it up on poles,\nbefore they could pull upon it with advantage. The tree, although\ntall, was indeed a very slender one, with a small top, and, if it had\nbeen as fragile as it was supposed to be, the boys' efforts would\nsurely have broken it. At last, after much tugging and warm work,\nthey pulled it into an upright position, and put in the second bolt.\nThey left the ropes on the tree because, as some of them had\nsuggested, the people might want to let the tree down again the next\nyear. It would have been difficult for the boys to carry in their\narms the great pile of fruit they had gathered; but, having noticed a\nbasket-maker's cottage on their way to the tree, two of them were\nsent to buy one of his largest baskets or hampers. This was attached\nto two long poles, and, having been filled with the nuts, the boys\ntook the poles on their shoulders, and marched into the city.\n\nOn their way to the palace they attracted a great crowd, and when\nthey were ushered into the presence of the King, his surprise and\ndelight knew no bounds. At first he could scarcely believe his eyes;\nbut he had seen the fruit so often that there could be no mistake\nabout it.\n\n\"I shall not ask you,\" he said to the boys, \"how you procured this\nfruit, and thus accomplished a deed which has been the object of the\nambition of myself and my forefathers. All I ask is, did you leave\nthe tree standing?\"\n\n\"We did,\" said the boys.\n\n\"Then all that remains to be done,\" said His Majesty, \"is to give you\nthe reward you have so nobly earned. Treasurer, measure out to each\nof them a quart of gold coin. And pray be quick about it, for I am\nwild with desire to have a table spread, and one of these nuts\ncracked, that I may taste of its luscious contents.\"\n\nThe boys, however, appeared a little dissatisfied. Huddling together,\nthey consulted in a low tone, and then the eldest boy addressed the\nKing.\n\n\"May it please your Majesty,\" he said; \"we should very much prefer to\nhave you give each of us one of those nuts instead of a quart of\ngold.\"\n\nThe King looked grave. \"This is a much greater reward,\" he said,\n\"than I had ever expected to pay; but, since you ask it, you must\nhave it. You have done something which none of my subjects has ever\nbeen able to accomplish, and it is right, therefore, that you should\nbe fully satisfied.\"\n\nSo he gave them each a nut, with which they departed in triumph to\nthe ship.\n\nBy the afternoon of the next day, the Captain had sold all his cargo\nat very good prices; and when the money was safely stored away in the\n\"Horn o' Plenty,\" he made ready to sail, for he declared he had\nreally no time to spare. \"I must now make all possible haste,\" he\nsaid to old Baragat, \"to find Apple Island, put these boys ashore,\nand then speed away to the city where lives my son. We must not fail\nto get there in time to spend last Christmas over again.\"\n\nOn the second day, after the \"Horn o' Plenty\" had left the Island of\nthe Fragile Palm, one of the sailors who happened to be aloft noticed\na low, black, and exceedingly unpleasant-looking vessel rapidly\napproaching. This soon proved to be the ship of a band of corsairs,\nwho, having heard of the large amount of money on the \"Horn o'\nPlenty,\" had determined to pursue her and capture the rich prize. All\nsails were set upon the \"Horn o' Plenty,\" but it soon became plain\nthat she could never outsail the corsair vessel.\n\n\"What our ship can do better than any thing else,\" said Baragat to\nthe Captain, \"is to stop short. Stop her short, and let the other one\ngo by.\"\n\nThis manoeuvre was executed, but, although the corsair passed rapidly\nby, not being able to stop so suddenly, it soon turned around and\ncame back, its decks swarming with savage men armed to the teeth.\n\n\"They are going to board us,\" cried Baragat. \"They are getting out\ntheir grappling-irons, and they will fasten the two ships together.\"\n\n\"Let all assemble on the quarter-deck,\" said the Captain. \"It is\nhigher there, and we shall not be so much exposed to accidents.\"\n\nThe corsair ship soon ran alongside the \"Horn o' Plenty,\" and in a\nmoment the two vessels were fastened together; and then the corsairs,\nevery man of them, each with cutlass in hand and a belt full of dirks\nand knives, swarmed up the side of the \"Horn o' Plenty,\" and sprang\nupon its central deck. Some of the ferocious fellows, seeing the\nofficers and crew all huddled together upon the quarter-deck, made a\nmovement in that direction. This so frightened the chief mate that he\nsprang down upon the deck of the corsair ship. A panic now arose, and\nhe was immediately followed by the officers and crew. The boys, of\ncourse, were not to be left behind; and the Captain and Baragat felt\nthemselves bound not to desert the crew, and so they jumped also.\nNone of the corsairs interfered with this proceeding, for each one of\nthem was anxious to find the money at once. When the passengers and\ncrew of the \"Horn o' Plenty\" were all on board the corsair ship,\nBaragat came to the Captain, and said:\n\n\"If I were you, sir, I'd cast off those grapnels, and separate the\nvessels. If we don't do that those rascals, when they have finished\nrobbing our money-chests, will come back here and murder us all.\"\n\n\"That is a good idea,\" said Captain Covajos; and he told the chief\nmate to give orders to cast off the grapnels, push the two vessels\napart, and set some of the sails.\n\nWhen this had been done, the corsair vessel began to move away from\nthe other, and was soon many lengths distant from her. When the\ncorsairs came on deck and perceived what had happened, they were\ninfuriated, and immediately began to pursue their own vessel with the\none they had captured. But the \"Horn o' Plenty\" could not, by any\npossibility, sail as fast as the corsair ship, and the latter easily\nkept away from her.\n\n\"Now, then,\" said Baragat to the Captain, \"what you have to do is\neasy enough. Sail straight for our port and those sea-robbers will\nfollow you; for, of course, they will wish to get their own vessel\nback again, and will hope, by some carelessness on our part, to\novertake us. In the mean time the money will be safe enough, for they\nwill have no opportunity of spending it; and when we come to port, we\ncan take some soldiers on board, and go back and capture those\nfellows. They can never sail away from us on the 'Horn o' Plenty.'\"\n\n\"That is an admirable plan,\" said the Captain, \"and I shall carry it\nout; but I cannot sail to port immediately. I must first find Apple\nIsland and land these boys, whose parents and guardians are probably\ngrowing very uneasy. I suppose the corsairs will continue to follow\nus wherever we go.\"\n\n\"I hope so,\" said Baragat; \"at any rate we shall see.\"\n\nThe First Class in Long Division was very much delighted with the\nchange of vessels, and the boys rambled everywhere, and examined with\ngreat interest all that belonged to the corsairs. They felt quite\neasy about the only treasures they possessed, because, when they had\nfirst seen the piratical vessel approaching, they had taken the\nprecious nuts which had been given to them by the King, and had\nhidden them at the bottom of some large boxes, in which the Captain\nkept the sailors' winter clothes.\n\n\"In this warm climate,\" said the eldest boy, \"the robbers will never\nmeddle with those winter clothes, and our precious fruit will be\nperfectly safe.\"\n\n\"If you had taken my advice,\" said one of the other boys, \"we should\nhave eaten some of the nuts. Those, at least, we should have been\nsure of.\"\n\n\"And we should have had that many less to show to the other classes,\"\nsaid the eldest boy. \"Nuts like these, I am told, if picked at the\nproper season, will keep for a long time.\"\n\nFor some days the corsairs on board the \"Horn o' Plenty\" followed\ntheir own vessel, but then they seemed to despair of ever being able\nto overtake it, and steered in another direction. This threatened to\nruin all the plans of Captain Covajos, and his mind became troubled.\nThen the boy who had studied mechanics came forward and said to the\nCaptain:\n\n\"I'll tell you what I'd do, sir, if I were you; I'd follow your old\nship, and when night came on I'd sail up quite near to her, and let\nsome of your sailors swim quietly over, and fasten a cable to her,\nand then you could tow her after you wherever you wished to go.\"\n\n\"But they might unfasten the cable, or cut it,\" said Baragat, who was\nstanding by.\n\n\"That could easily be prevented,\" said the boy. \"At their end of the\ncable must be a stout chain which they cannot cut, and it must be\nfastened so far beneath the surface of the water that they will not\nbe able to reach it to unfasten it.\"\n\n\"A most excellent plan,\" said Captain Covajos; \"let it be carried\nout.\"\n\nAs soon as it became quite dark, the corsair vessel quietly\napproached the other, and two stout sailors from Finland, who swam\nvery well, were ordered to swim over and attach the chain-end of a\nlong cable to the \"Horn o' Plenty.\" It was a very difficult\noperation, for the chain was heavy, but the men succeeded at last,\nand returned to report.\n\n\"We put the chain on, fast and strong sir,\" they said to the Captain;\n\"and six feet under water. But the only place we could find to make\nit fast to was the bottom of the rudder.\"\n\n\"That will do very well,\" remarked Baragat; \"for the 'Horn o' Plenty'\nsails better backward than forward, and will not be so hard to tow.\"\n\nFor week after week, and month after month, Captain Covajos, in the\ncorsair vessel, sailed here and there in search of Apple Island,\nalways towing after him the \"Horn o' Plenty,\" with the corsairs on\nboard, but never an island with a school on it could they find; and\none day old Baragat came to the Captain and said:\n\n\"If I were you, sir, I'd sail no more in these warm regions. I am\nquite sure that apples grow in colder latitudes, and are never found\nso far south as this.\"\n\n\"That is a good idea,\" said Captain Covajos. \"We should sail for the\nnorth if we wished to find an island of apples. Have the vessel\nturned northward.\"\n\nAnd so, for days and weeks, the two vessels slowly moved on to the\nnorth. One day the Captain made some observations and calculations,\nand then he hastily summoned Baragat.\n\n\"Do you know,\" said he, \"that I find it is now near the end of\nNovember, and I am quite certain that we shall not get to the port\nwhere my son lives in time to celebrate last Christmas again. It is\ndreadfully slow work, towing after us the 'Horn o' Plenty,' full of\ncorsairs, wherever we go. But we cannot cast her off and sail\nstraight for our port, for I should lose my good ship, the merchants\nwould lose all their money, and the corsairs would go unpunished;\nand, besides all that, think of the misery of the parents and\nguardians of those poor boys. No; I must endeavor to find Apple\nIsland. And if I cannot reach port in time to spend last Christmas\nwith my son, I shall certainly get there in season for Christmas\nbefore last. It is true that I spent that Christmas with my daughter,\nbut I cannot go on to her now. I am much nearer the city where my son\nlives; and, besides, it is necessary to go back, and give the\nmerchants their money. So now we shall have plenty of time, and need\nnot feel hurried.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Baragat, heaving a vast sigh, \"we need not feel hurried.\"\n\nThe mind of the eldest boy now became very much troubled, and he\ncalled his companions about him. \"I don't like at all,\" said he,\n\"this sailing to the north. It is now November, and, although it is\nwarm enough at this season in the southern part of the sea, it will\nbecome colder and colder as we go on. The consequence of this will be\nthat those corsairs will want winter clothes, they will take them out\nof the Captain's chests, and they will find our fruit.\"\n\nThe boys groaned. \"That is true,\" said one of them; \"but still we\nwish to go back to our island.\"\n\n\"Of course,\" said the eldest boy, \"it is quite proper that we should\nreturn to Long Division. But think of the hard work we did to get\nthat fruit, and think of the quarts of gold we gave up for it! It\nwould be too bad to lose it now!\"\n\nIt was unanimously agreed that it would be too bad to lose the fruit,\nand it was also unanimously agreed that they wished to go back to\nApple Island. But what to do about it, they did not know.\n\nDay by day the weather grew colder and colder, and the boys became\nmore and more excited and distressed for fear they should lose their\nprecious fruit. The eldest boy lay awake for several nights, and then\na plan came into his head. He went to Captain Covajos and proposed\nthat he should send a flag of truce over to the corsairs, offering to\nexchange winter clothing. He would send over to them the heavy\ngarments they had left on their own vessel, and in return would take\nthe boxes of clothes intended for the winter wear of his sailors. In\nthis way, they would get their fruit back without the corsairs\nknowing any thing about it. The Captain considered this an excellent\nplan, and ordered the chief mate to take a boat and a flag of truce,\nand go over to the \"Horn o' Plenty,\" and make the proposition. The\neldest boy and two of the others insisted on going also, in order\nthat there might be no mistake about the boxes. But when the\nflag-of-truce party reached the \"Horn o' Plenty\" they found not a\ncorsair there! Every man of them had gone. They had taken with them\nall the money-chests, but to the great delight of the boys, the boxes\nof winter clothes had not been disturbed; and in them still nestled,\nsafe and sound, the precious nuts of the Fragile Palm.\n\nWhen the matter had been thoroughly looked into, it became quite\nevident what the corsairs had done. There had been only one boat on\nboard the \"Horn o' Plenty,\" and that was the one on which the First\nClass in Long Division had arrived. The night before, the two vessels\nhad passed within a mile or so of a large island, which the Captain\nhad approached in the hope it was the one they were looking for, and\nthey passed it so slowly that the corsairs had time to ferry\nthemselves over, a few at a time, in the little boat, taking with\nthem the money,--and all without discovery.\n\nCaptain Covajos was greatly depressed when he heard of the loss of\nall the money.\n\n\"I shall have a sad tale to tell my merchants,\" he said, \"and\nChristmas before last will not be celebrated so joyously as it was\nthe first time. But we cannot help what has happened, and we all must\nendeavor to bear our losses with patience. We shall continue our\nsearch for Apple Island, but I shall go on board my own ship, for I\nhave greatly missed my carpeted quarter-deck and my other comforts.\nThe chief mate, however, and a majority of the crew shall remain on\nboard the corsair vessel, and continue to tow us. The 'Horn o'\nPlenty' sails better stern foremost, and we shall go faster that\nway.\"\n\nThe boys were overjoyed at recovering their fruit, and most of them\nwere in favor of cracking two or three of the great nuts, and eating\ntheir contents in honor of the occasion, but the eldest boy dissuaded\nthem.\n\n\"The good Captain,\" he said, \"has been very kind in endeavoring to\ntake us back to our school, and still intends to keep up the search\nfor dear old Apple Island. The least we can do for him is to give him\nthis fruit, which is all we have, and let him do what he pleases with\nit. This is the only way in which we can show our gratitude to him.\"\n\nThe boys turned their backs on one another, and each of them gave his\neyes a little rub, but they all agreed to give the fruit to the\nCaptain.\n\nWhen the good old man received his present, he was much affected. \"I\nwill accept what you offer me,\" he said; \"for if I did not, I know\nyour feelings would be wounded. But you must keep one of the nuts for\nyourselves. And, more than that, if we do not find Apple Island in\nthe course of the coming year, I invite you all to spend Christmas\nbefore last over again, with me at my son's house.\"\n\nAll that winter, the two ships sailed up and down, and here and\nthere, but never could they find Apple Island. When Christmas-time\ncame, old Baragat went around among the boys and the crew, and told\nthem it would be well not to say a word on the subject to the\nCaptain, for his feelings were very tender in regard to spending\nChristmas away from his families, and the thing had never happened\nbefore. So nobody made any allusion to the holidays, and they passed\nover as if they had been ordinary days.\n\nDuring the spring, and all through the summer, the two ships kept up\nthe unavailing search, but when the autumn began, Captain Covajos\nsaid to old Baragat: \"I am very sorry, but I feel that I can no\nlonger look for Apple Island. I must go back and spend Christmas\nbefore last over again, with my dearest son; and if these poor boys\nnever return to their homes, I am sure they cannot say it was any\nfault of mine.\"\n\n\"No, sir,\" said Baragat, \"I think you have done all that could be\nexpected of you.\"\n\nSo the ships sailed to the city on the west side of the sea; and the\nCaptain was received with great joy by his son, and his\ngrandchildren. He went to the merchants, and told them how he had\nlost all their money. He hoped they would be able to bear their\nmisfortune with fortitude, and begged, as he could do nothing else\nfor them, that they would accept the eight great nuts from the\nFragile Palm that the boys had given him. To his surprise the\nmerchants became wild with delight when they received the nuts. The\nmoney they had lost was as nothing, they said, compared to the value\nof this incomparable and precious fruit, picked in its prime, and\nstill in a perfect condition.\n\nIt had been many, many generations since this rare fruit, the value\nof which was like unto that of diamonds and pearls, had been for sale\nin any market in the world; and kings and queens in many countries\nwere ready to give for it almost any price that might be asked.\n\nWhen the good old Captain heard this he was greatly rejoiced, and, as\nthe holidays were now near, he insisted that the boys should spend\nChristmas before last over again, at his son's house. He found that a\ngood many people here knew where Apple Island was, and he made\narrangements for the First Class in Long Division to return to that\nisland in a vessel which was to sail about the first of the year.\n\nThe boys still possessed the great nut which the Captain had insisted\nthey should keep for themselves, and he now told them that if they\nchose to sell it, they would each have a nice little fortune to take\nback with them. The eldest boy consulted the others, and then he said\nto the Captain:\n\n\"Our class has gone through a good many hardships, and has had a lot\nof trouble with that palm-tree and other things, and we think we\nought to be rewarded. So, if it is all the same to you, I think we\nwill crack the nut on Christmas Day and we all will eat it.\"\n\n\"I never imagined,\" cried Captain Covajos, as he sat, on that\nChristmas Day, surrounded by his son's family and the First Class in\nLong Division, the eyes of the whole party sparkling with ecstasy as\nthey tasted the peerless fruit of the Fragile Palm, \"that Christmas\nbefore last could be so joyfully celebrated over again.