{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_56153/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_56153","id":"gutenberg_56153","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56153","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: French Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction","Children's stories","Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"Note: Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive. See\n      https://archive.org/details/cu31924027805864\n\n\n\n\n\nEVENING TALES\n\nDone into English from the French of\n\nFR\u00c9D\u00c9RIC ORTOLI\n\nby\n\nJoel Chandler Harris\n\nAuthor of \"Uncle Remus\"\n\nAuthorized Edition\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York\nCharles Scribner's Sons\n1919\n\nCopyright, 1893, by\nCharles Scribner's Sons\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  I                                            PAGE\n  A FRENCH TAR-BABY,                              1\n\n  II\n  TEENCHY DUCK,                                  13\n\n  III\n  MR. SNAIL AND BROTHER WOLF,                    34\n\n  IV\n  THE LION'S SECRET,                             39\n\n  V\n  THE KING AND THE LAPWINGS,                     64\n\n  VI\n  THE ROOSTER, THE CAT, AND THE REAP-HOOK,       75\n\n  VII\n  THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND,                        101\n\n  VIII\n  BROTHER TIGER AND DADDY SHEEP,                109\n\n  IX\n  \"JUMP IN MY SACK!\"                            128\n\n  X\n  A SEARCH FOR A FRIEND,                        155\n\n  XI\n  A CHILD OF THE ROSES,                         163\n\n  XII\n  THE KING OF THE LIONS,                        189\n\n  XIII\n  THE VIZIER, THE MONKEY, THE LION, AND\n    THE SERPENT,                                198\n\n  XIV\n  THE ENCHANTED PRINCESS,                       222\n\n  XV\n  LOONY JOHN,                                   261\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nOnce upon a time Mr. Wendell P. Garrison, the literary editor of _The\nNation_, sent me a picture he had found in a catalogue of French books.\nIt represented a very interesting scene. There were the Tar-Baby and\nBrother Rabbit as natural as life; but Brother Fox was missing. His\nplace had been supplied by Brother Billy Goat, whose formidable horns\nand fierce beard seemed to add to the old episode a new danger for poor\nBrother Rabbit.\n\nThe picture was an advertisement of _Les Contes de la Veill\u00e9e_, by\nFr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Ortoli. After a while the book itself came to hand, forwarded\nno doubt by some thoughtful American tourist who had been interested\nin the Tar-Baby in French. The volume was examined, and in some sort\nrelished, laid aside for future reference, and then forgotten.\n\nBut one night after supper the children of the household were suddenly\nmissing. There was no romping going on in the hall. There were no\nvoices to be heard on the lawn. There was no rippit taking place in the\nbedrooms. What could the matter be? Had the storm-centre moved in the\ndirection of our innocent neighbors? The silence was so unusual that it\ncreated a sudden sense of loneliness.\n\nBut the investigation that followed showed that the youngsters had\nmerely made a temporary surrender of their privileges. Their mother\nwas reading to them some of the stories in M. Ortoli's book, and they\nwere listening with an interest that childhood can neither affect nor\ndisguise. I begged permission to make one of the audience.\n\n\"But you have writing to do,\" said one of the lads.\n\n\"It will disturb you,\" said one of the girls.\n\nNevertheless, the lady, who was and is the centre of this family\ncircle, graciously made room for one more listener; and thus it happens\nthat this little volume of M. Ortoli's stories is in the nature of a\nfamily affair. The lady, for the benefit of the intruder, was pleased\nto go over the stories again, and to read them more slowly, and thus\nthey were put in their present form. Most frequently I have preserved\nthe swift and piquant rendering, the fluent interpretation that fell\nfrom the lady's lips.\n\nMy apologies are perhaps due to M. Ortoli for a certain freedom of\ntreatment that has been deemed necessary in some of the stories. I\ntrust this has not been carried too far; but in some instances it has\nbeen necessary to English the characters and incidents as well as the\ntext. Nevertheless, an effort has been made to preserve something of\nthe individuality of M. Ortoli, and I think that at least the flavor of\nit will be found in the stories that follow.\n\n  J. C. H.\n\n  WEST END, ATLANTA, GA.\n\n\n\n\nEVENING TALES\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nA FRENCH TAR-BABY\n\n\nIn the time when there were hobgoblins and fairies, Brother Goat and\nBrother Rabbit lived in the same neighborhood, not far from each other.\n\nProud of his long beard and sharp horns, Brother Goat looked on Brother\nRabbit with disdain. He would hardly speak to Brother Rabbit when he\nmet him, and his greatest pleasure was to make his little neighbor the\nvictim of his tricks and practical jokes. For instance, he would say:\n\n\"Brother Rabbit, here is Mr. Fox,\" and this would cause Brother Rabbit\nto run away as hard as he could. Again he would say:\n\n\"Brother Rabbit, here is Mr. Wolf,\" and poor Brother Rabbit would shake\nand tremble with fear. Sometimes he would cry out:\n\n\"Brother Rabbit, here is Mr. Tiger,\" and then Brother Rabbit would\nshudder and think that his last hour had come.\n\nTired of this miserable existence, Brother Rabbit tried to think of\nsome means by which he could change his powerful and terrible neighbor\ninto a friend. After a time, he thought he had discovered a way to make\nBrother Goat his friend, and so he invited him to dinner.\n\nBrother Goat was quick to accept the invitation. The dinner was a\nfine affair, and there was an abundance of good eating. A great many\ndifferent dishes were served. Brother Goat licked his mouth and shook\nhis long beard with satisfaction. He had never before been present at\nsuch a feast.\n\n\"Well, my friend,\" exclaimed Brother Rabbit, when the dessert was\nbrought in, \"how do you like your dinner?\"\n\n\"I could certainly wish for nothing better,\" replied Brother Goat,\nrubbing the tips of his horns against the back of his chair; \"but\nmy throat is very dry and a little water would hurt neither the dinner\nnor me.\"\n\n\"Gracious!\" said Brother Rabbit, \"I have neither wine-cellar nor water.\nI am not in the habit of drinking while I am eating.\"\n\n\"Neither have I any water, Brother Rabbit,\" said Brother Goat. \"But I\nhave an idea! If you will go with me over yonder by the big poplar, we\nwill dig a well.\"\n\n\"No, Brother Goat,\" said Brother Rabbit, who hoped to revenge\nhimself\u2014\"no, I do not care to dig a well. At daybreak I drink the dew\nfrom the cups of the flowers, and in the heat of the day I milk the\ncows and drink the cream.\"\n\n\"Well and good,\" said Brother Goat. \"Alone I will dig the well, and\nalone I will drink out of it.\"\n\n\"Success to you, Brother Goat,\" said Brother Rabbit.\n\n\"Thank you kindly, Brother Rabbit.\"\n\nBrother Goat then went to the foot of the big poplar and began to dig\nhis well. He dug with his forefeet and with his horns, and the well got\ndeeper and deeper. Soon the water began to bubble up and the well was\nfinished, and then Brother Goat made haste to quench his thirst. He\nwas in such a hurry that his beard got in the water, but he drank and\ndrank until he had his fill.\n\nBrother Rabbit, who had followed him at a little distance, hid himself\nbehind a bush and laughed heartily. He said to himself: \"What an\ninnocent creature you are!\"\n\nThe next day, when Brother Goat, with his big beard and sharp horns,\nreturned to his well to get some water, he saw the tracks of Brother\nRabbit in the soft earth. This put him to thinking. He sat down, pulled\nhis beard, scratched his head, and tapped himself on the forehead.\n\n\"My friend,\" he exclaimed after a while, \"I will catch you yet.\"\n\nThen he ran and got his tools (for Brother Goat was something of a\ncarpenter in those days) and made a large doll out of laurel wood. When\nthe doll was finished, he spread tar on it here and there, on the\nright and on the left, and up and down. He smeared it all over with the\nsticky stuff, until it was as black as a Guinea negro.\n\nThis finished, Brother Goat waited quietly until evening. At sunset he\nplaced the tarred doll near the well, and ran and hid himself behind\nthe trees and bushes. The moon had just risen, and the heavens twinkled\nwith millions of little star-torches.\n\nBrother Rabbit, who was waiting in his house, believed that the time\nhad come for him to get some water, so he took his bucket and went to\nBrother Goat's well. On the way he was very much afraid that something\nwould catch him. He trembled when the wind shook the leaves of the\ntrees. He would go a little distance and then stop and listen; he hid\nhere behind a stone, and there behind a tuft of grass.\n\nAt last he arrived at the well, and there he saw the little negro. He\nstopped and looked at it with astonishment. Then he drew back a little\nway, advanced again, drew back, advanced a little, and stopped once\nmore.\n\n\"What can that be?\" he said to himself. He listened, with his long ears\npointed forward, but the trees could not talk, and the bushes were\ndumb. He winked his eyes and lowered his head:\n\n\"Hey, friend! who are you?\" he asked.\n\nThe tar-doll didn't move. Brother Rabbit went up a little closer, and\nasked again:\n\n\"Who are you?\"\n\nThe tar-doll said nothing. Brother Rabbit breathed more at ease. Then\nhe went to the brink of the well, but when he looked in the water the\ntar-doll seemed to look in too. He could see her reflection in the\nwater. This made Brother Rabbit so mad that he grew red in the face.\n\n\"See here!\" he exclaimed, \"if you look in this well I'll give you a rap\non the nose!\"\n\nBrother Rabbit leaned over the brink of the well, and saw the tar-doll\nsmiling at him in the water. He raised his right hand and hit her\u2014bam!\nHis hand stuck.\n\n\"What's this?\" exclaimed Brother Rabbit. \"Turn me loose, imp of Satan!\nIf you do not, I will rap you on the eye with my other hand.\"\n\nThen he hit her\u2014bim! The left hand stuck also. Then Brother Rabbit\nraised his right foot, saying:\n\n\"Mark me well, little Congo! Do you see this foot? I will kick you in\nthe stomach if you do not turn me loose this instant.\"\n\nNo sooner said than done. Brother Rabbit let fly his right foot\u2014vip!\nThe foot stuck, and he raised the other.\n\n\"Do you see this foot?\" he exclaimed. \"If I hit you with it, you will\nthink a thunderbolt has struck you.\"\n\nThen he kicked her with the left foot, and it also stuck like the\nother, and Brother Rabbit held fast his Guinea negro.\n\n\"Watch out, now!\" he cried. \"I've already butted a great many people\nwith my head. If I butt you in your ugly face I'll knock it into a\njelly. Turn me loose! Oho! you don't answer?\" Bap!\n\n\"Guinea girl!\" exclaimed Brother Rabbit, \"are you dead? Gracious\ngoodness! how my head does stick!\"\n\nWhen the sun rose, Brother Goat went to his well to find out something\nabout Brother Rabbit. The result was beyond his expectations.\n\n\"Hey, little rogue, big rogue!\" exclaimed Brother Goat. \"Hey, Brother\nRabbit! what are you doing there? I thought you drank the dew from the\ncups of the flowers, or milk from the cows. Aha, Brother Rabbit! I will\npunish you for stealing my water.\"\n\n\"I am your friend,\" said Brother Rabbit; \"don't kill me.\"\n\n\"Thief, thief!\" cried Brother Goat, and then he ran quickly into the\nwoods, gathered up a pile of dry limbs, and made a great fire. He took\nBrother Rabbit from the tar-doll, and prepared to burn him alive. As he\nwas passing a thicket of brambles with Brother Rabbit on his shoulders,\nBrother Goat met his daughter B\u00e9l\u00e9die, who was walking about in the\nfields.\n\n\"Where are you going, papa, muffled up with such a burden? Come and\neat the fresh grass with me, and throw wicked Brother Rabbit in the\nbrambles.\"\n\nCunning Brother Rabbit raised his long ears and pretended to be very\nmuch frightened.\n\n\"Oh, no, Brother Goat!\" he cried. \"Don't throw me in the brambles. They\nwill tear my flesh, put out my eyes, and pierce my heart. Oh, I pray\nyou, rather throw me in the fire.\"\n\n\"Aha, little rogue, big rogue! Aha, Brother Rabbit!\" exclaimed Brother\nGoat, exultingly, \"you don't like the brambles? Well, then, go and laugh\nin them,\" and he threw Brother Rabbit in without a feeling of pity.\n\nBrother Rabbit fell in the brambles, leaped to his feet, and began to\nlaugh.\n\n\"Ha-ha-ha! Brother Goat, what a simpleton you are!\u2014ha-ha-ha! A better\nbed I never had! In these brambles I was born!\"\n\nBrother Goat was in despair, but he could not help himself. Brother\nRabbit was safe.\n\nA long beard is not always a sign of intelligence.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nTEENCHY DUCK\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived in a village in some country (I do not\nknow where, but certainly nowhere near here), an old man and an old\nwoman who were very poor indeed. They had never been able to save a\nsingle penny. They had no farm, not even a garden. They had nothing but\na little Duck that walked around on her two feet every day, singing\nthe song of famine. \"Quack! quack! Who will give me a piece of bread?\nQuack! quack! Who will give me a piece of bread?\" This little Duck was\nso small that she was named Teenchy Duck.\n\nIt so happened one day that Teenchy Duck was paddling in the water\nnear the river's edge when she saw a fine purse filled with gold. At\nonce she began to flap her wings and cry: \"Quack! quack! Who has lost\nhis beautiful money? Quack! quack! Who has lost his beautiful money?\"\n\nJust at that moment the Prince of the Seven Golden Cows passed along\nthe road. He was richer than all the kings and emperors, but he was\nmean and miserly. He walked along with a stick in his hand, and as he\nwalked he counted in his mind the millions that he had stored away in\nhis strong-box.\n\n\"Quack! quack! Who lost his beautiful money? Quack! quack! Who lost his\nbeautiful money?\" cried Teenchy Duck.\n\n\"I have lost it,\" brazenly exclaimed the Prince of the Seven Golden\nCows, and then he seized the purse full of money that Teenchy Duck\nheld in her bill, and went on his way.\n\nThe poor Puddle Duck was so astonished at this that she could scarcely\nstand on her feet.\n\n\"Well, well!\" she exclaimed, \"that rich lord has kept all for himself\nand given me nothing. May he be destroyed by a pestilence!\"\n\nTeenchy Duck at once ran to her master, and told him what had happened.\nWhen her master learned the value of what Teenchy Duck had found, and\nthe trick that had been played on her by the Prince of the Seven Golden\nCows, he went into a violent rage.\n\n\"Why, you big simpleton!\" he exclaimed, \"you find money and you do not\nbring it to us? You give it to a big lord, who did not lose it, when\nwe poor people need it, so much. Go out of this house instantly, and\ndon't dare to come back until you have brought me the purse of gold!\"\n\nUnfortunate Teenchy Duck trembled in all her limbs, and made herself\nsmall and humble; but she found voice to say:\n\n\"You are right, my master! I go at once to find the Prince of the Seven\nGolden Cows.\"\n\nBut once out of doors the poor Puddle Duck thought to herself\nsorrowfully: \"How and where can I find the Prince who was so mean as to\nsteal the beautiful money?\"\n\nTeenchy Duck was so bewildered that she began to strike her head\nagainst the rocks in despair. Suddenly an idea came into her mind. She\nwould follow his tracks, and the marks that his walking-stick made in\nthe ground until she came to the castle of the Prince of the Seven\nGolden Cows.\n\nNo sooner thought than done. Teenchy Duck went waddling down the road\nin the direction taken by the miserly Prince, crying, with all her\nmight:\n\n\"Quack! quack! Give me back my beautiful money! Quack! quack! Give me\nback my beautiful money!\"\n\nBrother Fox, who was taking his ease a little way from the road, heard\nTeenchy Duck's cries, and knew her voice. He went to her and said:\n\n\"What in the world is the matter with you, my poor Teenchy Duck? You\nlook sad and broken-hearted.\"\n\n\"I have good reason to be,\" said Teenchy Duck. \"This morning, while\npaddling in the river, I found a purse full of gold, and gave it to the\nPrince of the Seven Golden Cows, thinking it was his. But now, here\ncomes my master and asks me for it, and says he will kill me if I do\nnot bring it to him pretty soon.\"\n\n\"Well, where are you going in this style?\" asked Brother Fox.\n\n\"I am going straight to the Prince of the Seven Golden Cows,\" said\nTeenchy Duck.\n\n\"Shall I go with you?\" asked Brother Fox.\n\n\"I'd be only too glad if you would,\" exclaimed Teenchy Duck.\n\n\"But how can I go?\" said Brother Fox.\n\n\"Get in my satchel,\" said Teenchy Duck, \"and I'll carry you the best I\nknow how.\"\n\n\"It isn't big enough,\" said Brother Fox.\n\n\"It will stretch,\" said Teenchy Duck. So Brother Fox got in the\nsatchel, and Teenchy Duck went waddling along the road, crying:\n\"Quack! quack! Give me back my beautiful money!\"\n\nShe had not gone far when she met Brother Wolf, who was passing that way.\n\n\"What are you crying so for?\" he inquired. \"One would think you were\ngoing to die on the journey.\"\n\n\"It is only too true,\" said Teenchy Duck, and then she told Brother\nWolf about finding the money-purse, just as she had told Brother Fox.\n\n\"Perhaps I can be of some service to you,\" said Brother Wolf. \"Shall I\ngo with you?\"\n\n\"I am willing,\" said Teenchy Duck.\n\n\"But how can I go so far?\" Brother Wolf asked.\n\n\"Get in my satchel,\" said Teenchy Duck, \"and I'll carry you as I can.\"\n\n\"It is too small,\" said Brother Wolf.\n\n\"It will stretch mightily,\" said Teenchy Duck.\n\nThen Brother Wolf went to keep company with Brother Fox.\n\nTeenchy Duck went on her way again. She didn't walk very fast, for her\nsatchel was heavy; but she never ceased crying: \"Quack! quack! Give me\nback my beautiful money.\"\n\nNow it happened, as she was going along, she came up with a Ladder,\nwhich said, without asking after her health:\n\n\"My poor Teenchy Duck! You do not seem to be very happy.\"\n\n\"I should think not!\" exclaimed Teenchy Duck.\n\n\"What can the matter be?\" the Ladder asked.\n\nTeenchy Duck then told her story over again.\n\n\"I am not doing anything at present,\" said the Ladder; \"shall I go\nwith you?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Teenchy Duck.\n\n\"But how can I go, I who never walk?\" inquired the Ladder.\n\n\"Why, get in my satchel,\" said Teenchy Duck, \"and I'll carry you the\nbest I know how.\"\n\nThe Ladder was soon in the satchel with Brother Fox and Brother Wolf,\nand Teenchy Duck went on her way, following the tracks of the Prince of\nthe Seven Golden Cows, and always crying:\n\n\"Quack! quack! Give me back my beautiful money!\"\n\nGoing along and crying thus, Teenchy Duck came to her best and oldest\nfriend, the River.\n\n\"What are you doing here?\" said the River, in astonishment, \"and why\nare you crying so? When I saw you this morning you seemed to be very\nhappy.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" said Teenchy Duck, \"would you believe it? I have not eaten since\nyesterday.\"\n\n\"And why not?\" asked the sympathetic River.\n\n\"You saw me find the purse of gold,\" said Teenchy Duck, \"and you saw\nthe Prince seize it. Ah, well! my master will kill me if I do not get\nit and return it to him.\"\n\n\"Sometimes,\" the River replied, \"a little help does a great deal of\ngood. Shall I go with you?\"\n\n\"I should be very happy,\" said Teenchy Duck.\n\n\"But how can I follow you\u2014I that have no limbs?\" said the River.\n\n\"Get in my satchel,\" said Teenchy Duck. \"I'll carry you as I can.\"\n\nThen the River got in the satchel by the side of the other friends of\nTeenchy Duck.\n\nShe went on her journey, keeping her eyes on the ground, so as not\nto lose sight of the tracks of the thief, but still crying for her\nbeautiful money. On her way she came to a Bee-Hive, which had a mind to\nlaugh because Teenchy Duck was carrying such a burden.\n\n\"Hey, my poor Teenchy Duck! What a big, fat satchel you have there!\"\nsaid the Bee-Hive.\n\n\"I'm not in the humor for joking, my dear,\" said Teenchy Duck.\n\n\"Why are you so sad?\"\n\n\"I have been very unfortunate, good little people,\" said Teenchy Duck,\naddressing herself to the Bees, and then she told her story.\n\n\"Shall we go with you?\" asked the Bees.\n\n\"Yes, yes!\" exclaimed Teenchy Duck. \"In these days of sorrow I stand in\nneed of friends.\"\n\n\"How shall we follow you?\" asked the Bees.\n\n\"Get in my satchel,\" said Teenchy Duck. \"I'll carry you the best I know\nhow.\"\n\nThen the Bees shook their wings for joy and swarmed into the satchel\nalong with the other friends of Teenchy Duck.\n\nShe resumed her journey, always crying for the return of her beautiful\nmoney. She walked and walked without stopping to rest a moment, until\nher legs almost refused to carry her. At last, just as night was coming\non, Teenchy Duck saw with joy that the tracks of the Prince of the\nSeven Golden Cows stopped at the iron gate that barred the way to a\nsplendid castle.\n\n\"Ah!\" she exclaimed, \"I have arrived at my journey's end, and I have no\nneed to knock on the gate. I will creep under.\"\n\nTeenchy Duck entered the grounds and cried out: \"Quack! quack! Give me\nmy beautiful money!\"\n\nThe Prince heard her and laughed scornfully. How could a poor Teenchy\nDuck compel a great lord to return the purse of gold?\n\nTeenchy Duck continued to cry:\n\n\"Quack! quack! Give me back my beautiful money!\"\n\nIt was night, and the Prince of the Seven Golden Cows ordered one of\nhis servants to take Teenchy Duck and shut her up in the hennery with\nthe turkeys, the geese, and the chickens, thinking that these fowls\nwould kill the stranger, and that her disagreeable song would forever\nbe at an end.\n\nThis order was immediately carried out by the servant, but no sooner\nhad Teenchy Duck entered the hennery than she exclaimed:\n\n\"Brother Fox, if you do not come to my assistance I am lost!\"\n\nBrother Fox came out of the satchel promptly, and worked so well at his\ntrade that of all the fowls he found there not one remained alive.\n\nAt break of day the servant-girl, whose business it was to attend to\nthe poultry-yard, opened the door of the hennery, and was astounded to\nsee Teenchy Duck come out, singing the same old song:\n\n\"Quack! quack! Give me back my beautiful money!\"\n\nThe astonished girl immediately ran and told her master, the Prince,\nwhat had happened, and the wife of the Prince, who had at that moment\nlearned all, said to her husband:\n\n\"This Duck is a Witch. Give her the money, or it will bring us bad luck.\"\n\nThe Prince of the Seven Golden Cows refused to listen to any advice.\nHe believed that the fox had only happened to enter his hennery by\naccident.\n\nTeenchy Duck made herself heard all day, and at night the Prince said\nto his servants:\n\n\"Take this squaller and throw her in the stable under the feet of the\nmules and horses. We will see in the morning what she will say.\"\n\nThe servants obeyed, and Teenchy Duck immediately cried:\n\n\"Brother Wolf, if you do not come quickly to my aid I shall be killed.\"\n\nBrother Wolf made no delay, and it was not long before he had destroyed\nthe horses and the mules. Next morning, before day, the servants went\nto get the animals to put them to the ploughs and wagons; but when they\nsaw them lying dead their astonishment was indescribable. In the stable\nTeenchy Duck stood alone, singing, in her most beautiful voice:\n\n\"Quack! quack! Give me back my beautiful money!\"\n\nWhen the Prince of the Seven Golden Cows heard of this disaster he\nbecame white with rage, and in his fury he wanted to give his servants\na thousand lashes for not having taken necessary precautions against\nthe Wolf. But his wife calmed him little by little, saying:\n\n\"My husband, give back to Teenchy Duck this purse you have taken, or\nelse we shall be ruined.\"\n\n\"No,\" cried the Prince, \"she shall never have it!\"\n\nAll this time Teenchy Duck was promenading up and down, to the right\nand to the left, singing, at the top of her voice:\n\n\"Quack! quack! Give me back my beautiful money!\"\n\n\"Heavens!\" said the Prince, stopping his ears, \"I am tired of hearing\nthis ugly fowl squall and squawk. Quick! throw her in the well or the\nfurnace, so that we may be rid of her.\"\n\n\"What shall we do first?\" the servants asked.\n\n\"It matters not,\" said the Prince, \"so long as we are rid of her.\"\n\nThe servants took Teenchy Duck and threw her in the well, thinking this\nthe easiest and the quickest way to dispose of her.\n\nAs Teenchy Duck was falling, she cried: \"Come to my assistance, good\nLadder, or I am undone.\"\n\nThe Ladder immediately came out of the satchel, and leaned against the\nwalls of the well. Teenchy Duck came up the rounds, singing:\n\n\"Quack, quack! Give me back my beautiful money!\"\n\nEverybody was astonished, and the Prince's wife kept saying: \"Give this\nwitch her money.\"\n\n\"They would say that I am afraid of a Teenchy Duck,\" said the Prince of\nthe Seven Golden Cows. \"I will never give it up.\" Then, speaking to his\nservants, he said: \"Heat the oven; heat it to a white heat, and throw\nthis witch in.\"\n\nThe servants were compelled to obey, but they were so frightened that\nnone dared touch her. At last, one bolder than the rest seized her\nby the end of the wing and threw her in the red-hot oven. Everybody\nthought that this was the end of Teenchy Duck, but she had had time to\ncry out:\n\n\"Oh, my dear friend River, come to my assistance, or I shall be roasted.\"\n\nThe River rushed out and quenched the fire and cooled the oven.\n\nWhen the Prince went to see what was left of Teenchy Duck, she met him,\nand began to repeat her familiar refrain:\n\n\"Quack, quack! Give me back my beautiful money!\"\n\nThe Prince of the Seven Golden Cows was furious.\n\n\"You are all blockheads!\" he cried to his servants. \"You never knew\nhow to do anything. Get out of here! I will drive you off the place!\nHereafter I will take charge of this fiend myself.\"\n\nThat night, before retiring, the Prince and his wife went and got\nTeenchy Duck, and prepared to give her such a beating as they had no\ndoubt would cause her death.