{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_66919/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_66919","id":"gutenberg_66919","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66919","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Fairy tales"],"text":"FAIRY TALES FROM FAR AND NEAR\n\n By Katherine Pyle\n\n\n THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL\n AS THE GOOSE FLIES\n NANCY RUTLEDGE\n IN THE GREEN FOREST\n WONDER TALES RETOLD\n TALES OF FOLK AND FAIRIES\n TALES OF WONDER AND MAGIC\n FAIRY TALES FROM FAR AND NEAR\n\n [Illustration: Then the two old Eagles flew away. FRONTISPIECE.\n\n _See Page 4_]\n\n\n\n\n FAIRY TALES FROM\n FAR AND NEAR\n\n WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED\n\n BY\n\n KATHARINE PYLE\n\n [Illustration]\n\n BOSTON\n LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY\n 1922\n\n\n _Copyright, 1922_,\n BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.\n\n _All rights reserved_\n\n Published September, 1922\n\n\n PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n PAGE\n\nLITTLE SURYA BAI. _A Hindoo Story_ 1\n\nTHE PRINCES AND THE FRIENDLY ANIMALS. _A Lithuanian Story_ 25\n\nGRACIOSA AND PERCINET. _A French Story_ 52\n\nTHE GIANT\u2019S CLIFF. _An Irish Story_ 97\n\nTHE STORY OF CONN-EDA. _An Irish Tale_ 112\n\nTHE BLUE BELT. _A Norse Tale_ 138\n\nTHE DUTIFUL DAUGHTER. _A Korean Story_ 175\n\nTHE OAT CAKE. _A Scotch Story_ 202\n\nTHE DREAMER. _An English Story_ 210\n\nTHE STORY OF HARKA. _An American Indian Tale_ 221\n\nSCHIPPEITARO. _A Japanese Story_ 235\n\nEROS AND PSYCHE. _A Greek Tale_ 245\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\nThen the two old Eagles flew away _Frontispiece_\n\nAs fast as she touched them each one\nwas turned into a stone figure PAGE 43\n\nThe serpents reared up and opened their\nfiery jaws \u201c 128\n\nWhen she saw the bear she cried aloud\nwith terror \u201c 169\n\nThe king bade her step into the flower.\nShe did so, and at once the leaves\nclosed about her \u201c 193\n\nAs soon as he saw the oat cake he was\nwide awake again in a moment \u201c 209\n\nWhen he reached the farther shore, he\nturned and looked back \u201c 232\n\nSoon she came to the river and saw the\nboat lying there \u201c 270\n\n\n\n\nFAIRY TALES FROM FAR AND NEAR\n\n\n\n\nLITTLE SURYA BAI\n\nA HINDOO STORY\n\n\nThere was once a poor peasant woman who sold milk. Every day she filled\nher cans with milk and went to a near-by town and sold it, returning\nwith her cans empty.\n\nOne day, when she set out she took her little baby daughter with her. In\neach hand the mother carried a milk can, and the baby held to her skirt\nand walked close beside her.\n\nSuddenly two great eagles appeared, wheeling about in the sky, and one\nof them dropped down and seized the child and flew away with it; the\nother eagle, which was its mate, followed it.\n\nThe woman cried aloud and dropped her milk cans, and ran along after the\neagles, but they quickly disappeared in the distance. The woman beat\nupon her breast and wailed bitterly, but nothing she could say or do\ncould bring her child back to her.\n\nThe eagle flew on and on with the baby until they reached the tree where\nthey lived. There the father eagle, who had carried her, laid her gently\non the grass.\n\nHe and his mate were so delighted with the child and her pretty ways\nthat they determined to keep her.\n\nThey built a house for her high in the top of the tree. The house was\nmade of iron, and was very strong, and it had seven iron doors and there\nwas a key for each one of them so it could be locked. In this house the\nlittle girl lived with a little dog and cat the eagles had brought her\nfor company.\n\nThe eagles loved the child dearly and named her Surya Bai, which means\nSun Lady. They brought her food and beautiful clothes,--clothes such as\nprincesses wear, and magnificent jewels. Each day, after they had set\nforth, Surya Bai locked the doors so she would be safe. Then she played\nabout the house with the little dog and cat and was well contented. In\nthe evening, when the eagles came home, they would knock, and Surya Bai\nwould unlock the seven doors, one after another, and let them in. Always\nthey brought her some pretty present.\n\nOne day the mother eagle said, \u201cOur Surya Bai has now everything she\nneeds except a diamond ring to wear upon her finger. It makes me sad\nthat she should not have a diamond ring.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d replied the father eagle, \u201cshe ought to have one, and I will go\nout and find one for her.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut an ordinary diamond ring will not do,\u201d said his mate. \u201cOnce, far\naway, upon the borders of the Red Sea, I saw a princess walking, and on\nher finger she wore a ring so bright and dazzling it was like the sun in\nsplendor. It is such a ring as that that I wish to give to our Sun\nLady.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn that case we will fly away to the Red Sea and get one for her,\u201d said\nthe father eagle.\n\nSo the two birds arranged to set out the next day, and as it would take\na long time to make the journey, they brought to Surya Bai enough food\nto last for six months. They then cautioned her not to open the door to\nany one while they were gone, and not to leave the house for any reason\nwhatever, and to keep the fire always burning on the hearthstone. Then\nthe two old eagles flew away, and they were sad to leave her.\n\nNow after they had gone, Surya Bai went about the house and set it in\norder. Every day she cooked food for herself and the little dog and cat,\nand fed them, and she played with them, and they were very happy\ntogether. Then one day, when she was cooking dinner, the little cat\ncrept close to her, and while Surya Bai was not looking stole the very\nchoicest bits of the dinner and ate them up very quickly.\n\nWhen Surya Bai turned round and saw what the cat had done, she was very\nangry. \u201cNow I shall punish you because you are a thief,\u201d she said.\n\nShe took a little switch and beat the cat with it. That made the cat\nvery angry, and it ran over to the hearth and upset the pot of water\nover the fire and put it out. Then Surya Bai did not know what to do.\nShe had now no way to cook the food for herself and the little dog and\ncat, and as they could not eat it raw, for three days they went hungry.\n\nAt the end of that time Surya Bai made up her mind to go out and try to\nget some fire some place. She said to the dog and cat, \u201cIf the eagles\ncould know how hungry we are, I am sure they would be willing for me to\ngo.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the little cat, \u201cbut you must not go too far, for just\nbeyond here is the Rakshas\u2019 country; and if you go there, some Rakshas\nmay catch you and never let you come back.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is a Rakshas?\u201d asked Surya Bai.\n\nNow Rakshas are demons and very dangerous, but the cat would not tell\nSurya Bai that, because she thought if Surya Bai knew about them she\nwould be afraid to go for the fire. So she said, \u201cI cannot tell you what\nthey are,\u201d and then she sat down in a corner and washed her fur and\nwould not answer any more questions.\n\n\u201cAt any rate, we must have the fire,\u201d said Surya Bai. So she unlocked\nthe seven doors, one after another, and climbed down from the tree and\nset out on her journey.\n\nShe went on and on for a long way and then, without knowing it, she\nreally did come into the country of the Rakshas. There she saw a house,\nand in it was an old, old woman, bending over a fire. She was so old\nthat her nose and chin almost met, and so crooked she was like a bent\nstick. Her gray hair fell over her eyes in a mat, and her teeth were\nlong and yellow, and she was a Rakshas.\n\nWhen she saw the maiden, she asked her who she was, and where she had\ncome from, and what was her errand.\n\nSurya Bai told her she came from a little house that had been built for\nher by a pair of eagles in a tree top far away. She told her the eagles\nwere away from home, for they had gone to fetch her a diamond ring from\nfar away and had left her with only a little dog and cat for companions.\n\u201cAnd now the cat has put out the fire,\u201d said she, \u201cand I have no way to\ncook the food. We are very hungry, so give me, I beg of you, a little of\nyour fire to carry home with me.\u201d\n\nNow the old woman Rakshas had a son who was very strong and terrible,\nbut he was away from home on some business. \u201cWhat a pity he is not\nhere,\u201d thought the old woman. \u201cThis pretty little girl would make a fine\nmorsel for him. I will try to keep her until he returns, so that he may\nhave her for his supper.\u201d\n\nSo she made her voice as soft and friendly as she could, and said, \u201cYou\nmay have the fire and welcome, but pound this rice for me before you go,\nfor my arms are too weak and old for pounding. After that you shall have\nthe fire.\u201d\n\nSurya Bai was very obliging. She pounded the rice and pounded and\npounded, but still the young Rakshas did not come, and presently she had\nfinished.\n\n\u201cNow give me the fire,\u201d said the maiden.\n\nBut the old woman still wished to keep her. \u201cI have no daughter to help\nme,\u201d said she. \u201cGrind this corn for me, I beg of you, and then I will\ngive you the fire.\u201d\n\nSurya Bai ground the corn, but still the Rakshas had not come.\n\n\u201cI have pounded the rice and ground the corn; now give me the fire that\nI may be gone,\u201d said the maiden.\n\nBut still the old woman detained her. \u201cWhy should you be in such a\nhurry? Just fetch me some water from the well, and then you shall have\nthe fire.\u201d\n\nSurya Bai went to the well and fetched the old woman the water. Still\nthe Rakshas had not returned.\n\n\u201cI have served you willingly,\u201d said the maiden, \u201cand now I must be gone,\nand if you will not give me the fire, I must seek it elsewhere.\u201d\n\nThen the old woman knew she could keep Surya Bai no longer. \u201cYou may\nhave the fire,\u201d said she, \u201cand you are more than welcome to it. I will\nalso give you a bag of corn, and as you go you can strew it along, so as\nto make a little golden pathway between your house and mine.\u201d\n\nThis the old woman said because she thought if the girl left a trail\nbehind her, the Rakshas could follow her to where she lived and catch\nher there.\n\nBut Surya Bai had no fear of evil, for she had always been treated\nkindly. She thought the old Rakshas was a very friendly old woman.\n\nShe took the fire and the corn also, and as she went home she scattered\nthe corn along the way.\n\nWhen the girl reached the tree where the house was, she climbed up and\nwent inside, shutting and locking the seven iron doors behind her, one\nafter the other. She cooked the meal and fed the dog and fed the cat,\nand then as she was very tired, she lay down and fell fast asleep.\n\nNow very soon after she left the Rakshas\u2019 house, the young Rakshas came\nhome, and he was very fierce and terrible to look at. At once his mother\nbegan to scold at him.\n\n\u201cWhy are you so late?\u201d she cried. \u201cA young maiden has been here, a fine\nand dainty morsel, all pink and white, and as tender as a bird, and you\nmight have had her for your supper if only you had returned earlier, in\ntime to catch her.\u201d\n\nWhen the Rakshas heard this, his eyes grew red as fire, and he gnashed\nhis teeth together with rage.\n\n\u201cWhich way did she go?\u201d he bellowed. \u201cWhich way did she go? I\u2019ll follow\nher and catch her however far she\u2019s gone.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ll have no trouble finding the way,\u201d replied his mother, \u201cfor I\ngave her corn to scatter as she went along, so as to make a pathway.\nJust follow the corn, and you\u2019ll soon find her.\u201d\n\nAt once the Rakshas set off. So fast he went that the ground was burned\nup beneath him. It did not take him long to reach the little house in\nthe tree top, but Surya Bai was safely inside, and all the seven iron\ndoors were locked behind her.\n\nThe Rakshas beat on the door and called to her to come and open. \u201cI am\nyour father, the eagle, returned from his journey,\u201d he called to her.\n\u201cOpen quickly, dear child, that I may put the diamond ring upon your\npretty finger.\u201d\n\nBut Surya Bai did not open the door or answer, for she was fast asleep\nand the little cat and dog were asleep also.\n\nThe Rakshas began to tear at the iron door, but he could not stir it,\nand all he did was to break off one of his long brown nails, and then\noff he went, howling horribly, and leaving the nail still sticking in\nthe crack of the door.\n\nA little while after he had gone, the cat awoke and wakened Surya Bai.\n\u201cSurya Bai,\u201d mewed the cat, \u201cI dreamed the eagles had returned and were\ncalling at the door for you to open it. You had better go and see if\nthey are there.\u201d\n\nSurya Bai at once arose and took the keys and opened the doors, one\nafter another, and when she opened the seventh door, the Rakshas\u2019 nail\nthat he had broken off ran into her hand, so that she fell down as\nthough she were dead; for the fingernail of a Rakshas is very poisonous.\n\nNot long after that the eagles came home, and there they saw the doors\nall open and little Surya Bai lying on the threshold, seemingly dead.\nThen they were very sorrowful. They put the diamond ring upon her\nfinger, and after that they flew away, uttering loud cries, and were\nnever seen again; but the cat and the dog stayed beside her and mourned\nover her.\n\nNow the very next day a handsome young Rajah[1] came by that way,\nhunting, and stopped under the very tree where the house was. He\nhappened to look up, and there, high above him in the tree top, he saw\nsomething dark and large, and he could not tell what it was. So he bade\none of his attendants climb up and see.\n\n[1] King.\n\nThe man climbed up as the Rajah bade him, and presently he came sliding\ndown again, and he told his master that what he saw up there was a\ncurious little house made of iron. The man told him the house had iron\ndoors, but they were all open, and on the threshold of the first of the\ndoors lay a lovely maiden. She lay there seemingly dead, but so\nbeautiful he had never seen anything like her, and beside her sat a\nlittle cat and dog mourning for her.\n\nWhen the Rajah heard this, he became very curious to see the maiden, and\nhe bade some of his people climb up and bring her down to where he was.\n\nThis they did, and the little cat and dog came with them. No sooner had\nthe young Rajah seen the maiden than he fell violently in love with her\nbecause of her beauty, and he felt he could not live unless he could\nawaken her to life and have her for a wife. She did not look to him as\nthough she were really dead, for her cheeks and lips had kept their\ncolor, and when he lifted her hand, it was soft and warm in his fingers.\nThen he saw something long and dark, that looked like a thorn, sticking\nin her hand. This was the Rakshas\u2019 nail.\n\nThe Rajah drew it out very slowly and carefully, so as not to hurt her,\nand no sooner had he withdrawn it than life came back to the maiden, and\nshe opened her eyes and breathed again.\n\nWhen the Rajah saw the change that had come over her he was filled with\njoy, and he told her who he was and what had happened, and he asked her\nwhether she would come back to his palace with him and be his Ranee.[2]\n\n[2] Queen.\n\nTo this Surya Bai willingly agreed, for he was so handsome and kind\nlooking that she loved him the moment she saw him. So Surya Bai went\nhome with the young Rajah, and they were married with great magnificence\nand rejoicing, and every one loved the young Ranee for her gentleness.\nOnly the Rajah\u2019s mother hated her. She was very angry that her son\nshould have married a girl who had a pair of eagles for parents, and who\nhad lived in an iron hut in the forest. She also envied Surya Bai\nbecause the Rajah had given her all the most magnificent jewels in the\npalace. Nothing was too good for the little new Ranee.\n\n\u201cThis girl has bewitched him,\u201d the mother said to herself, \u201cbut if she\nwere only gone and out of his sight, he would soon forget her.\u201d So she\nwas always plotting and planning to get rid of the young Ranee.\n\nNow there was an old woman about the palace, and she was very wise. She\nsaid to Surya Bai, \u201cDo not trust the old Ranee. She is certainly\nplanning some evil against you. I know her. She is jealous of you and so\nwicked that she would stop at nothing.\u201d\n\nBut Surya Bai would not listen to her. She was so good and gentle that\nshe could not believe evil of any one.\n\nOne day Surya Bai and the Rajah\u2019s mother were walking in the gardens,\nand the old woman was with them, for she was one of Surya Bai\u2019s favorite\nattendants.\n\nThen the old Ranee said to the young Ranee, \u201cYour jewels are very\nbeautiful and fine. Even when I was a young Ranee my husband never gave\nme such beautiful jewels as those you have. Let me put them on just for\na short time, I beg of you, that I also may know how it feels to be as\nmagnificent as you are.\u201d\n\nThen the old woman whispered in the girl\u2019s ear, \u201cDo not lend her your\njewels. I know she is planning some evil against you.\u201d\n\nBut Surya Bai would not listen to her. She took off her jewels, all of\nthem, and helped the old Ranee to put them on. She put the bracelets on\nthe old Ranee\u2019s arms, and the necklaces on her neck, and the earrings in\nher ears,--all her jewels she lent to the old Ranee. She hung them about\nher until she shone like the sun with the splendor of them all.\n\nWhen this was done the Rajah\u2019s mother bade the old woman go back to the\npalace for a hand mirror that she might look at herself and see how fine\nshe was now that she was dressed in all those jewels.\n\nThe old woman did not want to go, but she was obliged to.\n\nWhen the old Ranee was alone with Surya Bai, she said to her, \u201cCome,\nSurya Bai, let us go over to the bathing tank while we wait for the\nmirror, that I may look at myself in the water.\u201d\n\nStill thinking no evil, Surya Bai went with her.\n\nNow the bathing tank was very deep; it was only for people to swim in.\nWhen they came near the edge, the old Ranee leaned over and Surya Bai\nleaned over, too, to look in the water. Then the old Ranee gave her a\npush so that she fell in and sank out of sight below the waters.\n\nThe wicked old Ranee waited for awhile, and then, as she saw nothing\nmore of Surya Bai, she was satisfied that the girl was drowned, and she\nhurried back to her chamber and hid all the jewels.\n\nThat night the Rajah could not find Surya Bai anywhere. No one knew what\nhad become of her. The Rajah was like one distracted. He hunted for her\neverywhere.\n\nThen his mother said to him, \u201cI saw her walking in the garden this\nmorning with that old woman. If any harm has come to her, it is because\nof that wretch; I feel sure of it.\u201d\n\nThe Rajah at once sent for the old woman and questioned her, but she\ncould tell him nothing about the young Ranee, for she had not seen her\nafter she left her there in the garden with the Rajah\u2019s mother. The old\nRanee managed to make the Rajah feel very suspicious of the old woman,\nso he had her thrown into prison, and she lay there, very miserable.\n\nBut Surya Bai had not been altogether drowned when she sank down into\nthe tank. Instead she had changed into a beautiful golden flower that\nrose up and up through the waters until it reached the air.\n\nThe next time the Rajah came to the gardens he saw something shining\nover in the bathing tank, and when he went nearer he found a beautiful\ngolden flower growing up out of the water. Then at once he became quite\nhappy. The flower made him think of little Surya Bai, and a load seemed\nlifted from his heart. Now every day he went out to the tank and spent\nlong hours looking at the flower, and he talked to it as though it could\nhear him, and it never changed or withered.\n\nBut soon the old Ranee became very anxious. \u201cThis flower certainly has\nsomething to do with Surya Bai. There is some magic about it,\u201d she said\nto herself.\n\nSo one night she took several men with her and went secretly out to\nwhere the flower was blooming, and made the men cut it down and take it\naway into the jungle and burn it.\n\nThe next morning, when the Rajah went to the garden to visit the flower,\nhe found it was gone. Then he was very unhappy, and he questioned the\nkeepers of the garden, but they could tell him nothing about it.\n\nBut even when the flower was burned, that was not the end of the young\nRanee.\n\nThe wind caught up the ashes of the flower and blew them back into the\ngarden, and they fell close beside the wall. From these ashes grew up a\nmango tree. It grew and grew until its top was higher than the garden\nwalls and could be seen from the road outside the garden. Then upon the\nvery topmost bough there bloomed a flower. In due time the petals of the\nflower fell, and the mango fruit was seen. The fruit grew larger and\nlarger. Every day it grew, and it shone with a rosy light as though\nthere were a flame within it, and every day the Rajah came and looked at\nit, and when he looked he was happy, just as he had been when he looked\nat the golden flower.\n\nThe fruit was almost ripe, but no one was allowed to touch it, for it\nwas to be for the Rajah alone.\n\nNow one day the old milk woman who was Surya Bai\u2019s mother was going home\nwith her empty milk cans, and she sat down to rest outside the wall of\nthe Rajah\u2019s garden. She sat near where the mango tree was growing, but\nit was inside the garden and she was outside. Then the mango bent its\ntop and leaned farther and farther across the wall, and, quite suddenly,\nthe great, rosy mango fell down and into the empty milk can of Surya\nBai\u2019s mother.\n\nThe old woman was terrified. She thought, \u201cIf any one should see this\nmango in my milk can, they would think I was a thief and had stolen it,\nand I would be punished.\u201d So she caught up her can and hurried home with\nit. Then she put it in the corner and heaped up ever so many other\nempty milk cans on top of it.\n\nShe said nothing about what had happened until that evening, when she\nand her husband and her eldest son were alone together and the other\nchildren were in bed, for she had a large family. Then she told them the\nwhole story,--she told how she had sat down to rest in the shade of the\nwall, and how the mango had fallen into her milk can, and how she had\nbrought it home and had put the can in the corner under all the other\nmilk cans.\n\n\u201cAnd now do you go and fetch the mango,\u201d said she to her husband, \u201cand\nwe will cut it and have a fine feast.\u201d\n\nThe husband went out to where the milk cans had been heaped up and began\nlifting them down, one after another, until he had come to the last one.\nThen he gave a great cry.\n\n\u201cYou told me a mango was in the milk can,\u201d he cried to his wife, \u201cbut\nhere is something very different.\u201d\n\nThe woman came running and looked into the can, and there was a tiny\nlady very magnificently dressed, like a Ranee, and when she stepped out\nfrom the can she was so beautiful that the whole room shone as though\nthere were a star in it.\n\nThe old man and woman could hardly believe their eyes. They were\nfrightened, and yet they were delighted.\n\nThe old woman said, \u201cNow I am happy again as I have never been happy\nsince the eagles flew away with my little baby daughter.\u201d\n\nWhen she said that, the small Ranee looked at her wonderingly, but she\nsaid nothing, for it seemed she could not speak.\n\nAfter that the beautiful stranger lived there in the house with the old\nman and woman, and every day she grew so fast that at the end of a month\nshe was as tall as an ordinary woman, but still she could not speak.\n\nIt was not long before people knew that a most beautiful lady dressed\nlike a Ranee was living with the old peasants. The news came even to the\npalace, so the Rajah heard about it, and he began to wonder whether it\nwere possible this beautiful lady could be his lost Ranee. One day he\nset out with only his faithful councilor for company, and went to the\nhouse of the old peasants and knocked on the door.\n\nThe old woman who was Surya Bai\u2019s mother looked out of the window, and\nwhen she saw the Rajah there, she was very much frightened. She took\nSurya Bai and hid her behind a heap of milk cans, for she feared if the\nRajah saw the girl he might begin to ask questions and find how the\nmango had dropped into the can.\n\nAfter the girl was hidden, the old woman opened the door.\n\n\u201cI wish to see the stranger who is living here with you, and who is so\nbeautiful, and is dressed like a Ranee,\u201d said the Rajah.\n\n\u201cI do not know what you mean,\u201d cried the old woman. \u201cNo one lives here\nbut me and my husband and children.\u201d\n\n(This was true, only the old woman did not know it.)\n\nThe Rajah questioned her, but she would make no other answer, and when\nhe went through the house, he could see no one except the woman\u2019s\nhusband, who was very much frightened, and the children she had spoken\nof.\n\nThen the young Rajah went away, very sorrowful, but still he could not\nhelp wondering whether the peasant had deceived him. So he sent for the\nold woman who had been Surya Bai\u2019s companion, and who was in prison.\n\n\u201cI wish you to go to such and such a place,\u201d said he, \u201cand make friends\nwith the peasant woman who lives there. Then, after you are friends,\nfind out, if you can, whether a stranger has been living with her, and\nif so, who she is.\u201d\n\nThe old attendant did as the Rajah bade her. It did not take long for\nher to make friends with the peasant woman, and one day the old peasant\nallowed her to see the strange lady who was living with her.\n\nAt once the attendant knew the stranger to be the lost Ranee, and she\nfell down and kissed her feet, and wept over her.\n\nThen she told the old peasant the whole story. She told her of how Surya\nBai had lived with the eagles, and how the Rajah had found her and made\nher his wife, and how she had then disappeared, and how the Rajah had\nmourned for her and sought her.\n\nWhen the old peasant heard this story, she was filled with wonder and\nwith joy, for she knew then that Surya Bai was no other than the little\ndaughter who had been carried away by the eagles.\n\nShe could now no longer refuse to let the Rajah see Surya Bai, and he\nwas sent for. When he came and saw his dear wife as well and as\nbeautiful as ever, he could hardly contain himself for happiness. He\ntook her in his arms, and wept over her and kissed her, and no sooner\nhad he kissed her than her powers of speech came back, and she was no\nlonger dumb.\n\nThen she told him the story of what had happened to her, and of how she\nhad been pushed into the tank, and how she had come to be where she was.\n\nThe Rajah was very angry. He took Surya Bai back to the palace with him,\nand the wicked old Ranee was shut up in a tower where she was very\nmiserable all the rest of her life, but the peasants and their children\nwere raised to great wealth and honor, and Surya Bai and the Rajah lived\nhappy forever after.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PRINCES AND THE FRIENDLY ANIMALS\n\nA LITHUANIAN STORY\n\n\nThere was once a King who had three sons, and he had also a\nstepdaughter. They all lived together in peace and happiness and had\neverything their hearts could desire. But after a time an enemy of the\nKing came against him with a great army, and slew him, and took the\nkingdom and drove forth the Princes into the world, and their stepsister\nwith them.\n\nThe three and the one journeyed on and on together until they came to a\ndeep forest, and there they saw a mother bear, and her three cubs were\nwith her.\n\nThe eldest Prince was about to shoot at her, but the bear cried out, \u201cDo\nnot shoot, Prince, and I will give you my three cubs for servants, one\nfor you, and one for each of your brothers.\u201d\n\nTo this the Prince agreed. He let the bear go away unharmed, and the\nthree cubs followed after the three Princes, each one behind his own\nmaster.\n\nAfter they had gone a bit farther into the forest, they saw a lioness,\nand she also had three young ones with her.\n\nNow it was the second Prince who was about to shoot, but the lioness\ncalled to him, \u201cDo not slay me, Prince, and I will give my three cubs to\nyou and your brothers, one to each of you.\u201d\n\nThereupon the Prince allowed her to go unharmed and the three young\nlions followed after the Princes with the bear cubs.\n\nSoon after that they saw a mother fox, and three little ones were with\nher. This time it was the youngest Prince who would have shot, but the\nfox called to him, imploring him to spare her life and offering instead\nher three young ones to the Princes.\n\nShe too was allowed to escape, and now each Prince had a young fox, a\nyoung lion and a young bear to follow him.\n\nAfter that the Princes met a hare and a boar, and these animals were\nalso allowed to go unharmed because they each gave a young one to each\none of the Princes to follow after and serve him.\n\nAnd now the Princes came to a place where the road divided.\n\n\u201cI,\u201d said the youngest, \u201cshall take the road toward the East, where the\nsun rises each morning.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I,\u201d said the second, \u201cshall journey toward the West, where it is\ngolden at sunset.\u201d\n\nBut the eldest Prince would take neither of these roads. \u201cMy way shall\nbe neither toward the East nor toward the West,\u201d said he, \u201cbut straight\nahead, and when I come to a place to dwell in, there will I stop.\u201d\n\nThe three brothers then asked their stepsister which of them she would\nfollow, and she said she would go with the eldest Prince, for she too\nwished nothing better than a place to dwell in, where she could live in\npeace and safety.\n\nSo the three brothers parted, but first the eldest Prince cut three\nnotches in a tree that stood at the parting of the ways. He cut one at\nthe East, and one at the West, and one in the center between them, one\nfor each of his brothers, and one for himself.\n\nHe told them the notch to the East was for the youngest brother, the\nnotch to the West was for the second brother, and the one in the center\nbelonged to himself.\n\n\u201cWhen any one of us returns to this spot,\u201d said he, \u201clet him place his\nfinger first upon one notch, and then upon the other. If milk flows\nforth from the notch, then all is well with the one to whom it belongs,\nbut if blood flows forth, then it means death or misfortune to that\none.\u201d\n\nAfter that they bade each other farewell and set forth, each on his own\nway, and each with his animals following after him, and the stepsister\nwent with the eldest brother, as she had chosen.\n\nFor a long time the eldest Prince and his sister journeyed on without\nseeing any one, but toward evening they came to a house and there was a\nred light shining out from the window. When they looked inside they saw\na band of robbers sitting there, counting the gold they had taken from\nthe people they had killed.\n\nThe stepsister was so frightened that her teeth chattered in her head,\nand she was for going farther, but the Prince said no. \u201cHither we have\ncome, and here we shall stop,\u201d said he.\n\nThen he called his animals to him and threw open the door of the house.\n\nWhen the robbers saw him, they started up and seized their weapons to\nslay him, but they had no time, for the faithful animals flew at them\nand tore them almost to pieces, so that they were dead, all except one;\nand he lay there with the others as though he had been killed also.\n\nThen the Prince threw them down into the cellar and locked the door, and\nhe and his stepsister got out food and drink and feasted to their\nhearts\u2019 content, and the animals feasted also.\n\nThe next morning the Prince went out hunting and he told his stepsister\nshe might go all over the house and look at everything in it; only into\nthe cellar she must not look, for there the robbers were lying, and that\ndoor must remain fastened.\n\nAfter he had gone, the girl went about through the house and looked at\neverything. After she had seen all there was to be seen in the house,\nshe began to think about the cellar, and more and more she wished to\nopen the door and look at the robbers lying there.\n\nAt last she could resist no longer. She unfastened the door and looked\ndown into the cellar. As soon as she did so, the robber who was only\nwounded lifted his head and spoke to her.\n\nThe girl was terribly frightened, and was for shutting the door at once,\nbut the robber called to her so piteously that she could but stay and\nlisten to him.\n\n\u201cDo not fear me,\u201d cried the robber. \u201cEven if I desired it, I am too weak\nto harm you, but I wish you only good.\u201d\n\nThe robber then told her that if she would do as he said, he would soon\nbe well and strong again. Then they would rid themselves of her brother\nand would be married, and the house and all the wealth that had been\ngathered would belong to their own two selves alone, and they would be\nvery happy together.\n\nThe girl listened; and the longer she listened, the more the plan of the\nrobber pleased her. She asked him what she must do to heal him.\n\n\u201cYou must go into the kitchen and look in the cupboard,\u201d said the\nrobber. \u201cThere you will find three flasks. Make haste and bring them\nhere. In the first is an ointment. Rub it upon my wounds, and at once\nthey will heal themselves. Hold the second flask to my lips, and all\npain will leave me. Give me to drink from the third, and I will be\nperfectly well again and stronger than ever.\u201d\n\nThe girl did as the robber told her, and all happened as he had said.\nThen, after his wounds were healed and he was well again, he and the\ngirl consulted as to how they could get rid of her brother.\n\n\u201cThis is how it can be managed,\u201d said the robber. \u201cYou shall ask your\nbrother how strong he is, and then, as a test of his strength you shall\nsay you will tie his thumbs behind him with a cord, and he shall try if\nhe can break it. If he cannot break it, then he will be helpless, and\nyou must call to me, and I will come and slay him.\u201d\n\nThis plan pleased the girl, and at once she agreed to it.\n\nThat evening, when her brother came home, they sat at the table and ate\nand drank together, but the animals were left outside in the courtyard\nwith the door locked and barred against them.\n\nAfter supper, the stepsister began to talk to her brother and to\nquestion him as to how strong he was.\n\n\u201cI am so strong,\u201d replied the Prince, \u201cthat there are few bonds that\ncould hold me.\u201d\n\n\u201cSuppose, I were to tie your thumbs together behind your back with a\nsilken cord, could you break it?\u201d asked the sister.\n\nThe Prince bade her try, and he put his hands behind him, and she tied\nhis thumbs together with a silken cord the robber had given her. But no\nsooner did the Prince strain with his thumbs against the cord than it\nsnapped in two and dropped from him.\n\n\u201cSister, you must bind me with something stouter than the cord if you\nwould hold me,\u201d said the brother.\n\nThe next day the Prince went hunting again, and as soon as he had gone,\nthe girl went down to the cellar to talk to the robber. \u201cYou must give\nme something stronger than that to bind him with,\u201d said the stepsister.\n\u201cHe broke the cord as though it were no more than a spider\u2019s web.\u201d\n\nThe robber gave her a cord twice as strong.\n\n\u201cNow see if that will hold him,\u201d said he.\n\nWhen the Prince came home that evening and he and the girl sat together\nat supper, she again began to talk of his strength.