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n PRINCE HASSAK'S MARCH.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the spring of a certain year, long since passed away, Prince\nHassak, of Itoby, determined to visit his uncle, the King of Yan.\n\n\"Whenever my uncle visited us,\" said the Prince, \"or when my late\nfather went to see him, the journey was always made by sea; and, in\norder to do this, it was necessary to go in a very roundabout way\nbetween Itoby and Yan. Now, I shall do nothing of this kind. It is\nbeneath the dignity of a prince to go out of his way on account of\ncapes, peninsulas, and promontories. I shall march from my palace to\nthat of my uncle in a straight line. I shall go across the country,\nand no obstacle shall cause me to deviate from my course. Mountains\nand hills shall be tunnelled, rivers shall be bridged, houses shall\nbe levelled; a road shall be cut through forests; and, when I have\nfinished my march, the course over which I have passed shall be a\nmathematically straight line. Thus will I show to the world that,\nwhen a prince desires to travel, it is not necessary for him to go\nout of his way on account of obstacles.\"\n\nAs soon as possible after the Prince had determined upon this march,\nhe made his preparations, and set out. He took with him a\nfew courtiers, and a large body of miners, rock-splitters,\nbridge-builders, and workmen of that class, whose services would,\nvery probably, be needed. Besides these, he had an officer whose duty\nit was to point out the direct course to be taken, and another who\nwas to draw a map of the march, showing the towns, mountains, and the\nvarious places it passed through. There were no compasses in those\ndays, but the course-marker had an instrument which he would set in a\nproper direction by means of the stars, and then he could march by it\nall day. Besides these persons, Prince Hassak selected from the\nschools of his city five boys and five girls, and took them with him.\nHe wished to show them how, when a thing was to be done, the best way\nwas to go straight ahead and do it, turning aside for nothing.\n\n\"When they grow up they will teach these things to their children,\"\nsaid he; \"and thus I shall instil good principles into my people.\"\n\nThe first day Prince Hassak and his party marched over a level\ncountry, with no further trouble than that occasioned by the tearing\ndown of fences and walls, and the destruction of a few cottages and\nbarns. After encamping for the night, they set out the next morning,\nbut had not marched many miles before they came to a rocky hill, on\nthe top of which was a handsome house, inhabited by a Jolly-cum-pop.\n\n\"Your Highness,\" said the course-marker, \"in order to go in a direct\nline we must make a tunnel through this hill, immediately under the\nhouse. This may cause the building to fall in, but the rubbish can be\neasily removed.\"\n\n\"Let the men go to work,\" said the Prince. \"I will dismount from my\nhorse, and watch the proceedings.\"\n\nWhen the Jolly-cum-pop saw the party halt before his house, he\nhurried out to pay his respects to the Prince. When he was informed\nof what was to be done, the Jolly-cum-pop could not refrain from\nlaughing aloud.\n\n\"I never heard,\" he said, \"of such a capital idea. It is so odd and\noriginal. It will be very funny, I am sure, to see a tunnel cut right\nunder my house.\"\n\nThe miners and rock-splitters now began to work at the base of the\nhill, and then the Jolly-cum-pop made a proposition to the Prince.\n\n\"It will take your men some time,\" he said, \"to cut this tunnel, and\nit is a pity your Highness should not be amused in the meanwhile. It\nis a fine day: suppose we go into the forest and hunt.\"\n\nThis suited the Prince very well, for he did not care about sitting\nunder a tree and watching his workmen, and the Jolly-cum-pop having\nsent for his horse and some bows and arrows, the whole party, with\nthe exception of the laborers, rode toward the forest, a short\ndistance away.\n\n\"What shall we find to hunt?\" asked the Prince of the Jolly-cum-pop.\n\n\"I really do not know,\" exclaimed the latter, \"but we'll hunt\nwhatever we happen to see--deer, small birds, rabbits, griffins,\nrhinoceroses, any thing that comes along. I feel as gay as a skipping\ngrasshopper. My spirits rise like a soaring bird. What a joyful thing\nit is to have such a hunt on such a glorious day!\"\n\nThe gay and happy spirits of the Jolly-cum-pop affected the whole\nparty, and they rode merrily through the forest; but they found no\ngame; and, after an hour or two, they emerged into the open country\nagain. At a distance, on a slight elevation, stood a large and\nmassive building.\n\n\"I am hungry and thirsty,\" said the Prince, \"and perhaps we can get\nsome refreshments at yonder house. So far, this has not been a very\nfine hunt.\"\n\n\"No,\" cried the Jolly-cum-pop, \"not yet. But what a joyful thing to\nsee a hospitable mansion just at the moment when we begin to feel a\nlittle tired and hungry!\"\n\nThe building they were approaching belonged to a Potentate, who lived\nat a great distance. In some of his travels he had seen this massive\nhouse, and thought it would make a good prison. He accordingly bought\nit, fitted it up as a jail, and appointed a jailer and three\nmyrmidons to take charge of it. This had occurred years before, but\nno prisoners had ever been sent to this jail. A few days preceding\nthe Jolly-cum-pop's hunt, the Potentate had journeyed this way and\nhad stopped at his jail. After inquiring into its condition, he had\nsaid to the jailer:\n\n\"It is now fourteen years since I appointed you to this place, and in\nall that time there have been no prisoners, and you and your men have\nbeen drawing your wages without doing any thing. I shall return this\nway in a few days, and if I still find you idle I shall discharge you\nall and close the jail.\"\n\nThis filled the jailer with great dismay, for he did not wish to lose\nhis good situation. When he saw the Prince and his party approaching,\nthe thought struck him that perhaps he might make prisoners of them,\nand so not be found idle when the Potentate returned. He came out to\nmeet the hunters, and when they asked if they could here find\nrefreshment, he gave them a most cordial welcome. His men took their\nhorses, and, inviting them to enter, he showed each member of the\nparty into a small bedroom, of which there seemed to be a great many.\n\n\"Here are water and towels,\" he said to each one, \"and when you have\nwashed your face and hands, your refreshments will be ready.\" Then,\ngoing out, he locked the door on the outside.\n\nThe party numbered seventeen: the Prince, three courtiers, five boys,\nfive girls, the course-marker, the map-maker, and the Jolly-cum-pop.\nThe heart of the jailer was joyful; seventeen inmates was something\nto be proud of. He ordered his myrmidons to give the prisoners a meal\nof bread and water through the holes in their cell-doors, and then he\nsat down to make out his report to the Potentate.\n\n\"They must all be guilty of crimes,\" he said to himself, \"which are\npunished by long imprisonment. I don't want any of them executed.\"\n\nSo he numbered his prisoners from one to seventeen, according to the\ncell each happened to be in, and he wrote a crime opposite each\nnumber. The first was highway robbery, the next forgery, and after\nthat followed treason, smuggling, barn-burning, bribery, poaching,\nusury, piracy, witchcraft, assault and battery, using false weights\nand measures, burglary, counterfeiting, robbing hen-roosts,\nconspiracy, and poisoning his grandmother by proxy.\n\nThis report was scarcely finished when the Potentate returned. He was\nvery much surprised to find that seventeen prisoners had come in\nsince his previous visit, and he read the report with interest.\n\n\"Here is one who ought to be executed,\" he said, referring to Number\nSeventeen. \"And how did he poison his grandmother by proxy? Did he\nget another woman to be poisoned in her stead? Or did he employ some\none to act in his place as the poisoner?\"\n\n\"I have not yet been fully informed, my lord,\" said the jailer,\nfearful that he should lose a prisoner; \"but this is his first\noffence, and his grandmother, who did not die, has testified to his\ngeneral good character.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the Potentate; \"but if he ever does it again, let\nhim be executed; and, by the way, I should like to see the\nprisoners.\"\n\nThereupon the jailer conducted the Potentate along the corridors, and\nlet him look through the holes in the doors at the prisoners within.\n\n\"What is this little girl in for?\" he asked.\n\nThe jailer looked at the number over the door, and then at his\nreport.\n\n\"Piracy,\" he answered.\n\n\"A strange offence for such a child,\" said the Potentate.\n\n\"They often begin that sort of thing very early in life,\" said the\njailer.\n\n\"And this fine gentleman,\" said the Potentate, looking in at the\nPrince, \"what did he do?\"\n\nThe jailer glanced at the number, and the report.\n\n\"Robbed hen-roosts,\" he said.\n\n\"He must have done a good deal of it to afford to dress so well,\"\nsaid the Potentate, passing on, and looking into other cells. \"It\nseems to me that many of your prisoners are very young.\"\n\n\"It is best to take them young, my lord,\" said the jailer. \"They are\nvery hard to catch when they grow up.\"\n\nThe Potentate then looked in at the Jolly-cum-pop, and asked what was\nhis offence.\n\n\"Conspiracy,\" was the answer.\n\n\"And where are the other conspirators?\"\n\n\"There was only one,\" said the jailer.\n\nNumber Seventeen was the oldest of the courtiers.\n\n\"He appears to be an elderly man to have a grandmother,\" said the\nPotentate. \"She must be very aged, and that makes it all the worse\nfor him. I think he should be executed.\"\n\n\"Oh, no, my lord,\" cried the jailor. \"I am assured that his crime was\nquite unintentional.\"\n\n\"Then he should be set free,\" said the Potentate.\n\n\"I mean to say,\" said the jailer, \"that it was just enough\nintentional to cause him to be imprisoned here for a long time, but\nnot enough to deserve execution.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the Potentate, turning to leave; \"take good care of\nyour prisoners, and send me a report every month.\"\n\n\"That will I do, my lord,\" said the jailer, bowing very low.\n\nThe Prince and his party had been very much surprised and incensed\nwhen they found that they could not get out of their rooms, and they\nhad kicked and banged and shouted until they were tired, but the\njailer had informed them that they were to be confined there for\nyears; and when the Potentate arrived they had resigned themselves to\ndespair. The Jolly-cum-pop, however, was affected in a different way.\nIt seemed to him the most amusing joke in the world that a person\nshould deliberately walk into a prison-cell and be locked up for\nseveral years; and he lay down on his little bed and laughed himself\nto sleep.\n\nThat night one of the boys sat at his iron-barred window, wide awake.\nHe was a Truant, and had never yet been in any place from which he\ncould not run away. He felt that his school-fellows depended upon him\nto run away and bring them assistance, and he knew that his\nreputation as a Truant was at stake. His responsibility was so heavy\nthat he could not sleep, and he sat at the window, trying to think of\na way to get out. After some hours the moon arose, and by its light\nhe saw upon the grass, not far from his window, a number of little\ncreatures, which at first he took for birds or small squirrels; but\non looking more attentively he perceived that they were pigwidgeons.\nThey were standing around a flat stone, and seemed to be making\ncalculations on it with a piece of chalk. At this sight, the heart of\nthe Truant jumped for joy. \"Pigwidgeons can do any thing,\" he said to\nhimself, \"and these certainly can get us out.\" He now tried in\nvarious ways to attract the attention of the pigwidgeons; but as he\nwas afraid to call or whistle very loud, for fear of arousing the\njailor, he did not succeed. Happily, he thought of a pea-shooter\nwhich he had in his pocket, and taking this out he blew a pea into\nthe midst of the little group with such force that it knocked the\nchalk from the hand of the pigwidgeon who was using it. The little\nfellows looked up in astonishment, and perceived the Truant beckoning\nto them from his window. At first they stood angrily regarding him;\nbut on his urging them in a loud whisper to come to his relief, they\napproached the prison and, clambering up a vine, soon reached his\nwindow-sill. The Truant now told his mournful tale, to which the\npigwidgeons listened very attentively; and then, after a little\nconsultation among themselves, one of them said: \"We will get you out\nif you will tell us how to divide five-sevenths by six.\"\n\nThe poor Truant was silent for an instant, and then he said: \"That is\nnot the kind of thing I am good at, but I expect some of the other\nfellows could tell you easily enough. Our windows must be all in a\nrow, and you can climb up and ask some of them; and if any one tells\nyou, will you get us all out?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the pigwidgeon who had spoken before. \"We will do that,\nfor we are very anxious to know how to divide five-sevenths by six.\nWe have been working at it for four or five days, and there won't be\nany thing worth dividing if we wait much longer.\"\n\nThe pigwidgeons now began to descend the vine; but one of them\nlingering a little, the Truant, who had a great deal of curiosity,\nasked him what it was they had to divide.\n\n\"There were eight of us,\" the pigwidgeon answered, \"who helped a\nfarmer's wife, and she gave us a pound of butter. She did not count\nus properly, and divided the butter into seven parts. We did not\nnotice this at first, and two of the party, who were obliged to go\naway to a distance, took their portions and departed, and now we can\nnot divide among six the five-sevenths that remain.\"\n\n\"That is a pretty hard thing,\" said the Truant, \"but I am sure some\nof the boys can tell you how to do it.\"\n\nThe pigwidgeons visited the next four cells, which were occupied by\nfour boys, but not one of them could tell how to divide five-sevenths\nby six. The Prince was questioned, but he did not know; and neither\ndid the course-marker, nor the map-maker. It was not until they came\nto the cell of the oldest girl that they received an answer. She was\ngood at mental arithmetic; and, after a minute's thought, she said,\n\"It would be five forty-seconds.\"\n\n\"Good!\" cried the pigwidgeons. \"We will divide the butter into\nforty-two parts, and each take five. And now let us go to work and\ncut these bars.\"\n\nThree of the six pigwidgeons were workers in iron, and they had their\nlittle files and saws in pouches by their sides. They went to work\nmanfully, and the others helped them, and before morning one bar was\ncut in each of the seventeen windows. The cells were all on the\nground floor, and it was quite easy for the prisoners to clamber out.\nThat is, it was easy for all but the Jolly-cum-pop. He had laughed so\nmuch in his life that he had grown quite fat, and he found it\nimpossible to squeeze himself through the opening made by the removal\nof one iron bar. The sixteen other prisoners had all departed; the\npigwidgeons had hurried away to divide their butter into forty-two\nparts, and the Jolly-cum-pop still remained in his cell, convulsed\nwith laughter at the idea of being caught in such a curious\npredicament.\n\n\"It is the most ridiculous thing in the world,\" he said. \"I suppose I\nmust stay here and cry until I get thin.\" And the idea so tickled\nhim, that he laughed himself to sleep.\n\nThe Prince and his party kept together, and hurried from the prison\nas fast as they could. When the day broke they had gone several\nmiles, and then they stopped to rest. \"Where is that Jolly-cum-pop?\"\nsaid the Prince. \"I suppose he has gone home. He is a pretty fellow\nto lead us into this trouble and then desert us! How are we to find\nthe way back to his house? Course-marker, can you tell us the\ndirection in which we should go?\"\n\n\"Not until to-night, your Highness,\" answered the course-marker,\n\"when I can set my instrument by the stars.\"\n\nThe Prince's party was now in a doleful plight. Every one was very\nhungry; they were in an open plain, no house was visible, and they\nknew not which way to go. They wandered about for some time, looking\nfor a brook or a spring where they might quench their thirst; and\nthen a rabbit sprang out from some bushes. The whole party\nimmediately started off in pursuit of the rabbit. They chased it\nhere, there, backward and forward, through hollows and over hills,\nuntil it ran quite away and disappeared. Then they were more tired,\nthirsty, and hungry than before; and, to add to their miseries, when\nnight came on the sky was cloudy, and the course-marker could not set\nhis instrument by the stars. It would be difficult to find sixteen\nmore miserable people than the Prince and his companions when they\nawoke the next morning from their troubled sleep on the hard ground.\nNearly starved, they gazed at one another with feelings of despair.\n\n\"I feel,\" said the Prince, in a weak voice, \"that there is nothing I\nwould not do to obtain food. I would willingly become a slave if my\nmaster would give me a good breakfast.\"\n\n\"So would I,\" ejaculated each of the others.\n\nAbout an hour after this, as they were all sitting disconsolately\nupon the ground, they saw, slowly approaching, a large cart drawn by\na pair of oxen. On the front of the cart, which seemed to be heavily\nloaded, sat a man, with a red beard, reading a book. The boys, when\nthey saw the cart, set up a feeble shout, and the man, lifting his\neyes from his book, drove directly toward the group on the ground.\nDismounting, he approached Prince Hassak, who immediately told him\nhis troubles and implored relief. \"We will do any thing,\" said the\nPrince, \"to obtain food.\"\n\nStanding for a minute in a reflective mood, the man with the red\nbeard addressed the Prince in a slow, meditative manner: \"How would\nyou like,\" he said, \"to form a nucleus?\"\n\n\"Can we get any thing to eat by it?\" eagerly asked the Prince.\n\n\"Yes,\" replied the man, \"you can.\"\n\n\"We'll do it!\" immediately cried the whole sixteen, without waiting\nfor further information.\n\n\"Which will you do first,\" said the man, \"listen to my explanations,\nor eat?\"\n\n\"Eat!\" cried the entire sixteen in chorus.\n\nThe man now produced from his cart a quantity of bread, meat, wine,\nand other provisions, which he distributed generously, but\njudiciously, to the hungry Prince and his followers. Every one had\nenough, but no one too much. And soon, revived and strengthened, they\nfelt like new beings.\n\n\"Now,\" said the Prince, \"we are ready to form a nucleus, as we\npromised. How is it done?\"\n\n\"I will explain the matter to you in a few words,\" said the man with\nthe red beard. \"For a long time I have been desirous to found a city.