{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36008/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36008","id":"gutenberg_36008","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36008","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by David Edwards, Matthew Wheaton and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n\n  The Blue Rose Fairy Book\n  Maurice Baring\n\n\n  [Illustration: THE HOOFS OF HIS STEED LEFT BEHIND THEM A TRAIL OF\n  TWINKLING ANEMONES]\n\n\n  THE BLUE ROSE\n  FAIRY BOOK\n\n  BY\n  MAURICE BARING\n\n  [Decoration]\n\n  NEW YORK\n  DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY\n  1911\n\n\n\n  DEDICATED\n  TO\n  _MARY and AUBREY_\n\n\n\n  NOTE\n\n  One of these stories, \"The Glass Mender,\" appeared first in _The\n  English Review_, and six of the shorter stories in _The Morning\n  Post_. I wish to thank the editors and proprietors concerned for\n  their kindness in letting me republish them. The rest of the\n  stories are new.\n                                                           M. B.\n\n\n\n  CONTENTS\n\n                                                       PAGE\n  THE GLASS MENDER                                        1\n  THE BLUE ROSE                                          31\n  THE STORY OF VOX ANGELICA AND LIEBLICH GEDACHT         45\n  THE VAGABOND                                           97\n  THE MINSTREL                                          137\n  THE HUNCHBACK, THE POOL, AND THE MAGIC RING           151\n  THE SILVER MOUNTAIN                                   165\n  THE RING                                              179\n  THE MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER                               193\n  THE CUNNING APPRENTICE                                219\n  ORESTES AND THE DRAGON                                233\n  THE WISE PRINCESS                                     247\n\n\n\n  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n  And as he galloped through the wood, the hoofs\n  of his steed left behind them a trail of\n  twinkling anemones                                   _Frontispiece_\n\n  One evening he was playing his one-stringed\n  instrument outside a dark wall                     _To face p._  41\n\n  As he said this he climbed on to the manuals\n  and disappeared into the heart of the organ              \"       95\n\n  And there stood before the throng a wonderful\n  shining figure with wings                                \"      133\n\n  And turning round she saw an old woman, bent\n  and worn, who was muttering a supplication               \"      139\n\n  The sun was shining on the sea and a fresh\n  breeze was blowing                                       \"      160\n\n  And towards the evening he emerged from the\n  forest and saw the hill before him shining\n  in the sunset                                            \"      176\n\n  Her mother, when she was walking in the\n  garden of the palace, found a silver horseshoe\n  lying on one of the paths                                \"      181\n\n  A garment on which the month of May, and all\n  its flowers, was painted                                 \"      210\n\n  He changed himself into a hawk                           \"      223\n\n  The dragon appeared, and seizing the little\n  Princess with its tail, flew away                        \"      235\n\n  She went out on to the step and called out in a\n  loud voice, \"Oh, you boisterous winds, bring\n  hither that same carpet on which I used to\n  sit in the house of my father\"                           \"      252\n\n\n\n\nTHE GLASS MENDER\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a King and a Queen who had one daughter\ncalled Rainbow. When she was christened, the people of the city were\ngathered together outside the cathedral, and amongst them was an old\ngipsy woman. The gipsy wanted to go inside the cathedral, but the Beadle\nwould not let her, because he said there was no room. When the ceremony\nwas over, and the King and Queen walked out, followed by the Head Nurse\nwho carried the baby, the gipsy called out to them:\n\n\"Your daughter will be very beautiful, and as happy as the day is long,\nuntil she sees the Spring!\" And then she disappeared in the crowd.\n\nThe King and the Queen took counsel together and the King said: \"That\ngipsy was evidently a fairy, and what she said bodes no good.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Queen, \"there is only one thing to be done: Rainbow must\nnever see the Spring, nor even hear that there is such a thing.\"\n\nSo an order was issued to the whole city, that if any one should say the\nword \"Spring\" in the presence of Princess Rainbow he would have his head\ncut off. Moreover, it was settled that the Princess should never be\nallowed to go outside the palace, and during the springtime she should\nbe kept entirely indoors.\n\nThe King and the Queen lived in a city which was on the top of a hill,\nand had a wall round it, and the King's palace was in the middle of it.\nIn the springtime Rainbow was taken to a high tower which looked on to\nthe little round city, and from her window you could see the spires of\nthe churches, the ramparts, and the broad green plain beyond. But a\ncurtain made of canvas was fastened outside Rainbow's window, so that\nshe could see nothing, and she was not allowed to go outside her tower\nuntil the springtime was over.\n\nRainbow grew up into a most beautiful Princess, with grey eyes and fair\nhair, and until she was sixteen all went well, and nothing happened to\ninterfere with her happiness.\n\nIt was on her sixteenth birthday, which was in April, and she was\nsitting alone in her room, looking at her birthday presents, when she\nbegan to wonder for the first time why she was shut up in her tower\nduring three months of the year, and why a curtain was placed outside\nher window, so that she could see nothing outside. Her mother and her\nnurse had told her that this was done so that she might not fall ill,\nand she had always believed it; but on that day, for the first time, she\nbegan to wonder whether there might be any other reason as well. It was\na lovely Spring day, and the sun shone through the canvas curtain which\nwas stretched outside Rainbow's open window; a breeze came into her room\nfrom the outside world, and Rainbow felt a great longing to tear aside\nthe curtain and to see what was happening out of doors.\n\nAt that very moment, a sound came into her room from the city: it was\nthe sound of two or three notes played on some small reed or pipe,\nunlike those of any of the musical instruments she had heard in the\npalace, more tuneful and more artless and more gay. As she heard the few\nreedy notes of this little tune, she felt something which she had never\nknown before. The whole room seemed to be full of a new sunshine, and\nshe smelt the fragrance of the grass; she heard the blackbird whistling,\nand the lark singing; she saw the apple orchards in blossom, the violets\npeeping from under the leaves, the hedges covered with primroses, the\ndaffodils fluttering in the wind, the fern uncrumpling her new leaves,\nthe green slopes starred with crocuses; fields of buttercups and\nmarigolds; forests paved with bluebells; lilac bushes; the trailing gold\nof the laburnums; and the sharp green of the awakening beech-trees; and\nshe heard the cuckoo's note, and a thousand other unknown sounds of\nmeadow, wood, and stream; and before her passed the whole pageant of the\nSpring, with its joyous music and its thousand and one sights.\n\nThe vision disappeared and she cried out: \"Let me go into the world and\nlet me taste and see this wonderful new thing!\"\n\nRainbow said nothing about her vision, either to her parents or to her\nnurses, but she resolved to steal out of the palace as soon as she\ncould, and to see in the world what her vision had shown her; but that\nvery evening she fell ill, and she was obliged to go to bed. The next\nday she was no better, and a week passed and she was just as ill as\never. All the wisest physicians of the land examined her, but not one of\nthem could say what was the matter with her; some of them prescribed\nmedicines, and others strange things to eat and drink; but none of them\ndid her the least good. The months went by, and Rainbow was still lying\nin bed, suffering from a strange malady which nobody could even find a\nname for. When the Spring was past, Rainbow was borne on a couch into\nthe garden of the palace; but she got no better.\n\nAt last the Queen sent for a Wise Woman who lived in a wood near the\ncity, and asked her advice. The Wise Woman was told Rainbow's history\nand what the gipsy had said, and after she had looked at Rainbow and\nspoken to her, she said to the Queen:\n\n\"I understand quite well what has happened. Your daughter has seen the\nSpring.\"\n\n\"But that's impossible,\" said the Queen, \"for during the whole of the\nSpring months she has never left her room.\"\n\n\"Somehow or other the Spring has reached her,\" said the old woman, and\nthen she asked Rainbow some more questions, and the end of this was that\nRainbow told her about the tune she had heard on her birthday, and the\nvision she had seen.\n\n\"I knew it,\" said the old woman, \"she heard somebody playing the\nSpring's own tune, and she won't get well until she hears it again, and\neven then her troubles will be far from ended.\" So saying the old woman\nwent away.\n\nThe King at once sent for the court musicians and told them to play the\nSpring's Song. They fiddled, and they blew upon every kind of pipe and\nflute; they beat the cymbals and struck the harp; but none of these\ntunes kindled the slightest interest in Rainbow or roused her from her\nlistlessness. The King then issued a proclamation saying that whoever\nshould play the song that cured Rainbow would receive any reward he\nshould ask for, and even, if he wished it, his daughter's hand.\n\nThe news was spread far and wide, and people came from the four corners\nof the world to play to the Princess.\n\nFirst of all a lad came from the northern country, where he had slain a\nhuge dragon in single combat, and he said that if any one knew the Song\nof Spring he did, for the birds themselves had taught it him; and when\nhe was shown into the Princess's room he blew a blast on his horn, so\nstrong that the rafters trembled, and so sweet that the palace seemed to\nbe full of the scent of the northern forests. But Rainbow paid no heed,\nand the lad went his way.\n\nThen an uncouth minstrel came from Greece; he had furry ears and a\npointed beard, and he played on a double pipe and he said: \"I know the\nSong of Spring if any one knows it, for the bees taught it me.\" He\nbreathed on his pipe and the whole room seemed to be full of the smell\nof thyme, the murmur of reeds, and the drone of bees. But Rainbow paid\nno heed to him, and the uncouth minstrel went his way.\n\nThen there came a man who carried a lyre. His face was beautiful and\nsad, and he said: \"I know the Song of Spring if any one knows it, for I\nheard it played in the happy fields.\" And he struck his lyre and sang a\nsong which was so lovely and so plaintive that the horses neighed in\ntheir stalls, the dogs came to listen, and the trees of the garden bent\nover the palace windows, and the King and the Queen and all the\ncourtiers wept: but Rainbow paid no heed, and the man with the lyre went\nhis way.\n\nThen came a knight from over the sea, from the West Country; and he was\nthe most splendid knight ever seen, and he carried neither harp nor\npipe, and he said: \"I know the Song of Spring if any one knows it, for\nI learnt it in the forests of Tintagel:\" and he sang the song that only\nthose who dwell in the forests of the West know, and it was a song of\nlove. But Rainbow paid no heed, and the knight went his way.\n\nThen Prince Charming came from the Golden Isles and said: \"I know the\nSong of Spring if any one knows it, for my fairy-godmother gave me a\nflute, and when I play on it the elves dance round me in a ring\": and he\nplayed a tune on his flute, and the lights and rainbows of the golden\nislands seemed to twinkle in the room. But Rainbow paid no heed, so\nPrince Charming went his way.\n\nThen there came a Prince who was a changeling and who had been brought\nup in Fairyland itself, and he said: \"I know the Song of Spring if any\none knows it, for Proserpine, the Queen of the Fairies, herself taught\nme the song she heard in the Vales of Enna, when she was picking flowers\nin the Spring.\" And he sang of the Sicilian fields, a song of the\nswallow and the corn; and the song was like a vision, and the room\nseemed to be full of the sound of the southern seas; but Rainbow paid no\nheed, and the changeling went his way.\n\nThen Prince Apollo himself came from Italy with his fiddle, and he said:\n\"If I do not know the Song of Spring, who can know it? For my music\nexcels that of all mortal men.\"\n\nPrince Apollo struck up a tune on his fiddle and the room was filled\nwith a glory; but Rainbow paid no heed, and Prince Apollo went away in a\nrage, saying that the Princess had no ear.\n\nAfter this people gave up the quest, for they said: \"If all these great\npeople fail, how should we succeed?\" Now it happened one day, when the\nspringtime came round again, that two tumblers were playing at ball in\nthe Princess's room to try and amuse her, and one of them in throwing,\nthrew the ball and broke the pane of her casement; so a glass mender was\nsent for to mend the window, and there happened to be one that day just\noutside the palace.\n\nThe glass mender was a youth, and his eyes were blue and his cheeks\nfresh, and as he strode up the staircase to the Princess's room, he\nwhistled on a small glass pipe the tune that glass menders have always\nwhistled ever since the beginning of the world. Directly Rainbow heard\nthis sound, she leaped from her bed and cried out:\n\n\"That is it! I hear it, the Song of Spring!\" And as the glass mender\ncame into the room with his basket and his tools, she said: \"At last\nyou've come! You've cured me, and I am now quite well again.\"\n\nThere was no doubt about it. Rainbow from that moment was cured, and the\nglass mender went to the King and claimed his reward.\n\nAt first the King was vexed that his daughter should have to wed a\nhumble glass mender, but he did not dare play any tricks with his\ndaughter's life after what had happened, for fear she should fall ill\nagain; and besides, Rainbow was determined to marry him, and as he was\nso young, so handsome, and so well-spoken, the King told the Queen that\nhe was very likely a Prince in disguise.\n\nBut the glass mender made two conditions about his marriage: the first\nwas that he was to continue to be a wandering glass mender who earned\nhis living by going from city to city, and from village to village,\nmending glass, and the second was that Rainbow was never to ask him\nwhere he came from nor who were his parents, and that she should call\nhim Blue Eyes, nor ever ask him whether he had another name.\n\nThis convinced the King that Blue Eyes was a Prince in disguise, and the\nconditions were readily agreed to, and Rainbow and Blue Eyes were\nmarried without further delay. The King gave them each a white pony for\na wedding present and they started off on their travels.\n\nThey rode through the fields and the woods, from village to village,\nsleeping now in a house and now out of doors, and for the first time in\nher life Rainbow tasted and saw the Spring; and no words can tell how\nhappy they were: all day long Blue Eyes played a tune on his glass\npipe, and he showed Rainbow the haunts of the birds and the beasts; and\nwhenever they came to a village it was as though they brought the\nsunshine of the morning with them, for as soon as any one looked at Blue\nEyes, they could not help being happy, and when he played on his pipe\npeople danced for joy. They wandered over the wide world, and they saw\nevery kind of country and city, and wherever they went smiling faces met\nthem and they made sad people happy, and happy people happier still.\n\nWhen they were in the woods or meadows the birds and beasts seemed to\nknow Blue Eyes, and he talked with them just as if they were real\npeople; and the most savage beasts--wolves and bears and wild\nboars--were as tame as lap-dogs when he spoke to them; and the\nnightingales used to perch on Blue Eyes' shoulder in the evening, and\nsing, as he rode with Rainbow through the forest; the bees and\nbutterflies used to fly in front of them and show them the way.\n\nThe years went by and they had a little son who was called Blue Boy,\nwho grew up just like his father, and talked with the birds and beasts\ndirectly he could speak, and they were all three of them together as\nhappy as the day is long.\n\nOne Spring evening they arrived rather late in a wood, and after they\nhad made a fire and cooked their supper, Rainbow and Blue Boy went to\nsleep, and Blue Eyes sat by the fire for he said he wasn't sleepy.\n\nAfter Rainbow had been sleeping for a few hours she woke up with a\nstart. The moon had risen and the camp-fire had not yet gone out, but\nthe ashes were smouldering and there by the fire sat Blue Eyes. Rainbow\ncould see him distinctly, but he seemed to her to look different from\nusual; strange, beautiful, and more like a fairy Prince than a glass\nmender. Sitting with him by the fire was a lovely maiden with roses in\nher hair and some ears of wheat in her hand, and a silver sickle hanging\nfrom her girdle. They were talking together. Rainbow was so surprised\nthat she uttered a cry, and immediately the beautiful maiden vanished\ninto the wood. Blue Eyes at once went to Rainbow, but she turned over\non her side and pretended to be asleep.\n\nThe next day Blue Eyes said nothing about the strange maiden, and\nRainbow began to be jealous and sad. She tried not to think of it, but\nshe could not get rid of the thought that perhaps Blue Eyes loved\nsomebody else. The next evening they again camped out in the wood, and\nRainbow said she was tired and lay down to sleep early; but she only\npretended to go to sleep, and she was really wide awake.\n\nAs soon as Blue Eyes thought that Rainbow was asleep, he blew a note on\nhis glass pipe, and once more the strange maiden came out of the wood,\nand she and Blue Eyes talked together in a whisper, and once more Blue\nEyes seemed to look quite different, and not at all like a glass mender,\nonly, as it was dark that night, Rainbow could not see him distinctly.\n\nThe next morning Blue Eyes again said nothing about the strange maiden,\nand Rainbow was sadder than ever. If Blue Eyes would only explain, she\nsaid to herself, everything would be all right. So as they were riding\nthrough the wood, Rainbow said to him:\n\n\"I saw you in the wood last night talking to a strange maiden; and, Blue\nEyes, you looked different. I am sure now that you are not a glass\nmender; and now that I have seen you talking to that strange maiden, I\nshall have no peace until you tell me who you are and who she is.\"\n\n\"Alas, alas, alas!\" said Blue Eyes. \"Oh; Rainbow, why could you not\ntrust me? I must tell you now, whether I wish it or no, but you have\ndestroyed our happiness, and I shall have to leave you. My name is\nSpring, and I was talking to my sister Summer; and now I shall have to\nleave you, for I can only take a mortal shape as long as nobody knows\nwho I am.\"\n\nThen Rainbow wept bitterly, and said:\n\n\"Do you mean you must leave me for ever, and that I shall never see you\nagain?\"\n\n\"There is one hope left,\" said Blue Eyes. \"We shall meet again if you\nare able to find me. You will have to search all over the world, and you\nwill not find me until you recognise my look and my voice in the speech\nor the look of a human being; and if you fail to recognise it, when it\nis there, you will never find me at all.\"\n\n\"And when I recognise you either in the speech or the look of a human\nbeing,\" said Rainbow, \"what must I do then?\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Blue Eyes, \"you must say this:\n\n    'Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me,\n    Over the hills and over the sea;\n    Brother of Summer, husband and friend,\n    Come and stay till the world shall end.'\"\n\n\"But what will happen,\" asked Rainbow, \"if I make a mistake and say the\nrhyme to some one who seems to have your look and your speech, when\nreally they are not there?\"\n\n\"If you make a mistake,\" said Blue Eyes, \"you will never see me again.\"\n\nRainbow again began to weep bitterly. She implored Blue Eyes to forgive\nher, but she no longer begged him to stay, for she knew it was useless;\nand Blue Eyes kissed her and Blue Boy, and when he had said good-bye, he\nleapt on to his pony and galloped off into the wood. As he galloped away\nhis appearance changed; his glass mender's clothes fell away from him;\ninstead of his blue cap, there was a crown of dew on his head, and he\nwas clothed with the petals of snowdrops and cowslips; he wore a rainbow\nfor a scarf, which fluttered in the wind; his pony changed into a white\nhorse with silver wings; in his hand he carried a large wand of almond\nblossom, and a starling perched on his wrist. And as he galloped through\nthe wood, the hoofs of his steed left behind them a trail of twinkling\nanemones. Thus he galloped on until he disappeared into the heart of the\nforest, and Rainbow was left alone with Blue Boy.\n\nAfter she had had a long cry she dried her eyes and began at once to\nlook for Blue Eyes. She wandered on through the wood with Blue Boy until\nthey came to a hermit's cave. The hermit lived there all the year round,\nand his only companions were the birds and the beasts of the forest,\nand Rainbow thought if she talked to him she would perhaps hear the\nvoice or see the look of Blue Eyes. But when she spoke to him she saw\nthat he had forgotten what human beings were like, and he gave Rainbow\nand Blue Boy some bread and milk just as though they were birds. Then he\nopened his big book and began reading in it, and no longer noticed their\npresence.\n\nThe months went by, and Rainbow searched everywhere. She searched all\nthrough the summer, and although she met many kind faces, and saw many a\nhappy smile, and heard many a young voice, nowhere did she meet any one\nwho in the least reminded her of Blue Eyes.\n\nWhen the winter came, they went to a city, and Blue Boy, who was growing\nup into a big boy, was apprenticed to a glass mender, and Rainbow and he\nlived together in a little room in the glass mender's house. The glass\nmender had a pretty daughter called Joan, and she had a tame blackbird\nwhich she kept in a wicker cage. All through the winter the city had\nbeen muffled in snow, and it had been bitterly cold; at last the snow\nmelted; and March came with his boisterous wind and his cold showers of\nsleet and rain.\n\nBut one day the rain stopped; the sun shone in the blue sky, and Joan\ncried out:\n\n\"This is the first Spring day!\" She ran out of doors with her bird cage\nand hung it up on the wall outside the house, and although there were as\nyet no green leaves anywhere, the blackbird knew that the spring had\ncome, and he began to sing. While Joan was looking at the blackbird,\nRainbow was watching her from her window, and was thinking to herself.\n\"Surely now I shall hear the voice of Blue Eyes or see his look!\" She\nwas on the point of calling out:\n\n    \"Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me,\"\n\nwhen Joan looked up at her and met her gaze; and laughed, and blushed,\nand ran away. Rainbow knew that it was neither the voice nor the look of\nBlue Eyes; and she cried from disappointment.\n\nBy the time the spring was over, Blue Boy had learned his trade, and he\nwas able to work on his own account and to support his mother, so they\nleft the city together when the summer came, and they went from village\nto village and from city to city, mending broken window panes.\n\nThe years went by. Blue Boy was almost a man, and still Rainbow had not\ncome across any one who had reminded her of Blue Eyes. She was sad,\nbecause she knew that in a year's time Blue Boy would be a man, and that\nit would be time for him to marry, and that she would then be left all\nalone. She knew that this was the last year that she and Blue Boy would\nbe together.\n\nOne day they were walking through a grassy wood which was yellow with\ncowslips. It was a lovely April morning, and in the wood a lot of\nchildren were playing, and making chains and wreaths with the cowslips.\n\n\"Now, at last,\" thought Rainbow, \"I shall hear the voice of Blue Eyes.\"\nShe ran up to the children, but when the children saw her running\ntowards them, they were frightened, and they ran away into the wood,\nand although she called and called they would not come back.\n\nA little further on they came to a lovely village on a hill, overlooking\na river which was a small arm of the sea. The hill was covered with\norchards which were in full blossom, and in front of the little white\nstraw-thatched cottages the neat flower-beds were full of sweet-smelling\nviolets.\n\nRainbow and Blue Boy stayed in this village, and found plenty of work.\nOne evening Rainbow was strolling in a lane on the top of the hill; the\nsteep lane had on each side of it two grassy banks, on the top of which\nbushes and brambles and nut-trees grew so thickly that the ends of their\nboughs almost met across the lane, and the banks were covered with\nprimroses. Walking along this lane, with their faces towards the sunset,\nRainbow met a youth and a maiden; they were whispering to each other\nlittle broken words, with many sighs and smiles, and their talk was like\nthe talk of two birds.\n\nRainbow's heart leapt as she heard them, and she was just going to cry\nout:\n\n    \"Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me,\"\n\nwhen they caught sight of her and stopped talking, and Rainbow knew that\nBlue Eyes was not there.\n\nThen came the month of May, and the woods grew green and the lilac\nblossomed, and Rainbow grew sadder and sadder. One night she could not\nsleep, and she got up and walked through the moonlit village, right down\nto the quay by the river-side where the fishermen kept their boats and\ntheir nets. Many of the fishermen were out fishing on the sea, and one\nof them, a young lad, was setting the brown sail of his boat on the\nriver, and as he did so, he sang a song which was like this:\n\n    \"I have a cottage I love well,\n      In the sweet west countree:\n    And there my love and I shall dwell,\n      When I come back from sea.\n\n    We'll stow the sail and stow the oar,\n      And oh, how glad she'll be\n    To mend the nets upon the shore,\n      When I come back from sea.\n\n    I have a cottage on the hill,\n      Just right for her and me,\n    And she will say 'I love you still,'\n      When I come back from sea.\"\n\nThe fisherman's voice was so glad and joyous as he sang this song, that\nRainbow thought Blue Eyes must be there, and she ran to the shore. At\nthat moment the moonlight fell full upon the fisherman, so that Rainbow\ncould see his face, and she stopped herself calling out just in time,\nfor she saw he was not at all like Blue Eyes.\n\nDuring that same month Blue Boy fell in love with a Dairy Maid called\nCherry-Ripe, and it was arranged that they should be married at\nMichaelmas. But as Michaelmas drew near, Rainbow grew sadder and sadder,\nbecause she could not bear to think what she would do without Blue Boy.\n\nSeptember came, and the corn was carried, and the leaves began to turn\ngold. On Michaelmas Eve, Rainbow was sitting in her garden watching the\nautumn sunset. Not far from her garden, which was on the side of a steep\nhill, there was a quarry in which there was an old seat, and this was a\nfavourite spot for lovers, for from this place you could see the little\nriver, all the village and the sea beyond, and the view was beautiful.\nRainbow thought she would walk to the quarry, so as to get a better view\nof the sunset.\n\nWhen she got there, she saw an old couple sitting on the seat. The man\nwas a fisherman; his face was bronzed and wrinkled by the wind and the\nwaves, and the woman's hair was grey and silvery. They did not notice\nRainbow coming, and the old woman said to the man:\n\n\"Do you remember how we used to meet here in the days when you were\ncourting me?\"\n\nAnd the old man said: \"It was in the spring, and the apple-trees were\nout.\"\n\nAnd the old woman said: \"Ah! I was a comely lass then. There was no one\nlike me in the village. Folks wouldn't believe it now, what with my\nwhite hair and my wrinkles.