{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_60162/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_60162","id":"gutenberg_60162","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60162","summary":null,"tags":["Buttons -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Adventure","Category: Novels","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Fairy tales","Magic -- Juvenile fiction","Tailors -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"SOLARIO THE TAILOR\n\n[Illustration: Mortimer the Executioner]\n\n\n[Illustration: \u201cThen I will begin,\u201d said Solario, the Tailor, \u201cthe\nstory of----\u201d]\n\n\n\n\n  SOLARIO THE TAILOR\n\n  _HIS TALES OF THE MAGIC DOUBLET_\n\n\n  BY\n  WILLIAM BOWEN\n\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n\n  New York\n  THE MACMILLAN COMPANY\n  1922\n\n  _All rights reserved_\n\n\n\n\n  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n\n  COPYRIGHT, 1922,\n  BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.\n\n  Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1922.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  THE FIRST NIGHT\n\n  STORY OF THE OLD MAN IN THE SPANGLED COAT\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n\n  _The doublet with the missing button--The dark mansion in the\n  walled park--The tailor meets the tall black man and his fair\n  daughter--The Black Prince tells his story--Eight tailors who\n  could not sew on a single button--The tailor is visited by a\n  hideous old woman--The jolly mule driver and his\n  sing-song--Adventures in search of Alb the Unicorn--Solario\n  encounters Alb the Unicorn--The button is sewed on with the\n  unicorn\u2019s hair--The Prince receives the tailor\u2019s terms--The\n  magic doublet is suddenly produced_                                  1\n\n\n  THE SECOND NIGHT\n\n  ALB THE UNICORN\n\n  _Alb the Fortunate and the Princess Hyla--A tattered old beggar\n  comes to the goldsmith\u2019s shop--The old man proposes a strange\n  bargain--The three black hairs in the yellow head--Alb wins the\n  promise of the Princess\u2019s hand--A trifling incident disturbs\n  Alb\u2019s mother--Unreasonable conduct of the goldsmith\u2019s widow--The\n  merrymakers are suddenly sobered by the goldsmith\u2019s son--The\n  Princess behaves in an amusing fashion--The Princess finds her\n  husband bewitched--Alb and the Princess visit the One-Armed\n  Sorcerer--The Old Man of Ice, The Laughing Nymph, and\n  the Great Horned Owl--The burning glass, the brass pin, and the\n  loop of thread--He hears thunder in a clear sky--He goes\n  down into the cave in Thunder Mountain--He pursues the\n  Man of Ice with the burning glass--He commences to make his\n  escape from the cave--He sails across the Great Sea--He finds a\n  child in a pool of the rock--The Laughing Nymph in the Three-Spire\n  Rock--He remembers the brass pin in time--The second\n  black hair is gone--The Great Horned Owl stands ready for the\n  loop of thread--The wrong hand and a desperate fall--Alb sees\n  in the river the reflection of a unicorn_                           31\n\n\n  THE THIRD NIGHT\n\n  THE SON OF THE TAILOR OF OOGH\n\n  _The Prince receives the magic doublet--The Prince and his\n  daughter set forth for Oogh--A strange encounter at the wayside\n  well--The three blind ballad singers--The blind ballad singer\n  displays the Shears of Sharpness--The strange conduct of the people\n  of Oogh--The mansion in the ruined park--The solitary figure behind\n  the spider\u2019s web--The Prince watches the people\u2019s behavior\n  toward the boy--The man with the ball in the underground alley--The\n  Prince sets out for his encounter with Babadag the Tailor--Babadag\n  the Tailor, Goolk the Spider, and the eight tailors--The\n  three blind ballad singers once more--The magic doublet\n  protects the Prince against the Knitters of Eyebrows and against\n  Goolk the Spider--The Prince\u2019s daughter has beguiled the Shears\n  of Sharpness from the ballad singers--A light flickers in the dark\n  shop--The Prince\u2019s daughter is gone, and the Prince makes a dash\n  for liberty--Babadag the Tailor is conquered by his little son--The\n  governor, being released, beholds the Prince\u2019s daughter--The\n  shearing of the Eyebrow--The skin of the Prince is black--The\n  doom of the city of Oogh--The tailor\u2019s son follows him into the\n  burning city--The boy is found on the sill of his ruined home,\n  alive--The eight tailors stand before them in a row--They meet\n  the three blind ballad singers for the last time_                   73\n\n\n  THE FOURTH NIGHT\n\n  THE RAGPICKER AND THE PRINCESS\n\n  _The Princess hears a voice from the waves beneath her window--The\n  Princess sees the shadow of an old woman--A midnight visit from\n  a one-armed old man--Alb, seeking the Princess, sits down by the\n  seashore--An interview with a talking seal--A sea journey on the\n  back of a seal--The village of storks--The feeding of the\n  storks--The Ragpicker frightens the men away with her bag--He\n  follows the Ragpicker down into the dark--She stirs a steaming\n  mixture with her long, hooked forefinger--The shadows of the\n  children--He loses his way in the dark--He hears the voice of the\n  seal again--He peeps into the sorcerer\u2019s workshop--He lies in wait\n  with a bow and arrow--The Ragpicker releases the shadows in\n  the street--A singular commotion on the housetops--The Princess\n  is herself again, but--The King beholds his child and is\n  grieved--The seal introduces his liniment, guaranteed to cure in\n  all cases_                                                         126\n\n\n  THE FIFTH NIGHT\n\n  THE CITY OF DEAD LEAVES\n\n  _The misfortunes of Tush the Apothecary--They find themselves\n  on an unknown shore--The startling effect of making a ring of\n  grass--They start upon a journey through the air--The orange tree\n  and the panther--They come upon the King\u2019s brother in rags--A\n  dwarf clad in motley stands up to speak--Buffo the Fool leads\n  them to the palace--They find the King in a terrible state--The\n  Perfection Cream is rubbed into the itching palm--Tush the\n  Apothecary takes the people in hand--Paravaine has made her\n  choice--He finds himself rubbing his palms together--He cannot\n  find the ingredients for making the salve--Tush and his sister\n  are seized by the angry crowd--The genie in the whirlwind--The\n  pulling off of the genie\u2019s ring_                                   169\n\n\n  THE SIXTH NIGHT\n\n  THE ENCHANTED HIGHWAYMAN\n\n  _A voice from nowhere bids the Prince stop--The Prince listens\n  to a curious discourse--The Prince, alone in the forest, hears\n  the bark of a dog--The prisoner inside the wasp\u2019s nest--The dog\n  leaps upon him to devour him--The Prince, sitting on the ground,\n  looks up at a genie--The One-Armed Sorcerer appears from within\n  the wasp\u2019s nest--The Highwayman and nine of his daughters appear\n  in proper person--He sees the Highwayman\u2019s tenth daughter--The\n  genie breathes fire upon the witch\u2019s hut--The One-Armed\n  Sorcerer performs upon a button--The genie flies away with the\n  witch--The Prince leads his beloved home--The magic doublet is\n  presented at the wedding_                                          206\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n   1. \u201cThen I will begin,\u201d said Solario the Tailor, \u201cthe\n      story of----\u201d                                       _Frontispiece_\n\n                                                             FACING PAGE\n\n   2. Solario was sitting on his worktable busily plying the needle    4\n\n   3. The Unicorn stamped and gave a piercing neigh                   20\n\n   4. \u201cThere is something here,\u201d said the old beggar, \u201cwhich I wish\n      to buy\u201d                                                         36\n\n   5. Mortimer the Executioner was being measured by Solario for\n      a suit                                                          74\n\n   6. \u201cYou are welcome, master peddler,\u201d said Babadag                 98\n\n   7. \u201cBeauty in tatters!\u201d said Babadag the Tailor                   110\n\n   8. The shadow of a Ragpicker oozed in through the door            134\n\n   9. The one-armed sorcerer plucked a feather from the stork        156\n\n  10. The genie flew away with Tush and his sister                   178\n\n  11. The genie swung him back and forth and tossed him out to sea   204\n\n  12. \u201cI held my trusty blade on high and took from him his money\u201d   212\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTO BE READ FIRST\n\n\nIn the book called \u201cThe Enchanted Forest\u201d it is related-- But I hope\nthat you have read that book, or at least that you sincerely intend to\ndo so as soon as you have time, but no matter; it is all about a Forest\nKingdom, and a Great Forest that was enchanted by a witch, an irritable\nsort of person who-- Not that she was to be blamed altogether, in my\njudgment, for she had been provoked to it by a page boy belonging to\nthe King of the Forest, and I am personally not surprised that this\nyoung rogue was in consequence spirited away in the middle of the\nnight, no one knew whither.\n\nAnother boy (quite a different sort) named Bilbo, son of one Bodad a\nwoodchopper, managed to disenchant the forest and destroy the witch,\nand for this he was given, when he was old enough, the hand of the\nKing\u2019s daughter, the Princess Dorobel; and in course of time there came\nto them a little son, by name Bojohn.\n\nThis Bojohn, with his friend Bodkin, a fisherman\u2019s boy, afterward\ndiscovered the lost page boy in a chamber beneath a forest pool, where\nthe witch had placed him for his punishment; and in this chamber, with\nthe page boy, was a company of enchanted men, also placed there by the\nwitch, at various times, each for some offense against her, and each\nsitting there upright in a kind of cupboard in the wall, unable to\nspeak or move. These men, and the page boy too, Prince Bojohn and his\nfriend Bodkin set free, by means of a magical silver lamp.\n\nIn the audience room of the King\u2019s dwelling, a noble castle in the\nmidst of the forest, the entire court assembled to welcome the rescued\nmen on the night of their arrival; and the King, after making a speech\n(which no power on earth could have prevented his doing), created the\nrescued men, without bothering to ask whether they wanted it or no, an\norder of knighthood, to be known as the Order of the Silver Lamp. This\ndone, he addressed the new knights,--but here I may as well turn back\nto the book itself, which thus relates what then occurred:\n\n\u201cWe are all anxious,\u201d said the King, \u201cto hear your stories; they are,\nI am sure, of the greatest interest. You, sir,\u201d he said, addressing the\noldest of the Knights of the Silver Lamp, who wore a faded spangled\ncoat, of a period no one present could remember, \u201cI beseech you to\nrecount to us the story of your life, and in particular the adventure\nwhich brought you to so strange a pass.\u201d\n\n\u201cWillingly, sire,\u201d said the ancient man, so readily that it was\napparent he had been waiting for this opportunity; and thereupon, with\na considerable rustling and a good deal of whispering and nodding of\nheads, the assemblage composed itself to hear the story of the Old Man\nin the Spangled Coat.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Bojohn and Bodkin]\n\n\n\n\n_The Teller of Tales_\n\nSOLARIO THE TAILOR\n\n\n_His Audience_\n\n  PRINCE BOJOHN, _a boy, the King\u2019s grandson_\n\n  BODKIN, _a fisherman\u2019s boy, his friend_\n\n  THE PRINCESS DOROBEL, _Bojohn\u2019s mother_\n\n  PRINCE BILBO, _her husband, Bojohn\u2019s father_\n\n  THE KING and QUEEN _of the Great Forest, Bojohn\u2019s\n    grandfather and grandmother, and the Princess Dorobel\u2019s parents_\n\n  MORTIMER the EXECUTIONER\n\n  THE ENCOURAGER of the INTERRUPTER\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST NIGHT\n\nSTORY OF THE OLD MAN IN THE SPANGLED COAT\n\n\nYou must know (began the old man) that I am a tailor, by name Solario.\nIn the reign of the good King Fortmain the Ninth--\n\n_\u201cAh!\u201d interrupted the King. \u201cThat was my great-grandfather. Bless my\nsoul, master tailor, you must have been imprisoned under the forest\npool nearly a hundred years ago. Hum! I dare say you know what you\u2019re\ntalking about, but--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cMy dear,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cI\u2019m quite sure that the ninth Fortmain\nwas your great-great-grandfather, and not your great-grandfather,\nthough of course I may be mistaken; but it seems to me that it was the\ntenth Fortmain who was your great-grandfather, because the ninth had\nan oldest son who married into the Stiffish family, if I recollect the\nname correctly, or perhaps it was Standish, and at any rate he died\nwithout any children while his father was alive, and the younger son\ncame into the--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNever mind, never mind,\u201d said the King. \u201cYou mustn\u2019t interrupt. Let\nthe man go on with his story.\u201d_\n\nYou must know (began the old man again) that in the reign of the good\nKing Fortmain the Ninth, I practised my art as a tailor in the city of\nVernicroft, a thriving and busy city, located in a corner of the Great\nForest remote from--\n\n_\u201cVernicroft!\u201d said the King. \u201cI don\u2019t understand it. There\u2019s no such\nbusy city now. There\u2019s nothing but a little ruined hamlet away over at\nthe other side of the--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cWell,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cperhaps at that time--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cDon\u2019t interrupt,\u201d said the King. \u201cLet the man go on.\u201d_\n\nYou must know (began the old man again) that I had risen to a\nconsiderable eminence in my profession. I do not pretend to say that\nI was the very best tailor in the kingdom, for I am far too modest to\nspeak of my own merit; but the--er--the spangled coat in which you now\nsee me was a creation of my own brain, and at the time it was thought\nto be--er--however, it speaks for itself.\n\n_\u201cI think it\u2019s a perfect sight,\u201d whispered Bojohn to Bodkin._\n\nIt is true I was growing old, but I was very well satisfied; there\nwas no one dependent on me, my clients were numerous and rich, and I\nenjoyed the respect due an artist and man of substance. I had saved a\ngood deal of money, for I had never squandered any in foolish gifts,\nnor wasted any in ridiculous pleasures, nor--but I do not wish to boast.\n\n_\u201cThat\u2019s a wonderful thing to brag about,\u201d whispered Bodkin to Bojohn._\n\nOne morning, a balmy morning in spring, I was sitting cross-legged on\nmy worktable at the rear of my shop, busily plying the needle, when a\nstranger, richly dressed, entered my open door from the street, and\napproached me, bowing courteously. He was a handsome man, wearing a\nshort beard; and I remarked with surprise, by contrast with his beard,\nthat he was utterly without eyebrows.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d said he, \u201chave I the pleasure of addressing the renowned\nSolario, whose genius has caused our city to be envied wherever art is\nprized?\u201d\n\nI confessed that I was the person.\n\n\u201cMy master,\u201d he went on, \u201cis a nobleman, to whose ears the rumor of\nyour skill and taste has penetrated, although he lives in retirement\nand hears not much of the outer world. I trust that you are at liberty\nto undertake a piece of work for him?\u201d\n\nI assured him that I was.\n\n\u201cMy master,\u201d he proceeded, \u201cis, I must warn you, unable to satisfy\nhimself, in the matter now in hand, with less than absolute perfection.\nAlready he has been disappointed in some eight other tailors, and he\nhas learned of your superlative excellence with much hope; and in order\nthat he may assure himself how well his report of you is justified, he\nhas commanded me to entrust to you a small commission; to wit, to sew\non this button.\u201d\n\nI was greatly mortified at this lame conclusion of so promising a\nspeech; I suspected that the stranger was making game of me; but his\nmanner was so respectful that I held my peace, and watched him without\na word while he took from under his short blue velvet cloak a package,\nand depositing it before me on my table proceeded to undo it.\n\n_\u201cThis old fellow talks like he was writing a composition,\u201d whispered\nBodkin to Bojohn._\n\n_\u201cOh, he\u2019s a conceited pumpkin,\u201d whispered Bojohn. \u201cHe loves to hear\nhimself talk, and I bet you he\u2019s thinking we\u2019re thinking we never heard\nsuch fine language in our lives. That\u2019s him, all over.\u201d_\n\n\n_The Doublet with the Missing Button_\n\nThe package contained a doublet, of a material I had never seen before,\nvery thin and glossy, of a texture like that of wasp\u2019s nest but very\ntough. The doublet contained ten buttonholes, but only nine buttons;\none button, and one only, was missing.\n\n\u201cI have here,\u201d said my visitor coolly, \u201cthe missing button; and my\nmaster will be obliged if you will sew it on.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Solario was sitting on his worktable busily plying the\nneedle]\n\nHe produced the button, a large ivory one, which, with the garment, he\nheld up before me in his left hand.\n\n\u201cPlease to hold out your left hand,\u201d said he.\n\nI did so, and with his own left hand he placed the garment and the\nbutton in mine.\n\n\u201cThis doublet,\u201d said he, \u201cmust not pass from one to another but by\nthe left hand. Please to remember that. And now, adieu. I will return\nto-morrow. Meantime--\u201d\n\nHe laid on my table a small purse, and bowing with sober courtesy he\nleft the shop.\n\nI turned up the purse, and a number of gold coins fell out, enough to\npay for sewing on five hundred buttons. \u201cAh!\u201d thought I. \u201cAt this rate\nI can well afford to gratify my new client\u2019s whimsies.\u201d\n\nThe next day the courteous stranger returned for the doublet. I\ndelivered it with my left hand into his own left hand, the button\nbeing attached firmly in place. He thanked me, and departed; but on\nthe morning after, he reappeared, to my surprise, and as he came in he\nsmiled at me and shook his head at me waggishly.\n\n\u201cFie! master Solario!\u201d said he. \u201cHow could you have treated me so? And\na mere button, too! Really, my good Solario!\u201d\n\nHe produced the doublet, and showed me that it lacked a button in the\nsame place as before. He held up in one hand the ivory button and in\nthe other a length of thread. I was perplexed. The thread had not\nbeen cut, of that I was sure. It was the identical thread, and of the\nidentical length.\n\n\u201cYou will not blame my master,\u201d said the stranger, \u201cif he finds himself\na little aggrieved. He had scarcely put on the doublet yesterday when\nthe button came off in his hand. I was commanded to leave it with you\nonce more, together with this trifling honorarium.\u201d\n\nSo saying, he dropped a little purse on my table as before, and after\nputting the garment and its button into my left hand with his own left\nhand, bowed himself out. I turned up the purse in haste, and poured out\na number of gold coins, as before, but this time twice as many. I put\naway the gold into my coffer, and sewed on the button once more, with\nspecial care.\n\nI whipped the thread around itself under the button, sewed it through\nthe goods, doubled it back through the button, wound it and knotted\nit and doubled it back, and altogether made such a job of it (however\npainful to me as an artist) as was perfect for security.\n\n_\u201cI don\u2019t see,\u201d interrupted the King, \u201cwhat all this business about a\nbutton has got to do with--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIf your majesty will pardon me,\u201d said the old tailor, \u201cI have not yet\nreached the end of my story.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI\u2019m well aware of it,\u201d said the King. \u201cBut still I don\u2019t see--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cMy dear!\u201d said the Queen, sweetly, and the old man went on with his\nstory._\n\nNext morning the stranger returned for the doublet. I delivered it into\nhis left hand with my left, and he turned to go. At the door he looked\nback at me smiling, and was about to bow himself out when he paused to\ntry the button with his fingers. A slight frown came over his face; he\npulled the button gently, and behold, there before my eyes,--I assure\nyou I saw it with these very eyes,--the button came off into his hand!\n\nHe sighed, looked at me gravely, and held out the button in one hand\nand the doublet in the other.\n\n\u201cAlas, good master Solario!\u201d said he. \u201cYou have not treated me very\nwell. The hopes I entertained for your profit are at an end. It remains\nonly for me to apologize for my intrusion, and for you to return to me\nthe money which I left with you.\u201d\n\nThis was too much. The idea of returning money which had once been\nlocked safely in my coffer was more than I could bear. I sprang down\nfrom my table. \u201cOne moment!\u201d I cried. \u201cI beg of you! That I should not\nbe able to sew on a miserable button--it is too ridiculous! Let me see\nyour master myself, and prove to him what I can do! Take me to him at\nonce! Let him assign me any task whatever, and I swear to you--\u201d\n\n\u201cYou wish to see my master?\u201d said the stranger.\n\n\u201cAt once!\u201d I cried. \u201cDo not carry back to him a report of me so unjust!\nI must see him myself!\u201d\n\n\u201cBe careful what you say,\u201d said the stranger. \u201cYou may be sorry.\u201d\n\n\u201cImpossible!\u201d said I. \u201cTake me to him at once!\u201d\n\nThe stranger looked at me thoughtfully. \u201cIf I take you,\u201d said he,\n\u201cswear that you will never blame me for what may happen.\u201d\n\n\u201cI swear it!\u201d I cried.\n\n\u201cYou will remember that I warned you?\u201d\n\n\u201cOn my own head be it! Let us go at once!\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, then. The decision is yours, not mine; remember that. I\nwill return for you to-night, and you will then, if you are still of\nthe same mind, be ready to accompany me to my master.\u201d\n\nHe tucked the doublet with its button under his cloak, and in another\nmoment he was gone.\n\nThat night, after dark, as I was putting up my shutters, a splendid\ncoach and pair, driven by a black man in a rich but somber livery,\nstopped at my door, and the smiling stranger descended. I ran into the\nshop and put on my best attire. Some time before, I had designed and\nexecuted the coat in which you now see me; it had been much admired; I\nput it on, and hastened out to the stranger, who bowed me politely into\nthe carriage.\n\nDuring our journey, my companion exerted himself to be agreeable; and\nI, on my part, fairly unloosed the rein of conversation,--an art in\nwhich, I confess, I had always taken the greatest pleasure. On this\noccasion I surpassed myself; I drew upon the mysteries of our noble\ncraft for his entertainment; I was by turns humorous and grave; I was\nat my best; it would not be too much to say that I sparkled; and in\nshort, when the carriage stopped, I realized that I had taken no note\nof our route.\n\nWe drew up in a street which was unfamiliar to me. As we alighted, I\nobserved before me a high wall, extending in either direction as far as\nI could see; and immediately at hand a little door in the wall, toward\nwhich my companion led me. He pulled a bell-rope, and we were at once\nadmitted by a second black man, in the livery I had already seen. I was\naware, in spite of the darkness, that we were in a garden, or rather\npark, of immense dimensions.\n\n\n_The Dark Mansion in the Walled Park_\n\nI could see the dark outline of what appeared to be a great mansion.\nThere were no lights anywhere. The air was heavy with the perfume\nof flowers, a cloying perfume, oppressively sweet. We came, after a\nconsiderable walk, to the house. At my companion\u2019s knock, a door was\nopened by a servant, black like the other two.\n\nWe entered a narrow hall, and at the end of this hall we reached a\ndoor, which was opened by a fourth man-servant, black like the others;\nand after ascending a flight of stairs, and traversing several spacious\napartments, we came to a pause in a small but elegant room, where my\ncompanion left me.\n\nIn a moment he returned, and beckoned me to come with him. He opened\na door, gently pushed me through, closed the door behind me, and left\nme, as he advanced, blinking under the light of a hundred candles in\na room more superb than any I had ever seen. The colored tiles of the\nfloor, the thick rugs, the curious vases, the pictured tapestries on\nthe walls,--I took them all in at a glance; and I was aware at the\nsame time of an aroma like that of the flowers in the garden, but very\nfaint.\n\n\n_The Tailor Meets the Tall Black Man and His Fair Daughter_\n\nAt one end of the apartment was a table, loaded with fruit and flowers\nand wine. At the other end, on a divan, sat a tall and majestic man,\ndressed in the most exquisite taste. His skin was ebony black. He\nwore drooping black mustaches, and his hair was long and black; but\nI observed that he was, like the Courteous Stranger, totally without\neyebrows.\n\nAt his feet, on a cushion, sat a lady, young and beautiful, a lady\ndivinely beautiful, more beautiful than any I had ever seen or dreamed\nof. Her complexion! it was all cream and roses. Her eyes! they were\nblue of the blueness of violets, and they were merry and soft together.\nHer hair!--I swear I can see her at this moment. Her hair was of the--\nBut I must not allow myself to think of her. The black man and the\nwonderful lady rose, and my companion presented me.\n\n\u201cYou are welcome, Solario,\u201d said the tall black man, smiling\ngraciously. \u201cYou have wished to see me, as I hear, and to give me proof\nof your skill. But we can converse better while we refresh ourselves.\nYou observe that the table is set for four. My daughter has, as you\nsee, already counted upon your company. I hope you will consent to\naccept our poor hospitality.\u201d\n\nWe seated ourselves at the table. My host clapped his hands four times,\nand four serving men entered, bearing the first course. They were\nblack, like the four I had already seen. They were without eyebrows,\nand I seemed to remember the same defect in the other four. Eight men\nservants, all black, and all without eyebrows! I was puzzled; and when\nI looked from the fair face of the lady opposite me to the black face\nof her father, I was completely mystified. As for my stranger, he\nscarcely took his eyes from the damsel; and from the manner in which\nshe now and then returned his gaze, I could see that they were on a\nfooting of tenderness.\n\nWhen we were at the end of our repast, and were trifling with our\ngrapes and wine, my black host addressed himself directly to me. I\nwas in a mellow mood; I felt that I could scarcely have denied him\nanything; and as for his daughter, if she had bade me run for her sake\nto the ends of the-- Well, the wine was excellent; I sniffed in it the\nsame aroma I had noticed twice before; and I was in consequence of it\nin that state of peace which in other circumstances would have preceded\nslumber. My host leaned toward me in the friendliest attitude.\n\n\n_The Black Prince Tells His Story_\n\n\u201cMy dear Solario,\u201d said he, \u201cyou are asking yourself, all this while,\nwho I am. I am a Prince, heir to the throne of the distant kingdom of\nWen. My skin was formerly white, like my daughter\u2019s. It was changed,\nas you see it now, by the power of an enemy, and I am awaiting here,\nin exile, with my daughter and my friend, the release which day and\nnight I dream of. If you are not too weary, I will relate to you the\nadventure which brought me here and changed my skin.\u201d\n\n\u201cWith all my heart,\u201d said I; whereupon, without further preamble, he\ncommenced\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE BLACK PRINCE\n\n\u201cKnow, most excellent Solario,\u201d he began, \u201cthat my father the King of\nWen called me to him one day, and sitting down with me addressed me as\nfollows. \u2018My son,\u2019 said he--\u201d\n\n_\u201cIs it a long story?\u201d asked the King, yawning behind his hand._\n\n_\u201cIt is very interesting,\u201d said the old tailor._\n\n_\u201cNot what I asked,\u201d said the King. \u201cIs it long?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cWell,--well--\u201d said the old man._\n\n_\u201cThen we will hear it another time,\u201d said the King. \u201cPray let us hear\nwhat happened to you.\u201d_\n\n_The old man bowed, quite crestfallen, and proceeded with his story._\n\n_\u201cOh, shucks,\u201d said Bojohn to Bodkin._\n\nWhen the Black Prince had concluded his own tale, he paused, and then\nsaid to me:\n\n\u201cNow, Solario, as to those circumstances of my misfortune which precede\nthe tale I have just told you, I will, if you consent, call on my good\nfriend here, who was personally concerned in them, to relate them to\nyou.\u201d\n\nWhereupon he nodded to my companion, who at once commenced\n\nTHE STORY OF THE COURTEOUS STRANGER\n\n\u201cYou must know,\u201d he began, \u201cthat soon after my arrival at the city of--\u201d\n\n_\u201cWhat has this got to do with your being enchanted by the witch?\u201d said\nthe King._\n\n_\u201cWell,\u201d said Solario, \u201cits bearing on what afterward happened to me is\nperhaps a little indirect, but I assure your majesty that--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNo, no,\u201d said the King. \u201cI never sit up late, and it\u2019s getting on\ntoward my bedtime.\u201d_\n\n_The old man sighed._\n\nWhen the Courteous Stranger had finished his story, the Black Prince\ngazed at me for a moment.\n\n\u201cSolario,\u201d said he, \u201cI will tell you the conclusion of the whole matter\nin a word. To him who shall deliver me from this spell, I will give\nfive hundred thousand pieces of gold, of the money of your country.\nAnd, Solario,\u201d he said, bending toward me and pointing at me with his\nfinger, \u201cI believe you are the man.\u201d\n\nVisions of Solario the tailor as the richest man in Vernicroft flashed\nbefore my eyes, and left me dizzy.\n\n\u201cIt is a matter of sewing on a button,\u201d said the Prince. \u201cI am allowed\nnine tailors for the trial, on the principle that nine tailors are the\nequivalent of one--ahem! I beg your pardon. Eight tailors have already\nessayed it, and failed. You are the ninth.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what has become of the other eight?\u201d I asked, with some misgiving.\n\nThe Black Prince smiled. \u201cYou have already seen them,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cI?\u201d I exclaimed in amazement.\n\n\n_Eight Tailors Who Could not Sew on a Single Button_\n\n\u201cFour of them served our table here to-night, and the other four you\nhave met between your shop and this room.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe eight black servants?\u201d I cried.\n\n\u201cPrecisely,\u201d said the Prince. \u201cI must tell you, that he who fails comes\nhimself under the spell, his skin changes to black, and he remains\nhere with me in my retirement. If you deliver me, you deliver also\nthese other eight. If you fail, you condemn yourself and all of us to\neverlasting misery. You are our final hope. What do you say?\u201d\n\nI was becoming almost lightheaded with the prospect of my reward.\nPerhaps the wine had something to do with it; perhaps it was the\nPrince\u2019s daughter, who smiled upon me bewitchingly.\n\n\u201cYou have already seen my doublet,\u201d said the Prince. \u201cSo long as\nit remained intact, no harm could touch me. But my enemy, as I have\nrelated to you, succeeded in detaching from it a single button, and\ntaking away the thread. Instantly all its virtue was gone; I was\nhelpless. To this mischance I owe all my misery; my happiness hangs on\na button. Take the doublet, Solario, and find the thread which will\nwithstand sorcery. Three months are allowed you. Here are the doublet\nand the button; guard them as you would your life; and may you return\nto receive my thanks and the fortune which awaits you.\u201d\n\nWith his left hand he placed the doublet and the button in my left\nhand. The perfume of the wine seemed to grow heavier; I was very\ndrowsy; I tried to speak; I could not arouse myself; I was conscious of\nthe eager smile of the Prince\u2019s daughter, and I knew no more.\n\nWhen I came to myself, I was in my bed behind the shop, and it was\nmorning. My first thought was that I had had an unusual dream, but\nthere on the pillow beside me lay the identical doublet and button,\nand I found myself wearing the spangled coat of the evening before. I\njumped up and prepared my breakfast, but I could not eat. A desperate\ncase I had gotten myself into, indeed! Where on earth should I obtain a\nthread which would withstand sorcery? And if I should fail--! I pushed\naside my food and buried my face in my hands.\n\nI heard the bell over my shop door tinkle, as if some customer were\ncoming in. I paid no attention. Why had I allowed this hopeless\nenterprise to be thrust upon me? I was lost.\n\n\n_The Tailor Is Visited by a Hideous Old Woman_\n\nI heard a cackle of unpleasant laughter. I looked up quickly and saw,\nsitting at the opposite side of my table, a little old woman, extremely\nhideous of face, hook-nosed, toothless, and wrinkled, munching her gums\nand watching me with little, malicious eyes.\n\nThe ancient hag did not leave me long in doubt about her business.\n\n\u201cMaster tailor,\u201d said she, \u201cthe fortune is yours if you will have it.\u201d\n\nHer voice was like nothing so much as the crackling of dry wood in a\nbrisk fire.\n\n\u201cNever mind what I know nor how I know it,\u201d she went on, answering my\nthought before I spoke. \u201cWhat would you give to know where and how to\nobtain the thread which will hold the button?\u201d\n\n\u201cAnything!\u201d I cried. \u201cThat is, almost anything.\u201d\n\n\u201cWould you marry?\u201d\n\nI thought of the adorable young lady whom I had seen the night before.\n\n\u201cWillingly!\u201d I said. \u201cThat is,--yes, I think--\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I will tell you the condition on which you may have the thread.\nYou must marry me.\u201d\n\nI looked at the frightful old creature; then I laughed and laughed; I\ncould not help it. She arose in a great fury, grasped the crooked stick\nwhich she bore with her, and hobbled toward the door.\n\n\u201cYou shall never find it!\u201d she said. \u201cNo, never! You shall be a black\nand penniless outcast! You shall wish you had never been born! You are\nlost, lost, lost!\u201d\n\nThat terrible prospect sobered me. If this woman could by any chance\nsave me from such a fate, what price would be too great?\n\n\u201cCome back,\u201d I said, \u201cI will think it over.\u201d\n\n\u201cSpeak!\u201d said she. \u201cWill you, or will you not?\u201d\n\nI looked at her. She was very old. She could not live long, at best.\nShe might not live until the wedding day. And if she should, a man of\nmy wealth and power could afterward find the means of mitigating the\nhorrors of such a marriage.\n\n\u201cHow do I know you can perform your promise?\u201d I asked.\n\n\u201cYou need not perform yours until I have performed mine. Come, master\ntailor, will you or will you not?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will,\u201d said I. \u201cOn the day when I receive my fortune from the\nPrince, I will marry you. Merciful powers!\u201d\n\n\u201cGood,\u201d said she. \u201cNow listen to me. The thread which will hold the\nbutton is the single black hair in the tail of the white unicorn, Alb,\nwho feeds in the half-moon pasture of Korbi, by the river Tarn. Listen\ncarefully while I tell you what you must do.\u201d\n\nShe then gave me the most minute directions; and when she had finished,\nshe arose and hobbled to the door.\n\n\u201cStop!\u201d I said. \u201cTell me who you are, and where you live, and when I\nshall see you again.\u201d\n\nShe answered never a word; she was gone.\n\n\n_The Jolly Mule Driver and His Sing-Song_\n\nI wrote down all I could remember of her instructions, and went out\ninto the street to cool my burning head. As I stood before the door, I\nheard a jingling of little bells, and a voice singing and shouting, and\nsaw, coming toward me down the street, a train of five or six mules,\ndriven by a short fellow in a leather jerkin, on foot, who was singing\nraucously and shouting lustily to his animals. His face was gay and\nhumorous, and he cracked his whip merrily.\n\n\u201cGood mules for hire!\u201d he sang. \u201cGood mules for hire! We\u2019ll bring you\nto your heart\u2019s desire! We laugh at rain and snow and mire! We never\nlag and never tire! We _thread_ our way through ice and fire! Good\nmules for hire! Good mules for hire!\u201d\n\n\u201cThread!\u201d What did he mean by that word? I stared at him, and as he was\npassing me he looked at me long and hard, and gave me a slow wink.\n\nA little while later, as I was ironing a piece of goods within doors,\nthe mule driver himself appeared in the shop.\n\n\u201cAt your service, master Solario!\u201d he cried, gayly. \u201cFor a long journey\nor a short one! If you\u2019re thinking of going a journey, I\u2019m your man!\nCome, master Solario, the sun is shining, lock up the shop!\u201d\n\nIt seemed a curious piece of good fortune that this fellow should have\nappeared almost on the heels of the old woman herself, and the long and\nshort of it was that I hired him for my journey, at so much per week.\nHe agreed to provide the necessary outfit, and we would depart that\nnight.\n\nMy preparations were soon made. The notes I had made of the old\nwoman\u2019s directions I sewed inside my vest. I placed in my strong box\nthe doublet and the button, and bestowed the box where it could not\nbe found during my absence. At midnight, my driver appeared. It was a\nstarry night. I locked the shop, and we mounted our mules. Preceded by\nfour other animals, packed with our outfit, we quietly moved down the\nstreet, past the last houses, and into the forest. My search for the\nwhite unicorn had begun.\n\n\n_Adventures in Search of Alb the Unicorn_\n\nFrom that night until we came in sight of the river Tarn, far beyond\nthe confines of the Forest Kingdom, the adventures we encountered were\nnumerous and fearful. We spent weeks on this perilous journey. In the\nsecond week we came to a dark castle on the side of a mountain. We\ncrossed the drawbridge, which strangely happened to be down, though\nit was late at night, and blew the horn which hung by the gate. But\nperhaps it will be unnecessary to detail these adventures?\n\n_\u201cTotally unnecessary,\u201d said the King. \u201cI can scarcely restrain my\nimpatience to know how the story ends.\u201d_\n\nThere are several, however, of extraordinary interest, which you might\nperhaps be pleased to hear: the adventure of the Roving Griffin, the\nadventure of the Blind Giant, the adventure of Montesango\u2019s Cave--\n\n_\u201cYes, yes,\u201d said Bojohn and Bodkin, in a loud whisper._\n\n_\u201cNo,\u201d said the King. \u201cI must beg you to reserve these pleasures for\nanother occasion. I can\u2019t sit up all night.\u201d_\n\nWe reached at last, on a sunshiny morning, the top of a little hill,\nfrom which we looked down on a narrow and shallow river, curved at this\npoint outward in a crescent, and beyond it we saw a meadow of some\ntwo miles in depth, bounded at the rear by a high cliff, curved also\noutward like a crescent, and reaching the river at the right hand and\nthe left of the meadow. The meadow thus enclosed resembled in shape a\nhalf-moon.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d I cried. \u201cThe river Tarn and the half-moon pasture of Korbi!\u201d\n\nI left my mule driver, and descended alone to the river. I found a\nford, and though the water reached my shoulders, I had no difficulty in\nwading to the other side. I came there upon the pasture I had seen from\nthe hill. It was green with tall grass, and sprinkled with flowers.\nI looked about fearfully, but the unicorn was not in sight. Creeping\ncautiously, I made toward the high cliff at the further side of the\nmeadow. Just before I reached it, I stopped to consult my notes:\n\n\u201cA circle of white stones on the side of the cliff, higher than a man\u2019s\nreach. In the center of the circle, a blood-red flower growing on a\nlong stem.\u201d\n\n\n_Solario Encounters Alb the Unicorn_\n\nI walked along at the foot of the cliff, and after some ten minutes\ndescried above me the circle of white stones. The wall was perfectly\nupright, but its surface was rugged enough to give promise of a\nfoothold. I turned my head, and at that instant saw, a short distance\naway, farther down the line of the cliff, standing knee-deep in the\ngrass and flowers, a small horse, pure white, with a pure white mane\nand tail, and a sharp-pointed horn in the middle of his forehead.\n\n[Illustration: The unicorn stamped and gave a piercing neigh]\n\nAs he saw me, he stamped his hoof and threw his head high. I started\nfor the cliff; he made for the same point, as if to intercept me. I\nknew that against that sharp horn I should be helpless; it was now a\nmatter of life and death. I ran with all my might; the unicorn came on\nat a gallop; we approached the foot of the cliff together; his head was\ndown, and I could already in imagination feel his horn in my side; I\ndoubled my exertions; I reached the cliff, and leaped up on the rocks\njust out of his reach, as he swept by me; I was safe.\n\nI clung to my perch panting, and then painfully climbed to the circle\nof white stones. There, in its center, was the blood-red flower. The\nunicorn was standing below, watching me. When he saw me bend toward the\nflower, he stamped, shook his mane, and gave a long piercing neigh,\nas a horse will when he is in pain. I plucked the flower at the root.\nThe unicorn\u2019s excitement was extraordinary. He pranced and bounded,\nshrieking in a manner almost human. I shivered at the thought of going\ndown to him, but it had to be done. I descended carefully, holding the\nflower out in the unicorn\u2019s view. His shrieks subsided into a moaning\ncry. He shook his head up and down, as if under some strong command. I\nreached the ground.\n\nI paused there for a moment, for I confess I was desperately afraid.\nLittle by little I advanced to him, holding out the flower. He pranced\nand whined. I came within arm\u2019s length of his head, and held the flower\nbefore his mouth. With a quiver which shook his whole body, he seized\nit in his teeth. I quickly ran to his tail, and searched there for the\nsingle black hair, keeping well away from his heels. Covered by the\nbrush of white hair I found it. I seized it and gave it a mighty jerk.\nOut it came into my hand.\n\nThe unicorn trembled and tottered; and there in his place before my\neyes stood a handsome young man, clad in a suit of soft and exquisite\nwhite leather. He fell on his knees before me and kissed my hand.\n\n\u201cThanks, brave deliverer!\u201d he cried. \u201cThe enchantment is broken! I am\nmyself again! How glorious to be free!\u201d\n\nI raised him from the ground, and led him to a convenient place, where\nwe sat down and conversed. I placed the precious black hair securely\nin the lining of my vest. If I on my part was overjoyed, the young man\nwas positively beside himself. He laughed and cried by turns. I was of\ncourse intensely curious as to the circumstances of his enchantment.\nHe willingly consented to relate them to me, and as soon as he had\ncomposed himself a little he began\n\nTHE STORY OF THE WHITE UNICORN\n\n\u201cI was born,\u201d said the young man, \u201cin the Island Kingdom, far out in\nthe Great Sea, the only son of a rich--\u201d\n\n_\u201cNever mind, never mind,\u201d interrupted the King; \u201cnot now, some other\ntime. It\u2019s my bedtime. Get on with your own story. We\u2019ve no time now to\nlisten to--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cMy dear,\u201d said the Queen, sweetly, \u201cperhaps if you\u2019d--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cSome other time,\u201d said the King. \u201cNot now, not now.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cOh, botheration,\u201d said Bojohn to Bodkin. \u201cHe won\u2019t let us hear\nanything.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI think it\u2019s too bad,\u201d said Bodkin to Bojohn._\n\n_The old man in the spangled coat sighed profoundly._\n\nWhen the young man had finished his tale, the day was far advanced. I\nwished to take him back with me to Vernicroft, but he was anxious to\nreturn to the Island Kingdom without losing a moment; we crossed the\nriver together, and parted. I have never seen him since.\n\nWe made good speed homeward; all our difficulties seemed to have\nvanished. At first, I was saddened by the thought of my approaching\nmarriage to the hideous and hateful old hag; but a new thought began\nto take possession of me, and grew stronger as we rode along from day\nto day, and my heart soon became lighter. Master as I was of such a\nkey to power as lay secure within my vest, I could marry whom I chose.\nWhy should I marry the ugliest creature I had ever seen, when the most\nbeautiful might be mine for the asking? The more I thought of it, the\nmore indignant I became at the manner in which my easy good nature had\nbeen imposed on at every hand; I had been grossly overreached; the\nbargain was beyond measure unconscionable; the exquisite face of the\nPrince\u2019s daughter haunted me day and night-- And in short, when we\narrived at Vernicroft, my mind was made up; I would _not_ marry the old\nwoman, and I would exact from the Prince a reward far more suitable\nthan the one he had promised.