\n\n\u201cHere is a cord that is twice as strong as the other. If I tied your\nthumbs together behind your back, could you break this also?\u201d she asked\nof him.\n\nThe brother told her to try. She tied his thumbs together as before with\nthe second cord the robber had given her, but he snapped this also in\ntwo the moment he strained against it.\n\n\u201cSister, you will need a stronger cord than that if you would hold me,\u201d\nsaid he.\n\nThe next day, as soon as the brother had left the house, the stepsister\nhastened down to talk again with the robber.\n\n\u201cIt is of no use,\u201d said she. \u201cHe snaps the cords as easily as though\nthere were nothing to them. To-night I will tie his thumbs together with\nmy girdle, and if he can break that, as he did the cords, then there is\nnothing that will hold him.\u201d\n\nTo this the robber agreed, so the next day, when the Prince came home,\nthe girl asked him to let her once more tie his thumbs behind his back.\n\u201cAnd this time,\u201d said she, \u201cI will tie them with my girdle.\u201d\n\nThe lad put his hands behind him and the girl tied the thumbs together\nwith her girdle. And now, though the Prince strained against it with all\nhis power, he could not break it.\n\n\u201cSister,\u201d said he, laughing. \u201cYou will have to untie it, for now indeed\nI am held prisoner.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen it is as I would have it,\u201d cried the girl, and she threw open the\ncellar door and called to the robber to come forth and slay him.\n\nNo sooner did the Prince see the robber than he knew the trick that had\nbeen played against him.\n\n\u201cI am indeed helpless,\u201d said he, \u201cand if I must die, I must. But one\nlittle favor I would ask of you before I perish. Give me leave to blow\nthree blasts upon my hunting-horn, and I will ask nothing else of you.\u201d\n\nThat seemed a harmless favor for the Prince to ask, and neither the\nrobber nor the girl refused him. Still they would not untie the girdle.\nThe stepsister held the horn to his mouth, and the Prince blew upon it\nso strong and loud that the girl and the robber were like to have been\ndeafened by it. Three times he blew. The first blast woke the animals\nwhere they lay sleeping, and they raised their heads and listened. At\nthe second blast they aroused themselves and gathered at the door of the\nhouse; and at the third blast they threw themselves against the door so\nthat locks and bars were broken, and the wood itself was splintered.\nThen in a moment they rushed into the room and sprang upon the robber\nand tore him into shreds.\n\nThey would have torn the stepsister to pieces, too, but this the Prince\nwould not permit. \u201cI will not kill you,\u201d said he to the girl, \u201cbut you\nshall be punished.\u201d\n\nHe then took a chain and fastened it around her waist and to a staple in\nthe wall. He placed food and drink within reach and an empty bowl before\nher. \u201cWhen you have filled this bowl full of tears of repentance, the\nchain will drop from you,\u201d he said, \u201cand you will be free; but until\nthat time you shall remain a prisoner.\u201d\n\nHe then went away and left her, and the animals followed at his heels.\n\nHe went on and on until he came to another country, and there he stopped\nat an inn for food and rest. But there was little feasting at the inn,\nor resting either. Every one was weeping and lamenting. The food had\nburned on the fire, and the malt had all run out of the barrels and was\nwasted.\n\nThe Prince called to the landlord and asked him the cause of all this\nsorrow.\n\n\u201cA sad and grievous cause, indeed,\u201d replied the landlord. \u201cThis day the\nKing\u2019s daughter is to be sacrificed to a mighty dragon that is to come\nup out of the water. She must be left on the seashore over beyond the\ncliffs you see yonder, for him to devour her; and unless this is done,\nthe dragon will ravage the whole country.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut is there no one strong enough and brave enough to destroy this\ndragon?\u201d asked the Prince.\n\n\u201cThere is no one. Many have come hither to try it, for the King has\npromised that if any one will do battle with the dragon and destroy him,\nhe shall have the hand of the Princess in marriage, and she is so\nbeautiful, that any man might well risk death to gain her. But every one\nwho has seen the dragon as he lies out in the sea has been so filled\nwith terror that he has fled away. Not one has stayed even to look upon\nhim twice.\u201d\n\nWhen the Prince heard this he made up his mind that he would at least\nhave a look at the dragon, so he asked the landlord how he must go to\nreach the place where the monster lay. As soon as he had been told, off\nhe set in that direction, and the animals were not far behind him.\n\nIt did not take him long to reach the seashore and when he looked off\nacross the water he could see the dragon lying there. He was so long\nthat his back looked like an island, and from his nostrils rose up\nstreams of smoke that were full of fiery cinders.\n\nThe Prince hid himself behind a heap of rocks and lay there watching,\nand presently he heard a great noise. It was made by a procession of\npeople who were bringing the Princess down to the seashore. She was very\nbeautiful, but so sad looking that the Prince\u2019s heart melted within him\nfor pity of her.\n\nThey brought her to the seashore and left her there, and every one went\naway except two nobles of the Court. One of them was driving the coach\nthat brought the Princess, and the other one sat beside him as footman.\nThey were to wait until all was over, and then they were to take the\nnews back to the King, but they kept the coach high up on top of the\ncliff where they would be out of danger.\n\nThe Prince waited until all the others had left her, and then he came\nout from behind the rocks and went to speak to the Princess; but when\nshe saw him she was frightened, for she did not know who he was nor\nwhence he came.\n\n\u201cDo not fear me,\u201d the Prince said to her. \u201cI mean you no harm, but\ninstead I have come hither to do battle with the dragon, and if it may\nbe, to save you.\u201d\n\nWhen the Princess heard this, she begged and implored him to leave her.\n\u201cWhy should you perish also? None can ever do battle with yonder monster\nand come out alive.\u201d\n\nBut the Prince would not listen to her.\n\nAnd now the dragon bestirred itself and turned and came slowly toward\nthe shore, and as it came they could smell the smoke of its breathing.\n\nThe Prince drew his sword and stood waiting for it. Then as it came\nstill nearer, the fox sprang out on a rock, dipped his tail in the salty\nwater and slashed it across the eyes of the monster so that it was\nalmost blinded. The lion and the bear also splashed up the water; the\nboar ripped at the dragon with his sharp tusks; the hare sprang upon its\nhead and struck with its paws; and the Prince drew his sword and plunged\nit into the monster\u2019s heart, so that the life blood ran out from it into\nthe sea, and it was dead.\n\nThen he went to the Princess, and they kissed each other on the lips,\nand she gave him the half of her handkerchief and the half of her ring\nto show that they were true lovers. He also took the tongue and the ears\nof the dragon, and then they went back to the coach where it was waiting\non the cliff, and the Princess bade the nobleman drive them to the\npalace of the King, that she and the Prince might be married as her\nfather had promised.\n\nBut on the way, the two noblemen talked together.\n\n\u201cWhy should we drive this stranger to the palace?\u201d said they. \u201cNo one\nknows who he is or whence he comes. Let us slay him, and then we will\ndraw lots as to which of us shall claim the Princess.\u201d\n\nSo that was what they did. They made the Prince step down from the coach\nand slew him, and they made the Princess swear that she would tell no\none that it was not they who had killed the dragon. Then they drew lots\nas to which should marry her, and the lot fell to the coachman.\n\nBut after they had driven on and left the Prince lying there, the\nfaithful animals did not desert him. They stayed beside him and mourned\nover him, and the lion licked his face and hands, but it could not\nrevive him.\n\nThen the fox, which was very clever, reminded the animals of the flasks\nof ointment and healing water in the robbers\u2019 house.\n\nThe hare, which was very swift, said it would go and fetch the flasks,\nand it sped away to get them.\n\nNow the stepsister had wept the bowl full of tears of repentance and\nwas free again; and when the hare came to the door and told her what it\nwanted, she gladly gave it the flasks and hung them about its neck in a\nlittle wicker basket.\n\nThen the hare fled back again to where the animals were waiting beside\nthe Prince. With its tusks the boar broke the flask that held the\nointment, and the bear rubbed it on the Prince\u2019s wounds so that they\nwere healed. Then they poured some drops from the second bottle between\nhis lips, and the color came back to his cheeks and the light to his\neyes. When they gave him to drink from the third bottle, he became quite\nwell again and stronger than ever.\n\nAfter that he rose and set out to follow the Princess. But the way was\nlong, and before he reached the palace, night overtook him, and he had\nno place to sleep. He was about to make a bed among the grasses when he\nsaw, not far in front of him, the light of a fire. He went on toward it,\nand as he came nearer, he saw an old, old woman standing beside it and\n\n[Illustration: As fast as she touched them each one was turned into a\nstone figure. _Page 43_]\n\ncooking her supper in a pot. She was so old that her chin and nose\nalmost met, and so skinny she was scarcely more than bones, and the eyes\nunder her brows were red and evil.\n\n\u201cGood evening, mother,\u201d said the Prince.\n\n\u201cGood evening, son,\u201d replied the woman.\n\n\u201cMay I and my animals warm ourselves beside the fire?\u201d asked the Prince.\n\n\u201cAs for yourself, you\u2019re welcome,\u201d said the old woman; \u201cbut as for your\nanimals, I am afraid of them. Just let me give each one of them a little\nblow with my staff to show them I\u2019m mistress, and then they may rest by\nthe fire also.\u201d\n\nThe Prince did not say no, so the old woman took up her staff and with\nit she quickly touched one animal after the other, beginning with the\nlion and ending with the hare, and as soon as she touched them, each one\nwas turned into a stone figure, for the old woman was a witch and as\nwicked as she was ugly. Then she touched the Prince with her staff, and\nhe also became a stone image without life or motion.\n\nThen the old hag laughed with glee and counted them over. They were not\nthe only ones she had either. All about were other stones that had once\nbeen living beings.\n\nNow some time after this, the second Prince, who had traveled far and\nwas weary of journeying, came back to the branching road where the tree\nstood with its notches, and he wished to see how his brothers were\nfaring.\n\nHe touched the notch that belonged to the youngest Prince, and milk\nflowed out from it. So he knew all was well with his youngest brother.\nThen he touched the notch that belonged to the eldest Prince, and forth\nfrom that flowed blood. Then he was grieved to the heart because he knew\ndeath or disaster must have come upon his brother.\n\n\u201cNow will I set forth in search of him,\u201d said he, \u201cand never will I stop\nnor stay until I find what has become of him and whether I can give him\nsuccor.\u201d\n\nSo the second Prince journeyed on and on, along the road his eldest\nbrother had gone before him, and it was not long until he came to the\nplace where the old woman was tending her fire. All about in the shadows\nstood figures of stone, some big and some little, but the Prince did not\nthink to look at them.\n\nHe asked if he and his animals might rest a bit beside the fire and warm\nthemselves.\n\n\u201cYou yourself are welcome,\u201d said the old woman, \u201cbut I fear that your\nanimals, may tear at me or eat me.\u201d She then asked the Prince\u2019s\npermission to touch each animal with her rod, that it might know her as\nits mistress. \u201cThen I will no longer fear them,\u201d said she.\n\nThe Prince was willing, so she took the rod that leaned against a tree\nnear by and struck the animals lightly, first one and then another, and\nas she touched them, they were turned to stone. Last of all she touched\nthe Prince, and he too became a stone image.\n\nThen the old hag laughed aloud for joy of her wickedness, and put aside\nher rod once more, and went on with her cooking.\n\nNow it happened that not so very long after this the youngest Prince,\nwho had journeyed far and wide in his wanderings, began to think of his\ntwo brothers and to wonder how it had gone with them in the world.\n\nSo he came back to the place where the three roads parted, and the tree\nstood with the three notches in it.\n\nHe put his finger on the notch that was his eldest brother\u2019s, and blood\nran down from it; and his heart was heavy within him, for he knew that\nharm must have come to his brother. Then he put his finger upon the\nnotch of the second brother, and from that, too, trickled down the\nblood. Then the young Prince cried aloud in his sorrow. \u201cNever will I\nrest or stay,\u201d cried he, \u201cuntil I know what has happened to my brothers\nand whether or no I can do aught to aid them.\u201d\n\nSo he set out the way the second brother had gone, and before long he,\ntoo, came to where the old woman was tending her fire.\n\nThe old hag laughed in her heart, when she saw him, for she thought,\n\u201chere will be more stone images to be set round me.\u201d She spoke to the\nPrince and made him welcome, and bade him sit beside the fire to rest\nhimself. But she said she feared his animals, and she took her staff in\nher hand and asked the Prince\u2019s leave to touch them each one with it.\n\u201cThen,\u201d said she, \u201cthey will know me as their mistress and will not\ntouch or harm me.\u201d\n\nBut the Prince replied, \u201cNot so! No one but I must strike my faithful\nservants, no matter how lightly. Give me the rod, and then if needs be I\nwill touch them.\u201d\n\nSo he took the rod from the old woman, though she indeed was loth to\nyield it, and first he touched the fox with it, for it was growling.\n\nAs soon as he did this, the fox was turned to stone, and then the Prince\nknew that here was evil magic. He looked about him and saw the stone\nimages of his brothers and their animals, and many other stones as well,\nthat had once been living, breathing people.\n\nThen the Prince\u2019s heart was hot within him and he demanded of the hag\nthat she should bring these people back to life, living and breathing as\nthey had been before, and he threatened that unless she did this, his\nanimals should tear her limb from limb and scatter the pieces of her\nthrough the forest.\n\nThe old woman was terrified, and she bade the Prince turn the staff that\nhe held end for end and touch the people with it; then they would return\nto life.\n\nThis the Prince did, and at once, as she had promised, the cold dead\nstones became living flesh once more, all the people and all the\nanimals.\n\nThen they all rejoiced greatly, and they gathered about the Prince and\nthanked him, but none rejoiced more greatly than the brothers.\n\nThen the others all went away to their own homes, and the youngest\nPrince broke the rod to pieces that the witch might no more use it for\nharm to others.\n\nThe three brothers talked together, and the eldest told them all about\nthe Princess, and how he had saved her from the dragon. And he told\nthem, too, how the noblemen had slain him and stolen the Princess from\nhim, and how the faithful animals had brought him back to life.\n\nAfter he had made an end of the story the youngest Prince said, \u201cNow we\nmust set out for the palace of the King at once, for it may be it is not\nyet too late for you to claim the Princess.\u201d So the three brothers set\nforth, with all the animals following behind them.\n\nWhen they reached the palace, none dared to hinder them from entering,\nbecause of the animals, and the three went on through one room after\nanother till they came to where the King was, and his daughter and the\nnobleman were with him.\n\nThe nobleman was very merry, for the wedding feast was even then\npreparing, and that night he was to be married to the lovely Princess.\nThe King, too, was happy, for he was pleased at the thought of having\nsuch a brave hero for a son-in-law. Only the Princess was sad and would\ndo nothing but weep and bemoan herself, but she could not tell her\nfather the cause of her grief because of the oath she had sworn to the\nnobleman.\n\nNow when the Prince and his two brothers entered the room where the King\nwas sitting, the Princess gave a shriek of joy, but the nobleman turned\npale and trembled, for he knew the Prince at once as the true hero who\nhad saved the Princess from the dragon, and whom he and his companion\nhad slain by the roadside.\n\nThen the Prince began and told the King the whole story, and as the King\nlistened, he wondered. When the Prince had made an end of the tale, the\nKing turned to the nobleman. \u201cAnd what answer have you to make to all\nthis?\u201d he asked him.\n\n\u201cThat it is false and doubly false,\u201d cried the nobleman. \u201c\u2019Tis I and I\nalone who saved the Princess.\u201d\n\nThen the Prince asked him what proof he had of the truth of his story,\nand when the nobleman could give no proof, the lad drew out a\nhandkerchief and opened it, and there were the ears and the tongue of\nthe dragon. He also showed the half of the handkerchief and the half of\nthe ring the Princess had given him, and then it was clear to every one\nthat it was he and he alone who had slain the dragon.\n\nThen the nobleman was punished as he deserved, but the Prince was\nmarried to the Princess, and his two brothers were married to the King\u2019s\ntwo younger daughters, and they all lived together in great joy and\nhappiness forever.\n\n\n\n\nGRACIOSA AND PERCINET\n\nA FRENCH STORY\n\n\nThere was once a King who was so rich that it would have been impossible\nfor him to spend all his money, and yet his greatest wish was still to\nkeep adding to his treasure.\n\nThe King\u2019s wife had died and left him but one child, a daughter named\nGraciosa. This Princess was so beautiful, so kind and so gentle that she\nwas beloved by all about her. The King also loved her dearly,--more\ndearly indeed than anything in the world except his treasure, but that\nwas always first in his thoughts and his affections.\n\nOne day the King set out with his attendants to hunt in a forest near\nby.\n\nThe huntsmen soon started a deer that bounded away through the forest.\nThe King followed it for a long distance, farther than he had ever gone\nbefore. Suddenly he came out on the other side of the forest, and there,\nin front of him, stood a vast castle with towers and turrets, and a\nmoat around it.\n\nThe King called his chief huntsman to him and asked him whether he knew\nwho lived in the castle.\n\nThe man replied that it belonged to the Duchess Grognon, and she was\nsaid to be so rich that she had never been able to count all her\ntreasures.\n\nAs soon as the King heard this, he at once determined to stop at the\ncastle and ask for refreshment. He was not only weary and thirsty from\nthe chase, but he also had a great desire to see any one as rich as the\nDuchess, and perhaps he would be shown her treasures as well.\n\nGrognon had already seen him from her window, and as soon as he turned\ntoward the castle, she hastened down to meet him. She herself opened the\ndoor for him and smiling she bade him welcome.\n\nWhen the King first looked at her he was amazed. Never had he seen any\none so ugly. She was as dark and rough and broad as a toad. Her eyes\nwere little and red, and her mouth was like a slit that stretched from\near to ear. But she was magnificently dressed and so covered with\njewels that the King was dazzled by them and quite forgot how hideous\nwas the one who wore them.\n\nThe Duchess invited the King to enter and at once commanded that a\nrepast should be brought him with all sorts of cakes and sweets and\nfruits, and also a pipe of wine.\n\nThe King, who was very thirsty, was pleased to hear this order, and when\nthe pipe of wine was brought in he waited impatiently for it to be\nopened. But when the Duchess struck the head of the pipe, instead of\nwine a great heap of gold fell out upon the floor.\n\nThe Duchess pretended to be very much surprised. \u201cThis is a strange\nthing,\u201d said she. \u201cI cannot imagine how they came to bring this gold\ninstead of the wine I ordered. I pray your Majesty\u2019s pardon for the\nmistake, which shall be well punished, I promise you.\u201d\n\nShe then commanded that another pipe should be brought in, but when she\nstruck this, out poured a heap of rubies.\n\nThe King was filled with wonder and admiration at the sight of all this\ntreasure, but the Duchess pretended to be still more angry.\n\n\u201cThe servant who made this mistake shall be well beaten, I promise you,\u201d\nshe cried. \u201cBring in another pipe, and this time be sure it is filled\nwith good wine instead of all these stones.\u201d\n\nBut she had no more success with the third pipe than with the second,\nfor when she struck it, out poured emeralds. The Duchess pretended to\nfly into a fury and scornfully pushed the jewels aside with her foot.\nPipe after pipe was brought, but one was full of sapphires, one of\npearls, and still another of diamonds. The whole floor was covered with\nher treasures.\n\nThe King was bewildered. He scarcely knew how to express his wonder.\n\n\u201cSire,\u201d said the Duchess, smiling, \u201csince you feel such an admiration\nfor these poor trifles, perhaps you would like to see the treasure\nchambers from which these have been brought.\u201d\n\nNothing could please the King better, and after Grognon had shown him\nall her treasures, which indeed seemed endless, he determined, if\npossible, to make her his wife that all this wealth might become his.\n\nThis plan suited the Duchess perfectly. Indeed it was for this purpose\nthat she had shown her wealth to the King, and it was agreed between\nthem that they should be married as soon as possible.\n\nWhen the news of this intended marriage was brought to Graciosa, she was\nfilled with grief and dismay. She had already heard of the Duchess\nGrognon and knew her to be not only a monster of ugliness, but of such\nan evil nature that nothing delighted her more than to tease and torment\nthose around her and make their lives a misery to them. Nor could she\nunderstand how her father could make up his mind to take such a creature\nas his wife.\n\nHowever, she hid her feelings as well as she could and determined to be\nobedient and patient with Grognon, hoping that in this way she might\nlive with her at peace, and even perhaps win from her a little\naffection.\n\nThe day for the wedding drew near, and one morning word was brought to\nthe King that Grognon would that day set forth on her way to his\npalace.\n\nWishing to do all honor to his bride, the King determined to ride forth\nand meet her, and he gave orders that Graciosa should make herself ready\nand ride with him to meet the Duchess.\n\nPoor Graciosa had withdrawn to the palace gardens to weep in secret, for\nshe did not wish others to know of the grief she felt over her father\u2019s\nmarriage. As she sat beside a fountain, her tears falling as clear and\nbright as the leaping waters, she saw a page coming toward her across\nthe garden. He was a stranger to the Princess, and he was so tall and\nhandsome, and his air so noble that Graciosa gazed at him with wonder.\n\nWhen he reached the place where Graciosa was sitting he bent his knee\nbefore her. \u201cPrincess,\u201d said he, \u201cthe King is waiting for you. He rides\nforth to-day to meet the Duchess Grognon, who has already set out from\nher castle, and he wishes you to ride with him.\u201d\n\n\u201cTell him I will come upon the moment,\u201d said Graciosa. \u201cBut stay! First\ntell me who you are, for your face is strange to me. Are you one of the\nDuchess\u2019s pages who has been sent on before her?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, Princess,\u201d replied the page. \u201cI am indeed a stranger here, but no\none has sent me hither. I have come hither because my greatest desire in\nlife is to serve you, and, if it may be, to ease your sorrows in small\nmeasure by my love and devotion.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow!\u201d cried the Princess. \u201cDo you, a page, dare to speak to me of love\nand devotion? You should be well punished for your insolence, and no\ndoubt you will be when I report the matter to the King, as rest assured\nI shall do as soon as I find an opportunity.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn truth, you have no cause for anger, Princess,\u201d replied the stranger.\n\u201cI am not a page, but Prince Percinet, the son of a King as rich and\npowerful as your own father. Long ago my father died, and I live in the\npalace of my mother, the Fairy Finetta. Through her I am possessed of\nmany magic powers and can render myself invisible at will. It is only\nbecause of my desire to help you that I have come here dressed as a\npage.\u201d\n\nGraciosa was filled with wonder at this story. She had often heard of\nthe fairy Prince Percinet, of his beauty and wit and power, but little\nhad she thought to meet him. She could scarcely believe it possible that\nhe loved her, and that it was for her sake he had come to the palace to\nserve as a page.\n\nStill full of wonder, she arose and hastened away to where her father\nwas waiting impatiently for her coming. He and his attendants were ready\nto set out at once, and a page was holding Graciosa\u2019s palfrey.\n\nShe was about to mount when Percinet appeared, leading a snow-white\nhorse so graceful and so beautiful that every one who saw it marveled.\nThis horse, he said, had just come as a gift to the Princess Graciosa\nfrom one who refused to let his name be known.\n\nIt was not difficult for Graciosa to guess that the one who had given\nher the horse was Prince Percinet himself, but her father could not\nwonder enough over both the gift and the giver.\n\nWhen the Princess had mounted the horse and gathered up the reins, it at\nonce moved forward with such grace and lightness that all were filled\nwith admiration. The King, at whose side she rode, kept admiring the\nsteed and wondering as to whence it had come.\n\nThey had not traveled far when they saw Grognon and her train\napproaching them. The Duchess rode in a golden coach, drawn by six\nspotted horses, their harness glittering with gold and jewels. Grognon\nherself was magnificently dressed and covered with gems that fairly\ndazzled the eyes with their glitter, but this magnificence only made her\nlook more hideous, like a toad peering out from a jeweled glove.\n\nNo sooner did the King come to the side of the chariot than he began to\npay his compliments to Grognon, but the Duchess scarcely listened to\nhim. Her eyes were fixed upon the horse upon which the Princess Graciosa\nwas riding.\n\n\u201cThat is a very beautiful horse,\u201d said she. \u201cIndeed it is finer than any\nin my stables, or, I am sure, in yours, either. I should have thought it\nwould have been kept for me instead of your allowing your daughter to\nride upon such a wonder.\u201d\n\nThe King, seeing she was in a rage, tried to make excuses, but Grognon\nwould not listen to him. Nothing would satisfy her but that Graciosa\nshould light down from the horse and allow her to mount upon it instead,\nand ride beside the King as they returned to the palace.\n\nTo this Graciosa eagerly agreed. The fury shown by the Duchess terrified\nher, and her only wish was to turn aside Grognon\u2019s anger and perhaps win\nfrom her a kindly word.\n\nBut no sooner had Grognon mounted the horse than it began to prance and\ncurvette and leap from side to side so roughly that the Duchess thought\nher teeth would be loosened in her head; then suddenly it started off at\nfull gallop, with Grognon screaming and clutching it by the mane. So\nswiftly sped the horse that no one could overtake it, and when it\nreached the palace it stopped with such suddenness that the Duchess was\nthrown violently off upon the stones of the courtyard.\n\nWhen the King and Graciosa, followed by the courtiers and attendants,\narrived at the palace, they were horrified to find Grognon lying on the\nstones of the courtyard, screaming and groaning.\n\nShe was lifted up and carried into the castle, and physicians were\ncalled to attend to her bruises and scratches.\n\n\u201cIt is all the fault of that miserable girl,\u201d Grognon screamed again and\nagain. \u201cIt is some trick she arranged for me, and she had no other hope\nthan that I should be killed outright. But she shall be punished for her\nwickedness. She shall find that she cannot treat me in such a manner\nwithout suffering for it.\u201d\n\nShe then demanded that the King should send Graciosa to her and allow\nher to punish the Princess as she saw fit.\n\nThe King was loth to agree to this, and yet he dared not refuse, for he\nfeared that Grognon might fall into such a fury that she would refuse to\nmarry him and would return to her own castle, and so he would lose her\ntreasures. He felt himself obliged to allow Grognon to carry out her\nwishes.\n\nGraciosa was sent to the Duchess\u2019s chamber and went with fear and\ntrembling.\n\nNo sooner had she entered than the door was locked behind her. She saw,\nwith terror, that back of Grognon\u2019s couch stood four tall and\nterrible-looking attendants, each armed with a heavy staff.\n\n\u201cNow, my beauty,\u201d cried Grognon furiously, \u201cit is my turn. No doubt you\nwere vastly amused by my misadventure, but now you yourself shall know\nhow it feels to be covered with wounds and bruises.\u201d\n\nShe then bade her attendants seize Graciosa and beat her as long as\ntheir strength held out, or until their staves were broken.\n\nGraciosa would have begged for mercy, but suddenly a whisper sounded in\nher ear. \u201cFear not, Graciosa. I, Percinet, am beside thee. The blows\nshall not harm thee, but when they fall, cry out as though they were\nbeyond all bearing.\u201d\n\nGraciosa at once recognized the voice of Percinet, and knowing he was\nthere, all fear left her, and she could have laughed aloud for joy.\nHowever, she pretended to be almost fainting from terror.\n\nGrognon now ordered the attendants to begin; they at once seized\nGraciosa and raised their staves, but she now saw that by Percinet\u2019s\nmagic the staves had been changed into rose-colored plumes, so soft and\nfeathery that the blows she received from them were like the tenderest\nof caresses. But, remembering Percinet\u2019s bidding, she cried aloud under\nthe strokes as though she could scarcely bear the suffering.\n\nThe eyes of Grognon and her attendants were blinded so that they did not\nsee the rods had been changed to plumes. The Duchess wondered at the\nstrength of the Princess. She had expected to see her sink down, bruised\nand senseless under the rain of blows, but the harder the attendants\nbeat her, the less did Graciosa feel the strokes.\n\nAt last the men, outwearied, dropped their rods, and Graciosa,\npretending to weep, gathered her garments about her as though to hide\nher bruises.\n\n\u201cGo,\u201d said Grognon harshly, pointing to the door. \u201cYou have received no\nmore than you deserve, but this beating is nothing to what you shall\nreceive, if you again try your tricks upon me.\u201d\n\nGraciosa crept away to her room and to her bed, pretending to be ill,\nwhich delighted Grognon and was as a soothing salve to her bruises.\n\nSoon after the King and Grognon were married with great magnificence.\nThe new Queen was dressed in cloth of gold and wore her most magnificent\njewels; she received with satisfaction the compliments of the courtiers\nwho pretended to admire her and praised her beauty and grace, while they\nlaughed at her behind her back and wondered how the King had ever\nbrought himself to marry such a hideous creature.\n\nGraciosa was obliged to wear a hideous dress, and her ornaments were\nonly common pebbles gathered from beside the road, with holes bored\nthrough them and strung together, but in spite of this her beauty shone\nout as the moon shines through the clouds at night time.\n\nSoon after, a grand tournament was given in honor of the Queen. The\nknight who was chosen to ride for Grognon declared her to be the most\nbeautiful creature in the world, and challenged all others to prove the\ncontrary against him.\n\nMany knights rode against him, but he overcame them all, for, knowing\nhim to be the favorite of the Queen, none of them dared to try to\noverthrow him.\n\nThe heralds were about to proclaim him victor when a new and unknown\nknight rode into the field.\n\nThis knight rode a snow-white horse and was clad in silver armor. The\nonly color he wore was a green silken scarf, that being Graciosa\u2019s\ncolor.\n\nThis silver knight declared Graciosa to be the most beautiful and\nperfect creature in the world, even as he held Queen Grognon to be the\nmost hideous and detestable, and this he would prove against any who\ndared to ride against him.\n\nWhen the Queen heard what the knight said, her face grew as red as\nblood, and she gave such a cry of fury that the King trembled, and\nGraciosa almost fainted with terror. However, the Queen had no doubt but\nthat her chosen knight would overthrow the newcomer, as he had all\nothers.\n\nThe two knights reined back their horses and set their lances at rest,\nand then at the given signal they charged at each other. But it seemed\nthe silver knight scarce needed to touch the other before he sent him\nrolling in the dust, and so sore wounded that it was difficult to revive\nhim.\n\nAt once the silver knight disappeared, and no one was able to guess who\nhe was or whence he had come, nor could they tell whither he had gone.\nGraciosa alone guessed, even when he first appeared, that the silver\nknight was no other than her fairy lover Percinet.\n\nGrognon was in such a rage that she was like to lose her senses. She\ndeclared that Graciosa had arranged the whole plan so as to disgrace her\nbefore the court and demanded that the Princess should be left to her to\npunish as she pleased.\n\nThe King was afraid to refuse, for Grognon threatened that if he did she\nwould take all her treasure and depart at once, and not one single jewel\nof it should he ever see again. With an anxious heart he at last agreed\nto her wishes, and Grognon, filled with triumph, determined to rid\nherself once and for all of the Princess.\n\nThat night, soon after the Princess had gone to her chamber, a number of\narmed men entered it and forced her to come away with them. They\nbrought her to a closed carriage which was in waiting, and into this she\nwas obliged to enter. After that she was driven on and on for a long\ndistance.\n\nAt last the coach stopped, the door was opened, and Graciosa was forced\nto descend. She found the men had brought her into the midst of a deep\nand gloomy forest, and that here they meant to leave her.\n\nGraciosa was filled with terror. She knew the forest to be full of\nlions, bears, and other savage creatures, and she could not forbear from\nweeping and complaining of the cruelty that could leave her there to be\ntorn to pieces by the fangs of wild beasts. She even pleaded with the\nmen to kill her at once, that her sufferings might the sooner be ended.\n\nThe attendants, however, paid little heed to her prayers and tears\nexcept to tell her they were acting under the Queen\u2019s command, and soon\nthe poor child found herself alone and helpless. Kneeling down, she said\nher prayers, and then meekly laid herself down to await whatever fate\nmight befall her.