\n\nFortunately, Teenchy Duck saw the danger and cried out:\n\n\"Friend Bees! come out and help me.\"\n\nA buzzing sound was heard, and then the Bees swarmed on the Prince and\nhis wife, and stung them so terribly that they became frightful to\nbehold.\n\n\"Return the money to this ugly witch,\" groaned the unfortunate wife.\n\"Run, or we are done for.\"\n\nThe Prince did not wait to be told twice. He ran and got the purse full\nof gold, and returned it to Teenchy Duck.\n\n\"Here,\" said he, \"I am conquered. But get out of my grounds quickly.\"\n\nFull of joy, Teenchy Duck went out into the road singing: \"Quack,\nquack! I have got my beautiful money! Quack, quack! Here is my\nbeautiful money!\"\n\nOn her way home she returned the friends that had aided her to the\nplaces where she had found them, thanking them kindly for their\nassistance in time of need.\n\nAt break of day Teenchy Duck found herself at her master's door. She\naroused him by her loud cries. After that, the family was rich, but the\nmaster and mistress were not happy, for they knew the money did not\nbelong to them.\n\nTeenchy Duck was well taken care of, and grew to be large and fat. If\nshe went to the village pond at all, it was only to take a bath with\nher comrades and to tell a certain Duck of her remarkable exploit of\nrecovering the beautiful money.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nMR. SNAIL AND BROTHER WOLF\n\n\nOne night, in the season when the hawthorn flowers were blooming and\nperfuming the air, Brother Wolf came out of the woods, and ran down\nthe hill in a brisk gallop. A little Snail saw Brother Wolf\u2014a little\nSnail, who, to accommodate himself, carried his house on his back\nand his horns on his head. He was a very funny little Snail; and, as\nBrother Wolf was passing, he laughed aloud\u2014\n\n\"Ha, ha, ha! He, he, he!\"\n\nHearing this, Brother Wolf paused, turned around, and said:\n\n\"Why do you laugh, little Snail?\"\n\n\"Why do I laugh?\" exclaimed Mr. Snail.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Brother Wolf. \"Do you see anything ridiculous about me?\"\n\n\"No, Brother Wolf,\" said Mr. Snail; \"on the contrary, you make a very\nfine appearance. You have on your Sunday clothes, and you are handsome\nindeed. No, Brother Wolf, you are not at all ridiculous.\"\n\n\"Why, then, this laughter?\" inquired Brother Wolf. \"Answer me at once,\nfor I am in a hurry. Speak this instant, or it will not be well for\nyou.\"\n\n\"Do not get angry, Brother Wolf; it is not worth while. I only laughed\nto see you running so fast when neither dogs nor men were pursuing you.\nWhere are you going in such a hurry?\"\n\n\"I am going to the city,\" said Brother Wolf.\n\n\"To the city?\" exclaimed Mr. Snail. \"What do you propose to do there?\"\n\n\"I want to see my brother, who is sick in the menagerie. He has written\nme to come to him.\"\n\n\"That is very queer,\" said Mr. Snail. \"I am going to the city also.\"\n\n\"Bosh!\" exclaimed Brother Wolf, contemptuously. \"Hens will have teeth\nand sows side-pockets before you get there.\"\n\nMr. Snail felt himself somewhat insulted at Brother Wolf's remark, and\nreplied:\n\n\"I do not know how long it takes a hen to have teeth; but one thing I\ndo know, and that is, that I will arrive in the city before you do.\"\n\n\"You have no legs, and you carry your house on your back,\" said Brother\nWolf; \"how will you manage to get there?\"\n\n\"Don't trouble about that,\" said Mr. Snail. \"My house is mine, and I\ndo not need legs. I will be in the city before you.\"\n\n\"You make me very tired with your talk,\" said Brother Wolf. \"If you\nare not joking, let us wager a breakfast that you do not get there\nfirst\u2014that is, if you are not joking.\"\n\n\"Very well, then,\" said Mr. Snail, \"let it be a breakfast. I even give\nyou three jumps in advance, and after that you may gallop.\"\n\nWhile Brother Wolf was making ready for the start, Mr. Snail crawled up\non his tail. When the signal was given, the Wolf hurried on, going very\nrapidly and without a moment's rest. He arrived in the city the next\nday; but found the gates closed. Brother Wolf knocked very hard, and\nwaited for some one to come and admit him.\n\nDuring this time Mr. Snail dropped on the ground and climbed on the\nwall.\n\n\"Is that you, my friend?\" he exclaimed. \"I have been waiting for you a\nlong time. I am hungry now, and want my breakfast.\"\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE LION'S SECRET\n\n\nOnce upon a time there were two brothers, who were orphans. The oldest\nwas named Mahobane and the youngest Lovallec. These unfortunate\nchildren had been beggars since they were six years of age. They went\nfrom house to house and from village to village, on mountains and in\nvalleys, but wherever they went their cry was the same:\n\n\"Good friends! give us alms! Kind friends! help the unfortunate!\"\n\nTheir lot was a hard one, even as children, but it was harder as they\ngrew older, for when the oldest was twenty they discovered that they\nhad only succeeded, after all their efforts, in keeping soul and body\ntogether. Finally, one day, Mahobane exclaimed:\n\n\"I know what I shall do to make a great deal of money in a very short\ntime.\"\n\n\"What is it?\" cried Lovallec.\n\n\"One of us,\" said the eldest, \"will have to become blind and lead the\nother by the hand, going from house to house and along the public\nhighways asking for alms from the people and from the travellers.\"\n\n\"You are right,\" said Lovallec, \"but, alas! neither one of us is blind.\"\n\n\"It will be easy enough,\" said the other, \"to become so.\"\n\n\"How can that be?\" asked Lovallec.\n\n\"Oh, easy enough,\" said the elder. \"One of us will have to put out his\neyes.\"\n\n\"Oh, no!\" exclaimed the younger; \"that would make one of us suffer too\nmuch.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" said Mahobane, to the younger, \"you are timid, you are\ntender-hearted: What is a little suffering in comparison with the happy\ntimes we should have? the soft beds we should sleep in, the fine meats\nthat will be offered us, and the good wines we have not tasted in so\nlong? But it does not follow that you are to be blind,\" continued\nMahobane; \"the lot may fall to me instead of you.\"\n\n\"So be it,\" said the younger; \"let us draw straws.\"\n\nMahobane prepared the straws, and arranged very cleverly to cheat his\nyounger brother. He had no sooner carried his point than he put out his\nbrother's eyes with a thorn.\n\nLovallec screamed loudly under the pain of this operation, but the only\nsympathy he got from his cruel brother was this:\n\n\"Cry louder, my brother! cry louder! for here the people are passing,\nand when they behold your condition they will give us money.\"\n\nIt was even so. Silver and pennies fell into the wooden bowl they\ncarried, and this success was continued for more than a year. Then a\nwicked thought entered the head of Mahobane, the eldest, and he made up\nhis mind to get rid of his unfortunate brother. So one day he carried\nhim into the great forest and left him to wander alone and find his way\nout as best he could; but, being blind, this he was unable to do.\n\n\"Where am I, my dear brother? Where are you?\" But there was no answer\nto his heart-rending cries. The cowardly brother, who had deserted\nhim, was already far away. It was long before Lovallec, the blind one,\nwould believe that his brother could be cruel enough to desert him. He\ncalled and cried for the absent brother, but the only answer he heard\nwas in the mocking echoes. Night came, and he was tired, hungry, and\nthirsty. Despair seized him and he continued his lamentations.\n\n\"Ah, my brother! my brother! how cruel you have been to forsake me! Is\nit my fate to die of hunger at the foot of this tree, or become the\nprey of the ravenous beasts that roam through this forest? No! Better a\nthousand times that I should die at once.\"\n\nWith this the unfortunate brother climbed the tree, at the foot of\nwhich he found himself, groping his way up the trunk, and was preparing\nto throw himself to the ground to end his existence then and there,\nwhen he heard in the forest, near at hand, the terrible roaring of a\nlion. At this sound the leaves and branches of the tree trembled, and\nthe blind unfortunate paused. The roaring of the Lion, as it seemed,\nwas a call to the Wolf, who soon made his appearance at the foot of the\ntree.\n\n\"You are late, Wolf!\" exclaimed the Lion; \"where do you come from?\"\n\n\"I have been at Offemborough,\" said the Wolf, \"where I have tasted\nhuman flesh. There everyone is dying of thirst, and the people are too\nweak to protect themselves. That is why I am late.\" At this the Lion\nlaughed heartily.\n\n\"I know,\" said he, \"how water can be procured for the inhabitants of\nthis city.\"\n\n\"But how can this be done?\" the Wolf inquired.\n\n\"It is easy enough,\" said the Lion, in his positive way; \"take a small\npiece of the root of this very tree under which we are standing, and\nstrike three times on the rock in the middle of the city, saying:\n\n      \"'Come, gentle Dew, from the skies,\n      Refreshing Fountains rise,\n      Oh, Rivers! greet men's eyes!'\n\nand immediately water, fresh and clear as crystal will flow, and it\nwill flow in sufficient abundance to satisfy the needs of all.\"\n\n\"You are wise,\" said the Wolf. \"Can you not give me some other useful\ninformation?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the lion, \"I can tell you a remedy that will cure all sorts\nof maladies and infirmities.\"\n\n\"What is that?\" said the Wolf.\n\n\"To succeed in the art of medicine,\" said the Lion, shaking his mane\nand beard, \"one has only to take the inner bark of this same tree, and\napply it to the seat of the disease. For example, if one is blind, a\nportion of the inner bark of the tree would have to be applied to the\neyes.\"\n\n\"That is very strange,\" said the Wolf, \"and I will remember it. But now\ntell me from whence you come: I have not seen you for many days.\"\n\n\"I have just arrived from the city of the famous King, whose beautiful\ndaughter now lies dangerously ill.\"\n\n\"And how did the famous King's beautiful daughter come to be ill?\"\ninquired the Wolf.\n\n\"Well,\" said the Lion, \"as I was passing over the mountain of Aventin,\nI met the King's daughter riding on a palfrey. She was smiling on all,\nand giving alms to every unfortunate she met. She was so beautiful,\nwith her great blue eyes, and so simple and so good, that it made me\nlonely and lovesick, so I caused to be sent her a terrible malady\nwhich will consume her, and to-day she should be dying.\"\n\n\"Do you think,\" said the Wolf, \"that the inner bark of this tree would\ncure the sick princess?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the Lion. \"It would not be sufficient in this case, for\nthe princess has an evil spirit for an enemy, and she will have to be\ntreated differently. To be cured, she must be given the blood of a frog\nmixed with muscadine wine, and the second day she must eat the frog's\nheart cooked in the juice of a fig.\"\n\nHere the Lion paused, and the Wolf inquired:\n\n\"Have you no more good news for me, good friend?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the Lion.\n\n\"Then good-by until next year,\" said the Wolf, \"when we will meet at\nthe same time and place.\"\n\nThe Wolf and the Lion parted, each going his way through the forest.\n\n\"So, then,\" exclaimed Lovallec, the blind man, who had been sitting\nin the tree, \"I have not been deserted by Providence after all. These\nbeasts have told me secrets that will surely be useful to me hereafter.\"\n\nThe sun had arisen, and the birds began to sing. Lovallec came down\nfrom the tree and took a piece of the inner bark thereof and rubbed it\non his eyes. Suddenly he found that his eyesight had been restored to\nhim, and the happy man danced around in a transport of joy. He saw the\nskies, the birds, the flowers, and, above all, the sun. He was happy\nonce more. He placed the bark in his bosom and pressed it there, after\nsecuring a quantity of the precious medicine. He did not forget, also,\nto procure a piece of the root of the tree, in order that he might be\nable to give water to the unfortunate inhabitants of Offemborough.\n\nAfter making these preparations the young man started on his journey.\nHe travelled for many days and crossed many rivers. He was nearly at\nthe end of his journey, but he was as poor now as when he started, and\nhis clothes were in tatters. He had no money, but his riches were all\nin his heart. He met a priest.\n\n\"Good-morning, parson,\" said he; \"can I enjoy your hospitality?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the priest, \"my house is too small and I have no place for\nyou.\"\n\nHe met the mayor.\n\n\"Good-day, Mr. Mayor,\" Lovallec exclaimed, \"will you give me something\nto eat?\"\n\n\"Go away, you tramp, or I will have you arrested this instant,\" cried\nthe mayor.\n\nHe met the lord of the castle.\n\n\"Good-day,\" said the traveller. \"I am cold, your lordship; can you give\nme some clothing to wear\u2014something to hide my nakedness?\"\n\nThen the lord of the castle called to his servants and directed them\nto give the beggar a hundred lashes, and the unfortunate young man was\nbeat and left for dead on the way.\n\nA poor girl, passing by, saw him lying on the ground, and bent over him\ntenderly. Then she called assistance, and had him carried to her home,\nwhere she watched over him constantly, weeping and praying that he\nmight recover.\n\nAt last Lovallec recovered, and said to the young girl who had rescued\nhim:\n\n\"My guardian angel, what has happened since I have been ill? What is\nthe news in the city?\"\n\n\"There is nothing new,\" said the young girl. \"Every one is the victim\nof the water-famine.\"\n\n\"What a misfortune!\" cried the young man; \"let us go at once to the\nrelief of these poor people!\"\n\nAlthough Lovallec was scarcely able to walk, he leaned on the arm of\nthe young girl, and was preparing to go, when, all of a sudden, he\nremembered the pieces of bark he had secreted in his bosom. He took a\nportion of this, rubbed himself, and at once the pains in his limbs\ndisappeared, and he was made whole again.\n\nThe young girl was astonished at this sudden change, as well she might\nbe, and her surprise continued until they had arrived in the centre of\nthe great city. Once there, however, the young man recognized the rock\nthat had been described by the Lion. Without loss of time he took the\npiece of the root of the tree that he had procured, and struck the rock\nthree times, crying:\n\n      \"Come, gentle Dew, from the skies,\n      Refreshing Fountains rise,\n      Oh, Rivers! greet men's eyes!\"\n\nAt once there was a mysterious noise in the rock. It parted in twain,\nand the water gushed forth in an abundant supply. The news of this\nmiracle spread abroad in the city, and the inhabitants came with their\njugs and vessels to obtain a supply of water. All quenched their\nthirst, and were happy; they embraced each other and made ready for\ncelebrating the event with festivities. They were so grateful that\nthey could talk of nothing else but the miracle that had given them an\nabundance of water.\n\nBut in the midst of their congratulations and rejoicings a voice rose\nabove the tumult:\n\n\"Friends, let us not be ungrateful. To whom do we owe this abundance of\nwater that has given us renewed strength and life?\"\n\nWhen Lovallec heard these words he made an effort to escape the notice\nof the crowd, but the young girl could not resist a desire to make him\nknown to the people. She cried out:\n\n\"Here is the saviour of Offemborough!\"\n\nAt this the young man was surrounded by the priest, the mayor, and the\nlord of the castle, and they wanted to carry him off in triumph. They\noffered him great sums of money as a reward for the service he had\nrendered them; but simple and modest as the young man was, he answered:\n\n\"No, no! keep all your money. I will have none of that. I was without\na shelter, and you drove me from your door; I was dying of hunger,\nand you refused me even the scraps that you fed to your dogs; I was\nshivering with cold, and all the clothing you gave me was a beating,\nand I was left for dead on the pavement. Ah! keep your honors; keep\nyour money!\"\n\nAt these sad words, and, fearing that the young man would destroy the\nsource of their water as quickly as he had discovered it, the men,\nwomen, and children fell on their knees before him and begged for\nmercy. He bade them rise, and he was weeping as he spoke:\n\n\"Your kindness is my best revenge.\"\n\nThen the people asked Lovallec to make his home among them.\n\n\"No! no!\" he answered, \"I have a great deal of good to do as I journey\nthrough the world, and those who are suffering cannot afford to wait.\"\n\nThe people of Offemborough, however, persuaded him to accept a\nmagnificent carriage and horses; they clothed him in fine linen and\ngave him money to go on his way.\n\n\"When will you return to us?\" inquired the people.\n\n\"Very soon, perhaps, my friends,\" cried Lovallec, and with that his\ndriver whipped up the horses, and the young man was soon lost to view.\n\nAfter so long a time, Lovallec, arriving at the city of the famous\nKing, went immediately to the palace-door and knocked.\n\n\"What will you have?\" said the King, who went to the door.\n\n\"Living in a far-off country I heard that your daughter is sick, and I\nhave come to cure her.\"\n\n\"Alas!\" cried the King, \"you have come in vain. All the great\nphysicians of the world have exhausted their science in her behalf, and\nI am in despair.\"\n\n\"You must have courage,\" said the young man; \"your daughter will be\ncured in a few days.\"\n\n\"Stranger,\" said the famous monarch, \"if you can work such a wonderful\nmiracle as this, all that I have is yours. The riches that will fall to\nyou will be beyond computation. You shall have millions of gold pieces,\na hundred towns and ten provinces shall be yours, and you may even\ncommand my crown if you succeed in curing my daughter.\"\n\nThen Lovallec thanked the famous King and said:\n\n\"Leave me alone a little while, as it is necessary that I should gather\nsome herbs that belong to the medicine which I desire to give your\ndaughter.\"\n\nThen the famous King went weeping to his daughter's bedside. The young\nman went down into the garden and caught a frog, and went to the\napartments that had been provided for him.\n\n\"Quick!\" he exclaimed to one of the servants, \"bring me a knife and a\nplate and some green figs; and you,\" he said to another, \"make a big\nfire, and don't forget to fetch a frying-pan.\"\n\nEverything was ready in a short time, and Lovallec went to work,\nhaving first made sure that there was nobody near to watch him. He\nfirst killed the frog and mixed its blood with muscadine wine. Then he\ntook out the heart, and cooked it as the Lion had said. This mixture\nprepared, the young man went before the King's daughter.\n\n\"Powerful princess!\" he exclaimed, \"drink of this wine, for it is\nrenewed life that I give you.\"\n\nThe princess drank one swallow, and immediately pushed the cup from her.\n\n\"I am poisoned!\" she cried; \"I feel that I am dying.\"\n\n\"Drink, princess, drink!\" exclaimed the young man, \"for it is an evil\nspirit that possesses you.\"\n\nThen the young girl took the rest of the draught, and was immediately\nrelieved.\n\n\"Ah! I am better,\" she exclaimed. \"I feel my strength returning.\nThanks! thanks! my benefactor!\"\n\nThe next day Lovallec presented her with the heart of the frog, cooked\naccording to the Lion's directions.\n\n\"Eat this meat,\" the young man said, \"and all your troubles will be\nover.\"\n\nThen the sick girl ate bravely of the queer morsel, and was\nimmediately restored to health.\n\n\"My father! my father!\" she cried, \"here is your daughter who is\nrestored to you. See my bright eyes and my rosy cheeks.\" Then she\nlaughed and sang, and with a smile she again thanked her benefactor.\n\nThe old King was nearly crazed with joy, and more than once he went\nto the young man and embraced him; but that seemed insufficient as an\nexpression of the gratitude that he owed the doctor, and he was loaded\nwith presents of all sorts. He had caskets of gold, precious stones,\nvillages and castles, and more riches than he could wish for. One day\nthe King said to him:\n\n\"My son, I want to give you my daughter's hand in marriage, and my\ncrown, if you will accept it.\"\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" said Lovallec, \"permit me to think over your\nproposition. I desire to return to a foreign country to arrange my\naffairs, and later I can give you an answer.\"\n\n\"Go, my son,\" said the King, \"but return quickly. The hours seem long\nto those who love and wait.\"\n\nThe young man went away that very day. Where he was going he alone\nknew, but his horses seemed to know where his heart turned, and he soon\nfound himself on the way to Offemborough, where one poor woman had\nhad pity on him. It was not long before he had reached the end of his\njourney. He stopped at the best hotel and had a magnificent dinner set\nbefore him. After dining he said to the landlord:\n\n\"My friend, what is new in the city?\"\n\n\"Nothing,\" said the landlord, \"except that the marvellous palace,\nbuilt for the saviour of this city has been completed.\"\n\n\"What is his name?\" inquired Lovallec.\n\n\"Alas! no one knows,\" said the landlord. \"He was merely passing through\nthis land to a foreign country, where he had other good deeds to\nperform. When he returns we hope to have him remain with us, and it is\nour purpose to give him the most beautiful woman of the country for his\nbride.\"\n\n\"Good-night, good-night,\" said Lovallec, with a smile, and went to bed.\n\nBut the news of his arrival spread through the village, and on all\nsides the grateful people came to see him and congratulate him. The\nmayor of the town called on him, made a beautiful speech, and invited\nhim to take possession of the marvellous palace.\n\n\"What will I do with it?\" asked Lovallec. \"I am alone and have no\nfamily.\"\n\n\"Then get you a wife,\" said the mayor.\n\n\"You are right,\" said Lovallec. \"To-morrow I will choose me a wife from\nthe beautiful girls of this village.\"\n\nThe next day the maidens were gathered on the lawn before the church.\nThe young man inspected them carefully, but he could not find among\nthem the girl who had befriended him, and for whom he was searching.\n\nThe day after, the working-girls were ranged on the lawn, and among\nthese, the simplest and the most beautiful, he found the maiden who had\ngiven him aid in the hour of need. This maiden he selected to be his\nwife in preference to the princess in the far country.\n\nHe married her and was living happily, when one day a beggar, clothed\nin rags, made his appearance at the castle-door and asked for alms.\n\n\"You seem to have seen trouble,\" Lovallec said.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the beggar, \"and I have deserved it all.\"\n\nWith that he went on to relate, amid tears and sobs, how, many years\nbefore, he had robbed a brother of his eyesight. Lovallec had already\nrecognized him, but he permitted the poor man to tell his story,\nand then made himself known. And after that they both lived happily\ntogether in the palace which the gratitude of the people had provided.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHE KING AND THE LAPWINGS\n\n\nOne day the great King of the Magicians and Sorcerers was leaving\nhis country to visit a neighboring Queen. He was leaning on his\nwalking-stick, having been travelling since the break of day, when the\nsun rose and spread his beneficent rays over all nature. The birds sang\nblithely, and the little crickets in the grass made themselves noisy;\nbut the King, while enjoying the scene and the sounds around him, went\nforward without delay. The sun shone brightly, the birds were joyous,\nand all nature seemed to be happy, but the King suffered from fatigue.\nGreat beads of perspiration broke out on his forehead, and he longed\nfor a cloud that would give shade and coolness. The earth seemed to\nbe a furnace. The sun spread its great rays of light and the cloud\ncame not. The King begged for a clump of woods that he might have the\nbenefit of shade, and for a stream of cool and sparkling water that he\nmight quench his thirst. The road was long and dusty, and the wells\nwere dry.\n\nBut in the air, far away, appeared the King of the Lapwings. He bore in\nhis beak a draught of water, and his wings were dripping wet. Faster\nthan the wind he made his way to the dying King.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the bird, \"it was indeed time that I came;\" and with the end\nof his wing, as tenderly as would a mother, he washed the face of the\nunfortunate King, and placed between his lips the water he held in his\nbeak. The King revived and opened his eyes.\n\n\"Ah, thou,\" he exclaimed, \"who gave me back my life! I am hereafter\nunder all obligations to you.\"\n\n\"Wait a moment, your majesty,\" said the King of the Lapwings; \"thirst\nstill devours you, but have hope. Behold in the distance my faithful\nsubjects, who come forth, each one carrying at the end of its wings the\ndelightful refreshment you have longed for.\"\n\nThe lapwings arrived on all sides. Each one deposited in the mouth of\nthe unfortunate King the fresh water for which he thirsted.\n\n\"Ah, this is better than bread,\" said the King, reviving; \"what can I\ndo to show my gratitude?\"\n\n\"Nothing,\" said the King of the Lapwings. \"Nothing,\" responded the\nother birds. \"Continue your journey, and you will find yourself\nhereafter under the shadow of our wings.\"\n\nThen the King resumed his journey. Night came, and he found himself\nnear the palace of the Queen whom he had intended to visit. The\nlapwings still continued with him. No matter how bright the sun shone,\nno matter how suffocating the heat as he journeyed on, a gentle lapwing\ncame to his assistance. Touched by the solicitude of these birds the\nKing said:\n\n\"I cannot leave you, my friends, you who had pity on me when I was\nforsaken by all, without giving you a substantial evidence of my\ngratitude. Tell me, what can I do for you? How can I show you how\ngrateful I am?\"\n\nAt these words the King of the Lapwings advanced and spoke to the King:\n\n\"We desire, your majesty, to be the most beautiful of birds. We want a\ngolden crown on our heads, so that we may be placed before the peacock,\nwho is so proud of his plumage, and before the gay nightingale, who is\nso proud of his song.