\n\nIt was just on the stroke of midnight when we reached my shop. I left\nmy driver on the sill, and procuring the necessary gold within, paid\nhim off and dismissed him. He was a merry fellow, and had served me\nwell, though I must say that I had never learned to like his way of\ncooking beans. He bade me a gay farewell, and as I turned back into the\nshop I looked over my shoulder, expecting to see him with his mules\non his way down the street. To my astonishment, there was positively\nnothing in sight; the street was empty; in that moment the driver and\nhis animals had vanished.\n\nI entered the shop. The journey had cost me all the savings of my\nlifetime. But what did it matter? I was about to become rich beyond all\nmy dreams. I lit my lamp and looked about me. There, beside my tailor\u2019s\nbench, sat the old woman herself. Her hands rested on the head of her\ncrooked stick, and her toothless jaws were working.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d she said, \u201cyou have it?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said I, \u201cI have it.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood,\u201d said she. \u201cThe Prince\u2019s friend has been here many times. He\nwill come to-morrow. I will return to claim you afterward. Good.\u201d\n\nShe rose, leaned on her stick, and nodding her head and grinning to\nherself hobbled out of the shop. My resolution to save myself from this\noutrageous creature became absolutely fixed.\n\n\n_The Button Is Sewed on with the Unicorn\u2019s Hair_\n\nI drew out the black hair of the unicorn\u2019s tail, and gave myself up to\nthe pleasant task of sewing on the button. It was soon done, and it was\nwell done. Nothing could be more secure. I placed the doublet under my\npillow and went to bed.\n\nIn the morning I arose with a light heart. In order that the doublet\nmight be near me, I put it on; and during the day three accidents\nproved its quality. First, a hot iron with which I was pressing my\nspangled coat slipped from my right hand and came down squarely on my\nleft, and I felt no pain whatever. Next, a needle pricked my finger,\nand I was aware of no inconvenience. And last, as I was standing in the\ndoorway, some wicked boys, with whom I was never a favorite, hurled a\nstone at me, striking me violently on the temple; but its effect was no\nmore than that of a soft cushion. Undoubtedly the unicorn\u2019s hair was\nthe authentic thread.\n\nAt nightfall, after I had put up my shutters, I stored the doublet\nsecretly away, and was making ready to go to bed, when a knock sounded\nat the door, and I admitted the Prince\u2019s friend, smiling and gracious\nas before. He looked inquiringly at me. I bowed and smiled.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d I said, \u201cthe work is done.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe thread?\u201d he cried.\n\n\u201cI have it, never fear! The work is done.\u201d\n\nHe was in a state of great excitement.\n\n\u201cCome!\u201d he cried. \u201cThe carriage is at the door. Bring it with you.\nHurry!\u201d\n\nIn a moment I was in his carriage, with a bundle under my arm. We\nstopped at the same place as before, and reached by the same route the\nroom where I had first seen the Prince and his daughter. They arose in\nagitation as I came in, and at a joyful signal from my companion came\nforward and grasped my hands. Truly the lady was more beautiful than I\nhad dreamed.\n\n\u201cYou have succeeded?\u201d said the Prince.\n\n\u201cI have!\u201d said I. \u201cYour deliverance is assured!\u201d And I described the\naccidents from which the doublet had protected me that day.\n\n\u201cLet us sit down,\u201d said the Prince; and when we were all seated, with\nfruit and wine before us, he begged me to tell my story.\n\nI told as much as I thought fit, omitting any mention of the old woman.\nThe Prince desired to see the doublet. With my left hand I placed in\nhis left the package I had brought with me. He opened it and held up\nthe contents. Alas, it was not the doublet at all, but some indifferent\ngarment intended for another client!\n\nHe looked at me in amazement. I was covered with confusion, and begged\nhim to overlook my carelessness. He listened coldly.\n\n\u201cYou will bring the doublet here to-morrow,\u201d he said sternly.\n\n\u201cThat is understood,\u201d I said. \u201cMeanwhile,\u201d I went on, fortifying\nmyself with another glass of the perfumed wine, \u201cwe may as well discuss\nthe question of my reward.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cis already settled.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe case is altered,\u201d I said. \u201cIf I had known what lay before me,\nI could have made more fitting terms; but I was in the dark; the\ndangers and exertions of my existence since then have changed the case\ncompletely. I am sure that you do not wish to deal with me unjustly.\nThink what my service means to you! In your place, I should think\nnothing too precious for my deliverer.\u201d\n\nA dark frown came over the Prince\u2019s face.\n\n\u201cWhat is it you demand?\u201d said he.\n\n\n_The Prince Receives the Tailor\u2019s Terms_\n\n\u201cI demand nothing,\u201d said I. \u201cBut if you wish to have the doublet and\nbe restored to yourself, your country, and your people, I shall ask\nonly three things: one million pieces of gold, this house, and your\ndaughter\u2019s hand in marriage.\u201d\n\nAll three jumped to their feet. I sat calmly. At a look from the\nPrince, his daughter and the Courteous Stranger sat down again. They\nwere both very pale.\n\n\u201cThese are your terms?\u201d said the Prince. \u201cYou are resolved on this?\u201d\n\n\u201cInflexibly,\u201d I said.\n\n\u201cThen we must consider,\u201d said he. \u201cWhen you bring the doublet to-morrow\nyou shall have my answer. For the present, let us dismiss the subject.\u201d\n\nHis command of himself was superb. He began to talk lightly on\nindifferent subjects, and as he talked his voice became gradually more\ndistant, and I grew drowsy; I knew I was falling asleep. I remember\nnothing more until I awoke the next morning in my own bed.\n\nTo my surprise, the old woman did not appear at all on that day. On\nthe whole, the time passed pleasantly. I had no doubt the Prince would\naccept my terms. I reveled in the happiness which was so soon to be\nmine.\n\nAt night, dressed in my spangled coat, and with a bundle under my arm,\nI sat in the shop waiting for my stranger. I was too wise to take\nwith me the true doublet, and you may be sure the bundle contained a\nsubstitute. It would be time enough to deliver the magic garment at the\nwedding. It reposed meanwhile under lock and key, concealed beyond the\npossibility of discovery.\n\nIt was late when the stranger appeared. He conducted me to the Prince\nand his daughter in chilly silence. The Prince was standing, and his\ndaughter sat on the divan, her chin in her hand.\n\n\u201cYou have brought the doublet?\u201d said the Prince.\n\n\u201cFirst,\u201d I said, \u201cdo you accept the terms?\u201d\n\n\u201cI must see the doublet,\u201d he said.\n\nWith my left hand I placed the bundle in his left hand. He opened it.\nWhen he saw its contents, he turned on me with a face like a thunder\ncloud.\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d said I. \u201cAnother accident? Well, it\u2019s of no consequence. The\ndoublet is safe, perfectly safe. It will be placed in your hands--_at\nthe wedding_. Do you consent?\u201d\n\n\n_The Magic Doublet Is Suddenly Produced_\n\nHe clapped his hands. A door opened behind the divan, and--I could\nscarcely believe my eyes--in hobbled, with her crooked stick, the\nold woman whom I had pledged myself to marry. I was speechless with\nastonishment. The Prince clapped his hands again. From other doors\nentered the eight black tailors whom I had seen before. The ancient hag\napproached the Prince, and drew forth from her dress the doublet which\nI had left securely locked and hidden at home! I saw it closely; it\ncould be no other. With her left hand she laid it in the left hand of\nthe Prince.\n\nIn an instant he had put it on. When he had buttoned the last button, a\nstartling change came over him and the eight black tailors. All their\nfaces grew a mottled blue, then red, and then the natural color of\nhealthy white skin.\n\nAt the same time the room began to contract. The ceiling came slowly\ndown and stopped just above my head. The walls came slowly together,\nand as they reached the Prince, his daughter, the Courteous Stranger,\nand the eight tailors, gave way to them, so that all these persons\npassed from view on the outer side, and I was left alone with the\nhideous old woman, with the walls coming in upon us by degrees until I\nthought we should be crushed.\n\nI became dizzy; I sank in terror upon the chair which stood beside me.\nThe walls came on from all four sides until the place wherein I sat was\nno bigger than a cupboard, and there they stopped. I breathed a sigh of\nrelief, and attempted to rise. To my horror, I could not move.\n\nThe old woman pointed a skinny finger at me and gave a loud and\nangry laugh which sent a chill up and down my spine. She moved her\nfinger about in strange figures. She mumbled to herself a torrent of\nmeaningless words; and passing through the door which remained before\nme in one wall of my cabinet, she left me, and closed the door behind\nher. The closet began to rock; it seemed to rise, and in a moment I\nknew that it was flying with me through space....\n\nThus, your majesty (said the old man in the spangled coat), I came to\nbe imprisoned in my cell beneath the Forest Pool. There I sat, unable\nto move or speak, for nearly a hundred years, until the happy day when\nI was delivered by the excellent Prince, your grandson; and for the\nrefuge which has been accorded me in your majesty\u2019s castle I now tender\nto your majesty my grateful thanks, and--\n\n_\u201cEh? What? Did you say something?\u201d exclaimed the King, waking up\nfrom a sound slumber, and rubbing his eyes. \u201cOh, yes. I see. Very\ninteresting. Very interesting. Something about a button, wasn\u2019t it?\nBless my soul, I\u2019d no idea it was so late. It\u2019s long past my bedtime.\nI\u2019m always late for breakfast when I stay up past my-- Mortimer, will\nyou see to it that the castle windows are locked for the night? My\ndear, I think we will have bacon and eggs in the morning; and if it\u2019s\nat all possible, I\u2019d like to have a piece of toast that isn\u2019t burnt.\nThe audience is now over.\u201d_\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SECOND NIGHT\n\nALB THE UNICORN\n\n\n_Solario the Tailor was sitting at the open window of his room in the\nnortheast tower of the castle, looking out at the stars which glittered\nin a clear sky over the Great Forest. He sighed, and rising wearily lit\nthe candles on his table; and at that moment there came a knock on his\ndoor, and Bojohn and Bodkin entered, rather timidly._\n\n_\u201cIf you please, sir--\u201d said Bojohn._\n\n_\u201cPray be seated,\u201d said Solario, and they all sat down. \u201cIt\u2019s a warm\nevening,\u201d said he._\n\n_\u201cWe thought,\u201d said Bojohn, \u201cthat you might perhaps be willing to tell\nus one of the stories that you--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIt\u2019s very warm this evening, indeed,\u201d said Solario. \u201cQuite\noppressive.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIf it wouldn\u2019t be too much trouble,\u201d said Bodkin, \u201cwe\u2019d like you to\ntell us about--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI don\u2019t know when I\u2019ve felt the heat so much,\u201d said the old tailor.\n\u201cBut then it\u2019s the idleness. If there were only something to do, there\nwouldn\u2019t be so much time to think about the weather.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cLast night, sir,\u201d said Bojohn, \u201cyou were obliged to leave out some\nparts of your story, and we thought--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIf I only had a few good ells of cloth on my table, and a man\nlike--well, say like Mortimer the Executioner,--to exercise my art on,\nI\u2019d be the happiest man alive; but as it is, sitting here with nothing\nto do--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cThere was one tale you mentioned,\u201d said Bojohn, \u201cabout a--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIt\u2019s a very fine thing to be a Knight of the Silver Lamp,\u201d said\nSolario, \u201cbut there doesn\u2019t seem to be much connected with it in the\nnature of work. If I could only be employed in making a suit of clothes\nfor Mortimer the Executioner!_ There\u2019s _a subject! The biggest man\nI\u2019ve ever seen in my life, and the hardest to fit! That would be an\nundertaking worthy of my genius. Dear, dear!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI\u2019ll speak to grandfather about it,\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019ll let\nyou make a suit for Mortimer. But what we would like to know is--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cWe\u2019d like to hear one of the stories,\u201d began Bodkin again, \u201cthat the\nKing made you leave out last night when--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIt made no difference to me, I assure you,\u201d said Solario, stiffly.\n\u201cNone whatever.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cBut if you would only tell us--\u201d said Bodkin._\n\n_\u201cI do not wish to annoy any one with my dull tales,\u201d said Solario.\n\u201cFar from it; far from it indeed, I assure you.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cBut there was one\u201d said Bojohn, \u201cabout a griffin; what kind of a\ngriffin did you say it was?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI believe, if I remember correctly, it was a Roving Griffin; but his\nmajesty your grandfather--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cOh, never mind grandfather,\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cTell us about the--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI\u2019d rather hear the one about the giant,\u201d said Bodkin._\n\n_\u201cYou probably have reference to the Blind Giant,\u201d said Solario.\n\u201cBut--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cThen there was one,\u201d said Bojohn, \u201cabout some cave or other.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cThe Cave of Montesango,\u201d said Solario. \u201cI remember it only too well.\nBut I couldn\u2019t tell you that; it would be too terrible. You wouldn\u2019t be\nable to sleep in your beds to-night.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cThen tell us that one!\u201d cried the two boys, together._\n\n_\u201cNo,\u201d said Solario. \u201cThe King would never approve if I--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cGrandfather isn\u2019t here now,\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cPlease--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cPerhaps,\u201d said Solario, \u201cI might tell you the story concerning the--\nBut I fear it would bore you.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNo! no!\u201d cried the boys._\n\n_\u201cThen I might perhaps tell you the story of Alb the Unicorn, only--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cYes! yes! Tell us about the unicorn!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cYou are sure it will not weary you?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNot a bit!\u201d said Bojohn._\n\n_\u201cWould you mind, sir,\u201d said Bodkin, \u201cleaving out the big words?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI shall willingly endeavor to gratify your reasonable predilection\nfor lucidity,\u201d said Solario._\n\n_\u201cSir?\u201d said Bodkin._\n\n_\u201cNever mind,\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cLet him go on.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cAhem!\u201d said the old man, clearing his throat. \u201cI will give you as\nmuch of it as I can remember, as it was told me by the young man\nin the white leather suit while we were sitting in the half-moon\npasture of Korbi by the river Tarn, after I had delivered him from his\nenchantment. You are sure it will not weary you?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cGo on! Go on!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cThen I will begin,\u201d said Solario, settling himself back at his ease,\nand folding his hands across his stomach,_\n\n\n\u201cTHE STORY OF ALB THE UNICORN.\u201d\n\nYou must know (said the young man to me) that I am called Alb the\nFortunate. I was born in the Island Kingdom, far out in the Great Sea,\nthe only son of a rich goldsmith. I lived with my parents, by whom I\nwas tenderly loved, in the principal city of that kingdom, in which\ncity, on a height overlooking the island, stood the castle of the King.\n\n\n_Alb the Fortunate and the Princess Hyla_\n\nMy father, whose skill in his art had caused him to be valued highly\nby the King, was a familiar figure at the castle, and I had there,\nin company with my mother, become acquainted with the young Princess\nHyla, the King\u2019s only child, a beautiful and amiable girl some two\nyears younger than myself. We were even permitted to play together in\nthe gardens of the castle, for the King was in no wise proud, but on\nthe contrary made a point of treating his subjects with a friendliness\nwhich endeared him to them all. I need hardly tell you that from the\nearliest moment I knew that I loved the little Princess.\n\nI grew thus in time to be twelve years old. Although my parents had\ndone for me all that love could devise and money could effect, I had\ncaused them much uneasiness. My disposition was unnaturally gloomy; I\nscarcely ever smiled; my mind was filled with terrors, I knew not why;\nI would sit for hours in moody silence; the games of other boys did not\namuse me; and I would find myself at times weeping bitterly, for no\nreason whatever.\n\nAll that my parents could do to divert me availed nothing; I continued\nto be a misery to myself and to them. They feared for my health;\ntheir wealth no longer gave them any pleasure; and an atmosphere of\ngloom settled down upon their house. Sometimes my mother would look\nmournfully into my eyes while she smoothed back the yellow hair from my\nforehead; and I knew that she would willingly have given all that she\nhad to make me happy.\n\nOn my twelfth birthday it chanced that I was in my father\u2019s shop,\nalone. My mother had gone into the back room, and my father was absent,\nfor the day, at the residence of a distant client. I had been trying\nall that morning to find some occupation to amuse me, but without\nsuccess; I had finally given myself up to a restless and discontented\nidleness; and at the moment I was examining in my hand, without\nmuch interest, a long chain, of extremely fine gold and delicate\nworkmanship, which I had picked up from one of the cabinets in the\nshop. I was in the act of placing it back in its case, wondering what I\nshould do next, when a strange figure entered the door from the street,\nand approached me.\n\n\n_A Tattered Old Beggar Comes to the Goldsmith\u2019s Shop_\n\nIt was an old man, evidently a beggar, a huge man, fat and heavy, his\nface covered by a gray beard which hung to his waist, and his eyes,\nwhich were very bright, almost hidden by shaggy eyebrows,--the longest\neyebrows I had ever seen on any human being. A ragged tunic of brown,\nbelted around the middle, hung scantily to his knees; a battered felt\nhat flapped over his forehead; and in his hand he carried, for a staff,\nwhat seemed to be a yardstick, such as tailors use. From his belt hung\na pair of large shears, also of the sort used by tailors. A queer\ntailor! thought I.\n\n\u201cGood morning, master Melancholy,\u201d said he, \u201chave you a mind for trade\nthis morning?\u201d\n\nThe idea of this poor creature\u2019s pretending to be a customer at such a\nshop as ours was too absurd. I could not restrain a little toss of the\nhead.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cThere is something here,\u201d said the old beggar, \u201cwhich I\nwish to buy\u201d]\n\n\u201cSo?\u201d said the old man. \u201cIs that what you think? Nevertheless, there is\nsomething here which I wish to buy.\u201d He looked around the shop. \u201cI wish\nto buy a chain, a gold one; and I see none that pleases me so much as\nthe one you are holding behind your back. Will you sell it?\u201d\n\nI was astonished that he should have discovered the chain, which I\ncould have sworn was hidden from his eyes. I drew it forth and held it\nup.\n\n\u201cBe so good as to let me see it,\u201d said the old man; and at the same\ntime he took it from me, before I could snatch it away.\n\n\u201cWhat may the price be, my young merchant?\u201d said he.\n\nI was trembling with anxiety, but I thought it best to end the whole\nmatter by naming the price, which I found on the card which remained in\nthe cabinet.\n\nWhile I hesitated, the horrid creature gazed at me with his glittering\neyes through his tangled eyebrows, and ran his fingers down his beard\nlike a comb.\n\n\u201cThe price,\u201d I said, \u201cis four thousand gold florins. Now please give me\nback the chain.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe price is high,\u201d said the old man, \u201cbut I will take it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen give me the money,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cMoney?\u201d said he, with an air of great surprise. \u201cMoney? But I have no\nmoney.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen how are you going to buy the chain?\u201d said I. \u201cGive it back to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will buy it, nevertheless,\u201d said he. \u201cI will give you what is better\nthan money.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is that?\u201d said I, suspiciously.\n\n\u201cI will give you,\u201d said he, \u201cwhatever you would like best in the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen give me back the chain.\u201d\n\n\u201cThink!\u201d said he. \u201cWhat would you like best in all the world, for your\nvery self?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing,\u201d I said, ready to cry. \u201cI want the chain back. If you don\u2019t\ngive it to me,\u201d I said, angrily, \u201cI will call my mother.\u201d\n\n\u201cWith all the pleasure in the world,\u201d said the impudent old rascal.\n\nI was now ready to cry in good earnest.\n\n\n_The Old Man Proposes a Strange Bargain_\n\n\u201cBut I advise you to listen to me, my young friend,\u201d went on the\ndreadful creature. \u201cYou may make a wish, if you will; and if you don\u2019t,\nI will. If I keep the chain, you shall make the wish; if you keep the\nchain, I will make it; but I warn you, if I make the wish, I shall wish\nyou harm! Such harm that you would rather be dead than alive! Come now,\nwill you sell me the chain for a wish?\u201d\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d I said, \u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d And I began to cry.\n\n\u201cThen you would like to be crippled all your life? To find vipers in\nyour bed every night? To see the Princess run away from the sight of\nyou? To suffer a sharp pain in your ears, to have all your drink turn\nto--\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d I cried. \u201cPlease don\u2019t, please don\u2019t!\u201d\n\n\u201cThen you had better sell me the chain. What would you like best in the\nworld?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I want to be happy! I want to be happy! I\u2019m so miserable!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou really wish to be happy?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes! If I could only be happy, always happy!\u201d\n\n\u201cThink well. I can grant you that wish, if you really wish it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI wish I could be happy, always happy!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe wish is granted. You shall be happy; after this day you shall be\nnothing but happy, always. It is done. The chain is mine.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, please! If you will only wait one moment! Just one! I must call my\nmother!\u201d\n\nI ran to the door of the back room, and called my mother. She came at\nonce, alarmed by my outcry. Together we turned back into the shop,\ntoward the spot where I had left the old man. He was gone.\n\nI dragged my mother to the shop door, and we looked up and down the\nstreet. There was no sign of him. I ran from one corner to the other.\nHe was nowhere in sight. I returned to my mother and threw myself on\nher breast and wept.\n\n\u201cThe chain!\u201d I sobbed. \u201cIt is gone!\u201d\n\nWhile she tried to comfort me I told her the story. She wrung her\nhands. \u201cWhat will your father say?\u201d\n\nThat evening, when my father heard what had happened, he was very\nangry. He was a kind man, but he scolded me so severely that I crept up\nto bed weeping, without any supper. I had never been so miserable. I\ncried myself to sleep.\n\nWhen I awoke in the morning, sunshine was streaming in through the\nwindow. I sprang out of bed. A fat sparrow was hopping on the window\nsill, and when he saw me he cocked his head at me in the jolliest\nmanner possible. I whistled to him, and laughed after him as he flew\naway.\n\nWhile I was dressing, and humming a tune the while, I suddenly\nremembered that I had gone to bed in tears for the loss of my father\u2019s\ngolden chain; but I laughed as I thought of it, for the loss seemed\npitifully small, and my father\u2019s anger over it was quite ridiculous. I\nwent on with my tune, and stood before the mirror with a hairbrush in\nmy hand. I began to brush my hair; and I cannot deny that as I looked\nat its yellow and somewhat curly abundance I thought of the Princess\nwith complacency.\n\nNow it happened that the most serious work of my life, on which I had\nthen been engaged for more than six months, had been the training of my\nhair to lie in a flat sweep backward from my forehead. I had devoted\nmuch patient labor to this work; it required that I should wear on my\nhead all day a tight skullcap, and I even suffered to the extent of\nwearing it in bed at night, when I could do so without my mother\u2019s\nknowledge. I now shook my hair from my forehead with a quick backward\ntoss of the head, in a manner which always made my father look at me in\nalarm, and proceeded to brush it straight back with vigorous strokes of\nthe brush.\n\n\n_The Three Black Hairs in the Yellow Head_\n\nI was in the act of applying a small quantity of dry soap, when I\nlooked at my yellow head in the mirror a trifle more attentively. My\ngaze became fixed; and as I held my head close to the glass I was\nastonished to see there, among the yellow strands, three coarse black\nhairs, very distinct, one in the middle and one on either side.\n\nThey did not suit me very well, and I accordingly, with some trouble,\nplucked each of them out by the root.\n\nBefore leaving the room, I gave a final glance of satisfaction at\nmyself in the mirror, and a final touch of the brush to my hair. I\nstopped suddenly, fixed with astonishment; the three long, coarse black\nhairs, which I had but a few moments before plucked away, lay there as\nbefore, one in the middle of my head and one on either side.\n\nI could not understand it in the least, but after all, what did it\nmatter? I could not allow myself to be bothered by such a trifle. I ran\ndownstairs singing merrily.\n\nAt breakfast, I found myself prattling of a thousand things, and I\nwas surprised to remark the confusion with which my parents received\nmy sallies. In the midst of my talk, my mother whispered with sudden\nexcitement into my father\u2019s ear; I did not hear what she said, but I\nsaw his eyebrows rise and heard him blow out his lips in a long-drawn\n\u201cO-oh!\u201d as if a light had dawned on him. And after that they responded\ngayly to my chatter, and we had altogether the merriest meal we had\never had in our lives.\n\nAfter breakfast I accompanied my father to the castle, where I\nsought out the Princess Hyla, and found her weeping beside one of the\nfountains in the garden, because her ball had fallen into the water\nwhich filled the wide marble basin. I laughed at her, for she did seem\ncomical enough. She stamped her foot angrily at me, but this only\nmade me laugh the more. I jumped into the pool and brought back the\nball. She looked at me as if in bewilderment, and cried, \u201cWhat are you\nlaughing at? Are you crazy?\u201d Far from being offended, I laughed more\nmerrily than before.\n\nThe King was much pleased with my little service to the Princess, and\nafter our departure my father assured me that I had advanced markedly\nin the King\u2019s regard. Everything, in short, was going well.\n\nFrom that day, my unfailing spirits rejoiced my parents more and\nmore as time went by; their house rang with my merriment; my mother\nbecame more youthful in appearance; and as I grew older I became known\nthroughout our city for the brightness of my face and the liveliness of\nmy talk, and I was everywhere in demand. It is true that the three long\nblack hairs continued in their places on my head, and my mother looked\nat them at times, as it seemed to me, with uneasiness; but I laughed at\nher; and although I sometimes plucked these hairs from my head, I did\nso only for the amusement of seeing them reappear in their places as\nbefore.\n\n\n_Alb Wins the Promise of the Princess\u2019s Hand_\n\nWhen I was sixteen years of age, a circumstance befell which I was able\nto turn to good account. The Princess Hyla one night unaccountably\ndisappeared. The King was strangely disturbed by this incident,\nand though I could not quite understand the reason for so much\nperturbation, I resolved to rescue the Princess and restore her to her\nfather\u2019s arms, if I could. This I was able to do, in the course of a\nvery singular adventure, and in reward the King promised me her hand in\nmarriage. I will now relate to you, if you wish it, the adventure by\nwhich I rescued the Princess from the strange fate which involved her;\nit is the adventure, as I may call it, of\n\n\nTHE RAGPICKER AND THE PRINCESS\n\nIt happened (said Alb the Fortunate) that the King, with his daughter,\nsojourned for a time at his castle of Ventamere, beside the Great Sea;\nand my father and myself, being lodged in the town hard by,--\n\n_\u201cOn second thoughts,\u201d said Solario, interrupting himself, \u201cI will not\nrelate this tale just now. It is too long. It will be better to go on\nwith--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cBut we\u2019d like to hear it now,\u201d said Bojohn._\n\n_\u201cNo,\u201d said Solario, firmly, \u201cit will be much better to tell it some\nother time.\u201d_\n\nThus (said Alb, when he had finished the story of his adventure), I\nrestored the Princess, with the assistance of the One-Armed Sorcerer\nwhom I have mentioned, and in gratitude the King took the One-Armed\nSorcerer to dwell with him in his castle in our own city, and promised\nto me the hand of the Princess in marriage when I should come of age.\nTruly things were going well with me.\n\n\n_A Trifling Incident Disturbs Alb\u2019s Mother_\n\nSome two years later, when I was just past my eighteenth birthday,\nan incident occurred in our household which caused my mother much\ndisturbance. My father died. He had left the house on horseback in\nthe morning, for a journey to the country on a matter pertaining to\nhis business. In the evening, after the shop was closed, a loud knock\nbrought my mother and myself to the door in haste. A crowd was gathered\nat the entrance, and on a litter carried by two men lay my father\u2019s\nbody; and in this manner he was borne into the shop. His horse had\nthrown him and his neck was broken.\n\nMy mother threw herself upon him and wailed. She tried to arouse him;\nshe talked to him as if he were alive; she even went so far as to try\nto call him back to life. I was at first greatly astonished at her\nbehavior, and then it struck me as being excessively ridiculous. To\nthink of trying to call back the dead to life! It was highly amusing. I\nfelt a tide of merriment rising within me. I laughed.\n\nI have never seen on any human being\u2019s face the look of horror which my\nmother turned on me when she heard my laugh. She crouched away from me\nin fear. Her sobbing ceased, and her eyes remained fixed on me; they\ngrew wider and wider; I began to wonder how long they could stare so\nwithout winking. I glanced at the others in the room, and was surprised\nto see that no one else even so much as smiled. It was useless to\nremain longer in a company so dead to the brighter things of life.\nI controlled my good humor and composed my features, and patted my\nmother affectionately on the shoulder; but she recoiled from my touch;\nand without appearing to take her inconsiderate behavior in ill part in\nthe least, I left the room.\n\n\n_Unreasonable Conduct of the Goldsmith\u2019s Widow_\n\nIt astonished me afterward to observe that my mother met my customary\ngayety with coldness, for she had always seemed to take great pleasure\nin it. She grew very gloomy indeed. I could not discover any reason for\nit, but I did what I could to cheer her by my own liveliness. For some\nreason or other, my father\u2019s death appeared to have a depressing effect\non her. I made my jokes and sang my songs as usual, but she reached\nsuch a state in a few months that she would scarcely speak to me, but\non the contrary spent most of her time in her room, alone.\n\nI noticed, in the course of time, a slight change in the manner of my\ncustomers and friends. The former transacted their business briefly,\nwithout an unnecessary word; and the latter appeared to avoid me, as if\nthey scarcely wished to know me any longer. It was very amusing.\n\nIn less than a year after my father\u2019s death, my mother died. It was\nthought by some that my father\u2019s death had something to do with her\ndecline, but how that could be I never could understand.\n\n\n_The Merrymakers Are Suddenly Sobered_\n\nThe night of the day on which she died was the night fixed for a feast\nat the house of one of my friends. After looking for a moment into the\nroom where she lay, I dressed myself carefully for the occasion, and\nfound myself thrilled with pleasant anticipation.\n\nA large and merry company met at table at my friend\u2019s house; I talked\nin my best manner; and whatever coldness I might have observed before\nwas dispelled in the general gayety. Toward the close of the banquet,\nI chanced to remark across the table that my mother had that day died.\nThe effect of this remark was astonishing. As it passed from one to\nanother, silence fell upon the company.\n\nI wondered if I had made some blunder. I endeavored in vain to relieve\nthe awkwardness of the moment by changing the subject and commencing\na story with which I had never failed to provoke a laugh; but in this\ncase it provoked not so much as a smile; I was absolutely perplexed.\nThe party soon broke up in what appeared to be confusion, and I went\nhome to enjoy in my own room the recollection of those lugubrious faces.\n\nWhen I was twenty-one, I was married to the Princess, and thenceforth\nthe castle was my home. I sold the business which my father had left\nme, and settled down to a life of unbounded bliss with my dear Hyla,\nwhom as a wife I found even more adorable than I had dreamed.\n\nI became the life of the castle. The faces of my new acquaintances\nalways brightened in my company; I was the only one in that glittering\nsociety who never knew a dull or uneasy moment; my presence was like a\nray of sunshine in the court.\n\nI noticed after a while that the Princess, my wife, began to respond\nto my constant gayety more carelessly; at times she would sit and look\nat me wonderingly, I knew not why.\n\nOne day she asked me to accompany her on a little excursion in the\ncity. She did not tell me where she meant to go, but I asked nothing;\nit was enough to be with her. I could not conceal my surprise, however,\nwhen she stopped our carriage at the entrance to the city\u2019s poorest\nquarter; but I had no doubt she had planned some pleasant diversion,\nand I followed her, talking in my liveliest manner all the while. She\nherself was quite silent.\n\nShe led me from one hovel to another, for more than an hour. In one\nwe saw a sick child lying on a pallet of straw on a dirt floor, and\naround him his mother and sisters and brothers, all weeping absurdly; I\nrallied the mother on it in the pleasantest way possible, but she did\nnot take it in very good part. In another we found an old man, blind\nand alone, without food and without wife or child, talking to himself\nin a gibberish which was truly laughable; I tried, for sport, to talk\nto him in the same sort of gibberish, but though it was excellent\nsport, I saw that for some reason or other it did not amuse my wife,\nso I led her away. In another place we saw a man who was evidently\novercome by wine, and who appeared to be in terror of certain vipers\nand spiders which, as I ascertained, existed nowhere but in his own\nimagination. This man was the prize of the whole collection; I amused\nmyself with him for a long time; and I was altogether so greatly\ndiverted that the Princess had some difficulty in dragging me away.\n\nOn the way home, I commented on what we had seen with a drollery which\nI had thought sufficient to draw a smile from a stone; but the Princess\nwas unmoved; she sat in stony silence, and when we reached the castle\nshe went at once to her room, and I saw her no more that day.\n\nNot long afterward, a beautiful boy was born to us; and in course of\ntime he grew to be the finest child of his age in the Island Kingdom;\nthere were many who said so, even to his mother.\n\nHe was two years of age, when on a certain day in summer his mother\nsent him into the gardens with a nurse, while she remained with me in\nconversation in her room. Some half hour later, I was telling her an\namusing story, which I had recently heard, when the door burst open,\nand a man-servant rushed into the room carrying our boy, dripping\nwet, in his arms, and laid him in his mother\u2019s lap. The child was\ndead. The nurse had left him beside the same fountain pool from which\nyears before I had rescued his mother\u2019s ball, and in her absence he\nhad fallen into the water. The Princess turned pale and screamed; she\nclasped the child to her breast and rocked him back and forth; she\nspoke to him as if he were still alive, and even tried to call him back\nto life.\n\nI smiled at her delusion. I put my hand on her shoulder and shook her\ngently. She looked up at me with streaming eyes, and saw the bright and\nsmiling look on my own face.\n\n\u201cCome, my dear,\u201d I said kindly, laughing quietly as I spoke, \u201cthere\nis no use talking to him like that, you know. You must be reasonable.\nThe dear little fellow is dead, that is all. Surely there is nothing in\nthat to disturb you? Look at me. I\u2019m not disturbed. I can\u2019t understand\nwhat you find in this to bother you. Come, let the good man take him\naway to another room, and I will go on with the story I was telling\nwhen we were interrupted.\u201d\n\nShe rose slowly, never taking her eyes from me, and hugging the child\ncloser backed away from me, and suddenly turned and fled from the room.\nI smiled to myself at the whimsical nature of women.\n\nIt was a long time before she would speak to me; and although I did\nnot permit this to ruffle me, I waited with some impatience for her\nexplanation. I was of course reluctant to blame her too much without\ngiving her an opportunity of explaining her conduct. I was accordingly\npleased when she took me aside one day and asked to speak with me in\nprivate. She sat down before me in her room and looked me steadily in\nthe eyes.\n\n\n_The Princess Finds Her Husband Bewitched_\n\n\u201cAlb,\u201d said she, \u201cthis can go on no longer. You are bewitched.\u201d\n\nI smiled indulgently. \u201cI am not aware of it,\u201d I said.\n\n\u201cTell me,\u201d she said, earnestly, \u201cwhat are those three black hairs in\nyour head?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, those! They are nothing. I found them there after the old beggar\nhad pretended to grant me a wish, long ago.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat old beggar? Now I am learning something! Tell me about the old\nbeggar and the wish!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat does it matter? He was a ragged old fellow, with shaggy eyebrows,\ncarrying a yardstick and tailor\u2019s shears, and I sold him a fine gold\nchain for a wish, and right angry my father was, too. But I was only\ntwelve years old, you know.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy have you never told me this before? What was the wish?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe wish? Oh, I wished--I wished I might be perfectly happy,\nalways;--always happy;--a pretty good wish, I think.\u201d\n\n\u201cA terrible wish! A frightful wish! Tell me--tell me--have you ever\nwept since you were twelve years old?\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course not. How absurd. There has never been anything for me to\nweep about.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s it! That\u2019s it! That\u2019s the curse! You can\u2019t weep! You\u2019ve got to\nbe cured of happiness! Cured of happiness!\u201d\n\nThis idea was so preposterous that I laughed loud and long; but while\nI was still laughing she took me by the hand and led me into a distant\npart of the castle, where I had never been before, until we came to the\nfoot of a narrow, winding stair in a tall tower.\n\nWe climbed the stairs, and stopped at last, panting, on a little\nlanding before a door. The Princess knocked, and without waiting for\nan answer opened the door and drew me in after her. We were in a\nsmall, circular room, evidently at the very top of the tower, from the\nwindows of which I could see far across the city and beyond the distant\nmountains to the Great Sea.\n\n\n_Alb and the Princess Visit the One-Armed Sorcerer_\n\nIn the center of this room was a spinning wheel, and before this\nspinning wheel was the One-Armed Sorcerer whom I had met in the\nadventure which had gained me the Princess for my wife; a spare old\nman, with bright blue eyes in a rosy face and long white hair and\nbeard, and clothed in a blue gown spangled with silver stars. He rose,\nsmiling at us kindly, and motioning us with his only hand (his left) to\nsit down; and when we were seated, the Princess told him the story of\nthe old vagabond who had granted me a wish.\n\nHe nodded understandingly, and the Princess said: \u201cWe have come to you\nfor help. Will you help him get rid of his curse?\u201d\n\nI laughed merrily. \u201cI\u2019m pretty well satisfied as I am,\u201d I said. \u201cI\ndon\u2019t wish to be cured of anything.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd yet,\u201d said the One-Armed Sorcerer, \u201cyou ought to want to be\ncured. Your trouble is, that you can\u2019t weep. Let me tell you something.\nWhen people can weep, it\u2019s because there\u2019s some good in them. When they\ncan\u2019t weep, it\u2019s because all the good in them is frozen up hard. Nobody\ncan weep all the time, any more than anybody can be happy all the time,\nunless it\u2019s a bewitched creature like yourself. I\u2019m not sure which\nwould be worse, to weep all the time or to be happy all the time; but\none thing I\u2019m sure of, and that is that it\u2019s best for us all to have a\nlittle weeping and a little happiness, sometimes the one and sometimes\nthe other, woven together in all shades of light and dark; and if you\nwant to come out in a beautiful pattern at last, there\u2019s no other way\nto do it. Laugh and weep; weep and laugh; that\u2019s the whole story, and a\nfine story it is too, and well worth having a part in.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d cried the Princess, who was now weeping softly, \u201cwill you help\nhim to have a part in it like the rest of us?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m very comfortable as I am,\u201d said I, smiling.\n\n\u201cDo you know,\u201d said the Princess, \u201chow to cure him?\u201d\n\n\u201cI can tell him how to cure himself,\u201d said the sorcerer.\n\n\u201cThen please tell us at once!\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cThere is danger in it,\u201d said the sorcerer.\n\n\u201cDanger doesn\u2019t bother me,\u201d said I, beginning to take an interest.\n\n\u201cGood,\u201d said the sorcerer. \u201cThen I will tell you. Have you ever heard\nof the half-moon pasture of Korbi, by the river Tarn?\u201d\n\nNeither of us had ever heard of it.\n\n\u201cIt lies far beyond the Great Sea. Would you like to make a journey\nthere?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat would be jolly!\u201d I cried.\n\n\u201cThe half-moon pasture of Korbi is the end of your journey, where you\nwill get rid of the third black hair, and be cured.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d I cried in astonishment.\n\n\u201cYes, the third of the three black hairs in your head.\u201d\n\nI had forgotten all about them. Certainly this was a knowing old\nsorcerer.\n\n\n_The Old Man of Ice, the Laughing Nymph, and the Great Horned Owl_\n\n\u201cI will tell you,\u201d he went on, \u201cwhat those three black hairs are. The\none on the left side of your head is the Old Man of Ice, who lives in\nthe Great Cave near the top of Thunder Mountain, in this very island.\nThe one on the right side of your head is the Laughing Nymph who lives\nin the Three-Spire Rock on the farther shore of the Great Sea. The one\nin the middle of your head is the Great Horned Owl, whose feathers are\nscales so hard that no spear can pierce them, and who lives at the top\nof the cliff at the far side of the half-moon pasture of Korbi. You\nmust not touch the Old Man of Ice. You must not laugh with the Laughing\nNymph. And you must not speak when you see the Great Horned Owl.