{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_53252/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_53252","id":"gutenberg_53252","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53252","summary":null,"tags":["Apprentices -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Adventure","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Children's stories","Fantasy fiction","Horses -- Juvenile fiction","Magicians -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustrations.\n      See 53252-h.htm or 53252-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/53252/pg53252-images.html)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/53252/53252-h.zip)\n\n\n      Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive. See\n      https://archive.org/details/boyapprenticedto00colu\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\n      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY APPRENTICED TO AN ENCHANTER\n\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n[Illustration]\n\n          THE MACMILLAN COMPANY\n  NEW YORK \u00b7 BOSTON \u00b7 CHICAGO \u00b7 DALLAS\n         ATLANTA \u00b7 SAN FRANCISCO\n\n        MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED\n       LONDON \u00b7 BOMBAY \u00b7 CALCUTTA\n                MELBOURNE\n\n    THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.\n                 TORONTO\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTHE BOY APPRENTICED TO AN ENCHANTER\n\nby\n\nPADRAIC COLUM\n\nIllustrated by Dugald Stuart Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York_\nThe Macmillan Company\n1920\nAll rights reserved\n\nCopyright, 1920,\nBy the Macmillan Company.\n\nSet up and electrotyped. Published November, 1920.\n\nNorwood Press\nJ. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.\nNorwood, Mass., U.S.A.\n\n\n\n\n                                  TO\n\n                              ELLA YOUNG\n\n                     IN MEMORY OF THE MANY STORIES\n                            SHE HAS TOLD ME\n\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n\n PROLOGUE                                                           PAGE\n\n THE HORSES OF KING MANUS                                             11\n\n\n PART ONE\n\n THE STORY OF EEAN THE FISHERMAN\u2019S SON                                19\n\n\n PART TWO\n\n THE STORY OF BIRD-OF-GOLD WHO WAS THE BRAMBLE GATHERER\u2019S DAUGHTER    71\n\n\n PART THREE\n\n THE TWO ENCHANTERS                                                  131\n\n\n\n\nPROLOGUE\n\nTHE HORSES OF KING MANUS\n\n\nAs for the youth who had tried to steal the white horse that the King\nowned, he was bound hand and foot and taken into the castle of the\nKing. There he was thrown down beside the trestles of the great table,\nand the hot wax from the candles that lighted the supper board dripped\ndown upon him. And it was told to him that at the morrow\u2019s sunrise he\nwould be slain with the sword.\n\nThen the King called upon one to finish the story that was being told\nwhen the neigh of the white horse was heard in the stable. The story\ncould not be finished for him, however, because the one who had been\ntelling it was now outside, guarding the iron door of the stable with a\nsword in his hand. And King Manus, sitting at the supper board, could\nnot eat nor refresh himself because there was no one at hand to finish\nthe story for him.\n\nAnd that is the way that the story of The Boy Apprenticed to an\nEnchanter used to begin.\n\nBut first I shall have to tell you about King Manus and his three\nhorses.\n\nKing Manus ruled over the Western Island, and he had a castle that was\nneither higher nor wider than any other King\u2019s castle. But he had a\nstable that was more strongly built than any other King\u2019s stable. It\nhad double walls of stone; it had oak beams; it had an iron door with\nfour locks to it. And before this door two soldiers with drawn swords\nin their hands stayed night and day.\n\nIn those days, if one went before a King and asked him for a gift the\nKing might not refuse to give what was asked of him. But King Manus was\nhard to come to by those with requests. For before the chamber where he\nsat or slept there stood a servant to take the request, and if it were\none that might not be brought to him, to make an excuse for the King.\n\nIt was all because of the King\u2019s three horses--a white horse, a red\nhorse, and a black horse. The white horse was as swift as the plunging\nwave of the sea, the red horse was as swift as fire in the heather,\nand the speed of the black horse was such that he could overtake the\nwind of March that was before him, and the wind of March that was\nbehind could not overtake him.\n\nMany had tried to get one of the King\u2019s horses by request or by\nrobbery. But those who would ask for a gift were kept away from the\nKing, while the stone walls, double thick, with the door of iron with\nfour locks to it, kept robbers outside. Besides there were the two\nsoldiers with drawn swords in their hands to prevent the horses being\ntaken out of the stable by any one except their own grooms. And so it\nwas thought very certain that King Manus would never lose his famous\nhorses.\n\nBut this very night, when the King and his lords were at supper,\nthe neigh of a horse in the stable was heard. Then it was that the\nstory-teller stopped in his story. The trampling of a horse was heard.\nStraight out King Manus ran, and his harper and his story-teller and\nhis lords ran with him. When they came to the stable they saw that the\ntwo soldiers were sitting before the iron door fast asleep, with the\nswords on the ground before them. And the locks were off the door of\niron.\n\nJust as they came there the iron door of the stable opened and the\nKing\u2019s white horse was led out. He who had the rein was a strange\nyouth dressed in a foreign dress. The youth was about to spring on the\nhorse\u2019s back when those who were with the King sprang upon him and held\nhim and held the bridle of the horse.\n\nAnd having secured the youth they went into the stable, and they found\nthe red horse and the black horse eating at their mangers. They led the\nwhite horse back and put him in his own stall. The watchers who had\nbeen before the stable door could not be wakened, so those who were\nwith the King carried them to another place, and left two others, the\nharper and the story-teller, to keep watch, with the soldiers\u2019 swords\nin their hands. As for the youth who had tried to steal the white\nhorse, he was placed as has been told you, and every one there knew\nwhat doom would befall him.\n\nIt was then that the King called upon one to finish the story that was\nbeing told him when the white horse neighed. It was then that he sat at\nthe supper board, not able to take rest nor refreshment on account of\nhis not having heard the story to its end. And it was then that one of\nthe lords said to the King, \u201cLet the youth who is lying bound beside\nthe trestles of the table tell us what it was that made him go into\nsuch danger to steal one of the horses of King Manus.\u201d\n\nThe King liked that saying, and he said, \u201cSince my story-teller abides\noutside guarding the door of the stable, I will have this youth tell us\nthe story of why he entered into such danger to steal one of my horses.\nAnd more than that. I declare that if he shows us that he was ever in\ngreater danger than he is in this night I shall give him his life. But\nif it is not so shown the story he tells will avail him nothing, and he\nshall perish by the sword at the morrow\u2019s sunrise.\u201d\n\nThen the youth was taken from where he lay by the trestles of the\ntable, and the cords that bound him were loosened. He was put in the\nstory-teller\u2019s place and fresh candles were lighted and set upon the\ntable.\n\n\u201cYour danger is great,\u201d said the King, \u201cand it will be hard for you to\nshow us that you were ever in such danger before. Begin your story.\nAnd if it is not a story of a narrow and a close escape there will be\nlittle time left for you to prepare for your death by the sword.\u201d\n\nThereupon the youth in the foreign dress looked long into the wine cup\nthat was handed him, and he drank a draught of the wine, and he saluted\nthe King and the lords who sat by the King, and he said:\n\n\u201cOnce I was in greater danger, for its mouth was close to me, and no\nhope whatever was given me of my saving my life. I will tell the story,\nand you shall judge whether my danger then was greater than is my\ndanger now.\u201d\n\nAnd thereupon the youth in the foreign dress, who had tried to steal\nthe white horse that King Manus owned, began the story which is set\ndown here in the very words in which he told it.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPART I\n\nTHE STORY OF EEAN THE FISHERMAN\u2019S SON\n\n\nI. THE COMING OF THE ENCHANTER\n\nMy father (said the youth) was a fisherman, and he lived on this\nWestern Island. It may be that he is still living here. His name was\nAnluan, and he was very poor. My own name is Eean, and the event that\nbegins my story took place when I was twice seven years of age.\n\nMy father and I had gone down to the shore of the Western Ocean. He was\nfishing in the pools of the sea, and I was putting willow rods into the\nmouths of the fish caught so that I might carry them in my hands to the\nmarket that very day and sell them there. I looked out and saw a speck\nupon the water, a speck that came nearer. I kept watching it while my\nfather dragged the pool with his net. The speck became a boat, and the\nboat came on without sails or oars. It was a shining boat, a boat of\nbrass. I called to my father and my father straightened himself up and\nwatched it. In the boat that came toward us of its own accord there was\na man standing.\n\nThe boat came into the full water between the rocks, and then it sank\ndown, this boat of brass, until its rim touched the water. It remained\nstill as if anchored. The man who was in the prow of the boat stepped\nout on the sand between my father and me.\n\nHe looked a man of high degree--like a prince or a potentate. He had\na dark face and a dark, curly beard, and he had eyes that were like\nhawks\u2019 eyes. He had on a straight coat of a blue material covered all\nover with curious figures, and in his hand he held a long polished\nstaff that had the shape of two serpents twisting together. He looked\nat me and I was frightened of him, and I turned to my father. But my\nfather was standing there, holding the fishing pole in his hands, his\nmouth open, gasping like one of the fishes upon the rocks.\n\nThe stranger looked me over again--looked me over from my feet to my\nhead, and then he said to my father, \u201cThere is no need that he should\ndo aught about these fishes. I have need of an apprentice, and it would\nbe well for you both if he should come with me.\u201d\n\nMy father then found his voice, and he said, \u201cIf my son does not sell\nthese fishes in the market to-day he cannot bring back the bag of meal\nfor our household.\u201d\n\nSaid the man from the strange boat, \u201cBring me to your house and I shall\nput down gold for every copper that your son would get in the market.\u201d\n\nMy father made a sign to me to throw the fishes back into the water.\nThis I did, but I did it fearfully. And then my father stepped out of\nthe pool of the sea and he made a sign to the stranger to follow us.\nWe walked from the seashore and up the path of the cliffs, and we went\nthrough the heather of the headlands, following the goat tracks till we\ncame to the wattled house where we lived. The man from the strange boat\nfollowed my father, and I came last of all. And when I went in and\nstood on the floor of our house my heart was thumping within me at the\nthought of what was before.\n\nAnd there was the pot boiling over the fire with a few green herbs\nin it. There was Saba, my mother, stirring the last handful of meal\namongst the green herbs. And there were my brothers, all older than I,\nsitting by the fire, waiting for the herbs and the meal to be ready.\n\nWhen my mother looked toward us she saw the man from the strange boat.\nShe thought that some crime had been committed by me or my father to\nbring a man of such high degree amongst us. She and my brothers were\ngreatly afraid, for they were poor, and those who were high were harsh\nto them. But the stranger spoke softly, saying, \u201cGood fortune has come\nto you from the sea to-day.\u201d And when they all turned toward him he\nsaid, \u201cI who am very knowledgeable will take your son with me as an\napprentice, and I shall instruct him in arts and crafts and mysteries.\u201d\n\nMy mother said, \u201cThe boy is young, sir, and we thought he would be with\nus for a time longer.\u201d But the man from the strange boat said, \u201cI\nwould not take him to instruct him in arts and crafts and mysteries if\nhe were a day older than he is now.\u201d He said no more, but he went to\nthe table and he laid down on it piece after piece of shining gold.\n\nMy father went to the table and held his hands around the gold. My\nmother looked on me who was just twice seven years old that day. I know\nshe thought that she could never bear to part with me. But then she\nlooked on her other sons, and she saw that they were men grown, and she\nthought they should have more to eat than the meal and the green herbs\nthat were in the pot. She threw her arms around me and I knew it was a\nlast clasp.\n\n\u201cHe will have to go into far places to learn the arts and crafts and\nmysteries that I would teach him,\u201d the stranger said. \u201cWill he ever\ncome back to me?\u201d cried my mother. \u201cHe will come back to you when his\ncunning baffles my cunning,\u201d was what the stranger said.\n\nMy father took the gold that was on the table and made it into a heap.\nMy mother took her arms from around my neck, and my brothers kissed\nme farewell. Then the man from the strange boat opened the door of our\nwattled house and went out, and I followed him.\n\nWe did not go back to the place where he had left his boat of brass.\nWe went to another place where there was a harbor with ships. There we\nfound a ship ready to sail for Urth.\n\nMy master sent me on board to ask the captain if he would take us on a\nvoyage beyond Urth. The captain said that if my master would guide them\npast the Magnetberg he would give him the ship to sail where he would\nafter the cargo had been landed. My master said he would do this, and\nwe went on board the ship. It was evening now, and a breeze came up,\nand the ship sailed away, bringing me from the place where I was born\nand reared and toward the strange countries that were beyond the rim\nof the sea. I asked one of the sailors what was the Magnetberg, and he\ntold me that it was a mountain of loadstone that drew the iron out of\nships that came near it and left them loosened timbers upon the water.\n\n\nII. THE INACCESSIBLE ISLAND\n\nYou have heard me so far, O King. Know now that the one to whom I was\napprenticed was an Enchanter. His name is Zabulun, and in all the world\nthere are only three Enchanters more powerful than he. The first is\nChiron the Centaur, who is half man and half horse, and who taught\nAchilles and made him the greatest of the princes who had gone against\nTroy. The second is Hermes Trismegistus, the wise Egyptian. And the\nthird is Merlin the Enchanter, whose home is in an island that is west\nof your Western Island.\n\nWhen the night came on, Zabulun took the steering gear into his hands,\nand he steered the ship by a star that he alone knew. When the morning\ncame we saw on the sea all around us the masts and the spars and the\ntimbers of ships that had come too near the Magnetberg, and that had\nlost their nails and bolts, and had become loosened timbers on the\nwaters. Those on the ship were greatly afraid, and the captain walked\nup and down, pulling at his beard. The night came on, and again my\nmaster took the steering gear into his own hands and steered the ship\nby a star that he alone knew of. And when the morning came there were\nno masts and spars of ships, and no loosened timbers afloat on the\nwaters. The captain laughed and made all on the ship rejoice that they\nhad passed the dangerous neighborhood of the Magnetberg--that mountain\nof loadstone that drew the iron out of ships as a magnet draws pins on\na table.\n\nWe came to Urth. The great cargo that was on the ship was for the King\nof Urth, and it was taken off and sent over the mountain to the King\u2019s\ncity in packs that the sailors carried on their backs. Then the captain\ngave the ship over to my master to sail it where he would.\n\nHe did not come upon the land nor did he look upon the country at all.\nBut when the last pack had been carried off the ship, he said to me:\n\n\u201cYou will have to do this, my first command to you. Go on the land.\nStay by a pool that is close to the forest. Birds will come down to\nthat pool--birds of the whiteness of swans, but smaller. Set snares\nand catch some of these birds, not less than four, and bring them to me\nuninjured.\u201d\n\nAnd I went on the land and came to the pool that was close to the\nforest. And there I saw the birds that were of the whiteness of swans,\nbut smaller. I watched them for a while so that I might know their\nways. Then I made a crib of rods and set it to catch the birds. One\nwent under the crib, and I pulled the string and caught the first\nbird. And then, hours afterward, I caught another. And waiting and\nwatching very carefully, I caught a third. The fourth bird was wary,\nand I feared I should not catch it, for night was coming down and the\nbirds were making flocks to fly away. One remained near the crib, and\nits neck was stretched toward it. But then it shook its wings, and I\nthought it was going to fly to the others. It went under the crib. Then\nI pulled the string and caught the fourth bird.\n\nI brought the birds to the ship and my master gave them grains to feed\non. At night we sailed away. My master held the steering gear while\nit was dark, but when light came he gave it to me to hold. Then he\nunloosed one of the birds. It flew in the middle distance, winging\nslowly, and remaining a long time in sight. He told me to hold the\ncourse of the ship to the flight of the bird.\n\nAt night he took the steering gear again into his hands and held the\nship on her course. In the daylight he unloosed another bird and bade\nme steer by its flight. And this was done for two more days.\n\nThe morning after the last of the white birds had been freed my master\nbade me look out for land. I saw something low upon the water. \u201cIt is\nthe Inaccessible Island,\u201d said my master, \u201cwhere I have my dwelling\nand my working place.\u201d He steered the ship to where the water flowed\nswiftly into a great cave that was like a dragon\u2019s mouth. In that cave\nthere was a place for the mooring of ships. The Enchanter moored the\nship in its place, and then he took me up the rocky landing place.\n\nThere was a flight of great steps leading from the landing place--it\nwas in a cave as I have told you--up to the light of day. There were\na thousand wide black steps in that flight. The Enchanter took into\nhis hands the black staff that was shaped as two serpents twisting\ntogether, and he took me with him up the stairway.\n\nWe came out on a level place and I saw a high castle before me. There\nwas no wall around the castle, and there was no gate to be opened. But\nwhen I came near it I found I could take no step onward. I went up, and\nI went down, and I tried to go onward, but I could not. Then Zabulun\nthe Enchanter said to me:\n\n\u201cAround this castle of mine is a wall of air. No one can see the wall,\nbut no one can pass it. And a bridge of air crosses my wall of air.\nCome now with me and I will take you over the bridge.