\nIn order to do this one must begin by forming a nucleus. Every great\ncity is started from a nucleus. A few persons settle down in some\nparticular spot, and live there. Then they are a nucleus. Then other\npeople come there, and gather around this nucleus, and then more\npeople come and more, until in course of time there is a great city.\nI have loaded this cart with provisions, tools, and other things that\nare necessary for my purpose, and have set out to find some people\nwho would be willing to form a nucleus. I am very glad to have found\nyou and that you are willing to enter into my plan; and this seems a\ngood spot for us to settle upon.\"\n\n\"What is the first thing to be done?\" said the Prince.\n\n\"We must all go to work,\" said the man with the red beard, \"to build\ndwellings, and also a school-house for these young people. Then we\nmust till some ground in the suburbs, and lay the foundations, at\nleast, of a few public buildings.\"\n\n\"All this will take a good while, will it not?\" said the Prince.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the man, \"it will take a good while; and the sooner we\nset about it, the better.\"\n\nThereupon tools were distributed among the party, and Prince,\ncourtiers, boys, girls, and all went to work to build houses and form\nthe nucleus of a city.\n\nWhen the jailer looked into his cells in the morning, and found that\nall but one of his prisoners had escaped, he was utterly astounded,\nand his face, when the Jolly-cum-pop saw him, made that individual\nroar with laughter. The jailer, however, was a man accustomed to deal\nwith emergencies. \"You need not laugh,\" he said, \"every thing shall\ngo on as before, and I shall take no notice of the absence of your\ncompanions. You are now numbered One to Seventeen inclusive, and you\nstand charged with highway robbery, forgery, treason, smuggling,\nbarn-burning, bribery, poaching, usury, piracy, witchcraft, assault\nand battery, using false weights and measures, burglary,\ncounterfeiting, robbing hen-roosts, conspiracy, and poisoning your\ngrandmother by proxy. I intended to-day to dress the convicts in\nprison garb, and you shall immediately be so clothed.\"\n\n\"I shall require seventeen suits,\" said the Jolly-cum-pop.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the jailer, \"they shall be furnished.\"\n\n\"And seventeen rations a day,\" said the Jolly-cum-pop.\n\n\"Certainly,\" replied the jailer.\n\n\"This is luxury,\" roared the Jolly-cum-pop. \"I shall spend my whole\ntime in eating and putting on clean clothes.\"\n\nSeventeen large prison suits were now brought to the Jolly-cum-pop.\nHe put one on, and hung up the rest in his cell. These suits were\nhalf bright yellow and half bright green, with spots of bright red,\nas big as saucers.\n\nThe jailer now had doors cut from one cell to another. \"If the\nPotentate comes here and wants to look at the prisoners,\" he said to\nthe Jolly-cum-pop, \"you must appear in cell number One, so that he\ncan look through the hole in the door, and see you; then, as he walks\nalong the corridor, you must walk through the cells, and whenever he\nlooks into a cell, you must be there.\"\n\n\"He will think,\" merrily replied the Jolly-cum-pop, \"that all your\nprisoners are very fat, and that the little girls have grown up into\nbig men.\"\n\n\"I will endeavor to explain that,\" said the jailer.\n\nFor several days the Jolly-cum-pop was highly amused at the idea of\nhis being seventeen criminals, and he would sit first in one cell and\nthen in another, trying to look like a ferocious pirate, a\nhard-hearted usurer, or a mean-spirited chicken thief, and laughing\nheartily at his failures. But, after a time, he began to tire of\nthis, and to have a strong desire to see what sort of a tunnel the\nPrince's miners and rock-splitters were making under his house. \"I\nhad hoped,\" he said to himself, \"that I should pine away in\nconfinement, and so be able to get through the window-bars; but with\nnothing to do, and seventeen rations a day, I see no chance of that.\nBut I must get out of this jail, and, as there seems no other way, I\nwill revolt.\" Thereupon he shouted to the jailer through the hole in\nthe door of his cell: \"We have revolted! We have risen in a body, and\nhave determined to resist your authority, and break jail!\"\n\nWhen the jailer heard this, he was greatly troubled. \"Do not proceed\nto violence,\" he said; \"let us parley.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" replied the Jolly-cum-pop, \"but you must open the cell\ndoor. We cannot parley through a hole.\"\n\nThe jailer thereupon opened the cell door, and the Jolly-cum-pop,\nhaving wrapped sixteen suits of clothes around his left arm as a\nshield, and holding in his right hand the iron bar which had been cut\nfrom his window, stepped boldly into the corridor, and confronted the\njailer and his myrmidons.\n\n\"It will be useless for you to resist,\" he said. \"You are but four,\nand we are seventeen. If you had been wise you would have made us all\ncheating shop-keepers, chicken thieves, or usurers. Then you might\nhave been able to control us; but when you see before you a desperate\nhighwayman, a daring smuggler, a blood-thirsty pirate, a wily\npoacher, a powerful ruffian, a reckless burglar, a bold conspirator,\nand a murderer by proxy, you well may tremble!\"\n\nThe jailer and his myrmidons looked at each other in dismay.\n\n\"We sigh for no blood,\" continued the Jolly-cum-pop, \"and will\nreadily agree to terms. We will give you your choice: Will you allow\nus to honorably surrender, and peacefully disperse to our homes, or\nshall we rush upon you in a body, and, after overpowering you by\nnumbers, set fire to the jail, and escape through the crackling\ntimbers of the burning pile?\"\n\nThe jailer reflected for a minute. \"It would be better, perhaps,\" he\nsaid, \"that you should surrender and disperse to your homes.\"\n\nThe Jolly-cum-pop agreed to these terms, and the great gate being\nopened, he marched out in good order. \"Now,\" said he to himself, \"the\nthing for me to do is to get home as fast as I can, or that jailer\nmay change his mind.\" But, being in a great hurry, he turned the\nwrong way, and walked rapidly into a country unknown to him. His walk\nwas a very merry one. \"By this time,\" he said to himself, \"the Prince\nand his followers have returned to my house, and are tired of\nwatching the rock-splitters and miners. How amused they will be when\nthey see me come back in this gay suit of green and yellow, with red\nspots, and with sixteen similar suits upon my arm! How my own dogs\nwill bark at me! And how my own servants will not know me! It is the\nfunniest thing I ever knew of!\" And his gay laugh echoed far and\nwide. But when he had gone several miles without seeing any signs of\nhis habitation, his gayety abated. \"It would have been much better,\"\nhe said, as he sat down to rest under the shade of a tree, \"if I had\nbrought with me sixteen rations instead of these sixteen suits of\nclothes.\"\n\nThe Jolly-cum-pop soon set out again, but he walked a long distance\nwithout seeing any person or any house. Toward the close of the\nafternoon he stopped, and, looking back, he saw coming toward him a\nlarge party of foot travellers. In a few moments, he perceived that\nthe person in advance was the jailer. At this the Jolly-cum-pop could\nnot restrain his merriment. \"How comically it has all turned out!\" he\nexclaimed. \"Here I've taken all this trouble, and tired myself out,\nand have nearly starved myself, and the jailer comes now, with a\ncrowd of people, and takes me back. I might as well have staid where\nI was. Ha! ha!\"\n\nThe jailer now left his party and came running toward the\nJolly-cum-pop. \"I pray you, sir,\" he said, bowing very low, \"do not\ncast us off.\"\n\n\"Who are you all?\" asked the Jolly-cum-pop, looking with much\nsurprise at the jailer's companions, who were now quite near.\n\n\"We are myself, my three myrmidons, and our wives and children. Our\nsituations were such good ones that we married long ago, and our\nfamilies lived in the upper stories of the prison. But when all the\nconvicts had left we were afraid to remain, for, should the Potentate\nagain visit the prison, he would be disappointed and enraged at\nfinding no prisoners, and would, probably, punish us grievously. So\nwe determined to follow you, and to ask you to let us go with you,\nwherever you are going. I wrote a report, which I fastened to the\ngreat gate, and in it I stated that sixteen of the convicts escaped\nby the aid of outside confederates, and that seventeen of them\nmutinied in a body and broke jail.\"\n\n\"That report,\" laughed the Jolly-cum-pop, \"your Potentate will not\nreadily understand.\"\n\n\"If I were there,\" said the jailer, \"I could explain it to him; but,\nas it is, he must work it out for himself.\"\n\n\"Have you any thing to eat with you?\" asked the Jolly-cum-pop.\n\n\"Oh, yes,\" said the jailer, \"we brought provisions.\"\n\n\"Well, then, I gladly take you under my protection. Let us have\nsupper. I have had nothing to eat since morning, and the weight of\nsixteen extra suits of clothes does not help to refresh one.\"\n\nThe Jolly-cum-pop and his companions slept that night under some\ntrees, and started off early the next morning. \"If I could only get\nmyself turned in the proper direction,\" said he, \"I believe we should\nsoon reach my house.\"\n\nThe Prince, his courtiers, the boys and girls, the course-marker, and\nthe map-maker worked industriously for several days at the foundation\nof their city. They dug the ground, they carried stones, they cut\ndown trees. This work was very hard for all of them, for they were\nnot used to it. After a few days' labor, the Prince said to the man\nwith the red beard, who was reading his book: \"I think we have now\nformed a nucleus. Any one can see that this is intended to be a\ncity.\"\n\n\"No,\" said the man with the red beard, \"nothing is truly a nucleus\nuntil something is gathered around it. Proceed with your work, while\nI continue my studies upon civil government.\"\n\nToward the close of that day the red-bearded man raised his eyes from\nhis book and beheld the Jolly-cum-pop and his party approaching.\n\"Hurrah!\" he cried, \"we are already attracting settlers!\" And he went\nforth to meet them.\n\nWhen the prince and the courtiers saw the Jolly-cum-pop in his bright\nand variegated dress, they did not know him; but the boys and girls\nsoon recognized his jovial face, and, tired as they were, they set up\na hearty laugh, in which they were loudly joined by their merry\nfriend. While the Jolly-cum-pop was listening to the adventures of\nthe Prince and his companions, and telling what had happened to\nhimself, the man with the red beard was talking to the jailer and his\nparty, and urging them to gather around the nucleus which had been\nhere formed, and help to build a city.\n\n\"Nothing will suit us better,\" exclaimed the jailer, \"and the sooner\nwe build a town wall so as to keep off the Potentate, if he should\ncome this way, the better shall we be satisfied.\"\n\nThe next morning, the Prince said to the red-bearded man: \"Others\nhave gathered around us. We have formed a nucleus, and thus have done\nall that we promised to do. We shall now depart.\"\n\nThe man objected strongly to this, but the Prince paid no attention\nto his words. \"What troubles me most,\" he said to the Jolly-cum-pop,\n\"is the disgraceful condition of our clothes. They have been so torn\nand soiled during our unaccustomed work that they are not fit to be\nseen.\"\n\n\"As for that,\" said the Jolly-cum-pop, \"I have sixteen suits with me,\nin which you can all dress, if you like. They are of unusual\npatterns, but they are new and clean.\"\n\n\"It is better,\" said the Prince, \"for persons in my station to appear\ninordinately gay than to be seen in rags and dirt. We will accept\nyour clothes.\"\n\nThereupon, the Prince and each of the others put on a prison dress of\nbright green and yellow, with large red spots. There were some\ngarments left over, for each boy wore only a pair of trousers with\nthe waistband tied around his neck, and holes cut for his arms; while\nthe large jackets, with the sleeves tucked, made very good dresses\nfor the girls. The Prince and his party, accompanied by the\nJolly-cum-pop, now left the red-bearded man and his new settlers to\ncontinue the building of the city, and set off on their journey. The\ncourse-marker had not been informed the night before that they were\nto go away that morning, and consequently did not set his instrument\nby the stars.\n\n\"As we do not know in which way we should go,\" said the Prince, \"one\nway will be as good as another, and if we can find a road let us take\nit; it will be easier walking.\"\n\nIn an hour or two they found a road and they took it. After\njourneying the greater part of the day, they reached the top of a low\nhill, over which the road ran, and saw before them a glittering sea\nand the spires and houses of a city.\n\n\"It is the city of Yan,\" said the course-marker.\n\n\"That is true,\" said the Prince; \"and as we are so near, we may as\nwell go there.\"\n\nThe astonishment of the people of Yan, when this party, dressed in\nbright green and yellow, with red spots, passed through their\nstreets, was so great that the Jolly-cum-pop roared with laughter.\nThis set the boys and girls and all the people laughing, and the\nsounds of merriment became so uproarious that when they reached the\npalace the King came out to see what was the matter. What he thought\nwhen he saw his nephew in his fantastic guise, accompanied by a party\napparently composed of sixteen other lunatics, cannot now be known;\nbut, after hearing the Prince's story, he took him into an inner\napartment, and thus addressed him: \"My dear Hassak: The next time you\npay me a visit, I beg for your sake and my own, that you will come in\nthe ordinary way. You have sufficiently shown to the world that, when\na Prince desires to travel, it is often necessary for him to go out\nof his way on account of obstacles.\"\n\n\"My dear uncle,\" replied Hassak, \"your words shall not be forgotten.\"\n\nAfter a pleasant visit of a few weeks, the Prince and his party (in\nnew clothes) returned (by sea) to Itoby, whence the Jolly-cum-pop\nsoon repaired to his home. There he found the miners and\nrock-splitters still at work at the tunnel, which had now penetrated\nhalf-way through the hill on which stood his house. \"You may go\nhome,\" he said, \"for the Prince has changed his plans. I will put a\ndoor to this tunnel, and it will make an excellent cellar in which to\nkeep my wine and provisions.\"\n\nThe day after the Prince's return his map-maker said to him: \"Your\nHighness, according to your commands I made, each day, a map of your\nprogress to the city of Yan. Here it is.\"\n\nThe Prince glanced at it and then he cast his eyes upon the floor.\n\"Leave me,\" he said. \"I would be alone.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE MAP OF THE PRINCE'S JOURNEY FROM ITOBY TO YAN.]\n\n\n\n\n\n THE BATTLE OF THE THIRD COUSINS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere were never many persons who could correctly bound the Autocracy\nof Mutjado. The reason for this was that the boundary line was not\nstationary. Whenever the Autocrat felt the need of money, he sent his\ntax-gatherers far and wide, and people who up to that time had no\nidea of such a thing found that they lived in the territory of\nMutjado. But when times were ordinarily prosperous with him, and\npeople in the outlying districts needed protection or public works,\nthe dominion of the Autocrat became very much contracted.\n\nIn the course of time, the Autocrat of Mutjado fell into bad health\nand sent for his doctor. That learned man prescribed some medicine\nfor him; and as this did him no good, he ordered another kind. He\ncontinued this method of treatment until the Autocrat had swallowed\nthe contents of fifteen phials and flasks, some large and some small.\nAs none of these were of the slightest benefit, the learned doctor\nproduced another kind of medicine which he highly extolled.\n\n\"Take a dose of this twice a day,\" said he, \"and you will soon\nfind--\"\n\n\"A new medicine?\" interrupted the Autocrat, in disgust. \"I will have\nnone of it! These others were bad enough, and rather than start with\na new physic, I prefer to die. Take away your bottles, little and\nbig, and send me my secretary.\"\n\nWhen that officer arrived, the Autocrat informed him that he had\ndetermined to write his will, and that he should set about it at\nonce.\n\nThe Autocrat of Mutjado had no son, and his nearest male relatives\nwere a third cousin on his father's side, and another third cousin on\nhis mother's side. Of course these persons were in nowise related to\neach other; and as they lived in distant countries, he had never seen\neither of them. He had made up his mind to leave his throne and\ndominions to one of these persons, but he could not determine which\nof them should be his heir.\n\n\"One has as good a right as the other,\" he said to himself, \"and I\ncan't bother my brains settling the matter for them. Let them fight\nit out, and whoever conquers shall be Autocrat of Mutjado.\"\n\nHaving arranged the affair in this manner in his will, he signed it,\nand soon after died.\n\nThe Autocrat's third cousin on his father's side was a young man of\nabout twenty-five, named Alberdin. He was a good horseman, and\ntrained in the arts of warfare, and when he was informed of the terms\nof his distinguished relative's will, he declared himself perfectly\nwilling to undertake the combat for the throne. He set out for\nMutjado, where he arrived in a reasonable time.\n\nThe third cousin on the mother's side was a very different person. He\nwas a boy of about twelve years of age; and as his father and mother\nhad died when he was very young, he had been for nearly all his life\nunder the charge of an elderly and prudent man, who acted as his\nguardian and tutor. These two, also, soon arrived in Mutjado,--the\nboy, Phedo, being mounted on a little donkey, which was his almost\nconstant companion. As soon as they reached the territory of the late\nAutocrat, old Salim, the tutor, left the boy at an inn, and went\nforward by himself to take a look at the other third cousin. When he\nsaw Alberdin mounted on his fine horse, and looking so strong and\nvaliant, his heart was much disturbed.\n\n\"I had hoped,\" he said to himself, \"that the other one was a small\nboy, but such does not appear to be the case. There is but one way to\nhave a fair fight between these two. They must not now be allowed to\nsee each other. If they can be kept apart until my boy grows up, he\nwill then be able, with the military education which I intend he\nshall have, to engage in combat with any man. They must not meet for\nat least thirteen years. Phedo will then be twenty-five, and able to\ndo worthy combat. To be sure, I am somewhat old myself to undertake\nto superintend so long a delay, but I must do my best to keep well\nand strong, and to attain the greatest possible longevity.\"\n\nSalim had always been in the habit of giving thirty-two chews to\nevery mouthful of meat, and a proportionate number of chews to other\narticles of food; and had, so far, been very healthy. But he now\ndetermined to increase the number of chews to thirty-six, for it\nwould be highly necessary for him to live until it was time for the\nbattle between the third cousins to take place.