{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_61294/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_61294","id":"gutenberg_61294","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61294","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales"],"text":"[Illustration: \u201cWhy, what\u2019s this?\u201d said a thundering voice in his ear]\n\n\n\n\n                   THE CRUISE _of_ THE LITTLE DIPPER\n                        _and_ OTHER FAIRY TALES\n\n\n                     THE WONDERFUL TALE _of_ NIKKO\n                              PETER DWARF\n                            THE CRYSTAL BOWL\n                           THE MERCILESS TSAR\n\n                                  _by_\n                             SUSANNE LANGER\n\n                            _Illustrated by_\n                               H. SEWELL\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n                          NORCROSS    NEW YORK\n\n\n\n\n                           THE CRUISE OF THE\n                             LITTLE DIPPER\n\n\n                     [Illustration: COPYRIGHT 1923\n                           BY NORCROSS N.Y.]\n\n\n\n\n                    THE CRUISE OF THE LITTLE DIPPER\n\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nOnce upon a time there was a very poor boy, who had no cap on his head,\nno shoes on his feet, and never a penny in his pocket. He was so poor\nthat he did not even have a name. His father had gone to sea many years\nago in a ship called The Big Dipper, and as he had never returned,\npeople said surely he must be dead. So the boy had gone to live in a\nsmall, dark house beside the sea, with his great-aunt, who was very old\nand cross and strict. She did not let him have any sugar on his cereal\nor butter on his bread, and every day after school she spanked him\nsoundly for all the mistakes he had made that day, and if he had not\nmade any she spanked him just the same for all those he would probably\nmake to-morrow, or the next day, or the next. When he asked for a bit of\nsoap to blow bright soap-bubbles, she cried:\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cSoap-bubbles, indeed! Soap is made only to wash one\u2019s face with. You\nmay have all you want for that, but for bubbles, no, no! Bless my boots,\nwhat will you ask for next?\u201d\n\nWhen the other children played on the beach, building castles in the\nsand, or picking up pretty shells, this poor boy had to gather driftwood\nfor his great-aunt\u2019s kitchen fire.\n\nBut for all his hard luck he was always whistling blithely at his work.\nHe would whistle all the tunes in the hymn book, and all the sailor\u2019s\nsongs, and the nursery songs, and then some more that he made up as he\nran along the beach picking up driftwood. Of course his great-aunt had\nforbidden his whistling about the house, but other people liked to hear\nhim, and since he had no name, they called him \u201cBirdling.\u201d His\ngreat-aunt called him \u201cYou!\u201d\n\nOne day, after he had come home from school, washed his hands, eaten his\ndry bread and drunk his tea without sugar or cream, he went as usual to\nthe beach to gather wood; but this day, all the boys from school were\ndown by the sea-side making sail-boats. Their mothers and aunts and\ngrandmas had given them odd bits of muslin from the rag-bag for sails,\nand their fathers and uncles and grandpas had given them little pots of\npaint, and the old boat-builder who lived on the beach had supplied the\nnails and boards and no end of good advice. They were building a\nsplendid fleet, and when Birdling came whistling along the sands, they\nall hailed him and shouted:\n\n\u201cBirdling, Birdling, come and build a boat! We have nails to spare, and\nsurely you have some nice boards in your load of driftwood! Come, come\nand build a boat!\u201d\n\nSo Birdling, forgetting all about his duties and his great-aunt, sat\ndown in the warm yellow sand, and built a boat of driftwood; and while\nhe worked he whistled.\n\nThe boys were all so glad to hear him and be able to play with him that\nthey gave him all the paint and nails that they could spare, as well as\nstring for his rigging and a lead sinker for his anchor. Of course he\nhad many kinds of paint, and not enough of any one color to paint his\nwhole boat, so her hull was black, the trimming golden-yellow, the deck\nbright-blue and the mast was green. She was a funny boat indeed, but\nBirdling liked her none the less and wanted to name her after his\nfather\u2019s ship, the Big Dipper.\n\n\u201cBut she isn\u2019t big!\u201d said the other boys. \u201cShe\u2019s the smallest boat of\nall!\u201d\n\nSo he called her the Little Dipper.\n\n\u201cWhat will you do for a sail?\u201d the others asked. \u201cWe\u2019d love to give you\nsome muslin, but we haven\u2019t a bit to spare.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nHere was a dilemma indeed. Then Birdling remembered that he had a patch\non the seat of his trousers that he did not need at all, for his\ngreat-aunt always patched them before they went into holes (\u201cIf I\ndidn\u2019t,\u201d she would say, \u201cwhy bless my boots, he\u2019d sit them through in\ntwo minutes!\u201d); and now he did a dreadful thing, he took off the patch\nand used it for a sail!\n\nThey had such a good time with the boats, loading them with cargoes of\nsea-shells and digging harbors and chasing away the crabs who came to\nwatch, that they did not notice how the sun had dipped down behind the\nsand-dunes and the light-house brightened far out at sea. Suddenly they\nheard the curfew ring.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cWhy, it\u2019s past supper-time!\u201d they cried, and all the boys snatched up\ntheir boats and ran home. In a moment the beach was as deserted as the\nsea, and Birdling sat alone on the sands, his boat between his knees,\nwhile the shadows of night crept down to the water. At the furthest end\nof the beach gleamed a dull square of light\u2014that was his great-aunt\u2019s\nwindow, brightened by the oil-lamp behind it:\n\nOh, how she was going to scold him now! For this time he had really been\nnaughty. He had gathered no driftwood, he was late to supper, and he had\nripped the patch off the seat of his trousers!\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t dare take you home, Little Dipper,\u201d he said as he placed his\nboat in the safest harbor, as far as possible from the incoming tide.\n\u201cMy great-aunt would burn you in the kitchen stove. Goodby, Little\nDipper!\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nHis great-aunt met him at the door as he came home. She was so angry\nthat her cap had slid over one ear, her eyes were like tiny hot coals\nand her very apron-strings curled with wrath. She boxed Birdling\u2019s ears,\nsmack, smack, smack!\u2014until they were as pink as seashells.\n\n\u201cYou, you, you,\u201d she cried, \u201cYou shall have no supper, sir, but a very\ngood whipping! Go up on the hill behind the house and cut a switch, a\nstrong one, a long one, for a long strong whipping, sir!\u201d\n\nObediently Birdling went up to the hill where the witch-hazel bushes\nheld out their long, strong boughs to be cut for switches. But somehow\nhe could not find just the switch he wanted; one was not long enough and\nanother was too long, or one would not be strong enough and the next too\nstrong. He looked them all over very carefully.\n\nThe witch-hazel bushes were in blossom, there were fuzzy little yellow\nstars on their boughs; Birdling saw a bumble-bee (who should have been\nin bed an hour ago) darting from bush to bush and tasting the little\nflowers. Then the boy remembered that he was to have no supper to-night,\nand as he felt dreadfully hungry, he touched one of the yellow blossoms\nand licked his finger that was covered with fine golden pollen, just to\nsee what it tasted like.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nBehold what happened to Birdling! He did not know that the witch-hazel\nflowers were full of Fairy Bread! Suddenly he grew smaller and smaller,\nlike a candle on a birthday-cake, till he thought he must go out\naltogether\u2014but just before it was time to go out he stopped shrinking\nand saw to his great relief that he was still a good inch taller than\nthe bumble-bee.\n\nHe sat down with surprise, hands on the ground and feet apart, and the\nshort grasses closed above his head. All around him the daisies, who\nalways enjoy a joke, were tittering and looking at him through the\ngrass. Somewhere behind a huge fuzzy mullen-plant was a great noise,\nlike the motor of an aeroplane\u2014it was the bumble-bee, coming to see what\nwas going on.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s happened?\u201d he boomed in his rolling bass voice.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019d like to know,\u201d replied the boy, picking himself up. \u201cI\nnever felt so small in my life, not even when I tore my Sunday shirt and\nmy great-aunt scolded me before everybody! Why, I\u2019m no bigger than a\nsea-horse!\u201d\n\nThe daisies were still laughing and now they could no longer contain\nthemselves.\n\n\u201cHe ate fairy-bread,\u201d they giggled, \u201cand he grew as little as a balloon\nwhen the air goes out, ho, ho, ho, ho! Tee, tee, tee, tee!\u201d\n\n\u201cAte fairy-bread!\u201d exclaimed Birdling, \u201cdo you mean to say I am a fairy\nnow?\u201d\n\nThe Bumble-bee put his head on one side and deliberated.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d he said slowly, \u201cYou\u2019re not a fairy. You\u2019re only fairyish. What\u2019s\nyour name?\u201d\n\n\u201cI haven\u2019t any. But people call me Birdling.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, that\u2019s not so bad. What can you do?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing. Oh, yes\u2014I can whistle!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere will you live? You are too small to live with your great-aunt.\nShe would surely step on you.\u201d\n\nBirdling looked around; there was a groundsparrow\u2019s nest under the\nwitch-hazel bushes, very near the fairy-bread flowers.\n\n\u201cHere,\u201d he said, \u201cIf nobody minds, I\u2019ll live here.\u201d\n\nSo that is where he lived all summer. Everybody on the hill grew fond of\nhim, and in the mornings when the robin sang to the sun, Birdling too\nwould be up and whistling.\n\nBut one day the Bumble-bee came to call. His face was serious and his\nvoice unusually rumbly. It was a cool day so Birdling was all wrapped in\na mullen leaf.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s Autumn!\u201d said Bumble. \u201cWhat will you do when Winter comes?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know. What do the birds do?\u201d\n\n\u201cThey go to the Fairy Islands.\u201d\n\n\u201cMayn\u2019t I go?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou aren\u2019t a bird or a fairy,\u201d objected the visitor.\n\n\u201cBut I\u2019m fairyish, you know.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen you may, I suppose.\u201d\n\nBirdling got up, ready to start at once.\n\n\u201cHow do the birds get there, Bumble?\u201d\n\n\u201cThey fly.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I can\u2019t fly!\u201d\n\n\u201cThen you can\u2019t go.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you said I could if I was fairyish!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I said you might. You may, but you can\u2019t. See?\u201d\n\nBirdling shook his head.\n\n\u201cWhere are the Fairy Islands?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cBeyond the Deep Sea.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cCould one go in a boat?\u201d\n\n\u201cPossibly.\u201d\n\nThen Birdling remembered the Little Dipper, lying forlorn on the sands,\nbeyond the reaches of the tide. Perhaps some boy had picked her up, or\nperhaps the waves had taken her\u2014or perhaps she was still in her harbor!\n\nNeatly he folded some mullen-leaves, for sailors need warm clothes and\nblankets, and with these over his arm he began the long journey from the\nhill-top to the harbor. It was ten fairy-miles of rather rough walking.\nThe Bumble-bee went with him and when they had come as far as his\ngreat-aunt\u2019s house, which was just half-way between the hill and the\nbeach, he flew up on her roof where you could get a splendid view of the\ncountry.\n\n\u201cOh, can you see the Little Dipper?\u201d cried Birdling from below.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cI see a boat on the sand,\u201d reported Bumble, \u201ca very queer boat\u2014her hull\nis black, her trimmings golden-yellow, her decks bright-blue and the\nmast and sails are green.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s the Little Dipper!\u201d shouted Birdling, and began to run as fast\nas he could. He quite forgot that his great-aunt sat by the window,\nknitting wristlets and watching everything outside the house. She saw\nthe tiny creature running along the beach, and as she was very old and\ncould not see very clearly through her spectacles, she opened the window\nand leaned far out.\n\n\u201cIt must be a mouse,\u201d she decided, and hobbling across the room, she\ncalled her cat and opened the door for him.\n\n\u201cMousie outside, Puss!\u201d she said. \u201cGo catch the Mousie, catch the\nMousie!\u201d\n\nThe big black cat never had much to eat so he was very glad to go and\ncatch a mouse. Poor Birdling dropped his mullen-leaves and ran faster\nand faster, but could not run fast enough. The Cat came nearer and\nnearer.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cOh, I can\u2019t run any more!\u201d panted Birdling at last. In another moment\nthe Cat would have pounced upon him and devoured him\u2014but just then the\nBumble-bee came booming through the air, and stung the Cat on his big,\nblack, S-shaped tail. The cat gave a terrible cry, turned around and ran\nhome three times as fast as he had come.\n\nBirdling had to sit down and rest for a while after the Cat had gone.\nThen he and the Bumble-bee went on, hoping to reach the Little Dipper\nbefore noon. But they had not gone one-half a fairy-mile further, when a\ncross, scratchy voice shouted at them: \u201cGet off the beach!\u201d\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d said Birdling timidly. \u201cThere\u2019s a board fence on one side and\nwater on the other, and I can\u2019t go back the way I came, because there\u2019s\na cat.\u201d\n\nHe could not even see who was speaking. There was only a big brown hill\nin front of him.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not on the beach,\u201d replied Bumble-bee. \u201cI\u2019m in the air. Who are\nyou, anyway?\u201d\n\n\u201cWho am I! Well, I like that\u2014who am I? Why, I\u2019m ME!\u201d\n\nThe big brown hill lifted itself up a bit, and they saw that it was the\nback of a Horse-Shoe Crab.\n\n\u201cGet off the beach, you civilians, this is a parade-ground! I\u2019m drilling\nthe new regiment from the Deep Sea.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nThen they noticed a long line of little pink Crabs emerging from the\nfoamy water and slowly ascending the sands.\n\n\u201cBackward\u2014march!\u201d shouted the Horse-Shoe Crab.\n\nThere was nothing for Birdling to do but sit down on an empty oyster\nshell and wait until the parade was over. They marched backward, and\nmarked time with two feet, three feet, four feet, till they had learned\nto keep all six of them going, and they did squads right and left and\nexercised their jaws and joints and pincers. There was nothing they did\nnot do.\n\nAt last the Horse-Shoe Crab shouted: \u201cDismiss!\u201d and all the little Crabs\ntumbled back into the sea, pinching each other and betting who would be\nfirst down the beach. Then the old commander turned his attention to\nBirdling and Bumble.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d\n\n\u201cNobody.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not going at all,\u201d replied Bumble.\n\n\u201cYou want to cross the parade-ground?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat for?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo get to my ship.\u201d\n\n\u201cShow your passport.\u201d\n\n\u201cHere!