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t like this very much,\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cNonsense, my dear,\u201d said I. \u201cIt sounds very exciting.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you know what a burning glass is?\u201d went on the sorcerer.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said I.\n\nHe went to a chest beside the wall, and took from it a small, round,\nthick piece of glass, and placed it in my left hand.\n\n\u201cThere is only one thing that can destroy the Old Man of Ice, and that\nis a hot beam from the sun. Before you go into his cave, hold this\nburning glass with your left hand up to the sun. The rays it catches\nwill remain in it for seven minutes, and no longer; and if you can then\nwithin those seven minutes, holding the glass in your left hand, fix\nthose rays on the Old Man of Ice, he will be destroyed, and you will\nget rid of the black hair on the left side of your head.\u201d\n\nHe went to his chest again, and returning put into my left hand a sharp\nbrass pin, some three inches in length.\n\n\u201cWith this pin,\u201d he said, \u201cyou must make the Laughing Nymph weep. You\nmust plunge it, with your left hand, deep into her left arm, and while\nshe is weeping you must flee away; and thus you will get rid of the\nblack hair on the right side of your head. But if you laugh with her,\nor remain until she stops weeping, you will never return.\u201d\n\nHe took from his spinning wheel a thread some yard and a half long,\nand holding it in his teeth made fast a large loop at one end. He then\nplaced the thread in my left hand.\n\n\u201cThis loop,\u201d he said, \u201cyou must throw over the head of the Great Horned\nOwl with your left hand. When you have done so, he will follow you; you\nmust lead him into the river Tarn, and hold him there until he drowns;\nand thus you will get rid of the black hair in the middle of your head,\nand be cured forever. But the owl, though he is blind by day, has very\nsharp ears. You must not let him hear your voice.\u201d\n\n\n_The Burning Glass, the Brass Pin, and the Loop of Thread_\n\nHe then gave me the most minute directions how to reach the Great\nCave, the Three-Spire Rock, and the half-moon pasture of Korbi; and\nI thereupon placed in my pocket the burning glass, the pin, and the\nthread, and drew the Princess after me to the door and down to my room,\nwhere I immediately began my preparations for departure.\n\nThat night I left. The Princess wept on my shoulder, but I laughed\ngayly, and ridiculed her fears.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t you feel sorry,\u201d she said, \u201cto leave me?\u201d\n\n\u201cCome, dearest,\u201d I said, \u201cyou mustn\u2019t begrudge me a little adventure.\nDon\u2019t be selfish.\u201d\n\nShe straightened herself up. \u201cYes,\u201d she said, \u201cI think you had better\ngo.\u201d\n\nI did not understand this sudden change, but I kissed her and said:\n\n\u201cDid you pack my white leather suit?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, it is in the saddlebag, and extra shoes. Be sure to change if you\nget your feet wet.\u201d\n\nI kissed my hand to her from the saddle and gave my horse the rein. I\nwas off upon my adventure.\n\nAt the end of two days I came to the village which lies at the foot\nof Thunder Mountain. It was a bright day, and the sun was hot. As I\ntrotted briskly through the village street, a child of three or four\nyears ran from the door of a house directly to the front of my horse\nand under its feet; and in an instant the horse had knocked him down\nand trampled over his body. I looked round, and heard the child cry out\nin pain; but I was intent on what lay before me, and too happy in my\nnew career to be bothered with trifles, and I sped on rapidly, and was\nsoon well up the mountainside.\n\nI came to a place among the rocks and bushes where there was no longer\nany trail, and there I tied my horse and left him. I kept in view, as I\nclimbed higher and higher, a great, gray rock, shaped like a dome and\nas big as a house, which projected from the very top of the mountain.\nUnder this rock, as I knew, lay the cave of the Man of Ice.\n\nThe higher I climbed, the steeper grew the ascent; trees became\nfewer and at length there were none; I looked abroad and saw, beyond\nthe intervening mountains, the Great Sea afar off, wrinkling in the\nsunshine. I came at last to a point so high that I was quite dizzy when\nI looked down. Around me were only bowlders; there were not even any\nbushes, nor birds nor squirrels; nothing but rocks and sunshine.\n\n\n_He Hears Thunder in a Clear Sky_\n\nI stopped suddenly and listened. A distant rumble of thunder came from\nthe top of the mountain. I was, as I may say, thunderstruck; for there\nwas not a cloud in the sky. As I mounted higher, the rolling of thunder\nbecame louder and louder; and when I reached, as I did at last after\nhours of toil, the dome-shaped rock at the top, thunder crashed all\nabout me with a deafening roar, although the sky remained as clear as\nbefore.\n\nI halted at the foot of the great rock, and commenced the task of\nfinding the entrance to the cave. The surface of the rock seemed quite\nunbroken; but I found at length, near the ground, a single crack, about\nan inch in width. I inserted my fingers, but I could not budge it; and\nremembering the directions given me by the sorcerer, I cried out, \u201cIn\nthe name of the sun! I command you, open!\u201d\n\nThe rock beneath the crack began to move, and before my astonished eyes\nit fell slowly inward, leaving a gaping hole, just wide enough to admit\nmy body.\n\nI did not delay. I took the burning glass from my pocket and held it\nup in my left hand to the sun, and when I thought it well filled with\nthe sun\u2019s rays I crawled in through the hole. When I was inside, the\nopening closed behind me, and I was in utter darkness. It was very\ncold, and the noise of thunder was louder than before. I was surprised\nto see at a little distance a single spot of light, which flickered\nhere and there as I crept on; but I soon observed that it came from the\nburning glass which I was still holding in my left hand.\n\n\n_He Goes Down into the Cave in Thunder Mountain_\n\nI was aware that I was going downward. The farther I went, the louder\nbecame the thunder. I must have descended thus for a minute or two,\nwhen a gust of cold air swept my face, and, finding the floor level, I\nstood up. The sound of thunder was now deafening, beyond anything I had\nyet heard.\n\nAs I stood there, a great mass of what appeared to be ice, larger than\nmy body, rolled past me and disappeared in the darkness. I jumped\naside, and walked on. In another moment a mass of ice like the first\nfell at my side and rolled away; a rush of the bitterest cold air\naccompanied it; and as it struck the ground a crash of thunder shook\nthe place, and its sound, as it rolled away into the dark, was the\nsound of thunder rumbling afar off among the mountains.\n\nI now understood the origin of the thunder I had heard in the clear\nsunlight outside. I pointed my burning glass upward, and I was able to\nmake out dimly, in the ceiling, great numbers of these bodies of ice,\nhanging there like stalactites, but rounded at the bottom and very\nslender at the top, so that they appeared to hang by little more than\na thread. As I stumbled on, one after another of these fell to the\nground with a crash and rolled away with a decreasing rumble. There\nwas no telling when one of them might fall on me, and I could only\ntrust to luck. There was nothing to do but to get forward as quickly as\npossible; time was flying, and even if I should escape these thunder\nstones, I had only three or four minutes of my seven left. I darted\nblindly on, and the ice came crashing about me faster and faster, until\nI thought my head would split with the noise. Once or twice I was\nnearly struck. How I escaped I do not know, for it became certain that\nthe thunder stones were dropping closer and closer around me, as if\nthey were trying to halt me. And all the time the cold was becoming so\nbitter that my feet and legs were already numb.\n\nI suddenly found myself walking on a slippery film of ice, and at that\nmoment I knew that I had cleared the chamber of thunder, and had left\nthat danger behind me; the noise abated to a distant rumbling.\n\nThe ice on which I walked was very thin, and at every step it crackled\nunder me; and I could just make out the sound of the rushing beneath\nit of a torrent of water. I stepped lightly and quickly, seeing\nnothing but the blackness of night before me. I ran. The ice swayed\nand crackled and ripped; and just as it gave way under me and my foot\nplunged in the freezing water, I found myself again on the solid floor\nof the cavern, and ran with all my might. I could see nothing of walls\nor ceiling. I was lost in the dark.\n\nIn another moment I was aware of a kind of vague paleness afar off\nbefore me, and I ran in that direction. As I did so, the paleness,\nwhatever it was, moved swiftly to the right, and I changed my course\naccordingly. It then moved to the left, and as fast as I changed my\ncourse it moved also; evidently it was trying to avoid me. I gained\non it, and it seemed then to try to pass me on one side and get in my\nrear; but I was too quick for it, and came up with it before it had\nquite passed me. I came within ten feet of it, and saw what it was.\n\n\n_He Pursues the Man of Ice with the Burning Glass_\n\nIt was the Man of Ice. He was running about like a cornered rat: a\nperfectly formed old man, his face and head hairless, and his whole\nbody of solid ice. He ran jerkily; I could hear his joints crackle\nas he ran; and he was almost transparent, and of a pale, greenish\nbrightness. His fingers were stiff and pointed, like icicles; and his\neyes were like little white marbles.\n\nWhen he found that he could not pass me, he ran back into the cave; but\nwe were evidently near its rear wall, and in a moment he was darting\nback and forth against this wall, for all the world like a cornered\nrat. I kept after him, and flashing the burning glass constantly in his\ndirection forced him at last into a corner. He turned upon me there,\nand stretched out his long stiff fingers and made as if to spring upon\nme. I knew that if he should touch me I should be lost; it must be now\nor never; I turned the burning glass full upon him, and before he could\nspring its little spot of light flickered upon the center of his breast.\n\nThe change which came over him nearly caused me to drop the glass.\nThe top of his head melted away before my eyes and dripped down over\nhis ears; his eyes, his nose, his cheeks, his chin, turned one after\nanother to water and flowed down over his shoulders, and as I moved the\nbeam of sunlight lower and lower he slowly melted away from shoulder to\nfoot, and was no more than a wet spot on the floor.\n\n\n_He Commences to Make His Escape from the Cave_\n\nI turned swiftly to make my way out of the cave. As I did so the light\nfrom my burning glass went out, and the cave was suddenly flooded with\npure sunlight, from what source I could not make out. I was in a vast,\nvaulted chamber, which I did not remain to examine. I sped to a wide\nopening which I saw before me, and passing through it came to the side\nof a little brook bordered with golden-yellow flowers. I waded across\nthe brook; its water was as warm as milk. On the other side I entered\nthe thunder chamber, now well lit with sunshine, and there I paused in\namazement. It was in perfect silence. The air was mild and balmy. In\nplace of the terrible stones of ice, thick green vines clung to the\nceiling. I gave a shout of joy, and ran to a little opening which I\nsaw on the farther side. Through this I crawled, and on my hands and\nknees ascended the passage down which I had first come, and arrived at\nthe entrance to the cave, now closed. \u201cOpen!\u201d I shouted. \u201cIn the name\nof the sun, I command you, open!\u201d The rock fell outward, and I crawled\nthrough into the light of day.\n\nI had gone quite a mile down the mountainside before I realized that\nthere was no sound of thunder; I looked up at the top of the mountain\nand paused to listen; all was silent, sunny, and peaceful. I had\naccomplished my first adventure with complete success.\n\nWhen I reached the village at the foot of the mountain, my first\nthought was of the child whom my horse had injured earlier in the day.\nI dismounted, and after a few moments\u2019 inquiry found where he lived. I\nwas admitted to the house by his mother, who led me to an inner room,\nwhere I beheld on a chair by a window an unusually charming little\nfellow, with his left arm in a splint. I sat down before him and took\nhim on my lap and held him carefully in my arms. He took to me at once;\nand I was pleased to feel, as his warm little body pressed close to me,\na decided warmth creep slowly and gently into my own heart. I forced\nthe mother, who was poor, to accept from me the only amends I could\nmake: a purse of gold from my belt, bestowed with a warm shake of the\nhand. As I said good-by, I glanced at the mirror which hung upon the\nwall. I went up to it, and looked more intently. The black hair which\nhad been on the left side of my head was gone.\n\nI pressed on the same night, and arrived in due time at the town of\nVentamere, on the shore of the Great Sea. I bought a boat, not too\nlarge to be handled by a single man, and rigged with a single sail of a\ncharming orange color, somewhat patched with blue.\n\nLike all the islanders, I knew well how to manage a boat, and I could\nsee that my little bark was entirely sea-worthy. I provisioned her for\na long voyage, being mindful, of course, of the return. With a light\nand favorable wind above and an ebbing tide, I set sail.\n\n\n_He Sails Across the Great Sea_\n\nAs I cleared the bay and encountered the long, smooth roll of the\nGreat Sea, I thought, sitting with my hand on the tiller, of the dear\nPrincess whom I had left behind me. I remembered that I had charged her\nwith selfishness, and I began to doubt whether I had been altogether\njust. For the first time within my memory, I felt a little uneasy on\nthe subject of my own conduct. However, this shadow lasted only a\nmoment. I sang as I sailed.\n\nThe weather was superb, and the sea, under moderate winds, never rose\nabove a long and quiet swell. During the entire voyage there was\nnothing more exciting than an occasional gull on easy wing circling\nabout the peak of my mast, and the flying fish now and then skimming\nlow across the surface of the sea.\n\nAs I neared the far shore of the Great Sea, the green of the water\nbecame a deep indigo, and I could not but rejoice in the lovely effect\namidst that expanse of rich color of the orange of my sail. I had held\nthe course prescribed by the sorcerer, and I knew that I should pick up\nthe Three-Spire Rock on sighting land.\n\nIt came to pass as I expected. My faithful boat slipped, early of a\nluminous evening, into the placid waters of a little bay. On either\nhand a promontory of noble height jutted out into the sea, and from the\nshallow water near the shore, against the inmost curve of the beach,\nrose in three pinnacles a great, black rock, washed by a gentle and\nsurfless tide, and towering above as tall as the masts of a ship: the\nThree-Spire Rock, beyond a doubt.\n\nI ran my boat almost up to the beach, the tide being at flood, and\nanchored there. I put on my fine white leather suit, as being suitable\nfor the visit I had now to make, and waded ashore with a line which for\nfurther security I made fast to a log partly imbedded in the sand. I\nthen climbed upon the shoreward side of the Three-Spire Rock, and began\nmy search for the Laughing Nymph.\n\nI examined every inch of that side of the rock as far as I could climb,\nwithout finding any sign of an opening. I made my way slowly around\nthe rock to the seaward side, examining it carefully as I went, still\nwithout success. I reached the outer side of the rock in despair.\n\nThe light of day was fast waning, and I would soon be forced to give\nup my search for the night. The water, which swelled and receded\nnoiselessly about the rock, became black and unfriendly. It was very\nlonesome. Not a gull nor curlew nor sandpiper could be seen anywhere.\nThe place was too silent altogether. I pressed along the seaward face\nof the rock.\n\nBefore me, at a little distance, the tide had filled to the brim a sort\nof bowl in the rock, open toward the bay, in which the water stood some\nfive or six feet deep. I came to this bowl and paused to select the\nbest way for clambering round it. I looked down into the still water\nwhich filled it, and saw there a sight which almost made my heart stop\nbeating.\n\n\n_He Finds a Child in a Pool of the Rock_\n\nFloating there was the body of a drowned child. I gave a cry of pity\nand stooped down to look at him. It was a naked boy of some two years,\nexceedingly beautiful. I stooped lower and gazed into his upturned\nface. It was the face of my own child.\n\nIt could not be; I had myself seen him, with my own eyes, far from\nhere, in his mother\u2019s arms, many months ago,--and yet, the longer I\ngazed upon him, the more certainly I knew that it was my own child. I\ncould not be deceived. I leaned down closer and put my arms under him\nand drew him up and folded him to my breast. He was cold and wet, but\nbeautiful beyond anything I had ever dreamed of him. I stood up, and\nheld his cheek against my own. It seemed to me I had never known until\nthis moment how dear he had been to me. I leaned, almost fainting,\nagainst the face of the rock, and rested his fair round body in my arm\nfor a moment against a smooth shelf in the wall. His little shoulder\nlightly touched the rock; and where it touched, a slight depression\nseemed to appear, as if the rock had been a cushion. As I looked, the\ndepression grew deeper and wider; it deepened and widened until it\nbecame a hollow vault, in which I could see nothing but darkness.\n\nHolding the fair boy close to my breast, I stepped into the dark vault,\nand walked carefully forward toward the interior of the rock. In a\nmoment the passage made a turn to the right, and I found myself in a\nbrightly lighted room with a peaked ceiling, very lofty, whose floor\nand walls were all of mother-of-pearl. In sconces on the walls were\nhundreds of burning candles, and divans and chairs covered with the\nrichest silks were ranged beneath them. A door in the opposite wall\nstood open, and I entered through this another room of the same kind,\nwith peaked ceiling, candles, mother-of-pearl, and all. As I stood in\nthis room I heard the tinkling of a musical instrument and the singing\nof a voice. A door stood open opposite me as before, and through\nthis I entered a third room, precisely like the others, and stopped\nin amazement. There, on a divan against the wall, under a blaze of\ncandles, sat my wife.\n\n\n_The Laughing Nymph in the Three-Spired Rock_\n\nShe was singing gayly and accompanying her song upon a lute. When\nshe saw me she laughed merrily and bade me sit down beside her. I\nremained standing where I was, doubting whether I had lost my senses,\nand hugging the beautiful child to my breast. There was no mistake.\nIt was my wife indeed. I forgot for the moment the strangeness of the\nencounter, and went to her and held out the child.\n\n\u201cSee!\u201d I cried. \u201cHave done with laughing! Your child! He is drowned! I\nhave brought him to you! See!\u201d\n\nShe looked at me with such merriment in her face as I had never seen\nthere before. She laughed again and again. I thought she would never\nhave done laughing. I was petrified with horror.\n\n\u201cStop!\u201d I cried. \u201cI must make you understand me! It is your child! Do\nyou understand? Can you look at him and laugh? For shame, for shame!\u201d\n\nShe calmed her laughter somewhat.\n\n\u201cWhy, what is there in that,\u201d she said, \u201cto make me weep? If you only\nknew how ridiculous you look! Oh, dear!\u201d And she went off into a peal\nof laughter gayer than before.\n\n\u201cTake him!\u201d I said. \u201cLook down at that little face, and smile again if\nyou dare!\u201d And I laid him in her lap.\n\nShe took him up carelessly and placed him out of her way on the divan.\n\n\u201cReally,\u201d she said, \u201cyou mustn\u2019t expect to disturb me with these\nthings. I was singing a lovely new song when you came in. Listen!\u201d And\nshe took the lute in her hands and began to sing a stave of her song.\n\nI felt a wave of anger rise within me. I rushed upon her blindly and\ntore the lute from her hands and dashed it on the floor. I seized her\nshoulders and shook her violently; and the more violently I shook her\nthe more she laughed. I bethought me of the pin which lay in my pocket,\nand at the same time there flashed into my mind what the sorcerer had\nsaid about the Laughing Nymph; I had quite forgotten them both. I\nsnatched the pin forth from my pocket with my left hand, and closing my\neyes plunged it deep into the left arm of the Laughing Nymph.\n\nShe did not scream with pain, but her laughter instantly ceased. She\nlooked at me with surprise, as if she were now seeing me for the first\ntime. An expression of reproachful sorrow came over her face; tears\nstarted into her eyes and rolled down her cheeks; and suddenly she\nburied her face in her hands and wept bitterly. She arose, and threw\nherself on her knees beside the child and called to him wildly, sobbing\nas if her heart would break.\n\nI looked on for a moment with my brain in a whirl. A strong impulse of\nlove and pity moved me to put my arm around her and comfort her; but I\nrestrained myself, and in that moment I saw what it all meant; I left\nthe Laughing Nymph still weeping beside the child, and fled.\n\n\n_The Second Black Hair Is Gone_\n\nOutside, on the beach, under the stars, I collected my disordered wits.\nI went to the little cabin in my boat, and gazed at myself in the\nmirror which hung upon its wall. My eyes were unnaturally large and\nhollow; my cheeks were pale; and the black hair which had been on the\nright side of my head was gone.\n\nI gathered together such provisions as I could carry, and seeing that\nthe boat was well secured, I departed upon my third and last adventure.\n\nMany days I traveled. The sorcerer had given me my course with much\nparticularity, and there was no question of losing my way. My thoughts\nwere sad company, and yet I felt a kind of elation. I began to look\nback on myself with horror, and to remember the sweetness of my\nPrincess with admiration and love.\n\nOne morning I ascended a long wooded hill and stood upon its top. Below\nme, at no great distance, lay a river, curved at this point outward\nlike a crescent. On its farther side stretched a field some two miles\ndeep, grown high with grass and flowers, and bounded at its rear by a\nhigh cliff whose walls at either end met the river, enclosing the field\nso that its shape, between them and the river, was roughly that of a\nhalf-moon. It was, without a doubt, the pasture of Korbi, beside the\nriver Tarn. The time for my last adventure had arrived.\n\nI descended rapidly to the river, first leaving my pack in a safe\nplace, and waded across the stream; it came to my shoulders, but I had\nno difficulty in reaching the other side. I pressed forward through the\ntall grass to the foot of the cliff. I walked along its base until I\nfound above me on its face, somewhat higher than my reach, a circle of\nwhite stones; and by this I knew that it was at this point that I must\nclimb.\n\nThe ascent was excessively difficult. I mounted, with great pain, to\na point so high that I no longer dared look below; I fixed my eyes on\neach crevice and cranny as they appeared above me, and tried to think\nof nothing but my next step upward. I was nearing the top. I looked up,\nand saw directly overhead a great bowlder which projected from the face\nof the cliff, evidently at its very summit. This was the bowlder of\nwhich the sorcerer had spoken as the abode of the Great Horned Owl. A\ndozen more painful steps brought me to the under side of the bowlder. I\nclung to the cliff with both hands, and without a sound crept along its\nface until I was out from under the bowlder on its left side, and then\nclimbed noiselessly upward until I stood beside the bowlder so as to\nlook across its top. There I saw, at my right, the object of my search.\n\n\n_The Great Horned Owl Stands Ready for the Loop of Thread_\n\nThe Great Horned Owl was standing motionless, his wide eyes staring\nacross the valley of the Tarn. I was thankful that in that bright light\nof the sun he was blind. He did not turn his head in my direction, and\nhe was evidently unaware of my presence. His feathers, as I could see,\nwere flakes or scales of some shining metal. He looked harmless enough,\nand I felt myself full of confidence.\n\nThe hand which was nearest him was my right. Holding on to the cliff\nwith my left, I took from my pocket, with my right, the thread which\nthe sorcerer had given me, and cleared the loop so that I could drop it\nover the creature\u2019s head without tangling. I leaned across the bowlder\ntoward him, keeping very quiet, and brought my right hand with the loop\nso close to him that I could have touched him. With that hand I held\nthe loop above his head and began to lower it. It came down closer and\ncloser; it reached the top of his head; I held my breath; my eyes were\nfixed on his; I lowered the loop another inch or two, until it came\nto his curved beak, without touching him; and I was about to drop it\nover his neck,--when suddenly he flapped his wings and fluttered his\nfeathers all together; and all the little metal plates on his body\nstriking one another gave off a rattling discharge of sharp reports, so\nviolent that I thought the cliff was being blown to pieces. I jumped\nwith fright, and scarcely refrained from uttering a cry; but I held my\ntongue, and dropped the loop around his neck.\n\nInstantly the metal feathers were still and the noise ceased, and the\nowl turned his head slowly toward me and stared straight into my face;\nand as he gazed at me, all at once it came to me that I had dropped\nthe noose with my right hand instead of my left. I was aghast at my\nmistake. I tugged at the thread frantically, but the owl did not\nbudge. I began to grow dizzy. My arm tingled and grew numb. Everything\nturned black before my eyes. I could not remember where I was. I\nswayed and lost my balance; I felt myself falling; I clutched wildly\nfor support, but touched nothing; I felt myself falling through space,\nfalling, falling, as a person falls in a dream, for hours as it seemed,\nsick and dizzy. Only once did I touch anything, and then I felt in my\nknee a sharp pain, and was conscious that I was bleeding from a cut;\nand then I knew no more.\n\nWhen I came to myself, I was standing at the foot of the cliff, where I\nhad commenced my ascent. I looked upward, and wondered that I was alive\nafter such a fall. As my eye traveled downward and rested on the circle\nof white stones above me I noticed in their center a little splotch of\nblood, evidently from my knee where it had been cut in my fall; and as\nI continued to look, the splotch grew into a blood-red flower, waving\non a long stem. I felt a strange desire to take the flower in my teeth\nand tear it.\n\n\n_Alb Sees in the River the Reflection of a Unicorn_\n\nI wondered whether anything had happened to the hair in the middle of\nmy head. I went to the river, and looked down at myself in a clear\npool near the bank. I was surprised to see there the reflection of a\nsmall white horse\u2019s head. I turned round, to see the animal which must\nhave been looking over my shoulder. No animal was there. I could not\nunderstand it. I looked again at the surface of the water; the same\nhead met my gaze; a small white horse\u2019s head, and in the center of it a\nsharp, white horn. I looked behind me again, and again into the river.\nI stood in the water, and saw there the full image of the little white\nhorse. It was myself.\n\nThus (said the young man, sitting in the half-moon pasture of Korbi, by\nthe river Tarn), you know my story. I have kept count of the days since\nmy enchantment, and they now amount to two years; the age of my little\nson when he was drowned. You have taken from me the third black hair,\nand I shall now fly back to my beloved Princess, cured of the curse\nof perpetual happiness, to spend with her the remainder of my days in\nblessed light and shadow, peace and storm, laughter and tears.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_\u201cI wonder,\u201d said Bojohn thoughtfully, after a moment\u2019s silence, \u201cwho\nthe old man was who gave him the curse in the first place.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cDid Alb tell you,\u201d said Bodkin, \u201cwho the old man was?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNo,\u201d said Solario; \u201cI don\u2019t believe he ever knew. But I happen to\nknow, myself, because it was revealed to me in the course of the story\nwhich was told me by--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cTell us! Tell us!\u201d cried the two boys._\n\n_\u201cNo,\u201d said Solario, \u201cit is much too late, and I must now, if you will\npermit me, bid you good night.\u201d_\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE THIRD NIGHT\n\nTHE SON OF THE TAILOR OF OOGH\n\n\n_The King was engaged with the Master of the Wardrobe in a game\nof chess in the throne room, and the Princess Dorobel (the King\u2019s\ndaughter) and her husband Prince Bilbo were looking on._\n\n_In the next room the Queen was at dominoes with the Second Lady in\nWaiting, and Prince Bojohn (her grandson) and his friend Bodkin came\nand stood behind their chairs._\n\n_\u201cGrandmother,\u201d said Bojohn, \u201cwouldn\u2019t you like to hear a story?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNot now, my dear,\u201d said the Queen, and she put down a double five,\nsmiling at the Lady in Waiting._\n\n_\u201cCome along, then,\u201d said Bojohn to Bodkin. They went into the throne\nroom, and stood behind the King\u2019s chair._\n\n_\u201cGrandfather,\u201d said Bojohn, \u201cwouldn\u2019t you like to hear a story?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cYou made a fatal mistake in moving your knight,\u201d said The King. \u201cI\nwill now move my bishop and put you in check. So!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cGrandfather!\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cWouldn\u2019t you like to--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cTake your time, take your time,\u201d said the King. \u201cIf you move out of\ncheck, I\u2019ll have you in three moves. See if I don\u2019t!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cGrandfather!\u201d said Bojohn._\n\n_\u201cAh!\u201d said the King. \u201cThat\u2019s different. Hum. Ha. I didn\u2019t think you\u2019d\ndo that. Plague take it, now I\u2019ve got to think up something else.\u201d_\n\n_The Princess Dorobel placed her arm around the shoulder of Bojohn her\nson. She was radiant in a white evening gown, and she wore pearls in\nher hair._\n\n_\u201cNever mind, my dear,\u201d said she,_ \u201cI\u2019d _like to hear a story.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cAnd father too!\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cCome along, both of you!\u201d_\n\n_The Princess Dorobel put her arm in her husband\u2019s, and hurried him\naway after the two boys, who were already going out at the door._\n\n_They followed the boys through dark halls and up a staircase into the\nnortheast tower, and stopped, all four, before the door of Solario\u2019s\nroom. Prince Bojohn knocked, and a voice from within bade them enter._\n\n[Illustration: Mortimer the Executioner was being measured by Solario\nfor a suit]\n\n_Mortimer the Executioner, seven feet tall and vast as a hogshead\naround the middle, was standing in his shirt sleeves beside the table,\nand before him stood Solario on a chair, measuring him with a tape. On\nthe table lay a pile of cloth, with shears, chalk, needles, thread, and\nwax._\n\n_Solario jumped down from his chair and bowed. He was plainly in high\ngood humor._\n\n_\u201cBe seated, be seated, I pray you,\u201d he cried, bringing up chairs in a\nhurry. \u201cThis is a great honor; a very great honor indeed. You see me\nin the midst of my-- Pray be seated. Will you excuse me while I note\ndown the shoulder measurement?\u201d He bent over the table, and jotted down\nsome figures in a book. \u201cMortimer,\u201d said he, \u201cyou may go now. We will\ncontinue our labors in the morning.\u201d_\n\n_Mortimer, in confusion, hastily put on his coat, which caused a couple\nof white mice to jump from his pockets and run up his sleeves._\n\n_\u201cDon\u2019t go,\u201d said the Princess Dorobel. \u201cWe are about to ask our good\nfriend Solario for a story, and I am sure you would like to hear it.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cYes,\u201d said Prince Bilbo, \u201cwe have come to hear another story, if you\nwill be good enough to--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cThe story of Montesango\u2019s Cave!\u201d cried both boys, together._\n\n_\u201cOr the Roving Griffin!\u201d cried Bojohn._\n\n_\u201cOr the Blind Giant!\u201d cried Bodkin._\n\n_\u201cIf you will pardon me,\u201d said Solario, \u201cI think that it would please\nPrince Bilbo and the Princess better, perhaps, to hear the story told\nme by the Black Prince on the memorable night when--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cDon\u2019t forget,\u201d said Bodkin, \u201cwe want to hear about the old man with\nthe shaggy eyebrows, who got the golden chain away from the goldsmith\u2019s\nson.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI will tell you,\u201d said Solario, \u201cabout the old man and about the\nBlack Prince at the same time.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cWe know nothing,\u201d said Prince Bilbo, \u201cabout any old man with shaggy\neyebrows.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI\u2019ll tell you, father!\u201d said Bojohn; and he told what he knew. \u201cNow\nthen!\u201d he said to Solario. \u201cPlease go on!\u201d_\n\n_Solario the tailor seated himself cross-legged on his table, and the\nothers drew up their chairs before him in a row._\n\n_\u201cHas the old man with the shaggy eyebrows,\u201d said Prince Bilbo,\n\u201csomething to do with the Black Prince?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cPrecisely, sir,\u201d said Solario. \u201cIf you are ready, I will relate to\nyou the story which the Black Prince told me on the memorable night\nwhen-- However. Are you ready?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cDear me!\u201d said the Princess Dorobel. \u201cThis is very cozy, indeed.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cGo on!\u201d cried Bojohn; and Solario, picking up his shears and gazing\nat them thoughtfully for a moment, began, in the following words,_\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE BLACK PRINCE\n\nYou must know, most excellent Solario (said the Black Prince) that my\nfather, the King of Wen, called me to him one morning, and taking me\ninto his private cabinet, spoke to me as follows.\n\n\u201cMy son,\u201d said he, \u201cyou are aware what anxiety I have suffered,\nthroughout my reign, regarding my city of Oogh, by reason of its\nremoteness from my castle. I have, as you know, been unable to visit it\nsince my early youth. It is now some four years since I sent to that\ncity, to govern it in my stead, our friend Urban, so well-beloved among\nus for his unfailing courtesy.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_\u201cOh!\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cThat must be the Courteous Stranger.\u201d Solario\nsaid, \u201cPrecisely.\u201d_\n\n\u201cFor many months,\u201d continued my father, the King of Wen, \u201cI have had\nno word from him, and I fear that some misfortune has befallen him. I\ndesign therefore, my son, to send you to the city of Oogh, to find out\nwhat is wrong, and if necessary to lend him aid. It will be best for\nyou to enter the city without making yourself known. Your mission may\nbe dangerous, and I accordingly wish you to wear this doublet, which\nwill protect you against all harm so long as it remains intact. I know\nof no power which can remove it from your person, or detach from it\neven a single button; but I warn you to be careful, for any injury to\nit will deprive it of all virtue, and the consequences to you in that\ncase might be serious. Take the doublet from me with your left hand,\nand I will tell you how I came into possession of it.\u201d\n\nThereupon my father with his left hand placed the doublet in my left\nhand, and commenced\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE MAGIC DOUBLET\n\n\u201cWhen I was a young man,\u201d said my father,--\n\n_\u201cPlease excuse me, Solario,\u201d said Prince Bilbo; \u201cdon\u2019t you think it\nmight be better to go on with the main story, without stopping to--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cReally, I think it would,\u201d said the Princess Dorobel._\n\n_\u201cOh, mother!\u201d said Bojohn._\n\n_\u201cIf it is your pleasure,\u201d said Solario, \u201cI will omit the story of the\nmagic doublet for the present.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI really think it would be better,\u201d said the Princess Dorobel._\n\n_\u201cOh, shucks,\u201d said Bojohn to Bodkin, in a whisper._\n\n\u201cThis is the doublet,\u201d said my father when he had finished his story,\n\u201cwhich, as I have told you, was made by the One-Armed Sorcerer with\nhis left hand. Prepare now for your journey, my son, and good fortune\nattend you.\u201d\n\nAll that day I spent in preparation, and early on the next morning I\nset forth for the city of Oogh. My daughter, the Princess Amadore,\nimplored me to take her with me. She was ever of an ardent and\nadventurous spirit, and she would not listen to my objections on the\nscore of danger. She usually had her way with me, and I knew from the\nfirst that there was no use in resisting her entreaties; and the upshot\nof it was that I yielded, though much against my judgment.\n\n\n_The Prince and His Daughter Set Forth for Oogh_\n\nIn due time we made our way to the city of Fadz on the seacoast, where\nwe took ship for Oogh; and for some two weeks we sailed the Great Sea\nwith favorable winds. At the end of that time we were blown out of our\ncourse by storms, and took shelter in the Island Kingdom, at a port\ncalled Ventamere, whence we visited the kingdom\u2019s capital city, and\narrived there in time to witness, as the King\u2019s guests, the marriage of\nhis daughter the Princess Hyla to one Alb, a goldsmith\u2019s son, a youth\nof exceedingly cheerful and engaging manners. This ceremony over, we\nreturned to Ventamere, and there took ship once more for Oogh.\n\nNo further accident delayed us, and after a week we sighted that part\nof the mainland which my father had described to me. At my direction we\nwere put ashore, my daughter and myself, at a point where, as I knew, I\nshould find the road to Oogh.\n\nLeaving orders for the ship to ride at a safe distance from shore\nagainst our return, we turned our faces inland; but before going\nfurther, I darkened my face, neck, and hands with walnut juice,\nand dressed myself in patched and threadbare clothing. I put on my\nmagic doublet, but concealed it beneath a rude blue smock. I tried\nto persuade my daughter to darken her face also, but she positively\nrefused to ruin her complexion, as she expressed it, and I now\nregretted bitterly that I had brought her with me. I was able to\npersuade her, however, to put on a coarse and tattered gown, but she\ndid it very unwillingly. I had provided myself with some trinkets of\nsilver, odds and ends of lace and silk, and children\u2019s toys, and these\nI now slung on my back in a pack. Thus, in the character of a peddler\nand his daughter, we set forth upon the road to Oogh.\n\n\n_A Strange Encounter at a Wayside Well_\n\nLate in the afternoon we saw before us the roofs of the city, and\nat the end of the road a gate in the city wall. At the same time we\nperceived, in a clump of trees, a wayside well, and we were hastening\ntoward it, being tired and thirsty, when we heard a voice in that\ndirection, which was exclaiming angrily:\n\n\u201cThere! Take that! I hate you, I hate you! Oh, if I could never see you\nagain!\u201d\n\nHearing no reply to this outburst, and wondering who it was that could\ntake such language in silence, we hurried forward, and saw, standing\nbeside the well, under the trees, a boy and no one else; a boy of some\ntwelve years of age, dressed in a gorgeous robe of pale yellow silk;\na singularly beautiful boy, with great dark eyes and curly dark hair,\nbut a face extremely pallid and stained with tears; a face, in fact,\nthe saddest I had ever seen in a child. He was picking up from the wet\nground beside the well handfuls of mud, and spattering his silk robe\nwith it; and as we arrived he tore from his head a cap of spotless\nwhite velvet and stamped it into the mud, crying out, \u201cI won\u2019t wear you\nany more, I won\u2019t! I hate you!\u201d And then he burst into tears and flung\nhimself full length on his face in the mud, beating the ground with his\nhands and muttering brokenly to himself.\n\nWe paused in astonishment, but my daughter, recovering herself quickly,\nran to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He sat up, startled. He\nrose to his feet timidly, and gazed at us with big round eyes, trying\nto choke back his sobs. He was mud from head to foot, and his gorgeous\nrobe was ruined.\n\nMy daughter coaxed him to tell her what was the matter, but he made no\nanswer; instead, he pulled off the ruined robe and flung it in the mud,\nand standing in his shirt and breeches stamped upon it and burst into\ntears again, and cried, \u201cI won\u2019t wear it! I want to be poor! I want to\nbe like the others! Oh, the wicked Eyebrow! Why can\u2019t he be good like\nthe others? Oh, if I could only cut off the Eyebrow and make him poor\nand good like the others!\u201d\n\nMy daughter took his hand and begged him to tell her his trouble, but\nall he would say was, \u201cHe\u2019s wicked, and I want him to be good like the\nothers! And to-night he\u2019s going to give the Blind Bowler to Goolk the\nSpider, and I can\u2019t stop him, I can\u2019t stop him!\u201d And he broke into a\nfresh storm of sobbing.\n\nMy daughter shook her head at me pityingly.\n\n\u201cWe are very sorry, my lad,\u201d said I, \u201cand I ask you to trust us. We are\ngoing into the city, and perhaps when you know us better you will tell\nus all about it. We should like to help you. Will you come with us?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat can a peddler do against the Eyebrow?\u201d said the boy,--but he\ndried his tears, and allowed my daughter to lead him forth by the hand\ninto the road.\n\nWe could make nothing of the boy\u2019s wild talk, but we went onward\nwithout questioning him further, and drew near to the city in silence.\nBeside the city gate, under the wall, a crowd of idle people were\ngathered, and from the center of the group we could hear voices\nsinging together hoarsely. In a few minutes we were in the midst of the\ncrowd, and saw what it was the idlers were looking at.\n\n\n_The Three Blind Ballad Singers_\n\nThree blind men were singing a comic ballad in loud voices, and\nprancing up and down in time, with such antics that the crowd\nroared with delight. Each of the three held in his hand a sheaf of\npapers,--ballads, undoubtedly, intended for sale to the onlookers.\nSuddenly they stopped, each with a hand at his ear, and looked up at\nthe sky as if listening.\n\n\u201cIs there a stranger here?\u201d cried one of them.\n\n\u201cA peddler and a maid!\u201d shouted one of the crowd. \u201cAll tattered and\ntorn!\u201d\n\n\u201cWith eyebrows?\u201d cried the ballad singer.\n\n\u201cYes! yes!\u201d said several of the crowd together.\n\nI did not like this sort of attention very well, and I was about to\ndraw my daughter away, when the ballad singers faced with one accord in\nmy direction and began to cry, \u201cBuy our ballads! Ho, master Eyebrows!\nBuy our ballads! Welcome to Oogh, master Eyebrows!\u201d\n\nThe faces and heads of these three fellows were covered with black\nhair; but I now noticed that not one of them had the vestige of an\neyebrow; and I observed further that there was not an eyebrow amongst\nall the crowd, with the exception only of the boy at my side; and as to\nhim, the people, when they saw him, suddenly fell silent, and backed\naway from him with something like fear in their eyes. The boy observed\nit, as I could see, and looked as if he were going to cry again.\n\n\u201cWhat do we say, brothers,\u201d shouted one of the ballad singers, \u201cwhat do\nwe say to the damsel in the tattered gown? Shall one of us marry the\ntattered damsel? Oh, yes, oh, yes! Tra la, tra la,--\u201d\n\nHe paused, as if waiting for a laugh; but the crowd did not laugh any\nmore, and my daughter was herself in fact the only one who seemed to be\namused. As for myself, I was beginning to be angry.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll marry the Lady Tatters!\u201d cried the blind man. \u201cO-o-oh!\u201d And\nhe burst into a loud song, in which the other two joined, all three\nprancing up and down meanwhile in a ridiculous dance. So far as I can\nrecollect it, their song went something like this:\n\n      \u201cO Lady Tatters! O Lady Tatters!\n  We scorn the fellow who basely flatters,\n  But we can\u2019t help saying that nobody matters\n    But you, fair lady, but you, but you!