\n\nSuddenly the forest all around her was lighted up as though by the glow\nof thousands upon thousands of candles, and she saw before her a broad\navenue, paved with stones of changing colors and leading up to a shining\npalace.\n\nGraciosa gazed with wonder upon the sight, scarcely able to believe her\neyes. \u201cIt must be the work of Prince Percinet,\u201d she murmured. \u201cHe is\nguarding me from the savage beasts, even as he guarded me before from\nthe fury of the cruel Grognon.\u201d\n\nA sound from behind startled her, and she turned with a cry, fearing one\nof the beasts might have stolen up to her unheard.\n\nInstead there stood Prince Percinet himself, looking upon her with\ntenderness and admiration. Graciosa had never seen him appear so\nhandsome. He was dressed in white satin, richly embroidered with silver,\nand around his neck hung a broad collar of emeralds.\n\n\u201cDo not be afraid, beautiful Graciosa,\u201d said he. \u201cI have come to lead\nyou to the palace of my mother, the Fairy Finetta. She is waiting\nimpatiently to welcome you, and be sure that in her palace you will be\ntreated with only the greatest care and tenderness.\u201d\n\nAt these words all fear left Graciosa. Blushing, she allowed Percinet to\ntake her hand and to lead her up the avenue to the palace.\n\nNo sooner did they arrive at the foot of the steps than the golden doors\nswung open, and a tall and beautiful lady dressed in a shimmering green\nrobe bordered with emeralds appeared, and after making herself known as\nthe Fairy Finetta, she welcomed Graciosa with the greatest grace and\ndignity.\n\nGraciosa was led into the palace, and everything she saw about her was\nso beautiful and wonderful that she hardly knew how to express her\nadmiration. Wherever they went they were accompanied by soft music;\ndoors opened before them as they approached, and in one apartment a\nfeast was set forth for them with every sort of delicious food that can\nbe imagined. It was served to them without hands, and nowhere did\nGraciosa see any one but themselves. This gave the Princess some\nanxiety.\n\n\u201cAfter all,\u201d thought she to herself, \u201call this is magic and may at any\nmoment vanish suddenly, even as it appeared, and I may find myself again\nin the forest, helpless and alone.\u201d She therefore, as soon as she found\nan opportunity, asked the Fairy Finetta whether it would not be possible\nto send her back to her father\u2019s palace again.\n\nThe fairy seemed both surprised and displeased at this question.\n\u201cNothing would be easier,\u201d she replied, \u201cbut have you so soon wearied of\nour company that you should wish to leave us? You know how Percinet\nadores you. He will be miserable if he finds he is unable to make you\nhappy even for a few short hours.\u201d\n\nGraciosa murmured something about her father.\n\n\u201cYour father is well and in good spirits,\u201d replied the fairy; \u201che has\nnot even missed you.\u201d\n\nThe Princess could now no longer urge to be sent home. She agreed to\nremain in the castle for a while, at least. Percinet showed the greatest\njoy when he heard this. \u201cAh, Graciosa,\u201d said he, \u201cyou cannot but know\nthat I am miserable without you, and if you would accept my love and\ndevotion, I would be the happiest creature in the world.\u201d\n\nThe Princess blushed, but made no answer and Percinet dared not press\nher further.\n\nThe next few days passed like a dream for Graciosa. Every day she found\nherself provided with clothes and jewels more beautiful than any she had\never imagined. Every day invisible hands served her with food that was\nstrange to her, yet very delicious. Often she walked in the gardens or\namused herself by feeding the fish in the fountains. Percinet was almost\nconstantly with her and found a thousand ways in which to please her and\nshow his devotion, and the Fairy Finetta was always gracious and\ncharming. But one day, when Percinet had left her for a short time,\nGraciosa began to think of her father, and she was seized with such a\ngreat desire to see him that she grew very sad, and could not forbear\nfrom weeping.\n\nWhen Percinet returned and saw her tears, he at once asked her, with the\ngreatest concern, what was troubling her.\n\n\u201cI am sad because I am thinking of my father,\u201d replied Graciosa. \u201cOh,\nPercinet! Is it not possible for me to see him? I have been parted from\nhim for so long.\u201d\n\nPercinet became very thoughtful, but presently he said, \u201cIt is indeed\nquite possible for you to see him and that without even leaving the\npalace, but I fear harm may come of it. However, as you know, I can\nrefuse you nothing, so come with me.\u201d\n\nPercinet then led Graciosa to a high tower from which they could see a\ngreat stretch of country in every direction. He bade her place her right\nfoot on his left foot, and her little finger on his thumb, and look in\nthe direction he pointed out to her.\n\nAs soon as Graciosa had done this, she no longer saw Percinet or the\ntower, or anything around her. It seemed to her that she was back again\nin her father\u2019s palace, in the chamber where the King sometimes went to\nbe alone. She saw him there and in his hand he held a little picture of\nherself painted when she was a child and he was weeping and grieving\nover it so bitterly that Graciosa\u2019s heart was wrung with pity for him.\nShe wished to speak to him and throw her arms about his neck, but no\nsooner did she step forward toward him than she found herself back again\non the tower with Percinet, and the vision of her father was gone.\n\nGraciosa turned to the Prince, her face bathed with tears. \u201cDearest\nPercinet, if you love me, let me return to my father,\u201d she cried. \u201cHe is\ngrieving for me, and I cannot bear the thought of his sorrow.\u201d\n\nPercinet looked at her reproachfully. \u201cAnd is my sorrow nothing to you?\u201d\nhe asked her. \u201cYou know how it would grieve me to the heart to lose you.\nThe King was willing to leave you to the cruelty of Grognon, and I have\ntreated you always with the tenderest respect, and yet you would gladly\nleave me to return to him.\u201d\n\nGraciosa could make no answer to this, and after a moment Percinet added\nwith a sigh, \u201cSo be it.\u201d\n\nHe then led her to the fairy and told her of Graciosa\u2019s wish to leave\nthem.\n\nFinetta looked at her with a severe expression. \u201cI fear Graciosa, that\nyou are very ungrateful,\u201d said she. \u201cBut if you wish to leave us, we\nwill not keep you. Only, when you find yourself again in the power of\nthe Queen, remember that it is of your own choice you are there.\u201d\n\nSo saying, the fairy waved her hand, and at once the castle and all in\nit vanished away like mist. Graciosa found herself again in her father\u2019s\npalace. With eager steps she hastened to the chamber where she had seen\nhim sitting. He was still there, and weeping. She ran to him and threw\nher arms about him.\n\n\u201cDearest father, do not grieve any longer,\u201d she cried. \u201cYour Graciosa\nhas returned to you, loving you better than ever.\u201d\n\nThe King was filled with joy at the sight of his daughter and embraced\nher and caressed her with so much tenderness that Graciosa hoped her\nsorrows were now ended, and that nothing but happiness lay before her.\n\nBut she had forgotten Grognon. The stepmother was furious when she heard\nthat the Princess had returned to the castle. \u201cWill I never be able to\nrid myself of this wretched girl!\u201d she cried. \u201cBut wait a bit! I will\nmake her so miserable that she will be glad enough to leave the palace\nherself, of her own will and desire.\u201d\n\nShe then hastened away to the King, who was again alone, as Graciosa had\ngone to her chamber.\n\n\u201cI hear that Graciosa has returned!\u201d cried Grognon. \u201cThe girl thinks she\ncan come and go at pleasure and cares nothing for any anxiety or sorrow\nshe may cause us. But leave her to me, and I will teach her a lesson in\nobedience that may save us much trouble in the future.\u201d\n\nThe King was troubled at hearing this. He could not bear the thought of\nagain putting the Princess in the power of her stepmother, and yet he\nknew Grognon\u2019s furious temper and was afraid of awakening it. In the\nend, however, he agreed to what the Queen asked and promised that she\nshould do as she wished with Graciosa.\n\nGrognon had learned a lesson from the return of the Princess, and she\nnow determined to call to her aid a fairy who was a friend of hers and\nwas as wicked as herself. \u201cThis girl,\u201d thought she, \u201cis surely protected\nby some magic, and if I would succeed against her, I must call upon\nsome power that is greater than my own.\u201d\n\nThe fairy came in haste at the Queen\u2019s summons, and when she found what\nwas required of her, her little eyes sparkled with malice.\n\n\u201cThis is indeed a matter to my own taste,\u201d said she. \u201cI will tell you\nhow to set a task for the Princess that she cannot possibly accomplish.\nThen, when she fails, you can say she is disobedient and obstinate, and\nthis will give you an excuse for breaking every bone in her body.\u201d\n\nThe advice delighted Grognon. \u201cQuick!\u201d said she. \u201cTell me what I am to\ndo, for I can hardly wait to rid myself of this creature.\u201d\n\nThe fairy then drew from an enormous pocket in her gown a great mass of\ntangled threads of silk. They were of all colors of the rainbow, and\neach thread was so twisted in with the others that there seemed neither\nbeginning nor end to it and yet was so fine that one could scarcely\nbreathe upon it without breaking it.\n\n\u201cTake this silk to Graciosa,\u201d said the fairy, \u201cand tell her that before\nto-morrow she must separate the different colors from each other and\nwind them into skeins, each color to itself, and that not a single\nthread of them must be broken. This she will find it impossible to do,\nand when you visit her to-morrow and find that she has failed, it will\ngive you an excuse to punish her as you see fit.\u201d\n\nThis advice delighted the Queen. She took the skeins and hastened away\nto the place where she had had Graciosa imprisoned. The Princess was\nweeping and looked so beautiful in her tears that any heart less hard\nthan Grognon\u2019s would have pitied her. But her beauty only increased the\nQueen\u2019s fury against her.\n\n\u201cCome, lazybones!\u201d cried the Queen. \u201cHere is something to give work to\nyour idle fingers. Take these silks and separate them from each other,\nwinding each color into a skein by itself. See that not a thread of it\nis broken, and do you have the task done before to-morrow, or else you\nshall suffer for it.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas, Madam!\u201d cried the poor Princess. \u201cYou know that this is an\nimpossible thing to do.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is your concern,\u201d cried Grognon harshly. \u201cBut this I will tell\nyou; if you are too lazy and obstinate to do as I bid you, it is only\nright and proper that you should be punished.\u201d\n\nSo saying, she gave Graciosa a push so violent that it almost threw her\nupon the floor and went on out, locking the door behind her.\n\nLeft alone, Graciosa took up the mass of silk and with careful fingers\nbegan to try to separate the strands, but hardly could she touch them\nbefore they broke, and she soon found the task was indeed impossible.\n\nIn despair she threw aside the silks and burst into tears.\n\n\u201cAlas! Alas! My sorrows are well deserved,\u201d wept the poor Princess. \u201cHad\nI but listened to Percinet and to the fairy\u2019s warnings, I might even now\nbe safe and happy in her palace with Percinet for my companion.\u201d\n\nHardly had she spoken thus when the Prince himself stood before her.\n\n\u201cAh, Graciosa,\u201d said he, \u201care you perhaps beginning to learn at last the\nworth of my affection? You have indeed brought this sorrow on yourself,\nbut I love you too dearly to be willing to see you suffer.\u201d\n\nHe then struck the silk three times with a silver wand he carried.\nImmediately the tangles and knots were smoothed away, the different\ncolors separated themselves one from another, and broken ends rejoined.\nIn less time than it takes to tell, the task was done, and the different\nsilks lay smoothly wound and side by side upon the table.\n\nGraciosa hardly knew how to thank Percinet.\n\n\u201cDo not thank me,\u201d said the Prince gravely. \u201cI wish no thanks from you.\nYou know how dearly I love you, and I, on my part, am sure that now you\nalso love me. Come away with me from all these fears and sufferings and\nlive with me in the palace my mother is eager to provide for us.\u201d\n\nBut Graciosa could not yet make up her mind to marry one who was half a\nfairy.\n\n\u201cAh, Percinet, forgive me!\u201d she cried. \u201cI know that you love me, but you\nare a fairy and I am a mortal, and I fear your love for me may not be\nlasting. Let us wait and see whether the Queen\u2019s heart may not soften\ntoward me. Perhaps she has only set me this task as a trial of my\npatience and does not really intend evil to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn other words, you trust to her cruelty rather than to my tenderness,\u201d\ncried the Prince with some anger. \u201cSo be it. But at least I have saved\nyou from a beating.\u201d\n\nThus saying, he disappeared, and the Princess was left alone.\n\nEarly the next morning Grognon hastened to Graciosa\u2019s prison. Already\nshe was planning what was the most cruel punishment she could give the\nPrincess, for she had no other thought but that Graciosa would have\nfound the task impossible.\n\nWhat was her amazement to see, when she opened the door, that all the\nsilks had been separated and wound into skeins, and that they lay upon\nthe table so beautifully arranged that to see them was like looking upon\na rainbow.\n\nGraciosa met her with a smile. \u201cMadam, I have done your bidding,\u201d said\nshe, \u201cand the silks are ready for you, as you can see.\u201d\n\nGrognon could think of no reply to make. She snatched up the silks and\nleft the room, casting upon Graciosa a look so furious and so malignant\nthat the poor girl trembled.\n\nNo sooner had Grognon reached her own chamber than she sent for the\nwicked fairy and at once began to reproach her for setting such an easy\ntask for the Princess.\n\nThe fairy frowned and shook her head. \u201cI do not understand it,\u201d she\nsaid. \u201cSome magic power must be helping Graciosa, for never could mortal\nfingers have separated the skeins after I had tangled them. However, I\nwill set her another task even harder than the first, and which I am\nvery sure will put her in your power.\u201d\n\nThe fairy then caused a great tub to appear, and it was full of the\nfeathers of hundreds and hundreds of different birds.\n\n\u201cGive her these feathers to separate,\u201d said the fairy. \u201cTell her that\nthe feathers of each kind of bird must be put by themselves, and all\nmust be separated by the earliest break of day to-morrow. She will\ncertainly find it impossible to do this task, and you will then have her\nin your power.\u201d\n\nAt this advice all of Grognon\u2019s anger disappeared and she thanked the\nfairy smilingly. She called for two of her attendants and bade them\ncarry the feathers to the room where Graciosa was kept prisoner, and she\nherself also went there.\n\nThe poor Princess was terrified when she saw Grognon appear once more,\nfor she knew it could only mean some new trouble for her.\n\nThe tub was set upon the floor, and Grognon motioned Graciosa to it.\n\u201cIdle one,\u201d she cried, \u201chere is something that will keep you busy for a\nfew hours at least. Your task is to separate these feathers, putting the\nones that belong to each kind of bird by themselves, and see that they\nare all separated by morning, or woe betide you.\u201d\n\nShe then left the room, taking the attendants with her and locking and\ndouble-locking the door behind her.\n\nAs soon as Graciosa examined the tub of feathers, she knew the task to\nbe hopeless, but nevertheless she sat down and made some attempt to\nseparate the feathers; but she did not even know which ones belonged\ntogether, and there were, besides, thousands and thousands of them.\n\nIn despair she threw them back again into the tub, and burst into tears.\n\u201cWhat will become of me?\u201d she sobbed. \u201cPercinet I have offended so\ndeeply that I dare not call upon him for help, and he is the only one\nwho can aid me. Ah, how ungrateful I have been! I would that that noble\nPrince were here that I might ask for his pardon before the Queen\ndestroys me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI _am_ here, beautiful Graciosa! And not only ready but eager to help\nyou. Do not fear. This task the Queen has set you is not as impossible\nas you seem to think it.\u201d\n\nIt was Percinet who spoke. He had appeared before her, handsome and\ngraceful as ever. He now approached the tub of feathers and touched it\nwith the silver wand which he carried.\n\nNo sooner had he done this than the feathers arose in a many-colored\ncloud, and each kind, separating itself from the others, gathered in a\nlittle heap by itself.\n\nGraciosa hardly knew how to thank the Prince.\n\n\u201cI desire no gratitude, but love only,\u201d exclaimed Percinet. \u201cHas not\nthis taught you that as long as you are in the Queen\u2019s power there is no\nsafety for you? Oh, Graciosa, delay no longer. Come with me to my\nmother, and let us tell her you have consented to our marriage.\u201d\n\nBut Graciosa could not yet make up her mind to trust him. \u201cDear\nPercinet,\u201d she said, weeping, \u201cdo not think me ungrateful, but how can\nI, a mortal maiden, ever mate with one who is half a fairy? No, no. We\ncould never be happy. Be to me a friend, as I will be to you, but do not\nask me to marry you.\u201d\n\nPercinet was deeply offended; he could not help showing his resentment.\n\n\u201cFarewell, proud Princess,\u201d he said to her. \u201cYou say you are not\nungrateful, and yet with every word you show your lack of trust in me.\nHeaven send that you may not suffer for the scorn you show me.\u201d\n\nSo saying, Percinet again disappeared, leaving the Princess alone and\nweeping.\n\nThe next day, at earliest dawn, Grognon hastened to Graciosa\u2019s prison,\nand nothing could be greater than was her wonder and fury when she found\nthe feathers separated and each kind lying neatly by itself.\n\nHer rage was so great that she could not forbear from shaking Graciosa\ntill the poor Princess\u2019s teeth rattled in her head, giving, as an\nexcuse, that the feathers were not laid evenly.\n\nShe then went away in a rage to her own room, and calling the fairy to\nher, she scolded her at such a rate that her voice could be heard all\nover the castle.\n\nThe fairy was confounded when she found this second task had also been\naccomplished, and, it seemed, as easily and quickly as the first.\n\n\u201cIt is some magic,\u201d she repeated. \u201cSome one is helping her who is as\npowerful as I--perhaps even more so. But this is not the end of the\nmatter. You shall still have a chance to punish the Princess at your\npleasure. I have here a box. Give it to Graciosa, and bid her carry it\nto your castle, and leave it in a certain cabinet in the hall, but not\nby any means to open it on the way. Her curiosity will prove too much\nfor her, she will think it no harm to peep into the box after she is\nout of sight and if she once opens it, she will find it impossible to\nclose the lid on its contents and you can then punish her for her\ndisobedience.\u201d\n\nThe fairy at once disappeared, and Grognon sent for the Princess to come\nbefore her.\n\nGraciosa obeyed the summons, wondering what new sorrow was to come upon\nher, but to her surprise the Queen met her with a smiling face. \u201cMy dear\nGraciosa,\u201d said she, \u201cI have here a box which I wish to send to my\npalace, and what is within it is so precious and wonderful that I do not\ndare to trust it to any one but you. It is not locked, and there is no\nkey to it, but do not open it on your way, whatever you do. Place it\nupon the central cabinet in the main hall, and then return to me in\nhaste, that you may assure me that you have carried it there in safety.\u201d\n\nGraciosa at once hastened to her room for a cloak, which she threw about\nher. She took the box that the Queen handed to her, and holding it in\nsuch a way that the folds of the cloak hid it, she set out upon her\njourney.\n\nThe Queen looked after her with an evil smile.\n\n\u201cThis time she shall not escape me,\u201d she muttered. \u201cNever will she be\nable to withstand her wish to see what it is that the box holds.\u201d\n\nGraciosa, indeed, was very curious. As she hastened along, clasping the\nbox to her, she wondered more and more what could possibly be in it that\nwas so precious that the Queen dared not trust it to any one but\nherself. The way was long, and the Princess was unused to walking, and\nso at last when she came to a green meadow with a brook flowing through\nit, she sat down to rest. As she sat there, she became so tormented by\ncuriosity as to what was in the box, that at last she determined to\nraise the lid very carefully just a hair\u2019s breadth, and take one look\nwithin.\n\nBut scarcely had her fingers touched the lid when it flew open in her\nhands, and out from the box there streamed a host of little people.\nThere were lords and ladies in fine clothes, and workmen, who at once\nset about putting up silken tents as a shelter from the sun. There were\ntiny coaches of gold, drawn by horses even smaller, and driven by\ncoachmen with powdered wigs, and there were little footmen sitting\nbeside them. There were cooks, who directed tiny scullions to build up\nfires and at once set about preparing a grand feast. Tables were spread,\nand small musicians began to play gay music to which the fine folk\ndanced.\n\nIt was all so wonderful and pretty that Graciosa watched them, smiling,\nand with the greatest delight, quite forgetting that she had disobeyed\nthe strict orders of the Queen, and that she would suffer for it.\n\nSuddenly a cloud came over the sun, and a few drops of rain fell.\n\nThis brought Graciosa to herself. Laying down the box, she ran over to\nthe tent where the little lords and ladies had taken shelter, and tried\nto gather them up so as to return them to the box again. But this they\nwould not have. As soon as they found she intended to catch them, they\nran away and hid themselves among the tufts of grasses and back of\nstones. Soon they had all disappeared. Not one of them was to be seen,\nthough Graciosa looked for them all about.\n\nShe was now so frightened that she was like one distracted. She ran\nabout the meadow, calling to the little people to return, and at last,\nquite worn out with her exertions, she fell upon the ground and burst\ninto tears.\n\n\u201cAh, Percinet, you will be well revenged,\u201d she sobbed. \u201cWhatever will\nbecome of the poor Graciosa, and how shall I ever withstand the rage of\nthe cruel Grognon?\u201d\n\nSuddenly she heard a deep sigh, and looking up, she saw that Percinet\nwas standing beside her. Seeing him there, she could not restrain a cry\nof joy, but the Prince gazed upon her with a sad and sorrowful look.\n\n\u201cAh, Graciosa, would you ever remember me,\u201d he asked, \u201cif it were not\nfor the cruel Grognon?\u201d\n\nGraciosa, ashamed, did not dare to raise her eyes to his.\n\n\u201cCruelly as you have treated me,\u201d said Percinet, \u201cI cannot leave you to\nsuffer.\u201d\n\nWith these words he struck three times upon the lid of the box. At once,\nas though this were a signal, the little people came running out from\ntheir hiding places, and, as though each one wished to be the first,\nthey hastened back into the box, pushing and hustling each other in\ntheir hurry. The workmen hastily folded the tents, the cook and his\nscullions gathered up their cooking utensils, the coachmen cracked their\nwhips and shouted to their horses. Back into the box they crowded, the\nbox closed of itself, and the meadow lay green and deserted in the\nsunlight.\n\nGraciosa would have thanked Percinet, but when she turned to speak to\nhim, he was gone.\n\n\u201cAlas, he is so angry I fear he no longer loves me,\u201d sighed Graciosa,\n\u201cwhile I have at last learned both to love and trust him. If he had but\nasked me again to return with him to the fairy palace, how gladly I\nwould have agreed!\u201d\n\nSadly the Princess again set out for Grognon\u2019s castle, and in due time\narrived there without having had any more adventures, and placed the box\nin the cabinet in the main hall as the Queen had directed.\n\nWhen Grognon found that again Graciosa had accomplished her task, and so\nescaped punishment, her rage was so great that she was like one who has\nsuddenly gone crazy. She sent for the fairy, and as soon as she\nappeared, the Queen flew at her with teeth and nails.\n\n\u201cMiserable creature!\u201d she shrieked. \u201cYou have deceived me. Three times\nyou have promised to put Graciosa in my power. And what has happened?\nEvery time she has accomplished the tasks and met me smiling. Begone, or\nI will tear you limb from limb.\u201d\n\nPowerful as the fairy was, she was frightened by the fierceness of\nGrognon. She made haste to take herself out of the way and fled back to\nher castle, glad to have escaped with her life.\n\nGrognon now made up her mind to take matters again into her own hands.\nShe caused a deep pit to be dug in the garden, too deep for any one who\nfell into it to have any chance of escaping. Over this a great stone was\nrolled, so that the mouth of the pit was hidden.\n\nThe Queen then sent for Graciosa to come and walk with her in the\ngarden. She also took several attendants with her.\n\nThough Grognon met Graciosa with a smile and seemed to have forgotten\nall her rage against her, the Princess was very uneasy. She feared the\nQueen\u2019s plots and felt sure that some new evil was being planned against\nher, but she did not know from what direction the danger would come.\n\nAs they walked along, the Queen so arranged it that presently they came\nto the place where the great stone was lying. Grognon pointed it out to\nGraciosa. \u201cI am told,\u201d said she, \u201cthat a great treasure lies hidden\nunder that stone. We will roll it away and see whether those who told me\nof it have spoken the truth.\u201d\n\nShe then bade her attendants push the stone aside, and Graciosa, who was\nvery good-natured, put her hands against the stone, and pushed, also.\n\nThis was exactly what Grognon wished. She crept up back of Graciosa, and\nas soon as the pit was uncovered, she pushed the Princess so that she\nfell down into it, and the stone was then allowed to fall back into its\nplace.\n\nAt last the Queen was satisfied. She felt very sure that Graciosa could\nnot escape from the pit, herself, and Grognon would see to it that no\none went there to help her. She returned to the palace well pleased with\nher morning\u2019s work.\n\nAs for Graciosa, she was in despair. \u201cAlas, Percinet! Why did I not\nlisten to you?\u201d she wept. \u201cWould that I might see you but once more\nbefore I perish, that I might tell you that at last I know the worth of\nall your love and devotion.\u201d\n\nSuddenly, as she thus bemoaned herself, Graciosa saw, in the side of the\npit a little door which she had not noticed before. She opened it, and\nto her joy and amazement saw before her the same avenue of many-colored\nstones which she had followed when she was lost in the forest, and\nthere, at the end of the avenue, was the shining castle that she knew as\nthe one belonging to Finetta.\n\nWith a beating heart, Graciosa hurried along the avenue, and as she drew\nnear the castle, the doors opened to her of their own accord, and\nstanding within she saw the Fairy Finetta and Percinet.\n\nThey looked upon her smiling, and Finetta said, \u201cSo you have at last\nreturned to us, Graciosa, and I hope with wisdom enough to value the\nlove that Percinet still feels for you.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed, Madam,\u201d said the Princess, blushing, \u201cmy love is as great as\nthat of Percinet himself, and my trust in him is as unbounded.\u201d\n\nWith a cry of joy Percinet clasped her in his arms, while the fairy\nstood and smiled upon them.\n\nThere was no reason now why they should not be married at once, and\nfairies were bidden from far and near to come to the ceremony, which was\ncelebrated with the greatest magnificence.\n\nAmong those who came was the fairy who had helped Grognon in her schemes\nagainst Graciosa. When she heard the story of the Princess and knew that\nshe had all this time been under the protection of Prince Percinet, she\nbecame furious against Grognon. At once she mounted her chariot drawn by\ndragons, and flew to the palace of the King. Seeking Grognon out, she\nstrangled her with a strand of the very silk that had been given to\nGraciosa, and so quick the fairy was about it that none of the courtiers\nhad time to interfere.\n\nAs for the Princess and Percinet, they lived happy forever after, in a\nmagnificent palace of their own which Finetta provided for them, but she\nwould never allow Graciosa to return even for a visit to the King who\nhad treated her so cruelly.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIANT\u2019S CLIFF\n\nAN IRISH STORY\n\n\nThere was once a giant in Ireland, and his name was Mahon McMahon and he\nlived inside the cliffs that rose up straight from the sea. No one had\never seen door or window in the cliffs, and no one knew how the giant\ngot in or out, but still it was said that he lived there, and there were\nthose who told of how they had heard a strange sound of beating and the\nringing of metal sounding from within, and had seen smoke rising up from\nthe crevices.\n\nBack from the sea, but yet not so very far from the cliffs, there was a\nfine big house, and a man by the name of Thomas Renardy lived in it. He\nwas a married man, and he and his wife had one son, a pretty little boy\nnamed Philip, and he was the joy of their life and the light of their\neyes.\n\nWith every year the boy grew handsomer and finer, till he was the\nadmiration of all who saw him. All day he played about in the sun and\nthe wind, and when his mother called him in to meals he came, and as\nsoon as he had finished he was out again.\n\nSo he grew till he was seven years old, and then one day his mother\ncalled him, but he did not come. She hunted him high, and she hunted him\nlow, but nowhere could she find him. Then the neighbors joined in the\nsearch. They were out hallooing over the hills and through the forest,\nand over by the cliffs where the sea beats high, but there was no answer\nto their calling, nor did they see aught of him, and his mother was left\nsorrowing.\n\nA sad and smileless woman was she after that, and months rolled up into\nyears, until the years were seven; and at the end of that time her grief\nfor him was as green as at the beginning.\n\nNow there was a blacksmith in that country who was a great reader of\ndreams. People came from far and near to tell him their dreams and to\nask the meaning of them.\n\nThe name of the blacksmith was Robert Kelly, and he was a great hand at\nthe forge.\n\nOne night the blacksmith had a dream of his own, and a curious dream it\nwas.\n\nHe dreamed a little lad came riding up on a great white horse. He was a\nhandsome little fellow, with yellow hair and blue eyes, and Robert took\nhim, from his size and looks, to be about seven years old, but at the\nsame time there was something curious about him that made the blacksmith\nthink he might be older.\n\n\u201cRobert Kelly, do you remember me?\u201d asked the lad.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t say that I do,\u201d answered the blacksmith, \u201cand yet there\u2019s\nsomething about you that makes me feel I may have seen you before.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen have you forgotten Phil Renardy that was lost away seven long\nyears ago?\u201d\n\nNow the blacksmith knew of whom the boy had reminded him. It was of that\nlittle lost lad of the Renardys.\n\n\u201cBut that was seven long years ago, as you said,\u201d replied the\nblacksmith, \u201cand by this time Phil would be about fourteen years old.\nYou will never be him.\u201d\n\n\u201cNevertheless I am,\u201d said the boy. \u201cIt was the giant Mahon McMahon that\nstole me away seven years ago when I was playing near the cliffs, and I\nhave been living with him and serving him ever since, and in the halls\nof the giant we who serve him never grow old, but stay as we were when\nhe first brought us there.\u201d\n\nNow all the while the blacksmith knew he was asleep, and he thought this\ndream of his was the strangest dream he had ever heard of.\n\n\u201cNow I will tell you why I have come here,\u201d the boy went on; and he told\nKelly how the very next night the seven years of his service were up.\n\u201cEvery seven years,\u201d said he, \u201cthe giant\u2019s door stands open from the\nstroke of midnight till cock\u2019s crow the next morning. There is only one\nway to get to his door, and that is by way of the sea.\u201d\n\nThe lad then begged and implored the blacksmith to get a boat and row\nout to the cliff the next night, and to wait there until midnight, when\nthe house opened. The blacksmith was then to seek through it until he\nfound the lad and then he was to bring him away with him.\n\n\u201cAnd to-morrow, when my first seven years of service is up, is the only\ntime you can do it,\u201d said he. \u201cIf you will not, then I can never escape,\nbut must stay there in service to the giant for always.\u201d\n\nThen Kelly, who still knew he was asleep, said, \u201cBut after all, this is\nall in a dream, and when I waken I\u2019ll think there\u2019s no meaning to it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I\u2019ll give you a token to prove to you that this is no common\ndreaming,\u201d said Philip.\n\nWith that he turned his horse about, and the horse lashed out at the\nblacksmith with his hind leg, and the hoof struck him on the forehead\nwith such force that it seemed as though his head would be crushed in.\n\nThe blacksmith cried out with the blow and woke to find the blood\nstreaming down his face, and when he had wiped it away and was able to\nexamine his forehead, there was the mark of a horseshoe on it.\n\nRobert said nothing to any one about his dream, not even when they saw\nthe mark on his forehead and wondered about it, so they thought that in\nsome way when he was shoeing a horse it must have managed to kick him.\nBut that night he went secretly to a friend of his who had a boat and\nasked him whether he would row him out in front of the cliffs just\nbefore midnight.\n\nThe friend was loth to do it, for he had small liking for going out at\nnight on the sea and to a place that was but ill thought of; for there\nwere all these tales about sounds that had been heard from inside the\ncliff and that they might be made by Mahon McMahon.\n\nHowever, in the end Robert persuaded him, and a little before midnight\nthey set out. There was enough moonlight for them to see the way to go,\nand as they rowed toward the cliffs, Robert told his friend, for the\nfirst time, why he was coming there and what he hoped to do.\n\n\u201cAnd whether it was a dream or no I can\u2019t tell you,\u201d said he, \u201cfor I was\nsleeping, and yet here, all the same, is the mark of the horse\u2019s hoof on\nmy forehead.\u201d\n\nWell, the friend thought it a strange tale. \u201cAnd it\u2019s hard to believe\nthere\u2019s any truth in it,\u201d said he; \u201cbut here we are in front of the\ncliffs, and this night will prove the worth of your dreaming.