\u201d\n\nAs the wall of air that went round the Enchanter\u2019s castle was not to\nbe seen, neither was the bridge that went across the wall of air.\nBut I saw my master mounting up and walking across as on a bridge.\nAnd although I saw nothing before me nor beneath me, I mounted upon\nsomething and walked across something. Following him I went downward\nand into the courtyard of the castle.\n\nWithin that courtyard there was a horse of brass with a giant man of\nbrass upon it, the giant man holding a great bow in his hands. My\nmaster said to me, \u201cIf one came over the bridge of air without my\nauthority, the arrow of that bow would be loosened, and he who came\nacross the bridge would be slain by this giant man of brass.\u201d We went\nwithin the castle. In the hall were benches and tables, and there were\nstatues holding torches in their hands standing by the wall. Also in\nthat hall there was the statue of a woman holding a dart in her hand.\nWhen my master came within, the statue that held the dart flung it, and\nthe dart struck a gleaming carbuncle that was in the wall. Lights came\ninto the torches that the statues held, and all the hall was lighted up.\n\nI sat with my master at a table, and the statues moved to us, bringing\nus wine and fruits. We ate and drank, and afterward a golden figure\ncame to the Enchanter, and, sitting down before him, played a game of\nchess with him.\n\nThe next day my master showed me more of the wonders of the Inaccessible\nIsland. No ships came near, for there was no way to come to that island\nexcept by following the birds that were of the whiteness of a swan and\nthat flew always in the middle distance. On this island Zabulun the\nEnchanter had lived for longer than the lifetimes of many men, studying\nmagic and all the ways of enchantment. And for three years I, Eean, the\nson of the fisherman of the Western Island, stayed with him, learning\nsuch things as were proper for one apprenticed to an Enchanter to know.\n\n\nIII. THE ENCHANTER GOES TO BABYLON\n\nIn the three years that were passed in the Inaccessible Island, nothing\nthat is worth my telling happened, O King. But at the end of the three\nyears my master said to me, \u201cWe will leave the Inaccessible Island, for\nI have a mighty business before me.\u201d And when I asked, \u201cWhere do we\ngo, O master?\u201d he answered, \u201cWe go to Babylon.\u201d\n\nAnd then, when it was the first day after the new moon, we descended\nthe black stairway that led into the cave where the waters came.\nThere we found a boat of brass that was like the boat that came to\nthe Western Island on the day when my father and I were fishing in\nthe pools of the sea. We went into that boat of brass, and it took us\nthrough the water, steering itself. We rested on lonely islands, and\nat last we came to a mainland, and there the Enchanter left the boat\nto sink beneath the water. As travelers then we went on. We came to\na town, and there my master bought for himself and me the dresses of\nmerchants. Then we came to the river that flows toward Babylon. Men go\ndown the river in round boats that are made of rods woven together.\nIn every boat a live ass is carried, and when the cargo is landed the\nboats are broken up, for they cannot go back against the current of the\nriver. And the cargo is loaded on the ass and brought into the market\nin Babylon. And whatsoever the merchants buy in Babylon is loaded on\nthe ass, and the ass is driven back over the mountains into the country\nthat they came from, these men.\n\nAnd in such boats we went down the river and came into Babylon. No\ncity in the world is as mighty or as wonderful as Babylon. It has\nthree hundred and sixty-five streets, and in every street there are\nthree hundred and sixty-five palaces, and to every palace there are\nthree hundred and sixty-five steps leading up to its door of gold and\nebony. The streets when we came into them were thronged with mighty,\nblack-bearded men. I was much in dread when I stood in those great\nstreets, and looked on the mighty men who went through them.\n\nIn the center of the city were the palace and the wide-spreading\ngardens of the King. In those gardens, as my master told me, were one\nor two of all the beautiful or terrible animals of the world. Those\ngardens I will speak of again, O King, for it was within them that I\ncame upon the danger that was greater than the danger that I am now in.\n\nBut first the Enchanter showed me that great wonder that was near the\ngardens--the Tower of Babylon. It was a red tower mounting very high\ninto the air. Outside of it there were steps that went round it and\nto the very top of it--a thousand steps. And on the top of the tower,\nresting against the Spear of Nimrod, was the Magic Mirror of Babylon.\nZabulun the Enchanter made me look to the top, and I was made fearful\nby looking so high.\n\nOh, that I might tell you, King Manus, of the wonders of the Tower of\nBabylon! In the shadow of it there slept two mighty ones--the two Genii\nwho guarded Babylon, Harut and Marut they were named. Giant beings\nthey were. As they slept there the beard of each was spread across his\nmighty chest, and it was a beard so broad that no horse of the mighty\nhorses that the King owned could leap across it. Very great but very\nold were Harut and Marut, the Genii who guarded Babylon.\n\nI was made fearful by looking to the top of the tower. And then I was\nmade still more fearful by the words that Zabulun said to me. \u201cWe have\ncome here,\u201d he said, \u201cto steal the Magic Mirror of the Babylonians.\n\n\u201cIt is there on the top of the tower,\u201d said the Enchanter, \u201cresting\nagainst the Spear of Nimrod. One looking into that mirror sees all the\nKings of the world. The one who threatens Babylon is shown with a spear\nraised in his hand. And if a King should bring an army against Babylon,\nthe number of its men and the ways by which it comes would be shown in\nthe mirror. The Babylonians, by means of this Magic Mirror of theirs,\nare always ready for their enemies, and because of this no King in all\nthe world will venture to make war on Babylon.\n\n\u201cBut we shall steal the mirror and make the Tower of Babylon fall. Know\nthat I, Zabulun, was once a Prince of Babylon. They dishonored me, the\nmen of Babylon, and drove me out of their city. And for that I shall\nmake an end of their pride and an end of their security.\n\n\u201cFear not. It will not be hard to steal the mirror and throw down\nthe tower. Know that the King of the city is a foolish King, and\nthat he cares only for his gardens and for the beautiful and terrible\nbeasts that he can bring into them. And as for the Genii who guard\nBabylon--behold them! They are mighty beings, truly, Harut and Marut!\nImmeasurably old are they, and they pass their days in sleep beside\nthe tower that they guard. I say to you that it will not be hard to\noverthrow the tower, and take away from the Babylonians the Magic\nMirror that is their security.\u201d\n\nAs Zabulun spoke the terrible beasts in the King\u2019s gardens roared\nmightily, and Harut and Marut, the mighty beings who slept in the\nshadow of the Tower of Babylon, turned in their sleeping. The flocks\nof birds that had built nests in their beards (the oldest owl and the\nlittlest humming bird were amongst them) flew up and rested on the\nsteps of the tower.\n\nThe black-bearded men of Babylon passed in their throngs, while he who\nwas once a prince in their city, and who was now Zabulun the Enchanter,\nstood there with his staff in his hands and smiling to himself. And I,\nEean, The Boy Apprenticed to the Enchanter, felt as if I were falling,\nfalling down from the top of the tower.\n\n\nIV. THE PALACE OF THE KING OF BABYLON\n\nAnd now at the supper board of King Manus those who were eating, or\ndrinking, or whispering to each other as the youth began his story,\nbecame silent and eager when he spoke of Babylon and the Tower of\nBabylon. The King himself was fain to hear about that city that was the\ngreatest in the world, and about the King who was the mightiest of all\nKings, and he commanded the attendants to cease going here and there.\nSo the servers and chamberlains and stewards, with the dishes, and\nnapkins, and rods of office in their hands, stood still behind those\nwho were seated at the table. The lords leaned forward with their eyes\nupon the youth who sat in the story-teller\u2019s place, and the King made a\nsign for him to tell on. But the youth Eean was speechless for a while.\nSuch was the memory of the high Tower of Babylon upon him that had he\nbeen standing he would have fallen down. His head sank on the arm rest\nof the chair, and those near him who touched his hand felt it chilled.\nThen King Manus signed for a chamberlain to go to him, and he went and\nwiped Eean\u2019s brow with a napkin, and then brought him a goblet of the\nrichest wine. He raised up his head and drank, and looked down the\ntable, and saw the high candles that burned brightly, and saw the face\nof the King and the faces of the lords who sat with the King. But for a\nwhile his look was the look of a man whose spirit is in another place.\nHe heard the words that were spoken around him--words that were about\nthe King of Babylon, and the King of Babylon\u2019s palace. The youth caught\nat these words, and went on to speak of what befell him.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe walls of the King\u2019s palace (said Eean, The Boy Apprenticed to an\nEnchanter) make seven circles, one wall rising higher than the other,\nand each wall having a different color. The first wall is white, the\nsecond wall is black, and the third wall is scarlet; the fourth wall is\nblue, the fifth wall is orange, the sixth wall is plated with silver,\nand the seventh wall is plated with gold. I was filled with wonder when\nI looked on the walls of the King\u2019s palace.\n\nThe Enchanter that day had put on the dress of a merchant, but under\nit he had left his own garb--the straight dress that had the curious\nfigures upon it. He took into his hand the staff that was made of two\nserpents twisting together, and he told me that the time had come to go\nto the palace and speak with the King.\n\nAt an early hour, before it was yet market time, we went through the\nstreets of the city. The soldiers let us pass through the Gate of\nBrass along a way that has on each side great lions carved in stone.\nWe came to the palace, and my master spoke to the doorkeepers and they\npermitted us to enter. We went through the outer courts where there\nwere soldiers who carried naked swords in their hands. And because\nmy master gave himself out to be a merchant from far-off parts, and\nbecause the King greatly desired to speak with those who came from\nfar-off parts, we were brought into the presence of the King of\nBabylon.\n\nHe looked, O King Manus, like a King that was of a long line of Kings.\nHis black beard was powdered with gold, and spices burned before him.\nBut his face was white, and it was like to the face of a man in a\ndream. Only one person stood near him--a dwarf from the Country of the\nDwarfs. He had on his head a crown of scarlet feathers.\n\nWhen we came before him, and after we had bowed, the King looked upon\nus. He spoke to my master, and said, \u201cWhat have you to sell, merchant?\u201d\n\nAnd my master, before he spoke, let fall his merchant\u2019s robe, and he\nshowed himself in the straight garb that was covered with curious\nfigures--the garb of a Magus it was.\n\n\u201cWhat I have to sell,\u201d he said, \u201cis the meaning of dreams, O King.\u201d\n\nAnd now, O King Manus, I have to tell of a cheat worked upon a King,\nand of a cheat worked by my master, Zabulun the Enchanter, upon the\nKing of Babylon. Pretending to speak of the meaning of dreams he led\nthe King to destruction, hoping thereby to encompass the destruction\nof Babylon.\n\nThe King turned to his ancient dwarf and he said, \u201cRemind me of my\ndreams.\u201d And then the ancient dwarf said to the King, \u201cOf the three\ndreams that seemed remarkable to you, O King, the first was the Dream\nof the Three Dishes.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is even so,\u201d said the King. \u201cI dreamed that there were three dishes\nset before me, no more than three dishes. And then I dreamed that\nafterward these three dishes were hidden from me and were not to be\nfound. There was no one to tell me the signification of this dream.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe signification of this dream,\u201d said Zabulun the Enchanter\ncunningly, \u201cis easy to discover. In the lore of the Chaldeans a dish\nsignifies a treasure. You have dreamed of a threefold treasure that is\nhidden away.\u201d\n\nBut the dwarf who was beside the King spoke up and said, \u201cWhy does a\ndish signify a treasure?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is something I may not reveal,\u201d said my master, Zabulun the\nEnchanter, and he turned to the dwarf the staff that was formed of two\nserpents twisting together. The end of the staff lifted itself as\nthough the serpents were rising up. The dwarf covered his eyes, and\ncried out, \u201cO Magus!\u201d\n\n\u201cRemind me of the second dream that was considered remarkable,\u201d said\nthe King. And the dwarf said, \u201cThe second dream was the Dream of the\nLaden Ass.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is even so,\u201d said the King. \u201cI dreamed that I looked down the\nWay of the Lions, and there came along the way a laden ass. Of that\ndream also those skilled in the signification of dreams could tell me\nnothing.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd yet the dream is plain,\u201d said the Enchanter, looking full into the\neyes of the King. \u201cA laden ass signifies a treasure found--your dream\nis of a treasure being brought into your palace.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is so,\u201d said the ancient dwarf with the crown of scarlet feathers\nupon his head. \u201cIn dreams an ass is always laden with treasure.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what was my third dream?\u201d said the King.\n\n\u201cYour third dream,\u201d said the ancient dwarf, \u201cwas the Dream of the\nArrows.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is even so,\u201d said the King. \u201cI dreamed of arrows that were shot\nupward to a great height.\u201d\n\nAnd then the King was silent, and he and the dwarf looked long upon\nZabulun the Enchanter. But Zabulun took a step nearer to them, and he\nsaid:\n\n\u201cIn the lore of the Chaldeans, arrows shot upward signify a very high\ntower. I can tell you now the significance of your three dreams, O\nKing. They are of a treasure that is to come into your possession.\nThe treasure is hidden. It is hidden beneath a tower. The height to\nwhich the arrows were shot shows that the treasure is hidden under the\nhighest of towers--under the Tower of Babylon.\u201d\n\nAt the mention of the Tower of Babylon, O King of the Western Island, a\ngreat fear came over me, for I knew that it was now that Zabulun\u2019s plan\nfor the taking of the Magic Mirror was being put into practice. And it\nseemed to me that fear came over the ancient dwarf too, for he fell\ndown upon his face. But rage grew in the King, and his black brows drew\ntogether in a frown.\n\n\u201cAre you one who would have the King make search for treasure beneath\nthe Tower of Babylon?\u201d he cried out.\n\n\u201cNo search need be made there,\u201d said Zabulun the Enchanter. \u201cAnd yet\nif the King should dream of treasure again it is proper that he should\nsacrifice a black cock upon the place where the treasure has been shown\nto be hidden. If that be done the dream will be banished and will come\nto the King no more. I speak as a Magus. But now I have shown you the\nmeaning of the three dreams, and there is no more to be shown.\u201d And\nsaying this the Enchanter put the garb of a merchant over the robe of\nthe Magus. A cup was handed to him and a cup was handed to me also.\nThis was to signify to us that our speech with the King was at an end.\nThere was wine in our cups, but bitterness had been mixed with the\nwine, to signify that what had been told the King was not pleasing to\nhim.\n\nWe went from the presence of the King, and when we were far outside\nthe palace my master said to me:\n\n\u201cIt will come about that the King will search for the treasure that I\nhave put into his dreams. Moreover, he will speak to others of this\ntreasure, and they, too, will search for it. It will come about that\nthese many searchers, digging for the treasure, will break upon the\nfoundations of the Tower of Babylon. Thereupon I will take the Magic\nMirror and make myself the master of the Babylonians.\u201d\n\nThis he said to me as I went with him from the King\u2019s palace along the\nWay of the Lions. I was affrighted, and it seemed to me that the lions\nthat were in stone looked ragefully down on us as we passed.\n\n\nV. THE KING OF BABYLON\n\nWe lived for a whole moon in Babylon, my master Zabulun and I, before\nthe danger that was greater than the danger that is upon me now showed\nitself to me. Just before the hour of the market we would go through\nthe streets of the city and toward the great market place. Throngs of\npeople would be there, gathered together for buying or selling, or for\ntalk of the happenings of the day before. My master would take me to a\nshady place, and we would sit there, resting or refreshing ourselves\nwith draughts of the wine of the palm.\n\nAnd Zabulun would tell me that the King we had spoken with was the most\nfoolish King who had ever ruled over Babylon. \u201cGreat and terrible he\nseems when he sits upon his throne in his palace,\u201d Zabulun would say,\n\u201cbut for all that he is foolish, and he delights more to come into\nthe market and hear the talk of strangers than to sit in his council\nchamber.\u201d\n\nAgain and again Zabulun would speak of the King, and he would say:\n\u201cOften he comes here, and he sits in the market place and talks with\nall comers, which is against the customs of the Kings of Babylon. We\nwill see him come here, and we will watch him do what is reported of\nhim.\u201d\n\nSeated in the market in a shady place I would watch the throngs that\nmoved about there. I saw the merchants who had come down the river in\nsuch round boats as we had voyaged in. They brought casks of the wine\nof the palm to the market. And I saw those who had come from Arabia\nwith spices, and my master would tell me how these spices had been\ngathered. Some had frankincense that grows on trees that are guarded\nby winged serpents. Only with smoke of burning styrax could they drive\nthe serpents from the trees. And others had cassia that is found in a\nshallow lake guarded by fierce, bat-like creatures. To gather it men\nhave to cover themselves all over with the hides of cattle, leaving\nopenings for their eyes only. And there are the merchants who have\nthe ladanum that settles on low bushes, and that sticks to the beards\nof he-goats that go amongst the bushes. Others have the cinnamon that\nis used by birds to build their nests against high cliffs. Men cannot\nclimb these cliffs to gather the sticks of cinnamon, but they make the\nbirds bring into their nests such weights as break the nests down and\nso strew on the ground the sticks of cinnamon. They slaughter cattle\nunder the cliffs, and the birds fly into their nests with great pieces\nof the meat, and the weight of these pieces of meat breaks down the\nnests. And so men gather cinnamon in Arabia.\n\nAnd one day my master showed me the King of Babylon as he came into the\nmarket place.\n\nHe wore a black cloak that had only one stripe of purple in it, and a\nboy went beside him holding an Indian hound in a leash. Having come\ninto the market the King seated himself in a special place, and he\ndrank wine and ate honey cakes, and talked with the strangers that were\nbrought before him, and let himself be gaped at by throngs of people.