\"\n\nAnd the old man said: \"I see no difference in you, lassie. You've the\nsame lovely blue eyes as you always had, and if your hair has turned\nsilver, it's none the less fair for that.\"\n\nAnd the old woman said: \"And I see no difference in you, Sweetheart;\nyou're just as strong and as brave as ever.\"\n\nAnd the old man said: \"Why, it's forty years ago, but it makes nought to\nus, for as long as I've got you, and you've got me, we shan't see any\nchange in each other, for with us it has always been springtide and\ncourting time, and it always will be.\"\n\nAnd the old man looked at the old woman, and smiled and took her hand,\nand her eyes filled with tears. And when Rainbow saw this, before she\nknew what happened, she had called out:\n\n    \"Blue Eyes, Blue Eyes, come back to me,\n    Over the hills and over the sea.\n    Brother of Summer, husband and friend,\n    Come and stay till the world shall end.\"\n\nAs soon as she had said this, Blue Eyes stood before her just as he had\nbeen when he rode away, clothed in snowdrops and cowslips, wearing the\nrainbow for a scarf, and carrying a branch of blossom in his hand.\n\nRainbow was so glad to see Blue Eyes that she almost fainted. She led\nhim to her cottage, and there she wept a long time for joy. Then Blue\nEyes told her that he would never leave her again, but that he could not\nlive on the earth a second time in the guise of a glass mender. During\nthe spring they would ride through the world, scattering sunshine,\nlaughter, and hope; mortals would see them, but they would not know who\nthey were. During the summer and the autumn they would be invisible to\nmortals, and during the winter they would slumber in the Diamond Palace\nof his mother, the Snow Queen.\n\nThey waited to see Blue Boy and Cherry-Ripe married, and Blue Eyes gave\nthem as a wedding present a little glass pipe, which, whenever he played\nit, brought the spring into the hearts of all who heard it. And Blue\nEyes promised that whenever Blue Boy whistled on the pipe, he and\nRainbow would immediately answer his call and come to him.\n\nWhen the wedding was over, Blue Eyes gave Rainbow his scarf, and they\nmounted on two winged steeds and galloped off through the lanes. Now if\nyou ever meet in a wood or by a river a man with blue eyes, on a winged\nhorse, with a crown of dew, and a tunic of snowdrops and cowslips, and\nby his side, on a white pony, a beautiful woman wearing the rainbow for\na scarf, and holding a branch of blossom in her hand, you will know it\nis Blue Eyes and Rainbow.\n\nAnd if ever you hear on a spring morning, in a city or a village, three\nlittle notes played on a pipe which make your heart dance for joy, you\nwill know that Blue Boy is calling for his father and his mother; for he\ndoes this very often.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BLUE ROSE\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived in China a wise Emperor, whose daughter was\nremarkable for her perfect beauty. Her feet were the smallest in the\nworld; her eyes were long and slanting, and as bright as brown onyxes,\nand when you heard her laugh it was like listening to a tinkling stream,\nor to the chimes of a silver bell. Moreover, the Emperor's daughter was\nas wise as she was beautiful, and she chanted the verse of the great\npoets better than any one in the land. The Emperor was old in years; his\nson was married and had begotten a son; he was, therefore, quite happy\nabout the succession to the throne, but he wished before he died to see\nhis daughter wedded to some one who should be worthy of her.\n\nMany suitors presented themselves at the palace, as soon as it became\nknown that the Emperor desired a son-in-law, but when they reached the\npalace, they were met by the Lord Chamberlain, who told them the Emperor\nhad decided that only the man who found and brought back the Blue Rose\nshould marry his daughter. The suitors were much puzzled by this order.\nWhat was the Blue Rose, and where was it to be found? In all a hundred\nand fifty suitors had presented themselves, and out of these, fifty at\nonce put away from them all thought of winning the hand of the Emperor's\ndaughter, since they considered the condition imposed to be absurd.\n\nThe other hundred set about trying to find the Blue Rose. One of\nthem--his name was Ti-Fun-Ti, he was a merchant and immensely rich--went\nat once to the largest shop in the town and said to the shopkeeper: \"I\nwant a blue rose, the best you have.\"\n\nThe shopkeeper, with many apologies, explained that he did not stock\nblue roses. He had red roses in profusion, white, pink, and yellow\nroses, but no blue rose. There had hitherto been no demand for the\narticle.\n\n\"Well,\" said Ti-Fun-Ti, \"you must get one for me. I do not mind how much\nmoney it costs, but I must have a blue rose.\"\n\nThe shopkeeper said he would do his best, but he feared it would be an\nexpensive article and difficult to procure.\n\nAnother of the suitors, whose name I have forgotten, was a warrior and\nextremely brave; he mounted his horse, and taking with him a hundred\narchers and a thousand horsemen he marched into the territory of the\nKing of Five Rivers, whom he knew to be the richest king in the world\nand the possessor of the rarest treasures, and demanded of him the Blue\nRose, threatening him with a terrible doom should he be reluctant to\ngive it up.\n\nThe King of the Five Rivers, who disliked soldiers, and had a horror of\nnoise, violence, and every kind of fuss (his bodyguard was armed solely\nwith fans and sunshades), rose from the cushions on which he was lying\nwhen the demand was made, and, tinkling a small bell, said to the\nservant who straightway appeared, \"Fetch me the Blue Rose.\"\n\nThe servant retired and returned presently bearing on a silken cushion a\nlarge sapphire which was carved so as to imitate a full-blown rose with\nall its petals.\n\n\"This,\" said the King of the Five Rivers, \"is the Blue Rose. You are\nwelcome to it.\"\n\nThe warrior took it, and after making brief, soldier-like thanks, he\nwent straight back to the Emperor's palace, saying that he had lost no\ntime in finding the Blue Rose. He was ushered into the presence of the\nEmperor, who as soon as he heard the warrior's story and saw the Blue\nRose which had been brought, sent for his daughter and said to her:\n\"This intrepid warrior has brought you what he claims to be the Blue\nRose. Has he accomplished the quest?\"\n\nThe Princess took the precious object in her hands, and after examining\nit for a moment, said: \"This is not a rose at all. It is a sapphire; I\nhave no need of precious stones.\" And she returned the stone to the\nwarrior, with many elegantly-expressed thanks. And the warrior went\naway in discomfiture.\n\nWhen Ti-Fun-Ti, the merchant, heard of the warrior's failure, he was all\nthe more anxious to win the prize. He sought the shopkeeper and said to\nhim: \"Have you got me the Blue Rose? I trust you have; because if not, I\nshall most assuredly be the means of your death. My brother-in-law is\nchief magistrate, and I am allied by marriage to all the chief officials\nin the kingdom.\"\n\nThe shopkeeper turned pale and said: \"Sir, give me three days, and I\nwill procure you the Blue Rose without fail.\" The merchant granted him\nthe three days and went away. Now the shopkeeper was at his wit's end as\nto what to do, for he knew well there was no such thing as a blue rose.\nFor two days he did nothing but moan and wring his hands, and on the\nthird day he went to his wife and said: \"Wife, we are ruined!\"\n\nBut his wife, who was a sensible woman, said: \"Nonsense! If there is no\nsuch thing as a blue rose we must make one. Go to the apothecary and\nask him for a strong dye which will change a white rose into a blue\none.\"\n\nSo the shopkeeper went to the apothecary and asked him for a dye, and\nthe chemist gave him a bottle of red liquid, telling him to pick a white\nrose and to dip its stalk into the liquid and the rose would turn blue.\nThe shopkeeper did as he was told; the rose turned into a beautiful blue\nand the shopkeeper took it to the merchant, who at once went with it to\nthe palace, saying that he had found the Blue Rose.\n\nHe was ushered into the presence of the Emperor, who as soon as he saw\nthe blue rose sent for his daughter and said to her: \"This wealthy\nmerchant has brought you what he claims to be the Blue Rose. Has he\naccomplished the quest?\"\n\nThe Princess took the flower in her hands, and after examining it for a\nmoment said: \"This is a white rose; its stalk has been dipped in a\npoisonous dye and it has turned blue. Were a butterfly to settle upon\nit, it would die of the potent fume. Take it back. I have no need of a\ndyed rose.\" And she returned it to the merchant with many\nelegantly-expressed thanks.\n\nThe other ninety-eight suitors all sought in various ways for the Blue\nRose. Some of them travelled all over the world seeking it; some of them\nsought the aid of wizards and astrologers, and one did not hesitate to\ninvoke the help of the dwarfs that live underground. But all of them,\nwhether they travelled in far countries, or took counsel with wizards\nand demons, or sat pondering in lonely places, failed to find the Blue\nRose.\n\nAt last they all abandoned the quest except the Lord Chief Justice, who\nwas the most skilful lawyer and statesman in the country. After thinking\nover the matter for several months, he sent for the most skilful artist\nin the country and said to him: \"Make me a china cup. Let it be\nmilk-white in colour and perfect in shape, and paint on it a rose, a\nblue rose.\"\n\nThe artist made obeisance and withdrew, and worked for two months at the\nLord Chief Justice's cup. In two months' time it was finished, and the\nworld has never seen such a beautiful cup, so perfect in symmetry, so\ndelicate in texture, and the rose on it, the blue rose, was a living\nflower, picked in fairyland and floating on the rare milky surface of\nthe porcelain. When the Lord Chief Justice saw it he gasped with\nsurprise and pleasure, for he was a great lover of porcelain, and never\nin his life had he seen such a piece. He said to himself: \"Without doubt\nthe Blue Rose is here on this cup, and nowhere else.\"\n\nSo, after handsomely rewarding the artist, he went to the Emperor's\npalace and said that he had brought the Blue Rose. He was ushered into\nthe Emperor's presence, who as he saw the cup sent for his daughter and\nsaid to her: \"This eminent lawyer has brought you what he claims to be\nthe Blue Rose. Has he accomplished the quest?\"\n\nThe Princess took the bowl in her hands, and after examining it for a\nmoment, said: \"This bowl is the most beautiful piece of china I have\never seen. If you are kind enough to let me keep it I will put it aside\nuntil I receive the blue rose. For so beautiful is it that no other\nflower is worthy to be put in it except the Blue Rose.\"\n\n[Illustration: ONE EVENING HE WAS PLAYING HIS ONE-STRINGED INSTRUMENT\nOUTSIDE A DARK WALL]\n\nThe Lord Chief Justice thanked the Princess for accepting the bowl with\nmany elegantly-turned phrases, and he went away in discomfiture.\n\nAfter this there was no one in the whole country who ventured on the\nquest of the Blue Rose. It happened that not long after the Lord Chief\nJustice's attempt, a strolling minstrel visited the kingdom of the\nEmperor. One evening he was playing his one-stringed instrument outside\na dark wall. It was a summer's evening, and the sun had sunk in a glory\nof dusty gold, and in the violet twilight one or two stars were\ntwinkling like spear-heads. There was an incessant noise made by the\ncroaking of frogs and the chatter of grasshoppers. The minstrel was\nsinging a short song over and over again to a monotonous tune. The sense\nof it was something like this:--\n\n    \"I watched beside the willow trees\n      The river, as the evening fell;\n    The twilight came and brought no breeze,\n      No dew, no water for the well,\n\n    \"When from the tangled banks of grass,\n      A bird across the water flew,\n    And in the river's hard grey glass\n      I saw a flash of azure blue.\"\n\nAs he sang he heard a rustle on the wall, and looking up he saw a slight\nfigure, white against the twilight, beckoning to him. He walked along\nunder the wall until he came to a gate, and there some one was waiting\nfor him, and he was gently led into the shadow of a dark cedar tree. In\nthe twilight he saw two bright eyes looking at him, and he understood\ntheir message. In the twilight a thousand meaningless nothings were\nwhispered in the light of the stars, and the hours fled swiftly. When\nthe East began to grow light, the Princess (for it was she) said it was\ntime to go.\n\n\"But,\" said the minstrel, \"to-morrow I shall come to the palace and ask\nfor your hand.\"\n\n\"Alas!\" said the Princess, \"I would that were possible, but my father\nhas made a foolish condition that only he may wed me who finds the Blue\nRose.\"\n\n\"That is simple,\" said the minstrel, \"I will find it!\" And they said\ngood-night to each other.\n\nThe next morning the minstrel went to the palace, and on his way he\npicked a common white rose from a wayside garden. He was ushered into\nthe Emperor's presence, who sent for his daughter and said to her: \"This\npenniless minstrel has brought you what he claims to be the Blue Rose.\nHas he accomplished the quest?\"\n\nThe Princess took the rose in her hands and said: \"Yes, this is without\ndoubt the Blue Rose.\"\n\nBut the Lord Chief Justice and all who were present respectfully pointed\nout that the rose was a common white rose and not a blue one, and the\nobjection was with many forms and phrases conveyed to the Princess.\n\n\"I think the rose is blue,\" said the Princess. \"It is, in fact, the Blue\nRose. Perhaps you are all colour blind.\"\n\nThe Emperor, with whom the decision rested, decided that if the Princess\nthought the rose was blue, it was blue, for it was well known that her\nperception was more acute than that of any one else in the kingdom.\n\nSo the minstrel married the Princess, and they settled on the sea-coast\nin a little green house with a garden full of white roses, and they\nlived happily for ever afterwards. And the Emperor, knowing that his\ndaughter had made a good match, died in peace.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF VOX ANGELICA AND LIEBLICH GEDACHT\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a poor tanner called Hans who lived with his\nwife Martha in a town in which there were two hundred churches, a\nhundred chapels, and a huge cathedral.\n\nHans lived in a wooden house opposite the gates of the cathedral. They\nhad only one son and he was so delicate that they did not know what\ntrade he could learn when he grew bigger. In the meantime they taught\nhim how to read and write. The boy was christened Johan; for he was born\non St. John's Day. When Johan was quite a tiny little boy he liked\nlistening to the sound of the organ in the big cathedral, and in the\nevenings he would sit for hours in the darkness, listening to the\norganist at his practice.\n\nThe organist was an old man called Doctor Sebastian, and he wore a\npowdered wig and large tortoise-shell spectacles. When he played the\norgan, which was an immense instrument and had five keyboards, the\nwindows trembled in all the houses which nestled round the cathedral.\n\nDoctor Sebastian soon noticed the little Johan and allowed him to come\nup into the organ-loft while he was playing, and Johan used to sit as\nstill as a mouse, and watch him pull out the stops, and play with his\nfeet as skilfully as he did with his hands. Doctor Sebastian had a pupil\ncalled Frantz, a lad with curly brown hair and large brown eyes. Frantz\nused to practise on the organ every day; but Doctor Sebastian was severe\nwith him, and Frantz was not allowed to play the organ at High Mass on\nSundays. One day Johan asked Doctor Sebastian whether this was because\nFrantz played badly, and Doctor Sebastian said:\n\n\"Frantz has much to learn and he must be trained, but one day, when he\nhas learnt all that I can teach him, he will be able to teach me what I\nshall not be able to learn.\"\n\nJohan did not understand what this meant, but he guessed that Doctor\nSebastian thought well of Frantz, in spite of his being so severe with\nhim. Johan thought that Frantz was the most wonderful player in the\nworld, and whereas Doctor Sebastian only made the organ speak in deep\nsingle tones, and only used the open stops and the booming pedal\nbass-notes, Frantz--when Doctor Sebastian was not there to listen--used\nto make the organ sigh and speak like a castle full of spirits, and\nJohan thought this was wonderful.\n\nOne day, it was in winter just before Christmas, and Johan was eight\nyears old, Doctor Sebastian was laid up in bed with a bad cold, and he\nsent for Frantz and said to him:\n\n\"I shall never rise from my bed again. I am going thither where I shall\nhear the music which we only guess at here on earth. You must play the\norgan on Christmas Day. I have taught you all I know. I have been severe\nand gruff with you; but being a musician, you know that if I had not\nthought you worthy of it, I should not have taken any trouble with you\nat all. I have been spared until you were ready to take my place, and\nnow I can go in peace, for I know that I leave behind me a worthy\nsuccessor. I have scolded you and pulled your ears, rapped your fingers\nand blamed your playing, but you have got that which I should never\nlearn if I lived for two hundred years. You have the divine gift, and as\na musician I am not worthy to unlatch the shoes of what you will be; for\nyou will play on earth the music that I am now going to hear in Heaven!\"\n\nAfter that Doctor Sebastian squeezed Frantz's hand and said no more. The\nnext day he died.\n\nFrantz was very sad, and he spent the whole day that the Doctor died in\nthe cathedral composing a requiem in memory of his dead master. Little\nJohan, in a corner of the aisle, listened to the music: he had never\nheard anything so beautiful; some new power seemed to have come to\nFrantz, and when he touched the keys the pipes spoke in a way they had\nnever spoken before.\n\nFrantz went on playing until late into the night, and Johan had been\ncarried so far away into dreamland by the music that he did not notice\nwhen Frantz stopped, but all at once he became aware that he was alone\nin the cathedral and that the organ-loft was dark and no sound came from\nit.\n\nJohan ran up the winding stair into the organ-loft, but Frantz had gone,\nand Johan knew that he was locked in the cathedral for the night. He\nmade up his mind to sleep there where he was, and he was just taking one\nof Frantz's missals to use as a pillow when he became aware that he was\nno longer alone. Sitting on the bench in front of the keys was a strange\nfigure. It was an old man with a grey beard, twinkling eyes, and a deep\nvoice like the buzzing of a hornet. He wore a brown coat and grey\nstockings, and a black three-cornered hat.\n\n\"Who are you?\" asked Johan.\n\n\"My name is Quint,\" said the little old man, \"and I live in one of the\nbig wooden pipes of the organ.\"\n\n\"Do you always live there?\" asked Johan.\n\n\"No, not always,\" said Quint. \"We don't live here as a rule, but some of\nthem oblige us to come here and sing----\"\n\n\"I don't understand,\" said Johan.\n\n\"Well, I will explain it to you,\" answered Quint. \"It's like this: Every\none of the stops of the organ has some one who belongs to it and to whom\nit belongs--but these people do not live in the stops; they live in\ntheir own country, which is called Musicland, and they only come to the\norgans when they are obliged to.\"\n\n\"But who obliges them?\" asked Johan.\n\nQuint thought for a moment, and then he said: \"Those who have the gift.\"\n\n\"But what is the gift?\" asked Johan.\n\n\"That I can't tell you,\" said Quint. \"All I know is that some have it\nand others haven't.\"\n\n\"Did Doctor Sebastian have the gift?\" asked Johan.\n\n\"No,\" said Quint, \"he was a learned man and a very good man; but he\nhadn't got the gift. But young Frantz: he's got it. That's why I am here\nto-day.\"\n\n\"Are the people of the other stops here too?\" asked Johan, who was\ndeeply interested in what Quint told him.\n\n\"They've all gone home,\" said Quint. \"You see, as long as the player\nplays, we can stay here and not come out except just when we're wanted;\nbut if we don't get back into the pipes before the player has finished,\nwe can't go home. Now just before Frantz finished I crept out of my pipe\nbecause I wasn't wanted, and I wished to look at the cathedral, and then\nsuddenly he stopped playing, before I could get back into my pipe again,\nand if we are not in our pipes when the organist stops playing we can't\nget home.\"\n\n\"What will you do then?\" asked Johan.\n\n\"I shall have to wait till he plays again to-morrow. I can get into a\npipe of course, but I can't go home.\"\n\n\"To Musicland?\" asked Johan.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Quint, \"and it's annoying, because I shall miss the end of\nthe wedding festivities.\"\n\n\"Whose wedding?\" asked Johan.\n\n\"Vox Angelica's, of course,\" said Quint. \"She was married yesterday.\"\n\n\"Vox Angelica is that lovely soft stop in the swell,\" said Johan. \"I\nsuppose she's going to marry 'Lieblich Gedacht'?\"\n\n\"Of course she is,\" said Quint, \"but it's a long business. If you like I\nwill tell you all about it.\"\n\n\"Oh, please do!\" said Johan.\n\n\"Well,\" began Quint, \"Vox Angelica is the most beautiful person you have\never seen. Her eyes are just like blue waters, grave and still, and her\nhair is long and as bright as the gold on a harp. And as for her voice,\nwell, you can hear that whenever Frantz plays the organ. She is as kind\nand gentle as she is beautiful, and everybody in our country loves her.\nShe lives in that part of Musicland where the hills and white mountains\nare. In the winter it is covered with snow which gleams in the sunshine,\nwhiter and brighter than any snow you have ever seen, but when the\nspring comes the snow disappears and the slopes of the mountains are\ncovered with millions and millions of flowers which are soft and white\nand glisten like stars.\n\n\"Lieblich Gedacht was the son of a forester, and he lives in the Woods\nof Melody, right in the heart of our country where the old oak forests\ngrow, which are carpeted with bluebells in the spring so that the\nenormous stems look as if they rose out of a blue sea, and in the spring\nand in the summer the woods are full of birds; but no bird there has so\nsweet a note as Lieblich Gedacht when he sings in the wood. The birds\nstop singing to listen to him. He sings all the year round: when the\nwoods are green, and in the autumn too, when they are gold and crimson\nlike the tattered banners of our King, and in the winter, when the oak\ntrees spread their bare arms across the clear cold sky.\n\n\"One day Lieblich Gedacht put on a green jerkin, a green cap, and taking\nwith him a sword and a pipe he set out on his travels. He wandered\nthrough Musicland until he came to a castle which was on the top of a\nmountain. This castle had a tower with one window in it, and from the\nwindow came the sound of a whisper which sounded so soft and wonderful\nthat Lieblich Gedacht thought it must be the voice of a flower speaking\nto itself: the jessamine perhaps, or the briar rose. Then he looked up\nand he saw leaning out of the window a maid with gold hair which fell\nfrom the window far down the tower, and she was as frail and as lovely\nas a gentian on the mountains.\n\n\"Then Lieblich Gedacht sang a song. He sang of all the beautiful things\nhe had ever dreamed of; he sang of the sun and the moon and the stars,\nof the spring, the grass, the great woods and their secret; he sang the\nsong the leaves sing when they wake in the dawn, and the song the boughs\nsing in the evening when they lull the birds and the flowers to sleep.\nHe sang of the love he felt for all the beautiful things in the world,\nand about how glad he was to be alive in a beautiful country like\nMusicland.\n\n\"Vox Angelica heard him, and answered his song, and they sang a duet\ntogether, and Lieblich Gedacht's part said, 'I love you,' and Vox\nAngelica's part said, 'I love you too.'\n\n\"Then Lieblich Gedacht asked Vox Angelica to marry him, and she said she\nwould, and they settled they would start at once for the City of\nPleasant Sounds and be married. They started at once. Lieblich Gedacht\nrode on a grey horse, and Vox Angelica rode on the saddle in front of\nhim. Now their way lay through a perilous wood called the Forest of\nDiscord, which was infested by imps called Chromatics, and by hundreds\nof gnomes who made a hideous noise, and in the middle of this wood lived\nBourdon, who is a wizard.\n\n\"When they reached the wood it was already dark, and from every bush and\ntree came sharp sounds, ugly cries, moans, groans, squeaks, wheezes, and\nin the distance they could hear a deep buzzing boom.\n\n\"Vox Angelica and Lieblich Gedacht were rather frightened, since it was\ndark and neither of them knew the way, for neither of them had ever been\nnear the Forest of Discord before, and they knew none of the people who\nbelonged to it. So they made up their minds not to go any farther but to\nsleep under the shade of an oak-tree. It was summer, so it was warm.\nThey made themselves a bed of leaves and lay down; but the Chromatics\nmade such a noise that they could not go to sleep. At last they put moss\ninto their ears so that they could not hear the ugly sounds, and they\nboth fell asleep.\n\n\"In the middle of the night Lieblich Gedacht had a bad dream. He dreamed\nthat the trees had come to life and had stretched out their arms and\ntaken Vox Angelica away from him, and that when he tried to keep her\nthey bound him down to the ground.\n\n\"When Lieblich Gedacht awoke, it was daylight and the sun was shining\nthrough the dark trees. But what was his grief and despair when he saw\nthat Vox Angelica was no longer there! She had gone, disappeared, and\nleft no trace. He looked for her everywhere; he called out her name in a\nthousand ways till the ugly wood re-echoed with the sweetness of his\nsong, but no Vox Angelica answered. She was nowhere to be found.\nLieblich Gedacht was in despair. He did not know what to do nor where to\nlook. 'But,' he thought to himself, 'one thing is certain: it is no use\nwasting time in this forest, I must go and find some one who will be\nlikely to help me.'\n\n\"So he rode out of the Forest of Discord as quickly as he could, and\ncrossed the plains which lie beyond it, and he rode on until he reached\nthe Wood of Dreams, which is on the other side of the plains.\n\n\"In this wood there lives a hermit called Sackbut, who is well known for\nhis goodness and his wisdom, and Lieblich Gedacht made up his mind to go\nand ask him for his help and advice. Sackbut lives in a cave\nunderground. He is very old, and has a long white beard six times as\nlong as mine. Lieblich Gedacht, after searching for some time in the\nwood, found a clear space in the thickets, and in the middle of it a\ncircle of built bricks which looked like the top of a well. But when he\nlooked down into what he thought was the well he saw there were steps\nin it which went down underground. He went boldly down the steps and\ninto the dark, and when he had counted thirty-two of them they stopped\nand he came to the door. He knocked at this door, and he heard a hoarse\nvoice saying: 'Who is there?'\n\n\"'It is I, Lieblich Gedacht,' he answered. 'I have come for advice.'\n\n\"The door was opened at once, and Lieblich Gedacht found himself in a\ncell lit by a lantern, and in front of him, sitting at a table and\nreading a large book, which had nothing but notes in it, was Sackbut the\nHermit.\n\n\"'Well, what do you want?' asked the hermit in a gruff voice. 'Be quick\nand tell me, because I am busy and I have got no time to waste. I am\nlearning a fugue by one of those new-fangled German musicians, and I\nmust know it by next Sunday, for there's a man in one of their cities\nwho has the gift, and I shall have to go.'\n\n\"'I have plighted my troth to Vox Angelica,' said Lieblich Gedacht. 'We\nwere travelling together to the City of Pleasant Sounds to be married,\nand we stopped on the way in the Forest of Discord.'\n\n\"'That was a silly thing to do,' said Sackbut.\n\n\"'We slept the night there, and when I woke up in the morning Vox\nAngelica had disappeared.'\n\n\"'Did you hear anything in the night?' asked Sackbut.\n\n\"'No,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'but I had a bad nightmare. I dreamed the\ntrees were taking her away and strangling me.'