\n    Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la,\n  We know that it\u2019s generally customary\n  In cases like these to be shy and wary,\n  For often enough in matrimony\n  There\u2019s plenty of gall mixed in with the honey,\n    How true that is! how true! how true!\n    Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la,\n  But under existing circumstances\n  Every fellow must take some chances,\n  Refusing to bother concerning expenses\n  And other deplorable consequences,\n  Cheerfully scorning each friendly warning,--\n    How few regard it! how few! how few!\n    Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la,\n      O Lady Tatters! O Lady Tatters!\n  We\u2019ve duly considered these difficult matters,\n  And now, without any reservation,\n  We\u2019re ready to enter the marriage relation!\n  You\u2019ve only to view our reliable faces\n  And gaze on our truly superlative graces,\n  To note that the suitors by whom you\u2019re attended\n  Come really remarkably well recommended,--\n    Buy it\u2019s all in the point of view! How true!\n      It\u2019s all in the point of view!\n    Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la,--\u201d\n\n\u201cSilence, rogues!\u201d I cried, out of all patience at their impudence, but\nmy daughter burst out laughing. It was ever her way to be amused rather\nthan annoyed.\n\n\u201cMaster Eyebrows!\u201d shouted the first ballad singer. \u201cChoose one of us\nfor the tattered damsel! What will you take for her? Speak.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou shall have the Shears!\u201d shouted the second ballad singer.\n\n\u201cThe Shears of Sharpness!\u201d shouted the third.\n\n\u201cSee, Eyebrows!\u201d cried the first. \u201cThe Shears of Sharpness!\u201d\n\n\n_The Blind Ballad Singer Displays the Shears of Sharpness_\n\nHe drew from under his gown a pair of tailor\u2019s shears, and as he did so\nthe crowd fell back as if in alarm. He stepped toward the city wall,\nand placed his hand on a flat iron bar, some two or three inches in\nwidth, supporting an awning over a booth; and applying his shears to\nit, he cut it through and through as if it had been paper. I gasped in\namazement; never had I seen a pair of shears like those.\n\n\u201cThe Shears for the lady!\u201d cried the blind man. \u201cCome, Eyebrows,\nchoose!\u201d\n\n\u201cImpudent rascal,\u201d said I, \u201cthe lady is my daughter, and I foresee that\na good scourging is awaiting you. Come, Amadore!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut buy our ballads!\u201d cried the second ballad singer. \u201cBuy our\nballads!\u201d cried the others, and each of the three thrust toward me one\nof his papers.\n\nI took them, and paying over a few coppers, moved on toward the city\ngate. \u201cFather!\u201d said Amadore in my ear. \u201cThe boy is gone!\u201d\n\nIt was true. The boy had slipped away, and was gone. The idlers began\nto laugh again, and I drew my daughter after me into the city.\n\nIn a moment we were standing in a street of shops, and my daughter,\nlaughing again, begged me to read my ballads. I glanced at the sheets,\nstill angry, and was about to toss them away, when I observed that they\nwere blank, or nearly so, and I looked at them more closely.\n\nOn the first were written these words, and nothing more: \u201cHurry. Hurry.\u201d\n\nOn the second I found these words only: \u201cThe Cobweb Room in the\nGovernor\u2019s Palace.\u201d\n\nOn the third were these words only: \u201cThe Eyebrows of Babadag the\nTailor.\u201d\n\nI stared at my daughter in perplexity; but she urged that these could\nbe no other than messages on behalf of our friend Urban, and that we\nmust find him without a moment\u2019s delay. We walked on briskly, intending\nto inquire our way to the governor\u2019s palace.\n\n\n_The Strange Conduct of the People of Oogh_\n\nAs we went on, we became aware of a general and oppressive stillness.\nA few people were in the street, and some could be seen inside the\nshops; but they conversed in low tones, and they seemed to be idle,\nindifferent, and listless. Here and there a shopkeeper sat in a chair\nbefore his shop, gazing blankly at the opposite wall.\n\nOf the first of these shopkeepers I inquired the direction of the\ngovernor\u2019s palace. The man started from his reverie, as if frightened,\nrose from his chair, stared at me curiously, and without a word went\ninto his shop and closed the door. \u201cDid you see?\u201d said my daughter. \u201cHe\nhad no eyebrows.\u201d\n\nAt the next corner we came to an open market of stalls, and there\nI repeated my inquiry. Instead of the usual bustle and clamor of a\nmarket, there was the same silence, though the place was thronged\nwith people. I nudged my daughter in surprise, for among all these\npeople there was not an eyebrow. The venders were making no effort,\napparently, to sell their wares, and the customers were buying with an\nair of indifference, as if the business bored them. I began to feel\ndepressed, and even my daughter was sober.\n\nThe market man of whom I asked my direction looked anxiously about him\nbefore answering, and then whispered hurriedly, \u201cI\u2019ve nothing to do\nwith it. Nothing. How do you come to be wearing eyebrows here?\u201d\n\nWithout answering him, I applied at two or three other stalls, but the\nonly result was a shaking of heads and a curious, wide gaze, as of\nmild alarm. There was nothing to do but to search out unaided the most\npretentious house in the city; for such a house, undoubtedly, would be\nthe governor\u2019s residence.\n\nWe walked the streets for more than an hour; and everywhere was\nthe same silence, the same listlessness, the same apathy. \u201cI don\u2019t\nbelieve,\u201d said my daughter, \u201cthat these people have any wills of their\nown at all.\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly,\u201d said I, \u201cthey have no eyebrows of their own, at least.\nExcept for the boy who ran away from us, I haven\u2019t seen an eyebrow in\nthe city. It seems strange.\u201d\n\n\n_The Mansion in the Ruined Park_\n\nWe ascended a hill, and came to a park gate, at a point from which we\ncould see the entire city below us. Through the gate, across the park,\nwe saw a residence more imposing than any we had yet seen. The gate\nhung wide open on broken hinges, and the park within was in a state of\nruin.\n\n\u201cThis must be it,\u201d said my daughter.\n\n\u201cIt seems unlikely,\u201d said I, \u201cbut we will soon know.\u201d\n\nWe made our way across the park, through tall weeds and tangled\nbrambles, and stood before a splendid but gloomy mansion. The door was\nswinging open, and we entered.\n\nAll was silent within. A sense of calamity seemed to pervade the place;\nplainly it was deserted. We walked on through spacious apartments, and\neverywhere was furniture of the richest description, but covered with\ndust and hung with cobwebs. We stopped finally, far within, before a\ndoor which appeared to lead outside.\n\n\u201cIt is no use,\u201d said I. \u201cOur friend is gone, if he was ever here, and\nwe must seek him elsewhere.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d said my daughter. \u201cWe must find the Cobweb Room.\u201d\n\nShe led the way out into an open court green with moss and weeds,\nin the center of which was a fountain with a dry and littered basin\nbeneath it. I stopped suddenly, and listened. \u201cHark!\u201d said I. From a\ndistance came, or seemed to come, the voices of the three blind ballad\nsingers, shouting out some ribald ballad. My daughter smiled, and I\ncalled out, \u201cUrban!\u201d The singing ceased, and there was no response to\nmy cry. \u201cCome,\u201d said my daughter, and led me around the dry fountain to\nan alley of cypress trees which opened toward a section of the mansion\nbeyond the court.\n\nAn open door at the end of this alley admitted us to a circular\nchamber, very lofty, evidently an audience room, deserted like the\nrest, on one side of which, on a da\u00efs, stood a marble seat with arms,\ncovered with cobwebs.\n\n\u201cAh! Look!\u201d said my daughter, and pointed to an open doorway on the\nopposite side of the room.\n\n\n_The Solitary Figure Behind the Spider\u2019s Web_\n\nThe doorway was barred from top to bottom and from side to side with a\nsingle monstrous spider\u2019s web. We stood before it and looked through.\nSeated beside a table in a little room with a high window barred\nlikewise with a cobweb was the figure of our friend, the governor of\nOogh.\n\nHis head was resting mournfully on his hand, and he was staring\nvacantly at the floor. His hair was long and powdered with dust; his\nbeard had grown to a great length; but he had no eyebrows. His hands\nand clothing were white with dust, and there was around his neck,\nin striking contrast, a gold chain, of very fine gold and delicate\nworkmanship.\n\n\u201cUrban!\u201d I cried. \u201cWe are here!\u201d\n\nHe did not move. I called his name again, but he seemed not to hear.\nHe did not move nor speak. I pushed briskly against the cobweb, but it\nheld like wire; I could not break through, though I dashed against it\nwith all my strength. I tried to cut it with a sharp knife which I wore\nunder my smock, but it was no use; the cobweb held, and the blade was\nbroken.\n\nWe remained for a moment, peering in at our friend, uncertain what to\ndo. Who could have been the author of this witchery? I remembered the\nname which had occurred on one of the ballad singers\u2019 sheets. I gave\na last look at the silent and motionless figure within, and led my\ndaughter back to the court of the dry fountain. There she sat down on\nthe rim of the empty basin, and looked up at the sky as if listening.\nA faint sound, as of singing at a distance, seemed to float down to us.\n\n\u201cJust as I thought,\u201d said my daughter. \u201cIt will be best for me to\nremain here. I think some information will come to me here, if I wait.\nDo you go down into the city, father, and seek what you may find there.\nI will wait here until you return. Don\u2019t be uneasy, father; I shall not\nbe lonesome.\u201d And she laughed, as if at some joke.\n\nI did not understand her purpose, and I refused to leave her; but she\ninsisted, and I gave in at last. She always had her way.\n\nI left her, and set forth alone to obtain such information as I could.\nI was passing out through the ruinous gateway into the street, when I\nheard, or fancied I heard, from the direction of the house, the voices\nof the three blind ballad singers, in one of their songs; but when I\nstopped to listen I could hear them no longer, and I concluded that I\nhad been mistaken.\n\nI reached the market place, and stood for a moment behind an awning,\ndebating whether I might put a question regarding Babadag the Tailor.\nI was still uncertain what to do, when a slight commotion among the\npeople attracted my notice. I looked out from my concealment, and saw,\napproaching from the next corner, the boy whom I had found beside the\nwayside well.\n\n\n_The Prince Watches the People\u2019s Behavior Toward the Boy_\n\nHis face was dark with a sort of settled gloom. He walked slowly, and\nas he came on the people made way for him and stood whispering in\ngroups and glancing at him furtively over their shoulders. He paused\nat one of the stalls and picking up some dates looked at the vender,\ntimidly and appealingly, as if about to speak; but the vender sidled\naway from him toward the nearest group, and the boy put down the fruit,\nsighed, and went on.\n\nHe passed the place of my concealment, and by this time tears were\nbeginning to trickle down his cheeks. But he held his head proudly, and\nlooking neither to right nor to left passed out of sight around the\nnext corner.\n\nI followed him, hoping for some light upon the general mystery. I\nfollowed him across the city, through many streets, wondering why\nit was that a boy so gentle and so beautiful should seem to inspire\neverywhere a kind of mild and listless aversion. At one place a child\nran up to him and tugged at his garments, and the boy\u2019s face lighted\nup with pleasure; but the child\u2019s mother pulled her infant away in a\nhurry, and the boy went on, more sadly than before.\n\nHe came to a street in which, for the space of a single block, the\nshops and houses were evidently deserted; and in the middle of this\nblock, before a shop with broken windows, deserted apparently like the\nrest, the boy stopped, and pushing open the front door, went in.\n\nI came up quickly, and peeping in at the same door saw a vacant room\nwithin, in which remnants of old merchandise were lying about in\ndisorder, and dirt and refuse lay everywhere on the floor. I went in\nquietly and crossed the room to a door at the rear, and opening it on\na crack saw the boy stooping down in a paved yard. I heard the boy\nspeak, without hearing what he said, and saw him descend by some means\ninto the ground and disappear.\n\nI ran to the spot and knelt down beside an iron grating, some three\nfeet square, which I found there in the pavement. I heard from below a\nrumble, succeeded by a clatter, and then there was silence. Laying down\nmy pack on the ground I pulled at the grating, and found that it rose\non hinges, like a trapdoor. I opened it, and saw beneath it a ladder. I\nstepped on the top rung, and went down.\n\n\n_The Man with the Ball in the Underground Alley_\n\nAt the bottom I found myself at one end of a dimly lighted room, very\nlong and very narrow, like an enclosed alley; and near by was the boy,\nand beside him a grown man, both intent on something at the other end\nof the room. The man was swinging in his right hand a large wooden\nball, and as I watched him he cried out, laughing cheerily:\n\n\u201cNever mind, Figli! This time I\u2019ll make a strike! Only forty-seven more\nto make! Now watch!\u201d\n\nHe hurled the ball from him along the floor, and it rolled swiftly to\nthe far end of the room, where it crashed in among ten large wooden\nbottles, standing upright on the floor. He was playing tenpins.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d cried the boy called Figli. \u201cOnly seven!\u201d\n\n\u201cNever mind, never mind,\u201d said the Bowler, cheerfully, and ran up the\nalley and set up the pins, and then ran back with the ball, in great\nhaste. As he came back, he appeared to look directly at me, but gave no\nsign of having seen me. I scanned his face closely. He was blind. His\nhair and beard were black, and he had no eyebrows.\n\nThe boy flung out his hands as if in despair, and cried:\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no use! You can\u2019t do it! Forty-seven strikes to make by midnight!\nOh, he\u2019ll give you to Goolk the Spider! What shall I do? What shall I\ndo?\u201d\n\n\u201cPerhaps I can help you,\u201d said I, coming forward.\n\nThe boy sprang up, and the Blind Bowler wheeled round toward me.\n\n\u201cOh! it\u2019s you,\u201d said the boy named Figli. \u201cWhat can a peddler do\nagainst the Eyebrow?\u201d\n\n\u201cWho is it?\u201d said the Blind Bowler.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a stranger with eyebrows,\u201d said Figli, \u201cwho was kind to me\nto-day.\u201d\n\nThe Blind Bowler sent a ball spinning up the alley, and all the ten\npins fell down with a clatter.\n\n\u201cA strike!\u201d cried Figli, joyfully.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll do it yet!\u201d said the Bowler. \u201cOnly forty-six more! Never give\nup! Keep everlastingly at it, that\u2019s my motto!\u201d And he ran after the\nball, set up the pins, and ran back, ready to throw again.\n\n\u201cIf he has eyebrows,\u201d said he, panting and wiping his forehead, \u201che\nmust have a will of his own; and it must be a good will, or else he\nwouldn\u2019t have been kind to you.\u201d\n\nHe rolled the ball again, knocking down only six.\n\n\u201cBetter luck next time!\u201d he cried, and darted up the alley. \u201cNever say\ndie, and keep everlastingly at it, that\u2019s the motto!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy boy,\u201d said I, \u201cI beg you to trust me, and to tell me who you are,\nand why--\u201d\n\n\u201cA strike!\u201d cried the Blind Bowler. \u201cOnly forty-five to make by\nmidnight! Trust him, Figli! His voice is honest. I think he is the one\nwe have been waiting for. Trust him!\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to tell you,\u201d said the boy, \u201cit\u2019s too--\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll tell you!\u201d cried the Blind Bowler, running down the alley. \u201cHis\nname is Figli Babadag. Does that tell you everything?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, nothing,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cEight down that time!\u201d cried the Bowler. \u201cNever say die! He\u2019s the son\nof Babadag the Tailor. Now do you know?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cThen I must tell you,\u201d said the Blind Bowler. \u201cIt is Babadag who rules\nthe city; don\u2019t you know that? Master of black secrets is Babadag, and\nlord of the Eyebrow; and his anger is terrible. He has put the golden\nchain about the Governor\u2019s neck and shut him up in the Cobweb Room.\nHe has drawn the wills from out of the brains of all our people, by\nplucking out their eyebrows, so that in all the city there are but two\nwills only, one bad and one good: the will of Babadag and the will of\nhis little son. Nine down that time! Never give up!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d cried Figli. \u201cI want my father to be good! I want him to be poor\nand good like the others! If I could only make him good!\u201d\n\n\u201cOnly one way to do that!\u201d said the Blind Bowler, halfway down the\nalley. \u201cHe is lord of the Eyebrow, and in the Eyebrow lies his power.\nBut the hairs of his eyebrows are no ordinary hairs; they are of the\nfamily of gray snakes that live in the lake Siskratoum, and there is no\none to cut them, even if there were a blade sharp enough; and they must\nbe cut by the hand of love, and there is no one here that loves him,\nbut his son. There is not one but trembles at his name, and even at the\nname of Figli his son;--there is scarcely one who dares brush against\nthe boy in the street, for fear of what power may lie in the eyebrows\nof the boy, and for fear of his father\u2019s malice.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey won\u2019t speak to me!\u201d cried Figli. \u201cThey\u2019re afraid of me! And I\u2019ve\ndone them no harm! I only want to be friends with them!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou see he\u2019s all alone. He hates his riches; he wants to be poor and\nsimple, like the others.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what about yourself?\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d cried the Blind Bowler. \u201cOnly six down that time! Not so easy,\nwhen you\u2019ve no eyes to see with! But keep everlastingly at it, that\u2019s\nthe word! What did you say?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat about yourself?\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cOh, me! I helped the governor fight this Babadag, and we lost; and\nfor that the powerful one put out my eyes, and the eyes of my three\nbrothers as well, for nothing but because they were my brothers; three\nballad singers--\u201d\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d said I. \u201cI have seen them.\u201d\n\n\u201cRidiculous fellows, but no harm in them! And because it was my\npleasure in former times to play at bowling, old Babadag placed me\nhere, under my shop, to bowl a thousand strikes, if I could, by\nmidnight of this very day; and if not, to take my place in the web with\nGoolk the Spider. Those ballad singers, my brothers, they would like\nto help me if they could, and perhaps they will yet, who knows? Aha!\nAnother strike! I\u2019ll do it yet!\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no use,\u201d said Figli. \u201cThe time\u2019s too short. And I can\u2019t save him.\nOh, if you could help us, peddler! But you mustn\u2019t do my father any\nharm!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy boy,\u201d said I, \u201cI am a friend of the enchanted governor, and I will\ndo my best to help you. And perhaps the three blind ballad singers mean\nto help too. I think they do. Will you take me to your father?\u201d\n\nThe boy started in alarm. \u201cYou are very brave, peddler,\u201d said he. \u201cWhat\ndo you say?\u201d he asked of the Blind Bowler.\n\n\u201cI say yes!\u201d cried the Bowler. \u201cThere is hope in this stranger. I think\nhe\u2019s the one we\u2019ve been waiting for. My brothers have been on the\nlookout for him. They\u2019ll help too. Trust him!\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you know any stories?\u201d said the boy.\n\nI smiled. \u201cA few, I dare say,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cMy father is a lover of tales. It\u2019s his one weakness. It will be safer\nfor you if you can amuse him with tales, and the longer they are the\nbetter.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe wine, if he offers you any,\u201d said the Blind Bowler, \u201cwill be\ndrugged; that much is sure. Take care. And do not let yourself be\ntouched by Goolk the Spider.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome,\u201d said I. \u201cThere is not a moment to be lost.\u201d\n\n\n_The Prince Sets Out for His Encounter with Babadag the Tailor_\n\nI hastened to the ladder, followed by the boy, and we began to go up.\nThe tenpins fell down with a clatter, and as I reached the grating\noverhead I heard the voice of the Blind Bowler from below, crying out\ncheerily, \u201cFour down! Never mind! Keep everlastingly at it!\u201d\n\nIn the paved yard I slung my pack on my back again, and followed the\nboy into the street. It was beginning to grow dark, and I thought\nanxiously of my daughter; but I could not go back to her yet. During\nour walk the boy spoke only once, and then he said:\n\n\u201cYou must not do my father any harm. I love my father. I want him to be\ngood, like the others, but I should die--I should die!--if he came to\nany harm.\u201d\n\nI did not reply, but followed for half an hour through streets which\nwere now almost empty of people. We entered at last a street narrower\nthan the others, paved with cobblestones and without a sidewalk,\nand stopped before a shop over whose door, by way of a sign, hung a\nyardstick and a pair of shears. It seemed a mean enough abode for the\nruler of the city, but Figli, without hesitating, opened the door and\nwent in. The room inside was dark, but I could see a tailor\u2019s bench and\nimplements, and a disorderly array of half-finished garments, covered\nwith dust. The boy opened a door at the rear, and I followed him along\na dark passage to another door, which Figli threw open to a flood of\nlight.\n\n\n_Babadag the Tailor, Goolk the Spider, and the Eight Tailors_\n\nWe were standing in a magnificent apartment, paved with colored marble,\nhung and spread with soft rugs, and lit with hundreds of tapers. At\nthe left, near the wall, was sitting an old man, and behind his chair,\nfrom ceiling to floor, was a gigantic spider\u2019s web, which glistened\nlike silver in the candlelight. In the center of this web was a great\ngreen spider, with five or six small black spiders about him. Against\nthe opposite wall, on a tailor\u2019s bench, eight men, totally without\neyebrows, were sitting cross-legged, each bending over a bowl held on\nhis knees, filled with what looked like shreds of hair, and engaged in\nsome kind of work with tiny knitting needles.\n\nThe old man\u2019s gross and heavy body was clothed in a gorgeous robe of\npale yellow silk, like that which the boy had thrown in the mud, but\nembroidered with spider\u2019s webs of spun gold, and studded with rubies\nand amethysts. His face, a rather jovial face, was covered with gray\nhair, which hung over his breast, and his eyes shone like sparks behind\na pair of the shaggiest eyebrows I had ever seen. He gazed at me\ncalmly, and held out a hand to his son.\n\nThe boy went to him, and Babadag the Tailor put an arm about him and\nsaid, with very obvious tenderness:\n\n\u201cMy boy, you are late. And your robe and hat! Where are they?\u201d\n\nThe boy threw himself on his knees beside his father, and cried,\n\u201cOh, father! I couldn\u2019t wear them any longer. I couldn\u2019t! They\u2019re\nhateful! I don\u2019t want to be dressed in silk! I want to be poor like the\nothers! I can\u2019t wear them any longer, I can\u2019t, I can\u2019t!\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201cYou are welcome, master peddler,\u201d said Babadag]\n\nThe old man smiled kindly. \u201cNever mind, my son, never mind. I\u2019ll not\nscold you. We\u2019ll think no more about it. Who is the visitor you have\nbrought with you?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a peddler,\u201d said Figli, standing up. \u201cI don\u2019t know his name; a\npeddler I met by chance, and I\u2019d like you to buy me something from his\npack.\u201d\n\nI stepped forward, made my bow, and dropped my pack to the floor.\n\n\u201cYou are welcome, master peddler,\u201d said Babadag.\n\nThe green spider gave a sharp twitch, which set the whole web quivering.\n\n\u201cQuiet, Goolk!\u201d said Babadag.\n\nThe eight men on the tailor\u2019s bench stopped their work, and said:\n\u201cWelcome, master peddler!\u201d\n\n\u201cKnit your brows!\u201d said Babadag, angrily, and the eight men hurriedly\nresumed their knitting.\n\nI opened my pack and began to take out some toys.\n\n\u201cPresently, presently, peddler,\u201d said Babadag, stopping me. \u201cYour face\nis dark, stranger. A little more, and it would have been black.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, very dark,\u201d said the eight men, stopping their work again.\n\n\u201cKnit your brows!\u201d thundered Babadag. \u201cAccursed dogs, be silent!--A\ndark stranger, who wears eyebrows in the city of Oogh! A thing of\ninterest! I would gladly know who you are and what brings you here.\u201d\n\nI was prepared with my story, and I answered promptly.\n\n\u201cMagnificence,\u201d said I, \u201cI am a peddler, and my name is Nobbud\nBald-er-Dash. If the ear of graciousness will incline to me, I will\ntell an amusing tale concerning myself, and at some length.\u201d\n\n\u201cA tale!\u201d cried Babadag. \u201cYou must know, honest Bald-er-Dash, that I am\na lover of tales. A weakness! I confess it. Come! We will make a night\nof it. Goolk,\u201d said he, rising, \u201ccome hither!\u201d\n\nThe green spider sped down the web to the floor, and ran up the old\nman\u2019s yellow silk robe, and came to a stop on his breast, beside his\nbeard.\n\n\u201cIt is the hour of the evening repast,\u201d continued Babadag, stroking the\nspider with his finger, \u201cand I invite you to sit down with me. A guest\nwho has a tale to tell! It is good fortune, no less! Come, Figli, my\nson, we will listen to the excellent Bald-er-Dash while we dine.\u201d\n\n\n_The Prince Dines with Babadag the Tailor_\n\nHe pulled aside a curtain in the wall, and leaving the eight men at\ntheir work, we passed, all three, into an open court, hung about with\nlanterns of colored glass, and odorous with flowers. Under an awning\nwas a small table, set for two. It was now dark, and the lanterns shed\na soft glow on the silver and glass of the table. Servants appeared and\nlaid a place for myself, and the meal commenced.\n\n\u201cYou are wondering, Bald-er-Dash,\u201d said Babadag, \u201cwho the eight men\nare whom we have just left. They are tailors, known among us as the\nKnitters of Eyebrows. They are knitting for me, out of the eyebrows\nwhich my good people have been so kind as to give me, a garment known\nas the Cloak of Wills, which will, when finished, complete the mastery\nof the fortunate person who wears it. Try a little of this wine, my\ngood Bald-er-Dash; you will find it excellent.\u201d\n\nI pretended to drink the wine, but I was able, while Babadag\u2019s\nattention was fixed on his plate, to spill a good deal of it on the\nfloor.\n\n\u201cI am anxious to hear your story,\u201d said the old man. \u201cThe singers who\nsometimes entertain me at my meals are late to-day, and we will not\nwait for them. Bald-er-Dash, my good fellow, let me hear your tale.\u201d\n\nAt this moment voices were heard from the shadows, and three men came\nrunning toward the table, crying out boisterously.\n\n\u201cGood news!\u201d they were shouting. \u201cWe\u2019re going to marry! She\u2019s promised!\nShe\u2019ll marry the one you choose, tra la! She\u2019ll marry the one you\nchoose!\u201d\n\n\n_The Three Blind Ballad Singers Once More_\n\nThey began to sing, at the top of their voices. I started in surprise.\nIt was the three blind ballad singers. \u201cO-o-oh!\u201d they sang:\n\n  \u201cShe wanted to marry us all, she said,\n    But that wouldn\u2019t do, no never,\n      No never, no never, no, no!\n        From suitors a dozen,\n        Not counting a cousin\n      And two or three uncles or so,\n  She\u2019d freely and frankly, firmly and fairly,\n        Flatly and finally fled!\n    For never a one could sing, not one,\n    Not a line, not a note, not a thing, not one,\n  And she, she said, if she must be wed,\n    A singer she\u2019d have, or she\u2019d have none,\n  For really she\u2019d almost rather be dead\n  If she couldn\u2019t be uninterruptedly fed\n        On an endless tonic\n        Of scales harmonic\n      In every possible key,\n        An infinite series, never finished,\n      Of chords with all the sevenths diminished,\n      And all the intervals less than minor,--\n      Surely nothing could be diviner,\n    Nothing! nothing at all, said she:\n      And after breakfast a quaver hemi,\n      And after dinner a quaver demi,\n      And after supper a quaver semi,\n    And in between, for ever and ever,\n      Every possible kind of shake!\n    The fact of the matter is, you see,\n        She\u2019d made up her mind, beyond mistake,\n    To offer her hand to one of we!\n          But which should it be?\n          Which one of the three?\n  And what of the two who would have to go?\n    What about them? she said; that\u2019s it!\n    She didn\u2019t approve the idea a bit.\n  Those other two she could never forget,--\n  Just think of them out in the cold and wet!\n  Just think of their terrible, terrible woe!\n  She wanted to marry, and yet, and yet,\n    She\u2019d never be happy, no never,\n      No never, no never, no, no!\u201d\n\n\u201cSilence, fools,\u201d said Babadag, laughing. \u201cWe are about to listen to\na tale,--a tale from Bald-er-Dash the peddler. Will you proceed now,\nexcellent peddler?\u201d\n\n\u201cWillingly,\u201d said I.\n\nAt the sound of my voice, the three blind men cried out \u201cAha!\u201d and\nbroke into a fresh song:\n\n  \u201cThe peddler and the peddler\u2019s maid, oh fair as milk was she,\n  And she promised on her honor she would marry one of three,--\u201d\n\n\u201cSilence, rascals!\u201d said Babadag.\n\nI was becoming, all this while, more and more restless, for I had no\ndoubt that all this talk of marriage had reference to my own daughter.\nI wondered bitterly what mischief she had been up to during my absence.\n\n\u201cThese rascals,\u201d said Babadag, still laughing, \u201csometimes I am minded\nto put them to death. I don\u2019t know really why I let them live. Now\nthen, excellent one, let us hear the tale.\u201d\n\nI bowed, and while the repast proceeded, and the three ballad singers\nremained standing behind our chairs, I related to Babadag, as follows,\n\n\nTHE STORY OF NOBBUD BALD-ER-DASH THE PEDDLER\n\n\u201cIn the course of my wanderings,\u201d I began, \u201cI arrived one day at a\nspring in the wilderness, beside which were encamped a company of--\u201d\n\n_\u201cI think,\u201d said Solario, interrupting himself, \u201cthat I cannot\nconscientiously repeat this story, because--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cOh, please!\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cWe\u2019d like to hear it.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNo,\u201d said. Solario, \u201cI couldn\u2019t, conscientiously, because there is\nnot a word of truth in the story, and I do not wish to tell anything\nwhich is not strictly true.\u201d_\n\nDuring my tale (said the Prince) I pretended now and then to take a\nsip of wine, and to grow drowsy, so that toward the end I seemed to\nhave difficulty in keeping awake. When I had concluded, Babadag laughed\nand said, \u201cI thank you, peddler. Never in my life have I heard such a\ntissue of--er--amusing facts. Some more wine, peddler.\u201d\n\nI pretended to sip the wine again, and let my head fall forward on my\nbreast, and roused myself as if with a great effort.\n\n\u201cI am something,\u201d said Babadag, appearing to take no notice of my\ndrowsiness, \u201cof a teller of tales myself. I will tell you in return a\nstory, and when I have finished you shall tell me another, if you know\nany, as you undoubtedly do.\u201d\n\nThereupon he commenced a long and detailed story; and I could see that\nas he proceeded he was watching me from the corner of his eye. He had\nnot spun out his tale very far when my eyes closed and my head nodded;\nand after an apparent effort to arouse myself I let my head fall\nforward on the table and lie there motionless.\n\nBabadag instantly stopped, raised my head gently, and laying it back\nagainst my chair shook me roughly, but with no effect.\n\n\u201cSend in the accursed dogs,\u201d said he in a fierce whisper.\n\nI was aware, in a moment, that the eight tailors were standing around\nme.\n\n\u201cThe eyebrows!\u201d said Babadag, and the tailors bent over me and began to\npluck at my eyebrows with instruments of some sort.\n\n\u201cOh, father, father,\u201d said Figli, \u201cplease don\u2019t!\u201d\n\n\u201cBe still, my son,\u201d said Babadag.\n\n\n_The Magic Doublet Protects the Prince Against the Knitters of Eyebrows\nand Against Goolk the Spider_\n\nI laughed inwardly, for I was sure that, under the protection of my\ndoublet, my eyebrows would reappear as fast as they could be plucked\nout. And indeed, from the snort of rage given by Babadag, I soon knew\nthat my eyebrows were safe. I could hear the eight tailors whispering\ntogether, as if in dismay.\n\n\u201cGoolk!\u201d said Babadag, in the same angry whisper, \u201csting me this false\npeddler!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no, father,\u201d said Figli. \u201cNot that, oh, please!\u201d\n\nI shivered a little, for I confess that the thought of the spider was\nhorrifying to me. I waited anxiously, not daring to open my eyelids\neven a trifle. I assure you it was all I could do to remain still.\nThere was silence, and in the midst of it I felt a tickling on my left\ncheek, and then a kind of pin-prick there, and I knew that the spider\nhad stung me.\n\n\u201cBack, Goolk!\u201d said Babadag. \u201cNow, false peddler that you are, be\nno longer either a prince or a peddler, but a spider,--a black\nspider!--and take your place with Goolk in the web! Change!\u201d\n\nI felt no change, and I heard another snort of rage from Babadag. \u201cSome\ncharm!\u201d he muttered. \u201cSome charm protects him! Let us see what charm\nthis lying stranger carries upon him.\u201d\n\nI felt that my smock was being lifted from my breast, and I heard a\nkind of gasp from Babadag. \u201cThe doublet!\u201d he said. \u201cIt is plain! Off\nwith the doublet!\u201d And immediately fingers were at my breast, trying to\nunbutton the doublet.\n\nBut they could not unbutton it. Not a button would come through its\nhole.\n\n\u201cFetch me a pair of shears, rascals,\u201d said Babadag, and in a moment I\nknew that shears were snapping away at my doublet. But it was no use;\nthe blade would not cut, neither the thread of the buttons nor the\ncloth; they held like iron at every point. I heard the shears drop to\nthe floor.\n\n\u201cThe Shears of Sharpness! Bring me the Shears of Sharpness!\u201d said\nBabadag. \u201cNothing else will cut this doublet.\u201d\n\nI heard a chuckle, and the voice of one of the ballad singers said,\n\u201cThe Shears of Sharpness, brothers!\u201d And there was another chuckle.\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d said Babadag. \u201cYou laugh, rascals? You dare to laugh?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Shears of Sharpness!\u201d said the voice of one of the ballad singers.\n\u201cWhere are the Shears of Sharpness, brothers?\u201d And at this there was a\nvery considerable tittering.\n\n\u201cAsk the fair lady, brother,\u201d said the voice of another of the ballad\nsingers.\n\n\u201cShe knows! The wonderful lady!\u201d said the voice of the third.\n\n\u201cIneffable scoundrels!\u201d said Babadag. \u201cHave you stolen my Shears?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no! Only borrowed them! What harm in that?\u201d said the ballad\nsingers.\n\n\u201cReturn them to me at once!\u201d said Babadag.\n\nI could hear the ballad singers chuckling together again. \u201cWe would, we\nwould,\u201d said one of them, \u201cwe meant to, but--\u201d\n\n\u201cBut what, beast?\u201d\n\n\u201cShe has them,\u201d said one of the three.\n\n\u201cThe most wonderful of women,\u201d said another.\n\n\u201cShe who swore she would marry one of us,\u201d said the third.\n\n\n_The Prince\u2019s Daughter Has Beguiled the Shears of Sharpness from the\nBallad Singers_\n\nMy daughter! My own daughter! She had beguiled the Shears from these\nfoolish vagabonds! Or had they let her have the Shears for some purpose\nof their own--to help their brother, say? I was quite bewildered.\n\n\u201cOh, that I should let such scoundrels live!\u201d said Babadag, fiercely.\n\u201cWhere is this woman?\u201d\n\n\u201cBut she wouldn\u2019t marry us unless we gave her the Shears,\u201d said one of\nthe ballad singers. \u201cNo harm in that!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo harm in that, surely!\u201d said the other two.\n\n\u201cWhere is this woman?\u201d said Babadag again.\n\n\u201cWe left her,\u201d said one of the others, \u201cby the dry fountain at the\ngovernor\u2019s palace.\u201d\n\n\u201cAccursed,\u201d said Babadag, evidently addressing the eight tailors, \u201cpick\nup this peddler and follow me. We must find the Shears. You, imbeciles\nthat you are, I will deal with you afterward. Goolk, back to your web!\u201d\n\nI could not see what became of Goolk, but I knew that the eight tailors\nwere lifting me from my chair, and I felt myself being borne away.\n\n\u201cOh, father!\u201d cried Figli. \u201cYou mustn\u2019t! Please let the poor man go, oh\nplease!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy son,\u201d said Babadag, in the voice of tenderness with which he always\naddressed his son, \u201che is my enemy. I must have him in my power.\nAccursed doublet!\u201d\n\n\n_A Light Flickers in the Dark Shop_\n\nIn a moment I was aware that we were in the street, and I opened my\neyelids a trifle. The moon was shining. I saw Babadag starting on\nbefore, with the three ballad singers at his back. Behind, the eight\ntailors were holding me in a sitting posture between them. I could\nsee the shop door, without moving my head, and as we started I beheld\nFigli, coming from the door, in the act of stowing away something, I\ncould not see what, in the bosom of his shirt. The shop was dark, but\nas Figli closed the door behind him I noticed, flickering from within,\na tiny flame of light which had not been there before. I remarked that\nthe boy\u2019s face was very pale in the moonlight.\n\nWe came, after a long journey through deserted streets, to the little\nhill which led up to the governor\u2019s palace. We entered the ruined park,\nand crossed it to the mansion. Babadag opened the door, and the company\npaused inside, listening. All was silent. I had an impulse to shout,\nin order to warn my daughter; but I knew that that would be fatal, and\nI continued to lie inert and speechless in the arms of the tailors. I\nrisked opening my eyes from time to time, and I saw that Babadag was\nleading the way from room to room, all dark except for moonlight here\nand there upon the floors, and that he came at last, followed by all\nthe others, into the court of the dry fountain; and there the eight\ntailors laid me down on the ground. My heart almost stopped beating,\nfor fear that my daughter should be there.\n\n\u201cVile rascals,\u201d said Babadag, \u201cyou have deceived me! There is no woman\nhere.\u201d\n\n\u201cAstonishing!\u201d said one of the ballad singers. \u201cNot here! Who would\nhave thought it?\u201d\n\n\u201cI doubt that she was ever here,\u201d said Babadag. \u201cWait!\u201d\n\nI saw him go off down the alley of cypress trees toward the Cobweb\nRoom, no doubt to assure himself that his prisoner was safe, or else\nto seek the woman there. As soon as he was gone, I felt a hand on my\narm, and the voice of Figli whispered in my ear, \u201cAre you awake?\u201d and I\npressed his hand in answer.\n\n\n_The Prince\u2019s Daughter Is Gone, and the Prince Makes a Dash for Liberty_\n\nThe eight tailors were sitting on the rim of the fountain\u2019s basin,\nmopping their foreheads and panting, and the blind men were standing\nnear them. I measured with my eye the distance to the door from which\nI had come, and gave a sudden spring toward it which carried me nearly\nthere; and I was off and away, before the eight tailors realized what\nhad happened.\n\nI scoured swiftly and silently through the dark rooms in all\ndirections, listening now and then for sounds of pursuit. But I heard\nnothing, and I began to whisper my daughter\u2019s name from time to time.\nIn a room far distant from the court, to which I presently came, I\nfound the door at the opposite side closed, which in that house of open\ndoors struck me as being odd. A broad band of moonlight lay across the\nfloor, and in the dim light I could see the furnishings of a kitchen.\nI approached the opposite door and opened it cautiously, thinking to\ngo through; but I looked into a cupboard, hung with pots and pans, and\nthere on the floor of the cupboard was sitting my daughter, calmly\neating a fig.\n\nShe looked up at me with a merry laugh, and sprang to her feet.\n\n\u201cThere are very good fig trees in the park,\u201d said she. \u201cWill you have\none of these? No? You\u2019ve been gone a long time. I heard some people\ngoing through the house, and I thought I had better wait in here. I\u2019m\ngoing to be married!\u201d\n\n\u201cCome,\u201d said I, \u201cwe\u2019ve no time for jesting.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s the best joke!\u201d said my daughter. \u201cWhen I think how I\nplayed on those half-wits! I\u2019ve never had such sport in my life! I\npromised to marry one of them, if they\u2019d choose which--do you remember\nthe three ballad singers?\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201cBeauty in tatters!\u201d said Babadag the Tailor]\n\n\u201cAnd you have the Shears of Sharpness,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cHow do you know that?\u201d said she. \u201cThey\u2019re simply mad! And I wouldn\u2019t\npromise them anything unless they gave me the Shears. And they did!\nAnd I promised! And now you\u2019ve got to get me out of it. Here are the\nShears. Take them.\u201d\n\n\u201cI suspect, my dear,\u201d said I, taking the Shears from her, \u201cthat these\nthree imbeciles meant that you should have the Shears all the time, and\nthey\u2019ve been making a bit of a fool of you. But there\u2019s no time for\ntalking. Hurry!\u201d\n\nI stepped quickly toward the door, and as I reached it it was blocked\nby a huge dark figure. It was Babadag.\n\n\u201cNot so fast, peddler,\u201d said he; and then he saw my daughter, who was\nstanding in the band of moonlight, most fairylike and beautiful. He\nbrushed past me and stopped before her, gazing at her in astonishment\nand admiration.\n\n\u201cBeauty in tatters!\u201d he said. \u201cNo wonder that even blind men are\nconquered. You make me forget the Shears. Surely there is no woman in\nOogh so beautiful. Will you look on me kindly? I am powerful, and I\noffer you a share of my power. It is Babadag who speaks.\u201d\n\nHe held out his hand to her, and she shrank away in horror. \u201cNo, no!\u201d\nshe screamed. \u201cFather!\u201d\n\nBabadag turned swiftly, and at that moment I sprang upon him; but the\nold man snatched forth a knife, and as I caught and held the arm which\nwas lifted to strike, a small dark figure darted in from the doorway\nand flung something over the old man\u2019s neck from behind.\n\n\n_Babadag the Tailor Is Conquered by His Little Son_\n\nThe knife dropped from Babadag\u2019s hand. He swayed, tottered, collapsed,\nand fell full length on the floor, and lay motionless on his back in\nthe strip of moonlight. The little dark figure knelt beside him. It was\nFigli.\n\n\u201cOh, father! Oh, father!\u201d he cried. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, sorry! I had to do it!\nI couldn\u2019t let you kill him! It can\u2019t go on any longer! The eyebrows\nmust be cut, father! It\u2019s only to make you like the others! We\u2019ll both\nbe happier, oh, indeed we will! It\u2019s only because I love you, father!\u201d\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t think you would have done this, Figli, my son,\u201d said the old\nman, gently. \u201cYou have put me in the power of my enemy. Ah, Figli, my\nson, my son!\u201d\n\n\u201cI know it, I know it,\u201d sobbed the boy, \u201cbut the lady will give the\nShears to me, and I will cut the eyebrows myself, with my own hand. The\npeddler will do you no harm. You\u2019ll be glad, father, afterward, indeed\nyou will.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, my son, my son! I wouldn\u2019t have thought it of you,\u201d said the old\nman, still gently.\n\nI knelt beside him, and found around his neck a noose of the slenderest\nthread, extremely tough; and the end of this thread the boy was holding\nin his hand. I took it from him and looked at him inquiringly.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the boy, \u201cit was spun by Goolk the Spider, and there is no\nwill can stand against it, not even my father\u2019s. It\u2019s the thing that\nmade him first able to pluck out the eyebrows of the people. I stole it\nas we left the shop to-night. You won\u2019t do him any harm, will you?