\nAnd then, from one to another of those who were around him, my master\nand I heard it said, \u201cThe King, surely, has had remarkable dreams.\u201d\n\nIn three days my master was sent for by the King, and he came into\nthe palace again bringing me with him, and he was saluted as a Magus.\nThe King\u2019s dreams were told to him. The first dream was of a drinking\ncup that blazed with fire, and the second dream was of a ram-headed\nman with golden horns, and the third dream was of a soldier in a\nblack cloak. All those dreams, according to those in the palace who\nconsidered dreams, were of a treasure. Zabulun, my master, agreed that\nassuredly they were of a treasure, knowing that whatever the King\ndreamed of after he had put the thought of a treasure into the minds of\nthose in the palace would be thought to be of that and of nothing else.\n\nThen speaking as a Magus he told them that the blazing fire of the\ndrinking cup, the golden horns on the ram-headed man, and the blackness\nof the soldier\u2019s cloak all signified the Tower of Babylon. The King\nand the ancient dwarf became very silent when my master spoke of the\ntower. It was then that the Enchanter took the staff that was made of\ntwo serpents twisting together into his right hand, and declared that\nin order to make the dream of the tower cease to trouble him, the King\nshould sacrifice a black cock in the lowest place of the tower.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWine was brought us then, and my master and I drank, and this time no\nbitterness had been put into the wine. We were given permission to\ngo, and we went from the palace.\n\nAs for the King and the ancient dwarf who was with him, they took\nhorses and they rode to the Tower of Babylon, the dwarf bringing with\nhim a black cock for the sacrifice. Harut and Marut, the sleeping\nguardians of Babylon, they looked on, but they went past them\nand within the tower. In the lowest place in the tower they made\npreparations for the sacrifice of the black cock.\n\nZabulun and I sat in the market place and waited, for my master said to\nme, \u201cThat which happens to the King, no matter how great it may be, he\nwill speak of it in the market. We shall wait here and see if the King\nwill come here on his way back from the tower.\u201d\n\nSo in the market place we sat, my master and I. And in the tower the\nKing and the ancient dwarf took the black cock and fastened him by a\nleg to a ring that was in a very light board in the floor. The cock,\nfluttering upward, lifted the board. Looking down they saw a chamber\nbeneath. They went down into that chamber, the King and the ancient\ndwarf, and behold! they found in it a treasure of silver pieces, each\npiece marked with the mark of a King of the old times in Babylon.\n\nSoon Zabulun, seated in the shade in the market place, showed me the\nKing and the ancient dwarf as they came amongst the throng. The King\nseated himself in his special place and drank wine and ate cakes of\nhoney. My master, watching him from afar, knew that he talked about\nthe treasure he had found. For the dwarf who went with him opened a\nleather bag and showed certain pieces that made those around them gape\nin wonder.\n\nNot long were the King and the ancient dwarf there before the Hour\nof the Market came to its close. Those in the market left and went\nto their homes. My master and I likewise departed. But those who had\nlistened to the King brought with them the memory of the wonder they\nhad been told about. A treasure was hidden beneath the tower--that was\nthe thought that now possessed every one. And when dusk had fallen\nupon the city companies of men made their way toward the tower,\ncarrying with them spades and mattocks. The next day, when the King\ncame with the ancient dwarf, he found that all around the tower, and\nall around the place where Harut and Marut slept, trenches and holes\nhad been dug.\n\nHe himself, with a company of men, went down into the lower chamber\nwhere the treasure of silver pieces had been found, and there they\nbegan to delve. The King found no treasure that day.\n\nWhen he came out of the lower chamber he found many around the tower\ndigging and delving. He forbade them to do this, and he set guards\naround the tower. But in the night those who were set to guard the\ntower began to delve.\n\nThe digging and delving within and around the tower went on in secret\nas well as openly. My master took me to show me what was being done.\n\u201cFoolish is the King, and foolish are the people of Babylon,\u201d he said.\n\u201cWhat I have told you will befall them. Very soon they will strike at\nthe foundations of the tower, and the tower will stand no more. Then\nwill I take to myself the Magic Mirror, and make myself the master of\nthe Babylonians.\u201d\n\n\nVI. THE GENII WHO GUARDED BABYLON\n\nO King of the Western Island (said Eean, The Boy Apprenticed to an\nEnchanter), I was there in Babylon for the whole of a moon before the\ndanger that was greater than my present danger overtook me. Often\nZabulun, my master, went to the palace of the King, bringing me with\nhim. And the King would now receive us in his cool chamber, and he\nwould permit my master to seat himself on a purple cushion in his\npresence. The King would ask him about the ways of governing a kingdom,\nor he would tell him of his wonderful gardens, and of the strange and\nterrible beasts he had there. Or else he would talk about a mighty\ntreasure that was to be found, and of the beasts he would buy for his\ngardens when that treasure came into his hands. Zabulun would tell\nthe King of beasts he had seen or heard of--of the aurochs with its\nmighty horns, of the unicorn that was so white and so swift, of the\nsatyr that is so marvelous that no one knew whether it was a wonderful\nbeast or a wild man. And often, as they sat there talking, the King\nwould have his servants stir up the beasts in his gardens so that their\nroarings might be heard by those in the palace.\n\nOver the King and the King\u2019s ancient dwarf there had come a change,\nI thought. For the dwarf with the crown of crimson feathers on his\nhead would stand silent before the throne, silent even though the King\nspoke to him, silent as if listening to the sound that the spades and\nmattocks made on the ground around the Tower of Babylon. And the King\nno longer had the look of a ruler on his face, but had the look of a\nwatcher and a waiter. There had come a change over my master also.\nZabulun the Enchanter had eyes like yellow lamps, and they had become\nwider and more gleaming as the digging and delving around the Tower of\nBabylon went on. I could see his eyes widening in the dark when I could\nhardly see his face. And I began to have a great fear of Zabulun, even\nthough he was kind to me, and had taught me many things.\n\nAnd now I come to the day when that danger beset me that was greater\nthan my present danger. That morning I had walked in the King\u2019s gardens\nwith Zabulun, my master. I saw the great palm trees that grew there.\nSo high and so shapely they grew that I was made to think again of the\nTower of Babylon, and I was shaken by my thought. I looked along the\ngreat avenue of palms, and I saw down to the lake where the King\u2019s blue\nherons flew. And from the lake coming toward us I saw a young girl. She\nhad laid the long blue feathers of the heron across her breast, and I\nsaw her white forehead and her white knees, for her dress was the dress\nof a woman of the mountains. But she, seeing Zabulun and I, sprang as a\nyoung deer springs, and went amongst the palm trees. I kept thinking of\nthat girl, and how free she was, and how no terror of a falling tower\nbeset her as she went by the lake where the King\u2019s blue herons flew or\nrested.\n\nAgain Zabulun, my master, sat in the King\u2019s presence, and the ancient\ndwarf and I attended on them. The dwarf\u2019s head hung down where he\nstood, and he muttered. The King\u2019s voice was low when he spoke, but\nZabulun spoke loudly. Also his yellow eyes shone as he twisted around\nhis finger a purple strip that had been torn off the King\u2019s robe.\n\nAnd suddenly there came the mighty roaring of beasts in the King\u2019s\ngardens. The dwarf looked at the King, and the King spoke to the\ndwarf, and there was astonishment on both their countenances, for no\ncommand had been given to have the beasts stirred up. The King rose\nfrom where he sat and went to the doorway. I, too, saw what he saw. The\ndoorkeepers, and even the soldiers who had naked swords in their hands,\nwere fleeing as before some terror. The King shouted his commands, but\nno one heeded them. I looked upon the King, and the King\u2019s wrath was\nterrible to behold.\n\nAnd then I saw the King himself draw back in fear. What was it that\napproached? I, too, looked, and there, O King Manus, as I declare\nto you, I saw Harut and Marut, the giant guardians of Babylon, come\nthrough the outer courts and toward the chamber where the King stood.\n\nThey were naked but for their great beards and their flowing hair. They\ncame with great strides, but their heads and their hands were swaying\nabout like the heads and hands of men suddenly waked out of a deep\nslumber. The ancient dwarf saw them approach, and he screamed out and\nfled.\n\nThe King went out of the chamber and into the hall where the great\npillars were. I called to my master, and he arose from the cushions\nwhere he sat, and he looked upon the two who came nearer. Along the\nline of the pillars Harut and Marut came, but Zabulun the Enchanter\nlooked upon them without fear.\n\nThe King fell upon his knees as they came near him. My master\u2019s face\ndid not become fearful, but he, too, went down on his knees as if\npowerful and unseen hands had forced him down. His eyes did not lose\ntheir look of scorn, but he knelt even as the King knelt. The King and\nthe Enchanter were both Princes of Babylon, and when Harut and Marut\nshowed themselves in their might, there was that within them that\nforced them to sink down on their knees.\n\nAnd nearer and nearer Harut and Marut came, their heads swaying about\nand their arms hanging down. Nearer and nearer they drew. They touched\nthe head of the King, and the King lay prone on the ground as though\nthe life had left him. They came to where Zabulun the Enchanter knelt.\nBut not on Zabulun\u2019s head did they lay their hands. They took him by\nthe arms and they held him. Turning around they dragged him along the\nline of the pillars. I saw him being drawn across the outer court and\nthrough one of the great doorways of the King\u2019s palace.\n\nAnd then it seemed that I was the only one left in the palace of the\nKings of Babylon. The King did not stir where he lay prone, and the\ndwarf did not return, and the doorkeepers did not show themselves any\nmore. I ran from the chamber, and out through one of the great doors,\nand into a place where branches of trees seemed to shield me from the\nterror that had fallen upon the palace. And I did not know then that I\nwas running from terror clear into the mouth of danger.\n\nFor dire things had happened outside as well as within the palace of\nthe King. The beasts that were in the gardens had broken out of their\npits and their cages. I saw the beasts and I felt them all around me.\nI saw the hippopotami as they lay with their backs against the crimson\nwall of the palace. I saw the zebras stamp between the yellow wall and\nthe blue wall, and ostriches run between the black and the white walls.\nAnd when I looked back from where I was in the gardens I saw monkeys\nclimb on the golden and silver walls, frightened by the lions that went\nroaring through the courts of the palace. I ran on and on, down the\ngreat avenue of palms and toward the lake where the King\u2019s blue herons\nflew or rested.\n\nI ran on. But I had gone aside from the avenue of the palms, seeing a\ngreat buffalo that stood in my way. Something caught at my feet as I\nran on the clear ground, and being pitched I fell into a deep pit. I\nlay there, and I looked to the sky, and I saw that the pit narrowed to\nthe top, and for that reason was hard to climb out of. It was higher\nagain by my own height, as I saw when I stood upward thinking of a way\nthat might get me out.\n\nBut then there came a sound that made me look downward, a hissing\nsound. And when I looked down I saw into what place I had fallen--into\nthe Pit of the Serpent. In the shadow of the pit there was a dreadful\nsnake. It was still in its coils, but its head was raised, and it was\nswaying toward me.\n\nThen, O King of the Western Island, I was in a danger greater than I am\nin now. This snake was mighty enough to crush a man, and from that pit\nthere was no escape without help, and at that moment there was no help.\nThe snake raised itself higher, and its eyes fastened my eyes. Judge,\nthen, of my danger, and whether it was not greater than the danger I am\nin now as I sit here with the gleam of the slaying sword before my eyes.\n\nAnd then I heard a whisper that seemed to come to me from the sky. I\ndrew my eyes from the snake\u2019s eyes and I looked to the top of the pit.\nOne was bending from the opening--a girl, and she had in her hands a\nlittle drum. She began to beat on the drum, and the snake\u2019s head that\nwas swaying toward me began to sway sideways. The girl beat again on\nthe drum, and the snake\u2019s head swayed and swayed and went down upon its\ncoils. At last the dreadful head was at rest, and the eyes of the snake\nno longer fastened themselves upon my eyes.\n\nThe girl who stood above the pit put down a board for me to climb up\nby. I climbed, and I stood outside the pit, and I looked upon the girl,\nand I saw the blue heron\u2019s feathers laid across her breast. Then I\nsank down on the ground, and for a while I knew no more of the world\u2019s\nhappenings.\n\n\nVII. AGAIN THE HORSES OF KING MANUS\n\nIt was as if the eyes of the snake were still upon him. Eean stopped\nin his story, and his eyes were wide as if they looked upon a terrible\nthing. One of the servers brought him a cup of wine and placed it in\nhis hands, but although he kept his fingers around it, he did not raise\nit to his lips.\n\nNor did he appear to hear what was being said around the King\u2019s supper\ntable: \u201cA great danger the boy was in, truly.\u201d \u201cThe danger he is in now\nis not as great as the danger he has told us of.\u201d \u201cWe must hear the end\nof this story.\u201d \u201cIt seems that he is too fearful to tell us any more.\u201d\nThis last speech came to the ears of King Manus. \u201cBe not so fearful,\nboy,\u201d said the King. \u201cYou have been in a greater danger than ever I\nheard a man speak of, and by my sword, you are in less danger now than\nyou were then. Drink the wine that is in it and keep the cup you have\nfor a remembrance. I would have you at your ease, too, for we will sit\nhere and listen to the rest of your story.\u201d\n\nWhen the King said this the lords who were sitting around the supper\nboard applauded, and then the stewards signed to the attendants to\nbring more lights in. Fresh candles were put upon the board, and fresh\ntorches were put into the sconces, and fresh logs were put upon the\nhearth. When all this was done the King and his lords turned their\nfaces to Eean, for they were ready to listen to the rest of the story.\nBut the boy had not seated himself in the story-teller\u2019s chair: still\nhe was standing with the wine cup between his hands, and still his eyes\nwere widened as if a terrible thing was before him.\n\nIt was then, as they were waiting for him to begin, that the neigh of\na horse was heard again. It was a very shrill neigh, and every one in\nthe supper hall was startled by it. Out they rushed, King and lords,\nstewards, servers, and attendants, and they neither stopped nor stayed\nuntil they came before the King\u2019s great stable. Then they could hardly\nbelieve what their eyes looked upon: the iron door of the stable was\nopen wide; the watchers were there, but their heads were bent in sleep\nand their swords were upon the ground. Through the open door of the\nstable came the whinnyings and the plungings and the tramplings of a\nhorse. Quickly they went into the stable. There, by the light of the\ntorches that the attendants held, they saw the white horse and the red\nhorse still in their stalls, but the black horse they saw rearing above\na figure that was prone upon the ground.\n\nThe blaze of their torches made the black horse swerve so that his\nhoofs did not come down upon the figure that was upon the stable floor.\nThe horse was taken hold of and put back into his stall. Then the\nattendants raised up the one who was upon the ground. \u201cAnother one come\nto steal my horses,\u201d cried King Manus. \u201cWell, this one shall pay the\npenalty that the other has been delivered from.\u201d\n\nThey took up the one who was on the floor of the stable. They locked\nthe stable door again and they put a double watch before it. They\nbrought the one whom they had taken into the supper hall; a lad,\nyounger even than Eean, this second robber seemed.\n\nEean was standing by the story-teller\u2019s seat as they came into the\nsupper hall. Looking upon the one they brought in he cried out in\nthe voice of the heart-broken, \u201cO Bird-of-Gold, why didst thou peril\nthyself by staying here? Too faithful to me thou hast been!\u201d Hearing\nthis speech, all looked on the one who was called Bird-of-Gold: it was\nthen that they saw they had taken, not a youth as they had supposed,\nbut a young girl whose dress was a youth\u2019s dress.\n\nIn the light of the torches and candles they looked at her wonderingly.\nShe had knitted brows and heavy eyelids that gave to her face the look\nof one who ponders deeply. And there was such fire behind the depths of\nher eyes that it seemed as if her thought was always burning. But her\nlips were colorless and her cheeks were thin and sunken; her hair and\nher eyes and her eyebrows were dead black. And when they went to bind\nher as they had bound Eean they saw that her hands were finely shaped\nand yet strong and hard.\n\n\u201cWho is she?\u201d said King Manus.\n\n\u201cI have told you of her,\u201d said Eean. \u201cThis is she who found me in the\nPit of the Serpent and who drew me away from the venom of the snake.\u201d\n\nThere was silence for a while, and then the King said, \u201cThe chance\nthat was given you shall be given her also. If she can show us that she\nwas in a danger greater than the danger she is in now her life shall\nnot be taken. If she cannot show that she shall be slain by the sword\non to-morrow\u2019s sunrise.\u201d\n\nAt that some of the trouble that was on Eean\u2019s face seemed to leave\nit. He cried out, \u201cO Bird-of-Gold, tell the King the story of your\nadventures from the beginning. Bethink thee, Bird-of-Gold, of the\nterrible things you have gone through and speak to the King and the\nlords of them. This King is very generous, and you may win our lives\nfrom him.\u201d\n\nThe girl who was called Bird-of-Gold turned to the King her face that\nseemed to him to be like the face of a slave and a victorious warrior.\nHer hands were bound before her and her black hair fell over her\nbreast. Like one who was ever ready in deed and word, as soon as King\nManus made a gesture, she began:\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPART II\n\nTHE STORY OF BIRD-OF-GOLD WHO WAS THE BRAMBLE GATHERER\u2019S DAUGHTER\n\n\nI. HOW THE BRAMBLE GATHERER\u2019S DAUGHTER WENT TOWARD HER FORTUNE\n\nI am called Bird-of-Gold (said the girl, beginning her story), but that\nname did not belong to me until I was a girl grown. Before that I had\nno name. In the city where I was born and where I lived I was known as\n\u201cThe bramble gatherer\u2019s child.