\u201d\n\nHe held the boat there in front of the rocks with his oars, and the\nminutes slipped by, and neither of the men spoke, and everything was\nsilent. Then from far away, and faintly, they heard the village clock\nstrike twelve.\n\nAgain they waited, and then suddenly and without a sound the front of\nthe cliff opened, and they saw a portico down almost on a level with the\nwater, and a great door opening out upon it. Inside the door were steps\ncut in the rock and leading up and out of sight. A light shone out\nthrough the door and across the water, but it was not very bright.\n\n\u201cHere is where I chance it,\u201d said the blacksmith. \u201cRow me up close so\nthat I may step out on the portico, for according to my dream, it\u2019s in\nthere I must go if I am to find little Philip Renardy.\u201d\n\nThe whole matter was so strange that his friend tried to dissuade him\nfrom going, but the blacksmith would not listen to him.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve a sign from him on my forehead,\u201d he said, \u201cand go I must and will.\nDo you wait here for me till cock\u2019s crow, and if I haven\u2019t come by then,\nthere\u2019s no use in your waiting longer.\u201d\n\nHis friend rowed him up close to the edge of the portico, and the\nblacksmith climbed out on it, and watchfully he crept over to the door\nand peered in. Everything was still, and he saw nothing but the steps\nleading upward, and they were so high, each one of them, that it was as\nmuch as he could do to climb them.\n\nHe carried a plowshare that he had brought with him from his smithy, for\nsomehow he thought a plowshare might be a good weapon if he needed one.\nAnd anyhow, it gave him some sort of a feeling of courage to have hold\nof it.\n\nHe climbed the steps, one after another, and that took him some time,\nand then he came into a great hall, and in the center of it was a table\nhewn out of rock.\n\nAround this table sat seven giants. They sat there bending forward as\nthough they were consulting with each other, but none of them moved or\nspoke, or even so much as winked an eyelid. They might have been carven\nfigures, for all the signs of life they gave.\n\nAt the head of the table sat a giant with a long beard, and he had been\nsitting there so long that his beard had grown into the slab of rock\nthat was the top of the table.\n\nRobert Kelly stood there looking at them for a while, and then, as none\nof them took any notice of him, he called in a loud voice, \u201cIs any one\namong you named Mahon McMahon?\u201d\n\nAt that the giant at the head of the table started up so suddenly that\nthe pulling out of his beard split the rock of the table into pieces,\nbut none of the others stirred nor looked at him.\n\n\u201cI am Mahon McMahon,\u201d cried the giant. \u201cAnd what do you come seeking me\nfor?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have come here in search of little Phil Renardy,\u201d cried the\nblacksmith boldly, \u201cand I have been told that you are the one who can\ntell me where to find him.\u201d\n\nThe giant looked at him in silence for a bit, and then he said, \u201cYes, I\ncan tell you where to find him, and better than that, I can even show\nyou where he is.\u201d\n\nHe then led the way into a great stone chamber on beyond the hall, and\nit was glowing with fires, and there in it were a great number of young\nlads. It seemed to the blacksmith that there were hundreds of them, and\nthey were all busy at some kind or other of metal work.\n\nWhen Mahon McMahon came in, they stopped their work and stood back\nagainst the wall, and the blacksmith saw that not one among them looked\nto be more than seven years old, and they were all so much alike that\nthey might have been brothers.\n\n\u201cIf you are a friend of Phil Renardy, no doubt you can choose him from\nall others,\u201d said the giant. \u201cAnd now look about you, and if you can\ntell me at the first telling which is he, then you may take him away\nwith you, and no harm to any one. But if you cannot tell me, then it\nwas an ill hour for you when you entered my house, for you\u2019ll never go\nout again.\u201d\n\nThis frightened the blacksmith, but still he kept his wits about him and\nlooked carefully from one lad to the other, but for the life of him he\ncould not tell of a surety which was Phil Renardy, for he had no clear\nremembrance of him.\n\nIn order to gain time he said to the giant, \u201cAnd are all these fine lads\nservants of yours?\u201d\n\n\u201cThey are,\u201d replied Mahon McMahon, \u201cand it has taken me a long time to\ngather them together.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou must be a good master,\u201d went on Robert Kelly, \u201cfor they all look\nrosy and in good condition, and I\u2019m sure you treat them well, and they\nmust be fond of you.\u201d He thought by talking in this way he might flatter\nthe giant and put him in a good humor.\n\n\u201cThat is a true word you have spoken,\u201d said the giant, \u201cand I\u2019m sure you\nmust be an honest man, so let us shake hands upon it.\u201d\n\nHe held out his hand to the blacksmith, but when Bob Kelly looked at\nit, it was so thick and broad and cruel looking that he was afraid to\ntrust his own hand to it. \u201cFor if he were to take the fancy,\u201d thought\nBob, \u201che could crush it as easily as I could crush a rotten potato.\u201d So,\ninstead of putting his hand into the giant\u2019s, he put the plowshare in\nit, and the giant shut his fingers tight on it, so that it crumpled up\nas though the iron had no more strength in it than a piece of paper.\n\n\u201cPraises be it was not my hand he was squeezing,\u201d thought Robert Kelly.\n\n\u201cYou have a strong hand,\u201d said the giant, \u201cbut you need a stronger than\nthat if you\u2019re to shake hands with Mahon McMahon.\u201d\n\nThen all the little lads burst into laughter, but through their laughter\nhe thought he heard some one sighing, \u201cRobert Kelly! Robert Kelly! I am\nhere behind you.\u201d\n\nHe turned about quickly, and there behind him was one lad among them who\nwas not laughing. And like a flash the blacksmith seized hold of him and\ncried out, \u201cThis is Phil Renardy, and the one I would take with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cBad cess to you!\u201d cried the giant, \u201cbut you\u2019ve chosen rightly.\u201d\n\nThen all grew dark, but Robert Kelly kept tight hold of the boy he had\nchosen, and he could hear many voices about him, crying, \u201cHappy Philip\nRenardy! Happy Philip Renardy!\u201d\n\nThe next he knew the sun was shining, and he was lying on the grass at\nthe top of the cliff, and the little lad was watching beside him.\n\n\u201cAnd are you of a truth the little Philip Renardy that\u2019s been lost for\nso long?\u201d asked Kelly.\n\n\u201cI am that one,\u201d replied the lad, \u201cand it is you that have saved me; and\nnow let us be up and off, for my heart is aching within me for a sight\nof my mother.\u201d\n\nSo the blacksmith rose up, and took the little lad\u2019s hand and led him to\nthe big house of the Renardys, and the lad seemed to know the way better\nthan he did. And no sooner did Mrs. Renardy see him than she knew the\nlad as her son and was like to have gone distracted with the joy of it.\nThat was a comfort to Bob Kelly, too, for all the time he had kept\nwondering whether by chance he might not have brought back the wrong boy\nwith him.\n\nWhen he at last left them and went back to his smithy, he found quite a\ncrowd gathered there, talking about him, for when he hadn\u2019t come back to\nthe boat his friend had made sure the cliff had closed on him, and that\nmortal eye would never again behold him.\n\nBut when the people who had gathered heard his tale, there was great\nrejoicing, and all the bells of the village were rung, and a great crowd\nhurried away to the Renardy\u2019s house, to get a glimpse of the boy who had\nbeen stolen by the giant.\n\nSoon after his return, the boy began to grow again, but he never became\nvery big, and there was always something a bit strange about him, though\nafter a while he married and had children of his own who were fine stout\nfellows, and all of them were wonderful workers in metals.\n\nAs for Robert Kelly, his adventures were the making of him, for people\ncame from everywhere to have him do their work for them, so as to have\na chance to hear him tell his story. Moreover, Philip taught him some of\nthe secrets of working with metal that he had learned in the giant\u2019s\nhouse, so that he became quite famous.\n\nBut the giant was never heard of again, and no more sounds came from\nwithin the cliff house, so it was supposed that he had left that part of\nthe country and chosen some other place as his dwelling.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF CONN-EDA\n\nAN IRISH TALE\n\n\nKing Conn of Ireland had one noble son named Conn-eda, and he was as\ndear to his father as the apple of his eye,--none dearer.\n\nHis mother had died while he was still a child, and after a while the\nKing, his father, married again. He married the young daughter of his\nchief priest, but he did not marry her because he loved her, and that is\nthe truth. He married her because his councilors told him that it was a\nwise thing for him to do, for this chief priest was very powerful.\n\nThe new Queen was a cruel woman, and her hatred of Conn-eda was bitter\nand deep. She hated him because he was so handsome and free-hearted, and\nshe hated him because he was so dear to his father, but most of all she\nhated him because every one looked to him as the one who would sometime\nbe their king, and there was no knowing how soon that would be, for\nalready his father was old and feeble.\n\nAfter a while the young Queen had a child of her own, and then she hated\nConn-eda worse than ever and was always plotting how she could get rid\nof him, for she wanted the kingdom to come to her own son.\n\nNow there was a woman who lived down back of the castle in a poor\ntumble-down hut, and it was said that she knew more than a little about\nmagic, and every one was afraid of her. She was the hen-wife, and had\ncharge of all the chickens that belonged to the castle. She was a\nhandsome woman and a strange one, and no one could tell whether she were\nyoung or old, and she might have been either.\n\nOne day the Queen went by herself down to the hut to visit the hen-wife,\nfor she wished to ask her advice. She was not ashamed to go, either,\nbecause of the woman being an enchantress.\n\n\u201cQueen Durfulla,\u201d said the hen-wife, \u201cI know why you have come to me,\nand what you are after wanting.\u201d\n\nThat surprised the Queen, and she said, \u201cWhat is it I am wanting, then?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are wanting to rid yourself of young Conn-eda, and it is for my\nadvice you have come hither. But I am not one to give something for\nnothing. What reward will I have if I give you my advice?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat reward will you be wanting?\u201d asked the Queen.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s none so much and none so little. Give me enough wool to fill the\nhole between my arm and body when I set my hand on my hip with my elbow\nout, and give me enough red wheat to fill the hole I shall bore with my\ndistaff, and my advice is yours for the asking.\u201d\n\nWell, the Queen could not help smiling at that, for it seemed but a\nsmall reward for any one to ask, and she gladly agreed to give it.\n\n\u201cThen have the wool and the wheat brought here to-morrow,\u201d said the\nhen-wife. \u201cTwenty cartloads of wool, and twenty cartloads of wheat will\nbe none too much to fill the hollow between my arm and body and the hole\nI\u2019ll make.\u201d\n\nThe Queen thought that was a strange thing to say, and that the hen-wife\nmust be dreaming, but all the same she was back at the hen-wife\u2019s door\nthe next day, and close after her came twenty cartloads of wool and\ntwenty cartloads of wheat, with the horses pulling and the carters\ncracking their whips.\n\nThe hen-wife stood in the doorway with her hand on her hip and her elbow\nout, and the men took an armful of wool and put it in the hollow of her\narm, but it fell through the hollow and inside the house. They stuffed\nanother armful in between her arm and body, and the same thing happened\nto it. Not until the house was so full of wool that it could hold no\nmore were they able to fill the hollow of the hen-wife\u2019s arm as she\nstood in the doorway.\n\n\u201cAnd now for the wheat,\u201d said the hen-wife.\n\nThen she led them to her brother\u2019s house which was close by, and climbed\nup on the roof. The roof was of peat, and she bored a hole down through\nthe peat with her distaff, so that as fast as they poured the wheat into\nthe hole, it ran down into the house, and not until the house was so\nfull that it could hold no more could they fill the hole, too.\n\n\u201cNow I am satisfied,\u201d said the hen-wife, but that was more than the\nQueen could say, for she was a mean woman. However, if the hen-wife\ncould tell her how to rid herself of Prince Conn-eda, it was more to her\nthan all the wheat and wool that ever were grown.\n\n\u201cNow listen well to what I tell you,\u201d said the hen-wife. \u201cYou have paid\nme faithfully and fully, and I am ready to keep my part of the bargain,\ntoo. Far and far enough from here, there lies a great dark lake, and the\nname of it is Lough Erne. Under its waters lives the King of the Fiborg\nrace, a race that lives in the water most happily. There, in the King\u2019s\ngarden, grow three golden apples. In his stable stands a grand black\nsteed. In his castle lies the puppy-hound Samur, and great are the magic\npowers of that hound. You must send Conn-eda to get these things for\nyou, and to fetch them back within a year and a day and it\u2019s not a\nliving being who can seek those things and not lose his life in the\nseeking, unless he has magic to help him.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how can I send Conn-eda?\u201d asked the Queen, \u201cfor he is not a child\nthat he must do my bidding.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat also I will tell you,\u201d replied the hen-wife.\n\nShe then brought out a chessboard and chessmen and gave them to the\nQueen. \u201cDo you take these home with you,\u201d she said, \u201cand call Conn-eda\nto come and play a game of chess with you. I have set a charm on the\nmen, and I have set a charm on the board, so that you will be sure to\nwin; but before you play you must make a bargain with the Prince that\nwhichever loses shall pay a forfeit to the winner, and the forfeit you\nshall ask of him is that he fetch to you the three things I have told\nyou of. But be sure that you play only the one game, for after that is\nplayed the charm will lose its power.\u201d\n\nThe Queen was pleased with the advice the hen-wife gave her, and she\ntook the chessboard and the chessmen and promised to do in all things as\nshe had been told. Then she hastened back to the castle.\n\nNo sooner was she there than she sent for Conn-eda to come and have a\ngame of chess, and he came at her command and sat down at the board with\nher.\n\n\u201cIt is not for nothing we will play together this day,\u201d said the Queen,\n\u201cbut whichever loses shall pay a forfeit to the other, and the forfeit\nshall be whatever the winner chooses to demand.\u201d\n\nTo this Conn-eda agreed. He had it in his head that the Queen was\nplanning some trick against him, but he did not fear her, for he made\nsure he could beat her at the game.\n\nSo they sat down to play, and Conn-eda was a good player, and the Queen\nwas a poor one, but it seemed as though there were a mist before the\nPrince\u2019s eyes, and when he thought he had made one play he found he had\nmade another, and presently he saw he had lost the game, and the Queen\nwas the winner.\n\nThen she laughed aloud and pushed the board from her. \u201cThe game is mine,\nConn-eda,\u201d she cried, \u201cand it is for you to pay the forfeit. Whatever I\nask for, that shall you pay, no matter what be the cost.\u201d\n\nWhen the Prince heard that, his heart was troubled within him, and he\nsaid to her, \u201cWhat is that forfeit that you will demand of me?\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is the forfeit,\u201d the Queen replied. \u201cWithin a year and a day you\nshall bring to me three golden apples, and a grand black steed, and the\nmagic puppy-hound Samur and they all belong to the King of the Fiborg\npeople. He lives at the bottom of Lough Erne, but where that is I know\nnot, and you must find it for yourself.\u201d\n\nWhen the Prince Conn-eda heard that, he knew the Queen had indeed\ntricked him, and the forfeit he was like to pay was that of his life.\nBut he dissembled and hid his fear, and said, \u201cThe forfeit I will pay,\nif it be in mortal power to do so. And now we will play another game,\nand again it shall be for a forfeit, with the loser to pay it.\u201d\n\nThe Queen was so full of triumph that she forgot the warning of the\nhen-wife and willingly agreed to play once more with Conn-eda.\n\nBut now the magic had gone out of the board, and this time the Prince\nwas the winner.\n\nWhen the Queen found she had lost, her face grew pale, and her heart\nsank down within her.\n\n\u201cYou have won, Conn-eda,\u201d said she. \u201cAnd what is the forfeit I must pay\nto you?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe forfeit is this,\u201d said Conn-eda. \u201cFor the year and the day that I\nam away, you must sit at the top of the highest tower of the castle and\neat nothing but as much red wheat as you can pick up with the point of\nyour bodkin.\u201d\n\nThat was a hard fate for the Queen, but after all, it would be only for\na year and a day, and at the end of that time she would be free again\nand rid of Prince Conn-eda forever, so the bargain was not so hard as it\nseemed at first hearing. So the Queen went up and took her place in the\nhigh tower, and the Prince mounted his horse and rode out into the world\nin search of the golden apples, the grand black steed, and the magic\npuppy-hound Samur.\n\nBut first Conn-eda went to a Wise Man he knew, who was a friend of his.\nMany and many a favor the Prince had done for him, and now it was time\nto ask one in return.\n\nThe Wise Man heard Conn-eda galloping up and came out of the house to\nmeet him, and the Prince lighted down from his horse and greeted him\nrespectfully.\n\n\u201cI am in great trouble,\u201d Conn-eda began, \u201cand I have come to you to see\nif you can help me.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat I guessed at once from your face,\u201d replied the Wise Man, \u201cand you\nhad best begin at the beginning and tell me the whole story, for it\u2019s\nonly after I\u2019ve heard the whole of it that I\u2019ll best know how to help\nyou.\u201d\n\nSo the Prince began and told the Wise Man the whole matter from\nbeginning to end. He told of the Queen\u2019s hatred toward him and of the\nways she had tried to injure him; he told of how she had bidden him to\nplay a game of chess with her, and of how he had feared her and yet made\nno doubt of winning the game; and he told of how in some strange way he\nhad become the loser, and how the Queen had claimed a forfeit from him,\nand what it was she had claimed.\n\n\u201cAnd we played still again, and that time it was for her to pay the\nforfeit\u201d; and he told what the forfeit was that he had demanded of her.\n\n\u201cAnd it was no more than her just dues,\u201d said the Wise Man. \u201cI make no\ndoubt but that the Queen has sought to make you lose your life in this\nbusiness, and it was a clever brain that thought out this trick. There\nis some one back of it other than the Queen.\u201d\n\nHe thought for a while, and then he spoke again. \u201cThere is but one\nperson who would have known of the golden apples, the grand black steed,\nand the magic hound Samur, and that one is the Wise Woman who lives in\nthe hut down back of the palace. She calls herself a hen-wife, but of a\ntruth she is Carlleach of Lough Corib, and the sister of the Water King\nhimself. There are four of the water people, three brothers and one\nsister. The first is King of the Fiborgs, and the second is under some\nenchantment. The third lives in a house next to that of the hen-wife,\nand the fourth is Carlleach herself. And now, my son, I will do what I\ncan to help you. Where Lough Corib is I know not, but out in my stable\nis a little shaggy black horse. He is not much to look at, but he is\ngreat in power. Take him and ride whithersoever he carries you, and\nleave the rein loose on his neck that he may choose his own way. He will\ntake you to the crag where the Bird of Wisdom sits. Three days in every\nthree years the bird sits there, and it\u2019s little that goes on in the\nworld that he does not know about. This is the time for him to be\nsitting on the crag, and if he will but speak, he can tell you how to\nset about finding the lake and the Water King\u2019s treasures.\u201d\n\nThe Wise Man then took out a very beautiful and very precious jewel from\na box that stood on a shelf behind the door and gave it to Conn-eda.\n\n\u201cIf the Bird of Wisdom will not speak,\u201d said he, \u201cgive him this jewel in\nhis claw, and then it may be that he will answer you.\u201d\n\nConn-eda took the jewel and thanked the Wise Man kindly, and then he\nwent out to the stable and led forth the shaggy little black horse and\nmounted himself on him, instead of his own fine steed, and indeed the\nlittle horse was not much to look at. But no sooner was Conn-eda on his\nback than he found what a worth-while horse he was, for away he went\nlighter than a bird and swifter than the wind, and it was like no other\nriding that Conn-eda had ever done.\n\nA long way and a short way went the shaggy black horse, and all the\nwhile Conn-eda let the rein lie loose, so that the horse was free to\nchoose his own way, and then they came within sight of a cliff, and on\nthe cliff sat a great gray bird. It sat so still it might have been a\npart of the rocks for any motion that it had, and the eyes in its head\nwere as dull as cold, dead stones.\n\nThe horse halted before the cliff and bade the Prince speak to the bird.\n\u201cFor it is the Bird of Wisdom of which the Wise Man spoke,\u201d said he,\n\u201cand unless it can tell us what to do next we might as well turn back\nthe way we came for we\u2019ll never win to the lake where the King of the\nFiborgs lives.\u201d\n\nThen Conn-eda lifted up his voice and called to the bird. Three times he\ncalled to it, but the bird never stirred even a feather, but sat there\nstill as though it were carved from the rocks.\n\nThen the shaggy steed said, \u201cGive it the jewel, Conn-eda, and perchance\nit will speak.\u201d\n\nThe Prince took the jewel from his bosom where he carried it and held it\nup so that it sparkled in the sunlight, and again he called to the bird;\nand this time it turned its head and looked at him, and its eyes grew\nbright as though a fire were lighted within it. Then it flew down and\ncaught the jewel in its claw and flew back with it to the cliff.\n\nThere it sat, and opened its beak, and cried in a harsh voice,\n\u201cConn-eda! Conn-eda! Son of the King of Cruachan, I know why you have\ncome and what you would have of me. Light down and lift the stone that\nis close to the right forefoot of your steed. Under it you will find a\nball and a cup. Take them up, for you will have need of both of them.\nThe ball you must roll before you and follow wherever it leads you. It\nwill bring you to the place whither you would go. The cup you will need\nlater.\u201d\n\nThen the Bird of Wisdom closed its beak, and the light died out of its\neyes, and again it sat as still and gray as though there were no breath\nof life in it.\n\nConn-eda lighted down and looked for the stone the bird had told him of,\nand he could not miss it for the horse\u2019s right fore hoof was against it.\nHe lifted it up and there he found a cup and ball. The cup he placed in\nthe bosom of his shirt, but the ball he threw before him, according to\nthe bird\u2019s bidding, and on and on it rolled, up hill and down dale, over\nbog and through briars, with Conn-eda on the shaggy steed following hard\nafter it.\n\nAfter a while it led them to the edge of a lake so dark and deep you\nmight have thought there was no bottom to it, and into this lake the\nball bounded and so was lost to sight.\n\nThe Prince was in despair. \u201cNow what are we to do?\u201d cried he. \u201cIf we\nfollow the ball, we are like to be drowned in the deep waters of the\nlough, and if we do not follow it, we will never win to the palace of\nthe Water King.\u201d\n\nBut the shaggy steed bade him take heart. \u201cWe must indeed still follow\nthe ball,\u201d said he, \u201cbut even so it is possible no harm may come to us.\nAnd now sit tight, my master.\u201d With that the horse plunged into the\nlough, and down and down through the still cold waters.\n\nConn-eda sat close, as the steed bade him, and presently they came\nthrough the water and out into a land of pleasant meadows and flowing\nstreams. The lake was above them like a sky, with the sun shining down\nthrough it, and not a hair of either of them was wet, and the ball was\nlying there at their feet.\n\n\u201cNow Conn-eda, light down,\u201d said the steed \u201cand reach your hand first\ninto one of my ears and then into the other. In the one you will find a\nsmall wicker basket, and in the other a flask of heal-all water. We will\nneed them both, for now we are drawing near to the dangerous part of the\nadventure.\u201d\n\nThe Prince did as he was told and put his hand into the horse\u2019s ears,\nfirst into one and then into the other. In the one he found the wicker\nbasket and in the other the flask of water. Then he mounted again and\noff he rode, and the ball that had been lying still all this time rolled\nbefore them to show the way, and they followed close after it.\n\nAfter a bit they came to the end of the meadow and there was a great\nstretch of water with a causeway leading across it, and along the\ncauseway rolled the ball. But Conn-eda drew rein, and no wonder, for the\ncauseway was guarded by three great fiery serpents. They lay there\nstretched across and across it, and the smoke rose up from their\nbreathing in three great columns, and as the Prince looked at them, his\nheart melted within him like wax, for they were a fearful sight.\n\nBut the shaggy steed bade him take heart. \u201cIt\u2019s the truth, Conn-eda,\nthat we must pass those fiery serpents,\u201d he said. \u201cBackward we cannot\ngo, so forward we must. Now open the basket, and you will find in it\nthree pieces of meat. As I leap over the serpents you must throw one\npiece into the mouth of each of them. If you do this, we may pass safely\nover them, and pray that your aim be good, for if you miss the mouth of\nany of them, it will be death both for you and me.\u201d\n\nSo Conn-eda opened the lid of the basket and found the pieces of meat\nand took them out, and the steed set out along the causeway, straight\ntoward where the monsters lay.\n\nAs horse and rider came near them, the serpents reared up and opened\ntheir fiery jaws, and made at Conn-eda and his steed as though to devour\nthem; but the Prince was ready, and as the steed leaped over them\nConn-eda threw a\n\n[Illustration: The serpents reared up and opened their fiery jaws. _Page\n128_]\n\npiece of meat into each of the flaming mouths; not one of them did he\nmiss.\n\nAt once the serpents were satisfied, and their heads sank down, and they\nlay as though asleep.\n\nBut the steed alighted on the causeway far beyond them, and Conn-eda\u2019s\nhands held lightly to the reins.\n\n\u201cConn-eda, are you still astride of me?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am,\u201d answered the Prince, \u201cand none the worse for the danger we\npassed over.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow it comes to me that you are a noble and heroic Prince,\u201d said the\nsteed, \u201cand I have high hopes that we may win through all our adventures\nwith great reward to both of us at the end of them.\u201d\n\nThen on they went, and on they went until they came to a flaming\nmountain, and the heat of it was very great.\n\n\u201cAre you sitting firm on my back?\u201d asked the shaggy black horse.\n\n\u201cI am sitting firm,\u201d replied the Prince.\n\n\u201cThen stir not. Look neither to the right nor left, nor up nor down, for\nI am going to leap over the mountain, and if my leap is broken by so\nmuch as a hairbreadth, we will both fall into the flames, and that will\nbe the end of us.\u201d\n\nWhen Conn-eda heard this, fear seemed to clutch at the very heart of\nhim, but he settled himself in the saddle, and when the horse leaped, he\nkept in mind what had been said to him, and looked neither to the right\nhand nor the left, nor up nor down, nor stirred so much as a hairbreadth\nin his seat.\n\nThe good steed carried him over, but they were not so high above the\nmountain but what the flames came up and licked Conn-eda\u2019s feet and his\nclothing.\n\n\u201cAre you still alive, Conn-eda?\u201d asked the steed, when they alighted\nupon the other side of it.\n\n\u201cI am just alive, and no more,\u201d replied Conn-eda, \u201cfor I am greatly\nscorched.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is both well and ill,\u201d said the horse. \u201cWell that you are still\nalive, and ill that you are so sore burned. Take the flask and rub some\nof the heal-all that is in it on your burns, and they will pass away.\u201d\n\nThis Conn-eda did, and at once his burns disappeared as though they had\nnever been there, and his flesh and skin were all well and sound again.\n\n\u201cThe worst of our dangers are over now,\u201d said the shaggy black horse,\n\u201cbut other things are still to be done that you may find hard in the\ndoing. Now mount and ride again, and I can tell you we are not far from\nthe palace of the Water King, whither we would be going.\u201d\n\nConn-eda mounted again, and on they rode and fast they went, and then\nthey came within sight of a castle, with shining domes and turrets, and\ngreat golden gateways.\n\nHere the shaggy steed bade the Prince again light down.\n\n\u201cNow, Conn-eda, listen well and answer truly,\u201d said the steed, \u201cfor on\nwhat happens next hangs both your fate and my own. So now tell me of a\ntruth, have I served you well?\u201d\n\n\u201cNone could have served better,\u201d replied the Prince.\n\n\u201cHave I saved your life, or have I risked it?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have saved it, and except for you I would have lost it far back on\nthe road.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd now the time has come to prove whether or no you are grateful. Put\nyour hand in my ear and take out the dagger you will find there. Fear\nnot and shrink not, but drive it into my heart, for thus and thus only\ncan you reward me for what I have done for you.\u201d\n\nWhen the Prince heard these words from the steed, he was filled with\nhorror. \u201cNever, never will I do such a cruel and wicked thing,\u201d he\ncried. \u201cRather would I drive the dagger into my own heart than into\nyours.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you will not, you will not,\u201d said the shaggy black horse, \u201cbut this\nI tell you plainly; except you do this thing, both you and I must\nperish.\u201d\n\nWell, the steed talked on and on, and at last Conn-eda consented to do\nas he was asked, though it seemed to him his hand must wither in the\ndoing.\n\n\u201cThat is well,\u201d cried the steed, as soon as he had consented. \u201cAnd now I\nwill tell you what further you must do. As soon as you have driven the\ndagger into me, strip off my hide, and get into it yourself. You will\nthen be free to go in and out of the castle as you please, though\notherwise you would be slain by the people there the moment you\nentered. Go through the golden gateway in the center, and the first\nthing you will see is a leaping silver fountain. Fill the cup you found\nbeneath the stone with this water and bring it back and sprinkle the\nwater over me. Then all will be well. But oh, Conn-eda, haste in your\ngoing and coming, for as soon as you have left me, the birds of prey\nwill gather about me, and if they tear me to pieces, there will be no\nfurther help for me.\u201d\n\nConn-eda promised to do in all things as the steed bade him, and he then\nput his hand in its ear and found the dagger it had told him about. But\nhe trembled so that he had scarce strength to even so much as point the\ndagger at the steed, let alone strike him. But this was all that was\nneeded, for as soon as the dagger was turned toward him, it flew\nforward, carrying Conn-eda\u2019s hand with it, and buried itself to the hilt\nin the steed\u2019s heart, so that he fell dead.\n\nThen the Prince wept bitter tears over his dead companion. After awhile\nhe arose and took the dagger to strip off the hide as he had promised;\nbut there was no need of cutting, for no sooner did he catch hold of the\nhide than it came off like a loose glove from the hand within it, and\nthe hide was as soft and fine as though it had been tanned by the king\nof tanners.\n\nConn-eda got into the hide, and then he did not stay nor tarry but\nhastened away to the castle, as the steed had bidden him, and in through\nthe golden gateway.\n\nThere within was a great hall with many people moving about in it, and\nwarders at the door, but no one spoke to him nor stayed him. In the\ncenter of the hall was the leaping silver fountain of which the steed\nhad told him, and to this the Prince hastened and he filled his cup with\nits water, and then back he ran the way he had come, to where the steed\nwas lying.\n\nBut swift as had been his going and coming, he was only just in time,\nfor already the birds of prey were gathering, and he had to fight them\nwith his sword before he could drive them away.\n\nThen he sprinkled the water from the cup upon the body of the steed, and\nno sooner had he done this than a strange thing happened, for at once\nthe steed was gone, and there in its place stood a young and handsome\nprince, and he was so tall and so noble in his air that Conn-eda had\nnever seen the like of him.\n\nThe young man came over to Conn-eda and took him in his arms, and his\nface was streaming with tears, but they were tears of joy.\n\n\u201cConn-eda,\u201d said he, \u201cyou have saved me from a hard and cruel fate, and\nlittle did I think I would ever come back into my own shape again and\nlive as other men do. I am own brother to the Water King, and it was\nbecause of a cruel enchantment that I was obliged to go about in the\nshape of a shaggy little black horse.\n\n\u201cThe enchantment held me fast, and only if one would ride me back to the\ncastle and through true love would slay me and sprinkle me with water\nfrom the fountain, could the spell be broken.\n\n\u201cThis you have done for me, Conn-eda, and never will I forget what I owe\nyou. And now come with me back to the castle of my brother, that he may\nmake you welcome.\u201d\n\nSo Conn-eda and his companion went back to the castle, and there the joy\nwas so great that it was beyond all telling, because the enchantment\nhad been broken, and the young Prince had come back to his own again.\n\nThe Water King made Conn-eda welcome and gladly promised him the golden\napples, the grand black steed and the magic hound Samur. Nothing would\nhe have refused Conn-eda because he had saved his brother from his\nenchantment.\n\nA great feast was prepared, and there was shouting and rejoicing, and\nthe Water King begged of Conn-eda that he would stay there till the time\ngiven him for his searching was near an end.\n\nTo this the Prince gladly agreed, and he lingered there with the Water\nKing and his brother until a year and a day had almost passed, and then\nhe set off for his father\u2019s kingdom. He rode the grand black steed, and\nin his bosom he bore the golden apples, and the magic hound Samur ran\nbeside him. So he rode; and now the way was clear with nothing to stop\nnor stay him. Thus he came again to his home, and there, on the high\ntower, the wicked queen was still sitting, feeding on red wheat, that\nshe took up on the point of her bodkin.