\u201d\n\nI stood up, keeping the end of the thread in my hand. A patter of\nrunning feet sounded from the next room, and the eight tailors crowded\nin at the doorway. They rushed to their master, and wailed and wrung\ntheir hands. One of them drew a pair of shears, and began to snip\naway at the thread, but it was plain that no ordinary blade would cut\nit, and the tailor gave it up, and the other seven wailed louder than\nbefore.\n\n\u201cLift up this knave,\u201d I said, \u201cand follow me.\u201d\n\nThe eight tailors obeyed instantly, and our party started back to the\ncourt of the dry fountain. I walked beside the body of Babadag, keeping\nclose hold of the thread. When we reached the court, the three ballad\nsingers were sitting calmly on the rim of the basin, singing softly to\nthemselves. My daughter, ever incorrigible, greeted them with an amused\nlaugh, and they crowded around her, each trying to elbow the others out\nof the way. At my command, the eight tailors laid Babadag down on his\nback in the dry basin. I then gave the end of the thread into the hand\nof my daughter, and left them.\n\nI ran down the cypress alley to the deserted audience chamber. I looked\nthrough the cobweb at Urban, and by the dim light of the high window\nsaw him sitting there motionless as stone, in the same attitude as\nbefore.\n\n\u201cI am here!\u201d I cried, but he neither moved nor spoke. I applied the\nShears, and in a moment the cobweb was hanging in shreds, and I was\nstanding beside my friend. I tried to pull him up, but I could not\nbudge him. I lifted the golden chain from around his neck, and dropped\nit to the floor. Immediately he raised his head, stretched his arms,\nlooked up at me as if awaking from a dream, and sprang to his feet.\n\n\u201cPrince!\u201d he cried, and threw his arms about me in a transport of joy.\n\nI calmed him, and when he had recovered himself he said, \u201cWhat of\nBabadag?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is in the court at this moment,\u201d said I, \u201cbound fast.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood news indeed!\u201d he cried. \u201cLet us go!\u201d\n\n\n_The Governor, Being Released, Beholds the Prince\u2019s Daughter_\n\nWe sped back to the court, and when Urban beheld my daughter he\nscattered the blind men right and left and clasped her hand in his. I\ntook from her the end of the thread and knelt in the basin beside the\nhuge body of Babadag, and gazed down into his eyes, glittering up at me\nin the moonlight through their tangle of hair. I drew the Shears.\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d cried the boy. \u201cYou must not! Give me the Shears! I must do\nit, for you do not love him, and I do! Only the hand of love! Give me\nthe Shears!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo time for talking!\u201d I cried. \u201cThis is no child\u2019s play. Work for\na man! And I trust no one but myself! Now for the shearing of the\nEyebrow!\u201d\n\nThe boy shrieked, as if in despair, and with a mighty snap of the\nShears I cut in among the hairs of Babadag\u2019s left eyebrow.\n\n\n_The Shearing of the Eyebrow_\n\nA spout of yellow smoke shot upward from his eyebrow, and whirled and\nspread outward in a cloud, thick, sickening, blinding, pierced with\nwriggling pencils of light, as if tiny snakes had been set riotously\nfree. It covered us both, so that he was suddenly hidden from my sight.\nI gasped and choked. My eyes smarted with pain. I snapped blindly away\nat him through the smoke with my Shears, resolved not to be foiled.\nThere was a sharp crack, as of the snapping of a whip; the Shears had\ncut,--alas, alas!--not the Eyebrow, but the thread around Babadag\u2019s\nneck! Instantly the Shears were wrenched from my hand, I did not know\nhow; and I felt them ripping through my smock, and I knew that some\ninjury had been done to my doublet. A terrible voice bellowed, \u201cHither,\naccursed dogs, and bind me this peddler!\u201d And the next moment I was\nlying on my back, with the thread fastened securely about my neck; and\nmy strength was suddenly gone, and the smoke began to clear away.\n\nI saw the old man put his arm tenderly about his son, and heard him\nsay, \u201cIt\u2019s all right now, my boy. I am not angry. You have put your\nfather in great danger, but not from malice; I know it well. Don\u2019t be\ngrieved; we\u2019ll laugh about it together, hereafter. All\u2019s well again.\nCome, Figli, my son. Rascals, follow me!\u201d\n\nHe stalked away with his son down the cypress alley, and the eight\ntailors lifted me and bore me after, followed by my daughter and my\nfriend. I looked for the three blind ballad singers, but they were\ngone. I was in terrible danger, and I bitterly regretted my haste in\nrefusing the Shears to the boy.\n\n\n_The Prince before the Seat of Judgment_\n\nIn the circular audience chamber they laid me down upon the floor.\nBabadag, grotesque and somber in the darkness, seated himself in the\nmarble armchair on the da\u00efs; and at the same time I heard, or fancied\nI heard, the voices of the ballad singers, afar off somewhere in the\npalace, singing away at one of their songs.\n\n\u201cPluck out the hairs!\u201d said Babadag.\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d said Figli, lying on the step of the da\u00efs at his father\u2019s\nfeet.\n\n\u201cQuick, scoundrels!\u201d said Babadag; and the eight tailors, kneeling\naround me, plucked out with tiny instruments all the hairs of my\neyebrows, by the roots. Then, at a sign from their master, they stood\nme on my feet and removed the spider\u2019s thread from around my neck. My\nstrength returned, and I found myself able to stand alone.\n\n\u201cGone is your power, maker of fables!\u201d said Babadag. \u201cThe doublet is\nworthless. See!\u201d And he held up what appeared to be the thread of a\nbutton. My smock was in strips, and the doublet was exposed to view.\nOne button was missing. What had become of it? Babadag exhibited only\nthe thread.\n\n\u201cDog of a peddler,\u201d said he, \u201cit is your due that I give you to Goolk\nthe Spider for his web.\u201d\n\n\u201cSpare him! Spare him!\u201d said Figli, in a kind of moan, rocking himself\nback and forth on the step of the da\u00efs.\n\n\u201cBut Babadag is merciful,\u201d went on the old man, \u201cand loves a tale;\nand never have I heard so amusing a tissue of lies as that tale of\nBald-er-Dash the Peddler. For that, and for the pleasure I shall have\nin repeating that tale hereafter, I spare you. You are harmless. Go!\nand as you have chosen to darken your skin with juices, let it be\ndarker still. Go! and be you henceforth as black as night. I will lead\nyou to the palace gate, and speed you, with your daughter and your\nfriend, on your journey away from Oogh. Return no more, peddler, for\nthe web awaits you, and Goolk the Spider longs for a brother.\u201d\n\nHe stepped down from his seat, and we others followed him in silence.\nI was conscious of no will to resist him further. We came to the court\nof the dry fountain, and there my daughter looked into my face in the\nmoonlight. She screamed.\n\nWe followed mournfully through the dark rooms, and came out on the\nsteps before the palace; and there we saw a sight both terrible and\nbeautiful.\n\n\n_The Doom of the City of Oogh_\n\nThe city was in flames. From every roof, as far as we could see, rose\nsheets of fire, and sparks showered upward into a pall of black smoke;\nand as we watched, new tongues of flame blazed up from quarters dark\nbefore. The city was doomed.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Babadag with a groan. \u201cMy city, my city!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat have I done? What have I done?\u201d cried Figli, wringing his hands\nin anguish.\n\n\u201cYou, my son? What have you to do with this?\u201d said his father, never\ntaking his eyes from the burning city.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s my work!\u201d cried the boy. \u201cBut I never dreamed of this! I set fire\nto the shop, our shop, before I left,--to burn up all the black secrets\nin my father\u2019s house, and to kill Goolk the Spider, to kill him, kill\nhim, so that he would never get the Blind Bowler, nor any one else! So\nthat all the old riches and wickedness might be burned up forever! And\nnow, and now, I haven\u2019t destroyed the Eyebrow, and I\u2019ve burned up the\ncity! Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy son, my son,\u201d said Babadag, quietly, never taking his eyes from the\nburning city.\n\nI recalled now the spark of fire I had seen through the window as we\nhad left the tailor\u2019s shop that night.\n\nThe flames of the furnace below us shot higher and higher, and spread\nwider and wider in every direction.\n\n\u201cThe Book of the Shavian Magic,\u201d said Babadag, as if to himself. \u201cThat\nmust be saved.\u201d\n\nHe ran down the steps and started across the park.\n\n\u201cFather! father! where are you going?\u201d cried Figli, but his father paid\nno attention. The boy sped after him, and we others followed.\n\n\n_The Tailor\u2019s Son Follows Him into the Burning City_\n\nOut at the park gate and down the hill ran Babadag, and straight into\nthe blazing ruin which was once his city. Nothing could stop him.\nFlames roared on both sides of him; sparks showered around him; walls\ntoppled behind him; smoke swallowed him; but he kept on. We paused in\nterror; only his little boy continued to follow him, calling to him to\ncome back.\n\nA wall of flame shot out behind the running boy, and a house fell\ncrashing behind him into the street; and father and boy were no longer\nto be seen.\n\nI turned away, and leaving the eight tailors wailing, I made my way\nwith my daughter and my friend back to the palace; and there, on the\npalace steps, we sat all night long, watching the great fire burn\nitself out.\n\nThe sun rose on a city of smoking ruins; and with its first rays there\ncame plodding in through the park gate a blind man, who called aloud as\nhe reached the steps. It was the Blind Bowler.\n\n\u201cI am here,\u201d said I, \u201cFigli\u2019s friend; and my daughter too, and the\ngovernor whom once you tried to help. What news?\u201d\n\n\u201cTen strikes still lacking!\u201d said the Blind Bowler. \u201cBut it makes no\ndifference now. Figli has saved me, and all the rest of us too. Come\nwith me.\u201d\n\nHe led us out into the street and down into the city, where the\nhomeless people were standing as if bewildered. We came into the street\nwhere once had been the shop of Babadag the Tailor. It was there no\nlonger; but by some chance there yet remained the wall which held the\ndoorway, and above it the yardstick and the shears; and across the sill\nlay Figli, on his face.\n\n\n_The Boy Is Found on the Sill of His Ruined Home, Alive_\n\nMy daughter ran to him and put her arm about him. He was alive, and he\nshook his head and moaned, \u201cI want my father. I want my father.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said she, \u201cyour father. Is he--?\u201d\n\n\u201cIn there,\u201d he whispered.\n\n\u201cAh! He is--\u201d\n\n\u201cUnder the wall. I saw it fall on him. He is in there.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, my poor boy!\u201d\n\n\u201cI killed him. And all I wanted was to make him good.\u201d\n\nShe put her arm under him and raised him, and he stood up.\n\n\u201cCome with me, dear boy,\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t go away. I can\u2019t leave him in there. Can\u2019t you help me to see\nhim?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot now, but later, perhaps. Come with me now, and we will talk of him\ntogether.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe loved me, too. He did, didn\u2019t he? And I killed him.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, he did, he did. But you mustn\u2019t say that you--\u201d\n\n\u201cIt wasn\u2019t because I meant to harm him, was it? I wouldn\u2019t have harmed\nhim, would I?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no. It was just because you loved him, that was all.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, that was it. That was all it was.\u201d\n\nHe suffered her to lead him away, and he said nothing more, but\nrepeated to himself, once or twice, \u201cThat was all it was.\u201d\n\nOn my part, I spoke at length to the Blind Bowler, and gave him many\ndirections; and he, having received at my hands a purse of gold, for\nuse as I had instructed him, went his way; and we others then walked\nslowly back to the palace, where we rested on the steps, waiting, and\nFigli fell asleep with his head on my daughter\u2019s shoulder.\n\nWhen the sun was high in the east, people began to come in at the park\ngate, and the Blind Bowler, his first duty done, joined us on the\npalace steps. More people came, and the park began to be filled with\nthem; they came before long in a steady stream, and at length the park\nwas crowded with a great multitude, from the steps to the gate.\n\nAt a signal from myself, my party on the steps arose, and I addressed\nthe people of Oogh. I told them who I was, and how my skin had come to\nbe black; I told them that I was going away, and that their governor\nwas resolved to go with me; that I meant to leave a governor who would\nhelp them rebuild their city, and lead them in the ways of goodness and\nmercy; that the person whom I had selected for that office was the boy\nknown as Figli Babadag, whose soundness of heart was worth to them more\nthan the wisdom of years; and that such wisdom as was necessary would\nbe supplied by him who was called the Blind Bowler, a man who had known\nhow to be cheerful under affliction. And I asked them to say whether\nthey would have the boy Figli for their governor, and the Blind Bowler\nfor his aide.\n\nA shout of approval went up from the multitude.\n\n\u201cAnd will you,\u201d said I, turning to Figli, \u201clead these people in the\nways of goodness and mercy, and help them to forget?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you think I can,\u201d said Figli, standing up very straight, \u201cI will\ntry.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd will you,\u201d said I to the Blind Bowler, \u201ckeep faithfully at his\nright hand, and never fail him?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat I will!\u201d said the Blind Bowler. \u201cKeep everlastingly at it, that\u2019s\nthe motto!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe great King, my father,\u201d said I, turning again to the people,\n\u201cwill build your city ten times fairer than it was. I have given\ndirections for your help already, and food and shelter will soon be at\nhand. Farewell! I leave you in the care of a blind man and a child! A\nsound heart and a cheerful mind, my friends, are better than an army.\nFarewell!\u201d\n\nThe multitude shouted back farewell, and my friend Urban and myself\neach kissed Figli on the cheek; but my daughter kissed him on both\ncheeks and hugged him to her heart; and then we went down the steps,\nleaving the pale and beautiful boy and the blind man alone, and passed\nout across the park through a lane opened in the crowd, down into the\ncity toward the city gate.\n\n\n_The Eight Tailors Stand Before Them in a Row_\n\nAs we came to the last street corner before reaching the city wall, my\ndaughter pulled forth a handful of figs from her pocket and divided\nthem laughingly with Urban and myself; and at that moment a party of\neight men filed solemnly from around the corner, and came to a stop\nbefore us in a row. It was the eight tailors. They bowed gravely, and\nthe first one of them said:\n\n\u201cExcellency, we implore you to take pity upon us. Our master is gone,\nour occupation is gone, we are friendless and alone; we can live no\nlonger in the city of Oogh.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you wish me to do?\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cWe beseech you to take us with you, to be your servants, your slaves,\nanything. We can sew, we can knit, we can--\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I am going into exile,\u201d said I. \u201cI am going to hide my hideous\nface from the eyes of the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cListen, most merciful one! It is known to us that the missing button\nneeds only to be sewn on the doublet by a tailor, with the proper\nthread, in order that your skin may be white again. Nine tailors are\nallowed for the trial, and here are eight!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I have neither the button nor the thread.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo matter! We will search until we find them, or else turn black\nourselves in the trial. Have pity upon us, Prince!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, father,\u201d said my daughter, \u201cdo let the poor things come along with\nus.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said I, whereupon we walked on, and the eight tailors gave\na faint cheer and fell into line behind us.\n\n\n_They Meet the Three Blind Ballad Singers for the Last Time_\n\nAs we passed through the city gate, a loud singing struck up just\noutside the wall, and we beheld the three blind ballad singers, in\nthe midst of a dozen idlers, prancing up and down in their ridiculous\ndance. They were shouting out one of their ballads, as follows:\n\n  \u201cThe peddler came, the peddler went, the peddler lost his pack,\n  He came in honest walnut brown, he went away in black,\n    And \u2018Oh!\u2019 said the peddler, \u2018I cannot come again,\n    For out of buttons ten, oh! only nine remain,\n                    Only nine remain,\u2019--\u201d\n\nMy daughter laughed aloud, and at the sound of her voice one of the\nballad singers cried out, \u201cHo! master blackface! Ballads or buttons,\nwhat will you buy?\u201d\n\nThe idlers laughed, and the other two vagabonds sang out:\n\n\u201cBallads or buttons! Buy, master blackface! Ballads or buttons!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat will you give for a button?\u201d shouted the first, and he held up in\nmy view a large ivory button, the identical one, beyond a doubt, which\nwas missing from the doublet.\n\n\u201cA fig for a button!\u201d I said, and held out one of the figs in my hand.\n\n\u201cA button for a fig! A bargain!\u201d cried the first ballad singer, and\ntaking the fig from me placed the button in my hand.\n\nThe idlers laughed at this nonsense, and we turned to go.\n\n\u201cFarewell, farewell!\u201d cried the first ballad singer. \u201cWhat do we say to\nthe breaker of hearts who forgets her promise to marry?\u201d The other two\nlaughed, and began to sing.\n\nWe moved on down the road, followed by the tailors marching by fours,\nand as we departed we heard behind us the voices of the blind ballad\nsingers for the last time, shouting out a song in this wise:\n\n  \u201cShe said that she wanted to marry all three,\n          Fiddle-de-dee! Fiddle-de-dee!\n  And it broke her heart that it could not be,\n  But \u2018Oh!\u2019 said she, \u2018you must all agree\n  On one who shall be the fortunate he,\n          For only one can I marry!\u2019\n  But oh! she would not wait to see,\n          And oh! she would not tarry,\n  For all that she said to the artless three\n          Was nothing but fiddle-de-dee,\n                  Ah me!\n          Was nothing but fiddle-de-dee!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FOURTH NIGHT\n\nTHE RAGPICKER AND THE PRINCESS\n\n\n_The Queen said, \u201cDomino!\u201d very sweetly, and smiled at the Second Lady\nin Waiting, who was much chagrined._\n\n_\u201cI don\u2019t see how I could have been so stupid,\u201d said the Second Lady in\nWaiting._\n\n_\u201cIndeed, my dear,\u201d said the Queen, kindly, \u201cI don\u2019t think you were\nnearly so stupid as usual.\u201d_\n\n_At this moment the Princess Dorobel, with Prince Bilbo and their son\nBojohn, and the latter\u2019s friend Bodkin, came in from the throne room,\nand the Princess Dorobel, standing behind the Queen\u2019s chair, said:_\n\n_\u201cMother, we are going to hear a story, and Bojohn insists that you--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cYes, grandmother!\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cWe are going to ask Solario for\nanother story, and you must come along too.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cDear me,\u201d said the Queen. \u201cI must put away the dominoes first.\u201d_\n\n_She stacked them neatly in the box, one by one, and when this was done\nshe rose, and Bojohn took her arm and led her through the throne room\nwhere the King was engaged at chess with the Lord Chamberlain._\n\n_\u201cMy dear,\u201d said the Queen to the King, \u201cyou had better come with us.\nWe are going to--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIt makes no difference to me,\u201d said the King. \u201cYou can have the\nbishop if you want him. But I\u2019ve got your queen! How do you like that?\nIt\u2019s your move! Go on, why don\u2019t you move?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIt\u2019s no use, grandmother,\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cCome along.\u201d_\n\n_They left the King at his game, and proceeded to the room of Solario\nthe Tailor in the tower. They were admitted by Solario himself._\n\n_In the center of the room stood Mortimer the Executioner. He was\nwearing an unfinished garment without any sleeves, fastened together\nwith pins, and basted with white thread along the seams. He looked\nextremely foolish._\n\n_\u201cOh!\u201d said Solario, covered with confusion. \u201cPray come in, come in!\nHer majesty herself! This is indeed an honor! I will find more chairs\nin the next room. I am overpowered by this honor. Pray be seated, your\nmajesty. Mortimer, the fitting is postponed. Pray be seated, your\nmajesty. I do not know when I have received the honor of such a visit.\nPray be seated. Mortimer, bring in some chairs. I beg your majesty to\ntake the other chair; it is far more comfortable. Mortimer, divest\nyourself; divest yourself.\u201d_\n\n_Mortimer, red with embarrassment, took off the unfinished garment and\nput on his old one. Solario ran from chair to chair, assisting each of\nthe party to a seat._\n\n_\u201cWe have come for a story,\u201d said Prince Bilbo, \u201cand I hope that you\nwill be so good as to--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cWe want to hear about Montesango\u2019s Cave!\u201d cried Bojohn._\n\n_\u201cOr the Blind Giant!\u201d said Bodkin._\n\n_\u201cI beg your pardon,\u201d said Solario, \u201cperhaps her majesty would deign\nto--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cAsk him for Montesango\u2019s Cave, grandmother!\u201d cried Bojohn._\n\n_\u201cDear me,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cI hardly know what to-- It\u2019s a very\npleasant room you have here, Solario; do you ever play dominoes here?\nDear me!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what I should like,\u201d said the Princess Dorobel. \u201cI\nshould like to hear how the goldsmith\u2019s son won the Princess. Bojohn\nhas been telling us about Alb and the Princess Hyla, and I understand\nthere is a story, a love story--you know I dearly like love stories.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIt isn\u2019t precisely a love story,\u201d said Solario, \u201cbut if her majesty\nwill permit me, I will--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cDear me, yes,\u201d said the Queen. \u201cA very comfortable room it is, to be\nsure.\u201d_\n\n_Solario, after receiving the Queen\u2019s permission to be seated, sat\nhimself cross-legged on his table, and all of the others, Mortimer the\nExecutioner, Bodkin, Prince Bilbo, Bojohn, the Princess Dorobel, and\nthe Queen, drew up their chairs before him in a row._\n\n_\u201cI will relate to you, seeing that you wish it,\u201d said Solario, \u201cthe\nstory told me by Alb, the goldsmith\u2019s son, regarding the winning of the\nPrincess Hyla. Shall I proceed?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI wish I had brought my knitting,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cbut never mind.\u201d_\n\n_Solario picked up his shears, and gazing at them thoughtfully for a\nmoment, cleared his throat._\n\n_\u201cThis, then,\u201d said he, \u201cis the story told me by Alb, regarding_\n\n\n\u201cTHE RAGPICKER AND THE PRINCESS.\u201d\n\nWhen I was sixteen years old (said Alb the Fortunate) and my dear\nPrincess Hyla fourteen, the King, her father, sojourned for a time at\nhis castle of Ventamere, beside the sea; and you may be sure that the\nPrincess was with him there, for he could never bear to be parted from\nher for a single day.\n\nMy father followed in the King\u2019s train, and I, on my part, was not to\nbe left behind; and we lodged together, my father and myself, in the\ntown hard by the castle, where I saw the Princess every day, and daily\ngrew in favor with her father.\n\nThe windows of the King\u2019s castle looked out across the Great Sea, and\nbeneath the windows of the Princess\u2019s room the tide washed up and down\nagainst the wall.\n\nOne evening, as it was growing dusk, and the moon was beginning to\ntinge a wave here and there with silver, the Princess was leaning out\nfrom her window and looking across the sea-- But what I am now to tell\nyou I did not know at the time, as you will understand, but only later.\n\nNight fell, and still the Princess leaned upon her hand and gazed\nout across the sea. I do not know whether she was thinking of me,\nbut--However. In the town of Ventamere near by, where the shore curved\ninward in a bay, lights began to glimmer, but the castle was dark, for\nthe King, intending to commence at daybreak his journey back to his\ncapital, was already a-bed.\n\n\n_The Princess Hears a Voice from the Waves Beneath Her Window_\n\nThe Princess, beginning to be drowsy, reached out her hand to close\nthe casement of her window; and as she did so she heard a voice, a\nmelancholy voice, not loud, as of a young man singing to himself,\ndirectly beneath her window. She started in astonishment and looked\ndown, but she could see no one. The moonlight glittered on the sea\nto the very base of her wall; there was no foothold anywhere for a\nhuman foot; but the voice rose nevertheless from just below her in the\nrestless waters, and it was singing a kind of lament, pausing once to\nput in a few spoken words, in this wise:\n\n  \u201cO quivering seas that sever,\n    O quivering severing sea!\n  And I would I could sing forever\n    The sorrows that sleep in me,--\n      The soundless sundering sorrows,\n      The shuddering secret sorrows,\n      The sorrows secret and soundless,\n    That sleep in the soul of me.\n  And O! the vain endeavor!\n    The silence and the pain!\n  The silence that now shall never\n    Sink into the sea again!\n  (That\u2019s a very good line, though,\n  about silence sinking into the sea.\n  It sounds a good deal like real\n  poetry. Anyway--)\n  Of such would I sing forever,\n    And sighing forever sing,\n  But alas, I never was clever\n    At all that sort of thing,\n  And though I would chant forever\n  By quivering seas that sever\n  And severing seas that quiver\n    A ceaseless sorrowing song,\n  I cannot sing forever,\n    For that would be too long.\u201d\n\nThe Princess waited, and the voice began again. It seemed farther out\non the water now, as if the singer were moving out to sea. The words\nappeared to her to be so strange that she never forgot them, and I am\nable to repeat them to you precisely as she gave them to me afterward.\n\n  \u201cO weary the sea\u2019s commotion,\n    And weary the sea tides\u2019 fret,\n  The fretful tides of the ocean\n    How weary and how wet!\n      The humid hateful ocean\n      The hideous heedless ocean,\n      The ocean huge and humid,\n    That always will be wet!\n  (If I could only once get thoroughly\n  dry, just for a single day! It makes\n  me weary, the way they go on about a\n  life on the ocean wave. I only wish\n  _they_ had to live in it all the time.)\n  And O! for a seat on the settle\n    Beside the ingle nook!\n  And O! for the steaming kettle!\n    And O! for a human cook!\n  I hear, on the soft breeze sighing,\n  The sorrowful soft breeze dying,\n    I hear, as it sighs and rustles,\n  The music of bacon frying,\n    And O, I long to be free!\n  (If I could only get ashore on two\n  feet, for just one hour, I know where\n  I\u2019d go. I know a good warm tavern\n  where--)\n    O dear! could I only be free!\n  For a diet of fish and mussels,\n  Of cold raw fish and mussels,\n    Did never agree with me.\u201d\n\nThe voice moved off across the sea, and died away in the distance.\n\n_\u201cDear me!\u201d said the Queen. \u201cWhat an extraordinary song! And so sad,\ntoo.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNever mind, grandmother,\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cPlease let him go on with his\nstory.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cYes, yes, of course,\u201d said the Queen, \u201clet the poor man go on with\nhis story. I wonder how he remembers all those words. I\u2019m sure I never\ncould have remembered them. I\u2019ve a very poor memory for songs, myself.\nIt\u2019s different with the King; I declare he never forgets anything. I\nremember there was a minstrel came to the castle once, and after he was\ngone the King repeated word for word--_\u201d\n\n_\u201cPlease, grandmother,\u201d said Bojohn._\n\n_\u201cWhat is it, my dear?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cSolario is waiting to go on with his story.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cSo he is,\u201d said the Queen. \u201cI think it\u2019s a very pretty story indeed.\nI wonder how it ends!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cGo on!\u201d cried Bojohn, and Solario proceeded._\n\nThe Princess lingered, hoping to hear the voice again, but it came no\nmore. She turned back into her room and lit the lamp which hung from\nthe center of the ceiling. She stood before her mirror, with the lamp\nat her back, and as she raised her hand to unfasten the pearl necklace\nwhich she wore, she glanced at the wall beside the mirror. Her shadow,\nthrown by the lamp, stood upright against the wall. And at that moment\nshe saw something which caused her to stiffen with terror.\n\n\n_The Princess Sees the Shadow of an Old Woman_\n\nThrough the crack of her closed door at the right of her shadow,\nanother shadow was oozing in and spreading itself out across the wall\ntoward her own. It took shape, and paused for a moment; it was the\nshadow of a bent old woman, stooping under a heavy bag, and holding out\nin one hand a kind of poker with a hook at the end.\n\nThe Princess held her breath. The stooping shadow stole slowly along\nthe wall, and touched the Princess\u2019s shadow with its poker. Instantly\nthe Princess\u2019s shadow began to move toward the other, and the other\nbegan to back away. The strange shadow reached the door and slipped\ninto the crack; the Princess\u2019s shadow followed, and slipped into the\ncrack after it. They were gone, and only the blank surface of the wall\nremained.\n\nThe Princess tried to move, but she could not stir; she tried to cry\nout, but she could not speak. She stood there in the lamplight before\nher mirror, with one hand upraised as if to unfasten her necklace; the\nminutes passed, and she did not move. She heard the splashing of the\ntide outside; a clock struck the hour; there was no other sound. Hours\npassed, and still she stood with hand raised to her neck, before the\nmirror. She heard the clock strike twelve; and on the twelfth stroke\nher door swung slowly open.\n\n\n_A Midnight Visit from a One-Armed Old Man_\n\nIn the doorway stood an old man; a spare old man, with long white hair\nand beard, and bright blue eyes in a rosy face. His blue gown,\nspangled with silver stars, lacked one sleeve, the right; he had only\none arm, and that the left. The Princess felt somehow that she was glad\nhe had come.\n\n[Illustration: The shadow of a Ragpicker oozed in through the door]\n\nHe stepped quickly to her side and smiling kindly took down her hand\nfrom her neck. She felt a pleasant warmth at his touch, and she sighed\nwith relief. He kept her hand in his, and drew her toward the door.\nShe had no wish to resist him. She followed quietly, and together they\npassed out of the room into the dark hall....\n\nAt daybreak, when the King was ready to depart, there was a great\nto-do. The Princess was nowhere to be found. Her lamp was still\nburning, and her bed had not been slept in. The King was beside\nhimself, and the castle was in a turmoil. Searchers were sent in every\ndirection, all the bells in the town were set to ringing, and cryers\nwent about the streets proclaiming a reward.\n\nMy father and myself hastened to the castle, and I knelt before the\nKing and begged his special leave to seek the Princess on my own\naccount. I knew nothing, save that she had vanished in the night, but I\nresolved that I would find her, and I did not doubt of my success.\n\n\u201cGo,\u201d said the King, \u201cand good fortune attend you. If you bring her\nback, no reward will I refuse you, even to the hand of my dear child\nherself. Make haste, and do not return alone.\u201d\n\n\n_Alb, Seeking the Princess, Sits Down by the Seashore_\n\nAll that morning I ran about the town, seeking her in every quarter;\nbut nowhere was any trace of her to be found. I came back in the\nafternoon to the seashore near the castle, there to ponder what I had\nbest do next. Trudging along a strip of sand under a bluff beside the\nsea, I came to a large rock which rose up out of the water at the\nbeach\u2019s edge, and climbing up on it I seated myself on a narrow shelf\nand bared my head to the breeze.\n\nI had sat thus only a moment when I heard a voice from the other side\nof the rock, a melancholy voice, not loud, as of a young man singing to\nhimself; and it was singing a mournful song, pausing now and then to\nspeak in ordinary tones. I remember the words very well, and they were\nthese.\n\n  \u201cI dream in my deep-sea cavern\n    Of many a bosky copse,\n  I dream of a cosy tavern\n    And a couple of mutton chops,--\n  For even the storks have gruel,\n    And even the sheep have corn,\n  But me!--it is too, too cruel!\n    Alas, that I ever was born.\n  (It\u2019s too cruel, that\u2019s what it is. It isn\u2019t\n  right. There\u2019s no justice in it, and I\u2019m\n  sick of it, that\u2019s what I am.)\n  O sorrow too deep to utter!\n    O midnight hour of the soul!\n  If there only were bread and butter,\n    Or something warm in a bowl,--\n  (I don\u2019t care what. I\u2019m so sick of raw\n  fish, I believe I could even stand stewed\n  rhubarb.)\n  O sea, so ceaselessly sloshing,\n    O emblem of peace and hope!--\n  But it\u2019s utterly useless for washing,\n    And O! how I yearn for soap.\n  I seek, in my cavern\u2019s enclosure,\n    To talk with the fishes, but they,\n  Maintaining the strictest composure,\n    Have simply nothing to say.\n  Proud heart, you are left unheeded\n    Alone with your grief and your ache,\n  When all that is really needed\n    Is just a mere trifle of cake.\n  (Not fish cake. Not that. Chocolate\n  cake, three layers, with walnuts on top\n  and in between.)\n  Sing on, proud heart, though breaking\n    With every harmonious strain,\n  And physic be not worth the taking\n    For your description of pain,\n  Sing on, though it be not forever,\n    Forever and a day,--\n  (Not that there\u2019s any sense in adding\n  on a day to forever. It\u2019s long enough,\n  in all conscience, without that. However--)\n  I wish I could sing forever\n    To pass the dull time away;\n  And could I be endlessly clever\n    And make me an endless song,\n  I would sing of my sorrow forever,\n    I would,--were it not so long.\u201d\n\nThe voice gave a great sigh, and the singing ceased.\n\n_\u201cI used to make up little rhymes when I was a girl,\u201d said the\nQueen, \u201cand very pretty little rhymes they were, too, or at least\nyour grandmother, Dorobel, used to say so. But dear me; I never could\nremember verses, no matter how hard I tried; never.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cYes, yes, grandmother,\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cGo on, Solario.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNow the King was different; he could remember them, but he couldn\u2019t\nmake them up; and I could make them up, but I couldn\u2019t remember them!\nTee-hee-hee! Dear, dear! When I think of it!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cGrandmother,\u201d said Bojohn, \u201cSolario is waiting to go on.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cSo he is,\u201d said the Queen. \u201cI never liked sad stories when I was a\ngirl, for they_ always _made me cry. But this one may turn out\nbetter than I expect. I really think you\u2019re doing very nicely, Solario.\nI always say, that no matter how poorly one makes out, he ought to be\npraised if he is doing his best.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cGo on!\u201d cried Bojohn; and Solario proceeded._\n\nWhen the singing ceased (said Alb) I climbed noiselessly around the\nrock to the other side, and looked down.\n\n\n_An Interview with a Talking Seal_\n\nA fat seal was lying below me on a ledge of the rock, just out of the\nwater. The creature raised his head, and gazed up at me with his big\nsoft eyes.\n\n\u201cI could have sworn the voice was here,\u201d said I, half aloud.\n\n\u201cAre you speaking to me?\u201d said the seal.\n\nI assure you I jumped in amazement. \u201cWhat!\u201d said I. \u201cWas it you?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the seal, \u201cthere\u2019s nobody else here, is there?\u201d\n\n\u201cOf all things!\u201d said I. \u201cA talking seal! I never heard of such a--\u201d\n\n\u201cI suppose I haven\u2019t any right to talk. Just because I haven\u2019t any\nlegs, and have to live in a horrible sealskin, I suppose I\u2019m not even\nto utter a word. Is that it? Oh, yes, I dare say; I suppose so.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry. I didn\u2019t mean to offend--\u201d\n\n\u201cI suppose not. Anyway, you\u2019d better not stand there quarreling with me\nall day if you ever expect to find the Princess.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! Do you know anything about her? Tell me, quick!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I do. I know a little about her. I know where she is. The\nRagpicker\u2019s shadow came last night and fetched away the Princess\u2019s\nshadow, because the Ragpicker needed the Princess\u2019s shadow to protect\nher against the people. Everybody is afraid of shadows,--I suppose you\nknow that. And then the One-Armed Sorcerer took away the Princess, and\nwhat he\u2019s going to do with her I don\u2019t know. But you\u2019d better find out.\nAre you ready to go?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, yes! I\u2019m ready! I\u2019ll go anywhere! Tell me where!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou talk brave enough. The question is, do you act as brave as you\ntalk? Do you mind getting half-drowned?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no! I mind nothing! Tell me what I must do!\u201d\n\n\u201cSounds very brave, indeed. Are you afraid of shadows?\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course not!\u201d\n\n\u201cThen you\u2019re the only person in these parts who isn\u2019t. Where you\u2019re\ngoing, they\u2019re all afraid of shadows, and that\u2019s how the Ragpicker\nprotects herself against the people; with shadows. And so you\u2019re not\nafraid of them. Well, well!\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not afraid of anything! Tell me what to do!\u201d\n\n\u201cSo! Pretty brave! All right, I\u2019ll take you there myself. Take off your\ncoat and shoes.\u201d\n\nI took off my shoes, stockings, and coat.\n\nThe seal hunched himself down into the water, and lay there with his\nhead resting on the rock.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201ccome down here and lie on my back, and hold on tight;\nand don\u2019t get in the way of my flippers.\u201d\n\nI hesitated for a moment at the idea of lying down in the water on the\nback of a seal, but I came down the rock and stretched myself out on\nhis back and clung to him with my arms and legs as well as I could.\n\n\n_A Sea Journey on the Back of a Seal_\n\n\u201cHold on tight,\u201d said the seal, and darted off across the sea so\nsuddenly that I lost my grip and fell off into the water; but he swam\nunder me, and I was soon on his back once more, none the worse.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d said the seal. \u201cHaven\u2019t you any strength? I\nsuppose I\u2019ll have to go slower.\u201d\n\nHe glided slowly and smoothly over the long swells, and as soon as I\ngot used to it I found that it was really wonderful sport. We followed\nthe shore line quite around the island to its opposite side, and then\nthe seal made straight for the open sea. The shore faded away behind\nus, and at last it was gone.\n\nHours passed, and I grew stiff and cold. I slipped off the seal\u2019s\nback now and then, for the exercise of swimming. It was excessively\ndifficult to hold on to his slippery skin, and I ached so painfully\nwith the strain that I feared at last that I should have to let go for\ngood; and I was about to give up, when I saw afar off on the horizon\nwhat looked like land. The seal swam faster. I took new courage, and\nclung to him tighter.\n\nIt was indeed land,--evidently an island; and as we came close to it I\ncould make out in its side a deep cove, backed with dark, woody hills\nand flanked on either side by rocky cliffs. Fishing boats of all sizes\nwere moored in the cove, and a large village straggled up the hillside\nbehind.\n\nThe seal glided into the smooth water between the cliffs, and slid up\nagainst the sand of the beach at the foot of the village. It was just\ntwilight.\n\nI jumped to my feet and stretched my numb and aching limbs, gazing with\ncuriosity at the near-by houses. I turned round at the sound of the\nseal\u2019s voice.\n\n\u201cCan you get me a custard pie?\u201d said the seal.\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d said I, in astonishment.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a pastry cook in the village. I\u2019ll wait for you here. Mince\npie\u2019ll do, if they\u2019re out of custard.\u201d\n\nI hastened away into the village, without saying anything more.\n\n\n_The Village of Storks_\n\nIt was a large village, and there were a good many streets; and\nbefore I found the pastry cook\u2019s shop I paused to look at the strange\ncollection of birds which adorned the housetops. On nearly every\nchimney or ridgepole stood a stork, and on some were two or three, and\neven more; young storks all of them, judging by their size.\n\nI noticed, as I passed the villagers in the street, that their faces\nwere very sad; and I thought it singular that although I saw many grown\npeople, I met no children, and heard no children\u2019s voices.\n\nThe pastry cook, when I found him, proved to have the saddest face of\nall, and his wife looked as if she had been weeping; and there were\non the pastry cook\u2019s housetop no less than five small storks. When\nI mentioned that I wanted a custard pie for a seal, the pastry cook\nhanded over the pie to me without any appearance of surprise, and\nwithout accepting any payment.\n\nI hurried back to the beach, and sat down before the seal and held the\ncustard pie while the hungry creature ate it.\n\n\u201cDid you ever eat raw fish?\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cI should say not,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s awful,\u201d said the seal. \u201cIt\u2019s positively petrifying. You know I\nwasn\u2019t always a seal. Custard pie always used to do me more good than\nanything else.\u201d\n\n\u201cTell me who you are,\u201d said I, \u201cand who the Ragpicker is.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no time now,\u201d said the seal. \u201cYou\u2019d better be going. The\npeople here would like to kill the Ragpicker if they could, but they\u2019re\nafraid of the shadows; she\u2019s afraid of the people, and the people are\nafraid of the shadows; and she\u2019s more afraid of the One-Armed Sorcerer\nthan anybody else, though between you and me I think she\u2019s wrong about\nit, because he seems to be a pretty decent sort of old chap, and I\nrather believe he\u2019d like to help her if she wasn\u2019t afraid of him; but\nof course you can\u2019t help a person who\u2019s afraid of you. All mixed up,\nisn\u2019t it?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t understand a word of it,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cBrave people are always stupid,\u201d said the seal, and with this he\nwriggled himself off into the water, and I saw his head going back and\nforth slowly from side to side across the cove.\n\nI turned and went into the village. It was now nearly dark.\n\nAs I came toward the pastry cook\u2019s shop again, the village cryer came\nwalking down the street, ringing a bell, and calling out, over and over\nagain, \u201cSeven o\u2019clock, and time for supper! Seven o\u2019clock, and time for\nsupper!\u201d\n\nAs the cryer passed by, the storks flapped their wings and flew down\nfrom the housetops, and took their stand in a row before their houses,\nalong the curbs; and wherever a stork stood before a house a woman came\nout with a bowl in her hand. When I reached the pastry cook\u2019s shop, the\npastry cook\u2019s wife was kneeling on the sidewalk before the five little\nstorks, feeding them gruel out of a bowl with a long spoon. I observed\nthat all along the street women were feeding the storks in the same\nway; but again I noticed that there were no children.