\n\n\"'I see,' said Sackbut, 'it's Bourdon the wizard; he's at his old tricks\nagain. Vox Angelica has been carried away by Bourdon, and he has\nprobably hidden her somewhere. He would not dare keep her in his castle,\nbecause the Chromatics are such gossips that the whole kingdom would\nknow it at once. She is a prisoner somewhere; of that you can be sure.\nBut where I cannot tell you. All I can advise you is to go and ask Echo:\nshe hears everything.'\n\n\"'And where does Echo live?' asked Lieblich Gedacht.\n\n\"'Echo,' said Sackbut, 'lives in the Castle of the Winds, which is not\nvery far away. You must go right through the Wood of Dreams, and across\nthe plains, and then you will come to a valley; you must descend into\nthis valley, which is steep, and climb up the other side of it; and\nthere on a high rock you will see the Castle of the Winds. Good-bye.'\n\n\"And the Hermit bent over his music-book once more and hummed to himself\nin his deep bass voice. But just as Lieblich Gedacht was going away,\nSackbut called him back and gave him a walnut, and said: 'Whenever you\nare in danger and want my help, crack this. Now go.'\n\n\"Lieblich Gedacht thanked Sackbut, and did as he had been told. He rode\nthrough the Wood of Dreams, which is a quiet wood, shady and dim. There\nare very few birds in it; but the nightingale sings there all day and\nthe nightjar sings there all night. And on his way he passed a cottage\nwhere Waldhorn the hunter lives, and farther on he passed a castle\nwhich belongs to Waldfloete the Lord of the Forest. But neither of them\nwere at home; for Waldhorn was out hunting, and Waldfloete was on a visit\nto his cousin Cor de Nuit, who lives in the Orchards of Twilight.\n\n\"Lieblich Gedacht soon reached the valley, which is deep and made of\ngreat rocks and quarries. It is so steep that he had to lead his horse\ndown the whole way. But the other side was easier to climb because it\nwas grassy, and he was able to ride up it. When he reached the top, he\nsaw a castle with transparent walls which reflected the sunlight and\nwhich had hundreds of windows, all of them wide open so as to let in the\nwinds from all the corners of the world. When he reached the door he\nsang a soft note, and he immediately heard it repeated hundreds and\nhundreds of times so that the whole world seemed to be full of calling\nsounds. The door opened of itself, and Lieblich walked into a hall, at\nthe end of which was a winding staircase. He walked up this staircase\nand he went on and on until he thought it would never end. At last he\ncame to the top, and there, in a little room which had eight sides,\nsitting on a crystal throne, was Echo.\n\n\"She was dressed in moonbeams and dewdrops and the fleece of a cloud,\nand she had wings made of gossamer like those of a dragon-fly, and on\nher head there trembled a star.\n\n\"'I have come,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'to ask you to help me.' And he\ntold his story.\n\n\"'Two nights ago,' said Echo when he had finished, 'I heard Bourdon\nstart from his castle in his large rumbling coach. His horses were\ngalloping. He left his castle and drove for some time through the Forest\nof Discord, and then he stopped. At that moment I heard a sigh which I\nam sure was Vox Angelica speaking. But the sigh was soon stifled, and\nBourdon drove off again in his coach. He drove right through the Forest\nof Dreams, over the plains, till he came to the sea, and there he got\nout and disappeared under the sea. After that I do not know what\nhappened, because the winds cannot bring me any news of what happens\nunderneath the sea; but he probably crossed the sea and went to\nMuteland, which is beyond it. But I advise you to go and ask Unda Maris,\nwho lives under the sea. She will tell you.'\n\n\"'But how shall I find Unda Maris?' asked Lieblich Gedacht.\n\n\"'All you have got to do is to go to the seashore,' said Echo; 'you must\ntake this ring, and when you get there'--and here she gave Lieblich\nGedacht a silver ring with a strange blue stone in it--'you must throw\nit into the sea and sing--\n\n    \"Ring, ring, go home,\n    To the fishes and the foam;\n    Say the word and open the sea,\n    Come and show the way to me.\"\n\nBut remember this: if any one asks you to do them a service, however\nsmall, which might delay your journey, you must refuse, or evil will\ncome of it. And you had better take this with you, and whenever you are\nin danger and want my help, open it.' And she gave Lieblich Gedacht a\nlittle green egg.\n\n\"Lieblich Gedacht thanked Echo and said good-bye, and then he rode as\nquickly as he could to the seashore. There he threw the ring into the\nsea and said--\n\n    'Ring, ring, go home,\n    To the fishes and the foam;\n    Say the word and open the sea,\n    Come and show the way to me.'\n\nNo sooner had he said this than the sea opened wide, and he saw before\nhim a stone staircase with a rope made of pearls for him to walk down\nby; and a silver fish with webbed feet and hands went in front of him\nand showed him the way.\n\n\"The fish led him a long walk right to the bottom of the sea, and when\nhe got there, he found a place built of rocks and seaweeds. Inside it\nwas green and dim like a summer night, and sounds echoed through its\ngreen corridors. The fish led Lieblich Gedacht through many halls to the\ncentral grotto, which was built of sapphires, where Unda Maris lived.\nShe was lying on a bed of purple seaweed when he entered the grotto,\nand she was touching the strings of a golden harp. She was almost hidden\nby a veil, and her face shone behind it, pale like the moon behind a\ncloud. She asked Lieblich Gedacht what he wanted, and he told his story.\n\n\"'It is true,' she said when he had finished. 'Bourdon has carried away\nVox Angelica out of Musicland. He passed through the sea three days\nago--passed through and took her to Muteland beyond the sea, to the\nCastle of Silence that stands in the middle of the Lake of Sighs. You\nmust go there if you wish to find her. You must cross the sea to get\nthere in a boat, and you must be sure on no account to stop anywhere on\nthe way, or else evil will come of it. Take this with you, and whenever\nyou are in danger, and want my help, open it.' So saying, she gave\nLieblich Gedacht a pearly shell.\n\n\"So Lieblich Gedacht thanked Unda Maris and said good-bye, and walked\nback by the staircase to the seashore again. When he got there the first\nthing he did was to go to a fisherman's hut and ask him to lend him a\nboat to cross the sea in. While he was talking to the fisherman he saw\nthree figures coming towards him. One was dressed in bright armour, and\nwore a gold cloak on his left shoulder, and a crimson cap with a crimson\nfeather in it, and a sword. This was Prince Hautboy, and with him was\nhis page, Piccolo, a mischievous little boy with beady brown eyes,\nclothed entirely in silver; and the second, who wore a scarlet tunic and\nwho carried a broadsword and a bugle, was Cornet the soldier; and the\nthird was a tall figure with a handsome, melancholy face, dressed in\nblack velvet and wearing a large black cap from which a proud white\nplume waved. This was Viol d'Amore, the brave nobleman who was a\nswordsman and who made beautiful verses and sang them.\n\n\"Lieblich Gedacht walked up to them, and taking off his green cap made\nobeisance to them.\n\n\"Hautboy and Viol d'Amore asked him who he was.\n\n\"'I am Lieblich Gedacht,' he said, 'the son of the forester. I live in\nthe Woods of Melody, and I am betrothed to Vox Angelica. But Bourdon has\ntaken her away and locked her up in the Castle of Silence on the Lake of\nSighs, and I am going to rescue her.'\n\n\"'Then you can come with us,' said Hautboy, 'for we are bound upon a\nlike errand. I am betrothed to Clarabella, and Bourdon has taken her\naway; and Viol d'Amore is looking for Dolce his betrothed, and Cornet\nfor Muzette, who is pledged to him, and Bourdon has taken them too.'\n\n\"So Viol d'Amore, Hautboy, Cornet, and Lieblich Gedacht, and Piccolo the\npage, got into the boat, hoisted the sail and set out to sea. They had a\nfair breeze, and for three days their voyage continued smoothly without\nany adventures; but on the fourth day they met a huge brass ship with a\nserpent at the prow which challenged them.\n\n\"'This is Bourdon's doing,' said Hautboy; 'he has had wind of our\nadventure and sent his allies against us.'\n\n\"In the brass ship there were two very fearsome warriors--Tromba, who\nwas a giant mailed in brazen armour, like the vessel, and Bassoon, who\nwas as large as a barrel and who had a voice like thunder; and with them\nwere fifty tin soldiers. As soon as the vessel approached, Tromba cried\nout in a ringing voice--\n\n\"'Surrender, you are my prisoners!'\n\n\"'In whose name?' cried out Hautboy.\n\n\"'In the name of Bourdon, our King,' answered Tromba.\n\n\"'We recognise no king save King Diapason, our lawful sovereign,' said\nHautboy unabashed.\n\n\"'Then if you won't surrender we shall make you,' said Tromba; and he\ntold his soldiers to ram the little boat.\n\n\"Hautboy thought that all was lost; and Lieblich Gedacht said, 'If only\nUnda Maris were here she could help us.' Then he remembered the shell\nwhich she had given to him, and he opened it. There was nothing inside\nit except a tiny seed-pearl, and as he opened the shell the vessel gave\na lurch and the seed-pearl fell into the sea. Lieblich Gedacht cried out\nin despair, but as he did so, a wave rose between them and the brazen\nvessel, and from out this wave came a gigantic sea-serpent, which at\nonce attacked the brazen vessel. Tromba and Bassoon were frightened out\nof their wits, and setting all sail they fled as fast as they could, and\ntheir ship was soon out of sight. Then the sea-serpent disappeared, and\nthe sea at once became quite calm again. They journeyed on for two more\ndays, and the weather grew warmer and finer every hour, and the sky\nturned to a softer azure, and the sea to a deeper blue; they were borne\nalong by the lightest of breezes, and sometimes their sail flapped idly\nin the still air.\n\n\"On the third day, they descried a speck of land on the horizon, and\ntowards the evening they could see that it was an island with misty\nhills and lights on it. All round it on the sea, which the sunset had\nturned fiery, little white sails seemed to be scudding towards it, and\nwhen the sun set and the stars came out there came to them from the\nisland a faint thread of wonderful sound.\n\n\"Hautboy and Cornet said they thought it would be a good thing to land\nat this island for the night, and Lieblich Gedacht was so curious to\nhear more of the lovely music that he forgot all about the warning Unda\nMaris had given him not to stop anywhere on the way, and he consented.\n\n\"So they ran their boat into a sandy cove, hauled her up on to the\nbeach, and landed. The island was overgrown with tall ferns; and shapes\nof trees, such as none of them had ever seen before, nodded to them from\nthe hills. There appeared to be no birds, beasts, or any living creature\non the island, but the thread of sound they had heard in the distance,\nwas fuller now and more silvery, and they walked up along a grassy path\ntowards the place where it seemed to come from. After they had climbed\nup the ground in front of them for some time, they reached a spot where\nthe ground ceased to rise. Lieblich Gedacht turned round to have one\nlast look at the sea before walking down into the valley which was\nbefore them. The stars twinkled in the sky and the sea mirrored them\nlike quiet glass, and strange to say, all the little white sails which\nthey had seen at sunset scudding round the island had disappeared.\n\n\"They went down into the valley, and the ferns became more dusky and\ntaller, the path darker and darker, and the sound of music sweeter and\nmore insistent; they crossed the valley, and the pathway led them uphill\nonce more to a clear space, and before them rose pinnacles and domes all\ngrey and shimmering like a mist which hides the sun, and in this frail\ndwelling-place a hundred little lights glistened like glowworms, and the\nwhole place trembled with the magical silvery sound which they had\nfollowed.\n\n\"They walked on, and they came to a grey portal with colours in it like\nthose of a fading rainbow, and a voice bade them enter. They did so, and\nfound themselves beneath a cloudy dome, so high that they could not see\nthe top of it, and although there were myriads of small lights\ntwinkling everywhere, the air remained dim and mysterious: but the sound\nwas louder and clearer. They could not but follow it, and it led them\nbeyond the dome up a flight of steps to a terrace which was open to the\nsky. The terrace was long and broad, and as unreal and unsubstantial as\nthough it were built of moonshine. They walked on, straight in front of\nthem, until they came to a transparent wall. They looked over this, and\nbeneath them was a steep slope covered with grasses and ferns, trees and\nplants; down this slope, which was interrupted at intervals by the\noutline of smaller terraces and ledges, in which were sheets of light,\nlike pools of water, they seemed to hear a hundred waterfalls rushing\nwhispering down the slope; and far away in the darkness they saw the\nghosts of white fountains rising and sobbing. On their left, the terrace\noverlooked the sea, and went sheer down to the beach; and on their\nright, tall shadows hid from their view the fern-forests of the island.\nIn the air there was scent of flowers, and the whole terrace was\novergrown with some sweet jessamine-like flower which they could not\nsee, for both the terrace and the sloping garden beneath them were\nshrouded in a mist in which millions and millions of fireflies swarmed\nand glistened. And all this time the sound grew softer, clearer, and\nstronger. Just as they were wondering where it could be coming from,\nthere came to them from out and through the filmy walls of the dwelling,\na beautiful lady. Her face was like a pale flower, and her hair, which\nfell to her feet, was dark as the night, and she was dressed in clinging\nfolds of dewy silver, and she stretched out her white arms to them and\nsaid in a voice which seemed like that of the summer darkness--\n\n\"'Welcome!' Then she led them into the house, up into a high room, built\nin the clouds and from which they could see the circle of the island and\nthe sea beyond.\n\n\"They at once fell into a deep sleep, and in their dreams winged shapes\nfanned them and soft voices whispered to them. The next morning when\nthey awoke, although the sun was shining the mists did not rise from the\nisland; everything remained filmy, grey, and dim, shimmering like a bell\nof foam; lights twinkled and fountains and waterfalls plashed, and the\nisland echoed with hidden voices and the same magical sound.\n\n\"'I suppose,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'we ought to go on with our\njourney?'\n\n\"'Yes,' said Hautboy, 'but where are we going to?'\n\n\"'Yes, where _are_ we going to?' repeated Cornet.\n\n\"And Lieblich Gedacht thought and thought, and puzzled and puzzled; but\nneither he nor any of them could remember where they were going.\nPresently Hautboy said--\n\n\"'Why should we go anywhere? What place could be better than this\nisland?'\n\n\"'This is better than fighting,' said Cornet.\n\n\"'And then making verses and singing them,' said Viol d'Amore.\n\n\"'And then piping all day,' said Piccolo.\n\n\"'Nobody asked your opinion,' said Hautboy.\n\n\"And so they wandered about in this magical island, listening to the\ndelicious sound and smelling flowers which they could not see; they were\nsteeped in the mist of the place, and they could not remember what it\nwas they had set out to do. They were captives to the dream and the\nspell of the place, and however much they tried they could not drive the\nmist from their minds and remember what they had set out to do. At\nsunset the beautiful lady appeared again and gave them fruits to eat and\nwater in a crystal cup, and she sang to them a song, and never had they\nheard anything so lovely. When she had done singing, Lieblich Gedacht\nasked her who she was and what the island was called.\n\n\"She said: 'I am the daughter of the moon, and this island is called the\nIsland of Moon Dew. I am very lonely, but you shall keep me company\nnow.'\n\n\"'But,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'we must not stay here long. We are bound\non a quest, only we can't remember just now exactly what it is.'\n\n\"'We will talk of that later,' said the lady, 'in the meantime I will\nsing you a song.' And she sang them to sleep with her wonderful voice.\n\n\"A whole year passed, and every day was spent in the same way, in dream\nand song and sleep. Cornet, Hautboy, and Viol d'Amore had quite stopped\nworrying about their journey, and about what they should do in the\nfuture. But Lieblich Gedacht was sad because he knew there was something\nhe ought to do, but he could not remember what it was. One day when he\nwas wandering by himself in the gardens of the island, he sat down to\nrest on the grass beside some misty bushes. He was trying hard to\nremember, and he happened to take out of his pocket the little egg which\nEcho had given him. He had quite forgotten what it was, and he played\nwith it, throwing it up and catching it; and then growing tired of this\ngame, he put the egg on the grass next to the misty bushes so that it\ntouched one of them. Directly he did this a myrtle bush, which had not\nbeen there before, appeared out of the mist quite distinct, and it at\nonce began to speak.\n\n\"'Who are you,' it said, 'who have made me visible and given me the\npower to speak?'\n\n\"'I am Lieblich Gedacht,' he answered. 'I have been here a year, and\nwhat I am doing I don't know, because I can't remember things.'\n\n\"'You are protected by some powerful spell,' said the myrtle, 'or else\nyou would have suffered my fate already. Don't you know where you are?'\n\n\"'No,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'we came here in a boat one evening after\nsunset; we have seen the Lady of the Island, but we do not know her\nname.'\n\n\"'Then I will tell you,' said the myrtle. 'You are in the island of\nZauberfloete the enchantress. All who come here lose their memory and\nforget their homes, their native country, and the faces that they love.\nAnd when they have been here a year, Zauberfloete puts them to the test.\nShe bids them listen to the Moon Song, and if they can listen to it\nwithout falling asleep, they are free, but if they fall asleep, then\nthey are hers for ever, and she changes them into ghostly shapes:\nplants, fountains, streams, waterfalls, flowers, trees, ferns, or\nwhatever she wishes.'\n\n\"'And who are you?' asked Lieblich Gedacht.\n\n\"'I,' said the myrtle, 'am the youngest son of the Sleeping Beauty in\nthe wood. I was on my way to Musicland to seek adventure. I stopped at\nthis island, although my fairy godmother had warned me not to, and after\nI had been here a year Zauberfloete sang me the Moon Song and I fell\nasleep, and she changed me into a myrtle bush. There are many, many\npeople on this island who have suffered the same fate. From my country\nthere are the Marquis of Carrabas, who stayed here for a night to feed\nhis cat: he is changed into a fuchsia and the cat into a tiger-lily; and\nCinderella is here too: she was changed into a glass slipper; and there\nare many knights and maidens from all the corners of the world, sleeping\nhere in the shape of ghostly ferns and trees and flowers.'\n\n\"'What must I do?' he asked, 'to resist the Moon Song?'\n\n\"'It is very difficult,' said the myrtle, 'no one has ever resisted it\nyet; but you must have some spell about you or else you could not have\nmade me visible and given me speech. But look, what is that egg lying on\nthe grass next to my stem?'\n\n\"'Oh, Echo gave me that,' said Lieblich Gedacht; 'I had forgotten, but I\nremember now; she told me to crush it if I was in danger!'\n\n\"'You must not crush it until the Moon Song has begun,' said the myrtle,\n'and then the spell will be broken, and we shall all be free, for as\nsoon as some one is found who can resist the Moon Song, the spell will\ncease to bind us; but if you don't break the egg in time, you will\nsleep here for ever. Now I must not talk any more or else we shall be\ndiscovered.'\n\n\"Lieblich Gedacht thanked the myrtle and went away. That night there was\na full moon, and never had the island looked so beautiful. Zauberfloete\ncame on to the terrace, and called Hautboy, Cornet, Viol d'Amore,\nLieblich Gedacht and Piccolo, and said she would sing to them.\n\n\"She began to sing the Moon Song, and never had her voice been so\nsilvery and never had they listened to such a song; all the island was\ntrembling with joy, and the moon and the stars seemed to be leaning out\nof the sky to listen. And just as Lieblich Gedacht was yielding to the\nspell and sinking into a delicious ocean of dreams he cracked the egg to\npieces between his fingers.\n\n\"At that moment the song stopped, and Lieblich Gedacht heard the echo of\nVox Angelica's voice, which came from the egg, sighing: 'Lieblich\nGedacht, my betrothed, have you forgotten me?'\n\n\"'Of course I haven't,' said Lieblich Gedacht. 'Come, Hautboy, Viol\nd'Amore, and Cornet, we are bound for Bourdon's castle.' At that moment\nViol d'Amore, Hautboy, and Cornet remembered everything they had\nforgotten and whither they were bound.\n\n\"As Lieblich Gedacht said this, Zauberfloete disappeared at once into her\nmysterious palace. The mists lifted and vanished and the garden appeared\nin its true shape, just like an ordinary garden, with stone terraces\novergrown with jessamine, and trees and bushes, and flowers and grass\nand weeds, just like anywhere else, and the shadows on one side of the\nterrace were cypress trees, and Zauberfloete's palace was an ordinary\npalace built of marble. From the garden came Prince Myrtle, the Marquis\nof Carrabas, Cinderella, and a hundred other knights and maidens who had\nbeen spellbound there for years; and they all thanked Lieblich Gedacht\nfor setting them free. They started at once in their boats, which they\nfound in the cove where they had left them. The Marquis of Carrabas,\nPrince Myrtle, and Cinderella set out for Musicland, and Lieblich\nGedacht and his comrades started once more on their quest of rescue.\n\n\"They sailed for three more days and for three more nights, and they\narrived at Muteland. Muteland is a flat country with no woods in it and\nvery few trees, and those have no leaves on them. Some people say this\nis so that they may not rustle. But they couldn't rustle even if they\nhad leaves, because there is no wind in Muteland. There are no birds in\nMuteland, and the only beasts there are dormice and salamanders. There\nare no streams and no rivers, and the people who live there only speak\nto each other by signs. In the middle of the country there is a large\nlake called the Lake of Sighs, because some people say that the sound of\nsighs is sometimes heard coming from it, and that these are the only\nsounds which have ever been heard in the country.\n\n\"As soon as Hautboy, Viol d'Amore, Cornet, Piccolo, and Lieblich Gedacht\nlanded on the coast of Muteland, the first thing they did was to sing a\nsong. This frightened the people there so much that they all ran into\ntheir holes; for the inhabitants of Muteland live underground. They\nwalked for some hours over the barren plains until they came to an\navenue of leafless willows. Lieblich Gedacht was walking on ahead, and\nas he passed one of these trees he stopped, for he thought he heard a\nhuman moan coming from one of the trees. He paused and listened, and\nagain the sound was repeated. This time he heard it quite plainly. It\nwas the piteous and musical moan of a human creature in pain. It\ntrembled through the silence, and shook and quivered and touched\nLieblich Gedacht's kind heart.\n\n\"He walked up to the tree which was nearest to him to see if he could\nfind out where the noise came from. Then from above, coming from the\nheart of the tree, he heard the plaintive voice crying to him: 'Release\nme. Set me free. I am imprisoned in the trunk of this tree.'\n\n\"'Who are you?' asked Lieblich Gedacht.\n\n\"'I am Vox Humana,' said the voice, 'I was imprisoned in this tree by a\nwizard a hundred years ago, and nobody will set me free.'\n\n\"'But how can I set you free?' asked Lieblich Gedacht.\n\n\"'All you have got to do is to touch the tree and say--\n\n    \"Willow-tree, willow-tree,\n      Hark to me, hark!\n    Set the poor captive free,\n      Open your bark.\"'\n\n\"Lieblich Gedacht in his distress quite forgot what Echo had told him\nabout not delaying his journey to render any one a service, and he\ntouched the tree and said the words.\n\n\"As soon as he had done this, the tree opened and Vox Humana came out of\nit, with tears of gratitude in her soft brown eyes; but the spell which\nthe wizard had put on the tree was of such a kind that he who set free a\nprisoner from it became a prisoner himself, and Vox Humana did not know\nthis. So directly she was set free, Lieblich Gedacht found himself in\nher place, a prisoner in the dark trunk of the willow-tree, and\nalthough Vox Humana, who was very unselfish, at once touched the tree,\nand said the magic rhyme, because she preferred to be imprisoned herself\nrather than to cause some one else to be a captive, the spell did not\nwork a second time. Indeed, like most spells, it could only be used\nonce.\n\n\"Presently Hautboy, Viol d'Amore and Cornet came up, and they found Vox\nHumana crying bitterly. She told them what had happened, and they did\nnot know what to do, for they could not even hear Lieblich Gedacht's\nvoice; because it is only after years and years that a person who is\nimprisoned in a tree can be heard by any one else. And that is the\nreason why Vox Humana has such a plaintive voice. They were all very\nsad, and they settled to go on to the Lake of Sighs and accomplish their\nquest, and then perhaps they would find some way of setting Lieblich\nGedacht free again. They soon reached the Lake of Sighs, and in the\nmiddle of it, on a rocky island, stood the Castle of Silence. They found\na boat on the shore of the lake, and it carried them across by itself,\nwithout oars or sail. They found the gates of the castle (which was all\nblack) wide open. They entered the castle. It was quite empty and\ndeserted. They went into room after room. They searched every nook and\ncorner, but they found nothing. When they came to the banqueting-hall\nthey found a meal ready for them, with fruits and bread and wine, which\nwere served by invisible hands; so they sat down and ate, for they were\nhungry.\n\n\"When they had had enough they began to search the castle once more, but\nthey soon felt sleepy, so they lay down in one of the rooms where they\nfound beds all ready for them, and fell fast asleep.\n\n\"No sooner were they asleep than Bourdon's three cousins, Bass, Violone,\nand Ophicleide, who were looking after the castle for him, and who had\nbeen hiding in a secret room in the walls, came out and bound them and\ncast them into an oubliette which was at the bottom of the castle, right\nunder the lake. And there they found Vox Angelica, Dolce, Muzette, and\nClarabella.\n\n\"To go back to Lieblich Gedacht: he was of course miserable, and he\nspent a whole month in the willow-tree, waiting for Hautboy and the\nothers to come to set him free. But they never came. At last one day he\nremembered the walnut which Sackbut had given him. He had quite\nforgotten it up to that moment. He took it out of his pocket and cracked\nit, and in it he found a tiny silver key and a hazel nut. He put the\nhazel nut in his pocket, and he looked everywhere in the tree for a\nkeyhole, and at last he found a tiny crack; he put the key in the crack\nand it fitted exactly. The door of the tree opened and he was free once\nmore. He set out for the lake at once, and reached it in a few hours.\nExactly the same things happened to him as to the others. The boat took\nhim across the lake. He entered the empty castle and explored every nook\nand corner of it, but he found nothing. When he came into the\nbanqueting-hall he saw the table spread by invisible hands; but he said\nto himself: 'I will not eat and drink till I have found Vox Angelica.'