\u201d and Bumble unsheathed his shiny long bayonet.\n\n\u201cThat will do,\u201d said the Horse-Shoe Crab quickly, backing away a few\nsteps and pulling in his tail. \u201cYou may pass.\u201d\n\nIt was night before they reached the Little Dipper. She looked very\nforlorn, lying a bit sideways, sails furled and decks covered with sand.\nWorst of all, a whole brotherhood of Shrimps had set up housekeeping in\nher hold, and not even at the point of Bumble\u2019s bayonet would they move\nout. They wore little coats of mail that made them quite indifferent to\na mere bumble-bee\u2019s sting.\n\n\u201cBut you _must_ move out,\u201d pleaded Birdling, standing on the deck and\nshouting down into the hold. \u201cI want to go to the Fairy Islands, and I\nsimply must have my ship.\u201d\n\n\u201cGoing to the Fairy Islands?\u201d echoed the Shrimps. \u201cThat\u2019s a long trip,\nwithout food or water aboard and without a crew!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, we\u2019ll lay in food and water soon enough,\u201d said Bumble, who sat in\nthe rigging. \u201cAs for a crew\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cLet us be the crew,\u201d cried the Shrimps. \u201cWe\u2019re not clever, but we\u2019re\nreally very obedient and faithful. We don\u2019t want to spoil your trip,\nBirdling, but we don\u2019t want to move, either; there are very few houses\nalong the beach, and none as nice as this. Let us be your crew!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut then I\u2019ll have to pay you,\u201d said Birdling, \u201cand I have no money.\nShall I pay you with music? I\u2019ll whistle one tune for every Shrimp once\na week.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a bargain,\u201d replied the crew.\n\nAll night long Bumble flew to and fro between the witch-hazel bushes on\nthe hill and the boat upon the beach, carrying fairy-bread and honey-dew\nfor the voyage. The crew packed all these provisions into big barnacles\nthat made splendid kegs and barrels. Birdling was brave enough to go\nback along the beach by moonlight and pick up the mullen-leaf blankets\nhe had dropped when he fled from the Cat, and at the crack of dawn the\nLittle Dipper was ready to put to sea. They cleared the harbor and with\nthe outgoing tide floated out upon the ocean. Bumble flew above the mast\nand accompanied them for several miles; two fiddler crabs came to the\nedge of the beach and fiddled until the good ship was out of sight, and\nBirdling stood at the bow with the great green sail blowing behind him.\nAt last everybody shouted: \u201cGoodby, goodby, goodluck, thank you,\nthank-you!,\u201d then the Little Dipper sailed out of sight.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nFor three days they journeyed, always pointing their course to Eastward,\nbut they did not know just where to look for the Fairy Islands.\nSometimes a flock of birds would fly above them also going Eastward, but\nthey flew so fast that it was never possible to follow and learn their\npath.\n\nOn the fourth day, just as the pink dawn spread over the sky, Birdling\nsaw a whole fleet of tiny sails. They were no bigger than his own, but\nthey were pearly white and shimmered with lovely colors, so he knew they\nmust be Nautilus ships.\n\n\u201cHeigh-ho!\u201d he shouted, catching up to them. \u201cHeigh-ho, heigh-ho!\u201d\n\nThe Nautilus ships have deep, deep holds with many little cabins in\nthem. When he shouted, a whole troop of fairy sailors came popping out\nto see who had called to them.\n\n\u201cHeigh-ho!\u201d they replied.\n\n\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d asked Birdling.\n\n\u201cTo the Fairy Islands.\u201d\n\n\u201cTake me along?\u201d\n\n\u201cWith pleasure,\u201d said the fairies. \u201cWho are you?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m Birdling, and the Shrimps are my crew.\u201d\n\nThe Little Dipper was surrounded by the ships of pearl, and as the sea\nwas quiet and the wind very low they could talk from deck to deck. The\noldest one of the fairy captains was a Brownie named Trick. He was seven\nhundred years old, and knew about everything from the North Pole to the\ngreat Antarctic.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cWe are going to the Fairy Islands with a cargo of ants\u2019-eggs,\u201d he told\nBirdling, \u201cOur King likes to eat them poached, or fried, or scrambled,\non his breakfast toast. We would do anything to cheer up the King.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy does the King need cheering up?\u201d Birdling inquired sympathetically.\n\u201cI thought Kings were always happy.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh no, no, no, our Fairy King is very unhappy. His little son has been\nkidnapped by Shag.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho is Shag?\u201d\n\nTrick shook his head and rolled his eyes at Birdling\u2019s ignorance.\n\n\u201cWhat! You have sailed the Sea for fully half a week, and don\u2019t know who\nShag is? Ask your crew!\u201d\n\nBut the Shrimps did not know about Shag, either. They were not very\nclever, you know, and had not gone to school.\n\n\u201cWon\u2019t you please tell us?\u201d said Birdling, a bit ruffled at the\nBrownie\u2019s airs.\n\n\u201cShag is the King of the Deep Sea!\u201d shouted all the Fairies together, so\nloudly that the Nautilus ships rocked with the noise.\n\n\u201cHe has kidnapped our little Fairy Prince,\u201d Trick explained, \u201cand nobody\nknows whether he is ill, or imprisoned, or dead. Our King is so sad that\nhe will not wear his crown, he has locked it in a closet and hidden the\nkey. As for the queen, the poor lady has turned into a weeping willow!\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s awful,\u201d said Birdling, and the Shrimps were moved to tears.\n\u201cWhere does Shag live?\u201d\n\n\u201cUnder the rock where the Sea Lion sleeps.\u201d\n\n\u201cCan\u2019t somebody sneak into his house and take a peep to see what has\nbecome of the little Prince?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou make us shiver to think of it,\u201d replied the fairies, pulling their\ncaps down over their ears and their sailor collars up. \u201cThe Sea-Lion\nwakes at the slightest noise and catches anyone who comes near. And if\nyou did get by, Shag would be sure to see you and eat you at a gulp!\u201d\n\nBut Birdling went on asking questions.\n\n\u201cWhere is the Rock?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are just passing it,\u201d said a Shrimp from the top of the mast. \u201cI see\nit, far to leeward.\u201d\n\nBirdling turned his rudder, and waved his hand as his boat swung away\nfrom the Nautilus fleet.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cGoodby,\u201d he shouted. \u201cTell your King that Birdling has gone to take a\npeep into Shag\u2019s palace, to see whether the young Prince be ill, or\nimprisoned, or dead! You shall not see me again till I bring word of\nyour prince.\u201d\n\nThe fairies set up a great cry of amazement, but already the Little\nDipper was far to leeward, steering toward the terrible Rock. So they\ncontinued on their way to the Fairy Islands and all the way home they\ncould talk of nothing but the adventurous captain of the many-colored\nsail-boat, and his crew.\n\nBirdling sailed straight up to the Rock. It was black and high, and the\nwaves ran up on it in great white ruffles. Then he noticed that the top\nof the Rock was not of stone at all\u2014it was the outstretched form of the\nSea Lion, sound asleep.\n\nWhen the Shrimps saw the monster, their courage failed them. They fell\nupon their knees and begged the Skipper to turn back, for they were\ndreadfully afraid of being eaten; and when Birdling would not turn back,\nthey mutinied and said they would not mind the sails and would not go\none inch nearer the terrible Rock! Then Birdling grew angry at their\ncowardice and locked them all into the hold, where their cries could not\nbe heard, for he was afraid they would wake the Sea Lion. He then took\nthe ropes and the rudder in his own hand, and steered his craft into a\ncove so near the Sea Lion that he could hear the great creature\nbreathing.\n\nIn the cove and under the rock ran a deep cave, that he guessed at once\nto be the entrance to Shag\u2019s palace, where you could go down into the\nsea without drowning, as the Mermen and Mermaids do. Very quietly he\nfastened his boat to the rock, then climbed on to the gunwale and dived\nlike a dolphin into the deep, dark, ripply water.\n\nYes, this was the entrance to the Palace of King Shag! At the bottom of\nthe cave was a winding stairway, like the inside of a huge shell.\nStrange, fantastic fish swam up and down and churned up the water so\nthat it was very hard for Birdling to keep his balance. But fortunately\nthey did not see him, so he crept on slowly down the steps.\n\nSuddenly he saw a gleam of light, and he felt sure it must be from\nShag\u2019s palace. Faster and faster he ran down the wet, mossy stairs, till\na current of water caught him and took him all the way down just as a\nfly goes down the hole in a washbowl. When he landed at the foot of the\nstairs, he was sitting on golden sands and the bright lights blinded his\neyes.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cWhy, what\u2019s this?\u201d said a thundering voice in his ear, and a huge fin\npicked him up. He looked up and saw Shag himself, a huge silvery fish\nwith long whiskers and pop-eyes and a golden crown on his head. He was\nvery hideous, and Birdling was terribly frightened, but he looked all\naround hoping to see the Prince.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know who you are,\u201d said Shag, \u201cbut you look as if you\u2019d make a\nnice little morsel.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will let you have one chance for your life. Before I eat you, you\nshall come and see the wonderful treasures I have collected, and if you\nare able to pick out the most precious jewel in my vault, I will let you\ngo. You shall have the jewel for a prize, and I will give you one day\u2019s\ngrace before pursuing you with my soldiers.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nSo Birdling was led down some more long stairs to the cellar of the\npalace, where shining jellyfish lights hung from the ceiling. In their\ndim radiance he saw a heap of treasure such as no one had ever seen in\nall the world\u2014diamonds that shone like stars, rubies and sapphires and\nemeralds, brooches and necklaces, pearl-set combs, wonderful pins and\nlockets and vessels of hammered gold!\n\nThen Birdling noticed a queer locket lying close to his foot; it seemed\nto be made of two big oyster-shells closed with a band of tin. There was\nnothing very precious about it.\n\n\u201cBut it must be precious, or it wouldn\u2019t be here,\u201d he thought quickly.\n\nSo, while Shag waved his whiskers in a bored and superior way, and his\nsoldiers craned their necks to see Birdling, the boy suddenly stooped\nand picked up the locket.\n\n\u201cI choose this,\u201d he said, and held it up with both hands.\n\nShag uttered a howl of rage.\n\n\u201cHe has guessed, he has guessed!\u201d The body-guard drew back in terror as\ntheir King beat the water with his fins, till a cloud of mud came up\nfrom the floor of the cave and his crown slipped over one eye. Now he\nwould really have liked to eat up Birdling but of course the soldiers\nhad all heard the rules of the game, so he had to abide by his word.\nBirdling was escorted back to the hall and allowed to go up the winding\nstairs, back to the Little Dipper, the heavy oyster shell under his arm.\nIt seemed to him about as big as a suit-case, but harder to carry\nbecause it had no handle. No one knows how he could ever have carried it\nto the top of the stairs, had he not met a Sea-Horse who gave him a\nride.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cHeigh-ho!\u201d he cried, when he stood once more aboard the Little Dipper,\n\u201care you asleep or awake down there in the hold?\u201d\n\n\u201cAwake!\u201d cried one voice.\n\n\u201cAsleep!\u201d murmured all the others.\n\n\u201cThen wake up, for we must flee! We have one day of grace and then Shag\nwill pursue us: Heave the anchors and hoist the sails!\u201d\n\nSo he raised the trap-door of the hold, and the Shrimps climbed out,\nlooking very shamefaced and small, as well they might; and in a few\nminutes the Little Dipper was under sail.\n\nWhen the Rock was well out of sight and the Little Dipper making good\nspeed, Birdling gave the wheel to the first mate, and decided to open\nthe oyster-locket. It took three Shrimps and the captain himself to move\nthe heavy band of tin that held the two half-shells together. But at\nlast they fell apart\u2014and what do you suppose was inside?\n\nA perfect little bedroom, all wrought of finest gold, with a canopy-bed\nof rosy silk and a tiny chair and table and even a dresser\u2014and in the\nbed, on pillows of down, lay the young Fairy Prince! When the locket\nopened and the light shone into his room, he rubbed his eyes and said:\n\u201cWhat time is it?\u201d\n\n\u201cTime to go home,\u201d replied Birdling. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid, for we are taking\nyou there.\u201d\n\nThey gave him some witch-hazel bread and a drink of honey-dew, and one\nof the Shrimps was appointed to tell him stories to pass the time. The\nyoung Prince was cheerful and well-behaved and every one who saw him\nloved him at once. He had yellow curls and bright, laughing eyes, and\nclothes made of flower-petals, that made Birdling feel very plain in his\nrough coat of mullen-leaves.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nEverybody aboard the Little Dipper was perfectly happy, so they quite\nforgot that tomorrow morning Shag would pursue them with his soldiers.\nImagine their terror when they woke up at sunrise in a raging storm that\nmade the waves dash over the very mast of their boat! They could hear\nShag howling at the bottom of the Deep Sea, and as he whisked his tail\nhe made more and more bubbles and white-caps come up. The white-caps\npursued the Little Dipper like ranks of horsemen.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nThe young prince, hidden under Birdling\u2019s mullen-coat, began to tremble\nand cry, for he was dreadfully afraid of Shag.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid,\u201d said Birdling. \u201cI\u2019m sure we will reach the Fairy\nIslands very soon now, and then we will be safe.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut where are the Fairy Islands? Where are they?\u201d queried the young\nprince, scanning the sea with his bright eyes. \u201cI don\u2019t see them, and I\nam so frightened!\u201d\n\nBirdling had just been hit on the head by a hailstone, but he pretended\nit did not hurt.\n\n\u201cYou mustn\u2019t be frightened,\u201d he said cheerfully. \u201cI\u2019ll whistle you a\ntune if you\u2019ll stop crying.\u201d And he began to whistle as though he did\nnot mind the storm at all.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nAs he whistled, the sea became calm and began to shimmer with a thousand\nlovely colors\u2014and out of the rippling waters rose three snow-capped\nmountains surrounded on every side by sunny green plains. He had found\nthe Fairy Islands!\n\nBirdling ran his boat into the harbor where he saw the Nautilus fleet\nlying at anchor, and he called out joyfully, \u201cYo, ho, yo, ho, heigh-ho!\nWhere is Trick?\u201d\n\nA crowd of fairies came running to the harbor\u2019s edge, and cried, \u201cHush,\nhush! No one is allowed to shout or whistle or sing on this island. Even\nthe birds do not sing. The King and Queen have commanded silence to\nprevail, until they have some news of their son.\u201d\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s news for you, then,\u201d replied Birdling. \u201cGo and tell your King\nand Queen that the young prince has returned!\u201d So saying, he picked up\nthe fairy child and stood him on the gunwale of the ship for everyone to\nsee, and the well-behaved child doffed his little diadem, and bowed.