\n\nBut though the living was lean, her heart rejoiced within her, for she\nmade no doubt but what the Prince Conn-eda was dead, and her own son\nwould reign in the kingdom. And then, on the last day of her forfeit,\nshe looked out from the tower where she was sitting, and there came\nConn-eda riding the black steed, and with the hound beside him, and she\nguessed well that he had also the apples with him.\n\nThen her rage and fear were so great that she threw herself down from\nthe tower and so perished miserably.\n\nBut Conn-eda sent for the hen-wife, who was a Princess, and when he saw\nher she was so handsome and so stately, and withal so tender, that his\nheart went out to her, and he wished for nothing so much as to have her\nfor a wife.\n\nTo this she consented, and they were married with great magnificence.\nThe Water King and his brother came to the wedding, and the third\nPrince, who had been living near her, was given a high position in the\ncourt, and so they all lived in great love and happiness forever.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BLUE BELT\n\nA NORSE TALE\n\n\nA beggar woman and her son were walking along through the country, and\nthey came to a crossroad, and there, right in the dust of the road, lay\na handsome belt of blue leather.\n\nThe lad asked his mother\u2019s leave to pick it up and wear it.\n\n\u201cLet it alone,\u201d said the woman crossly. \u201cFor all we know, there may be\nsome magic about it. Indeed, I am almost sure there is, for I don\u2019t like\nthe looks of it.\u201d\n\nThe lad begged and pleaded to be allowed to pick it up, but the old\nwoman would not hear to it, and so in the end he was obliged to go on\nwithout it. But all the same, as they trudged along, he kept thinking\nand thinking about the belt, and the farther they went the more he\nwished he had it.\n\nAfter a while they came to where the road led through a forest, and the\nlad made some excuse to step aside for a moment. He slipped along from\none tree to another until he was out of his mother\u2019s sight; and then he\nran back to where the blue belt was lying. He picked it up and buckled\nit around him under his shirt where it could not be seen.\n\nNo sooner had he done this, than he felt as though the strength of ten\nmen had passed into him. It seemed to him as though he could tear up\ntrees by the roots if he chose, or carry a mountain on his shoulders and\nthink nothing of it.\n\nWhen he came back, his mother was in a fine rage. \u201cI ought to beat you\nfor keeping me waiting all this time,\u201d she cried, \u201cand I would do it,\ntoo, if I were not so tired. Wherever we\u2019re to sleep I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t\nknow, for it\u2019s too late now to get on to the next village.\u201d\n\nThe boy answered nothing, but he trudged along at his mother\u2019s side, and\nall the while he was feeling stronger and stronger.\n\nAfter a while the old woman said she was tired, and she would have to\nsit down and rest a bit.\n\nThe lad asked leave to go to the top of a cliff close by, so as to look\nabout and see whether he could not see a house somewhere near.\n\n\u201cGo if you choose,\u201d said his mother, \u201cbut if you stay away as you did\nbefore, I\u2019ll give you a good beating when you get back, however tired I\nam.\u201d\n\nThe lad ran quickly to the top of the cliff and looked about him, and\nthere, sure enough, off toward the North, he saw the light of a house,\nand it was not so very far away, either.\n\nHe ran down and told his mother what he had seen. \u201cMother, let us go\nthere and ask for a bite to eat, for if we don\u2019t, we\u2019ll have to go\nhungry till to-morrow,\u201d he cried. \u201cAnd maybe the people who live there\nwill let us spend the night there, too.\u201d\n\nThe mother began to groan and lament. \u201cNever in the world could I climb\nup that cliff and over,\u201d said she. \u201cI\u2019m so tired I can scarce put one\nfoot before the other, and that\u2019s the truth of the matter.\u201d\n\n\u201cNever bemoan yourself about that,\u201d cried the lad, \u201cfor I\u2019ll carry you\nover\u201d; and so saying, he caught her up as though she weighed no more\nthan a feather, and ran up the cliff and over, and down on the other\nside with her; and when he put her down he was not even breathing fast\nfrom carrying her.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ve grown to be a strong, stout lad, and there\u2019s no doubt about\nthat,\u201d said his mother.\n\nAfter that they went along again until they came to the house with the\nlight in it, and when they got up close to it, the mother began to shake\nand tremble.\n\n\u201cCome away! Come away!\u201d said she. \u201cThis is a Troll\u2019s house, and it would\nbe a bad thing for us if he were to get hold of us.\u201d\n\nBut the lad was not one whit afraid. He knocked at the door, and then,\nbefore any one could answer the knock, he opened the door and stepped\ninside, dragging his mother with him.\n\nThere, on a great settle by the fire, sat a man at least twenty feet\nhigh, and it was easy enough to tell by the look of him that he was a\nTroll.\n\nThe mother almost fainted with terror, but the lad spoke up as bold as\nbold could be, for he felt the strength inside of him and feared nobody.\nHe told the Troll that he and his mother were footsore and weary, and he\nasked whether they might come in and rest a bit.\n\nThe Troll told him he and his mother were welcome, and then he made the\nlad sit down and they talked of one thing and another, but the woman was\nso frightened she just crept into a corner and groaned every time the\nTroll looked at her.\n\nAfter a while the lad asked the Troll whether he could not give him and\nhis mother a bite of supper, for they were hungry as well as weary.\n\nYes, the Troll could do that, too.\n\nHe went outside and came back with a whole load of wood in his arms, as\nmuch as two horses could haul. This he threw upon the fire and stirred\nit up into a blaze.\n\nAnd now the woman began to shake and shiver as though she would fall to\npieces, for she thought for sure the Troll was making ready to cook her\nand her son for supper; but instead he brought in a whole ox and put it\nover the fire to roast. When it was done, he took out a great silver\nplatter from the cupboard, and the platter was so large that when he put\nthe ox on it, not any part of the ox hung over the edge. He also set out\non the table knives and forks, each six feet long, and a great hogshead\nfor a drinking cup.\n\nWhen all this was done, he said to the lad, \u201cDraw up and eat and drink\nas you are able.\u201d\n\nThe lad bade his mother come, too, but she would not, so he took up the\nknife and fork with no trouble at all to himself and cut a slice from\nthe ox and carried it to her. After she had eaten, he lifted the\nhogshead down from the table, and then he carried her over to it and\nlowered her down into it so she could drink.\n\nHe himself, after he had eaten, climbed to the edge of the hogshead and\nhung himself over into it head downward, and drank till he was\nsatisfied. After a while the Troll said he might as well have a bite of\nsupper himself. So he went to the table and ate all that was left of the\nox--the meat and the bones and the horns and hoofs of it--and drained\noff all that was in the hogshead at one draught.\n\nNot long afterward it was time to go to bed, and the Troll did not know\nhow to manage that.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s only the bed I sleep in, and a cradle,\u201d said the Troll.\n\nBut when the lad came to look at the cradle, it was as long and wide as\nany bed he had ever seen.\n\n\u201cThis will do for me,\u201d said he.\n\nSo it was settled that he should sleep in the cradle and his mother in\nthe bed, though it was so enormous that she shook and shivered at the\nvery thought of getting into it, and if she had had her choice, she\nwould have stayed all night in the corner.\n\nAfter they were all settled, the lad thought to himself, \u201cI\u2019d best stay\nawake and listen how things go on through the night, for there\u2019s no\nknowing what this Troll may intend to do to us before morning.\u201d But he\nlay there very quiet and kept his eyes shut, and now and then he snored\na bit, so the Troll thought he was asleep.\n\nPresently the Troll began to talk to the woman. \u201cDo you think that lad\nof yours is asleep?\u201d he asked of her.\n\n\u201cHe must be from the way he\u2019s snoring,\u201d she answered.\n\n\u201cThen, listen,\u201d said the Troll. \u201cIt has come into my head that you and I\ncould live here very happily together if we could only get rid of him,\nfor to tell you the truth I have no liking for the way he goes about\nthings.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure I don\u2019t know how you can do anything with him,\u201d said the\nwoman, \u201cfor he seems to have grown very strong all of a sudden.\u201d\n\nOh, the Troll had a plan that would do for the lad. The next morning he\nwould ask the woman and her son to stay there with him for a day or so,\nand she was to agree. Then sometime in the morning he would take the lad\nout to the quarry with him to get out some cornerstones, and once there,\nit would be easy enough in one way or another to send him down to the\nbottom of the quarry, and then roll a rock down on him and crush him.\n\nTo this plan the woman consented, and all the while they talked the boy\nlay there and listened, though he breathed with his mouth open as though\nhe were still sleeping.\n\nThe next day the woman got up early and cooked breakfast for them, and\nafter they had all eaten, the Troll said, wouldn\u2019t she stay there and\nkeep house for him for a day or so.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s nothing to take me elsewhere,\u201d answered the woman.\n\nNot long after, the Troll took up a crowbar that he kept over in a\ncorner.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll just go over to the quarry and get out a few cornerstones while\nyou are cooking the dinner,\u201d said he. He then asked the lad whether he\nwould go along with him.\n\n\u201cYes, and gladly,\u201d answered the lad; so the two set out together.\n\nThey worked for awhile at the top of the quarry, and then the Troll told\nthe lad to go down to the bottom of it and see whether there were any\nloose stones lying around down there.\n\nThe lad was willing to do that, too. He went on down toward the bottom\nof the quarry. No sooner was he gone than the Troll set to work with his\ncrowbar. He worked so hard that he groaned and sweated, and presently he\nloosened a whole crag and sent it rolling down on the boy.\n\nBut the lad saw it coming and was ready for it. He put out his hands and\nstopped it until he could get out of the way, and then he let it roll on\nto the bottom. After that he went back to where the Troll was.\n\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t find any loose rocks down there so now do you go down and\nlook for some,\u201d he said.\n\nThe Troll was frightened when he saw the lad had come back to the top of\nthe quarry unharmed. He thought he would certainly have been crushed\nunder the crag that had rolled down on him. Neither did the Troll want\nto go down there below, but he had to.\n\nThen the lad took up the crowbar and pried out another crag, and it\nrolled down on the Troll and hurt him so that he could not move, but lay\nwhere he was groaning. The boy had to go down and roll the crag off him\nand pick him up and carry him back to the house, and all the while the\nTroll kept on groaning most terribly. When they got home, the lad put\nthe Troll to bed and he was hurt so badly he had to lie there.\n\nThat night the lad stayed awake again and listened, and presently the\nTroll and the woman began to talk things over again.\n\n\u201cI tell you he\u2019s a dangerous one,\u201d said the woman, \u201cand I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t\nsee how you\u2019re ever to get rid of him.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have a brother,\u201d said the Troll, \u201cand he has a walled-in garden, and\nin the garden are twelve fierce lions. If we could find some excuse for\ngetting the lad there, they would very quickly tear him to pieces.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I will find the excuse,\u201d said the woman. \u201cTo-morrow I will say\nthat I am very poorly, and that nothing in the world will cure me except\na few drops of lions\u2019 milk. Then you must tell about the lions in your\nbrother\u2019s garden, and I\u2019ll beg and entreat him until he\u2019ll agree to go\noff there to get some for me.\u201d\n\nThis plan pleased the Troll, and it was settled between them that as she\nsaid so they would do.\n\nThe next morning the woman did not get up to cook the breakfast, but lay\nin bed, moaning.\n\n\u201cWhat ails you, mother?\u201d asked the lad.\n\n\u201cOh I\u2019m ill. I\u2019m very ill,\u201d replied the woman.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry for that,\u201d said her son, \u201cbut I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t know what\nwould make you better.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf I had but a few drops of lions\u2019 milk, that would cure me,\u201d groaned\nthe woman.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a hard thing to get,\u201d replied the lad; \u201cand if that\u2019s the only\nthing to cure you, I fear you\u2019ll be ailing a long time.\u201d\n\nThen the Troll spoke up and said he knew where such milk was to be had.\n\u201cBut it takes a brave heart and a strong arm to get it, and that\u2019s the\ntruth,\u201d said the Troll. He then told about his brother\u2019s walled-in\ngarden and the lions that were in it, and he said that if any one had\nthe courage to go for it, \u2019twas there the milk was to be had.\n\nThe woman at once began to beg and entreat the lad to go and get it for\nher. He did not say no. \u201cThough,\u201d said he, \u201cI think it is but little\ngood the milk will do you, and that\u2019s the truth.\u201d\n\nThe Troll told him exactly where the garden was, and he gave him a key\nto the gate of it, so he would have no trouble in getting in. The lad\ntook the key and a milking pail, and off he set. The Troll and the woman\nhad no other thought than that was the end of him.\n\nOn and on he went, one foot before the other, and after a while he came\nto the garden, and then he took out the key and unlocked the door and\nstepped inside.\n\nNo sooner had he done this than he saw twelve great lions, each one\nfiercer and larger than the other, and they came at him ramping and\nroaring so that he was almost deafened by the noise of it, and their\nteeth were terrible to see.\n\nBut the lad was no whit frightened. He caught hold of the foremost lion,\nand tore it in two, and scattered it in pieces all about him.\n\nWhen the other lions saw that, all the fierceness went out of them, and\nthey crawled to his feet, and fawned on him, and became as tame as dogs.\n\nThe lad patted them, and then he milked a few drops into the milk pail\nand started for home with it, but the lions would not be left behind.\nThey followed after him close at his heels, as dogs follow their master.\n\nAfter a while he came within sight of the Troll\u2019s house, and at that\nvery moment the woman happened to be looking out of the window, and\nthere she saw him coming along, with the eleven lions following after\nhim. Then she was terribly frightened, and she called to the Troll, and\ntogether they barred all the doors and windows, so the lions could not\nget in at them.\n\nThe lad came to the door and tried to open it, and when he found it was\nfastened, he called to them to let him in, but they would not until he\nmade the lions lie down outside, and promised they should stay there.\n\nWhen he went in, there stood his mother shaking and trembling.\n\n\u201cWell, mother, here is the lions\u2019 milk,\u201d he said, \u201cand I\u2019m sure I hope\nit may make you well again.\u201d\n\nThe woman was obliged to drink the milk, though she did not want it.\n\nThat night the Troll and she began talking together after they thought\nthe lad was sleeping. But he was wide awake and heard all they said\nbetween them, though they spoke in whispers.\n\n\u201cThis son of yours is so strong I don\u2019t see how we\u2019re ever to get rid of\nhim,\u201d said the Troll.\n\n\u201cWell, if you don\u2019t know, I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t,\u201d replied the woman.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s one other plan we might try,\u201d said the Troll. \u201cI have two more\nbrothers who live not so very far away from here in a castle, and they\nare very strong and terrible. Round about the castle is an orchard that\nbears apples all the year round, and any one who so much as tastes of\nthose apples at once falls into a deep sleep, and nothing can waken him\ntill he has had his sleep out, and the sleep lasts for three days and\nthree nights. If we could but send the lad there after the apples, he\nwould be sure to eat of them, and fall asleep, and then my brothers\nwould find him there and tear him to pieces for they come out every day\nto walk in the garden and so would be sure to find him.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf that is the way of it, we\u2019ve no need to worry,\u201d said the woman, \u201cfor\nI\u2019ll find a way to send him there.\u201d\n\nThe next day the woman said she still was not able to get up. She lay\nthere in the bed, moaning and groaning.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry to see you so ailing, mother, but I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t know what\nto do about it.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf I but had some apples from the orchard that belongs to the Troll\u2019s\nbrothers, I\u2019d be well enough,\u201d said the woman, \u201cand if you were but the\ngood son you pretend to be, I know you\u2019d fetch them for me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll fetch you the apples soon enough,\u201d replied her son. \u201cNo trouble\nabout that. Though to tell you the truth, I doubt whether they\u2019ll cure\nyou.\u201d\n\nThe lad made no more ado about it, but off he set for the orchard, and\nthe eleven lions followed close at his heels.\n\nWhen he came to where the apple trees were, he climbed up into the one\nthat bore the finest fruit, and ate and ate until he could eat no more.\nThen he came down and stretched himself out on the soft grass and fell\ninto a deep sleep.\n\nThe eleven lions gathered about him and guarded him while he slept.\n\nNow not long after this, the Troll\u2019s two brothers came out into the\norchard for a stroll, and there, the first thing they saw, was the lad\nlying under the finest of the apple trees fast asleep, with the apples\nlying all about him and one in his hand.\n\nAt that sight they flew into a fine rage, and they turned themselves\ninto fierce man-eating steeds, and rushed at him to destroy him.\n\nBut before they had a chance even so much as to touch him, the eleven\nlions rose up and rushed at the two steeds and fought them, and tore\nthem into small pieces and scattered them around like dung.\n\nAt the end of three days and three nights, the lad awoke and looked\nabout him, and there were the lions still guarding him, but the ground\nwas all dug up as though a battle had been fought there, and there were\ndeep hoof marks, and pieces of the steeds were scattered all about the\norchard. The lad looked and wondered, and he could not think what had\nbeen happening, but he was not a bit afraid, and he thought as long as\nhe was there, he might as well go and have a look at the castle.\n\nWhen he drew near to it, he saw a most beautiful maiden looking out from\none of the windows, and at sight of her the lad\u2019s heart melted within\nhim for love of her, she was so beautiful.\n\n\u201cIt is lucky for you that you had your lions with you just now,\u201d said\nthe maiden.\n\n\u201cWhy is that?\u201d asked the lad.\n\nThen the maiden told him how the Trolls had gone out into the orchard a\nbit ago, when he was asleep under the apple tree, and how they had\nchanged themselves into man-eating steeds and come at him to destroy\nhim, and how the lions had then risen up and torn the Trolls to pieces.\n\nThe lad listened to her until she had made an end of the story, and then\nhe said, \u201cThat is as it should be, and it was to guard me that I brought\nthem hither.\u201d Then he asked the maiden whether he might come in, and at\nfirst she would not let him, because she was afraid of the lions, but\nwhen he promised they should not harm her, but would lie down at the\nthreshold as quiet as house cats, she opened the door to him.\n\nThe lad looked about him, and it seemed to him the castle was but a\nrough place for such a beauty to live in.\n\n\u201cI wonder,\u201d said he, \u201cthat such a one as you should be living here with\nno better company than those two Trolls were.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is not of my own will I am living here,\u201d replied the maiden. Then\nshe told him she was the daughter of the King of Arabia, and that she\nhad been walking in her father\u2019s garden one day, and the Trolls had\nappeared out of a forest near by, and carried her away with them, and\nshe had been well-nigh scared out of her wits by it. But they had done\nher no harm, though they had kept her a prisoner here, and they intended\nthat after a while one or other of them should take her as a wife. Then\nshe asked the lad who he was, and where he had come from, and he told\nher all about it.\n\n\u201cYou may be the son of a beggar, but all the same it seems to me you are\nsomething of a hero,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cand now we will see whether I\nam right about it.\u201d\n\nThen she led him into another room and showed him where two great swords\nwere hanging on the wall.\n\n\u201cThose are the Trolls\u2019 swords,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cand they are very\nheavy to handle. Now try whether you can lift one of them down from the\nwall, though I doubt whether you are strong enough.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is an easy task you are setting me,\u201d said the lad. He took a chair\nand set it on a table, and another chair on top of that; and then he\nclimbed up on them, for the swords were so high on the wall that only in\nthat way could he reach the place where they were hanging. Then he\nreached out and set one finger under the point of one of the swords, and\ntossed it up in the air and caught it, and he leaped down and flourished\nthe sword about him, so that it whistled.\n\n\u201cYes, I can see that you are indeed a hero,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cso now\ntell me: shall I go home to my father, the King of Arabia, or shall I\nstay here and be your wife?\u201d\n\nIt did not take the lad long to make his choice in that matter.\n\n\u201cYou shall stay here and be my wife,\u201d said he, \u201cfor indeed I love you so\ndearly that if I cannot marry you, then I shall never marry any one.\u201d\n\nSo the Princess stayed on in the castle, and she and the lad were very\nhappy together.\n\nBut after some time had passed, the Princess said she ought to go back\nand see her father, for he did not know what had become of her, and no\ndoubt he had grieved bitterly, thinking she was dead.\n\nThis reminded the lad that he had promised to take back the apples to\nhis mother, and it was agreed between them that she should go back to\nArabia, and that he should take the apples to his mother, and that then\nhe should come after her to her father\u2019s kingdom and claim her.\n\nSo the next day they set out, and the Princess went to the nearest\nseaport, and hired a vessel with some of the jewels she wore, and sailed\nback to Arabia. But the lad set out for the Troll\u2019s house with the bosom\nof his shirt full of apples, and the lions following close at his heels.\n\nWhen he came near the Troll\u2019s house, his mother was looking out of the\nwindow, and no sooner did she see him than she began to shake and\nshiver.\n\n\u201cThere is my son back again,\u201d said she, \u201cand indeed I feel terribly\nfrightened.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s a strong one, and that\u2019s the truth,\u201d said the Troll, \u201cand I wish\nwe could find out what makes him so, for it\u2019s not in nature for any one\nto be as strong as he is.\u201d\n\n\u201cPerhaps there is indeed some secret about it,\u201d said the woman, \u201cand if\nthere is, I may be able in some way to wheedle it out of him. At least I\ncan do no better then try.\u201d\n\nSo she made haste to open the door and welcome the lad back to his home\nagain, but the lions had to stay outside, because both she and the Troll\nwere afraid of them.\n\n\u201cAnd did you get the apples?\u201d she asked of him.\n\nYes, he had the apples. \u201cAnd I hope they\u2019ll cure you, mother,\u201d said he,\n\u201cthough I think you have little need of them, for I never saw you\nlooking better.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh I\u2019m still very ailing,\u201d said she, \u201cand I\u2019ll eat the apples after a\nbit; but first do you sit down and have a bite of the good supper I\u2019ve\ncooked for you.\u201d\n\nSo the lad sat down, and the mother gave him his supper, and while he\nate it, she sat beside him and talked to him.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re a strong one,\u201d said she, \u201cand there\u2019s no doubt about that.\u201d\n\n\u201cStrong enough,\u201d replied her son, still eating.\n\n\u201cAnd how did it all come about?\u201d asked the woman. \u201cFor only a while ago\nyou were a weakling, and it was I who had to help you over the rough\nplaces.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow I\u2019ll tell you,\u201d said the lad, for he was sleepy from eating so much\nsupper and scarce knew what he was saying. \u201cIt\u2019s all because of that\nblue belt that we saw at the crossroads and that I wanted to pick up,\nand you forbade me.\u201d\n\nThen he told his mother the whole story, and the woman sat and listened,\nand the Troll listened, too, only he was hidden behind a door and the\nlad did not see him.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s the way the strength came to me,\u201d said the lad, when he had\nmade an end of the telling.\n\n\u201cAnd have you the belt on you now?\u201d asked the woman.\n\n\u201cYes, I have,\u201d said the lad, and he opened his shirt and showed it to\nher.\n\nThen, before he could stop her, the woman caught hold of the belt and\ntore it from him, and at once all his strength went out of him, so that\nhe was helpless before her.\n\nThen the Troll came from behind the door, and he and the woman made\nmerry together because the lad was so helpless, and they talked together\nabout what they should do with the lad to get rid of him. The woman was\nfor taking him out to a high cliff and throwing him over, but the Troll\nsaid no, that was not bad enough for him. In the end the Troll put out\nthe lad\u2019s eyes, and set him adrift in a boat on the sea, and he and the\nwoman thought that was the end of him.\n\nBut it was not, for the lions were faithful, and they had followed\nafter, and when they saw the boat drifting away, they swam after it and\ncaught the edge of the boat with their teeth, and brought it ashore on\nan island.\n\nThere they and the lad lived, and the lions took care of him, for the\nlad was helpless because he was blind. The lions found a cave for him to\nlive in and caught birds and wild animals for him to eat, and the lad\npicked the feathers off the birds, and took the skins of the animals,\nand made a soft bed for himself, and always, while some of the lions\nwere out hunting, others stayed with him to guard him and see that no\nharm came to him.\n\nOne day the oldest lion went out hunting, and he went a long way before\nhe found anything. Then, after a while, he started up a hare, and it was\nblind. The lion chased the hare, and it went leaping along, and\npresently, because it was blind, it fell into a pool of water. As soon\nas the water touched its eyes, it could see again, and it scrambled out\nfrom the pool and escaped the lion.\n\nThe lion went back to where the lad was sitting in his cave, and took\nhold of his clothes, and began to pull at them. The lad did not know\nwhat the lion wanted of him, but he got up and allowed the lion to lead\nhim. It led him on and on, until they came to the edge of the pool, and\nthen the lion loosed his clothing and gave the lad such a push that he\nfell head over heels into the water. No sooner did the water touch his\neyes than the blindness was all gone, and he could see again even better\nthan before.\n\nThen the lad rejoiced greatly, and he got into the boat and went back\nto the place where the Troll lived, and the lions swam after.\n\nAfter he landed, he crept up toward the house very carefully, so that no\none saw him, and peeped in at the door. The woman was busy at the\ndough-trough making up bread, and her back was toward him, and there was\nthe blue belt hanging from a nail in the wall.\n\nThe lad crept in and seized it and put it around him, and then he began\nto shout and stamp about, and call to the woman and the Troll to come\nand catch hold of him.\n\nThe woman turned about, and when she saw the lad was there and the belt\ngone from the wall, she knew what had happened. She was terribly\nfrightened, and began to coax and cajole him, and beg him to let her\nhave the belt again.\n\nBut the lad would not listen to her. He threw open the door and called\nin the lions, and they soon made an end of her. Then they ran out and\nfound the Troll, too, and tore him to pieces in spite of all his cries\nand prayers for mercy.\n\nThat was the end of them, and after that the lad was ready to set out\nfor Arabia to claim the Princess as his wife, but he would not let the\nlions go with him for there was no need for them in that business.\n\nThe lad journeyed on and on, and after a while he came to Arabia, and\nthere he heard a story of how the daughter of the King of that country\nhad been stolen away by Trolls, and kept a prisoner for a long time but\nnow she was home, and the King was so glad to have her back he said he\nwould never let her leave him again. He had hidden her away, no one knew\nwhere, and when any one came to ask her hand in marriage the King said\nno one might have her but he who could find her, and if any one tried to\nfind her and failed, he should have his head cut off.\n\nMany kings and princes had lost their lives in this manner.\n\nThe lad listened and listened to everything that was said, and he\nthought to himself that he would be the next to have a try at finding\nthe Princess, but he said nothing about it to any one.\n\nOne day the lad met a man who was selling white bearskins, and the lad\nstopped him and began talking to him. \u201cI will tell you what we will do,\u201d\nsaid he. \u201cI will put on one of those bearskins, and then do you fasten a\ncollar around my neck and lead me through the town by a chain, and I\nwill dance and perform tricks.\u201d\n\nThis plan pleased the man, and he readily agreed to it; so the lad put\non the bearskin, and the man led him about by a chain, and everywhere\nthe lad danced and performed in such a wonderful way that the people\nwere amazed.\n\nAfter a while it came to the King\u2019s ears that such a beast was in the\ntown, and that not only could it dance and perform tricks, but it could\nunderstand everything that was said to it.\n\nThe King became very curious to see the animal, and he sent word for the\nman to come to the palace and bring the bear with him.\n\nThe man at once set out for the palace, and on the way he said to the\nlad, \u201cNow you must do your best, for if you can succeed in pleasing the\nKing, he will be sure to pay us well.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the lad, \u201cbut when we come to the palace, you must warn\neverybody that they are not to laugh at me, for if the people there\nlaugh at me, I may become so enraged that I will tear them to pieces\nbefore I know what I am doing.\u201d\n\nSo as soon as the man came to the palace, he said that no one was to\nlaugh at the bear, whatever happened, and the King promised that no one\nshould.\n\nThen the lad began to perform his tricks, but in the very midst of\nthings one of the maids began to laugh, and at once the pretended bear\nflew at her and tore her to pieces before any one could stop him.\n\nThe man was terrified, but the King said, \u201cIt does not matter; she was\nonly a maid, after all.\u201d\n\nAfter that the King said the man and the bear must spend the night at\nthe castle. The man might sleep in the kitchen, but the bear should stay\nin the little room that opened out from the King\u2019s own chamber. The man\nhad nothing to sleep on but hard boards, but the bear was given a bed\nmade of feathers and soft cushions to lay his head on.\n\nThat night, when all the palace was still, and no one awake to see him,\nthe King came to the room where the pretended bear was lying, and roused\nhim and bade him come with him, for the King had a mind to show the bear\nto his daughter, and have her see the tricks and the dancing.\n\nThe King led the pretended bear upstairs and downstairs, and through\ncellars and long galleries and around corners, and all the while the lad\nkept his eyes open, and watched carefully just where they were going, so\nthat he might know how to come the next time.\n\nAfter a while, the King still leading him, they came out on a long pier\nwith the water washing about it. Here the King pulled and pushed at\ndifferent posts and wooden pegs, and all the while the lad watched him\ncarefully. Presently a little house came floating, floating across the\nwater until it lay close up against the pier, and then the King took out\na bunch of keys and unlocked the door and\n\n[Illustration: When she saw the bear she cried aloud with terror. _Page\n169_]\n\nled the bear inside, and there, in a little golden room, sat the\nbeautiful Princess.\n\nThe Princess started up when the King entered, and when she saw the bear\nshe cried aloud with terror. But the King bade her not to fear it, for\nit was a trained bear, and there was no danger from it unless some one\nlaughed at it.\n\nThe Princess promised she would not laugh, and then the King bade the\nbear perform its tricks. All went well until the Princess\u2019 waiting-maid\nquite forgot the warning the King had given, and began to laugh. At once\nthe pretended bear flew at her and tore her in pieces.\n\nThe Princess screamed, but the King said, \u201cWhy should you be troubled?\nIt was her own fault, for I warned her. Besides, she was nothing but a\nwaiting-maid.\u201d\n\nThen he said he would leave the bear there until morning, for he had no\nmind to lead it back through all those galleries and cellars and\nwindings at that time of night.\n\nThe Princess was very unwilling to have the beast left there, and so\nshe told the King, but while she and her father were talking, the bear\ncurled down in the corner and pretended to go to sleep. So then the\nPrincess agreed that it might stay there, but she made the King promise\nto come back and get it the first thing in the morning.\n\nThen the King went away, locking the door behind him, and as soon as he\nhad gone, the bear rose up and came over to the Princess, and begged her\nto undo his collar. The Princess was like to die of terror at this, but\nthe bear spoke so gently and pleaded with her so piteously that at last\nshe took courage and felt in among his fur and unfastened the collar.