\"\n\nAt these words a great sadness filled the heart of the King, who could\nread the future, and he responded, shaking his head:\n\n\"Ah! you foolish birds, larger of heart than of mind! you do not know\nthe weight of a crown and of the numberless dangers to which it exposes\nthose who possess it. A golden diadem, say you? Alas! it will bring\nyou misfortune; ambition without bounds is wicked and perilous. Dear\nfriends, demand of me something else.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" cried the lapwings, on all sides, young and old, little and\nbig, \"that is the only gift we desire\u2014a crown on our heads. Ah, what\nhappiness! We will fly in the air and each bird will envy us.\"\n\nThe King then saw that nothing he could say would convince his\ncompanions. He had promised to satisfy their first request, and his\nword was sacred.\n\n\"Come with me,\" said he, \"to my friend, the magician Zacchar. No one\nis more expert in the working of metal. At his touch iron becomes more\nsupple, silver becomes malleable, and gold is mere paste. Come! and you\nshall have the diadem you long for.\"\n\nDuring three days the magician worked pure gold. The bellows blew and\nthe hammers thumped. During three nights he chased the marvellous\ncrowns that were to adorn the heads of the lapwings. At the dawn of the\nfourth day the King arrived, with a sad smile on his face.\n\n\"Friends,\" said he to the birds, \"my promise is fulfilled. Take these\ndiadems; take these diadems, which are masterpieces of art, and go\nwhither your destiny calls you.\"\n\nAt these words the lapwings uttered loud cries of joy.\n\n\"Go, go,\" cried the King, \"escape from man or you are lost.\"\n\nWithout understanding his warning, but obeying the command of the\npowerful King, the lapwings took flight, filled with joy and happiness.\nThey went here and there, flying to the tops of the mountains and\ndescending to the depths of the valleys, telling of their good fortune\nto all their friends both far and wide.\n\nWhen the other birds saw the crowns with which the heads of the\nlapwings were encircled they paid due homage to the symbols. Whenever\nthere was a feast or an important funeral the lapwings and their\nfriends walked in the place of honor, before the eagles and the\npeafowls, leaving far behind them the humming-bird (that living\nflower), the linnet, and the nightingale.\n\nBut, unfortunately, it happened one day that a lapwing came too near\nthe abode of man, and a hunter saw it and killed it.\n\n\"What is this?\" exclaimed the sportsman, perceiving the golden crown.\nSeizing it, he ran quickly to the jeweller's.\n\n\"Worker in metals!\" said he, \"see this marvellous diadem the lapwing\ncarries! Of what metal is it made?\"\n\nThe jeweller took the crown, turned it on all sides, and looking at it\nwith greedy eyes, exclaimed:\n\n\"It is of pure gold, and if you will part with it I will pay you an\nhundred shekels.\"\n\nWhen the other sportsmen found out the value of the ornament that the\nlapwings wore on their heads, they made haste to go into the country,\nand they pursued the lapwings, wherever they could find them. New\nweapons were invented, and the hunters watched day and night, killing\nall the lapwings that were so unfortunate as to appear in sight.\n\n\"Lord, have mercy on us!\" exclaimed the lapwings, \"and blind the eyes\nof the cruel men who are killing us!\"\n\nBut the crown of the lapwings was so brilliant that it resembled the\nsun's rays, and even in the darkness it shone like the stars. There was\nno rest or escape for these unfortunate birds. The dark night, even,\nwas as fatal to them as the day. The huntsmen pursued them with so much\nvigor that only ten remained alive.\n\n\"What shall we do?\" asked the King of the Lapwings, who had not yet\nbeen destroyed. \"Let us go and implore the great King to relieve us of\nthese golden crowns that are the cause of all our misfortunes.\"\n\nImmediately the lapwings started on their journey in search of the\ngreat King. Some of them stopped by the way, so that only a few reached\nthe King's throne, where they were welcomed, the powerful ruler talking\nto them kindly as he would have talked to faithful friends.\n\n\"Lapwings with the golden diadems! My dear companions, what can I do to\nplease you this day?\"\n\n\"Great Prince!\" they replied, \"you can give us our lives by removing\nthese unfortunate gifts that adorn our heads\u2014by taking away these\ngolden crowns that have been the cause of all our misfortunes.\"\n\n\"I will grant your desire,\" said the great King; \"but in remembrance\nof your kindness to me you shall hereafter wear a diadem of feathers;\nbut bear in mind that happiness is not in the gift of the great or the\nrich, but that it only belongs to those who earn it.\"\n\nThereafter the lapwings were no longer pursued by man, and they were\nhappier with their modest tuft of feathers than they had been with\ntheir golden diadem.\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nTHE ROOSTER, THE CAT, AND THE\n\nREAP-HOOK\n\n\n_The Story of the Rooster_\n\nOnce on a time there were three brothers, who were orphans. The oldest\nwas called Jack, the second was called John, and the youngest was known\nas Jack-John. Their father was a poor laborer, who was compelled to get\nup in the morning when the roosters crew for daylight, and he worked\nall day, and until very late in the night. He found it a hard matter\nto earn his daily bread, and it was only with a great deal of toil and\ntrouble that he could provide for his little children. When the mother\nwas alive they could manage to make both ends meet, but after she died\nit seemed that everything was changed. The ground was less fertile, and\nthe rains were less frequent, and the crops were smaller than they had\nbeen. In short, matters were in such a condition that the family had\nfallen into the most abject want; and to add to all this, during a very\ncold winter, their father died, leaving them alone. As may be supposed,\nthe children cried and mourned a long time, but, at last, as is natural\nwith children, they ceased to grieve. After a while, when all had\nceased to mourn, the oldest said:\n\n\"The land has been a curse to us. Let us divide the inheritance of our\nfather and go abroad. Perhaps we can make our fortunes elsewhere.\"\n\n\"What inheritance do you speak of? What riches have we?\" inquired\nJack-John.\n\n\"I know not, my dear brother,\" said the eldest. \"Let us make an\ninventory and then we will see.\"\n\nThe inventory was made without any trouble, and, after paying a\nfew just debts there was nothing left but a cat, a rooster, and a\nreap-hook. The brothers thereupon, in order to be perfectly fair, had\nto draw lots. The short straw gave the rooster to Jack, the cat to\nJohn, and the reap-hook to Jack-John.\n\nThen the three brothers embraced each other affectionately, and\npromised to meet at the old homestead as soon as they had made their\nfortune; and each took a different road.\n\nAfter travelling a long time in the plains and on the mountains, always\nkeeping ahead, Jack, the eldest, reached a great kingdom belonging to\nPrince Calamor. Jack's journey had been a long one, and the sun was\ndisappearing little by little, and the night coming on rapidly.\n\n\"Ah, how tired I am!\" exclaimed Jack. \"If I could only find a tavern\nwhere I could rest!\"\n\nHe had hardly ceased to speak when, at a turn in the road he saw a\nbeautiful castle, built on a rock, like an eagle's nest, and flanked on\nboth sides by twelve towers.\n\n\"This is the very thing,\" said the tired traveller, and he announced\nhis arrival by lifting the heavy knocker of a brass door.\n\n\"What do you want?\" said a voice from the inside.\n\n\"I want a lodging-place,\" said Jack, \"for myself and my little\ncompanion.\"\n\n\"The master of this house,\" said the porter, opening the door, \"never\nrefuses hospitality to those who demand shelter. Come in, and make\nyourself at home.\"\n\nWhen Jack had entered, the friendly porter inquired:\n\n\"My friend, have you dined this afternoon?\"\n\n\"My faith, no!\" exclaimed Jack. \"My wallet is empty, and it has been\nempty since morning.\"\n\n\"Come to the table, then,\" exclaimed the porter, pushing Jack along the\nwide hall-way. \"Eat and drink and spare nothing, for you are the guest\nof his most powerful majesty King Calamor.\"\n\nJack did not wait for a second invitation. He hurried to the\ndining-room and ate his fill, and his rooster\u2014the rooster with the\ngolden feathers\u2014ate heartily of the crumbs that fell from the table.\nAs it was already late, the porter made haste to prepare a bed for the\nwayfarer, and Jack soon fell asleep, with the rooster perched on the\nheadboard of his bed.\n\nIt so happened that in that country those who served King Calamor had\nto go and search for Day every morning. They not only had to search for\nDay, but they had to hunt for the place where it could be found. Jack\nslept but lightly, and he heard the conversation of the servants, who\nwere in the same room.\n\n\"Get up!\" said one; \"it is time for us to be going. We must be hunting\nfor Day.\"\n\n\"Wait a little,\" said the other, \"I am very sleepy.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" said the first, \"we must make haste, or some one who rises\nearlier might seize the Sun and carry it away, and then the King, our\nmaster, would be very angry.\"\n\n\"Is the wagon ready?\" asked another.\n\n\"Yes, and the axles are all well greased. It is early, and the wagon\nwill not break, as it did last week, and we will be able to go much\nfaster.\"\n\nAll this time Jack was thinking to himself in this wise: \"Truly this is\na queer country that the King's people have to go off to hunt Day.\" The\nservants were up and ready to go, when Jack cried out:\n\n\"Friends, get back to bed, and I will take charge of your work. I will\nfetch the Day.\"\n\n\"What! you!\" said a servant. \"Only one man! And do you pretend that you\ncan do what ten horses can hardly accomplish? You are making game of\nus.\"\n\n\"I make game of no one. You will soon see that I mean what I say,\" said\nJack.\n\n\"That seems very queer,\" said the head-servant.\n\n\"Fear not,\" said Jack, \"I will help you through this by the assistance\nof my little companion\u2014my rooster with the golden feathers.\"\n\n\"But, see here!\" exclaimed the head-servant, with an air of sternness,\n\"if you do not bring Day at the appointed hour, the King will be\nwithout mercy, and you will be hanged.\"\n\n\"Nay, let me do as I wish,\" said Jack, sleepily; \"go to bed quietly.\"\n\nWith this assurance the servants and the carters did not need to be\ncoaxed. They returned to their beds and slept heavily. Shortly after,\nthe rooster with the golden feathers crew.\n\n\"What is that?\" exclaimed the sleepers arising from their couches in\nsurprise.\n\n\"It is very simple,\" said one. \"Our friend yonder is about to start on\nhis journey in search of Day.\"\n\n\"That is very strange!\" exclaimed the others as they fell back in their\nbeds.\n\nAn hour afterward the rooster crew again. \"_Lock-the-Dairy-door!\nLock-the-Dairy-door!_\"\n\nThe noise awoke them all.\n\n\"What is that?\" exclaimed the servants.\n\n\"It is nothing,\" said Jack. \"My little companion is merely telling me\nthat he has returned from his journey in search of the Day. Get up and\nsee.\"\n\nThe servants at once arose, and, to the astonishment of them all, they\nsaw the Sun appearing over the mountain-tops more brilliant than ever.\nSeeing this there was at once a contention among the servants as to\nwhich should be the first to carry the strange news to King Calamor.\n\n\"Master! master!\" cried one, more nimble than the rest, \"if you only\nknew!\"\n\n\"What has happened?\" exclaimed the King; \"speak quickly!\"\n\n\"The horses are\u2014\u2014\"\n\n\"Broken down like the others,\" the King interrupted. \"Well, it can't be\nhelped.\"\n\n\"No, no, your Majesty; the horses are still in their stalls, and the\nwagons have not been out of the stables. But, get up and look! Get up\nand admire the Day.\"\n\n\"Ah, you rascals! Do you make game of me? Did Day come by itself\nto-day?\"\n\n\"Yesterday, your Majesty,\" said the servant, \"a stranger came and asked\nfor lodging for himself and a queer creature with golden feathers. It\ncarries a bunch of feathers in its tail and a tuft of feathers on its\nhead.\"\n\n\"Ah, well, what did he do?\" said King Calamor.\n\n\"What has he done? What has he done?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the King, \"answer me.\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" said the servant, \"this insignificant creature, that\nseems as if it could be crushed by a blow of the hand, is stronger than\nall your horses put together. Without wagons or assistance of any kind\nit started out, about two hours ago, and has already returned, bringing\nthe Sun.\"\n\n\"I cannot believe such a miracle!\" exclaimed the King.\n\n\"Nevertheless it is the truth,\" said the servant. \"What fatigue and\ntrouble this creature would save us!\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the King, \"how many horses and wagons would I not save! But\nwhat you say does not seem credible.\"\n\n\"Nothing can be truer,\" insisted the servant, \"and you can easily\nsatisfy yourself.\"\n\n\"How can that be?\" inquired the King.\n\n\"Well,\" said the servant, \"tell the stranger and his companion to\nremain in the castle, and by watching with us to-night you can be\nconvinced.\"\n\n\"Tell him to stay,\" said the King. \"I am anxious to witness this queer\nphenomenon.\"\n\nThese directions were followed, and to the King who was waiting, the\nday seemed long indeed. Never had he been so impatient. When night came\nhe went to bed in the granary with the servants.\n\n\"Do not be uneasy,\" said Jack; \"I shall take charge of these matters\nagain to-morrow,\" and everybody went to sleep with the exception of the\nKing, who could not close his eyes, he was so impatient.\n\nAt three o'clock in the morning the rooster crew,\n\"_Lock-the-Dairy-door!_\"\n\n\"Who is that?\" exclaimed the King. \"Who talks in that language?\"\n\n\"It is my little companion, the rooster,\" said Jack. \"He is preparing\nto go into the country in search of Day.\"\n\nThe King lay quiet. At four o'clock he heard again the sonorous voice\nof the strange creature with the golden feathers.\n\n\"Hey, my friend!\" the King cried, \"what is that?\"\n\n\"It is the rooster who has returned,\" said Jack. \"His expedition has\nbeen a prosperous one, as you can see. He has brought Day with him, and\nalready the light of it is shining on the mountain-tops and filling the\nvalleys. Rise, your Majesty, and see for yourself.\"\n\nAt these words the King arose and ran to the window. The stranger had\nspoken the truth. Day\u2014clear, joyous, and resplendent\u2014shone over the\nland. Bewildered and confused, the King could hardly recover from his\nastonishment. What would he not give to possess such an enchanted\nrooster! And if he possessed him, how jealous and envious of his good\nfortune the neighboring kings would be! Without loss of time the King\nsaid to Jack:\n\n\"My friend, your companion pleases me much, and he can be of great\nservice to me. Will you sell him?\"\n\n\"Sell him!\" exclaimed Jack. \"By no means! I would not sell him for gold\nand silver.\"\n\n\"Let us see,\" said the King, \"for a hundred crown pieces?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Jack, sturdily, \"not for a thousand.\"\n\n\"By my kingdom!\" said the ruler, \"you are hard to please. What price\nhave you set on him?\"\n\n\"In exchange for my companion,\" said Jack, \"I want you to give me your\nmost beautiful daughter for a wife.\"\n\n\"What!\" cried the King, \"for no less?\"\n\n\"For no less,\" said Jack.\n\n\"So be it,\" said the King. \"I give you my youngest daughter, and a\nhundred thousand gold crown pieces for her dowry.\"\n\nIn a transport of joy Jack threw himself on the King's neck, and the\nmarriage was celebrated at once, in the midst of pomp becoming so great\na princess.\n\nFrom that time the good King Calamor had no occasion to send his\nservants and his horses for the Day.\n\n\n_The Story of the Cat_\n\nWe have seen how Jack made his fortune. Now let us see what became of\nhis brother John, the possessor of the cat. We shall soon know whether\nhe wandered over the earth in misery and misfortune.\n\nSatisfied with the lot that had befallen him, the poor fellow went\non his way singing and whistling, feeling no uneasiness as to his\ndestination. He paused only to drink the sparkling waters, or to\neat the luscious fruit that had been ripened by the golden sun. He\ntravelled thus for many miles, until one day he found himself in the\ncountry where the birds speak the language of men\u2014the country of the\nMurzipouloums, where the flowers sing songs to themselves, and the\ncattle fly in the air. He was astonished by these things, but presently\nhe came to a village where a new and a more astonishing spectacle\npresented itself to his sight. More than a hundred people were abroad\nin the streets, armed with sticks, chasing rats and mice that seemed to\nlaugh at them. At the sight of this new and peculiar war, John could\nnot keep his countenance. He laughed aloud. At this unseemly display of\njollity the people on all sides cried out:\n\n\"What in the world are you laughing at?\" Some were furious and some\nwere curious.\n\n\"I laugh, my poor friends,\" said John, \"because you give yourselves so\nmuch trouble for so small a thing.\"\n\n\"So small a thing!\" they cried\u2014\"a small thing! One can tell you are\na stranger here, otherwise you would know that the rats and the mice\nare our most terrible enemies. It would be an easier matter for us to\ncontend with ten thousand men.\"\n\n\"Now, is this true?\" exclaimed John. \"Well, here is my little companion\nwho will aid you greatly. In one hour's time he will do more of this\nkind of work than all the rest of you could do in a year.\"\n\nThe people gathered around, admiring the little creature with gray\neyes. It seemed to be very mild.\n\n\"Young man,\" cried they, \"do you wish to have a laugh at our expense?\"\n\n\"You can see for yourselves,\" said John, and with that he turned the\ncat loose among the rats and mice. You may be sure the cat was very\nhappy. A leap here, a bound there, a jump yonder\u2014to the right and to\nthe left, before and behind\u2014and the rats and the mice were destroyed\nby hundreds and by thousands. The people marvelled greatly, the more so\nsince the cat had accomplished in a very short time a work that would\nhave required the aid of an army of rat-killers.\n\nWhile this work was going on, the Prince of the country happened to be\npassing by. He saw the work the cat had accomplished, and cried out:\n\n\"Hey, my friends! Where did you find such a creature as that? Where did\nyou discover such a warrior?\"\n\nThereupon John advanced politely, and said to the Prince:\n\n\"The creature which you see so cleverly amusing itself with the mice\nis called a cat. It is my faithful friend, and since it came into my\npossession I have never permitted it to leave me.\"\n\n\"My young friend,\" said the Prince, \"you have there a fine fortune. My\ncastle is infested with rats and mice; sell me your companion, and you\nshall be well paid.\"\n\n\"Be separated from my best friend!\" exclaimed John. \"Never, never will\nI do that.\"\n\n\"Let us see,\" said the Prince; \"will you not sell me your companion\nfor a hundred crown pieces?\"\n\n\"No,\" cried John; \"I would die of grief.\"\n\n\"I will give you a thousand then,\" said the Prince.\n\n\"Never,\" said John, stoutly.\n\n\"My friend,\" exclaimed the Prince, \"be reasonable. I must have your\ncat. Name the price.\"\n\nJohn scratched his head thoughtfully, and replied:\n\n\"Well, give me a meadow and a mill, a vineyard and a thousand\ncrown-pieces, and a carriage to ride in.\"\n\n\"They shall be yours,\" said the Prince.\n\n\"Then,\" said John, \"my beautiful cat is yours.\"\n\n\n_The Story of the Reap-hook_\n\nWe have thus far followed the history of Jack, with his rooster, and\nJohn, with his cat. What became of Jack-John, the younger brother, with\nhis reap-hook?\n\nJourneying over hills and across valleys, with his reap-hook hung over\nhis shoulder, stopping only to eat and to drink, the younger brother,\nat the end of thirty days and thirty nights, arrived in the great\nempire of Malissours. It was in the month of July, and the fields were\nyellow with the golden grain, which waved lightly in the wind. For the\nfirst time since he left home, Jack-John felt tired; his limbs refused\nto carry him farther. How happy he would be, he thought, if he could\nonly reach the village near by, where there was an orange-grove. But\nhis efforts were useless, and the young fellow lay down in the shadow\nof a big oak, and was soon fast asleep.\n\nHow long he remained there he did not know; but when Jack-John awoke,\nit was morning, and he was surrounded by a crowd of people who eyed him\ncuriously without daring to approach.\n\n\"Hey, friends!\" he cried, \"I am ravenously hungry. Have you nothing to\noffer me?\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" was the reply on all sides, \"but on one condition.\"\n\n\"And what is that?\" asked Jack-John.\n\n\"You must tell us what the half-moon in a handle, which you have\nsleeping beside you, is for.\"\n\n\"The half-moon that sleeps?\" exclaimed Jack-John in surprise. \"What do\nyou mean?\"\n\n\"Your companion that sleeps beside you on the green moss,\" said the\npeople.\n\n\"You make me laugh,\" said Jack-John. \"It is not my companion\u2014it is not\nan animal. It is simply a reap-hook.\"\n\n\"A reap-hook,\" exclaimed the people. \"What a strange name! Never before\nhave we seen such a thing.\"\n\nJack-John was astonished, but in a moment he thought that the time had\narrived for him to make his fortune; so he said:\n\n\"I see that your grain is ripe. It is time to harvest it. How do you\ncut it?\"\n\n\"Like everybody else,\" said they, \"we gnaw it with the teeth.\"\n\n\"That must be tedious,\" said Jack-John.\n\n\"Oh, there are hundreds of us to do the work,\" said the people.\n\n\"And how long does it take you to complete the task?\" asked Jack-John.\n\n\"Two or three months only,\" the people replied.\n\n\"Ah, well!\" said Jack-John, \"what it takes all of you three months to\naccomplish my good reap-hook will do in one hour's time. A thousand of\nyou working together could not make as much headway. Under its magic\ntouch the grain falls and you have only to bind it.\"\n\n\"What!\" they exclaimed, \"that little instrument does all the work?\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed,\" said Jack-John, \"and if you desire it, I will prove it\nto you instantly.\"\n\nThereupon Jack-John made his way to the fields of ripe golden grain,\nand in a few minutes had cut quantities of it. The spectators were\nfull of admiration. Never had they seen anything so extraordinary; and\nto these people it was indeed a most marvellous thing for them to see\naccomplished in a minute the work that would require the efforts of a\nhundred men from sunrise to sunset. On all sides there were shouts of\njoy and enthusiasm.\n\n\"Oh, the beautiful machine you have there!\" the people cried\u2014\"the\nfairy that runs and cuts the grain. What a treasure to him who\npossesses it!\"\n\n\"I see that my beautiful reap-hook pleases you,\" said Jack-John. \"How\nmuch are you willing to pay for it?\"\n\n\"All the gold in the world would not be sufficient to pay you,\" said\nthe spokesman of the people. \"Name your price.\"\n\n\"I want each one of you to give me as many gold-pieces as my reap-hook\nhas cut stalks of wheat.\"\n\n\"Your demand is modest,\" they answered, \"and to-day each one of us will\nbring the required sum.\"\n\nAfter this Jack-John was lifted on the shoulders of the multitude\nand carried to the neighboring village, where he was treated with\ngreat honor, and for a little more he could have become king. Soon, on\nall sides, the people brought sacks of gold, and such was its weight\nthat ten mules were required to carry it. Jack-John, however, did not\nstay very long in this empire. He rightly thought that no country is\nso beautiful as one's birthplace, and, at the end of a few weeks, he\narrived at his native village, where he found his two brothers, who had\nbeen as successful.\n\n\"Our good fortune,\" exclaimed the eldest, \"has made us rich, and now it\nought to make us happy.\"\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nTHE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND\n\n\nA rich lord, who was at the same time the best of men, wishing to\ncontribute to the happiness of one of his slaves, set him free. He\nequipped a vessel with a white prow and a golden stern, and said to his\nold servant:\n\n\"Go out into the world, navigate the seas, and choose a country that\nwill please you, and always remember to do what good you can on the\nway, and remember also to avoid evil.\"\n\nThe grateful slave set sail, but he had journeyed only a few hours when\na terrible tempest arose, and it was so violent as to throw him on an\nisland that seemed to be deserted. The unfortunate man had lost his\nvessel and all his merchandise, and he was the victim of despair. When\nhe landed on the island, the sole survivor of his expedition, he gave\nhimself up to grief, and went forward friendless, alone, and in the\ndirest poverty, not knowing where to direct his steps. But he was soon\nto be made supremely happy, for he discovered a path that was scarcely\nperceptible. He followed it with eagerness, and soon arrived at the top\nof a high mountain, from which he could see a great city.\n\nHe made haste to go in that direction, but what was his astonishment\nwhen, on approaching the city, he found himself surrounded by a great\nconcourse of people, crying out in transports of joy. The drums\nbeat loudly and the trumpets sounded, and on all sides the heralds\nexclaimed:\n\n\"Men! here is your monarch!\"\n\nAt last the slave and his cavalcade arrived in the city, and with\ngreat pomp he was installed in a marvellous palace, where the kings\nof the country had lived. The fortunate slave was taken in charge by\nthe servants of the palace, and robed in fine purple garments, and his\nhead was crowned with a diadem. Then the principal lords of the realm,\nin the name of the people, swore allegiance to him and the obedience\nand fidelity due unto sovereigns. The happy monarch for a long time\nbelieved that he was dreaming. His good fortune seemed to him to be a\nwhim\u2014the result of circumstance.\n\nHowever, after a long time he realized the full measure of his\nresponsibility, and thought to himself\u2014\"What does all this signify?