\u201d\n\nMy father was the poorest of all the men of that town. He gathered\nbrambles and thorns in the wilderness and brought them in a bundle to\nthe hut where we lived. Then, while he was gathering another bundle\non another day, I would go through the town selling the brambles and\nthorns for stuff for the people\u2019s fires. My mother I never knew. I grew\nup with my father, and we two had even less than the sparrows. I had\nno playmate nor no friend, and what I got for the thorns and brambles I\nsold brought us but little to eat.\n\nOne day as I passed along the street of the city it came into my mind\nthat I was grown to be a girl. The thought that I should go from the\ncity grew in me from that time. My father would miss me, but he would\nflourish the better if there was one, and not two, to eat the scanty\nmeal that the price of the brambles and thorns gained for us.\n\nI got for myself the cap and jacket of a boy. Then one morning when my\nfather had gone from the hut and had turned his face to the wilderness\nand his back to the city, I went out of the door and turned to the\nwilderness also. I took a direction that would bring me far from where\nmy father had gone. I had dressed myself as a boy, and my thought was\nthat I would come upon a merchant who would let me do service for him,\nand who, perhaps, would take me on a voyage. And I thought that I might\nwin some fortune for myself, and that then I could return and take my\nfather out of toil and hardship.\n\nI came to the wilderness and I went through it. When the sun was\nhalfway in the heavens I came to where there was a road. There was a\npillar before me and that pillar had writing upon it. I read what was\nwritten there. The words were: _They who take the road to the right\nwill come to their fortune at last, and they who take the road to the\nleft will be ever as they have been._ When I read that writing I took\nthe road that was to my right.\n\nI went along that road thinking every minute that I should come upon\nsomething that would bring me to my fortune. The light faded as I went\nalong, and soon I had to look about for some tree or cave that would\ngive me a shelter for the night. At last I saw a hut and I went toward\nit. When I came before the broken door I knew the place I had been\nbrought to. It was my father\u2019s hut--the hut I had left that morning.\nAnd as I stood before it I saw my father coming from the other side\nwith the bundle of brambles and thorns upon his back. Then I said to\nmyself, \u201cHow lying was the writing that said that they who took the\nroad to their right would come at last to their fortune.\u201d\n\nI went into the hut with my father. In the darkness that was there he\ndid not see that I had on the cap and jacket of a boy. He laid the\nbundle of brambles and thorns down on the floor while I went to prepare\nthe meal for both of us. And while my father was lighting a fire I took\noff the cap and jacket of a boy and I put on my girl\u2019s dress.\n\nMy father, when he had eaten his meal, said to me, \u201cTo-day when I had\ngathered the brambles and had made them into a bundle I lay with my\nhead on the bundle and went to sleep. I awakened feeling some warmth\nnear where my head lay. I looked to see if perchance fire had come upon\nthe brambles and thorns, and, lo! what I saw laid on the bundle was the\negg of a bird. The egg was still warm, and the bird that laid it must\nhave flown as I awakened.\u201d\n\nMy father showed me the egg. It was strangely marked and was heavy for\nits size. I looked at it, and my father said, \u201cTake it to the merchant\nto-morrow, and maybe he will give a coin for it, for surely it is\nremarkable.\u201d\n\nThe next day, when my father had gone into the wilderness, I went to\nthe shop of the merchant. I showed him the egg that had the strange\nmarkings upon it, and I asked him if he would give me something for it.\nAnd when the merchant had taken the egg in his hand he said, \u201cThis is\nsomething to be shown the King. It is undoubtedly the egg of the Bird\nof Gold.\u201d\n\nI was greatly stirred when I heard the merchant say this, and I thought\nthat perhaps my fortune would come to me through this egg. I went back\nto the hut, and in the morning, before my father started off for his\nbramble gathering, two officers came and they took my father and me to\nthe palace and before the King. And the King said, \u201cIt is known that of\nall creatures in the world the Bird of Gold is best worth possessing.\nFor her claws can be made into an amulet that will bring wealth to the\none who wears it, and the one who eats her heart can never be slain by\nhis enemy. I would have the Bird of Gold whose egg you have found.\nYou know where she abides. Catch her and bring her to me, and I shall\nreward you.\u201d\n\nSo spoke the King of our little country. My father and I went into the\nwilderness to search for the Bird of Gold around the place where the\negg had been laid. And in the very place where before he had lain my\nfather put down his bundle of brambles and thorns. Laying his head upon\nthe bundle, he went to sleep.\n\nI watched beside the brambles and thorns. And after a time a bird came\nrunning along the ground, and went fluttering up on the bundle and made\na nest for herself there. Small she was and all golden except for the\nblue that was under her throat, and the blue that was upon her feet. As\nshe was making a nest for herself I put my hands upon her and caught\nher. I held her to my breast to keep her from fluttering away.\n\nAnd I said aloud, \u201cO bird, now I shall be rewarded for taking thee. For\nthe King would make an amulet of thy feet that he may have wealth, and\nhe would eat thy heart that his enemies may not be able to slay him.\nGreatly will he reward me for having taken thee, O Bird of Gold.\u201d\n\nAnd as I spoke to her and held her to my breast the bird made a cry\nthat sounded as \u201cAlas, Alas!\u201d I looked upon her again and my heart was\nfilled with sorrow for the bird I had taken. Why should her claws be\nmade into an amulet for the King, and why should her heart be eaten by\nhim? I sat there thinking while my father slept, holding the bird very\ngently to my breast. And when she cried again \u201cAlas, Alas!\u201d I opened my\nhands and I let her fly away. She fluttered near for a while as if to\nshow herself to me, and then she rose up and flew away.\n\nMy father awakened, and he said, \u201cIt is near dark, and the Bird of Gold\nwill not come now. Perhaps we will find her on another day. The King\nshould reward us for our search, and now we will go and tell him of it.\u201d\n\nSo we rose up and we went into the city. And when we came before him,\nmy father spoke to the King and told him that the Bird of Gold was not\nto be seen in the places where we had searched. Then the King would\nhave sent us away without doing any evil to us only that one who was\nnear him cried out: \u201cBehold, O King, and decree a punishment for these\ntwo deceivers. One has declared that the Bird of Gold did not come near\nwhere they searched. But look on the dress of the girl: All around her\nbreast are the feathers of the Bird of Gold.\u201d\n\nThereupon I looked down and I saw that the bird\u2019s golden feathers were\nall strewn around the place where I had held her to me. I was grasped\nby the hands and brought before the King. And he cried out, \u201cHave\nyou the bird hidden?\u201d I said: \u201cNo, O King. I let the bird fly out of\nmy hands.\u201d Then the King spoke to one who stood beside him, and he\ncommanded that I should be taken and put upon a ship and thrown into\nthe depths of the sea.\n\nI was taken from my father who wept and cried after me, and I was\nbrought down to the river and put upon a ship. The one who was\ncommanded by the King to take me and throw me into the depths of the\nsea was a man with a great hooked nose and a purple beard. On his hand\nwas a ring with a great emerald in it. He was the captain of the King\u2019s\nships.\n\nI was put upon the ship, and the next day we sailed down the river and\ncame out on the sea. Now, although the King had commanded that I be\nthrown into the depths of the sea, I was not then in as great a danger\nas I am in now, O King of the Western Island. For the captain of his\nships hated all the words that the King gave him, and those whom the\nKing would slay he would save, and those whom the King would save he\nwould have slain. When we came into the open sea, so that he might\nobey the King\u2019s word and at the same time make a mock of it, he had me\nthrown into the water, but with a rope around my waist. After I had\nbeen plunged into the water he had me drawn out of it, and I was left\nliving on the ship. And from the captain who had had me plunged into\nthe sea in such ways and from the sailors on the ship I got the name by\nwhich I have been known ever since--Bird of Gold.\n\n\nII. THE MAN WHO WAS HIGH IN FORTUNE\n\nWe landed in a country (said Bird-of-Gold, continuing her story) that\nwas three days\u2019 voyage from the river\u2019s mouth. Then the sailors put\nswords into their belts and marched toward a mountain that was half a\nday\u2019s journey from the coast. They pitched black tents and they built\na citadel, and they made themselves into a band of robbers. He who had\nbeen the captain of the King\u2019s ships was the chief of this band.\n\nEvery day they went off to rob caravans and to make war upon the men\nwho guarded the caravans. And always they came back, my master and\nhis forty robbers, with no man of their band slain and with no man\nwounded. Very rich and powerful did they grow with the plunder they\ntook from the caravans, and my master, the man with the hooked nose and\nthe purple beard, grew to be a King almost. Men far and near sent him\npresents and men came to him promising obedience, and he had state such\nas had the King of my country. But he kept no men with him except his\nforty robbers.\n\nEvery one said of my master, the captain of the band, that nothing\ncould come to him except good fortune, so great and so prosperous did\nhe grow. Men marveled that so many good things came to him and so many\nevil things were staved off from him. And all his band swore by his\ngood fortune. But one day a wise King who liked him greatly sent my\nmaster a message that said: \u201cI rejoice in your good fortune, friend,\nbut am also troubled by it. He who is so lucky must pay a great price\nsooner or later for his luck. Pay the price now, before it is exacted\nfrom you, and remain great and prosperous. Let the price you pay be\nthat possession that is dearest to you.\u201d\n\nMy master, having received this message, paid heed to what was said\nin it, for the King who sent it was renowned for his wisdom. He made\nup his mind to sacrifice the possession that was dearest to him so\nthat he might remain great and prosperous. And the possession that he\nconsidered dearest was the ring that he wore with the great emerald\nin it. He went down to the seaboard taking me with him, for he would\nlet none of the forty men know what he was about to do, and he took a\nboat and he went, I being with him, over the depths of the sea. Then\nhe drew from off his finger the ring that had the great emerald in it,\nand he let it drop down into the depths of the sea. Afterward he sent a\nmessage back to the King, his friend, saying that he had paid the price\nbefore it was exacted of him, and that his prosperity now would never\nfail, and that men would ever swear by his good fortune.\n\nAfter that he and his forty men went forth and won more plunder than\never they had won before. Also more men came from far and near,\nbringing him presents and promising him obedience.\n\nAnd now, being so prosperous and so feared, my master planned to attack\na city and make himself the master of the King\u2019s treasure. He told his\nplan to his forty men and they rejoiced one and all, and they talked to\neach other as if that treasure was already in their hands. I prepared\nthe meal that was to be given him before he collected his men for the\nmarch.\n\nThe meal was of fish. The fisherman who had just come from the sea\nlaid his net before me and I took out of it an exceedingly large and\nbeautiful fish. I divided the fish and began to make it clean. I found\nwithin the fish something it had swallowed. It was a ring. And when I\ncleaned the ring I found that it was of gold and that in it was a most\nprecious stone--a stone of emerald.\n\nI brought the fish to my master cooked. And to make him rejoice I\nbrought at the same time the ring to him. I told him that for the ring\nhe had dropped into the depths of the sea another ring had come back to\nhim, and that this was on account of the great good fortune that was\never with him.\n\nHe took the ring from me and he looked it all over. He cried out that\nthis was not another ring but the same ring, and that the characters\nof his name were engraved upon it. And he said that it was by no means\non account of his good fortune that this ring had come back to him.\nThereupon he rose up and went outside, and gave command to his band\nthat they were to disarm themselves and tie up their horses, and hold\nthemselves back from making any attack that day. He then went into his\ntent and sat at the darkest part of it, his purple beard touching the\nground, and all the while lamenting that his dearest possession had\ncome back to him out of the depths of the sea.\n\nThe forty men disarmed themselves and tied up their horses and sat in\nlittle bands playing games together. I would have stayed about the\nencampment making bread for the band, only that as I came near the tent\nwhere the kneading board was I heard a bird\u2019s cry.\n\nI looked, and I saw on the wellhead near the Bird of Gold. The bird\nfluttered and flew as if she wanted me to watch her. I followed where\nshe went and I was led far from the encampment. At the edge of the\nwilderness she went amongst low bushes, and after that I could not see\nher any more.\n\nBecause I had seen the Bird of Gold once more I went back toward the\nencampment thinking about the days when I had lived in the hut of my\nfather, the bramble gatherer, and about the day when I had left that\nhut, and had gone across the wilderness, and had seen the pillar on\nwhich was written that if I followed the road to the right I should\ncome to my fortune, and about how I had come, not to my fortune, but\nback to the hut I had left; and I went on, thinking of how I had first\nheard of the Bird of Gold, and of how I had given her liberty when I\nmight have held her for the great reward the King would have given. I\nwent toward the encampment thinking these thoughts about myself, and\nthinking, too, of my master who had such fortune that men swore by the\ngoodness of it.\n\nI made my way toward the tent where the kneading board was. And then I\nsaw tents overturned and lying upon the ground. I saw the horses of the\nband straying over the plain. And when I looked to the citadel I saw it\nsmoking with a fire that was burning it.\n\nThere was no stir in all the encampment. I knew then that an army had\ncome and had attacked my master and his forty men in the time that I\nwas following the Bird of Gold or coming back from the place where\nshe had led me. I went amongst the tents and I saw that the men had\nbeen killed. And I saw the purple beard of my master, cut off by some\ninsolent enemy and left lying upon the ground.\n\nThen I ran over the trampled grass and made for the wilderness. And\nwhen I came into the wilderness I hid myself amongst the bushes that\nthe Bird of Gold had flown into. I thought that a great army was\npursuing me, and in truth I was very fearful.\n\n\nIII. HOW BIRD-OF-GOLD CAME TO HER FORTUNE\n\nI hid at the near side of the wilderness (said the girl, Bird-of-Gold),\nfor I was too fearful to go back to the encampment and too fearful to\ngo farther on. I ate the wild fruits that grew on the bushes, and at\nnight I covered myself with dried leaves and branches and slept in a\nhole. I thought how he had been destroyed, that man whose good fortune\nhad been above every one else\u2019s good fortune, and I did not know how\nsuch a one as I could keep alive. I was fearful while I slept, and when\nI awoke and sat upon a heap of leaves in that empty wilderness I was\nmost miserable. I remembered the writing on the pillar that told me to\ntake the road to the right on the day I left my father\u2019s hut and I put\na curse upon the road I took. I cursed it because it had brought me,\nnot to my fortune as the writing said it would bring me, but back to\nthe hut I had left. And things were even worse with me from that time\nthan they were before, for my return had brought me to the encounter\nwith the King, and to the voyage with the captain of the King\u2019s ships,\nand to the dangerous place where I was now.\n\nBut then I began to think that although that road had brought me to my\nfather\u2019s hut it had not brought me back to a life that was as it had\nbeen before. What had happened after I had come back to the hut had\nbrought me farther away than that road could have led to. Perhaps the\nwriting on the pillar was not lying, after all. It had said: They who\ntake the road to the right will come at last to their fortune. Perhaps\nmy fortune was farther away than I had thought.\n\nThen I said to myself that my journeys were not yet ended, and that\nif I went on I should yet come to what the writing on the pillar had\npromised. I sat still for a while with this thought in my mind, and\nthen I rose up and went through the wilderness, going straight on\ntoward a star that was still in the sky.\n\nI left the wilderness with its low shrubs at last, and I came out on a\nwide, green plain. Before going on that plain I ate again of the wild\nfruit that was on the bushes and I brought some of the wild fruit with\nme. I went on and on over the miles of grass. And when it was midday I\nsaw a whiteness upon the plain before me.\n\nI went toward that whiteness and in a while I saw that it was all in\nmovement. There were white living creatures there. I went on, and I\ncame near to where there was a hollow in the plain, and I saw in that\nhollow a mighty flock of ducks. They were tame, for they did not rise\nup and fly as I came near.\n\nI looked on them with great astonishment. I had never seen so many\nducks together. I looked them all over and I made a guess that there\nwere a thousand ducks there. And I had never seen such beauty in ducks\nbefore. For these ducks were of a gleaming whiteness, and moreover they\nhad a shapeliness that I had never seen in such creatures before. I\nthought and thought, but I could not think how they had come into this\nunpeopled plain in such a vast flock.\n\nI sat down on the grass and I watched them feeding, thinking surely\nthat some one would come and drive the flock to some market or to some\ngreat farm. I watched, and the ducks ate and ate in the hollow where\nthey stayed. When the darkness came the thousand ducks put their heads\neach under a wing and settled down on the ground. I pulled grass to\nmake a bed for myself, and ate the fruit I had brought with me, and lay\ndown in a cold place near the hollow.\n\nI was awakened by the thousand ducks quacking loudly, and I looked and\nsaw that they had spread themselves over the plain and were moving in\na direction. I thought I should follow the ducks, and I did, and I was\nable to chase away two or three foxes that would have hunted them.\n\nThey were beautiful, these thousand ducks, as they went over the green\nplain. They were shapely and active, and they had a wonderful soft\nwhiteness. The drakes were not colored differently, but they had crests\nand tails that curled. When they knew I was with them they did not\ngo straying here and there, but kept themselves together as a flock\nand went marching in a direction. I thought that they might bring me\nto my fortune. And then I thought that this great flock of ducks, so\nstrangely without an owner, was my fortune.