\n\nI walked on, watching in every street the feeding of the storks, and\nlooking out for some sign of the Princess. I observed at last a gilded\nwooden arm and hand holding a lantern, projecting from the front wall\nof a house a little in advance; and before this house, at the curb, a\nsingle stork was standing, and an old man, one-armed, wearing white\nhair and beard and dressed in a blue gown with silver stars, was\nsitting before the stork, feeding it with a long spoon from a bowl in\nhis lap. Around the stork\u2019s neck hung a pearl necklace.\n\nWondering whether I had ever seen that necklace before, I passed behind\nthe old man, and as I did so the stork fixed its eye on me and ruffled\nits feathers in agitation. I had no sooner gone by than there was a\ngreat fluttering among all the storks, and I observed, coming toward\nme down the street, a bent old woman, stooping under a bulging bag and\nholding out what appeared to be a poker with a hook at the end. She was\nragged and decrepit, and there was a gleam in her eye which seemed to\nme to be more of terror than anything.\n\nShe gazed intently at the stork with the necklace, and then passed on\ndown the street. All the storks, at sight of her, suddenly flew up on\nto the housetops, and all the people, or nearly all, went hurriedly\nindoors. As I turned to follow her with my eyes, I saw that the stork\nwith the necklace was perched up on the ridgepole, and that the old\none-armed man was gone.\n\n\n_The Ragpicker Frightens the Men Away with Her Bag_\n\nThe Ragpicker had reached the next corner, and was about to turn into\nthe street at her right, when a dozen men came hurrying toward her in\na group, and she stopped and faced them. They were burly men, and they\nwere plainly angry; they carried cudgels, and one of them carried a\nrope; they meant to do her harm, without a doubt. They advanced on her,\nmuttering dangerously together, and she stood stock still, waiting.\nOne of the men gave a shout, and they rushed upon her in a body; but\nquick as a wink the old woman whisked her bag from her shoulder to the\nground, and began to open it; and at this the men fell back against\neach other as if afraid; and as the old woman made again as if to open\nthe bag, the men hesitated, turned about, and actually took to their\nheels and fled.\n\nThe Ragpicker slung her bag upon her back again, turned the corner, and\ndisappeared.\n\nWhat could be in that bag, I wondered, to make those burly men afraid?\n\nI hurried to the corner, and saw the old woman plodding away toward\nthe end of the street. She did not look around, and I followed her\ncautiously. She passed beyond the village houses and began to climb a\npath which wound up the hillside among the rocks.\n\nKeeping carefully out of sight behind her, I saw her stop at last\nbeside a hut which leaned against the side of the hill, and go in at\nits door. I stole up quietly. There were no windows in the hut, but I\nthought I might be able to see inside through the roof, which was only\na thatch of straw. I could easily reach it from the side of the hill.\nIn a moment I was lying on the roof, and digging away the straw with my\nfingers.\n\nI worked slowly and noiselessly, and after a time made a hole through\nwhich I could look down into the hut. It was dark below, but I could\nsee the old woman stooping down over an opening in the floor, from\nwhich she was just raising a trapdoor. She stepped down into the\nopening and closed the door over her head.\n\nI lost no time in making a hole in the thatch big enough to admit\nmy body; and when I had done so I dropped to the floor, and stood\nbeside the trapdoor. I raised it cautiously and peered down. All was\ndark below, but I could make out a flight of stone steps. I went down\nwithout a sound.\n\n\n_He Follows the Ragpicker Down Into the Dark_\n\nAt the bottom I got down on my hands and knees and crawled along,\ntouching the side of a wall at my right. The wall ended abruptly, and\nfeeling the ground before me I found that I was on the edge of open\nspace, and I could hear the rushing of water far below. My hand touched\nthe top of a ladder, and I went down it carefully; but after a moment\nmy foot dangled in space, and I nearly fell off; the ladder stopped\nshort, and I clung on desperately. I then climbed to the top again\nand crawled along toward my left, feeling the edge with my hand until\nI shortly touched the top of another ladder; and down this ladder,\nfastened securely against the wall, I went more cautiously than before.\n\nThe ladder was long, but I finally found myself on solid ground.\nFollowing the wall to the left, I passed around a corner, and as I did\nso I saw a light.\n\nIt was a square patch of light, like the light of a small window,\nafar off in the darkness. I went down on my hands and knees again\nand crawled toward it. The ground was unbroken here, and I could now\nscarcely hear the sound of water. I stopped at last directly beneath\nthe light, and touched a wall. I felt with my left hand what seemed to\nbe a closed door, and I got up slowly on my feet. I was looking into a\nlighted room through a small square window, without glass, and crossed\nwith iron bars.\n\nA lamp was burning brightly in a bracket on a wall of the room. On the\nearthen floor, near the center, the old Ragpicker was kneeling before a\nbrazier containing a brisk fire, over which hung an iron pot. Her bag\nlay on the floor beside her, flat and limp; it was evidently empty.\n\n\n_She Stirs a Steaming Mixture with Her Long Hooked Forefinger_\n\nAs I watched her, she arose from her knees and went to a door at the\nrear, and made sure that it was closed tight. She then went to a great\nheap of rubbish which was piled in one corner, and scratching with her\npoker amongst the rags, bones, and old iron there, picked out carefully\na handful of bones, examining each one minutely. She then took from a\nshelf a large bottle of some dark liquid, and with this and the bones\nshe returned to the fire. She poured the liquid into the iron pot and\ndropped in the bones, one by one; and as she did so I observed a thing\nwhich I had not discerned before, that what I had thought was a poker\nheld in her hand was in fact a long, black, stiff forefinger, hooked at\nthe end. There was no doubt about it; it was the first finger of her\nright hand, as stiff as an iron rod, and about a foot and a half long.\nShe stuck it into the steaming pot and stirred the mixture with it,\nmuttering to herself words which I could not understand.\n\nPresently she stopped stirring, and sniffing the contents of the pot\nnodded her head as if satisfied. She picked up from the ground an iron\nladle and a pewter bowl, and ladling the steaming liquid from the pot\ninto the bowl, drank it down, every drop.\n\nShe put down the ladle and the bowl, and stood motionless, as if\nwaiting. A change began to come over her. Her back straightened; she\ngrew taller; the wrinkles left her face; her skin became fairer, her\neyes larger, her hair longer; and there before my eyes stood a young\nand beautiful damsel, tall and erect, with dark eyes in a pale face,\nand two thick braids of brown hair hanging to her waist.\n\nShe held up her right hand and looked at it. The long black stiff\nfinger with the hook was still there. She screamed, and burying her\nface on her left arm shook with sobs. In a moment she raised her head\nand put away her hideous right hand behind her where she could not see\nit. Her left hand she placed over her eyes, with a gesture of despair,\nand as she remained standing in that attitude the hand over her eyes\ngrew old and withered; she began to shrink and stoop, and she moaned\nto herself. It was plain that the effect of what she had drunk was\nbeginning to wear off. She shuddered, and gave a mournful cry; and in\nanother instant she was the old, bent Ragpicker again.\n\nI drew a long breath. I stood back, for fear that I might be seen, and\nwhen I looked again the old woman was standing with her back toward\nme, facing the closed door at the rear. I noticed now, what I had not\nnoticed before, that she cast no shadow in the lamplight on the floor.\n\n\u201cSkag!\u201d she cried. \u201cCome hither!\u201d\n\nA shadow oozed into the room through the crack of the door, and moved\nupright across the floor toward the Ragpicker. It was the shadow of\na bent old woman, stooping under a bulky bag, and holding out what\nappeared to be a poker, hooked at the end; the shadow of the old\nRagpicker herself. It stood still, not far from the door.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no use, Skag,\u201d said the old woman to her shadow. \u201cI haven\u2019t found\nthe right bone; but I _will_ find it, yet! I\u2019ll find it yet! Bring in\nthe Princess\u2019s shadow.\u201d\n\nHer own shadow disappeared through the crack in the door, and returned\nimmediately, followed by another. I started, and almost cried out. It\nwas the shadow of a young girl, undoubtedly the Princess, and it stood\nupright on the floor beside the other.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the old woman. \u201cNow my shadows are complete. This one is\nthe best and most fearsome of all. Ah, how they fear the shadows! Lucky\nfor me, lucky for me! They\u2019re not afraid of me, but they\u2019re afraid of\nshadows! This day they would have killed me, but for my bag of shadows.\nWe mustn\u2019t lose them, Skag, we mustn\u2019t lose them.\u201d\n\nShe paced about, growing more and more excited, and went on talking as\nshe walked.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re in danger, Skag, we\u2019re in danger. The One-Armed Sorcerer is\nworking against us. He has brought the Princess herself here, to help\nhim against me. What can he mean to do? He means to take away my\nshadows from me, Skag, it must be that. And he has brought the Princess\nto help him. And what then? Death, Skag, death; a quick death, for\nwhat will the people be afraid of then? We must stop it, Skag, we must\nstop the sorcerer, and there is only one way. The Princess must be\ndestroyed! To-morrow morning, when the sun shines and the shadows can\nbe seen, I will seek her out and destroy her; and the shadows shall go\nwith me and protect me. Bring in the shadows, Skag.\u201d\n\n\n_The Shadows of the Children_\n\nThe old woman\u2019s shadow disappeared through the crack again, and\nimmediately returned; and behind it came a shadow, and another, and\nanother; many shadows, all of children, and they moved upright across\nthe floor and stood before the Ragpicker. They were flat as paper and\nblack as ink; and the lamplight did not shine through them. They kept\non coming, and the room was soon full of them; hundreds, as it seemed,\nhundreds of shadows of little children, some so small that they were\njust beginning to walk. And the shadow of the Princess was the tallest\nof all.\n\nThe Ragpicker pointed at the Princess\u2019s shadow with her long, black rod\nof a finger, and said, \u201cInto the bag!\u201d\n\nShe stooped to her bag and held it open at the floor, and the shadow of\nthe Princess moved to it, crouched, and went in.\n\n\u201cIn, all of you!\u201d cried the old woman.\n\nAll the shadows crowded around the mouth of the bag, and one after\nanother stooped and went in. There was none left but the shadow of the\nold woman herself. She closed the bag, now bulging, and flinging it\nover her shoulder she said to her own shadow, \u201cHither, Skag, and lie\ndown!\u201d\n\nHer shadow moved close to her, and spread itself out on the ground with\nits feet to hers, growing longer as it did so, so that it became no\nmore than an ordinary shadow cast by the lamplight on the floor.\n\nThe old woman went to the lamp and blew out the light, and the room was\nin darkness, except for the glimmer of the dying fire.\n\nI flattened myself on the ground as the door opened and the old woman\ncame forth with her bag on her back. I could scarcely see her, and in\nan instant she had disappeared in the darkness.\n\n\n_He Loses His Way in the Dark_\n\nI waited a moment or two, and then crawled cautiously in the direction\nI thought she had taken; but there was nothing but the blackness of\ndeep night all round me, and I could not be sure of my direction. I\nlooked behind me, and I could not see any longer the window I had just\nleft. I had come from the ladder easily enough, but it was plainly a\ndifferent matter to get back. I crawled on uncertainly, and stopped now\nand then; I had gone by this time farther than I had come at first, but\nI found no wall. I must have lost my way. I went on, and found myself\ngoing down a slope. I knew that this could not be right, and I changed\nmy course a little; but I was still going down the slope, and I was\nafraid that I would be utterly lost if I turned back.\n\nThe sound of rushing water came to my ears now. The slope grew steeper,\nand I crawled more cautiously. The sound of water became more distinct.\nThe ground was suddenly slimy, and before I knew it I was slipping down\na steep descent, unable to stop myself. I slid and slid, faster and\nfaster, clutching the slimy ground and rolling over and over; and as I\nwas fainting with dizziness I shot off into space, and came down with a\nsplash into a torrent of deep water.\n\nThe stream hurled me away. I struggled against it, but it was too\nswift. It was impossible to swim. I could do no more than keep my head\nabove water, and let the current fling me along into the darkness.\nTossed like a leaf, hurled against the walls of the stream, scratched\nby the edges of rocks, bruised, bleeding, and half-drowned, I almost\nlost consciousness, and scarcely knew anything more until I felt myself\nlying on soft sand in shallow water. I looked up, and saw above me a\nclear sky; the open sea was rolling toward me on a beach, and the moon\nwas glittering on the waves.\n\nI tottered to my feet. I was so weak and sore that I could hardly\nstand. When I was able to move, I walked forward toward the ocean. The\nstream which had brought me spread out and lost itself in the sand.\nAt my feet the breakers came rushing up, and a strip of beach lay at\nmy right hand and my left, enclosed at the back and sides by a high\ncliff. There was no way out except by climbing the cliff. I shouted,\nhoping that the seal might be out there in the water, but there was no\nresponse. I made up my mind that I would have to climb the cliff.\n\nIt was a cruel task, for the cliff was steep, and there was scarcely\nany foothold but an occasional rock and bush; but I never once thought\nof discouragement, and I stuck to it with all my might. My bare feet\nand my hands were torn by the rocks, but I kept on, up and up, and in\ntime I stood on the top. I hastened away along the edge of the cliff,\nand came after a long walk to a place where the cliff turned back\nshoreward; and there I looked down, and saw the roofs of the village\nstraggling up its hillside behind the cove.\n\n\n_He Hears the Voice of the Seal Again_\n\nI lay down and put my head out over the edge of the cliff, and at that\nmoment there came to me from the still water of the cove a faint, sad\nvoice, singing:\n\n  \u201cO wonderful pancake batter!\n    O table and fork and plate!\n  I wonder whatever\u2019s the matter,\n    That he keeps me waiting so late?\n  He said he was willing to serve us\n    Regardless of danger or pelf,\n  But I\u2019m getting so dreadfully nervous\n    I really am scarcely myself.\n  O why does he loiter and linger\n    While I wait so sorry and sick?\n  Let him sever the Ragpicker\u2019s finger\n    And do it almightily quick.\n  For then I shall sit at a table,\n    My napkin over my knees,\n  And tipple as long as I\u2019m able,\n    And gobble as long as I please,\n  With plenty of good hot curry,\n    And plenty of custard pie,--\n  If he only would hurry, hurry!\n    O why does he linger, why?\u201d\n\nThe voice stopped, and I rose to my feet and made off across the\nmoonlit fields.\n\n_\u201cThere used to be a baker at the castle,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cshortly\nafter I was married, who made up a great many very pretty songs. The\nKing used to say that he sang better than he baked. For my part, I was\nvery sorry to lose him. His niece was going to be married in one of our\nvillages, I forget which,--no, I believe it was a cousin; I am almost\nsure it was his cousin, and I think it was the niece who was looking\nafter his mother while he was here, and she had to go and keep house\nfor the cousin after she was married, and that left his mother all\nalone; so that he had to go back to his mother, and I always thought he\nwas such a good son to give up his place here at the castle in order\nto take care of his poor old mother, and I\u2019m sure very few would have\ndone it in his place; but I must say that the next baker was very much\nbetter at gingerbread, though he never made up any songs, and I think\nthe King himself missed the first one a good deal afterward, though he\nnever would say so.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cGo on!\u201d cried Bojohn; and Solario proceeded._\n\nI rose to my feet (said Alb) and made off across the fields. I found\na path which wound down to the village, and I was presently standing\nin the street. All the storks were gone, probably within doors for the\nnight.\n\nI set forth briskly to find the house of the One-Armed Sorcerer. I\nrealized that the stork with the necklace was the Princess herself,\nand I knew that if she was to be saved from the Ragpicker I must act\nquickly.\n\nI remembered the gilded wooden arm and hand, holding a lantern, which\nstood out from the one-armed man\u2019s house, and it was only a matter of\ntime to find it. I found it sooner than I expected. A light was burning\ndimly in the lantern, but the house was dark. There was no stork\nupon the housetop. I tried the handle of the door quietly, and to my\nsurprise the door gave before me, and I pushed it open.\n\n\n_He Peeps into the Sorcerer\u2019s Workshop_\n\nI found myself in a dark room, which I crossed quickly to a door at\nthe other side. This door I opened on a crack, and through the crack\nI looked into a lighted room; a small room, evidently a workshop,\ncluttered about with glass vessels of strange shapes, metal machines of\nvarious sorts, wooden hoops curiously interlaced, charts of the skies,\nand great, brass-bound books; and at one side of the room was a forge\nand in the center a table.\n\nBefore this table was standing the one-armed man whom I had already\nseen. On the table, the stork with the necklace was lying on its side,\nperfectly still, and as I looked the old man plucked a feather from\nthe stork\u2019s wing and examined it carefully. He then cast it aside and\nplucked another, this time from the back. This also he tossed away,\nafter examining it, and he then plucked a feather from the shoulder,\nand holding it up to the light gave a cry of pleasure, and without\nturning said, \u201cCome in, Alb, I have been expecting you.\u201d\n\nI stepped into the room, and the old man greeted me with a friendly\nsmile, and held up the feather.\n\n\u201cDo you see this?\u201d said he.\n\nI looked at it closely. At the point of the quill hung a single drop of\nblood.\n\nThe stork on the table stirred uneasily. The sorcerer stroked it gently\nand said, \u201cSleep!\u201d and the stork lay perfectly still again.\n\n\u201cWait a minute,\u201d said the old man. \u201cWe must keep this drop from falling\noff, and we must harden the point of the quill.\u201d\n\nHe produced from a closet a metal box, and out of this he took a small\nglass tube, covered with frost. He held the drop of blood for a moment\ninside the tube, and then put the tube away in its box.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201cthe drop will not fall off.\u201d\n\nHe went to the forge, and blowing up the coals with a pair of bellows,\nhe held the point of the quill for a moment in the fire.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201cit is as hard as a pin.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: The One-Armed Sorcerer plucked a feather from the\nstork]\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d said I, \u201cwill you tell me what this is for?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo save the Ragpicker from herself,\u201d said the sorcerer.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s the Princess I have come to save,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cIt is the same thing,\u201d said the old man. \u201cIf the Ragpicker is saved\nfrom herself, everybody else is saved too. And this drop of blood from\nthe Princess\u2019s heart will do it, and nothing else.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have seen the Ragpicker to-night, sir,\u201d said I, \u201cand I will tell you\nabout it.\u201d\n\n\u201cSit down, my son,\u201d said the old man, and when we were seated I told\nhim all that I had seen and heard in the Ragpicker\u2019s cavern.\n\nThe sorcerer shook his head and smiled. \u201cAnd so she thinks I wish to\ntake away her shadows and let the people kill her! Well, well, it\u2019s the\nway of wickedness to see nothing but evil. Why should I wish her harm?\nWhat I seek to do is to save her, not to destroy her; but she\u2019ll never\nbelieve that, because she can\u2019t think straight. Anyway, in trying to do\nevil she has provided me with the means of making her good.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow has she done that?\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cIf she hadn\u2019t stolen the Princess\u2019s shadow, I shouldn\u2019t have brought\nthe Princess here; and if I hadn\u2019t brought the Princess here, she\nwouldn\u2019t now be a stork; and if she hadn\u2019t been turned to a stork I\ncouldn\u2019t have gotten the drop of blood from her heart.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it true,\u201d said I, \u201cthat the Ragpicker protects herself with\nshadows?\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course! What could protect her better? What else is there to fear,\nbut shadows? I confess I\u2019m more than half afraid of them myself. We\nall know we shouldn\u2019t be, but we are, just the same. They\u2019re perfectly\nharmless, but they\u2019re terrible. There\u2019s nothing so real as shadows.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut tell me,\u201d said I, \u201chow we are to save the Princess.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll in good time,\u201d said the sorcerer; \u201cin the meantime, you must get a\nlittle rest, for you have an important task to do in the morning.\u201d\n\nI was tired out, in fact. The sorcerer left me, and I sat beside the\nsleeping stork, watching it in silence for a long while, and then I\nsurrendered myself to drowsiness, and fell asleep.\n\nWhen I awoke, it was morning. The stork was gone, and the sorcerer\u2019s\nhand was on my shoulder.\n\n\u201cCome,\u201d said he, and placed in my hand a tiny bow of thin metal, with a\nstring of fine hair, and showed me how to use the stork\u2019s feather as an\narrow to the bow. He then instructed me in what I had to do, and led me\nout into the street.\n\nThe stork which had been a Princess was standing on the curb before the\ndoor, and all the other storks were in their places on the housetops.\nThe street was already busy; shops and houses were being opened for the\nday and many people were outdoors.\n\n\n_He Lies in Wait with a Bow and Arrow_\n\nCarrying the stork\u2019s feather and the bow, I went to the next corner,\nround which on the evening before I had seen the Ragpicker turn up\ntoward her home. I passed this corner, and concealed myself in a\ndoorway just beyond.\n\nI had not long to wait. I had drawn my head back into the doorway for\na moment, and when I looked again the Ragpicker was standing at the\nstreet crossing with her back toward me, gazing in the direction of\nthe stork which stood before the sorcerer\u2019s door. On her back was her\nbag, and in her left hand she carried a knife. The people in the street\nstopped to watch her, muttering together.\n\n\u201cSkag!\u201d said she, \u201ccome in!\u201d And she turned sidewise to her shadow,\nwhich lay at a great length on the ground before her. It began to\nshorten toward her, and kept shortening until it was no longer than\nherself. \u201cStand up!\u201d said she, and the shadow stood upright beside her,\na black, flat image of herself in outline, looking as if it had been\ncut from stiff, black paper.\n\nThe Ragpicker let down the bag from her shoulder and opened it on the\nground and said \u201cCome out!\u201d And at this all the people gave a cry of\nterror and fled into their houses and shut the doors, and all the\nstorks on the housetops fluttered their feathers and flapped their\nwings.\n\n\n_The Ragpicker Releases the Shadows in the Street_\n\nOut of the bag poured shadows; hundreds of them; all the shadows of\nlittle children which I had seen go into the bag the night before; and\nas they poured out, they ran about in the street as if bewildered.\n\n\u201cSkag!\u201d said the Ragpicker. \u201cTo the fore!\u201d\n\nThe old woman\u2019s shadow hastened to the front of all the others and\nraised its long poker finger, beckoning them to follow. They crowded\nbehind, and moved noiselessly up the street toward the stork at the\nsorcerer\u2019s door. The Ragpicker followed close behind, holding her knife\nup in her left hand. The stork which was the Princess stood motionless\non the curb before the door. The sorcerer was not to be seen.\n\nNow was my time for action. I crept silently after the old woman, and\ncame up just behind her. I fitted the feather with its drop of blood to\nthe little bow, and as I approached the old woman so close that I might\nhave touched her, I aimed quickly at her back and let the arrow fly.\nStraight into her back it darted, and stuck there fast.\n\n\u201cSkag!\u201d she screamed, but she said no more.\n\nQuick as a wink I plucked the feather from her back, and as I did so\nshe turned upon me with her knife uplifted. But she stood suddenly\nstill, her hand relaxed, and the knife fell to the ground. A change\ncame slowly over her. Her back straightened; she grew taller; the\nwrinkles left her face; her skin became fairer, her eyes larger, her\nhair longer; and there was standing before me in her place a beautiful\nyoung damsel, tall and erect, with dark eyes in a pale face, and two\nthick braids of brown hair hanging to her waist.\n\nShe held up her right hand and looked at it, and gave a cry of joy. The\nlong, black, hooked finger was gone. Her two hands were the shapely\nwhite hands of a young woman, without blemish.\n\n\u201cFree!\u201d she cried. \u201cThe enchantment is over! I am myself at last! Oh,\nthanks, young man!\u201d And she threw her arms around me and kissed me\nsoundly on the cheek.\n\nI released myself, awkwardly enough, and as I did so I saw all the\nshadows up the street fall flat to the ground, as if they had been\nknocked over by a ball; and they began to slip swiftly away in every\ndirection across the pavement. In an instant Skag, the old Ragpicker\u2019s\nshadow, lay at the young woman\u2019s feet. She screamed and shrank away,\nbut in another instant the shadow\u2019s shape was changed, and in its place\non the ground was the shadow of the young woman herself. She clapped\nher hands with joy.\n\n\n_A Singular Commotion on the Housetops_\n\nThe shadows of the children were climbing the walls of the houses;\nand all of a sudden I heard a great clamor from the housetops, as of\nhundreds of children crying out together.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t get down! Oh, I\u2019m falling! Help! I can\u2019t hold on! Oh, Mother!\nWe can\u2019t get down! I\u2019m slipping! I\u2019m going to fall! Hurry! Mother! Come\nquick!\u201d\n\nI looked up, and there on the housetops, where the storks had been,\nchildren were clinging to the chimney pots, straddling the ridgepoles,\nhanging on to the gables, big children and little children, boys and\ngirls, shrieking out at the top of their voices, and struggling to keep\nfrom toppling off into the street. One tiny boy suddenly disappeared\ndown a chimney; a big girl lost her hold and rolled down the roof into\na wide leaden gutter, where she hung, half on and half off. Dozens of\nboys and girls sat astride the ridgepoles, as if riding cockhorses.\nThe big boys began to shout with glee, but the little ones were crying\nwith fright; and at the hubbub all the doors flew open and all the\nfathers and mothers ran out, and when they saw what it was, a mighty\nshout went up, and it wasn\u2019t a minute before a ladder stood against\nevery wall, and not more than two minutes before all the children were\nsafe on the ground, hugged up in their mothers\u2019 and fathers\u2019 arms, with\nsuch laughing and weeping and cheering as never were, I am sure, in\nthis world before.\n\n\u201cOh, isn\u2019t it wonderful!\u201d cried the beautiful young woman. \u201cI\u2019m so\nglad, so glad!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Princess!\u201d I cried. \u201cLook at the Princess!\u201d\n\n\n_The Princess Is Herself Again, but--_\n\nShe was her own lovely self again, and she was standing at the same\nplace on the curb before the sorcerer\u2019s house, and the sorcerer himself\nwas standing beside her. The young woman and myself ran swiftly to her,\nand I shouted a joyous greeting as I approached; but to my surprise,\nshe did not reply.\n\nShe was standing perfectly motionless, with her eyes wide open, and one\nhand raised to her neck as if about to unfasten her necklace. On her\nshoulder, shown by the open neck of her dress, was a tiny spot of blood.\n\nThe young woman kissed the sorcerer\u2019s hand and thanked him.\n\n\u201cBut the Princess!\u201d I cried. \u201cWhat is the matter with the Princess?\u201d\n\nThe sorcerer shook his head sadly. \u201cSomebody always has to pay for\nthese benefits,\u201d said he, \u201cand I\u2019m afraid that when we plucked the\nfeather we took away something we cannot replace. She cannot move nor\nspeak. But I will set to work, and in time I will--\u201d\n\n\u201cCome!\u201d said the young woman. \u201cI will help her! We must take her home!\nCome at once!\u201d\n\nThe sorcerer and myself lifted the Princess between us and carried her\ndown the street toward the cove. The village people and their children\nfollowed us, and stood in a throng on the beach as we got into a boat\nand hoisted a sail.\n\n\u201cGood-bye!\u201d shouted the people, and the sorcerer and myself waved our\nhands, none too cheerfully; and at that moment we heard a kind of bark\nfrom the water beside the boat, and a voice cried, \u201cSister!\u201d It was the\nseal. The young woman leaned down toward him and cried, \u201cBrother!\u201d\n\n\u201cIs everything all right now?\u201d said the seal. \u201cWhat are you going to do\nabout me?\u201d\n\nHis sister raised the Princess and showed him the red mark on the\nPrincess\u2019s shoulder, and told him about the plucking of the stork\u2019s\nfeather. Then the seal\u2019s sister said:\n\n\u201cFor once you have done a good deed, brother; and if you\u2019ll do\nanother--you know the promise!--two good deeds!--you will be free too.\nGo! and do not return until you have brought that which will cure the\nPrincess. The milk of the White Walrus who lives in the Far-Alone\nGrotto on the Twelfth Ice Floe! Do you understand?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty good trip,\u201d said the seal, \u201cand I\u2019ll probably have to\nfight the walruses. But if you say so, why I suppose-- When do you\nthink I\u2019d better start?\u201d\n\n\u201cThis instant!\u201d cried his sister. \u201cOff with you! And return to us at\nthe King\u2019s castle at Ventamere.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, very well,\u201d said the seal, and dived. He came up again at the\nmouth of the cove, making off at a great rate for the open sea....\n\nWe reached the King\u2019s castle at Ventamere in the evening, and pressed\nstraightway into the Grand Refectory, where the King was at supper with\nhis court. As we entered, the whole company sprang up, and my father\nran toward me.\n\n\n_The King Beholds His Child and Is Grieved_\n\nThe sorcerer and myself, carrying the Princess, stood her on her feet\nand supported her thus between us, and the seal\u2019s sister stood beside\nus.\n\n\u201cMy daughter!\u201d cried the King, and rushing toward the Princess with\noutstretched arms, stopped in amazement as she remained between us as\nspeechless and motionless as a statue.\n\nI whispered rapidly into my father\u2019s ear, and the sorcerer, kneeling\nbefore the King, began to explain.\n\nThe King paid no attention to him, but placed a hand upon his\ndaughter\u2019s arm and wept.\n\n\u201cMy poor child!\u201d he said. \u201cWhat shall we do now?\u201d\n\nThere was a movement at the door. A crowd of the castle people poured\ninto the room, and parting, opened a lane for a young man, a stranger,\nwho advanced rapidly from the door; a very fat young man, with a round,\npink face and round, blue eyes, who wore hanging from his shoulders\nthe skin and head of a seal.\n\n\u201cBrother!\u201d cried the seal\u2019s sister.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the fat young man, \u201cit\u2019s me; and a pretty little time I\u2019ve\nhad among the walruses, I can tell you;\u201d and he bowed low at the same\ntime to the King.\n\n\u201cHave you some business with us, young sir?\u201d said the King.\n\n\u201cVenison steak and hasty pudding,\u201d said the fat young man, with his eye\non the supper table. \u201cOh; I beg your pardon. I am the milk man.\u201d\n\n\u201cMilk? We want no milk here,\u201d said the King.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s for the Princess,\u201d said the fat young man. \u201cTo be taken\nexternally. Good for lumbago, rheumatism, sprains, chilblains,\nstrawberry rash--\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is this fellow talking about?\u201d said the King, in exasperation.\n\n\u201cBrother!\u201d said the young woman, his sister, fixing him sternly with\nher eye.\n\n\u201cRub a little on her shoulder,\u201d said her brother. \u201cDirect from the\nWhite Walrus on the Twelfth Ice Floe, and the walruses nearly ate me\nalive before I got it; but here it is. Excellent for all sorts of skin\nand blood diseases, as well as--\u201d\n\n\u201cBrother!\u201d said the young woman, sternly.\n\n\u201cI beg your pardon,\u201d said the fat young man; and with a very grand\nmanner he took out of his pocket an oyster shell, and pried it open\nwith a knife from the table. On the lower half of the shell was a\nspoonful of white liquid.\n\n\n_The Seal Introduces His Liniment, Guaranteed to Cure in All Cases_\n\n\u201cVery convenient milk bottle,\u201d said he; and waving the King aside he\nstepped up to the Princess and went on pompously, as if he were making\na speech:\n\n\u201cI will now,\u201d said he, \u201cin the presence of the entire company, and\nopenly before you all, so that you may see that no deception is\npractised upon you, apply a modicum of my liniment to the shoulder of\nthe young lady, at the point where I perceive a stain of red, rubbing\nthe same in gently thus, with a downward motion of the first two\nfingers of the right hand, thus, and thus, and thus.\u201d\n\nHe poured the white liquid from the shell on to the red spot on the\nPrincess\u2019s shoulder, and rubbed it in gently, talking all the while.\n\n\u201cNow, ladies and gentlemen,\u201d he went on, \u201cI call your attention to the\neffects of this lotion when properly applied. It is warranted to be\nvery efficacious in all cases of-- But see; she lowers her hand; she\nmoves her foot; she speaks; she--\u201d\n\n\u201cFather!\u201d cried the Princess, and threw herself into her father\u2019s arms.\n\n\u201cHurrah!\u201d I shouted, and all the company cheered, until the rafters\nrang again.\n\n\u201cLet the castle people retire,\u201d said the King, and he led the Princess\nto the table, where he seated her at his right hand, wiping his eyes\nand blowing his nose. When we were all at table, the sorcerer told\nhis tale, and not until he had heard it to the end would the King\npermit the meal to proceed. I observed that the son of the assistant\ncarol singer was very attentive to the seal\u2019s sister; and as for the\nfat young man her brother,--during the repast, which lasted a full two\nhours, he spoke not a word.\n\nAt the end the King begged him to relate the story of his enchantment\nand his sister\u2019s, and he readily consented; whereupon he commenced,\nwithout being asked a second time,\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE TALKING SEAL AND HIS SISTER\n\n\u201cYou must know,\u201d he began--\n\n_\u201cI am very sorry,\u201d said the Princess Dorobel, interrupting, \u201cbut it is\nBojohn\u2019s bedtime, and I fear we shall have to hear this story another\ntime.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cOh, mother!\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cI couldn\u2019t go to sleep if I tried. Please\ndon\u2019t--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNo, my dear,\u201d said the Princess Dorobel, \u201cnot to-night. Pray go on\nwith Alb\u2019s story, Solario.\u201d_\n\nWhen the seal\u2019s story was finished (said Alb), the King begged the\nOne-Armed Sorcerer to remain with him as his friend and adviser; and\nthis the sorcerer consented to do.\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d said the King, turning to me, \u201cwhat reward shall be yours? I\nwill deny you nothing.\u201d\n\nI knelt before him, and made my request boldly. I knew that my whole\nfuture hung upon that moment.\n\n\u201cThe hand of my lady Princess,\u201d said I, \u201cif she is willing.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you say, my dear?\u201d said the King.\n\nThe Princess said nothing, but turned red as a rose, and buried her\nhead on her father\u2019s shoulder. She was mine! I took her hand in mine\nand kissed it.\n\n\u201c_That\u2019s_ settled,\u201d said the King. \u201cAnd you, sir,\u201d said he to the fat\nyoung man, \u201cwhat gift shall I bestow upon you?\u201d\n\n\u201cA little more of the custard pie, if you please,\u201d said the fat young\nman.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIFTH NIGHT\n\nTHE CITY OF DEAD LEAVES\n\n\n_Solario was sitting cross-legged on his worktable, and before him, in\na row, sat the Executioner, Bodkin, Bojohn, Prince Bilbo, the Princess\nDorobel, and the Queen._\n\n_\u201cThis _time,\u201d said Bojohn, \u201cwe want to hear the story of\nMontesango\u2019s Cave.\u201d_\n\n_Solario shook his head. \u201cThe story is too dreadful altogether,\u201d said\nhe. \u201cI fear you would lie awake all night if--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cThen tell us about the Roving Griffin,\u201d said Bodkin._\n\n_\u201cOr the Blind Giant,\u201d said Bojohn._\n\n_\u201cI am very curious myself,\u201d said the Princess Dorobel, \u201cto hear the\nstory of the seal and his sister. What do you say, mother?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI remember very well,\u201d said the Queen, dropping her knitting in her\nlap, \u201cI saw a seal once when I was a young girl, and a very curious\ncreature it was, too, I\u2019m sure. I\u2019ve never forgotten it, because I\nwas on my way to be married to your father,--of course he wasn\u2019t\nyour father then, you know,--and I think the day I saw the seal was\nthe day your father was expected to meet us, or the day before, I\ncan\u2019t be quite certain now, it\u2019s so long ago; and we were waiting for\nhim by the seashore,--but no, we weren\u2019t expecting him on that day,\nbecause he had sent a messenger to say that he couldn\u2019t start until\nall the horses were shod, and the blacksmith was just getting over the\nmeasles. I remember that messenger very well; a small, dark man with a\nbeard, by the name of--what was his name? Something like Manniko, or\nFinnikin,--no, it was Tallboy. That was it. Tallboy. He didn\u2019t stay\nwith the King very long after we were married, because his sister\u2019s\nyoungest boy was taken down with the--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cGrandmother!\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cSolario is waiting to go on.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cDear me,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cso he is. I\u2019m glad I brought my knitting\nwith me to-night.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI am sure,\u201d said Prince Bilbo, \u201cwe would all be glad to hear about\nthe seal and his sister.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cYour will is my pleasure,\u201d said Solario, very prettily, \u201cand I will\ntherefore now commence the story of--\u201d_\n\n_Here there was a sharp cry from outside the room door._\n\n_\u201cLet me in!\u201d piped up a voice, loud and sharp as a whistle._\n\n_Mortimer the Executioner opened the door, and at first glance\nthere appeared to be no one there. But Bojohn cried out, \u201cIt\u2019s the\nEncourager!\u201d And there, on the sill, was in fact the tiny figure of\nthe Encourager, no taller than a sparrow, carrying his umbrella folded\nunder his arm. He opened the umbrella, and leaping into the air floated\nup with it to the Executioner\u2019s shoulder, where, folding the umbrella\nagain, he stood bowing to the company._\n\n_\u201cDear me,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cI believe it\u2019s the Encourager of the\nInterrupter.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIf there\u2019s anything going on,\u201d piped up the Encourager, in his shrill\nvoice, \u201cI don\u2019t want to be left out!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cThen sit down, Mortimer,\u201d said Prince Bilbo, \u201cand let the Encourager\nhear the story too.\u201d_\n\n_The Executioner seated himself, and the Encourager sat down on the\nExecutioner\u2019s shoulder and gazed solemnly at Solario with his beady\nblack eyes._\n\n_\u201cAhem!\u201d said Solario, clearing his throat and picking up his shears.\n\u201cI will now, with your majesty\u2019s gracious permission, proceed with the\nstory as it was related to the assembled company at Ventamere by the\nseal, and by Alb the Fortunate to myself. This, then, is_\n\n\n\u201cTHE STORY OF TUSH THE APOTHECARY, AND OF PARAVAINE HIS SISTER.\u201d\n\nI must tell you (said the fat young man), that I am an apothecary, and\nmy name is Tush.\n\n_\u201cWe had a Lord Treasurer once,\u201d interrupted the Queen, \u201cwhose name was\nFilch. It seemed so odd.\u201d_\n\nMy name is Tush; and this damsel, my sister, who was lately a\nRagpicker, is known as Paravaine. So much for that. I now proceed to\nthe catastrophe which begins my tale, and I hope you will pardon me if\nI pause at times to wipe away a tear.\n\nWe were left alone at an early age, my sister and myself, without kith\nor kin, and we dwelt together in the city of our birth, the city of\nFadz--you have heard of Fadz? A seaport of the Kingdom of Wen, a city\nof ships and conversation; and in that city we dwelt quietly together,\nand there I kept my shop.\n\nMy sister, as you may see by looking at her, was beautiful in the\nhighest degree; and I am bound to admit to you that she was not a\nlittle vain of her beauty, and prized admiration above all things in\nthe world. Regarding myself, I may say that I was considered to be\nquite handsome, though a trifle fat.\n\nIn the art of inventing remedies I greatly excelled; and I would beyond\na doubt have succeeded in my profession, but that I was much given\nto the making of songs and the tasting of rare dishes, and these two\noccupations consumed the greater part of my days. My sister, on her\npart, applied herself so diligently to the adornment of her lovely\nperson before the mirror, that she had scarcely time for anything else.\nIn consequence, my business and my house fell into neglect; and another\napothecary, a tuneless fellow in a neighboring street, who knew not\nbeef from mutton, took away all my trade. But such is the fate of your\ntrue artist, the world over.\n\nI forgot, in the application necessary for the composition of songs,\nthe foolish moneys which I chanced to owe here and there, and at\nlength (so dead to the finer things of life is the coarse mind of\ntrade), I could find no one who was willing to trust us any longer,\neven for the meanest knuckle of the least respectable portion of a pig.\nI burn with indignation when I think of it,--but I proceed.\n\n\n_The Misfortunes of Tush the Apothecary_\n\nI soon found out what monsters in the shape of men--However. Certain\nchurls, men of no character, no elevation, no refinement,--forgive me;\nI am not quite myself; these men, if I may call them men, to whom I\nowed, I believe, some trifling sums of no account, came to my shop one\nmorning in a body, fifteen or so; and if you can believe a thing so\nmonstrous, they seized, they tore away, they loaded into oxcarts in the\nstreet, in the broad light of day, all the goods of my shop and all the\nfurnishings of my house. I wept, I threatened, I raved; but all to no\npurpose. They answered never so much as a word; they departed, and left\nmy sister and myself without so much as a chair to sit on, or one coin\nto jingle against another.\n\n_\u201cNow that,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cwas going entirely too far. However did\nthey expect the poor man to sit down?\u201d_\n\nOne thing I entreated them to spare me, my Perfection Cream, a salve\nor ointment of my own invention, warranted to relieve in all cases of\naffliction of the skin; a remedy which I had compounded many years\nbefore, and had tried once or twice on myself with good results.\nOf this, having never sold any, I had on hand, in little jars, a\nquite considerable quantity. They left me this, with contempt; and\nmy sister, observing it, begged them to spare to her of her own\npossessions one thing only, her mirror, a handglass backed with blue\nenamel, with a long handle of the same; and this also they granted, not\nwithout a jeer.