\n\nAt once the lad threw off the bear skin, and there the Princess saw her\nown dear husband standing before her. Then there was great joy between\nthem, and the lad told the Princess all that had happened to him since\nthey had parted, and they spent the night together very happily.\n\nBut at earliest dawn the lad put on the bearskin again, and made the\nPrincess fasten the collar, for so he would have it, and when the King\ncame again, there was the bear still slumbering in his corner, and the\nPrincess asleep among her pillows.\n\nThe King took hold of the chain that was fastened to the bear\u2019s collar,\nand made it get up and follow, and he led it out of the house to the\npier. Then he pulled and pushed at the posts and pivots, and the little\nhouse floated away across the water, to some place where no one could\nsee it. After that the King led the bear back to its master, and gave\nthe man a handful of gold as a reward, and bade him be off with it.\n\nAs soon as the man and the lad were back where they lived, the lad made\nhim undo the collar, and he took off the bearskin. Then it was not long\nbefore he was back at the palace and asking to see the King, for he said\nhe had come there to have a hunt for the Princess.\n\nWhen the King saw the lad he had pity on him because he was so young and\nhandsome.\n\n\u201cThis is a very foolish thing that you would do,\u201d said he. \u201cDo you not\nknow how many kings and nobles have lost their lives in searching for\nthe Princess? Why should you wish to perish also?\u201d\n\nBut the lad would not listen to him. Hunt for the Princess he must and\nwould.\n\n\u201cVery well\u201d, said the King at last. \u201cSince your heart is set on it, you\nmust go your own way, but remember you will be allowed only twenty-four\nhours in which to find her.\u201d\n\nVery well! That suited the lad well enough.\n\nNow there were many pretty girls in the palace, and music and dancing,\nand the lad joined in and danced and laughed with the best of them. He\namused himself all day, and at last only one hour was left of all the\ntwenty-four in which he was to search for the Princess.\n\n\u201cThere!\u201d said the King. \u201cNow you have danced your life away, and it is\ntime for the headsman.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot so,\u201d said the lad, \u201cfor I have still one hour left, and now I will\ngo and look for the Princess.\u201d\n\nWith that he set out, and the King and the court were obliged to follow.\nThe lad went upstairs and downstairs, through cellars and along\ngalleries, along the way the King had led him the night before, and all\nthe while the King kept saying, \u201cThis is not the way to go. You are all\nwrong, and you will never find her this way.\u201d\n\nWhen they came out on the pier, the lad began pulling and pushing at\nposts and pivots, and the King did not dare to stop him.\n\nPresently the little house came floating up to the pier, and there were\nonly two minutes left of all the twenty-four hours.\n\n\u201cAnd now unlock the door,\u201d cried the lad, \u201cfor within here sits the\nPrincess.\u201d\n\nThe King took out his keys, and he fumbled and fumbled, and then he said\nhe had no key there to unlock it.\n\n\u201cThen if you have not, I have,\u201d said the lad, and he raised his fist and\nwith one blow the door was shattered and burst open, and he stepped\ninside,--and there was the Princess.\n\nThen she rose up and threw her arms about him and kissed him, and she\ntold her father the lad was her own true love who had saved her from the\nTrolls and had come all this way to find her, and how if she might not\nhave him for her husband, she would pine away with grief and longing.\n\nWhen the King heard this, he could no longer refuse to let her marry the\nlad, and indeed he was well enough pleased to have such a clever fellow\nfor a son-in-law, for the lad soon told him of the trick he had played\nupon him.\n\nSo he and the Princess were married and with much rejoicing, and the lad\nsent back to the Troll\u2019s house for the lions that had been waiting for\nhim there all this time. And when they came, they were given a whole\npark to roam about in, and the lad and the Princess lived happy forever\nafter, with no misfortunes to trouble them.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DUTIFUL DAUGHTER\n\nA KOREAN STORY\n\n\nThere once lived in Korea a rich merchant and his wife who had no\nchildren, though they greatly desired them and prayed every day that a\nchild might be granted them.\n\nThey had been married sixteen years and were no longer young, when the\nwife had a wonderful dream.\n\nIn her dream she walked in a garden full of beauteous fruits and flowers\nand singing birds, and as she walked, suddenly a star fell from heaven\ninto her bosom.\n\nAs soon as the wife awoke, she told this dream to her husband. \u201cI feel\nassured,\u201d said she, \u201cthat this dream can mean only one thing, and that\nis that heaven is about to send us a child, and that this child will be\nas a star for beauty and wonder and grace.\u201d\n\nThe merchant could hardly believe that this good fortune was really to\nbe theirs; but it was indeed as the wife had said, and in due time a\ndaughter was born to the couple, and this child was so beautiful that\nshe was the wonder of all who saw her.\n\nThe husband and wife, who had hoped for a son, were greatly disappointed\nthat the long-wished-for child was only a daughter, but their\ndisappointment was soon forgotten in the joy and pride they felt in her\nbeauty and wit and goodness.\n\nUnhappily, while Sim Ching (for so the girl was named) was still a\nchild, her mother died, and her father\u2019s grief over the loss of his wife\nwas so great that he became completely blind. He was now obliged to\nleave the most of his business affairs in the hands of his servants, and\nthese servants were so dishonest and so idle that they either wasted or\nstole all his money. At last he became so poor that he could scarcely\nprovide enough food to keep himself and his daughter alive.\n\nOne day the merchant in his unhappiness wandered away from home, and\nbeing blind and so unable to tell where he was going, he fell into a\ndeep pit out of which he was unable to climb.\n\nHe feared he would die there, but presently, hearing footsteps on the\nroad above, he called out loudly for help.\n\nThe footsteps he heard were those of a greedy and dishonest priest who\nlived near by. Every day he passed by this way on his walks to and from\nthe temple.\n\nHearing the voice from the pit, the priest went to the edge of it and\nlooking down into it, saw the blind man there below.\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d asked the priest, \u201cand how have you fallen into this\npit?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am a poor blind man, who was once a rich merchant,\u201d replied the man\nin the pit. \u201cI lost at once both my sight and my wealth, and because I\ncannot see I fell into this pit from which I am not able to climb. For\nthe sake of mercy reach down your hand and draw me out.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot so,\u201d replied the priest. \u201cThat would be a foolish thing for me to\ndo. Instead of drawing you out, I might myself be pulled in. But if you\nwill promise to give me a hundred and fifty bags of rice that I may\noffer them up in the temple, I will go and get a rope, and throw the end\nof it down to you, and by that means I may be able to pull you out\nwithout danger to either of us.\u201d\n\nThe priest asked for the rice for the temple not because he really\nwished to make an offering of it, for indeed he meant to keep it for\nhimself, but he thought, \u201cIf this man was once rich, no doubt he must\nstill know some wealthy people, and if he goes to them and asks for rice\nto offer up in the temple they will be more likely to give it to him\nthan if he told them it was for me.\u201d\n\nWhen the poor man heard that the priest demanded his promise of a\nhundred and fifty bags of rice before he would help him, he cried aloud\nwith grief and wonder.\n\n\u201cHow is it possible I should promise you such a thing as that?\u201d he\ncried. \u201cNone but a very rich man could make such a gift to the temple,\nand I am so poor that I cannot even provide food enough for myself and\nmy daughter.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour daughter!\u201d cried the priest. \u201cYou have then a daughter?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; and she is so beautiful that no one in the whole land can compare\nwith her for fairness, and she is as good as she is beautiful, and as\nwitty as she is good.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow listen!\u201d said the priest. \u201cIf you will swear to give me the bags of\nrice, not only will I pull you out of the pit, but I foresee that\nbecause of this gift your daughter will be raised to the highest place\nin the land, and you yourself will receive great wealth and honor, and\nyour sight will return to you.\u201d\n\nThis the priest said, not because he really foresaw anything of the\nkind, but because he wished to tempt the blind man into making him the\npromise of the rice.\n\nThe poor man still declared that he had no means of making such an\noffering, but the priest urged and begged and threatened, until at last\nthe blind man gave his promise.\n\nThe priest then ran and got a rope, and soon pulled the blind merchant\nout of the pit.\n\n\u201cNow remember!\u201d said he. \u201cExactly a month from now I will send my\nservants for the rice, and you must in some way have it ready, whether\nyou beg or borrow or steal it, and if you do not, you shall receive a\ngood beating for breaking your bargain with me, and be thrown into a\nprison that is worse than any pit.\u201d\n\nThe priest then went on to the temple, while the blind man returned\nhome, very sad and sorrowful.\n\nAs soon as he entered the door, his daughter saw by his look that\nsomething unfortunate had happened and begged him to tell her what it\nwas.\n\nAt first he would not say because he feared to frighten her, but she\nasked him so many questions that at last he was obliged to tell her the\nwhole story.\n\nSim Ching was indeed terrified when she heard what her father had\npromised the priest.\n\n\u201cAlas! Alas!\u201d she cried. \u201cHow can we possibly get the rice ready for\nhim? You know it is only by the kindness of the neighbors that we have\nthe handful that I have cooked for our dinner to-day.\u201d\n\nThe poor man began to weep. \u201cWhat you say is true,\u201d he cried. \u201cBetter\nthat I should have died in the pit than be thrown into prison as will\nsurely happen to me if I cannot give the priest the hundred and fifty\nbags that I promised him.\u201d\n\nThe blind man now set out to beg, telling every one his sad story and\nasking them to help him to collect the rice, but the people of the\nvillage were themselves poor and had no more than enough food for their\nown families.\n\nTime slipped by, until at last the day arrived when the priest\u2019s\nservants were to come to demand the rice, and the blind man had not yet\nbeen able to get together even one bagful of rice, let alone a hundred\nand fifty.\n\nHe and his daughter sat together very sorrowful, and now and then the\nblind man bemoaned himself as he thought of how he was to be beaten and\nthrown into prison, for he had now learned enough about the priest to\nknow that he could expect no mercy from one as cruel and greedy as he.\n\nNow there lived in another city, not far away, a very rich merchant who\nowned many ships that traded in foreign lands. This merchant had become\nso proud of his wealth and his power that he called himself the Prince\nof the Sea, and so it was that he obliged others to address him. This\ngreatly offended a powerful Water Spirit who lived under the sea over\nwhich the ships of the merchant sailed. And now, in order to punish the\nmerchant, the Water Spirit sent storms down upon the ships. Many were\ndestroyed, and others were driven on to reefs, or back to the ports they\nsailed from. So many misfortunes overtook the vessels that sailors\nbecame afraid to sail on them, and the merchant began to fear he would\nbe ruined.\n\nIn his trouble he sent for a number of wise men and magicians and asked\nthem why he was now so unlucky, and what he could do to bring back good\nfortune.\n\nThe wise men and magicians studied their books and consulted together\nfor a long time, and then they came to the merchant and said, \u201cWe have\nfound why you are so unlucky. Your pride has offended a powerful Water\nSpirit, and it is he who is wrecking your ships or driving them back\ninto port. There is only one way in which to turn aside his anger. If a\nyoung and beautiful maiden can be found who will willingly offer herself\nas a sacrifice to him, then he will be satisfied and will punish you no\nfurther. Otherwise he will certainly destroy every vessel you send out,\nand so in the end you will be ruined.\u201d\n\nWhen the merchant heard this, he was in despair. \u201cNow indeed there is no\nhope for me,\u201d he cried, \u201cfor I am very sure there is not, in the whole\nof Korea, a maiden who would be willing to be sacrificed to this Water\nSpirit, however great the reward I might offer. For indeed of what use\nwould any reward be to her, if in order to gain it she must be drowned\nin the sea.\u201d\n\nHowever, his head steward, who had charge of his affairs, begged him at\nleast to send out a proclamation and to offer a reward to the family of\nany maiden who would consent to the sacrifice. \u201cIt may be that such a\none will be found,\u201d said he;--\u201csome one who values the fortunes of her\nparents even above her own life.\u201d\n\nThe merchant finally agreed to the wishes of his steward, and messengers\nwere sent forth to read the proclamation aloud in every city, town and\nvillage in the country. They went this way and that, East, West, North\nand South, and finally one of them came to the place where the blind man\nand his daughter lived. The day the messenger came to the village was\nthe very day when the servants of the wicked priest were to come and\ndemand the hundred and fifty bags of rice from the blind man.\n\nThe merchant\u2019s messenger took his stand not far from the blind man\u2019s\nhouse, and from there he read aloud the proclamation as to the sacrifice\nand the reward that would be paid to the parents of any maiden who would\nbe willing to be thrown to the Water Spirit.\n\nThe people of the village gathered about him in a great crowd to listen,\nbut after they had heard what he said, they began to make a great noise,\nwith cries and laughter.\n\n\u201cSome parents there may be,\u201d they cried, \u201cwho would be wicked enough to\nsacrifice their daughters for the sake of the reward, but what girl\nwould ever go willingly to such a fate; and the messenger himself tells\nus that unless the maiden went willingly, the sacrifice would be\nuseless.\u201d\n\nSim Ching heard the noise outside, the voice of the messenger, and the\nlaughter of the crowd, and as she was of a very curious nature, she went\nto the door to hear what was going on.\n\nThe man was already turning away, and Sim Ching asked a woman who was\nstanding near what the man had been saying. The woman told her, laughing\nas she spoke. \u201cHow could any one suppose that any maiden would consent\nto be thrown to this monster in order that her family might have the\nreward!\u201d cried the woman.\n\nBut Sim Ching ran after the man and caught him by the sleeve.\n\n\u201cWait!\u201d cried she. \u201cDo not go until you have told me something. You say\nyour master will richly reward the family of any maiden who will\nwillingly give herself to this Water Spirit. Would he give as much as a\nhundred and fifty bags of rice to such a family?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat and more,\u201d replied the messenger. \u201cMy master is very rich, and\nthe reward will be generous.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I will go with you and be the sacrifice,\u201d said Sim Ching. \u201cPermit\nme only to go and bid farewell to my father, and then I will be ready.\u201d\n\nThe messenger was rejoiced that he had been able to secure the maiden\nfor his master and gladly consented to wait until she had spoken with\nher father.\n\nBut when Sim Ching went back into the house and told her father what she\nintended to do he was in despair. He wept aloud and rent his clothes.\n\u201cNever, never will I consent to such a sacrifice,\u201d cried he.\n\nBut his daughter comforted him. \u201cDo you forget,\u201d said she, \u201cwhat the\npriest promised you? Did he not tell you that if you offered up this\nrice to the temple, all would be well with us, and that I would be\nraised to the highest place in the kingdom? Let us have faith and\nbelieve that the gods of the temple can save me at the last even though\nI be thrown into the sea.\u201d\n\nAs her father listened to her, he grew quieter, and at last gave his\nconsent for her to go.\n\nThe neighbors who had heard what she meant to do gathered about to bid\nher farewell and could not but weep for pity, even while they praised\nher for her dutifulness toward her father.\n\nSim Ching at once set out with the messenger, who was in haste to bring\nher before his master. Indeed he feared that if she thought too long of\nwhat she had consented to do, she might repent of her bargain.\n\nWhen he reached the merchant\u2019s house and told him he had found a maiden\nfor the sacrifice, his master could scarcely believe him. \u201cDoes she\nunderstand what is required of her, and is she willing?\u201d he asked.\n\nThe messenger assured him that she understood perfectly and was rejoiced\nat the thought of securing the reward for her father.\n\nSim Ching was now brought before the merchant, and when he saw her\nbeauty and youth, and her modest, gentle air, he was filled with pity\nfor her. He would even have commanded that she should be taken back\nagain to her father, but to this Sim Ching would not consent.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said she. \u201cI have come here to do a certain thing. I have\npromised, and I do not wish to break my word. All I ask is to be assured\nthat the bags of rice will certainly be sent to my father, and that at\nonce.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet it then be as you desire,\u201d said the merchant. \u201cAnd be assured that\nmy part of the bargain shall be kept as faithfully as yours.\u201d He then\nordered that one hundred and fifty bags of rice should be loaded on as\nmany mules and sent to the blind man at once, that Sim Ching might\nherself have the comfort of seeing them set forth.\n\nThis was done, and after the train of mules had departed, Sim Ching was\ntaken to a chamber where magnificent robes and veils and jewels had been\nlaid ready for her. Her attendants dressed her and hung the jewels on\nher neck and arms, and when all was done, she was so beautiful that even\nthe attendants wept to think she must be sacrificed.\n\nA barge had been made ready and hung about with garlands, and in it sat\nmusicians to make sweet music while the rowers rowed to where the\nsacrifice was to be made.\n\nAnd now Sim Ching would have been afraid, but she fixed her thoughts\nupon her father and on how he would now be saved from the cruelty of the\npriest, and then she became quite happy and was no longer frightened.\n\nWhen the barge came to the place under which the Water Spirit lived, Sim\nChing leaned over the side of the boat and looked down into the water.\nIt was very deep and green, and it seemed to her that beneath she could\nsee shining walls and towers, as though of some great castle, and that\nthe spirits of the water were beckoning to her to come. Lower and lower\nshe leaned, until, as though drawn by some power beneath, she sank over\nthe side of the vessel and down and down through the water until she was\nlost to the sight of those above her.\n\nThen the rowers took the barge back to the shore and told the merchant\nthe sacrifice had been accepted.\n\nThe merchant was glad that now again his ships might sail in safety; but\nat the same time he felt pity for Sim Ching, believing she had been\ndrowned.\n\nBut such was not the case. After she had sunk down and down through the\nwaters for what seemed to her a long distance, she came to the land\nwhere the Water Spirit is king. All about her were things strange and\nbeautiful. There were water weeds so tall they were like trees waving\nhigh above her, and through them, like birds, darted the shining fishes.\nThere were water flowers of colors she had never seen before, and\nshining shells, and before her rose a castle made of mother of pearl and\nstudded with precious stones that shone and glittered like stars in the\nlight that came down through the water.\n\nWhile she was looking at it, the doors of the castle swung open, and a\ntrain of attendants came out to meet her. These attendants were all\ndressed in green, and many of them would have been very handsome except\nthat they themselves were green. Their faces, their hands, their hair,\nand eyes,--everything about them was green.\n\nThey spoke to Sim Ching in a strange language, but soon she understood\nthem and knew they had come to bring her before their King who was\nwaiting for her.\n\nSim Ching felt no doubt but that this King was the Water Spirit himself,\nand she was very much frightened, but still she did not hesitate, but\nwent with them willingly, for it was for this purpose she had come\nhither.\n\nThe attendants led her through one room after another, until they came\nto the place where the Water Spirit sat upon a crystal throne, and he,\ntoo, was green, but his crown was of gold, and his garments were set all\nover with pearls and precious stones.\n\nThe King looked at Sim Ching kindly and bade her have no fear. \u201cI intend\nyou no harm,\u201d said he, \u201cand indeed I wished for no sacrifice. My only\nwish was to punish the rich merchant for his pride, and so it was that I\nset him a task that I thought impossible for him to perform. But because\nof your dutifulness and your love for your father, he has been able to\nmake the sacrifice. Now you must stay here patiently for a year and\nteach the sea-maidens the ways of the world above, and at the end of\nthat time you shall return to the earth, and receive the happiness you\ndeserve.\u201d\n\nSim Ching listened to him wondering, and when he had made an end of\nspeaking, she gladly agreed to serve for a time in the palace and to\nteach the sea-people all she knew. So for a twelvemonth Sim Ching stayed\nthere and was very happy, for though the ways and manners of the\nsea-people were strange to her, they themselves were kind and gentle, so\nthat she soon lost all fear of them.\n\nAt the end of the twelve months, the King sent for Sim Ching, and when\nshe had come before him, he said, \u201cSim Ching, for a year you have served\nus both faithfully and well, and now the time has come for you to return\nto the upper world. But in that world there are many dangers, and you\nhave no one to protect you. I have, therefore, caused a great flower to\nbe prepared for you. When you enter into this flower, the leaves will\nfold about you and hide you, so that none may suspect you are within it.\nThe leaves will afford you food and drink as well as shelter. In this\nway you can live protected and in safety until fate sends you a husband\nto love and guard you.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: The King bade her step into the flower. She did so, and\nat once the leaves closed about her. _Page 193_]\n\nAfter speaking thus, the Water Spirit led Sim Ching into another room\nand there showed her the flower that he had caused to be prepared for\nher. This flower was very large and of a beautiful rose color, and the\nleaves were of some rich, thick substance that had a most delicious\nsmell and was good to eat. The juice of the leaves also afforded a\ndelicious drink. Sim Ching, as she examined it, knew not how to express\nher wonder and admiration.\n\nThe King bade her step into the flower. She did so, and at once the\nleaves closed about her, so that she was completely hidden, and at the\nsame time the most delightful music breathed softly from the flower. It\nnow floated softly up and up, through the roof of the palace, and\nthrough the waters above, until it reached the surface of the sea. There\nit rested, rocking gently with the motion of the waves.\n\nNow it so happened that the place where the flower floated on the sea\nwas not far from the palace of the young King of that country. The\nmorning it arose through the waters, the King was looking from a window\nacross the sea toward a pleasure island where he sometimes went.\nSuddenly, between himself and the island, he saw something glittering in\nthe sunlight out upon the waters.\n\nHe could not make out what the object was, and he ordered that some of\nthe castle servants should row out to it, see what it was, and if\npossible bring it back with them. This was done and when the rowers\nreturned, they brought the flower with them and carried it in to where\nthe young King was awaiting them.\n\nWhen the King saw the flower, he was filled with wonder and admiration.\nNever before had he seen such a blossom. He examined it on all sides and\nexclaimed over its size and beauty.\n\n\u201cIt must be some magic,\u201d said he, \u201cthat has created such a flower. A\nroom shall be built for it, and there I will keep it, and if indeed, it\nhas been made by magic, as I suspect, it may be that in time some fruit\nwill come from it that will be even more beautiful than the flower\nitself.\u201d\n\nThe room that was now prepared for the flower was so magnificent that no\nother apartment in the palace could compare with it. The walls were of\ngold, overlaid with paintings and hung with silken embroidered hangings.\nThe floors were set with precious stones. There were fountains, and\ncouches heaped with soft cushions, and from the ceiling hung seven\nalabaster lamps that were kept burning both night and day.\n\nWhen the room was finished, the King caused the flower to be carefully\ncarried into it and placed in the center upon a raised dais covered with\nembroidered velvet. After this no one was allowed to enter the room\nexcept himself, and he carried the key of it hung on a jeweled chain\nabout his neck. Every day he spent long hours with the flower admiring\nits beauty, enjoying its delicious perfume, and listening to the\ndelicate music that sometimes breathed out from among its leaves.\n\nAll the while Sim Ching lay hidden in the center of the flower without\nthe King\u2019s once suspecting it. All day the leaves were closed about her,\nand only at night did they open to allow her to come forth.\n\nThe first time they unfolded, she was very much surprised to find\nherself in a room of a palace, instead of out upon the sea as she had\nsupposed. Wondering, she looked about her, and then she stepped from the\nflower and began, timidly, to examine the apartment to which she had\nbeen brought. The beauty of it delighted her. She rested among the soft\ncushions, and bathed in the fountains, and dressed her hair. But toward\nmorning she re\u00ebntered the flower, and the leaves closed about her so\nthat she was again hidden from view.\n\nFor some time life went on in this manner. All day Sim Ching slept in\nthe flower, and only at night did she come forth, and as the King only\nvisited the room in the daytime he never saw her, nor even guessed that\na living maiden was inclosed by the leaves of the flower he admired so\ngreatly.\n\nBut it so happened that one night the King could not sleep, and he took\na fancy to visit the flower and see it by the light of the lamps. He\ntherefore made his way along the corridors, and fitting the key into\nthe lock, he turned it without having made a sound.\n\nWhat was his surprise, when he opened the door, to see a maiden of\nsurpassing beauty sitting beside a fountain and amusing herself by\ncatching the water in her hands.\n\nWhen Sim Ching saw the King, she gave a cry, and would have run back\ninto the flower to hide, but the King called to her gently, bidding her\nstay.\n\n\u201cI will not harm you,\u201d said he. \u201cDo but tell me who you are and how you\nhave come here. It must be you are some spirit or fairy, for no human\nbeing could be as beautiful as you.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am no spirit, nor am I a fairy,\u201d answered Sim Ching, \u201cbut only the\ndaughter of a poor blind beggar, and as to how I came here I know not. I\nwas placed inside that flower by a Water Spirit, but who has brought the\nflower here, or why, I cannot tell.\u201d\n\nThe King then told her of how he had seen the flower floating on the\nsea, and how he had had it brought to the palace, and had ordered this\nroom to be built for it, and after he had made an end of speaking, Sim\nChing told him her history from the time her father had become blind and\nfallen into the pit, to the hour when the Water Spirit had bade her\nenter the flower and the leaves had closed about her.\n\nThe young King listened and wondered. \u201cYours is indeed a strange story,\u201d\nsaid he, \u201cand this mischievous priest shall be sought out and punished\nas he deserves. And yet it may be his promises shall all come true, and\nyou shall indeed be exalted to the highest place in the kingdom.\u201d\n\nHe then told Sim Ching he loved her and desired nothing in the world so\nmuch as to make her his wife.\n\nTo this Sim Ching joyfully consented for the young King was so handsome\nand gracious, and spoke so well and wisely, that she could not but love\nhim with all her heart, even as he loved her.\n\nAll night they sat and talked together, and in the morning he opened the\ndoor of the chamber and led her forth, and called the courtiers and\nnobles together, and told them she was to be his bride.\n\nThen there was great rejoicing, and every one who saw Sim Ching wondered\nat her beauty and loved her for her gentle and gracious manner.\n\nSoon after she and the King were married, and they loved each other so\ndearly that Sim Ching would have been perfectly happy except for the\nthought of her old father and his griefs and sorrows.\n\nImmediately after she was married, she sent messengers to the village\nwhere she had lived, bidding them find her father and bring him to her,\nbut the old man had disappeared, and no one knew what had become of him.\n\nThen the Queen had a great feast prepared and sent word throughout the\nlength and breadth of the Kingdom that all who were both poor and blind\nwere bidden to the palace to eat of it. All would be welcome, and none\nshould be turned away.\n\nThen from far and near the blind and poor came flocking to the palace,\nscores and hundreds of them. The tables for the feast were laid in a\ngreat hall, and the young King and Queen sat on raised thrones at one\nend of it. All who came to the feast were obliged to pass before this\nthrone before they might take their places at the table, and as each one\npassed, the Queen looked at him eagerly, hoping to recognize her father,\nbut none of all the multitude was the one she sought. At last every one\nwas seated; the attendants were about to close the doors, when another\nbeggar, the last of all, came stumbling into the hall. He was so feeble\nand so old that he could scarcely make his way to the throne, but no\nsooner did the Queen see him than she knew him as her father.\n\nThen she gave a great cry, and came down from the throne, and threw her\narms about him, and wept over him.\n\n\u201cIt is I, oh, my father! It is thy daughter, Sim Ching,\u201d she wept.\n\nThen her father knew her voice and cried aloud with joy. \u201cOh, my\ndaughter, I had thought thee dead,\u201d he cried, \u201cand now thou art alive\nand I can feel thy arms about me.\u201d\n\nAs he spoke the tears of joy ran down his cheeks, and these tears washed\naway the mists of sorrow that had clouded his eyes and he found he could\nsee again.\n\nThen there was great rejoicing, and the King called the old man father\nand made him welcome, and in due time he who had been blind and now\ncould see was raised to great wealth and honor, and so the words of the\npriest, that he had spoken without believing, came true.\n\nBut as for the priest himself, the King had him sought for, and when he\nwas found, he was thrown into prison and punished as he deserved for his\ngreed and cruelty.\n\n\n\n\nTHE OAT CAKE\n\nA SCOTCH STORY\n\n\nOne time the farmer\u2019s wife made two oat cakes. She shaped them, and\npatted them and put them down in front of the fire to bake. \u201cThey will\ndo for the good man\u2019s dinner,\u201d said she.\n\nThen said one cake to the other cake, \u201cIt is all very well for the woman\nto say that, but I have no wish to be eaten. I will wait until I am\nbaked hard, and then I shall set out to see the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is a poor way to talk, brother,\u201d replied the other. \u201cOat cakes\nwere made to be eaten, and you should be proud to think the master\nhimself is to have you for dinner.\u201d\n\n\u201cMaster or no master, I have no wish to be eaten,\u201d repeated the first\noat cake.\n\nNot long after that, the farmer came home, and he was very hungry. First\nhe ate the oat cake that wished to be eaten, and after he had finished\nit, he stretched out his hand for the other, but it slipped through his\nfingers and away it rolled, out of the door and on down the road.\n\nIt rolled along and rolled along until it came to a neat, tidy house\nwith a thatched roof.\n\n\u201cThis looks like a good and proper place for me to stop,\u201d said the oat\ncake, so it rolled on in through the doorway.\n\nThere inside were a tailor and his two apprentices, all of them sitting\ncross-legged and sewing away; and the tailor\u2019s wife stood by the fire,\nstirring the porridge.\n\nWhen the tailor and the boys saw the oat cake come rolling in across the\nfloor so boldly, they were frightened, and jumped up and hid behind the\nwoman.\n\n\u201cNow out upon you! To be frightened by an oat cake!\u201d cried the good\nwife. \u201cQuick! Catch hold of it and divide it among you, and I\u2019ll give\nyou some milk to drink with it.\u201d\n\nWhen the tailor and his apprentices heard this, they took courage and\nran out and tried to catch the oat cake; but it dodged them and rolled\nunder the table and under the chairs, and while they were chasing it and\nthe woman watching them, the porridge boiled over into the fire and was\nburned.\n\nBut the oat cake escaped them, and rolled out through the door, and on\ndown the road again. \u201cI\u2019d better go a bit farther before I settle down\nfor the night,\u201d it thought to itself.\n\nPresently it came to a little small house. \u201cI\u2019ll try how it is in here,\u201d\nsaid the oat cake, and in it rolled.\n\nThere sat a weaver at his loom, and his wife was winding some yarn.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s that that just came in at the door?\u201d asked the weaver, for his\neyesight was not very good.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s an oat cake!\u201d said his wife staring.\n\n\u201cCatch it woman! Catch it, before it rolls away again!\u201d cried the\nweaver.\n\nThe woman chased the oat cake up and down and round about, and the\nweaver left his work and joined in the chase, but the oat cake was too\nlively for them. Every time they thought they had it, it slipped\nthrough their fingers as though it were buttered.\n\n\u201cThrow your yarn over it and snare it,\u201d cried the weaver.\n\nThe woman threw her yarn over the oat cake, but the cake tangled up the\nyarn so that later on it took the woman a good two days to straighten it\nout again. But the oat cake escaped and rolled out and down the road.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s too lively a place for me to stay,\u201d said the oat cake to itself.\n\nAt the next place where the oat cake stopped, a woman was churning.