\n\nI was faint and hungry, but I went on rejoicing in the beauty of the\nducks. I gave them time to feed and they fed. At last I came to the\ngate of a town. The watcher was astonished at the greatness of the\nflock and he called to the townspeople to come out and fill their eyes\nwith the spectacle. They came and asked me, \u201cWho are you, O girl?\u201d and\nI made answer, \u201cI am the girl whose fortune is in ducks.\u201d The people\ncame on the walls of the town and looked over them, while the ducks\nspread themselves out, standing still. And more and more the people\nmarveled at the number and the extraordinary beauty of the ducks.\n\nThe people set a place apart for the ducks and they gave me a shelter\nin which I might rest and refresh myself. After a while I heard them\nsay, \u201cThe officers of the great King of Babylon should see this girl\nand her ducks. There is a marvel here for the great King to hear\nabout.\u201d People came to see the ducks as a spectacle, and one would say\nto the other, \u201cNo prince by any river in China has such a wonderful\ncollection of ducks.\u201d\n\nAnd then I was told that the officers of the great King of Babylon\nwould come to look on my flock. These officers had come into the\ncountry to get for the King\u2019s gardens birds and beasts that were\nremarkable.\n\nThey came and looked on the flock, and marveled that, whether they\nrested or were feeding, the thousand ducks harkened to my call and went\nas I bade them go. They spoke, admiring their shape and whiteness. And\nthen a dwarf who had a crown of crimson feathers on his head came\namongst them and the officers spoke to him. This dwarf told me they\nwould take the flock for the King, and that they would take me also to\nthe great city, where I would have the office of minding the ducks in\nthe King\u2019s gardens.\n\nSo I brought the thousand ducks down to a great barge that was on the\nriver, and I went on the barge, and the officers of the King with the\ndwarf that had the crown of crimson feathers on his head went aboard of\nit, and we sailed down the river, and we came into the great city. For\ntwo days the King had me show the wondrous flock in the market place as\na spectacle for the people. All Babylon came and admired the number and\nthe comeliness of the ducks. Afterward they were brought to the lake\nthat was in the King\u2019s gardens. As time went on many of the flock were\ntaken by the purveyors and killed and eaten in the palace. But still\nthey remained a wonder for their number and their comeliness. The King\noften came down to look on the thousand ducks, swimming on the water,\nor staying in their companies around the lake.\n\n\nIV. BIRD-OF-GOLD IN THE KING\u2019S GARDENS\n\nNo place in the whole world is more beautiful than the King\u2019s gardens\nin Babylon (Bird-of-Gold said). My white ducks, when they swam upon the\nlake, went amongst water lilies that were silver-white or all golden.\nBeside the lake the irises grew, depths and depths of blue and gold and\ncloud-colored irises. I should never have left the side of that lake\nif I had not wanted to be amongst the trees that grew in the gardens\nabove--palm trees of many kinds, and great cedar trees in the dark\nbranches of which the doves built their nests. Greatly did I admire\nthe trees in the King\u2019s gardens, for I had come from a country where\nthere were no trees. All the palms were there--the date palm, and the\nroyal palm, and the palm of the desert. They stood nobly by themselves\nor they made solemn avenues that led to monuments of the Kings of\nBabylon. In the grass there were golden poppies and little roses that\njust lifted themselves above the ground. There were great monuments,\ntoo--statues of Kings and lions and chariots, and these reminded\npeople of terrors and magnificences, and they were as a great wind that\nblew through the gardens.\n\nAnd there were tulips on the ground, and there were golden fruits\namongst gleaming leaves, and red pomegranates on the high trees, and\nthere were spice trees that filled the garments of those who passed\nwith fragrance. And all in a garden to themselves were the roses--a\nthousand rose trees, each tree with a thousand opened flowers. I wept\nwhen I saw that garden of roses, and I do not know why I wept.\n\nAll the birds that were lovely to look at or charming to hear singing\nwere in that garden. The black birds with golden wings from my own\ncountry were there, and the birds of paradise from the Land of the\nBurning Mountain. And it was told that the nightingales of Persia and\nBabylon and Arabia brought their young here that they might learn to\nsing the more perfectly. Also there were mocking birds that mocked\nevery bird\u2019s song but the song of the nightingale.\n\nAs for the beasts in the King\u2019s gardens, the first one I made friends\nwith was a lynx. He was not in a cage, but went roaming about, watching\neverything with eyes that never winked. And after I had come to know\nhim and had made friends with him, the lynx brought me to the cages and\nthe pits of the other beasts and with them I made friends.\n\nOf all the creatures that were there the one I was most fearful of was\nthe queen serpent that was in the Pit of the Serpent. But the serpent\nallured me, and I used to sit above the pit, the lynx beside me, and\nwatch her as she uncoiled herself and swayed her head about. And as\nI watched her I would beat on a little drum that I carried with me.\nI began to see that as I beat the drum and made music for her the\nserpent\u2019s head would cease to sway and she would lower it, and then she\nwould rest upon her coils as if she were sleeping. So I grew to have\npower over the serpent, and many times when I saw her try to draw down\na bird that had come to the edge of the pit, I would beat upon the drum\nuntil her head sank down, when the bird would rouse itself out of the\nspell that the serpent\u2019s eyes had for it, and fly away.\n\nSo I stayed in the King\u2019s gardens, part of the day with the thousand\nducks that were about the lake, and part of the day with the\never-watchful lynx that went here and went there.\n\nOne day I came up from the lake after having decked myself with the\nblue herons\u2019 feathers that lay about. I saw two where none but the\nKing or the King\u2019s ancient dwarf ever came. One was a man who wore\na straight garment that had curious figures woven upon it, and who\ncarried in his hand a staff that was formed of two serpents twining\ntogether. The one who was with him was a boy, and my heart went out to\nhim because he was young, and I had seen no one who was young in my\ndays in Babylon. The two walked in the gardens, and I ran and hid from\nthem.\n\nA day came soon after when I came up from the lake and did not find the\nlynx who was my friend. I went searching for him, and at last I came\nupon him. He had gone up into one of the great chariots that were for\na monument to a King. I saw him watching across the chariot. I went\nbeside him, and the lynx did not move, but kept watching, watching.\n\nBefore I saw what was coming I heard a great trampling noise. I saw\ntrees break and fall down. Flocks of birds came flying toward me, and\nI saw the deer start up and run. Then I saw enormous shapes coming\nstriding through the gardens. They were as men, but as men high as\ntowers. As they came on, trees fell down before them, and beasts broke\nout of their pits and cages and crouched before them. The beasts were\nfilled with fear, and they roared and screeched and trumpeted as if\nfearful things were about to happen to them. The giant men passed where\nI stood in the great chariot and they came to the gateway that led into\nthe courts of the King\u2019s palace. They put their hands to the stones\nabove the gateway, and the heavy, mortared stones fell, leaving them a\nspace high enough for them to pass through. I looked from the King\u2019s\npalace toward the city, and I saw the Way of the Lions and it was\nblack with people that fled from the palace--soldiers and servants and\nattendants. I saw the beasts of the gardens bound or crash through the\nbroken gateway, entering the courts of the palace.\n\nI saw the giant men come forth from the palace. Now they held a man by\nthe arms and dragged him along. They crossed the gardens dragging the\nman, and for a time I watched the dust that their progress made.\n\nAs I watched I saw some one come fleeing from the palace. He ran on,\ncoming straight to the place from where I watched. He stumbled as he\nran, and I saw him fall into the Pit of the Serpent. It had seemed\nto me as I watched him that this was the boy who had walked with the\nstrange man in the gardens.\n\nIn my hands I had the little drum whose sound could put a spell upon\nthe queen serpent. I ran toward the pit holding the drum. And when I\nbent over I saw that the head of the serpent was very near to the boy.\nI beat upon the drum, and the serpent heard, and her head ceased to\nsway about. Then her head went down, and she remained in her coils upon\nthe ground of the pit.\n\nI drew the boy up, and I led him to the lake and I bathed his face\nand his hands. The day had almost passed before he was able to speak\nto me. Then he told me who he was, and what the events were that had\nhappened in the King\u2019s palace. And that boy is the one who is before\nyou now, O King of the Western Island, Eean, the fisherman\u2019s son, who\nwas apprenticed to the Enchanter.\n\n\nV. HOW BIRD-OF-GOLD WENT TO THE TOP OF THE TOWER\n\nLong did it take Eean to tell me the whole of the story, and when he\nhad told and I had gathered and put together all of it, I said to him,\n\u201cNot yet has the tower fallen, and ere it comes down one might go to\nthe top and take the Magic Mirror of the Babylonians and put it in the\nhands of the King.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe King may be dead,\u201d Eean said, \u201cor else he may be in such a state\nthat he cannot see or hear any more.\u201d\n\nWe were then sitting under the greatest of the cedar trees, and he was\neating pomegranates from my lap. I looked from out the shade of the\ncedar tree, and I saw the King of Babylon walking in his gardens.\n\nThe King was fearful; he looked to the right and to the left as he went\non. When he saw a little deer that was standing still he was startled,\nand he turned back. As he came nigh the cedar tree he saw me standing\nthere before him. I prostrated myself and I said, \u201cO King, fear not\nfor Babylon. The tower has not yet fallen, and the Magic Mirror will\nyet be placed in your hands.\u201d But the King only said, \u201cGo to the tower\nand bring back to me the black cock that I tied to a board but did not\nsacrifice.\u201d Thereupon the King went within the palace.\n\nI called upon Eean to come, and we went down the Way of the Lions, and\nthrough the Gate of Brass, and out into the city. It was the Hour of\nthe Market, but there were no people in the market place. We went on,\nEean and I, and we came before the tower. There we saw a throng such as\nwould have filled many markets, and they were standing round and gazing\non the tower.\n\nI had never looked before on the Tower of Babylon. It was built tower\nupon tower to the height of four towers, and its color was red. Around\nthe whole height of it went a stairway showing steps on this side and\nthat as it went winding around. On the top of the topmost tower I saw a\ngleam, and I knew it was the Magic Mirror of the Babylonians.\n\nThat gleam dazzled me and put into my mind the thought of going to the\ntop of the tower. I, out of all that throng, would go and bring down\nthe Magic Mirror! I went amongst them and they let me pass, for I had\non me now the dress of one who belonged to the palace. I stood before\nthe throng and I saw where a great space of rock was worn smooth--it\nwas the rock against which Harut and Marut had lain.\n\nI came to the first steps of the tower, and I climbed three of them. I\nheard the murmur of those who spoke of me, and I stood still. Then up\nthe first round of the steps I went, keeping my mind from the thought\nof the great height that was above me. I came at last to where the\nsecond tower grew from the top of the first, and I stood and looked\ndown, and I saw that the men below had already become little. It was\nthen that I felt terror of the height that was above me.\n\nI began to climb the steps of the second tower, fearful to look down\nand fearful to think of the number of steps that were before me. I went\non and up, all in a terrible silence, and feeling that at the step\nabove me something unbelievable would happen.\n\nAfter a great length of time I came out on the space that was the top\nof the second tower. On that breadth I rested. As I waited there the\ncoldness of death seemed to come over me.\n\nBut the coldness passed, and I felt the air again. I found the steps\nthat went up and around the third of the towers. As I went on I felt\nthat those steps leaned down on me and crushed me, and that with my\nfeet alone I never could surmount them. Then I went down on my hands\nand knees and I climbed and climbed until my hands were bruised and the\nparts behind my knees ached. I thought that suddenly the steps would\ncease to be, and that I should find no place for my hands, and that\nthereupon I would fall down all the height I had climbed up. But step\ncame after step, and at last I came out on that space that was the top\nof the third tower.\n\nAbove me was the fourth tower. I stood holding myself against it, and\nI looked down all the distance I had climbed. I saw the great river\nshining whitely: like pebbles in the bed of a river were the throngs\nbelow. But now my fear went from me. The silence was all around me,\nbut I was exultant because of the silence through which I climbed. The\nheight troubled me no more, rather it made me exultant, making me feel\nas the eagle feels. I came out on the top of the fourth tower, and\nthere was nothing above me except the silent sky.\n\nAnd there was the Magic Mirror of the Babylonians. It rested against\nthe great spear that was Nimrod\u2019s, and it was turned toward the city\nand toward the King\u2019s palace.\n\nI looked into the Magic Mirror. As I looked into it I saw a writing\ncome upon it. I read the writing, and it said: _Bring the Magic Mirror\nof the Babylonians to the King of Babylon, but burthen yourself not\nwith the Spear of Nimrod._\n\nAnd that writing faded, and another writing appeared on the mirror. And\nthe writing read: _Zabulun the Enchanter has been brought by Harut and\nMarut into the cave that is below the sea. For forty days they will\nwatch over him, but then they will fall into a slumber. Zabulun will\ncome forth from the cave that is beneath the sea, and in anger he will\npursue him who revealed his plan for the taking of the Magic Mirror.\nTake one of the rings that are around the mirror. It will reveal when\nZabulun comes from the cave, and it will show how near he comes in his\npursuit of Eean, the boy who was apprenticed to him._\n\nThat writing faded, and I saw the rings that were around the mirror. I\nloosened one and I took it off the mirror and I put it around the wrist\nof my hand. The color of the ring changed to the green of the sea.\n\nI took the Magic Mirror in my hands and I went down the stairway. Down\nI went, from the fourth to the third, and from the third to the second\nof the towers. As I went down the stairway around the first of the\ntowers I heard the murmurs of the throng. High above my head I raised\nthe Magic Mirror, and I went toward them holding it so.\n\nAnd as I went amongst the throng I heard a voice cry out, \u201cThe tower\ntrembles, the tower rocks.\u201d It was the voice of Eean. As the cry arose\nthe throngs drew back from before the tower. They ran, and I ran\ncarrying the mirror, and Eean ran beside me. And when we came to the\nmarket place we two were alone.\n\nWe stood in the empty market place and we looked toward the Tower of\nBabylon. In its great height it stood there, strong and wonderful. I\nheard the shouting of people around it. Then I saw the great tower\nswing like a child\u2019s swing. Dust rose up, cloud after cloud, and cloud\nover cloud. The cries of people came from out the clouds.\n\nWe stood there until we saw the sun shine through a cloud of dust.\nThen we knew that the Tower of Babylon was indeed fallen. Never again\ndid we go near the place, but from travelers I have heard that where\nthe tower stood there is emptiness, and that great blocks of stone are\nscattered far and wide.\n\n\nVI. HOW EEAN AND BIRD-OF-GOLD WENT FROM BABYLON\n\nWe went into the King\u2019s gardens, carrying with us the Magic Mirror of\nthe Babylonians. We saw the great cedar tree, and we went and sat under\nits branches and spoke of what we should do. The Magic Mirror would\nhave to be given to the King, but for long Eean was fearful of going\ninto the palace.\n\nAt last we went to the doors. They were unguarded, and we went within\nthe palace. We came to the chamber where the King was wont to sit\nupon his throne, and we saw the King there, and around him there were\nbearded men with fierce eyes; by their fashion of carrying swords we\nknew them to be the leaders of the King\u2019s armies. These fierce-eyed men\nstood with their feet upon the steps of the throne, speaking in anger\nto the King. They did not see us as we came into the chamber. But in a\nwhile one caught sight of us, and he uttered a fierce word. I went to\nthem, holding the Magic Mirror raised in my hands. The King raised his\nhead, and he saw the mirror, and he cried out to us.\n\nI went and left the Magic Mirror on the throne, beside the King. I\nlifted my voice and I told him how I had taken the mirror from the top\nof the tower, and that now the tower was overthrown, but the mirror was\nsaved for the Babylonians. Then the King said to the fierce-eyed men,\n\u201cThis is the Magic Mirror of the Babylonians, and I say to you that\nBabylon is yet in safety.\u201d Again he said to them, \u201cSpeak now and say\nwhat is to be done about this girl who brought the mirror down from the\ntower.\u201d\n\nOne of the fierce-eyed men said, \u201cWho is the boy who is with her?\u201d\n\nThe King looked on Eean and knew who he was. He said, \u201cThis is the boy\nwho was with the Enchanter on whom be evil.\u201d\n\nThe man said, \u201cBanish the girl and the boy also, but do no evil to\nthem inasmuch as they have brought to us the Magic Mirror of the\nBabylonians.\u201d\n\nThe King said, \u201cTake them from the city, but let some treasure be\ngiven to them because they have brought to me the Magic Mirror of the\nBabylonians.\u201d\n\nOne of the fierce-eyed men took us, and he brought us into a chamber in\nwhich there were many open jars. In some of the jars there were gold,\nand in others there were silver coins. The fierce-eyed man who was with\nus spoke to me, and he said I might take from the jar with the gold\ncoins. I took many of them, and I tied them in different parts of my\ndress. Then he bade us follow him, and he led us out of the palace and\nto a place where a chariot with two horses was standing.\n\nHe put Eean and me into the chariot, and he bade the charioteer drive\nwith us out of the city. The charioteer, a silent man, stood up in\nhis chariot, and lashed the horses. We drove through one street, and\nthen another and another street, and all the streets were empty. The\ncharioteer called to the guards of a gateway, and the gate was opened,\nand we passed out of the city. We drove on until we came to where there\nwas a great river. Then the charioteer halted, and he called across the\nriver, and a man with a ferry came from the other side. He was a very\nancient man, and he had a beard of great length. The charioteer said to\nhim, \u201cOld Man of the River, take these two across and away from us!\u201d\n\nWe went into the ferry, and the ferryman took his pole and pushed\nacross to the other side of the river. The man in the chariot turned\nhis horses and drove back to Babylon.