\nSo he did not touch the food; but he went on searching. As he was\nlooking out of one of the windows of the castle he distinctly heard Vox\nAngelica's sigh coming from the lake, and he at once understood that she\nwas imprisoned in some dungeon underneath the lake. He waited until it\nwas dark, and then he took the boat and rowed round the castle, and low\ndown by the water he came to a barred window, and from this window came\nthe sound of many sighs. Lieblich Gedacht now understood why the lake\nwas called the Lake of Sighs, for the sighs came from prisoners\nimprisoned in Bourdon's dungeon.\n\n\"'Is that you, Vox Angelica?' he whispered.\n\n\"'Yes,' she whispered back, 'we are all here in the dungeon. But you\nmust be careful, because Bourdon's three brothers are hiding in the\ncastle.'\n\n\"'How can I rescue you?' asked Lieblich Gedacht.\n\n\"'I don't know,' said Vox Angelica. 'We are all of us bound in fetters.'\n\n\"'I will try and find a file,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'to file the bars\nof the window and set you free.'\n\n\"So he went back to the castle to look for a file, but as he entered the\ngate Bourdon's three brothers fell upon him, and bound him, and cast him\ninto the dungeon.\n\n\"'Alas!' said Vox Humana, 'we are all lost now.'\n\n\"'Not at all!' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'we will soon be free. Piccolo is\nso small he ought to be able to wriggle out of his chains, which are\nmuch too big for him.'\n\n\"Piccolo needed no further telling, and he soon managed to set himself\nfree.\n\n\"'Now we are no better off than before,' said Vox Humana, who was always\ninclined to take a gloomy view of things. But Piccolo was then told to\nlook in Lieblich Gedacht's pocket for a hazel nut, and when he found it\nto crack it. Piccolo found the nut, cracked it, and inside the nut\ntightly rolled up was a silk cap.\n\n\"'Now,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'you must put the cap on my head.' As\nsoon as Piccolo did this, Lieblich Gedacht's chains fell from him and\nhe was free. For the cap was of that kind which makes a man invisible,\nunchainable, and as strong as ten. The next thing he did was to break\nthe fetters of the eight other prisoners; then he pulled the bars from\nthe window. They could not get out, but in front of the window were the\nwaters of the lake, and they had no boat.\n\n\"'Perhaps,' said Lieblich Gedacht, 'the hazel nut will help us again\nbecause it is faery,' and he took half the nutshell and threw it into\nthe lake. It at once turned into a boat just big enough to hold Vox\nHumana, Vox Angelica, Clarabella, Dolce, Muzette, Hautboy, Cornet, Viol\nd'Amore, Piccolo, and himself. And they all got into it, and it took\nthem across the lake without sail or oars.\n\n\"They reached the seashore without further adventures and sailed back to\nMusicland. On the way they passed the island of Zauberfloete, which was\nstill trembling with lovely sound: but this time they knew better than\nto stop there. They went straight back to the City of Pleasant Sounds,\nto the palace of King Diapason, and they told him the whole story.\n\n\"The King was angry with Bourdon, and he sent his army, under the\ncommand of Tuba Mirabilis, who, helped by Posaune, Clarion, and Cymbal,\ncaptured Bourdon and his three brothers, Bass, Violone, and Ophicleide,\nand put them in prison in the Lake of Sighs. They are there to this day.\nAnd they are never allowed to go free in their own country, but they\nhave to come to your world when some one has the gift; and that is why\ntheir voices are so gruff. Bassoon and Tromba were let off with a severe\nreprimand because they were sorry for what they had done. Then King\nDiapason ordered a great wedding to be held. And Lieblich Gedacht and\nVox Angelica were married yesterday. It was the most gorgeous wedding\never seen. We were all of us there, and Unda Maris came from her home in\nthe sea in a chariot drawn by sea-lions, and Echo came from her high\ncastle in a chariot drawn by zephyrs. Tuba Mirabilis, Clarion, and the\nsoldiers all wore their best armour and their brightest helmets.\n\n\"Vox Angelica's bridesmaids were the seven daughters of Echo, and her\npage was Piccolo. Lieblich Gedacht's best man was Waldhorn. And Voix\nCeleste, who is a nun, came from her convent to sing in the choir. Many\nof the fairies came to the wedding: Prince Myrtle was there, Cinderella,\nand the Marquis of Carrabas and his cat.\"\n\n\"And did Zauberfloete come?\" asked Johan.\n\n\"No,\" said Quint, \"she was not invited.\"\n\n\"And what happened to Hautboy, Cornet, and Viol d'Amore?\" asked Johan.\n\n\"Well,\" said Quint, \"they were all to have been married on the same day;\nbut Muzette is very dainty and her wedding gown was not ready. It is\nbeing woven in Fairyland by the elves, and it is to be made of the\npetals of forget-me-nots and pinks, and her veil is to be spun out of\ndewdrops caught in the new moon. All this takes such a long time that\nthe elves could not finish it by yesterday, so the King arranged that\nHautboy and Clarabella, Viol d'Amore and Dolce, and Cornet and\nMuzette should be married in a month's time, all on the same day.\"\n\n[Illustration: HE CLIMBED ON TO THE MANUALS AND DISAPPEARED INTO THE\nHEART OF THE ORGAN]\n\n\"At any rate,\" said Johan, \"you will not miss that wedding. But where\nhave Vox Angelica and Lieblich Gedacht gone to for their honeymoon?\"\n\n\"They have gone to Lieblich Gedacht's cottage in the Woods of Melody,\nand they will live there for the rest of their lives; for all their\nlives will be one long honeymoon,\" said Quint. As he said this he\nclimbed on to the manuals, and disappeared into the heart of the organ.\n\nAnd Johan noticed that the sun had risen and that the sacristan was\nopening the cathedral for early Mass. A few minutes later Frantz walked\nup into the organ loft, and Johan asked him to draw the stops of Vox\nAngelica and Lieblich Gedacht together and alone. Frantz did this, and\nthey blent their voices together in unison, and Johan understood that\nthey were happier than they had ever been before.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAGABOND\n\n\nThere was once upon a time a King and a Queen who had three daughters.\nThe eldest was called Elsa, the second Elfrida, and the third\nHeartsease. All the fairies were invited to the christening of the two\neldest daughters, and not one was left out. They came and showered gifts\non the two babies, and promised them beauty, riches, prosperity,\nhappiness, and long life. But when Heartsease was born, the King\nhappened to be very busy drawing up a treaty with a neighbouring State,\nabout the rights of preserving gold-fish in a certain pond which lay\nbetween the two kingdoms, so that when he invited the fairies to the\nchristening he left out one of them: the Fairy of the Yellow Mines, who\nwas wicked and powerful.\n\nThe other fairies came, and they said that Heartsease should be the\nkindest and the cleverest princess ever seen: her eyes should be as\nblue as forget-me-nots, her smile as bright as the morning, her hands as\ndelicate as snowdrops, and her heart of pure gold. Moreover, she should\nsing like a lark, and ride wild horses, and do needlework better than\nall other princesses. Towards the end of the feast, the Fairy of the\nYellow Mines arrived in a chariot drawn by two snorting dragons. She was\nall yellow, and her face was dry as a piece of parchment, and pinched\nand wrinkled with spite and envy.\n\n\"So it appears I am not worthy to be invited to this feast,\" she said.\n\"I know I am old-fashioned, but in my time kings used to take the\ntrouble to be civil to fairies. But since I have come unbidden I must\nnot depart without bestowing a gift. Heartsease, in spite of her eyes\nthe colour of forget-me-nots, in spite of her smile like the morning and\nher hands like snowdrops, shall not be pretty to look at, for her skin\nshall be marked with my special signature. And he who woos her will woo\nher for herself and for her heart, and not for her face.\"\n\nSo saying, the Fairy of the Yellow Mines chuckled, and flew away in her\nyellow chariot.\n\nThe King and the Queen were dreadfully vexed when this happened, and\nthey at once asked Heartsease's godmother, who was none other than the\nFairy of the Azure Lake, whether she could not do anything to help them.\n\n\"Alas! I cannot undo the mischief that has been done,\" she answered,\n\"but nevertheless Heartsease shall be wooed and won, and her bridegroom\nshall be greater than that of her beautiful sisters.\" And when she had\nsaid this, the Fairy of the Azure Lake drove away in her chariot, which\nwas made of honeysuckle, and driven by ten obedient bees.\n\nHeartsease was the most beautiful little baby ever seen. Her hair was\ncurly, her skin as soft as that of a rose-leaf, with many dimples in it,\nand her smile made those who looked at her happy the whole day long. Two\nyears passed, and the King and the Queen began to think that the wicked\nfairy's words had only been a bad joke, when one day Heartsease began\nto cry, and it became clear that she was not well. She was put to bed,\nand the Court doctor was sent for. He looked at her, and said that the\ncase was a very serious one. During a whole month little Heartsease was\nmortally sick, and she was given many nasty medicines which she drank\nwithout complaining. The King and the Queen never left her bedside day\nand night.\n\nAt last, at the end of the sixth week, the doctor said the turning-point\nhad come, and that little Heartsease would get well. From that day\nonwards she began to recover, and in a month's time she was able to run\nabout. But alas! her lovely soft skin had disappeared. It was pitted all\nover with deep marks, so that it appeared to be all shrivelled, and as\nyellow as the face of the Fairy of the Yellow Mines; and nobody could\nrecognise in this dried-up, wizened face the lovely little child that\nhad once been Heartsease. And in spite of her eyes, which were still as\nblue as forget-me-nots, and in spite of her smile, people could scarcely\nbear to look at her, poor little thing, such a fright had she become.\nAnd this, of course, was the doing of the Fairy of the Yellow Mines, who\nhad cast a spell on Heartsease's face.\n\nThe King ordered all the looking-glasses in the house to be broken, lest\nHeartsease should catch sight of herself and be sad, and so she\ncontinued to play with her toys and ride on her white pony and be happy.\nBut the King and the Queen were sad, because they loved Heartsease the\nbest of all their daughters.\n\nOne day, when Heartsease was eight years old, she went out for a walk\nwith her two sisters, and they met a vagabond in dark, tattered cloak\nwho was playing a hurdy-gurdy, which is a thing like a big violin, with\nstrings, and keys, and a handle at the end of it which you turn. The\nvagabond looked very poor and miserable, and he took off his cap and\nasked for a few pence, for he had not a penny to buy bread with.\n\nNow Elsa and Elfrida, Heartsease's sisters, were very proud. They\nscowled at the vagabond, and told him to go about his business quickly,\nor else they would send for the soldiers and have him locked up in gaol.\nBut Heartsease was sorry for him and said: \"I cannot give you any money,\nbecause I have not got any, but take this: perhaps it will make you\nhappy, because I love it very much, and talk to it when I am alone.\" And\nshe took her favourite old doll which she always carried about with her,\nand gave it to him. It was not a pretty doll, and she had played with it\nso much that its clothes were frayed and torn; but it had a beautiful\ncrown made of gold paper, and a necklace of large blue beads. And\nHeartsease loved it above all things, and it was her companion; because\nElsa and Elfrida never let her play with them, for they said she was too\nsmall.\n\nAs soon as she had done this Elsa and Elfrida burst out laughing.\n\n\"Fancy giving a beggar a doll!\" they said. \"We should like to know what\nhe can do with it!\"\n\n\"Thank you kindly, little Princess,\" said the vagabond. \"I shall never\nforget your kindness.\"\n\n\"A lot of good a beggar's kindness will do her,\" said Elsa.\n\n\"Perhaps he will bring her a bridegroom,\" said Elfrida.\n\n\"Perhaps he will wed her himself,\" said Elsa, and they both laughed.\n\n\"Nobody else will, for sure,\" said Elfrida.\n\nThe vagabond then turned to the two sisters and said--\n\n\"A day will come when you will envy your sister her bridegroom.\" And he\nhobbled away.\n\nElsa and Elfrida burst into a fit of laughter.\n\n\"Fancy,\" said Elsa, \"our envying Heartsease!\"\n\n\"Fancy,\" said Elfrida, \"her ever having a bridegroom!\"\n\nNow Heartsease could not understand what they meant, for she did not\nknow she was a fright; but their words made her thoughtful and sad, and\nshe wondered what they were talking about. When she got home, she asked\nher father whether, when she grew up, she would find a bridegroom, and\nbe married.\n\n\"Of course you will, dear little child,\" he said, and he took her on his\nknee, but she noticed that his eyes were filled with tears.\n\nFrom that moment, Heartsease began to suspect that there was something\nwrong about herself, and that she was not quite the same as other\nchildren. One summer night, after she had been put to bed, her nurse and\nthe nurserymaid were sitting by the nursery window darning some\nstockings. They thought Heartsease was asleep.\n\n\"Princess Elsa will be fifteen years old come Michaelmas,\" said the\nnurse.\n\n\"They'll be looking for a bridegroom for her soon,\" said the\nnurserymaid. \"She's as tall as a grown-up lass already.\"\n\n\"I pity her husband,\" said the nurse; \"she's a regular cross-patch she\nis, and as proud as a peacock.\"\n\n\"And as different from the little one as cloth from silk,\" said the\nnurserymaid.\n\n\"Ah!\" sighed the nurse, \"poor little lamb! they'll have a hard task to\nfind her a suitor, although she deserves the best in the land.\"\n\nHeartsease wondered what this could mean, and the more she pondered over\nit, the sadder she became.\n\nThe years passed by, and a great feast was held at Court to celebrate\nPrincess Elsa's seventeenth birthday. All the princes of the land were\ninvited, for the King and the Queen thought that the time had come for\nElsa to be married. The three principal suitors were Prince Silvergilt,\nwho possessed immense riches and countless jewels; King Sharpsword, who\nwas a terrible fighter, and had slain two hundred knights in single\ncombat; and Prince Simple Simon, who was the youngest son of a powerful\nking, and so simple that he was always laughed at by everybody. Besides\nthese there were a number of less important knights and princes. As soon\nas the Prince Silvergilt set eyes on Princess Elsa, he made up his mind\nthat she would make just the right wife for him, because she was\nbeautiful and haughty, and he was determined that the queen of his\ncountry should be the proudest woman in the world, and should always be\ndressed in gold, and wear a heavy crown.\n\nThe King's feast was the most splendid that had ever been known, and it\nwas followed by a display of fireworks and a ball. Prince Silvergilt\ndanced with Princess Elsa, and King Sharpsword danced with Elfrida, and\nall the other princes and knights chose partners from among the crowd of\nbeautiful princesses who were there; but nobody chose poor Heartsease,\nwho sat lonely and very sad in a corner by herself.\n\nAt last, when the ball was nearly over, Prince Simple Simon noticed that\nHeartsease was all by herself, and he went up to her and asked her why\nshe did not dance.\n\n\"Because,\" said Heartsease, \"nobody has asked me to.\"\n\n\"Will you dance with me?\" asked Simple Simon.\n\n\"Of course I will,\" said Heartsease, and he led her out. As he did this,\nHeartsease noticed that the courtiers looked at each other and hid a\nsmile. They danced round the room; but Simple Simon was so awkward that\nalthough Heartsease, who danced like the wind, steered him beautifully,\nhe kept on catching his sword in the trains of the princesses, and\nbumping up against them, so that all the courtiers tittered, although\nthey tried to hide it, and Heartsease was obliged to ask him to go back\nto the quiet corner where she had been sitting.\n\n\"They are laughing because I dance so awkwardly,\" said Simple Simon.\n\"Everybody laughs at me, except Lizbeth.\"\n\n\"Who is Lizbeth?\" asked Heartsease.\n\n\"Lizbeth is the goose-girl in our village,\" he answered. \"We are\nbetrothed, and I am to wed her as soon as I have made my fortune.\"\n\n\"It was at me they were smiling,\" said Heartsease. \"They always smile at\nme, and I do not know why. But perhaps you will tell me.\"\n\n\"I do not know,\" said Simple Simon.\n\n\"You see,\" said Heartsease, \"the courtiers here pay me extravagant\ncompliments. They tell me I am beautiful and clever; but I do not know\nwhether it is true, because I have never seen my own face.\"\n\nThis was true, because there was no such thing as a looking-glass in the\nwhole kingdom, and poor Heartsease had never been allowed to go near a\nriver, a pond, a pool, or any place where she might have seen the\nreflection of her own face.\n\n\"I think,\" said Simple Simon, \"your face is very beautiful. You have\nsuch nice, kind eyes. But then everybody says I am a bad judge. But\nhaven't you ever looked at yourself in a mirror?\"\n\n\"What is a mirror?\" asked Heartsease.\n\n\"I will show you to-morrow morning,\" said Simple Simon.\n\nAt that moment a herald dressed in gold came into the ballroom, and blew\na blast on his silver trumpet which meant that supper was ready.\nHeartsease would have liked to have gone in to supper with Simple Simon,\nbut the Court etiquette did not allow it, and an old duke who was deaf\ncame up, and gave her his arm.\n\nThe next morning Heartsease was feeding her tame birds in the garden\nwhen Simple Simon appeared before her.\n\n\"I have brought you a mirror,\" he said. And he gave her a piece of\nsmooth polished steel which he had cut out of his own breastplate.\n\nHeartsease looked at her face, and then two large tears ran down her\ncheeks.\n\n\"Oh!\" she said, \"it was unkind of you to mock me. I understand\neverything now. I see why nobody will speak to me. I am a hideous\nfright; my face is covered with spots and marks.\"\n\n\"But I wasn't mocking you,\" said Simple Simon. \"I don't think those\nspots matter a bit. You have got such nice, kind eyes.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" said Heartsease, \"I understand everything. Nobody will ever\nmarry me.\"\n\n\"I am sure they will,\" said honest Simon; \"why, I would have married you\ngladly myself if I had not been betrothed to Lizbeth.\" And so saying,\nSimple Simon said good-bye to Heartsease, for it was time for him to\nstart once more on his travels.\n\nHeartsease said good-bye to him and thanked him for his kindness, for\nshe understood now that he had not meant to mock her, but that he spoke\nthe truth, and she told him that she hoped he would make his fortune\nsoon, and marry Lizbeth the goose-girl, and be happy ever afterwards.\n\nWhen Simple Simon rode off on his old grey mare, Heartsease felt sad and\nlonely, for the only friend she had ever made was now leaving her for\never. The festivities went on all day long, because the Prince\nSilvergilt asked Elsa to be his wife, and it was settled that they\nshould be married without any delay. So in the evening there was another\ngreat State ball, but Heartsease felt so sad at heart that she said she\nwas not feeling well, and she went up to a little room where she kept\nher dolls, and all the treasures she had had when she was a child. This\nlittle room was in an attic in a side wing of the palace, and it looked\nover a narrow street, for the palace stood in the middle of the city.\nHeartsease had made this room a hiding-place for herself as soon as she\nwas big enough to leave the nursery. Nobody knew it existed except her\nnurse, and she could go and play there when she wanted to be alone. She\nliked to look out on to the street and see the people coming and going,\nthe horses and the carts clattering over the cobblestones, instead of on\nto the big empty gardens on which all the state-rooms looked out, and\nwhere you saw no one except the sentry walking up and down, and the\ncourtiers, strutting about like peacocks in their wigs and hoops. The\nroom had a little bed in it, and sometimes she slept there; but this\nevening she was not at all sleepy, and she leant out of her window and\nwatched the evening star shining in the summer twilight, which was still\ntinged with yellow in the west.\n\nFaintly in the distance she heard the sounds of harps, cymbals, and\ndrums coming from the banqueting-hall, where the King was holding a\nfeast. The little street beneath her was quite empty and silent, the\ncurfew had sounded, and the watchman had blown his horn and told all\ngood people to put out their lights and go to bed, and in the\njutting-out casements of the pointed red-gabled houses opposite her,\nwhich seemed to lean over the street, there was not a light left.\n\nSuddenly she heard the sound of footsteps tramping on the cobblestones,\nand round the corner of the street she saw a dark figure coming along,\nwhich seemed to her to be a man. It was dark now, and the sky was a deep\nand wonderful blue. The moon had not risen, and only a few stars\ntwinkled, very large and bright.\n\nThe figure walked slowly along, keeping close to the walls of the houses\nopposite to her. When he was opposite the palace he stopped. She could\nnot distinguish clearly who it was, but she saw at once it was a man. He\nwas carrying something in his hand, and presently she became aware that\nit was a lute, or a musical instrument of some kind, for he began to\nplay, and a thin thread of sound crept from the darkness and found a way\nstraight into her heart.\n\nThen it all at once came into her mind that she had seen this man before\nand heard these sounds already, and she remembered the vagabond who\nplayed a hurdy-gurdy, and to whom she had given her favourite doll,\nlong ago when she was little. But now his music sounded different.\n\"Perhaps,\" she thought, \"it is because I am older and can understand\nit.\" However that may be, never in her life had she heard or imagined\nanything so melodious and so sweet. For while the vagabond played, he\nsang, and although the words of his song were in some tongue which was\nunknown to her, she seemed to understand every word of it. Although she\nhad never heard the vagabond's voice before, it seemed familiar to her\nas if she had known it all her life. And there was something warm in it\nwhich gladdened you, and something soft and lovely like the tender\ncolours of summer dawn. But more than all things Heartsease felt that\nthe voice was the voice of a friend who would be kind to her and comfort\nher; and Heartsease felt she could listen to it for ever.\n\n\"Come away,\" it seemed to say, \"from this palace and these unkind\npeople, and I will give you freedom, and we will roam together over the\nwide world, and sleep beneath the stars, and drink of the clear brooks\nand bathe in the streams; in the summer the sky shall be our tent, and\nthe stars shall be our candles, and in the winter we will make ourselves\nsnug and warm in the heart of the woods; we will wander over hill and\nvalley, and will float on a raft down the broad river till we come to\nthe sea; and we will cross the great sea, and I will give you a little\ncottage of your own, all overgrown with honeysuckle, where the bees hum\nand boom, and there I will lull you to sleep with a song.\"\n\nThen all at once the music ceased, and Heartsease wanted to call the\nminstrel, but he had vanished, and although he had sung quite loud, none\nof the people in the houses seemed to have noticed him.\n\nAll night long Heartsease dreamed of the vagabond and of his singing,\nand the next evening she waited at her window as soon as the sun set.\n\nBut the vagabond did not come that evening, nor the next evening either,\nand weeks and months went by but he did not come again.\n\nA year after this Princess Elsa was married. The King and the Queen gave\nanother great feast in honour of their second daughter, Elfrida, and\nthis time King Sharpsword was betrothed to her, and the wedding was\ncelebrated with pomp and ceremony. As usual there were feasting and\ndances every night, and although all the princes of the land were there,\nnobody took any notice of poor Heartsease except the old duke, who was\nobliged to lead her in to supper according to the etiquette of the\nCourt. And this time Heartsease had no friend to talk to, for Simple\nSimon was not there, although she had news of him. He had made his\nfortune, much to everybody's surprise, by capturing a cruel ogre, and he\nhad married Lizbeth the goose-girl, and they were as happy as the day is\nlong. But although Heartsease was lonely and despised, she did not feel\nlonely any longer, for somewhere she felt she had a friend who would not\nforget her, and she remembered the marvellous song of the vagabond.\n\nThe night Elfrida was married, Heartsease again said she did not feel\nwell, and she went to the little room in the attic, and waited by the\nwindow while the light faded from the twilight sky. And as soon as it\ngrew dark, she heard the footsteps on the cobblestones, and soon the\npiercing notes of the sweet familiar voice echoed in the street,\nsighing, soothing, and binding her with a spell, healing her heartache\nand taking away her homesickness, and calling her away to the valleys\nand the hills. For hours she seemed to listen to the deep, deep tones,\nand then, as the year before, the sound suddenly ceased and the vagabond\nhad vanished.\n\nThe next year Heartsease herself was seventeen years old, the age at\nwhich it was the custom for the royal princesses to be married. But\nalthough the King and the Queen made a great feast and invited all the\nprinces of the land, not one of them asked the King for the hand of his\ndaughter Heartsease, because they all thought it was impossible to marry\na wife who was such a fright.\n\nThe King and the Queen were miserable, and they settled to wait another\nyear, in case some kind prince might come who would be willing to marry\nHeartsease.\n\nAs for Heartsease, she begged her father and mother not to worry about\nher. She told them she did not want to marry any one, and that she was\nquite happy living at home and taking care of them. And they did not\nknow that she had looked at herself in a mirror and had seen her face.\nBut although she said this, and pretended to be happy and cheerful, she\nwas really sad at heart because she was such a fright, and she was sure\nnobody could love her, and the only thing which consoled her was the\nmysterious vagabond who came once a year and sang beneath her window.\n\nSoon after Heartsease's seventeenth birthday, her mother, the Queen,\nwent one day for a ride in the forest by herself, and the wicked Fairy\nof the Yellow Mines carried her off in her chariot and locked her up in\na castle. The people of the city searched for the Queen everywhere, but\nno trace of her was to be found, so that everybody thought she must\nhave been eaten by wild beasts; but Heartsease knew this was not true,\nbecause she saw her mother in her dreams every night. Another year\npassed, and just before Heartsease's birthday came round, the old King\nmarried again. The new Queen was the godchild of the Fairy of the Yellow\nMines. She was wicked, and owing to the spells which her godmother had\ntaught her, she could make the King do anything she wished, and she made\nhim believe the Queen had been eaten by wild beasts. No sooner were they\nmarried than her wickedness and her cruelty, which she had hidden up to\nthat moment, became plain to everybody. She hated Heartsease, because\nHeartsease was good and unhappy, and she tormented her in every possible\nway; and to crown all, on the day before Heartsease's birthday, she said\nshe could not have a lazy, good-for-nothing slut about the house, but\nthat Heartsease must marry at once, and that since nobody would marry\nher of their own accord, she would find some one who should do so\nwhether he liked it or not.\n\nThat very day the new Queen sent a message by a rat to her godmother,\nand the Fairy of the Yellow Mines arrived in her chariot drawn by two\nsnorting dragons.\n\n\"It's about that child,\" said the Queen, when her godmother had arrived\nand settled herself comfortably in an arm-chair. \"She bothers me. I want\nyou to find her a husband--some one who will keep her in order and not\nstand any nonsense; at the same time I should like it to be a suitable\nand proper alliance--suitable for me too, that is to say.\"\n\n\"I quite understand,\" said the Fairy.