\n\nHaving made up his mind on these points, the old tutor introduced\nhimself to Alberdin, and told him that he had come to arrange the\nterms of combat.\n\n\"In the first place,\" said Alberdin, \"I should like to know what sort\nof a person my opponent is.\"\n\n\"He is not a cavalryman like you,\" answered Salim; \"he belongs to the\nheavy infantry.\"\n\nAt this, Alberdin looked grave. He knew very well that a stout and\nresolute man on foot had often the advantage of one who is mounted.\nHe would have preferred meeting a horseman, and fighting on equal\nterms.\n\n\"Has he had much experience in war?\" asked the young man.\n\n\"It is not long,\" answered the tutor, \"since he was almost constantly\nin arms, winter and summer.\"\n\n\"He must be a practised warrior,\" thought Alberdin. \"I must put\nmyself in good fighting-trim before I meet him.\"\n\nAfter some further conversation on the subject, the old man advised\nAlberdin to go into camp on a beautiful plain not far from the base\nof a low line of mountains.\n\n\"Your opponent,\" said he, \"will intrench himself in the valley on the\nother side. With the mountains between you, neither of you need fear\na surprise; and when both are ready, a place of meeting can be\nappointed.\n\n\"Now, then,\" said Salim to himself when this had been settled; \"if I\ncan keep them apart for thirteen years, all may be well.\"\n\nAs soon as possible, Alberdin pitched a tent upon the appointed spot,\nand began to take daily warlike exercise in the plain, endeavoring in\nevery way to put himself and his horse into proper condition for the\ncombat.\n\nOn the other side of the mountain, old Salim intrenched himself and\nthe boy, Phedo. He carefully studied several books on military\nengineering, and caused a fortified camp to be constructed on the\nmost approved principles. It was surrounded by high ramparts, and\noutside of these was a moat filled with water. In the centre of the\ncamp was a neat little house which was well provided with books,\nprovisions, and every thing necessary for a prolonged stay. When the\ndrawbridge was up, it would be impossible for Alberdin to get inside\nof the camp; and, moreover, the ramparts were so high that he could\nnot look over them to see what sort of antagonist he was to have. Old\nSalim did not tell the boy why he brought him here to live. It would\nbe better to wait until he was older before informing him of the\nbattle which had been decreed. He told Phedo that it was necessary\nfor him to have a military education, which could very well be\nobtained in a place like this; and he was also very careful to let\nhim know that there was a terrible soldier in that part of the\ncountry who might at any time, if it were not for the intrenchments,\npounce down upon him, and cut him to pieces. Every fine day, Phedo\nwas allowed to take a ride on his donkey outside of the\nfortifications, but during this time, the old tutor kept a strict\nwatch on the mountain; and if a horseman had made his appearance,\nlittle Phedo would have been whisked inside, and the drawbridge would\nhave been up in a twinkling.\n\nAfter about two weeks of this life Phedo found it dreadfully stupid\nto see no one but his old tutor, and never to go outside of these\ngreat ramparts except for donkey-rides, which were generally very\nshort. He therefore determined, late one moonlight night, to go out\nand take a ramble by himself. He was not afraid of the dreadful\nsoldier of whom the old man had told him, because at that time of\nnight this personage would, of course, be in bed and asleep.\nConsidering these things, he quietly dressed himself, took down a\ngreat key from over his sleeping tutor's head, opened the heavy gate,\nlet down the drawbridge, mounted upon his donkey, and rode forth upon\nthe moonlit plain.\n\nThat night-ride was a very delightful one, and for a long time the\nboy and the donkey rambled and ran; first going this way and then\nthat, they gradually climbed the mountain; and, reaching the brow,\nthey trotted about for a while, and then went down the other side.\nThe boy had been so twisted and turned in his course that he did not\nnotice that he was not descending toward his camp, and the donkey,\nwhose instinct told it that it was not going the right way, was also\ntold by its instinct that it did not wish to go the right way, and\nthat the intrenchments offered it no temptations to return. When the\nmorning dawned, Phedo perceived that he was really lost, and he began\nto be afraid that he might meet the terrible soldier. But, after a\ntime, he saw riding toward him a very pleasant-looking young man on a\nhandsome horse, and he immediately took courage.\n\n\"Now,\" said he to himself, \"I am no longer in danger. If that\nhorrible cut-throat should appear, this good gentleman will protect\nme.\"\n\nAlberdin had not seen any one for a long time, and he was very glad\nto meet with so nice a little boy. When Phedo told him that he was\nlost, he invited him to come to his tent, near by, and have\nbreakfast. While they were eating their meal, Alberdin asked the boy\nif in the course of his rambles he had met with a heavy infantry\nsoldier, probably armed to the teeth, and very large and strong.\n\n\"Oh, I've heard of that dreadful man!\" cried Phedo, \"and I am very\nglad that I did not meet him. If he comes, I hope you'll protect me\nfrom him.\"\n\n\"I will do that,\" said Alberdin; \"but I am afraid I shall not be able\nto help you find your way home, for in doing so I should throw myself\noff my guard, and might be set upon unexpectedly by this fellow, with\nwhom I have a regular engagement to fight. There is to be a time\nfixed for the combat, for which I feel myself nearly ready, but I\nhave no doubt that my enemy will be very glad to take me at a\ndisadvantage if I give him a chance.\"\n\nPhedo looked about him with an air of content. The tent was large and\nwell furnished; there seemed to be plenty of good things to eat; the\nhandsome horseman was certainly a very good-humored and agreeable\ngentleman; and, moreover, the tent was not shut in by high and gloomy\nramparts.\n\n\"I do not think you need trouble yourself,\" said he to his host, \"to\nhelp me to find my way home. I live with my tutor, and I am sure that\nwhen he knows I am gone he will begin to search for me, and after\nawhile he will find me. Until then, I can be very comfortable here.\"\n\nFor several days the two third cousins of the Autocrat lived together\nin the tent, and enjoyed each other's society very much. Then\nAlberdin began to grow a little impatient.\n\n\"If I am to fight this heavy infantry man,\" he said; \"I should like\nto do it at once. I am now quite ready, and I think he ought to be. I\nexpected to hear from him before this time, and I shall start out and\nsee if I can get any news of his intentions. I don't care about going\nover the mountain without giving him notice, but the capital city of\nMutjado is only a day's ride to the west, and there I can cause\ninquiries to be made when he would like to meet me, and where.\"\n\n\"I will go with you,\" said Phedo, greatly delighted at the idea of\nvisiting the city.\n\n\"Yes, I will take you,\" said Alberdin. \"Your tutor don't seem\ninclined to come for you, and, of course, I can't leave you here.\"\n\nThe next day, Alberdin on his horse, and Phedo on his donkey, set out\nfor the city, where they arrived late in the afternoon. After finding\na comfortable lodging, Alberdin sent messengers to the other side of\nthe mountain, where his opponent was supposed to be encamped, and\ngave them power to arrange with him for a meeting. He particularly\nurged them to try to see the old man who had come to him at first,\nand who had seemed to be a very fair-minded and sensible person. In\ntwo days, however, the messengers returned, stating that they had\nfound what they supposed to be the intrenched camp of the heavy\ninfantry man they had been sent in search of, but that it was\nentirely deserted, and nobody could be seen anywhere near it.\n\n\"It is very likely,\" said Alberdin, \"that he has watched my\nmanoeuvres and exercises from the top of the mountain, and has\nconcluded to run away. I shall give him a reasonable time to show\nhimself, and then, if he does not come forward, I will consider him\nbeaten, and claim the Autocracy.\"\n\n\"That is a good idea,\" said Phedo, \"but I think, if you can, you\nought to find him and kill him, or drive him out of the country.\nThat's what I should do, if I were you.\"\n\n\"Of course I shall do that, if I can,\" said Alberdin; \"but I could\nnot be expected to wait for him forever.\"\n\nWhen his intention had been proclaimed, Alberdin was informed of\nsomething which he did not know before, and that was that the late\nAutocrat had left an only daughter, a Princess about twenty years\nold. But although she was his daughter, she could not inherit his\ncrown, for the laws of the country forbade that any woman should\nbecome Autocrat. A happy idea now struck Alberdin.\n\n\"I will marry the Princess,\" he said, \"and then every one will think\nthat it is the most suitable thing for me to become Autocrat.\"\n\nSo Alberdin sent to the Princess to ask permission to speak with her,\nand was granted an audience. With much courtesy and politeness he\nmade known his plans to the lady, and hoped that she would consider\nit advisable to marry him.\n\n\"I am sorry to interfere with any of your arrangements,\" said the\nPrincess, \"but as soon as I heard the terms of my father's will, I\nmade up my mind to marry the victor in the contest. As I cannot\ninherit the throne myself, the next best thing is to be the wife of\nthe man who does. Go forth, then, and find your antagonist, and when\nyou have conquered him, I will marry you.\"\n\n\"And if he conquers me, you will marry him?\" said Alberdin.\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" answered the Princess, with a smile, and dismissed him.\n\nIt was plain enough that there was nothing for Alberdin to do but to\ngo and look for the heavy infantry man. Phedo was very anxious to\naccompany him, and the two, mounted as before, set out from the city\non their quest.\n\nWhen old Salim, the tutor of Phedo, awoke in the morning and found\nthe boy gone, he immediately imagined that the youngster had ran away\nto his old home; so he set forth with all possible speed, hoping to\novertake him. But when he reached the distant town where Phedo had\nlived, he found that the boy had not been there; and after taking\nsome needful rest, he retraced his steps, crossed the mountains, and\nmade his way toward the capital city, hoping to find news of him\nthere. It was necessary for him to be very careful in his inquiries,\nfor he wished no one to find out that the little boy he was looking\nfor was the third cousin of the late Autocrat on the mother's side.\nHe therefore disguised himself as a migratory medical man, and\ndetermined to use all possible caution. When he reached the camp of\nthe young horseman, Alberdin, and found that personage gone, his\nsuspicions became excited.\n\n\"If these two have run off together,\" he said to himself, \"my task is\nindeed difficult. If the man discovers it is the boy he has to fight,\nmy poor Phedo will be cut to pieces in a twinkling. I do not believe\nthere has been any trouble yet, for the boy does not know that he is\nto be one of the combatants, and the man would not be likely to\nsuspect it. Come what may, the fight must not take place for thirteen\nyears. And in order that I may still better preserve my health and\nstrength to avert the calamity during that period, I will increase my\nnumber of chews to forty-two to each mouthful of meat.\"\n\nWhen old Salim reached the city, he soon found that Alberdin and the\nboy had been there, and that they had gone away together.\n\n\"Nothing has happened so far,\" said the old man, with a sigh of\nrelief; \"and things may turn out all right yet. I'll follow them, but\nI must first find out what that cavalryman had to say to the\nPrincess.\" For he had been told of the interview at the palace.\n\nIt was not long before the migratory medical man was brought to the\nPrincess. There was nothing the matter with her, but she liked to\nmeet with persons of skill and learning to hear what they had to say.\n\n\"Have you any specialty?\" she asked of the old man.\n\n\"Yes,\" said he, \"I am a germ-doctor.\"\n\n\"What is that?\" asked the Princess.\n\n\"All diseases,\" replied the old man, \"come from germs; generally very\nlittle ones. My business is to discover these, and find out all about\nthem.\"\n\n\"Then I suppose,\" said the Princess, \"you know how to cure the\ndiseases?\"\n\n\"You must not expect too much,\" answered the old man. \"It ought to be\na great satisfaction to us to know what sort of germ is at the bottom\nof our woes.\"\n\n\"I am very well, myself,\" said the Princess, \"and, so far as I know,\nnone of my household are troubled by germs. But there is something\nthe matter with my mind which I wish you could relieve.\" She then\ntold the old man how she had determined to marry the victor in the\ncontest for her father's throne, and how she had seen one for the\nclaimants whom she considered to be a very agreeable and deserving\nyoung man; while the other, she had heard, was a great, strong foot\nsoldier, who was probably very disagreeable, and even horrid. If this\none should prove the conqueror, she did not know what she should do.\n\"You see, I am in a great deal of trouble,\" said she. \"Can you do any\nthing to help me?\"\n\nThe pretending migratory medical man looked at her attentively for a\nfew moments, and then he said:\n\n\"The reason why you intend to marry the victor in the coming contest,\nis that you wish to remain here in your father's palace, and to\ncontinue to enjoy the comforts and advantages to which you have been\naccustomed.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Princess; \"that is it.\"\n\n\"Well, having discovered the germ of your disorder,\" said the old\nman, \"the great point is gained. I will see what I can do.\"\n\nAnd with a respectful bow he left her presence.\n\n\"Well,\" said old Salim to himself, as he went away, \"she can never\nmarry my boy, for that is certainly out of the question; but now that\nI have found out her motive, I think I can arrange matters\nsatisfactorily, so far as she is concerned. But to settle the affair\nbetween that young man and Phedo is immensely more difficult. The\nfirst thing is to find them.\"\n\nHaving learned the way they had gone, the old tutor travelled\ndiligently, and in two days came up with Alberdin and Phedo. When he\nfirst caught sight of them, he was very much surprised to see that\nthey were resting upon the ground quite a long distance apart, with a\nlittle stream between them. Noticing that Alberdin's back was toward\nhim, he threw off his disguise and hastened to Phedo. The boy\nreceived him with the greatest delight, and, after many embraces,\nthey sat down to talk. Phedo told the old man all that had happened,\nand finished by relating that, as they had that day stopped by this\nstream to rest, Alberdin had taken it into his head to inquire into\nthe parentage of his young companion; and after many questions about\nhis family, it had been made clear to both of them that they were the\ntwo third cousins who were to fight for the Autocracy of Mutjado.\n\n\"He is very angry,\" said the boy, \"at the tricks that have been\nplayed upon him, and went off and left me. Is it true that I am to\nfight him? I don't want to do it, for I like him very much.\"\n\n\"It will be a long time before you are old enough to fight,\" said\nSalim; \"so we need not consider that. You stay here, and I'll go over\nand talk to him.\"\n\nSalim then crossed the stream, and approached Alberdin. When the\nyoung man saw him, and recognized him as the person who had arranged\nthe two encampments, he turned upon him with fury.\n\n\"Wretched old man, who came to me as the emissary of my antagonist,\nyou are but the tutor of that boy! If I had known the truth at first,\nI would have met him instantly; would have conquered him without\nhurting a hair on his head; and carrying him bound to the capital\ncity, would have claimed the Autocracy, and would now have been\nsitting upon the throne. Instead of that, look at the delay and\nannoyance to which I have been subjected. I have also taken such a\nfancy to the boy that rather than hurt him or injure his prospects, I\nwould willingly resign my pretensions to the throne, and go back\ncontentedly to my own city. But this cannot now be done. I have\nfallen in love with the daughter of the late Autocrat, and she will\nmarry none but the victorious claimant. Behold to what a condition\nyou have brought me!\"\n\nThe old man regarded him with attention.\n\n\"I wish very much,\" said he, \"to defer the settlement of this matter\nfor thirteen years. Are you willing to wait so long?\"\n\n\"No, I am not,\" said Alberdin.\n\n\"Very well, then,\" said the old man, \"each third cousin must retire\nto his camp, and as soon as matters can be arranged the battle must\ntake place.\"\n\n\"There is nothing else to be done,\" said Alberdin in a troubled\nvoice; \"but I shall take care that the boy receives no injury if it\ncan possibly be avoided.\"\n\nThe three now retraced their steps, and in a few days were settled\ndown, Alberdin in his tent in the plain, and Salim and Phedo in their\nintrenchments on the other side of the low mountain. The old man now\ngave himself up to deep thought. He had discovered the germ of\nAlberdin's trouble; and in a few days he had arranged his plans, and\nwent over to see the young man.\n\n\"It has been determined,\" said he, \"that a syndicate is to be formed\nto attend to this business for Phedo.\"\n\n\"A syndicate!\" cried Alberdin. \"What is that?\"\n\n\"A syndic,\" answered Salim, \"is a person who attends to business for\nothers; and a syndicate is a body of men who are able to conduct\ncertain affairs better than any individual can do it. In a week from\nto-day, Phedo's syndicate will meet you in the large plain outside of\nthe capital city. There the contest will take place. Shall you be\nready?\"\n\n\"I don't exactly understand it,\" said Alberdin, \"but I shall be\nthere.\"\n\nGeneral notice was given of the coming battle of the contestants for\nthe throne, and thousands of the inhabitants of the Autocracy\nassembled on the plain on the appointed day. The Princess with her\nladies was there; and as everybody was interested, everybody was\nanxious to see what would happen.\n\nAlberdin rode into the open space in the centre of the plain, and\ndemanded that his antagonist should appear. Thereupon old Salim came\nforward, leading Phedo by the hand.\n\n\"This is the opposing heir,\" he said; \"but as every one can see that\nhe is too young to fight a battle, a syndicate has been appointed to\nattend to the matter for him; and there is nothing in the will of the\nlate Autocrat which forbids this arrangement. The syndicate will now\nappear.