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nSo great was the joy of the fairy people, that they stumbled over each\nother in their haste to go and tell the King that the good ship Little\nDipper had brought back his son. The queen, who had turned into a\nweeping willow, came back to life and wept now with delight; the king\nhunted all over the palace for the key to his closet, for he could\nhardly wait to put on his crown once more and hold a great banquet in\nhonor of Birdling, who had restored the heir to the throne. The birds\nburst into song and the blue bells chimed and even the butterflies, who\nare usually silent, began to trill and chirp, until the whole island\nrang with joyous sounds. As soon as the cook could get the banquet ready\nthey all sat down and feasted, from the fairy King, with Birdling by his\nside, to the meekest under-earthworm, and the shy Shrimps had a table by\nthemselves because they did not possess very fairyish manners. There was\ncake for everybody, and ice-cream, and chocolate with whipped cream, and\ncandy and favors. The best thing about the party was that all the\ngoodies were fairy-food which couldn\u2019t make you sick however much you\nate, and they all drank Birdling\u2019s health in pink lemonade.\n\nThree days later, when the feasting was over, and the hundreds of golden\ndishes had been washed and dried, Birdling was playing on the beach with\nthe fairies and he saw a ship out at Sea.\n\n\u201cLook,\u201d he said to his friend Trick, \u201cthere is a ship just like mine,\nonly a hundred times bigger! That isn\u2019t a fairy ship. How do you suppose\nshe came into these waters?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, that is a ship which came here long ago,\u201d said Trick. \u201cShag caught\nit and tied it to the light-house rock. It has been there for years and\nyears. I suppose the storm which Shag made when he was angry at you,\nmust have torn the rope and set the poor vessel free. Do you suppose the\npeople on board are still alive?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll go and see,\u201d said Birdling. \u201cOf course I\u2019m very small, but I might\nbe able to help them.\u201d So he took the Little Dipper and sailed out to\nthe schooner.\n\n\u201cHeigh-ho!\u201d he cried, standing up and putting his hands to his mouth.\n\u201cHeigh-ho!\u201d\n\nSomebody certainly was alive on the ship; a tall captain dressed in oil\nskins, stood up in the bow and shouted back:\n\n\u201cWe are the Big Dipper! Who are you?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Little Dipper! And you must be my father,\u201d cried Birdling, dancing\nfor joy.\n\nAt first the Captain could not believe his eyes and ears, but when\nBirdling stood on his right hand (he had the good ship Little Dipper in\nthe left one) he looked at him very closely, and saw that it really was\nhis son.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cOh Father, now we can go home together,\u201d exclaimed the boy, hugging his\nfather\u2019s thumb. \u201cBut will you wait till I go and say goodby to my fairy\nfriends?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I will wait,\u201d said the Captain, \u201cfor you should never leave your\nfriends without saying goodby and thank you.\u201d\n\nThe fairies were sorry to see Birdling go, they let him take along all\nthe treasures he wanted from the King\u2019s storeroom, and helped him carry\nthem down to the harbor and put them in his hold. He took a bag of gold\nfor his father and a little one for himself, besides the oyster-locket\nwith the golden chamber inside, which he had won from Shag, and a little\npearly crown for his friend the Bumblebee at home. He even took a gold\nthimble for his great-aunt and a little silver bell for the Cat, to show\nthat he bore no malice.\n\n\u201cAnd here is some fairy wine you must drink when you are safely aboard\nyour father\u2019s ship,\u201d said the King, handing Birdling a tiny vial just as\nhe said goodby. \u201cIt will make you grow up again and be as big as other\nboys. We will miss you, Birdling. Farewell!\u201d\n\nSo Birdling, a life sized boy once more, went home with his father\nwhistling happy songs. As his whistle died away in the distance, the\nFairy Islands sank down into the water, the waves closed over them, and\nyou could not even guess where the three snowy peaks and the green\nplains and sunny harbors had been.\n\nAnd no one has ever seen them since.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\n\n\n                      THE WONDERFUL TALE OF NIKKO\n\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nThe Emperor of China was about to choose a bride. From far and near the\nfairest ladies of the realm came to his palace. They sat on pearly\nthrones which were borne on the shoulders of Hindu slaves or drawn by\nspotted leopards and some were floated down the great rivers on rafts\nwoven of long-stemmed Lotos flowers.\n\nNikko stood sadly by the roadside watching the grand procession pass.\nShe was more beautiful than any of the splendid ladies, but she was poor\nand humble and had to work in the rice-fields where the muddy water\ntickled her little bare toes.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cI cannot work in the rice-fields to-day,\u201d she said to herself, \u201cfor the\nprocession is so interesting that I have to stand by the roadside and\nwatch. I had better go into the woods, where I can\u2019t see it, and pick\nsome mushrooms for dinner.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nSo she took her basket and went into the woods. But before she had\npicked the first handful, she saw a tremendous scarlet toadstool\nspangled all over with silver dots, swaying on a tall silvery stem. It\nwas the most enormous toadstool she had ever seen, so big that Nikko\ncould have hidden under its flapping top. She wanted to pull it up and\ncarry it as a parasol, but just then she looked over the edge and\nnoticed that a pearly Snail and a golden Spider were sitting on top\nhaving tea together. The Snail turned around and stuck out his eyes at\nher like opera-glasses.\n\n\u201cExcuse me,\u201d said Nikko. \u201cI almost picked your toadstool for a parasol!\nI didn\u2019t see you.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy should a little girl want a parasol?\u201d asked the Snail as solemnly\nas a great-aunt. \u201cYou\u2019re very vain.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh no indeed,\u201d replied Nikko. \u201cBut I should like to pretend I was a\ngrand lady, going to the Emperor\u2019s palace to-day. I should love to see\nthe Emperor.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo should I,\u201d said the Spider.\n\n\u201cWell, so should I,\u201d admitted the Snail. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go?\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, but look at me!\u201d cried Nikko sadly. \u201cI have on a hempen frock and\nmy feet are bare and I have not a single jewel, only this string of red\nberries round my neck! But to ride in the procession one must sit on a\npearly throne and wear a silken gown and jewelry and carry a pretty\nparasol. I have none of these things.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will make you a dress more beautiful than silk,\u201d said the Spider, \u201cif\nyou will take me along to see the Emperor!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I could take the toadstool for a parasol, if you wouldn\u2019t mind\nhaving tea somewhere else,\u201d Nikko said. \u201cBut alas! what should I do for\na pearly throne?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, now you mention it,\u201d chimed in the Snail, \u201cif I could eat enough\ntea and toast I might grow big enough to carry you, and my house would\nmake a pretty good throne. Yes, perhaps I\u2019ll carry you, if you will get\nme the tea and toast; for I must confess I should love to see the\nEmperor!\u201d\n\nAs fast as her bare feet could carry her, Nikko ran home, took all the\ntea out of the canister, baked six batches of bread, put them in a\nbucket and carried them back to the forest. She then laid a fire of\nsticks and began to make toast so ambitiously that the scent of it could\nbe smelled all over China from the Great Wall at one end to the Yellow\nSea at the other. And above the fire hung the bucket, filled with water\nfor the Snail\u2019s tea.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nThe Snail filled his acorn-cup a million times that day and ate toast\ntill the sun went down. Then he rested for a few minutes, but when night\ncame he began again and you could hear him munching in the dark.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nIn the morning he was so big that he had to descend from the toadstool\nfor fear of breaking its stem. By evening he was as big as a football,\nand by the next morning as big as the biggest snow-ball you ever made,\nand before the third day, he was big enough to carry Nikko on his back.\n\nMeanwhile the Spider had been very busy. He had spun a wonderful silken\ngown, all decked with dew-drops and inwrought with the wings of\nbutterflies, and when he had watched Nikko put it on and made sure that\nit fitted perfectly, he fastened himself in front for a brooch. Nikko\nwas delighted. But suddenly she exclaimed:\n\n\u201cAlas, I have no shoes! The grand ladies all wear tiny beaded shoes.\nWhat shall I do with my feet?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, never mind your feet,\u201d replied the Snail. \u201cYou\u2019ll be riding all the\ntime so you can keep them tucked under your gown.\u201d\n\nSo they picked the scarlet toadstool for a parasol, set Nikko a-top the\nSnail with her feet well hidden, and started on their way.\n\nThe procession was almost over; only a few stragglers hurried along the\nhighroad, and they all overtook poor Nikko, for a Snail can go just half\na mile an hour and no faster. A haughty four-in-hand of peacocks passed\nher at a strut, tails spread and crests erect; a team of pig-tailed\nChinamen running for all they were worth and jolting their mistress till\nshe was dizzy, almost stumbled headlong over the Snail; four turbaned\nslaves overtook her and then looked back open-mouthed at the beautiful\nlady; and a spotted leopard, loping in front of a gorgeous princess\u2019\nthrone, shied in terror when the Snail happened to stick out his eyes,\nand the leopard, the throne and the gorgeous princess were wrecked in\nthe muddy water of the rice-field beside the road.\n\nWhen they came to the palace they heard the bells ringing, the big gongs\nsounding and the conches blowing, and saw great kites and paper lanterns\nand balloons swinging in the air, for the Emperor had just chosen a\nbride and the procession was all over! The bride was the beautiful lady\nLu Tsing, who now sat beside him on the terrace and smiled down on all\nthe other ladies. Her maidens and attendants sat at her feet and told\nher how fortunate she was.\n\n\u201cHow did you feel when you rode in the procession?\u201d asked one of the\nmaidens.\n\n\u201cWeren\u2019t you dreadfully excited till you knew whom his Majesty would\nchoose?\u201d\n\nLu Tsing yawned behind her fan.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d she replied, \u201cI wasn\u2019t a bit excited, for I knew of course that he\nwould choose me.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nJust then the big Snail came plodding along the road, and they all got a\nglimpse of Nikko\u2019s face under the scarlet parasol. She was so lovely to\nbehold that everybody gasped. But the Emperor did more than gasp; he\njumped up from his ivory chair and cried,\n\n\u201cFriends, Courtiers, Chinamen! I have changed my mind! I am not going to\nmarry Lu Tsing after all, but this unknown damsel whose name has never\nbeen heard in the land!\u201d\n\nThen the bells were tolled and the gongs sounded and the conches blown\nlouder than ever, as a hundred slaves hurried down the steps to pick up\nNikko\u2019s throne and carry her up to the terrace. Then the Snail withdrew\ninto his house, for he was ticklish, and the Spider whispered to Nikko\nunder cover of all the noise:\n\n\u201cYou must not be found with a real spider on your breast! I will leave\nyou now, and you can say you have lost your pin.\u201d\n\nWith these words he dropped to the ground and ran when he thought no one\nwould notice. But one person did notice; that was the lady Lu Tsing. She\ntried to kill him with her foot, but he escaped again and again, till\nsuddenly she picked up a cup from the tea-table, turned it up-side down\nand trapped him under it.\n\nThe Emperor greeted Nikko with honeyed words, but the lady Lu Tsing\nhaving caught the Spider, retreated to the furthest, darkest chamber of\nthe palace, where she tore up all the curtains and bed-spreads and\nbureau-scarfs in her wrath till the room looked like a rag-man\u2019s house.\nThen she sat down among the wreckage and plotted revenge.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nNikko would have been quite happy if she had not been so worried about\nher bare feet. Sooner or later they would be discovered and oh, what\nwould the Emperor think of her then? Just now he took her hand and said\nto her:\n\n\u201cMy dear, you must tell me what you would like for a wedding gift!\u201d And\nNikko almost cried out: \u201cShoes, your Majesty, shoes!\u201d but she did not\nwant to give herself away, so she replied,\n\n\u201cWell, I do not know which I would rather have, a bright brocaded shawl\nor a new pair of slippers!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou shall have both,\u201d declared the Emperor, and ordered a maiden to\nfetch them. Nikko donned the shawl and slipped on the little shoes but\nthey were so small that they hurt her feet dreadfully.\n\n\u201cAh well,\u201d she said to herself, biting back tears of pain. \u201cI shall have\nto get used to some discomforts now that I am to be an Empress!\u201d\n\nShe had been Empress for about a week, when her husband the Emperor fell\nvery ill. It really was indigestion after the wedding-feast, but of\ncourse the doctors wanted to make it something more dignified, so they\nsaid:\n\n\u201cHe must have been bitten by a poisonous insect!\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cYes, and I know who it was,\u201d said Lu Tsing to her attendants. \u201cIt was\nthe golden Spider who sat on Nikko\u2019s breast when she came! Everybody\nthought it was a pin, but it really was a Spider, for I saw him creep\naway!\u201d and the attendants went about the palace telling everybody how\nNikko had worn a live Spider for a pin.\n\nNikko was very anxious about her husband. He lay on a couch in the\nparlor because he was too ill to sit on his throne, and twenty doctors\nstood around and told him that a poisonous insect must have bitten him.\nJust then Lu Tsing came in, with a tea-cup in her hand.\n\n\u201cBehold what the maid found in his Majesty\u2019s bed when she turned the\nmattress!\u201d she cried, And showed them the golden Spider, who sat in the\ntea-cup and looked at them with great surprise.\n\n\u201cWhy, it is the Spider that Nikko wore when she came,\u201d said the Emperor.\n\u201cWe all thought it was a pin. And she said she had lost it. Nikko, you\nwere fibbing!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I was fibbing,\u201d Nikko admitted.\n\n [Illustration: \u201cFriends, Courtiers, Chinamen! I have changed my mind\u201d]\n\n\u201cAnd then she put the Spider into your Majesty\u2019s bed!\u201d cried all the\npeople. \u201cShe is a wicked woman!\u201d\n\nIn vain Nikko protested. Lu Tsing\u2019s attendants had told the story so\noften that everybody was ready to believe it now that they saw the\nSpider.\n\n\u201cThe Spider shall be killed, and Nikko be put into the highest,\nstrongest, darkest tower, with a moat around it, and kept there all her\nlife,\u201d said the Emperor in great anger, \u201cand Lu Tsing shall be Empress\nof China!\u201d\n\nSo they set the Spider down on the floor and called a hundred slaves to\ncome with brooms and kill him. But the hundred slaves all hit each\nother\u2019s brooms and got so mixed up that they did not hit the Spider at\nall, so he hid under the Emperor\u2019s couch and when nobody was looking he\nran away. He ran to the back-yard where the extra thrones and the\nEmperor\u2019s beasts were kept.