\n\n\u201cOh, the dear little, pretty little oat cake!\u201d cried she. \u201cI have good\nthick cream to-day, and plenty of it, and the oat cake will taste good\nwith it.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut first you must catch me,\u201d said the oat cake.\n\nIt rolled round and round the churn, and the woman ran after it, and in\nthe end she fell against the churn and upset it.\n\nWhile she was cleaning up the mess, the oat cake set out on further\nadventures.\n\n\u201cSo far I\u2019ve found no place in the world where an oat cake can rest in\npeace and quiet,\u201d said the cake. \u201cBut, there must be such a place\nsomewhere, and if there is, I mean to find it.\u201d\n\nSoon it came to a bit of a stream, with a mill beside it.\n\nThe oat cake rolled into the mill, and there stood a miller at work, and\nhe was all white with flour. \u201cOat cake and a bit of cheese taste well\ntogether,\u201d said the miller. \u201cThe cheese I already have. Come in, come in\nand make the other half of the feast.\u201d\n\nBut the oat cake was frightened and rolled on out, and the miller never\nbothered his head further about it.\n\nThe next place the oat cake stopped was at a smithy. The smith was busy\nbeating out a horseshoe, but when he saw the oat cake he laid aside the\nshoe.\n\n\u201cWelcome! Welcome! I like an oat cake and a drink of ale as well as the\nnext man. Come in and let us feast together.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot I,\u201d cried the oat cake, and away it rolled in haste, and as the\nroad was downhill now, it made good time.\n\nThe smith ran after it, and when he found the cake was going too fast\nfor him, he threw his hammer after it, and the hammer fell into a\nthicket, and the smith had a great time finding it.\n\nBut the oat cake hid in a crack between two rocks, and lay there quiet\nuntil the smith had found his hammer and gone back to his smithy again\ngrumbling. Then out it came and away it rolled, but it was getting tired\nnow.\n\n\u201cMaybe it would have been better if I had gone to rest in the good man\u2019s\nstomach,\u201d said the oat cake, \u201cbut here we go, and I have no mind to be\neaten by the first stranger who takes a fancy to me,--no, nor by the\nsecond either.\u201d\n\nIn the next house the oat cake entered, the good wife was cooking\nsupper, and her husband sat plaiting straw rope.\n\n\u201cLook at that!\u201d cried the woman. \u201cYou\u2019re always asking me for oat cake,\nand there is one ready to your hand. Quick! Quick! Shut the door and\ncatch it.\u201d\n\nThe man jumped up to shut the door, but he caught his foot in the rope\nhe was plaiting and fell flat on the floor. The woman threw her porridge\nstick at the cake, but away it went and off down the road.\n\n\u201cNow I\u2019ll have to find some place to sleep,\u201d said it to itself. \u201cNo\nknowing what will happen if I lay me down by the roadside.\u201d\n\nIt saw an open door, and in it rolled. The good man of the house had\njust taken off his breeches, and the woman was tucking the children into\nbed.\n\n\u201cLook! Look!\u201d cried the woman. \u201cThere is an oat cake rolling in at the\ndoor, and no one coming after to claim it. Catch it before it can get\naway again.\u201d\n\nThe good man jumped up and threw his breeches at it. They fell on the\noat cake and almost smothered it, but it managed to roll out from under\nthem and away it went, with the man and his wife in full chase after it,\nand the children crying after them.\n\nBut the oat cake was too quick, even for the two of them. It outran them\nboth, and\n\n[Illustration: As soon as he saw the oat cake he was wide awake again in\na moment. _Page 209_]\n\nthe man and his wife had to go back home without it, the man with his\nbare legs, and the neighbors peeking out at him from behind their window\ncurtains.\n\nBy this time it was dark. \u201cI\u2019ll have to hurry if I want to find a place\nto-night where I can sleep in quiet,\u201d said the oat cake.\n\nSo now it rolled along more briskly, and presently it came to a pasture,\nand it leaped and bounded across it at a great rate, for it was all\ndownhill, and then suddenly--plunk!--it fell down into a fox\u2019s hole.\n\nThe fox was at home and half asleep, but as soon as he saw the oat cake,\nhe was wide awake again in a moment. The fox had had nothing to eat all\nday, and he did not stop to look twice at the oat cake, but bit it in\nhalf and swallowed it down in a trice and with no words about it.\n\nSo the oat cake slept quiet after all its wanderings, but it might as\nwell have been eaten by the farmer in the first place.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DREAMER\n\nAN ENGLISH STORY\n\n\nThere once lived a man and his wife, named Peter and Kate, and they were\nso poor that they had scarcely enough bread to put in their mouths. They\nlived in a wretched, miserable hut, and in front of the hut was a river,\nand back of it a patch of ground and a gnarled old apple tree.\n\nOne night when Peter was sleeping he dreamed a dream, and in this dream\na tall old man dressed in gray, and with a long gray beard came to him\nand said, \u201cPeter, I know that you have had a hard life, and have neither\ngrumbled nor complained, and now I have a mind to help you. Follow down\nthe river until you come to a bridge. On the other side of the river you\nwill see a town. Take up your stand on the bridge and wait there\npatiently. It may be that nothing will happen the first day, and it may\nbe that nothing will happen the second day either, but if you do not\nlose courage, but still wait patiently, some time during the third day\nsome one will come to you, and tell you something that will make your\nfortune for you.\u201d\n\nIn the morning, when Peter awoke, he told his dream to Kate, his wife.\n\u201cIt would be a curious thing if I should do as the old man told me and\nreally become rich,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cNonsense!\u201d answered his wife. \u201cDreams are nothing but foolishness. Do\nyou go over to Neighbor Goodkin and see whether he has not some wood to\nbe cut, so you can earn a few pence to buy meal for to-morrow.\u201d\n\nSo Peter did as his wife told him, and went over to his neighbor\u2019s and\nworked there all day, and by evening he had almost forgotten his dream.\n\nBut that night, as soon as he fell asleep, the old man appeared before\nhim again. \u201cWhy have you not done as I told you, Peter?\u201d said he.\n\u201cRemember, good luck will not wait forever. To-morrow do you set out for\nthe bridge and town I told you of, and believe, for it is the truth; if\nyou wait there for three days and make the best of what will then be\ntold you you will become a rich man.\u201d\n\nWhen Peter awoke the next morning, his first thought was to set out in\nsearch of the bridge and town of which the old man had told him, but\nstill his wife dissuaded him.\n\n\u201cDo not be so foolish,\u201d said she. \u201cSit down and eat your breakfast and\nbe thankful that you have it. You earned a few pence yesterday, and who\nknows but what you may be lucky enough to earn even more to-day.\u201d\n\nSo Peter did not set out on his journey in search of fortune that day\neither.\n\nBut the next night for the third time the old man appeared before him,\nand now his look was stern and forbidding. \u201cThou fool!\u201d said he. \u201cThree\ntimes have I come to thee, and now I will come no more. Go to the bridge\nof which I have spoken and listen well to what is there said to thee.\nOtherwise want and poverty will still be thy portion, even as they have\nbeen heretofore.\u201d\n\nWith this the old man disappeared, and Peter awoke. And now it was of no\nuse for his wife to scold and argue. As the old man had commanded so\nPeter would do. He only stopped to put some food in his stomach and more\nin his pockets, and off he set, one foot before another.\n\nFor a long time Peter journeyed on down the river till he was both\nfootsore and weary, and then he came to a bridge that crossed the\nstream, and on the other side was a town, and Peter felt almost sure\nthis was the place to which the old man of his dreams had told him to\ncome.\n\nSo he took his stand on the fridge and stayed there all day. The\npassers-by stared at him, and some of them spoke to him, but none of\nthem said to him anything that might, by any chance, lead him on to\nfortune. All that day he waited on the bridge, and all of the day after,\nand by the time the third day came, he had eaten all the food he had\nbrought with him except one hard, dry crust of bread. Then he began to\nwonder whether he were not a simpleton to be loitering there day after\nday, all because of a dream, when he might, perhaps, be earning a few\npennies at home in one way or another.\n\nNow just beyond this bridge there was a tailor\u2019s shop, and the tailor\nwho lived there was a very curious man. Ever since Peter had taken his\nstand on the bridge the tailor had been peeping out at him, and\nwondering why he was standing there, and what his business might be; and\nthe longer Peter stayed the more curious the tailor became. He fussed\nand he fidgeted, and along toward the afternoon of the third day he\ncould bear it no longer, and he put aside his work and went out to the\nbridge to find out what he could about Peter and what he was doing\nthere.\n\nWhen he came where Peter was he bade him good-day.\n\n\u201cGood-day,\u201d answered Peter.\n\n\u201cAre you waiting here on the bridge for some one?\u201d asked the tailor.\n\n\u201cI am and I am not,\u201d replied Peter.\n\n\u201cNow what may be the meaning of that?\u201d asked the tailor. \u201cHow can you be\nwaiting and still not be waiting all at one and the same time?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am waiting for some one--that is true\u201d; said Peter, \u201cbut I know not\nwho he is nor whence he will come, nor, for the matter of that, whether\nany one will come at all.\u201d And then he related to the tailor his dream,\nand how he had been told that if he waited on the bridge for three days\nsome one would come along and tell him something that would make him\nrich for life.\n\n\u201cWhy, what a silly fellow you are,\u201d said the tailor. \u201cI, too, have\ndreamed dreams, but I have too much sense to pay any attention to them.\nOnly last week I dreamed three times that an old man came to me and told\nme to follow up along the bank of the river until I came to a hut where\na man and his wife lived,--the man\u2019s name was Peter, and his wife\u2019s name\nwas Kate. I was to go and dig among the roots of an apple tree back of\nthis house, and there, buried among the roots of the tree, I would find\na chest of golden money. That was what I dreamed. But did I go wandering\noff in search of such a place? No, indeed, I am not such a simpleton. I\nstick to my work, and I can manage to keep a warm roof over my head,\nand have plenty of food to eat, and when I am dressed in my best there\nis not one of the neighbors that looks half as fine as I do. No, no; go\nback to where you belong and set to work, my man, and maybe you can earn\nsomething better than those miserable rags you are wearing now.\u201d\n\nSo said the tailor, and then he went back to his tailor\u2019s bench and his\nsewing.\n\nBut Peter stood and scratched his head. \u201cA man named Peter, and his wife\nnamed Kate! And an apple tree behind the house!\u201d said he. \u201cNow it\u2019s a\nstrange thing if a fortune\u2019s been lying there under the roots of the\napple tree all this while, and I had to come to this town and this\nbridge to hear about it!\u201d\n\nSo said Peter as he stood there on the bridge. But then, after he had\nscratched his head and thought a bit longer, he pulled his hat down over\nhis ears and off he set for home. The farther he went, the more of a\nhurry he was in, and at last, when he came within sight of his house\nagain, he was all out of breath with the haste he had made.\n\nHe did not wait to go inside, but he bawled to his wife to fetch him a\npick and shovel, and ran around the house to where the apple tree stood.\n\nHis wife did not know what had happened to him. She thought he must have\nlost his wits, but she brought him the pick and shovel, and he began\ndigging around about the roots of the apple tree.\n\nHe had not dug for so very long when his pick struck something hard. He\nflung the pick aside and seized his spade, and presently he uncovered a\ngreat chest made of stout oak wood and bound about with iron.\n\nThe chest was so heavy that he could not lift it out of the hole\nhimself, and his wife had to help him. The chest was locked, but that\nmattered little to Peter. He took his pick, and with a few blows he\nbroke the hinges and fastenings, and lifted the lid from its place. At\nonce he gave a loud cry, and fell on his knees beside the chest. He and\nhis wife could scarce believe in their good fortune. It was brimming\nover with golden money, enough to make them rich for life.\n\nThey carried the chest into the house, and barred the door, and set\nabout counting the money, and there was so much of it, they were all\nevening and part of the night counting it.\n\nThat was the way good fortune came to Peter, and all by way of a dream.\n\nNow he and his wife built themselves a great house, and had fine food,\nand coaches, and horses, and handsome clothes, and they feasted the\nneighbors, and never a poor man came to the door but what they gave him\nas much food as he could eat and a piece of silver to put in his pocket.\n\nOne day Peter put on his finest clothes and made his wife dress herself\nin her best, and then they stepped into one of their coaches, and Peter\nbade the coachman drive to the town where he had stood on the bridge and\nlistened to the tailor tell his dream of the chest of money buried under\nthe apple tree.\n\nPeter made the coachman drive up in front of the tailor\u2019s shop, and\nwhen the tailor saw the coach stopping at his door, and the fine people\nsitting in it, he thought it was some great nobleman and his wife, come\nperhaps to order a suit of clothes of him.\n\nHe came out, bowing and smiling and smirking, and Peter said to him, \u201cDo\nyou remember me?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, your lordship,\u201d answered the tailor, still bowing and smiling, \u201cI\nhave not that honor, your lordship.\u201d\n\nThen Peter told him he was the ragged fellow who had stood out there on\nthe bridge waiting for good luck to come to him; and sure enough it had,\nfor if it had not been for the dream the tailor told him, he would have\nknown nothing about the gold buried under the apple tree and would never\nhave become the rich man he was now.\n\nWhen the tailor heard this tale, he was ready to tear his hair out, for\nif he had believed his dream he might have found the gold himself and\nhave kept a share of it.\n\nHowever, Peter gave him a hundred gold pieces to comfort him and\nordered a fine suit. He also promised that after that he would buy all\nhis clothes from the tailor and pay him a good price for them, so the\ntailor, too, got some good from all the dreaming.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF HARKA\n\nAN AMERICAN INDIAN TALE\n\n\nIt was evening, and the Indians had gathered around their camp fires.\nAmong the youths sat Harka, the tallest and handsomest of them all.\n\nFrom the lodge his mother called to him, \u201cHarka, go down to the spring\nin the forest and bring me some water.\u201d\n\nWithout moving, Harka answered, \u201cIt is dark down in the forest, and I am\nafraid to go where it is dark.\u201d\n\nThen from all the Indians around there rose a shout of laughter and of\njeering. \u201cHe is afraid of the dark!\u201d they shouted. \u201cHe has said it!\u201d And\neven the children laughed and jeered at him.\n\nThen Harka arose and cried, \u201cYou think I am a coward, but I will prove\nto you before long that I am as brave as any man in the tribe, either\nyouth or warrior.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow will you prove it, Harka?\u201d they mocked at him; and one cried,\n\u201cBring us the head of Pahundootah! Then we will believe you.\u201d\n\nNow Pahundootah was a sorcerer, so powerful and wicked that he was the\nterror of all the villages. Even the warriors feared him, and women and\nchildren shuddered at his name.\n\nBut in his anger Harka answered rashly, \u201cI will bring you the head of\nPahundootah.\u201d\n\nThen again the shouts arose, mocking and jeering at him. None believed\nhim, but they thought him an idle boaster.\n\nBut Harka wrapped his blanket about him and went back in silence to his\nlodge, and the sound of laughter followed him, and his heart was\ntroubled within him. He had said that he would bring them the head of\nthe sorcerer, and now unless he kept his promise he would be ashamed to\nface again his people and have them taunt him for his boasting.\n\nEarly the next morning Harka arose, and without saying anything to any\none, he took from a bag that hung in the lodge three magic arrows\nbelonging to his father, and set out upon a journey. He had determined\nto seek out Pahundootah and either slay him or be slain.\n\nAll the morning he traveled on without stopping, and at noon he shot one\nof the magic arrows high into the air. He carefully noted the direction\nin which it went and then followed, running swiftly and lightly.\n\nToward evening he came to where a deer lay dead, with the arrow sticking\nin it.\n\nWithout troubling to withdraw the arrow, Harka cut some slices of\nvenison and cooked and ate.\n\nAll night he tended the fire that it might not die down and leave him in\ndarkness, and in the early morning he again set out upon his journey.\n\nAt noon he shot his second arrow into the air, and toward evening he\nfound it buried in the heart of an elk. That night he had elk meat for\nsupper, and the next day he went on his way, traveling swiftly, but he\nforgot the arrow.\n\nHe waited till noonday and then shot from his bow his third and last\narrow. That evening he came to where a buffalo lay dead, slain by the\narrow. Once more he ate and rested by the fire, and at dawning he set\nout again upon his journey.\n\nWhen noon came he had no arrow to shoot, for he had left them all behind\nhim.\n\nBy evening Harka was very hungry, but there was nothing for him to eat.\n\nSuddenly he saw the light of a fire just ahead of him. He advanced\ntoward it, slowly and cautiously, fearing it might be the encampment of\nsome enemy, but he saw no one except an old woman who was stirring\nsomething in a pot that hung over the fire. Never was seen an old woman\nhalf so horrible and terrifying as she. Her face was more like that of a\nskull than of a human being. Her gray hair hung down about her like a\nmat; her eyes were as red as fire, and her nails so long that she could\nhardly close her hands. About her neck was a necklace of bones, and\nabout her waist a girdle of scalps.\n\nAfter looking at her for awhile, Harka was about to steal quietly away\nwhen, without looking up, the old woman called to him, \u201cCome nearer to\nthe fire, Harka. Supper is almost ready.\u201d\n\nHarka came forward into the firelight, and the old witch, still without\nlooking up, bade him be seated.\n\nSuddenly the scalps about her waist burst into a shout of laughter, and\nthe hag joined in with them, laughing loudly. Then they fell silent, and\nthe old woman too became quiet, scowling and muttering to herself as she\nbent over the pot.\n\nPresently she filled a dish with food and brought it to Harka. The youth\nwas hungry, and in spite of the strange look of the old woman, he ate\nheartily.\n\nWhen he had finished, she took away the bowl. Again the scalps burst\ninto wild laughter, and the hag laughed with them.\n\nAfter they were silent, she came over and sat down beside Harka and\nbegan talking.\n\n\u201cI know why you have come here, Harka,\u201d she said. \u201cYou are in search of\nPahundootah. I am the Witch Wokonkatonzooeyepekahaichu and Pahundootah\nis my bitterest enemy. I myself cannot destroy him, but you may be able\nto do it with my help. It will be a very dangerous business, and you\nwill have to be careful. Now sleep, and to-morrow I will tell you what\nyou must do in order to destroy the sorcerer.\u201d\n\nHarka lay down beside the fire and slept soundly.\n\nThe next morning, when he awoke, the breakfast was ready, and after he\nhad eaten, the old woman went into the lodge and brought out a magic\npouch. From this she drew a leaden comb, a golden cup, and a blade of\nsword grass. She also took from the bag a woman\u2019s dress most beautifully\nshaped and colored.\n\n\u201cNow listen carefully,\u201d said the witch. \u201cOnly as a maiden can you come\nnear Pahundootah. Put on the dress, and then I will comb your hair for\nyou.\u201d\n\nHarka did as the old witch bade him. He dressed himself in the\nbeautiful garments, and then the old witch took the leaden comb and\ncombed his hair; and as she combed, his hair grew longer and longer\nuntil it hung down below his knees in beautiful shining tresses. His\neyes also looked larger, and his face finer, so that any one who saw him\nwould have thought him a surpassingly beautiful young maiden.\n\nThe old witch looked at him and burst into laughter, and all the scalps\nlaughed with her.\n\nThen she gave Harka the golden goblet and the blade of sword grass. \u201cPut\nthe grass in your girdle,\u201d said she. \u201cWith that and that alone can\nPahundootah\u2019s head be severed from his shoulders. Now walk forward until\nyou come to a lake with an island in the middle of it. Upon that island\nlive the sorcerer and his people. As soon as you reach the lake you must\nbegin to dip up the water in the golden cup. The sorcerer will see the\ngleam of it and come in his canoe to capture you. This you must allow\nhim to do, though you must seem frightened and reluctant, as would a\ntimid maiden. He will take you back to the island with him, and then\nyou must find some way to draw him apart from the others and lull him to\nsleep. Then you can cut off his head with the blade of grass I have\ngiven you and escape before the others find what you have done.\u201d\n\nHarka took the cup and the blade of grass she offered him and strode off\nthrough the forest in the direction the witch pointed out to him. Soon\nhe came out from the forest and found himself upon the borders of a wide\nlake, in the midst of which lay an island.\n\nHarka now walked more slowly and delicately, trying to move with the\nsoft grace of a young and timid maiden.\n\nAt the edge of the lake he stooped and dipped the cup into the water.\nThe sunlight striking on the gold was reflected with a dazzling\nbrightness that could be seen even as far as the island.\n\nScarcely had he lifted the dripping cup from the water when he saw a\ncanoe shoot out from among the reeds of the island and come swiftly\ntoward the spot where he was standing. In it sat the sorcerer\nPahundootah, driving it forward with strong strokes.\n\nAs Harka looked at him, his heart beat heavy within him, for the\nsorcerer was terrible to see, so hideous and cruel and treacherous was\nhis appearance.\n\nBut the youth managed to hide his feelings and turned aside with the shy\nand downcast air of a timid maiden, and moved slowly toward the forest.\nCharmed by his grace and beauty, Pahundootah followed him. He praised\nthe pretended maiden\u2019s eyes, her lips, her hair, the grace with which\nshe moved, and poured words of love into Harka\u2019s ears, begging him to\nreturn with him to his island home and share his lodge, his food, and\nfire.\n\nHarka pretended to hesitate, but finally he allowed himself to be\npersuaded, and entering the canoe, he sat down opposite the sorcerer,\ngiving him shy glances and trailing his hand through the water.\n\nPahundootah was as one bewitched. Hardly could he take his eyes from\nHarka\u2019s beauty. With strong strokes he drove the canoe through the\nwater and over to the island. Then he took Harka\u2019s hand and led him to\nwhere a fire was burning and an old hag was cooking supper. He spread a\nrobe for his love to sit on and threw himself at her feet. The hag who\nwas his mother watched them, muttering. Again and again she looked\nsuspiciously at Harka. At last the supper was cooked. She called Harka\nto come and carry a bowl of it to the sorcerer. Harka moved toward her\nsoftly, trying still to bear himself as a maiden, but the old woman\nwatched him suspiciously, and as he drew nearer she looked deep into his\neyes.\n\n\u201cPahundootah,\u201d she cried, \u201cwhat magic has bewitched you? Can you not see\nthat this is no maiden, but a brave and daring warrior who has put on\nthis appearance in order to deceive you?\u201d\n\nPahundootah sprang to his feet and looked at Harka with anger and\nsuspicion, but Harka turned away his head with an offended air. \u201cYour\nmother has insulted me,\u201d he said. \u201cShe is angry because you have brought\nme here and because you have spoken to me of love. Now I will go away\nback to my own tribe where I will be free from insults.\u201d\n\nSlowly he walked away from the fire and down toward the reedy shore of\nthe island.\n\nAs Pahundootah watched the grace with which he walked and noted again\nhis long and glossy hair, he could not doubt but that his mother was\nmistaken, and that this was really a maiden. He followed, begging Harka\nto turn and smile upon him and return with him to the fire.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d repeated Harka, \u201cyour mother has insulted me. It is better I\nshould return to my own people.\u201d\n\nBy the side of the lake Harka sat down, and the sorcerer threw himself\ndown beside him, and laid his head in Harka\u2019s lap.\n\nSoftly Harka passed his fingers through Pahundootah\u2019s hair. Lulled by\nhis love and the touch of Harka\u2019s fingers, the sorcerer\u2019s eyelids\nclosed, and he sank into slumber. Then softly the lad drew from his\ngirdle the blade of grass the witch had given him and with one stroke\nsevered the head of Pahundootah from the body. Swiftly wrapping it in a\ncloth he had brought for that purpose, he sped to where the canoe lay\namong the rushes, and stepping into it, he drove it off across the water\nwith silent, powerful strokes.\n\nWhen he reached the farther shore, he turned and looked back. Already\nlights were moving about on the island. The old mother, grown\nsuspicious, was hunting for the sorcerer. Then suddenly across the water\nsounded loud fierce wails and cries. By that, Harka knew they had\ndiscovered Pahundootah\u2019s body.\n\nWithout waiting longer, he sped back to the camp of the old witch. As\nshe saw him coming, she began to clap her hands, shouting, \u201cYou have\nslain him! You have slain him! Harka has slain the enemy of\nWokonkatonzooeyepekahaichu!\u201d and all the scalps that hung about her\nshouted with her. \u201cNow,\u201d she cried, \u201cyou are a great warrior! Now no one\ncan laugh at you or scorn you.\u201d\n\nAll that night as Harka lay beside the witch\u2019s fire, he could hear, now\nlouder now fainter, the cries of Pahundootah\u2019s people, and always,\n\n[Illustration: When he reached the farther shore, he turned and looked\nback. _Page 232_]\n\nas they sounded louder, the old witch laughed with joy, and the scalps\nlaughed with her.\n\nEarly in the morning Harka set out to journey back to his tribe. For\nthree days he journeyed, and then he came within sight of the village.\nIt was toward dusk, and the Indians were gathered once more about their\nfires. It was the children who saw him first, and they shouted,\nlaughing, \u201cHere comes Harka! Here comes Harka. Hasten, Harka, or the\ndark may catch you.\u201d And the youths joined them in their laughter. \u201cHave\nyou slain the sorcerer, Harka? Have you his head to show us?\u201d\n\nThen Harka answered proudly, \u201cLook!\u201d and uncovering the head, he held it\nup before them.\n\nFor a moment all were silent, gazing awe-struck. Then a great shout\narose, \u201cHe has slain him! Harka has slain Pahundootah! He has brought\nhis head to show us!\u201d\n\nThen all gathered around him, youths and warriors, and the women and the\nchildren also, and all wondered and hailed him as a hero. And from that\ntime Harka sat no more with those of his own age, but with the wise ones\nand the warriors, and joined in their councils, and when the old chief\ndied, Harka was chosen chief and ruled his tribe and reared up children\nand killed many enemies. And always he was known as Harka, the slayer of\nPahundootah.\n\n\n\n\nSCHIPPEITARO\n\nA JAPANESE STORY\n\n\nThere was once a brave Japanese lad who wished to go out into the world\nand prove his courage in some great adventure. His father and mother did\nnot say no to this. Instead they gave him their blessing, and allowed\nhim to set forth.\n\nFor a long time he traveled along, crossing streams and passing through\nvillages, but nowhere did he meet with any adventures.\n\nOne evening, as dusk drew on, he found himself in a dark forest, and he\ndid not know which way to turn in order to get out of it. He wandered\nthis way and that, and always the night grew darker and the way rougher,\nand then suddenly, between the tree trunks, he saw a red light shine\nout; sometimes it shone brighter and sometimes dimmer, but never with a\nsteady shining.\n\nHe went toward the light, and before long he found himself near an old\nruined temple. Within a fire was burning, and the temple was full of\ndemon cats. They were leaping and whirling and dancing around the fire,\nand as they danced they sang. The song had words and they sang them over\nand over again, always the same thing.\n\nAt first the lad could not make out what the words were, but after he\nhad listened carefully for a while he understood; and this was what they\nsang:\n\n \u201cTo-night we dance, to-night we sing;\n To-morrow the maiden they will bring.\u201d\n\nThey would sing this over and over and over, and then suddenly they\nwould cease their bounding and whirling, and would stand still and all\ncry together,--\n\n \u201cBut Schippeitaro must not know!\n But Schippeitaro must not know!\u201d\n\nThe lad stayed there for a long time watching them, and the longer he\nwatched, the more he wondered.\n\nAfter a while the fire burned low, they bounded less wildly, and their\nsongs were still. Then the fire died out, and soon afterward the lad\nfell into a deep sleep.\n\nWhen he awoke the next morning, he was both cold and stiff, and as he\nrubbed his eyes and looked about him, he thought that all he had seen\nthe night before must have been only a dream, for the temple lay silent\nand deserted, and there were no signs of the demon cats or their revels,\nexcept a heap of burned-out ashes on the temple floor.\n\nThe lad arose from where he lay and went on his way wondering. Not long\nafter he came to the edge of the forest and saw before him a village. He\nentered the village and looked about him, and everything was in mourning\nand all the people seemed very sad. In front of one of the principal\nhouses a great crowd had gathered, and from within came a sound of\nweeping and lamenting.\n\nThe lad joined the crowd, and looked in through the door of the house.\nThere he saw a maiden dressed as though for a festival, but she was very\npale, and tears were running down her face; an old man and an old\nwoman, who seemed to be her father and mother, sat one each side of\nher, holding her hands, and they also were weeping, with the tears\nrunning down their wrinkled faces. Two men were busy over a great chest\nbound around with iron, and with iron hasps, and every time the old man\nand woman looked at the chest, they shuddered and wept more bitterly\nthan ever.\n\nThis sight made the youth very curious, and he turned to a man beside\nhim and asked why the village was all in mourning, and why the beautiful\nyoung girl and her parents were weeping so bitterly.\n\n\u201cAre you a stranger in these parts that you ask such questions?\u201d\ninquired the man.\n\n\u201cI come from beyond the other side of the forest, from far away,\u201d\nreplied the youth, \u201cand I know nothing of this village or what has\nhappened here.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I will tell you,\u201d said the man. \u201cOver in the forest yonder there\ndwells a terrible demon. Every year he requires that a maiden shall be\noffered up to him as a sacrifice. Many of our most beautiful maidens\nhave already been sacrificed to him, and to-day it is the turn of the\none you see within there, and she is the fairest of them all.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut why do not your men go into the forest and try to destroy this\ndemon?\u201d asked the youth.\n\n\u201cIt would be useless, for we have been told and know that no mortal arm\ncan prevail against him. He comes, as a cat, to the ruined temple over\nyonder in the forest, and with him comes a great company of seeming\ncats--but they also are demons and are his servants.\u201d\n\nWhen the youth heard this, he remembered the cats he had seen dancing in\nthe temple the night before and the song they had sung; and presently he\nasked, \u201cWho is Schippeitaro?\u201d\n\nWhen he asked this, those around who heard him began to laugh. \u201cYou\nspeak as though Schippeitaro were a man,\u201d said they. \u201cSchippeitaro is a\ngreat dog that belongs to the Prince of this country. The Prince values\nhim highly, for he is as big as a lion and twice as fierce. Never\nbefore was his like seen for strength and bigness, nor ever will be\nagain.\u201d\n\nThe youth asked where the Prince kept the hound, and as soon as he had\nlearned this, he set off walking very rapidly in the direction the man\npointed out to him.\n\nAfter a while he came to a house with a walled garden back of it. In\nthis house lived the man who had charge of Schippeitaro, and the walled\ngarden was for the dog to roam about in.\n\nThe youth knocked at the door, and presently the keeper of the dog\nopened it and asked him what he wanted.\n\n\u201cI want to borrow your great hound, Schippeitaro, for the night, and I\nwill pay you well for lending him to me,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cThat you will not do,\u201d replied the keeper, \u201cfor I will not lend him to\nyou. He is the favorite dog of the Prince of this country, and it would\nbe as much as my life is worth to lend him to any one.\u201d\n\nThen the lad began to bargain with him. First he offered the man a third\nof all his money if he might have the dog just until morning; then he\noffered him the half of all his money, and then he offered him all of\nit.\n\nThat was more than the man could withstand. \u201cVery well\u201d, said he, \u201cyou\nmay take the dog; but remember it is only for this one night, and you\nmust bring him back the first thing in the morning, and you need never\nask to borrow him again for I shall not lend him to you.\u201d\n\nA collar was then put around Schippeitaro\u2019s neck, and a chain fastened\nto it, and the lad took the chain in his hand and led the great dog back\nto the village he had just come from.\n\nWhen he came to the house where he had seen the maiden, they were just\nabout to put her in the chest, for that was always the way the maidens\nwho were to be sacrificed were carried to the temple.\n\nBut the youth bade them stay their hands. \u201cListen to me,\u201d said he, \u201cfor\nI know whereof I speak. I have seen these demons, and I have a plan by\nwhich you may rid yourselves of them forever. Instead of the maiden, do\nyou put Schippeitaro into the chest, carry him to the temple and leave\nhim there. I myself will accompany you, and after you have gone, I will\nstay there and watch. Believe me, no harm shall come from this, but\ninstead it will put an end to your having to offer up sacrifices to the\ndemon.\u201d\n\nAt first the people would not listen to him, but afterward they agreed\nto do as he wished, though they were very much frightened. The great\nhound was put into the chest, the lid was fastened, and he was carried\naway and placed in the temple instead of the maiden. After that the men\nhastened back to the village, but the lad hid himself near by to wait\nand watch for the demons as he had promised.