\n\nWhen the ferryman had left us on the other side of the river, Eean said\nto me, \u201cWhere now shall we go?\u201d I made answer and said, \u201cWe shall go\nto my country, and to the place where my father is. And it may be that\nZabulun when he comes from the cave that is under the sea will not be\nable to find you there.\u201d\n\n\nVII. HOW EEAN AND BIRD-OF-GOLD WERE PURSUED BY ZABULUN THE ENCHANTER\nAND HOW THEY WENT TO THE CAVE OF CHIRON THE CENTAUR\n\nO King of the Western Island, our wanderings began on the day when\nthe ferryman left us on the farther side of the river. We went to the\ncountry where my father dwelt. We found the old man still gathering\nbrambles and thorns for his livelihood, and out of the treasure\nthat had been given me I gave him riches, and he had not to go\nthorn-and-bramble gathering any more.\n\nWe had only been a little time in the hut that my father built when\na new color came upon the ring I had taken off the Magic Mirror. Its\ncolor had been sea green, but now a red line came across it. By that we\nknew that Zabulun the Enchanter had left the cave that was under the\nsea. And the red line began to grow over the sea green of the ring, and\nwe knew by this sign that he had begun to follow on our traces. Then\nsaid Eean to me, \u201cI will go from this place and seek a hiding, and it\nmay be that I shall baffle Zabulun who follows me.\u201d I said to Eean, \u201cI\nshall go with you where you go.\u201d \u201cNay,\u201d said Eean, \u201cit is not on your\naccount that Zabulun pursues us. He has no rage nor hatred against you,\nO Bird-of-Gold, and if I should go from this place by myself you would\nnot be troubled by him.\u201d\n\nThen I said to him, \u201cO Eean, I had no playmate nor companion until I\nmet you in the King\u2019s gardens. Now I could not bear to see you go from\nme, and where you go I shall go too.\u201d\n\nAfterward I asked him if there were in the world any Enchanters who\nwere as powerful as Zabulun. He told me of Chiron the Centaur, and of\nHermes Trismegistus, the wise Egyptian, and of Merlin whose home is on\nan island that is west of your Western Island. I thought that only from\none of these Enchanters might we get aid against Zabulun.\n\nThe red grew over the sea green of the ring, and we knew that the\nfarther the red grew the nearer did Zabulun approach us. I wondered\nhow we might get to one of the great Enchanters. Hermes Trismegistus,\nbeing in Egypt, was far, and Merlin, on the island beyond the Western\nIsland, was farther still. I thought of Chiron the Centaur, and it\nseemed to me that him we might be able to find.\n\nNow my father had lived a long time in the world, and he had heard many\nthings, and he had thought over the things he had heard in the years\nwhen he had gathered brambles and thorns in the wilderness. I went to\nmy father for word of Chiron the Centaur.\n\n\u201cChiron the Centaur dwells all alone in a cave that is in the side\nof a mountain. The mountain is covered all over with a deep and an\nancient forest,\u201d my father told me. And again he said, \u201cOnce I knew the\ndirection in which that mountain is, and to-morrow I shall go into the\nwilderness, and as I walk about it may be that the memory of it will\ncome back to me.\u201d\n\nHe came back from the wilderness in the evening and he said, \u201cAway\ntoward where the morning star shines there is a great waste. If one\nskirts this waste one comes to a river the waters of which are as cold\nas snow. The river flows down from the mountain on the side of which\nis the cave of Chiron the Centaur. All this I heard in the days of my\nyouth.\u201d\n\nOver more and more of the sea green of the ring the red had grown. By\nthis sign we knew that Zabulun was coming close to us. I spoke to Eean\nand I said that we both should make ready to go to the cave of Chiron\nthe Centaur. Then when the morning star shone very brightly we took\nleave of my father and we went toward where it shone.\n\nWe came to the great waste, and we skirted it as we had been told. On\nwe went, and we came to the river, the waters of which were cold as\nsnow. We turned our faces toward the place from which the river flowed\nuntil we saw a mountain that was all covered with forest.\n\nDeep and ancient and silent was that upward-growing forest. So\nfrightened of its silence were we that we never let go of each other\u2019s\nhands. For days we went seeking the cave, and at last we heard\ncries--they might have been from birds, they might have been from the\nwinds--that said, \u201cWho comes to trouble the rest of Chiron the ancient\nCentaur?\u201d\n\nWe went toward where the cries came from and we saw the mouth of the\ncave. We mounted the track that led to it, and in fear we went within.\n\nAnd there was Chiron the ancient Centaur. His head and his breast, his\nshoulders and his arms were a man\u2019s, and his body and his feet and his\ntail were a horse\u2019s. His great beard was white, and his horse\u2019s body\nwas shrunken, but his eyes were like pools in which there are living\nfires. The power of all the kings in the world was in his eyes.\n\nChiron lay beside a fire in which fragrant woods burned. He turned his\neyes upon it, and we heard cries as if the winds in the cave made them,\n\u201cWho comes to trouble the rest of Chiron the ancient Centaur?\u201d\n\nI went down on my knees and I prayed him, \u201cO Chiron, wisest of all who\ndeal in enchantments,\u201d I said, \u201cthere is one named Zabulun, an evil\nEnchanter, who pursues us. We have come to beg you to tell us how we\nmay escape him.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot to me should you have come,\u201d the voice of Chiron boomed out. \u201cWhat\nhave I to do with men who are as far from wisdom as Zabulun? Only one\nwho is like him may strive with him. Go to another, go to another.\u201d\n\n\u201cTo whom shall we go, O Centaur?\u201d I prayed.\n\n\u201cHermes Trismegistus in Egypt is nearer to Zabulun than I am. Go to him\nand he may tell you how to baffle Zabulun. Tell him that you have seen\nthe Ph\u0153nix in the cave of Chiron the Centaur.\u201d\n\nAs he said this there flew into the cave the great bird that is called\nthe Ph\u0153nix. I may not describe her to you, O King. She flew to the fire\nof fragrant-smelling woods and she held herself above it. She fanned\nthe flame with her wings, and the fire rose up and caught her breast.\nThen the bird sank down on the fire, and we saw her burn under the eyes\nof Chiron the Centaur. The flame died out, and what we saw of the bird\nthat burned, and the wood that made the fire, was a heap of ashes.\n\nThen out of that heap of ashes came a bird. It was smaller than the\nbird that burned, but more radiant. As the bird stayed with the ashes\nbeneath her feet she grew by some great thing that was within her, and\nthen she rose over the ashes and fanned them with her wings. Again I\nlooked upon the Ph\u0153nix.\n\n\u201cGo to Hermes Trismegistus in Egypt, and tell him that you saw the\nlong-lived Ph\u0153nix burn herself in the cave of Chiron the Centaur,\nand come again out of the burning. And when you tell this to Hermes\nin Egypt he will tell you what you may do to make yourself free of\nZabulun.\u201d\n\nThe Ph\u0153nix flew from the cave. Then Chiron turned his eyes upon us and\nhe spoke to us of the way we should go to find Hermes Trismegistus in\nEgypt. When he had told us all we went backward out of his cave, and\nthen turned and went through the depths of the silent forest, taking\nthe way the Centaur bade us take.\n\n\nVIII. HOW EEAN AND BIRD-OF-GOLD CAME TO HERMES TRISMEGISTUS IN EGYPT\n\nWe found a ship, and I paid for the voyage out of the riches I had, and\nwe came to Egypt. The ring upon my hand showed that we were now far\naway from the one who pursued us, from Zabulun the Enchanter.\n\nBut we two lost our way in Egypt, and we wandered about, reaching\nnowhere. Then Zabulun gained upon us again, as the ring showed. We hid\nin a village by the river, and we stayed there until the season when\nthe cranes fly overhead on their way to Ethiopia.\n\nThen we went from that village, and we came again upon the way that had\nbeen lost. We followed that way and we came to the great pyramid in\nwhich Hermes Trismegistus had his cell. Down into the deepest chamber\nwe went, and we came before Hermes the Egyptian.\n\nHe sat before a table that was of diamond and that had wonderful\nfigures upon it. He was youthful, and light seemed to come from his\nforehead. As wonderful as the eyes of Chiron was the brow of Hermes\nTrismegistus.\n\nWe knelt at the threshold of his cell, and I said, \u201cO thrice-great\nHermes! We have been in the cave of Chiron the Centaur, and we have\nseen the long-lived Ph\u0153nix burn herself to ashes, and come out of the\nashes more radiant than before. Chiron was kind to us, and he sent us\nto you, O thrice-great Hermes. We are pursued by an Enchanter whose\nname is Zabulun, and we have come to you to pray you to tell us how we\nmay make ourselves free from him.\u201d\n\nHermes Trismegistus said, \u201cI know of Zabulun, the wrong-doing\nEnchanter. But what have I to do with one who is so removed from\nwisdom?\u201d\n\nI prayed him again, saying, \u201cSave us from this wrong-doing Enchanter\nwho would destroy us. He has come near us often, and he will assuredly\novertake us if you do not give us help, O thrice-great Hermes.\u201d\n\nThen Hermes said, \u201cNear the Western Island there dwells an Enchanter\nwhose name is Merlin. Not one of the great Enchanters is he, nor like\nto Chiron or myself, for he chooses to love rather than to be wise.\nHe is nearer to Zabulun than we are, but yet he is not a wrong-doing\nEnchanter. Go to Merlin and say to him that you have been within the\ncell of Hermes Trismegistus, and that you have heard from him the\nanswer to the riddle that the Sphinx asks, and Merlin will show you how\nyou both may be saved from Zabulun, the wrong-doing Enchanter.\n\n\u201cBut to come to Merlin\u2019s island, which is west of the Western Island,\nyou will have first to go amongst the Atlantes, who live by the Western\nOcean. They eat no living thing and they never have dreams. When you\ncome to them, seek out the wisest amongst them, and ask him to tell you\nof Merlin, and of how you may come to him.\n\n\u201cTo come to the Atlantes you will have to pass by the Sphinx in the\ndesert. Few ever pass her, for she has a riddle that she asks of every\none. And the one who cannot answer her riddle is torn to pieces by the\nSphinx. But I shall tell you the answer to give to the riddle that the\nSphinx asks.\u201d\n\nThen Hermes, thrice-great Hermes, told us the Sphinx\u2019s riddle and the\nanswer that we should make to it. He told us the way we should go to\npass by the Sphinx and come to the people that are called the Atlantes.\nWe left the cell of Hermes, and passed out of the pyramid, and went on\nour way.\n\nWe came to where the great Sphinx stretches herself out in the sand,\nand by the light of a great moon we saw her lion\u2019s paws and her woman\u2019s\nface. We heard the purring sound that comes through the lips of the\nSphinx, and we halted between her paws.\n\n\u201cWhat is Man?\u201d said the Sphinx, asking her riddle.\n\nThe paws that stretched alongside of us were quiet, and the voice of\nthe Sphinx was very quiet. We saw her face far above us, and it was\ncalm, though there was much scorn and fierceness in it.\n\n\u201cWhat is Man?\u201d said the Sphinx.\n\nThen I replied as Hermes Trismegistus had taught me to reply, \u201cMan is\nhe whose Mother is the Earth and whose Father is the Stars.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo,\u201d said the Sphinx.\n\nThen we clambered across the great paws of the Sphinx, and we went on\nour way. Along the border of the desert we went, and when the great\nmoon had changed herself to a little moon that was hardly to be seen\nin the sky we came amongst the Atlantes, the people who eat no living\nthing and who never have dreams.\n\nThe ring showed us that Zabulun, the wrong-doing Enchanter, had not\ndrawn near us for many days. We were far away from him when we came\namongst the Atlantes. But soon he came near us again. By that time I\nhad found him who was wisest amongst this people, and I asked him to\ntell me of Merlin, and of how I might come to him.\n\n\u201cNot often does the island on which Merlin dwells show itself,\u201d said he\nwho was wisest amongst the Atlantes. \u201cOn the mid day of summer it is to\nbe seen. Then it draws near to the Western Island, and if you will cast\nupon the water nine cocks\u2019 combs and four peacocks\u2019 feathers, Merlin\nwill let you come upon his island.\u201d\n\nThereupon he who was wisest amongst them gave us the cocks\u2019 combs and\nfour peacocks\u2019 feathers. They reverenced Hermes of Egypt, the people\nthat are called the Atlantes, and because we had spoken with Hermes and\nhad been in his cell, they brought us on board a ship that had great\nleathern sails, and in that ship they carried us to your island, O King.\n\n\nIX. HOW EEAN AND BIRD-OF-GOLD CAME TO KING MANUS\u2019S STABLES\n\nWe came to your island, O King (said Bird-of-Gold, continuing her\nstory), but no sooner did we step from the ship to the landing stones\nthan we suffered a loss. The ring that was around my wrist broke and\nfell into the sea, and thereafter we had no sign that would show how\nclose Zabulun was in pursuit of us.\n\nWe set off for that part of the land that Merlin\u2019s island comes near\nto. One day our way was through a dark valley and we lay down there\nto sleep. I awakened after some hours of slumber, and I looked toward\nEean, and I saw that he was still sleeping. I left him to his sleep,\nbut when hours passed I went over to awaken him. But I could not awaken\nhim from that slumber, do what I would. For three days and three nights\nhe slept in that valley while I watched beside him.\n\nAt last he awoke saying, \u201cWhat day is this, and how near is Zabulun to\nus?\u201d I told him that we were two days from the mid day of summer, and\nthat we had no sign now to show us how close the Enchanter might be.\nWe were greatly troubled, O King, for we knew not how we might come to\nMerlin\u2019s island by the mid day of summer.\n\nIt was then that we heard of your horses, King Manus. We were told of\ntheir swiftness, and we said to each other, \u201cOnly by the speed of these\nhorses can we reach the place that Merlin\u2019s island comes near, and by\nMerlin\u2019s aid save ourselves from the power of Zabulun, the wrong-doing\nEnchanter.\u201d\n\nAt nightfall we came before your palace and your stable. Now it was\nnot hard for us to open the doors of your stable. Your watchers drank\nof a drug that I made, O King. Eean brought a cup to them, and they,\nthinking the drink had been sent to them from your supper table, drank\nit. At once they fell into a slumber. Then we opened the four locks of\nthe iron door with the keys that were in their belts. Eean went within\nthe stable while I kept watch at the gate of the orchard.\n\nAlas, Eean was taken before he could mount the white horse, and before\nI went to take the bridle of the red one. I saw him being brought\nwithin the palace, and I saw two new watchers take their places beside\nthe door.\n\nFor a long time I stood in the shadow of the orchard gate not knowing\nwhat to do. Then I thought that I should still take one of the horses\nand go to the place where Merlin might be spoken to, and so win aid\nfor Eean, my beloved companion. I made another drug, and I put it into\na drink, and I brought the cup to those who were at the stable door.\nThese, too, were unsuspecting; they thought I had brought it from the\nsupper table, and they drank, and they, too, lost their senses.\n\nThen I opened the iron door of the stable the way we had opened it\nbefore and I went within. I saw the red horse in his stall and I put\nmy hand upon his neck. As I did this the black horse broke loose, and\nhe plunged at me, and he caught me by the flesh of the shoulders and\nhe flung me down. He reared above me, and was about to bring his hoofs\ncrashing down upon me. Then indeed I should have been trampled to death\nbut that you and your men came in, O King.\n\nYou came with torches and you drove that fierce black horse away from\nmy body. Never was I in such danger of death as I was in then. I do\nnot think I am now in such danger as when I lay under the feet of that\nfierce black horse. But it is for you to judge, O King.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBird-of-Gold finished her story, and, closing her eyes, she laid her\nhead upon her hands. All at that supper table looked toward King Manus.\nEean seemed to hear nothing of her story, for all the time his eyes\nwere upon the King\u2019s face.\n\nSaid King Manus, \u201cShe has been in danger as great as the danger she is\nin now, for verily, that black horse of mine is a manslayer. The girl,\ntoo, shall go free.\u201d\n\nThen the King drank another cup of wine and was silent for a while.\nThen he said, speaking again: \u201cThey have fled a great way, these two.\nI should not be glad if they lost the match with this Zabulun. By the\nopen hand of my father, they may take my two horses, the white one and\nthe red one, and ride to that part of the Western Island that Merlin\u2019s\nisland comes near. For payment to me, let them ask Merlin the Enchanter\nwhat moves I should make in that game of chess that, for half my\nlifetime, I have been playing with King Connal.\u201d\n\nWhen King Manus said this the last binding was taken off Eean and off\nBird-of-Gold, and they went to him and they kissed his hands. Eean\npromised that they would bring the horses back to the stable, and he\npromised, too, that he would ask Merlin about the moves in the game of\nchess, and would bring back the answer to the King.\n\nIn the middle of it all, one of the stewards came to the King, and\nsaid there was one in the palace who knew the youth Eean and who could\nnot be withheld from coming to him. As they were speaking about him,\nhe came into the supper room, an old man, whom they all recognized as\nthe one who watched before the door of the King\u2019s chamber, to prevent\nthose who came with requests that might not be granted being brought\nbefore the King.\n\nHe went straight to where Eean stood, and holding up a torch he looked\nupon him. He no sooner looked than he cried out, \u201cIt is he--indeed,\nindeed it is he!\u201d And Eean, his hands grasping the old man, said, \u201cIt\nis Anluan! It is my father!\u201d\n\nThen it was told to Eean how Anluan had left the nets of a fisherman\nafter his son had gone with Zabulun as his apprentice; and it was\ntold, too, how he had come to the palace, and how he had been made the\nofficer at the King\u2019s doorway on account of his extraordinary patience,\na patience that he had learned when he handled the net, and that wore\nout the most insistent of those who came with requests to the King.\n\nThere was much rejoicing over the meeting between Eean and his\nfather Anluan. Then Anluan turned to her whose hand Eean held, to\nBird-of-Gold, and having wept over her he began to question her about\nher accomplishments. It was at this point that the stewards took Anluan\naway, for the pair had now to make ready for their ride to that part\nof the Western Island that Merlin\u2019s island came near to on the mid day\nof summer which would be the morrow of that very night. Refreshments\nwere given them at the King\u2019s table, the newest of meats and the oldest\nof wines, and they went out of the hall, and they mounted the horses\nthat the grooms of King Manus now brought out for them, Eean taking the\nwhite horse, and Bird-of-Gold the red horse. A bound and a bound, and\nthe white and the red started off, spurning the cobblestones of the\ncourtyard, riding toward their meeting with that Enchanter who would\ngive them freedom from Zabulun, Merlin, the Enchanter of the Isle of\nBritain.