\n\nHere the Snail was just having an argument with a quick-tempered Dragon\nabout which was better, tea or toast. The Dragon said tea. The Snail\nsaid toast.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cStop arguing,\u201d said the Spider. \u201cThe best food is rice anyway.\u201d And\nwhile the Dragon was still switching his tail and shouting: \u201cTea, tea,\ntea!\u201d the Snail stopped and listened to the story of Nikko\u2019s trouble.\n\n\u201cThis is awful,\u201d he said, looking forward with one eye and back with the\nother to make sure nobody was listening. \u201cHave they put Nikko in the\ntower?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, they have,\u201d wept the Spider.\n\n\u201cCan\u2019t she let herself out of the window? You could creep in and spin a\nrope for her. She\u2019s not very heavy.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut there is a deep moat around the tower,\u201d said the Spider. \u201cI\ncouldn\u2019t get to her, and besides if she let herself down she would drop\ninto the moat.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll help you below,\u201d replied the Snail. \u201cYou be ready to do your part.\nMeet me to-night at the edge of the moat!\u201d\n\nJust then one of the slaves appeared with a broom, so the little spider\nducked out of sight under a throne. The Snail sat in deep thought for a\nwhile; then he went and found the Dragon again, and told him that toast\nwas better than tea.\n\nAt night, when the temple-bells had stopped ringing and everyone in the\npalace was fast asleep, the Snail and the Spider met at the edge of the\nmoat.\n\n\u201cHop on my back,\u201d whispered the Snail, and slid into the water with the\nSpider aboard. Softly he floated across the black moat to the tower\nwhere Nikko was imprisoned.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nPoor Nikko sat weeping by the window. It was cold and dusty and untidy\nin the tower-room. She had pulled the brocaded shawl tight about her\nshoulders and had taken off her tiny shoes, for now that she was no\nlonger an Empress she thought she might as well be comfortable. Her\nparasol lay up-side-down in a corner for she never expected to use it\nagain. The sun never shone in the tower where she was to stay all her\nlife.\n\nHow surprised she was when a small voice called: \u201cNikko, Empress of\nChina!\u201d and looking up, she discovered the golden spider sitting on the\nwindow-sill!\n\n\u201cWe must hurry,\u201d he said, and began to spin a rope. He was all out of\nbreath from running up the high steep wall of the tower. When he had\nfinished the rope, Nikko put on her shoes and picked up the parasol, the\nSpider hopped on her shoulder, and together they let themselves\ncarefully out of the window. The rope was very slippery and they slid\ndown a little faster than they intended.\n\nSplash! they landed on the back of the Snail and ducked him completely\nunder water, but he bobbed right up again. They floated across the moat\nin the moonlight and the spider climbed on top of the parasol and kept\nthe watch, for the Snail kept getting his eyes full of water, and Nikko\nwas so busy holding on that she could not look around at all.\n\n\u201cTake care,\u201d said the Spider, \u201csomeone is coming! Thank goodness, here\nwe are ashore. But I\u2019m afraid somebody has seen us!\u201d\n\nThe Snail crawled out of the water and shook himself, stretched his eyes\nand paused for breath.\n\n\u201cRun away, Nikko,\u201d he said. \u201cI should like to carry you, but my pace is\ntoo slow. You had better trust to your feet. Hurry, hurry and flee from\nthe land of China, or the Emperor\u2019s soldiers will catch you!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I won\u2019t leave you,\u201d protested Nikko.\n\n\u201cYes, you must leave me. I will follow by and by and meet you in the big\nworld beyond China, for no one will think about me or try to catch me.\nTake the Spider with you. Buddha preserve you!\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nSo Nikko and the Spider kissed him goodbye and ran away together, over\nmuddy fields of rice and big dry fields of black poppies, past temples\nand villages till they came to the furthest end of the country. It was\nlucky they had not waited for the Snail, for no sooner were they out of\nsight of the palace than they heard the Emperor\u2019s soldiers coming after\nthem. Somebody really had seen them in the moat; it was the Dragon, who\nhad drunk so much tea the day before that he could not sleep that night\nand was prowling through the yard looking for the Snail. He wanted to\nhave another argument to pass the time. But when he discovered the Snail\nin the moat, carrying Nikko away from the tower, he did not stop to\nargue\u2014he ran straight to the Emperor\u2019s room, and told him what he had\nseen.\n\nNikko ran as fast as she could, ducking under the tea-plants whenever\nshe had to stop and rest. She lost one shoe in the deep mud, so she took\noff the other one too and carried it in her hand, glad to be barefoot\nagain. The tea-plants tore her gown, but every time there was a fresh\nrent the Spider promptly mended it.\n\nThus they came to the great Wall of China, and there they had to stop.\nThe gates were locked and the wall was much, much too high to climb\nover.\n\n\u201cHa, we have you now!\u201d shouted the soldiers, catching up and swinging\ntheir swords most grandly.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nBut just then there came a mighty puff of wind that pulled hard at\nNikko\u2019s parasol. She held on with all her might, and the wind picked her\nup and wafted her high, high into the air, and carried her clean over\nthe wall! The soldiers dropped their swords in amazement, and stood with\nmouths agape, but there was nothing they could do for the gate was\nlocked and Nikko escaped under their very noses. They could only pick up\ntheir swords and go home again, with their pig-tails dangling foolishly\nbehind.\n\nIn a great forest outside the land of China, the parasol came to earth.\nNikko planted it in the ground to let it grow as a toadstool once more.\nWhen it rained she sat underneath it, and by and by the Spider made\ncurtains all around, so that she had a lovely little house to live in.\n\nAbout three months later, when they had given up all hope of ever seeing\nthe Snail again and the Spider had hung a black crepe on the door in his\nmemory, they heard a rustle among the tea-plants, and saw his pearly\nshell plodding through the forest!\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the Snail, sitting down heavily, \u201cI\u2019m sure I never want to\ngo travelling again! The roads are really dreadful in China, and the\nbaggage problem is terrible!\u201d It had taken him two months to make the\ntrip, and he had to wait another month for the great gate to be opened,\nfor it is only opened once a year, and anyone who wants to come in or go\nout has to wait for that day.\n\nBut they were so happy to be reunited again that they soon forgot all\ntheir troubles. The Snail lived in his house and Nikko in hers, and the\nSpider had Nikko\u2019s old shoe for a bungalow. Every afternoon Nikko\nreceived her friends on the little lawn between the three houses, where\nshe spread the bright brocaded shawl and served them tea in the most\nimperial fashion. When it was time to go they would make a bow and say:\n\n\u201cGoodnight, Empress, Buddha preserve your Majesty!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I am not an Empress any more!\u201d said Nikko sadly. \u201cLu Tsing is\nEmpress of China.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh well,\u201d replied the Snail, \u201cLu Tsing may be Empress of China, but I\u2019m\nsure you are Empress of everywhere else!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere is that?\u201d asked the Spider.\n\n\u201cLazybones,\u201d said the Snail with his great-auntliest air, \u201clook it up on\nthe map!\u201d\n\nSo they continued to bow, and the Spider (who didn\u2019t look it up)\nembroidered a little sampler with these words on it and fastened it over\nNikko\u2019s door:\n\n  \u201cHere under curtains magnificent dwells\n  Nikko, the Empress of Everywhere Else!\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\n\n\n                              PETER DWARF\n\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nOnce upon a time there was a man who lived in a dark hut under a willow\ntree. His face, and his wife\u2019s face, and the faces of their six\nblack-haired children, were as dark and gnarled as the willow trunk. But\nwhen their seventh son was born, he was a light-haired boy, with clear\nblue eyes, and a smile like golden sunshine.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cThis is not our child!\u201d cried the black-eyed man and the black-eyed\nwoman; \u201cthis yellow-haired baby is a changeling; the dwarfs have put him\ninto the cradle!\u201d So they called him Peter Dwarf. They were very unkind\nto him, and when he grew older they made him do hard, ugly work, like\npicking nettles and killing lambs. Peter liked to work, but he did not\nat all like to kill poor little lambs.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nOne day it happened that the cat got into the larder and ate a big piece\nof meat. The black-eyed woman took her by the tail and flung her out of\nthe window at Peter Dwarf, telling him that he must get rid of her at\nonce. But when he had the lovely white cat in his arms, she looked at\nhim so pleadingly that tears came into his eyes, and he said: \u201cMinka, I\ncannot hurt you! But if I don\u2019t obey, my father and mother will be very\nangry.\u2019\u201d But the cat still looked at him so sorrowfully that he said:\n\u201cMinka, let us both run away. You shall not be harmed.\u201d\n\nThey walked over many fields where corn and beans grew in rows and the\nrabbits jumped away as they came. When night fell they had reached a\nmountain, and there were no more fields, only roots and rocks and\nshadowy trees.\n\n\u201cLet us go into a cave to sleep,\u201d Peter Dwarf suggested. So they crept\ninto a deep cavern, which seemed to have no end. Peter spread his coat\nand lay down; but Minka crept into all the dark crannies mewing and\nscratching, and finally she disappeared. When Peter heard her come back\nagain, he could only see her eyes, shining like stars in the rocky\npassage.\n\n\u201cOho!\u201d he cried, and the cavern echoed, \u201cdoes this vault go on into the\nmountain? I must see how far it goes.\u201d So he took up his coat and\nfollowed Minka. Presently they were in the heart of the hill. The caves\nwere cold and damp, and it was very dark. Then Peter, shuddering, turned\naround to go back, but he was entirely lost among the winding passages,\nand the white cat walked aimlessly from one cavern to another. At last,\nafter much wandering, they saw a light, and at the same time they heard\nvoices\u2014little buzzing voices, that sounded like a copper dish when you\nstrike it and set it ringing.\n\n\u201cThey are coming this way!\u201d whispered Peter Dwarf. \u201cLook, they have\nlanterns\u2014they will save us. But who are they?\u2014Minka, they are the\nDiggerfolk\u2014the Dwarfs!\u201d\n\nPresently they came, and their lanterns made shadowy circles on the\nwalls. They were little men, in gay, patched clothes, and their faces\nwere brown and wrinkled like walnuts. They stopped, raised their arms,\nand pointed at Peter, crying all together:\n\n\u201cHere is a mortal! Here is a child of mortals, in our own native\ncaverns!\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nNow Peter had gone many hours without anything to eat, and the darkness\nand hunger had made him shaky. His knees gave way under him and he sank\ndown on the stone.\n\n\u201cOh Diggerfolk, Diggerfolk, have mercy on us! We are lost, and hungry,\nand have not a friend in the world!\u201d\n\nThe little men all muttered and grunted; they did not look unkind.\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d asked one of them who carried a great stone hammer.\n\n\u201cI am Peter Dwarf,\u201d replied the boy, bowing his fair, bright head. \u201cAnd\nthis\u201d\u2014he drew the white cat into his arms\u2014\u201cthis is Minka.\u201d\n\n\u201cPeter Dwarf!\u201d exclaimed the one with the hammer, \u201cwhy do they call you\nDwarf? You are as tall and well-shaped a boy as ever I have seen.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cBecause I have blue eyes and yellow hair,\u201d Peter replied, \u201cI was so\ndifferent from my brothers, and so ugly that my mother said I was not\nher own son, but a fairy changeling whom the dwarfs have put into the\ncradle.\u201d\n\n\u201cHo, ho!\u201d cried a big dwarf with a bunch of keys at his belt, \u201cso they\nhave sent you back where you came from, have they? And do we look as\nthough we were your relatives? No, no, little boy; take up that purring\nfriend of yours and go home to your mother and tell her that this is no\nplace either for her child or her pussy-cat.\u201d\n\nPeter was still kneeling on the ground, and Minka sat between his knees.\nNow he stretched his arms toward the little men, and implored:\n\n\u201cOh good kind Diggerfolk, let me go with you and work for you! My mother\nhas not sent me; I ran away, because I would not hurt Minka, and they\nwould have been very angry with me. I will work for you from morning\nuntil night, only let me stay!\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cWork?\u201d said the dwarf with the hammer, \u201chow can such a slight and\nprincely creature work? Peter, let me see your hands.\u201d He felt Peter\u2019s\nhands; they were thin and strong and callous. \u201cYes,\u201d he said, \u201cthis boy\nknows what it is to work, I think we had better let him stay with us.\nAnd now, Peter, since you are coming with us, let us have a general\nintroduction. My name is Stroke,\u201d and he bowed as best he could over his\nround stomach. \u201cI am a Swordsmith, and he with the pick-axe is a Miner,\nMushroom by name; he of the pointed ears is Berry, the Blacksmith; and\nthose three who are talking to the Lady Minka, are Hump, the Goldsmith,\nCrow the Coppersmith, and Wisely, he that jingles the keys\u2014a Locksmith.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nPeter got up and bowed to the little men. They told him to follow, then\nthey led the way through winding passages down to the very center of the\nearth.\n\n\u201cNow, if you will truly learn the trades,\u201d they said, \u201cyou must work\nwith each one of us for a year. You shall be given plenty to eat, and\nshall sleep beside the fire.\u201d\n\nSo Peter worked for the first year with Mushroom, the Miner. They would\ngo into the shafts together and break the good ore out of the crags,\nletting the pieces roll with a noise like thunder down into the cave\nwhere Thorn, the Smelter, kept his furnace glowing.\n\nThe next year Peter worked for Thorn, the Smelter, and his face became a\nruddy brown from standing over the roaring furnaces; then he learned\nfrom Berry, the Blacksmith, how to make hammers and axes and other\ntools; and the next year he helped Stroke to fashion swords and armor.\nHe made gold chains and brooches and rings with Hump, and keys with\nWisely, the Locksmith. Before the seventh year was over, there was not a\nlock in all Christendom which Peter could not open.\n\n\u201cKeys,\u201d said Wisely, stroking his silken beard, \u201cKeys are the most magic\nthings in all the world. You have learned your trades well, Peter Dwarf;\nnow we will let you go forth into the world and try your luck. And\nbecause you have been faithful and sweet-natured, you shall have a gift\nof magic. This gift shall be that whenever you stand in another person\u2019s\nshoes, you will be able to see what that person sees and know what that\nperson knows. Now use your magic as you will, and do not forget us.\nGood-bye, Peter Dwarf, good-bye!\u201d\n\nAll the little dwarfs waved their caps and their big brown hands, as\nPeter and Minka went back to the sunny upper Earth, which they had not\nseen for seven years.