\"\n\nAt this command there came into the arena a horseman heavily armed, a\ntall foot soldier completely equipped for action, an artilleryman\nwith a small cannon on wheels, a sailor with a boarding-pike and a\ndrawn cutlass, and a soldier with a revolving gun which discharged\none hundred and twenty balls a minute.\n\n\"All being ready,\" exclaimed Salim, \"the combat for the Autocracy\nwill begin!\"\n\nAlberdin took a good long look at the syndicate ranged before him.\nThen he dismounted from his horse, drew his sword, and stuck it,\npoint downward, into the sand.\n\n\"I surrender!\" he said.\n\n\"So do I!\" cried the Princess, running toward him, and throwing\nherself into his arms.\n\nThe eyes of Alberdin sparkled with joy.\n\n\"Let the Autocracy go!\" he cried. \"Now that I have my Princess, the\nthrone and the crown are nothing to me.\"\n\n\"So long as I have you,\" returned the Princess, \"I am content to\nresign all the comforts and advantages to which I have been\naccustomed.\"\n\nPhedo, who had been earnestly talking with his tutor, now looked up.\n\n\"You shall not resign any thing!\" he cried. \"We are all of the same\nblood, and we will join together and form a royal family, and we will\nall live at the palace. Alberdin and my tutor shall manage the\ngovernment for me until I am grown up; and if I have to go to school\nfor a few years, I suppose I must. And that is all there is about\nit!\"\n\nThe syndicate was now ordered to retire and disband; the heralds\nproclaimed Phedo the conquering heir, and the people cheered and\nshouted with delight. All the virtues of the late Autocrat had come\nto him from his mother, and the citizens of Mutjado much preferred to\nhave a new ruler from the mother's family.\n\n\"I hope you bear no grudge against me,\" said Salim to Alberdin; \"but\nif you had been willing to wait for thirteen years, you and Phedo\nmight have fought on equal terms. As it is now, it would have been as\nhard for him to conquer you, as for you to conquer the syndicate. The\nodds would have been quite as great.\"\n\n\"Don't mention it,\" said Alberdin. \"I prefer things as they are. I\nshould have hated to drive the boy away, and deprive him of a\nposition which the people wish him to have. Now we are all\nsatisfied.\"\n\nPhedo soon began to show signs that he would probably make a very\ngood Autocrat. He declared that if he was to be assisted by ministers\nand cabinet officers when he came to the throne, he would like them\nto be persons who had been educated for their positions, just as he\nwas to be educated for his own. Consequently he chose for the head of\nhis cabinet a bright and sensible boy, and had him educated as a\nMinister of State. For Minister of Finance, he chose another boy with\na very honest countenance, and for the other members of his cabinet,\nsuitable youths were selected. He also said, that he thought there\nought to be another officer, one who would be a sort of Minister of\nGeneral Comfort, who would keep an eye on the health and happiness of\nthe subjects, and would also see that every thing went all right in\nthe palace, not only in regard to meals, but lots of other things.\nFor this office he chose a bright young girl, and had her educated\nfor the position of Queen.\n\n\n\n\n\n THE BANISHED KING.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere was once a kingdom in which every thing seemed to go wrong.\nEverybody knew this, and everybody talked about it, especially the\nKing. The bad state of affairs troubled him more than it did any one\nelse, but he could think of no way to make them better.\n\n\"I cannot bear to see things going on so badly,\" he said to the Queen\nand his chief councillors. \"I wish I knew how other kingdoms were\ngoverned.\"\n\nOne of his councillors offered to go to some other countries, and see\nhow they were governed, and come back and tell him all about it, but\nthis did not suit his majesty.\n\n\"You would simply return,\" he said, \"and give me your ideas about\nthings. I want my own ideas.\"\n\nThe Queen then suggested that he should take a vacation, and visit\nother kingdoms, and see for himself how things were managed in them.\n\nThis did not suit the king. \"A vacation would not answer,\" he said.\n\"I should not be gone a week before something would happen here which\nwould make it necessary for me to come back.\"\n\nThe Queen then suggested that he be banished for a certain time, say\na year. In that case he could not come back, and would be at full\nliberty to visit foreign kingdoms, and find out how they were\ngoverned.\n\nThis plan pleased the King. \"If it were made impossible for me to\ncome back,\" he said, \"of course I could not do it. The scheme is a\ngood one. Let me be banished.\" And he gave orders that his council\nshould pass a law banishing him for one year.\n\nPreparations were immediately begun to carry out this plan, and in\nday or two the King bade farewell to the Queen, and left his kingdom,\na banished man. He went away on foot, entirely unattended. But, as he\ndid not wish to cut off all communication between himself and his\nkingdom, he made an arrangement which he thought a very good one. At\neasy shouting distance behind him walked one of the officers of the\ncourt, and at shouting distance behind him walked another, and so on\nat distances of about a hundred yards from each other. In this way\nthere would always be a line of men extending from the King to his\npalace. Whenever the King had walked a hundred yards the line moved\non after him, and another officer was put in the gap between the last\nman and the palace door. Thus, as the King walked on, his line of\nfollowers lengthened, and was never broken. Whenever he had any\nmessage to send to the Queen, or any other person in the palace, he\nshouted it to the officer next him, who shouted it to the one next to\nhim, and it was so passed on until it reached the palace. If he\nneeded food, clothes, or any other necessary thing, the order for it\nwas shouted along the line, and the article was passed to him from\nman to man, each one carrying it forward to his neighbor, and then\nretiring to his proper place.\n\nIn this way the King walked on day by day until he had passed\nentirely out of his own kingdom. At night he stopped at some\nconvenient house on the road, and if any of his followers did not\nfind himself near a house or cottage when the King shouted back the\norder to halt, he laid himself down to sleep wherever he might be. By\nthis time the increasing line of followers had used up all the\nofficers of the court, and it became necessary to draw upon some of\nthe under government officers in order to keep the line perfect.\n\nThe King had not gone very far outside the limits of his dominions\nwhen he met a Sphinx. He had often heard of these creatures, although\nhe had never seen one before. But when he saw the winged body of a\nlion with a woman's head, he knew instantly what it was. He knew,\nalso, that the chief business of a Sphinx was that of asking people\nquestions, and then getting them into trouble if the right answers\nwere not given. He therefore determined that he would not be caught\nby any such tricks as these, and that he would be on his guard if the\nSphinx spoke to him. The creature was lying down when the King first\nsaw it, but when he approached nearer it rose to its feet. There was\nnothing savage about its look, and the King was not at all afraid.\n\n\"Where are you going?\" said the Sphinx to him, in a pleasant voice.\n\n\"Give it up,\" replied the King.\n\n\"What do you mean by that?\" said the other, with an air of surprise.\n\n\"I give that up, too,\" said the King.\n\nThe Sphinx then looked at him quite astonished.\n\n\"I don't mind telling you,\" said the King, \"of my own free will, and\nnot in answer to any questions, that I do not know where I am going.\nI am a King, as you may have noticed, and I have been banished from\nmy kingdom for a year. I am now going to look into the government of\nother countries in order that I may find out what it is that is wrong\nin my own kingdom. Every thing goes badly, and there is something\nvery faulty at the bottom of it all. What this is I want to\ndiscover.\"\n\n\"I am much interested in puzzles and matters of that kind,\" said the\nSphinx, \"and if you like I will go with you and help to find out what\nis wrong in your kingdom.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said the King. \"I shall be glad of your company.\"\n\n\"What is the meaning of this long line of people following you at\nregular distances?\" asked the Sphinx.\n\n\"Give it up,\" said the King.\n\nThe Sphinx laughed.\n\n\"I don't mind telling you,\" said the King, \"of my own free will, and\nnot in answer to any question, that these men form a line of\ncommunication between me and my kingdom, where matters, I fear, must\nbe going on worse than ever, in my absence.\"\n\nThe two now travelled on together until they came to a high hill,\nfrom which they could see, not very far away, a large city.\n\n\"That city,\" said the Sphinx, \"is the capital of an extensive\ncountry. It is governed by a king of mingled sentiments. Suppose we\ngo there. I think you will find a government that is rather\npeculiar.\"\n\nThe King consented, and they walked down the hill toward the city.\n\n\"How did the King get his sentiments mingled?\" asked the King.\n\n\"I really don't know how it began,\" said the Sphinx, \"but the King,\nwhen a young man, had so many sentiments of different kinds, and he\nmingled them up so much, that no one could ever tell exactly what he\nthought on any particular subject. Of course, his people gradually\ngot into the same frame of mind, and you never can know in this\nkingdom exactly what people think or what they are going to do. You\nwill find all sorts of people here: giants, dwarfs, fairies, gnomes,\nand personages of that kind, who have been drawn here by the mingled\nsentiments of the people. I, myself, came into these parts because\nthe people every now and then take a great fancy to puzzles and\nriddles.\"\n\nOn entering the city, the King was cordially welcomed by his brother\nsovereign, to whom he told his story; and he was lodged in a room in\nthe palace. Such of his followers as came within the limits of the\ncity were entertained by the persons near to whose houses they found\nthemselves when the line halted.\n\nEvery day the Sphinx went with him to see the sights of this strange\ncity. They took long walks through the streets, and sometimes into\nthe surrounding country--always going one way and returning another,\nthe Sphinx being very careful never to bring the King back by the\nsame road or street by which they went. In this way the King's line\nof followers, which, of course, lengthened out every time he took a\nwalk, came to be arranged in long loops through many parts of the\ncity and suburbs.\n\nMany of the things the King saw showed plainly the mingled sentiments\nof the people. For instance, he would one day visit a great smith's\nshop, where heavy masses of iron were being forged, the whole place\nresounding with tremendous blows from heavy hammers, and the clank\nand din of iron on the anvils; while the next day he would find the\nplace transformed into a studio, where the former blacksmith was\npainting dainty little pictures on the delicate surface of\negg-shells. The king of the country, in his treatment of his visitor,\nshowed his peculiar nature very plainly. Sometimes he would receive\nhim with enthusiastic delight, while at others he would upbraid him\nwith having left his dominions to go wandering around the earth in\nthis senseless way. One day his host invited him to attend a royal\ndinner, but, when he went to the grand dining-hall, pleased with\nanticipations of a splendid feast, he found that the sentiments of\nhis majesty had become mingled, and that he had determined, instead\nof having a dinner, to conduct the funeral services of one of his\nservants who had died the day before. All the guests were obliged by\npoliteness to remain during the ceremonies, which our King, not\nhaving been acquainted with the deceased servant, had not found at\nall interesting.\n\n\"Now,\" said the King to the Sphinx, \"I am in favor of moving on. I am\ntired of this place, where every sentiment is so mingled with others\nthat you can never tell what anybody really thinks or feels. I don't\nbelieve any one in this country was ever truly glad or sorry. They\nmix one sentiment so quickly with another that they never can\ndiscover the actual ingredients of any of their impulses.\"\n\n\"When this King first began to mingle his sentiments,\" said the\nSphinx, \"it was because he always desired to think and feel exactly\nright. He did not wish his feelings to run too much one way or the\nother.\"\n\n\"And so he is never either right or wrong,\" said the King. \"I don't\nlike that, at all. I want to be one thing or the other.\"\n\n\"I have wasted a good deal of time at this place,\" remarked the King,\nas they walked on, \"and I have seen and heard nothing which I wish to\nteach my people. But I must find out some way to prevent every thing\ngoing wrong in my kingdom. I have tried plan after plan, and\nsometimes two or three together, and have kept this up year after\nyear, and yet nothing seems to do my kingdom any good.\"\n\n\"Have you heard how things are going on there now?\" asked the Sphinx.\n\n\"Give it up,\" said the King. \"But I don't mind saying of my own\naccord, and not as answer to any question, that I have sent a good\nmany communications to my Queen, but have never received any from\nher. So I do not know how things are going on in my kingdom.\"\n\nThey then travelled on, the long line of followers coming after,\nkeeping their relative positions a hundred yards apart, and passing\nover all the ground the King had traversed in his circuitous walks\nabout the city. Thus the line crept along like an enormous snake in\nstraight lines, loops, and coils; and every time the King walked a\nhundred yards a fresh man from his capital city was obliged to take\nhis place at the tail of the procession.\n\n\"By the way,\" said the Sphinx, after they had walked an hour or more,\n\"if you want to see a kingdom where there really is something to\nlearn, you ought to go to the country of the Gaumers, which we are\nnow approaching.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said the King. \"Let us go there.\"\n\nIn the course of the afternoon they reached the edge of a high bluff.\n\"On the level ground, beneath this precipice,\" said the Sphinx, \"is\nthe country of the dwarfs called Gaumers. You can sit on the edge of\nthe bluff and look down upon it.\"\n\nThe King and the Sphinx then sat down, and looked out from the edge\nover the country of the little people. The officer of the court who\nhad formed the head of the line wished very much to see what they\nwere looking at, but, when the line halted, he was not near enough.\n\n\"You will notice,\" said the Sphinx, \"that the little houses and huts\nare gathered together in clusters. Each one of these clusters is\nunder a separate king.\"\n\n\"Why don't they all live under one ruler?\" asked the King. \"That is\nthe proper way.\"\n\n\"They do not think so,\" said the Sphinx. \"In each of these clusters\nlive the Gaumers who are best suited to each other; and, if any\nGaumer finds he cannot get along in one cluster, he goes to another.\nThe kings are chosen from among the very best of them, and each one\nis always very anxious to please his subjects. He knows that every\nthing that he, and his queen, and his children eat, or drink, or\nwear, or have must be given to him by his subjects, and if it were\nnot for them he could not be their ruler. And so he does every thing\nthat he can to make them happy and contented, for he knows if he does\nnot please them and govern them well, they will gradually drop off\nfrom him and go to other clusters, and he will be left without any\npeople or any kingdom.\"\n\n\"That is a very queer way of ruling,\" said the King. \"I think the\npeople ought to try to please their sovereign.\"\n\n\"He is only one, and they are a great many,\" said the Sphinx.\n\"Consequently they are much more important. No subject is ever\nallowed to look down upon a king, simply because he helps to feed and\nclothe him, and send his children to school. If any one does a thing\nof this kind, he is banished until he learns better.\"\n\n\"All that may be very well for Gaumers,\" said the King, \"but I can\nlearn nothing from a government like that, where every thing seems to\nbe working in an opposite direction from what everybody knows is\nright and proper. A king anxious to deserve the good opinion of his\nsubjects! What nonsense! It ought to be just the other way. The ideas\nof this people are as dwarfish as their bodies.\"\n\nThe King now arose and took up the line of march, turning away from\nthe country of the Gaumers. But he had not gone more than two or\nthree hundred yards before he received a message from the Queen. It\ncame to him very rapidly, every man in the line seeming anxious to\nshout it to the man ahead of him as quickly as possible. The message\nwas to the effect that he must either stop where he was or come home:\nhis constantly lengthening line of communication had used up all the\nchief officers of the government, all the clerks in the departments,\nand all the officials of every grade, excepting the few who were\nactually needed to carry on the government, and if any more men went\ninto the line it would be necessary to call upon the laborers and\nother persons who could not be spared.\n\n\"I think,\" said the Sphinx, \"that you have made your line long\nenough.\"\n\n\"And I think,\" said the King. \"that you made it a great deal longer\nthan it need to have been, by taking me about in such winding ways.\"\n\n\"It may be so,\" said the Sphinx, with its mystic smile.\n\n\"Well, I am not going to stop here,\" said the King, \"and so I might\nas well go back as soon as I can.\" And he shouted to the head man of\nthe line to pass on the order that his edict of banishment be\nrevoked.\n\nIn a very short time the news came that the edict was revoked. The\nKing then commanded that the procession return home, tail-end\nforemost. The march was at once begun, each man, as he reached the\ncity, going immediately to his home and family.\n\nThe King and the greater part of the line had a long and weary\njourney, as they followed each other through the country and over the\ndevious ways in which the Sphinx had led them in the City of Mingled\nSentiments. The King was obliged to pursue all these complicated\nturnings, or be separated from his officers, and so break up his\ncommunication with his palace. The Sphinx accompanied him.\n\nWhen at last, he reached his palace, his line of former followers\nhaving apparently melted entirely away, he hurried up-stairs to the\nQueen, leaving the Sphinx in the court-yard.\n\nThe King found, when he had time to look into the affairs of his\ndominions, that every thing was in the most admirable condition. The\nQueen had retained a few of the best officials to carry on the\ngovernment, and had ordered the rest to fall, one by one, into the\nline of communication. The King set himself to work to think about\nthe matter. It was not long before he came to the conclusion that the\nmain thing which had been wrong in his kingdom was himself. He was so\ngreatly impressed with this idea that he went down to the court-yard\nto speak to the Sphinx about it.