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPART III\n\nTHE TWO ENCHANTERS\n\n\nI. MERLIN AND VIVIEN\n\nA great Enchanter indeed was Merlin. He served with his enchantments\nthe King of the Isle of Britain from the time he was a stripling to\nthe time when he was two score years of age. Then, when he might have\npassed from being a lesser to being a great Enchanter, Merlin vanished\naltogether and was seen no more at the court of the King of the Isle\nof Britain. All the great works he had planned were left undone, all\nthe instruments he had gathered were left unused, all the books he had\nbrought together were left unopened, and the King whom he had served so\nlong was left to whistle for his Enchanter.\n\nIf there were one to blame for that it was the daughter of King Dionas.\nShe was young, but she was ungentle. What she saw, that she would\nhave. One day a stranger was passing with her father, and when he\nlooked on her he said, \u201cA young hawk she is, a young hawk that has\nnot yet flown at any prey.\u201d That very day the daughter of King Dionas\nwalked on the plain that was at a distance from her father\u2019s castle.\nThe stranger who had spoken of her to the King was there, and he looked\nlong upon her.\n\n\u201cWho art thou who lookest on me so?\u201d said the child.\n\n\u201cThou art Nimiane, who art also called Vivien,\u201d said the stranger.\n\n\u201cYea,\u201d said she, \u201cbut who art thou, man?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am called Merlin,\u201d he said, \u201cand I am the Enchanter to the King of\nthe Isle of Britain.\u201d\n\n\u201cShow me thine enchantments,\u201d said Vivien, who feared not to speak to\nany man.\n\nNow Merlin had looked on all the ladies who were at the court of\nthe King of the Isle of Britain, and on the maidens who were in far\ncountries and distant castles, and besides, the ladies of the times\nof old had been shown him in his Magic Glass, but never before had\nhe seen any one who seemed so lovely to him as this child. She was\nbright eyed as a bird. She had a slim body, and pale cheeks, and quick,\nquick hands. Her hair was red and in thick tangles. \u201cShow me thine\nenchantments,\u201d she cried to him again.\n\nMerlin bade her come with him and she came. He brought her to a high\nplace, a place that was of rock with rocks piled all about it. On the\nground he made magical figures. Then he said magical words. And all the\ntime Vivien, slim Vivien with her tangle of red hair, stood upon the\nrocks and kept her eyes upon him.\n\nUpon the ground that was all rock Merlin made a garden with roses\nblowing and clear waters flowing, with birds singing amongst the leaves\nand fishes swimming in the streams. He made trees grow, too, with\nhoney-tasting fruits upon them.\n\nVivien went through the garden, plucking the flowers and tasting the\nfruits that grew there. She turned to Merlin and looked at him again\nwith her bright eyes. \u201cCanst thou make a castle for me?\u201d said she.\n\nThen Merlin made his magical figures and said his magical words over\nagain. The stones that were strewn about everywhere came together and\nbuilt themselves up into a castle. When the castle rose before them\nVivien took Merlin by the hand, and they went through its doorway and\nup the stairway and into the castle turret. And when they looked from\nthe turret Vivien said, \u201cWould that no one should know of this garden\nand this castle but thou and I!\u201d\n\nHe told her that the castle and the garden would be hidden. Then when\nthey were leaving the garden he put a mist all around, a mist that\nthose who came that way could not see through and were made fearful of\nventuring into.\n\nAnd so the castle and the garden were all unknown to men. But Vivien\nwould come, passing through the mist, and going into the garden and up\ninto the turret. At first she would not have Merlin near her. Afterward\nit came to pass that she would summon him. A bugle hung in the turret\nof the castle, and she would blow upon it, and he would come and stay\nby her.\n\nHe was two score years of age, and she was five years less than a\nscore. Nevertheless he thought it better to watch her dancing with\nbright green leaves in her red hair than to know all that would bring\nhim from being a lesser to being a great Enchanter. Of the maidens and\ngreat ladies he had seen, some, he told her, were like light, and some\nwere like flowers, and some were like a flame of fire. But she, he\nsaid, was like the wind. And he took thought no more for the King of\nthe Isle of Britain, nor for the great work he was to do for him, and\nhe spent his days in watching Vivien, and in listening to Vivien, and\nin making magic things for Vivien\u2019s delight.\n\nHer father once took her away from the place near where the hidden\ngarden and the hidden castle stood. Vivien was in another country now.\nAnd when she went amongst those who were strangers to her she found out\nthat nothing mattered to her except the looks and the words of Merlin.\nThe castle and the garden--she did not think of them, nor of the magic\nthings he had made for her. Her thoughts were only on Merlin, who was\nso wise and who could do such wonders.\n\nWhen she came back, and when she met him in the hidden garden, she\ncaught hold of his hands, and she would not let go of them. Nor would\nshe tell Merlin why this change had come over her, and why she would\nkeep close to him now and not apart. At last she said to him, \u201cWhat\nladies and what maidens have you known, O my master Merlin?\u201d\n\nThen Merlin took his Magic Glass into his hands, and in it he showed\nher all the ladies who were at the court of the King of the Isle of\nBritain, and he showed her all the lovely maidens who lived in far\ncountries and in distant castles whom he knew. Vivien threw herself\non the ground with her face to the rock after she had looked into the\nglass.\n\nThen afterward she watched him in a way different from the way she had\nwatched him before. What he said and what he did she remembered well.\nSoon she understood his magic figures and could make them. She came to\nunderstand his magic words and to be able to repeat them. And Merlin\nwould say to her, \u201cO my little hawk, fly at this--and this--and this.\u201d\n\nOne day as they wandered through a forest Vivien asked him to tell her\nthe mightiest spell that he knew. The Enchanter told it to her. She\nstood still, with all her quick mind in her face, while he put aside\nthe tangles of her red hair and spoke into her ear.\n\nIt was a spell that would hold in a place the one whom it was spoken\nover. When he had told her he went at her bidding and seated himself\nunder a forest tree. Vivien, laughing, made a magic circle around him\nand repeated the spell that he had given her. When she did this the\nEnchanter was enchanted. Merlin stayed under the forest tree, and there\nhe would stay, for he could not move until the spell that was said over\nhim was unsaid by Vivien.\n\nAnd Vivien danced around him, her red hair shaking, her bright eyes\ngleaming, her quick hands waving. She called to him, \u201cMerlin, Merlin\nEnchanter, come to me.\u201d But Merlin, under the forest tree, could not\nmove. She ran through the woods and he could not follow after her. In a\nwhile she came back and stood beside him.\n\nSaid Merlin to her, \u201cWhy have you worked this spell upon me, and why\nhave you left me here so that I cannot move?\u201d She knelt down on the\nground beside where he sat.\n\n\u201cO Merlin,\u201d said she, \u201cI would leave you here enchanted, for fear you\nshould leave me and go amongst the maidens and the ladies who are so\nlovely.\u201d And when she said that her face was so hard that he knew she\nwould hold him there.\n\nBut Merlin smiled, and he said to her, \u201cI would stay always where you\nare, Vivien, blossom of the furze.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d said she, \u201cyou would go from me. Why should you not? You have\ngreat works to do for the King of the land. And when you see again the\nladies and the maidens who are the loveliest in the world you will not\ncome back again to Vivien. I shall hate the castle and the garden that\nyou made for me, and I shall hate every one who will come near me. I\nshall hold you, Merlin, here, even until the wolves come out at night\nand devour you and me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will build a castle for you in an empty country, and no one shall\never be there but you and me,\u201d said Merlin.\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d said Vivien, \u201cthey will search the world for you, Merlin, and\nwhen they find you, you will have to go with them.\u201d\n\nThen Merlin, as if it were a magic thing that would please her, brought\nout his thought about the Island of the White Tower. Away beyond the\nWestern Island, in a sea that is never sailed on, that island lies.\nOnly on Midsummer Day does it come near to the Western Island so that\nmen may see it. There, said Merlin, they might go. Those who would\nsearch for him could never come to him there. He told her more and more\nabout the Island of the White Tower, and Vivien listened in delight\nto all he told her. And when he had sworn he would take her to it she\nunsaid the spell with which she had bespelled him, and he rose up from\nwhere he had been held, and he sprang across the magic figure that was\ndrawn upon the ground. And with Vivien Merlin went through the forest.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe fishermen who cast their nets by the shores of the Western Ocean\nhave this story of Merlin and Vivien. They tell how in a boat of\ncrystal twelve creatures sailed to the Island of the White Tower. And\ntwo were Merlin and Vivien, and nine were the nine prime bards of the\nIsle of Britain who went with Merlin, and one was the tame wolf that\nwas Merlin\u2019s servant. They sailed out upon a Midsummer\u2019s Day, and from\nthat good day to this no hint or hair of the Enchanter has been seen by\nKing nor clown in all the Isle of Britain.\n\n\nII. ZABULUN THE ENCHANTER\n\nIt was Anluan, the father of Eean, Anluan who had once been a fisherman\nby the shores of the Western Ocean, who told this story of the\nEnchanter of the Isle of Britain. The fishermen know the story, and\nthey, more often than any others, have seen the Island of the White\nTower as it shows itself on the rim of the Western Ocean.\n\nThe story was told after the white horse and the red horse had\nclattered across the stones of the courtyard, bringing Eean and\nBird-of-Gold toward their meeting with Merlin. Candles thicker than a\nman\u2019s wrist had been put upon the supper table; fresh torches had been\nset in the sconces along the walls; and logs of resinous wood had been\npiled upon the hearth. All this was done so that the King and his lords\nmight drink their last cups of wine before they went into the sleeping\nchambers.\n\nAnd now, in the light of shining candles and blazing torches and\nmounting hearth fires, the squires and the servers went amongst the\ncompany filling the wine cups up. Some had already the wine in their\ncups, and were waiting for King Manus to raise his in a health. Then\nthe strangest of strange things happened. No wind came into the hall,\nbut suddenly the candles upon the table and the torches along the walls\nwent out. The servers went to relight the torches at the hearth, but\nthe hearth blaze had died down, and all the logs were black.\n\nAnd blackness was in the chamber where, a minute before, candles and\ntorches and hearth fires were blazing. The King and his lords stood\naround the table, while the servers and squires ran through every\nchamber of the castle to find a spark of light.\n\nBut not even a spark could they find; not the light of a rush candle\neven was to be found in any hall or chamber in the castle. And on every\nstairway the same story was told, how suddenly light and fire had gone\nblack out.\n\nBut now the grooms came in with flints and steel and tow. Every one\ntried to strike a spark, but no spark came for all their striking. And\nnow, all over the castle, there were outbursts of woe: the cooks were\nlamenting that they would have no fires, and the women were weeping\nbecause lights could not be brought them. It was then that King Manus\nbade his lords stand around laying their hands upon the table.\n\nThe next thing was that a figure appeared at the doorway. All saw it,\nfor there was a line of faint light around it. It was the figure of\na tall man. \u201cSpeak,\u201d said King Manus with his hand stretched to the\nfigure.\n\n\u201cIf you will have me speak,\u201d said the man.\n\n\u201cThe lights and the fires have been quenched in the castle. How has\nthis come to be?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is in the power of an Enchanter of the second degree to quench\nlight and fire,\u201d said the man in the darkness. \u201cFurther, King Manus:\nthe fire and light that is extinguished cannot be brought back until\nthe Enchanter lifts his ban.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you come to tell me this?\u201d asked the King.\n\n\u201cI have come to make a request of you, King Manus,\u201d said the man in the\ndarkness.\n\nThen Anluan, the father of Eean, he whose duty it was to let none that\nmight have a request come face to face with the King, groped around the\nroom that he might place himself before his master. But ere he came to\nwhere King Manus stood the man with the line of light around had come\nso close that he and the King looked into each other\u2019s eyes.\n\n\u201cO King,\u201d said the stranger, \u201cI have answered what you asked of me. Now\nI make my request. It is that the black horse that is in your stable be\ngiven to me.\u201d\n\nThere was a stir in the darkened hall, and then there was an outcry. It\nwas from Anluan, the father of Eean. \u201cO, King Manus, beware of the man\nwho knows of the powers of Enchanters. He may be the one who would ride\nin chase of Eean, my son!\u201d\n\n\u201cHe has made a request of me,\u201d said King Manus. \u201cBy the open hand of my\nfather, it will have to be granted him.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is for the one horse that can follow the others,\u201d Anluan cried.\n\n\u201cI have never refused a request! Alas, alas, in one night the three\nhorses that were my pride are taken from me!\u201d\n\n\u201cStrike now, and light candle and torch and hearth fire,\u201d said the one\nwho had come amongst them.\n\nFlint was struck upon steel; sparks came and made the tow blaze; candle\nand torch and hearth fire were lighted again. Then all looked at the\none who had come amongst them.\n\nTall he was, with a dark and bony face, and eyes that were like a\nhawk\u2019s eyes. His dress was a plain cloak that had a hood that went over\nhis head. And yet, although he had not the staff nor the robe of an\nEnchanter, it did not need Anluan\u2019s cry to tell the company that here\nwas the one to whom his son had been apprenticed--Zabulun the Enchanter!\n\n\u201cWhy do you go in chase of my son?\u201d Anluan cried.\n\n\u201cHarut and Marut laid hands upon me. Am I to have no more mastery\nbecause of that?\u201d said Zabulun. \u201cFor forty days I was laid in the cave\nthat is under the sea, and do men think that all power is gone from me\nbecause of that? I thought all that time that what I worked for would\ncome to pass, and that the Magic Mirror of Babylon would be lost in the\nruin of the Tower of Babylon and that destruction would come upon the\nBabylonians. This would have been if the boy who was my apprentice had\nbeen faithful to me. But he spoke the words that restored the mirror\nto the Kings of Babylon. And I, whose name, as I thought, would stand\nforever as one who had worked a great destruction, am as naught--my\nname is a name to laugh at. And shall he pass from my mastership,\nthe boy who let this befall me? Not so; he has still to be my aid. I\nhave paid you, his father, gold for his seven years\u2019 service, and his\nservice still belongs to me.\u201d\n\nThen, turning to King Manus, Zabulun said, \u201cYou have granted my\nrequest. Command now that your grooms go to the stable and bring out\nthe black horse that I am to ride.\u201d\n\nKing Manus gave the commands. Then out of the door of the castle they\nall went and into the courtyard. The still light of the dawn, the dawn\nof Midsummer\u2019s Day, was coming over the world. The grooms went to the\nstable, and in full sight of all unlocked the great stable door and\nbrought out the black horse whose swiftness was such that he could\novertake the wind of March that was before him, while the wind of\nMarch that was behind could not overtake him. They brought forth the\nblack horse and they held him while the dark-faced man put himself\nastride. Then the hoofs of the last of the King\u2019s horses struck fire\nout of the stones of the courtyard, while a cry went up from Anluan,\nthe one-time fisherman.\n\nAnd away went Zabulun the Enchanter, away, away in pursuit of Eean and\nBird-of-Gold, and the light of the Midsummer Day came into the world.\n\n\nIII. THE LAST FLIGHT OF EEAN AND BIRD-OF-GOLD\n\nAs the first light of the Midsummer Day came over the world the two who\nwere fleeing before him were speaking of Zabulun the Enchanter. \u201cThat\nwe may baffle him,\u201d one said.\n\n\u201cAnd what if we cannot baffle him this time?\u201d said the other.\n\n\u201cThen he will take me and make me do terrible services for him\u201d--it was\nEean who said this--\u201cand, worse than all the services he will make me\ndo, he will separate us.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d said Bird-of-Gold. \u201cIf he takes us this time, I shall do\neverything to make myself useful to the Enchanter. I have thought out\nways in which I can serve him. He will not separate us and we will be\ntogether still.\u201d\n\n\u201cO, Bird-of-Gold,\u201d said Eean, \u201cI am fearful lest he should slay you for\ntaking the Magic Mirror off the Tower of Babylon. But I have a sword\nand he shall not harm you.\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall escape him,\u201d Bird-of-Gold said, \u201cand as he followed you and me\nacross the world, so I shall follow him and you, and we shall never be\napart.\u201d\n\nThey had learnt in their wanderings all ways of guiding themselves,\nand as they galloped on they were heading for the Western Ocean.\nDarkness was around them at first. But the sky was wide and clear, and\nBird-of-Gold, when she raised her head, could see and name the bright\nplanets. There was Mars with his red pulse. Bird-of-Gold likened this\nplanet to the steed that she bestrode, and as she rode on she sang to\nherself the song that the shepherd boys in her own country used to sing\nabout another star:\n\n    That star, I know, is Betelguise;\n    Yet, as I walk the hills by day,\n    I hardly know his splendid name--\n    That star is far away.\n\n    But when at night I travel on,\n    Or watch across an empty land,\n    Then Betelguise, my star of stars,\n    No thing is nearer hand.\n\n    Then send a ray that I may own\n    The fortune that is mine:\n    O Betelguise, my star of stars,\n    My forehead\u2019s for your sign!\n\nAnd after all the countries he had wandered through, Eean was now back\non the ground of his own country. He heard the cry of the curlews\noverhead. He saw the lakes that looked as if even the birds had\nforgotten them, so lonely they were, lonely, but with deep memories.\nHe saw the cairns of stones above the long dead heroes. Once he saw a\nfox upon a cairn, and it seemed to him that this was the very fox he\nhad chased away from his mother\u2019s coop the day before the Enchanter had\ntaken him away from the Western Island.