\n\nThey wandered for a long time, when finally they came to the hut where\nPeter had been born, but strange people lived in it now\u2014his wicked\nblack-eyed family had all died; the woman of a cat-bite, the man of a\ndog-bite, and the six naughty boys of over-eating. So Peter and his\nwhite Pussy walked on for many miles and came to a splendid palace where\na king lived with his queen.\n\n\u201cO Minka!\u201d said Peter, quite breathlessly, \u201cif one could only look\ninside for one single moment! Wouldn\u2019t you love to look inside?\u201d\n\n\u201cMew-ew,\u201d said the cat, rubbing her head against his bare ankles. \u201cMew!\u201d\n\nJust then a fat gentleman, in blue and gold attire, came running down\nthe hillside, as fast as he could run. He stopped to catch his breath,\nand then started again. He was the king\u2019s chamberlain. Peter bowed and\nspoke to him. \u201cSir, is there anything I can do for you? If it is an\nerrand, I am a swift runner!\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed you should be swifter than I,\u201d groaned the chamberlain. \u201cOh what\na stitch I have; what a stitch! Yes, run if you will, and summon all the\ndoctors in the land, and all the wise philosophers; for the King is very\nill.\u201d\n\nSo Peter ran, as fast as only a bare-foot boy can run; and soon he came\nto a house that bore a sign:\n\n                    [Illustration: DR. FAUSTUS PH.D]\n\nHe drummed on the door until the old magician came out, pipe in hand, to\nask what had happened.\n\n\u201cThe King is very ill!\u201d cried Peter. \u201cGo swiftly to the palace, good\ndoctor, and find out what ails him.\u201d\n\nAll afternoon Peter ran on and on, hunting up physicians and wise men\nand sending them to the palace. At night he returned to the palace and\nthe blue-and-gold gentleman called him into the banquet hall. Peter\u2019s\nheart beat high as he entered the shining room which was lit by a\nthousand candles. Timidly he stood in the doorway, his red pointed cap\nin his hands and the white cat at his heels.\n\nHe almost lost his breath when the Queen stepped through the great\nportal of gold. She was arrayed in crimson silk, with red roses in her\nblack hair, and tiny silver slippers on her feet.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cWho is the little ragamuffin hiding behind the Lord Chamberlain?\u201d\ndemanded the Queen, spying Peter Dwarf. \u201cSend him here, I would speak\nwith him!\u201d\n\nPeter approached, frightened and dazed, and dropped upon one knee.\n\n\u201cYour Majesty,\u201d he replied to her questioning, \u201cI am Peter Dwarf; the\nkind Lord Chamberlain has permitted me to enter the hall.\u201d\n\n\u201cI like this boy,\u201d said the Queen to the stout Lord Chamberlain. \u201cPut\nhim into proper clothes and send him back to me; he shall be my page.\u201d\n\nSo they took Peter through many snow-white rooms to a little room in the\nback of the palace. In it were a bed and chairs made of rosewood, and\nroses painted on the walls, and silver stars on the ceiling; so that\nwhen you lay in bed you felt as though you were in a bower, looking up\nat the starry sky.\n\n\u201cHere is your room,\u201d said the servant who had brought him in. \u201cAnd these\nare the clothes you are to wear.\u201d\n\nPeter took off his leather apron and his red cap, and put on a doublet\nand hose of light blue silk, and a mantle of dark blue velvet. But happy\nas he was in his rich attire, he did not forget about the king who was\nso ill. Every time he met somebody who might know, he asked:\n\n\u201cIs his Majesty any better?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d was always the answer, \u201cHe is very ill.\u201d\n\nAt last the kind Lord Chamberlain told Peter what the doctors had said.\n\n\u201cSome wicked enemy of the King,\u201d he reported, \u201cis burning a waxen image\nof his majesty over a slow fire; and as long as the image lasts the King\nwill live, but when it has all melted he will die.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho can it be?\u201d cried Peter. \u201cDoes no one know?\u201d\n\n\u201cNobody knows except the wicked person himself. We think\u2014but say not\nthat I told you\u2014we think it is someone in this very palace, for the good\nKing has no enemies among his neighbors.\u201d\n\nSuddenly Peter remembered the magic power that the dwarfs had given him.\n\n\u201cLet me try on everybody\u2019s shoes,\u201d he cried, \u201cand when I come to the\nshoes of the wicked person I shall know where the waxen image is\nmelting!\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nThe Lord Chamberlain gave him permission to creep into every bedroom and\ndressing room in the palace. Minka always went ahead, and when anyone\nwas in the room she waved her tail to warn Peter away, but when the\nchamber was empty, she said, \u201cMew,\u201d and then Peter went in and tried on\nall the shoes he could find. But all the knowledge that came to him was\na lot of little foolish secrets\u2014where the Lady Natalia kept her jewels,\nand the Lord Richard had ridden over a chicken and had not paid the poor\nfarmer a penny for it, and that the little chambermaid Clarissa was in\nlove with a beggar-man. But he could not find out where the waxen image\nwas melting.\n\nMeanwhile he hardly saw the Queen at all. She was always with the King,\nbathing his forehead, smoothing his pillow, and getting his chicken\nbroth.\n\n\u201cSee,\u201d said the chamberlain and the doctors, \u201chow much she loves him!\u201d\n\nOne day the King was tired of having so many people about him, and sent\neverybody away but the Queen and Peter who had come in to fill the\nlamps. The Queen was stroking the poor King\u2019s forehead. She had\nforgotten that Peter was in the room. As soon as he was asleep she\ndoubled up her lovely white hand and shook her fist at him, whispering:\n\u201cMelt\u2014melt\u2014melt! Another night and you are done!\u201d\n\nPeter thought his heart would stand still. Had he really heard aright?\nHe crept out of the room as quietly as he had come, and hastened to the\nQueen\u2019s dressing room. Never had it occurred to him to try on _her_\nshoes! He attempted to open the door; it was locked. So he turned sadly\nto his own room, and sat down to think it over.\n\nPresently a valet came in with a message.\n\n\u201cYou are to wait on the Queen at dinner tonight,\u201d it read. Peter obeyed,\nand thought little more about it. But when the Queen was seated he stood\nbehind her chair and he noticed that she slipped her silver shoe off\nunder the table. Deftly he stepped out of his own, and while she was\nhelping herself to pink ice cream, he tried to push his foot into her\nlittle shoe. But alas! the shoe was so small that he could not even get\nhis toes into it! He tried and tried, but in vain; he had to give it up.\n\nThat night he walked disconsolately with Minka in the garden. They were\njust under the Queen\u2019s window when suddenly, the casement was opened,\nand something which looked like a fiery rocket or a shooting star flew\nout into the air\u2014over their heads.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cA witch!\u201d cried Peter, and then, \u201cThe Queen!\u201d For at that very moment a\nsilver slipper fell beside him in the grass. When he had stepped into it\nat dinner, trying to stand in it for just one moment, he had stretched\nit so much that now it was too big for the Queen.\n\nAs it fell Minka made a leap for it and tapped it with her paws\u2014but no\nsooner was her little white foot inside the slipper then she began to\nwave her tail violently. She too had the magic gift of the Dwarfs!\n\n\u201cI believe you know,\u201d cried Peter, as he followed her down the garden\nwalks. \u201cI believe you know where the waxen image is melting!\u201d Peter took\nthe slipper from Minka and she ran ahead swiftly and quietly, and led\nhim over the fields and fences to a high, dark mountain. At the foot of\nthe mountain stood a tower of granite, with great iron doors.\n\n\u201cMew-ew,\u201d said Minka, as she came up against the iron doors. \u201cMew!\u201d\n\nPeter tried to force the door but it was strongly locked and would not\nmove. Then he peered through the key-hole, and saw a reddish light, like\nthe glow of a great fire. A voice that sounded like the Queen\u2019s was\nchanting a dismal verse and Peter knew from what she said that the image\nwould be melted by dawn.\n\n\u201cCome,\u201d said Peter to his cat, \u201cI know what we must do; but it must be\nquick work! Oh Minka\u2014one more dawn, and it will be too late!\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nHe went into a cavern at the foot of the mountain. Here he called loudly\ndown the dark passage way\u2014\u201cO Mushroom, Thorn, Stroke, Wisely! Help\nme\u2014help me\u2014help me!\u201d And in another minute he saw little lights\napproaching from all parts of the mountain, as the faithful Diggerfolk\ncame to his call.\n\nSwiftly they set up a workshop, smelted the broken ore, hammered and\npolished and labored as only Dwarfs can. As the first streaks of light\nshowed in the sky, they finished their work. Peter, who had taken off\nhis silken clothes and put on a leather apron, now changed to the new\nsuit of mail they had wrought and parted hastily from his friends with\ngrateful thanks. Besides the armor, they had made him a sword, and most\nimportant of all a key to fit the iron doors. Soon he reached the tower\nagain and putting the key into the lock he used all his strength and\nfinally the great doors swung open.\n\nBefore him in the tower-chamber burned a mighty fire; the flames jumped\nup around something that seemed like a human figure, stretched directly\nabove them\u2014but if you looked twice you saw it was a statue of wax,\nrapidly melting away. Over it the Queen was murmuring incantations while\nshe watched the figure grow smaller and smaller at every lick of the\ncruel flames.\n\nSuddenly the white cat leaped at the Queen and began to scratch her.\nThis gave Peter time to put out the fire and save the waxen image before\nit was quite melted.\n\n [Illustration: A wonderful lady stood before him in the shining dawn]\n\n\u201cI\u2019m coming, Minka, I\u2019m coming!\u201d he cried, as the Queen seized her by\nthe throat and tried to choke her. Minka fought valiantly, until Peter\nrushed forward and cut off the Queen\u2019s head with a single stroke of his\nsword. At that moment everything grew dark; a noise like thunder came\nfrom the depth of the mountain and Peter clasped his hands over his\neyes, for he did not want to see any more.\n\nWhen he looked up again, the sun had risen. Light flooded the room, and\na wonderful lady, clad in white samite as soft and pure as Minka\u2019s fur,\nstood before him in the shining dawn. She held out her hands, and\nshaking back her golden hair said:\n\n\u201cPeter Dwarf, my good sweet Peter, I am the Princess Minka; don\u2019t you\nrecognize me?\u201d Then Peter looked into her starry eyes, and knew that his\nbeloved Minka must have been enchanted by the wicked Queen many years\nago, and that now the spell was broken.\n\nSo they returned swiftly to the royal palace, where they found everybody\nrejoicing because the King was so much better that that morning he had\neaten four buckwheat cakes with syrup for his breakfast. And the King\ndubbed Peter a knight and made him general of his army and for a wedding\npresent gave him a palace with a great rose-garden and a banquet hall.\nSoon after this Peter and Minka were married. When the good King died,\nmany years later, they were made King and Queen, and ruled in peace and\nhappiness all the rest of their days.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\n\n\n                            THE CRYSTAL BOWL\n\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nOnce upon a time in distant Orient Land, there lived a beautiful royal\nmaiden, the Princess Zarashne. Her hair was long and black as the veils\nof night, her arms were fair as the pink sea-shells, and her gowns were\nas glorious in color as the feathers of the peacock. Everybody in the\npalace where she lived, and in the town outside the palace-walls, loved\nPrincess Zarashne; even the animals who dwelt far away in the desert had\nheard how good and beautiful she was, and many of them came to town\nhoping they might see her\u2014the lion and the tiger, and the striped zebra,\nthe ostrich and the camel and the curious giraffe. But the keeper of the\npalace-gate was afraid to let them in, so the only ones who saw her were\nthe ostrich and the giraffe, because they could look over the wall and\nwatch her feed her gold-fish in the fountain.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nMost of all she was beloved by the Prince of all Orient Land, Selim\nPasha the Proud (a Pasha is a very mighty kind of Prince, who wears a\nturban of heavenly blue and carries a curved sword in his golden belt).\nSelim Pasha rode through the gates of the Palace every morning at\nsunrise, on a snow-white horse, followed by a hundred soldiers on foot;\non his shoulder he always carried a bird of paradise, who made sweet\nmusic for Princess Zarashne, and in his pocket he brought his pet white\nmouse to dance for her. All day long he walked with her in the garden\nand told her stories about the world outside the wall, where great\nrivers flowed, and palm-trees grew, and the yellow desert sand stretched\nfrom one end of Orient Land to the other. The only thing he did not tell\nher about was the terrible magician, who lived among the desert sands;\nhe did not want to tell her anything that would give her bad dreams.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nThe magician was a very mighty and ancient man, called Bulbo. By his\nstrange, black magic he had built himself an impregnable castle and had\ntamed a great river, and made it surround his castle with a deep,\nimpassable moat. No army could ever pass these waters, or scale his\nramparts of yellow sand; if he himself wanted to go out, he rode on the\nback of a big brown bat. All the creatures of Night, the bats and owls\nand toads and many wicked faery sprites, dwelt with him in his castle\nand were his body-guard.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nNow it happened that Bulbo the Magician had left his castle and was\nriding through the air high over Orient Land, in the night-time, as was\nhis wont. He was unusually far from home; in fact, the first light of\ndawn surprised him just as his bat was fluttering over the royal\ngardens. The nightingale had stopped singing, and the birds of day had\nbegun, the pansies and daisies and dreamy lotos-flowers were just waking\nup. Then he saw what seemed to him the loveliest flower of all\u2014it was\nPrincess Zarashne sitting alone beside the gold-fish fountain, waiting\nfor Selim Pasha.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nBulbo spurred his bat, and swooped down among the rose-bushes like a\nswift, black shadow. Before Princess Zarashne knew what had happened, he\nhad seized her and placed her before him in the saddle between the\nfluttering wings of the bat, and they were rising up, up, up into the\nblue morning air!\n\nBut just at this moment, the palace-gates swung open, and with a\nflourish of trumpets and a shout of greeting, Selim Pasha and his\nsoldiers appeared. Great was their horror and dismay when they found the\ngarden empty, and heard Princess Zarashne cry \u201cHelp, help!\u201d far above\ntheir heads! Selim Pasha bared his sword and tried to reach the bat as\nit rose, but in vain\u2014in the twinkling of an eye, the sorcerer had flown\na thousand miles away.\n\n      [Illustration: \u201cBore her away to his castle in the desert\u201d]\n\nIn Bulbo\u2019s palace, Princess Zarashne found herself a prisoner. She was\nnot cruelly treated, for Bulbo liked her and made her queen of his\nhousehold. She had nothing to do but water the dark poppies and\nnightshade and beautiful poisonous berry-bushes that grew in his garden,\nand make necklaces of the pearls and shells that the river laid at her\nfeet on the yellow sands. But she was very unhappy, for her only\ncompanion was a monkey who followed her about as her servant, carrying\nher tea-cup and her shawls and never saying a word; and she wept to\nthink of the days when Selim Pasha had walked with her by the gold-fish\nfountain, while the white mouse danced and the bird of paradise sang to\nher\u2014for she never hoped to see the Prince of all Orient Land again.