\n\n\"I dare say you are right,\" said the Sphinx, \"and I don't wonder that\nwhat you learned when you were away, and what you have seen since you\ncame back, have made you feel certain that you were the cause of\nevery thing going wrong in this kingdom. And now, what do you intend\nto do about your government?\"\n\n\"Give it up,\" promptly replied the King.\n\n\"That is exactly what I should advise,\" said the Sphinx.\n\nThe King did give up his kingdom. He was convinced that being a King\nwas exactly the thing he was not suited for, and that he would get on\nmuch better in some other business or profession. He determined to be\na traveller and explorer, and to go abroad into other countries to\nfind out things that might be useful to his own nation. His Queen had\nshown that she could govern the country most excellently, and it was\nnot at all necessary for him to stay at home. She had ordered all the\nmen who had made up his line to follow the King's example and to go\ninto some good business; in order that not being bothered with so\nmany officers, she would be able to get along quite easily.\n\nThe King was very successful in his new pursuit, and although he did\nnot this time have a line of followers connecting him with the\npalace, he frequently sent home messages which were of use and value\nto his nation.\n\n\"I may as well retire,\" said the Sphinx to itself. \"As the King has\nfound his vocation and every thing is going all right it is not\nnecessary I should remain where I may be looked upon as a\nquestionable personage.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n THE PHILOPENA.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere were once a Prince and a Princess who, when quite young, ate a\nphilopena together. They agreed that the one who, at any hour after\nsunrise the next day, should accept any thing from the other--the\ngiver at the same time saying \"Philopena!\"--should be the loser, and\nthat the loser should marry the other.\n\nThey did not meet as soon as they had expected the next day; and at\nthe time our story begins, many years had elapsed since they had seen\neach other, and the Prince and the Princess were nearly grown up.\nThey often thought of the philopena they had eaten together, and\nwondered if they should know each other when they met. He remembered\nher as a pretty little girl dressed in green silk and playing with a\nsnow-white cat; while she remembered him as a handsome boy, wearing a\nlittle sword, the handle of which was covered with jewels. But they\nknew that each must have changed a great deal in all this time.\n\nNeither of these young people had any parents; the Prince lived with\nguardians and the Princess with uncles.\n\nThe guardians of the Prince were very enterprising and energetic men,\nand were allowed to govern the country until the Prince came of age.\nThe capital city was a very fine city when the old king died; but the\nguardians thought it might be much finer, so they set to work with\nall their might and main to improve it. They tore down old houses and\nmade a great many new streets; they built grand and splendid bridges\nover the river on which the city stood; they constructed aqueducts to\nbring water from streams many miles away; and they were at work all\nthe time upon some extensive building enterprise.\n\nThe Prince did not take much interest in the works which were going\non under direction of his guardians; and when he rode out, he\npreferred to go into the country or to ride through some of the\nquaint old streets, where nothing had been changed for hundreds of\nyears.\n\nThe uncles of the Princess were very different people from the\nguardians of the Prince. There were three of them, and they were very\nquiet and cosey old men, who disliked any kind of bustle or\ndisturbance, and wished that every thing might remain as they had\nalways known it. It even worried them a little to find that the\nPrincess was growing up. They would have much preferred that she\nshould remain exactly as she was when they first took charge of her.\nThen they never would have been obliged to trouble their minds about\nany changes in the manner of taking care of her. But they did not\nworry their minds very much, after all. They wished to make her\nguardianship as little laborious or exhausting as possible, and so,\ndivided the work; one of them took charge of her education, another\nof her food and lodging, and the third of her dress. The first sent\nfor teachers, and told them to teach her; the second had handsome\napartments prepared for her use, and gave orders that she should have\nevery thing she needed to eat and drink; while the third commanded\nthat she should have a complete outfit of new clothes four times a\nyear. Thus every thing went on very quietly and smoothly; and the\nthree uncles were not obliged to exhaust themselves by hard work.\nThere were never any new houses built in that city, and if any thing\nhad to be repaired, it was done with as little noise and dirt as\npossible. The city and the whole kingdom were quiet and serene, and\nthe three uncles dozed away most of the day in three great\ncomfortable thrones.\n\nEverybody seemed satisfied with this state of things except the\nPrincess. She often thought to herself that nothing would be more\ndelightful than a little noise and motion, and she wondered if the\nwhole world were as quiet as the city in which she lived. At last,\nshe became unable to bear the dreadful stillness of the place any\nlonger; but she could think of nothing to do but to go and try to\nfind the Prince with whom she had eaten a philopena. If she should\nwin, he must marry her; and then, perhaps, they could settle down in\nsome place where things would be bright and lively. So, early one\nmorning, she put on her white dress, and mounting her prancing black\nhorse, she rode away from the city. Only one person saw her go, for\nnearly all the people were asleep.\n\nAbout this time, the Prince made up his mind that he could no longer\nstand the din and confusion, the everlasting up-setting and\nsetting-up in his native city. He would go away, and see if he could\nfind the Princess with whom he had eaten a philopena. If he should\nwin, she would be obliged to marry him; and then, perhaps, they could\nsettle down in some place where it was quiet and peaceful. So, on the\nsame morning in which the Princess rode away, he put on a handsome\nsuit of black clothes, and mounting a gentle white horse, he rode out\nof the city. Only one person saw him go; for, even at that early\nhour, the people were so busy that little attention was paid to his\nmovements.\n\nAbout half way between these two cities, in a tall tower which stood\nupon a hill, there lived an Inquisitive Dwarf, whose whole object in\nlife was to find out what people were doing and why they did it. From\nthe top of this tower he generally managed to see all that was going\non in the surrounding country; and in each of the two cities that\nhave been mentioned he had an agent, whose duty it was to send him\nword, by means of carrier pigeons, whenever a new thing happened.\nBefore breakfast, on the morning when the Prince and Princess rode\naway, a pigeon from the city of the Prince came flying to the tower\nof the Inquisitive Dwarf.\n\n\"Some new building started, I suppose,\" said the Dwarf, as he took\nthe little roll of paper from under the pigeon's wing. \"But no; it is\nvery different! 'The Prince has ridden away from the city alone, and\nis travelling to the north.'\"\n\nBut before he could begin to puzzle his brains about the meaning of\nthis departure, another pigeon came flying in from the city of the\nPrincess.\n\n\"Well!\" cried the Dwarf, \"this is amazing! It is a long time since I\nhave had a message from that city, and my agent has been drawing his\nsalary without doing any work. What possibly can have happened\nthere?\"\n\nWhen he read that the Princess had ridden alone from the city that\nmorning, and was travelling to the south, he was truly amazed.\n\n\"What on earth can it mean?\" he exclaimed. \"If the city of the Prince\nwere to the south of that of the Princess, then I might understand\nit; for they would be going to see each other, and that would be\nnatural enough. But as his city is to the north of her city, they are\ntravelling in opposite directions. And what is the meaning of this? I\nmost certainly must find out.\"\n\nThe Inquisitive Dwarf had three servants whom he employed to attend\nto his most important business. These were a Gryphoness, a Water\nSprite, and an Absolute Fool. This last one was very valuable; for\nthere were some things he would do which no one else would think of\nattempting. The Dwarf called to him the Gryphoness, the oldest and\nmost discreet of the three, and told her of the departure of the\nPrincess.\n\n\"Hasten southward,\" he said, \"as fast as you can, and follow her, and\ndo not return to me until you have found out why she left her city,\nwhere she is going, and what she expects to do when she gets there.\nYour appearance may frighten her; and, therefore, you must take with\nyou the Absolute Fool, to whom she will probably be willing to talk;\nbut you must see that every thing is managed properly.\"\n\nHaving despatched these two, the Inquisitive Dwarf then called the\nWater Sprite, who was singing to herself at the edge of a fountain,\nand telling her of the departure of the Prince, ordered her to follow\nhim, and not to return until she had found out why he left his city,\nwhere he was going, and what he intended to do when he got there.\n\n\"The road to the north,\" he said, \"lies along the river bank;\ntherefore, you can easily keep him company.\"\n\nThe Water Sprite bowed, and dancing over the dewy grass to the river,\nthrew herself into it. Sometimes she swam beneath the clear water;\nsometimes she rose partly in the air, where she seemed like a little\ncloud of sparkling mist borne onward by the wind; and sometimes she\nfloated upon the surface, her pale blue robes undulating with the\ngentle waves, while her white hands and feet shone in the sun like\ntiny crests of foam. Thus, singing to herself, she went joyously and\nrapidly on, aided by a full, strong wind from the south. She did not\nforget to glance every now and then upon the road which ran along the\nriver bank; and, in the course of the morning, she perceived the\nPrince. He was sitting in the shade of a tree near the water's edge,\nwhile his white horse was grazing near by.\n\nThe Water Sprite came very gently out of the river, and seating\nherself upon the edge of the grassy bank, she spoke to him. The\nPrince looked up in astonishment, but there was nothing in her\nappearance to frighten him.\n\n\"I came,\" said the Water Sprite, \"at the command of my master, to ask\nyou why you left your city, where you are going, and what you intend\nto do when you get there.\"\n\nThe Prince then told her why he had left his city, and what he\nintended to do when he had found the Princess.\n\n\"But where I am going,\" he said, \"I do not know, myself. I must\ntravel and travel until I succeed in the object of my search.\"\n\nThe Water Sprite reflected for a moment, and then she said:\n\n\"If I were you, I would not travel to the north. It is cold and\ndreary there, and your Princess would not dwell in such a region. A\nlittle above us, on the other side of this river, there is a stream\nwhich runs sometimes to the east and sometimes to the south, and\nwhich leads to the Land of the Lovely Lakes. This is the most\nbeautiful country in the world, and you will be much more likely to\nfind your Princess there than among the desolate mountains of the\nnorth.\"\n\n\"I dare say you are right,\" said the Prince; \"and I will go there, if\nyou will show me the way.\"\n\n\"The road runs along the bank of the river,\" said the Water Sprite;\n\"and we shall soon reach the Land of the Lovely Lakes.\"\n\nThe Prince then mounted his horse, forded the river, and was soon\nriding along the bank of the stream, while the Water Sprite gayly\nfloated upon its dancing ripples.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the Gryphoness started southward, in pursuit of the Princess,\nshe kept out of sight among the bushes by the roadside; but sped\nswiftly along. The Absolute Fool, however, mounted upon a fine horse,\nrode boldly along upon the open road. He was a good-looking youth,\nwith rosy cheeks, bright eyes, and a handsome figure. As he cantered\ngayly along, he felt himself capable of every noble action which the\nhuman mind has ever conceived. The Gryphoness kept near him, and in\nthe course of the morning they overtook the Princess, who was\nallowing her horse to walk in the shade by the roadside. The Absolute\nFool dashed up to her, and, taking off his hat, asked her why she had\nleft her city, where she was going, and what she intended to do when\nshe got there.\n\nThe Princess looked at him in surprise. \"I left my city because I\nwanted to,\" she said. \"I am going about my business, and when I get\nto the proper place, I shall attend to it.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said the Absolute Fool, \"you refuse me your confidence, do you?\nBut allow me to remark that I have a Gryphoness with me who is very\nfrightful to look at, and whom it was my intention to keep in the\nbushes; but if you will not give fair answers to my questions, she\nmust come out and talk to you, and that is all there is about it.\"\n\n\"If there is a Gryphoness in the bushes,\" said the Princess, \"let her\ncome out. No matter how frightful she is, I would rather she should\ncome where I can see her, than to have her hiding near me.\"\n\nThe Gryphoness, who had heard these words, now came out into the\nroad. The horse of the Princess reared in affright, but his young\nrider patted him on the neck, and quieted his fears.\n\n\"What do you and this young man want?\" said the Princess to the\nGryphoness, \"and why do you question me?\"\n\n\"It is not of our own will that we do it,\" said the Gryphoness, very\nrespectfully; \"but our master, the Inquisitive Dwarf, has sent us to\nobtain information about the points on which the young man questioned\nyou; and until we have found out these things, it is impossible for\nus to return.\"\n\n\"I am opposed to answering impertinent questions,\" replied the\nPrincess; \"but in order to rid myself of you, I will tell you the\nreason of my journey.\" And she then stated briefly the facts of the\ncase.\n\n\"Ah, me!\" said the Gryphoness. \"I am very sorry; but you cannot tell\nus where you are going, and we cannot return until we know that. But\nyou need not desire to be rid of us, for it may be that we can assist\nyou in the object of your journey. This young man is sometimes very\nuseful, and I shall be glad to do any thing that I can to help you.\nIf you should think that I would injure you, or willingly annoy you\nby my presence, it would grieve me to the heart.\" And as she spoke, a\ntear bedimmed her eye.\n\nThe Princess was touched by the emotion of the Gryphoness.\n\n\"You may accompany me,\" she said, \"and I will trust you both. You\nmust know this country better than I do. Have you any advice to give\nme in regard to my journey?\"\n\n\"One thing I would strongly advise,\" said the Gryphoness, \"and that\nis, that you do not travel any farther until we know in what\ndirection it will be best to go. There is an inn close by, kept by a\nworthy woman. If you will stop there until to-morrow, this young man\nand I will scour the country round about, and try to find some news\nof your Prince. The young man will return and report to you to-morrow\nmorning. And if you should need help, or escort, he will aid and obey\nyou as your servant. As for me, unless we have found the Prince, I\nshall continue searching for him. There is a prince in the city to\nthe north of my master's tower, and it is not unlikely that it is he\nwhom you seek.\"\n\n\"You can find out if it is he,\" answered the Princess, \"by asking\nabout the philopena.\"\n\n\"That will I do,\" said the Gryphoness, \"and I will return hither as\nspeedily as possible.\" And, with a respectful salutation, the\nGryphoness and the Absolute Fool departed by different ways.\n\nThe Princess then repaired to the inn, where she took lodgings.\n\nThe next morning, the Absolute Fool came back to the inn, and seeing\nthe Princess, said: \"I rode until after night-fall, searching for the\nPrince, before it occurred to me that, even if I should find him, I\nwould not know him in the dark. As soon as I thought of that, I rode\nstraight to the nearest house, and slept until daybreak, when I\nremembered that I was to report to you this morning. But as I have\nheard no news of the Prince, and as this is a beautiful, clear day, I\nthink it would be extremely foolish to remain idly here, where there\nis nothing of interest going on, and when a single hour's delay may\ncause you to miss the object of your search. The Prince may be in one\nplace this morning, and there is no knowing where he will be in the\nafternoon. While the Gryphoness is searching, we should search also.\nWe can return before sunset, and we will leave word here as to the\ndirection we have taken, so that when she returns, she can quickly\novertake us. It is my opinion that not a moment should be lost. I\nwill be your guide. I know this country well.\"\n\nThe Princess thought this sounded like good reasoning, and consented\nto set out. There were some beautiful mountains to the south-east;\nand among these, the Absolute Fool declared, a prince of good taste\nwould be very apt to dwell. They, therefore, took this direction. But\nwhen they had travelled an hour or more, the mountains began to look\nbare and bleak, and the Absolute Fool declared that he did not\nbelieve any prince would live there. He therefore advised that they\nturn into a road that led to the north-east. It was a good road; and\ntherefore he thought it led to a good place, where a person of good\nsense would be likely to reside. Along this road they therefore\ntravelled. They had ridden but a few miles when they met three men,\nwell armed and mounted. These men drew up their horses, and\nrespectfully saluted the Princess.\n\n\"High-born Lady,\" they said, \"for by your aspect we know you to be\nsuch, we would inform you that we are the soldiers of the King, the\noutskirts of whose dominions you have reached. It is our duty to\nquestion all travellers, and, if their object in coming to our\ncountry is a good one, to give them whatever assistance and\ninformation they may require. Will you tell us why you are come?\"\n\n\"Impertinent vassals!\" cried the Absolute Fool, riding up in a great\npassion. \"How dare you interfere with a princess who has left her\ncity because it was so dull and stupid, and is endeavoring to find a\nprince, with whom she has eaten a philopena, in order that she may\nmarry him. Out of my way, or I will draw my sword and cleave you to\nthe earth, and thus punish your unwarrantable curiosity!\"\n\nThe soldiers could not repress a smile.\n\n\"In order to prevent mischief,\" they said to the Absolute Fool, \"we\nshall be obliged to take you into custody.\"\n\nThis they immediately did, and then requested the Princess to\naccompany them to the palace of their King, where she would receive\nhospitality and aid.