\nWhat does Providence wish me to do? This worried him night and day,\nand finally he sent for the wisest lord in his kingdom.\n\n\"Vizier,\" he asked, \"who made me your King? Why do the people obey me?\nAnd what is to become of me?\"\n\n\"You must know, great King,\" responded the minister, \"that the genii\nwho inhabit this island have asked the good Lord to send them each\nyear a child of Adam to reign over them. These vows the great Being\nhas deigned to answer, and every year, on the same day, a man lands on\nour coast. At such time the people are filled with transports of joy;\nthey meet him with loud acclaim, as they met you, and crown him King;\nbut the extent of his reign can only be for one year. When the twelve\nmonths are out, the King, who has been so powerful is stripped of his\nhonors, clothed in coarse garments, and his soldiers, unmercifully\npursuing a custom, seize and convey him on board a black ship, which\ncarries him away to a deserted island, which has been rendered sterile\nby the winds and waves. He that was only a few days before a rich and\npowerful monarch, now finds himself without subjects, friends, or\nconsolers. Thereafter he lives a sorrowful life, and the people who\nhave obeyed his will forget even his name.\"\n\n\"Were my predecessors,\" said the King to his minister, \"advised of the\nfate that awaited them?\"\n\n\"None of them were ignorant of it,\" the minister replied; \"but they\nlacked the courage and the thoughtfulness to contemplate such a future.\nThey were dazzled by the pomp and grandeur of their position; and,\nin their eagerness for passing pleasures they refused to contemplate\nthe sad end that awaited them. The year of their prosperity and\npower passed away almost before they knew it, and when the fatal\nday came they had done nothing to render their inevitable fate less\ninsupportable.\"\n\nAt these words from his minister the King was filled with fear. He\nthought with terror of the precious time that had already passed, and\nwith tears in his eyes he said:\n\n\"Wise friend! you have announced to me the misfortunes that are in\nstore for me; who but you can tell me how to provide a remedy?\"\n\n\"Remember, your Majesty,\" said the minister, \"that naked and in poverty\nyou came upon this island, and naked and in poverty you must leave it.\nThere is but one way for you to avoid the misfortunes that threaten\nyou. You must send to the island to which you are to be exiled a\nnumber of workmen and order them to construct vast storehouses and\nfill them with such provisions as seem to you necessary for sustaining\nlife. You must prepare for the inevitable. Go quickly to work, for\ntime presses. Time is approaching, time is passing away, and you must\nremember that you will only find at the place of exile the treasures\nyou will be able to send there during the remaining few days of your\nreign.\"\n\nThe King thanked his minister, and resolved to follow the wise man's\nadvice. Workmen of experience were despatched to the Island of Exile,\nand it was not long before a vast palace was built. The King conveyed\nan abundance of treasure there, and a thousand men were sent to render\nthe island more inhabitable.\n\nThe day came when the King was to leave his throne; but, far from\nregretting it, he sighed for the hour when he would be able to take\npossession of his new estates. He was banished from the throne,\ndivested of his royal robes, and sent on board a ship that conveyed him\nto the Island of Exile.\n\nHaving provided himself a place of refuge, he lived long and happily\nthere.\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nBROTHER TIGER AND DADDY\n\nSHEEP\n\n\nDuring the time when the animals could talk, Daddy Sheep was the terror\nof all the plains and the woods. When he walked abroad, with his sharp\nhorns hanging on his head, the creatures that met him saluted him with\nthe utmost politeness, and then ran away, glad to escape with their\nlives. In order for Daddy Sheep to have such a reputation as this,\nit would seem to be necessary that he had made a great many victims,\ndevouring some with his teeth, and tearing others with his terrible\nhorns; but in regard to these matters I am not able to testify. I am\nof the opinion, moreover, that old Mammy Sheep, who knew him well,\ncould not say any more. She and her friends, and, indeed, all the\nother animals, justified the proverb that is applied to those who are\nlazy and cowardly: \"It is better to believe what you hear than to go\nand investigate the matter.\" As often happens, the repetition of a\nstatement gives it currency, and all the creatures came to believe that\nDaddy Sheep was as terrible as rumor had described him to be.\n\nOne day, as Daddy Sheep was going out of the pasture, where he had been\ngrazing on wild thyme, he came to a beautiful river and concluded to\nquench his thirst. He approached the water, and started to drink, but\nthe terrible reflection he saw there\u2014a frowning face surrounded by\nwrinkled horns frightened him to such a degree that he scampered home\nas fast as his legs could carry him.\n\nOne day a Tiger, who lived not far from this so-called king of the\nforest and plain, mustered up courage, and resolved to cultivate\nthe good-will of his powerful neighbor by making him a visit. So he\ntook with him his son, the young Tiger, who was already well grown.\nWhile yet at a distance the Tiger saw the powerful Sheep, and saluted\nhim very humbly. Coming nearer, the Tiger, still humble and polite,\ninquired after the health of Daddy Sheep's family.\n\n\"I came, dear neighbor,\" said Brother Tiger, \"to pay you a visit of\nrespect. My good wife would have come also, but she is unavoidably\ndetained at home expecting a visit from a friend, and she is compelled\nto postpone this pleasure to another day.\"\n\n\"Come in, neighbor\u2014come in!\" exclaimed Daddy Sheep. \"To whom does this\ncharming child belong?\"\n\n\"It is my child,\" said Brother Tiger.\n\n\"Then you must accept my sincere congratulations,\" said Daddy Sheep.\n\n\"And your own son?\" exclaimed Brother Tiger, with effusive politeness;\n\"how is he?\"\n\n\"He is very well, I thank you,\" said Daddy Sheep, \"he is in the house.\"\n\nWhile the two fathers were gravely discussing the affairs of the\ncountry, the young Tiger and the young Sheep went out into the garden\nto play. After a while, Brother Tiger became so uneasy that he could\nscarcely keep still.\n\n\"Excuse me a moment,\" he said to Daddy Sheep, \"I will return directly.\"\n\n\"Certainly, certainly!\" exclaimed Daddy Sheep. \"Do not stand on\nceremony here.\"\n\nAt once Brother Tiger went out and whispered to his son:\n\n\"Be careful, my child! You must be very polite with the little Sheep,\nand do not get angry, or he will eat you up.\"\n\nThe Tiger went back to the house, and the two young friends returned to\ntheir play. Soon the young Tiger forgot the counsel of his father, and,\nduring their frolic, he jumped on the little Sheep and tickled him.\nThis made the little Sheep laugh and show his teeth.\n\n\"Why, what small teeth you have!\" cried the little Tiger.\n\n\"They are all like that in my family,\" said the little Sheep, \"and\nthose of my father are not any longer.\"\n\nThis set the little Tiger to thinking, and as soon as the visit was\nended he exclaimed, almost before Daddy Sheep's door was shut:\n\n\"Pappy, pappy! did you see the little Sheep's teeth? They are very\nshort, and he says that those of all his family are no longer than\nhis.\"\n\n\"Hush!\" exclaimed Brother Tiger. \"Speak low, you little rascal, or\nDaddy Sheep will hear you and eat us both.\"\n\nBrother Tiger, however, who had a mind of his own, thought that there\nmight be something in what his son had said, and the idea gave him\npleasure. Daddy Sheep was so fat, and his flesh must therefore be so\ndelicate and tender. For a long time the suggestion of the little Tiger\nworried Brother Tiger, and he was absorbed in deep thought. Finally,\none day, he mustered up all his courage, and declared that he would\ntaste the flesh of Daddy Sheep.\n\nBut, he thought to himself, how could he see Daddy Sheep's teeth? At\nlast the opportunity presented itself, for Daddy Sheep and his son\npaid Brother Tiger a visit Brother Tiger received Daddy Sheep with\nthe greatest politeness, and saluted him. He invited Daddy Sheep into\nhis house, and begged him to make himself at home. For the refreshment\nof his guests Brother Tiger set out wine. The little Sheep drank some\nand went out to play; but Daddy Sheep, who was very fond of his glass,\nremained inside.\n\n\"How do you like my wine, neighbor?\" asked Brother Tiger.\n\n\"It is most excellent!\" exclaimed Daddy Sheep, with enthusiasm.\n\n\"Then have another glass,\" said Brother Tiger.\n\n\"Very well,\" said Daddy Sheep; \"I thank you and drink to your health.\"\nThen he laughed loudly and said: \"The weather is warm, and it is not\nout of place to take a glass of wine to arouse one.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" said Brother Tiger, \"my wine cleans the cobwebs from\nthe throat and clarifies the brain.\"\n\nThey drank together many times, but, in spite of all, Brother Tiger was\nunable to see Daddy Sheep's teeth. He talked softly and modestly, and\nminced his words in a surprising way, as you have seen a young girl\ndo. But Brother Tiger did not despair; he determined to accomplish his\nobject, and so he again called attention to the wine.\n\n\"Wake up, Daddy Sheep!\" he exclaimed; \"I believe you are asleep. Arouse\nyourself and help me to finish this bottle.\"\n\n\"Thanks, thanks!\" said Daddy Sheep, \"but I am not thirsty.\"\n\n\"Tut, tut, neighbor,\" said Brother Tiger, \"that is not the way to talk.\nThirst is only for the gnomes and the sprites who seek the dew. As for\nus, the kings of this country, we must drink to divert ourselves.\"\n\nFeeling himself flattered and enjoying it, Daddy Sheep extended his\nglass. It was promptly filled and he emptied it. It was as promptly\nfilled once more, and he emptied it again.\n\n\"Here's to your health,\" said Brother Tiger.\n\n\"And to yours, my dear host,\" said Daddy Sheep, and he again emptied\nhis glass at one gulp.\n\nThe more Daddy Sheep drank the gayer he became, and the louder he\ntalked. He lost his customary reserve, but he had not yet condescended\nto laugh. Brother Tiger, however, continued to press wine on his guest,\nand it finally came to pass that Daddy Sheep sat back in his chair, and\nlaughed in the foolish way common to those whose brains are befuddled\nby the fumes of liquor.\n\nBrother Tiger saw the short teeth of his guest, and, without hesitating\na moment, he leaped on Daddy Sheep and strangled him. Hearing the loud\noutcry made by his father, the little Sheep ran as quickly as he could\nto his mother.\n\n\"The wicked Tiger,\" he exclaimed, as he ran home, \"has killed my\nfather, and has no doubt devoured him!\"\n\nAt these terrible words the Mother Sheep almost fainted with fright,\nand her grief was pitiful to behold. The little Sheep joined his\nmother in her wailings, and the mournful noise they made attracted the\nattention of the Queen of the Birds, who came out of the forest and\nperched herself on a tree near their house.\n\n\"What is the matter, good Sheep?\" she asked, \"and what is the cause of\nyour grief?\"\n\n\"Alas, alas! Brother Tiger has devoured my poor husband!\"\n\n\"Ah, the infamous villain!\" exclaimed the Queen of the Birds.\n\n\"We will not dare to venture out any more,\" continued the Mother Sheep.\n\"The vile assassin will hide around here and try to devour us also.\"\n\nTouched by the tears of the Mother Sheep and her son, the Queen of the\nBirds tried to console them the best she could, and promised them that\nthey should be revenged, and in a moment she had flown away to the\nneighboring forests. She gave utterance to her well-known cry\u2014\n\n      \"Pingle, pingle!\n      Dingle, dingle!\"\n\nand in a very short time her faithful subjects could be seen coming\nfrom all sides, birds of high and low degree, of bright plumage and\ndull\u2014the red-breast and the white-cap, the bald eagle and the green\nparrots. The Queen of the Birds uttered her musical call again\u2014\n\n      \"Pingle, pingle!\n      Dingle, dingle!\"\n\nAnd then all the smaller birds that had wandered off into the woods\nflew to her side, and begged to know what her wishes were. Their Queen\nthen related to them the murder of Daddy Sheep by the hypocritical and\ncruel Brother Tiger. Her story was full of emotion and good feeling,\nand she concluded by saying:\n\n\"This assassin, my faithful friends, must die in his turn. Such a\nmonster should not be permitted to live on earth.\"\n\nAll the birds applauded with their wings at these words of the Queen,\nand they could not help congratulating their sovereign.\n\n\"Go, my friends and subjects,\" said the Queen, \"into the far countries,\nand say to the birds who have not heard my call, that I am about to\ngive a grand ball, and that I will await them to-morrow. Meanwhile I\nwill go myself and invite Brother Tiger, who cannot refuse to assist at\nthe feast.\"\n\n\"But how will you kill this odious monster?\" inquired the great eagle.\n\n\"Have confidence, my friend. Am I not the Queen? To-morrow you will be\nsatisfied. While you wait, aid in preparing everything for the feast.\"\n\nSinging, whistling, and screaming, all the birds began to work. The\nbrambles were removed, the stones thrown away, and the grass alone,\ngreen and tender, was left in the space they had chosen for the ball.\nThe next day the Queen of the Birds was arrayed in the most beautiful\ndress imaginable. Escorted by her pages, she went to the house of\nBrother Tiger. Flattered by the visit of the Queen of the Birds, he\nvowed that he would go to the grand ball in the forest.\n\n\"I promise you a dance,\" said the Queen, smiling.\n\n\"Beautiful Queen,\" exclaimed Brother Tiger, \"all the honor will be mine.\"\n\nHe could not sleep that night\u2014not that he suffered from remorse for\nhis crime, but because he was carried away by the graciousness of the\ngreat Queen of the Birds. The next morning Brother Tiger brushed his\nclothes, curled his mustache, and went to the spot where the grand ball\nwas to be given. As soon as it was seen that he was coming, the Queen\nof the Birds exclaimed:\n\n\"Take your places for a quadrille, and let all dance with their heads\nunder their wings. Music, play! trumpets, sound! and you, drums, beat!\nWhereupon, the orchestra began to play one of its most delightful airs\nfor the dance:\n\n      \"Tumpy, tumpy, tum-tum!\n        Tum-tum, tum-tum!\n      Tumpy, tumpy, tum-tum!\n        Tum-tum ti!\"\n\nThen the Queen of the Birds flew and met Brother Tiger, and made him\nwelcome.\n\n\"My dear friend, you are late!\" she exclaimed. \"The festivities have\nalready begun.\"\n\n\"I trust your majesty will excuse me,\" said Brother Tiger, \"my clock\nstopped during the night.\"\n\n\"That is nothing,\" said the Queen; \"come!\"\n\nOh, what a delicious feast! what fine music! Brother Tiger was dazzled.\n\n\"My Queen!\" he exclaimed, \"I am glad you thought of me. A ball like\nthis at your court is a rare occurrence.\"\n\nLong rows of birds stood facing each other, and birds of all degrees\ndanced together.\n\nAfter the quadrille the orchestra struck up a waltz, and the Queen\ncourteously said to her guest:\n\n\"This time you shall be my partner!\"\n\nFilled with pride the Tiger took his place by the side of the beautiful\nQueen of the Birds. Then the birds, all with their heads under their\nwings began to dance. Brother Tiger wanted to join in the first steps\nof the dance, but all of a sudden the Queen of the Birds called out to\nhim:\n\n\"Brother Tiger! really you are not thinking! The etiquette of my court\nis that the invited guest, in order to take part in the dance, should\nappear without a head. Look around you. All here would think themselves\nguilty of the most unpardonable rudeness if they dared to raise\ntheir eyes in the presence of their sovereign. The simplest rules of\npoliteness require that you should follow their example. Do as they are\ndoing, if you desire to dance with the Queen of the Birds.\"\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" exclaimed Brother Tiger, blushing violently, \"I had no\nintention of wounding you, and I humbly beg you to pardon my ignorance.\nI am merely a poor country person who is used to spending his days\nand nights in quiet places, and I am unused to the ways and customs\nof the court. Promise me another dance, I beg you, and I will return\nimmediately.\"\n\n\"I never had any ill-will against you, Brother Tiger,\" said the Queen\nof the Birds. \"One cannot know everything. Go! I await you!\"\n\nBrother Tiger rushed to his home, and in a very short time he arrived.\n\n\"Wife, wife!\" he exclaimed, \"get an axe. In order to have the honor of\ndancing with the great Queen of the Birds, one must appear before her\nwithout a head.\"\n\n\"My poor husband,\" said Mrs. Tiger, \"I really believe you are losing\nyour mind or that you are making fun of me.\"\n\n\"No, no!\" said Brother Tiger, \"it is the etiquette of the court. All\nthe other guests were dancing without heads. Get the axe, wife! The\nQueen awaits me.\"\n\nMrs. Tiger did not want to obey; but when she saw that her angry\nhusband was disposed to show his sharp claws, she took the sharp axe\nand cut off his head with one blow. It is needless to say that Brother\nTiger expired instantly. The good news was carried to the Queen of the\nBirds by two green paroquets, and when the announcement was made the\nbirds took their heads from under their wings. All the other animals\nin the forest were invited to the feast, and Mother Sheep and her son\nwere special guests. They were still in mourning, and therefore did\nnot take part in the dance, but they received special attention and\nconsideration on all sides, and the wonderful orchestra kept up its\nplaying.\n\nNow, big sheep and little children, let me whisper something in your\nears: It is better not to open your mouths at all than to be too\nfamiliar with people you do not know well.\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\n\"JUMP IN MY SACK!\"\n\n\nIn a barren and an unproductive country there lived, a long time ago, a\nfather and his twelve children. A terrible famine came on the country,\nand the unfortunate father said to his sons:\n\n\"My children, I have nothing whatever to give you. Go out into the\nworld, knock at each door, ask for work, and perhaps you will find the\nmeans of making your living.\"\n\nAt these words the youngest of the twelve brothers, Abdallah, began to\ncry, and said:\n\n\"I am crippled, and it is difficult for me to walk. How can I gain my\nlivelihood?\"\n\n\"Dry your tears,\" said the father; \"your brothers will take you along\nwith them. They have good hearts, and if fortune smiles on them you may\nbe sure that you will not be forgotten.\"\n\nEarly next morning the twelve brothers started out, after having\nfaithfully promised their father that they would never be separated.\nBut the deceitful brothers did not mean what they said. After several\ndays of travel the eldest said to the others:\n\n\"Our little brother Abdallah is a continual burden. He delays our\njourney day by day, and if he continues to do so we will never get out\nof this miserable country. Let us forsake him on the way and perhaps\nsome charitable person will find and take pity on him.\"\n\nThis advice was followed by the brothers. The little cripple was\ndeserted by the way-side, and the other brothers continued on their\nway, begging from every one they met. In this way they went on until\nthey came to a settlement of poor fishermen, where it was difficult to\nfind a lodging-place. Fortunately for them the night was beautiful, the\nmoon shone brilliantly in the sky, and a soft breeze tempered the heat\nthat had filled the atmosphere during the day.\n\nOvercome with fatigue the eleven brothers stretched themselves out at\nthe foot of a tree, and they were soon sound asleep. After a while the\ndawn made its appearance, the brothers awoke, and the eldest said:\n\n\"For days and weeks we have been travelling without meeting with the\ngood fortune we had hoped for. Let us leave this country for good and\nall. Only a strip of water lies between us and a land of plenty.\"\n\nThe unfortunate brothers soon saw an empty sloop. They took possession\nof it, and at once began to drift out to sea. It was an unfortunate\nvoyage. All the hopes of the brothers were deceptive. Their cruelty\nto their crippled brother Abdallah was to be severely punished. A\nfrightful tempest arose, and the sea overwhelmed them; the sloop was\nwrecked and the cruel brothers found their graves in the cold and\ncreeping waters.\n\nMeanwhile what had become of Abdallah, the poor cripple whom the\nbrothers had deserted? Overwhelmed with sorrow and fatigue, he had\nfallen asleep where he had been abandoned. Fortunately for him a good\nfairy, who had seen all, took pity on him, and while he lay asleep\nshe cured his crippled leg; and then, disguising herself as a poor\nbeggar, the fairy sat on a stone by the roadside. Abdallah soon opened\nhis eyes, his heart filled with sadness. He arose for the purpose of\ncontinuing his painful journey, but what was his astonishment to find\nthat he could walk without any trouble whatever. He was no longer a\ncripple. He felt of himself, and ran and jumped to convince himself\nthat he was not dreaming. He laughed and cried at the same time, and\nwas filled with happiness and joy.\n\nAll of a sudden he saw an old woman by the roadside who looked at him\nsmilingly.\n\n\"Do you know, madam,\" he cried, \"if a great physician has passed this\nway?\"\n\n\"And why, my friend?\" inquired the old woman.\n\n\"It is because that, during my sleep, he has rendered me the greatest\nof services. He has cured my leg that was too short, and I want to\nthank him for his kindness.\"\n\n\"Well, well,\" said the old woman, \"the physician is myself. I gathered\na few herbs that I alone know, and it was easy to perform the miracle\nthat makes you so happy.\"\n\nAbdallah could not restrain his transports. He fell on the old woman's\nneck and embraced her, and then, to prove his gratitude, he asked her:\n\n\"My good woman, what can I do for you? I am young, but, as for you, age\nhas already begun to bear heavily on you. Command, and I will obey you\nin all things.\"\n\nBut imagine Abdallah's surprise when, instead of the old woman, he saw\nbefore him the most charming young girl that it is possible to imagine.\nHer long blond hair floated on her shoulders, and her rich garments\nfell in gracious folds around her.\n\nOvercome with admiration and respect Abdallah fell on his knees in the\ndust; but the good fairy said to him:\n\n\"Arise! I am happy to see that you are not ungrateful. Make two wishes,\nand they will be immediately granted, for I am the queen of the\nfairies.\"\n\nThe young man reflected a moment and said:\n\n\"I desire above all things a bag in which everything I want will be\nfound in an instant.\"\n\n\"Your demand is certainly original,\" said the fairy, smiling. \"What can\nyou do with such a sack?\"\n\n\"A great many things,\" exclaimed the young man, enthusiastically; \"will\nyou grant my request?\"\n\n\"So be it,\" said the fairy; \"and what is your second wish?\"\n\n\"A stick that will do my bidding.\"\n\n\"Very well, then,\" and the fairy disappeared, leaving at Abdallah's\nfeet a sack and a stick.\n\nOvercome and delighted by his good fortune, the young man hastened to\ntest the powers that had been conferred on him by these gifts. As he\nwas feeling very hungry Abdallah said:\n\n\"Let a dozen roasted partridges get into my sack,\" and in an instant he\nfound a dozen well-cooked partridges in his sack.\n\nTo eat without drinking was a very unusual thing in that country, so,\npresently, Abdallah cried out:\n\n\"A bottle of wine in my sack!\"\n\nImmediately his commands were obeyed. After his meal he felt as light\nas a bird, and he continued on his journey in good spirits, and the\nnext day he reached the end of it. At the gate of the city he paused to\nrest and to gaze at the people who were continually passing, when a\nbeggar approached him and said:\n\n\"Brother, we are poor; let us unite our misfortunes and live together.\"\n\n\"How do you know that, my friend?\" said Abdallah; \"I do not solicit\nalms in order to stay here.\"\n\n\"Your ragged clothes and your bare feet, my brother, tell a very\ndifferent tale.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" thought the young man, and he immediately asked his\nsack to furnish him with two magnificent suits, such as were worn by\nthe noblemen of that country. He gave one to the unfortunate beggar at\nhis side and clad himself in the other, and the two went into the city\nresplendent with gold and precious stones, so that everyone thought\nthat two rich and powerful noblemen had come into the city.\n\nSoon the name of Abdallah was on everybody's tongue, and the most\nbrilliant people of the city considered it an honor to call themselves\nhis friends.\n\nIn that city Abdallah found an Evil Spirit, which presented itself to\nhim one day and said:\n\n\"Magnanimous chief, the most respectful of your admirers is here before\nyou.\"\n\n\"What do you desire?\" inquired Abdallah.\n\n\"I want nothing,\" said the Evil Spirit, \"but your reputation at the\ngames is such that I desired to see you.\"\n\n\"You flatter me a great deal,\" said Abdallah; \"but, really, I cannot\nplay. The game is entirely unknown to me. However,\" he went on to say,\n\"I desire to make one of your party in the hope that you will teach me\nsomething about the games.\"\n\nThe Evil Spirit and Abdallah made no delay in beginning the game, and\nthe latter lost such large sums of money that the Evil Spirit thought\nthat the young man was ruined. Contented with himself and satisfied\nwith the results of his journey, he was making ready to depart, when\nAbdallah saw the cloven foot that the Evil Spirit had not been able to\ndisguise.\n\n\"Ah, ha!\" exclaimed Abdallah to himself. \"It is with the Evil One I\nhave been playing. So much the better! I will show him that he made a\nmistake when he addressed himself to me.\" Satisfied with his discovery,\nthe fortunate possessor of the sack and the wonderful stick was content\nto wait until the next day.\n\nFaithful to the engagement that had been made, the young man found\nhimself on the morrow face to face with the Evil One. The game began,\nAbdallah lost many gold pieces, and still he continued to lose. This\ntime the Evil Spirit won so rapidly and so continuously that he\nbelieved Abdallah was reduced to misery. Addressing himself to the\nyoung man, he exclaimed:\n\n\"Illustrious lord, the games of these last two days must have made\na considerable hole in your fortunes. Through me, however, you can\nrecover a good part of it; but on one condition only.