\n\nWe sat for a long time upon the barren floor; and then we rose, and\nshaking the dust of the place from our feet, we departed, never to\nreturn. In a pouch at my side I carried my Perfection Cream, and in her\nhand my sister carried her blue mirror; and thus we went forth, to try\nour fortunes in the world.\n\nWe sought the wharves, designing to take ship for some distant clime;\nand we found, in fact, a vessel loading for a voyage. The ship\u2019s master\nwas sitting on a bale, directing the porters, and I addressed him\npolitely, explaining our case. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his\nhead; but he happened to turn around and catch sight of my sister, and\nhis manner changed. He jumped to his feet, bowed, and begged us to come\naboard.\n\nIn effect, we sailed away. My heart was light again. The city faded\nbehind us, the sunlight sparkled on the waves; and I was none the less\nhappy because I had not the least idea where we were going. I composed\na song regarding life on the ocean wave, and sang it with ecstasy,\nuntil my sister begged me to stop.\n\nThe master of the ship treated us with distinguished courtesy; I could\nnot help contrasting his conduct with that of the cold-blooded men who\nhad-- But I resolved to think of them no more. I gave myself up to the\npleasures of the voyage.\n\n\n_They Find Themselves on an Unknown Shore_\n\nOn the third day, when we were sailing offshore in a light breeze, my\nsister came to me in tears. The master of the ship had demanded that\nshe marry him, as the price of our passage. I went to him at once,\nand remonstrated with him patiently. It was no use. He was set upon\nmarrying my sister. We left the matter to Paravaine herself, and she\nrejected the proposal with scorn. \u201cYou see!\u201d said I, throwing up my\nhands in despair. \u201cYes, I see,\u201d said the mariner. \u201cYou wish to go\nashore. I will not detain you any longer.\u201d The ship was brought in\ncloser to the shore, a boat was lowered, and my sister and myself (I\nassure you the black-hearted scoundrel bowed to us politely to the\nlast)--my sister and myself were landed on a sandy beach, and the ship\nsailed away.\n\n_\u201cNow isn\u2019t that a perfect shame,\u201d said the Queen. \u201cAnd such a nice\nyoung man, too.\u201d_\n\nWe stood for a time in silence, petrified with despair. A vast,\ntreeless plain stretched away beyond the beach, far as the eye could\nsee; there was no human habitation anywhere. Not an ounce of food nor\na copper coin did we have between us,--nothing but my Perfection Cream\nand my sister\u2019s blue mirror. We were at our wits\u2019 end.\n\n\u201cLet us sit down and think what we had better do,\u201d said I, and I led\nmy sister to a brown rock embedded in the sand at no great distance.\nIt was a large rock, round and smooth, and we sat down with our backs\nagainst it, gazing mournfully at the Great Sea, where it sparkled in\nthe sunlight. It was a beautiful sight, and I began to think up a new\nsong.\n\n_\u201cI always used to say,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cthat the sea was a very\npretty thing, but the King never could abide it. He used to get_ so\n_sick! And he finally declared he would never put his foot on a boat as\nlong as he-- Dear me! I remember a sailor on one of our trips who had\na parrot that used to talk--Oh, dear! Such things as he did say! Oh,\ndear! Oh, dear! When I think of them!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cAll right, grandmother,\u201d said Bojohn. \u201cGo on, Solario.\u201d_\n\nAs we sat there (said the fat young man) with our backs against the\nbrown rock, I amused myself by plucking away idly certain blades of\nlong brown grass which fringed the lower portion of the rock near my\nhand; and these blades I twined, scarce thinking what I did, into a\nring of a size to fit a finger. Instead of putting it on my own finger,\nI took my sister\u2019s hand and placed the ring, jestingly, on the first\nfinger of her right hand.\n\n\n_The Startling Effect of Making a Ring of Grass_\n\nNo sooner was this done than a kind of groan came from the rock. The\nsand on which we sat heaved and shuddered. It rose beneath us, and we\nwere lifted slowly into the air; and when we were higher than a man\u2019s\nheight above the ground we were thrown off on to the beach, and we were\nlooking up at a monstrous creature in the shape of a man, who had risen\nup under us from beneath the sand. He was chocolate brown in color,\nand he towered above us full seven yards or more. The rock against\nwhich we had been sitting was, as we now perceived, his head; he had\nbeen lying, no doubt asleep, on his stomach under the sand, completely\ncovered except for his head. We had been sitting above his buried\nshoulders, and leaning against the back of his head; and from this\nhead, all bald but for a fringe of hair at the bottom, I had plucked\nthe hairs which I had thought were grass.\n\n\u201cA genie!\u201d I cried, and pulled my sister to her feet in fright.\n\nThe genie opened his mouth in a great yawn, and stretched his mighty\narms; and as he breathed out again, jets of flame shot from his\nnostrils. He was bare, except for a wide cloth twisted around his\nmiddle from waist to thigh, and in the waistband he wore a long, curved\nscimitar, which flashed in the sun. He spread his hands out before him\nand bowed low.\n\n\u201cWere you asleep in the sand?\u201d said my sister, recovering her wits\nfirst.\n\nHe bowed again.\n\n\u201cWhat do you want with us?\u201d said my sister, becoming bolder.\n\n\u201cI await your commands,\u201d said the genie, in a voice like the roaring of\na waterfall.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said my sister. \u201cIs it the ring of hair on my finger? Is that it?\u201d\n\nHe bowed again, extending his hands.\n\n\u201cThen please! please! take us away from here!\u201d cried my sister.\n\n\u201cWhat is it you seek?\u201d said the genie.\n\n\u201cWe seek the best thing in the world!\u201d cried my sister. \u201cTake us where\nwe may find it!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean by the best thing in the world?\u201d said I to my sister.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said she; \u201cbut the genie ought to know, and he\u2019ll take\nus where we may find it. Won\u2019t you?\u201d said she, looking up at him.\n\n\u201cHearing is obedience!\u201d said the genie, and little jets of fire spurted\nfrom his nostrils.\n\n\u201cWhere will you take us?\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cI will take you where you may find the best thing in the world,\u201d said\nthe genie. \u201cAnd if you find it, it will be the best thing in the world\nfor me too, because it will release me from the power of the One-Armed\nSorcerer, who dwells in an island far out in the Great Sea. If you\ndon\u2019t find it, it will be your own fault, and in that case,--beware!\u201d\n\n\u201cThis sounds pretty doubtful,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cNo matter!\u201d cried my sister. \u201cWe will find it. Take us there at once!\u201d\n\n\n_They Start Upon a Journey Through the Air_\n\nThe genie stooped down over us, and under his right arm he gathered me\nup, and under his left arm he gathered up my sister. He stamped upon\nthe earth so that it shook, and leaped into the air; and in an instant\nwe were soaring over the treeless plain, and I was sick with dizziness.\nHigher and higher we mounted, with the speed of an arrow; we seemed to\nbe flying straight into the face of the sun; I could no longer tell\nwhich was sea and which was plain below. I closed my eyes.\n\n[Illustration: The genie flew away with Tush and his sister]\n\nIt was a long time before I opened them again. We were lower, and I\ncould see the plain, flat and grassy, without a tree. The sun declined,\nand still we kept our course; I thought we should soon be at the end of\nthe world; and still there were no trees anywhere on the plain below us.\n\nI ached in every limb; I cried out, but the genie did not hear me; and\nwhen I was ready to faint with exhaustion his speed suddenly relaxed,\nand I saw, at the edge of the horizon before me, what was, or seemed to\nbe, a city. And still there were no trees.\n\nScarcely a moment passed before the city rose in plain view; and with\na swoop the genie descended upon the earth, and we were standing,\nall three of us, before a gate in the city wall, and my sister was\narranging her hair before her mirror.\n\nA tall and muscular man stood beside the gate, as if on guard. He was\nchocolate brown in color, and he was bare except for a wide cloth\ntwisted about his middle from waist to thigh, and in his right hand he\ncarried a scimitar, which flashed in the sunlight. I looked around for\nthe genie, but he was gone.\n\n\u201cWhat city is this?\u201d said I to the Guardian of the Gate.\n\n\u201cIt is the City of Dead Leaves,\u201d said the man. \u201cWhat do you seek in the\ncity?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are seeking,\u201d said my sister, \u201cthe best thing in the world. We were\ntold that we would find it here.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the Guardian, looking at my sister. \u201cYou are she who has\ncome to save the King\u2019s brother. Come with me.\u201d\n\nHe led the way through the gate, and we found ourselves in an alley\nof high walls, along which we followed him for some distance, coming\nout upon an open plot of grass, surrounded by the same high walls in\na circle. As we approached it, I smelled a familiar fragrance, the\nfragrance of orange blossoms; and I thought with some regret of the\ngroves upon our slopes at home.\n\n\n_The Orange Tree and the Panther_\n\nIn the center of this plot was an orange tree. It was green with\nfoliage and white with blossoms; the odor was delicious. Under the\ntree, prowling stealthily around it, was a panther. I drew back in\nalarm. \u201cDo not go too close,\u201d said our guide. \u201cIt is death to touch the\ntree.\u201d\n\nI had no desire to approach that terrible beast, and we gave him a wide\nberth as we proceeded around the rim of the grassplot to an opening in\nthe opposite wall. We passed through that opening into a city street;\na street of glass, as it seemed, for the front wall of every house was\nmade of glass; and within, in every case, was a kind of storeroom,\npiled up with something which looked like dead leaves. In the greater\nhouses these rooms were piled quite full; in the meaner there were only\nlittle mounds; but much or little, they appeared to be on exhibition,\nas if in pride.\n\n\u201cThe treasures of our people,\u201d said the Guardian of the Gate. \u201cDead\norange leaves. Our most precious possession. The wealth and station of\neach citizen are gauged by his store of dead leaves. It is of course\nonly proper to put them where they may be seen. But come; the King\u2019s\nbrother awaits us.\u201d\n\nI nudged my sister. \u201cThe King\u2019s brother!\u201d I whispered. \u201cHere is a\nchance for you!\u201d She smiled, and glanced into her mirror.\n\nWe wound through many streets of glass, and I observed that besides\nglass the houses contained no material but stone and metal; the absence\nof wood was very noticeable. We turned down a mean street toward the\ncity wall, and came out upon a common, strewn with refuse of all kinds,\nand bounded on the further side by the wall. A shelter of canvas leaned\nagainst the wall, and beneath this shelter, on a pallet of straw, lay a\nman in rags. He raised himself on his elbow and looked up at us.\n\n\u201cThe King\u2019s brother,\u201d said our guide, and I started back in surprise.\n\n\n_They Come Upon the King\u2019s Brother in Rags_\n\nHe was a young man, and very ugly, but not unpleasant to look at;\nindeed, his ugliness had something honest and winning in it; and if he\nhad not been so ragged, he might have made a passable appearance. As it\nwas, I laughed to myself at the thought of such a fellow in connection\nwith my beautiful sister.\n\nThe ugly young man stood up and bowed politely.\n\n\u201cIs it the first stranger?\u201d said he to the Guardian of the Gate.\n\n\u201cIt is,\u201d said the Guardian.\n\n\u201cI am content,\u201d said the young man, casting on my sister a look of\nadmiration.\n\n\u201cFair lady,\u201d he went on, dropping on one knee and taking her hand, \u201cif\nyou are not pledged elsewhere, I beseech you to accept me as a suitor\nfor your hand. Stay; do not repulse me at my first word, but hear me\nfurther, and take time to consider. I am the King\u2019s younger brother;\nand because I would not marry a lady of his choosing, he has cast me\nout, swearing that I shall remain in this misery unless I shall marry\nthe first stranger who shall come to our gates. Oh, fortunate hour that\nbrought you here the first of all! I am poor; I do not possess a single\nleaf; but I will devote myself to you loyally, and I do not think you\nwill regret it. I know, having seen you, that I cannot live without\nyou. Do not refuse me now, but at the end of a week give me your\nanswer.\u201d\n\nHe kissed her hand fervently, and arose. I confess that I liked this\nyoung man, but of course I could not think of marrying my sister to one\nso utterly forlorn. I answered for her.\n\n\u201cIn a week I will let you know,\u201d said I, and drew my sister away.\n\n\u201cBefore you go,\u201d said he, \u201clet me give you a warning. Look at my hands.\u201d\n\nHe held out his palms, and I saw that they were covered with a rash,\nred and angry-looking. He rubbed his palms together, as if to soothe an\nirritation.\n\n\u201cThe itching palms!\u201d said he. \u201cI have handled the dead leaves all my\nlife; and because I have handled them my palms itch, itch, all day and\nnight, without ever a moment\u2019s peace. I warn you not to touch the dead\nleaves. The dead leaves of the orange tree; do not touch them.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said I, and with these words we left him.\n\nThe Guardian of the Gate, leading us back into the city streets, turned\nand said:\n\n\u201cYou have just had your first chance to gain the best thing in the\nworld. I will now give you your second. Be careful how you choose.\u201d\n\nWe entered a street of shops; and I now noticed that the people\nwere, each of them, rubbing their palms together, as if to soothe an\nintolerable itching.\n\nI paused to look into one of the shops as we passed. The customers\nwithin were handing over to the dealer, in return for his goods,\nleaves, dead leaves, of the sort we had seen in the glass showrooms;\nand whenever these dead leaves passed from hand to hand, I remarked\nthat the itching of the palm they touched became more exasperating, so\nthat the people were quite beside themselves, and could not keep quiet\non their feet; but the dealer nevertheless received the dead leaves\neagerly, and the others gave them up with reluctance.\n\n\u201cThese people are mad,\u201d said I.\n\nWe joined a great rout of people, all rubbing their hands, who were\npouring down a street in the direction of an open square; and when we\nreached it, we saw in the center, on a platform above the heads of the\ncrowd, a man in a robe, who was evidently about to read from a paper\nheld in his hand.\n\n\u201cYour second chance,\u201d said the Guardian of the Gate. \u201cI will leave you\nto your choice. Be careful how you choose.\u201d\n\nHe turned away, and disappeared in the crowd.\n\n\u201cHear ye! Hear ye!\u201d cried the man on the platform. \u201cA message from\nthe King! Whereas the affliction of the itching palm has now become\nso grievous that it can no longer be endured, the King now offers, to\nsuch person as shall cure him, one-half of all the dead leaves in his\ntreasury! And to him also he promises one-half of all the dead leaves\nbelonging to each person whom he shall cure! The offer is open to all!\nBe diligent! Thus saith the King!\u201d\n\nThe messenger got down, and immediately there arose near the platform a\ncommotion, with much laughter, and those in that neighborhood began to\ncry out:\n\n\u201cWay for the Lord Buffo! Make way for the wise Lord Buffo!\u201d\n\n\n_A Dwarf Clad in Motley Stands up to Speak_\n\nA singular figure now mounted the platform, facing in our direction.\nHe was a dwarf, hunchbacked and thickset, with a very large head set\ndeep in his shoulders, and arms which hung to his knees. His clothing\nwas of squares of yellow and blue and green and orange, and on his head\nhe wore a paper crown, rimmed around at the top with little bells.\nWith his right hand he pulled up by a cord a small monkey, dressed in\nall respects like himself; and in his other hand he held the long tail\nfeather of a cock.\n\n\u201cThe King\u2019s Fool,\u201d said one of the bystanders in my ear.\n\nThe Fool waved the feather, and the crowd settled itself to listen.\n\n\u201cHear ye! Hear ye!\u201d he cried, in a loud, harsh voice.\n\nAt this the people shouted, \u201cGo on, go on!\u201d\n\nThe monkey leaped up on to the dwarf\u2019s shoulder, and the dwarf\nproceeded, with the greatest gravity.\n\n\u201cI, Buffo, chief counselor to his most gracious majesty, King Fatchaps,\ndo call upon you to hearken to the voice of Wisdom!\u201d\n\n\u201cWisdom! That\u2019s good!\u201d laughed the crowd,--never ceasing to rub their\npalms and dance up and down the while.\n\n\u201cFirst I must tell you, my loyal subjects, that you are all mad. Do you\nbelieve it?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! yes! Of course!\u201d shouted the crowd, still laughing.\n\n\u201cGive ear, and I will prove it to you! Thus! Answer me! Isn\u2019t there\nenough in our city for all, to feed you and clothe you and shelter you\nand amuse you? Answer!\u201d\n\n\u201cTrue!\u201d cried many persons in the throng.\n\n\u201cThen why are there some among you who starve, and others who cast out\nof their abundance to the dogs? Tell me that!\u201d\n\nNo one replied.\n\n\u201cBecause you are mad! With the itching palm! Look at you! You can\u2019t\nstand still on your feet! Rub, rub! Want in the midst of plenty!\nScratch, scratch! Some with too little and some with too much! Rub,\nrub! And enough for everybody in reason! Scratch, scratch! All mad, all\nmad! Rub, rub! Look at me--have I itching palms?\u201d He held up his hands,\npalms outward.\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d exclaimed several in the crowd.\n\n\u201cTell me why! Tell me why! Because I touch not the dead leaves! Isn\u2019t\nit so?\u201d\n\nNo one answered.\n\n\u201cGive ear, madmen, and I will reveal to you how to cure the itching\npalm! Bring the dead orange leaves here to the square! Pile them up!\nBurn them, burn them, burn them, every one! That\u2019s it! Will you give up\nthe dead leaves?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d roared the people as if with one voice.\n\n\u201cThen farewell, madmen!\u201d cried the Fool, and he jerked the monkey from\nhis shoulder and descended from the platform.\n\nThe people, still rubbing their hands together and dancing, but\nlaughing withal, rapidly left the square, and my sister and myself\nstarted to go; and as we started, the dwarf appeared before us with his\nmonkey, and cocked his eye up at us waggishly.\n\n\u201cWhat, ho!\u201d said the Fool. \u201cStrangers, by the ears of a donkey!\nGreeting, strangers, what do you among my mad subjects?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo tell you the truth, my lord,\u201d said I, making up my mind on the spur\nof the moment, \u201cI have come here with my sister from a distant land, to\ncure the people and their King of the itching palm.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow so?\u201d said the hunchback, sharply.\n\n\u201cWith a little remedy of my own,\u201d said I, tapping my pouch.\n\n\u201cBah!\u201d said the Fool, jerking the monkey\u2019s cord. \u201cGo home, madman, you\nare wasting your time.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne moment!\u201d I said. \u201cConduct me to the King, I beg you. You shall see\nme prove my boast.\u201d\n\nHe looked up at me sidewise. \u201cPouf!\u201d said he, snapping his fingers.\n\u201cOld Fatchaps is as big a fool as you are. Here; I\u2019ll give you a\nchance; there\u2019s nobody here to help me. I ask you, will you help me? I\nhave a plan to gather the leaves together and burn them. With your help\nI can do it, and we will save the people together. Will you help?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot I,\u201d said I, laughing again. \u201cThe people would tear us both to\npieces.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat does that matter?\u201d said the Fool.\n\n\u201cIt matters to me,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cIs that your choice?\u201d said the Fool. \u201cYou have made your choice? Done,\nthen. Come with me. I will take you to the King; and you will wish that\nI hadn\u2019t. Oh, these fools! The time is coming when I must take the case\nin hand myself, all alone; for I will tell you a secret; lend me your\near.\u201d He pulled my head down, and whispered fiercely in my ear. \u201cI love\nthis people, and I will save them; whether they will or no. D\u2019ye hear?\nThey are my people, and they must be saved! Whether they will or no!\nAnd then what a bonfire! What a bonfire!\u201d\n\nHe jerked the monkey\u2019s cord again, and made off swiftly. We followed\nhim, and my sister said to me, in a low voice, \u201cDo you think he is mad?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat,\u201d said I, \u201cis precisely what I do not know.\u201d\n\n\n_Buffo the Fool Leads Them to the Palace_\n\nIn a few moments we entered and crossed the grounds of an immense\npalace, and Buffo the Fool opened the palace door without ceremony and\npreceded us into a great hall, where he stopped and said:\n\n\u201cI must have a good look at you first. Buffino, my mirror!\u201d\n\nThe monkey darted off down the hall and up the staircase. While he was\ngone the Fool said to me:\n\n\u201cYou have seen the orange tree and the panther?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cDo they worship the orange tree in your country?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d said I. \u201cOrange trees are the commonest of our possessions.\nWe have them by thousands. Their leaves are of no account.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo?\u201d said he, with a look which said that he did not believe it. \u201cWe\nhave no tree in all this city, nor anywhere in all this land, but a\nsingle orange tree. No one knows how the seed came here. We worship\nthat tree; nothing else.\u201d\n\n\u201cA very pretty sentiment,\u201d said I. \u201cNothing could be prettier.\u201d\n\n\u201cHideous!\u201d said he. \u201cThe leaves that drop from that tree and die are\nthe cause of all our evil. We fight over them, we steal them, we waste\nour lives in getting them, and we suffer the agony of the itching palm\nwhen they are ours. Will you help me destroy the panther that guards\nthe tree?\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly not,\u201d said I with a shiver.\n\n\u201cYou have made your choice,\u201d said the Fool. \u201cBuffino, give me the\nmirror.\u201d\n\nThe monkey, who had now returned, handed to the dwarf a large mirror,\nand the Fool held it up before my sister.\n\nInstead of the beautiful person of my sister appeared in the glass the\nface and figure of an old woman, bent, ugly, and wrinkled. My sister\nstarted back in dismay, and the dwarf held up the mirror before myself.\nIt showed me a gross, puffy face with three chins and pig\u2019s eyes,\nhorribly repulsive. I shuddered.\n\n\u201cJust as I thought,\u201d said the Fool. \u201cTell me now, have you seen the\nKing\u2019s brother?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cWill you marry him?\u201d said he to my sister.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said she. \u201cHow could I? I can\u2019t say. I\u2019m--\u201d\n\n\u201cJust as I thought,\u201d said the dwarf. \u201cAnd you won\u2019t help me cure my\npeople. What is it you came here to seek?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are seeking the best thing in the world,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cAnd what is that?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know; but we\u2019ll certainly recognize it when we find it.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot you,\u201d said the dwarf; \u201cnot until my mirror shows you fair and\ncomely; _then_ you\u2019ll know it.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow are we to get it to show us fair and comely?\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cOne of you by saving a miserable outcast, and the other by saving a\nwhole people; then you\u2019ll be fair and comely, inside and out, but not\nuntil then.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou talk in riddles, master Buffo,\u201d said I. \u201cLet us go to the King.\u201d\n\n\u201cMadman!\u201d said the dwarf, and gave the mirror back to the monkey, who\nscampered off with it and disappeared.\n\nWe followed the Fool up the great staircase and into a distant wing\nof the palace, and stopped at a door, on which the hunchback knocked.\nReceiving no answer, he opened the door and led us in. \u201cYour majesty!\u201d\nhe cried.\n\n\n_They Find the King in a Terrible State_\n\nThe King was pacing the floor, grinding and scratching his palms\ntogether, and muttering angrily to himself. He was an enormous man with\na puffy, red face, a snub nose, and three chins, and he wheezed as he\nwalked. His hair stood up on end all over his head as if it was trying\nto fly off. His fat legs went back and forth in a kind of tripping run,\nand his fat hands rubbed and scratched and slapped each other in a\nperfect frenzy.\n\n\u201cWhat, what!\u201d he cried, never halting for an instant. \u201cWhat\u2019s the\nmatter, what\u2019s the matter?\u201d\n\n\u201cStop a minute, King Fatchaps!\u201d said the Fool. \u201cHere\u2019s a madman come to\ncure your itching palms! Ha, ha!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you say? What do you say?\u201d said the King, dancing along, back\nand forth.\n\n\u201cIt is true, your majesty,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cYou can cure me? What do you say? You\u2019re an impostor! They\u2019re all\nimpostors! Can you cure me? Why don\u2019t you do it then?\u201d\n\n\u201cI understand,\u201d said I, \u201cthat a reward is offered--\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, well? What of it?\u201d said the King, wheezing and puffing. \u201cHalf of\nmy dead leaves! What of it?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe fact is,\u201d said I, \u201cwe should prefer gold or silver.\u201d\n\n\u201cImpudence!\u201d cried the King. \u201cGold? Silver? What do you mean? I never\nheard of them.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe\u2019ll take the leaves, never fear,\u201d said the dwarf. \u201cOh, yes.\u201d\n\n\u201cTake \u2019em!\u201d cried the King. \u201cWho is the beautiful lady? Take \u2019em? Dead\nleaves or nothing! Take \u2019em or leave \u2019em!\u201d\n\nIt was plain that a fortune of dead leaves was as good as any other,\nif you only thought it so, and if these people thought it so, as they\nevidently did, I might as well take it.\n\n\u201cI am satisfied, your majesty,\u201d said I, \u201cand if you will hold out your\npalm, I will work the cure.\u201d\n\n\n_The Perfection Cream Is Rubbed into the Itching Palm_\n\nThe King held out his left hand as he passed, and I trotted along\nbeside him, and drawing from my pouch one of my little jars, I applied\nto the King\u2019s palm, with my fingers, a small portion of my salve,\nrubbing it in as well as I could; and then I ran around to his other\nside, and did the same for his other hand. It was rather difficult,\nconsidering that I had to trot along beside him as he tripped back and\nforth across the carpet.\n\n\u201cWhat, what, what! Bless my soul!\u201d cried the King, stopping suddenly.\n\u201cIt feels better!\u201d\n\nI bowed and smiled, and Buffo the Fool said, \u201cMad, old Fatchaps! Both\nof you mad!\u201d\n\n\u201cSpeak when you\u2019re spoken to!\u201d said the King. \u201cWho asked your opinion?\nPfoo! pfoo! I haven\u2019t any breath left! Not another word out of you,\nsir! I know when I\u2019m cured! I\u2019m no fool, I\u2019m no fool!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no, not at all!\u201d said the Fool.\n\n\u201cHere, you!\u201d said the King. \u201cTake this young man and his wife and feed\n\u2019em, and let \u2019em sleep in the palace. I\u2019ll settle with \u2019em in the\nmorning, if the itching\u2019s gone. I\u2019m no fool.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot my wife,--my sister,\u201d said I, bowing.\n\n\u201cWhat do you say?\u201d cried the King. \u201cOh, that\u2019s different!\u201d\n\nHe bowed before my sister, and kissed her hand very respectfully.\n\n\u201cBless my soul! Beautiful as a moonbeam! What do you say? Where do you\ncome from, eh? The itching\u2019s gone. But I\u2019ll wait till morning. I\u2019m no\nfool. Be off with you, clown, and let \u2019em eat and sleep in the palace.\nWhat do you say? He shall cure the whole city, and I\u2019ll make \u2019em\ngive up half of all their dead leaves to him! In the morning, in the\nmorning! What do you say? Be off with you!\u201d\n\nWe hastily left him, and as we passed down the hall we saw him poke his\nhead out of the door and heard him call:\n\n\u201cHo! I\u2019m cured! Where\u2019s that confounded chamberlain? Send me the\nchamberlain! What do you say? I\u2019m cured!\u201d And he banged the door shut\nagain.\n\nThat night we dined sumptuously and slept in gorgeous apartments in the\npalace. In the morning, being once more conducted by Buffo to the King,\nwe found him in a transport of happiness. The cure was perfect. He\nkissed my sister\u2019s hand, and threw his arms about me, and cried:\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s yours! Half of my dead leaves, and I\u2019ll make a Prince out of you!\nNot a word! What do you say? Never woke up once last night! Get to work\nand cure all my people. Where\u2019s that confounded chamberlain? Get to\nwork, get to work!\u201d\n\n\n_Tush the Apothecary Takes the People in Hand_\n\nThe arrangements were soon made. I took my stand on the palace steps,\nand all day long the people filed before me, and into each palm I\nrubbed a little of my salve. It was a work of days, and all business\nstopped until my task was done. At the end, the city was cured; never\nwere there in this world a people so beside themselves with joy.\n\nIn the square where I had first met the King\u2019s Fool the King caused\nto be thrown up, with five hundred pairs of willing hands, a vat of\nhardened mud in blocks, and into this vat his servants poured for me\na good full half of all the dead orange leaves in his treasury, and\non top of these, from each of those whom I had cured, one-half of his\nstore of leaves; so that when all was done the vat was just half full.\nI was rich; richer than the King himself; and my Perfection Cream was\nall gone.\n\nI hinted to the King that some kind of covering should be provided for\nthe vat, to protect my riches from the weather.\n\n\u201cWhat, what?\u201d said he, his face growing a trifle purple. \u201cThere\u2019s no\nrain at this time of year! What do you say? All in good time! I can\u2019t\ndo everything in a minute!\u201d\n\nNow it came to pass, as you may guess, that the King grew daily more\nsmitten with my sister\u2019s beauty. Scarcely a day passed on which he did\nnot visit us in the splendid apartments in his palace which he had\ngiven us for our own. His favors became more lavish as time went on;\nthey could have only one meaning. \u201cYou shall be Queen!\u201d said I to my\nsister, and she smiled knowingly.\n\nWe were expecting, one evening, a visit from the King, when the Fool\nentered our apartment, and behind him came, instead of the King, the\nKing\u2019s ugly brother. I was startled, for I had forgotten him completely.\n\nHe knelt beside my sister, and took her hand tenderly in his.\n\n\u201cDear lady,\u201d he said, \u201cI do not blame you that you have neglected\nyour promise. I have stolen here at great risk to lay myself again at\nyour feet. Surely a loyal heart must weigh with you more than rank or\nriches. Ah, dear lady, say that you will be mine!\u201d\n\nI confess that there was something about this young man which made me\nlike him better than before; but of course a match such as he proposed\nwas out of the question.\n\nMy sister shook her head and drew away her hand. \u201cI cannot, I cannot,\u201d\nshe said.\n\n\u201cTell me,\u201d he said, \u201cdo you think well of me--do you care for me a\nlittle--do you think you can say you love me, ever so little?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do! I do!\u201d cried my sister, to my amazement, hiding her face in her\nhands. \u201cI loved you on the first day I saw you! I can\u2019t help it! I do!\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, then,\u201d said the young man, rising, while I on my part remained\nspeechless with astonishment, \u201cwhat\u2019s to hinder? You are mine!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d said my sister, weeping, \u201cit can never be.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it because I am poor and friendless?\u201d\n\nMy sister said never a word.\n\n\u201cIs it because you prize rank and wealth more than love?\u201d\n\nStill my sister said nothing.\n\nThe young man hesitated, and stooping to kiss her hand, he said, \u201cI\nhave received my answer;\u201d and with these words he strode mournfully to\nthe door. But she did not look up at him, and with a sigh of deep grief\nhe left us.\n\n\n_Paravaine Has Made Her Choice_\n\n\u201cThe wrong choice once more,\u201d said the Fool, and he, too, went his way.\n\nMy sister had hardly dried her eyes when there came a knock upon the\ndoor behind her, and the King entered. She did not turn round, and the\nKing tripped in silently on his toes, putting a finger roguishly to\nhis lips and shaking all over with mirth; and coming up behind her he\nplaced his two fat hands over her eyes, wagging his eyebrows up and\ndown at me.\n\n\u201cGuess who it is!\u201d he cried, wheezing. \u201cWhat do you say? It\u2019s somebody\ncome a-wooing! Never mind who! Ha, ha, ha! Guess who it is, and\nto-morrow you\u2019ll be Queen! What do you say? Pouf! Pah! I\u2019m all out of\nbreath. It\u2019s somebody that wants you to be his Queen. Guess! The most\nbeautiful Queen in the whole--\u201d\n\nHe stopped suddenly. The King\u2019s Fool and his monkey had slipped into\nthe room behind him and were standing before my sister, and the dwarf\nwas holding up his mirror before my sister\u2019s face.\n\n\u201cWhat, what, what!\u201d cried the King in a rage, taking away his hands\nfrom my sister\u2019s eyes. \u201cWhat do you mean? Out of my sight, Fool! Away!\nBegone!\u201d\n\nThe dwarf held the mirror higher, shaking with laughter the while, and\nmy sister gazed into it. I saw her shudder and turn pale, and then she\nscreamed and buried her face in her hands.\n\nThe King, staring likewise into the mirror, turned purple and remained\nas if frozen with horror. He shook himself, and gave a choking gasp.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d he cried. \u201cIt\u2019s the--what a-- Take it away. She\u2019s an old\nwoman! She\u2019s a witch! What a-- I\u2019m no fool, it\u2019s a trick, I knew it\nall the time! Take her away! She\u2019s an old woman. You can\u2019t play tricks\non me, I won\u2019t have it, I won\u2019t stand it. She\u2019s a witch! I\u2019m going. I\nwon\u2019t stay. It\u2019s a trick. I\u2019m no fool!\u201d\n\nWith these words, puffing and wheezing, he trotted on his fat legs out\nof the room.\n\n\u201cNo marriage yet,\u201d said the Fool, looking at me queerly, and he ran\nafter the King, pulling his monkey along with him.\n\n\n_He Finds Himself Rubbing His Palms Together_\n\nThat night, as I stood before my mirror, undressing, and comforting\nmyself with the thought of all the magnificence I had acquired and\nwould acquire with my dead orange leaves, I found myself rubbing the\npalm of my right hand with the fingers of my left. I was aware of a\nslight itching in the palm.\n\nAt breakfast in the morning, I noticed that my sister, who was very\nsober, would now and then scratch the palm of her right hand; but I\nsaid nothing, and in the afternoon, without questioning her on the\nsubject of her love for the King\u2019s brother, I prepared to visit the\nKing, to try if I could not bring him back to reason. I was ready to\nleave, when my sister broke into my room, crying out frantically:\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t stand it, I can\u2019t stand it! The itching in my palms! It won\u2019t\nstop for a moment! I can\u2019t sit still! It\u2019s growing worse and worse! Oh,\nbrother, cure it, cure it, or I shall go mad!\u201d\n\nShe walked up and down the room in a frenzy, rubbing her palms\ntogether. I tried in vain to pacify her, and at length I left her and\nbetook myself to the King.\n\nOn my way the itching of the night before returned, and this time I\nfelt it in both my hands. I knew that my sister and myself, in common\nwith the King and all his subjects, had been handling the dead leaves\nfreely since I had worked the cure, and I began to be uneasy.\n\nWhen I knocked at the King\u2019s door the voice of the Fool said \u201cCome in,\u201d\nand I found the King running with his tripping step up and down the\nroom, rubbing his hands, and beside him trotted the Fool and the monkey.\n\n\u201cImbecile!\u201d cried the King, without stopping for an instant. \u201cYou\nshall die the death! A trick, a trick! And half of my dead leaves gone\nfor nothing! A death in boiling oil! What do you say? Don\u2019t answer me!\nMy hands, my hands! Worse than before! You shall suffer, you shall\nsuffer! A slow death! Why don\u2019t you speak? What are you going to do?\u201d\n\n\u201cHa, ha, ha!\u201d laughed the Fool. \u201cHe\u2019s been handling the dead leaves\nagain, and so have you all. It\u2019ll be my turn soon! My turn soon!\u201d\n\n\u201cPatience, your majesty,\u201d said I, rubbing my hands. \u201cI will go to work\nat once and prepare more of my salve. Have no fear. I will cure you\ninstantly. I am off to my work.\u201d\n\n\n_He Cannot Find the Ingredients for Making the Salve_\n\n\u201cPouf! Pah!\u201d said the King, angrily, and I ran from the room, to find\nthe ingredients necessary for my salve. But alas, they were not to be\nfound. I sent everywhere; the city was scoured; but it was no use; I\nwas in despair. Such simples as could be found I gathered together, and\nof these I made a new remedy,--far different from my old, but it was\nthe best I could do. I tried it on myself, and felt an almost instant\nrelief. I shouted with joy.\n\nI returned to the King, and as I passed an open window in the great\nhall I heard the muttering of many voices outside, and I saw a great\nconcourse of people in the palace grounds, all talking angrily, and all\nrubbing their hands and dancing on their toes in anguish. They began\nto shout my name, and I knew that if I should fall among them in their\npresent temper I should be lost.\n\nThe King was trotting up and down as before, and the dwarf and the\nmonkey were running along beside him.\n\n\u201cWhat, what?\u201d he cried. \u201cWhat now? No tricks! I\u2019m no fool. What\u2019s the\nmatter?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf I cure you,\u201d said I, holding up my box of ointment, \u201cI must have\nthe rest of your leaves; and from every one I cure I must have the rest\nof his; it is only just.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnything!\u201d cried the King. \u201cYou can\u2019t do it! It\u2019s another trick! I\u2019ll\ngive all the dead leaves in the city to anyone who can save me and my\npeople! It\u2019s a trick! You can\u2019t do it. What are you waiting for? Try\nit! Oh, these hands! It\u2019s no use! Hurry up!\u201d\n\nI seized his hand, and running beside him I rubbed into his palm a\nlittle of my new ointment; and running around to his other side I did\nthe same for his other hand.\n\n\u201cSee the madmen!\u201d cried the Fool, clapping his hands in glee.\n\n\u201cBy the beard of my uncle!\u201d cried the King. \u201cI feel better! It\u2019s going!\nIt\u2019s gone! It\u2019s all over! I\u2019m cured! Oh, wonderful young man, come to\nmy arms! What do you say? I knew you could do it all the time. I\u2019m\ncured!\u201d\n\nHe grasped my arm and pulled me from the room, and down the stairway to\nthe front door. A great throng filled the grounds, from the door to the\ngate; and commanding silence, the King announced in a loud voice that I\nwas ready with my cure, and that whoever wished to be cured should give\nup the remainder of his dead leaves.\n\nThere was a moment\u2019s hesitation, but the anguish of their affliction\nwas too great; the people whispered together, doubtless remarking that\nthey would soon get back their leaves in trade; and at any rate they\nbegan to file before me, and my healing work commenced; but not before\nI had applied my salve, in sight of all, to my sister\u2019s palms, and\ngiven her immediate relief.\n\nAll that day and the next and for several days the work continued, and\nin each case the itching vanished at once; the city was cured again,\nand my vat in the public square was filled to the brim, with all the\ndead orange leaves that the people owned. The glory of my future was\nbeyond calculation; my sister, I resolved, should yet be Queen; and I\nplanned for myself such offices in the state as should give me power\neven greater than the King\u2019s.\n\nWhen I awoke in my bed on the following morning, I found that I was\nrubbing my hands.\n\nI dressed hurriedly, and my sister came to me in tears. She was rubbing\nher hands.\n\nWe hurried to the King. He was running up and down, rubbing his hands.\n\nWe fled from him and ran out upon the palace steps, not knowing where\nnext to go; and as we stood there, hesitating, the King\u2019s brother\nappeared before us, and spoke with excitement.\n\n\u201cBeloved!\u201d he cried. \u201cWe love each other--what more is needed? Quick,\nit is not yet too late! Say that you love me--let me hear it again!\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, yes, I do,\u201d said my sister, and he threw his arm about her and\nclasped her to his breast.\n\n\u201cCome! I will save you!\u201d he cried. \u201cThere is time, if we hurry. Will\nyou come with me now?\u201d\n\nMy sister drew back a little, still struggling within herself; and\nwhile she hesitated, a commotion arose at the gate, and the young man\ncried out, in a voice full of despair:\n\n\u201cIt is too late, too late!\u201d\n\n\n_Tush and His Sister are Seized by the Angry Crowd_\n\nAt the gate a throng of people were pressing in with angry shouts. They\nmade toward us, dancing and rubbing their hands. They surrounded us;\nthey crowded upon us to suffocation; the young man and myself tried\nin vain to shield my sister; angry hands were laid upon her and upon\nmyself, and we were hustled away toward the gate.\n\n\u201cGive us back our leaves! Kill them both! To the square!\u201d shouted the\nmob; and thrusting the King\u2019s brother aside they pulled and pushed us\nto the public square, and halted us beneath the vat which contained all\nmy wealth.\n\nA sudden outcry, followed by silence, drew my attention upward. There\nabove us, on the rim of the vat, stood the King\u2019s Fool. He held a\nlighted torch aloft in his hand.\n\n\u201cMadmen!\u201d he cried. \u201cI am ready to cure you! All alone! Speak! Shall I\ndestroy the leaves?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d shouted the crowd. \u201cStop him! Stop him!\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you fire the leaves, we will kill these two!\u201d shouted one of our\ncaptors.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said my sister at my side, pale with terror. \u201cWhat shall we do?\nStop him! If the genie would only come and help us! I wish the genie\nwere here to help us!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe time has come!\u201d cried the Fool. \u201cI must save you! Why will you all\nbe mad? I must save you from your madness! In with the torch!\u201d\n\nHe faced about toward the center of the vat, and swung his torch as\nif about to toss it in; but at that instant a great wind swept across\nthe square with a roar, such a blast as I had never in my life known\nbefore, and the King\u2019s Fool tottered in it for a moment, and his torch\nwent out; and then, clutching at the air, he was blown headlong to the\nground in a heap.\n\n\u201cThe whirlwind! The whirlwind!\u201d shouted the crowd in terror. \u201cFly! Fly\nfor your lives!\u201d\n\nFar off across the housetops appeared a yellow cloud, and a saffron\ngloom overspread the city. From the cloud to the ground revolved a\nyellow funnel, as of dust-laden wind; and it was coming toward us with\nthe speed of lightning.\n\nThe crowd dispersed madly, trampling one another, shrieking and\ncursing, and in a twinkling they were gone. I seized my sister and\ndragged her to the street corner, where I opened one half of a cellar\ndoor and plunged down with her, closing the door over us, but peeping\nout through a crack. We were just in time.\n\n\n_The Genie in the Whirlwind_\n\nThe whirling funnel of wind and dust swept over the square; and in the\nforefront of it, at a great height, flew the genie, his great mouth\nopen, and darts of fire flickering around his face.\n\nThe square was empty, save for the crumpled body of the King\u2019s Fool,\nlying motionless beside the vat of dead leaves; and as I gazed at him\nwhere he lay, I saw, moving toward him across the bare pavement, the\nhumped figure of his little monkey.\n\nThe genie, far above, kept just ahead of the whirlwind; the yellow\nfunnel whirled after him directly across the vat and covered it and\npassed; and as it passed, all the dead leaves surged up into it in a\nfurious gale, so that it was darkened with them; and the next moment\nthe whirlwind was gone, and the square lay quiet in the sunshine.