\n\n\"You see,\" said the Queen, \"the King won't live long, and when he dies I\nshall be Queen of the country, and I shall not want any of the King's\nsons-in-law to come bothering or interfering, disputing my right to the\nkingdom, or any nonsense of that kind. I am quite at my ease about\nPrince Silvergilt and King Sharpsword; they are so busy beating their\nwives that they will not bother me.\"\n\nNow this was quite true, and Elfrida and Elsa were both of them\nunhappy; because their husbands were unkind, and they were obliged to\nwear stiff robes all day, and heavy crowns, and they were beaten if they\ndid not look happy and cheerful.\n\n\"I have got the very thing,\" said the Fairy; \"my dear nephew\nCrookedshanks is just what you want. He has been looking for a wife for\na long time, but so far nobody has consented to marry him. He's so\nbeautiful, you know\"--and here the Fairy chuckled--\"he's a dwarf and a\nhunchback, and he's got such a sweet, sweet temper. He'll keep the minx\nin order.\"\n\n\"But,\" said the Queen, \"I hope he won't interfere with me.\"\n\n\"Never fear,\" said the Fairy, \"he lives inside the copper mountain, deep\ndown underground, like a mole among the gnomes, and he would not leave\nthe treasures he hoards there for all the kingdoms of the earth.\"\n\nThus it was settled that Heartsease should marry Crookedshanks, and the\nFairy of the Yellow Mines brought him to the palace the next day, which\nwas Heartsease's birthday.\n\nCrookedshanks was hideous to look at, and he was as spiteful as he was\nugly. And when Heartsease was brought to him, and told that this was to\nbe her husband, she could not believe her eyes. She begged her father to\nsave her; but her father was now so completely spellbound by the wicked\nQueen that he could not do anything, and so all preparations were made\nfor Heartsease's wedding, which was to take place on the morrow.\n\nBut in the evening, just before the feast began, Heartsease escaped from\nthe banqueting-hall when no one was looking, and ran up to the little\nroom in the attic. Then she opened the windows wide and leaned out into\nthe street.\n\nIt was a lovely evening. There was a smell of sun-dried hay in the air,\nand the dust of the town made a golden cloud in the west which faded\npresently, and when the evening star lit its lamp the sky was soft and\nblue. In the palace everybody was looking for Heartsease. They were\nsearching the halls and the gardens, but nobody thought of looking for\nher in that out-of-the-way attic, except her nurse, but she did not tell\nanybody. Presently Heartsease heard the well-known footstep of the\nvagabond, and her heart gave a great leap for joy.\n\nHe walked right up to the house opposite her window, and began to sing.\nAnd this time his beautiful voice was louder and stronger than it had\never been. And Heartsease leant out of the window and cried out--\n\n\"Come, for I have heard and I am ready!\"\n\nThe song ceased, but this time the vagabond did not vanish. He crossed\nthe narrow street, and entered at one of the side doors of the palace\nwhich was just beneath Heartsease's window. Heartsease heard him walking\nup the winding wooden stairway, and soon the vagabond entered her room\nand stood before her in his rags and tatters, poor, pale, ill-kempt,\nlimping and miserable. And Heartsease ran to him and cried out--\n\n\"At last you have come, my lover, my lord and my bridegroom!\"\n\n\"Do you really wish to come with me?\" he asked. \"My kingdom is the open\nfield, and my palaces are the dark wood and the highway; my brothers and\nsisters are the cold winds, the rain, the snow, and the hail; my jewels\nare tears, and my wealth is sorrow.\"\n\nAnd Heartsease said: \"I will come with you to your kingdom and dwell in\nyour palaces; and your brothers and sisters shall be my brothers and\nsisters, and I will wear your jewels and share your wealth as long as I\nlive!\"\n\nThe vagabond gave Heartsease a silver penny, which was all his wealth,\nand they climbed down the narrow staircase and went out into the night.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the King's palace on the night of the banquet there was great\ncommotion because Heartsease could not be found anywhere. The courtiers\nsearched high and low, in the palace and in the gardens, but all in\nvain, until at last they gave it up and the banquet was begun without\nher.\n\nThe Queen was angry, and the old King was sad, and Crookedshanks gnashed\nhis teeth and pinched everything he met, out of spite. The next morning\nthe nurse came to the King and told him Heartsease could not be found\nanywhere. So the King issued a proclamation which was sent far and wide\nover the whole kingdom, saying that whoever should find his daughter\nHeartsease would receive half of his kingdom. But although a great\nnumber of people set out to try and find Heartsease, they none of them\nsucceeded, and most of them gave up the quest after a time.\n\nNow Heartsease and the vagabond wandered far over hill and dale, north\nand south, east and west, earning their bread by songs, until they came\nto the grim castle in which Heartsease's mother had been imprisoned by\nthe wicked fairy.\n\nThe vagabond sang a song outside the castle, so that Heartsease's mother\ncould hear him, and he told her that Heartsease was alive and had not\nforgotten her, and that one day the wicked fairy's spell would be\nbroken. And Heartsease saw her mother's hand waving through the thick\nbars of the narrow window of the castle. Then they wandered on till they\ncame to the kingdom of King Silvergilt, and there, in a castle, were\nPrince Silvergilt and his wife Elsa; and King Sharpsword and his wife\nElfrida were staying with him. Elsa and Elfrida were both of them\nunhappy because their husbands were so unkind.\n\nThe vagabond and Heartsease went under Elfrida's window, and the\nvagabond sang a song, but no sooner had he begun than Prince Silvergilt\nsent out his soldiers, and told them to drive the vagabonds away. Now\nElsa and Elfrida were sad and sorry because the vagabond's song had made\nthem feel happier, but they dared not say a word. Only when it grew dark\nthey crept out of the castle, into the wood, which was next to it, to\nsee if they could find the two vagabonds and give them alms. They\nwandered about in the forest, and they soon came to a little hut where\nthe vagabond and Heartsease were lying fast asleep on a heap of leaves.\n\n\"Here they are, poor, poor people!\" said Elsa; \"they have got nothing to\neat.\"\n\n\"They must be very cold,\" said Elfrida, and she took off her cloak and\nlaid it over them.\n\n\"Do you remember a vagabond telling us we should one day envy Heartsease\nher husband?\" said Elsa.\n\n\"Poor Heartsease, she'll never have a husband; but I'm sure we envy her\nnow, wherever she is,\" said Elfrida.\n\n\"I would give worlds to see her again,\" said Elsa. \"Poor, poor\nHeartsease, to think how unkind we were to her!\" And Elsa and Elfrida\nbegan to cry bitterly, and their tears fell upon Heartease's face.\n\nThen leaving behind them some bread and wine which they had brought with\nthem, and a purse full of gold, and their cloaks, they went back to the\ncastle; neither of them had recognised Heartsease.\n\nThe next morning when the vagabond and Heartsease rose, they found the\ngifts that the sisters had brought, and the vagabond told Heartsease to\ngo and look at herself in a pool which was hard by. When Heartsease\nlooked into the pool she gave a cry of surprise, because the ugly marks\nhad gone from her face, and she looked like what she had been when she\nwas a little girl--lovely, and fresh as a rose in the morning dew, and\nthe loveliest princess in the world.\n\n\"Now,\" said the vagabond, \"we will go to your father's castle.\"\n\nSo they started for the King's castle, but it was far off, and they had\nto pass through many cities and villages; and when the people in the\ncities and the villages heard the vagabond singing in the street, and\nsaw Heartsease, they wondered at her great beauty, and when the vagabond\nsang they were afraid, and they thought he must be a wizard and that\nHeartsease was a witch, and they often drove them away from their doors;\nso that Heartsease and the vagabond with difficulty earned enough bread\nto keep them alive.\n\nAt last they reached the city of the King, and there they read the\nKing's proclamation, which said that whoever should find Heartsease\nwould receive half the kingdom. The vagabond went straight to the King's\npalace, and asked to see the King; but the soldiers stopped him at the\ngate and said that beggars were not allowed to go into the palace. But\nwhen the vagabond said he had found Princess Heartsease they durst not\nforbid him to enter. So the vagabond was led to the King, and he told\nhim that he had found his daughter.\n\nThe King was overjoyed, but Heartsease's stepmother said it was not\ntrue, and the King told the vagabond to bring Heartsease to the palace.\nHe went to fetch her, and when he brought her to the palace everybody\nwas dazzled by her beauty, but nobody recognised her, not even the King,\nfor he could not understand how the Heartsease whom he remembered could\nhave turned into such a vision of beauty. But there were two people in\nthe castle who said that they recognised her: one was her old nurse, and\nthe other was Simple Simon, who happened to be there. Simple Simon said\nhe saw no difference in her at all: that she was now just as she had\nalways been, with the same kind eyes and lovely smile. And when he said\nthis, the whole Court laughed, and they said that Simple Simon would\nnever cease to be a ninny. And as for the nurse, the Queen said she must\nbe locked up in the dungeon at once for telling lies. Then the wicked\nQueen said that the vagabond was a wizard, and that Heartsease was a\nwitch, and that they had killed the real Heartsease, and that they must\nboth be burnt alive in the public square. And owing to her magic\neverybody believed this, and the vagabond and Heartsease were thrown\ninto prison.\n\nBut the King, who did not want them to be burnt, sent for his daughters\nElsa and Elfrida, to see if they recognised Heartsease. Elfrida and Elsa\narrived with their husbands, and Heartsease was brought before them, but\nshe was not allowed to speak; and owing to the wicked Queen's spells,\nneither Elfrida nor Elsa recognised their sister. After this it was\nsettled that the vagabond and Heartsease should be burnt in the public\nsquare.\n\nOn the day this was to happen the whole town gathered together to see\nthe wizard; and the vagabond and Heartsease were driven from the prison\nto the square, where a large pile of fagots had been prepared, in a\ncart. And when the people saw Heartsease, a wave of pity went through\nthe crowd, so lovely and so innocent was her face. The King and the\nQueen, his daughters, and all the Court were there, and when the\nvagabond got out of the cart he asked the King to grant him one last\nfavour: and this was to allow him to sing a song before he died. And the\nKing granted it him.\n\nThe vagabond began to sing, and he sang the sweetest and most wonderful\nsong that had ever been heard; he sang of the love that never dies, and\nthe love which is stronger than death; and as he sang, the evil spells\nof the wicked Queen died in the King's heart, and he remembered his true\nwife, and the great love he bore her; and Elsa and Elfrida recognised\nthe voice, and they cried out--\n\n\"It is the vagabond we heard when we were children, and it _is_\nHeartsease after all!\"\n\n[Illustration: THERE STOOD BEFORE THE THRONG A WONDERFUL SHINING FIGURE\nWITH WINGS]\n\nAnd the King cried out: \"Yes, it is Heartsease after all!\" And he ran to\nher, and took her in his arms, and covered her with kisses. Then he said\nto the vagabond: \"You have brought me back my daughter. You shall be my\nson and you shall have half my kingdom.\"\n\nBut the wicked Queen said: \"That is impossible! How can you give half\nyour kingdom to a vagabond in rags and tatters?\"\n\nBut the King said: \"I do not care if he is a vagabond or not. He shall\nwed my daughter and have half my kingdom.\"\n\nAnd as he said this the vagabond threw off his dark, tattered cloak, and\nthere stood before the throng a wonderful shining figure with wings, and\ngolden hair, and across his shoulder there was slung a silver bow with a\nquiver full of silver arrows, and he held a lyre in his hand, and all\nround him was a cloud of golden light like the fire of sunrise. And his\nface shone, and his eyes were like stars. But when the wicked Queen saw\nthis, she was so angry that she burst with rage, and all her spells\nwere undone.\n\nAt the very same moment the Fairy of the Azure Lake arrived in her\nchariot of honeysuckle drawn by ten bees, and she brought Heartsease's\nmother with her, and Heartsease's old nurse, whom she had released from\nprison. You can imagine their surprise, and how they all cried for joy!\nand how happy they all were!\n\nThen the King said to the vagabond: \"You shall wed Heartsease and\nreceive half my kingdom; but who are you, noble prince, and what is your\nname?\"\n\nAnd the vagabond answered: \"I will wed Heartsease, but I have a kingdom\nof my own, and we must live there and nowhere else; and as for my name,\nit is Love, the Vagabond, but now I shall wander no more.\"\n\nThen Crookedshanks was banished from the Court, and the Fairy of the\nAzure Lake changed Prince Silvergilt into a candlestick, and King\nSharpsword into a grindstone, and she found two kind new husbands for\nElsa and Elfrida. And a great wedding was held, and the day after it\nLove the Vagabond put Heartsease on a snow-white steed, and they started\nfor the kingdom of Love the Vagabond, and they galloped across the\nplains, down the valleys, and over the hills until they came to the sea,\nwhich is at the end of the world, and they rode over the sea as easily\nas if it had been a grassy meadow.\n\nAnd on the other side of the sea they came to a country of blue hills\nand green woods and golden cornfields, and there in a garden full of\nroses was a little cottage covered with honeysuckle, round which the\nbees hummed and boomed.\n\n\"This,\" said the Vagabond, \"is my kingdom. Here is our home where we\nshall live happily together.\"\n\nAnd Heartsease and the Vagabond lived happily in this little cottage for\never afterwards; and the King and Queen, and their sisters, and Simple\nSimon and Lizbeth his wife, often paid them long visits.\n\n[Illustration: TURNING ROUND SHE SAW AN OLD WOMAN]\n\n\n\n\nTHE MINSTREL\n\n\nOnce upon a time, in a small village in the mountains, there lived a\nblacksmith and his wife. They were poor but they were happy; the\nblacksmith had always plenty of work, and their only sorrow was that\nthey had no children.\n\nOne day the blacksmith's wife walked from the village down into the\nvalley to a farmhouse to buy some eggs from the farmer, whom she knew.\nOn her way back, as it was a fine spring day and the snows had melted,\nshe loitered on the mountain so as to gather some wild-flowers.\n\nAs she was picking the flowers she heard some one muttering behind her,\nand turning round, she saw an old woman, bent and worn, who was\nmuttering a supplication.\n\n\"What can I do for you?\" asked the blacksmith's wife.\n\n\"Give me the eggs you have in that basket,\" said the old woman.\n\nThe blacksmith's wife, although she was afraid she would be scolded at\nhome, durst not refuse, and gave the eggs to the old woman.\n\n\"Thank you kindly,\" said the old woman; \"in return for your kindness I\nwill grant you a wish.\"\n\nThe blacksmith's wife at once answered: \"I wish to have a daughter who\nshall be more beautiful than the Queen's daughter.\"\n\n\"Your wish shall be granted,\" said the old woman. \"But take this charm,\nhang it up over your hearth, and never give it away, for if you do, you\nwill give your daughter with it.\"\n\nSo saying the old woman gave the blacksmith's wife a small copper coin\nmade in the shape of a heart, and as soon as she had done this she\nhobbled off into the wood.\n\nThe blacksmith's wife went home and told her husband about her\nadventure, and they hung the copper coin over their hearth and they\nlaughed for joy.\n\nAs the fairy had predicted, a daughter was born to them, and she grew to\nbe such a lovely little child that the blacksmith and his wife were\nalmost frightened. She was more like a fairy than a mortal. It seemed as\nif she had invisible wings; her skin was more delicate than a pearly\nsea-shell, and one expected to see little elves dancing round her when\nshe played in the fields.\n\nThey had christened her Snowflower, because she was like the flowers\nthat grew on the great mountains. And the name was a proper one, for she\nloved the snow-fields and the spaces of the great hills. Everybody who\nsaw her was amazed--some said that she would wed the King's son; others\nthat she would one day be the Empress of the West; but one old crone,\nwho was spiteful, said that she was much too beautiful to live long.\n\nOne day when Snowflower was nine years old, her father and her mother\nhad gone up into the hills to visit some friends. It was Saturday\nafternoon, and they had left Snowflower in charge of the shop, and had\nsaid that they would not be back till late. Snowflower was sitting\noutside in the street, watching the sunset--it was a warm summer's\neve--when she heard some one singing a strange song.\n\nNever had she heard anything so strange and so beautiful before: the\nvoice was a man's voice, deep and hoarse, and it seemed to come from\nvery far away; the song he sang was soft and sad, but it had a piercing\nnote in it, something that made you listen whether you wished to or no;\nit was a voice which you felt must be obeyed.\n\nSnowflower was lost in dreams, and when the singing stopped, she would\nhave given worlds and worlds for it to begin again. While she was\nwondering who the singer could be, she suddenly became aware of a shadow\nacross the street, and she saw before her a tall minstrel carrying a\nlute. His face was half muffled in a black cloak; and all that she could\nsee distinctly were two dark eyes, very sad, but bright as stars. The\nsun had set, the stars were coming out, and Snowflower was afraid.\nNevertheless she at once asked him whether it was he who had been\nsinging. He said--\n\n\"Yes, it was I.\"\n\n\"Shall I ever hear you again?\" asked Snowflower.\n\n\"Yes, if you will give me a reward,\" said the minstrel.\n\n\"What can I give you?\" asked Snowflower. \"I have no money, and my father\nand my mother have gone to the farm and they won't be back till late.\"\n\n\"All I want,\" said the minstrel, \"is the little copper coin in the shape\nof a heart that hangs over your hearth.\"\n\n\"Oh! you may have that with pleasure,\" said Snowflower, \"it is only a\nbrass farthing.\" And she ran indoors, and fetched it, and gave it to\nhim. \"Only now you must sing to me again,\" she said.\n\n\"I promise to sing to you again, but not now,\" said the minstrel, and he\nwalked away into the darkness.\n\nWhen Snowflower's father and mother came home, they noticed at once that\nthe little copper coin had gone, and Snowflower told them that she had\ngiven it to a wandering minstrel.\n\nHer mother was vexed and cried; but her father said--\n\n\"Never mind, never mind, no harm ever came yet of giving alms to the\npoor.\"\n\nThe years passed by, and Snowflower never once saw the mysterious\nminstrel again, and she soon forgot all about him. She grew up into a\nmost beautiful maiden; and when she was seventeen, there was no one to\ncompare with her in the whole country. She was dazzling like the snow on\nthe mountains, and soft as the blush that steals over them in the dawn,\nand her eyes were like the pools that reflect the sky in the hidden\nplaces of the hills. So beautiful was she that the fame of her spread\nfar and wide, and the King thought that she would make an excellent wife\nfor his only son, who was just old enough to marry.\n\nSo he sent one of his courtiers in disguise to the village in the\nmountains; he was to find out whether what the people said about\nSnowflower was true or not.\n\nHe came to the village and saw Snowflower, and when he returned to the\npalace once more, he told the king that Snowflower was far more\nbeautiful than what men told of her, and that it was indeed impossible\nto describe her, for she was more beautiful than all mortals, but like a\nfairy or a dream-child. When the King heard this, he set out with many\nof his courtiers for the village in the hills, and they found Snowflower\nsitting and spinning at the door of the blacksmith's shop.\n\nThe blacksmith and his wife were astonished and frightened when they saw\nall these grand folk coming to their home, and when the King said that\nhe wished his son to marry their daughter they could hardly speak for\nsurprise. The King's son was as fine and as brave a lad as any in the\nland, but it was settled that he was not to marry till he was\ntwenty-one, and now he was only twenty. So the King said he would come\nback in a year's time and fetch Snowflower.\n\nThe blacksmith was of course delighted at his good fortune; but\nSnowflower said that she did not wish to leave her native village, and\nher father's home, and that she was quite happy where she was. And her\nmother, remembering what the fairy had said, and how Snowflower had\ngiven away the copper coin, was frightened, and she and Snowflower cried\nbitterly together. But the blacksmith said this was nonsense, and\nlaughed at the two women for being so silly.\n\nAfter a year had gone by, the King sent a whole train of courtiers to\nfetch Snowflower, and they put her on a pony and they brought her to the\ncity and the palace of the King.\n\nIt was arranged that the wedding should be held a few days after her\narrival.\n\nSnowflower was given a gorgeous room in the palace looking out on to a\nwide courtyard, round which there were statues and colonnades; and\nsplendid preparations were made for her wedding ceremony.\n\nShe was introduced to the Prince directly, and he fell in love with her\nat first sight. As for Snowflower, she knew not whether she loved the\nPrince or not, but she thought she had never seen so charming and\nhandsome a person before, and she would have been quite happy but for a\nhome-sickness which never left her, for she longed for the sight of the\nsnowy mountains, the green valleys, and the little village where she was\nborn; and she felt that she could not live for ever far away from the\nsnows, and the streams, and the flowers of the great white hills.\n\nShe had gone to bed early and fallen asleep at once, but towards\nmidnight she was awakened by a sound which seemed to be familiar to her;\nshe ran to the window and looked out into the courtyard, whose pillars\nwere gleaming in the moonlight. Again she heard a sound, and then on the\nmidnight wind there were borne into the room the notes of a song which\nshe thought she had heard once before, long ago, in her home in the\nhills. It was a hoarse voice, which seemed to come from far away; a\nmournful voice and sweet, but in spite of its sweetness there was a\nstrange spell in it and something which called for and demanded\nsubmission. She listened, and now, although she knew she had heard it\nbefore, she could not tell when or where; it was different from\nanything she remembered, and more beautiful; and yet, as she listened,\nher heart beat fast, and she knew not whether it was the voice of a\nfriend or an avenging foe who was singing that hoarse serenade.\n\nShe withdrew from the window in fright, but the song grew louder; it\ncalled her with sound like that of bugles on a field of battle in the\nevening when the fight is ended--silvery, manful, and triumphant.\n\nAnd then her heart beat faster than ever, for she knew that the voice\nwas that of a lover; and she knew that she could not resist his song.\n\nAnd she looked once more out of the window, and there in the courtyard,\ndark against one of the gleaming pillars, she saw a tall man muffled in\na black cloak, a man whom she recognised. She ran back from the casement\nand called out in a great terror, but nobody answered her call.\n\nThen across the cobblestones of the yard she heard the tramp of loud\nfootsteps, as though a knight in armour were walking across it; and\npresently she heard the same heavy tramp on the wide marble steps that\nled up to her room. Nearer and nearer they came, till she heard a rap\nlike that of a great sword against her door. He knocked so loudly that\nthe noise was like thunder, and yet no one in the palace seemed to be\ndisturbed. She tried to call out once more, but her voice died away in\nher throat; she tried to run, but she remained motionless.\n\nThen the door was opened wide. And there entered, muffled in a dark\ncloak so that you could only see his eyes, the minstrel to whom she had\ngiven the heart-shaped copper coin that used to hang over her father's\nhearth. And then all at once she knew that the minstrel was not a foe\nbut a friend, and she stretched out her hand and grasped his hand.\n\nAs soon as she did this he threw aside his cloak, and there stood before\nher a wonderful knight in armour, whose face was bright as snow and\nwhose eyes were like stars. And he took her in his arms and carried her\ndown the broad steps into the courtyard, and there a horse was waiting,\nand he mounted it and set Snowflower in front of him, and they galloped\naway through the gates, through the city, and over the plains beyond.\n\nThe next day Snowflower could not be found anywhere, and although the\nwhole kingdom was searched far and wide, no trace of her was discovered.\n\nWhen Snowflower went away from her village, the blacksmith's wife was\nvery sad, although Snowflower had promised to visit her often. But when\nshe woke up on the morning that Snowflower should have wedded the\nPrince, she was astonished to see that the little copper coin was\nhanging once more over their hearth, and she felt quite happy once more;\nfor she knew now, although she could not tell why, that all was well\nwith Snowflower.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HUNCHBACK, THE POOL AND THE MAGIC RING\n\n\nThere was once upon a time a King and a Queen who had three sons. The\ntwo eldest were big and strong, but the third was a cripple and a\nhunchback, because a wicked fairy, whom the Queen had forgotten to\ninvite to his christening, had cast a spell over him in his cradle. Yet\nthe King and the Queen loved their third son best of all, and this made\nhis brothers jealous. When the three brothers were grown up, the King\nfell sick, and he knew that he was going to die. And so he called his\nthree sons to him on his deathbed.\n\n\"Now that you are big and strong,\" he said to the two eldest, \"it is\ntime you went out into the world to seek your fortune. I will give to\neach of you a good horse, a suit of armour, a bag of gold, and a sharp\nsword; and to you,\" he said to the youngest, \"I will give this castle,\nbecause you are not strong enough to go and seek your fortune for\nyourself. So you shall stay at home and look after your mother.\"\n\nAnd soon after he had said this he died.\n\nNow the two eldest brothers were very angry because the hunchback had\nbeen given the castle, and they said to each other: \"Our father was old\nand feeble and did not know what he was doing: we will not give our\nbrother the castle. Indeed, it would be of no use to him, but we will\nkeep it for ourselves, and we will get rid of him, because it is a\ndisgrace to have a hunchback in the family.\"\n\nSo they told their mother that they were going to take their brother\nwith them, to show him the world, and they promised to look after him\ncarefully. They started the next day, early in the morning, and when\nthey had reached a large forest, they told the hunchback that he must\nseek his fortune by himself, and they took away his horse from him and\nhis sword and his cloak. And the next day they rode home to the castle\nand said that their brother had been eaten by a bear in the night,\nentirely owing to his own fault.\n\nWhen the young prince was left to himself, he was very sad, and did not\nknow what to do, and he sat down by the side of a pool and cried\nbitterly. As he was crying, he heard a voice coming out of the pool and\nasking him what was the matter.\n\n\"I am crying,\" he said, \"because I am a hunchback and I have been\ndeserted by my two brothers,\" and he told all his story. Then he heard\nthe voice laugh softly and say that everything could be put to rights.\n\"Look into the pool,\" said the voice, \"and tell me what you see at the\nbottom of it.\"\n\nThe hunchback looked, and said that he saw a gold ring.