\"\n\n\"What condition is that?\" inquired Abdallah.\n\n\"Let us understand each other. Let us become partners, and thus we can\nwin all the money that the other players have.\"\n\nBut Abdallah would not permit the Evil Spirit to conclude his\nproposition.\n\n\"Satan!\" cried he, \"your elegant disguise has not prevented me from\nrecognizing you, and your cloven foot has betrayed you. The gold you\nhave taken from me is nothing to that which I still possess. Had you\nwon all the money in the world, I would not be less rich. However, the\nday has arrived when you must expiate all your vile crimes. The hour\nhas struck!\"\n\nAt these unexpected words the Evil One took on a sinister aspect, and\nwith a frightful laugh he began to mock Abdallah. At this exhibition\nAbdallah exclaimed:\n\n\"Jump into my sack!\" and the Old Boy danced into the bag. \"Stick! beat\non him!\" cried the young man, and the stick began to beat on him in\nfine style, so much so that the Evil One yelled:\n\n\"Stop, or I will be dead! Let me out!\"\n\n\"What a delightful misfortune this would be!\" exclaimed Abdallah. \"Are\nyou not content with matters as they are?\"\n\nThere was great rejoicing among the people who were gathered there. At\nlast, after the stick had been beating the Evil One for two hours,\nAbdallah said:\n\n\"Enough! that is sufficient for to-day.\"\n\n\"What!\" said the Evil One, \"is not that enough? Is the trouble not yet\nfinished? Am I to have my bones broken another time?\"\n\n\"Another time and always,\" said Abdallah. \"I want you to perish, so\nthat you will not continue to cut up your capers.\"\n\nThere was some further parley between Abdallah and the Evil One,\nwhich resulted in returning many unfortunate young people to their\nhomes\u2014young people who had been lost through their passion for gaming.\nWhen these unfortunates were restored to their friends, Abdallah\npermitted the Evil One to leave his sack.\n\nAfter a little, Abdallah, who was always trying to make people happy,\nhad a great desire to return to his own home, so that he could see\nwhether his father was still unfortunate. On his way thither he met a\nbig boy who was crying at the top of his voice and wringing his hands.\n\n\"Well, young man,\" said Abdallah, \"is your profession that of making\nfaces? If so, what do you ask for them by the dozen?\"\n\n\"I am not in a laughing humor, my good sir,\" said the other.\n\n\"What are you doing, then?\" exclaimed Abdallah.\n\n\"My father,\" said the boy, \"has fallen from a horse and broken his arm.\nI ran to the village for a physician, but, knowing that we were poor no\none of them would stir themselves in my father's behalf.\"\n\n\"Is that all?\" said Abdallah; but the child continued to weep. \"Calm\nyourself,\" said Abdallah, \"your father shall not lack for anything.\nTell me the name of the first physician you went after.\"\n\n\"His name,\" said the boy, \"is Abdel-Meddin.\"\n\n\"Observe well,\" said Abdallah. \"Dr. Abdel-Meddin, jump into my sack!\"\nand immediately a man appeared and fell into the wonderful sack. At the\norder of its master the stick began to beat him.\n\n\"Oh,\" said the boy, \"what a beautiful sack you have! Will you give it\nto me?\"\n\n\"I cannot,\" said Abdallah, \"but take this purse of gold; it will do you\nmore good.\"\n\nAll this time the doctor in the sack was yelling at the top of his\nvoice, and writhing and moaning. Abdallah stopped the stick, and then\nsaid:\n\n\"Mr. Physician, take advantage of this opportunity to rub your bruised\nlimbs, for you shall not come out of here until you are mashed into a\njelly.\n\n\"Mercy,\" cried the doctor, \"what have I done to deserve so terrible a\nchastisement?\"\n\n\"Do you dare to ask me?\" cried Abdallah. \"Do you not recognize this\nunfortunate child?\"\n\n\"Have mercy! take pity on me!\" cried the physician.\n\n\"You did not take pity on others,\" said Abdallah, \"and I shall be\ninexorable toward you. Beat him, stick!\"\n\nThe wicked physician howled with pain and fear, until finally Abdallah\nsaid:\n\n\"Stop, stick!\"\n\n\"I implore your mercy,\" cried the physician.\n\n\"Will you give me your word to take care of this poor boy's father if I\nrelease you?\"\n\n\"I will do whatever you say,\" said the unfortunate doctor! \"He shall\nlack for nothing.\"\n\n\"Then come out of the sack,\" said Abdallah.\n\nThe doctor came out, and he was so badly bruised that he could scarcely\nstand on his feet, but Abdallah made him walk.\n\nReturning to the village, the doctor was so attentive to the poor sick\nman that there could be no doubt of his recovery, and Abdallah went on\nhis way, anxious to see his father.\n\nAfter several days of travelling he came to a dense forest, through\nwhich he was compelled to pass. Looking closely, he saw a pathway,\nwhich was scarcely discernible, and it was bordered on each side by\nthorns and brambles. This path led to a castle belonging to a terrible\nand cruel giant. The sun had gone down and night had set in, and\nAbdallah knocked at the door of the castle.\n\n\"Who are you?\" said a voice.\n\n\"A poor traveller who begs for lodging.\"\n\n\"I receive no one unless it is giants who desire to have a tilt with\nme. We feast at night, and in the morning I hang them to a tree in the\nforest.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Abdallah, \"I will have a tilt with you in the morning.\nOpen the door and let me come in.\"\n\n\"Poor fool,\" said the giant, \"will you dare to contend with me?\"\n\n\"I will do my best,\" said Abdallah. \"Open the door, I beg you.\"\n\n\"Go away,\" said the giant, \"I do not wish to crush you.\"\n\n\"Oh, Mr. Giant! would you be afraid to-day, and have I the power to\nmake you tremble?\"\n\n\"Poor creature, your impudence shall have its punishment. Come in! but\nto-morrow you shall be hanged.\"\n\n\"While I am waiting to balance myself on a limb,\" said Abdallah,\ncheerfully, \"have my supper prepared. My appetite is large.\"\n\nThe cruel giant smiled at Abdallah's pretensions, and as he was a\ncharming man himself, he took occasion to divert Abdallah. The supper\nwas fine, and the evening was very pleasant. The giant related his\nexploits. He had fought a lion, and he had vanquished a sea-serpent\nwith seven heads which had attacked him. One day, when an army came to\nattack him, he had the soldiers hung to the trees that surrounded his\ncastle.\n\n\"Great giant,\" said Abdallah, smiling, \"you make me tremble. It would\nbe easy for you to get satisfaction out of a poor unfortunate creature\nlike me.\"\n\n\"Miserable creature!\" said the giant, \"I warned you before you came\ninto my castle. But eat and drink\u2014above all, drink, for to-morrow\nshall be your last day.\"\n\n\"Let us drink, Mr. Giant! let us drink, since the night still belongs\nto me. Here's to your health!\"\n\nOvercome with fatigue, Abdallah left the giant and went to sleep, for\nhe stood greatly in need of rest, and in the morning he was still\nasleep when the giant came to awake him.\n\n\"Get up!\" the giant exclaimed. \"You have lived long enough. Let us\ncross swords and see who will be the victor.\"\n\n\"It is useless,\" said Abdallah; \"the combat would be too unequal. Let\nme go, I pray you.\"\n\n\"No,\" said the giant, severely; \"you must die. Come quickly, I am in a\nhurry.\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" said Abdallah, \"since you insist on it, we will fight,\nbut I regret it, I assure you, for I really do not want to kill you.\"\n\n\"Enough!\" exclaimed the giant; \"your insolence will soon be punished.\"\n\nAt this the giant raised his great hand with the intention of crushing\nhis opponent, when Abdallah suddenly cried out:\n\n\"Jump in my sack!\"\n\nThe giant made a horrible grimace, and seemed to hesitate, but, at\nlast, with a loud cry, he threw himself into the marvellous sack.\n\n\"Stick, do your duty!\" exclaimed Abdallah, and the magic stick, in a\nlivelier manner than ever began to whack the cruel giant with great\nenergy.\n\n\"Do have mercy!\" exclaimed the giant. \"Take pity on me!\" Abdallah had\nmercy and the stick stopped.\n\n\"What do you think of our contest?\" asked Abdallah. \"Have you a mind to\nrenew it?\"\n\n\"You are a terrible sorcerer,\" said the giant, \"and I have never seen\none like you.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Abdallah, \"you are conquered.\"\n\n\"Have it as you will,\" said the giant. \"What can I say to the contrary?\"\n\n\"You are right,\" said Abdallah. \"Good-by, Mr. Giant. You should be more\nhospitable another time.\"\n\nThe giant was anxious to accompany Abdallah, and he persisted in going\nwith him until he had passed through the forest. Abdallah continued on\nhis journey, and it was not long before he arrived at home, where he\nwas gratified to embrace his old father.\n\n\"My dear father!\" he exclaimed, \"I am very rich. I am powerful and I\ncome to you.\"\n\n\"My dear child,\" said the old man, \"you deceive yourself, or my eyes\nhave become very weak; for I only see a sack on your back and a stick\nin your hand.\"\n\n\"No, father,\" the son cried, \"we are rich, very rich. Hereafter we\nshall enjoy everything in abundance, and since the famine still\ncontinues, our neighbors will enjoy our good fortune.\"\n\nIn a few words, Abdallah told his father how he had been abandoned by\nhis brothers; and he told the old man also of the wonderful virtues of\nhis enchanted sack.\n\n\"Your kind-heartedness, my son,\" said the old man, \"has had its reward,\nbut let us not, in our prosperity, forget those who are sad and cry\nbecause they are hungry.\"\n\n\"Do not trouble yourself, my father. For such as these our table will\nalways be spread, and our doors will never be closed against them.\"\n\nWhile the famine in that country lasted, Abdallah established a tavern,\nwhere everybody could get a meal without money and without price. The\nmarvellous sack was always ready to carry out the will of its master,\nand it was always ready to furnish the most savory dishes and the most\nexquisite wines, and this went on as long as the famine lasted.\n\nWhen the famine had subsided, Abdallah would not give any more, fearing\nthat he would encourage the unworthy and thus render very indifferent\nservice to the country.\n\nAbdallah ought to have been happy, but he was not. He had such a good\nand tender heart that he easily forgot and forgave all the injury that\nhad been done him, and he was sad because he did not see around him\nall the wicked brothers who had forsaken him on the way.\n\nHe called their names daily and commanded them to jump in his sack.\nEach time, however, he found in his sack only a pile of bones. His\nbrothers were surely dead, and when Abdallah came to understand this\nfact, he shed bitter tears.\n\nIn his turn, Abdallah's father died, and Abdallah himself grew very\nold. When he felt that his end was approaching he drew a sigh of\nrelief, nevertheless he did not want to die without seeing the good\nfairy who had been his benefactor.\n\nFeeling thus, Abdallah started on a journey, trembling with emotion,\nand it was not long before he reached the spot where he had met the\ngracious fairy. He seated himself on a stone and waited for the good\nfairy to appear; but she came not. He continued to wait, and, after a\ntime, Death came along the road.\n\n\"I am hunting for you,\" said the grim traveller.\n\n\"Not for me, surely,\" said Abdallah.\n\n\"Yes, for you,\" said the other.\n\n\"I am waiting here for a friend,\" said Abdallah.\n\n\"Do I seem to be an enemy?\" asked Death.\n\n\"No, no,\" cried Abdallah, \"you are welcome, but I want an opportunity\nto greet my benefactor. I cannot go with you.\"\n\nBut Death fixed his eyes on Abdallah, smiled a little, and said:\n\n\"Jump in my sack!\"\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nA SEARCH FOR A FRIEND\n\n\nA rich merchant of Bagdad had a son that he loved most tenderly. The\nchild had been reared with the utmost care, and no pains were spared\nto cultivate his mind as well as his affections. When the young man's\neducation was almost completed his father determined that he should\ntravel in foreign parts.\n\n\"My son,\" said the old man, \"I have gray hairs and a white beard,\nand in my long career it has been given to me to know and appreciate\nthe real value of men and things. You must learn, then, my son, that\namong the pressing necessities of life the greatest of all is a good\nfriend. Riches take wings\u2014a touch of providence, a turn of the wheel\nof fortune, throws the richest into the depths of despair; but death\nalone, which carries all off, can take away a friend.\n\n\"A true friend is the only thing in this world that is always faithful.\nFind this rare pearl, my son, and you will have found the rarest of\ngems. I want you, then, my son, to travel over the world, travel alone\ngives the real experience. The more we see of men the better we know\nhow to live among them. The world is a great and a beautiful book, that\ninstructs those who know how to read it. It is a faithful mirror that\nreflects all the objects we ought to see.\n\n\"Go, my son,\" said the merchant of Bagdad; \"take this travelling-stick,\nand in your journeyings think, above all other things, of the necessity\nof securing a true friend. In pursuing this object, sacrifice\neverything else, even what is most rare and most precious.\"\n\nThe young man embraced his father and took his departure. He went to a\nforeign country and remained there some time, and then he returned to\nhis own country. When he arrived, his father, astonished at his quick\nreturn, said:\n\n\"I did not expect you so soon.\"\n\n\"You told me to seek a friend,\" said the young man. \"Well, I have\nreturned with fifty who are all that you have described.\"\n\n\"My poor child!\" responded the old merchant, \"do not speak so\nflippantly of so sacred a name. A true friend is so rare that he cannot\nbe found in droves, and those who pretend to be such are only so in\nname. They resemble a summer-cloud that melts beneath the first rays of\nthe sun.\"\n\n\"Father!\" exclaimed the young man, \"your attack is unjust, and\nthose that I look upon as my friends\u2014those whom I regard as my\nfriends\u2014would not see me suffering or in adversity unless their hearts\nwent out to me.\"\n\n\"I have lived seventy years,\" responded the old man, \"and I have been\ntried by good and bad fortune. I have known a great many men, and\nduring these long years it has been well-nigh impossible for me to\nacquire a friend. How, at your age, and in such a short time, have you\nbeen able to find fifty friends? Learn from me, my son, to know human\nnature.\"\n\nThe old merchant strangled a sheep, put the carcass in a sack, and\nstained his son's clothing with the blood of the animal. At night the\nyoung man was told what he must do, and he took the carcass of the\nsheep on his shoulder and went out of the city.\n\nSoon he arrived at the house of his first friend, and knocked at the\ndoor, which was promptly opened to him. His friend asked him what he\nwanted.\n\n\"It is in the midst of misfortune that friendship is put to a trial,\"\nresponded the young man. \"I have often told you of an old feud that has\nexisted between our family and that of a lord of the court. Not long\nago we met in a secluded spot. Hatred placed arms in our hands, and he\nfell lifeless at my feet. For fear of being pursued by justice I seized\nhis body; it is in the sack you see on my shoulders. I beg you to hide\nit in your house until this affair has blown over.\"\n\n\"My house is so small,\" said the friend, with an air of sorrow and\nembarrassment, \"that it can scarcely contain the living who dwell in\nit. How could I find room for the dead?\"\n\nThe young man begged his friend to have pity on him, but without avail,\nand the ungrateful man shut the door in his face.\n\n\"You see, my son,\" said the old merchant, \"these are the kind of\nfriends on whom you were depending.\"\n\n\"To tell you the truth, father,\" said the young man, \"I have always\nsuspected that this particular friend was a hypocrite, but all are not\nso. Wait, and you shall see.\"\n\nThe younger man continued to knock at the doors of his friends. Fifty\ntimes he met with the same reception. No one wanted to do him the\nkindness to hide the body.\n\n\"My son,\" said the old merchant, \"you must see at last how little\nyou can depend on man. What has become of the friends whom you were\npraising to me a little while ago? In your supposed misfortune each\none has forsaken you. I will show you the difference between the one\nreal friend that I have and the fifty false ones whom you have tested.\"\n\nAs they talked, the father and son reached the door of the house\nof the one whom the old merchant had represented as the model of\nperfect friendship. The merchant related to his friend the imaginary\nmisfortunes that had befallen his son, and begged the friend to hide\nthe compromising sack.\n\n\"Oh, happy day and blessed hour!\" exclaimed the faithful friend. \"My\nhouse is large, and herein you may hide whatever you choose.\"\n\n\"Think,\" said the young man, \"of the great dangers to which you expose\nyourself! Who knows but you may be accused of the murder, or, at least,\nof favoring the assassin.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the other, smiling, \"one must expose one's self to many\nperils when one desires to save the son of a friend. Go to my summer\nresidence, where you will be safe from the clutches of the law. I\nwill come to you from time to time, and keep you company, and if ever\nmisfortune happens to you it will likewise fall on me.\"\n\nAt this the merchant of Bagdad opened his arms and pressed to his heart\nthe devoted friend, thanking him for his generous offers, and relating\nto him the simple artifice by which he had taught his son how rare true\nfriendship is in this world.\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nA CHILD OF THE ROSES\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a King who had three daughters as beautiful\nas the stars that shine in the skies, and as different in their beauty.\nOne day the King was sitting on his gorgeous throne, and he called his\nchildren, and said:\n\n\"I love you all better than I do my life. Now tell me in turn the\nnature of the affection you feel for me. According to your answer\nI shall give each of you the husband that you deserve. The eldest\napproached, and said:\n\n\"I love you better than I do my golden hair and my blue eyes, and I\nwould do anything in the world to be agreeable to you.\"\n\n\"My beloved daughter,\" exclaimed the Monarch, \"the King of Syra shall\nbecome your husband.\"\n\nThe second daughter spoke thus:\n\n\"I love you, my father, a thousand times better than a queen loves her\ncrown, a thousand times better than a dove loves her young, and to\nplease you I would voluntarily throw myself into a burning furnace.\"\n\n\"Oh, my child! let me embrace you! The Prince Miraz, the handsomest of\nmen, shall be your husband.\"\n\nThe youngest daughter, the favorite of the fairies, the charming Mirza,\nexclaimed:\n\n\"I love you, my father, as we love the salt in the bread, as the fish\nloves water, and as the May rose loves the dews of the morning.\"\n\nAt these words the King turned pale with anger, and exclaimed:\n\n\"Go away! Leave me! You are an ungrateful daughter who cares for no\none. Is it thus that you show gratitude for the pains I have taken with\nyou? The love you have for me goes no further than the salt in the\nbread. Go away!\"\n\nThe King drove his daughter from the palace, and ordered one of the\nwaiting-maids to follow her everywhere, and to return only to announce\nher death. The waiting-maid took with her her own daughter, Calamir,\nand the three women travelled at haphazard for three days and three\nnights. Finally they perceived an abandoned cabin, and the Princess\ncried out:\n\n\"Let us stop here!\" whereupon the women took up their abode there.\n\nOne day Mirza was sitting by the roadside, her head in her hands,\nweeping sadly. She was thinking of the great palace where she was\nborn, and of her more fortunate sisters, who lacked for nothing, and\nwho had bracelets of gold and diamonds. She thought also of her cruel\nfather, whom she still loved with all her heart. Suddenly Mirza felt a\nhand on her shoulder, and began to tremble with fear. It was the Queen\nof the Fairies, who looked at her with a smile.\n\n\"My beautiful child, why lament?\" said the Queen. \"All things are\npossible to me. Make three wishes and you will be satisfied at once.\"\n\nMirza, however, did not answer. She remained silent; she could only\nweep.\n\n\"Grief fills your heart,\" said the Queen of the Fairies, \"and you\ncan only weep. You are thinking of your father, your sisters, and\nthe palace where you were born. Calm yourself. Hereafter you will be\nas rich and as fortunate as they. Weeping or smiling, walking or\nstanding, no person in the wide world will be as fortunate as you.\"\n\nAt these words the young girl smiled, and beautiful roses fell from her\nlips. She took a few steps to embrace her benefactress, and a thousand\nprecious stones fell under her feet. The tears that shone in her eyes,\nin falling, became pearls.\n\n\"Kind fairy,\" exclaimed Mirza, beholding these things, \"what wishes\ncould I have made that would have been comparable to these gifts you\nhave heaped upon me? A thousand thanks!\"\n\nThe young girl pressed the queen of the fairies to her heart, kissed\nher hands and her lips, and gave full play to her happiness. Some days\nafterward, the Princess Mirza said to her waiting-maid:\n\n\"Go into the neighboring city, inquire for the best architect to be\nfound and tell him to bring a hundred experienced workmen.\"\n\nThe maid went into the city, secured the architect, and when three days\nhad passed the workmen arrived.\n\n\"Queen of women,\" said the architect, \"what can I do to please you?\"\n\n\"I want you to build me a marvellous palace of pure gold, with ten\ndoors of diamonds and a thousand windows of crystal. Build me a palace\nsupported by a hundred columns of rubies and emeralds. I want it to be\nso resplendent that the neighboring kings and princes will stand amazed\nwhen they behold it.\"\n\nThe builders went to work, and in the course of a year the masterpiece\nof architecture was completed. One day the sisters of the princess\npassed that way. They were going to see their parents, and a joyous\nescort accompanied them, playing on a thousand instruments in order to\nmake the journey pleasant.\n\n\"My gentle pages,\" exclaimed the eldest, perceiving the palace, \"to whom\ndoes this magnificent building belong? Is it the home of the fairies?\"\n\n\"Gracious queen,\" responded one of the pages, \"no one knows.\"\n\n\"Go, then,\" said the princess, \"and find out, and say that we desire to\nvisit this wonderful palace.\"\n\nWhen the messengers announced to Mirza the wishes of the princess, she\nexclaimed, rapturously:\n\n\"These are my sisters\u2014the children of my mother\u2014who come to visit me.\nHappy day! Pages, return and tell them that I await them.\"\n\nBut the pages did not move. Each one seemed to be petrified with\nsurprise and admiration. While Mirza was speaking the most beautiful\nand fragrant roses fell from her lips, and at her feet hundreds of\nprecious stones, pearls, rubies, amethysts, and diamonds sparkled and\nglittered. Finally the messengers returned to the princesses, and when\nthe latter found that this beautiful palace belonged to their younger\nsister, they could not refrain from shedding tears of joy. Immediately\nthey made their way to the palace, and soon they had the pleasure of\nembracing the sister whom they had long given up for lost.\n\nThe two princesses stayed a long time at the grand palace, their eyes\ndazzled at everything they saw. They were much astonished at the\nmagnificent gifts showered on them by their sister. They went away from\nthe palace with regret, and they were very sorry they could not carry\naway with them, in addition to their gifts, pieces of the precious\nstones with which the courtyard was paved.\n\nThe renown of Mirza soon spread throughout all the neighboring\nkingdoms, and everyone praised her beauty and marvelled at her riches.\nThe prince of a strange country fell desperately in love with her,\nand he sent an ambassador to sue for her hand. Mirza consented, and\npromised to become the wife of the prince as soon as the orange-trees\nblossomed. The ambassador was delighted, and hastened to announce the\njoyous news to his master. Magnificent feasts were given at the court\nof the prince, and soon everything was ready for the wedding.\n\nAs soon as the orange-trees bloomed, Mirza started on her journey to\nthe home of the prince, accompanied by the waiting-maid who had served\nher in her misfortune. On the way, the princess became very hungry,\nand asked for something to eat. Instead of giving her sweet cakes and\nluscious fruits, the maid gave her bread that was so salty and so\nbitter the princess could scarcely swallow it. Soon she was seized with\na devouring thirst.\n\n\"My good friend,\" she exclaimed to her maid, \"what have you for me to\ndrink?\"\n\n\"Nothing, my amiable mistress,\" said the maid.\n\n\"What! not even a glass of water?\" said the princess.\n\n\"No, your majesty.\"\n\nThe princess withstood the thirst as long as she could, and finally\nsaid:\n\n\"I pray you, my good friend, go and find a stream, and bring me some\nwater to quench my thirst\u2014only a few drops.\"\n\nAt this, the waiting-maid said:\n\n\"Alas! we are in a very strange country. Here, water is the dearest of\nall beverages.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the princess, \"take a handful of diamonds and offer them\nto the charitable person who will take pity on me and give me some\nwater.\"\n\nThe waiting-maid started out, but she did not go a hundred steps when\nshe hid herself behind a bush. Very soon she returned with an air of\ndistress, and with a sad voice she spoke thus:\n\n\"Powerful princess, in this country, water is so dear that you will\nhave to pay for a single goblet-full with one of your eyes.\"\n\nIn her despair, the young princess pulled out an eye, and gave it to\nthe waiting-maid.\n\n\"Go,\" said the princess, \"run quick, or I die.\"\n\nThe cruel waiting-maid returned, bringing a little water, but scarcely\ndid it quench her thirst for an instant. Not long afterward the\nprincess began lamenting again:\n\n\"I am still thirsty,\" said she, \"and I feel that I am perishing.