\n\nWith strong hearts King Manus\u2019s horses galloped on. But the heart of\nEean was strained with the thought of the distance that was still\nbefore them. First, a great mountain that had to be crossed. Then a\nwide plain. Then that other mountain from the top of which one could\nsee the Western Ocean in the daylight. And Zabulun the Enchanter might\ncome upon them in the hills or on the plain and say a word that might\nstop their horses\u2019 gallop.\n\nBut they came to the last mountain top, and they saw the waters of\nthe Western Ocean with gleams of gold coming upon them. Adown the\nheather-covered hillside their horses hurried. And as the broad sun\nrose over the broad ocean the feet of the white and the red horse were\nscattering the foam along the shore.\n\nAnd as they watched they saw Merlin\u2019s island grow out of the dimness of\nthe sea. Then the sun became fuller and it lighted up the White Tower,\nand Eean and Bird-of-Gold knew they had come to their journey\u2019s end\nindeed. They sprang off their horses, and they dipped their hands in\nthe sea, and they kissed each other.\n\n\u201cNow we must cast over on the island the tokens that the Atlantes gave\nus,\u201d Eean said, \u201cthe cocks\u2019 combs and the peacocks\u2019 feathers. If they\ncome to Merlin, he will let us cross to his island, and we can swim our\nhorses over. But how shall we know if the tokens come to him?\u201d\n\nHe raised the bag in which were the cocks\u2019 combs and the four peacocks\u2019\nfeathers. He cast the bag toward the island. Through the air it went\nlike a flying bird.\n\nThey mounted their horses again, ready to swim them across when they\ngot some signal from the island. And the signal came. It was the howl\nof the wolf that was Merlin\u2019s servant.\n\nNow they were to swim their horses across. As they went into the water,\nBird-of-Gold looked back. Down through the heather of the hillside a\nrider was coming. He was on a black horse. They knew him for Zabulun,\nthe Enchanter from whom they were fleeing.\n\n\nIV. HOW EEAN WON HIS RELEASE FROM ZABULUN THE ENCHANTER\n\nMerlin, with the tame wolf that was his servant beside him, was\nstanding by the White Tower on the morning of that Midsummer Day. And\nVivien was upon the tower, singing to her colored birds and looking out\nover the sea.\n\nVivien, who played with her colored birds, had still the look of a\nchild in her face. Her hair was no longer in tangles; it was softer\nthan it was once, and it fell softly over her shoulders. Her eyes, for\nall the child\u2019s look that was in her face, were as if they had seen\nmany things come and change and pass.\n\nLike a King, or like one who had been always near a King, was Merlin\nthe Enchanter. He smiled, and his smile was calm and royal. But one\nmight have said that his eyes were strangely close to each other and\nthat his lips were strangely red.\n\nHis beard was long and gray. He wore a white robe with a belt of green\nleaves around it, and a chaplet of oak leaves was on his head. Vivien\nwas dressed in green, with a golden belt clasped around her, and with\ngreen leaves in her soft hair.\n\nSo they were standing by and on the tower, Merlin, Vivien, and Merlin\u2019s\ntame wolf, when the tokens that were from the Atlantes came. Merlin\nlaid his hand upon the wolf, and the wolf gave the howl that was the\nsignal for Eean and Bird-of-Gold to come on the Island of the White\nTower. The Enchanter saw them ride their horses into the water. And\nthen another token came to him--the token that one magician sends to\nanother, a Bird of Foam it was, and Zabulun sent it.\n\nDeep were the waters, but great-hearted were the horses of King Manus,\nthe white horse and the red horse, and with Eean and Bird-of-Gold\nastride of them they swam to the Island of the White Tower. They came\nto the sloping shore, and the riders helped the horses up to the hard\nground. The white and the red horse stood shivering from their plunge\ninto the ocean. Afterward they threw themselves on the grass and lay as\nstill as if they were dead.\n\nNot to the horses, but out to the sea did Eean and Bird-of-Gold look.\nThe black horse with Zabulun astride him was swimming now. Swiftly to\nthe White Tower where they saw Merlin stand they went.\n\n\u201cO, Merlin,\u201d Eean cried, \u201cto you we have come to save us from the\nEnchanter who has pursued us from one end of the world to the other.\u201d\n\n\u201cFrom whom have you come, you who have sent such tokens?\u201d said Merlin.\n\n\u201cFrom Hermes Trismegistus in his secret cell. And Hermes bade us say\nto you that we have heard from him the answer to the riddle that the\nSphinx asks, and that we crossed the desert to come to you, answering\nthe Sphinx.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho is the Magician who pursues you?\u201d\n\n\u201cZabulun, once a Prince in Babylon, O Merlin.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it he who pursues you?--Zabulun! I shall have a welcome for\nZabulun.\u201d\n\n\u201cSave us, O Merlin, from Zabulun,\u201d Bird-of-Gold cried.\n\nVivien came down from the tower. \u201cIt is Zabulun who comes to our island\nin chase of these two, my Vivien,\u201d Merlin said. \u201cNow you shall see me\nmatch my power with Zabulun\u2019s.\u201d\n\n\u201cA match between magicians, how entertaining it will be!\u201d cried Vivien,\nclapping her hands.\n\n\u201cO lady, if Zabulun is not baffled it will be death or separation for\nus,\u201d said Bird-of-Gold to her.\n\n\u201cMerlin will baffle him--you will find that Merlin will baffle him,\u201d\nsaid Vivien. \u201cYou see, he has done nothing to impress me for an age.\u201d\n\nNow Merlin had sent the tame wolf that was his servant upon an errand,\nand the wolf at this moment returned leading nine men who wore white\nrobes and who had chaplets of oak leaves upon their brows. These were\nthe nine prime bards of the Isle of Britain who had come to the Island\nof the White Tower with Merlin, their chief.\n\nThey stood as he bade them, four on one side and five on the other,\nwith the Enchanter of the Isle of Britain between them. Merlin bade\nEean stand with the four bards. He touched them with his staff, and the\nrow of bards and Eean with them became all as alike as ten peas in a\npea pod. And Merlin went to Bird-of-Gold and touched her also, and she\nbecame like the lady Vivien exactly.\n\nNow the black horse that bore Zabulun came to the sloping bank of the\nIsland of the White Tower, and Zabulun sprang off his back and drew the\nblack horse up on the bank. The horse breathed mightily, and then like\nthe others lay down on the grass.\n\nWith great and sure strides Zabulun came to the White Tower where\nMerlin stood. \u201cHail, Merlin,\u201d he cried in a loud voice.\n\n\u201cHail, Zabulun.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know of an apprentice of mine who has come to your island.\u201d\n\n\u201cFind him, O mighty magician.\u201d\n\nZabulun looked and saw the ten men who looked exactly alike, and the\ntwo women whom one could not tell one from the other. He turned to\nMerlin then and he said, \u201cWhat a simple trick you would play upon me!\nNine bards you have, and there are ten before us. One of them is Eean,\nthe boy apprenticed to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen you will take him, Zabulun.\u201d\n\nIt is certain that Merlin did not think that Zabulun would do what he\ndid now. He changed himself into a hound. Running amongst the ten that\nwere there he snuffed at them. By the smell of the horse he had ridden\nhe would find Eean.\n\nBut as he ran amongst them Merlin touched each of the ten bards and\nEean with them with his staff. They all became pigeons and flew up into\nthe air. One had a feather awry. This was Eean on whom Zabulun had laid\na paw just as he was being transformed.\n\nInstantly Zabulun changed himself into a hawk and strove to rise above\nthe flock of pigeons. As he did he saw the one that had a feather awry.\nOver him he came.\n\nThen Eean, seeing the hawk above him, dropped instantly to the earth.\nThe others flew down with him, crowding around to hide the ruffled\nfeather. They came before the door of Merlin\u2019s house. They flew in\nand lighted down on the floor while the hawk came sweeping up to the\ndoorway.\n\nMerlin touched the pigeons with his staff and again transformed them.\nThey became ten rings of gold that lay upon the floor. As the hawk\nflew in and perched on a chair to fix his eyes upon them, the rings of\ngold rolled into the fire.\n\nThen Zabulun transformed himself into a tongs, and went hunting through\nthe fire for the rings. He picked up one ring and flung it out on the\nfloor, he picked up another ring and flung it out on the floor, and so\non, until the ten rings were out of the fire. Merlin touched the rings\nwith his staff, and they were transformed into ten grains of corn. Upon\nthese ten grains Vivien and Bird-of-Gold threw handful after handful of\ngrains of corn.\n\nBut now Zabulun changed himself into a cock with strong legs and\nwide claws and a hungry beak. With his claws he scratched through\nthe heap of grain. With his beak he picked the grains up. Vivien and\nBird-of-Gold kept throwing on the floor handful after handful of corn\nto cover the ten grains.\n\nBut the beak of the cock went so fiercely and so hungrily amongst them\nthat only a few grains more than the ten were left upon the floor when\nVivien and Bird-of-Gold found out they had no more handfuls to fling.\nThen it seemed as if the cock with his sharp eye would soon pick out\nthe grain that was Eean.\n\nThen with his staff Merlin touched nine of the grains, leaving one\nuntouched. The one he left untouched was Eean. The nine were changed\ninto weasels, and they faced the cock fiercely. Then was Zabulun\nstartled. Instead of picking at the grain that was Eean he fluttered up\nfrom the ground, and went out of the door of the house.\n\nMerlin touched the grain that was left and Eean stood up. Bird-of-Gold\nclapped her hands for joy on seeing him again. But Eean ran out of the\ndoor of the house after the cock that was Zabulun the Enchanter. He\nsnatched up a strong staff as he ran.\n\nZabulun had changed back into his own form. But now Eean had no fear\nof him. He ran toward him. And Zabulun took up a staff that was lying\nthere and made to defend himself.\n\nThen began the battle between Eean and Zabulun. Eean struck at Zabulun,\nand Zabulun struck at Eean, and each defended himself with the staff\nthat he had. They fought their way across the island, from one side\nto the other. They fought until their staves were broken and until\nthey were covered with bruises. Then they threw away their staves and\ngripped one another. All around the island they wrestled. Strong were\nthe hands of Zabulun upon Eean, and yet Eean was not thrown by Zabulun.\nEean felt his own hands were strong upon Zabulun, and yet he could not\nthrow him. Soon Eean lost sense of everything except two gripping and\nrocking figures.\n\nThey wrestled their way across the island, down to the shore where they\nhad landed and where the three horses of King Manus were lying. They\nwrestled until the sea water came over their feet. Again things became\nclear to Eean. He knew that if he could overthrow the Enchanter he\nwould win his freedom from him.\n\nHe fastened upon Zabulun a grip that seemed to be stronger than his own\nlife. He heaved with a power that seemed to bring up his last breath.\nHe bent Zabulun over. He brought him down, his head in the water. He\nflung himself upon the prone Enchanter.\n\n\u201cWhat would you have of me?\u201d Zabulun said at last.\n\n\u201cRelease. Say you have no more mastership in me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI say it. I have no more mastership in you. You have release from me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI let you rise.\u201d\n\nThen Eean took his grip off Zabulun. The Enchanter rose up and took\nhimself out of the water.\n\nSo Zabulun was defeated, and so release was given to Eean, The Boy\nApprenticed to the Enchanter. Zabulun mounted the black horse that was\nKing Manus\u2019s and had him swim the water. He rode across the plain and\nover one mountain and another mountain until he came to the castle of\nKing Manus. There he left the horse to neigh for his grooms.\n\nWhat became of Zabulun afterward is not written in the book that is the\nHistory of the Enchanters. Some say that from that Midsummer\u2019s Day he\nceased to be named with the great Enchanters. The powers he had gained,\nthey say, shrank from him. Afterward a famous juggler appeared in the\nworld. He used to go into the halls of Kings on festival nights and do\nmarvelous feats with balls and rings and knives, and play music on all\nmanner of instruments, going from King\u2019s castle to King\u2019s castle. That\njuggler, they say--but they may be mistaken--was Zabulun, once Prince\nof Babylon, and once master of the Inaccessible Island.\n\nEean and Bird-of-Gold went within the White Tower, and conversed from\nnoon to dusk with Merlin and the lady Vivien. Before that Midsummer\u2019s\nDay had passed into darkness, they mounted the white steed and the\nred steed and had them swim across the waters. When they came to the\nfarther shore they let the horses stand for a while. Then mounting them\nagain they rode over the mountains and across the plains and came again\nto the castle of King Manus.\n\n\nV. THE RETURN OF KING MANUS\u2019S HORSES\n\nAgain Manus, King of the Western Island, sat in his supper hall. The\ntorches were in their sconces, the candles were lighted on the table,\nthe hearth fire was blazing on the hearth, and his lords once again\nsat to the right and the left of him. But this time they sat without\nlaughter and without high words.\n\nThe harper and the story-teller were at the table too, but they neither\nmade music nor told stories. They had tried, both, that evening, but no\none had listened to them. Outside, the iron door of the stable gaped\nwide, and the grooms and horse boys and watchers stood idly around or\nwent quarreling amongst themselves. It was very difficult, as you may\nimagine, for the harper to play upon his harp when he would hear the\nKing say into his wine cup, \u201cO, Raven, my black horse, where art thou\nnow?\u201d And it was equally difficult for the story-teller to get on with\nhis tale when he would see the King looking at him with unseeing eyes\nand hear him say, \u201cO, my white and my red horses, what would I not give\nif I saw you back in my courtyard again?\u201d\n\nSo you can imagine the silence that was upon the supper board that was\nwont to resound with conversation and story-telling, with music and\npledges of the wine cup. \u201cO, Raven, my black horse, where art thou\nnow?\u201d said the King once again; and then, \u201cWhat would I not give to\nhave my white and my red horse in the courtyard again?\u201d And these were\nall the words that King Manus could be got to say.\n\nAnd then, suddenly, a loud neigh was heard outside. Straightway King\nManus ran out of the supper hall. The lords, the minstrel, and the\nstory-teller, the stewards, servers, and attendants, ran with him. And\nwhen they came as far as the wide door of the castle they ran into the\ngrooms and the horse boys who were running from the stable. All ran\ntogether. And there, in the middle of the courtyard, without a rider\nupon his back, was Raven, the King\u2019s black horse.\n\nThey brought him into his stall in the stable, and they combed him and\nthey groomed him; they gave him the red wheat and the white barley to\neat and the clear spring water to drink. King Manus could hardly be\nprevailed upon to leave Raven\u2019s stall and come back into the supper\nhall. But at length they got him back into his seat, and then the\nsupper board resounded with pledges of the wine cup as the King and his\nlords drank to each other merrily.\n\nAgain there was neighing in the courtyard, this time a double neighing.\nStraightway the King ran out and all who were near ran with him. They\nran into the grooms and the horse boys who were running from the\nstable. There in the courtyard were the white horse and the red horse.\nThey were not unmounted, however, for Eean and Bird-of-Gold were upon\nthem.\n\nThis time King Manus grew into such glee that he swore by the open hand\nof his father that he would make a duke of every lord who was with him\nthat night. There were great rejoicings. Some tossed their torches so\nhigh that they frightened the owls out of the cornices on the castle.\nThe grooms brought the white horse and the red horse into their stalls\nin the stable, and they fed them with red wheat and white barley, and\ngave them the clear spring water to drink.\n\nThen they went to carry Eean and Bird-of-Gold into the supper hall.\nThey were not to be found for a while, for Anluan, Eean\u2019s father, had\nled them away. He was seen to weep over Eean, and to take the hands of\nBird-of-Gold and kiss her while he called her daughter. And to Anluan\nKing Manus gave the privilege of bringing them to the supper board.\n\nThe King put Eean into the story-teller\u2019s seat, but he had Bird-of-Gold\nsit beside him on his left hand. The feast began all over again, and\nwent on from egg to apple. And when wine had been drunk King Manus\ncalled upon Eean to tell the story of his journey to Merlin\u2019s Island\nand the full tale of how he had defeated Zabulun the Enchanter.\n\nWhen all was told the King gave presents to Eean and Bird-of-Gold and\nhe swore that for a year and a day he would have them live with him in\nhis castle. \u201cAnd,\u201d said he, \u201cthis girl, Bird-of-Gold, has been very\nloving and faithful to you as you have been to her, and for a further\nbenefit to you I shall have the old blind sage come down from his attic\nin the castle and marry you here and now.\u201d Eean and Bird-of-Gold took\neach other\u2019s hands as he said this, and the old blind sage was brought\ndown from his attic chamber, and he married Bird-of-Gold and Eean by\nthe rays of the rising sun.\n\nFor a year and a day they lived in King Manus\u2019s royal castle. Now Eean\nhad learnt so much of the arts and crafts and mysteries that belong to\nan Enchanter that he was able to do great works for the King. Castles\nhe built that gave security, and bridges that brought people together,\nand mills that ground for the people abundance of corn. He had become\nso strong and so sure of himself since his encounter with Zabulun that\nall he set out to perform he did well. And his wife, Bird-of-Gold,\nloved him so much that her thought never went back to the country she\nhad come from. Always, they say, she kept a flock of white ducks;\nperhaps they reminded her of the thousand ducks that was the fortune\nshe brought into Babylon.\n\nBut the story-teller must not forget to tell you about the question\nthat Eean asked Merlin the Enchanter on King Manus\u2019s behalf. It was\nabout a game of chess that King Manus had been playing with his\nbrother-in-law, King Connal, for half their lifetimes without either\nhaving victory in sight. Moreover, they had inherited the game from\ntheir fathers, and it was now being played for fifty years. Merlin\ntold Eean what the moves should be, and the day after he came to the\ncastle, Eean took the chess board and showed them to the King. With\nthat instruction he played. The game of chess was finished three days\nafterwards, and great fame and honor came to King Manus.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n               Printed in the United States of America.\n\n\n\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\nEvery effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as\npossible.\n\nThe following change was made to the original. The first line is the\noriginal line, the second the corrected one.\n\nPage 119:\nyou have heard from him to answer to the riddle\nyou have heard from him the answer to the riddle","title":"The Boy Apprenticed to an Enchanter","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":29791}