\n\nThe King welcomed the Princess with great cordiality. He had no son,\nand he much wished he had one; for in that case it might be his\nPrince for whom the young lady was looking. But there was a prince,\nhe said, who lived in a city to the north, who was probably the very\nman; and he would send and make inquiries. In the mean time, the\nPrincess would be entertained by himself and his Queen; and, if her\nservant would make a suitable apology, his violent language would be\npardoned. But the Absolute Fool positively refused to do this.\n\n\"I never apologize,\" he cried. \"No man of spirit would do such a\nthing. What I say, I stand by.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the King; \"then you shall fight a wild beast.\" And\nhe gave orders that the affair should be arranged for the following\nday.\n\nIn a short time, however, some of his officers came to him and told\nhim that there were no wild beasts; those on hand having been kept so\nlong that they had become tame.\n\n\"To be sure, there's the old lion, Sardon,\" they said; \"but he is so\ndreadfully cross and has had so much experience in these fights, that\nfor a long time it has not been considered fair to allow any one to\nenter the ring with him.\"\n\n\"It is a pity,\" said the King, \"to make the young man fight a tame\nbeast; but, under the circumstances, the best thing to do will be to\nrepresent the case to him, just as it is. Tell him we are sorry we\nhave not an ordinary wild beast; but that he can take his choice\nbetween a tame one and the lion Sardon, whose disposition and\nexperience you will explain to him.\"\n\nWhen the matter was stated to the Absolute Fool, he refused with\ngreat scorn to fight a tame beast.\n\n\"I will not be degraded in the eyes of the public,\" he said; \"I will\ntake the old lion.\"\n\nThe next day, the court and the public assembled to see the fight;\nbut the Queen and our Princess took a ride into the country, not\nwishing to witness a combat of this kind, especially one which was so\nunequal. The King ordered that every advantage should be given to the\nyoung man, in order that he might have every possible chance of\nsuccess in fighting an animal which had been a victor on so many\nsimilar occasions. A large iron cage, furnished with a turnstile,\ninto which the Absolute Fool could retire for rest and refreshment,\nbut where the lion could not follow him, was placed in the middle of\nthe arena, and the youth was supplied with all the weapons he\ndesired. When every thing was ready, the Absolute Fool took his stand\nin the centre of the arena, and the door of the lion's den was\nopened. The great beast came out, he looked about for an instant, and\nthen, with majestic step, advanced toward the young man. When he was\nwithin a few paces of him, he crouched for a spring.\n\nThe Absolute Fool had never seen so magnificent a creature, and he\ncould not restrain his admiration. With folded arms and sparkling\neyes, he gazed with delight upon the lion's massive head, his long\nand flowing mane, his magnificent muscles, and his powerful feet and\nlegs. There was an air of grandeur and strength about him which\ncompletely enraptured the youth. Approaching the lion, he knelt\nbefore him, and gazed with wondering ecstasy into his great, glowing\neyes. \"What glorious orbs!\" he inwardly exclaimed. \"What unfathomable\nexpression! What possibilities! What reminiscences! And everywhere,\nwhat majesty of curve!\"\n\nThe lion was a good deal astonished at the conduct of the young man;\nand he soon began to suppose that this was not the person he was to\nfight, but probably a keeper, who was examining into his condition.\nAfter submitting to this scrutiny a few minutes, he gave a mighty\nyawn, which startled the spectators, but which delighted the Absolute\nFool; for never before had he beheld such a depth of potentiality. He\nknelt in silent delight at this exhibition of the beauty of strength.\n\nOld Sardon soon became tired of all this, however, and he turned and\nwalked back to his den. \"When their man is ready,\" he thought to\nhimself, \"I will come out and fight him.\"\n\nOne tremendous shout now arose from the multitude. \"The youth has\nconquered!\" they cried. \"He has actually frightened the lion back\ninto his den!\" Rushing into the arena, they raised the Absolute Fool\nupon their shoulders and carried him in triumph to the open square in\nfront of the palace, that he might be rewarded for his bravery. Here\nthe King, followed by his court, quickly appeared; for he was as much\ndelighted as any one at the victory of the young man.\n\n\"Noble youth,\" he exclaimed, \"you are the bravest of the brave. You\nare the only man I know who is worthy of our royal daughter, and you\nshall marry her forthwith. Long since, I vowed that only with the\nbravest should she wed.\"\n\nAt this moment, the Queen and the Princess, returning from their\nride, heard with joy the result of the combat; and riding up to the\nvictor, the Queen declared that she would gladly join with her royal\nhusband in giving their daughter to so brave a man.\n\nThe Absolute Fool stood for a moment in silent thought; then,\naddressing the King, he said:\n\n\"Was Your Majesty's father a king?\"\n\n\"He was,\" was the answer.\n\n\"Was his father of royal blood?\"\n\n\"No; he was not,\" replied the King. \"My grandfather was a man of the\npeople; but his pre-eminent virtue, his great ability as a statesman,\nand the dignity and nobility of his character made him the unanimous\nchoice of the nation as its sovereign.\"\n\n\"I am sorry to hear that,\" said the Absolute Fool; \"for it makes it\nnecessary for me to decline the kind offer of your daughter in\nmarriage. If I marry a princess at all, she must be one who can trace\nback her lineage through a long line of royal ancestors.\" And as he\nspoke, his breast swelled with manly pride.\n\nFor a moment, the King was dumb with rage. Then loudly he shouted:\n\"Ho, guards! Annihilate him! Avenge this insult!\"\n\nAt these words, the sword of every by-stander leaped from its\nscabbard; but, before any one could take a step forward, the Princess\nseized the Absolute Fool by his long and flowing locks, and put spurs\nto her horse. The young man yelled with pain, and shouted to\nher to let go; but she held firmly to his hair, and as he was\nextraordinarily active and fleet of foot, he kept pace with the\ngalloping horse. A great crowd of people started in pursuit, but as\nnone of them were mounted, they were soon left behind.\n\n\"Let go my hair! Let go my hair!\" shouted the Absolute Fool, as he\nbounded along. \"You don't know how it hurts. Let go! Let go!\"\n\nBut the Princess never relinquished her hold until they were out of\nthe King's domain.\n\n\"A little more,\" cried the indignant youth, when she let him go, \"and\nyou would have pulled out a handful of my hair.\"\n\n\"A little less,\" said the Princess, contemptuously, \"and you would\nhave been cut to pieces; for you have not sense enough to take care\nof yourself. I am sorry I listened to you, and left the inn to which\nthe Gryphoness took me. It would have been far better to wait there\nfor her as she told me to do.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Absolute Fool; \"it would have been much better.\"\n\n\"Now,\" said the Princess, \"we will go back there, and see if she has\nreturned.\"\n\n\"If we can find it,\" said the other, \"which I very much doubt.\"\n\nThere were several roads at this point and, of course, they took the\nwrong one. As they went on, the Absolute Fool complained bitterly\nthat he had left his horse behind him, and was obliged to walk.\nSometimes he stopped, and said he would go back after it; but this\nthe Princess sternly forbade.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the Gryphoness reached the city of the Prince, it was night; but\nshe was not sorry for this. She did not like to show herself much in\nthe daytime, because so many people were frightened by her. After a\ngood deal of trouble, she discovered that the Prince had certainly\nleft the city, although his guardians did not seem to be aware of it.\nThey were so busy with a new palace, in part of which they were\nliving, that they could not be expected to keep a constant eye upon\nhim. In the morning, she met an old man who knew her, and was not\nafraid of her, and who told her that the day before, when he was up\nthe river, he had seen the Prince on his white horse, riding on the\nbank of the stream; and that near him, in the water, was something\nwhich now looked like a woman, and again like a puff of mist. The\nGryphoness reflected.\n\n\"If this Prince has gone off in that way,\" she said to herself, \"I\nbelieve that he is the very one whom the Princess is looking for, and\nthat he has set out in search of her; and that creature in the water\nmust be our Water Sprite, whom our master has probably sent out to\ndiscover where the Prince is going. If he had told me about this, it\nwould have saved much trouble. From the direction in which they were\ngoing, I feel sure that the Water Sprite was taking the Prince to the\nLand of the Lovely Lakes. She never fails to go there, if she can\npossibly get an excuse. I will follow them. I suppose the Princess\nwill be tired, waiting at the inn; but I must know where the Prince\nis, and if he is really her Prince, before I go back to her.\"\n\nWhen the Gryphoness reached the Land of the Lovely Lakes, she\nwandered all that day and the next night; but she saw nothing of\nthose for whom she was looking.\n\nThe Princess and the Absolute Fool journeyed on until near the close\nof the afternoon, when the sky began to be overcast, and it looked\nlike rain. They were then not far from a large piece of water; and at\na little distance, they saw a ship moored near the shore.\n\n\"I shall seek shelter on board that ship,\" said the Princess.\n\n\"It is going to storm,\" remarked the Absolute Fool. \"I should prefer\nto be on dry land.\"\n\n\"As the land is not likely to be very dry when it rains,\" said the\nPrincess, \"I prefer a shelter, even if it is upon wet water.\"\n\n\"Women will always have their own way,\" muttered the Absolute Fool.\n\nThe ship belonged to a crew of Amazon sailors, who gave the Princess\na hearty welcome.\n\n\"You may go on board if you choose,\" said the Absolute Fool to the\nPrincess, \"but I shall not risk my life in a ship manned by women.\"\n\n\"It is well that you are of that opinion,\" said the Captain of the\nAmazons, who had heard this remark; \"for you would not be allowed to\ncome on board if you wished to. But we will give you a tent to\nprotect you and the horse in case it should rain, and will send you\nsomething to eat.\"\n\n\"While the Princess was taking tea with the Amazon Captain, she told\nher about the Prince, and how she was trying to find him.\n\n\"Good!\" cried the Captain. \"I will join in the search, and take you\nin my ship. Some of my crew told me that yesterday they saw a young\nman, who looked like a prince, riding along the shore of a lake which\nadjoins the one we are on. In the morning we will sail after him. We\nshall keep near the shore, and your servant can mount your horse and\nride along the edge of the lake. From what I know of the speed of\nthis vessel, I think he can easily keep up with us.\"\n\nEarly in the morning, the Amazon Captain called her crew together.\n\"Hurrah, my brave girls!\" she said. \"We have an object. I never sail\nwithout an object, and it lights me to get one. The purpose of our\npresent cruise is to find the Prince of whom this Princess is in\nsearch; and we must spare no pains to bring him to her, dead or\nalive.\"\n\nLuckily for her peace of mind, the Princess did not hear this speech.\nThe day was a fine one, and before long the sun became very hot. The\nship was sailing quite near the land, when the Absolute Fool rode\ndown to the water's edge, and called out that he had something very\nimportant to communicate to the Princess. As he was not allowed to\ncome on board, she was obliged to go on shore, to which she was rowed\nin a small boat.\n\n\"I have been thinking,\" said the Absolute Fool, \"that it is perfectly\nridiculous, and very uncomfortable, to continue this search any\nlonger. I would go back, but my master would not suffer me to return\nwithout knowing where you are going. I have, therefore, a plan to\npropose. Give up your useless search for this Prince, who is probably\nnot nearly so handsome and intellectual as I am, and marry me. We\nwill then return, and I will assume the reins of government in your\ndomain.\"\n\n\"Follow the vessel,\" said the Princess, \"as you have been doing; for\nI wish some one to take care of my horse.\" And without another word,\nshe returned to the ship.\n\n\"I should like to sail as far as possible from shore during the rest\nof the trip,\" said she to the Captain.\n\n\"Put the helm bias!\" shouted the Amazon Captain to the steers-woman;\n\"and keep him well out from land.\"\n\nWhen they had sailed through a small stream into the lake adjoining,\nthe out-look, who was swinging in a hammock hung between the tops of\nthe two masts, sang out, \"Prince ahead!\" Instantly all was activity\non board the vessel. Story books were tucked under coils of rope,\nhem-stitching and embroidery were laid aside, and every woman was at\nher post.\n\n\"The Princess is taking a nap,\" said the Captain, \"and we will not\nawaken her. It will be so nice to surprise her by bringing the Prince\nto her. We will run our vessel ashore, and then steal quietly upon\nhim. But do not let him get away. Cut him down, if he resists!\"\n\nThe Prince, who was plainly visible only a short distance ahead, was\nso pleasantly employed that he had not noticed the approach of the\nship. He was sitting upon a low, moss-covered rock, close to the\nwater's edge; and with a small hand-net, which he had found on the\nshore, he was scooping the most beautiful fishes from the lake,\nholding them up in the sunlight to admire their brilliant colors and\ngraceful forms, and then returning them uninjured to the water. The\nWater Sprite was swimming near him, and calling to the fish to come\nup and be caught; for the gentle Prince would not hurt them. It was\nvery delightful and rare sport, and it is not surprising that it\nentirely engrossed the attention of the Prince. The Amazons silently\nlanded, and softly stole along the shore, a little back from the\nwater. Then, at their Captain's command, they rushed upon the Prince.\n\nIt was just about this time that the Gryphoness, who had been\nsearching for the Prince, caught her first sight of him. Perceiving\nthat he was about to be attacked, she rushed to his aid. The Amazon\nsailors reached him before she did, and seizing upon him they began\nto pull him away. The Prince resisted stoutly; but seeing that his\nassailants were women, he would not draw his sword. The Amazon\nCaptain and mate, who were armed with broad knives, now raised their\nweapons, and called upon the Prince to surrender or die. But at this\nmoment, the Gryphoness reached the spot, and catching the Captain and\nmate, each by an arm, she dragged them back from the Prince. The\nother Amazons, however, continued the combat; and the Prince defended\nhimself by pushing them into the shallow water, where the Water\nSprite nearly stifled them by throwing over them showers of spray.\nAnd now came riding up the Absolute Fool. Seeing a youth engaged in\ncombat with the Amazon sailors, his blood boiled with indignation.\n\n\"A man fighting women!\" he exclaimed. \"What a coward! My arm shall\never assist the weaker sex.\"\n\nJumping from the horse, he drew his sword, and rushed upon the\nPrince. The Gryphoness saw the danger of the latter, and she would\nhave gone to his assistance, but she was afraid to loosen her hold of\nthe Amazon Captain and mate.\n\nSpreading her wings she flew to the top of a tree where she deposited\nthe two warlike women upon a lofty branch, from which she knew it\nwould take them a long time to get down to the ground. When she\ndescended she found that the Absolute Fool had reached the Prince.\nThe latter, being a brave fellow, although of so gentle a\ndisposition, had been glad to find a man among his assailants, and\nhad drawn his sword to defend himself. The two had just begun to\nfight when the Gryphoness seized the Absolute Fool by the waist and\nhurled him backward into some bushes.\n\n\"You must not fight him!\" she cried to the Prince. \"He is beneath\nyour rank! And as you will not draw your sword against these Amazons\nyou must fly from them. If you run fast they cannot overtake you.\"\n\nThe Prince followed her advice, and sheathing his sword he rapidly\nran along the bank, followed by some of the Amazons who had succeeded\nin getting the water out of their eyes and mouths.\n\n\"Run from women!\" contemptuously remarked the Absolute Fool. \"If you\nhad not interfered with me,\" he said to the Gryphoness, \"I should\nsoon have put an end to such a coward.\"\n\nThe Prince had nearly reached the place opposite to which the ship\nwas moored, when the Princess, who had been awakened by the noise of\nthe combat, appeared upon the deck of the vessel. The moment she saw\nthe Prince, she felt convinced that he was certainly the one for whom\nshe was looking. Fearing that the pursuing Amazons might kill him,\nshe sprang from the vessel to his assistance; but her foot caught in\na rope, and instead of reaching the shore, she fell into the water,\nwhich was here quite deep, and immediately sank out of sight. The\nPrince, who had noticed her just as she sprang, and who felt equally\nconvinced that she was the one for whom he was searching, stopped his\nflight and rushed to the edge of the bank. Just as the Princess rose\nto the surface, he reached out his hand to her, and she took it.\n\n\"Philopena!\" cried the Prince.\n\n\"You have won,\" said the Princess, gayly shaking the water from her\ncurls, as he drew her ashore.\n\nAt the request of the Princess, the pursuing Amazons forbore to\nassail the Prince, and when the Captain and the Mate had descended\nfrom the tree, every thing was explained.\n\nWithin an hour, the Prince and Princess, after taking kind leave of\nthe Gryphoness, and Water Sprite, and of the Amazon sailors, who\ncheered them loudly, rode away to the city of the Princess; while the\nthree servants of the Inquisitive Dwarf returned to their master to\nreport what had happened.\n\nThe Absolute Fool was in a very bad humor; for he was obliged to go\nback on foot, having left his horse in the kingdom where he had so\nnarrowly escaped being killed; and, besides this, he had had his hair\npulled; and had not been treated with proper respect by either the\nPrincess or the Gryphoness. He felt himself deeply injured. When he\nreached home, he determined that he would not remain in a position\nwhere his great abilities were so little appreciated. \"I will do\nsomething,\" he said, \"which shall prove to the world that I deserve\nto stand among the truly great. I will reform my fellow beings, and I\nwill begin by reforming the Inquisitive Dwarf.\" Thereupon he went to\nhis master, and said:\n\n\"Sir, it is foolish and absurd for you to be meddling thus with the\naffairs of your neighbors. Give up your inquisitive habits, and learn\nsome useful business. While you are doing this, I will consent to\nmanage your affairs.