\"\n\n\"Give me your remaining eye,\" said the servant, \"and hereafter you\nshall be satisfied.\"\n\nThe bewildered young princess consented to make the sacrifice. This\ntime, she thought, she could drink to her heart's content. Night\ncame and the sun sank behind the horizon, and the perfidious servant\nstripped her mistress of her fine clothes and gave them to her own\ndaughter, Calamir. The poor blind girl was left by the roadside, and\nthe waiting-maid and her daughter continued their journey toward the\ncity where the prince resided.\n\nWhen they arrived all the bells in the churches rang out their joyous\nchimes. The people went out to meet her, and the prince tenderly\nembraced the one whom he thought was his betrothed. Never had such a\nscene been witnessed in that city. The wedding feast was brilliant and\nsplendid. One thing, however, disturbed the prince. He had been told\nthat a rose fell from the lips of the princess at each smile, and that\nunder her feet diamonds sprung. He did not see any of these things.\nPuzzled at this, he inquired of his wife's mother:\n\n\"Madam, how is it that roses do not fall from the lips of your child,\nand that precious stones do not appear when she walks?\"\n\n\"My dear prince, my child is fatigued at the long journey she undertook\nto come to you. Have patience, and you will soon be satisfied.\"\n\nDuring all this time, the poor Mirza, the real princess, wandered\nalone in the frightful desert in which she had been forsaken. She\ncalled for help, but no one came to her assistance. Her cries grew\nlouder, and at last they attracted the attention of an old woman who\nwas gathering herbs for the purpose of making medicine.\n\n\"What do you wish, my beautiful child?\" inquired the old woman.\n\n\"Good mother, what are you doing here?\" cried the princess.\n\n\"I am looking for herbs that are necessary to make my medicine.\"\n\n\"You can do better than that,\" said the princess. \"Pick up the pearls\nthat you find at my feet, and go into the city and sell them.\"\n\nThe old woman obeyed, and returned with an apron full of gold, saying:\n\n\"My child, what shall I do with this fortune?\"\n\n\"It is for you, my good woman, but on one condition.\"\n\n\"What is that?\"\n\nThe poor blind girl smiled, and from her lips fell a rose so beautiful\nand sweet that there had been none like it before. Mirza answered:\n\n\"Take this rose and go into the prince's city, and call out, 'Who will\nbuy this flower? who will buy this rose?'\"\n\n\"And in order to please you,\" said the old woman, \"how much must I sell\nit for?\"\n\n\"You must give it,\" said the princess, \"for neither gold nor silver.\"\n\n\"And for what shall I sell it?\" said the old woman.\n\n\"You shall demand an eye for it,\" said the princess.\n\nThe old woman followed the directions to the letter. When she arrived\nin the city of the prince, she cried out:\n\n\"Who will buy this flower? Who will buy this rose?\"\n\nAt these words, Mirza's deceitful servant ran to the window of the\npalace and asked:\n\n\"Tell me, good woman, for what will you sell such a beautiful rose?\"\n\n\"I will sell it for an eye,\" said the old woman.\n\n\"Heavens! what would you do with an eye?\" said the maid-servant.\n\n\"That is my affair,\" said the old woman.\n\n\"Well, then,\" said the waiting-maid, \"stay a moment;\" and she ran to\nher room; and as she had been careful enough to save the eyes of her\nmistress, she took one and gave it to the old woman.\n\n\"Take this, good woman,\" she exclaimed.\n\n\"And here is your rose,\" said the old woman.\n\nAt night, when the prince returned to the palace, his mother-in-law\nsaid to him:\n\n\"See this beautiful rose. There is none like it in the flower-gardens.\nMy daughter made it with a smile.\"\n\n\"It came in good time,\" said the young prince, \"but I can scarcely\nbelieve it. A thousand times I have seen your daughter smile, and\nnothing has fallen from her lips.\"\n\nAll this time, the old woman, who had sold her rose for the eye, was on\nher way to the Princess Mirza. But as she went along, the eye fell from\nher hand and was lost. She hunted for it a long time, but meanwhile the\neye, apparently directed by the good fairies, made its way to the blind\ngirl, who put it in its place and immediately she saw clearly. The old\nwoman returned disconsolate.\n\n\"Alas! my beautiful child,\" she exclaimed, weeping, \"I sold your rose\nas you directed me, but, unfortunately, the eye I received as the price\nescaped from my hands and I could not find it, though I hunted for it\nfar and wide.\"\n\n\"Do not trouble yourself, my good woman,\" and Mirza smiled, and another\nrose fell from her lips.\n\n\"Go,\" said she again, \"and sell this flower on the same conditions.\"\n\nThe rose was carried to the castle as the other had been, and sold for\nthe other eye.\n\nThe princess recovered her sight, and regained her beauty. Shortly\nafterward, the beautiful Mirza said to her companion:\n\n\"Go into the towns and villages, and inquire by which road the king of\nthis country goes on his hunting excursions.\"\n\nThis order having been obeyed, the young princess sent for a number of\nworkmen and an architect. On her way in search of these, the old woman\nmet a little gray man who had a hump on his back.\n\n\"Where are you going, Margaret?\" cried the little hunchback.\n\n\"I am hunting for workmen and for an architect,\" she replied.\n\n\"I am your man,\" exclaimed the dwarf.\n\n\"Are you capable?\" asked the old woman.\n\n\"Patience, Margaret! patience!\" exclaimed the little gray man. \"Of that\nyou will have to judge later.\"\n\nMirza accepted the dwarf as her architect, but she could not help\nsaying to him:\n\n\"Little gray man, where are your workmen? Do you think to build by\nyourself the palace I desire?\"\n\nScarcely had she finished speaking, when, at the sound of a low whistle\nfrom the little gray man, there appeared on all sides hundreds and\nthousands of brownies, who were cutting all sorts of antics and capers.\nSome jumped, some ran, some walked on their hands, and some floated\nin the air as light as thistle-down. But each of them, when he passed\nbefore the little gray man, said:\n\n\"Your Majesty, what do you wish to-day of your faithful subjects?\"\n\nTo these questions the little gray man replied:\n\n\"Make the most beautiful palace to be found in all the world.\"\n\nMirza, the princess, was filled with astonishment. Never before had she\nseen so many brownies gathered together in one place, and she said to\nherself, \"Surely these must be the children of the fairies;\" and, full\nof happiness, she went here and there, speaking a kind word to all, and\nat every step she took hundreds of precious stones were scattered under\nher feet, and, at each smile a rose fell.\n\nAt last all the brownies were set to work under the direction of the\nlittle gray man. Some felled the great trees of the forest and trimmed\nthem, some delved in the mines for marble and precious stones, and\nothers forged the rare metals out of which the vast columns of the\npalace were to be made.\n\nRapidly the new palace was built, and when it was finished it shone in\nthe land like a rare jewel in the bosom of a beautiful woman.\n\n\"Now, then,\" said the little gray man to the beautiful Mirza, \"are you\nsatisfied with my work, and do you repent having chosen me for your\narchitect?\"\n\n\"Powerful and most generous King of the Brownies,\" she said to the\nlittle gray man, \"how can I be dissatisfied at the sight of this rare\npalace, which you have built for me?\"\n\n\"This being so,\" said the little gray man, \"what is to be my reward?\"\n\nAt this the young girl smiled, and a beautiful rose dropped from her\nlips.\n\n\"This shall be your reward,\" said she, giving him the flower.\n\n\"Thanks! thanks!\" exclaimed the little gray man, and he instantly\ndisappeared. The brownies were paid in the same way, and the young girl\nsoon found herself alone with the old woman.\n\nOne day passed, then two, then three, and still the prince did not come\nhunting. At this Mirza grew impatient, and she said to the old woman.\n\n\"Go to the top of the hill and see if the prince is not coming.\"\n\nThe old woman went to the top of the hill, and looked around on all\nsides, but there was nothing in sight. The roads on every side were\ndusty and deserted, and she returned to her mistress.\n\n\"What did you see?\" inquired the princess.\n\n\"Nothing, your majesty, but the floating clouds and the beautiful\nflowers.\"\n\n\"Go, then, and look again,\" said Mirza.\n\nThe old woman looked again and then returned.\n\n\"What have you seen?\" inquired the princess.\n\n\"The waters flowing, the grasses growing, and in the limbs of the trees\nI heard the breezes murmuring.\"\n\n\"Return and look again.\"\n\nSo the woman went, and when she had come back the princess said:\n\n\"What have you seen?\"\n\n\"Away in the distance, on the dusty road, I saw horsemen coming.\"\n\n\"It is the prince,\" said Mirza; and, sure enough, the prince, followed\nby his retainers, his huntsmen, and his dogs, soon made his appearance.\nSuddenly, the prince, seized with admiration, paused and looked around\nhim. Here, where there had been only briars and brambles, there arose\nbefore his view the marvellous palace that had been erected by the\nlittle gray man.\n\n\"To whom does this dazzling palace belong?\" asked the prince, but\nno one could answer him. \"Await me here,\" said the prince to his\nfollowers, \"I will go and inquire, but I will return immediately.\"\n\nHe approached the door and knocked, but there was no response, and one\nwould have supposed the palace was uninhabited. He knocked again, but\neverything was silent except the clamorous echoes which he himself had\naroused. Then the prince climbed up to the nearest window, opened the\nblinds, and found himself in a marvellous saloon which was uninhabited.\nHe pursued his way through beautiful halls and apartments, until he\ncame to a room more beautiful than the rest.\n\nOn a bed of gold, Mirza was reclining, and as he approached she arose\nand exclaimed:\n\n\"Who has dared enter my palace?\"\n\n\"Powerful princess,\" said the young man, \"I am your slave. Do with me\nas you will.\"\n\n\"Who are you?\" she cried.\n\n\"The king of all this country\u2014the most unfortunate of men since I have\nseen you.\"\n\nAt these words the young girl smiled, and from her lips fell a rose.\nShe took a few steps forward, and precious stones covered the carpet\nwhere she walked.\n\n\"What do I see?\" exclaimed the prince, filled with astonishment. \"Are\nyou not Mirza, my affianced?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" cried the happy girl, \"I am Mirza, who loves you; I am Mirza,\nwhose hand you demanded in marriage through an ambassador.\"\n\nAt the remembrance of her misfortunes tears shone in her eyes, and\npearls fell therefrom.\n\nThe prince was overjoyed; he had been deceived, but he was now happy.\nMirza told him all, and he would have had the deceitful servants burned\nat the stake, but the princess interceded for them and they were\nbanished from the country. The prince and Mirza lived long and happily\ntogether.\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nTHE KING OF THE LIONS\n\n\nA Donkey one day thought that the time had come for him to go and seek\nhis fortune; so he broke his halter and ran away into the broad fields.\nThe grass was high and rank, and there was no lack of thistles. Happy\nover his good fortune, Brother Donkey brayed so loud and so joyously\nthat Mr. Lion, who happened to be passing that way, stopped to inquire\nwhat the matter could be.\n\nAt the sight of Brother Donkey, Mr. Lion was paralyzed with\nastonishment. Never, in all his wanderings, had he seen such a\ncreature. Mr. Lion looked at Brother Donkey from a distance. Then he\napproached a little nearer, and finally mustered up courage to say:\n\n\"Who are you, and what is your name?\"\n\n\"My name is Brother Donkey,\" replied the other, \"and I am the ruler of\nall Donkeydom.\"\n\n\"I do not know that country,\" said Mr. Lion, \"but I myself am a monarch,\nand the most of the other animals have chosen me for their king.\"\n\n\"If that is the case,\" said Brother Donkey, \"we are brothers, and we\nwill continue our travels together.\"\n\n\"With the greatest pleasure,\" responded Mr. Lion. \"One can only gain by\nbeing in good company.\"\n\nSo the two started on their journey together. As they went along, Mr.\nLion thought he saw that Brother Donkey was not as formidable as he\nhad at first appeared. There was something in his gait, something in\nhis appearance, that led to this suspicion, and when he saw a tiger, he\nseemed to be so frightened that the King of the Desert said:\n\n\"Come, my friend, and let us wrestle together for fun.\"\n\n\"No, no, my comrade,\" exclaimed Brother Donkey, \"for I am so strong that\nin spite of myself I should be compelled to crush you with my feet.\"\n\nMr. Lion, thinking this was true, made a profound bow to the King\nof Donkeydom, and the two continued on their journey together. It\nso happened that they had to cross a river. With one bound Mr. Lion\nreached the other side, but, on the contrary, Brother Donkey went down\ninto the water and began to swim in a very awkward manner; so awkward,\nindeed, that it seemed he was in danger of drowning.\n\n\"How is it,\" exclaimed Mr. Lion, in astonishment, \"that you cannot\nswim?\"\n\n\"What, I?\" said Brother Donkey. \"I split the water more rapidly than a\nboat, and the fishes themselves could not beat me in a race.\"\n\n\"If that is true,\" said Mr. Lion, \"why does it take you so long to\ncross a stream?\"\n\n\"Ah,\" exclaimed Brother Donkey, \"it was because I had caught with my\ntail an eel so large and heavy that I was about to sink, and I was\ncompelled to turn it loose in order to rejoin you.\"\n\nMr. Lion was satisfied with this answer, and the two friends resumed\ntheir journey. As they went along they soon came to a high stone wall.\nMr. Lion leaped over it at a bound, but Brother Donkey was unable to\nget over so quickly. He raised himself on his hindlegs, placed his\nforefeet on the wall, and hung suspended there. Mr. Lion, seeing this,\ncried out:\n\n\"What are you doing there?\"\n\n\"Do you not see,\" said Brother Donkey, \"that I am weighing myself? I\nwant to see if the part of my body in front is as heavy as the part\nthat is behind.\"\n\nBrother Donkey, after great effort, at last succeeded in getting over\nthe wall. Mr. Lion then said to his companion:\n\n\"Powerful King of Donkeydom, my esteemed friend! I believe that you are\nmaking sport of me. I believe that your strength, at its best, is no\ngreater than that of a child.\"\n\n\"Do you have such a thought as that?\" said Brother Donkey, with a\nsmile. \"You make a serious mistake, great King of Beasts. Let us make\na trial of strength right here. Let us see which of us is able to\ndestroy that great wall. The one that is victorious will be known as\nthe king of the animals.\"\n\n\"This is a good idea,\" exclaimed Mr. Lion, heartily, \"and I accept your\nconditions with pleasure.\"\n\nImmediately Mr. Lion made an effort to show his power. He struck the\nwall with his paws, and then with his tail. He struck it on the right\nand on the left, but he only wounded himself. He did not succeed in\nmaking one stone fall. At the end of a quarter of an hour he gave up in\ndespair.\n\n\"I cannot make an impression on this strong wall,\" said Mr. Lion. \"Let\nus see if you will be more fortunate.\"\n\nAt once Brother Donkey began to bray and kick, and he used his heels\nwith such effect that in a few minutes the wall was knocked down and\ndestroyed.\n\n\"What do you think of this?\" cried Brother Donkey. \"Do you still think\nyou are stronger than I am?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Mr. Lion, humbly. \"Until to-day I had thought myself the\nking of animals, but I was mistaken, and the title belongs to you\nhereafter.\"\n\n\"But even yet,\" said Brother Donkey, \"you do not know what I can do.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Mr. Lion, \"what can you do that is so extraordinary?\"\n\n\"Well,\" replied Brother Donkey, \"I can eat thorns.\"\n\n\"Thorns!\" exclaimed Mr. Lion. \"Do you really mean what you say?\"\n\n\"Of course,\" said Brother Donkey, \"I am telling you the simple truth.\"\n\n\"I would not dispute your word,\" said Mr. Lion, \"but I am really\nanxious to see you perform this wonderful feat.\"\n\n\"Do you see the thistles growing over there in that field?\" inquired\nBrother Donkey.\n\n\"I do, indeed,\" said Mr. Lion.\n\n\"Well,\" said Brother Donkey, \"I am going to eat them.\"\n\nThen Brother Donkey, who had not eaten since morning, began to devour\nthe thistles. Astonished at this, Mr. Lion said to Brother Donkey:\n\n\"I think you are the most extraordinary creature I ever saw, and I want\nyou to be recognized as King of the Lions. Do you consent?\"\n\n\"With pleasure,\" Brother Donkey replied.\n\nThe next day, or shortly thereafter, a convention of all the lions\nwas held, and Brother Donkey was elected king without any opposition\nwhatever. He reigned over them many years, and he was the better able\nto do this from the fact that he never disputed with his subjects over\ntheir prey. Brother Donkey ate his thistles and the lions ate their\nfresh meat, and all was peace in that country.\n\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nTHE VIZIER, THE MONKEY, THE\n\nLION, AND THE SERPENT\n\n\nOnce on a time a ruler who was the king of men, as well as the king\nof beasts, called his Vizier, Rustem, to whom he had confided the\neducation of his only son, and said:\n\n\"Tell me, does my son follow your advice, and does he give promise of\nmaking a worthy successor of his father?\"\n\n\"Though he is still youthful, the young prince bids fair to become the\nking of men,\" said Rustem; \"your son is already fitted to rule both man\nand beast.\"\n\nNever was a vizier so untruthful; never had a tutor so corrupted a\nyoung prince. He had implanted in his pupil's mind the vices which\nwere his own. He had made him greedy, unjust, and impatient at the\nleast contradiction. The Vizier had made the young prince believe that\nthe people whom he was one day to govern were a lot of miserable cattle\nwho were to be imposed on at the King's will.\n\nIt happened in those days that a merchant came to the King's palace,\nhaving for sale a collection of rich jewels. He had them of all kinds\nand all prices\u2014diamonds, pearls, rubies, and emeralds\u2014all heaped\ntogether in a beautiful casket of carved cedarwood. The Prince remained\nfor hours admiring this marvellous collection of treasures.\n\n\"Ah,\" he exclaimed, \"how I wish I had money enough to buy all that I\nsee!\"\n\n\"Prince,\" said the Vizier, \"are you not the master? Command, and these\ntreasures are yours.\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" said the Prince, \"so be it;\" and with that his slaves\ntook possession of the casket and drove the poor merchant away from the\npalace.\n\nThe merchant, however, was not willing to submit to such an injustice.\nHe went about making his charges and his complaints in the public\nplaces, until at last the matter became a scandal that could not be\noverlooked. So the powerful young Prince had him whipped with such\nseverity that he expired not far from the palace.\n\nThe news of this terrible crime came speedily to the ears of the King,\nwho became enraged with his son and with the perfidious Rustem. He\ndrove them both from the palace. The tutor was banished from the court,\nand the young Prince was placed in a castle at some distance from\nhis father's palace. Forgetting the irreparable injury he had caused,\nthe Vizier one day went to see his former pupil. He fancied he would\nbe received with open arms, as in the past; but what was his surprise\nto find himself loaded with reproaches. With a significant gesture\nthe young Prince ordered his old tutor from his presence. The Vizier\nretired in confusion. It was night, and for a long time he wandered in\nthe forest.\n\nVaguely walking about he fell in a pit that had been set as a trap\nfor wild animals. What was his terror to find himself in the company\nof a Lion, a Monkey, and a Serpent, each of whom had fallen into the\npit. When morning came the ex-vizier found himself in the midst of sad\nreflection. He was fearful that he would lose by hunger the life these\nbeasts had left him, when, all of a sudden, he saw a man peering over\nthe edge of the pitfall. Then the Vizier set up a terrible cry, and the\ntraveller, touched with pity, threw him a rope so that he could escape\nfrom his perilous position.\n\nThe Monkey, nimbler than the Vizier, seized the rope and ran up it,\nmuch to the surprise of the traveller, who had expected a different\nvisitor.\n\n\"You will not be sorry for this,\" said the Monkey, by way of apology.\n\"I know how to be grateful for a service, and I know how to cherish a\nbenefactor. To prove to you that I am in earnest, I will give you a\npiece of advice. Do not rescue the man whose voice you heard in the\npitfall. He is a knave, and he will soon cause you to repent of your\ngenerosity. I live at the foot of the mountain yonder, where I hope to\nmeet you some day and be of service to you. Farewell!\"\n\nThe traveller was not much impressed with the words of the Monkey, but\nhe allowed the creature to go its way, and threw the rope again into\nthe pitfall in the hope of rescuing his fellow-man, whose voice he had\nheard.\n\nIn a moment he felt a considerable weight on the rope, and he thought\nthat he was now rescuing the man, but, to his utter surprise, a\nterrible Lion came climbing up. His mane was shaggy, his teeth were\nwhite and cruel, and his claws were long and crooked. It seemed to the\ntraveller that he would be compelled to drop this terrible creature\nback into the pitfall, but the Lion's voice reassured him.\n\n\"Do not be afraid,\" said the Lion. \"You have won a protector whose\nservices are not to be disdained. You have given me my life to-day and\nperhaps I may be able to save yours. Your fellow-man, who is still in\nthe pitfall, will never be able to be of such service to you.\"\n\nThe traveller thereupon redoubled his efforts and drew the lion to the\ntop.\n\n\"Friend,\" said the Lion, \"my den is in this forest, opposite the\nmountain. Come and see me, and you will always be welcome.\"\n\nThere still remained two prisoners to deliver, and the rope was thrown\nback in the pit. The Serpent wound himself around it, and was drawn up.\n\n\"Generous friend,\" cried the Serpent, \"I want to give you a piece of\nadvice, and as advice is considered to be cheap, I have no idea that\nyou will follow it. Serpents are considered to be wise. I have left\nin the bottom of this pitfall the most outrageous impostor the world\nhas ever seen. Leave him to his fate if you do not wish to regret your\nkindness. You seem to be too kind, but on the faith of a serpent I will\ndeliver you out of the first difficulty into which your good heart gets\nyou. My house is all along the walls of the neighboring city.\"\n\nBut in spite of all this advice the traveller was too generous to\npermit his fellow-man to die in the pitfall, and for the fourth\ntime he dropped the rope. The Vizier seized it and was saved. It is\nimpossible to describe the joy of the Vizier at this turn of affairs.\nHis expressions of gratitude were effusive. He embraced his deliverer\nand called him his saviour. He wanted to relate his history to the\ntraveller, and, in doing so began to deceive his benefactor. He spoke\nonly of the injustice of the King, and his discourse seemed to be so\nfull of truth that the traveller was grateful that it had fallen to his\nlot to rescue so admirable a person.\n\n\"I live in the adjoining village,\" said the deposed Vizier, \"and I\noffer you a home there. You shall be made welcome.\"\n\nThe traveller thanked him heartily, but he had other ends in view.\nHe was on his way to the Ganges to purchase merchandise, and he\nproceeded thither with that inward satisfaction that arises from the\naccomplishment of a good deed. On the shores of the Ganges, in India,\nthe traveller entered into trade, and his fortunes prospered. He soon\nfound himself possessed of a large sum of money, and he was filled\nwith a desire to see his native country. He returned by the same road,\nand, after travelling for some time, he found himself once more in\nthe forest where, on a former occasion, his rope had been of such\nassistance to the unfortunates who had fallen into the pit.\n\nHe remembered with pleasure the eloquent words of the grateful Rustem,\nand he regretted that he could not see his old friend. As for the three\nanimals\u2014the Monkey, the Lion, and the Snake\u2014their remarks had made\nbut little impression on his mind; he was only grateful to them for not\nhaving devoured him.\n\nWhile he was thinking of these things the rich traveller found himself\nsurrounded with enemies even more ferocious than the animals he had\nrescued. He found himself in the midst of a band of thieves. The\nrobbers seized the traveller, compelled him to dismount from his horse,\ntook possession of his treasures, and were preparing to take his life,\nwhen the captain of the band remarked that it would be a useless\nmurder. But the thieves bound the traveller at the foot of a tree, and\nleft him to die there of hunger.\n\nThe cries of the unfortunate traveller reached the ears of the big\nMonkey that had been rescued from the pitfall. His instinct recognized\nthe voice of his deliverer, and he came to the rescue of the traveller.\nThe Monkey seized the bonds in his strong teeth, and they soon fell\napart, and it was not long before the traveller was free to go his way.\n\nBut the grateful Monkey took him to his home, where fresh fruits\nappeased his hunger, and cool and pure water quenched his thirst. To\nthe Monkey the traveller related his sad adventure, and the recital\ntouched the heart of the grateful animal.\n\nThe Monkey had lived in the forest so long that he was not only\nfamiliar with the habits of the robbers, but knew where their abode\nwas. To that he made haste to go. He found the robbers asleep, with\nmany treasures by their side. He seized bags of gold and silver and\nprecious stones, together with a supply of rich apparel, and carried\nthem to his benefactor.\n\nHaving recovered his hard-earned fortune, the traveller thanked the\nMonkey, and continued on his journey. He was astonished that such a\ncreature could be so grateful, and reproached himself for never having\nthought of the animal. He was walking along in the midst of these\nreflections when he heard a terrible roaring, and a ferocious-looking\nLion appeared before him. The traveller was seized with terror. He was\nso frightened that he leaned against a tree to keep from falling to the\nground. To his surprise, the King of the Forest spoke to him thus:\n\n\"Good-day, my friend, my deliverer! It was you that saved my life. I\nwant to show you my gratitude. Come into my cavern and take a few\nmoments' rest.