\n\nMeanwhile, Selim Pasha the Proud was inconsolable without his beloved\nPrincess. His soldiers could not help him against Bulbo\u2019s power, and no\nprophet, no wise man, no general could tell him how to get Princess\nZarashne back. So he put on a black cloak, and put black ashes on his\nturban, and would not be comforted. When his people saw him in the\nstreet, and shouted: \u201cHail, Selim Pasha the Proud!\u201d he would hide his\nface in his cloak and say:\n\n\u201cNay, do not call me the Proud\u2014I am only Poor Selim Pasha!\u201d\n\nThen the people were very sad, and even the animals outside the gates\nfelt mournful. The crocodiles in the rivers wept bitter tears, and the\nlions and tigers howled in the desert, and when the giraffes and\nostriches saw that the garden was empty, they lost their appetites.\n\nOne day Selim Pasha met an old man who was selling bowls and vases of\nglass at the palace gate. Because the prince was wrapped in black and\nwalked unattended, the old man did not recognize him, and thought he was\njust a humble citizen.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cGood day to you,\u201d said the old man.\n\nThe prince stopped and bowed, for it pleased his sorrowful fancy to be\ntaken for an ordinary man.\n\n\u201cWould you not like to buy some of my beautiful vases and bowls?\u201d the\nold man continued. \u201cI have brought them many hundreds of miles across\nthe desert. Look at them, and you will not feel so sad!\u201d\n\nBut the prince shook his head.\n\n\u201cI do not want vases of glass,\u201d he replied, \u201cwhat I seek is magic\nknowledge!\u201d\n\nThe old man sat down and set his vases and bowls in a dazzling row upon\nthe pavement. They shone in all colors, like the feathers of a peacock,\nand reminded the prince of Zarashne\u2019s silken gowns.\n\n\u201cI am old and wise,\u201d said the vendor. \u201cI have more knowledge of magic\nthan any man on earth\u2014more even than Bulbo, who lives in the yellow\ndesert. But if you would have a little\u2014ever so little\u2014of it, you must\npay the price I ask.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnything, anything you desire,\u201d cried the prince, \u201cthough you ask all\nthe treasures of Orient Land!\u201d\n\n\u201cI will have none of your treasures. All I ask is your service. I need\nan apprentice in my workshop, many hundreds of miles away across the\ndesert, and if you will come and blow glass for me for seven years, you\nshall have the secret knowledge for your reward.\u201d\n\nThe prince thought deeply for a moment. What would his people say if\nthey ever found out that their ruler had become a glass-maker\u2019s\napprentice? But then, was not Princess Zarashne\u2019s return worth any\nsacrifice?\n\n\u201cI will go with you and be your apprentice,\u201d said Selim Pasha the Proud,\nPrince of Orient Land, \u201cbut wait until I get a bundle of clothes, and\ntell the head-cook not to expect me for dinner, and ask the Lord\nChamberlain to feed my white mouse and my bird of Paradise until I come\nback!\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nThat same day they mounted camels and set out on their long journey\nacross the desert. They passed the castle of Bulbo, but the rivers that\nsurrounded it were so wide and the ramparts of yellow sand so high that\nSelim Pasha could not see over them, though he stood on tip-toe on his\ncamel\u2019s hump. Sadly he rode by and followed the old glass-maker to his\ncity, many hundreds of miles away.\n\nWhen they reached the city, the old man led him to a dingy little house\nmade of bricks and mud. It was very dark inside, for there were no\nwindows.\n\n\u201cStand very still, my lad, till I light the lamp, or you will break some\nprecious glass!\u201d said the old man. Then he struck a light, and Selim\nPasha beheld a most wonderful sight. All about him were vases and bowls\nand cups of iridescent glass standing on shelves of crystal, and there\nwere delicate flowers made of glass and glittering prisms that caught\nthe lamplight and threw back a thousand brilliant hues.\n\n\u201cHere you shall work for seven years,\u201d said the old man, \u201cand I will\nteach you how to make all these things, but you will have to sleep on a\nmat upon the floor, and eat from the bowl after I have eaten, because\nyou are an apprentice.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will do as you say,\u201d replied Selim Pasha the Proud.\n\nSo the Prince of Orient Land made glass for seven years, and slept on a\nmat upon the floor, and ate from the bowl after his master had eaten.\nWhen the seven years were over, his master said to him:\n\n\u201cSelim Pasha, I have taught you all there is to know about glass-making;\nnow make me a bowl of rainbow-colored glass, so large that a man can sit\nwithin it; so bright that no one can see through the glass because of\nits beautiful colors; and so light that the littlest breeze may carry it\naway.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd when I have made the bowl,\u201d said the prince, \u201cshall I then have my\nreward?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen you have made the bowl, we will talk about your reward.\u201d\n\nSo Selim Pasha sat up three days and three nights with the\nglass-blower\u2019s lamps between his knees, and the glass-blower\u2019s rod in\nhis mouth. Finally he made a bowl so large that he himself could hide\nwithin it, so bright that no one could see through it because of its\nbeautiful colors and so light that the littlest breeze could carry it\naway. Then he noticed that the edge of the glass was not smooth, so he\ndipped his finger in water and ran it around and around.\n\nSuddenly the bowl began to sing, as glasses do when you rub around the\nedge\u2014and he could understand quite plainly, what it sang! The fairies\nthat lived in the rainbow colors were singing together:\n\n  \u201cOver the yellow desert sands,\n  Prince of all the Orient Lands,\n  Come, we will bear thee now!\n  O come away in thy crystal ship\n  And watch the ancient river slip\n  Under thy glassy prow!\u201d\n\nThen he knew that in this glass was the magic that he had worked for\nseven years to learn. Carefully he took the great bowl out of doors. It\nwas very early in the morning, and his master was still asleep, so he\nwrote \u201cgoodbye\u201d and \u201cthank you\u201d on the door, and making no sound,\nclimbed into the bowl that was blazing with color in the sunlight.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nNo sooner was he settled than a little breeze crept down the street,\npicked up the beautiful bubble, and wafted it high into the air! He\nfloated over the roofs of the town, and he could smell the breakfasts\ncooking, which made him very hungry. Then he passed over the green\nmeadows that surrounded the town, and could see cows and oxen below him\nthat looked no bigger than Noah\u2019s-ark animals. At last he came to the\ndesert and by sunset he had reached the river that had flowed around\nBulbo\u2019s castle. Then he felt the glass bubble sinking, down, down, down,\nuntil it rested like a ship on the river, and he saw the dim green\nwaters gliding under him.\n\nFinally the great bowl drifted ashore. Princess Zarashne was near the\nriver gathering pearls and shells, and when she saw the beautiful\ncrystal sphere, she ran swiftly and called to Bulbo:\n\n\u201cO Bulbo, Bulbo, come and see what the river has brought to you!\u201d\n\nBulbo came, and looked in amazement at the huge bowl. Fortunately he was\na little man and doubled up with age so that he could not see over the\nedge of the bowl, and of course he could not see through it, because of\nits beautiful colors. Only Princess Zarashne could look over the edge,\nand when she saw who was inside, she could not suppress a little scream,\nthough Selim Pasha had made her a sign to be quiet.\n\n\u201cWhat is it?\u201d asked Bulbo, when he heard her scream.\n\n\u201cI saw a spider,\u201d she replied quickly.\n\nBulbo called six of his black sprites to take the bowl on their\nshoulders and carry it to his flower garden. When they had set it down\namong the roses and pansies and dreamy lotos-flowers, Bulbo went indoors\nfor his supper, but Zarashne stayed outside and looked into the\nglimmering depths of the bowl.\n\n\u201cO Zarashne, beautiful Zarashne,\u201d whispered Selim Pasha, \u201cI have come to\nset you free!\u201d And all the evening they whispered together, while the\ngarden went to sleep and the moon rose and the nightingales began to\nsing. Then Bulbo came to the window with a candle, and called:\n\n\u201cZarashne! It is time for you to go to bed!\u201d\n\nBut Zarashne did not heed him, and at last he came out into the garden.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cWhy do you lean over that bowl and look into it all the time, Zarashne?\nI have called you seven times and you have not answered me!\u201d he said in\ngreat anger.\n\n\u201cI see the reflection of my face,\u201d replied Princess Zarashne, and\ncontinued to gaze down and whisper to Selim Pasha.\n\n\u201cIf you do not come into the house,\u201d cried Bulbo, \u201cI will break the\nbowl!\u201d\n\nThen Zarashne was frightened and would have followed him, but she could\nnot tear herself from her lover, who was saying:\n\n\u201cGoodnight, goodnight, most beautiful flower of Allah\u2019s garden!\nGoodnight, my princess!\u201d So she lingered just another moment and then\nanother, till Bulbo was too angry to call her any more.\n\n\u201cYou are a vain, vain woman,\u201d he exclaimed, \u201cto gaze so long at your own\nimage, and I will put an end to it.\u201d He tore a big branch from the\nnearest pomegranate tree, and before she could prevent it, he struck the\nbeautiful bowl with all his might. It flew into a thousand glittering\nfragments; but in the midst of it stood Selim Pasha the Proud, Prince of\nOrient Land, his sword bared and shining in the moonlight.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cTreason,\u201d screamed the little sorcerer, \u201ctreason!\u201d and fell on his\nknees before the Prince. Then Bulbo\u2019s servants, his bats and sprites,\ncame running to help him. But when Bulbo had broken the crystal bowl,\nthe rainbow fairies who had been imprisoned in the glass, were all set\nfree, and they took splinters of the glass for swords, and fought a\ndreadful battle with Bulbo\u2019s sprites, among the poppies and nightshade\nand the lovely poison berry-bushes. At last the rainbow fairies were\nvictorious, and Selim Pasha sheathed his terrible sword.\n\n\u201cI will not kill you, Bulbo, because you are small and old,\u201d said the\nmagnanimous prince. \u201cBut you shall be banished.\u201d\n\nThen the prince gathered up the fragments of his bowl, which looked like\ncommon window glass now, for the rainbow fairies had taken all of the\nbeautiful colors with them, and taking his glass-blower\u2019s lamp, he blew\nthe pieces into a perfect sphere all around old Bulbo. Then he drew a\ngreat breath\u2014poof! and the globe rose into the air, higher and higher\namong the clouds, till the winds wafted it thousands of miles away.\nPeople who saw it and the little man inside, thought it was the moon.\nWhere it came down was never known, but old Bulbo had vanished forever\nfrom Orient Land.\n\n\u201cBut now we are in Bulbo\u2019s palace,\u201d said Princess Zarashne, \u201cand your\ncrystal ship is gone; how shall we get across the river?\u201d\n\n\u201cHave no fear,\u201d replied the prince, \u201cthe fairies will help us.\u201d Then he\ncalled them all together, and they went down to the yellow sands, where\nthey spread their shining wings and made a rainbow bridge over which\nSelim Pasha the Proud led his princess back to Orient Land.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nHis people were overjoyed to see him again, for they had long thought\nhim dead. His soldiers had forgotten how to march, for they had been\nidle so long, and when they tried to blow the trumpets, they found them\nall rusty and useless. The Lord Chamberlain was discovered hiding under\nthe throne, for he had forgotten to feed the white mouse and the bird of\nParadise, who would have starved if the head-cook had not taken pity on\nthem every day. But Selim Pasha pretended not to notice anything that\nwas wrong; he invited everybody to his marriage-feast, for the lovely\nPrincess Zarashne became his queen, and they spread a banquet-table\nthree miles long so even the humblest beggar could partake. There was\nanother table, too, for the animals who had not eaten with a real\nappetite for seven years, and were awfully hungry now. And at this great\nbanquet Selim Pasha told the story of his adventures. Some believed his\ntale and others did not, but they all rejoiced to have him back, and he\nand Queen Zarashne lived together in peace and happiness and ruled their\npeople wisely for the rest of their lives.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\n\n\n                           THE MERCILESS TSAR\n\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nFar, far away, on a strange northern shore by the White Sea, there was\nonce a rich and royal city. The streets were paved with silver, the\nwalls were shining marble, and the church steeples were topped with gold\nso they gleamed at night in the starlight like big bright moons. The\ncity belonged to a strong and splendid monarch whom people called The\nMerciless Tsar. He lived in a palace of black marble and ivory with\nterraces of turquoise mosaic, windows of pure crystal and heavy curtains\nof silver cloth brocaded with brilliant designs. The Tsar had no pity\nfor the poor and humble; he wrapped himself in a mantle of pride, and\nmade subject kings and princes wait on him at table, and help him into\nhis coat when he went out to drive in his golden chariot behind twelve\nblack horses. If a poor beggar was bold and foolish enough to cry out to\nhim: \u201cAlms, alms, for the love of St. Peter, O most wealthy and\nwonderful!\u201d he would order the driver to crack his whip over the\nbeggar\u2019s stooping shoulders and drive the unhappy wretch before his\nchariot for miles and miles. When people cheered him as he passed, he\npretended not to hear because he thought he was too great to listen to\nthem.\n\nOne day in winter he was driving by the frozen shore of the White Sea,\nwhen he saw a ragged young lad fishing through a big hole in the ice.\n\n\u201cWho is that hideous rag-bag catching fish through the ice?\u201d he asked\nhis chancellor who sat on the front seat beside the driver.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cO most wealthy and wonderful, it is the humblest of your citizens,\nHanka the Fool,\u201d replied the chancellor.\n\n\u201cTake him by the collar,\u201d ordered the Merciless Tsar, \u201cand plunge him\nthrough his hole in the ice. I want to see his face when he comes up\nagain!\u201d\n\nSo the chancellor commanded one coachman to descend and dip poor Hanka\ninto the freezing water, and of course the coachman had to obey or else\nhave his head cut off. He grabbed The Fool by his collar and gave him a\nkick from behind, and Hanka fell screaming through his hole in the thick\nwhite ice. The Tsar declared he had never seen anything so funny in all\nhis life.\n\n\u201cDo it again,\u201d he cried, \u201cdo it again!\u201d Poor Hanka the Fool was nearly\nfrozen to death before the Tsar grew tired of him and let him go. He had\na cold for weeks after, and if his mother had not given him hot tea and\nput him to bed with warm flat-irons at his feet as soon as he got home,\nhe probably would have died.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nA few days later, while the Tsar was sitting in state upon his throne,\nfeeling bored and cross and merciless, a stranger came to the city from\nthe distant North, driving over the frozen sea. He drove all alone in a\nsleigh with three white horses whose trappings were hung with icicles\nthat tinkled like bells. His hair was long and flaxen, his blue eyes\nwere clear as stars, and he wore a flowing white cape that looked like\nfeathery, newly fallen snow. Of course everyone thought he would stop at\nthe inn near the city gate, but he drove up the highway through all the\ntown, and did not stop till he came to the palace of the Tsar. Then he\nreined in his horses, stood up in his sleigh and called with all his\nmight.