\n\nAfter a while it grew dark, and then, toward midnight, a dull red fire\nshone in the temple, and the lad saw that it was full of demon cats\nwhirling and bounding and singing as they had before, but this time\nthere was with them a great fierce black cat, larger than any of them,\nand he was the king of them all, and he leaped higher and sang louder\nthan any of them. This time their song was of how a maiden had been\nbrought to them as a sacrifice, and of what a tender morsel she would\nbe. Then they all shouted together:\n\n \u201cAnd Schippeitaro does not know!\n And Schippeitaro does not know!\u201d\n\nNearer and nearer they came to the chest. Almost they brushed against it\nas they whirled about it. Then, with a cry, they bounded at it, and tore\nit open.\n\nAt once, out from the box leaped Schippeitaro. The demons shrieked at\nthe sight of him and the great hound rushed at them and tore them. He\nseized the King Demon by the throat and shook him till the life was\nquite shaken out of him. Then he flew at the other cats, and when they\ntried to escape out through the doors or windows, the youth stood there\nwith his sword and drove them back.\n\nMany of the demons did Schippeitaro destroy that night; many of them he\nscattered over the floor in pieces, and those who escaped fled so far\naway that they were never seen in that neighborhood again.\n\nBut the youth returned to the house of the parents of the maiden and\nasked them for her hand in marriage, for he had loved her from the\nfirst moment he had seen her, because of her beauty, and her gentle air.\nGladly her parents agreed to give her to him, and the Prince himself\ncame to the marriage, bringing with him gifts both rich and rare, for he\nhad heard of the bravery and wit the youth had shown in ridding his\npeople of the demons who had distressed them, and he brought\nSchippeitaro with him as a welcome guest.\n\nAfter that the youth and his young wife returned to his own home, and\nthere they lived happy forever after, honored and admired by all who\nknew them.\n\n\n\n\nEROS AND PSYCHE\n\nA GREEK TALE\n\n\nThere was once a Princess named Psyche who was so beautiful that no one\non earth could compare with her in fairness. When she went abroad the\npeople gathered in crowds to gaze upon her, and children strewed flowers\nbefore her and offered her garlands, as though she were a goddess.\n\nNow when Aphrodite, herself the Goddess of Beauty, heard of this, she\nbecame very jealous of Psyche, and she called to her Eros, her son who\nwas the God of Love, and bade him cause Psyche to fall in love with the\nugliest and wickedest man in all the world.\n\n\u201cIn this way she shall be punished for her pride and for her beauty,\u201d\nsaid Aphrodite, who was herself most proud and beautiful.\n\nNow Eros was very curious to see this beauty of beauties, and so, in\ninvisible form, he visited the palace of Psyche\u2019s father and went from\nroom to room until he came to where she sat with her two sisters. They\nwere all beautiful, but Psyche so far outshone the others that they\nseemed pale beside her.\n\nNo sooner had Eros looked upon her, than he fell deeply in love with her\nand determined to make her his bride. He therefore put it into her\nfather\u2019s mind to consult an oracle as to what should be done with\nPsyche, for already the King was fearful, lest her beauty bring down\nupon him the anger of the gods.\n\nSo the King traveled secretly to the temple of Phoebus at Miletus, and\nthere he consulted the oracle; the oracle told him that Psyche must be\ntaken to the top of a high mountain and there left to be devoured by a\nmonster that the gods would send, and that in this way, and this way\nalone, could the whole kingdom be saved from destruction.\n\nWhen the King heard this, his heart was heavy within him, for of all his\ndaughters Psyche was the dearest to him, so he returned home very\nsorrowful. The two older sisters cared little for his sadness, but\nPsyche, who loved him tenderly, was grieved, and she went to him and\nsaid, \u201cMy father, why are you so sorrowful and downcast?\u201d\n\nFor a long time the King would not tell her what it was that troubled\nhim, but she was so urgent in her questions that at last he could keep\nsilence no longer, and he said, \u201cMy daughter, thy beauty is so great\nthat it has drawn upon us the anger of the gods, and even Aphrodite\nherself is jealous of thee. The oracle at Miletus has spoken and has\ntold me that I and thou and thy sisters and all the city with us will be\ndestroyed, unless a certain sacrifice is made.\u201d\n\nThen Psyche asked him what was the sacrifice the gods demanded, and her\nfather answered, \u201cThou thyself, Psyche, art the sacrifice.\u201d\n\nWhen Psyche heard that, she cried aloud with terror, but presently she\nasked her father how she was to be sacrificed, and he told her what else\nthe oracle had said, that she was to be taken out to a high mountain and\nleft there to be devoured by a monster the gods would send.\n\nThen Psyche wept bitterly, but at last she said, \u201cIt is better that one\nshould perish than that all should be destroyed together. So let the\nsacrifice be made, even as the oracle has directed.\u201d\n\nThen, soon afterward, Psyche was made ready; she was dressed as a bride,\nin shining garments, and hung about with jewels, and at the time set by\nthe oracle, she was taken out and left alone upon the mountain. None\nmight stay to comfort her or to watch with her for the coming of the\nmonster.\n\nBut no sooner was she alone than Eros caused her to fall into a deep\nsleep, and while she slept he carried her away to a secret palace he had\nprepared for her. All about the palace were gardens, with shining\ntemples and fountains and winding paths and trees that bore all sorts of\nstrange and delicious fruits. The palace itself was very beautiful. The\nwalls were of ivory and cedar, and the roof was of gold. The ceilings\nwere of shining blue, set with precious stones like stars, and the\npillars that supported it were also of gold, wrought with shapes of\nflowers and leaves and birds; and the floor was of stones of beautiful\ncolors set in strange patterns.\n\nIt was in this palace that Psyche awakened and, wondering, looked about\nher.\n\nSuddenly the voices of unseen maidens spoke to her sweetly, bidding her\nhave no fear. \u201cWe are your servants, Psyche,\u201d they told her. \u201cThis\npalace, these gardens, and we who are to serve you are the gift of one\nwho loves you. He desires only your happiness, and for you to be his\nbride.\u201d\n\nThen all fear left Psyche, and she rose up and wandered through the\ngardens, and from room to room of the palace, and everywhere she saw new\nbeauties. Soft music followed her, and in one place a feast of strange\nand delicious foods and drinks was served to her, but she saw no one.\nEverything was done for her by invisible hands.\n\nAll day Psyche amused herself by examining the beautiful things about\nthe palace and garden, and then, as night drew on, and she became weary,\nshe laid herself down upon a magnificent couch that had been prepared\nfor her.\n\nThen suddenly, in the darkness, Psyche heard footsteps coming nearer and\nnearer. Filled with terror, she listened. She feared it was the monster\nthat the gods were to send, and that it was coming now to destroy her.\nBut a voice, softer and sweeter than any she had ever heard, spoke to\nher out of the darkness, bidding her have no fear.\n\n\u201cI am thy own true lover, Psyche,\u201d said the voice. \u201cIt is for thee I\nprepared this palace and these gardens. Only love me in return, and our\nhappiness will be so great that even the gods themselves can know no\ngreater.\u201d\n\nThen Psyche was filled with joy and with love for the one who spoke to\nher so tenderly, and who had prepared all this happiness for her.\n\nAll night he stayed with her, and they held sweet talk together, but in\nthe early morning, before it was light, he left her, and she knew\nnothing of how this unknown lover looked, but only that he was wise and\nkind and tender.\n\nNow every day Psyche wandered through the gardens or amused herself in\nthe palace, and feasted and heard sweet music, and was served in every\nthing by unseen hands, and every night her unknown lover came to her,\nbut always he left before the morning and so she never saw him.\n\nFor a long time Psyche was very happy, but after a while she began to\nthink of her father and her sisters, and her heart yearned for them so\nthat she became sad and lonely.\n\nOne night she said to her lover, \u201cAm I never again to see my father, nor\nthe sisters who are so dear to me?\u201d\n\nThen the unknown one asked her, \u201cAre you so soon weary of me, Psyche?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not weary of you,\u201d answered the Princess, \u201cbut I long with all my\nheart to see my sisters that I may know that it is well with them, and\nthat they may know that it is well with me also. If I could see them but\nonce only, then I would be contented.\u201d\n\nHer unknown lover was silent for a while, and then he said. \u201cI love you\nso dearly that I can refuse you nothing, Psyche. I will bring your\nsisters here to visit you, but they may stay with you only for three\ndays, and you must tell them nothing of me, however they may question\nyou, and if they offer you advice, you must not take it. Do not even\nlisten to it. Remember, if you disobey me, great sorrow will come upon\nyou and upon me also.\u201d\n\nPsyche was filled with joy at the thought that she was once more to see\nher sisters, and eagerly she promised to heed the warnings of her lover\nand to obey him in all things. But all night Eros (for it was he who was\nher lover) was very sad and silent, for he feared that this wish of\nPsyche\u2019s would bring some misfortune on them.\n\nThe next night Eros caused Psyche\u2019s sisters to fall into a deep sleep,\nand while they were sleeping Zephyrus, who governs the winds, lifted\nthem up and carried them to a room in Psyche\u2019s palace and left them\nthere.\n\nIn the morning, when the sisters awoke, they were amazed to find\nthemselves in an unknown palace, and their wonder was even greater when\nPsyche came hastening to greet them, and when they found the palace and\nall that was in it and the gardens round about it were hers, and were\nall the gift of a lover, who had brought her there the day she was left\nupon the mountain.\n\nPsyche questioned them about their father and all that had happened\nsince she had left them, and after she had heard all there was to tell,\nshe took them through the palace and showed them the treasures, and led\nthem through the gardens, and they heard the music, and were served by\nunseen hands. The more they saw, the more they wondered, and they became\nvery envious of Psyche. They asked her about the one who had given her\nall these things, but Psyche turned these questions aside and would not\ntalk with them of her lover.\n\nAt the end of three days, when the time came for her sisters to leave\nher, Psyche bade them choose what they would have of all they had seen\nin the palace. She loaded them with jewels and treasures, and nothing\nthey asked for was refused them. Then they fell asleep, and in their\nsleep Zephyrus carried them back again to their father\u2019s castle, to the\nplace whence he had brought them, and the gifts that Psyche had given\nthem he left beside them.\n\nAfter this Psyche was contented for a time and then once more she began\nto long to see her sisters, and she begged Eros to bring them to visit\nher as before.\n\n\u201cPsyche, do not ask me,\u201d said Eros. \u201cI feel that if they come again,\nsome misfortune will surely fall upon us.\u201d\n\nBut still Psyche begged and entreated him to bring them to her, until he\ncould refuse no longer. Again he caused the sisters to fall into a deep\nsleep, and again Zephyrus bore them to the palace where Psyche awaited\nthem.\n\nBut this time the sisters brought but little joy with them. All the\nwhile they had been away they had been growing more and more envious of\nPsyche, so that now they could scarcely hide from her their jealousy of\nher good fortune.\n\n\u201cWhy should Psyche have all these things,\u201d said they to each other, \u201cand\nwe have nothing except such gifts as she is pleased to make to us?\u201d\n\nThen they began to talk to her about her husband. \u201cHe must be some\nhorrible monster,\u201d said they. \u201cOtherwise why should he only come in\ndarkness and never let you see him? No doubt he is the very monster for\nwhom you were left upon the mountain. Oh, Psyche! Your fate is surely\nmost unhappy in that you are married to such a creature.\u201d\n\nAt first Psyche tried not to listen to them, but still they talked and\nwhispered until at last she became frightened, and each night she\ndreaded the coming of her husband, fearing he was indeed some monster,\nand that, in the end, he would devour her.\n\nThen came the last night that her sisters were to be with her, and just\nbefore they went to rest they called Psyche to their chamber and gave\nher a lamp and a dagger.\n\n\u201cDearest sister, we wish, if possible to save you,\u201d said they. \u201cHere are\na lamp and a dagger. To-night, when your husband is sleeping, you must\nrise quietly from his side and take the lamp and look at him. Then if,\nas we believe, you find he is a monster, drive this dagger into his\nheart. So you will rid the world of him and save yourself alive, for\nunless you do this, he will certainly sometime destroy you.\u201d\n\nTrembling Psyche took the lamp and the dagger and promised to hide them\nin the little room that was beyond her sleeping chamber and to use the\ndagger as they directed if she found that what they feared were so. Then\nshe kissed her sisters farewell, for she knew the time had come for them\nto leave her.\n\nThat night Eros came to Psyche as usual, and she let him know nothing of\nwhat she and her sisters had planned against him. He was so gentle\ntoward her, and so tender that she could not but love him, and then she\nremembered her sisters\u2019 warnings and hardened her heart against him.\n\nShe waited until he was sleeping, and then she slipped away and took up\nthe lamp in one hand and the dagger in the other. Returning, she held\nthe lamp above him and looked down at him.\n\nWhat were her joy and awe and wonder to find it was no monster, but\nEros, the God of Love himself who was her husband.\n\nAs she still bent above him, entranced by his beauty, one drop of hot\noil from the lamp fell upon his shoulder.\n\nThen Eros sprang up from his slumbers and looked at her with grief and\nindignation.\n\n\u201cWhat have you done!\u201d he cried. \u201cOh, unhappy one! Why did you not obey\nmy warnings? Now I must leave you, and grief and sorrow must be your\nportion. Farewell, unhappy Psyche.\u201d\n\nWith these words he vanished from before her, and at the same time the\npalace and the gardens and all that were in them faded away like the\nmist of the morning.\n\nPsyche was alone upon a wide and desolate plain. Dawn was breaking, and\na cold wind blew about her.\n\n\u201cEros! Eros!\u201d cried Psyche; but no one answered.\n\nThen Psyche wept aloud in bitter despair; and she rose and wrapped her\ngarments about her against the wind and set off across the plain.\n\nFor a long time she journeyed on, but whither she knew not, until at\nlast she came to a wood and heard a sound of piping. She followed the\nsound and presently came to a place where the god Pan sat, playing upon\nhis pipes, and all about him creatures of the wood, both large and\nsmall, had gathered to listen to his music.\n\nThen Psyche cried to him in her grief. \u201cOh, Pan, you who wander far and\nnear, tell me where is Eros, that I may follow him and find him.\u201d\n\nBut Pan answered, \u201cI know not, Psyche. Ask Demeter, the Earth-mother.\nShe is very wise, and if he is on this earth, she is the one who can\ntell you where to find him.\u201d\n\nSo Psyche went on farther and came to where Demeter, the kind\nEarth-mother, was watching the fields and meadows and the harvesters at\ntheir work.\n\nThen Psyche said to her, \u201cOh, Demeter, you who know all things, tell me\nwhere my husband Eros has fled to that I may follow and find him.\u201d\n\nThe Earth-mother answered, \u201cHe is not on earth, Psyche. When the hot\noil fell upon him and burned him, he fled back to Olympus, the home of\nthe gods, for it is there his mother Aphrodite dwells. Now he is with\nher, for she and she alone can heal the wound that you have caused him.\u201d\n\nThen Psyche wept even more bitterly still, and she said, \u201cI will go to\nAphrodite and tell her of my grief and sorrow, and then it may be that\nshe will let me speak with Eros, and that he will forgive me.\u201d\n\nBut Demeter replied, \u201cBe careful, Psyche, for Aphrodite hates you with a\nbitter hatred, and if she could she would gladly destroy you. Eros, too,\nis angry with you, and you can hardly hope he will forgive you, for you\nhave caused him great sorrow and suffering.\u201d\n\n\u201cNevertheless,\u201d said Psyche, \u201cI will go to Aphrodite, for unless Eros\nwill forgive me and take me back into his love, I do not care to live.\u201d\n\nSo Psyche journeyed on and on until at last she came to Olympus and to\nthe place where Aphrodite had her dwelling. When the goddess saw Psyche\nshe was glad at heart, for she thought, \u201cNow Psyche has come to me it\nwill be a strange thing if I cannot get her entirely into my power and\npunish her as she deserves.\u201d But even as she thought thus, she wondered\nat Psyche\u2019s beauty, for it was very great.\n\nThen Psyche asked if she might speak with Eros, but the goddess answered\nharshly, \u201cEros has no wish to see you. You deceived and wounded him so\nthat he fled to me for comfort. But I will set you a task to prove you,\nand if you can perform it, then perhaps I will speak of you to Eros and\nplead with him to forgive you; but if you fail, then you shall give\nyourself over to me, for me to do with you as I please.\u201d\n\nAnd Psyche answered, \u201cNo task is too hard for me if only Eros will\nforgive me.\u201d\n\nSo Aphrodite took her into a room where there was a great heap of every\nkind of grain, barley and millet and wheat and poppy and beans and many\nothers, and they were all mixed together so that it was difficult to\ntell one from another.\n\nThen Aphrodite said, \u201cYour task is to separate these seeds one from\nanother. Each kind must be put by itself in a separate heap, and all\nthis must be done before evening.\u201d So saying, Aphrodite turned away and\nleft her.\n\nAs Psyche looked at the heap of grain, she knew the task that Aphrodite\nhad set her was one that it was impossible to perform, and she was\nfrightened at the thought of what Aphrodite might do to her if she\nfailed.\n\nNow though Eros was still angry with Psyche, he had no wish to leave her\nentirely to the cruelty of his mother, so he sent an army of ants to\nhelp her. Thousands upon thousands he sent, and the ants seized the\ngrains and dragged them apart, each kind to itself, while Psyche watched\nand wondered. As if by magic the heap was separated, and each kind of\ngrain was gathered off by itself, and when the task was finished the\nants disappeared again; not one of them was left.\n\nToward evening Aphrodite came to the room where she had left Psyche, and\nher heart was filled with triumph, for she had no doubt but that she\nwould find the task unfinished and would then have the Princess in her\npower.\n\nBut what was her rage and wonder to find the grains separated and lying\nin different heaps about the room, each kind by itself as she had\ncommanded.\n\n\u201cAnd now will you ask Eros to forgive me?\u201d asked Psyche timidly.\n\nBut Aphrodite answered, \u201cWait until to-morrow. Then we will talk of it.\u201d\n\nBut the next day the goddess set another task for Psyche. She bade her\ngo out to where her sheep were pastured, and fetch her back a bagful of\ntheir golden wool.\n\nNow the sheep of Aphrodite were very fierce and terrible, so that no one\nmight approach them without being torn to pieces. This Psyche knew, but\nshe thought, \u201cBetter to perish at once than suffer from the wrath of\nAphrodite.\u201d\n\nSo she took the bag the goddess gave her and set out for the pasture.\nBut on the way she met Pan, and he had pity on her because of her beauty\nand her sorrow.\n\n\u201cPsyche, do not venture near the pasture,\u201d he warned her. \u201cWait until\nevening when the sheep are resting and then turn aside into yonder wood,\nand gather the wool you will find there in the thickets; for in the heat\nof the day the sheep take shelter there, and their wool catches on the\nthorns and briers and is torn from them.\u201d\n\nGratefully Psyche thanked him for his advice, and she waited until on\ntoward evening, and then stole into the wood and there about her, on\nthorny branches, glittered the tufts of golden wool the sheep had left\nbehind them. Psyche gathered them, handful after handful, until her bag\nwas full, and then she hastened back with it to Aphrodite.\n\nWhen the goddess saw that again Psyche had succeeded, her heart was hot\nwithin her. But when the Princess asked her, \u201cWill you not yet plead for\nme with Eros?\u201d the goddess answered, \u201cWait until to-morrow. It may be\nthat he himself may wish to see you.\u201d\n\nBut on the morrow it was a new task that she set for Psyche. She gave\nher a crystal urn, and bade her take it to the fountain of Oblivion,\nand there fill it with water, and fetch it back with her.\n\nNow the fountain of Oblivion flows forth black and cold as ice from a\ndeep crevice in a rock at the top of a high mountain, and the rock is so\nsteep that it is impossible for any human being to climb it. Thence the\nwaters pour down through a deep channel, and this channel is guarded on\neither side by dragons that never sleep.\n\nPsyche took the urn and set forth upon her journey, and as she journeyed\non her way she wept, for she knew that no one could go near the stream\nof Oblivion and live, because of the dragons that guarded it.\n\nBut once more Eros had pity on her, and he asked of Zeus, the\nAll-Father, that he would lend him his eagle, that it might take the urn\nand carry it to the fountain and fill it, and return with it to Psyche.\n\nZeus, the All-Father did not refuse, and so as Psyche sat resting by the\nwayside, the eagle swept down upon her, and caught the urn from her\nhand, and flew away with it.\n\nAnd now Psyche believed she was indeed lost, for how could she return to\nAphrodite and tell her that not only had she failed to fetch the water,\nbut that the crystal urn had been stolen from her also.\n\nBut while she stood there, afraid either to return or to go forward, she\nheard again a great beating of wings, and the eagle returned to her. She\nsaw that he still had the urn, but now it was full of the dark and icy\nwater for which she had been sent.\n\nThen Psyche rejoiced and took the urn from the eagle and hastened back\nto Aphrodite. When the goddess saw that once more Psyche had fulfilled\nher bidding, her brow grew black with fury.\n\n\u201cOne more task, and one more only will I set you,\u201d said the goddess.\n\u201cTake this box and journey to the lower regions where Persephone is\nQueen; beg from her a bit of her beauty and bring it back to me in this\nbox, for the Feast of the Gods is soon to be given, and I wish to adorn\nmyself with it.\u201d\n\nAnd now Psyche indeed believed herself lost, for never had human being\njourneyed to those lower regions where Persephone was Queen and returned\nagain to the green earth above. In her despair she thought, \u201cBetter that\nI should perish at once than suffer longer from the anger of Aphrodite,\u201d\nand she went up to the top of a high tower, intending to throw herself\nfrom it and so put an end to her sorrows.\n\nBut this tower was an enchanted place, and when she had climbed to the\ntop of it, a voice spoke to her and bade her take courage.\n\n\u201cIt is possible to do as Aphrodite has commanded and still live,\u201d said\nthe voice. \u201cOnly listen carefully and do in all things as thou shalt now\nbe directed, and thou mayest win for her the beauty she asks.\u201d\n\nThe voice then told her she must go to the city of Achaia. Near to it\nwas a mountain; in this mountain was a gap, narrow and dark, and from\nthis gap a pathway led down to the lower regions where Persephone was\nQueen. It was this path that Psyche must follow.\n\n\u201cBut take with thee in thy mouth two pieces of silver money,\u201d said the\nvoice, \u201cand in each hand a piece of barley bread soaked in honey, for\nthese thou wilt need if thou wouldst reach the palace of Persephone in\nsafety.\u201d The voice also told her that after she had followed the path\nfor a short distance, she would meet an old man driving a lame ass\nloaded with wood. This old man would beg and beseech her to help him,\nbut she must pay no heed, but pass on in silence, for it was Aphrodite\nwho would send him there to tempt her to give up either the bread or\nmoney.\n\nSoon after she would come to the great black river Styx, and there she\nwould find the boatman Charon waiting. He it is who ferries the souls of\nthe dead across the water. After she had entered the boat she was to\nallow Charon to take from her lips one of the two pieces of money in\npayment for ferrying her over. As she crossed a face would rise above\nthe water and beg her for the other piece of money, but still she must\nkeep silence and pay no heed to any entreaties, for this face also was a\nsnare set for her by Aphrodite, to make her give up the other piece of\nmoney.\n\nAfter she had crossed the river, she would see before her the palace of\nPersephone, and at the gate the fierce three-headed dog Cerberus, who\nstands ever guarding it against those who would enter. To him she must\ngive a piece of the bread, still without speaking, and then he would\nallow her to pass by him.\n\nShe would then be brought before Persephone, but here, also, would\ndanger await her. A feast would be set before her, and she would be\nurged to eat, but no crumb or drop must pass her lips, for whosoever\neats or drinks with Persephone may never again return from her palace to\nthe green world of sunshine above. But if she were steadfast and neither\nate nor drank, nor spoke one word, Persephone would give her in the box\nthe beauty that Aphrodite desired. Then on her return she must give the\nsecond piece of bread to Cerberus, that he might let her pass, and to\nCharon the other piece of money, that he might ferry her over in safety.\n\n\u201cBut oh, Psyche, open not the box, nor look within it,\u201d counseled the\nvoice, \u201cfor if thou shouldst raise the lid, then all thy labors will\nhave been in vain, and the wrath of Aphrodite will surely overtake\nthee.\u201d\n\nUntil the voice was silent, Psyche stood and listened, and all that was\nsaid she stored away in her heart and remembered; and when it was still\nshe came down at once from the tower and set out for the city of Achaia.\n\nLong and rough was the journey, but at last she came to the city, and\nthere she procured for herself the two pieces of silver money and the\nbarley bread soaked with honey. With these she set out for the mountain\nthat lay over beyond the city. There she found the gap of which the\nvoice had told her, and she followed the path that led down from it, and\nalways away from the green and sunlit world above her and toward the\ndarker world of the lower regions where Persephone reigns.\n\nBefore she had gone far, she met the old man driving the ass, even as\nthe voice had warned her, and he looked so poor and miserable, and\nbegged so piteously for help, that Psyche\u2019s heart melted within her, and\nshe longed to give him either bread or money, but she remembered the\nvoice and its warnings and passed by him without speaking.\n\nSoon she came to the river, and saw the boat lying there, and the dark\nboatman Charon. She stepped into the boat, and he took from her lips one\nof the pieces of silver. In silence he rowed her out upon the river.\n\nThen up through the water rose a face, and two hands were stretched out\nto her; and it seemed to Psyche the face was the face of her father. He\nbegged and pleaded with her to give him the other piece of money, that\nCharon might row him also across the water.\n\nThen it seemed to Psyche that it would break her heart to refuse him,\nbut again she remembered the voice that had warned her, and she knew\nthat the face and the hands were only an appearance caused by Aphrodite,\nand that it was sent there to tempt her so that she would give up her\nmoney and never be able to return from those lower regions. So she kept\nsilence, and the face and hands sank back under the water out of her\nsight.\n\n[Illustration: Soon she came to the river, and saw the boat lying there.\n_Page 270_]\n\nSoon after she came to the other side of the river and stepped out from\nthe boat; there she saw before her a palace more beautiful than any she\nhad ever beheld except the one where she had lived in joy with Eros. But\nbefore the gateway stood the three-headed dog Cerberus, and his\nappearance was very terrible, and his barkings so loud and fierce that\nPsyche trembled.\n\nThen she threw to him one of the pieces of bread soaked in honey, and at\nonce he was silent and allowed her to pass by him and enter the palace.\n\nThere within the palace everything was very beautiful, but the most\nbeautiful thing in it was Persephone. She made Psyche welcome, and soft\ncushions were given her to rest on, and a magnificent feast was set\nbefore her. Psyche looked at it with longing.\n\n\u201cEat, my child,\u201d said Persephone, \u201cfor your journey has been long, and\nthis food and drink will refresh you.\u201d But Psyche refused.\n\nThen at last Persephone said, \u201cI know why you have come,--that it is to\ncarry back with you a portion of my beauty. Give me the box you brought\nwith you.\u201d\n\nHalf doubting her, Psyche gave her the box and Persephone took it and\nwent away; but soon she returned again and gave the box back into\nPsyche\u2019s hands.\n\n\u201cTake it,\u201d said Persephone. \u201cWell and wisely hast thou performed thy\ntask. Now return to Aphrodite and give her the box, for in it is the\nbeauty for which she sent thee.\u201d\n\nThen Psyche, still in silence, took the box, and hastened away from the\ncastle and returned the way she had come. When Cerberus raised his\ndreadful barking, she threw him the other piece of bread, and he was\nsilent and allowed her once more to pass in safety.\n\nSoon she came again to the river, and found the dark boatman waiting,\nand she entered his boat, and he took from her the second piece of money\nand rowed her back to the other side.\n\nThere Psyche left him and followed in haste along the path that led to\nthe upper world and sunlight, but on the way she was weary and sat down\nto rest. Then she looked at the box she carried, and more and more she\nlonged to see the gift of beauty that Persephone had sent to Aphrodite.\nAt last her curiosity grew so great that it was like a fire burning her,\nand she could bear it no longer, but opened the box and looked inside.\n\nThen at once the beauty that was in it rose like a pale mist and hovered\nover Psyche\u2019s head, and she fell into a deep slumber.\n\nNow indeed the wrath of Aphrodite would have destroyed her as she lay\nthere helpless, had not Eros come to her to protect and save her. For he\nwas now cured of his wound, and his love for Psyche had returned, and\nhis pain and the anger he had felt toward her were forgotten. So he came\nto where she lay, and caught her up, and carried her to Zeus, who reigns\nhigh on Olympus. And Eros entreated Zeus to protect Psyche from the\nanger of his mother and to make her also a goddess, so that she need no\nlonger fear Aphrodite.\n\nTo this Zeus consented, and he touched Psyche, and woke her from her\nsleep, and made of her a goddess.\n\nThen she was made welcome by all the other gods and goddesses, and\nAphrodite was obliged to give up her anger, for it is the will of Zeus\nthat there shall be peace among all those who dwell on high Olympus.\n\nAfter that a great marriage feast was prepared in honor of Eros and\nPsyche, and to it came all the gods and goddesses, and drank and\nfeasted. Then Eros took his bride away to a palace that Zeus had given\nthem, and which was even more magnificent than the one where Eros had\nfirst carried Psyche; and there they lived together in great joy and\nhappiness.\n\nBut Psyche\u2019s two sisters were punished as they deserved, for Eros\nappeared to each one of them in a dream and promised that if she would\ngo to the top of a high cliff and throw herself over, then he would take\nher as a wife in place of Psyche. Each of them believed her dream, and\neach secretly, and unknown to the other, went to the cliff and threw\nherself over, and so perished miserably.\n\nBut Psyche lived happy forever after in the palace in high Olympus with\nher husband Eros.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n * * * * *\n\n _Fairy Tales from Old Worlds Across the Sea_\n\n TALES OF FOLK AND FAIRIES\n\n _By_ KATHARINE PYLE\n\n Author of\n\n \u201cWonder Tales Retold,\u201d \u201cIn the Green Forest,\u201d etc.\n\n With Illustrations by the author.\n\n\nFrom the old worlds across the seas come these fairy tales,--from\nScotland and Scandinavia, from the Cossacks and the Russians and the\nSerbians, from Persia and India and Arabia and Bengal. There are stories\nof enchanted princes and bewitched princesses, of brave deeds and clever\nones, of wonderful things like talking eggs and a magic pipe and a\ncarpet that flew and a turban that made its wearer invisible. There are\ntales for boys, like that one of the brave lad who killed the\n\u201cStoorworm\u201d; there are stories for girls, as that one about the wise\ngirl who could guess the hardest riddle the King could ask. And there\nare stories about animals and birds for both boys and girls, such as\n\u201cThe Jackal and the Alligator\u201d and the story of the beautiful black\nhorse that befriended the widow\u2019s son.\n\nThey have all been translated directly from the folk-lore of these\nfar-away countries and tell of the wonderful things that used to happen\nthere commonly enough when the world was young and people had not lost\ntheir faith in witches and enchantments. American children will enjoy\nthem quite as much as do their little cousins across the water.\n\n\n LITTLE, BROWN & CO., PUBLISHERS\n 34 BEACON STREET, BOSTON\n\n * * * * *\n\n _Fifteen old-world fairy tales, taken from the folk-lore of a dozen\n different lands_\n\n TALES OF WONDER AND MAGIC\n\n _By_ KATHARINE PYLE\n\n Author of\n\n \u201cWonder Tales Retold,\u201d \u201cIn the Green Forest,\u201d \u201cTales of Folk and\n Fairies,\u201d etc.\n\n With illustrations by the author.\n\n _12 mo._ _Cloth._ _314 pages_\n\n\nThis volume of fairy tales includes stories from Ireland, Wales, Japan,\nthe East Indies, Sweden, Denmark, etc. They tell of enchanted princes\nand princesses, of brave and wonderful deeds, of magic worked by evil\ndemons and overcome by the greater power of good spirits.\n\nSometimes there is a beautiful princess to be rescued; sometimes a\nfortune to be won; sometimes a hard task to be performed,--an impossible\nfeat for ordinary lads and lassies. But in fairy tales nothing is\nimpossible to youth and beauty and courage, so these shepherd lads and\nprincesses, kings\u2019 sons and peasant maidens set forth on their wonderful\nadventures with brave hearts, and always win through to safety. They are\nthe sort of stories to enthrall the young folk of to-day.\n\n\n LITTLE, BROWN & CO., PUBLISHERS\n 34 BEACON STREET, BOSTON","title":"Fairy tales from far and near","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":53110}