\"\n\nThe conduct of the Monkey had somewhat reconciled the traveller to the\nanimals. Whatever fear he might have had in the presence of the Lion,\nthe traveller hoped that the King of Beasts would not be less generous\nthan the Monkey.\n\n\"I am happy to tell you,\" said the Lion, after having heard about\nthe Monkey, \"that gratitude ought to be the first virtue of beasts,\nsince it is not that of man.\" At the same time the Lion thought to\nhimself\u2014\"How can I show my gratitude to my dear deliverer, and what\ncan I do for him so as not to appear inferior to the Monkey?\"\n\nHe was filled with these reflections when they arrived at the\ncavern. The traveller was well taken care of by the Lion. He dined\nmost sumptuously, drank of the best wines, and ate of the most\ndelicious fruits. But while they were discussing the dessert, the same\ndistressing thought came into the Lion's head\u2014\"What can I do to retain\nmy dignity and pay the sacred debt I owe my deliverer?\"\n\nBut he could not think of anything suitable, and the traveller observed\nit. So he said:\n\n\"What is the matter, my friend? You seem disconsolate.\"\n\n\"Nothing,\" said the Lion. \"But you must promise me that you will not\nleave this place until I return.\"\n\n\"But why?\" inquired the traveller.\n\n\"You will know later,\" responded the lion.\n\n\"Very well,\" said the traveller, \"here I will remain.\"\n\nThe Lion bounded away, and he was soon in the middle of the forest,\nlooking this way and that, to the right and to the left, in search of\nsomething marvellous to give to the traveller, when all of a sudden\nhe saw the young Prince, the Vizier's pupil, who had been exiled,\npromenading in his castle grounds. On the Prince's head there was a\nturban, which was ornamented with a superb cluster of diamonds.\n\n\"That is the very thing,\" exclaimed the Lion, and with one bound he\nseized the Prince and strangled him. Thus was the jeweller avenged, and\nhis diamonds were returned to him. The traveller, who had been robbed\nand beaten by order of the young Prince and his Vizier, was glad to get\nhis jewels back, and he did not know how to be grateful enough to the\nLion, of whom he had formerly been afraid.\n\nThe traveller then set out toward the city in hopes of finding his\nexcellent friend Rustem. He hoped, indeed, to spend some time with\nthis philosopher, whom he had rescued, and who had offered to share\nhis house with his benefactor. With a happy heart and a light step the\ntraveller went on his way, and the next morning at the break of day he\nreached the city where the former Vizier had taken up his abode. In\nspite of the early hour the streets were crowded, and the squares were\nfilled with people. On all sides the populace spoke to each other in\nsubdued tones, as if some dreadful calamity were pending.\n\nThe curiosity of the traveller was excited, and he approached a group,\nand listened. Some one was relating that the young Prince, who had been\nexiled from the court, had been found bleeding and dead in the park of\nthe castle. It was thought that the murder of the Prince was the work\nof some thief who desired to get possession of the beautiful jewels\nthat the young man wore.\n\nHaving his curiosity satisfied, the traveller made his way to the house\nof his friend, the philosopher Rustem, where he was received with open\narms. According to the wishes of his friend, the traveller related all\nthe particulars of his journey, which were even more wonderful than are\nrelated here. He told, in short, his whole history. He told Rustem of\nall his troubles\u2014how he had been rescued by a Monkey, and how he was\nmet by a terrible Lion, who was rejoiced to see him, and who had given\na sumptuous feast in his honor; and who, thinking this not enough, had\npresented him with a magnificent cluster of diamonds.\n\nAfter relating this extraordinary adventure, the traveller made bold\nto exhibit to Rustem the beautiful diadem, who regarded it with a\ngreedy and knowing look, and who made many exclamations of surprise and\nadmiration. The worthy traveller did not foresee the troubles that this\nunfortunate diadem was to cause him. He did not know that it had been\nthe cause of the death of the son of the King.\n\nMeanwhile, Rustem was thinking to himself, \"I recognize these diamonds.\nThey belonged to my young master. What a reward must be in store for\nthe one who will inform the monarch of the murderer of his child!\"\n\nNight came, and the traveller was fast asleep. The cluster of diamonds\nwas lying on a table. The cowardly Vizier seized it and ran to the\npalace. The ingrate, cowardly as he was, would not hesitate to\nsacrifice his benefactor, provided he could recover his lost power.\n\n\"Here is the property of the son whom you have so rigorously punished.\nDo you recognize these diamonds? I have in my power the assassin who\nhad possession of this diadem.\"\n\nThe unfortunate King wept on seeing the familiar ornament which his\nfavorite son had worn. He kissed it, and pressed it to his heart as if\nit had been his favorite child.\n\n\"Let the murderer be brought before me,\" he exclaimed, \"and he shall be\nthrown into the darkest dungeon.\"\n\nThe unfortunate traveller, who was ignorant of the crime of which he\nwas accused, was brought before the King with trouble and confusion\nimprinted on his features. He saw the perfidious Rustem in the crowd\nthat surrounded him, and, remembering the wise counsels of the Monkey\nand the Serpent, suspected that he had been made the victim of this\ntreacherous person.\n\n\"I deserve,\" he said, sadly, \"the cruel lot that is in store for me.\"\n\nThe King, mistaking the true meaning of these words, thought that the\nprisoner had been frightened into making a confession. He was thereupon\ncondemned to be burned in the public square.\n\nFortunately, as this punishment was to be witnessed by the whole\npopulace, it was postponed until after the funeral of the young\nPrince. The poor traveller was cast into the dungeon set apart for the\ncondemned. It was dark and clammy, and on entering it he bade farewell\nto life and happiness.\n\nA friend, however, was watching over the poor traveller. It was the\nSerpent he had delivered from the pitfall. Cautiously he crawled along\nthe damp walls and under the doors, and avoided the observation of the\njailers. The traveller recognized him at once.\n\n\"Fear nothing,\" said the Serpent, \"I come to deliver you.\"\n\n\"How can you do that, my friend?\" asked the traveller.\n\n\"I have promised to redeem you from the results of your own generosity,\nand I am faithful to my promise. You refused to believe that man is the\nmost ungrateful of the animals, and that he returns evil for good. You\nhave forgotten the good advice given you by the Lion and the Monkey.\nHowever, let us forget that. I will be more cunning than the vile\nwretch who is seeking your ruin.\"\n\n\"What must be done?\" the traveller asked.\n\n\"Take this herb. It alone has virtue to cure the poison with which I\nhave inoculated the King's favorite wife. The monarch has now become\na victim of the keenest grief, and you alone can appease it. He will\nsoon forget the crime of which you are accused. He who can make himself\nuseful is always innocent. Advertise your talents; that is the way\nto success. Apply the herb I have given you, and you will perform\nmiracles. Farewell! time presses. Here comes the King to visit you.\"\n\nThe traveller took the advice of the Serpent, and it soon became known\nat the court that he had an infallible remedy for all sorts of poisons,\nand he was taken from the dungeon and carried to the palace, and to the\napartment of the Queen. This estimable lady was sick and pale, and it\nwas apparent that she was dying little by little.\n\nThe first application of the herb revived the dying Queen, and when the\nremedy was applied the second time the gracious lady found herself\nfully recovered.\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" said the traveller, \"the Queen will never feel again\nthe cruel pains that she has suffered, and her life is hereafter\nsafe; but I am on the eve of terminating mine\u2014a fate that I have not\ndeserved. You are too just to punish an innocent person, and I am not\nthe murderer of your son. That monster, Rustem, had contaminated the\nPrince's youth, and it was through his corrupt counsels that the young\nPrince was dragged into disgrace. You will know this villain better\nwhen I prove to you that he is the most ungrateful of human beings.\"\n\nThen the traveller related to the King the adventure in the pitfall\nand all that followed. Convinced that the traveller was telling the\ntruth, the King ordered that the ingrate Rustem should suffer all the\ntortures that had been reserved for the man who was a prisoner.\n\nThis perfidious creature, Rustem, was ignorant of all that had taken\nplace at the palace, and was waiting with impatience for the success\nof his treasonable plots. He was aroused from his vain dreams of\ngreatness, seized, and hurried off to his doom.\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nTHE ENCHANTED PRINCESS\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived in a far country a young Prince, who\ndesired nothing better than to take to himself a wife, but none of the\nwomen who had been presented to him suited his fancy or touched his\nheart.\n\n\"How is it,\" he cried, \"that in all my father's kingdom I am unable to\nfind a wife that suits me?\"\n\nThe poor young Prince became disconsolate. He shed burning tears,\nrefused to eat or drink, and dwindled away in the sight of the sun. The\nKing saw his son's despair and took pity on him. So one day he called\nthe young Prince to him and said:\n\n\"My son, here is a gold key. Go to the top of the highest tower of my\ncastle, and there you will find a door. Open it and enter, and you will\nthen see before you the most beautiful and the most virtuous women in\nthe world. You can have your choice. I hope you will find among them\nthe wife you desire.\"\n\nFilled with joy, Prince Erian took the golden key, climbed the long\nstairs leading to the tower, and soon arrived at the door his father\nhad described. But there was no lock in which he could place the key.\nHe searched in vain. Disappointed, he returned to his father.\n\n\"I found the door,\" he said, \"but the key was useless. There was no\nlock.\"\n\n\"All that is necessary,\" the King replied, \"is to touch the door with\nyour key, and immediately it will swing back on its ruby hinges, so\nthat you may enter.\"\n\nThe Prince made haste to return to the castle tower, and he had no\nsooner touched the door with the key than it swung on its ruby hinges.\n\nNever since the day when the sun first shone on this poor earth of\nours, never since the golden stars sparkled in the firmament, has such\na scene been presented to the human eye as that which Prince Erian\nsaw before him. An immense hall, inlaid with thousands of glistening\ndiamonds, sapphires as blue as the sky, and opals with their changing\nhues, lay spread out before the King's son, who stood dumb with\nastonishment and admiration. There were soft carpets everywhere,\nunmatchable pictures, and bright-colored flowers. Silver perfuming-pans\nswinging from their golden chains, and filling the air with rich\nincense, burned incessantly in this enchanted place.\n\nThere were twelve windows in this wonderful hall, and in each window a\nyoung girl stood, a living picture in a frame. All were so beautiful\nand so graceful that the young Prince was dazed. Never in his wildest\ndreams had he caught a glimpse of fairies quite so beautiful, and even\nthe water-nymphs that he had seen disporting themselves on the water's\nedge were not so charming.\n\nDazed and delighted as he was, there was, nevertheless, a mystery that\npuzzled the young Prince. In the first of the twelve windows stood a\nyoung girl whose head was covered with a gauze veil. She alone had not\nturned when the King's son entered. Prince Erian stepped to her side\nand removed the veil.\n\n\"Why do you look at me?\" she asked, sadly.\n\n\"Because,\" he replied, \"you are the most charming of all the\nmarvellous beauties that surround you; because you are like the moon\namong the stars\u2014like the rose among the flowers of a garden.\"\n\n\"What do you desire of me?\" the young girl asked.\n\n\"Something that makes me tremble to say it,\" responded Prince Erian. \"I\nwant to make you my Queen, and live at your side.\"\n\n\"Alas! to marry me you must rescue me. I am the prisoner of the most\npowerful magician of the earth. I am held captive by Magor, the King of\nthe Sorcerers.\"\n\n\"No matter!\" cried the young Prince. \"I shall rescue you. I shall die\nif I do not make you mine.\"\n\n\"May you be victorious over my deadly enemy; but, unfortunate that I\nam!\" sighed the beautiful prisoner, \"I fear you will share the sad\nfate of the many gallant young princes who have wished to deliver me\nfrom my bonds.\"\n\nQuite happy, Prince Erian returned to his father.\n\n\"Well,\" said the King, \"did you meet the lady of your dreams?\"\n\n\"Yes, my father.\"\n\n\"Tell me: which did you choose?\"\n\n\"The most beautiful of all,\" exclaimed the Prince; \"the fairest of the\nstars, the rose that perfumes the gardens.\"\n\n\"The stars are all brilliant,\" said the King, \"and each flower sheds\nits perfume. Answer me, my son; which is the lady of your choice?\"\n\n\"My father, it is the veiled lady.\"\n\n\"Unfortunate boy, you are lost!\" cried the monarch. \"It is the Queen of\nGolconda, the prisoner of Magor, the King of the Magicians, that you\nhave chosen. My poor son! to make her your queen you must take her\naway from that terrible sorcerer.\"\n\n\"Well, my father,\" cried the enthusiastic young prince, \"I will be her\ndeliverer!\"\n\n\"Alas, my son!\" said the King, \"I fear you will fail, and then you will\nbe turned into a statue of stone.\"\n\n\"The risk is mine,\" cried Prince Erian. \"I shall overcome him.\"\n\n\"Ah, my son! your defeat is certain. Remain with me.\"\n\n\"It is too late, my father, I cannot.\"\n\nThe princely lover lost no time in setting out to conquer Magor, the\nKing of the Magicians, who held the beautiful Princess in enchantment.\n\nPrince Erian had been travelling for several days, when he came to a\ngloomy forest. Unfortunately, in passing through this dark forest, he\nlost his way, and in spite of all his efforts, he could not find it\nagain. He wandered about in the woods for some time when, suddenly, and\nas if by magic, a stranger appeared before him.\n\n\"Good-day, friend!\" exclaimed Prince Erian. \"What are you doing, and\nwhat is your name?\"\n\n\"My name is Long,\" replied the other; \"and I am looking for a master\nwho needs my services.\"\n\n\"The master is already found,\" said the young Prince. \"If you give your\nconsent you shall serve me.\"\n\n\"Agreed!\" exclaimed Long. \"From this day I am entirely subject to your\norders.\"\n\n\"For the present,\" said Prince Erian. \"I ask nothing of you except to\nhelp me find my way out of this terrible forest.\"\n\n\"Is that all? Wait a moment.\" With this, Long stretched himself to\nsuch an amazing extent that his head was above the tallest trees of the\nforest.\n\n\"What are you doing?\" asked the astonished Prince.\n\n\"I am trying to find our way out.\" In a little while Long made himself\nshort again, no taller than an ordinary man.\n\n\"Well, have you found the road?\" the Prince inquired anxiously.\n\n\"Surely,\" replied Long. \"We must take the one to the right of you, and\nsoon we shall be out of this jungle.\"\n\nSo the Prince and his companion took the road to the right and soon\nfound themselves clear of the impenetrable forest. As they came to its\nborders they saw a stout man sitting at the foot of a tree. He was\nround as any barrel, and he sat breathing heavily and wiping his face\nwith the back of his hand.\n\n\"Good-day, my slim friend,\" said the Prince. \"What are you doing here,\nand what is your name?\"\n\n\"My father named me Large,\" replied the stout man; \"and I am resting in\nthe shade here, waiting for some one who needs my services.\"\n\n\"Your services? And what can you do, my man?\" inquired the Prince.\n\nLarge made no reply. He simply caused his body to expand to such an\nextent that he filled the open field. Before Prince Erian and Long\ncould recover from their astonishment, Large caused himself to subside,\nbeing careful however, not to collapse so suddenly as to create a great\nstorm.\n\n\"Now, then,\" said he, \"can I be of service to any one?\"\n\n\"I think you can,\" the Prince answered; \"and since you possess such an\nextraordinary talent, I will take you as my servant. Come with me.\"\n\n\"Gladly!\" exclaimed Large, and the Prince and his two servants\ncontinued on their way.\n\nAs the travellers drew near their journey's end, they saw a man leaning\nagainst an immense oak. He had a bandage over his eyes, and he stood\nmotionless, appearing to be very much preoccupied.\n\n\"Take this unfortunate person into your service,\" Long suggested to the\nPrince. \"Who knows but he may prove to be of great assistance to you\nlater on?\"\n\n\"My friend,\" said Prince Erian, addressing the stranger, \"what is your\nname?\"\n\n\"My father named me Keen Eyes,\" said the other.\n\n\"A pretty neat name for a blind man,\" remarked the Prince. \"What can\nyou do?\"\n\n\"My trade is to see clearly,\" replied Keen Eyes. \"My eyes are bandaged\nso that my sight may do no damage to the objects I fix my gaze on.\"\n\n\"Really!\" exclaimed Prince Erian; \"if your power is so great, give us\nan example of it.\"\n\n\"Look!\" cried Keen Eyes. \"Do you see that immense rock yonder?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Keep your eyes on it! In an instant it shall fly to pieces.\"\n\nKeen Eyes removed his bandage, looked steadily upon the imposing mass\nof granite, and it seemed to melt before his eyes; it crumbled and fell\nto pieces.\n\n\"My friend,\" said the Prince, \"you are an extraordinary man. If you\nwill come with me, I will take you as my servant.\"\n\nKeen Eyes gladly accepted the offer.\n\nAfter travelling a little farther, Prince Erian and his servants,\nLong, Large, and Keen Eyes, came upon a magnificent castle, the walls\nof which were armored with iron and brass. This castle belonged to the\nterrible Magor, the King of the Magicians, who held the Princess of\nGolconda in the spell of his enchantment.\n\n\"This is the end of our journey,\" said Prince Erian.\n\nHe then explained to his servants the bold scheme he had in mind, and\nthey made an effort to enter at once into the castle, but the door was\nmade of brass and it was barred and locked.\n\n\"What shall we do?\" said the young Prince.\n\n\"Wait!\" answered Keen Eyes. He raised his bandage, gave the door one\nglance and it crumbled into pieces. Without further ceremony, the four\ntravellers entered the castle.\n\nIt was a wonderful place, this home of the King of the Sorcerers.\nOn every side statues of gold and silver were to be found, luminous\nflowers, and amidst all the beauty, charming birds that spoke the\nlanguage of human beings.\n\nIn one room of the castle the travellers found a table already set and\ncovered with the most palatable dishes and perfumed wines. The Prince\nand his companions were very hungry; so they sat themselves down to the\nfeast spread before them, and ate a great deal and drank a great deal\nmore. After this excellent meal, Prince Erian and his three servants\nwent out to walk in the beautiful garden. They had scarcely gone ten\npaces when they met Magor and his charming captive. At sight of these\nunknown persons, the Sorcerer stood dumb with amazement. At last, full\nof rage, he cried out:\n\n\"Why did you come here, miserable creatures? Dare you even pretend to\ntake from me the pearl of pearls, the beauty without rival that I have\non my arm, my pretty prisoner, the Princess of Golconda?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Prince; \"and all your magic will serve to confound you,\nif you do not use your superhuman art.\"\n\n\"So be it,\" assented Magor. \"I will not crush you like an earthworm. I\nwill do better. I will give you the lady of your dreams, but upon one\ncondition only.\"\n\n\"Name it!\" cried Prince Erian.\n\n\"It is this: that during three days in succession, and precisely at\ntwelve o'clock, you must present the Princess of Golconda to me in the\nlarge hall of the Castle.\"\n\n\"That is an easy thing to do,\" said Prince Erian.\n\n\"You are mad!\" cried Magor. \"Reflect before you accept the challenge,\nfor if you permit the Princess to escape all will be over with you.\nThat moment you and your companions shall be changed into statues.\"\n\n\"No matter,\" said the Prince. \"I accept.\"\n\n\"If, at the appointed hour,\" the King of the Sorcerers explained, \"you\npresent to me the Princess of Golconda, one of the iron rings that I\nwear around my waist will fall off, and if all three should break, one\nafter the other, you will be victorious over me\u2014over Magor, the King\nof the Magicians.\"\n\nThen Prince Erian took the arm of the lady of his dreams, the beautiful\nPrincess of Golconda, and conducted her to the hall that Magor had\npointed out to him. After the three days of the trial, the charming\nPrincess would be his own\u2014all his own. With what happiness, he\nthought, would he present her to his father! \"Here,\" he would say, \"is\nthe wife I have chosen. Magor, the King of the Magicians, disputed my\nright to her, and him I have overthrown!\"\n\nBut what precautions they were compelled to use! Prince Erian closed\nthe door carefully and then ordered Long to stretch himself all around\nthe hall. Large was told to expand himself so as to stop up the\nwindows, and Keen Eyes was made to loosen the bandage around his eyes.\nWhen all these preparations had been made, there was only a small space\nleft for the beautiful Princess and Prince Erian.\n\n\"Keen Eyes,\" said the young Prince, \"we must be careful; we must not\nfall asleep; we must watch to-night.\"\n\n\"Yes, master,\" responded Keen Eyes, \"we must drive away sleep.\"\n\nNevertheless, worn out as they were, they soon closed their eyes, and\nin a few moments they were sound asleep.\n\nAt dawn the next day, Prince Erian was the first to awake. But the\nbeautiful Princess had disappeared. The young Prince, filled with\nmingled grief and astonishment, called out to his companions:\n\n\"Awake, my friends! Awake!\"\n\n\"What is the matter, master? What is the matter?\" they cried:\n\n\"An irreparable misfortune has befallen me! The Princess has\ndisappeared! Search and see if you can find her anywhere.\"\n\nLong, Large, and the young Prince searched everywhere, examining every\npiece of furniture, but they did not find the beautiful young Princess.\n\n\"Alas!\" they cried, \"what shall we do? we are lost!\"\n\n\"Wait!\" said Keen Eyes; \"not yet!\" He had also been searching for the\nPrincess.\n\n\"What!\" exclaimed the young Prince, \"can you have found her?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Keen Eyes. \"Four hundred leagues away there is a forest.\nIn this forest there is a tree. On this tree there is a limb. On this\nlimb there is an acorn.\"\n\n\"Well\u2014well?\" cried Prince Erian.\n\n\"And in that acorn is the Princess.\"\n\n\"Then all is lost!\" exclaimed the young Prince. \"To travel four hundred\nleagues and return by noon is an impossibility.\"\n\n\"Do not give up all hope, my master,\" said Long. \"Wait a little while.\"\n\nKeen Eyes got on Long's shoulders, and Long stretched himself out so\nthat with a few leaps he was in the forest and then at the tree. Keen\nEyes took possession of the precious acorn. Long drew his great length\ntogether, and in a moment they had returned.\n\nPrince Erian took the acorn, broke it open, and out stepped the\nPrincess, more beautiful and more resplendent than ever.\n\nAll this time, Magor, the King of the Sorcerers, was laughing to\nhimself and enjoying the neat trick he had played on the young Prince\nand his companions. At precisely twelve o'clock he presented himself at\nthe door of the hall, and cried out:\n\n\"Ah, well! faithful guardian! Can you show me the beautiful Princess?\"\n\n\"Most certainly,\" replied Prince Erian. \"Behold her here!\"\n\nA cry of rage broke from the Magician. A band of iron broke from his\nbody and fell at his feet.\n\n\"But wait!\" cried Magor. \"Watch well to-night.\"\n\n\"Be not uneasy,\" said Prince Erian. \"Meanwhile permit us to promenade\nin your magnificent garden.\"\n\nThey inspected the palace from top to bottom and went through the\ngarden. They saw some very strange things, and much that they saw was\ncalculated to make a very serious impression on their minds. That which\nmost affected the friends of the young Princess was the spectacle of a\nwall along which were ranged the statues of many Knights.\n\nSome stood with clubs uplifted as if for combat. Others were in an\nattitude of supplication, while still others, with muscles strained and\neyes filled with fire, seemed to be having a hand-to-hand contest with\nthe terrible Sorcerer; but they had all been vanquished and turned to\nstone by his power.\n\n\"These unfortunate men,\" said the Princess, \"have been transformed into\nstatues for attempting to rescue me from the King of the Magicians. I\nhave been the innocent cause of the misfortune of these brave men, and I\nbring misery to all who interest themselves in my sad fate.\"\n\n\"Then why do you not fly from this desolate palace?\" Prince Erian asked.\n\"Are you never free from this Magician? He has such power over you?\"\n\n\"Alas!\" replied the Princess, \"I am not the mistress of my destiny, and\nwhen the King of the Magicians commands me I must obey. His power over\nme is boundless. He can change me into a bird that flies, into a grain\nof dust blown about by the wind, or into a flower that perfumes the\ngarden. He can send me a million leagues away, and I can neither resist\nhis caprice nor oppose his cruel tyranny. Those who love me perish. He\nis so powerful, the others are so weak!\"\n\n\"Ah, well!\" exclaimed the Prince, \"I shall not die, I will deliver you\nfrom the talons of this cruel vulture! I will take you away from this\ncastle, a thousand times accursed since it is your prison!\"\n\n\"Alas!\" said the Princess, \"I fear that you also will suffer defeat.