\n\n\u201cHi, Brother Tsar! Give me a lodging for the night, for I am weary of\nwayfaring. Give me a bed and a place at thy board, and fodder for my\nhorses, that we may rest!\u201d\n\nThe Tsar thought the stranger must be a madman, and sent out a slave to\ndrive him away. But the wayfarer would not go.\n\n\u201cBrother Tsar!\u201d he cried again, \u201cBrother Tsar!\u201d Then the Tsar jumped up\nfrom his throne in a rage, snatched a whip from one of his coachmen, and\nstepped out, in all his pride and glory, upon the terraces of turquoise\nmosaic.\n\n\u201cAway!\u201d he cried, \u201cAway, or I will have thee bound and tortured!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat, thou wilt not grant me even a night\u2019s lodging under thy roof?\u201d\nexclaimed the wayfarer.\n\nThe Tsar cracked his whip.\n\n\u201cBegone, thou mad intruder!\u201d he shouted.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cYes, I will be gone,\u201d returned the stranger, seizing the reins and\njerking up his horses in great anger. \u201cBut henceforth there shall be war\nbetween thee and me. I will sack thy city and send thee begging, O\nmerciless Tsar, for the affront thou hast offered me today. Know that I\nam the Strength of the Storm and Ruler of the Great Ice, King Winter!\u201d\n\nThe Tsar turned pale when he heard these words, but before he could make\nany excuses, the chariot with the three white horses and the tinkling\nicicles had turned about and was flying far, far away to Northward, over\nthe boundless stretches of the Great Ice. So the Merciless Tsar went\nback into the throne-chamber and said to his chancellor, \u201cBah! How could\nKing Winter sack my city, anyway? I\u2019d like to see him try!\u201d\n\nThat very day it began to snow so hard that the children all through the\ncity could not go to school. The boys went out and shovelled the silver\npavements, but soon they had thrown so much snow into the middles of the\nstreets that even the strongest sleigh could not get through any more,\nand the streets looked like thick, white walls between the side walks.\nAnd still it snowed and snowed and snowed. Soon the piles in the street\nbecame so high that the boys and even the men could not throw any more\nsnow on top. Then the sidewalks were all snowed up, and the steps of the\nhouses were covered, and the snow rose in walls against the first-story\nwindows.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nRound the palace the piles were so great that the turquoise terraces\ncould no longer be shovelled, and they snowed up just like the streets.\nThe Tsar grew very angry when he saw the white walls rising outside his\nwindows, making his rooms all dark and chilly. He sent out his entire\nhousehold to shovel and sweep; from the cook to the Lord High\nChancellor, even the ladies in waiting had to go out with brooms. There\nwere not enough snow shovels, but he made them use coal shovels and\ndust-pans, and the youngest kitchen-boy kept the window-sills cleared\nwith the pancake turner. But still the snow came down and down, till\nthere was no place to shovel it to, because it was everywhere. It rose\nto the second stories and blocked all the windows of all the houses.\nPeople in the town lived in the garrets, and even the Tsar, fuming with\nanger, had to move into one of the high towers of his palace. All the\nstables and barns were snowed up and people had to let the horses live\nwith them in their sitting rooms and put the sleighs into the halls and\nspare-rooms. But the snow fell faster and faster till it was level with\nthe roofs and threatened to block even the dormer windows. Then they\nknew that there was only one thing they could do; they had to leave the\ncity.\n\nThe Tsar ordered everybody to pack up as many things as the sleighs\ncould carry, food and clothes and cook-pots and the children\u2019s\nschool-books, money and jewels, tool-chests and linen-chests, cups and\nsaucers, bed-clothes and brushes and tooth-powder, and flee from the\ncity before the snow should bury them all alive. He himself headed the\nprocession with ten golden sleighs, each drawn by twelve black horses.\nThus the whole population of the rich and royal city climbed out of\ndormer windows or broken roofs, and drove through the snowstorm toward\nthe South, where the great dark forests were. When they looked back for\nthe last time, the snow had already covered the roofs, till only the\ngolden tops of the church-steeples showed above it, and a few hours\nlater even these disappeared. King Winter had sacked the city of the\nMerciless Tsar.\n\nThree days and nights the Tsar and his people had to drive, before they\ncame to a place where the snow was light enough so they could shovel it\nand really reach the solid brown earth underneath. That was in the great\nforests, where owls hooted, wolves howled, and foxes barked all night,\nand big bears sat up on their haunches to watch the newcomers with doubt\nand curiosity. The people took saws and axes, hammers and nails out of\ntheir tool-chest and began to cut down big trees and build rude\nlog-cabins to live in.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cBuild mine first,\u201d said the Tsar, sitting in his sleigh and jiggling\nhis feet to keep warm.\n\nSo they all labored together and made him a wooden palace, with stables\nfor his horses and quarters for the coachmen and a big wooden terrace\nfor his Majesty to walk on after dinner. Then they made their own houses\nclose around, and a wall of brushwood, thorns and vines about the whole\nsettlement, to keep the wolves and bears away.\n\nThus they lived for months and months in great misery. Soon all their\nfood was eaten up, and the men had to go hunting, but they could not\nkill enough game to feed such a large population. Then the Tsar became\nquite terrified, for he knew that he must starve very soon if they found\nno help. Several times he sent messengers to the distant shore of the\nWhite Sea, to find out whether the snow had not melted and his city\nreappeared; but everyone who came back said no, the city was not to be\nfound; you could not even tell where it had been.\n\n [Illustration: At last ... he saw a tiny square of window light behind\n                        some thick holly bushes]\n\n\u201cOh, will no one tell me how I may recover my city?\u201d cried the Tsar in\ndespair.\n\n\u201cPerhaps the Wise Woman in the forest could tell you,\u201d replied the Lord\nChancellor. \u201cShe is King Winter\u2019s mother\u2014in fact they say she is the\nmother of all the kings in the world. And she is said to know\neverything. But it is hard to find her. You must come to her hut all\nalone, some cold night under the Northern Lights, and knock three times\nupon her door, calling, \u2018Mother Mir! Mother Mir!\u2019 Then perhaps she will\nanswer you\u2014and perhaps she won\u2019t.\u201d\n\nSo the Tsar waited for a cold, bright night, when the Northern Lights\nplayed across the starlit sky, and on that night he went out all alone\ninto the deep forest. He wrapped himself in his richest purple cape, set\nhis crown upon his head and put white ermine boots on his feet. As he\nwalked unattended over the frosted snow, under the great pine branches,\nhe looked so royal that the wolves in the forest stood at a respectful\ndistance and did not dare to eat him, though he was all alone. He walked\nfor an hour or more and wondered whether he had gone in the wrong\ndirection to find the Wise Woman\u2019s hut. At last, just when he was ready\nto give up the search, he saw a tiny square of window-light behind some\nthick holly-bushes, and following that, he came upon the hut.\n\nIt was low and covered with heavy moss, patched with snow and edged with\nblack pine cones. The little window pane was a sheet of ice. (In summer\nit melted away, but then the Wise Woman would not need a window pane,\nfor the air coming in would not be cold.) The door was made of rough\nbark and had a big, twisted root tied to it for a knocker. The Tsar\npicked up the root and let it fall three times: Thump! Thump! Thump!\n\n\u201cMother Mir!\u201d he called, and his voice sounded very big in the still,\nblack forest, \u201cMother Mir! Mother Mir!\u201d\n\nAt first he thought she was not going to open, but by and by the door\nswung back, all by itself, and he stooped and went into the little room.\nThere was a fire on the hearth; near it on a pile of leaves sat the\nbrown old woman, counting lily-seeds. She had hands like gnarled wood,\nand long grey hair that swept the floor. But her eyes were keen and\nclear and her lips were red.\n\n\u201cA million and three, a million and four,\u201d she counted, dropping the\nseeds into a bag. \u201cA million and five, and six, and seven, and eight; a\nmillion and nine red lily seeds.\u201d Then she tied up one bag, pushed it\ninto a corner, and opened another with seeds of a different kind.\n\n\u201cGood evening to you, Mother Mir,\u201d said the Tsar.\n\n\u201cGood evening, Tsar; have thy people sent thee to me?\u201d\n\n\u201cSent me!\u201d he cried, drawing himself up so he bumped his crown on the\nceiling. \u201cSent me, indeed! I am the most wealthy and wonderful Tsar and\nno one could keep me or send me.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cExcept King Winter,\u201d the Wise Woman corrected him.\n\nThe Tsar flushed with anger and pride.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why I came to thee, Mother Mir. What shall I do to recover my\nburied city?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat thou must do, is very simple, O merciless Tsar. But if thou art\nnot willing to do it thou shalt never see thy city again. Thou must\nrepent of thy mercilessness, and become as humble as Hanka the Fool.\nThou must give all thy wealth away; and let thy last gift be to a poor\nwayfarer, to atone for thy sin, that thou didst refuse a wayfarer\nshelter and food in thy palace.\u201d\n\nThe Tsar was puzzled. He had never thought how wicked he was and did not\nknow what it would be like to repent.\n\n\u201cHow shall I repent, Mother Mir?\u201d\n\n\u201cGo back to thy people, look into their houses, see how hungry and\nunhappy they are because of thy mercilessness; perhaps it will make thee\nrepent.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how shall I recover my city by being humble, O most Wise Woman?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have told thee all thou needst to know; now go thy way and let me\ncount my seeds, for Spring will come and I must plant these flowers\nthroughout all the forests of the world and they all are numbered,\nthough people think they grow wild by themselves.\u201d Then she began\ncounting seeds in the new bag: \u201cOne, two, three, four, five\u2014\u201d\n\nThe Tsar went home through the wintry forest, under the Northern Lights,\nstill wondering what it would feel like to repent. When he returned to\nhis people he did as the Wise Woman had told him\u2014stopped at one house\nafter another, and looked in at the windows.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nIn the first house he saw a mother who was so ill that she had to lie in\nbed while the father cooked the dinner and the dog was trying to mind\nthe babies; and the dinner for them all was one woody turnip. The babies\nwere crying, the mother was crying, the dog was crying, and the father\nsaid over his cooking-pot:\n\n\u201cIt is all the fault of the Merciless Tsar. If he had not been so proud\nand haughty and turned that strange wayfarer from his door, we would not\nbe starving now!\u201d\n\nThe Tsar, watching through the window, felt a shiver run down his spine.\n\u201cI might send them a little of my wealth,\u201d he thought, \u201cjust to stop\ntheir crying.\u201d Then he turned away and looked in at the next hut.\n\nHere he saw an old man on his knees praying to St. Peter.\n\n\u201cO dear St. Peter,\u201d he said, \u201cplease take me to heaven soon, for I have\nsuch awful back-aches that I don\u2019t want to live any more. I got them\nfrom being whipped when I begged the Merciless Tsar for a penny!\u201d\n\nThe Tsar felt his conscience twinge him a little. \u201cI will send him a\ndoctor to rub his back,\u201d he said. And he turned away again and went to\nthe third house.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nHere sat a young girl, all alone, spinning thin cotton thread with\nfrozen fingers. All the time as she spun, the tears were running down\nher face. The Tsar took off his crown, turned his cloak inside out so\none could not see the rich purple velvet, but only the lining, left his\nboots outside, and went into the hut.\n\n\u201cI am a stranger,\u201d he said. \u201cLet me sit down a moment and get warm. And\ntell me why thou art crying.\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause my lover is dead,\u201d replied the girl, setting a chair for the\nstranger. \u201cHe had his head cut off for contradicting the Tsar. And now\neven if we should return to our city, even if I should be rich and\ncare-free, I can never, never be happy again.\u201d And she cried harder than\never.\n\n\u201cNow what could I do to help her?\u201d thought the Tsar. But suddenly it\noccurred to him that there was nothing in the world he could do that\nwould bring her lover back or even make her any happier again. Then he\nfelt so sorry that the tears ran down his cheeks, too, and he went\noutside and threw himself down upon the snow for unhappiness.\n\n\u201cOh, I have been so wicked!\u201d he cried. \u201cI have been so merciless that I\nhave made all my people miserable. And I can\u2019t help the poor girl, and\nit\u2019s all my fault\u2014I have been so awfully, awfully wicked!\u201d\n\nAll night long, he lay in the snow, even after all the window-lights had\ngone out, and no one knew he was there. When morning came and people\nopened their doors to see what the weather was like, they saw their most\nwealthy and wonderful Tsar, without boots or crown and with his coat\nturned inside out, lying face down, on the ground. They called the Lord\nChancellor and the Lord Chamberlain and many other lords from the wooden\npalace, and ran to pick him up, for they thought he must be dead or at\nleast fainted. But when they touched him he sat up all by himself and\nlooked at their surprised faces.\n\n\u201cYour wonderful highness, what has happened?\u201d they cried.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cI have repented!\u201d replied the Tsar.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nHenceforth he became so humble and mild that people called him the\nMerciful Tsar. He took a basket of food and carried it to the poor\npeople who had only one woody turnip to eat, and he went to the lame old\nman with a bottle of liniment and rubbed his back till it got well, and\nevery day he sent some gift, a jewel or a gold-piece or a silver\nthimble, or something of the sort, to comfort the girl whose lover had\nbeen beheaded for contradicting him. He gave his wooden palace to his\nlords and ladies, and moved into a tiny brown hut, moss-covered and\npatched and without window-panes, way at the end of the village. No\nbeggar ever went empty-handed from his door; and if a little boy cut his\nfinger or bumped his knee, the other boys would say:\n\n\u201cGo to the Tsar, Aliushka, he will put a rag with ointment on it and\nmake it well!\u201d\n\nSoon he had given away so much of his wealth that he was quite the\npoorest man in the village. One day just as he sat down to eat his last\npiece of dry bread, a very weary old woman came to his door and said:\n\n\u201cAlms, alms, for the love of St. Peter, O most Merciful Tsar!\u201d\n\n\u201cI have nothing but this piece of bread, but you may have it,\u201d he\nreplied, and gave her his frugal dinner. The old woman sank down upon\nthe block of wood that was his only chair.\n\n\u201cAh, but you don\u2019t know how weary I am!