\"\n\nThe Inquisitive Dwarf turned to him, and said: \"I have a great desire\nto know the exact appearance of the North Pole. Go and discover it\nfor me.\"\n\nThe Absolute Fool departed on this mission, and has not yet returned.\n\nWhen the Princess, with her Prince, reached her city, her uncles were\nvery much amazed; for they had not known she had gone away. \"If you\nare going to get married,\" they said, \"we are very glad; for then you\nwill not need our care, and we shall be free from the great\nresponsibility which is bearing us down.\"\n\nIn a short time the wedding took place, and then the question arose\nin which city should the young couple dwell. The Princess decided it.\n\n\"In the winter,\" she said to the Prince, \"We will live in your city,\nwhere all is life and activity; and where the houses are so well\nbuilt with all the latest improvements. In the summer, we will come\nto my city, where everything is old, and shady, and serene.\" This\nthey did, and were very happy.\n\nThe Gryphoness would have been glad to go and live with the Princess,\nfor she had taken a great fancy to her; but she did not think it\nworth her while to ask permission to do this.\n\n\"My impulses, I know, are good,\" she said; \"but my appearance is\nagainst me.\"\n\nAs for the Water Sprite, she was in a truly disconsolate mood,\nbecause she had left so soon the Land of the Lovely Lakes, where she\nhad been so happy. The more she thought about it, the more she\ngrieved; and one morning, unable to bear her sorrow longer, she\nsprang into the great jet of the fountain. High into the bright air\nthe fountain threw her, scattering her into a thousand drops of\nglittering water; but not one drop fell back into the basin. The\ngreat, warm sun drew them up; and, in a little white cloud, they\nfloated away across the bright blue sky.\n\n\n\n\n\nSCRIBNER'S BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG.\n\nTHIRTIETH THOUSAND.\n\n\"In 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' we gain another charming child to add to\nour gallery of juvenile heroes and heroines; one who teaches a great\nlesson with such truth and sweetness that we part with him with real\nregret when the episode is over.\"--Louisa M. Alcott.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY.\n\nBy FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT.\n\nBeautifully illustrated by R. B. Birch. One volume, square 8vo,\nhandsomely bound. $2.00.\n\nIn \"Little Lord Fauntleroy\" the author of \"That Lass o' Lowrie's\" has\ngiven us a book which is absolutely certain to become one of the few\nreal classics in the literature for children. She has presented a\npicture of child-life such as we have never had before; she has not\nonly taken a subject quite new but she has written with such\nexquisite delicacy and sweetness the story of the little American\nboy's career that even were the situations old the story would be a\nnotable one.\n\n\"Little Lord Fauntleroy,\" though a book for children, is certainly\nnot a \"juvenile\" in the common use of the word, paradoxical as the\nstatement may seem. The hero is a manly little fellow, a child, but\nwith all the elements of a man. Mrs. Burnett has made Lord Fauntleroy\na thoughtful boy, and she is right in believing that the stories\nchildren like best are those best worth thinking about when they are\nbeing read.\n\nA NEW EDITION OF AN OLD FAVORITE.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHANS BRINKER; or, The Silver Skates.\n\nA STORY OF LIFE IN HOLLAND\n\nBy MARY MAPES DODGE.\n\nOne volume, 12mo, with sixty beautiful illustrations. $1.50.\n\nThe cordial appreciation with which \"Hans Brinker\" was first received\nhas increased from year to year, until the original plates have\nbecome badly worn from constant use. The publishers have therefore\nreissued at half its original price their beautiful Holiday Edition,\nof which on its first appearance the Nation said: \"We some time ago\nexpressed our opinion that Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge's delightful\nchildren's story called 'Hans Brinker; or, The Silver Skates'\ndeserved an entirely new dress, with illustrations made in Holland\ninstead of America. The publishers have just issued an edition in\naccordance with this suggestion. The pictures are admirable, and the\nwhole volume, in appearance and contents, need not fear comparison\nwith any juvenile publication of the year or of many years.\"\n\n\nAMONG THE LAW-MAKERS.\n\nBy EDMUND ALTON.\n\nWith many illustrations of the Government Buildings, Halls of\nCongress, etc., etc.\n\nOne volume, square 8vo. $2.50.\n\nThe author of this book was for four years connected with the\nlegislative branch of our Government, in the capacity of a Senatorial\npage. His record of the memorable scenes and events which came under\nhis observation is enlivened by anecdotes of public men, humorous and\nexciting episodes at the national capitol, and a great variety of\nstirring incidents.\n\n\nTHE MAKING OF NEW ENGLAND.\n\n1580--1643.\n\nBy SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE.\n\nWith many illustrations and maps. One volume, 12mo. $1.50.\n\nIn his preface the author says: \"To enhance the interest of this\nstory, emphasis has been given to everything that went to make up the\nhome-life of the pioneer settlers, or that relates to their various\navocations.\" In all history no better examples of manliness, energy,\nand conscientiousness could be found, to be read about and studied by\na child whose character is just forming. The story is told in such a\nvivid way that it is as interesting and absorbing as a romance.\n\n\nTHE OLD-FASHIONED FAIRY BOOK.\n\nBy MRS. BURTON HARRISON.\n\nWith many quaint illustrations by MISS ROSINA EMMET.\n\nOne volume, square 16mo. $1.00.\n\n\"The little ones, who so willingly go back with us to 'Jack the\nGiant-Killer,' 'Blue-beard,' and the kindred stories of our\nchildhood, will gladly welcome Mrs. Burton Harrison's 'Old-Fashioned\nFairy Tales,' where the giant, the dwarf, the fairy, the wicked\nprincess, the ogre, the metamorphosed prince, and all the heroes of\nthat line come into play and action. ...The graceful pencil of Miss\nRosina Emmet has given a pictorial interest to the book, and the many\npictures scattered through its pages accord well with the good\nold-fashioned character of the tales.\"--Frank R. Stockton.\n\n\nBRIC-A-BRAC STORIES.\n\nBy MRS. BURTON HARRISON.\n\nIllustrated and Cover designed by WALTER CRANE. One volume, 12mo.\n$2.00.\n\n\"Upon the whole it is to be wished that every boy and girl in\nAmerica, or anywhere else, might become intimately acquainted with\nthe contents of this book. There is more virtue in one of\nthese stories than in the entire library of modern juvenile\nliterature.\"--Julian Hawthorne.\n\n\nTHE MERRY ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD,\nOf Great Renown in Nottinghamshire.\n\nWritten and Illustrated by HOWARD PYLE.\n\nOne volume, quarto, $3.00.\n\n\"The Prince of Story-Tellers.\"--London Times.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE WORKS OF JULES VERNE.\n\nUniform illustrated edition. Nine vols., 8vo, extra cloth, with over\n750 full-page illustrations. Price, per set, in a box, $17.50. Sold\nalso in separate volumes.\n\nThe most impossible stories of this imaginative writer are told in\nsuch a realistic manner and with so much scientific knowledge\ningeniously wrought into them that they possess a fascination that is\nall their own. Their great and continued popularity, among both old\nand young, has led to the publication of this new edition in which\nall the numerous illustrations of the French edition are retained,\nand the volumes are issued in a uniform and attractive binding.\n\nMichael Strogoff; or, The Courier of the Czar..................$2 00\nA Floating City and the Blockade Runners....................... 2 00\nHector Servadac................................................ 2 00\nDick Sands..................................................... 2 00\nA Journey to the Center of the Earth........................... 2 00\nFrom the Earth to the Moon Direct in Ninety-seven Hours, Twenty\n   Minutes; and a Journey Around It............................ 2 00\nThe Steam House. Part I.--The Demon of Cawnpore.\n   Part II.--Tigers and Traitors. Complete in one volume....... 2 00\nThe Giant Raft. Part I.--Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon.\n   Part II.--The Cryptogram. Complete in one volume............ 2 00\nThe Mysterious Island. Part I.--Dropped from the Clouds.\n   Part II.--Abandoned. Part III.--The Secret of the Island.\n   The complete work in one volume, with 150 illustrations..... 2 50\n\n\nA NEW AND REVISED EDITION OF THE\nILLUSTRATED LIBRARY OF WONDERS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE WONDERS OF MAN AND NATURE.\n\nIntelligence of Animals--Mountain Adventures--Bodily Strength and\nSkill--Wonderful Escapes--Thunder and Lightning--Adventures on the\nGreat Hunting Grounds--Wonders of the Human Body--The Sublime in\nNature.\n\n\nTHE WONDERS OF SCIENCE.\n\nWonders of Heat--Wonders of the Heavens--Wonders of Optics--The\nSun--Wonders of Acoustics--Wonders of Water--Wonders of the\nMoon--Meteors, Aerolites, Storms, and Atmospheric Phenomena.\n\n\nTHE WONDERS OF ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY.\n\nEgypt 3,300 Years Ago--Wonders of Sculpture--Wonders of Glass\nMaking--Wonders of European Art--Wonders of Pompeii--Wonders of\nArchitecture--The Wonders of Italian Art--The Wonders of Engraving.\n\nTwenty-four volumes, containing aver a thousand valuable\nillustrations.\n\nEach set, 8 volumes, in a box, $8.00.\n\nEach volume, 12mo, complete in itself. Sold separately at $1.00 per\nvolume.\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES OF AMERICAN PROGRESS.\n\nBy HENRIETTA CHRISTIAN WRIGHT.\n\nWith twelve full-page illustrations from drawings by J. STEEPLE\nDAVIS. One volume, 12mo. $1.50.\n\n\"The 'Stories of American Progress' contain a series of pictures of\nevents of the first half of the present century, and the scope of the\nbook comprehends all the prominent steps by which we have reached our\npresent position both as regards extent of country and industrial\nprosperity. They include an account of the first Steamboat, the\nRailroad, and the Telegraph, as well as of the Purchase of Florida,\nthe War of 1812, and the Discovery of Gold. It will be found that no\nevent of importance has been omitted, and any child fond of\nstory-telling will gain from this book an amount of knowledge which\nmay far exceed that which is usually acquired from the rigid\ninstruction of the school-room.\"\n\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES IN AMERICAN HISTORY.\n\nBy HENRIETTA CHRISTIAN WRIGHT.\n\nWith twelve full-page illustrations from drawings by J. STEEPLE\nDAVIS. One volume, 12mo. $1.50.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE IVORY KING.\n\nA Popular History of the Elephant and Its Allies.\n\nBy CHARLES F. HOLDER.\n\nSquare 8vo, with twenty-four full-page illustrations. $2.00.\n\nThe wonderfully interesting array of facts which Mr. Holder brought\ntogether in his \"Marvels of Animal Life\" was the fruit very largely\nof his personal observations. It forms one of the most stimulating\nand delightful contributions to the class of Natural History books\nfor the young that has ever been made, and was a fitting forerunner\nto \"The Ivory King,\" which is devoted entirely to the Elephant, and\nhas even a more vivid fascination than the first named volume. The\nsummary of its contents includes the Natural History of the Elephant,\nits habits and ways and its intelligence, the Mammoth Three and Four\nTusked Elephants, Hunting and Capturing Wild Elephants, the Elephant\nin Captivity, Rogue Elephants, the White Elephant, Trained Elephants,\nShow Elephants, Ivory, War Elephants, etc., etc. The numerous\nillustrations are especially excellent, being drawn from a great\nvariety of sources.\n\nIt would be hard to name a book which would be a more welcome and\nvalued addition to the library of the average boy or girl just\nbeginning to cultivate a love of reading and an interest in the world\naround them.\n\n\nMARVELS OF ANIMAL LIFE.\n\nBy CHARLES F. HOLDER.\n\nSquare 8vo, with thirty-two full-page illustrations. $2.00.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSCRIBNER'S STANDARD JUVENILE BOOKS.\n\nTHE BOY'S\n\nLibrary of Legend and Chivalry.\n\nEDITED BY SIDNEY LANIER,\n\nAnd richly illustrated by FREDERICKS, BENSELL, and KAPPES.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE BOY'S KING ARTHUR.   THE BOY'S FROISSART.\nKNIGHTLY LEGENDS OF WALES.   THE BOY'S PERCY.\n\nFour volumes, cloth, uniform binding. Price per set $7.00. Sold\nseparately. Price per volume $2.00.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"Amid all the strange and fanciful scenery of these stories,\ncharacter and the ideals of character remain at the simplest and the\npurest. The romantic history transpires in the healthy atmosphere of\nthe open air, on the green earth beneath the open sky.... The figures\nof Right, Truth, Justice, Honor, Purity, Courage, Reverence for Law,\nare always in the background; and the grand passion inspired by the\nbook is for strength to do well and nobly in the world.\"--The\nIndependent.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE BOY'S\nLibrary of Pluck and Action.\n\nA JOLLY FELLOWSHIP, By Frank R. Stockton.\nHANS BRINKER; OR, THE SILVER SKATES. A story of life in Holland. By\n   Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge.\nTHE BOY EMIGRANTS, By Noah Brooks.\nPHAETON ROGERS, By Rossiter Johnson.\n\nFour volumes, 12mo, in a box, illustrated, $5.00. Sold separately,\nprice per volume $1.50.\n\nIn the \"Boy's Library of Pluck and Action,\" the design was to bring\ntogether the representative and most popular books of four of the\nbest known writers for young people. The names of Mary Mapes Dodge,\nFrank R. Stockton, Noah Brooks, and Rossiter Johnson are familiar\nones in every household, and a set of books, to which each has\ncontributed one, forms a present that will delight the heart of every\nboy who likes manly, spirited, and amusing tales. The volumes are\nbeautifully illustrated and uniformly bound in a most attractive\nform.\n\n\nSCRIBNER'S LIST OF JUVENILE BOOKS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\nThe great legend of the Nibelungen told to boys and girls.\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE STORY OF SIEGFRIED.\n\nBy JAMES BALDWIN.\n\nWith a series of superb illustrations by Howard Pyle. One volume,\nsquare 12mo. $2.00.\n\nMr. Baldwin has at last given \"The Story of Siegfried\" in the way in\nwhich it most appeals to the boy-reader,--simply and strongly told,\nwith all its fire and action, yet without losing any of that strange\ncharm of the myth, and that heroic pathos, which every previous\nattempt at a version, even for adult readers, has failed to catch.\n\n\nTHE STORY OF ROLAND.\n\nBy JAMES BALDWIN.\n\nWith a series of illustrations by R.B. Birch. One volume, square\n12mo. $2.00.\n\nThis volume is intended as a companion to \"The Story of Siegfried.\"\nAs Siegfried was an adaptation of Northern myths and romances to the\nwants and the understanding of young readers, so is this story a\nsimilar adaptation of the middle-age romances relating to Charlemagne\nand his paladins. As Siegfried was the greatest of the heroes of the\nNorth, so, too, was Roland the most famous among the knights of the\nMiddle Ages.\n\n\"We congratulate the boys of the land upon the appearance of this\nbook. We commend it to parents who are selecting literature for their\nchildren, assured, as we are, that it will convince them that books\nmay be found which will engage the attention, and stimulate the\nimagination, of the young, without dissipating the mind, or blunting\nthe moral sensibilities.\"--Philadelphia Messenger.\n\n\nTHE FIRST REALLY PRACTICAL BOY'S BOOK.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE AMERICAN BOY'S HANDY BOOK;\n\nOr, WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT.\n\nBy DANIEL C. BEARD.\n\nWith three hundred illustrations by the author. One volume, 8vo.\n$2.00.\n\nMr. Beard's book is the first to tell the active, inventive, and\npractical American boy the things he really wants to know, the\nthousand things he wants to do, and the ten thousand ways in which he\ncan do them, with the helps and ingenious contrivances which every\nboy can either procure or make.\n\nThe author divides the book among the sports of the four seasons; and\nhe has made an almost exhaustive collection of the cleverest modern\ndevices, besides himself inventing an immense number of capital and\npractical ideas.\n\n\nFRANK R. STOCKTON'S POPULAR STORIES.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE STORY OF VITEAU.\n\nWith sixteen full-page illustrations by R.B. Birch.\n\nOne volume, 12mo, extra cloth. $1.50.\n\nIn \"The Story of Viteau,\" Mr. Stockton has opened a new vein, and one\nthat he has shown all his well-known skill and ability in working.\nWhile describing the life and surroundings of Raymond, Louis, and\nAgnes at Viteau at the Castle of De Barran, or in the woods among the\nCotereaux, he gives a picture of France in the age of chivalry, and\ntells, at the same time, a romantic and absorbing story of adventure\nand knightly daring. Mr. Birch's spirited illustrations add much to\nthe attraction of the book.\n\n\nA JOLLY FELLOWSHIP.\n\nIllustrated. One volume, 12mo, extra cloth. $1.50.\n\n\"'A Jolly Fellowship,' by Mr. Frank Stockton, is a worthy successor\nto his 'Rudder Grange.' Although written for lads, it is full of\ndelicious nonsense that will be enjoyed by men and women.... The less\nserious parts are described with a mock gravity that is the\nperfection of harmless burlesque, while all the nonsense has a vein\nof good sense running through it, so that really useful information\nis conveyed to the young and untravelled reader's mind.\"--Philadelphia\nEvening Bulletin.\n\n\nTHE FLOATING PRINCE, AND OTHER FAIRY TALES.\n\nWith illustrations by Bensell and others. One volume, quarto, boards.\n$1.50.\n\n\"Stockton has the knack, perhaps genius would be a better word, of\nwriting in the easiest of colloquial English, without descending to\nthe plane of the vulgar or commonplace. The very perfection of his\nwork hinders the reader from perceiving at once how good of its kind\nit is.... With the added charm of a most delicate humor,--a real\nhumor, mellow, tender, and informed by a singularly quaint and racy\nfancy,--his stories become irresistibly attractive.\"--Philadelphia\nTimes.\n\n\nNEW EDITIONS OF OLD FAVORITES.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nROUNDABOUT RAMBLES IN LANDS OF FACT AND FICTION.\n\nOne volume, quarto, boards, with very attractive lithographed cover,\nthree hundred and seventy pages, two hundred illustrations. A new\nedition. Price reduced from $3.00 to $1.50.\n\n\nTALES OUT OF SCHOOL.\n\nOne volume, quarto, boards, with handsome lithographed cover, three\nhundred and fifty pages, nearly two hundred illustrations. A new\nedition. Price reduced from $3.00 to $1.50.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nCharles Scribner's Sons, Publishers, 743 and 745 Broadway, New York.","title":"The Bee-Man of Orn and Other Fanciful Tales","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":55273}