\nAre you a magician, are you a sorcerer, that you can contend against\nMagor?\"\n\n\"I am neither magician nor sorcerer,\" replied the enthusiastic young\nPrince; \"but I have all the power of both, since I love you. Do not\ndespair. Let me do as I wish. My friends, with their extraordinary\ngifts, are your friends, and they are devoted to your cause.\"\n\n\"We will deliver you!\" \"We will deliver you!\" exclaimed Long, Large,\nand Keen Eyes.\n\n\"May you succeed!\" sighed the unhappy Princess. \"But my hopes have been\ndashed to the ground so many times that I dare not depend on anyone.\"\n\nAll day long the young Princess of Golconda and Prince Erian walked\ntogether and were happy, forgetting for the time the terrible contest\nthat was to take place, the outcome of which was wrapped in so much\nuncertainty.\n\nSuddenly the Princess disappeared. Magor, the King of the Magicians,\nhad called her.\n\nThe sun was disappearing little by little below the horizon, and its\ngolden rays were fading before the approaching night.\n\nAll disconsolate, Prince Erian turned his steps toward the castle. His\nanxiety for the Princess was extreme, but, with joyful surprise, he\nfound her awaiting him at the door.\n\n\"Welcome, my Prince!\" she said, and together they entered the castle.\n\nAn elegant repast was spread. The most delicate dishes, the most\nexquisite wines, burdened the table.\n\n\"Come, my friends!\" cried the Sorcerer, \"eat, drink, and be merry! This\nmay be your last meal.\"\n\n\"Don't worry yourself, gentle sir,\" answered Long. \"To-morrow you may\nbe kept busy in the kitchen again. Rest assured you will always find us\nin good health and with hearty appetites.\"\n\n\"We shall see about that,\" said Magor. \"You found my prisoner in an\nacorn; you travelled four hundred leagues to bring her back to this\npalace; but all that is a very simple matter. To-morrow your task will\nnot be such an easy one. Am I not the King of the Magicians?\"\n\n\"Just so,\" remarked Long; \"but you are one and we are four.\"\n\nWhen supper was over, the Princess was given into the care of Prince\nErian.\n\n\"Good-night!\" said Magor with a mocking smile. \"Be sure that you watch\nmore faithfully to-night, or the fair lady of your dreams will elude\nyou.\"\n\n\"Make yourself easy,\" replied the Prince. \"Should she escape we know\nhow to find her.\"\n\nWhen they arrived at the hall where the trial was to be renewed, the\nPrincess said to her companions:\n\n\"I know that you are very powerful, but the cruel Magor is still more\npowerful. Redouble your precautions; remain awake and perhaps you may\nsucceed in rescuing me.\"\n\n\"Trust to us,\" answered Prince Erian.\n\nThe most extraordinary precautions were taken, but all to no purpose.\nWhile Prince Erian and the Princess of Golconda were chatting together,\nsleep fell upon the small company little by little. The wicked Sorcerer\nhad drugged their wine, and the effect was irresistible.\n\n\"Keen Eyes,\" said the Prince, drowsily, \"are you awake?\"\n\n\"Yes, my master,\" answered Keen Eyes with a yawn. \"Fear nothing!\"\n\nBut immediately his eyelids became heavy, and every effort he made to\nkeep awake only made him sleep all the more soundly.\n\nMagor, the King of the Magicians, found it an easy matter to carry off\nhis lovely captive through a very small aperture that Large had left\nopen when he fell asleep.\n\nAt sunrise Prince Erian awoke and discovered that the Princess of\nGolconda had disappeared. He called to his companions:\n\n\"Long! Large! Keen Eyes! where are you? Quick! the Princess has\ndisappeared! This is our last day if we do not find her at once!\"\n\nThey searched on all sides, but without success.\n\n\"Do not distress yourself,\" said Keen Eyes, to the young Prince, who\nwas lamenting. \"See! A thousand leagues from here\u2014farther than the\nsea, farther than the mountains\u2014there is a broad and waving field of\nwheat. In that field of wheat there is a ridge. On that ridge there is\na stalk. On that stalk there is an ear. In that ear there is a grain.\nIn that grain the beautiful Princess is hid.\"\n\nOnce more Keen Eyes mounted the shoulders of Long, who stretched\nhimself again\u2014stretched and took such long steps that in an hour's\ntime he had crossed seas and mountains and reached the wheatfield. The\ntwo friends released the Princess from her floury prison, and in a\nshort time were back at the castle.\n\nPrince Erian had been awaiting their return, tortured by the agony of\nsuspense. It is impossible to describe his joy in beholding once more\nthe beautiful lady of his dreams. He laughed and sang and seemed almost\nbeside himself. He could scarcely keep his eyes off the Princess even\nfor a moment. Suddenly there came a knocking at the door.\n\nBlam\u2014blam! Blam!\n\n\"Come in!\" said the Prince Erian.\n\nIt was the King of the Magicians who entered. He smiled mockingly.\n\n\"Ah, well, my heroes!\" he exclaimed, \"are you as joyous to-day as you\nwere yesterday at this hour, and can you present the Princess to me?\"\n\n\"It is my pleasure to do so,\" said Prince Erian, with mock courtesy.\n\"Behold the Princess here!\"\n\nThe Sorcerer grew pale with anger, and his eyes shot forth fire. A\nsecond band of iron fell from his waist and broke.\n\n\"One day still remains, and this time we shall see who is the\nconqueror,\" said Magor, furious with rage. Thus speaking he retired\nto an apartment in his palace, where he remained throughout the day,\nscheming to outwit Prince Erian and his companions. He now realized\nthat he had met adversaries who were dangerous, and he knew that the\ncontest of the next day would be final. What could he do to hide the\nbeautiful captive? At last he thought he had found a way and a sigh of\nrelief escaped his lips.\n\nMeanwhile Prince Erian and his companions were taking counsel together.\nThey were filled with anxiety. They knew that the King of the Magicians\nwould use all his art to carry off and conceal the beautiful Princess.\nThey knew, too, that if they failed to find her their fate was sealed.\nThey would take their places among the unfortunate knights who had been\ntransformed into statues.\n\nThat night they took unusual precautions, but all was in vain, for\nwhen they awoke the next morning the Princess of Golconda had again\ndisappeared.\n\n\"Awake, friends! Arise!\" cried the young Prince, when he made the\ndiscovery. \"The Princess is gone? Let us search for her.\"\n\nLong and willingly they searched, but all in vain. Keen Eyes himself\nwas puzzled. He looked into the sky and on the earth, penetrated the\nmountains, and looked into the bottom of the precipice. He could see\nnothing that resembled the beautiful young Princess.\n\n\"Ah, well!\" cried Prince Erian. \"The Sorcerer is stronger than we. This\ntime we are lost.\"\n\nThe sun was already high up in the heavens, and the time was\napproaching when the King of the Magicians was to make his appearance\nand demand the Princess.\n\nBut Keen Eyes did not despair. His keen glance searched everywhere.\nSuddenly he gave a cry of joy.\n\n\"Victory! victory! The Princess is ours! I have discovered her\nhiding-place.\"\n\n\"Where is it?\" cried Prince Erian. \"Quick! Time is precious.\"\n\n\"Do you see yonder\u2014away yonder in the Black Sea,\" said Keen Eyes,\npointing as eagerly as if all eyes were as keen as his\u2014\"do you see\nthat wave rocked by the hurricane, ascending to the surface and\ndescending to the depths of the abyss, pushed here and thrown there by\nthe storm? In the centre of that tremendous wave there is a void. In\nthat void is a ring. In that ring is your beautiful Princess.\"\n\n\"What shall we do, my friends? What shall we do?\" cried the young\nPrince.\n\n\"Large,\" said Keen Eyes, by way of answer, \"get on Long's shoulders\nwith me. He will take us to the shore of the sea where the storm-tossed\nwave is swimming.\"\n\nLarge obeyed, and at once and swiftly they made their way to the\nsea\u2014swifter than the north wind they travelled, over plains and over\nmountains, past rivers and hills.\n\n\"Faster, faster!\" cried Keen Eyes.\n\nThey reached the sea, but their difficulty was not over. How should\nthey get possession of the storm-tossed wave? Long stretched himself\nand pursued it, but when he thought he held it, it would slip from his\nhands and disappear.\n\n\"Wait,\" said Large. \"I am going to get it.\"\n\nThen he began to drink, drink, drink, so rapidly that the wave with the\nvoid in its centre was at last brought within reach, so that the ring\ncould be seized.\n\nWhat an extraordinary sight it was to see a man as big as the thickest\nmountains, casting his shadow over the entire country, his head\nreaching beyond the clouds that floated in the sky. Large's immense\nsize can be imagined. He had been compelled to drink the greater part\nof the sea so as to get possession of the ring.\n\nHaving found the Princess at last, Long and Keen Eyes started on their\nreturn journey to the magician's castle.\n\nBut they had lost so much time trying to capture the ring that\ncontained the Princess that the hour of noon was about to strike.\n\n\"Courage\u2014courage!\" cried Long. His immense strides carried him over\nhills and ravines, vast plains and dense forests. In a minute they will\nbe at the castle. Forward! Quick! Fast and still faster.\n\n\"We are lost!\" exclaimed Keen Eyes.\n\n\"No!\" cried Long, \"we are here!\" He made a supreme effort, and, at one\nstride, reached the castle. As he came to the door, he saw the Magician\nabout to enter.\n\n\"Let me pass!\" demanded Keen Eyes.\n\n\"After me, if you please,\" said Magor.\n\n\"Infamous Sorcerer!\" exclaimed Keen Eyes, \"I must enter!\"\n\n\"After me, I said,\" responded Magor.\n\nBut while they were disputing Long threw the enchanted ring through\nthe window, and when the King of the Magicians entered the hall, the\nPrincess of Golconda, more beautiful than ever, received him.\n\nThe clock struck the hour of noon!\n\nAt sight of the Princess, the King of the Magicians trembled and a\nterrible cry burst from his lips. Then, transforming himself into a\nraven, he disappeared in space.\n\nThe third iron band had fallen from Magor's waist and broken.\n\nMeanwhile a marvellous change was taking place. The spell of the wicked\nSorcerer was destroyed. The statues came to life. On all sides gay\nlaughter and joyous songs could be heard, and one might have thought\nthat these people, Knights and Princes, were the invited guests at a\nwedding.\n\nAnd so they were, for the marriage of the beautiful Princess of Golconda\ntook place at once, and the guests were the Knights and Princes who had\nbeen restored to life. All of them took part in the festivities, and at\ndaybreak they were still dancing in the Sorcerer's castle.\n\nAs soon as possible Prince Erian and his charming Princess turned\ntheir steps in the direction of that distant city where the aged King\nwas waiting with impatience for his beloved son. Large had not yet\nreturned, but Long went after him, and, all together, they wended their\nway toward the palace where Prince Erian first saw the light.\n\nThe joy of the Prince's parents cannot be described. They were never\ntired of embracing their child. They overwhelmed him with questions,\nand then kissed and caressed him, and thus prevented him from talking.\nNor was the beautiful Princess forgotten; each one embraced her, and\nreceived her as Prince Erian's wife should be received.\n\nThe festivities lasted many days, and when they were over, Long, Large,\nand Keen Eyes asked to leave the Prince.\n\n\"Why leave me?\" said Prince Erian. \"You know how much I owe you, and\nwhether I love you. Remain with me always.\"\n\n\"No,\" replied Keen Eyes, \"the palace stifles us, and the fine clothes\nwe wear are uncomfortable. We are useless at this court.\"\n\n\"I will make you princes,\" said Prince Erian; \"I will make you kings,\nif you will assist me in all my undertakings.\"\n\n\"Men of our kind,\" said Long, \"give kingdoms but receive none. At odd\ntimes, dear prince, we shall visit you. May we always find you happy\nand contented.\"\n\nThen bowing low to Prince Erian, Long, Large, and Keen Eyes sighed and\ndisappeared.\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nLOONY JOHN\n\n\nWhen Loony John was born, his mother leaned her head sadly on her hand\nand murmured:\n\n\"What will become of this boy later? Will he be wicked or innocent,\nrich or poor, intelligent or a simpleton?\"\n\n\"He will be rich,\" answered a little fairy. Her voice seemed to come\nfrom the rafters.\n\n\"He will be poor,\" said a second one.\n\n\"Intelligent,\" said a third.\n\nThen a fourth voice made itself heard\u2014\"Your child will never be\nanything but a simpleton.\"\n\nThe unhappy mother recognized that voice. She had heard it one day\nwhen she refused to take pity on an old beggar-woman, and now she knew\nthat the woman was no other than the Queen of the Fairies in disguise.\n\nThe child grew and thrived, and when he was sixteen, his mother said:\n\n\"My son, I have many trials. We are poor and I want you to learn a\ntrade. What do you want to do?\"\n\n\"Nothing.\"\n\n\"You do not want to work?\"\n\n\"Oh, no,\" answered Loony John; \"work is tiresome.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" thought the poor mother, \"the Queen of the Fairies is taking her\nrevenge.\"\n\nSome days afterward the good woman needed a trivet, and sent her son to\nbuy it.\n\nLoony John ran to the city and bought a splendid one, and was\nreturning home contentedly, when he found that the trivet was too\nheavy. So he sat it down and addressed it:\n\n\"There is the road that leads to our home. You have three feet and I\nhave but two. Run on ahead and be sure not to stop on the way, for my\nmother needs your services.\"\n\nLoony John put his hands in his pockets and went whistling along the\nroad.\n\n\"Where is the trivet?\" demanded his mother when he reached home.\n\n\"Well, well!\" exclaimed Loony John, \"is it not already here? The lazy\nthing must have lagged on the way. With its three feet it should have\nbeen here a good quarter of an hour ago.\"\n\n\"Alas!\" said the mother, \"the trivet is lost. What a simpleton you are\nto talk to a piece of iron as if it had life. You should have put it\nin your sack and carried it on your shoulders.\"\n\n\"Well, mother,\" answered Loony John, \"another time I shall know what to\ndo.\"\n\nOne day Loony John's mother concluded to celebrate the birthday of\nher oldest daughter, and some wine was needed for the invited guests,\nand Loony John was sent after it to a neighboring village. As he was\nreturning, he remembered what his mother said about putting the trivet\nin a sack.\n\n\"Oh\u2014ho!\" he cried. \"I was about to make a serious blunder. If I carry\nthis wine to the house in a jug they will scold me. If a trivet should\nbe put in a sack why not the wine!\"\n\nSo he poured it into his sack.\n\n\"Where is the wine?\" he was asked when he returned home.\n\n\"I had no sooner put it in the sack than it ran away on all sides.\"\n\n\"Did you not have a jug?\"\n\n\"Certainly.\"\n\n\"What a misfortune!\" his mother said. \"You should have carried it on\nyour head.\"\n\nLoony John said he would do better next time.\n\nNot long after this, he was sent for a servant who had been engaged to\nwatch the young turkeys.\n\n\"This time,\" said Loony John, \"I shall be careful to make no mistake.\"\n\nHe soon found the servant, who was a young girl, and said to her:\n\n\"We have no time to lose. Let us be off. Come! get on my head and let's\ngo.\"\n\n\"Oh, I thank you, sir,\" the young girl answered, laughingly. \"You are\ntoo good. I can walk very well on my feet.\"\n\nBut Loony John was not to be put off in this way. He remembered that\nhe had been told to carry the wine on his head, and as the new servant\nshowed no inclination to obey him he gave her a terrible beating. She\nfell almost lifeless by the roadside.\n\n\"Oh\u2014ho!\" cried Loony John, \"you think you will have me scolded again\nto-day; but I am not so fond of a scolding, I can assure you.\"\n\nWithout delay he placed the poor girl on his head and carried her home,\nwhere he arrived well-nigh exhausted.\n\n\"What is it you have there?\" his mother cried.\n\n\"It is our new servant I bring you.\"\n\n\"Oh, what an unhappy creature I am!\" exclaimed the mother. She hastened\nto put the servant to bed. The poor girl's arms were broken and her\nshoulders bruised.\n\nDuring the fortnight that followed, Loony John was sent on no errands.\nBut the servant girl grew steadily worse, and one morning the doctor\nhad to be sent for. There was no one to go but Loony John, and\naccordingly he was sent.\n\n\"Ask for only one,\" his mother cautioned him.\n\n\"Have no fear,\" answered Loony John, and he went on his way yelling as\nloud as he could:\n\n\"Let only one come! Let only one come!\"\n\nThe road led by a river, and as Loony John was going along, he saw a\nfisherman who, since early morning, had been throwing out his line\nwithout success. Loony John's song did not please him.\n\n\"Silly scamp!\" he exclaimed, \"say 'Let a thousand come!' if you want to\nsave your bones.\"\n\nImmediately Loony John cried out:\n\n\"Let a thousand come! Let a thousand come!\"\n\nHe went on and came to a wood where a shepherd was struggling with a\nfierce-looking wolf. The contest seemed to interest him. He sat down\nquietly on a stone and awaited results.\n\nThe struggle was long and furious, but the man at last overpowered\nthe beast, and the wolf fell mortally wounded. While the shepherd was\nrecovering from his exertions he heard a strange refrain. Loony John\nwas yelling:\n\n\"Let a thousand come! Let a thousand come!\"\n\nThe shepherd rose to his feet, furious.\n\n\"You young rascal! Say, rather, 'May the Imp seize him!'\"\n\nAt once Loony John took up the new refrain and went on his way crying:\n\n\"May the Imp seize him! May the Imp seize him!\"\n\nPresently he met a funeral procession, but he still continued his cry.\n\n\"Will you hush?\" said one in the procession. \"If you must go yelling\nalong the road, cry out, 'May the Lord protect him!'\"\n\nLoony John was willing\u2014none more so\u2014and very soon the echoes were\nrepeating:\n\n\"May the Lord protect him! May the Lord protect him!\"\n\nAt the entrance of the village where the doctor lived, a house was on\nfire, and a crowd of people were trying to put it out. Some wicked\nperson had set it on fire and he had been caught. He was safely tied,\nand those who were not helping to put out the fire were engaged in\njeering and insulting the wicked incendiary.\n\nLoony John also wanted to see the culprit, but for fear he would forget\nwhat he had been told to say, he kept on repeating:\n\n\"May the Lord protect him! May the Lord protect him!\"\n\nThe crowd was indignant, and on all sides were heard cries of \"Here is\nhis accomplice!\" Immediately Loony John was seized and beaten, and, in\nspite of his tears and entreaties, was thrown into prison.\n\nHow he escaped need not be told. There is an old saying, \"A fool for\nluck!\" and it is a true one. Loony John got back home somehow.\n\nSome time afterward Easter Sunday came, and when Loony John's mother\nstarted to church she said:\n\n\"Above all things, don't forget to put the hen in the stew-pan.\"\n\n\"I will certainly do that,\" he answered.\n\nThe good woman went off, leaving Loony John very much perplexed. He did\nnot know which hen his mother wanted. So, after thinking the matter\nover, he went into the hen-house and said:\n\n\"Which one of you is to be cooked for dinner?\"\n\n\"Cluck\u2014cluck\u2014cluck!\" answered a setting hen.\n\n\"Pshaw! don't talk Dutch!\" protested Loony John; \"I can't understand\nyou.\"\n\n\"Cluck\u2014cluck\u2014cluck!\" said the setting hen.\n\nLoony John was more puzzled than ever, but he repeated the question:\n\n\"Answer! Which one of you is to be eaten for dinner to-day?\"\n\nBy this time the frightened chickens had all run out of the house into\nthe garden, leaving only the old setting hen who had been answering\nLoony John in Dutch.\n\n\"Oh! you are the one! Very well!\"\n\nLoony John seized her and put her in the stew-pan alive. Then he began\nto think, and he remembered that the eggs were not hatched and that the\nnest was without a hen.\n\n\"My mother did not think of that,\" said Loony John, and at once he went\nand sat on the nest in the hen's place.\n\nWhen his mother returned home she called for her son.\n\n\"John! Oh, John! where are you?\"\n\n\"Here, in a corner of the hen-house!\"\n\n\"Where?\" exclaimed the mother. \"I do not see you.\"\n\n\"Cluck\u2014cluck\u2014cluck!\" said Loony John.\n\n\"Why don't you answer?\" cried his mother.\n\n\"Cluck\u2014cluck\u2014cluck!\" said Loony John.\n\nHis mother at last found him quietly sitting on the eggs.\n\n\"What are you doing there?\" she asked, angrily.\n\n\"Sh\u2014h!\" replied Loony John. \"Don't make any noise. I am setting.\"\n\n\"Did you put the hen in the stew-pan?\"\n\n\"Cluck\u2014cluck\u2014cluck!\"\n\n\"What do you mean by that?\" inquired the good woman. \"Speak!\"\n\n\"I say that I am setting!\" said Loony John, \"and I will fly off the\nnest and scratch in the garden if you continue to disturb me in this\nmanner.\"\n\n\"Why do you set?\" his mother asked.\n\n\"Because the hen that sat on these eggs is about to boil.\"\n\n\"Why, that is not the hen that was to be cooked for dinner to-day, but\nthe one that I picked yesterday and put in the cupboard!\" The good\nwoman shook her head in despair and went away.\n\nHow long Loony John sat on the nest cannot be told, but one day, some\ntime afterward, he was passing by a farm where he saw a woman picking a\nchicken and carefully placing the feathers to one side. Loony John was\nvery much interested in this, and so he said to her:\n\n\"Please, ma'am, tell me what you are doing with those feathers?\"\n\nThe woman was not without humor, and she replied:\n\n\"Why do you ask such a simple question? I am going to plant the\nfeathers, of course. Doesn't your mother plant the feathers she picks\nfrom chickens?\"\n\n\"My gracious! No!\"\n\n\"Well, then, it is because she doesn't own any Catchmeddler hens.\"\n\n\"Why do you plant the feathers?\" inquired Loony John.\n\n\"Well, well! your country must be a very poor place, young man. Is\nit possible you don't know that one of these feathers, carefully\ncultivated, will yield each month a fat, frying-size chicken?\"\n\n\"If that is so,\" said Loony John, \"sell me two hundred dollars' worth\nof your largest and finest feathers.\"\n\nThe woman laughed in her sleeve. She had never dreamed that an old hen\ncould bring her so much money. She hastened to close the trade with\nLoony John, and, to show that she was not at all picayunish, she threw\nin the two feet of the old hen for good measure.\n\nLoony John went on his way happy. When he reached home he got the hoe,\nwent out into the garden, and began to plant his fine feathers.\n\n\"How everybody will admire my fine square of feathers!\" he said to\nhimself. \"I will call to every passer-by and say, 'Behold the beautiful\nhen-patch! Has ever such a wonder been seen before?'\"\n\nThe next week, however, Loony John went all in tears to find the\nfarm-woman.\n\n\"Well, well! my good young man!\" exclaimed the woman when she saw him,\n\"what do you cry for? Has your house been burnt?\"\n\n\"That would be but a trifle,\" replied Loony John.\n\n\"Alas! is your mother dead?\"\n\n\"That would be an irreparable misfortune, but after awhile we should\nbecome reconciled.\"\n\n\"What plague has fallen upon you?\"\n\n\"The hail!\" cried Loony John; \"the hail that uprooted my beautiful\nchicken feathers. The wind also came among them and scattered them\nover the country. Do not scold me! I have hunted for them, but I cannot\nfind a single one.\"\n\n\"We should have thought about the possibility of a storm,\" said the\nshrewd woman. \"It was not hens you should have cultivated, my young\nfriend, but sausages\u2014for sausages will withstand the wind and hail.\"\n\n\"But how would the sausages grow?\" asked Loony John, drying his tears.\n\n\"Why, like apples and cherries; but the trees, instead of producing\nthese fruits, bear beautiful sausages. People who are not educated\nthink that sausages are only made by those who deal in meat. But surely\nyou know better,\" said the shrewd woman.\n\nLoony John tried to hide his astonishment.\n\n\"Who would be so simple-minded as not to know that?\" he replied. \"For\nhow much, ma'am, will you sell the sausages you speak of?\"\n\n\"Twenty dollars apiece, if they are for yourself,\" answered the woman.\n\n\"I'll take a dozen,\" said Loony John, with the air of a fine trader. \"I\nshall need no more to-day.\"\n\nThe shrewd woman brought Loony John a dozen old sausages and carefully\nwrapped them up. He paid for them on the spot, and then, forgetting his\nfirst misfortune\u2014the wind and the hail\u2014he returned home singing.\n\nLoony John grew older as the days went by. A beard appeared on his\nface. He even took to himself a wife; but he still remained Loony John.\n\nOne day, when the sun was shining brightly, he dressed himself in his\nnew suit of clothes, put on his best hat and gloves, and went to\nthe fair in the neighboring village. He enjoyed himself, and created\na great deal of amusement for others by his queer blunders. In the\nafternoon the thought occurred to him that his wife would be expecting\nhim at home, and so he started to return.\n\nUnfortunately, a shower came up, just as he was crossing a bridge. Big\ndrops of rain were falling on all sides. In a little while his fine\nhat, his new clothes, and his gloves that he was so proud of would be\nruined.\n\n\"Goodness gracious!\" cried Loony John, \"if I suffer myself to get wet\nlike this I shall be called a simpleton indeed, and my friends will\nhave good cause to laugh at me. What shall I do?\"\n\nSuddenly he shouted for joy. A wonderful idea had struck him.\n\n\"I will throw myself in the river!\" he exclaimed. \"Once in the water,\nit will be impossible for the rain to wet my clothes.\"\n\nNo sooner said than done. Into the water jumped Loony John. He couldn't\nswim and so he was drowned. The next day the miller found the body in\nthe water. He drew it out, and Loony John was buried with great pomp.\nOn his tombstone was an inscription in Latin, which, being interpreted,\nreads:\n\n  HERE LIES\n  LOONY JOHN\n  WHO\n  JUMPED INTO THE WATER\n  TO KEEP\n  FROM GETTING WET.\n\n\n\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's note\n\nObvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.\n\nVariations in hyphenation have been standardised but all other\nspelling and punctuation remains unchanged.","title":"Evening Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":37241}