\n\n\"You must pull out the gold ring and put it on your finger,\" said the\nvoice.\n\nThe hunchback thrust his arm into the pool and pulled out a gold ring,\nand no sooner had he put it on his finger than a beautiful woman stood\nin front of him. She had golden hair which fell to her feet, and large,\nsoft eyes, and he thought she must be a fairy. And so she was: but she\nhad been imprisoned in the pool by the same wicked fairy who had not\nbeen invited to the christening of the young Prince.\n\n\"You have done me a great service,\" said the fairy, \"and I will not be\nungrateful. Look into the pool.\"\n\nThe hunchback looked into the pool and saw his own reflection. But\nsomething wonderful had happened, for he was no longer hunchbacked, but\nfar taller and stronger than his brothers, and the handsomest and most\ngallant-looking young Prince that the world had ever seen.\n\n\"Now,\" said the fairy, \"all will be well with you. You have only to go\ninto the world and you will make your fortune; but you must remember\ncarefully what I tell you now. You must not lose the ring which I have\ngiven you, and never take it off your finger; and above all things you\nmust never put it back into the pool. For whenever you take it off your\nfinger, you will become a hunchback once more, and if you put it back\ninto the pool, you will remain a hunchback for ever.\" And so saying the\nfairy disappeared.\n\nThen the hunchback walked through the forest, whistling for joy; and at\nsunset he reached a large town. As soon as he reached the town, a large\ncoach drawn by six cream-coloured horses passed him, and in the coach\nwas a beautiful Princess, driving with her father, who was King of the\ncountry. Directly she caught sight of the Prince she stopped the coach\nand begged him to get in, and they drove to the palace. \"At last,\" she\nsaid to her father, \"I have found a man whom I will consent to marry.\"\n\nAnd when the King, her father, learnt who the stranger was, he was very\npleased, and offered him the hand of his daughter. And the Prince\nlearned that from far and wide suitors had come to seek the hand of the\nPrincess, but she had never been willing to look at any of them. And as\nthe King was anxious that his daughter should marry, because she had a\nbad temper, he was very pleased at what had happened.\n\nThe Prince consented readily enough to marry so beautiful a Princess;\nbut when they were left alone he told her all his story. The Princess\ndid not believe it, and so as to prove the truth of his words he took\noff his ring, and he stood before her in his true shape, a cripple and a\nhunchback.\n\nThe Princess screamed and burst into a flood of tears, and abused the\npoor Prince, and although he had put the ring on again and resumed his\nsplendid shape, she bade him begone out of her sight for ever. \"For how\ncould I marry a man,\" she said, \"who might turn into a monster if he\nhappened to lose a ring?\"\n\nSo the Prince went away with a heavy heart, and started on his travels\nonce more. He travelled far, and visited many cities, and wherever he\nwent he was received with the greatest favour; for no one had ever seen\nso handsome a Prince, and many kings offered him their daughters in\nmarriage. But the Prince turned a deaf ear now to their offers, and he\nwas sad at heart, for he felt that the magic gift which he had received\nbrought him no happiness, and he knew that he was wearing a mask and\ndeceiving himself and the whole world.\n\nNow it happened that one day during his travels he reached the seashore,\nand as darkness was falling he asked for shelter from a fisherman who\nhad a hut on the beach. The fisherman bade him welcome, and told his\nwife to bring him some porridge. And as he sat eating his supper the\nfisherman's daughter worked at her spinning-wheel in the corner of the\nroom, and sang a song which was like this:--\n\n    \"He brought me silver, he brought me gold,\n      I bade him go his way;\n    My heart was bought and my heart was sold\n      Upon a summer's day.\n\n    He brought me horses and banners bold,\n      I bade him go his way;\n    My heart was bought and my heart was sold\n      Upon a summer's day.\n\n    For a sigh, a song, and a tale half-told,\n      And for a wisp of hay,\n    My heart was bought and my heart was sold\n      Upon a summer's day.\"\n\nHe looked at the fisherman's daughter. Her eyes were blue as the sky,\nand her cheeks were fresh as the salt sea. He looked at her and he fell\nin love with her at first sight. And she blushed and looked down, and\nalthough neither of them had spoken a word, they both knew that they\nwould love each other for ever and ever.\n\nThe next day the Prince said good-bye to the fisherman's daughter, and\nwhen he said good-bye her eyes filled with tears so that it hurt him to\ngo away. The sun was shining on the sea and a fresh breeze was blowing,\nand many white sails were scudding in the distance through the foam, and\nsomething stirred and leapt in the Prince's heart, and before he knew\nwhat he had done, he said: \"I love you, and I shall always love you, and\nI am going away.\"\n\n\"Take me with you,\" said the fisherman's daughter, and the Prince smiled\nand lifted the fisherman's daughter on to his saddle, and they galloped\naway into the morning. They rode on and on, but the Prince guided his\nhorse to a dark forest. The thick grass underneath them was wet with\ndew, and the bushes and the undergrowth glistened in the sunlight. The\nblackbird was whistling, and the finches answered him from the\noak-trees, and far away the cuckoo called over and over again.\n\n[Illustration: THE SUN WAS SHINING ON THE SEA AND A FRESH BREEZE WAS\nBLOWING]\n\nSoon they reached a dark pool. Up to now the Prince had not spoken a\nword. He got off his horse and lifted the fisherman's daughter, who was\nas light as a feather, on to the ground.\n\n\"Now,\" he said, \"I have got a sad tale to tell you. I am not really what\nyou think I am. I am not a handsome Prince, but only a poor crippled\nhunchback, so ugly that people hate to look at me.\"\n\n\"What does it matter?\" said the fisherman's daughter. \"I would love you\nwhether you were a hunchback or not. Perhaps I should love you even\nmore.\"\n\n\"We will see,\" he said; \"at any rate I have made up my mind to be what I\nam for ever and not to deceive people any more.\" And he threw his ring\ninto the pool.\n\nThen a soft moan was heard in the forest, and the birds flew away from\ntheir nests. The Prince stood before the fisherman's daughter in his\ntrue shape: a hunchback and a cripple. He was so sad that he cried\nbitterly, just as he had done on the day when his brothers had deserted\nhim.\n\nThe fisherman's daughter cried too, to see that he was sad; but she\nkissed away his tears, and she told him that she loved him more than\never, and he knew by the sound of her voice that it was true.\n\nThen he heard a voice coming from the pool, which said: \"Look into the\npool.\"\n\nAnd they both looked and saw the reflection of the Prince. The hunchback\nhad gone, and he was big, handsome, and strong, and just as he had been\nwhen the fisherman's daughter had first seen him. And then they both\nlaughed, and kissed each other over and over again. The Prince had\nregained his splendid shape, which he was never to lose again; and he\nput the fisherman's daughter on his horse, and they rode home to the\ncastle where he had been born, and they found his mother looking out of\nthe window in case he should come back that day; and they were married\nthe next morning in great pomp, and his two brothers came\nback--everything had fared ill with them, and they were poor and\nmiserable--and he forgave them, and the Prince and the fisherman's\ndaughter lived happily for ever afterwards.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SILVER MOUNTAIN\n\n\nThere was once upon a time a King who lived in a golden palace on the\ntop of a high hill. He was powerful, wise, and good; his reign had been\na scroll of glory, and he had scattered happiness and plenty on the\npeople of his kingdom. The King had three sons, and when he felt that\nhis death was approaching, he grew troubled in his mind as to which of\nthem should inherit his kingdom. In his country it had been the\neverlasting custom for the King to leave his kingdom not to his eldest\nson, but to that one of his family whom he considered to be fittest to\nrule.\n\nNow the King's eldest son was a soldier, a fine lad and a brave man;\nindeed, he was said to be the strongest and bravest youth in the land.\nThe second son was a scholar; from his earliest youth he had pored over\nbooks, and he remembered what was in them even after he had finished\nreading them; he knew all about the habits of animals, and he looked at\nthe stars through a long telescope of his own invention. The third son\nwas a fool.\n\nThe King was perplexed as to which of these three should inherit his\nkingdom, for he reasoned thus: \"My eldest son is too wild, my second son\nis too clever, and my third son is too foolish.\" So the King thought the\nbest thing he could do would be to consult his Fairy Godmother, and he\nwrote her a long letter explaining the difficulty.\n\nHis Fairy Godmother answered his letter directly. She said she was sorry\nshe could not come and see him, but that she was kept indoors by a bad\ncold. She quite understood the difficulty of the choice, but she advised\nthe King to send his sons to look for the Silver Mountain, and to leave\nhis kingdom to him who should find it.\n\nThe King said to himself, as soon as he had read this letter: \"Of\ncourse; how extremely stupid of me not to have thought of this before!\"\nSo he sent for his sons, and he said: \"To-morrow morning I wish all\nthree of you to start and to look for the Silver Mountain, and I will\nleave my kingdom to him who finds it.\"\n\nEarly the next morning the three youths--they were all grown up--started\non their search. The eldest son took his swiftest horse and went off at\na gallop. He had not gone very far before he met a man who was also\nriding on a swift horse in the same direction. He asked him where he was\ngoing, and the second man said he was looking for the Silver Mountain,\nas he had heard that the man who found it should inherit a rich kingdom.\n\n\"That is true,\" said the King's son, \"nevertheless the quest is not for\nyou; it is only the sons of the King who are entitled to take part in\nthis quest.\"\n\n\"But,\" said the stranger, \"I intend to fight the King's sons and to kill\nthem; then I shall find the mountain and inherit the kingdom.\"\n\n\"We shall see about that,\" said the King's son; and he proposed that\nthey should fight then and there, which they did, and the King's son\nwas victorious. He overcame the stranger and killed him, and leaving the\nbody to be picked by the crows, he went on his way.\n\nAfter many days, he came to a large town where the palace and chief\nbuildings were all draped in black, and the people of the place were\nwalking about with sad faces, talking in whispers. He asked some one\nwhat was the cause of all this grief, and he was told that the chief man\nof the country, who some time ago had set out upon some fantastic quest,\nhad been killed by a robber in the woods, and that it was only now his\nbones had been brought home.\n\n\"It is for this reason we are sad,\" said the man, \"for we are without a\nking.\"\n\nOn hearing this the King's son said: \"There is no cause for grief. I\nwill be your king.\" And he rode straight to the palace, and dismounting\nfrom his horse walked up the steps of the throne and placed the crown\nupon his head, and nobody durst say him nay.\n\nThen the King's son thought to himself: \"I have now solved the whole\nmatter. It is needless for me to search all over the world for a Silver\nMountain which I possibly may never find at all, or which my brothers\nmay find sooner than I do, in order to inherit a kingdom, when I can\nthus gain almost as good a kingdom without any trouble at all.\"\n\nSo he thought no more about the Silver Mountain, or of his father, or of\nhis ancient home, but he remained in this foreign country and married a\nwife, and ruled over it, and he lived in splendour and plenty.\n\nThe first thing which the second son did when he started on his quest\nwas to consult an old scholar who lived in a hermitage, and who was\nfamous for being the most learned man in the whole world. The King's\nsecond son went to him and said: \"I want to find the Silver Mountain in\norder that I may inherit my father's kingdom.\"\n\nThe scholar said to him: \"It is a good thing that you came to me for\nadvice. Nobody in the world can help you as well as I can. There is no\nsuch thing as the Silver Mountain, and I daresay you know that already;\nnevertheless your father was a wise man to have made this quest the\ncondition of the inheritance.\"\n\n\"But,\" said the King's son, \"if there is no such thing as the Silver\nMountain, there remains nothing for me to do but to go home and claim my\ninheritance.\"\n\n\"Not at all,\" said the old man. \"It is of no avail to say that there is\nno such thing as the Silver Mountain, especially when almost everybody\nin the world is quite certain that the thing exists. Where your task\nlies is to find out what people think is the Silver Mountain, and to\nprove to them that it is not silver at all, but an ordinary mountain\njust like any other. That is what you must do.\" And so saying the old\nman refused to discuss the matter any further.\n\nSo the King's son set out on his quest once more, and on the way he met\nmany people who were all seeking for the Silver Mountain. They were all\nanxious to find it, because they said that the man who found it would be\na great king; and the King's son asked them to guide him to the place\nwhere it was likely to be. This they were willing to do, and after they\nhad journeyed for many days, through forests and swamps, across large\nrivers, down steep valleys, and over wooded hills, they reached a wide\nplain; and beyond this plain rose a great chain of mountains, and in the\ncentre of this chain there towered one mountain higher than the rest,\nand it was covered with clouds.\n\nThe people pointed to this mountain and said: \"Without doubt, that is\nthe Silver Mountain.\"\n\nThe King's son said he would climb this mountain, and he took the people\nwith him. The ascent was steep and perilous, and many a time those who\nwere with him would have turned back, had he not encouraged them and led\nthem on by his fiery words, and after many days of toil and hardship,\nthey reached the summit of the mountain, whence they obtained a view\nover the whole country.\n\nThen the King's son said to them: \"This is the highest mountain in the\nwhole of the land--the whole of the land is now revealed to us. We know\nall there is to be known about this country, and it is quite plain that\nthis mountain is a mountain just like any other, and that in the whole\nworld there is no such thing as a Silver Mountain; therefore we will now\ngo back and tell this to the whole world, and save our friends and our\nbrothers from wasting their time and exhausting themselves in fruitless\nlabour over an insane quest.\"\n\nSo they went back to the country, and announced the news far and wide\nthat there was no such thing as a Silver Mountain, and that those who\nhad set out on the quest of it had better return to their homes.\n\nNow when the people heard this they were angry, and they threw stones at\nthe King's son, and he was compelled to flee from their city and to seek\nshelter in the old scholar's home. But from that time forward many\npeople in the country ceased to think of the Silver Mountain any more,\nor to search for it, and even among those who were angry with the King's\nson there were many who felt that his words were true nevertheless.\n\nThe third son started also on the quest. He sought out all the highest\nmountains of the country, and convinced himself that none of them could\nbe the Silver Mountain, and yet he was sure there was such a thing\nsomewhere, and he persisted in believing this, and in saying it. He\nspent many years of fruitless search, but he never gave up the quest,\nnor did he ever lose hope that one day he should accomplish it.\n\nOne evening, after he had been searching all day, he lay down, footsore\nand weary, and he said to himself aloud: \"If only the fairies would help\nme, I should find the mountain soon enough.\"\n\nNo sooner had he said this than a beautiful fairy stood before him and\nsaid: \"I will help you to find the Silver Mountain,\" and she gave him a\nsmall mirror made of polished steel, whereupon she immediately vanished.\n\nThe King's youngest son took the mirror and looked into it, and there he\nsaw very distinctly the image of his father lying ill, propped up by\npillows, dying and lonely, without any of his children about him. And\nthe King's youngest son said to himself--\n\n\"What does it matter to me whether I inherit the kingdom or not? Before\nI think of that I must go back and see my father before he dies. I would\nmuch rather my brothers found the mountain before me, and inherited the\nkingdom, than that my father should die without my saying 'Good-bye' to\nhim.\"\n\nAnd he turned back, and made for his home as quickly as possible.\n\nNow the King's palace was on the top of a high hill, and the King's\nyoungest son approached it from the back, where he had never been before\nin his life, and towards evening he emerged from the forest and saw this\nhill before him, shining in the sunset, with the King's golden palace at\nthe summit of it; and in the clear glory of the sunset the hill shone\nlike silver, and the King's youngest son, as he looked at it, said--\n\n\"Why, this is the Silver Mountain!\" And as he ran up the hill as fast as\nhe could he saw that it was of silver after all. So he rushed into his\nfather's bedroom, crying: \"Father, I have found the Silver Mountain--it\nwas here the whole time--at home--and we have all lived on the top of\nit without knowing it!\"\n\n[Illustration: TOWARDS THE EVENING HE EMERGED FROM THE FOREST]\n\nThe King was very pleased to see his son, and he said: \"My son, what you\nsay is quite true, and you shall inherit my kingdom.\" And the King\nkissed him, and soon after this he died, and the King's son reigned in\nhis stead, and reigned happily ever after as the King of this country.\n\n[Illustration: HER MOTHER FOUND A SILVER HORSE-SHOE]\n\n\n\n\nTHE RING\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a King and a Queen who had only one daughter,\ncalled Windflower. Just before Windflower's ninth birthday, the Queen,\nher mother, when she was walking in the garden of the palace, found a\nsilver horseshoe lying on one of the paths. Now a silver horseshoe was\nalways found in the garden just before the death of a Queen, so the\nQueen went to bed at once and sent for her daughter.\n\n\"My child,\" she said, \"I have found a silver horseshoe in the garden,\nand that means I have not long to stay in this world. So listen\ncarefully to what I have to say. You will be the most beautiful Princess\nthe world has ever seen, and I hope you will find a husband who is\nworthy of you. Take this ring; it is was given to me by my mother, who\nin her turn received it from my grandmother. The ring is faery, and you\nmust keep it and wear it always, for as long as you keep it you will be\nsure of true love; but if you give it away you will give your heart and\nall its power away with it, and evil will come of this. And if you are\nblessed with a daughter you must give it to her before you die; but if\nyou have no daughter then you must cast the ring into the sea, for its\nwork will be done.\"\n\nWhen the Queen had said this she kissed Windflower and put the ring on\nher finger. Then she sent for the King and bade him be a good father to\ntheir child, and after she had said farewell she fell asleep and never\nwoke up again.\n\nTwo years after the Queen died, the King married again. This second wife\nhad already been married before, and she had a daughter of her own who\nwas called Emerald, and who was just the same age as Windflower. As the\nyears rolled on the new Queen became jealous of her step-daughter,\nbecause Windflower grew up into the most lovely creature that had ever\nbeen seen. She was tall and slender, and her eyes were like dew and her\nface like the petal of a flower. She danced like the surf of the sea,\nand she sang like a bird.\n\nBut Emerald, although she was handsome, had a proud face, with envious\ngreen eyes that glittered balefully. And as, of course, everybody liked\nWindflower much better than Emerald, this made the Queen angry, and she\ndetermined, when the children were grown up and it was time that they\nshould marry, that none of the princes of the land should set eyes on\nWindflower until Emerald was married. So she sent Windflower to a lonely\ntower which was in a forest outside the city, and she told the King and\nthe Court that Windflower was not well, and had been ordered by the\nphysicians to live in a quiet place. So Windflower lived by herself in\nthe forest and saw nobody but her old nurse; but she was not sorry to\nget away from her step-sister, who teased and pinched her dreadfully.\n\nWhen Emerald's seventeenth birthday came, the King and the Queen\nprepared a grand banquet to celebrate it, and they invited all the\nprinces of the land, and of these the youngest and the handsomest was\nPrince Sweetbriar. As he was heir to a large kingdom, the Queen was\nanxious that he should marry Emerald.\n\nNow it happened that as Prince Sweetbriar was riding to the palace in\ncompany with several other Princes, he dropped behind his companions and\nlost his way, and presently he found himself in the forest where\nWindflower lived, and he rode past just under the tower. Just then\nWindflower was leaning out of the window. Her hair, which was like a\ngolden mist, was hanging about her shoulders, and her face blushed like\nthe dawn. Sweetbriar looked up, and he fell in love with her at first\nsight, and Windflower looked at him and smiled and fell in love with him\ntoo. Then he rode on till he found the city and the palace.\n\nThe Queen paid every attention to him, and gave him the most gorgeous\nroom in the palace. The banquet was held in the evening, and after it\nwas over there was a State ball. Sweetbriar looked everywhere for\nWindflower, but in vain. He asked one of the courtiers whether the King\nhad not got another daughter, and he was told that there was another\ncalled Windflower, but nobody ever saw her because she was ill. But\nSweetbriar could think of nothing else but Windflower's face, and, in\nspite of all the Queen did, he took no notice of Emerald.\n\nWhen the ball was over he found out from his page, who had been\ngossiping in the kitchen, that Windflower was none other than the\nbeautiful maiden he had seen in the forest. So early next morning he set\nout for the forest, and he found the tower without difficulty.\nWindflower looked even more beautiful than before, and Sweetbriar\ndeclared his love and asked her to be his wife, and she answered \"Yes,\"\nand they spent the whole morning together, talking about how happy they\nwould be.\n\nThen Sweetbriar rode back to the palace and asked the King for the hand\nof his daughter Windflower, whom he had met in the forest. The Queen, of\ncourse, tried to make objections, but Sweetbriar would not hear of\nthem; so the King gave his consent, and the Queen could do nothing more,\nand Sweetbriar and Windflower were married.\n\nFor a year they were as happy as the day is long, and a little daughter\nwas born to them whom they christened Sundew; but after a year had gone\nby the Queen took counsel with her daughter Emerald, and said--\n\n\"All is not yet lost, and if you are skilful we may defeat the minx yet.\nYou have only to persuade Sweetbriar to make Windflower give him the\nring which her mother gave to her, and all will be well.\"\n\n\"I will do it,\" said Emerald.\n\nSo one day Emerald said to Sweetbriar: \"You have a very beautiful wife.\nI hope she is as devoted as she is beautiful.\"\n\n\"Of course she is!\" said Sweetbriar.\n\n\"Do you think she would do anything you wished?\" asked Emerald.\n\n\"Of course,\" answered Sweetbriar.\n\nThen Emerald laughed, and said: \"I am sure she would not even give you\nthe ring she wears on her finger.\"\n\nSweetbriar laughed, but Emerald only said: \"Try.\"\n\nSo that very same day Sweetbriar said to Windflower: \"Emerald is so\njealous of you that she says you would not even give me the ring which\nyou wear on your finger, if I ask it of you.\"\n\nWindflower was distressed when she heard this, and she told Sweetbriar\nof her mother's warning, and Sweetbriar said that she had much better\nnot give him the ring, since he needed no ring to tell him that she\nloved him.\n\nBut when he next saw Emerald she mocked him, and said: \"What did I tell\nyou? She doesn't even love you enough to give you a ring!\" And every day\nEmerald taunted him like this, and she said: \"I've no doubt she finds\nexcellent excuses, but she will never give you the ring!\"\n\nAt last one day Sweetbriar could bear it no longer, and he said to\nWindflower: \"What does it matter if you give your heart away to me? Your\nheart belongs to me already, so there can be no harm in giving me the\nring. Give it to me, for I can no longer bear Emerald's taunts.\"\n\nSo Windflower gave him the ring. Now the ring, as I said, was faery; as\nlong as she kept it her heart was her own and had the power to bind her\nhusband's heart, but as soon as she gave the ring away, she gave away\nher heart and with it all its power; so that, although her heart still\nbelonged to Sweetbriar, Sweetbriar's love no more belonged to her--and\nhe soon forgot all about Windflower.\n\nAs soon as the Queen and Emerald saw this, they drove Windflower and her\nchild from the palace, and left them in a wood to perish, and they said\nthey had been devoured by wild beasts, and Sweetbriar was wedded to\nEmerald.\n\nBut Windflower and Sundew did not perish. A woodcutter showed them the\nway out of the wood, and they wandered for several years from city to\ncity begging their bread. One day, when they were both very hungry, and\nWindflower had just earned a crust of bread, an old woman came up to her\nand asked for alms.\n\n\"I have got no money,\" said Windflower, \"but take this; you need it more\nthan we do.\" And she gave her the crust of bread.\n\n\"You are a good child,\" said the old woman; \"keep your bread and ask for\na gift and I will give it you.\"\n\n\"The only gift I crave is what nobody can give,\" said Windflower. \"It is\nmy husband's love, which has been taken from me.\" And she told the old\nwoman her story.\n\nAnd the old woman said: \"There is only one way of winning back your\nhusband's love. You must earn the ring which you gave him, and he must\ngive it you back and your heart with it in return for his life.\" So\nsaying the old woman disappeared.\n\nWindflower at once set out for the King's city, and when she got there\nshe found every one in woe and trouble because Prince Sweetbriar was\nlying mortally sick and nobody could cure him. The King had offered half\nhis kingdom to any one who should cure the Prince, but nobody had even\ntried.\n\nWindflower, who was in rags and quite unrecognisable, crept into the\nkitchen and begged a little bread for herself and her little daughter\nSundew. She was allowed to warm herself at the fire, and she heard that\nthe Prince had been wounded by a poisoned arrow, and that if some one\nwould suck the poison from his wound he would recover; but nobody would\ndo this, for they knew that they would die themselves, and what was the\nuse of half a kingdom to a dead man?\n\nSo Windflower went to the King, and offered to cure the Prince on the\ncondition that he should give her as a gift anything she should ask for.\n\nThe King agreed, and Windflower went to the Prince and sucked the poison\nfrom his arm. Sweetbriar at once began to get well, and he asked\nWindflower what she craved as a reward.\n\n\"The ring upon your finger,\" said Windflower.\n\nSweetbriar gave her the ring, and immediately her heart came back to\nher, and with it Sweetbriar's love, and he remembered everything and\nrecognised Windflower, and with a great cry he took her in his arms.\n\nAnd Windflower's heart overflowed with joy. She slipped the ring on her\nlittle daughter's finger, then she looked at her husband and smiled, and\nfell asleep in his arms. She never woke up again, because the poison she\nhad sucked from Sweetbriar's wound was deadly.