\u201d she sighed, nibbling the bread\nwith her toothless gums. \u201cI have no hut to live in, no place to lay my\nhead, no roof to shelter me from the icy winter.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou art sleepy,\u201d he said. \u201cLie down on the bed.\u201d\n\nAs soon as she had lain down and fallen asleep, he took a piece of\ncharcoal from the fire place and wrote on the table, where she would\nsurely see it when she woke up:\n\n\u201cTake my hut, and my bed, and everything I own. I have moved out. There\nis another piece of bread in the kitchen drawer, but it is mouldy.\u201d Then\nhe left the hut, shut the door carefully so the snow should not blow in\nand went to the village gate, where there was a public bench; there he\nsat down.\n\nPresently he heard a great commotion in the village; a lot of people\nwere coming toward the gate where he sat. In their midst walked Hanka,\nthe Fool, with big boots on his feet, an axe in his belt, and a\nfishing-rod over his shoulder. Everybody was shouting to him:\n\n\u201cGood luck on thy way! Good luck, Hanka! Good luck to thee, brave\nwayfarer, may all the Saints help thee against the wolves in the\nforest!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere art thou going, Hanka?\u201d asked the Tsar.\n\n\u201cFar away to the White Sea,\u201d replied the Fool. \u201cWe are all starving in\nthe village, so I am going to chop a hole through the ice and catch\nfish.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d replied the Tsar, suddenly remembering what the Wise Mother Mir\nhad told him. \u201cThou art a wayfarer now, Hanka, and I should give thee my\nlast gift to atone for my old cruelty to the wayfarer who came to my\npalace-gate. But I have nothing, nothing left to give, not even a\nsafety-pin!\u201d\n\n\u201cGive me thy blessing, O most Merciful Tsar,\u201d said Hanka the Fool.\n\u201cSurely with a Tsar\u2019s blessing I could go safely in my long and arduous\nway. It would keep off the wolves and bears and robbers that attack poor\nwayfarers in the forest.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cYes, I will give thee my blessing,\u201d agreed the Tsar.\n\nSo Hanka knelt down in the snow, and the Tsar gave him a blessing for\nthe journey.\n\nHanka travelled for many days through deep and drifted snow. Over his\nhead the black crows flew from tree to tree, and all night when he\ncrouched by his brushwood fire he heard the wolves howling and the foxes\nbarking in the great forest. But no beast or bird or prowling robber\never tried to hurt him; that was because he traveled with the Tsar\u2019s\nblessing on his head.\n\nAt last he came to a great field of ice and snow that he supposed was\nthe White Sea. He took his axe and began to chop the frozen floor,\nbecause he was a fool and did not know that there was really solid land\nunder his feet. Suddenly his axe struck on something that cracked like\nwood.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d cried Hanka, jumping back and dropping his axe. \u201cIt can\u2019t\nbe ice, for it isn\u2019t clear; it isn\u2019t wood, for it\u2019s too white; it isn\u2019t\nstone, for it\u2019s too brittle; I know!\u201d and he jumped up and down with\npleasure because he knew. \u201cIt\u2019s ivory!\u201d\n\nIt really was ivory. Hanka was standing on the buried city, and his axe\nhad broken the ivory roof of the Tsar\u2019s palace!\n\nHe went on chopping, and digging the snow and splinters away with his\nhands. At last there was such a big hole that he could jump into it.\nThere was a deep, dark chamber underneath, but Hanka was not afraid, so\nhe let himself down through the hole.\n\nHere he stood, in the empty, snowed-up palace of the Tsar! Of course he\nhad never been in it before, and though it was dark and damp, and had\nnot been cleaned for a year, he thought it was almost too splendid to be\nreal. He took a match from his pocket, struck it on the wall and looked\nround by its feeble flare.\n\n\u201cGolden chairs,\u201d he whispered, so much impressed that he could not speak\naloud, \u201cand velvet rugs and such bright, brocaded curtains! I have heard\npeople talk about these things, but I have never believed they were\nreal. Here is a door, and a stairway; that must lead downstairs. Oh, I\nwill go all through the palace and look and look!\u201d He went softly down\nthe stairs, striking matches to light his way, and putting the burnt\nends into his pocket so as not to litter the floors.\n\nThe whole palace was just as the Tsar and his people had left it in\ntheir flight. From some of the rooms they had carried off the\nbed-clothes and things, but in others the beds were unmade and odd\nstockings and handkerchiefs and powder-puffs lay around, that no one had\nthought to take along. Hanka picked them all up and put them neatly on a\nchair. Here he found a candle, too, so he could light his way without\nstriking matches all the time.\n\nHe went to the kitchen and found it very untidy, for the cook had left\nin a hurry. He had left the cake in the oven, where it had burned to\nashes and some milk on the window sill, where it had turned to cheese\nand then to something worse, so Hanka held his nose with one hand while\nhe washed the pitcher with the other. But in a beautiful box he\ndiscovered some crackers that were still quite good, and on a shelf\nabove it was a pot of jam, so he sat down on the table-corner and ate to\nhis heart\u2019s content, for he was nearly starved.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nWhen he could eat no more, he remembered how often he had heard people\ntalk about the marvels of the great throne-chamber, where the musicians\nused to play and the Lord Chancellor to read in a loud voice all the\nnews from the Tsar\u2019s empire, and where people were brought trembling\nbefore the throne to be sentenced to death.\n\n\u201cI must see the chamber,\u201d thought Hanka. So he prowled through all the\npantries and banquet halls and reception rooms till he came to a door of\nebony and gold, richly inlaid with mother-of-pearl.\n\n\u201cThis must be it,\u201d he murmured. \u201cIf I only dared to look in! Of course,\nit will be quite empty\u2014the musicians have left it and the Lord\nChancellor is not there and the throne is deserted\u2014but still it must be\nvery splendid.\u201d\n\nCarefully he shot back the silver bolt and the great door swung open. A\nbreath of very cold air struck his face, as though he had stepped into\nan ice-cave. And for a moment he really thought he had. In the four\ncorners of the room stood four great men of ice, with folded hands,\nheads bowed under the ceiling, and eyes that shone like cold December\nstars. They were the four Spirits of the North: Silence, and Frost, and\nLoneliness, and Northern Light, who guarded the city since the Tsar and\nhis people had fled. And on the Throne in the middle of the room sat\nKing Winter with a crown of ice upon his head and a foot-stool of snow\nunder his feet.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nHanka\u2019s knees shook with terror and he dropped his candle on the mosaic\nfloor. The candle went out, yet the room was full of light, a still,\nblue light, like the reflections in a block of ice. The four great men\ndid not move. But King Winter raised his hand and beckoned to the lad.\n\n\u201cCome here,\u201d he said quite kindly. Hanka had fallen to his knees, and\ncrept upon them across the floor, holding up his hands for mercy.\n\n\u201cWho art thou?\u201d demanded the King.\n\n\u201cHave pity, O most wonderful King! I am only Hanka the Fool.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave ye come back from the great forests, thou and thy friends?\u201d\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d replied Hanka, kissing his feet, \u201cIt is only I who have come. I\ndid not mean to chop through the roof of the palace. I meant to chop a\nhole in the ice of the White Sea to catch some fish, for the Tsar and\nhis people are starving.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou hast come alone?\u201d asked King Winter in surprise, \u201cHow is it that\nwolves and bears and all the wild beasts have spared thee, and robbers\nhave not beaten thee to death?\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause, O Most Wonderful Majesty, I traveled with the Tsar\u2019s blessing\non my head.\u201d\n\nKing Winter sat up, and even the four Spirits looked startled.\n\n\u201cBut since when,\u201d asked the King, \u201cdoth the proud Merciless Tsar stoop\nto give his blessing to such a beggar-lad as thee?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d cried Hanka, \u201che is not proud, indeed he isn\u2019t! He is as humble as\nI am, even I, Hanka the Fool. We call him the Merciful Tsar, for he has\nturned from all his wickedness, and given his wealth away. I was a\nwayfarer, and he had no other gift for me, so he gave me his blessing,\nMost Wonderful King!\u201d\n\nAt these words King Winter arose, the four spirits lifted their heads,\nthere was a murmur of many voices and then fairy music everywhere.\n\n\u201cRise up, Hanka,\u201d said the Ruler of the North. \u201cMy reign in the City is\nover, for the Merciless Tsar has repented and become as humble as thou.\nGo back to the great forests where thy Tsar and his people are, and tell\nthem to return hither, for King Winter and his forces have left the\ncity, and it belongs to the Tsar once more! In token of this, in case\nthou shouldst forget what to say, take that bag of snow-stars behind the\nThrone, and carry it to the Tsar.\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nWhile he spoke, a whole army of spirits, snow-fairies and wind-fairies\nand genie, crowned with frost-flowers, gathered from all parts of the\npalace. Some came from the bedrooms, where they had been asleep in the\nbureau-drawers, some from the kitchen where they had been hiding under\ncups and mixing-bowls, some peeped down over the pictures on the parlor\nwall, or between the curtains, or even out of the empty hall-stove. They\nall joined hands in a ring and danced around Hanka, who sat bewildered\non the floor with his axe and fishing-rod, wondering where all these\ncreatures had been while he had explored the palace.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\n\u201cJoy, joy,\u201d sang the spirits, \u201cwe are going home again, home to the\nNorth Pole, to our friends, the seals and polar bears, the long\nwaiting-time is over, for the Merciless Tsar has repented\u2014joy, joy,\njoy!\u201d\n\nThen there was a tinkle of icicles outside the door, as King Winter\u2019s\nsleigh with the three white horses came jingling up. The palace doors\nflew open and Hanka saw that the snow had already melted down almost to\nthe turquoise terraces. The king leaped into his chariot, waved his hand\nto the humble fool who had followed him to the door, and away went the\nroyal horses, over the frozen White Sea to the distant North Pole, with\nall the fairy train holding on and running behind as swiftly as the\nwind.\n\nHanka turned back and looked at the empty throne chamber. The four great\nSpirits had vanished, though he had not seen them running away with the\nfairies. But where they had stood, the floor was cracked a little, and\nfour yellow crocus-flowers had sprung up through the stone.\n\nHanka felt very lonesome and frightened in the big, splendid palace. He\npicked up his axe and rod and the bag of snow-stars King Winter had\nordered him to take, and ran as fast as he could through the open door,\nover the terraces, through the town and gates to the open country\noutside. Everywhere the snow had gone away so quickly that the second\nstories of all the houses were quite free and the first stories just\nappearing. Beyond the gates, he came upon great streams of water that\nwere running down to the White Sea, where the ice was melting and wiping\nout the track of King Winter\u2019s sleigh. Hanka turned toward the South, to\nthe great forests where the Tsar\u2019s people had built their wooden\nvillage. He sang aloud as he walked, because the warm sun was shining on\nhis back, and his stomach was full of crackers and jam, so he felt very\nhappy despite the heavy bag of snow-stars on his shoulder. If he had not\nbeen a fool he would certainly have wondered why they were so heavy; but\nhe was a fool so he just carried them and did not wonder at anything.\nAbove him in the treetops the birds were singing as happily as he, the\nair smelled sweet and warm, and in some places Mother Mir\u2019s flowers were\npeeping through the thin, wet snow.\n\n\u201cWhy, I believe it\u2019s going to be Spring!\u201d said Hanka.\n\nIn the village, the Tsar was still sitting on the bench beside the gate.\nThe villagers came to offer him food, but he refused it, saying \u201cYou\nhave not enough for yourselves. I will not eat your food. Give it to\nyour children, good people!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you will starve!\u201d they cried. \u201cOh no,\u201d replied the Tsar. \u201cSome good\nSaint will take care of me.\u201d\n\nAnd in the night, when the village was quiet and dark, the crows in the\nforest flew to him and brought him some frozen berries, the squirrels\nbrought nuts to appease his hunger, and the fairies from the great\nForest brought partridge-eggs and reindeer milk.\n\n                     [Illustration: {uncaptioned}]\n\nIt was a beautiful sunny morning, when the villagers who stood about the\ngate talking to the Tsar saw Hanka returning, with his axe and rod and a\nbag over his shoulder. \u201cLook, look,\u201d they cried, \u201che is bringing a whole\nbagful of fish!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut where do you suppose he got the bag?\u201d said the Tsar. \u201cHe didn\u2019t\nhave it when he left.\u201d\n\nThey were not kept guessing very long. Hanka came running and shouting:\n\n\u201cGreetings, O Merciful Tsar, greetings from King Winter! He gave me a\nmessage to thee, but I have forgotten it, but here is a bag of\nsnow-stars for thee, and thy city is all thawed out, King Winter has\ngone back to the North Pole. And I went through thy palace and found\nlots of crackers and jam, which I ate. I didn\u2019t mean to steal, but there\nwas nobody to ask for them so I had to take them.\u201d\n\nThe Tsar smiled and nodded.\n\n\u201cThou art welcome to my crackers and jam, dear Hanka,\u201d he said, as he\nopened the bag of snow-stars, took it by the lower corners, and turned\nit upside down.\n\nOut of the bag rolled thousands and thousands of sparkling, flashing\ndiamonds! The people stood open-mouthed, and Hanka sat down with\nsurprise when he saw what he had been carrying.\n\n\u201cThat means we may return, for King Winter\u2019s war is over,\u201d said the\nTsar. So all the people went back to their city on the shores of the\nWhite Sea, where the streets were paved with silver, the walls were\nshining marble, and the church steeples were topped with gold. The Tsar\nsat on his throne again, but he ruled his people now with mercy and\njustice, so everyone liked to be brought before him to see his mild\nfatherly face.\n\nHanka was allowed to live in the palace all his life, and had a silver\nfishing-rod, a silken line and a diamond sinker, and was permitted to\ncast for gold-fish in the royal pond. King Winter came for a visit once\nevery year with a little snow just to remind people of his past reign;\nbut he always found the people ready to joke and laugh at the bad\nweather he brought, for they were all happy and contented who lived in\nthe city of the Merciful Tsar.\n\n                        [Illustration: THE END]\n\n                       [Illustration: Endpapers]\n\n\n\n\n                          Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\n--Copyright notice provided as in the original\u2014this e-text is public\n  domain in the country of publication.\n\n--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard (or amusing)\n  spellings and dialect unchanged.\n\n--In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the\n  HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)","title":"The Cruise of the Little Dipper, and Other Fairy Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":21615}