\n\n\u201cCome, Paravaine!\u201d said I, and pulled my sister forth across the square.\n\nWe came to the base of the vat, and on the ground beside it, left\nthere untouched by the storm, lay the King\u2019s Fool on his side, graver\nthan he had ever been in his life; and huddled against his breast sat\nhis monkey, shivering, and looking up at us with eyes that seemed to\nreproach us.\n\nWe hurried toward the city gate. Many houses were in ruins, and the\nstreets were strewn with rubbish. People were running busily about,\ngazing intently at the ground, and now and then one would stoop and\npick up something. I saw what it was they were doing; they were\nsearching for dead leaves, scattered by the whirlwind.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t go!\u201d said my sister, weeping. \u201cI must see him first! Oh, my\nlove, my love!\u201d\n\n\u201cToo late now!\u201d I cried. \u201cToo late, too late!\u201d\n\nI pulled her onward, knowing that death awaited us in that city; and\nwe came to the plot of grass where we had seen the sacred tree. It was\ngone, and in the place where it had been was only a gaping hole. The\nwhirlwind had passed that way. On the ground beside the hole lay the\npanther, its head on its paws. It watched us with sleepy eyes as we\nfled by.\n\nIn a moment we had reached the city gate and passed out. The Guardian\nwas standing there, his face clouded with a frown, and his scimitar\nraised.\n\n\u201cWhy do you flee?\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cFrom the wrath of the people!\u201d I cried. \u201cLet us pass!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou cannot pass,\u201d said he. His scimitar glittered in the sun.\n\n\u201cBut we repent! We repent!\u201d cried my sister.\n\n\u201cToo late, too late!\u201d said the Guardian. \u201cSee!\u201d\n\nHe pointed upward, and afar off in the sky appeared a black speck,\nspeeding toward us.\n\n\u201cThe genie!\u201d I cried; and I had no sooner said it, than the earth\ntrembled, and before us on the ground towered the genie, breathing fire.\n\n\u201cSave us from him!\u201d I cried, turning to the Guardian, but he was gone.\nWe were alone with the genie.\n\n\n_The Pulling Off of the Genie\u2019s Ring_\n\n\u201cOff with the ring! That will send him away!\u201d I cried to my sister,\nand she tugged at the ring on her forefinger, to pull it off; but it\ncame unwillingly; and as she pulled, her finger lengthened; she tugged\nharder, and as the ring came her finger stretched out longer and\nlonger; and when the ring was off and dropped on the ground, the first\nfinger of her right hand was more than a foot long,--a black, stiff\nrod, hooked at the end like a poker.\n\n[Illustration: The genie swung him back and forth and tossed him out to\nsea]\n\nThe genie stooped, and gathered me under his right arm and my sister\nunder his left; and giving a stamp upon the ground which shook the\nearth he mounted into the air....\n\nFar out over the Great Sea, as the sun was setting, the genie drew\ndownward toward an island; and on a bluff of this island, overlooking\na cove in which fishing boats lay moored, he alighted and set us on\nour feet. Over my sister\u2019s head and back he passed his hand, speaking\nstrange words in his throat. She shriveled before my eyes; her face\nbecame old and wrinkled and her body bent; and before I could speak\nshe was the hideous creature I had seen in the Fool\u2019s glass, with a\nforefinger like the poker of a ragpicker.\n\n\u201cParavaine!\u201d I cried; but the genie turned her away toward a village\nwhich showed itself at the back of the cove, and sent her off in that\ndirection; and when she had gone, he picked me up in his mighty hands,\nand carrying me to the further edge of the bluff where it looked down\non the rolling surf, he swung me back and forth three or four times and\ntossed me out to sea.\n\nI sank into the depths; I rose to the surface; and as my head came up\nI looked for the genie. Far up in the evening sky flew what seemed a\ntiny, black arrow. I cried aloud; and instead of a shriek there came\nfrom my throat a bark. It was the bark of a seal.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SIXTH NIGHT\n\nTHE ENCHANTED HIGHWAYMAN\n\n\n_Mortimer the Executioner, very grand and uncomfortable in his new\nsuit, placed a chair for the Queen before Solario\u2019s worktable, and the\nold tailor having seated himself cross-legged on the table, the entire\ncompany sat down in a row, facing him._\n\n_There were first the Executioner, with the tiny Encourager on his\nshoulder; then Bodkin; then Bojohn; then his mother, the Princess\nDorobel, and his father, Prince Bilbo; and last, his grandmother, the\nQueen._\n\n_\u201cNow then,\u201d said Bojohn, \u201cI hope we\u2019re going to hear the story of\nMontesango\u2019s Cave at last.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIf it please your majesty,\u201d began Solario, addressing the\nQueen,--but at this moment there came a loud knock at the door._\n\n_Mortimer the Executioner hastened to open it, and there in the doorway\nstood the King himself. Solario sprang down from his table, and all the\nothers rose._\n\n_\u201cAh! your majesty!\u201d cried Solario, bowing profoundly. \u201cThis is indeed\nan honor!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI was told I would find you here,\u201d said the King. \u201cIt seems that my\nentire family deserts me in the evening, and I am obliged to climb the\nworst stairs in the castle to-- But of course if you find my society\ntoo--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cMy dear!\u201d said the Queen. \u201cWe have been listening to Solario\u2019s\nstories, and you were so taken up with your chess that we thought you\nwouldn\u2019t care to--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cWhy not?\u201d said the King. \u201cBut of course if you don\u2019t want me to hear\nthe stories, I\u2019ll--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cSit down, grandfather!\u201d cried Bojohn. \u201cHe\u2019s just going to begin.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cDo sit down, my dear,\u201d said the Queen. \u201cDon\u2019t you remember the story\nhe told us the first night?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cHum! Ha! I\u2019m all out of breath with those plaguey stairs. Something\nabout a button, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cPerhaps,\u201d said Prince Bilbo, \u201che\u2019ll tell us to-night how the magic\ndoublet came to be--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cWell,\u201d said the King, \u201cif it isn\u2019t a long story-- Is it a long\nstory?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNo, no, your majesty,\u201d said Solario, bowing again, \u201cit is quite\nshort.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cHum!\u201d said the King. \u201cIf you\u2019re sure it\u2019s not a long story--Why\ndon\u2019t you begin?\u201d and he sat down in the Executioner\u2019s chair._\n\n_Solario took his place cross-legged on the table again, and the others\nresumed their seats before him,--all except the Executioner, who stood,\nwith the Encourager on his shoulder, behind the King._\n\n_\u201cMy dear,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cdid you give the orders for locking the\ncastle for the night?\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI believe I usually attend to that,\u201d said the King. \u201cSolario,\nproceed.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIf it is your pleasure,\u201d said Solario, fingering his shears, \u201cI will\nnow relate to you the story concerning the magic doublet, as it was\ntold to the Black Prince by his father the King of Wen, and by the\nBlack Prince to me. The King of Wen, having directed his son regarding\nhis mission to the City of Oogh, placed the doublet in his son\u2019s left\nhand, and thus commenced what I may call_\n\n\n\u201cTHE STORY OF THE ENCHANTED HIGHWAYMAN.\u201d\n\n_\u201cI thought,\u201d interrupted Bojohn, \u201cyou were going to tell us the story\nof the magic doublet.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cI am about to do so,\u201d said Solario. \u201cAs I was saying, the King of\nWen, placing the magic doublet in his son\u2019s left hand, thus commenced_\n\n\n\u201cTHE STORY OF THE ENCHANTED HIGHWAYMAN.\u201d\n\nWhen I was a young man (said the King of Wen), I left my father\u2019s\ncastle one morning for a day\u2019s hunting in the forest. Late in the\nafternoon it chanced that I had wandered away from my attendants, and\nbeing warm and weary I threw myself down upon the moss to rest. I had\nlain there but a moment when I saw, not far off among the trees, a fine\nbuck, the only game I had come upon that day. I crept cautiously in his\ndirection, and soon came within easy bowshot of him; but just as I was\nfitting my arrow to the string he tossed his head and trotted off into\nthe forest and disappeared.\n\nI made off after him as fast as I could, marking his trail by a\nbroken branch here and there and an occasional hoof-print in the damp\nearth, and presently I found myself deep in a considerable thicket of\nunderwood, and from this thicket I came out, to my surprise, upon a\nforest road.\n\n\n_A Voice from Nowhere Bids the Prince Stop_\n\nI stood for a moment looking up and down curiously. The deer was\nnowhere to be seen. The road was arched in a charming manner by the\nbranches of the trees, and at no great distance lost itself in the\nshadowy forest. I wondered that I had never heard of this road before,\nand after pondering this for a moment I began to cross the road,\nlooking carefully for the deer\u2019s tracks in the dust. I saw no trace of\nhim, and I was about to push into the forest on the other side, when\nsuddenly a voice, a low but clear voice, said distinctly in my ear,\n\u201cStop!\u201d\n\nI looked about me, but I could see no one. There was positively no\nliving creature near me,--unless I except a wasp which at the moment\nwas flying about my head, and which I struck away with my hand.\n\nI walked down the road some twenty paces, peering about for the person\nwho had spoken, and becoming more and more perplexed; and as I was\nabout to enter the forest the same voice, still low but quite distinct,\nspoke again close into my ear: \u201cStop!\u201d\n\nI stopped in bewilderment. The forest was silent as the sky; no\nliving creature, not even a bird, could I see anywhere; there was\nnothing;--nothing, indeed, except the wasp which was still flying about\nmy head and which now began to annoy me exceedingly.\n\nI went on again, striking out at the wasp, and in a moment (I assure\nyou I began to doubt my senses), the same voice spoke again, this time\nclose into my left ear.\n\n\u201cStop! Just a moment!\u201d it said. \u201cLook, if you please! On your left\nshoulder!\u201d\n\nI craned my neck about, and there was nothing on my left shoulder\nexcept the wasp. The wasp was there, indeed, and I made as if to brush\nhim off; but the voice said, \u201cDon\u2019t, if you please!\u201d and I stayed my\nhand.\n\nYou may imagine that I was more astonished than ever. I gazed at the\nwasp intently, and as I did so the voice began to murmur, in a kind of\nrapid, buzzing drone, into my left ear.\n\n\u201cMercy on us!\u201d I cried. \u201cIt\u2019s the wasp that\u2019s talking!\u201d\n\nIt was true, beyond a doubt. \u201cYes!\u201d said the voice. \u201cPlease listen! If\nyou\u2019d only be so good--I really wish you would!\u201d\n\n\n_The Prince Listens to a Curious Discourse_\n\nI stood perfectly still in the roadway, and I know that my mouth hung\nopen as I listened. The wasp buzzed into my ear a kind of rapid,\ndroning song, so low that I had to strain my attention a little to\ncatch it all, and these were the words I heard:\n\n  \u201cI know it\u2019s rude to speak to you, it\u2019s something I but seldom do,\n      to speak before I\u2019m spoken to,\n                        Or buttonhole a stranger;\n  Excuse me if I do not pause to think just now of social laws, I can\n      not spare the time, because\n                        I\u2019m in the gravest danger;\n  In gravest danger, yes, it\u2019s true, I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t know what I\u2019ll\n      do, I\u2019ll positively die if you\n                        Refuse me your assistance;\n  Come, follow me without delay, I pray you do not say me nay,\n      it\u2019s life or death,--and anyway\n                        It\u2019s scarcely any distance.\n\n  \u201cMy lot is sad in the extreme, I really am not what I seem,\n      I once was held in high esteem\n                        By every friend and neighbor:\n  A man entirely free of guile, who lived but in his children\u2019s smile,\n      and kept them all in modest style\n                        By hard and patient labor,\n  A man of pleasing manners who, whatever other men might do,\n      spoke seldom unless spoken to,\n                        A practice much commended;\n  My trade in such a way I plied upon the highway far and wide\n      (I say it with a modest pride)\n                        I scarcely once offended.\n\n  \u201cIt used to be my pleasant way (it always made my work seem\n      play) to take the air from day to day,--\n                        Unless, of course,\u2019twas raining,--\n  Upon the road to watch and wait from early morn to rather late,\n      but always coming home by eight\n                        (Such was my early training),\n  I used to watch and wait, I say, and when a trav\u2019ler came my\n      way, which happened every other day\n                        Unless too cold or sunny,\n  I never spoke a word, not I, I merely breathed a patient sigh,\n      and held my trusty blade on high\n                        And took from him his money.\n\n  \u201c\u2019Twas thus I kept my children ten, a decent, worthy citizen,\n      the happiest of mortal men\n                        My humble sphere adorning,\n  The father of ten daughters fair who needed tons of clothes to\n      wear, and that was why I took the air\n                        Upon the road each morning,\n  But oh, alas for them and me, it\u2019s over now, as you may see,\n      and you are incontestably\n                        Our only hope remaining;\n  And all our truly dreadful plight is just because one rainy night\n      I simply for a moment quite\n                        Forgot my early training.\n\n  \u201c\u2019Twas rainy and \u2019twas after eight, I knew that I was out too\n      late, but when your trade\u2019s in such a state\n                        You hardly know what cash is,\n  You cannot stop because you get your feet all muddy, cold and wet,\n      I knew I should be ill, and yet,--\n                        My children needed sashes.\n  I shivered with the wet and cold, I counted twenty times all told\n      I\u2019d meant to have my shoes half-soled\n                        And still they\u2019d not been cobbled,\n  \u2018I\u2019ll certainly,\u2019 I thought, \u2018be sick,\u2019--and then from out the darkness\n      thick an ancient woman with a stick\n                        In fearsome silence hobbled.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  \u201cI held my trusty blade on high\n  And took from him his money\u201d]\n\n\n  \u201cShe was an ancient, crooked crone, an ugly thing of skin and\n      bone, she passed me silent as a stone\n                        (I thought it rather funny),\n  But I could hear my children cry, \u2018Oh, buy us ribbons, father, buy,\u2019\n      and stopping her, my blade on high,\n                        I shouted, \u2018Stand! Your money!\u2019\n  Ah, that was just where I did make a most unfortunate mistake,\n      for she with mirth began to shake\n                        (It made my blood run colder),\n  And up she raised her crooked staff, she gave a most unearthly\n      laugh, a thing I did not like by half,\n                        And touched me on the shoulder.\n\n  \u201cShe stood, she looked me through and through, she said not even\n      \u2018How d\u2019ye do,\u2019 she merely gave a laugh or two,\n                        And munched her gums together:\n  A witch, a sorceress of the wood! I nearly fainted where I stood,\n      I really truly think you could\n                        Have felled me with a feather.\n  A witch, as sure, as sure could be! You see what she has done to\n      me! And all because I carelessly\n                        Forgot my early training.\n  From which you learn this lesson true, that it will never, never\n      do to speak before you\u2019re spoken to\n                        Or stay out when it\u2019s raining.\u201d\n\n\nThe voice stopped, and the wasp flew off, directly before my nose, as\nif leading me away.\n\n_\u201cWhy, dear me!\u201d interrupted the Queen. \u201cI believe this wasp was\nnothing more nor less than a Highwayman.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cWhat I don\u2019t understand is,\u201d said the King, \u201chow a Highwayman could\nhave learned to make up verses.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cIn the Forest of Wen, your majesty,\u201d said Solario, \u201cthe Highwaymen\nalways talked in that fashion. It was their regular custom. I am told\nthat no Highwayman could get his certificate until he had passed an\nexamination in arithmetic, swordplay, and composition; and of course\ncomposition included verse making.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cWell,\u201d said the King, \u201cI don\u2019t see what that had to do with making a\ngood Highwayman of him; but then I don\u2019t pretend to understand these\nnotions about education. As far as I\u2019m concerned, if I had to pass an\nexamination in arithmetic in order to be a King, I\u2019d simply have to\nlook about for something else to do. I never could see the sense in\nteaching a King arithmetic, and I don\u2019t see the sense in teaching a\nHighwayman how to make verses. I know it\u2019s done in some places; it\u2019s\ngotten to be quite the thing, I understand that perfectly well; but I\ndon\u2019t see any sense in it.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cMy dear,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cyou mustn\u2019t forget that a Highwayman has\nto know a great deal more than a King. It\u2019s so very much harder to be a\ngood Highwayman. But I don\u2019t think I should like to be married to one.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cThis one was a widower, evidently,\u201d said the King. \u201cI know I\nshouldn\u2019t like to be a widower with ten daughters on my hands. I don\u2019t\nsee how any human being could keep ten daughters in ribbons and--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cWhen Dorobel was little,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cI always had the most\nterrible time to make her remember that she mustn\u2019t speak until she\nwas spoken to. I don\u2019t wonder the poor man forgot it, when he was so\nworried about sashes for his dear children,--and out so late at night,\nand in the rain, too!\u201d_\n\n_\u201cWhy don\u2019t you let the man go on with his story?\u201d said the King.\n\u201cWe\u2019ll_ never _get to bed at this rate. Solario, be kind enough to\nproceed.\u201d_\n\nThe wasp flew off (said the King of Wen), directly before my nose, as\nif leading me away; and I followed him down the road.\n\nWe had gone about a mile, when the wasp turned off into the forest. I\nhesitated a moment, but I was curious to know what this unfortunate\nHighwayman intended, and I pushed on after him into a portion of\nthe forest which was wilder and gloomier than any I had yet seen.\nThe branches of the trees hung low, and the ground was thick with\nunderbrush; I had to part the bushes and branches with my hands in\norder to get through.\n\nThe wasp flew within a foot of my nose, and I kept on after him thus\nfor more than half an hour. He seemed to know the way, but for my part\nI began to wonder whether I should ever be able to find my way back.\nSuddenly he flew off, and I saw him no more.\n\n\n_The Prince, Alone in the Forest, Hears the Bark of a Dog_\n\nI was at this moment in an uncommonly thick part of the forest. The\ntrees were perhaps less close, but the underbrush was taller; so tall\nthat I could not see through. I stopped for a moment, and listened. All\nwas still. Not a bird twittered among the leaves overhead. I was vexed\nthat I had allowed myself to be drawn upon such a wild-goose chase, and\nI decided that I had better begin to make my way back to the road; and\nas I was considering this, I heard the bark of a dog.\n\nIt was a single, sharp bark, and it stopped abruptly, as if a hand\nhad been clapped over the animal\u2019s mouth. I listened again, but it\ncame no more. \u201cWhat should a dog be doing here?\u201d I thought; and full\nof curiosity I pushed on through the underbrush in the direction of\nthe sound. In a moment I had broken through the tanglewood, and I was\nstanding at the edge of a clearing, in the midst of which was a little\nhouse.\n\nIt was a very tiny house indeed,--not much more, in fact, than a hut.\nIts door was closed, and the window beside the door was barred with\nshutters. I listened intently, thinking to hear again the bark of a\ndog, but I heard nothing. Evidently the place was deserted.\n\nI crossed the open space before the door, and as I did so I noticed,\nclinging to the trunk and lower branches of a tree at the side of the\nclearing, what appeared to be a wasp\u2019s nest; but an enormous wasp\u2019s\nnest, big enough, in all conscience, to contain a man if need be; a\nwasp\u2019s nest greater than I should have thought could exist in the\nworld. I looked at it curiously, and coming nearer I saw, crawling over\nit, a number of wasps. I counted them, and there were eleven.\n\nThey arose with one accord and flew in great agitation about my head;\nand at the same time I heard a voice from inside the wasp\u2019s nest,--the\nvoice of a human being, but not the one I had already heard; a voice\nmuch stronger and louder. I put my ear against the wasp\u2019s nest, and\nfrom within came these words:\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t speak before you\u2019re spoken to!\u201d\n\n\u201cWho is it?\u201d I said. \u201cWhere are you?\u201d\n\n\u201cBeware the dog!\u201d said the voice again.\n\n\u201cBut who--what--?\u201d I began.\n\n\n_The Prisoner Inside the Wasp\u2019s Nest_\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t get out! I\u2019m imprisoned inside the wasp\u2019s nest! Do as you\u2019re\nbid, and don\u2019t speak before you\u2019re spoken to. Beware the dog!\u201d\n\nAt this moment I heard the click of a latch, and I turned round in time\nto see the door of the hut open.\n\nIn the doorway was standing an old woman, and by her side a dog. She\nwas a hideous old crone, wrinkled and bent, with little, beady eyes\nand a hooked nose and no teeth. She stood there munching her gums and\nblinking her eyes at me, and I noticed that she wore about her neck a\nstring of what looked like ivory buttons, ten of them, white and flat.\n\nWith her left hand she leaned on a crooked stick, and with her right\nhand she held, by a leather thong, the biggest and fiercest-looking dog\nI had ever seen in my life. His head came nearly to the old woman\u2019s\nshoulder. He was chocolate brown in color, and his skin was entirely\nnaked of hair, except for a patch of long wiry hair which fringed\nhis neck. He bared his sharp, white teeth at me and growled. I felt\ndecidedly uneasy.\n\nThe eleven wasps were flying about my head in violent agitation. The\nold woman said nothing, but continued to blink at me and munch her\ngums. Suddenly the dog barked, and without a word the old woman flung\nthe thong from her hand. The dog gave a bound toward me and crouched\nfor a spring, growling and bristling. In another instant I knew that I\nwould be torn to pieces. I started back and cried out in alarm.\n\n\u201cCall him off!\u201d I shouted. \u201cStop him! Call him off!\u201d\n\nAt these words, a groan came from inside the wasps\u2019 nest. At the same\ntime one of the eleven wasps, which were flying directly before my\nface, dropped to the ground at my feet as if dead. I realized that I\nhad spoken before being spoken to, and one of the wasps--one of the\nHighwayman\u2019s daughters, in fact,--had suffered for my error. But the\nworst consequence was now to come.\n\nThe old woman shook her stick and danced up and down in hideous glee.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s spoken!\u201d she cried. \u201cHa! ha! Spoken before he was spoken to!\nHe\u2019s done for himself now! At him, dog, he\u2019s helpless! Seize him, dog,\ndestroy him!\u201d\n\n\n_The Dog Leaps Upon Him to Devour Him_\n\nBefore I could turn, the dog was upon me. No man on earth could have\nstood up under such an attack. With one leap he was upon my breast,\nand bore me to the ground; and as I fell his sharp teeth sank into my\nshoulder, and I nearly fainted with pain and terror.\n\n\u201cA hair of the dog that bit you!\u201d It was the voice from within the\nwasp\u2019s nest, and it was crying: \u201cA hair of the dog that bit you!\u201d\n\nMy senses were slipping away, and I hardly knew what I did; but somehow\nor other I put my hand on the beast\u2019s neck, and plucked from it a long\nhair; and as I did so the dog bounded away from me and stood cowering\nand quivering, as if in fear.\n\n\u201cAt him!\u201d screamed the witch--for it was a witch, beyond a doubt; and\nshe rushed upon the dog and began to beat him violently with her stick.\n\u201cAt him again!\u201d she screamed, but to my amazement the dog turned upon\nher, snarling; and at that moment the voice came again from the wasp\u2019s\nnest, and it cried:\n\n\u201cA ring of the hair! Make a ring of the hair for your finger!\u201d\n\nI sat up and quickly wound about my finger, in a ring, the hair which I\nhad plucked from the dog\u2019s neck. The effect of this was startling. The\nwitch shrieked, plainly in terror, and sprang away from the dog; and\nthe brute came to me and cringed before me on the ground and whined;\nand behold, all the pain was gone from my shoulder.\n\n\u201cCommand him to be himself again!\u201d cried the voice from the wasp\u2019s nest.\n\n\u201cBe yourself again!\u201d I cried, not knowing what I said.\n\n\n_The Prince, Sitting on the Ground, Looks Up at a Genie_\n\nInstantly, in the flash of an eye, the dog was gone; and in his place\nstood, towering above me full seven yards or more, a monstrous creature\nin the shape of a man, chocolate brown in color, baldheaded except for\na fringe of long hair at the base of his skull, and bare except for a\ncloth twisted about his middle, in which hung a gleaming scimitar. It\nwas a genie. He was panting with anger or some other strong emotion,\nand as he panted jets of fire shot forth from his nostrils. His mighty\nchest heaved, and I shrank back in alarm; but he spread out his hands\nand bowed low before me. I remembered the ring of hair on my finger,\nand grew bolder.\n\nThe witch was creeping quietly away, stick in hand, toward the door of\nher hut; but as she reached it the genie stooped and caught her in his\nhand and held her fast. I sprang to my feet.\n\n\u201cSet free your victims!\u201d I cried to her. \u201cThe wasps and the prisoner\ninside the nest! Release them! or by the power of the genie\u2019s hair, I\nwill command him to destroy you!\u201d\n\nShe kicked and squirmed and shrieked, but all in vain. There was no\nescaping from that terrible grasp. She grew quiet, and began to mutter\nto herself. \u201cI will count ten,\u201d I cried, \u201cand if at the tenth--\u201d But\nshe did not wait for me to count. With one look up at the genie\u2019s face\nshe waved her crooked stick in the air and began to pour out strange\nwords, and then, giving a despairing cry, she let the stick fall to\nthe ground; and as it touched the ground, there came from the wasp\u2019s\nnest--I assure you it was an extraordinary sight--I scarcely know how\nto tell you, it all happened so quickly--\n\n\n_The One-Armed Sorcerer Appears from Within the Wasp\u2019s Nest_\n\nWell, the wasp\u2019s nest opened from top to bottom, and inside it was\nsitting a young man, who leaped down with a laugh and stood before me,\nbowing. I noticed that he had but one arm, the left; his eyes were\nblue, and his skin was fair and rosy; and he wore a long blue gown\nspangled with silver stars.\n\n_The Highwayman and Nine of His Daughters Appear in Proper Person_\n\nAlmost at the same instant there were standing before me nine young\nmaidens, all of extraordinary beauty; and in their midst an elderly\nman with a gray beard and a long thin face, and spindly legs. The\nnine maidens were gazing at an object on the ground, and the elderly\nman looked down at it also, and they all began to wring their hands\ntogether and moan.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the elderly man, sniffling,--\n\n  \u201cJust see what he has gone and done, he can\u2019t deny it, he\u2019s the\n      one, he ought to hide his head where none\n                        Could ever look upon it,\n  He knew, he did, he surely knew, I told him it would never do\n      to speak before you\u2019re spoken to,\n                        And now he\u2019s gone and done it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI warned him,\u201d said the one-armed young man, \u201cbut he was frightened,\nand he forgot.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d said the elderly man, wiping his tears away with the back of\nhis hand,--\n\n  \u201cOh, yes, it\u2019s well enough to say it slipped his mind a bit to-day\n      and in an absent sort of way\n                        He slew my darling daughter;\n  But that will hardly, hardly do, I really can\u2019t agree with you, it\u2019s\n      simply from my point of view\n                        A case of plain manslaughter.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, sister! sister!\u201d cried the nine maidens. \u201cIsn\u2019t it terrible? It\u2019s\ntoo terrible! It is terrible, isn\u2019t it?\u201d\n\n\u201cLet me go!\u201d screamed the witch, struggling in the hand of the genie.\n\n\n_He Sees the Highwayman\u2019s Tenth Daughter_\n\nI pushed into the group around the elderly Highwayman, and there at\nhis feet I saw what made my heart stand still with grief and remorse.\nOn the ground was lying a maiden, far lovelier than any of the others;\nand she was dead. Her eyes were closed, her face was pale, she did not\nbreathe; and her hair lay about her like a shower of gold. Alas, that\nmy carelessness had brought her to this sorrowful end! If she had only\nlived! How I should have rejoiced to be her friend, and in the course\nof time, perhaps, persuade her to smile upon me--Alas! alas! At that\nmoment, if she could but have cast one look upon me, I would have laid\nat her feet all that I--\n\nI knelt beside her and took her cold hand in mine. I stooped over her,\nand in an excess of pity, and of more, far more than pity, I kissed her\nsoftly on the lips.\n\nOh, wonderful! Her eyelids quivered. A faint flush came into her\ncheeks. Her eyes opened, and she looked straight into my own. She\nsmiled, and it was like the evening sky after rain. I put my arm\nbeneath her shoulder, and helped her to stand up. She rubbed her eyes\nand swayed a little, and I kept my arm about her. We gazed at each\nother, smiling.\n\n\u201cIs it--?\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cIt is, beloved!\u201d I cried, and folded her, unresisting, to my heart.\n\n\u201cOh, isn\u2019t it just too perfectly sweet?\u201d cried her nine sisters,\nclapping their hands and laughing merrily, all together. \u201cIt is sweet,\nisn\u2019t it? It\u2019s love at first sight! It\u2019s just the sweetest thing ever!\n_Isn\u2019t_ it just too sweet for _anything_, though?\u201d\n\nBut while they were still running on in this fashion, and the elderly\nHighwayman was cheering faintly and the one-armed young man was\ncheering lustily, a loud roar came from the genie, and we saw that the\nwitch had slipped from his grasp and was even now dashing in at the\ndoor of the hut. She shut it behind her with a bang, and the one-armed\nyouth pounded against it in vain.\n\n\u201cThe stolen hair!\u201d he cried. \u201cThe genie\u2019s hair which she stole from me!\nI must get it back! Don\u2019t let her get away!\u201d\n\n\n_The Genie Breathes Fire Upon the Witch\u2019s Hut_\n\nThe genie opened his great mouth and roared with anger; then he stooped\ndown over the hut, and I saw that he was breathing fire upon the roof\nfrom his nostrils; and as the sparks caught in the dry thatch, he began\nto walk around the hut, bending and breathing fire upon its roof from\nplace to place. In a few moments it was ablaze from end to end; the\nwalls caught; and as I held my fair lady trembling close beside me,\nthe house arose in flames, crackling and roaring, and showering sparks\nupward into the twilight sky.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said my fair one, clinging to my arm. \u201cThe poor witch! Save her!\nShe will be burned to death!\u201d But the genie\u2019s thunderous laugh was her\nonly answer.\n\nWe watched until the fire was out, and there remained only a heap of\nsmoking ashes; and the witch was gone.\n\n\u201cOh, the poor thing!\u201d said my beautiful lady.\n\n\u201cIsn\u2019t it terrible?\u201d said her nine sisters, among themselves. \u201cIt\u2019s\njust too terrible for anything! It _is_ terrible, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s simply\nterrible, it is, isn\u2019t it?\u201d\n\nThe one-armed youth stepped up to the ruin and appeared to be looking\namong the ashes near what was once the door. He looked for a long time,\nand then he suddenly straightened up and cried, \u201cAh!\u201d\n\nHe came toward us, and he was holding up in his hand what seemed to be\na necklace.\n\n\u201cSee!\u201d he said, and I saw that it was a string of buttons, of large\nflat buttons, eleven of them, threaded on what seemed to be a hair; the\nsame I had seen about the witch\u2019s neck.\n\n\u201cIt is the genie\u2019s hair,\u201d said the young man, \u201cthe same that she stole\nfrom me; and it was this hair which gave her power to turn my genie to\na dog and imprison me in the wasp\u2019s nest. Now let me see these buttons;\nI must look at them with care.\u201d\n\nHe examined each one minutely; and when he had examined them all, he\nplaced his finger on his lips and smiled knowingly; and while I held\nthe hair he broke it and slipped off the eleventh button, inviting\nme to look at it closely. I looked and saw upon it, near the rim, a\ncrooked black line, much like the imprint of a tiny, crooked stick.\n\n\n_The One-Armed Sorcerer Performs Upon a Button_\n\nHe threw the button upon the ground, laughing, and took from within\nhis gown a leather pouch, from which he sprinkled upon the button a\nblack powder; and then he began to speak, in a loud voice, words which\nI could not understand, in the midst of which he picked up the button,\nnow crusted with black; and still repeating his strange words, he swung\nhis arm, and with a loud cry flung the button into the branches of the\nnearest tree; and there, hanging on to a branch of the tree, trying\ndesperately to keep from toppling off, was the old witch herself.\n\nInstantly the young man took the threaded buttons from me and slipped\nthem off the hair; he wound the hair about his finger and cried,--\n\n\u201cOff with her! Off with her to the Forest Kingdom, far from here,\nand see that she never comes back again! Off with her, I say, to the\nKingdom of the Great Forest!\u201d\n\nAt these words the genie strode over to the witch and--\n\n_\u201cWell, bless my soul,\u201d interposed the King, \u201cwhat business did he\nhave to send that witch here, I\u2019d like to know? So_ that\u2019s _how\nshe came to live in my Forest! A fine piece of work, I must say! A\npretty how-d\u2019ye-do, to send their cast-off witches over here! What\nbusiness had he to--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cNever mind, grandfather\u201d said Bojohn, \u201cdo let him go on with his\nstory.\u201d_\n\n_\u201cA fine piece of work!\u201d said the King. \u201cOf all the high-handed,\nbrazen-faced--\u201d_\n\n_\u201cMy dear!\u201d said the Queen._\n\nThe genie strode over to the witch in three steps and plucked her down\nwith one hand. He then tucked her under his arm like a sack of corn,\nand stood before the one-armed youth.\n\n\u201cStoop down!\u201d said the young man.\n\nThe genie bowed low, and the young man, to my surprise, reached up and\npulled from the back of his head, at the neck, ten long hairs, one by\none.\n\n\u201cAway!\u201d cried the one-armed youth.\n\n\n_The Genie Flies Away With the Witch_\n\nThe genie stood up, and opening his great mouth in a silent laugh,\nstamped upon the earth so that it shook, and leaped straight up. He\nrose in the air in a wide curve; and before we could blink again he was\ngone like an arrow over the treetops, with the witch under his arm, and\nwas no more than a speck in the evening sky.\n\nThe young man tucked the ten hairs away inside his gown.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201c_she\u2019s_ gone. And good riddance, too, I should say.\u201d\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d said I to him, \u201cwill you tell us who you are, and what brings\nyou here?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am a sorcerer,\u201d said he, \u201cand I dwell in an island far out in the\nGreat Sea. I am known there as the One-Armed Sorcerer. I came here,\nwith the genie whom I command by virtue of a ring of his hair, in order\nto prove my skill against the witch. I undertook to release our good\nfriend the Highwayman and his ten fair daughters, but I am bound to say\nthat I managed it badly; so badly that the witch got the genie\u2019s hair\naway from me, and by means of that hair turned him into a dog and shut\nme up inside the wasp\u2019s nest. And all because I didn\u2019t know the rule,\nthat you mustn\u2019t speak before you\u2019re spoken to.\u201d\n\n\u201cA pretty good rule,\u201d said I, \u201cbut if everybody observed it, who would\never talk?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, anyway,\u201d said the One-Armed Sorcerer, \u201chere I have ten buttons,\nand here I have ten threads from the genie\u2019s head. I propose to make\nyou a doublet, sir; a magic doublet; and for the cloth, the wasp\u2019s\nnest will be the very thing. It will be a doublet worth having; and\nto you, sir, who have so nobly preserved us all, I will present it\non--er--ahem!--on your wedding day.\u201d\n\n\u201cHurrah!\u201d piped up the elderly Highwayman, and the lady on my arm\nblushed.\n\n\u201cOh, isn\u2019t that sweet of him?\u201d cried her nine sisters. \u201cIsn\u2019t it just\ntoo sweet for anything? It\u2019s really the sweetest thing, now isn\u2019t it?\nToo perfectly sweet for words, it is, really!\u201d\n\nThe One-Armed Sorcerer, stepping over to the wasp\u2019s nest, pulled it\ndown from the tree without breaking it, and slung it on his back.\n\n\u201cCome with me!\u201d I cried. \u201cYou shall all return with me to my father\u2019s\ncastle. Will you consent to that?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the elderly Highwayman,--\n\n  \u201cThough anxious to accommodate, I fear it\u2019s growing rather late,\n      I seldom stay out after eight--\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, father!\u201d cried his daughters, nine of them, together, \u201cit would be\nperfectly jolly!\u201d\n\n\u201cIt would suit me to perfection,\u201d said the One-Armed Sorcerer.\n\n\u201cOh, _won\u2019t_ it be jolly? It _will_ be jolly, won\u2019t it? Wouldn\u2019t it be\nperfectly jolly?\u201d cried the nine young damsels, clapping their hands.\n\n\u201cWill you come home with me?\u201d I whispered to the fairest of the ten,\nwho had said nothing.\n\n\u201cIf you wish it,\u201d she whispered, blushing again.\n\n\u201cOh, aren\u2019t they just the dearest things?\u201d cried her nine sisters.\n\u201cIt\u2019s love at first sight--oh, the dear things! Aren\u2019t they just simply\ntoo dear for anything? They _are_ perfectly dear, now, aren\u2019t they?\nReally now, aren\u2019t they just too perfectly _dear_?\u201d\n\n\n_The Prince Leads His Beloved Home_\n\nWell, the long and the short of it is, we reached my father\u2019s castle\nlate that night, under a starry sky. The attendants whom I had left in\nthe forest had returned without me, and the castle was a-twitter with\nanxiety. But when I led my fair lady into the great hall and presented\nher to my father, the King, and her nine sisters and the elderly\nHighwayman and the One-Armed Sorcerer stood bowing behind us, there was\njoy, I can tell you, and the rafters rang again.\n\nMy father, after a long look at the beautiful damsel at my side, and\nthen at me, gave a long, slow whistle, without making a sound, and\nstooped and kissed her on both cheeks, nudging me with his elbow at the\nsame time.\n\nA cheer went up again, and my father took me aside and whispered in my\near.\n\n\u201cYou rascal,\u201d said he, \u201cI never thought you had it in you to-- Really!\nYou don\u2019t say so! You astonish me! A Highwayman\u2019s daughter! Well, well,\nthink of that! Very original of you, my son; I\u2019m sure I never would\nhave thought of such a thing at your age. She\u2019s got a fine eye, my boy;\nthere\u2019s a look in it I\u2019ve seen in your mother\u2019s eye; a will of her own,\nyou can\u2019t fool me about that look,--yes, yes, very beautiful,--but a\nwill of her own, remember I told you. A Highwayman\u2019s daughter! That\u2019s\ngood. Highly original. Well, well, it might have been the Hangman\u2019s\ndaughter--but remember what I told you about that look in the eye, I\u2019ve\nseen it before,--your mother used to--but she\u2019s certainly beautiful all\nthe same--when does the wedding come off?\u201d\n\n\n_The Magic Doublet Is Presented at the Wedding_\n\nWe were married on the morning of the third day. Such feasting, such\ndancing, such merriment,--and gifts innumerable; but the best gift of\nall was a doublet, made with his left hand by the One-Armed Sorcerer\nfrom the skin of the witch\u2019s wasp\u2019s nest, fastened by the witch\u2019s ten\nbuttons sewed on with the genie\u2019s hair; a doublet to preserve the\nwearer from all harm. And this, as the wedding dinner was nearing its\nend, the One-Armed Sorcerer, rising in his place, presented to me with\na pretty speech, for which I thanked him.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d said my father, addressing the One-Armed Sorcerer, \u201cI invite\nyou to remain with me at my court, to instruct my son in the mystery\nof handling a wife. Nobody but a sorcerer should undertake such a job.\nWill you try it?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas, your majesty,\u201d said the One-Armed Sorcerer, \u201cit is far beyond\nmy powers. And besides, I must return to my island home, on pressing\nbusiness.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, then,\u201d said my father. He took my bride\u2019s hand in his and\npatted it, while she looked down in confusion. \u201cMy dear,\u201d said he to\nher, \u201cyou must persuade your sisters to remain here with us. And as for\nyour father, I design to appoint him Lord Treasurer of my kingdom. I\nthink a Highwayman ought to be a good man to take charge of my money.\nWill you persuade him to accept that office?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d cried the nine sisters, without giving my bride a chance to\nspeak. \u201cThat _would_ be jolly! Oh, _wouldn\u2019t_ it be jolly? It _will_\nbe just too perfectly jolly for anything, won\u2019t it? But really, though,\n_won\u2019t_ it be jolly? Just too simply, perfectly, adorably _jolly_!\u201d\n\n\u201cYour majesty,\u201d said my father-in-law the Highwayman, rising up on his\nelderly legs,--\n\n  \u201cAlthough I am not confident that I\u2019m entirely competent, I thank\n      you for the compliment,\n                        I thank you most sincerely;\n  I fear I am not very quick in matters of arithmetic, but often when\n      the answers stick\n                        I get them,--very nearly;\n  And if at first I don\u2019t succeed I try again, although indeed I\n      cannot say I always heed\n                        Each wretched little fraction;\n  And anyway you must agree if one but knows his Rule of Three\n      there\u2019s hardly any need to be\n                        Acquainted with subtraction.\n\n  \u201cI do not wish to seem to boast, of all things I detest it most,\n      and yet I think I\u2019d fill the post\n                        Not very ill, not very:\n  From early youth I did betray, I\u2019ve often heard my mother say,\n      a really rather taking way\n                        In matters monetary;\n  A simple little rule or two I always try to keep in view, to do\n      what I am told to do,\n                        And always speak politely,\n  And never make a saucy joke behind the backs of other folk, a rule\n      which I have seldom broke,\n                        If I remember rightly.\n\n  \u201cMy motto is a simple one, that happiness depends upon the consciousness\n      of duty done\n                        (Unless it\u2019s too unpleasant),\n  I value virtue more than wit, and as for riches, I admit I do not\n      value them a bit\n                        (At least, not just at present),\n  I think, however, I should state, that though I don\u2019t mind working\n      late, I like to be at home by eight,\n                        When supper\u2019s on the table;\n  And thus, in words of simple art, I thank you, Sir, with all my\n      heart, and promise I will do my part\n                        (At least, as far as able).\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES:\n\n\n  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.\n\n  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.","title":"Solario the Tailor: His Tales of the Magic Doublet","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":62017}