\n\nAnd Sweetbriar drove Emerald and her mother from the house, and although\nhis heart was broken, he said no word and he shed no tear, for he knew\nthat it had all come about through his own fault, and that Windflower\nwas very happy and glad to be asleep, because she was so tired.\n\nBut his little daughter Sundew laughed, and played with him every day,\nand she mended his broken heart for him very well, although it was never\nquite the same as it had been before. And she grew up to be as beautiful\nand as good as Windflower, and she never gave away her mother's\nring.\n\n\n\n\nTHE MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER\n\n(A GREEK STORY)\n\n\nOnce upon a time, long ago in Greece, there was a merchant, who used to\nearn his living by trafficking with goods among the Greek Islands and\nalong the coast of Asia. Sometimes he used to go as far as Persia and\nIndia. He possessed many argosies, and he used to take with him large\nbales of embroideries, silks and other stuffs, spikenard, and all kinds\nof rare scents and ointments, and these he used to sell for as much\nmoney as he could get for them.\n\nBut although he was wealthy, he was a kind merchant; and although he\nconsidered trade to be important, and struck as good a bargain as he\ncould, when the time for bargaining came, yet there was something that\nhe considered more important than merchandise and than bargaining, and\nthat was his daughters. He had three daughters. The eldest was called\nHeliodore, the second Hermione, and the third Daphne. They were all\nthree of them extremely beautiful. The eldest, Heliodore, was tall like\na lily; the second, Hermione, was dark like a rose; and the third,\nDaphne, was like a flower that grows in the springtime.\n\nOne day, when his daughters were grown up, it was necessary for the\nmerchant to make a long journey to the East--a longer journey than he\nhad ever made before. He was obliged to go to India in order to sell\nsome vases cunningly worked, which Indian princes were especially fond\nof. Before he started he called his daughters to him and said good-bye\nto them. They each of them kissed him on both cheeks, and begged him to\nbring them back something from India. They knew that India was a\nmarvellous country, full of rich and strange things. He promised to\nbring back something for each of them, and he asked them what they would\nlike. Heliodore said she would like a scarf woven of moonbeams, such as\nis only to be found in the mountains which are in the north of India.\nHermione said she would like a necklace made of rubies, such as are\nonly found in the mines of India, where little gnomes work all day and\nall night underground and never see the sky. But when he asked Daphne\nwhat she would like, she answered: \"The only thing that I want is the\nGolden Ring.\" And Heliodore and Hermione laughed at her, and said:\n\"Silly child! she could buy a golden ring in any shop in Athens. What a\nfoolish thing to ask for.\"\n\nBefore the merchant started, Heliodore, Hermione, and Daphne burnt a\nsacrifice on the altar of Hermes, and they prayed that the winds and the\nwaves might be favourable to their father, and they entreated him that\nhe should remember his promise to them, and should not forget the gifts\nwhich they desired; and they said at the end of their prayer: \"If our\nfather forgets to bring back these gifts which he has promised us, then\ngrant us that his ship, swift Hermes, may not stir from the shore.\" And\nthe merchant confirmed their prayer, and burnt incense on the altar\nhimself. Then he started for India.\n\nHe arrived in India without difficulty, and during several months he\ncarried on his trade and did excellent business. He sold cunningly\nwrought cups to the Indian princes, and statues, and garments, and\nsandals, and lamps, and many other things besides. He travelled all over\nIndia, trafficking and striking bargains; and during his travels he went\nup to the northern mountains, and bought from an old woman a veil made\nof moonbeams, for his eldest daughter Heliodore. This veil was\nexpensive, and he was obliged to give in exchange for it some of the\ngrass of Parnassus, gathered while Apollo was playing upon his fiddle,\nand some water from the spring of Helicon, taken in a crystal flask on\nthe night when the Muses cease from quarrelling and sing in unison to\nthe new moon.\n\nAfter he had bought this veil at such a high price, he went to the\nplains in the centre of India, and walked into the heart of a mountain,\nand reached the caves which are under the earth, where the gnomes work\nall day and all night, and there he asked the King of the Gnomes to\nsell him the necklace of rubies. The King of the Gnomes said: \"What will\nyou give me for it?\" And the merchant said: \"I will give you whatever\nyou ask.\" And the King of the Gnomes said to him: \"I will have in\nexchange for a necklace of rubies the nightingale that sings in the\nthickets of Daulis.\" So the merchant gave him this nightingale, although\nhe was sorry to part with it, and received the necklace of rubies in\nexchange.\n\nThe merchant remembered these gifts, which were so difficult to get, but\nhe quite forgot what he had promised to his third daughter, which was\nonly a golden ring, and he started home without the golden ring. When he\nreached the coast, and embarked on his argosy, there was a fair breeze,\nand he was pleased because he thought his journey would be swift. But\nwhat was his surprise to find that the ship would not stir from the\nshore. Many other ships belonging to other sailors were scudding fast\nthrough the waves, leaving behind them a trail of foam, and yet his\nship, although she was an excellent seaboat, refused to stir. And this\nlasted all day and all night.\n\nAt last he disembarked and sat down on the shore, and thought, saying to\nhimself, \"What spell has been put on my ship? What have I done? In what\nway have I displeased the gods that they prevent me from going home?\"\n\nAs he was pondering over this, a peasant walked along the coast. He was\ncarrying a basket of eggs home from the market, and he stopped and asked\nthe merchant what he was thinking of.\n\nThe merchant hardly liked to tell him about his private family affairs,\nbut the peasant said to him: \"I am sure there is something on your mind,\notherwise it is impossible that your ship should not be scudding over\nthe sea. Perhaps you promised something to somebody before you started.\"\n\nThe merchant thought about this, and then at last he remembered what he\nhad promised to Daphne, and he said to the peasant: \"I promised my\ndaughter to bring her back the Golden Ring from India, and I have\nforgotten to do so.\"\n\nThe peasant said: \"That accounts for it all. If you have promised to\nbring back something to somebody who is dear to you and have forgotten\nit, it is quite impossible that you should sail back home.\"\n\n\"That is all very well,\" said the merchant, \"but can you tell me where I\ncan find the Golden Ring? You see, there are many golden rings\neverywhere, but my daughter Daphne, who is my youngest daughter, asked\nme to bring her back _the_ Golden Ring.\"\n\nThe peasant nodded and turned round, and then he said: \"You see this\nroad running in front of you into the distance? Walk along it, without\nlooking to the right or to the left, and when you have walked for three\nhours you will reach a spot, and in that spot is the Golden Ring.\"\n\nThe merchant did what the peasant had told him, and he walked for three\nhours without looking to the right or to the left. When the three hours\nwere over he reached a milestone, on which was written: \"To the Coast,\nthree hours; to the Palace, one minute.\" Near the milestone an old man\nwith a long grey beard was sitting, so the merchant spoke to the old\nman, and said to him: \"Sir, can you tell me where I can find the Golden\nRing?\"\n\nThe old man answered him: \"The Golden Ring is in the palace of the King.\nThe palace of the King is a minute's walk from here. You turn to the\nright, and before you you will find two golden gates. You must open\nthese gates, walk through them, and you will find the palace of the King\nin front of you. In this palace there is a Prince, who is the King's\nson, and that Prince is the Golden Ring.\"\n\nThe merchant did as he was told. He walked for a minute, and found in\nfront of him two golden gates. Here he stopped a moment, because he was\nafraid to walk into the house of somebody whom he did not know.\nNevertheless he took heart and opened the gates, and walked straight\nalong a broad road until he reached the steps which led to the front\ndoor of the King's palace. Now the King's palace was made entirely of\nred marble, and when the merchant saw it he was frightened. However, he\nwalked up the steps, and knocked loudly on the door, and immediately a\nslave appeared and asked him what he wanted.\n\n\"I wish to see the King,\" said the merchant, \"and to ask him if I may\nenter into his palace.\"\n\nThe slave went away, and presently he came back again and said to the\nmerchant: \"The King will be very glad if you will do him the honour of\nentering his palace. Moreover, the King would like to talk to you\nhimself. He is at this moment in the Throne Room, sitting on the\nthrone.\"\n\nSo the merchant was ushered into the Throne Room, and there was the King\nsitting on a throne made of ivory and studded with emeralds. As he\nentered this room, the King walked down the steps of the throne, and\nasked him politely what was his business.\n\nThe merchant said: \"Your Majesty, I want to speak to the Prince.\"\n\nThe King said that nothing was easier, and he led the merchant through a\nlong corridor into another room, which belonged to the Prince.\n\nThe Prince was a young man, scarcely twenty-one years old. His hair was\nas bright as the rice-fields in winter, and his eyes were as blue as the\nsea. He was strong and nimble, and his voice was as tuneful as a bell.\n\nThe Prince said to the merchant: \"I am very glad to see you. I am always\nglad to see people who come from a far country; but what do you want of\nme?\"\n\nSo the merchant told him all his story--how he had three daughters; how\nhe had remembered to bring back the gifts which the two eldest had asked\nof him; and how he had forgotten the Golden Ring which he had promised\nto his youngest daughter, Daphne.\n\nThen the Prince said: \"I quite understand. Is your daughter Daphne very\nbeautiful?\"\n\nAnd the merchant said: \"All my daughters are beautiful. My eldest\ndaughter, Heliodore, is as beautiful as the day; and my second daughter,\nHermione, is as glorious as the night; but my third daughter, Daphne,\nis like the first day of spring. She is more beautiful than any woman in\nthe world.\"\n\nThen the Prince led him along a long corridor into a room in which there\nwere many beautiful pictures of beautiful women; and he said to the\nmerchant: \"Is your daughter Daphne as beautiful as any of the people who\nare pictured here?\"\n\nAnd the merchant said: \"My daughter Daphne is a thousand times more\nbeautiful than any of these pictures.\"\n\nAnd the Prince knew by the tone of voice in which he said it, that what\nhe said was true. He then led him into another room, in which there was\nonly one picture, and this was a picture of a woman he had once seen\nlong ago, in a dream, when he had dreamt of her who should be his wife;\nand this picture was the most beautiful picture in the world; and the\nwoman who was painted in this picture was like a dream or a vision, so\nthat those people who looked at it could not believe that such a\nbeautiful thing could possibly be true. When the Prince had drawn the\ncurtain from this picture he said to the merchant, \"Is your daughter as\nbeautiful as that?\" and the merchant answered, \"That is my daughter\nDaphne.\" Then the Prince said to him: \"I thought so. I will give you\nsomething to take back to her.\"\n\nHe took the merchant into another room, and gave him a letter written on\nparchment, a cup made of crystal, and a small golden ring of plain gold,\nand he said to the merchant: \"Please do not forget to take these three\ngifts to your youngest daughter, Daphne. Farewell.\"\n\nThe Prince said good-bye to the merchant, and the King said good-bye to\nhim also, and a slave was sent with him to show him the way out of the\npalace, and the nearest road to the coast; and there he found his ship\nwaiting for him, and directly he got on board and set sail, the ship\nanswered to the breeze, and swiftly and surely he arrived in his native\ncountry.\n\nNow no sooner had he got home than his daughters asked him: \"Father,\nhave you brought us back the presents which you promised us?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the merchant, \"I have. I have brought Heliodore a veil woven\nof moonbeams, which I found in the northern hills of India, and it was\nvery expensive. And I have brought Hermione a necklace of rubies, in\nexchange for which I had to part with a precious nightingale. And I have\nbrought Daphne the gifts which she asked for.\" So saying, he gave his\ndaughters their various presents, and to Daphne the letter, the cup, and\nthe ring which the Prince had given him.\n\nWhen Heliodore and Hermione saw what their father had brought Daphne,\nthey were very pleased, because they thought a piece of paper, a cup\nsuch as was to be seen in almost any shop in Athens, and a golden ring\nworth at the most a few pieces of silver, were indeed shabby presents\ncompared with the treasures which they had received, and they laughed at\ntheir sister.\n\nBut Daphne paid no heed to this. She took her gifts to her room, and\nlocked herself in, and there she unrolled the scroll of paper which her\nfather had given her, and read what was written in it. It was written on\nthe parchment that she was to pour water into the crystal cup, throw the\nGolden Ring into it, and call three times aloud: \"Come hither, come\nhither, come hither, my Golden Ring!\" No sooner had she read this than\nshe filled the crystal cup with water, threw the Golden Ring into it,\nand called out to the ring as she had been told to do; and as she\ncalled, lo and behold! a wood-pigeon flew into her room and alighted on\nthe crystal cup, and dived and swam in the water; and as soon as its\nbody was completely immersed in the water, it changed into the very\nPrince whom the merchant had seen in India.\n\n\"I am Prince Fortunate,\" said the Prince, \"and I live in India. I have\nseen you many times in my dreams, and the first time I saw you I made up\nmy mind that you should be my wife, for you are the most beautiful woman\nin the world, and I love you with all my heart.\" And Daphne told the\nPrince that she loved him too, although she had never seen him before,\nexcept in her dreams, and they talked happily together for more than an\nhour.\n\nThen the Prince dipped his fingers into the crystal cup, and instantly\nchanged into a wood-pigeon, and flew away through the window. But before\nhe flew away, the bird gave Daphne a nut, and told her to crack it and\nto put on what she should find inside it.\n\nAs soon as Daphne was left alone, she cracked the nut, and she found\ninside it a beautiful dress, as dark as a summer night, but on the folds\nof which were painted the sun, the moon, and all the stars of heaven.\nShe put it on, and went for a walk in the garden, and her dress shone\nlike a starry night, and it was a wonderful sight to behold; and her\nsisters, who were leaning out of a window which overlooked the garden,\nwere dazzled by the sight of the shining garment, and they wondered\ngreatly, and they were filled with envy and jealousy.\n\nThe next day all this happened again. The pigeon flew in at Daphne's\nwindow, changed into the Prince, and talked to her for an hour, and\nwhen the hour was over changed back into a pigeon again and flew away,\nleaving her a fig, which he told her to cut open, and to wear what she\nshould find inside it. She cut open the fig, and inside it she found a\ndress on which the azure sea and all its white waves were painted. This\ndress was like the sea at dawn, when the wind ruffles it, and little\nwaves of crested foam dance for joy in the morning air.\n\nDaphne put it on, and went for a walk in her garden, and her sisters,\nwho were leaning out of the window, were amazed at the lovely sight, and\ncried out in surprise--for at first they thought it was Queen Aphrodite\njust fresh from the sea; and they envied Daphne sorely.\n\nThe next day the same thing happened again. Daphne threw the ring into\nthe cup, and all happened as before; and when the pigeon flew away, he\nleft her a hazel-nut, and told her to crack it and wear what she should\nfind inside it.\n\nDaphne cracked the hazel-nut, and inside it she found a garment on which\nthe month of May with all its flowers was painted. She put it on, and\nshe again went for a walk in the garden, and her sisters, who were\nleaning out of the window, gave a great cry when they saw her--for\nbeautiful as had been the dress on which the sun, the moon, and the\nstars were painted, and beautiful the dress on which were pictured the\nsea and all its waves, this one was far lovelier still, for it was as\nfrail as blossom, and as soft, and fragrant exceedingly; and as Daphne\nwalked across the grass in it, her sisters thought that Queen Proserpine\nhad left her dismal home and had come back to visit the earth once more,\narrayed in the glory of May--and then they saw that it was only their\nsister Daphne, whom they had always despised. This made Heliodore and\nHermione so jealous that they took counsel one with the other how they\nmight do Daphne harm, and at last they settled on a plan.\n\n[Illustration: A GARMENT IN WHICH THE MONTH OF MAY IN ALL ITS FLOWERS\nWAS PAINTED]\n\nEvery morning, as soon as the sun rose, the three sisters used to go to\nthe baths and bathe. So the morning after Daphne had walked about in the\ngarden, in the dress, on which the month of May and all its flowers\nwere painted, as they were walking together to the baths, Heliodore took\nwith her a bag full of seed-pearls, and all at once she pretended to\nslip, and in slipping scattered the pearls on to the path. Then she said\nto Hermione and Daphne, \"You go on in front, whilst I pick up my\npearls.\" As soon as Hermione and Daphne were out of sight, she swept up\nthe pearls with a small broom and put them all back into the bag, and\nthen she returned to the house. There she took the key of Daphne's\nroom--for she had noticed that Daphne always hid this key in a crevice\non the hearth--and she opened Daphne's door, went into her room, and\nsearched in every corner to see what she might find; and there, at the\nback of the cupboard, she found the Prince's letter, the crystal cup,\nand the Golden Ring. She read the Prince's letter, filled the crystal\ncup with water, threw the Golden Ring into it, and called out the magic\nwords. But it so happened that Daphne had that day left her knife in the\ncup; so when Heliodore cried out, \"Come hither, come hither, come\nhither, my Golden Ring!\" the wood-pigeon flew in at the window, and\ndived into the crystal cup, but just as he was going to change into the\nPrince he fell upon the knife, and he flew away with a wound in his\nbreast.\n\nNow when Heliodore saw that there was a drop of blood in the crystal\ncup, she was afraid, and she ran away from Daphne's room, and rejoined\nher sisters at the baths.\n\nWhen they came back from the baths, Daphne went to her room and took the\ncup from the cupboard. But when she saw that there was a drop of blood\nin it, she cried bitterly, for she saw what had happened, and she\nunderstood what her sister had done; and when she had cried for a long\ntime by herself, she went out of doors, and she found her father and\nsaid to him: \"Oh sir, buy me a man's dress, such as will prevent those\nwho see me from recognising me, when I wear it; and buy me a swift ship,\nso that I may travel.\"\n\nHer father gave her the dress and the ship, and she embarked on it and\nstarted for India, disguised as a pedlar, in order to find the Prince.\n\nShe sailed to India, but when she disembarked, she was at a loss as to\nwhat to do, for she did not know where the Prince lived, nor the way to\nhis palace. As she was brooding in her perplexity, she caught sight of\ntwo pigeons who were quarrelling with each other, and one of them was\nthreatening to kill the other. Daphne listened to their conversation,\nfor she understood the language of birds because of the Golden Ring\nwhich she wore on her finger. And one of the birds was saying to the\nother: \"Prince Fortunate is sick, and the physicians do not know how to\ncure him.\" And the other bird said: \"Will he be cured?\" And the first\npigeon answered: \"If some one were to kill us and to dip our bodies in\nthe spring which is hard by, and then make an ointment of the water of\nthe spring, and rub the Prince with that ointment, he would surely get\nwell.\"\n\nDirectly Daphne heard this she took a stone and killed the pigeons, and\ndipped them into the water of the spring, and made an ointment, as they\nhad said. No sooner had she done this than a wandering minstrel passed\nher, and asked her whither she was going.\n\n\"I am looking,\" said Daphne, \"for the King's palace, where Prince\nFortunate lives, but I do not know where it is.\"\n\nThe minstrel said: \"Come with me, for I know the way. But what is your\ntrade?\"\n\n\"I am a physician,\" said Daphne, \"and I have good medicine to sell.\"\n\nSo presently she reached the King's palace, and called outside the\nwindows: \"Good medicine to sell. Good medicine to sell.\"\n\nWhen the King heard that there was a physician there, he sent for him\nand said: \"Can you cure my son?\"\n\nDaphne answered: \"In eight days I will make him so well that he will\nride on his horse, and shoot with his bow and arrow.\"\n\nThe King was pleased; but when the other doctors heard of this, they\nsaid that if this new physician cured the King's son in a week, the King\nwould be at liberty to cut off their heads.\n\nSo Daphne, in the disguise of a doctor, was taken to the Prince, and she\nrubbed him with the ointment she had made, and instantly he grew a\nlittle better, and in two or three days' time he grew much better, and\nin a week's time he was quite well and able to ride on his horse and to\nshoot with his bow and arrow.\n\nNow, when the King saw this, he was greatly pleased, and he said to the\nphysician: \"You have cured my son; what can I do for you in return?\"\n\nAnd the physician answered, \"All I desire is that your Majesty should\ngive a great banquet, and invite to it all the kings and princes of\nIndia.\"\n\nThe King said: \"That is but a trifling favour to ask.\" And he gave\norders at once that a great feast should be prepared, and he invited to\nit all the kings and princes of India, Persia, and Arabia, and they ate\nand drank and made merry.\n\nWhen the banquet was over, Daphne, in the disguise of the doctor, said\nto the King: \"Let there be silence, for I have a story to tell the\ncompany.\" The King gave orders, and every one was silent. Then Daphne\ntold the whole of her story, as I have told it now, and she told\neverything except one thing--she did not say who she was, for she was\nkeeping this to the end. But when she reached the end of the story and\ntold how the merchant's daughter had disguised herself as a doctor in\norder to cure the Prince, she said--\n\n\"I am the merchant's daughter. My name is Daphne, and in the disguise of\na doctor I cured the Prince. I did it because I am betrothed to him, and\nbecause he will make me his wife; and I never did the Prince any harm,\nbut my sister did that evil thing from envy, because she was jealous of\nour happiness.\"\n\nAs soon as the Prince heard this, he recognised Daphne, and he embraced\nher and said: \"It is true. This is Daphne, my betrothed, and my bride\nthat is to be.\"\n\nAnd the King prepared a splendid wedding-feast, which lasted three days,\nand they were married in a temple of gold, and on the first day of the\nfeast Daphne wore the dress on which the sun, the moon, and the stars\nwere painted; and on the second day she wore the dress on which were\npictured the sea and all its waves; but on the third day she wore the\ndress which was adorned with the month of May and all its flowers, and\non that day she was more beautiful than ever she had been before, for it\nwas her wedding-day. And she lived with the Prince happily for ever\nafterwards.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CUNNING APPRENTICE\n\n(A RUSSIAN STORY)\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old man and an old woman who had one son.\nThe old man was poor, and he wished his son to acquire knowledge, so\nthat he should be able to comfort his parents in his youth, to support\nthem when he grew up, and to pray for them after their death. But what\nis to be done when one has no money? He took him to the village.\n\"Perhaps,\" he thought, \"somebody will give him lessons for nothing.\" But\nnobody wished to teach his son for nothing. The old man returned home,\nand he and his wife cried bitterly, lamenting their poverty.\n\nOnce more he took his son to the town. As soon as he reached the town a\nstranger met them, and asked what was the matter. \"Why, old man,\" he\nsaid, \"are you so sad?\"\n\n\"How can I not be sad?\" answered the old man. \"Look, I have taken my\nson everywhere, and nobody will teach him for nothing, and I have no\nmoney.\"\n\n\"Well, give him to me,\" said the stranger, \"and in three years I will\nteach him all the knowledge there is. And in three years' time, on this\nsame day and at the same hour, come and fetch your son. But take care\nthat you are not late, for if you come in time and recognise him you\nshall receive your son back again, but if you are late he shall remain\nwith me.\"\n\nThe old man was so pleased that he did not ask who the stranger was,\nwhere he lived, or how and what he would teach the lad. He left his son\nwith him, and went home. He reached home in great joy, and told his wife\nall about it. Now the stranger was a wizard.\n\nThree years passed. The old man had long ago forgotten on what day and\nat what hour he had left his son with the stranger, and he did not know\nwhat to do. But the son, on the day before the appointed space of time\ncame to an end, flew to him in the shape of a bird, and entered the\ncottage in his true shape. He greeted his parents, and said: \"Father,\nto-morrow my apprenticeship, which has lasted three years, comes to an\nend. Do not forget to come and fetch me.\" And he told him where to come\nand how to recognise him.\n\n[Illustration: HE CHANGED HIMSELF INTO A HAWK]\n\n\"I am not the only apprentice at my master's: there are eleven more lads\nlike myself, who remain with him for ever, and all because their parents\ndid not know how to recognise them. And if you do not recognise me, I\nshall also stay with him for ever, and be the twelfth. To-morrow, when\nyou come for me, my master will change us into twelve white pigeons, all\nalike, feather for feather, tail for tail, and head for head. Now\nlisten: All of us will fly high in the air, but I will fly higher than\nthe rest. My master will ask, 'Have you recognised your son?' And you\nmust then point to the pigeon which is flying higher than the others.\nAfter this he will bring to you twelve ponies, all of the same colour,\nand all with their manes on the same side, and just alike. When he takes\nyou to these ponies they will all be standing still, but I shall give a\nkick with my right leg. My master will ask you, 'Have you recognised\nyour son?' And you must then point me out. After this he will bring to\nyou twelve lads, all of the same height, all alike, hair for hair and\nvoice for voice, and all dressed alike. As soon as you see them look\ncarefully; on my right cheek there will be a little fly, so that you may\nrecognise me.\"\n\nHe said good-bye to his parents, and went out of the house, changed into\na bird and flew away to his master.\n\nThe next morning his father got up, made ready and went to fetch his\nson. He arrived at the wizard's. \"Now, old man,\" said the wizard, \"I\nhave taught your son everything that is to be known, but if you don't\nrecognise him, he must stay with me for ever and ever.\" He then let fly\ninto the air twelve white pigeons, all alike, feather for feather, tail\nfor tail, and head for head; and he said: \"Old man, do you recognise\nyour son?\"\n\nThe old man looked and looked, and when one pigeon flew higher than the\nrest, he pointed to it and said: \"I think that is my son.\"\n\n\"You have recognised him, old man,\" said the wizard. He then brought\ntwelve ponies, all of the same colour, and their manes all on the same\nside. The old man walked round the ponies and looked, and the wizard\nasked: \"Now, old man, have you recognised your son?\" \"Not yet, wait a\nlittle.\" And when he said that, one of the ponies gave a kick with his\nright leg. He pointed to him immediately and said: \"I think that is my\nson.\"\n\n\"You have recognised him, old man,\" said the wizard. He then brought him\nto twelve lads, all of the same height, all alike, hair for hair, and\nvoice for voice, as if they were the children of one mother. The old man\nwalked round the lads and noticed nothing. He did so a second time, and\nagain noticed nothing. He walked round them a third time, and then he\nsaw that on the right cheek of one of the lads there was a fly, and he\nsaid: \"I think that is my son.\"\n\n\"You have recognised him, old man. Yes, and it is not you who are\ncunning and wise, but it is your son.\"\n\nThe old man took his son and went home. They walked along the road, and\nwhether it was long or whether it was short, and whether it was far or\nwhether it was near, it takes but little time to tell, but it took a\nlong time to do. On their way they met some huntsmen who were hunting a\nred beast. In front of them a fox was running as though it would escape.\n\n\"Father,\" said the son, \"I will turn myself into a hound and catch the\nfox. When the huntsmen come up to take the animal, say to them, 'O!\nhuntsmen, that is my dog; I make my living by him.' The huntsmen will\nsay, 'Sell him to us,' and they will count out to you much money. Sell\nthe dog, but do not give them the collar and the chain.\" He immediately\nchanged himself into a hound, ran after the fox and caught it. The\nhuntsmen rode up. \"Old man,\" they cried, \"why have you come here to\nspoil our hunt?\"\n\n\"O! huntsmen,\" answered the old man, \"that is my dog; I make my living\nby him.\"\n\n\"Sell him to us.\"\n\n\"Buy it.\"\n\n\"Is it dear?\"\n\n\"A hundred roubles.\"\n\nThe huntsmen did not bargain, but paid him the money and took the dog,\nand the old man took off its collar and its chain. \"Why do you take off\nthe collar and the chain?\"\n\n\"I am a traveller,\" said the old man, \"and the chain is necessary to me\nto bind up my cloth leggings.\"\n\n\"All right, take it,\" said the huntsmen, and they whipped their horses\nand rode off at a gallop. But the fox got away again; they started their\nhounds after it; the hounds ran but could not catch the fox. One of the\nhuntsmen said: \"Let us try the new hound.\" They let it loose, and what\ndid they see? The fox ran off in one direction, and the hound in\nanother, and he caught up the old man and changed into a lad just as he\nhad been before.\n\nThe old man went on further with his son. They came to a lake where\nhuntsmen were shooting geese, swans, and wild ducks. A flock of geese\nwas flying, and the son said to his father: \"Father, I will change\nmyself into a hawk, and I will pursue the geese. The huntsmen will come\nto you and begin to make a fuss. You say to them, 'That is my hawk; I\nmake my living by him.' They will bargain with you for the hawk. You\nsell the hawk, but do not give up its jesses on any account.\" He changed\nhimself into a hawk, flew higher than the flock of geese, and began\npursuing them and driving them to the earth. As soon as the huntsmen saw\nthis, they came to the old man and said: \"Old man, why are you spoiling\nour sport?\"\n\n\"O! huntsmen,\" he answered, \"the hawk is mine, and I earn my living by\nhim.\"\n\n\"Will you sell your hawk?\"\n\n\"Why should I not sell him? Buy him.\"\n\n\"And is it dear?\"\n\n\"Two hundred roubles.\"\n\nThe huntsmen paid the money, took the hawk, and the old man took off its\njesses. \"Why are you taking off the jesses?\"\n\n\"I am a traveller,\" answered the old man, \"and if something comes off my\nleggings, they serve to tie them up with.\" The huntsmen did not dispute\nthe matter, but went after their game. The flock of geese flew away.\n\"Let us loose the hawk,\" they said, and they loosed him, but what did\nthey see? The hawk flew higher than the geese, and flew right away to\nthe old man, and caught him up, touched the green ground, and changed\nhimself back into a lad as he had been before. And the father and son\nwent home and lived in clover.\n\nSunday came, and the son said to his father: \"Father, to-day I will\nchange myself into a horse. You shall sell the horse, but on no account\nsell the bridle, for if you do I shall not come home again.\" He rolled on\nthe earth and changed into a magnificent horse, and his father led him\noff to sell him. The merchants surrounded him, horse-dealers all of\nthem; one of them offered a large sum of money, another offered a still\nlarger sum of money. But the wizard, who appeared there, offered more\nthan all of them. The old man sold him his son, but did not give him the\nbridle.\n\n\"And how shall I be able to lead the horse without a bridle?\" said the\nwizard. \"Give me the bridle to lead him as far as my house, and then\ntake it back, for I do not want it.\"\n\nThen the horse-dealers fell upon the old man and said: \"That is only\nfair; if you sell the horse you must sell the bridle.\" What could he do?\nThe old man gave up the bridle. The wizard led the horse to his house,\nput it in the stables, tied it fast to the ring, and pulled his head up\nhigh so that the horse stood on his hind legs, and his fore legs did not\ntouch the ground. The wizard called his daughter and said: \"I have\nbought the cunning fellow.\" \"Where is he?\" asked his daughter. \"He is in\nthe stables.\" His daughter went to see, and she was sorry for the young\nlad. She loosened the bridle and made it longer, and the horse shook his\nhead so that at last he freed himself from the bridle, and galloped away\nfor several miles. The daughter ran to her father and said: \"Father,\nforgive me, I have done a wicked thing. The horse has escaped.\"\n\nThe wizard struck the green earth, changed himself into a grey wolf, and\npursued the horse. As soon as he got near him the horse galloped to a\nriver, struck the earth and changed himself into a minnow, and the\nwizard changed himself into a pike. The minnow scudded through the water\nand reached a pond, where beautiful maidens were washing linen and\nwringing it out. He changed himself into a golden ring and lay close by\nthe hand of the merchant's daughter. The merchant's daughter saw the\nring and put it on her finger. The wizard changed himself into a man\nonce more, and said: \"Give me your golden ring.\"\n\n\"Take it,\" said the beautiful maiden, and threw the ring on to the\nground. As soon as it struck the ground, in that moment it changed into\na seed-pearl. The wizard changed himself into a cock and ran to pick up\nthe seed-pearl. But before he had picked it up, the pearl changed into a\nhawk, and the hawk immediately flew at the cock, and killed him. After\nthat he changed once more into a fine lad, and fell in love with the\nbeautiful maiden, the daughter of the merchant, and married her. And\nthey lived happily and merrily together.\n\nThat is the end of the story.\n\n[Illustration: THE DRAGON APPEARED]\n\n\n\n\nORESTES AND THE DRAGON\n\n(A GREEK STORY)\n\n\nThere was once upon a time a King who had three sons and one daughter.\nNot far from the King's palace there was a large garden, and in this\ngarden lived a dragon. The King told his children never to go into the\ngarden lest they should be caught by the dragon, which had wings. But\none evening the youngest of the King's sons, whose name was Orestes,\nwent with his sister into the garden and began to play. No sooner had\nthey begun to play than the dragon appeared, and seizing the little\nPrincess with its tail, flew away into the air and took her to a high\nmountain which no one could climb.\n\nWhen Orestes went home and told of the misfortune, the King was very\nsad, and a black flag was hoisted on the top of the palace, and the\nwhole Court went into mourning.\n\nNow Orestes, since it had been through his fault that his sister had\nbeen lost, wished to be allowed to seek her; but his father would not\nlet him do this, for Orestes was his favourite son. But one day when his\nfather was busy, Orestes stole out of the house and walked to the foot\nof the high mountain, whither the dragon had taken his little sister. He\nwondered how he could climb it, and the task seemed difficult, indeed\nalmost impossible, since the mountain was as smooth as glass.\n\nWhile he was thus wondering he noticed two snakes which were fighting.\nOne was black, and the other was white, and the black snake was getting\nthe best of the fight and on the verge of killing the white one. Orestes\nat once killed the black snake, upon which the white snake said to him--\n\n\"You have saved my life! What can I do for you in return?\"\n\n\"I wish for nothing,\" said Orestes, \"save to be able to climb to the top\nof this mountain.\"\n\n\"Catch hold of my tail,\" said the snake, \"and I will take you to the top\nof the mountain.\"\n\nAnd the snake wriggled up the mountain, pulling the Prince after him,\nand as soon as they reached the top it disappeared.\n\nUpon the top of the mountain, Orestes found a shepherd looking after the\nsheep of the dragon, and he entered into the service of this shepherd as\na herdsman. One day when he was looking after the sheep he met his\nsister, and said to her: \"I am your brother Orestes, and I have come to\nset you free.\"\n\nHis sister was surprised to see him, and frightened, and she said: \"We\nmust be very careful and cunning, lest the dragon should find us out,\nfor it is impossible to escape from this place, nor can we save\nourselves from the dragon. His rooms are all full of princesses whom he\nhas taken captive, and who cannot climb down the mountain.\"\n\nAnd she asked her brother how he had been able to climb it. He told her\nabout the snake, and then he said--\n\n\"This evening, when the dragon comes back to his house, ask him where\nhis strength lies, and I will come to-morrow and you shall tell me.\"\n\nIn the evening the dragon came home, and the Princess asked him where\nhis strength lay, and the dragon told her that he had three golden hairs\non the top of his head, and with these hairs one could open a room in\nwhich there were three doves; and were any one to kill the first dove,\nhe would grow sick; and were any one to kill the second dove, he would\ngrow worse; and if any one were to kill the third dove, he would die.\n\nThe next day, when the dragon had gone out on his daily business, which\nwas to look for disobedient children in the country round and to catch\nthem, the Princess went to her brother and told him what the dragon had\nsaid.\n\nOrestes told her that when the dragon came back in the evening and fell\nasleep, she was to take a pair of scissors and cut off the three golden\nhairs, and open the secret room and kill the doves which were in it.\n\nIn the evening when the dragon came back and fell asleep, which he did\nat once, for he was tired, the Princess took a pair of scissors, cut off\nhis three golden hairs, opened the secret room and killed the doves;\nand immediately the dragon gave a great groan and died.\n\nAs soon as he was dead, all the doors of all the rooms in the house,\nwhich had been carefully locked, flew open, and hundreds and hundreds of\nprisoners were set free. Among these there were three princesses.\nOrestes and his sister walked with these three princesses to the edge of\nthe mountain top, and when they reached it Orestes saw his brothers, who\nwere waiting at the foot of the hill.\n\nOrestes took a rope, and first he let down his sister; then he let down\nthe eldest of the princesses and said: \"She shall be the wife of my\neldest brother.\" Afterwards he let down the second of the princesses,\nand said: \"She shall be the wife of my second brother.\" And, lastly, he\nlet down the youngest princess, and he said: \"This shall be my wife.\"\n\nBut when his brothers saw that the youngest princess was the most\nbeautiful of the three, they were angry, and they jerked the rope out\nof Orestes' hands and left him on the top of the mountain.\n\nOrestes was most sorrowful, and he went into the castle of the dragon\nand looked into all the rooms.\n\nNow in one room, which was carpeted with green grass, he found a silken\ngreyhound which was hunting a silken hare; and in another room he found\na golden beaker and a golden jug; and in another he found a golden hen\nwith golden chickens. Then he went to the stables, and there in a stall\nhe found three horses with golden wings, and one was white, and one was\nred, and one was green.\n\n\"By opening the doors of our stable,\" said the horses, \"you have done us\na great favour. What can we do for you in return?\"\n\n\"I do not wish for anything,\" said Orestes, \"save to be taken to the\nfoot of this mountain!\"\n\n\"Get on my back,\" said the green horse; and Orestes got on his back, and\nthe horse flew in a moment to the bottom of the mountain. Then each of\nthe horses gave him two golden hairs, and said: \"When you have need of\nus, burn one of these hairs and we will come.\"\n\nAfter some days had passed, Orestes went into the city where the King,\nhis father, lived, and putting an old blanket over his head he pretended\nto be a beggar, and entered into the service of a goldsmith.\n\nNow when the little Princess and her two brothers reached their father's\nhouse, with the three princesses who had been set free, the King asked\nthem what had become of Orestes, and they said that Orestes had died;\nand the eldest of the brothers wished to marry the eldest of the\nprincesses, but she refused to wed him unless he could find her the\nsilken greyhound which hunted the silken hare. It was in the house of\nthe dragon.\n\nThe King's herald proclaimed this everywhere. Then the beggar said to\nthe goldsmith that he could accomplish the quest. \"You need only give me\na jug of wine and a basketful of chestnuts, and leave me alone in my\nroom.\"\n\nThe goldsmith did this and shut the beggar up in his room, and he\nlooked through the keyhole to see what he was doing. But the beggar did\nnothing at all; he merely ate the chestnuts and drank the wine, so the\ngoldsmith went to his bedroom and went to sleep. Then the beggar took\none of the hairs which the white horse had given him and burned it, and\nimmediately the white horse appeared and said: \"What do you wish?\"\n\n\"I wish,\" said the beggar, \"that you should bring me the silken\ngreyhound and the silken hare.\"\n\nThe horse brought them immediately, and the beggar gave them to the\ngoldsmith. The goldsmith went to the palace and sold them for much money\nto the eldest prince.\n\nOn Sunday the eldest brother married the eldest princess, and everybody\nwent to a field and played quoits. And the beggar burned another golden\nhair, and immediately the green horse appeared and brought him a green\ngarment. The beggar put it on, and went into the field and played quoits\nwith the company. After he had played for a whole hour everybody had\nlost; he alone had won much money, and scattering on the grass the\nmoney he had won, he went back to the goldsmith's shop and put the\nblanket on his head once more.\n\nThe next Sunday it was arranged that his second brother should marry the\nsecond princess; she said she would not wed him unless he could bring\nher the golden beaker and the golden jug which were in the house of the\ndragon.\n\nThe King sent for all the goldsmiths in the country, and asked them to\nget him the golden beaker. And once more the beggar told his master that\nhe could get it, and that all he needed were two basketsful of chestnuts\nand two jars of wine. And being left alone in a room he ate the nuts and\ndrank the wine. Then he burned one of the hairs, and immediately the red\nhorse appeared, and he said to him: \"Bring me the golden beaker and the\ngolden jug.\"\n\nAnd the horse brought them, and the beggar went to the King, and the\nKing bought them for a large sum of money. Again they went to play\nquoits in order to celebrate the second wedding, and the beggar burned\nanother of the hairs, and immediately the red horse came to him and\nbrought him a red garment, and when he put it on he went and played\nquoits. After he had played for a long time, all had lost save himself,\nand he went away, leaving the ground strewn with gold coins.\n\nOn the following Sunday the youngest princess was to be married to a\nbrother of the King, but she did not wish to wed him, and she said that\nshe would not, unless he brought her the golden hen and the golden\nchickens.\n\nOnce more the beggar obtained these, and on Sunday, when the wedding was\nto be held, they went and played quoits, and the beggar went riding on a\nwhite horse and wearing a white garment; and as he was playing he threw\nthe quoit at his uncle who was to wed the youngest princess, and killed\nhim. And they took him to the palace, and the King said to him: \"Why\nhave you killed my brother?\"\n\nAnd the Prince told him everything that had happened, and as soon as the\nKing heard the story he gave orders that the two eldest brothers should\nbe put to death, and he gave the youngest princess to Orestes for a\nwife.\n\nAnd they were married, and they lived happily for ever afterwards.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WISE PRINCESS\n\n(A RUSSIAN STORY)\n\n\nOnce upon a time in a certain kingdom there lived a King and a Queen.\nThey had three sons, who were all young, unmarried, and so brave that no\nfairy tale could tell, no pen could write down, how brave they were. The\nyoungest was called Ivan-the-King's-Son. The King spoke to his children\nthus: \"My dear children, take each of you an arrow, draw your bow at a\nventure, and shoot in various directions. And there, where the arrow\nshall fall, go take a wife.\"\n\nThe eldest brother drew his bow at a venture, and the arrow fell on a\nnobleman's house, right opposite the women's attic. The second arrow\nfell in the yard of a merchant's house, on a flight of steps; and on the\nsteps stood a beautiful girl, the merchant's daughter. The youngest\nbrother drew his bow at a venture, and the arrow fell into a dirty\nmarsh, and a frog caught it.\n\nIvan-the-King's-Son said: \"How can I marry a frog? She is not my size.\"\n\n\"Marry her,\" said the King. \"It means that such is your fate.\"\n\nSo the sons of the King were married. The eldest married the\nnobleman's daughter; the second one, the merchant's daughter; and\nIvan-the-King's-Son married a frog. And the King called them to him and\ngave the following command:--\n\n\"Each of your wives must bake me a soft white loaf of bread for\nbreakfast to-morrow.\"\n\nIvan-the-King's-Son went to his room with a heavy heart and hung his\nhead.\n\n\"Ivan-the-King's-Son, why are you so sad?\" the frog asked. \"Has your\nfather spoken an angry or an unkind word to you?\"\n\n\"How can I not be sad? The King, my father, has ordered you to get ready\na loaf of soft white bread for his breakfast to-morrow.\"\n\n\"Do not worry, Ivan-the-King's-Son, go to bed and sleep. In the morning\nyou will be wiser than in the evening.\"\n\nShe sent him to bed, and no sooner had she done so than she threw off\nher frog's skin and turned into a most beautiful girl, for she was none\nother than the Wise Princess. She went out on to the steps and called\nout in a loud voice: \"Oh you, my nurses, get ready, get ready! Provide\nyourselves with what is necessary, and make me a white loaf such as I\nused to eat in my father's house.\"\n\nIn the morning, when Ivan-the-King's-Son got up, the frog's loaf had\nbeen ready for some time, and it was so excellent that the like of it\nhad never been seen. The loaf of bread was ornamented with various\ndevices: on the sides of it were kings' palaces, and stately towers with\ntheir gardens and their walls. The King thanked Ivan-the-King's-Son for\nthe loaf, and at the same time he gave the following order to his three\nsons:--\n\n\"Your wives shall each of them weave me a carpet by to-night.\"\n\nIvan-the-King's-Son came home with a heavy heart and hung his head.\n\n\"Croak, croak,\" said the frog, \"why are you so sad? Has your father\nspoken a cruel or an unkind word to you?\"\n\n\"How can I not be sad?\" answered Ivan-the-King's-Son. \"The King, my\nfather, has ordered a silken carpet to be woven for him by to-night.\"\n\n\"Do not worry, Ivan-the-King's-Son, lie down and sleep. In the morning\nyou will be wiser.\"\n\nShe put him to bed, and threw off her frog's skin, and turned into a\nbeautiful maiden. She went out on to the steps and called out in a loud\nvoice: \"Oh, you boisterous winds, bring hither that same carpet on which\nI used to sit in the house of my father.\"\n\nNo sooner said than done. In the morning, when Ivan-the-King's-Son\nawoke, the carpet had been ready for some time, and it was so beautiful\nthat the like of it had never been seen before. It was adorned with\ngold, silver, and cunning devices. The King thanked his son for the\ncarpet, and at the same time he issued a new command, namely, that his\nsons were to be present, each with his wife, at the grand review.\n\nIvan-the-King's-Son returned home with a heavy heart and hung his head.\n\n\"Croak, croak, Ivan-the-King's-Son,\" said the frog, \"why are you so\nsad? Have you heard from your father anything cruel or unpleasant?\"\n\n[Illustration: SHE WENT OUT ON TO THE STEP AND CALLED OUT IN A LOUD\nVOICE]\n\n\"How can I not be sad? The King, my father, has ordered that I should be\npresent at the review with you. And how can I show _you_ to the people?\"\n\n\"Do not worry, Ivan-the-King's-Son! Go by yourself, and pay your\nrespects to the King. I will follow; and as soon as you hear a noise\nlike thunder, say, 'My little frog is coming hither in a basket.'\"\n\nThe two elder brothers appeared at the review with their wives, all in\nbeautiful clothes; they stood there and laughed at Ivan-the-King's-Son,\nand said: \"Why have you come here, brother, without your wife? You might\nhave brought her in your pocket. And where did you find such a beautiful\nlady?\"\n\nSuddenly a loud noise like thunder was heard, and the whole palace\nshook. The guests were frightened to death, and jumped up from their\nplaces and did not know what to do. But Ivan-the-King's-Son said: \"Do\nnot be afraid, gentlemen, this is my little frog who has come here in a\nbasket.\"\n\nA golden coach drove up to the palace, drawn by six horses, and out of\nit came the Wise Princess, so beautiful that it is impossible to\ndescribe her. She took Ivan-the-King's-Son by the hand, and led him to\nthe oaken chairs and the spread tables. The guests began to eat and\ndrink, and to make merry. The Wise Princess, as she drank from a glass,\nlet a drop fall on to her left sleeve; and as she ate a piece of roast\nswan, she hid one of the bones in her right sleeve. The wives of the\nelder sons noticed this, and did the same. Afterwards, when the Wise\nPrincess was dancing with Ivan-the-King's-Son, she shook her left\nsleeve, and at once a lake appeared. She shook her right sleeve, and\nwhite swans swam about on the lake.\n\nThe King and his guests were astonished, and when the elder sons' wives\nbegan to dance they shook their left sleeves, but the only result of it\nwas to splash the guests. Then they shook their right sleeves, and in\nso doing a swan's bone hit the King in the face. The King was angry, and\ndrove them away in disgrace. During that time Ivan-the-King's-Son took\nthe opportunity of going home. He found the frog's skin, and threw it\ninto a big fire.\n\nThe Wise Princess arrived and asked where her frog's skin was. Then not\nfinding it, she grew sad and said: \"Oh, Ivan-the-King's-Son,\nIvan-the-King's-Son, what have you done? If you had waited a moment I\nwould have been yours for ever. But now good-bye. Seek me at the end of\nthe world, in the Kingdom of Nowhere. Wear out three pairs of iron\nboots.\"\n\nSo saying, she turned herself into a white swan, and flew away out of\nthe window.\n\nIvan-the-King's-Son wept bitterly, and prayed to God with all his might.\nHe put on iron boots, and walked on straight in front of him. He walked\nand walked, and after a time he met an old man.\n\n\"Good morrow, young man,\" said the old man; \"what are you looking for\nand where are you going to?\"\n\nIvan-the-King's-Son told him all his misfortunes.\n\n\"Ah, Ivan-the-King's-Son, why did you burn the frog's skin? You did not\nput it on, and it was not for you to take it off. The Wise Princess was\nso far more cunning and wise than her father, that he clothed her in a\nfrog's skin and bade her be a frog for three years. Here is a ball for\nyou. Wherever it rolls, you must boldly follow.\"\n\nIvan-the-King's-Son thanked the old man, and followed where the ball\nrolled. Whether it rolled far or near, for a short time or a long time,\nthe story does not say; but it stopped at a cottage. This cottage stood\non chicken's legs and wobbled about. Ivan-the-King's-Son said--\n\n\"Cottage, cottage, stand as you used to stand--still, as your mother\nplaced you, back to the wood and front to me.\"\n\nThe cottage turned round, with its back to the wood and its front to\nhim. Ivan-the-King's-Son went into the cottage, and there lay an old\nwoman, all bony, with a nose which grew to the ceiling. She said to him\nin an angry voice: \"Fie, fie, fie! Why have you come here,\nIvan-the-King's-Son?\"\n\n\"Oh, you old woman,\" he answered, \"before asking me questions you should\ngive me something to eat and to drink, and you should prepare me a hot\nsteam bath; and then you can ask me questions.\"\n\nThe old woman gave him food and drink, and a steam bath, and then the\nKing's son told her he was looking for his wife, the Wise Princess.\n\n\"My child,\" said the old woman, \"it is a pity you did not come before.\nIn the first years, after her flight, she remembered you, but now she\nhas ceased thinking of you. Go at once to my second sister; she knows\nmore than I do.\"\n\nIvan-the-King's-Son set out on his journey, and followed the ball. He\nwalked and walked, and again there stood before him a cottage with\nchickens' legs.\n\n\"Cottage, cottage, stand still, as your mother placed you, with your\nback to the wood and your front to me.\"\n\nThe cottage turned round. Ivan-the-King's-Son went into it, and there\nstood an old woman with bony legs. She saw the Prince and she said:\n\"Fie, fie! Ivan-the-King's Son, have you come here of your own accord or\nbecause you were obliged to?\"\n\nIvan-the-King's-Son answered: \"I have come here of my own accord, and\nalso because I can't help it. I am looking for the Wise Princess.\"\n\n\"I am sorry for you, Ivan-the-King's-Son. You should have come before.\nThe Wise Princess has quite forgotten you. She wants to marry another\nhusband. At this moment she is living with my eldest sister. Go thither\nquickly, but remember one thing, that as soon as you have entered the\ncottage, the Wise Princess will turn into a spindle and my sister will\nbegin to spin golden threads, and to turn her wheel. Mind that you lose\nno time in taking away the spindle from her and breaking it in two;\nthrow half of it behind you and the other half in front of you. Then the\nWise Princess will appear.\"\n\nIvan-the-King's-Son set out on his journey. He walked and walked, but\nwhether the way was long, or whether it was short, whether it was near\nor far, the story doesn't say. He wore out three pairs of iron boots,\nand at last he reached a cottage with chickens' legs.\n\n\"Cottage, cottage, stand still, as your mother placed you, with your\nfront to me, and your back to the wood.\"\n\nThe cottage turned round, the King's Son went into it, and there an old\nwoman all bony was sitting and spinning gold. She took her spindle, shut\nit up in a cupboard, and locked the door with a key. But\nIvan-the-King's-Son managed to snatch the key and to open the cupboard.\nHe took the spindle and broke it in two pieces; he threw one piece\nbehind him and one piece in front of him. At the same moment the Wise\nPrincess appeared before him.\n\n\"Ah, Ivan-the-King's-Son, what a long time you have been coming! I had\nnearly married some one else.\" Then she took him by the hand, and they\nsat down on a magic carpet, and flew back to Ivan-the-King's-Son's\nhouse.\n\nOn the fourth day the carpet stopped at the royal palace. The King met\nhis son with great joy and gave a large feast. When it was over, he\nappointed Ivan-the-King's-Son to be his heir.\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n  Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.\n  Edinburgh & London","title":"The Blue Rose Fairy Book","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":42276}